Congratulations, you have just acquired a wonderful new addition for your home! This new addition will not only add beauty to your home, but will also bring musical pleasure to you and your family. Now that you have your new piano, you will want to make sure that you are caring for it properly. Caring for your piano properly will not only ensure that it plays to its maximum potential, but will also ensure that the value is maintained and, in the case of a new piano, that your warranty is maintained. In this article, I will outline some tips on caring for your piano, including how often you should have your piano tuned, how to help maintain your piano’s tuning stability, and how to safely clean and care for the exterior of your piano. I will also define piano tuning, and explain why it is necessary for your piano. What is a piano tuning and why is it necessary? There are over 200 strings in your piano, which are stretched at high tension across the frame of your piano. When a piano technician performs a piano tuning, he or she carefully adjusts the tension of each of the strings in the piano in order to ensure they not only sound in harmony with each other, but that they are also playing in standard pitch (when A sounds at 440 Hz). While not having your piano tuned regularly will not in itself damage the piano, playing on a piano that is not in proper tune can be very de-motivating for anyone trying to practice on that instrument. It is common to hear children commenting to their parents that their piano at home does not sound or feel as “good” as their teacher’s piano. This is usually more due to the fact that the piano has not been regularly serviced, rather than that the piano at home is an inferior piano. Not having your piano tuned regularly also increases the risk that problems occurring in the piano due to environmental factors will go unnoticed. This could lead to more permanent and costly damage. In addition, it is more difficult to tune a piano that has not been regularly serviced. How often should I have my piano tuned? Generally a piano should be tuned twice per year in order to keep it in good playing condition. Please note that a piano will go out of tune whether it is played or not. A brand new piano or a piano with new strings on it will probably need to be tuned 3-4 times in the first year. This is because new strings tend to stretch as they are being worked in, causing the piano to go out of tune more often. A piano that is used quite often, such as one being used all day for piano lessons, or one being used by high level pianists who practice many hours a day, will need to be tuned every 2 – 3 months. How can I ensure better tuning stability in my piano? The biggest factor that causes a piano to go out of tune is the temperature and humidity in the room where the piano is located. In more hot and humid weather, the strings and moving parts on the piano will expand, causing the piano to play sharper than standard pitch. In more cold and dry weather, these parts will contract, causing the piano to play flatter than standard pitch. Unfortunately, the parts of a piano do not all expand and contract at the same rate. This not only causes the piano to go sharp or flat, but it causes the piano to sound out of tune with itself. If the room in which the piano is located is too dry, there is the risk of getting cracks in the sound board of your piano. This can seriously hamper the sound of the instrument. If the room is too humid there is the risk of problems such as sticking piano keys, caused by the swelling of the wooden parts of the piano, as well as a greater risk of rusting strings. While temperature alone does not generally affect tuning stability of pianos, fluctuations in temperature tend to cause fluctuations in humidity. It is therefore recommended that a moderate temperature be maintained in the house throughout the year. If the temperature and humidity in the room are kept stable, the piano will stay in tune longer. A good way to monitor the humidity in the room is to use a humidistat. This can be purchased at your local hardware store and can be mounted on the wall. The ideal humidity for a piano is between 40 – 50%. In the winter, it is a good idea to have a small humidifier in the room, to control the dryness. Central air conditioning helps to control humidity in the summer. However if you do not have central air conditioning, a dehumidifier may be used. A humidifier or a dehumidifier should be placed in the room with the piano, but not directly beside it. Placement of the Piano in the Room Place the piano away from heating ducts, hot air registers and radiators. These items generally dry out the air around them, and can not only affect your tuning stability, but can also cause cracks in your piano's soundboard. Try to keep the piano out of direct sunlight. Direct sunlight can damage the finish of the piano. Also, be aware of how other items in the room will affect your piano's sound. Items such as carpets and draperies tend to absorb sound, while wooden items tend to amplify it or make it sound more "live". If you feel that the piano you have is either too loud or too muted, try adjusting the items that accompany the piano in the room. Cleaning and Polishing Your Piano Polishing the Piano: It is generally not recommended to use furniture polish on pianos. The best way to clean a piano is to use a soft cloth which has been slightly dampened and wrung out. A micro fibre cloth is useful for cleaning dust off high-gloss finish pianos. Micro fibre cloths can usually be found in the same section as home car wash accessories in your local hardware store. Piano polishes may be purchased from your local piano store. Some of these polishes are anti-static, and help to keep the dust off your piano. Cleaning the Piano Keys: It is recommended to use a clean damp cloth to clean the tops of the piano keys. In cases where the keys are tougher to clean, a mild soap solution may be used. Make sure to thoroughly dry the keys after cleaning and do not let any water spill down the sides of the keys. Never use any chemicals or cleaning fluids on the keys. Cleaning the Interior of the Piano: It is generally recommended that the inside of the piano be cleaned only by a technician. As there are many breakable parts on a piano, it is best to have a professional take it apart in order to avoid any damage. Dust buildup in the piano may cause the mechanisms to stick or work more slowly. Taking the time to care for your piano properly and having it service by a qualified piano technician will not only keep your piano in optimal playing condition, it will also maintain the re-sale value of your instrument.

