Tuesday

Having Fear of Heights

Being afraid of height (whether during a plane trip or escalading a mountain) is a serious problem that affects many persons and can have severe if not fatal repercussions on the respective person. The sickness is provoked by the lack of oxygen.

The easiest manifestation of height sickness can appear at altitudes of 2000 meters and it will manifest itself through headaches, dizziness, and incapability of movement. These symptoms will disappear in a few days if you continue staying at that height.

The most severe sensations of height sickness appear at extremely high altitudes usually over 3000 meters in altitude. Next to the symptoms already mentioned, others can appear like: loosing appetite, sleep disorders and waking up frequently in the middle of the night. The difficulty that can be encountered when breathing, stomach sickness, temporary losses of memory, encountering difficulty when trying to concentrate are amongst the most common and severe symptoms that solicit an immediate change of altitude.

Who are the ones most likely to be afraid of heights?

There is no way to predict who is going to be height sick. Surprisingly, older people, people with low physical activity and poor health are not more affected by the height sickness than other persons. This also means that if you never encountered this problem until now you can’t be sure that you won’t feel sick next time you take a trip by plane or climb a mountain.

How can this be avoided?

The best solution to avoid this sensation in the mountains is to climb slowly until you get to the destination, and to climb in such a way that the whole process is going to take at least a few days. In case of a plane flight, ask the advice of the physician about the medication you can take to stop the alternative of being plane sick.

It is extremely important to drink as much water as you can possibly drink to avoid deshidratation, a factor that can make the sensation of sick worse. A big quantity of water is lost when you are at low temperatures, but also when you are involved in activities that require a great effort, like winter sports.

Active partnership between parents and Kindergartens

Pre-school learning is an educative partner of the family. Here are some reasons that make kindergarten an extremely important educative factor:

it creates an environment adequate for children and it puts them in contact helping them become social assure a good debut for primary school is an environment of protection and passing time with pleasure

Form one kindergarten to the other there are differences regarding the closed and open space children dispose of, the didactic materials, the level of qualification of the teachers and their wish for doing the best they can. Any state or particular kindergarten that is authorized is obliged to offer a good learning process. From the managerial offer of the kindergarten or school, the parents have to find out what are the conditions of life and the environment of the unit, as well as the potential of the personnel.

Directly or indirectly, kindergarten teacher conduct the entire activity of the children. Part of the educative activity is done with the whole group of children, and part is done in stages, with one at a time or with little groups at a time.

The partnership between parents and teachers has to happen. The problems that can come up in such situations vary a lot. Children can come to the kindergarten and have trouble adapting, socially and intellectually both or esthetic and physical. The causes for these things can be discovered by the teachers and parents together. Both the parents of children with difficulties and the ones of children with a normal evolution must be contacted to settle educational programs that involve the family.

Parents can continue at home the educational games their children played in the kindergarten hours, so that the children gain confidence in their power and in the future they can have the initiative when giving answers or volunteering for a game.

The purpose of kindergarten is to make children become social persons, to prepare them for school and to allow them to have fun while they learn. They must be introduce to learning and classrooms at this age, or it will be harder for them be harder to adapt and maintain control once they start primary school.

What do you do to spend your time?

Time is the most precious value we have. Time is the greatest equalizer of human beings. If we don’t ant to admit his and to treat time with respect then we will only have to lose. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, healthy or sick, you will only have 24 hours a day either way, and you should try to use them wisely.

Most of the times, we waste our time and energy worrying and thinking about things like how to win more money and how to leave a better life. Well, when we do this we usually forget about the most important think – the time to live our life in. A wise man will always tell you: “You can always make more money, but you can never buy more time”.

How many times are we aware of the ways we invest our time? And the word “investment” is the most accurate because the way we choose to spend our time is a true investment in ourselves and our own lives. And you will never find the true value of time in the way people around you act and talk.

People usually spend time for hours in front of the TV, or they spent a lot of time browsing the net with no purpose whatsoever. Some of us even try to steal more time with the cost of many healthy sleep hours. If you wake up earlier in the morning just to smoke a few cigarettes and to fill your self up with coffee so you won’t feel sleepy it doesn’t mean you won quality time. Also, inefficient work or spending more hours at work that you have to is equal to borrowing your life to someone else.

Everyone always says things like: “I’m just counting the hours to go home” or “I wish it were Friday” on a Monday and so on. These are just signs that those persons usually waste their time. If you organize our time efficiently and if you choose to do only activities that motivate us somehow, then we will find ourselves able to work everyday without feeling tired or sleepy.

At any moment that you just let time pass by you think about what Romans said:”Carpe Diem” – it has a great meaning for our everyday life, it means “Live the day” or better said “Organize your day”. Make more time to analyze the way you invest or waste your time. And never forget that you can’t tell anything about tomorrow so “Carpe Diem!”

