Winter Travel Thoughts

I know that wintertime isn't the best time to be traveling around the country, but actually it can be. One of the secrets to effective sightseeing is to plan as much out as possible in the fewest locations. Larger, noteworthy cities would be what I deem as 'fewest locations'. Virtually every major city in the United States has it's more than fair share of sights to be seen and experiences to be had and that's where 'effective combinations' become strategic to a fun and entertaining visit. Effective combinations would be a form of grouping. You group several points of interest in a given geographical area such as Times Square in New York or Faneuil Hall in Boston to Chinatown in San Francisco. Don't try to do everything at once and you'll have a relaxing time, if you don't included to city stress in all major cities. It will be important to acquire lodgings in a central zone whether it's a Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, or New York City. Try not to go on the cheap as you may end up in a not so pleasant area of the city that you must travel in and out of. Public transportation is available in virtually all major cities as well as underground subway trains in some of the older, more historic cities. Happy wandering!

Diet Pill Effectiveness Concerns

I live in Florida so I can't say I have a winter weight gain that will magically fall away with the advent of spring. Fat chance of that, no pun intended! We folk in the warmer southern states have no excuses like the northern folk do. Does it help my case to say that I spent the majority of my life in Massachusetts? Hmmm, didn't think so, tough crowd here. There are lots of television ads with svelte, lithe young bodies saying that their Brand X product is the product to end all products, until I saw one of these youngsters pitching another pill later that month saying the same thing. What are the best diet pills? I personally have no idea. There are many research companies out there that are indeed making big strides to offset our gaping appetites, along with the hacks! I have to say it because it's too true. The garbage companies out for a fast buck make the legitimate companies look the same to us. It's up to you to do your homework and look into the data stated. Also let it be known that these products that are OTC cannot, and will not, replace a normal diet required to sustain life. Maybe your doctor has something that kind of does but to lose weight effectively you must first use your brain, you need to eat and pills won't change that. If you don't supplement your body's needs you will get ill and could potentially die if not treated. Take your weight reductions a little at a time for long term effect and eat nutritionally as well as getting your fat butt outside and take a walk or a bike ride or something else aerobic, weight training helps to reduce even quicker as well. Muscle building/toning increases metabolism which EATS FAT! A final word about losing weight. People will tell you how good you are looking when loss is gradual but if done too fast they will ask you if you are ill, if they mention it at all.

What's Hot and What's Hotter - For Sale that is!

Some of the best Hot items for sales these days are also an unfortunate by product of the economy - homes. Not just homes however but foreclosed and walk away homes. People that can no longer afford their homes have made a paradise for those with capital to invest for the future real estate market. The will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, harvest sweet fruit from their investment tree. That was a half baked analogy, sorry. The rest of us who are still working and paying our bills on time are happy they are able to do so right now, I know I am.

This brings me to another subject and the second topic - Hotter items for sale! Many companies have gone 'belly up' and only the strong foundation companies are pushing through to stand the test of time. To do this they have become VERY competitive in their pricing, especially with electronics! Those that have some extra cash to spend are in a unique position to take advantage of huge discounts on items that, I know for me, were beyond approach due to high prices. Digital this, plasma that, and LCD for all! They are now affordable while the competition is still fierce. If you have the financial ability and have the desire there is no better time than now for that dream purchase. You still have time to pick and choose. The weak companies are well known and the strong ones are still going because they know what you want and they're willing to bend with the wind in these financial times we live in. Don't forget the popcorn!

More Thoughts on the Job Market

I always have a few thoughts regarding the job market and what, if any, directions there may be down the road. Okay, that's enough 'philosofizing' on the merits of careful job selection and opinions thereof. There are certain jobs that are always present regardless of the economics times, office help. The office workers are the last to go when a company is in distress and the first to be hired when a company starts up. Why? You have to have personnel for hiring, accountants for the books and funds distribution (ie: coffee for break-room, uniforms for workers, new hire training, etc.). It's the admin jobs that keep every company afloat that is in business because it frees up the sales and marketing and R&D, etc to do their 'thing' and bring in revenue for the admin ppl to allocated out for expenses, payroll, advertising, etc. Have you gotten my point yet? Learn the skills necessary to be an excellent admin support professional and you will have access to many, many companies to work for. Good Luck and Happy Job Hunting!