Using presentation folders for a more professional look in the business world can do amazing things for a business. Presenting something to a client that looks professional and organized will speak volumns about the buisness before the folder is even opened. Taking advantage of the many options of presentation folders allows almost any business, of any size and budget, to use presetnation folders to take their business to the next level. The look that presentation folders bring to the table can mean everything to a business and a client. Materials that are presented in a neat, professional manner will grab the attention of the client and give them a sense that the business has their stuff together and really knows what they are doing. It is the first impression made on a client and speaks for the business before anything or anyone else does. What is inside can be truly ground breaking, but if it isn’t presented wisely the client’s attention can be lessened. Overall the look of a presentation folder says the business really cares about their work and wants to put forward a professional image. Some other great perks of presetnation folders is that they can be made to a businesses specifications. Customized with a logo or company name, so the work is immediately recognized. They are also a nice way to put everything together so it is easy to carry and look through. The client will have everything right there without having to flip through handouts or review notes. Most folders also have a place for a busines card, as well for additonal convenience. Since presentation folders can be customized they are easy to buy in bulk. This cuts down on costs and allows them to be used for a variety of needs, from employee handouts to business meetings. A little custom printing and the folder goes from a office supply to a business tool. Customization can be done to add the business name or logo to the folder, add a title or other information to the cover or even change the binding on the folder. Buying in bulk then customizing as needed cuts down the cost emensely. Presentation folders are a great business asset. They have many advatages and so many uses that they are a must have for nay buisiness that wants to advance. They are also a cost effective way to get a professional, polished look. Using presentation folders can help a business rise above competitiors and make an image for themselves.

Part of your CCNA / CCNP education is deciding what network topology to use when you're putting together your home lab. Some of you are starting with one or two routers or switches, while others are starting with more. A customer recently sent me a list of his Cisco routers and switches that he has available for a home lab and asked for my help in coming up with the best way to use them. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to this question; again, part of the learning process is configuring and reconfiguring the physical topology of your lab. Let's look at the routers and switches he has available, including the interfaces on each, and come up with one possible CCNA / CCNP home lab setup. The equipment list: Two 3620 routers. Each has 1 serial port and 2 ethernet ports. One 3640 router. This has two ethernet cards, each with two ports, and two AUI ports. Three 2503s, my personal favorite for home labs! These have 1 AUI port, 2 serial interfaces, and one BRI interface apiece. One 2524 router. This has one serial port, 1 ethernet port, and one BRI interface. One 4500 router. This has eight BRI ports, 2 ethernet ports, and more importantly, four serial ports. He also has a 5200 access server, an ISDN simulator, one 2924 switch, and one 1924 switch. Now, if you don't have this much equipment to work with, don't panic! Most CCNA / CCNP candidates don't; this is more of an exercise in looking at what you do have and using it to the utmost. As I've mentioned in many of my CCNA / CCNP home lab articles, an access server is a great thing to have. All he needs is an octal cable to connect his AS to the other devices we choose to use, and he's all set. (If you need an access server sample configuration, there is one on my website in the Home Lab section.) A frame relay switch is also great to have, and the 4500 will make a great FR switch. Having a frame relay cloud in your CCNA / CCNP home lab is a great way to get experience configuring and troubleshooting frame relay, an essential skill for CCNA success. I would put both of the 3620s on the frame relay cloud via the Serial interface, as well as two of the 2503s. That gives you four routers that will be using frame relay to communicate, and that's the most we can have since the 4500 has four serial ports. The 4500 will need to be configured as a frame relay switch and connected to the other routers via a DTE/DCE cable. (Again, if you need a frame relay switch configuration, the one I use in my pods is on the website in the same place as the access server configuration.) The two 2503s that are on the frame relay cloud should also be connected via their BRI interfaces. The home lab also includes an ISDN simulator, which is necessary to allow routers to communicate via their BRI interfaces. Just get a couple of straight-through cables to connect those two routers to the ISDN simulator and that segment is ready to go. (Remember that you can't connect Cisco routers directly via their BRI interfaces.) All of the routers in this lab have at least one ethernet or AUI port, so we can connect them all to either one of the switches. The switches should be connected via at least two crossover cables to allow practice with trunking, root bridge election, and VLANs. Having two switches really does add quite a bit to a CCNA / CCNP home lab's capabilities. You can experiment with different subnets and vlans with as well. Don't be afraid to dive in - that's what a home lab is all about! So now we've got four routers connected via frame relay, two via ISDN, and the others via ethernet segments. Two of the routers that are not using their serial interfaces should be connected directly via their serial ports. For this, you'll just need another DTE/DCE cable. Knowing how to bring up the line between two directly connected serial ports is an important CCNA skill, and so is troubleshooting it. You should be able to bring such a connection up with your eyes closed, and once you work with your own CCNA / CCNP home lab, you'll be able to! Also, don't forget to add a loopback interface to each one of your routers. I like to use 1.1.1.1 for R1, 2.2.2.2 for R2, and so on. Advertising loopbacks is another great way to get practice with RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, IGRP, and static routing. We've taken a pile of routers and switches and turned them into a fantastic CCNA / CCNP home lab. Whether you're working with two Cisco devices or ten, coming up with your own home lab topology is a great learning experience and the beginning of developing your analytical and troubleshooting skills.