Ideas About Air Purifiers

Why should we bother with air purifiers? Many people are very good housekeepers and yet we hear and read about how the home environment in such bad conditions. So how can it be dirty and yet you spend time daily cleaning? One of the problems is today’s homes are such tight specifications what gets in can not get out. They are more energy efficient than 20 years ago but that also increases home pollution. You’re conserving energy but you’re polluting your home. Your strict cleaning routine may make the use of an air purifier even more important. This is because of the cleaning solutions and chemicals that you are using.

Here are some other reasons that your home may be polluted without an air purifier. The family pet is a very big source of home pollution since pet dander contains allergens. Having an air purifier in the rooms that the pets stay is very beneficial. If you allow them in your bedroom run an air purifier constantly and wash your bedding daily if possible. Vacuum several times a week and run your air purifier on high for several minutes after you get finished with the vacuum.

Forced air furnaces are also a culprit as they re-circulate dirt, often containing allergens from pet dander and other airborne pollutants. Changing the filters of whole house filters in the spring and fall is a must, and it is even better if you add electrostatic filters to them.

Continuous room fresheners are another source of home pollutants that an air purifier would be able to assist you with removing.

Tobacco is another very common pollutant that also has some severe health risks. If at all possible smokers should go outside. At the very least they should smoke in non key areas of the home.

Outside pollutants the have entered such as industrial discharged particles, gases, and other odor associated with industry. These pollutants have entered and have no way to escape so you are breathing them with each and every breath.

The type of home air purifiers that you use depends on which kinds of home pollutants you’re most worried about. Different air purifiers work on different types of pollutants. Some are better with removing air borne particles and others are better as absorbing odors, cleaning chemical smell and gases. Some of your high end air purifiers will do a equally good job with all types of indoor pollutants

Home air purifiers (particularly those with HEPA technology and activated carbon) can be of great assistance. By placing a high quality unit in your bedrooms and main living areas, your home will be as clean as it looks. It will also be healthier since the air purifiers have taken the majority of allergens out of the air you are breathing.

Thursday

Increase body temperature

We already know that your body temperature works and ticks like an internal clock controlling our sleeping cycles. Body temperature also controls the metabolism, circulation and other involuntary activities our body undertakes.

Variation in body temperature also indicates and induces the feeling of being awake or being tired.

Reduction in body temperature induces the feeling of lethargy, tiredness and drowsiness. Conversely, a rise in body temperature induces the feeling of alertness, feeling of being energetic resulting in better concentration levels.

The rise and fall of body temperature during the day should not be misinterpreted as the need to rest or sleep. This happens many a times during the day depending upon the body’s activity level at a given time.

When a human body is pushed for heavy physical activity, the body temperature automatically rises and drops slowly once the activity is stopped. This reduction of body temperature induces a feeling of tiredness or drowsiness.

When your body does intensive physical work during the day, you feel tired when you come back home and just want to sleep. This does not happen due to desire of sleep, but due to drop in body temperature, and the reaction of your body due to the drop in temperature.

If you let this phase pass and wait till your body temperature returns to normal, you will start feeling awake and alert again.

In order to recharge your physical energies, I would suggest, as a part of my Powerful Sleep Plan, to take a nap of 10 – 45 minutes during the day. This nap should be taken when you feel sleepy, that is when your body temperature has dropped as it will help in falling asleep. The nap should not be more than 45 minutes and should not enter deep sleep. Deep sleep will only induce further fall in body temperature.

When you wake from your Power Nap, you may feel drowsy and lethargic due to high melatonin levels. It is important to get your body back to normal temperature with the help of light physical movement and exposure to light.

It is understandable if you feel tired even when you lead a sedentary lifestyle. This does not mean you need more sleep, but means that you need more movement and less sleep. This happens due to frequent dropping of body temperature.

Tuesday

Learn More about Adware and Spyware

Adware is any software application software which makes banners appear the whole time it is in function. Also, the adware program can install components that will transmit information about the user and its behavior and this work on his PC. Unlike spyware programs, the user is asked when the program is being installed. Actually, an adware application is the application that, along with its basic functionality, has a different one, the one that makes it show commercials once in a while, downloaded periodically from certain internet servers.

Spyware is a program, usually downloaded from the internet, which sends information about the user without him knowing it, every time he connects to the internet. Usually, the packages sent contain marketing information and not confidential information, although some programs can do that too.

Even if some applications are both adware and spyware, this is not a generally true situation. Most of the times spyware applications have installed themselves and they are working without the user knowing it, opposing the adware applications that cannot be installed without the consent of the user.

For a long time quality and free software was installed and used for free but once the complexity of the programs became greater their costs have risen till the point the developers just had to find out methods to diminuate them. One of the easiest ways was delivering along with their programs application like adware and spyware. On the other hand, many commercial programs became usable freely and legally by passing the line to the adware category.

