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Next to rent or mortgage payments, childcare often ranks as the second-highest expenditure in a household budget. Working couples can pay a whopping 10-20% of their incomes on childcare while their children are small. Seeing the high cost needed to be expensed for their children childcare, some couples decided to take a better financial sense for one parent to take a few years off to stay home with the baby.

But a little inventive planning can save you money without compromising the quality of care and the government does offer several tax breaks to families with children. This article will outline helpful hints for parent’s references:

Pay with pre-tax dollars

You can significantly cut the cost of childcare by paying with pre-tax dollars. Many employers offer flexible spending accounts. Check with your employer to see if this is available. Flexible spending account allows you to set aside pretax dollars to pay for licensed dependent care services.

Take the childcare credit on your tax return

The government offers a tax credit that you can subtract from your tax bill at the end of the year. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to use both the childcare tax break and the child tax credit.

Enroll into childcare subsidies program

See if you qualify for childcare subsidies and programs at local, state, and federal government levels. Depending on your income, you may be eligible.

Share the childcare cost with other parents

Consider sharing childcare with a close friend, neighbor, relative or coworker. You can save money by sharing the costs of a babysitter or nanny. Be sure to plan well and meet with everyone before the first day of childcare to make sure instructions and expectations are clear.

You can organize a babysitting co-op or playgroup with other parents whose children are close in age to your child. Swapping childcare is one of the most cost-effective ways to free up time for yourself while your youngster can enjoy playtime with friends.

Work out flexible scheduling with your employer

Ask your employer about the possibility of flexible working scheduling. If you get the approval of flexible working schedule, you could share responsibilities with your spouse or partner; this will alleviate the need for expensive daycare cost.

Reducing Your Children’s Spending The best way to reduce the cost of the things that children want is simply not to buy them. By trying to instill healthy money habits and attitudes from the time children are very young, you will be able to save a great deal of money in the long run.

The more time you spend teaching young children good money habits and discouraging them from wanting needless things, the lower the financial impact their teen years will have on your family budget.

Summary

Childcare cost is an expensive expenditure of household budget, it worth to put your effort in working a good financial planning to down the childcare cost without compromising the quality of care. Cost effective childcare may mean a happier solution for you, your child and your piggy bank.

Cornie Herring is the Author from http://www.StudyKiosk.com. “StudyKiosk-Credit Basics” is an informational website on credit basics, mortgage and personal finance.

With the high cost of a college education, no one wants to pay more than they must. Yet thousands of families pay too much for college every year because they don’t understand the basics of financial aid and don’t know the right questions to ask. So let’s learn the basics and then what questions to ask.

Basics Part I

There are three types of financial aid for college: grants or scholarships, loans and work-study.

Grants and scholarships are free money that you do not need to pay back.

Most grants and scholarships come from the federal and state government or from the individual college.

Loans need to be paid back after college.

There are many loan programs available from the federal and state government. Most of these loans have fairly low interest rates. There are also private loans available although these generally have a higher interest rate.

Work-study is a job offered on the campus of the college.

Basics Part II

Need based aid vs Merit based aid

Need based aid is given by all colleges to students who have need. Anyone who can’t pay the full cost of the college has need.

A form called the Free Application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA) determines the amount of need for federal grants and scholarships. Many highly selective colleges also require a form known as the Profile form The FAFSA form is filled out after January 1 of the year the student will first attend college.

The FAFSA and Profile forms ask questions about the income of the parents and student using information that you gave on your tax returns. These forms also ask questions about the amount of money you have in savings or investments. The Profile form is more detailed than the FAFSA form. Once these forms are completed the government uses the FAFSA form to determine how much your family can pay for college. This is your expected family contribution or your EFC. Your EFC is the same regardless of the cost of the college. Similarly the individual colleges who use the Profile use that form to determine what your family can pay for college.

Your need is the cost of the college you are looking at minus your EFC. For example, if you are looking at a college that costs $20,000 a year and your EFC is $5,000, your need at that college is $15,000. If you are looking at a college that costs $40,000 a year your EFC is still $5,000. Your need at this college is $35,000.

Merit-based aid includes scholarships typically for students who have good grades or have some other special talent such as athletic or musical talent. Most highly selective colleges offer little or no merit-based aid.

Finally, in looking at colleges you should ignore the cost of the college. Yes, you read that right. Ignore the stated cost of the college when you are first deciding which colleges to investigate further. You will see why later in this article.

So now you know the basics. Now comes the fun part: How to save money by asking the right questions.

Questions to ask the colleges

Question 1- What percent of my need do you meet?

Remember that EFC, or expected family contribution that the FAFSA determined? Some colleges will meet 100% of your need. Need again is defined as the cost of the college minus your EFC. So what does it mean if a college says they will meet 100% of your need? It means that once the FAFSA or Profile form has determined how much you can pay for college, the college will pay 100% of the rest of the bill.

Colleges will typically meet the need you have using a combination of grants, loans and work study. Most colleges will award work study and loans first and if there is a need after that, the remaining need will be supplied by grants. The colleges will typically have a standard loan and work study amount that they award and you should ask about what these numbers are when investigating the college.

Let’s see an example of a financial aid award from a college that provides 100% of need with a student who has an EFC of $5,000.

Total cost of college $40,000

Expected family contribution $ 5,000

Need $35,000

Financial aid award

Work study $ 2,000

Loans $ 4,000

Grants $29,000

At a college that meets 100% of your need you pay $5,000.

But what happens if the college doesn’t meet 100% of need? Many less selective colleges don’t pay the total amount of need that their students have. Let’s use the example of our imaginary college from above only this time assume that the school only provides 90% of need.

Total cost of college $40,000

Families expected contribution $ 5,000

Need $35,000

This college only provides 90% of the $35,000 need or $31,500. Thus, your out of pocket expenses are the $5,000 EFC plus an additional $3,500 for a total cost of $8,500.

This example makes it easy to see why a school that meets 100% of need is often a better financial aid deal than a school who doesn’t meet all of the families need.

Many of the most expensive private colleges meet 100% of the students need while cheaper public colleges usually meet less than 100% of the need. This means that for many students it can be cheaper to go to an expensive private college than to attend a cheaper state school. Until you know what percent of need the college meets, don’t eliminate a college from consideration just because it is expensive.

Question 2- Do you have merit based aid?

Many colleges that don’t meet 100% of a students need do offer scholarships for some students. If your student is near the top of the application pool for a less selective college they may get some money if they qualify for merit based aid. Thus, in some cases, if the student is willing to look at a less selective college, they may get a better financial aid package. Here are some questions you should ask if the college provides merit aid.

How many merit awards are available?

What is the value of the merit awards available?

What are the qualifications to receive one of these merit awards?

This works even for families that don’t qualify for need based aid at all. If your student can qualify for a merit based award you won’t need to pay the full stated cost of the college.

Question 3- How is financial aid determined after the first year?

Some colleges have a policy of providing good financial aid for the first year and then substantially reducing the grant aid in the following years while increasing the loans. You should ask the college in which you are interested how they determine financial aid after the first year and what the average loan is after the first year. While it is typical that the amount of loans will increase each year if the increase is substantial you will want to take that into consideration.

Question 4- What is the average loan amount at graduation of those students who have loans? This question will give you the best indication of the amount of loans that this college requires compared to other colleges in which you may be interested. Although most students will have some loans when they graduate, you don’t want this amount to be any more than necessary.

Question 5- What is your policy regarding outside scholarships?

Most colleges will subtract money earned in outside scholarships from your financial aid package. Some colleges will reduce the loan burden by the amount of the scholarship, but other colleges will reduce your grant money. If the college reduces the amount of loans you have to take out that is a benefit to you. There is no benefit to you if the college reduces the grant aid.

Question 6- What is your packaging policy?

Most colleges give a financial aid package that includes grant money, loans and work study. But each college combines this money differently. Specifically you want to know:

What percentage of an aid package from your college is grant vs. self-help (loans, work study)?

The greater amount of grants versus loans and work study the better for the student.

Do you have a preferential packaging policy?

Preferential packaging occurs when a college gives a better financial aid package to a student with a stronger academic profile than to another student with the same financial need but with less academic credentials.

Question 7- What is your four year graduation rate?

What difference does a college’s four year graduation rate make? This is an important question that many people never consider. Another way to phrase this is, How many years of college am I going to have to pay for? If the college has a high four year graduation rate, you will most likely only have to pay for four years of college. However, if the college graduates most students in six years then you can plan on paying for six years of college, not four.

Conclusion

Now that you know something about financial aid, including the questions to ask each college you are considering, you can make an informed decision in paying for a college education and hopefully also save some money.

Todd Johnson, a lawyer and college consultant, is the principal college admission consultant for College Admissions Partners. Todd provides personalized service to help students and families through the complete college admissions and financial aid process. He can be reached through the website College Admissions Partners

Some people just love eating and some people just love cooking; but when it comes to cooking and eating outside most people say, hey, I love it.

So lets get to it.  Summer will soon be upon us and the outdoor season beckons. Its now the ideal time to think about those barbecues you’ll be having. Whether those meals will be on the patio or in the outback its now the time to ensure that you’ve got all your outdoor cooking equipment to hand and that you’ve got a good idea about how best to go about things.

There’s many that will argue, including me, that nothing tastes better than food cooked outdoors! Don’t you just love the aroma when cooking outdoors, the smells seems to just waft around as the food cooks and this makes everyone hungry. How is it that the food cooked outdoors always seems to smell so much nicer than when its cooked indoors?

Cooking outdoors comes in many guises. You and your family may prefer to use wood or charcoal because of those wonderful flavors that come from the charcoal and the smoke; or, you may prefer the cleanliness, control and  convenience of cooking with propane gas.  Whatever you prefer the market is now awash with great outdoor cooking equipment to make your cooking experience enjoyable and the results fabulous.