Taking the advice of well-traveled cruisers is the best thing for first time cruise passengers to do. After all, why not learn from someone else’s mistakes or mishaps? Of course, you will still have a few of your own, but that is what makes your first cruising experience memorable. You’ve got your cruise booked and are counting the days until you set sail. However, there are a few things for you to do before you even start to think about packing. Check with the cruise line to see what vaccinations, if any, are needed for your journey. You’ll have to make a trip to your doctor to get current on any shots. While you are at the doctor, ask them about tips on staying healthy and avoiding the flu or colds before you depart for your cruise. It is no fun having to travel sick or canceling all together. Also ask about seasickness remedies. Some of these medications are prescription only. Stock up on any other prescription medications just in case they are scheduled to run out during your trip. Often, insurance companies will make exceptions and allow a prescription to be refilled early if you are traveling with no access to a chain pharmacy. One last thing – get a letter from your doctor on official letterhead listing your prescriptions and stating that they were all legitimately prescribed for you. If you have to go through customs, a letter will sometimes keep you from being detained while your medication is inspected. If you are on a special diet, let the cruise line be aware of this fact when you book your cruise. Most diets are easily accommodated, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. A few weeks before you depart, check in with the cruise line again to go over your reservations and special needs diet. Pack a small first aid kit for those “just in case” emergencies. Include antacids and anti-diarrhea medications for those episodes of “Montezuma’s Revenge” that seem to strike no matter where you travel. Aspirin, antibiotic cream and aloe vera gel for sunburns also come in handy. Stow away sunscreen, moisturizer and lip balm in your luggage too. When you are having too much fun outdoors, you tend to forget things like sunburn. Be sure to apply the sunscreen lotion before heading outdoors. Moisturizer and lip balm keep your skin soft. Sometimes the temperature changes from the cold air conditioner to the heat outside can wreak havoc on the skin and dry it out. In addition to the sunscreen, protect your skin by wearing hats and sunglasses. When you are on the ship’s deck gazing at the waves, the sun’s reflection off the water can be pretty bright. The sunglasses will protect you from harmful UV rays from the sun. Of course, the hats will shield you from the sun’s rays and possible sunburn on your ears and face, two places that people sometimes forget to apply sunscreen lotion. With the right preparation and precautions, you are well on your way to a healthy and happy first cruise. And when in doubt about something, ask your cruise line. They want to make sure your cruising experience is trouble-free. After all, they want you to sail with them again.

Let’s take a look at something that is important in poker: emotions. You are off the hood this time, but still read and be aware if you ever need this advice. As it is well known the one most important thing in poker is to pay attention to you game. Perfect poker players are always aware of their opponents emotions and they know how to read them. Every card dealt, every bet, every look tells a lot about that player and his cards if you know how to look at him. You must watch your opponent as he bets and remember how much he bets, what are his words when he bets. Every little gesture like a breath, a smile can tell every thing about the cards he is holding. For example, a player that has good cards is more likely to speak very little, to watch everyone closely and check often. The part that betrays the most are the eyes. If you can’t trust your eyes, then you could always turn to the pros solution, wear glasses. In order not to create any suspicions you need to be confident in your eyes and face expression. The best solution seems to be making up a problem you have to think about, or thinking about a real problem that you have although the game. If you are looking straight into someone’s eye in real life it means you are confident, but in poker you might have to deal with a partner that is experienced and your guess could be wrong. You can always try to make a conversation and look into his eyes, seeing if he responds to that. People usually avoid looking into your eyes if they know they have something going on. If you ever find yourself in a real poker room and you have an incredible hand, you can get restless and your hands might start shaking. You should avoid talking or if you do, control your voice because the voice will tend to use a higher tone. Try to speak as calm as possible the whole game, so they can’t tell what you’re holding. This is not a rule however. Some players try to act the opposite in every situation to create confusion. They will be calm when holding a good hand and restless when having bad cards. Facial expression can be a thing that can also betray. Poker players always try to wear a hat or to look down at all times so the others can’t guess their hands. Beginners might show some sadness when the cards are bad and a little joy when the hand is good. The most secure thing to do not to become the slave of emotions may they be joy or anger, especially if they are fear. You should stay calm and try to tell the emotions of others using use their feelings for your game.