From the harmless intention of showing some commercials and till elements of analyzing and stocking information about the user and his software or hardware configuration the developers had to install on the target computer supplementary modules. If at the beginning it was only an engine that downloaded commercials and showed them in pre-calculated windows, the adware industry has evolved and grew a great bit since then. Now they use different instruments, from altering your browser and its settings and till launching background applications that monitor your PC activity.

Among the effects that follow installing spyware and adware are the next ones:

  • Adding links to various magazines
  • Adding new commercials on the web pages, sometimes replacing the existent ones
  • Monitoring browser behavior in commercial purposes.
  • Gaining access to passwords and credit cards.
  • Slowing down the computer.
  • In some cases they can call telephone numbers with high costs.
  • Changing the browser’s homepage in commercial purposes.
  • Strange icons and new software might appear on the desktop.
  • You can enter their online sites and try the services for free, then decide what to use.

Thursday

A Common Heritage

The United Sates of America and Australia have been friends and allies for many years, and the ties born of shared hardships in war and shared cultural history are strong indeed.

An interesting but perhaps not well known fact is that are some features of the two systems of government which are surprisingly similar. I am not referring to the democratic nature of our two systems, which is none-the-less true and something in which we both peoples can take pride.

I have in mind the structure of our elective legislatures, and in particular the influence that one (the U.S.) had on the other (Australia).

Both our nations had their origin as British colonies, or more correctly, groups of British colonies. In each case the groups of colonies came together to form a new nation based on a federal union of those colonies into a group of states making up one independent country. The United States was formed toward the end of the eighteenth century after the American Revolution. Australia was formed at the end of the nineteenth century by a more peaceful federation movement. By then the British had learned that we pesky colonials are best not messed with.

A major influence on Australian thinking during the federation debates in the late nineteenth century was the obvious success of the American Federal Republic. Many Australians at the time saw the American model as the one to follow. More conservative thinking prevailed, and the final structure of our parliamentary system of government largely copied that of the British parliament in Westminster. Australia does, however, have a House of Representatives and a Senate as the houses of its parliament. The Senate was originally planned as a states house, and has a fixed number of Senators elected from each state. The Senate, elected as a States House, was modeled on the American example. The role of the Australian Senate as a states house was taken so seriously that for the first sittings of the Australian Parliament, the Senators from Western Australia ignored their party allegiances and sat as a group representing their state. Today, the party allegiances do tend to prevail.

Some commentators in Australia have described the Australian system as the ‘Washminster’ system, so clearly can the influences of both The United States and Great Britain be seen.

Saturday

Do not you like your sofa?

You bought a couch that, in the store looks astonishing and you loved it. A special color, a soft and pleasant fabric… In one word, a good investment! But when bringing it a home you realize it just doesn’t fit, the color is too flashy, the carpet is not visible anymore and even the room looks darkened all of a sudden.

Don’t even think of throwing it away or of buying another one! You can get rid of the little imperfections and make your new piece of furniture earn its well-deserved place within the harmony of your house.

It is not such an uncommon problem as it might seem at first. Surely, in the sore, looking at the couch from an appreciable distance, you couldn’t tell it has a color that doesn’t work in your house. Now, after you actually see it brought here, from less then 2 feet, you that the color kinda aggresses you and your eyes even hurt a little …

The first thing you have to do is to change or to bring some harmony among the colors of the objects around the couch. you can paint the wall behind the couch in a tone of color a little bit lighter that its color, giving the couch this way a change of loosing itself in the scenery.

Also, you can use decorative pillows or some kind of covering to go on the couch and which have the same color as the couch does, only a little lighter. Thrown at random or carefully arranged, these will soften the sharp color that troubles you so much.

There are two ways to get a cover for the couch, you can either buy one or have one done and specially delivered for that trouble- full couch.

The specially made cover will confer a more clean and elegant aspect, being precise for your couch, done to your specifications. Plus, it will neither alter the line nor the shape of the couch, if anything, it will empower it. The only disadvantage is that the special made one will be more expensive that the one that can be bought, causing you to invest more money in “The Couch”…

Thursday

A Little More About Body Temperature

As you've learned, your body temperature is really an internal clock that keeps us awake and sleeping at certain times.

It's also extremely important to understand that the rise and drop of body temperature is a hint for our body to produce the feelings of being awake or being tired.

Whenever your body temperature begins to fall, you will feel tired, lethargic, and drowsier. Whenever your body temperature rises, you will feel more energetic, alert, and be able to focus better.

Don't mistake the fall of body temperature at certain times during the day as the need to sleep. Your body temperature may rise and drop several times in the day as a response to the activities you're doing at the time.

Whenever you put big physical demands on your body your body temperature will rise above the norm. As a response to any intensive physical activity, the body temperature drops for a while as soon as you stop the activity.