Friday the 13th rears it's ugly head!

I told my wife this morning that Friday the 13th was just the day between the 12th and 14th only. Wouldn't you know it but somethings just have to happen and it had to be today. You've read about my tree falling on the pool enclosure here and it's actually going to be finally repaired by next Wednesday. That would be six days too late, I'm afraid. Last night a raccoon, I believe, got into the pool area through the break and feasted on all 6 of the pond fish. The area around the pool looked like a slaughter fest had taken place. My mother in law was quite upset at the carnage on the deck. I figured it was time to go to the pet supplies resources and begin to recreate the pond habitat. Fortunately, I never disassembled the aquarium in the house and had kept it running for esthetic reasons, it looked nice. What worked in my benefit was that the (good) bacteria had plenty of time to establish itself and I could start replacing fish sooner. I just replaced the old filter and added some new fish. The pond, when the fish are bigger and screened in, may be a bit cramped since I bought some fish and she also bought some fish. We now have 6 fish that will grow to 6" and 1 that will get up to 24" (Koi). It will be like when Roy Scheider told Robert Shaw when he saw the shark, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat"!

How about another business idea?

I saw the writing on the wall at Walmart and other places like 7-11, Target, Home Depot, etc. What did I see years ago and now? Cards, lots of cards. Cards at the registers and cards in the departments. What kind of cards? Gift cards of course, but you already guessed that by now. Why do companies go ga-ga over gift cards? That's easy and somewhat complex all at the same time. From an accounting/sales point of view when you purchase (load) a card the company recognizes an immediate sale for that amount. Great for the retailer! It's win win for the retailer but maybe not so dreamy for the consumer. There are some important things to keep in mind when buying them. First, always keep the receipt, you'll need this in case you happen to lose the card. Get to the store right away to suspend the misplaced card and get a new one issued. Secondly, if you wait too long to go back to the store ANYONE who picks up the card can use it, ANYONE! A no balance card cannot be suspended, your loss. Third, convenience. Most gift cards can be reloaded indefinitely so you always have access to shopping or if you have a child who's a student living away from home you can load an allowance for them into it remotely from a different store with the card number. Small shops and big corporations are now relying more and more on the gift card to provide a renewable source of sales for them all the while utilizing many unique and trendy card designs with lots of eye appeal. The last thing I want to mention is the 'I forgot' factor. Companies are realizing sales beyond actual sales due to consumers losing or forgetting about cards they posses which leaves the company with extra revenue due to non-utilized cards. So remember to keep the cards handy, when used just jot down the new balance on the back of the card, and make sure you use it all up. After all, it's already paid for so get your money's worth!

On to other yard 'stuff'!

Okay, the tree is now history and I've contracted a company to make the screen pool enclosure 'like new' again, even though it hasn't been 'new' for quite some time. The important thing is that I've gotten a lot of yard work out of the way, courtesy mainly from my mother in law. The yard is somewhat semi-dead from the very cold weather that has blown in form Canada into Florida (who'd have ever thought that would happen)and it became a great time to remove excesses in some of the plants. The yard actually looks bigger than it has since we bought the place 8 years ago. The newest issue has arisen, privacy that was once a naturally occurring thing with the trees is now gone and we aren't as svelt looking in bathing suits as years gone by, so it's time to consider getting a fence. This is especially important for one side of the yard as the neighbor rents his house to other Brits that wants to visit the U.S. and Disney World, and we don't want to be on permanent display to a steady stream of strangers.