Les bateaux de croisiиre sont de plus en plus spacieux, afin de vous offrir le meilleur en matiиre de dйtente et relaxation et vous proposent de dйcouvrir de plus en plus de destinations de rкves, de l'Alaska aux Caraпbes en passant par l'Europe. Les croisiиres vous offrent un confort digne d'un cinq йtoiles, son lot d'aventures, ainsi que l'opportunitй de connaоtre de nouvelles personnes et de vous faire de nouveaux amis. Mais pour la rйussite de votre lune de miel, la croisiиre doit comprendre а son bord: 1) Du Champagne et des fraises dиs votre montйe а bord 2) Des canapйs et autres attentions dans votre cabine un soir de votre choix 3) Une soirйe "Lune de Miel" spйcialement destinйe а votre attention 4) Mettre а votre disposition des photographes Pour cela, choisissez bien votre bateau. Celui-ci doit vous offrir les salles et le confort minimal suivant: 1) Des Restaurants devant vous fournir des repas de haute qualitй, 2) Des Pubs, vous proposant les meilleures biиres irlandaises ainsi que du champagne, doivent кtre disponible aux quatre coins du bateau et prиs des salles de SPA et solarium, 3) Au minimum un Centre de confйrence, 4) Des activitйs sportives comme un Centre de Fitness, parours de golf, terrains de basket ball et volley ball, mur d'escalade, piste de jogging, patinoire, jeu de palets et bien d'autres encore; 5) Des activitйs sportives et йducatives pour les enfants telles le Club enfants pour les enfants de 3 а 17 ans comprenant une discothиque, des jeux vidйo et mкme un espace oщ leur est servi un repas; 6) Des Salons de beautй, un Complexe thermal complet incluant Sauna, Spa et Solarium; 7) Pour vos loisirs: Piscines, Jacuzzis, Casino pour pouvoir vous divertir dans une ambiance Las Vegas а l'aide de ses machines а sous, Discothиque, Salle de spectacles, Salle de cartes, Cafй internet, un thйвtre. 8) Mais aussi des services du quotidiens tels: Galerie Marchande (avec bijouterie, magasin de souvenirs, de photos), Bibliothиque, Centre mйdical, Blanchisserie, et enfin une Chapelle nuptiale. Les bateaux recommandйs pour ce genre de sйjour dйpendent йnormйment de vos goыts et du choix de votre destination, а savoir si vous rechercher une йvasion romantique au travers des forets tropicales et des plages ensoleillйes ou culturelle pour visiter des monuments historiques et dйcouvrir des mentalitйs йtrangиres. Pour cela, les listes ne seraient кtre complиtes. Les deux bateaux de croisiиres les plus connus sont les suivants: 1) Jewel of the Seas: Mis en service en mai 2004, le Jewel of the Seas est caractйrisйs par l'allure innovante des super-yachts. Il possиde un design avancй avec ses grandes surfaces vitrйes dans les espaces publics et des ascenseurs de verre donnant sur l'ocйan. 2) Explorer of the Seas: En route vers les Antilles. Ce paquebot est le plus grand au monde. Vous y trouverez plus d'activitйs et d'expйriences que vous ne pouvez imaginer. Dйcouvrez des aspects novateurs tels que le mur d'escalade vous permettant de vous йlever au dessus de l'ocйan, la patinoire oщ vous pourrez dйguster un chocolat chaud. Le soir, les boutiques, les cafйs et autres animations du Royal Promenade s'ouvrent а vous. Cette esplanade, oщ il fait bon se promener, s'йtale sur une longueur йquivalente а deux terrains de football et fait 4 ponts de hauteur.

Many people believe that they conduct effective meetings, when all they really do is host a party filled with official sounding chit chat. Or worse, they deliver a monologue that bores everyone. In either case, their meetings produce little. Here's how to hold a short, effective staff meeting. 1) In general. Keep them short. Most staff meetings should last less than an hour. You want your staff to spend their time working on things that earn money for your business, not sitting in meetings. Keep them positive. Negative meetings contain insults, ridicule, and attacks. These activities create caution and resentment, which always costs your company money. Keep them interactive. Your staff consists of intelligent people. Put them to work in your meetings to advance the effectiveness of your organization. 2) Share news. Give the members of your group one minute to report on progress made in their area of responsibility. You'll find that this results in bullet point reports of essential information. It also prevents people from philosophizing, explaining, justifying, criticizing, and engaging in other unproductive activities. Plan a time budget: 8 to 10 minutes. 3) Teach something. Invite a guest expert to give a 10 minute presentation on some skill or technology that benefits your group. Tell the expert that you want a logical explanation of practical ideas. You can also ask members of your group to take turns delivering brief tutorials on topics that benefit the others. Plan a time budget: 10 to 15 minutes. 4) Practice skills. Create team learning activities that sharpen or teach skills needed in your business. For example, you could role play job skills (especially useful for sales teams), solve puzzles (useful for high tech groups), or take quizzes (useful for everyone). Ask group members to take turns bringing an activity that reviews or teaches a valuable skill. Follow this activity with a brief recap of key ideas. Then ask the group members to give a fifteen second report on how these ideas can be applied to improve their work. Plan a time budget: 10 to 20 minutes. 5) Solve problems. Give each group member a minute to describe a challenge that hinders work on a current project and then let everyone propose solutions. Suggestions should be brief and free of self aggrandizing explanations or motivational sermons. This process also requires a positive, supportive environment to succeed. If this is used to ridicule, insult, or criticize the individual, then people will be reluctant to reveal issues that need attention. Plan a time budget: 3 to 6 minutes per person. 6) Use a facilitator. A facilitator will help you conduct meetings where the results matter. That way, you can participate, rather than spend your time managing the meeting. A good facilitator will know group decision making processes that move your meeting toward results everyone supports.