Now when it comes to choosing your outdoor cooking equipment a little thought is necessary as you can easily miss a trick or two and fall short when the time comes to perform!  So, here are 20 great tips to help you make the right decisions when planning this season’s outdoor cooking:

1. Firstly you must decide will it be gas or charcoal; don’t fudge this one as its important; if you want ease and convenience go for gas grills; if you don’t mind a little extra trouble & time and your family loves the flavors that are picked up from the smoke then go for charcoal;
2. If you go for charcoal always start the fire naturally, never use lighter fuels; let me say that again, never use lighter fuels! Why? Because no matter how long it is before you bring your food to the grill you’ll pick up those chemical smells…Yuk!;
3. Ask yourself, are you making an investment for the future of just for the coming summer season; because thats how long cheap ’stuff’ is going to last!  I recommend making an investment in the future, therefore go for quality; as you know in your heart, you pay for what you get! Don’t go cheap if you can afford better; for example: stainless steel looks better and lasts longer than aluminum and cleans up much better and easier; although it has to be said heat distributes more evenly and quickly with aluminum so the arguments are not always so clear cut; portable pick up and go grills are going to be great for tailgating and impromtu stops but they’ll be a disappointment on the patio when cooking for a group of  friends & family;
4. There are many styles & sizes of outdoor grills, picking the right one to meet your needs and of course your budget is important, but remember that quality counts; you don’t want to be regretting your purchase half way through the summer! Go for the best you can.
5. Think about where you’re going to be doing your cooking and buy your kit appropriately. Ask yourself, will we be cooking on the patio, or will you be tailgating or then again will we be going outback; this makes a big difference to your choice of kit; indeed you may decide that you need quite separate cooking equipment for the patio as opposed to when you’re getting out and about. Gas grills are heavier and bulkier than charcoal, on the patio that’s a bonus in the outback its a chore; gas grills cook quicker than the charcoal grills; some people hate gas grills by comparison because they love the flavors that wood bestows; gas grills are more expensive than charcoal ones etc. etc.
6. Decide what style of cooking best suits you because the kit you’ll need will change with your preferred style of cooking. If you’re into Jambalaya cooking then you should buy Jambalaya pots, if your going to be frying whole turkeys then a turkey fryer kit will be ideal; do you prefer cast iron stove ware for cooking, Dutch ovens are great for simple outdoor cooking or do you prefer open grills;? The questions go on and on and only you know what the family are going to prefer. Its not as hard to think things through as you might think,  I suggest that you go to a store that sells the full range of equipment and ask yourself what’s going to work best for us?
7. When cooking with propane check the level of gas in the cylinder and whenever possible have a second one in reserve. There’s nothing worse with friends and family hovering, the meal is half ready and the gas goes out!!! If you’ve a replacement, no problem, but if  you’ve not, just how bad can things get?
8. Don’t forget basic safety advice when cooking outdoors; remember salmonella is just as happy and active outdoors as it is inside. So what to do? Keep those fresh meat  plates and your cooking utensils away from any plates and cooking utensils that you’ll be using for eating off. Yes i know its obvious but this is important and its easily forgotten especially by the kids if they take a hand;
9. Will you betaking your cooking kit out in the outback or to the beach where there are safety regulations preventing the use of certain cooking methods; how annoying is it to arrive and then find your kit isn’t appropriate. And don’t think you’ll be okay they’ll never know. have you seen the recent damage that’s been caused by fires that get out of control; think safety first. Its important to remember that usually you find restrictions at picnic areas and on beaches & camping zones;
10. When you find a great recipe that cooks well outside share it with family; especially the simple tips that made it work out so well. Many people are apprehensive about cooking out doors and even when they do they make simple errors that you could help them avoid making. Simple tips need passing on;
11. Never pierce food on a BBQ or the juices will run out and it will dry out very quickly: most people who say they don’t like BBQs do so because they hate dried out tasteless food that so often arises from a smoldering BBQ
12. Never cook meat too long as again it dries out
13. Always make sure that meat is fully defrosted before starting cooking on your grill, not only is this dangerous to your health but the food will burn on the outside before you’ve cooked it in the inside!
14. Try to cook slower rather than faster when cooking outdoors, except with you steaks of course, they need searing and a minimum of time is preferred for however well you like them cooked; [yes I know this goes against what conventional wisdom says and your desire to tuck ij but the rewards of slower cooked foods great exceed the extra time it takes; believe me
15. Always let your meat rest after cooking without cutting it up. This allows the juices to settle and the full flavor to come out, it also means all the juices don’t run away across the serving plate; 7-10 minutes is all you need to wait and whilst the time is short the difference in flavor can be huge; try it.
16. Try marinating your meats before barbecuing, and remember, the longer the better, overnight if you can. If you do the flavors of your cooking will be greatly enhanced and your friends will marvel;
17. If you use a grill with a lid, keep it closed as much as possible. This improves the consistency of cooking due to the retention of the heat which otherwise is lost each time you open the grill; stop worrying and go and have a chat;
18. Try some of the many free recipes you’ll find online; there are so many and some are really good. Don’t get hooked on complication though; keeping things simple and experiment are the keys. But equally don’t get into the ideas of those that say quick and easy is best go for things that cook quickly! NO. Marinades are simple and add tremendous flavor, cook slower than quickly and you’ll retain more flavors;
19. Try out Dutch cooking; its easy and straightforward and the flavors are great; look for Dutch cooking recipes on the web;
20. Keep your outdoor cooking fun; share the joy of the cooking with friends & family. Try to get the kids involved; if you do you’ll develop in them a lifetime passion for cooking, which is often hard to do in the kitchen. Better still you’ll have a laugh and if you involve your friends you’ll start appreciate them in totally different ways than before; its like a new way of bonding. You’ll start to see them in a totally different light…… interesting! … Oh, just one quick point, but take care the opposite can work out too.

Check out the latest outdoor cooking kit at http://www.outdoorcookingequipmentstore.com you’ll find a wide range of outdoor cooking equipment meeting all levels of budget and there’s a long list of really tasty, simply to cook recipes, ideal for the grill or the stove, for the boiling pot, the fryer or the Dutch oven.

Happy outdoor cooking and good luck getting your outdoor cooking equipment into shape.

Stephen Kember is the President of Transform your life, a leading provider of e-books, video and audio based materials featuring not only his own insights but also those of other renowned experts and speakers in the Outdoor Living, Outdoor Cooking and Personal Development fields.

To learn more about the skills of outdoor cooking, outdoor cooking recipes and and outdoor cooking equipment go to: http://www.outdoorcookingequipmentstore.com

In my last blog post, I explained the 5 signs of the fear of cooking that many people suffer from in deciding that they would like to learn to cook. Because the kitchen plays a particularly important emotional role in many people’s lives, not knowing how to cook can have devastating effects. Some people that have come to me to learn to cook have told me stories that not only explain their fear of cooking but have made it almost impossible for them to learn how to cook.

One of the ways that fear of cooking is intensified is through smells. Your sense of smell has a powerful links to your memories. In fact, I’m sure that most of you have memories that come flooding into your mind when you smell cookies baking or a pot roast. I have strong memories when I smell the chlorine from a pool that remind me of swimming and snack bar hamburgers.

Memories are not always positive. For example, I had one woman that came to my cooking school and told me that she can’t cook. Later in the evening as she was learning how to cook (funny how well cooking by method works), she explained to me that as a child, every time she went into the kitchen, her mother would scream, “Get out of the kitchen. You’re going to mess everything up. You’re going to ruin things. This is not a place for children.” No wonder she had a fear of cooking!

Let’s look a little more deeply into the 10 ways that the fear of cooking may affect your life

1. Anxiety – this can come from the thought of the “impending” meal and not knowing what to cook or how to cook.
2. Depression - eating the same things over and over again can cause depression and place a person in a lull where they lose the desire to learn to cook.
3. Lethargy - most often this comes from eating foods that aren’t good for us. In particular, eating empty calories or fast food over and over again.
4. Embarrassment - are you the person that always brings napkins to the pot luck? Not knowing how to cook can cause embarrassment when you never bring a meal to gatherings.
5. Loneliness - eating home cooked meals has the potential to bring families together. Without home cooked meals, there may be a sense of loneliness because so much conversation and socializing occurs over a cooked meal.
6. Non-Reciprocation – Have you been invited to dinner by your friends multiple times and never returned the favor? This can cause a feeling of being a “deadbeat”.
7. Poor provider – Not knowing how to cook can lead to a lack of variety for your family and feeling guilty from not feeding your children healthy foods.
8. Taker/not giver – Always depending on your spouse or partner to cook for you can make you feel like a taker and never being able to give back to the cook in the family.
9. Spend-thrift - Do you have kitchen gadget that were gifts or purchased that you don’t know how to use? Do you have a multi-thousand dollar range that makes popcorn? This type of guilt can intensify the fear of cooking.
10. Money stress – When one has a fear of cooking and doesn’t learn how to cook, there is a tendency to spend more money on take-out foods which can cause anxiety around money and cooking

You don’t have to suffer these effects of the fear of cooking! These are exactly the types of feelings and thoughts that drive me to continue to help people to understand how easy it is to learn to cook using simple cooking method. Having an understanding of how foods go together without using a recipe can not only make the fear of cooking go away, but will enable you to cook anytime anywhere with confidence. You will not only know how to cook but will never suffer from the devastating effects of the fear of cooking again!

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur and educator. Chef Todd’s simple philosophy – burn your recipes and learn how to really cook – has helped many home cooks and professionals alike finally achieve success in the kitchen. Learn his #1 Secret for Free and discover how online cooking classes can really teach you to cook!

Before you begin to actually look at tractors you should know exactly what you are looking for.

Consider the following questions when shopping for a tractor.

What size of tractor do you need?

What are you going to be using you tractor for?

How often will the tractor be used?

Is the tractor going to be used to produce income? Of course, money is often a consideration when shopping for a tractor. Consider talking to people that own tractors and get their opinions.

Be an informed shopper and don’t let anyone rush you. Below are some other things to consider before you begin shopping for a tractor.

Tractor Size

This is obviously the most commonly asked questions regarding a tractor purchase. The average compact tractor consumer owns a 1-5 acre piece of property and uses the small compact diesel mostly for mowing The other tractor consumers usually have between 10-30 acres and needs about a 30 horsepower to complete the necessary tasks.

What are you going to use the tractor for?, is of course, the most important question to answer. Is it just for mowing or will you be using a loader or backhoe on it? Will you be working on rocky or uneven ground?

Dollars & Sense

You should definitely shop around, however, don’t forget that if you are comparing the prices of different makes and models of tractor it can sometimes be much like comparing apples to oranges. As with anything else, some makes and models are made better than others. A few more dollars upfront in price for a better quality of tractor makes more ’sense’ than having to pay the cost of constant repairs and maintenance.

Different Makes and Models of Tractors

If at all possible, one of the best things you can do to make your life easier, is to purchase a tractor that is easy to get parts for. There are many foreign makes and models that are exact matches to domestic tractors. With that in mind, you can get a parts book for U.S. made tractor and purchase the corresponding part numbers that way. Some parts dealers don’t like to sell parts for a gray market tractor. In fact, dealers of some brands of tractors are being told by a higher authority that they cannot willingly sell parts for gray market tractors.

Diesel Engines

Make sure you get a tractor with a diesel engine. Diesel engines have better performance and usually last longer than gas engines. Implements also work better on diesel engine tractors.

Horsepower

Approximately how many horsepower will you need? One horsepower (hp) is the amount of energy required to lift 550 pounds, one foot, in one second. In a tractor the energy is produced from torque and engine speed. A 100 hp tractor is one with a maximum of 100 horsepower available at the power-takeoff (PTO) outlet.

PTO

Nearly all Japanese tractor manufacturers include the power take off (PTO) horsepower (hp) in their model numbers; however, they do not include the engine (fly) hp. The first two numbers of the model number is where you find the PTO hp. The PTO hp is important because it is telling you the equipment working power of the tractor. It tells you what horsepower that equipment requiring a PTO will get from the tractor. Click here for a more in depth explanation of PTO.