For example, if you work an 8 hour shift at a job that requires intense activity, one might feel totally drained and ready to fall asleep when you come home at around 4 PM. What you'll actually find is that this feeling of tiredness is not a sincere desire to sleep, but rather a response from your body due to the drop of body temperature.

If you resist sleeping at this moment and provide a “wind-down” period for your body after this period, body temperature will return to a normal and you will feel alert again.

In the Powerful Sleep plan I would suggest that you nap for 10-45 minutes during your day to physically recharge yourself, it's ideal to take this nap when you experience this body temperature drop as it will help you sleep. Always limit your naps to 45 minutes to avoid entering deep sleep.

After you wake up from your power nap it's normal to feel lethargic or drowsy, this is because your melatonin levels are higher. Get as much high intensity light as possible the moment you wake up, and make sure to MOVE your body to get your body temperature up and running again.

If you currently live a very sedentary lifestyle, your body temperature will drop very often when you're sitting around on your butt or watching TV, so if you feel tired during the day understand it’s not because you need more sleep. It's because you need LESS SLEEP and MORE MOVEMENT!

Dental Benefits Plan to Employees

Managed Care Dental Plans

Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans are plans in which the patient has to select a dentist from a list provided to him. These dentists have agreed to discount their fee by contract with the insurance company. Some PPO plans also allow patients treated by dentists outside their list, where the patient is penalized by excess co-payments and higher deductibles. PPO’s are normally less expensive than indemnity plans in their class.

Keep the following in mind while reviewing a PPO Dental Insurance Plan.

What is the percentage of the premium used for administration?
Will the discount influence patients to change their regular dentist? Will the amount of the discount the dentist ahs to offer affect the number of treatment options for the patient?
What is the liability of the employer in the event of the plan influencing dentist selection or treatment?
What are the criteria of selection of dentists for the plan? Does it have adequate number of dentists under contract? What is the geographic distribution of dentists? Does the PPO dental insurance plan provide for specialist referrals? If so, are the dentists limited to a specialist on the “list” only?
How does the plan provide for emergency treatment? If so then how does the plan provide for emergencies outside the geographical area?

Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO) or Capitation plans are designed in such a way that the patient does not have any financial payout when he goes for treatment. These plans pay the dentists on their “list” a fixed amount of money monthly per enrolled family or individual, regardless of visits. In return, the dentists provides specific types of treatment to the patients who visit him at no charge, any other types of treatments require co-payment. This way, the DHMO is rewarding dentists to keep patients in good health, thereby keeping the costs low. This kind of plan is one of the least expensive.

Factors to consider while reviewing a DHMO plan

  • What is the percentage of the premium used for administration?
  • Does the employer have access to enough information for him to determine the level and amount of treatment rendered to each of the employees?
  • What is the utilization percentage for patients in this plan? Average waiting period for an initial appointment and average period between appointments has to be given due consideration.
  • What is the dentist/patient ratio for the DHMO plan? What is the criterion of dentist selection in the program? What is the geographic distribution of dentists?
  • What percentage of dentists is selected for from those who applied to participate? How many dentists withdrew from the program in the recent past?
  • What is the rate of compensation for the dentists? Is it sufficient compensation for the needs of the covered patient population? What are the provisions made for dentists in the event of unforeseen utilization?
  • What are the benefits for patients needing a specialist's care? How are specialists selected and compensated? Does the plan have adequate specialists?
  • Does the program provide for any emergency treatment? If so, is it available outside the geographical area?

Fee-for-Service Dental Plans

Direct Reimbursement (DR) plan is a self-funded dental insurance benefit plan which reimburses patients on actual spent on dental care. It is not based on the type of treatment received. The patient has complete freedom in choosing the dentist. The employers are liable to pay a percentage of actual treatment cost, but they do not have to pay monthly premiums for employees who do not need the benefit. Moreover the employer is free of any responsibility to take decisions on mode of treatment due to previous plan selection or sponsorships. Direct Reimbursement Dental Insurance Plan is American Dental Association’s preferred method of dental coverage.

Wednesday

12 Commandments for Parents

In a child’s education an important factor is the parents’ expertise for this "job". No one is born holding all the knowledge, but we can learn and understand some things from books or advice from qualified persons.

Amongst the commandments a parent should strictly follow are the following:

1. Do not underestimate your childhe can understand more than you think he does and if you make him believe you think poorly of him this might affect his development.

2. Don’t use threat
a child loves a challenge and once threatened he might probably go on and do what he wasn’t suppose to just to see if he can escape the punishment.

3. Do not bribe your child
if you are trying to get him to learn for money for example, he will fail to understand the importance of learning, all he will get from this is the importance of money.

4. Do not make a small child promise something
small children can’t hold promises so don’t force them to lie and then punish them because they did that.