: In Michigan, being outdoors can mean relaxing on a sandy beach or getting lost in the wilderness. One of the hidden places described below will let you do both. Here are three places that you haven't seen in magazine articles and guide books. Michigan Outdoors - Rivers You can float the Manistee River from Baxter Bridge (the next crossing down from Hwy 131) north of Cadillac, all day without seeing a house or a road. The majority of the route is in the Manistee National Forest, where you can camp without permits. The Manistee isn't a river full of exciting rapids (at least not on this stretch). It is a river for relaxing. A few years back, we used to park where Road 17 crosses the river, and hike upstream with a small day pack loaded with snacks, water, a saw, hatchet, and rope. By early afternoon we would build a raft of dead trees cut to length. We spent the following hours floating back to the car. We called it Tom Sawyer Day, and on six of these trips I have never passed another canoe or boat on the river. Michigan Outdoors - Beaches Probably you have heard of or been to the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore (and the dunes), and the other sandy spots along the east side of Lake Michigan. They are beautiful, and I highly recommend them, but what if you want a beach to yourself? Head north, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. From Highway 2, a couple miles east of Rapid River, turn south on County road 513. Follow it until it splits, and take the road to Wilsey Bay. Where the road first comes to the water, it is a public access point. Leave your car here and walk a mile to the end of the road, and then along the rocky beach past the last house (stay below the high-water mark and it is legal to walk past private property). Just past the house you enter the Hiawatha National Forest for the next seven miles of beach. The last time I camped out there, I never saw a person in two days. One morning I followed fresh black bear tracks along the sandy beach, and later explored the ruins of an old cabin. There are no roads into this area, and ATV's are not permitted. If you want forested wilderness, just walk away from the beach - and watch for wild blueberries in the forest clearings if it is August or September. Michigan Outdoors - Really Hidden You'll want a topographical map for this one. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, north of Ishpeming, there is some wild and rough country. Driving out of Ishpeming, you'll wind through rocky lakes and woods. An hour north, on a sandy road, you'll come to a river with two-hundred foot high cliffs on the other side. I promised friends not to get more specific than this, so you'll have to work a bit to find it. Continue a bit further, until the road gets too rough or the puddles too deep. Park the car and find a log to cross the small river on, then head uphill (you may need your hands to go up the wooded hillside). Beyond and on top of those cliffs and hills there are two lakes, just a thirty minute walk away, surrounded by a rocky wilderness, and with no trail going to them. My brother had a trout on the line in ten seconds the first time I took him there. Good luck!

Real estate attorney The real estate attorneys Real estate industry is booming and with that the business of real estate attorneys seems to be booming too. Well it doesn’t so much affect the real estate attorneys whether the real estate industry is booming or not. Since shelter is one of the prime requirements of man, there would be property buyers and property sellers in any case at all times (and real estate attorneys would always be in demand). There are many different ways in which people utilize the services of real estate attorneys. Let’s have a look at what these different ways are: 1. Property dispute: This is one scenario where real estate attorneys are obviously the most involved. Not only do they try to get these property disputes resolved (by litigation or otherwise) but also help to get rid of the property (in certain cases) by selling it off and using the amount received for settlement. 2. Tenancy disputes: A real estate attorney also helps in resolving the disputes between tenants and landlords. 3. Settlement of property on account of death: Sometimes real estate attorneys also handle the property of the deceased. Here they sell off the property for settling it among the heirs. 4. Divorce settlements: Again real estate attorneys help in the settling of the jointly owned properties and the divorce settlement in general. 5. Don’t want a broker: Some people are just not comfortable with hiring a broker to sell their property, and hence they entrust this with real estate attorneys (some real estate attorneys do take this up). 6. As advisors/consultants: A lot of attorneys also work for real estate investors. In fact, hiring a real estate attorney is a very good option for a real estate investor. A real estate attorney can really make the transactions smooth for the investor. A real estate attorney will not only get it done correctly, but also quickly. And for a real estate investor time is very important since he can spend the time saved due to hiring a real estate attorney, into looking for really good deals. 7. Information provider: Some real estate investors use real estate attorneys as a rich source of information especially for getting the information about the properties that are up on sale due to disputes or settlement procedures. Here the real estate investors try to gain advantage by getting the information earlier than others (and they do sometimes get very good deals in this way). So whether the real estate business booms or not, real estate attorneys are always going to be in job (booming job).