Cylinders

Consider getting a three or four cylinder tractor. Three and four cylinder tractors are generally newer tractors and run quieter and smoother than the two cylinder models. Transmissions

There are several different types of transmissions for tractors. If you are not knowledgeable about tractor transmissions, it would be a good idea if you familiarize yourself with the different types listed below, so that when you go out to shop for a tractor you will well informed.

Manual transmissions on tractors were made to be shifted while the tractor is not in motion. This will cause a grinding noise due to the fact the two gears that are trying to mesh are rotating at different speeds. Manual shift transmissions are known for their durability, however, they are not considered to be very user friendly. The sliding gear and the collar shift are two of the more common transmissions.

Synchro Shift transmissions are basically collar shift transmissions (a type of manual transmission, see above). The difference is the added synchronizers, which makes it so that the gears don’t grind if you are trying to shift while the tractor is in motion. Some synchro shift transmissions only have one pair of synchronized gears, while others have all speeds synchronized, including forward and reverse. The synchronization of forward and reverse is called the shuttle shift. This synchro shift is a dependable transmission, however, just like with automobiles, the more ‘tricky’ the tranny is, and the more chance there is of something going wrong or breaking.

A Power Shift transmission is an option well worth considering. Not those standard shift transmissions won’t work just fine; however, often power shift is a nice little luxury, depending on what you are going to be using the tractor for. With a power shift transmission you can choose different speeds while the tractor is in motion, without needing to use the clutch pedal.

Hydrostatic transmissions operate in a closed loop, the flow of the pump is reversed, which in turn causes the tractor to reverse directions. The hydrostatic transmission is considered to be very dependable and is able to defend itself against ‘operator difficulty’. Because this is transmission is controlled by a foot pedal, when you take your foot off of the pedal the tractor will stop, this is a nice safety feature. Hydrostatic is considered the best selection for such things as large mowing jobs because it allows for easy direction change and continual, unchanging speed.

Implement Adaptability

You will want a tractor with a Category 1, 3-point hitch and standard rotation PTO shafts. Most imported compact tractors are equipped with these items; however, there are a few that are not.

Implement Availability

Before you purchase a a tractor, make sure that good quality implements are available for it. It is a good idea to try to find a tractor with as many model-specific attachments as possible. These include things such as loaders and backhoes, which have custom-fitted mounts that are not interchangeable with other makes and models of tractor. You can often save money if you purchase the implements at the same time you purchase the tractor and some implements can be very expensive to add on at a later time.

Parts Manuals

Sometime parts manuals can be very hard to acquire. Make sure there is one available for the tractor you choose. Ask how much the manual is, sometimes the cost can be over $100.00 dollars.

Warranty

Find out what kind of a warranty comes with the tractor. Find out what it covers and for how long. Below is a checklist that you can print and take with you when you are out shopping for a tractor. Just check things off and take notes as you check over the prospective tractor.

Yes, it’s a very long checklist, but well worth your time if you want to get a good quality tractor at a fair price.

Some things on the checklist may not pertain to the type of tractor you are looking for; however, we believe that most folks will find the majority of information here to be very helpful.

Your goal is to ensure that the tractor you purchase is all that the seller says it is and doesn’t have any hidden problems. Make sure you know what you are looking for. Know what options you must have on the tractor and which ones you might be willing to compromise on or be able to add later.

Tractor Buyer’s Checklist

Make_____________________________ Model _____________________ Year _________ Hours

On Meter________ Asking Price $____________

Seller’s Name _____________________________ Phone ______________

Tractor Location _______________________________________________

Yes/No Notes

Visual Exterior Inspection

Does the overall appearance of the tractor look as if it has been cared for?

Why is the tractor for sale?

Is the paint faded?

Is the sheet metal straight?

Are there a lot of ‘dings’ in the tractor?

Are there any decaying rubber or plastic components?

Are there any structural cracks? Look closely for hairline cracks.

Is there anything that looks like a ‘makeshift’ repair job?

Are the tires in good condition with good tread left on them?

Is there a calcium mixture added to the tires for better stability?

Is there still good tread left on the tires?

Is the seat in good condition?

Does it have a standard 3-point hitch?

Are there any puddles of fluid under the tractor?

Are there any oil spots on the ground around the wheels?

Engine Inspection

Is the engine warm?

Are there oil and/or fuel on the engine?

Can you see any seals leaking?

Is there oil around the rear axles, near the rear wheel?

Is there oil around the PTO seals?

Are there oil leaks around the output shaft seals gearboxes? (4WD

Is the engine oil at or near the full mark?

Is the front axle dipstick at or near the full mark? (4WD)

Does the oil look clean? Black is ok for diesel engines.

Are there creamy white droplets near the top of the dipstick?

Are all the filters U.S. made?

Is the air filter intact?

Does the air filter have any tears or holes in it?

Is the fuel filter clean?

Is the fan belt tight and in good shape?

Does the air inlet tube have any cracks or holes in it?

Is the water in the radiator dark green? This is a good thing.

Does the radiator water have a milky looking scum to it?

Is there flaking or discolored paint around the radiator cap?

Is there moisture along the bottom of the radiator?

Is there any slop in the steering linkages?

Did you closely look over the tractor a second time to make sure you didn’t miss anything?

Running Engine Inspection

Does the oil pressure register when you just turn the key?

Start the tractor. Does it start easily?

Does the oil pressure light go off or the oil gauge go up to about 30-80 psi?

Do all of the other lights go off?

Is the voltage meter (if it has one) charging a full 13.5-14.5 volts

Did you rock the steering wheel from left to right? Do this with the engine running if the

tractor has power steering.

Does the PTO spin in all gears?

Does the 3-point hitch work properly?

Does the tractor continue to smoke after it warms up?

Driving The Tractor (This is the fun part)

Does the tractor work through all of the gears?

Does the power shift feel ‘weak’ when shifting?

Is there any slippage when you quickly accelerate into high gear?

Does the 4WD engage properly?

Does the clutch slip?

Do the brakes work well?

Did you check the brakes by pushing one pedal at a time in low gear?

Does the tractor make any clunking noises from inside the engine?

Does the charging system work properly?

Do the wheels wobble at all?

Hydraulics

Are the control levers in good shape and not flopping around?

Are the pivot pins badly worn?

Does any oil seep out of the extended spools (control valves)?

Are the hydraulic couplers capped?

Does the hydraulics work correctly?

Post Driving Inspection

Did the temp gauge ever get above the recommended temperature?

Did the temp light ever come on while you were driving it?

Did the tractor overheat?

Did the tractor run well even after it got hot?

Do you see any new leaks from the radiator?

Do you see any new oil and or fluid leaks?

Did you see excess smoke when you removed the oil cap?

Did you closely look over the tractor a third time to make sure you didn’t miss anything?

I Hope this has been a lot of information that you where looking for and you will use this information to your advantage and be safe with it.

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Sherry Cochran [http://www.macsebooksparadise.com]

You may have a reputable automotive shop that you regularly use for your vehicle maintenance such as tire replacement, oil changes and other routine issues. If you don’t have a regular shop, you can ask your family, friends and coworkers whom they trust. Recommendations from these people should be held in high esteem, because a local auto shop that has earned the trust of your family and friends will work hard to make you a customer for life.

If you have significant engine problems with your car, you’ll first want to check your warranty and see if the manufacturer covers the issue. When you bring your car to the shop, you’ll need to ask if the automotive shop guarantees their work in case the issue is not fixed properly or if it comes back without warning. The automotive shop manager will be able to discuss the policies of the shop and offer you a guarantee on the work to be performed on your vehicle.

Be sure to inquire about the type of parts the automotive shop will use on your car. Are they brand name, quality products or cheap, generic products? Make sure they are using only high quality parts. Either way, you will be charged labor fees, so be certain the parts they replace on your vehicle are brand name, quality products.

Depending on your specific engine problem, you may need to leave your vehicle at the auto shop for an extended period of time. Make sure you arrange for transportation. Your favorite auto repair shop may be located near a bus line or taxi stand. Also, your insurance company may offer a rental car. Some repair shops will offer a courtesy vehicle or provide a drop off/pick up service so you can work during the day and get your vehicle back in the evening.

Before any work is performed on your vehicle, be sure to ask for an estimate. Agree on a price and ask your mechanic to specifically outline what work is to be done. A good auto shop will alert you of any additional issues that come up during the repair that was not initially noticed. Therefore, you won’t be surprised when you see charges for parts and labor on work that you never authorized.

It is important that you trust your automotive technicians. You are leaving your car in their hands and are counting on the fact that they are experienced, trained and can properly fix the issue at hand. If you do not already have a good relationship with a local automotive shop, ask your friends and neighbors who they trust. Begin using a popular auto shop for your routine maintenance issues, and you’ll begin to develop a trusting relationship with them and get to know the mechanics on a more personal level. Then you can feel good about leaving your car in their hands when larger engine issues arise.

Mr. Oliver is a marketing agent of Dyke Tire and Battery. The auto mechanic repair shop stocks tires for virtually every vehicle on the road and also offers local Richmond-ers a great place to take their vehicles in for repair. Whether you need a simple oil change, new tires or a rotation, or engine repair, Dyke Tire and Battery can help get you back on the road again. For more information on their Richmond Mechanic Virginia please visit their website.

For the angler to be successful in fly fishing lakes and rivers, he must use common sense and a well-executed plan to out smart a very wary pray. Remember, the trout your after is always on guard for any kind of danger, so when you alarm him you also alarm other fish in his vicinity. A trout’s brain is small but it is has registered literally thousands of real aquatic insects in a natural and quite environment. Therefore, you must take every possible advantage that is available to you to present the fly in a natural and undisturbing manner. The following are a number of simple things that you can do to increase your catch rate per hour of fly fishing.

Make sure your fishing boat is stealth. Water is a great conductor of noise, so check the anchor pulleys and oar locks for noiseless operation, and replace any noisy parts if necessary. Place a piece of out-door carpet in the bottom of the boat to help cut down on any unexpected noise. Use a pyramid anchor(s) or mushroom anchors for quiet and secure anchoring. Avoid chain anchors or small sea anchors that have metal-to-metal contacts, that can make unnatural under water clicking noise. Be sure to tie the anchor rope directly to the anchor. Do not tie it to a metal clevis, which is attached to a metal anchor ring. A small boat painted brown or forest green is better than one painted red or white.

When you find a good spot when fly fishing a lake, consider using two anchors, one off the bow and one aft to keep the boat from swinging back and forth in the breeze. Lower your anchors very slowly and try not to alarm resident fish. Turn your depth finder and all electronics off. Speak in low voices. When it is time to move, keep everything quiet, and move the boat slowly. You can often move your stealth boat in very close to feeding fish. Keeping a low profile, you can then make shorter, accurate, and more presentable fly casts to feeding fish with dry flies or emergers. This is one reason why float tube fly fishers are so successful. Float tubes don’t make any noise; they present a low profile and they don’t cause big ripples on the water surface that will startle feeding fish.