5. Do not keep them under a short leash
to grow up normally children need some space, some freedom.

6. Do not use big words or too many words when you are talking to your child
keep your ideas simple and concise so he can understand every thing you have to say.

7. Do not expect an immediate and blind obedience
it is not recommended, the child has to be learned to think for his own not to follow orders.

8. Do not indulge him too mush
he can develop compartmental disorders.

9. Do not compromise when it comes to the rules of a game
the trick for a game to become educative is too have its initial rules respected.

10. Don’t impose rules that don’t go with the age of your child.

11. Do not try to inflict quilt
quilt is not an appropriate feeling for children, especially if they are little.

12. Don’t give your child orders that you don’t take seriously
your child will try to please you and giving him an order is drastic, and it becomes cruel if that order is a joke.

All these "commandments" are addressed first to the parent. But they are to be referred to by teachers and educators as well. Along with the parents, they will settle upon an attitude and strategy for the education and growth of the child, so that they can give him all the things he needs to properly develop emotional and physically.

Monday

Advantages of Offering a Dental Insurance Employee

Important factors while finalizing on a Dental Insurance Plan

An employee has to ask himself the following before he finalizes on a plan:

Would the employees like to retain the freedom of choosing their own dentists?
Will the mode of treatment be determined by the patient and the dentist?
What type of routine and preventive dental care is covered? Does the plan cover braces, oral surgery, crowns and bridges, root canals and treatment of periodontal diseases?
Will the plan cover all diagnostic, preventive and emergency services? Including preventive services viz. sealants & fluoride treatments, which might result in financial savings to the patient in future? Does it provide for full-mouth x-rays?
What forms of major dental care is covered? Does the plan cover implants, dentures, or treatment for temporomandibular disorders?
Does the plan allow for specialist referrals? If so, has the dentist be limited to “the” list of specialists to choose form?
Does the plan provide for emergencies? What are the provisions made for emergency care when the patient is on tour?
What percentage of monthly premiums goes into actual care and not to administration?

Dental Insurance benefit coverage should be taken into consideration but should not be the deciding factor in choosing the treatment.

Thursday

A Garden for the Whole Family

You can have the most elaborated back yard from the entire neighborhood, but if it isn’t functional you have built it in vain. We all want to have beautiful and flourishing gardens, but when we have a family, we must also take into consideration the needs of the other members of it. Divide the space of your yard in two or three visual spaces, one for play and relaxation, one for gardening and maybe one for pets.

An open space, covered by lawn is ideal for your children. Here you can install a table for open air lunches or for a romantic summer evening dinner.

Do you have a fireplace? Keep a portion of your garden especially for depositing fire woods, but make sure it is at a considerable distance from the house or animals that can cause damage.

How about pets? You can build for these little members of your family special spaces, in which they can play and exercise. Before you plant bushes and ornamental plants, surround the pet space. Cats and dogs tend to be attracted exactly by the things we try to keep them away from.

Keep the by-passers’ eyes away from your personal life. Before planning the scenery, you must have in sight a place for the garbage cans. It wouldn’t be very nice to have a wonderful garden right next to the garbage cans. These can be efficiently hidden in some kind of surrounded space, decorated on the sides with life fence. Functionality is an important factor in your garden, so you have to think about children, little pets and family assets before you plant anything. Save a portion of the yard especially for you, in which you can plant whatever you want and leave for the others some space to breathe freely.

You will find it more satisfying this way, once the whole family is happy with your garden and they might even bring their personal ideas for it. It is important that personal space is respected and that is why the garden must not be very wide, taking up all available space. Build from time to time a pathway or some benches where you can just relax and admire your work.

Saturday

Dental Insurance Plan Models

There are numerous dental plans available. Basically they are of two kinds:

Managed care and Fee-for-service.

Managed care dental plans are restricted forms of dental insurance which aim at reducing costs and payouts. They tend to restrict the coverage by limiting the access to care by restrictions (by predefining dentist, specialist, hospital or treatments in form of lists) and restricting level, type and frequency of treatment (usually in form of clauses in the coverage policy).

Fee-for-service dental plans have a freedom of choice options where one can choose their own dentist and the fee is paid as fixed by the dentist

Wednesday

A city called Amsterdam

Amsterdam is also known to be a haven for hippies. It has moved since then to be a bigger economy and a successful cosmopolitan business centre. The hippie era was the 60’s and 70’s when Amsterdam got its name of hippie haven from free for all culture. Most people visualize this expired idea even today.

The new economy has brought prosperity all around evident from growing business zones and transformation of the general landscape surrounding ancient town houses and canals.

With about ¾ of a million of populace, the transformation of Amsterdam from a hippie haven to a buzzing business city is not yet complete. The culture of free thinking and collective living has not yet gone away. Only the free culture is not an offshoot of semi legal toxic and exotic plants, but a by product of successful economic growth today.