Many of us are of the types who are happy being alone. If such persons enter into any relationship it will invariably fail. Such loners want to be left alone and want no responsibility of others nor want others to take any responsibility of their. Are you one of them? Have you thought about this? Let us find out more. What are the main characteristics of such people? The first is total independence. They want total independence both at home and even at work. They may leave many jobs unless they find one where no one bothers them. They want to live at home on their own terms. They dislike being told by anyone about how things should be done. Their self-esteem does not permit this. They cannot develop healthy relationships because they never tell others about what should be done. They never bother about how others perform nor want to get tied up with one person. They feel very uncomfortable if they have to do that. Their space is most important to them. They want their space with them and never to be invaded by anyone at any time. These kind of people wonder about how people live together. They believe that their own way is the right way and want no advice on that. If such people get into a relationship by any chance, the relationship will go through very tough times. Before entering into any relationship, one should watch for this behavior. If any one displays such behavior, please talk to him/her in detail and only after assuring yourself, enter into the relationship.

Family – It can be very vexing to loved one’s when you are depressed. On one hand they want nothing but the best for you, but on the other they sometimes get frustrated and wonder why you can’t simply snap out of it. It can be particularly hard on children of someone with depression as it may affect their outlook on life for many years to come. Having experienced this myself, I can say definitely this the number one reason to fight your depression. Work - Work life generally suffers when in the throws of depression. It is more difficult to concentrate and not as easy to create and maintain good professional working relationships and partnerships. Furthermore, it makes being a “Self-starter” more unlikely. Rather than moving forward, maintaining the status-quo becomes more acceptable, even if only unconsciously. Love – The love life of a person with depression can suffer tremendously. Regardless of How much someone may profess their dedication to another person, if the other person can never see the bright side, it can wear on them. Life is short, right? Love conquers A WHOLE LOT, but it doesn’t conquer everything. Sometimes we must add internal fortitude to love to truly be invincible. Besides isn’t it better to fight, not just for you, but for this person that you love as well? Health – University studies have proven that people who are depressed are more likely to get sick, and more likely to die of an illness than those who are content. It is in your benefit, health wise, to fight your depression as well. A recent New York Times article, citing a University study, indicated that persons who have been diagnosed as depressed have more hospital visits, and a shorter lifespan. Prosperity – The depressed person sometimes lacks clarity of thought, and may miss golden opportunities to improve their lives if only they had been paying attention. This may be, perhaps, the most important point, since many people believe they would be happier if only this part of their life, or that part of their life, etc was different. Allowing good things to happen in your life might just give you the jump start needed to end the cycle of depression and self imposed-isolation( even if only figuratively ). Fighting depression can help your life in many ways. In some ways, the fight in itself is also a reward. You become stronger, do better at work, have better relationships, and can focus on what is really important in life so that you can improve it, for yourself, your family, friends, and loved ones.

Hurtful memories can stifle your development and growth. How do we break through this insidious mental conditioning? How do we grow and develop beyond hurtful episodes that bury themselves in our subconscious and influence our lives? How do we change and grow so that we can live our dreams? The first step is to break the hold of these inhibiting influences from the past. Recognize them and then either get rid of them or turn them into a positive force that pushes you ahead rather than holds you back. Identify these inhibiting memories in your life so that you control them rather than allowing them to control you. Did someone hurt your feelings? Forgive them and forget it. Move on. Did someone punish you unfairly? It’s over. It’s done. Go on. Here are a few of the most common emotions that burrow into the subconscious and impede our growth as individuals: Anger: This is a natural response to a perceived attack or injury. It makes energy flow. But when allowed to simmer, it depletes energy that could be used to improve your life. If you hold your anger for more than a week, it is only hurting you. Make yourself let go. Envision yourself throwing it out. Ease your mind. Transform your anger into positive motivation. Don’t get mad, get motivated. Revenge: The first cousin of anger. It also robs you of strength in the long run. The person who has injured you has probably gone on with life; so should you. Don’t let the injury hurt you further by inhibiting your growth. Lose it or use it. Instead of saying, “I’ll get them,” say, “I’ll show them. I’LL BE SOMEBODY!” Sadness: This is more crippling than anger because it drains you from the start, sapping your will to go on. You probably will have to let this drain away slowly at its own pace. Time heals, but if the sadness seems to linger, consciously force it out. Seek out things that make you laugh and feel positive about life. Realize that feeling sad will not change anything. Seek peace of mind as your right. Resentment: Life is not always fair. It is unrealistic to feel any other way, and holding on to resentment is no way to fight back. Drop it and get back into the battle. Guilt: Guilt is another emotion that stands between you and your dreams. All of us have done things we feel bad about and regret. Things we would do differently. Many of us carry that guilt around and it keeps us from moving forward. Don’t let people put you on a guilt trip. Say to yourself when someone is putting you on the defensive, “No matter what you do or say to me, I am still a worthwhile person.” To rid yourself of these past emotions, put them in a perspective that is positive rather than negative and thereby cut off their painful roots in your subconscious. Reinterpret the past with these methods: Get better, not bitter. Find a quiet, comfortable place. Sit back and relax. Think about something or someone who caused you pain or disappointment. Now take a mental step back from that feeling and the situation. Assess it. Did the emotions that resulted make you stronger? Did they give you determination? Can you use those memories to empower you rather than drain you? Why let them hurt you further?