Consideration should also be given to the color of the fly line your going to use based on the type of river, lake, fishing pressure, and water clarity. For example, if you are fishing a spring creek or a clear mountain lake, don’t use highly visible florescent orange fly lines. You will have much better success using green, olive, or clear fly lines that won’t spook the fish. Lake fishing in gin clear water requires neutral colored fly lines and long 10 to 14 foot leaders with fine monofilament or fluorocarbon tippet material. (Refer to my web site or Ezine Articles.com and read my fly-fishing tips article: “Fluorocarbon Leader Material and the Fly Knots to Make It Work”.) If you are fishing a big, fast- flowing river for steelhead during a cloudy overcast morning, or during low light conditions, don’t worry, a white or orange fly line with a long leader will not put the fish down.

To improve your chances of success when fly fishing small streams and rivers for trout and other game fish, you need to be stealth and blend into the background of the river edge foliage. In the spring, when the streamside foliage colors are turning lush and green, wear clothes with colors that will help you to blend into the background. I suggest olive greens, green, or light green-colored shirts and fishing vests. The same is true for the summer and fall months, when the browns and tans are the background colors, wear those colors. Predators move fast, you need to move slowly. When fishing a river or stream you then become one with nature and do not appear to be much of a threat. I know this all seems like a common sense information, but how many times have you seen some guy fishing streamside wearing a red shirt and a white hat.

I hope these fly-fishing tips help your fly-fishing experiences. Good luck, good fishing and practice catch and release for our future generations.

Stanley Stanton: Oregon Fly Fishing Guide and McKenzie River fishing guide, Visit: http://www.oregon-fly-fishing-with-stan.com For trout fly fishing tips, how to fly fish information, plus guided Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing, Steelhead Fly Fishing, classes for beginners and advanced fly fishing and Oregon Salmon Fishing.

News programmes have suddenly become hot property and are vying for attention with other popular programmes telecast in different channels. All major television broadcasters are including at least one news channel to their bouquet. The biggest headache for launching a satellite channel is programme software for round the clock. In this juncture, newsgathering is a major task for the 24-hour news channels. To cater this task, the emerging electronic channels have always made an attempt to cover all the incidents irrespective of position, location and time. These channels not only revolutionized the concept of news on Indian television but also changed the news formats. Before 1990s, Doordarshan had monopolized newscast on Indian television and also turned the news programs into a dowdy exercise. Now the private channels made the news an essential commodity like food, cloth and shelter. The strong point of all today’s news bulletins is their topicality, objectivity, glossy editing and high-quality visuals. News has traveled a long way from the DD era. From Local events to International events, breaking news to news analysis, television soap to page3 news, every happening comes under purview of news. In this article, we have covered some significant changes in news broadcasting in India before and after the Gulf War.

Indian Television – Flash Back

Television in India is undergoing significant changes in the current liberalized environment. To understand these changes, one needs to have some brief idea of the road covered by the television channels so far. The journey started as an experimental basis with a financial grant from UNESCO in 15th September 1959. The makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi was chosen for location of the experiment. The experiment started with one-hour program, broadcast twice a week, on community health, citizen rights, education and traffic sense etc. As far as news is concerned, it was launched exactly six years after the inception of television broadcasting. Daily one-hour program with a news bulletin was served to the Indian viewers. But one major drawback of television was that you could not enjoy the original colour of the objects because of black and white transmission. First multi-color programme was the Prime Minister’s address to the nation from Red Fort in Delhi on India’s 35th Independence Day. In the same day, DD National channel was launched. The aim of launching the National channel is nurturing national integration, and inculcating a sense of pride in Indians. Indian viewers also enjoyed the colored version of the Asian Games hosted by New Delhi in their drawing room. The coverage of major events and different occasions lend a big hand behind the infiltration of television signals to the nook and corners of the subcontinent. Indian Government had taken all possible steps to expand the television broadcasting demographically and geographically. In 1983 television signals were available to just 28% of the population, this had doubled by the end of 1985 and by 1990 over 90% of the population had access to television signals. In 1984, DD Metro channel was added to provide an exclusive entertainment for the urban viewers. In the beginning, this channel was confined to metropolitan cities.

As a public broadcaster, Doordarshan presented the news in naturalized manner. All controversial issues were pushed under the carpet. The ruling government had a strong hold on the television broadcasting. Doordarshan news bulletins were unable to provide the international news to the national viewers. Objectivity had been the first casualty as news was invariably slanted to suit the party in power. The news was liberated from the confines of the DD newsroom and gained in objectivity and credibility when New Delhi Television (NDTV) produced ‘The World This Week’ in 1988. Everyone was waiting for the Friday night to watch ‘The World This Week’. This was the only India-based programme, which looked out at the rest of the world. The World This Week was the best current affairs programme on the international scenario and carried good stuff of news, which the regular DD news was failed to carry out. This program is ranked as one of the country’s finest and most popular television shows. In 1989, NDTV produces India’s first live televised coverage of the country’s general elections. The critical and commercial success of the coverage sets a new standard for Indian television. After the Gulf War the media panorama has changed forever.

Golf War – The Catalyst

Post-1990 satellite television in India has become transnational in nature. It coincided with the entry of multinational companies in the Indian markets under the Government policy of privatization. International satellite television was introduced in India by CNN through its coverage of the Gulf War in 1991. In August 1991, Richard Li launched Star Plus, the first satellite channel beamed the signal to Indian subcontinent. Subhash Chandra’s Zee TV appeared in October 1992. It is India’s first privately owned Hindi channel to cater the interest of Indian viewers. This ignition followed by Sony and a little later by domestic channels such as Eenadu, Asianet and Sun TV. Entertainment programs had begun to occupy center stage in the organization’s programming strategies and advertising had come to be main source of funding. Doordarshan’s earlier mandate to aid in the process of social and economic development had clearly been diluted. Doordarshan had faced a stiff competition in news and public affairs programming with international channels like BBC and CNN. Doordarshan planned to sell some slots for news programme under sponsored category. In February 1995, NDTV becomes the country’s first private producer of the national news ‘News Tonight’, which aired on the country’s government-owned Doordarshan set a new landmark for Indian television because of its on-the-spot reporting with pertinent visuals. In the same year, TV Today Network occupied a 20 minutes slot in DD Metro channel and aired a Hindi and current affairs programme ‘Aaj Tak’. This programme became popular for its comprehensive coverage and unique style presentation by Late S. P. Singh. Still we remembered the sign-up message “Ye Thi Khabar Aaj Tak, Intizar. Kijiye Kal Tak”. Large number of viewers across India had been watching Aaj Tak as a daily habit because of its innovative style of news presentation. Besides that Nalini Singh’s five-minute fast paced, condensed daily news capsule Ankhon Dekhi, TV Today Network’s Business Aaj Tak and Newstrack was aired on the Metro channel of Doordarshan. This is the period when satellite channels concentrated on entertainment programmes for their respective channels. Doordarshan was still ruled the most wanted area ‘news’.

Major Players

Doordarshan’s monopoly was broken in 1992, when private television channels infiltrated into the Indian boundaries and entertain the viewers as much as possible. In the beginning of 1990s, the private channels offered only entertainment programmes. The entertainment programs include family drama, comedy serials, children programmes, cartoons, movies, talk shows, recipe shows, musical concerts, non-fiction programmes etc. Private entertainment channels added some infortainment programmes to their Fixed Point Charts (FPC). Keeping the demand of infotainment programmes in mind, the media houses started to produce news magazines, entertainment magazines and news programmes for different channels. India’s premier business and consumer news broadcaster and a leading media content provider, Television Eighteen India Limited (TV18) started India’s first ever entertainment magazine ‘The India Show’ on Star Plus in 1993. This emerging media powerhouse provided prime time television content to almost all leading satellite channels in India including BBC, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV and Discovery. After The India Show, TV18 produced a weekly business news program India Business Report for BBC World. Indian viewers had very limited options (like public service broadcaster Doordarshan, BBC and CNN) for watching the television news. For televised news, the viewers had to watch Dordarshan and some international news channels like BBC or CNN. In this race to provide more news, more information, Zee Television jumped into the battlefield by launching the news channel Zee News in 1995. This News and current affairs channel revolutionized the way news was delivered to the viewers. Since its inception Zee News has endeavoured to be the fastest to provide news, working towards a single goal of Sabse Pahle (Always First). The other round-the-clock news channel, the Murdoch-owned Star TV beamed its exclusively 24-hour news channels, Star News in 1998. Star made a contract of five year with Prannoy Roy-owned NDTV (New Delhi Television Company) to provide news content for this news channel.

The untiring exhaustive coverage of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan gained more publicity and attracted more viewers towards the electronic channel. This televised conflict also sets a news benchmark for wartime journalism. During the Kargil war, common citizens witnessed how their brave Jawans fought despite in hostile conditions and watched the war front live by the exclusively news channels, Star-TV and Zee-News. The live coverage of the battlefield helped to create a euphoria of patriotism among the Indian masses, which later facilitated into collecting huge funds for the welfare of the families of Kargil martyrs. Every news programme draws the attention of large number of viewers but Kargil war attracts private broadcasters to invest more money in the broadcasting business by launching a news channel. In November 1999, TV18 entered into a 49:51 joint venture with CNBC Asia to launch CNBC India. TV18 is the sole program provider to CNBC India, and produces 12 hours of local content per day on this 24-hour satellite channel.

After the huge success of news programme ‘Aaj Tak’, TV Today group launched a 24-hour Hindi news channel with the same name ‘Aaj Tak’, in December 2000, which covers India with insight, courage and plenty of local flavour. Within 11 months of its launch, Aaj Tak emerged as India’s number one news channel and was awarded Best News Channel award from Indian Television Academy Awards. Some mega events apart from regular interesting items (such as Kandhahar hijack, September 11 attacks, Afghanistan war, attack on Parliament, Iraq war, Godhra carnage and riots) have driven up the viewership. As time passed, NDTV’s five years contract with Star group for outsourcing of news and related programming expired on March 2003. With the expiry NDTV forayed into broadcasting business by simultaneously launching two 24-hour news channels; NDTV 24X7 – English news channel and NDTV India – Hindi news channel, which targets the Indian diaspora across the world. News crazy Indians received more news at faster speed from different channels. Any unusual happening can be caught by the television camera anywhere form Rastrapati Bhawan to bedroom. The power of TV journalism was become more visible by the major sting operations like Operation West End and Shakti Kapoor Case. This style of investigative journalism has brought about a change in the way we look at news, amidst new notions of editorial freedom. The world’s largest family ‘Sahara India Parivar’ launched a 24-hour national Hindi news channel, Sahara Samay, in March 28, 2003. It is the first ever city-centric satellite news channels covering 31 cities in India with their own city news bulletins. Keeping the demand of news in mind, the Union cabinet approved the proposal to convert the DD Metro to DD news in a meeting held on 3 October 2003. Consequent to these decisions, DD-News channel was launched on 3 November 2003. You might have noticed that the news channels are language specific. But DD’s news channel contains the round the clock news bulletins in Hindi/ English are also telecast twice a day on the National Network of DD National.