Today’s Amsterdam does not welcome the hippie youth that thinks getting high on hash is a part of the city’s culture but prefers youth that have a spending capacity. It’s not that one can’t smoke hash but Amsterdam has slowly transformed itself into a city where you can smoke hash and enjoy the city without a big damage to the pocket.

Amsterdam historically has been a major trading post during the colonial times, the reason why you will find scattered town houses around the otherwise neatly aligned canals. These were made by the then wealthy tradesmen. Today these houses mostly house smoke shops, exotic night life and a string of brothels. This historical irony has been taken in stride by the local populace and by a collective decision licensed the brothels and the sale of hash in licensed coffee shops. These are a major tourist attraction today.

It would be wrong to think that the locals are addicted or are always high on marijuana. They are busy planning and remodeling a few town houses into various centers of innovative business, they are busy biking around or tasting ethnic food or just relaxing watching life from the sidelines reading newspapers on a sidewalk café.

Amsterdam has its own charm that casts a spell when you see the 1200 odd bridges lighted up over 150 odd canals. The glory of Amsterdam charms you further when it emerges form the mist in the mornings. The days could not more perfect for a visitor when he visits the flower market that floats, Rembrandt Museum, Jewish Historical Museum and the obvious social joints like nightclubs, brown cafes etc.

English is most prevalent language of Amsterdam; it is spoken fluently by a major portion of the populace. The basic attitude of people here is very friendly and carefree, as much that one could chat up a local in course of one beer.

Each province of Netherlands has its own tourist organization strewn around with multi lingual attendants. These Associations for Foreign Travel, as they are called or in short VVV (fay-fay-fay), book accommodations, help making travel arrangements and keeps the visitor abreast with latest programmes. They also publish Amsterdam Day by Day, a monthly magazine stating programmes for the month for a mere $2.50.

Click here for discover Holland

Saturday

Brief Notes About Email Marketing

Staying competitive is very important in any business environment and this is more so relevant when applied to the world of internet marketing. Using the email marketing tool is a good start in the right direction. This style of direct marketing a message is both quick and effective when comparisons are made with other available platforms.

Reaching the target audience with email marketing strategies will provide several positive and beneficial liaisons. Some of these include enhancing the relationships of the merchant and customer pools, encouraging the customer loyalty and thereby effectively ensuring repeat business.

There is also the avenue to pursuing new customers this way as it creates the circumstances to reach the said customer base for the purpose of encouraging an immediate purchase.

Most individuals using this tool have found it to be very helpful in tracking the returns on investments and its often only second best to search marketing.

Having a substantial email list is very important to the success of any internet business venture. This is more so because most of the customer base begins through this portal. There all measures should be taken to ensure the subscribers list is long and beneficial to both parties.

In order to be able to constantly attract the attention needed to ensure a good percentage of subscribers there are several complimenting tools that can be used such as through blogs, forum postings, other lists, networking and many more.

The blogs should provide good and interesting information which should include some form of participation from the viewer to encourage a signup.

Forum posting are also another platform to explore as those who visit such sites already have a pre existing interest in the subject matter.

Therefore including links that direct them back to one’s site will be advantages in converting them into subscribers. Forwarded emails are also an excellent source of garnering potential subscribers as it gives a glimpse into the individual’s site.

Getting the business on a recognizable platform is important but doing it in a way that brings about the opposite results is detrimental to the success of the business.

IMPORTANT RESOURCE

Thursday

Started in Lending for 30 Years

It used to be the first choice of most borrowers, because since the total payments are spread over a longer period of time with the interest rate set for the entire time of the mortgage. 30 year home loan rates are an industry standard but is it the right choice for you?

The 30 year home loan is an industry standard, but is it the right choice for you? Because the total payments are spread over a longer period of time and the interest rate set for the entire time of the mortgage. This was the first choice of most home owners.

As we mentioned, the plus side for a 30 year home loan is lower monthly payments. This attraction is somewhat dimmed by the fact that you pay thousands extra in interest. But, your interest is 100% tax deductible which does lower your after tax cost. It offers you some flexibility so that if your financial situation changes and you have more money you can pay it off in less than 30 years, this while keeping the low monthly payments. Your payments are smaller so in reality you can purchase a larger roomier home.

To show an example of the interest difference between 30 year home loan rates and one of the other rates. On a 30 year, 100,000 dollar loan using 7% interest rate your monthly payment of interest and principle would be $665.30 dollars. Over the next 30 years you will have paid $139,511.04 in interest alone. Now with a 15 year home loan rate on the same amount you will pay $871.11 per month and over the next 15 years, you would pay $56,799 in interest. This would save you $82,712 dollars.

If you have the will power to invest the savings from the monthly payments, it still could be a good choice to go with the 30 year mortgage. Especially if you can find an investment that the long term payoff matches or exceeds what you would save in a 15 year mortgage. Another factor to consider is how fast you want to accrue equity in your home or to own it out right. 30 year home loan rates take much longer to build equity.