Parts of most trailer hitches are removable. The ball part of the hitch, the part that is used to fasten the cargo to the truck usually rests in the trailer hitch receiver opening. When the ball is removed, the receiver opening is left hollow. This opening protrudes from the tail of the truck and has sharp edges. People could bump into the metal rod or cut themselves on its sharp corners. It is a good idea to use a trailer hitch cover to protect the trailer hitch receiver opening. Trailer hitch covers can cover the opening and keep any debris from clogging it. Trailer hitch covers also protect people from cutting themselves or bumping into the hard edges. It can be inconvenient and time consuming to remove foreign objects from the hitch receiver opening. Dead, wet leaves, mud, sand, and other disgusting substances can clog the opening and make it difficult to secure the hitch to the truck. No debris can get into the opening if a cover blocks it. The trailer hitch cover fits into the receiver opening and covers the sharp and hard edges. Many trailer hitch covers are padded, so that people who bump into them do not get bruised. The covers are secured in the opening so that they do not fall out when the truck is in motion. There are a wide variety of trailer hitch covers available. They can have nearly any type of theme imaginable. Some have college logos, animal shapes, catchphrases, emblems, or cartoon characters on them. People can add their own personal touch to the appearance of their truck by choosing one of these unique covers. Other trailer hitch covers contain working break lights that help alert drivers behind the truck when the truck is slowing down. Trailer hitch covers provide safety to a pickup truck. People can’t injure themselves on the trailer hitch receiver opening if a protective cover blocks it. With the wide variety of covers available, anyone is sure to find a cover that fits their personality.

Phonological awareness shows beginning readers how to divide language orally into smaller units. This ability is developed through an understanding of rhyme, sentence and syllable segmentation as well as onset and rimes. Phonological awareness is the first skill which students need to learn even before phonemic awareness is developed. Phonological awareness should be taught in kindergarten. Like phonemic awareness, phonological awareness consists of listening activities. Phonological awareness should follow a Continuum. Rhymes should be taught first so that students learn how to match the ending sounds of words. Rhyming is usually one of the most fun phonological awareness skills to teach. That is because rhymes contain rhythm so they have a musical sound, that children love. Most children master the identification of rhymes very quickly. Sentence Segmentation should be taught next, again this activity is fun for most children and they tend to catch on quickly. Thirdly, syllables are taught, children are asked to listen and then separate words into parts and then put them back together. Finally onsets and rimes are introduced. These skills are taught in a particular order so that confusion is minimized, once these skills are taught children are ready to be introduced to phonemic awareness skills. Below I will break down the phonological awareness continuum into greater detail and give a few examples. Rhyming--Remember those nursery rhymes you learnt as a child. They were fun but you were also learning. You were learning that words could sound alike and have rhythm. The learning of rhymes is one of the core skills of phonological awareness. Besides nursery rhymes you can find poems and books with rhymes and introduce them to children. Let them listen and clap to words that rhyme. You can also call a group of words together, for example: mat, hen, fat and have children tell you which two words rhyme. Listening is the key ingredient in phonological awareness by listening and responding children are learning how to divide the language into small units. Sentence Segmentation--This is where children learn that a sentence is made up of different words. For example: "I have a big red book." Students should be aware that the sentence is made up of six different words: I/have/a/big/red/book/ You can have students clap, count or even march to the number of words in the sentence as they say it. Syllabication--Here children are taught that one word can have several parts. For example: din/ner rab/bit. Allow children to listen as you call a word and then repeat the word and clap out the different parts of a word. Onsets and Rimes--The onset of a word is the initial consonant sound of the word, for example: 'bag' in this case 'b' is the onset. The rime is the part with the vowel /ag/. An initial consonant blend may also be termed an onset. For example, in the word 'black' /bl/ would be the onset and /ack/ the rime. You should have children blend and then separate onsets and rimes. Here's an example: /c/ /ap/( said separately) cap(said together).