We did some homework online and at the home stores and narrowed the selection to aluminum, PVC(vinyl), wood, chain link, steel, wrought iron, and bamboo. We rejected chain link, steel, and wrought iron because of the commercial look and the lack of privacy (I won't use those slats in a chain link fence-yuck). The aluminum would be a bit noisy when branches hit them so that's out too. Bamboo? Not in hurricane country even though I do like bamboo. That leaves wood and PVC. I know the summer sun here can damage both wood and PVC over the years but PVC won't rot and a quick pressure wash makes it nice again. That would mean we have a winner, folks! PVC is the winner by logical selection. Now that I know the material I'll be acquiring I just need a pvc fence installation company to complete the picture. I'll let the Internet do the work for me here because I can search for insured, bonded companies just in case something happens on-site as well as get referrals and any BBB issues that may be floating around that the yellow pages won't tell me about. I almost hired a company that was described in glowing terms in an ad but a quick Internet check revealed lots of things that I don't want to get involved in with them. Do a little homework and you could save money and headaches as well.

Do as much as you can for FREE to get necessary things done.

The stock market went down again today to just under 8000. This morning it was up but I stopped getting my hopes up about morning trends a long time ago. I've resorted to doing as many things as I can on the cheap or the very, very cheap(free). I'm talking about employment opportunities, health insurance, car insurance, gas prices, etc. I could go on and on and you know I could because there are so many things that the Internet can provide. Just about all of the things I listed here are free for the asking, information that is. If your looking for a job there are sites like that Career-Builder site and Yahoo jobs. Maybe it's automobile, life, health, or dental insurance and you want some free insurance quotes, they're all there for the taking! Do you need to find a 'good' inexpensive place to get your car painted? It's there! How about new screens for the porch. Yup, you guessed it, there! Sometimes it's all in the way you ask the Internet for what you want but there are many sites that will consolidate your searches by combining many types of services under one roof, per se. Don't pick up the phone and call the first place you see in the yellow pages, do some free homework and you may just end up saving enough money to do something nice for yourself, or better yet - someone special!

I went to the Home Show last weekend.

That's right, I went to the ever popular and yearly touted Home Show! What a hoot! I saw things for my house that that bruised my arm in four places while there. Bruised my arm you say? Well, the bruises were from my wife trying to drag me away from the expensive 'upgrades' they were presenting and she had to pull pretty hard at times, the stuff was so cool! We grabbed our ever popular plastic promotional bags at the door to stuff all our free goodies into as well as the product information we had to take at the same time from the various vendors who were there presenting these fabulous products that I never knew I needed so much! We got the usual sponges and cleaning samples, I even got a piece of wood floor to lay against my linoleum at home. This year was different however. This was the year of the promotional pens! I love these things because it saves me from buying pens and most of them are really cool looking. I have people at work asking me where I got my pens and they want to play with some of them because they either had a weird sound or lit up. It is a good way to get your name spread around I guess because everybody would read them while they played with them, without even thinking about it. Subliminal? No, I don't think so. However, when you continue to see a name over and over again you do tend to remember it. I did find some pretty cool garden equipment while I was there (that was two fingerprint bruises worth of looking) including some gear driven loppers for the yard. I have the old type you have to muscle in odd positions to cut where these will torque down on the branches with less odd movement that will usually become an Advil popping weekend. I think my loppers are about to break, how sad, now I'll have to buy a replacement!

Opportunities abound in the franchise sales arena.

The rise in workplace dissatisfaction is hitting an all time high in the working world. The working world is different from the "I don't want to work" and the "I don't need to work" worlds. Those worlds are for the .....well, I don't know what they're for, I'm just concerned about the world of working that I and millions of others are held to in the quest for the paycheck. Last time I wrote a story about a franchise, specifically Subway, and the opportunities that owning your own business constitute. I just never realized how many 'big names' there were that franchise their names, whether they are long established or definite up and comers. Did I mention that most of them are not food oriented? You can get travel, cleaning, at home, children's and automotive buy-ins as well and there are more than this available. Be aware that these opportunities do require a buy-in, which you'll usually earn right back when your up and running. I believe the key to franchising successfully is to get into something you know you will enjoy or have an affinity towards. Never get into something that you may be unsure of or think it will run itself because there may be times when you need to be at the helm full time and you better like it or you may not succeed. Be smart in order to be successful!