30 year home loan rates are certainly attractive and the vast majority of home buyers get 30-year loans because that is the longest home loan available today. Experts agree if they could get a 35- or 40-year loan, they probably would. There are many other options to consider. Probably the biggest question you have to ask yourself when considering a loan is what are your financial goals? What loan plan will help you the most to reach that goal? It is clearly to your advantage to look into other loan options for the best loan available for you and your financial goals. It may surprise you that because of your personal situation there may be other plans more suitable for you.

Wednesday

The Advantages of Offering a Dental Insurance Employee

A Dental insurance or dental benefit plan is viewed upon as a much sought after employee benefit. So financially it makes sense to have a dental benefit plan in place to recruit and retain employees. Moreover, dental health is a very important part of overall employee health and man days lost due to dental problems or dental discomfort of an employee equates to financial loss for the employer.

Unlike most medical conditions, dental maladies and treatments are low risk, predictable and low cost. These factors contribute to offering dental insurance to employees a good option financially. Dental diseases are preventable by maintenance and often involve only maintenance costs like x-rays and examinations. Treatment is rendered cheap due to diagnosis in early stages of the disease. Keeping these financial factors in mind, dental insurance options can also be self funded. History does not show any extremes in costs or utilization of this form of employee benefit.

Selecting the right Dental Insurance Plan

Selecting the right dental plan involves a lot of factors which have to be considered with due care.

Dental insurance plans are basically agreements between the employer and the insurance company. Most plans offered by dental insurance companies allow for part reimbursement of dental treatment expenses. Many plans also discourage certain kind of treatments or allow access to certain of dentists. To consider these points one has to go through the plan very carefully with a toothcomb. For example choosing a dentist is not same as choosing a dentist from “the list”, or if the plan does not cover one kind of treatment, it is wrong to infer that your regular dentist is incompetent.

Many plans do not cover pre existing conditions. Some may not cover implants and so on. Due to these preconditions, the final treatment may be paid for in part only or in insurance parlance you might be reimbursed for LEAT (Lease Expensive Alternative Treatment). Dental insurance plans vary in fixing the UCR (usual, customary, and reasonable) in a certain geographical area. UCR may vary from plan to plan and company to company despite operating in the same area. Therefore fixation of this UCR level would define the liability of the patient. In some plans the patient may have to pay more and in some he may have to pay less depends upon the plan the employer has offered.

Thursday

Put a fireplace in an Apartment

We sometimes think that we cannot realize everything we want in such a limited space, referring to an apartment, might it be a block apartment or a villa apartment. But either way we can adapt the already existent dimensions or we will think in such a manner that we will create the space we need to bring in a new piece of furniture that we really want or maybe make some mounted bookshelves on one wall of the room.

You can even place a fireplace, an object that usually takes up a lot of space and requires unwanted modifications.

A fireplace can be placed in a corner of a room and it could be, for design’s sake, linked with some mounted bookshelves that can total a real bookcase.

Depending on the dimensions of our room, we will make a design sketch for the wanted fireplace and for the bookshelves made out of wood or wood-like materials that will be chosen accordingly to the objects that are already situated in the room or accordingly to the material the fireplace will be build from (I mean the material the fireplace has on the surface, not the one it is actually made of). If we have a tall room then we can build a tall fireplace. In the case it will grow a lot up or on the contrary, grow horizontally quite a bit, we will have to keep in mind ventilation. In an apartment we might have to use the common ventilation system unless we are on the top floor. To deal with this aspect you will have to bring a specialist and let him do the calculations and plans needed.

We can think of the fireplace creatively. Why not designing it as a multitude of stairs that will serve as support for different object we can find around the room? Or we can create spaces to store fire wood that will have just a decorative purpose in a block apartment where the fire can be made using gas. But they will bring the rustic image closer to you and will provide the room with infinite connotations.

Advertise with Articles

A very efficient method to advertise your professional services, the products you are selling or simply to help you find a better job is writing targeted articles.

These articles that enclose at the end a short presentation of you or your business can be about various solution to actual problems, about everyday life ect. There are many sites to which you can submit these articles to, or if you have a database of your customers’ emails, just drop them an email containing the article and a link to your personal site or professional site.

The articles can generally be copied from one article submission site to the other as long as the content belongs to you and you are not stealing someone else’s work. The only condition is that they must keep their original form, no altering, along with your presentation. This means actually more visibly and it is exactly what you need.

The more interesting the article is, the more people will read and remember it. Even if you don’t have experience with writing, there are some aspects that can make you try it:

Writing a technical article puts order in your ideas. You will have to coherent and state clear ideas and proper explanations.

  • It will make you improve the way you speak.
  • It will bring you visibility.
  • If it’s written well it will surely help someone.

You can prove your knowledge in your professional areas this way.