‘Aap Ki Adalat’ fame Rajat Sharma, Sohaib Ilyasi, the man behind the highly successful ‘India’s Most Wanted’ and Taun Tejpal, editor-in-chief of Tehelka roped together and launched a free-to-air Hindi news and current affairs channel India TV on May 20, 2004. Indian viewers had more expectations from this channel. The much-awaited news channel hopes to set itself apart from the existing ones by setting new benchmarks of responsible journalism. Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Rajat Sharma, chairman, India TV, said, “We aim to change the way broadcast news reporting is being conducted in the country. India TV will set new benchmarks by maintaining international standards of responsible and credible news reporting. We will stay away from graphic depictions of violence and sensationalism of news. We will uphold the viewer’s right to correct information and their right to truth and verity. India TV is not just a news channel, it is a movement.” NDTV as a pioneer in Indian television news, set to create a fresh revolution in high-quality business news with the launch of NDTV Profit. NDTV launched this 24-hour business channel on January 17th, 2005.

There is no saturation point in launching of news channel, just booming like sky as the limit. Entertainment channel to infotainment channel, infotainment channel to news channel, news channels to business channel and Business channel to lots more. Now the satellite channels become more topicality with international standard. When we are talking about topicality, CNBC TV18, the only business channel, continues to be the medium of choice for India’s decision makers, affluent audiences across the country since 1999. It has set the pace for the growth in number of television channels by launching a 24-hour consumer channel in Hindi called ‘ Awaaz’. This news channel focusses on empowering consumers on decision-making related to investment, saving and spending. All the programmes are catering to consumers across different walks of life, which included personal finance; variety of markets including commodity, stocks, savings etc.; small businesses; education & career guidance; and verticals like health, shopping etc.

Another news channel was finally launched into the already cluttered news space in Indian television. Jagran TV Pvt Limited’s news channel, Channel 7 up-linked to the air on 27 March 2005. The channel has been set up to cater to the vast Hindi-speaking audiences, already being targeted by a slew of news channels. Channel 7 developed every programme with a bid to cater to all types of audiences and not just pre-dominantly male audiences who get attracted towards news channels.

Regional Leaders

To cater the interest among the Indians, Doordarshan televises programmes in Hindi and associate Official languages. It has launched a number of Regional Language Satellite Channels (DD – 4 to DD – 11 and DD – 13) and telecast programmes in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Kashmiri, Oriya and Tamil. The Regional channels relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in the state and additional programmes in the Regional Language in prime time and non-prime time available only through cable operators. The Doordarshan regional satellite channels telecast major news programme with some entertainment programmes.

If you think about the private regional channels, they have followed the path of the Big brother (i.e Doordarshan). They are neither completely entertainment channel nor exclusively news channel. They are following the middle path and claiming themselves an infotainment channels. The private channels televise through the state dominant languages. Rising advertising revenues and increasing numbers of viewers have provided the impetus for many big players to enter into the business. Some regional media leaders like ETV, Sun TV, Asianet have a strong grip over the regional market. Some major players tried their luck in different states. Zee television has three regional channels; Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi and Zee Bangla. Star Network entered into Tamilnadu by launching Star Vijay, one of the most popular entertainment channels in India broadcasting in Tamil. Besides that ETV Network is a part of the well-established Ramoji Group, has created 12 dedicated infotainment regional channels. ETV network is the source of rich entertainment of eight different languages. Those are: Telugu, Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati, Urdu; and Hindi to viewers in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Every ETV Network channel focuses exclusively on its audience’s unique cultural identity, its aspirations and its distinct socio-political character. Let us think about the south Indian language Telugu, there are around twelve satellite channels are roaming around the sky with different taste and different flavour. These channels include three news channels, one song-based channels and rest are infotainment channels. When we confine ourselves into news, three channels (ETV2, TV 9 and Teja News) exclusively devoted to news programmes.

Sahara India Pariwar is proud to have five news channels as the bouquet of Sahara Samay. These channels are: Sahara Samay NCR, Sahara Samay Mumbai, Sahara Samay Bihar & Jharkhand, Sahara Samay Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, and Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh & Uttranchal. Sahara Samay has already managed to gain a loyal audience in India through a bouquet of National & Regional News Channels since its launch. These channels are youthful and vibrant channels targeting students and women, besides that hardcore news stuff. The regional news channels covers the entire spectrum of genre with specific programs on lifestyle, fashion, food, shopping, health and fitness, sports, education, career and city issues, besides giving user-friendly information on traffic updates, city events, train and air timings, etc. Now national news channels cannot confine its boundary to national level. They cannot ignore the regional news because of the stiff competition form the regional cannels. Regional news channels are entering into the competition with a strong will power and also with an aim to portrait regional issues in national and international level.

Conclusion

Now the television industry becomes more specific. In this competitive market, channels are targeting specific viewers. News channels attract more viewers beyond their target by producing interactive and interesting programmes. Every channel needs to do an extensive research on different concepts and different themes to attract more viewers and in the same time more advertisers. After all, advertisements are the bread and butter for the channels. With increased consumer preference for news programmes, television news channels have grown faster than other niche channels. News channels are booming just like sky as the limit. Those days are not far away, when we will get satellite news channel for every major city in India. Staying in abroad, we can update ourselves about all the happening of our hometown. Now news is not restricted to political happenings. It will be extended its limit to every unwanted and hided corners of the society. At last we can reach in the conclusion that anything, which is strange or disgusting, is news. There are no rigid rules, which defines news.

Source:

[http://www.audiovisualcat.net/publicationsing/Q14india.pdf]

http://www.equitymaster.com/research-it/ipo/ndtv.asp

http://www.mouthshut.com/index.php?url=#&image=http://www.mouthshut.com/imagefiles/logo-ms.gif

http://www.screenindia.com/jul25/tele2.htm

http://www.indianembassy.org/indiainfo

http://www.india-today.com/itgroup/

[http://www.studio-systems.com/broadfeatures/JFMA98/NDTV/63.htm]

[http://www.ndtvtravels.com/aboutus.asp]

[http://cnbc-tv18.moneycontrol.com/cnbctv18/about_tv18.php]

[http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0],13673,501030818-474534,00.html

[http://www.chennaionline.com/musicnew/Channels/05indiatv.asp]

http://www.prdomain.com/companies/s/sahara_india_pariwar/news_releases/200303mar/pr_sahara_india_nr_20030326.htm

[http://www.scatmag.com/tamreach_sept05.pdf]

[http://www.agencyfaqs.com/media/media_newslets/Media/4899.html].

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/26/business/indianews27.php

The author is a media researcher in Journalism Department of ICFAI University. He has five years experience in electronic media in the field of Public Relations and Media Relations. His qualifications include a Master in Journalism and Mass Communication, had special paper Advertising and Public Relations.

Childcare is expensive. Very expensive. Moreover, for those who have more than one child, this can be very taxing indeed. After all, the needs and requirements of a child are much more if he is to have a proper upbringing and a childhood free from wants. However, as every new parent know, the basics themselves are hard to cover in most cases. Apart from the regular food and clothing, about which one has to extra careful, there are medical expenses for the regular check ups that every doctor advises. Then there is the fee for daycare and once the child is old enough, school tuition etc. As a result, every parent should avail the childcare benefits available in the respective states. It would save the family expenditure to a considerable degree.

Normally, there are two ways in which you can avail the Childcare Benefits, but some states allow only one of them at a time and in some cases both. You have to enquire about them from the respective authorities of the state. They are:

Tax Credits: There are considerable numbers of taxes that working individuals have to pay- income tax sales tax, property tax etc. If you think that the amount you pay for taxes leaves very little for you to take care of your family and meet the additional expenses of fulfilling your child’s requirements, then you can apply for tax credits. Usually, all governments are cooperative about childcare and once you produce the required documents regarding your income, your credit history, and records of your monthly expenditure and childcare, you can be eligible for tax credits for a period as deemed suitable by the authorities. In addition, if both the working parents can avail tax credits, the amount saved can contribute for childcare very easily.

Salary Sacrifice: Salary Sacrifice is the unofficial term given to the procedure of availing Childcare Vouchers. These come in accordance with your employers. If you forgo a part of your salary, then childcare vouchers equal to that amount will be given to you. In addition, since, this can be availed until your child is sixteen years of age, it takes care of daycare till school tuition very easily. Again, this can be applied for by both the working parents, so the combined amount takes care of all the essentials of the child. Once your child no longer needs the benefits, you can revert to your original salary. However, the monthly limit of the vouchers remains the same irrespective of the number of children in the family.

Therefore, Childcare Benefits not only takes care of your child but also of your financial requirements, and in totality helps you to lead a comfortable and enjoyable family life.

For more information on childcare vouchers, check out the info available online; these will help you learn to find the tax credits!

The role of an internet marketing specialist is to drive traffic

to a website and to assist with the improvement of conversion

rates – converting website visitors to buyers. Some individuals

are good at driving traffic and others are good at creating web

copy that closes sales. In order to be a full-service internet

marketing specialist, you really have to have the skill to do

both because enormous amounts of traffic doesn’t matter a bit if

that traffic does not result in revenue.

Even so, different people have different talents and one person’s

gifts may complement another’s. So, if you have strong skills in

one area and not the other, you may need to work with an internet

marketing specialist whose strengths compensate for your

weaknesses and vice versa. Sometimes an internet marketing team

achieves much more than any internet marketing specialist could

do alone.

Specific tasks that an internet marketing specialist or team of

internet marketers engage in to accomplish the two main purposes

of internet marketing – driving traffic and closing sales -

include:

1. Brainstorming

2. Market research

3. Identification of target markets and niche markets

4. Competitor analysis

5. Development of products and services

6. Creation of a unique selling proposition

7. Keyword research

8. Identification, analysis and selection of marketing

channels

9. Budgeting

10. Strategic planning and setting of milestones

11. Creation of marketing materials including sales copy

12. Website development

13. Administration of the internet marketing plan

14. Analysis of the effectiveness of the marketing program

15. Continual strengthening and improvement of the marketing

plan and marketing program

Effectively addressing all of these tasks that are necessary for

productive internet marketing really requires quite a vast skill

set. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses in various areas of

internet marketing. It is ideal if you have an internet marketing

team made up of individuals that are internet marketing

specialists in all of these areas; however, reality is not always

ideal. Because it is rare for any one individual to be strong in

each of these areas most people need professional assistance from

an internet marketing specialist with one or more of the internet

marketing tasks.

If you work with an internet marketing specialist or a team of

internet marketers, it is vital that everyone on the team

communicates clearly and effectively. With clear communication

the results from specific internet marketing tasks can be

integrated to create a strong, effective internet marketing

program that produces significant results in regard to driving

traffic and generating revenues.

In order to determine whether or not you are capable of being

your own internet marketing expert rather than contracting your

internet marketing tasks to an internet marketing specialist or

an internet marketing firm, do an honest analysis of your skills

as they relate to the fifteen internet marketing tasks mentioned

previously. In reviewing them, you are sure to find some that you

feel confident about and some that cause uncertainty. If you are

not comfortable with your own internet marketing knowledge and

skills, you may choose to hire an internet marketing specialist

to complete the tasks you are uneasy about, or you may choose to

pursue training or education to enhance your knowledge of

internet marketing and strengthen your own skills.