Are SMEs missing an opportunity? Just 18% of SMEs are selling on-line. Less than one percent of those derive all of their sales through the Internet. But 90 per cent of companies with ecommerce operations said their site was profitable and the value of Internet sales rose by 56 per cent between 2004 and 2005, from Ј66.2bn to Ј103.3bn. So lets take a look at E and see if SMEs should be less fearful. E = Electronic The "E" prefix can be attached to anything that has moved from the physical world to its electronic alternative. Most "E" words have now become synonymous with the Internet. Let’s look at some. ECRM uses the Internet and other digital media (e. g. SMS, DRTV) to manage the relationship with customers. You have ECRM requirements if you interact with customers using any electronic medium. EBusiness is more than just ECommerce. EBusiness refers to any business process that relies on a computer system. You are in EBusiness if you have any business process that relies on a computer system. ECommerce uses the Internet / WWW consists for the buying and selling of products or services. EMarketing is marketing that uses the Internet to reach a niche or a global audience with instant response and includes search engine marketing, display advertising, EMail marketing, affiliate marketing, interactive advertising and viral marketing. ECRM, EBusiness, Ecommerce and EMarketing can be conducted using the WWW, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these to enable companies to: • link their computer systems more efficiently and flexibly • work more closely with suppliers and partners • satisfy customer service needs and expectations better Customer relationship management (CRM) is important to every business. ECRM uses the Internet / WWW as a tool to help with CRM. ECRM ECRM is about understanding customers’ needs to increase sales and improve service by unifying a company's activities around the customer. The goal is to increase customer share and customer retention through customer satisfaction. Some people get concerned that using the Internet to manage relationships with customers takes away the personal touch. But using appropriate technology on your website (or elsewhere) can improve your personal touch with your customers – see live chat at innovantage. co. uk as an example and using the Internet for ECRM also helps automate the process of managing your dealings with customers, freeing up time to spend with them face-to-face and on the telephone. In addition to this the information from ECRM whenever a customer visits the website or sends an email, based on software that tracks and records pages they looked at, what information they downloaded and the topic of any email they might send can be stored in a database. This gives detailed customer profile and trend information and can be cross-referenced to generate reports, customer lists, individual preferences, the last time there was communication between you and them, what it was about and a great deal more. This can be used to personalise communication with customers and alert them to special offers or inform them of new services and products in a timely and relevant way. EBusiness EBusiness is about the processes across the entire value chain: • electronic purchasing and supply chain management • processing orders electronically • handling customer service • cooperating with business partners EBusiness allows the integration of intra and inter firm business processes via intranets and extranets. An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet methods to securely share between staff and can provide new user interfaces with corporate "legacy" data and information systems. It’s "a private Internet". In this way off-site employees can access company information, computing resources and internal communications. An extranet can generally be accessed by customers, suppliers, or other approved parties. Both intranets and extranets do not have to allow any access to the organization's internal network as access can be provided through a gateway with a firewall, user authentication, encryption of messages etc. ECommerce ECommerce has grown dramatically in the last few years. For example the Office of National Statistics (ONS) report on Ecommerce for 2005 says: “The value of Internet sales rose by 56 per cent between 2004 and 2005, from Ј66.2bn to Ј103.3bn, while the proportion of businesses selling on-line rose by 22 per cent from 12 per cent of businesses to 14.6 per cent of businesses.” Unfortunately it appears that many small and medium sized businesses are not getting involved. ONS LINK: [ statistics. gov. uk/downloads/theme_economy/ecommerce_report_2005.pdf] The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has highlighted the significant numbers of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) being deterred from e-commerce, following a report by the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee. Despite the fact that the geographical reach of the Internet makes it possible for SMEs to compete in the global market at low cost, just 18% of SMEs are selling on-line. Less than one percent of those derive all of their sales through the Internet. This contrasts with research carried out by Actinic which shows that ECommerce is more profitable and affordable than ever before - though few SMEs are taking advantage of it. The survey showed that in 2006, 90 per cent of companies with ecommerce operations said their site was profitable - up from 70 per cent in 2005 - an all-time high. The survey [ actinic. co. uk/Actinic_Ecommerce_Report_2006.pdf] also revealed that: • the proportion of retail companies using ecommerce rose from 8% in 2005 to 11% in 2006 • 75% of retailers who accept mail and telephone order still do not have an ecommerce facility • of the companies that don't already operate an ecommerce service, 20 per cent are planning to start. Of the remaining companies, two-thirds are still not planning to introduce ecommerce, with 10 per cent stating they were unsure • the main reasons cited for ignoring ecommerce were the unsuitability of products (38 per cent) or a lack of demand (17 per cent) You can read more about Ecommerce at e-crm. co. uk/profile/newsletter-downloads/About-ECommerce. pdf EMarketing EMarketing uses the same concepts as traditional marketing. The purpose is to devise strategies in order to deliver your message to your target market. EMarketing tends to be affordable and less effort intensive than traditional marketing and so produces tremendous ROI results which mean it is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. The difference with EMarketing lies in the options available. You can find out more at these URLs: Search engine optimization: e-crm. co. uk/interactive_marketing/ecrm_search_engine_positioning_optimisation. php e-crm. co. uk/essays/ecrm_essay_search_engine_positioning_optimization_submission. htm Pay per click: e-crm. co. uk/profile/message171106.html e-crm. co. uk/interactive_marketing/ecrm_pay_per_click_marketing. php Email: e-crm. co. uk/profile/message210507.html e-crm. co. uk/interactive_marketing/ecrm_email_marketing. html