Publishing articles means they have to contains mostly useful information and just a little bit of advertising. If they don’t follow this rule, you might end up with an un-publishable article, which you can only put on your homepage.

There are other things you could do with articles if you are willing to spend some money. There are different publicity sites, ranked high in search engines that for a fee will publish your article on their site for a limited period of time. The fee is not high usually, and you get much more visibility this way. But if this choice is the one that appeals to you the most, you must make sure the article is really good, so good that it can compete with all the other articles on that site. The user can see them all at the same time and you must think of ways to make him choose to read yours. If you have tried and you are not confident you can do it on your own, you can always hire a professional.

Don't Miss This Tool: article marketing robot

All you need to know about the Xbox 360

Microsoft now introduces the next generation games console “Xbox 360”; fusing games, entertainment, community, information and innovation all together. It will be launching it this November in Europe, Japan, and North America. Xbox 360 is a video game system that places you at the center of the entertainment experience.

San Francisco and Japan joined hand to craft a stylish system that conveys the very essence of Xbox 360; while wrapping powerful technology in a sophisticated exterior. The Xbox 360 has changed the looks and sounds of games. With Xbox 360, marathon worlds are alive with detail. Animated characters displaying depth of emotions bringing more exciting responses and introducing you with a new and unique experience. All Xbox 360 is label at 720p and 1080i resolution in 16:9 widescreen for smooth, movie-like graphics and multi-channel enclose sound.

The Xbox 360 takes you to an incredible world of entertainment. The Xbox 360 has the most dazzling games and the most powerful as well as intelligent technology. It gives you access to the most compelling games you want to play, people of your choice to play with, watching and enjoying digital music, photos, videos and all the experiences you ever longed for. It fully engages you in an extensive, dramatic, and lifelike gaming experience where no boundaries to the possibilities and imagination are. The Xbox 360 proves that the next generation is here as its games can be experienced in HD, Also you can stream HD television and movies straight from your Windows Media Center Edition PC to your Xbox 360.

The Xbox 360 lets you personalize your own unique system and experience. You can change the appearance of your console by interchangeable Xbox 360 Faces; it's easy and fun to do. Switch on your system to download character skins, premium levels, and more in the Xbox Live Marketplace to customize the look and feel of the Xbox Gamer Guide and Xbox System Guide with unique skins. From sleek and sophisticated to fun and funky, pick the faces and skins that explain your personality or mood.

The Xbox Gamer Guide, available at a touch of the Xbox Guide Button is your instant gateway that connects you to games, friends, music, movies, and downloadable stuff. The glowing Ring of Light and Xbox Guide Button visually connect you to your games, digital media, and the world of Xbox Live, the first global, unified online console games service. In addition, the Xbox Guide Button lets you turn the system on and off without ever leaving it.

Plug your Xbox 360 into the broadband connection and get instant access to Xbox Live Silver.

Build your profile, your gamer card and your gamer tag; talk with others using voice chat, and access Xbox Live Marketplace without any extra cost. You can also experience the exciting world of multiplayer online gaming where you can play who you want with Intelligent Matchmaking by upgrade to Xbox Live Gold. It provides access to an vast selection of games, video chat and video messaging.

XBox 360 Guides

Sunday

A Special Valentine's Night

Valentine’s Day isn’t all about giving presents, kisses and making love declarations. In order to be somewhat more effective there has to be created a romantic atmosphere everywhere the lovers will go. And especially when the evening comes and a romantic dinner just has to take place. You have to prepare early and let your imagination go wild. And this is all so you two will be able to express freely on Valentine’s Day.

What is the thing you need the most to create the desired effects?

Candles … Lots of them … Of different colors and dimensions … The predominant color has to be red, the color that is considered to be the color of love. They can be placed anywhere in the room: near the windows so their light would seem to come from out there somewhere, on the nightstands, on the desk and in every other corner of your room.

It’s going to be a long dinner and a long evening, so the candles will have to burn a long time. Pick candles in small bowls or if you choose bigger bowls you can let them burn without any worries: they will burn but nothing else will catch fire around them. If you can’t agree with candles, pick then some scarves to throw over the light sources. They have to be colored, preferably red, but they can also come in the color you both like. Keep in mind that the material they are made of must not have plastic fibers in it so that it won’t heat and you can eat your dinner without having to worry about them. If scarves are chosen, the light will be softer and the room invaded with many effects.

Don’t forget the aromatherapy bowls and the perfumed sticks. Your loved one will appreciate if you will use his or hers favorite scent. If you like more the perfume of fresh flowers, pick a discreet bouquet of your favorite ones and place them somewhere around.

Keep in mind that dinner must be something you both like and has to last longer. So, pick different food types and a desert that seems appropriate. The desert would have to have some hearts or cupids design on it if possible. If you don’t cook, order food early and make sure it gets delivered right on time.