With desire, drive, time and perseverance, just about anyone can

become an internet marketing specialist. To be an effective

internet marketing specialist you must be willing to learn from

others as well as learning from your own mistakes. As you gain

experience in internet marketing, you will naturally develop

expertise and as time marches on you will undoubtedly feel more

comfortable with tasks that seem complex at first and you will

definitely gain self-confidence as you experience the positive

effects of your internet marketing efforts.

Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Are you at the end of your rope, fed up and confused by all the scrambled internet marketing advice you’re getting? Whether you are new to internet marketing, or a website owner who wants to make more money from your website, learn the proven strategies that will sky-rocket your internet business at http://BiznessTips.com

Every person likes their steak cooked a different way, so throughout this article I will make sure that I cover each possible different way so that you will always get the best result for yourself or whoever you cook for.

There are several different cuts of beef that will make a great steak, and there are also many grades of beef to consider, depending on what the cow was fed on the farm, so your first step is to choose which one you would prefer. The choices include rump, scotch fillet, porterhouse, eye fillet and T-bone as the main premium cuts generally eaten. The beef’s grading will come down largely to marbling and maturity of the meat. There is a debate as to which is better out of grain-fed and grass-fed cattle, and really the answer is grass-fed beef is healthier for you as it is the most natural form of the cattle, while grain-fed beef will have a lot more marbling and flavour, so I will leave that choice up to you which way you want to go. As for maturity, I recommend finding a butcher that will hang your meat for quite a long time in their meat locker before carving it, I have found that 27 days is ideal. This will help tenderize the meat by having it stretched out and relaxing the muscles, to give you the best possible final result.

The rump and porterhouse are firmer cuts, and the rump in particular can be a bit tougher and chewier than the rest, and you will find a strip of fat at the top of each of these steaks, which will help flavour and tenderize the steak during the cooking process. Both these cuts I would recommend eating rare to medium-rare (I will discuss steak doneness a little later).

Meanwhile the scotch fillet will come very nicely marbled with fat throughout, and can usually be distinguished by a C-shaped piece of fat close to one side. Due to the marbling it will be very tender and full of flavour (however if you’re on a diet it may be one to avoid for now), and I recommend eating it medium-rare to medium.

The eye fillet is the most tender cut of beef, and will normally be free of fat, although this also means you may need to do something extra to add some flavour to it, the most popular way being to wrap bacon around it during cooking, so the fatty flavours of the bacon are absorbed by the steak. This is my personal favourite steak, and is best eaten medium-rare to medium.

Lastly we come to the T-bone, which has both the eye fillet and porterhouse on either side of the bone, and will get its flavour from the strip of fat on the outside of the porterhouse. I recommend eating the T-bone rare to medium-rare, though it can be tricky to cook evenly due to the bone in the middle.

Once you’ve decided which cut of steak you will be eating, you need to work out how big a piece of meat you want. A normal-sized steak is generally around 300g for a good-sized meal, however it could range anywhere from 150g up to 1kg and even more! The size of your steak will become important later when you want to cook it to a particular doneness. For example, two different rump steaks could quite easily weigh the same amount, yet be completely different shapes, sometimes they can be wide and flat, and sometimes short and thick, depending on what part of the rump the steak was cut from. Choosing the size of your steak and the shape go hand-in-hand, it’s best to have a thicker steak for a rare or medium-rare steak, and when you want a medium-well or above thinner is better. This is so it doesn’t take a long time for you to cook, and you can still have a juicy steak without burning the outside.

Now let’s just get away from the steak for a minute and think about what you’re actually going to cook it on. Ideally you should have a chargrill, one that sits on an angle, and has enough space underneath the flame to have a tray that you can put a small piece of wood on. What I personally prefer is mesquite wood, which comes from the USA, and the best thing to do is to soak it in water for a couple of hours before cooking. This will help the wood give off its smoky flavour rather than just burn away, and it will also last longer, usually for at least a couple of hours.

I mentioned earlier that if possible your grill should be built on an angle, sloping up towards the back. As you know, heat rises, so naturally you should find the hottest part of your grill at the back, and get slightly cooler closer to the front. Most grills and hotplates in general will have certain “hotspots” that you will need to find for each one to work out the bests places to position your food when cooking. Once you’ve used a particular grill a couple of times you should find it quite easy to figure out your favourite spots to cook on. The combination of knowing where your “hotspots” are and using an angled grill will make it easier to find the best position to cook your steak. If you don’t have a chargrill to use and you have a flatgrill or a hotplate instead, I would recommend not cooking your steak entirely through on the hotplate, particularly for medium or above, seal it on both sides then place your steak on a tray and finish it off in an oven. Otherwise all you will do is burn the outside and lose all the moisture and juiciness from your meat.

The other element to consider is how you would like your steak cooked. In general, a well-done steak should be placed at the back, a medium steak in the middle of the grill, and a rare steak at the front. Obviously, this leaves medium-rare between the front and middle, and the medium-well between the middle and the back. In some situations you will need to adjust this slightly depending on the size and shape of your steak, a big, thick rump may need to be pushed a bit further up the grill to cook properly, while a thin and flat porterhouse might be best kept a little closer to the front to avoid overcooking. Your steak positioning will come down largely to personal preference and a bit of practice and experience with your grill.

Now that you should have worked out where on the grill you will place your steak, you’re almost ready to start cooking! What you need to consider now is how you will season your steak. You may not want any seasoning, that’s fine, go right ahead and start cooking. If you wish to use salt and pepper, I would suggest waiting until one side of your steak has been sealed before sprinkling any on, as salt has the tendency to leech out some of the moisture from your meat. My preferred method of seasoning is to get a really good steak seasoning spice and generously cover both sides before placing your steak on the grill. When you do place your steak on the grill, if you are going to have a rump or a porterhouse, make sure you place the strip of fat at the top, so as it cooks the fat will melt and drip through the steak, adding extra flavour to your meat.

The process of actually cooking your steak is quite simple, but there are a few key things you need to know to get the best result. Firstly, the advantage of using the chargrill means you can have nice cross-markings on your steak when it’s finished, which looks fantastic for presentation. To achieve this, your steak will need to be turned three times, the first time straight over itself, then on the second turn spin it around 90 degrees so the lines from the grill will cross over each other and make little brown squares all over the steak, and then the third and final turn will be straight over itself again. When you’re finished the steak should have cross-markings on both sides, and you can choose whichever side looks best to serve facing up.

What you should find if you have got the grill positioning right for your preferred doneness, 3-4 minutes in between each turn should have your steak turn out just the way you like it! (If you are cooking your steak bleu, you only need to cook it for 3 minutes on each side in total, just enough to seal each side basically).

This is just a guide to work by only, as each grill will produce slightly different results, but definitely the most important stage of cooking your steak is knowing when it is at the exact doneness you would like. This can sometimes be a little tricky, but there are a couple of methods for testing your steak without needing to cut into it. The best method to use when you’re just starting to learn would be what I call the “thumb test”. Hold your left hand out open and relaxed, and press the flesh of your left thumb with your right index finger. It should feel quite soft, and this is how a rare steak should feel when you press it with your finger.

Now lightly touch your left thumb to your left index finger, and press the flesh of your thumb with your right index finger. This is how a medium-rare steak should feel when it’s ready. Next, lightly touch your left thumb to your left middle finger, and pressing the flesh of your left thumb will feel like a medium steak when it’s ready.

Touching your left thumb to your left ring finger will make the flesh of your left thumb feel like a medium-well steak, and touching the left thumb to your left little finger will make the flesh of your thumb feel like a well-done steak. Try this out as a guide to get you started, and as with all things, practice and experience will help you hone your ability and instincts to know just when your steak is cooked to perfection! And just as importantly, make sure you get feedback from every person that you cook a steak for, this will make your progress go much faster. As they say, “feedback is the breakfast of champions!”

Another method to use, which can be a little bit sneaky, is if you can see into the middle of the steak at the edges to see what colour the middle looks like. This works really well for a scotch fillet, as you can gently pull away part of the meat right where the C-shaped piece of fat is without damaging your steak, and see if the inside is red, pink or grey.

Now I will explain to you each doneness, so you can work out how you would like to cook it and so you know what to look for when it is finished.

I will start with bleu, which is basically just sealed, is still very red in the middle, quite mushy to the touch, and will feel a little cool inside, only slightly warmed.

Rare is red in the middle from edge to edge, a little mushy, and will just feel warm inside. Medium-rare is red in the middle and pink at the edges, and will feel warm inside. Medium is pink in the middle from edge to edge, feels tender to the touch, and will be warm to hot inside. Medium-well still has a quarter in the middle that is pink, and will be grey at the edges, feels quite firm and is hot inside. If you plan to cook your steak medium-well or above, I would suggest you could speed up the cooking time by using a steak weight to place on top of your steak. It should be shiny silver and kept clean, and what will happen is the heat coming up from the flames below will be reflected down on to the top of the steak so it cooks on both sides. Make sure if you use a steak weight that you only place it on your steak after sealing one side so there is no chance of cross-contamination.

Well-done steaks are grey throughout, no pink at all, quite firm, although can still be juicy, and is very hot inside. Very well-done steaks are grey throughout with no pink at all, very firm, very hot, and no juices whatsoever. You can also get your steak cooked Pittsburgh, which basically means charring the outside so it is burnt while the inside doesn’t need to be completely cooked. For example, if you want to have your steak Pittsburgh-Rare, you could char the outside, and the inside would be red in the middle from edge to edge. To do this you will need some oil or butter, I personally use lemon butter just for the flavouring, and drizzle some over the steak until it drips onto the flames underneath. Your goal here is to build the flames up so they are licking at the steak and will cook the outside much faster than the inside.

CAUTION! Be very mindful of how much butter you use, make sure you have fire safety equipment, and if necessary that you have adult supervision. Do not do this if you do not feel comfortable working with large flames, it can be very dangerous if something nearby catches fire, so please be very careful if this is how you would like to have your steak cooked.

Everybody has different preferences when it comes to their beef, but I would urge you to try each different way so you can work out for yourself what’s best for you. Many people fear the sight of blood coming out of their steak, if you can work up the courage to try something new for yourself, who know, you might find you really like it! I personally eat my steaks medium-rare, and would like to take this opportunity to mention that once your steak starts getting to medium-well and above, you really lose a lot of the nutritional benefits of eating beef, so I would recommend not cooking your steak any more than medium, but obviously that is a choice that is entirely up to you.

Now all that’s left to do is to serve up your perfectly cooked steak, there are many choices of sides and sauces, far too many to list here. I always love it with a creamy mashed potato and seasonal steamed vegetables, and my favourite sauce is mushroom sauce. If you have the time the best sauce is made using beef bones, cooked off with a little tomato paste, then make a stock by boiling the bones in water with some celery, carrots, onion, leeks, bay leaves and peppercorns. Simmer it for a couple of hours until it reduces about three-quarters, and then remove the bones and vegetables. Add some red wine and port, and reduce it down to about half of where it is now, until it starts to thicken with a nice consistency. From here you can add some sliced mushrooms, or peppercorns if you prefer, and even add a little cream if you like as well. This is very time consuming to make the jus (rich beef gravy), but if you can do it you will find it well worthwhile. One other little tip I have for you is to brush a small amount of lemon butter over your steak before saucing it, this will keep your steak very juicy and tender.

I hope you enjoy cooking and eating many steaks in the future, and make sure you go out and impress your friends with your newfound cooking skills!

Mick Reade is a chef from Australia who has been cooking in commercial kitchens across the country for over 10 years, and has been helping teach others how easy it can be to cook great tasting and healthy meals, for more information please visit http://www.alleasyfoodrecipes.com

The job of a childcare professional is not easy. Their job falls right behind a parents’ job. And the mere fact that a childcare professional is handling children who are ripe for learning and growth, they are in a very influential and powerful position. For these reasons, a childcare professional should be properly molded for the job. There are certain qualities and traits that a childcare professional should have.

First and most importantly of all, a childcare professional should have a friendly persona. Her demeanor should be, above anything else, approachable and cheerful. Everyone would probably agree that children somehow seem to be veers towards some people than most. There are people who also seem to have a natural ability to make children feel at ease and drawn to them. This trait is very important in a childcare professional. After all, you can’t take care of a child if he or she will start crying when you come near.

Yes, children do cry a lot. It is their way of expressing feelings. Children, at three to five, are already acutely aware of how they feel, and yet, they are not aware of how to conceal it and may not even know that they sometimes have to do so. Every time a negative emotion is triggered, you can expect them to start bawling. This is why a childcare professional should also have a quite long rope. The saying “patience is a virtue” can never apply perfectly to any other job the way it does to a childcare professional’s job. This is also especially needed for special cases where the children may have some special needs. Along with patience, if you are handling a roomful of kids, you also need the ability to keep your cool in a crisis, because you can be sure that one can easily arise. You should also be armed with creative techniques to get out of problematic situations, and to solve it despite the loud, earsplitting cries of the children.

And of course, this creativity should also carry over to when you need to think of fun and engaging activities for the children. The attention spans of children are quite bafflingly short, so childcare professionals should always come up with new and exciting activities always. And to keep up and join in on the activities, naturally, a childcare professional should be energetic as well.

Also, childcare professionals should have a deeper sense of understanding children, no matter how many children they face and how many situations they encounter. They should know how to listen to concerns, and should also be sensitive enough to detect a problem or concern. Since children are very vulnerable, the person whose responsibility it is to care for them should protect them and should be attuned to what they are going through. And as a childcare professional understands a child, she should also be able to discuss what she finds out with the parents. Parents do not have the same level of exposure when it comes to dealing with children, especially if they are new parents. Chances are that they know what the problem is, but they are clueless about what they should do. Childcare professionals who take the initiative to share concerns and suggestions to parents will definitely be much-appreciated and will be able to build a relationship with the parents.

Finally, a childcare professional should naturally be professional. He or she should be able to compartmentalize. Since it is expected that those in their position should be always at their feet, always look cheerful and happy, and always be enthusiastic, the childcare center is definitely not a place to bring personal problems to.

Although not everyone may have these traits and qualities at first, anyone can try out a childcare job. These traits can be eventually developed as the nursery worker goes along.

Are you in the market for Childcare Jobs? For more opportunities for Childcare Professionals, go to http://www.nurseryjobsonly.com/

By only knowing how to read electronic schematic diagram and testing electronic components were not enough to make us a good electronic repairers. Many faults can’t be detected even if you know how to accurately test and check all the electronic components because those faults only can be detected by simply performing a voltage test. Do you know that quite a numbers of Monitor problems I have to perform a voltage test in order to locate the defective components? Yes, if without voltage testing, I might end up can’t find the fault and the Monitor have to be return back to customers. What if you return many Monitors back to the same customers? Of course your business reputation would be affected and worst if your competitors (other electronic repairers) be able to repair it. You would definitely lose out the customers and is very difficult to get back his trust again about your capability to repair Monitors.

I do know lots of electronic repairers especially newbie’s do not have the courage to perform the voltage test especially Computer Monitors and Television because they were afraid of the high voltage and get electrocuted. Well, if you want to work in this line and choose not to learn about voltage testing (because of afraid), then you are truly missing something that can help you to repair any equipment fast. After all, voltage testing is not that as dangerous as you thought to be. With some guidance from repair friends or even you test it on your own (practical) and protection from isolation transformer, I don’t see any other reasons you don’t want to do the voltage testing. Besides this of course you must know the safety guidelines first in this electronic servicing field.

The real challenging question now is even though you know how to perform the voltage testing; this does not guarantee that you will definitely being able to solve the electronic problems! As to why you can’t solve the problems depends on many factors such as:

- How well you are in understanding the functions of electronic circuit (assuming I’m talking on the Monitor circuit). Some Monitors circuits can be very complicated to understand it.

- How good you are in tracing the electronic circuit (assuming you are tracing from the source to the faulty components) because many electronic repairers will lost track and can’t go further to detect the fault.

- How knowledgeable you are in understanding each function of the electronic component. For example, if no signal flowing to the base of a transistor, of course there would be no current flowing between the collector and the emitter. Another example, what do you expect the output voltage will be if 100 volts is passing through between a 10 ohm resistor and a 10 k ohms resistor?

- Sometimes in order to solve a problem we accidentally create even more problems due to that we do not have the capability to hold tight the meter’s probes causing it to touch on other pins while measuring a components (says is an IC or a transistor). This would cause the whole equipment to shutdown or even burnt the components. How many of you have done that before?

- We must also know what the range of the meter setting is in order to test the electronic circuit accurately. For example, would you test the secondary output voltages when your meter is set to AC range? Or would you expect a reading when your meter’s red probe touches on a cold ground?

From above, these are the things that you should know if you want to be successfully able to perform a voltage test on any equipment. It is not that easy to absorb everything that I’ve just mentioned above but if you have the passion to do it (I mean learn everything from reading electronics books, visiting forum, doing your own practical test and etc) then you are giving yourself a chance to learn something that will truly benefit to you.

In this week’s article I’m going to show you how by performing a voltage test has helped me to solve an unusual problem in a Computer Monitor.

Well, this monitor with the brand name of MIMOS (this is an OEM Monitor) came in with the complaint of can’t adjust horizontal size (there’s totally no changes when the horizontal size control was pressed). The display width (size) was large and both sides of the display curved inward (pincushion out). For your information, the horizontal size and pincushion circuit were located in the same area and both circuits were working together in order to achieve a desire display. If one component in a circuit fails, it would affect another circuit as well! That’s why, when the horizontal size circuit have problem, the pincushion circuitry was affected too (the display curved inward).

Normally when I see this kind of problem, I would usually check and test all the components in the horizontal size and pincushion circuits’ area with my ESR, analog and digital meter. Most of the time, I could solve the problem fast. The common faulty parts for horizontal size width problem in a Monitor were usually dry joints, shorted modulation diode and pincushion transistor and capacitor opens along the horizontal size coil’s line. But somehow I could not locate the faulty components in this Monitor because all of the components that I’ve checked were all tested okay!

Since I have checked all the components in the horizontal size and pincushion circuit area to be okay, now the only way to solve it is through using voltage test. Generally, whenever if you want to perform voltage testing, one must start from the source first. However if you are experience enough you can always skip some section and start tracing the circuit that you think would fail. As there are many electronic repair newbie’s in this ERG member site, I would show all of you how to trace from the source first.

Now think carefully, what makes the display to become small or big whenever the horizontal size control was pressed through the On Screen Display (OSD)? There must be a signal sends out from somewhere to the horizontal size circuit in order to control the display. Am I right? The pincushion transistor has a base pin and if this voltage varies (because of the horizontal size control either set to minimum or maximum) the display will change too. You can choose to trace backward starts from the base pin of the pincushion transistor or start from the source. I will guide you to trace from the source because once you know how to trace from the source, you would be able to troubleshoot and repair other Monitor problems too such as can’t control the brightness, contrast, vertical and horizontal height. You may use this method that I’m about to show you in TV and other electronic equipment as well.

First you must understand what is the function of digital to analog conversion (DAC) circuit. Since most of the modern Monitors are using digital signal (communication between the CPU and EEPROM and other circuits as well) there must be some circuit to convert the digital signal to analog signal in order to drive the pincushion transistor and others electronic circuits too. Our normal multimeter can’t measure digital signal, it can only read analog signal. Older Monitors have the DAC IC located out site the CPU (such as the TDA8444 IC used in NEC XV 14 Monitor) while for modern Monitors the DAC IC is built into the CPU. I guess you are now understood why a digital circuit needs a DAC as part of it complete circuit. In other words, the DAC is required to communicate with the analog world!

In this faulty Monitor, I don’t see any DAC IC nearby the CPU so I presumed that the DAC was already built into the CPU. Now, this is the most challenging part where you have to carefully adjust the Monitor position and yourself so that when the Monitor power is switch “ON” you can perform the voltage test on all the pins at the CPU. Assuming you have taken all the necessary safety and precautions now is the time to switch on the Monitor and start to do voltage testing.

After you got hold of the Monitor, select the horizontal size control through the OSD screen. You could see when the “+” and “-” buttons was pressed at the front panel, the number in the OSD display indicates the minimum and maximum value representing the size of the display being adjusted. Since this is a faulty Monitor, although the number in the OSD screen is changing (because you are pressing the “+” and “-”) there is no effect on the display and the display remains big and curved. But somehow you could measure the pins at the CPU to locate which one of the pins the voltage is changing when the adjustment button is press! Try one by one of the CPU pins until you saw one that has effect when the horizontal size control was pressed. The voltage is about 0 to 5 volts (depends on the design of Monitors) and should go up or down momentarily when the horizontal size adjustment is changing. Congratulation! You are now have determined the source of the horizontal size circuit. One word of advice, a defective CPU or a corrupted EEPROM data could cause no signal at the horizontal size source pin!

Once you have known the pin then it is relatively easy to find out the fault. Start tracing from the pin and see at where the voltage had missing as shown in this photo. Surprisingly the voltage remains okay even till pin 5 (inverting input) of the quad operational amplifier LM324 IC. Since this is an OP-AMP IC, it requires two inputs (inverting and non-inverting input) to produce an output at pin 7 but the voltage at pin 7 would not vary. And if this output won’t vary definitely it can’t control the horizontal size. Pin 5 voltage of the LM324 IC varies and pin 7 don’t varies then most probably the problem is either in the IC itself or components that are related to pin 6 (non-inverting input). I saw a wire coming from top of the board and upon inspecting it; it was from B+ voltage (about 66 VDC) and passing through a resistor before reaching pin 6 of the OP-AMP IC. Using my analog meter to measure across the high ohms resistor (820k), I found it to be zero voltage. In order to really confirm is the resistor fault, I desoldered one of the lead and check with my ohmmeter. Guess what? The resistor has open circuit! Unbelievable and it was true! Replacing with a new resistor restored the display back to normal.

Conclusion- Imagine if I didn’t use the voltage testing method, I don’t know how long that I’m going to spend on troubleshooting this kind of problem. And worst still, I may end up can’t solve the problem and return the Monitor back to my customer. With constant learning and practice in electronic repair you will have no problem in tackling any electronic faults in the future. Just don’t give up and continue to learn from the ERG member’s page. Thank You for being my member.

Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer and if you want to become a professional in testing electronic components please visit his website at http://www.TestingElectronicComponents.com

Cat Declawing

What is the use of cat declawing?

The main reason people decide to declaw their cat is to protect their furniture. An untrained cat’s claws can be very destructive in a home, damaging furniture, curtains and carpets. Cats like (and need) to scratch and claw at wood and rough surfaces, and if they are not properly trained, your furniture will look very inviting to them. Another reason people give for declawing their cat is to prevent the cat from injuring them. Cats use their claws and teeth to defend themselves and to fight. Small children may mishandle a cat and provoke it in scratching them. Some cats also have a more aggressive or nervous nature and will scratch people when they feel threatened.

Toxoplasmosis and Bartonellosis are two diseases that can be transmitted from cats. It is important to note though, that those diseases are most likely to be contracted from a litter box, or even from biting – but it is highly unlikely that it will be contracted from cat scratches.

Declawing a cat is a selfish and very drastic solution for problems that could be solved in many other ways and may bring forth much more serious problems. Owners that decide to declaw their cat do this solely for their own comfort and do not take in account the problems that may sprout from doing this.

What does the declawing process involve?

Cat declawing is also known as onychectomy and is a much more complex operation than simply removing your cat’s nails or claws. The declawing operation is in fact the amputation of each of the cat’s toes at the first joint. It involves cutting of the front part of a cat’s toes and means cutting through nerves and muscles and removing bone. This operation is extremely painful (it has been proven to be much more painful than sterilizing or spaying your cat) and it will take a long time to heal. Even after the wounds have healed, the cat may suffer from a series of after-effects.

Are there any disadvantages to declawing your cat?

Yes! There are numerous disadvantages, not only to your cat but to you as cat owner as well. Cat declawing is illegal in many countries around the world and considered as inhumane and as a form of animal abuse and mutilation.

Many people don’t realize just how painful a declawing operation can be. Scientists have proven cat declawing to be extremely painful and even test new painkiller drugs on cats that are being declawed. Although the cat may not show signs of pain outwardly and seem to be content, it will definitely be in a lot of pain after the operation. Big operations or rather amputations like declawing can hold many of the usual dangers related to surgical complications. A lot of vets also only use the minimum amount of painkillers and anesthetics during the operation, and prescribe no painkillers for the recovery process at home. The wounds take several weeks to heal, and the pain may continue months after the operation.

Complications after a declawing operation are also very common. The wounds may become infected or some of the amputated toes can begin to grow back. Some cats may experience lameness and even be crippled. You may notice a declawed cat trying to scratch at surfaces. They reason for this is because it is common for the tendons of the severed joints to detract and cause a constant feeling of stiffness in their paws.

Cats need their claws for balance and also use it to hook their paws on surfaces and stretch themselves. This stretching forms a very important part of the cat’s exercise and muscle toning. A declawed cat will need to learn to walk differently (because it doesn’t have any front joints) and its body weight will rest on their feet which can even cause arthritis.

It is very common for declawed cats to develop behavioral problems. It may develop a fear for its sandbox, because scratching in the sand may be painful. So, instead of having a cat that damages your furniture, you will have a cat that refuses to use its litter box. Also, because it has been deprived of its best means of defense, its claws, it may now revert to using its teeth to protect itself and can start to bite people when feeling threatened.

Declawed cats will also not be able to defend themselves effectively against other cats or dogs and can even die in fights.

Because of these behavioral problems developed after declawing, many cat owners become detached from their cats and may even want to get rid of them.

Professional cat declawing

If you do decide to declaw your cat after all, at least make sure that it is done professionally and with as little discomfort to your cat as possible.

The most developed method of declawing to date is laser declawing. Laser declawing is less painful, because bleeding and swelling is reduced.

Always ensure that your cat or kitten is older than 4 months before declawing. It is also not advisable to declaw cats that are old and not so active anymore, because they will take a longer time to recover.

After the operation, your cat may be kept in the hospital for the night, or a longer period of time depending on the cat. When taking your cat home, try to keep it from getting overexcited and prevent it from jumping or putting heavy strain on its paws. It is common for the paws to start bleeding every now and again, but ask your vet’s advice if the bleeding alarms you.

To minimize the pain your cat can experience when using its sandbox, put newspaper strips in the sandbox. Sand or clay can infect the wounds on the paws or cause pain when “scratching” in the box. After your cat is fully recovered you can replace the sand again. Your cat may not like the newspapers and this can become a messy affair.

Always look out for the following warning signs, and notify your vet if any occur: Swollen paws and frequent bleeding. If your cat display extreme difficulty in standing up or walking after one day.

Alternatives to cat declawing

Before deciding on such a drastic measure or “solution” as declawing your cat, first consider some of the (often more effective) alternatives. The main reason for declawing a cat is to prevent it from damaging your furniture. Scratching is a necessary instinctive habit for removing the dead cells around its claws, practicing balance and stretching and toning muscles.

Cats are highly trainable animals and can be taught to use only a scratching post for these purposes. There are numerous scratching posts or “cat furniture” to choose from, whether your cat likes scratching vertical or horizontal surfaces. You can even buy “cat trees” with attractive objects hanging from the tree to catch your cat’s attention or build your own (just make sure they are stable and won’t fall over on your cat).

To train a cat to use scratching posts, and to discourage it from scratching your furniture, you can place netting or foil over your furniture. When you see your cat trying to scratch your furniture, pick it up and put it down in front of its scratching post.

Nail caps can be applied to a cat’s claws, this need to be applied every 3 to 6 months depending on the cat. Nail caps will prevent damage to your furniture and to yourself while causing almost no inconvenience to your cat (compared to the serious discomfort caused by declawing). You can also trim your cat’s nails frequently to keep it blunt.

For more information about taking care of cats see cat-urine.net

Claudine du Plessis is a cat lover and webmaster of http://www.cat-urine.net.

There is an Act in New Jersey, called the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act, which allows New Jersey drivers the ability to buy basic car insurance policies in New Jersey, for cheaper than all of the other available car insurance policies in the state. In all honesty, there isn’t much that will beat the most inexpensive car insurance policy plan available, however there are some things that you should know about the insurance plan which is being offered before you eliminate all of your other options.

The Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act is useful in that it allows all drivers to obtain inexpensive car insurance in New Jersey, because the policy that is offered is significantly cheaper than what you will pay for a standard automobile insurance policy. This basic car insurance policy includes $15,000 per person, for personal injury protection, and $250,000 for significant or permanent injuries. This plan also includes $5,000 of property damage per accident. Unfortunately, liability insurance for bodily injury is not included in this basic insurance policy, however, it is an option that can be added, to the tune of $10,000 per accident for the policyholder.

This basic car insurance policy also does not include uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, nor does it include collision or comprehensive coverage. Collision and Comprehensive coverage are options which can be added on, but it depends on which form of the basic car insurance policy was issued to the policyholder.

Although this basic car insurance plan is the cheapest available, it offers very minimum coverage. This coverage is enough to get you by if you simply need a cheap insurance plan, but there are much better plans with better and more comprehensive features and even though these plans are more expensive, they are well worth taking a look at when you are considering all of your options. The basic car insurance is a quick and inexpensive fix for people who are currently driving without insurance, or who cannot get regular automobile insurance coverage because of their credit rating, or their driving record. However, this basic car insurance policy is not for everyone, because the coverage offered is not exactly desirable.

When it comes to choosing the right automobile insurance plan for your situation, it is absolutely imperative that you really shop around. Affordable car insurance in New Jersey can be easy to find, as long as you understand where to look, and how to properly compare quotes in order to ensure that you are receiving the best available policy. There are many different approaches that you can take when it comes to obtaining car insurance quotes, but the method which is generally quickest and the most effortless is simply to do a search online for car insurance companies with offices located in New Jersey. Most websites dedicated to car insurance will offer you the ability to obtain a free quote simply by inputting some information about yourself, your vehicle and your driving record.

Once this information is sent in, the insurance company will respond with a free automobile insurance quote. There is no limit to how many free car insurance quotes you can collect, so you should make a point to spend a great deal of time researching before you come to any conclusions. You should collect car insurance quotes from every local insurance provider that you can find, then sit down and really weigh your options before coming to any conclusions. Just because an insurance company offers you an extremely low quote, this does not mean it is the best available insurance for your situation. The basic car insurance policy offered by the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act is proof of this, because even though the insurance quote seems great, the coverage is not really worth the price that you pay for it.

In addition to price, there are some other factors that you should consider when you begin to shop around for insurance providers. There are a large number of different insurance companies and agents available on the internet, each competing to give you the best possible quote for your automobile insurance. Many of these insurance companies have offices in various states, but they may not have a local office in New Jersey. What this means, is that if you ever have questions or concerns pertaining to your insurance policy, you will not have a local insurance provider to turn to in order to address these problems. This is one of the largest problems associated with doing your automobile insurance shopping on the internet. Before you choose an insurance provider, make sure that there is either a local office that you can visit when you have questions, or that there is a toll free 1-800 that you can call, with a friendly voice on the other end who will walk you through your concerns. Large insurance companies do not always have your best interest in mind, so make sure that you are opting for insurance coverage through a company that will continue to be helpful and easy to work with after you buy your insurance plan.

Something else that you need to keep in mind while shopping for insurance is that there are providers who will offer special discounts and rates if you ask for them. While you are weighing all of your options and considering all of your choices, ask the local agencies that you are considering if they offer any special rates or discounts. In an attempt to be competitive, and to make sure that you choose them as your insurance provider, most insurance companies will discount your rate, or offer you a special deal. You should also make sure that you are obtaining the right kind of insurance for your situation. For example, there are special insurance plans designated for young or new drivers in order to offer them discounted rates. Additionally, vehicles that are older than fifteen years may qualify for antique car insurance, which entails a discounted rate for cars which are appreciating in value rather than depreciating as a normal vehicle would.

For more information about Affordable Car Insurance in New Jersey visit http://www.InsuranceSalesman.com where we have comprehensive guides to How to Find Antique Car Insurance Companys in New Jersey and How to Instantly Get Great Rates on Car Insurance Quotes!

I remember my mother telling me about the times when she was pregnant. She was wearing nothing more than my father’s jeans and his working shirts throughout her pregnancy. No maternity clothes for her because she was too poor to buy them at that time. Remember, in her time, which was about 30 years back, maternity clothes used to cost a bomb.

And yet, if you walk along any shopping center these days, you’ll notice at least three or four maternity clothes fashion houses catering to the specifically ‘large’ needs of a pregnant mother. And since the web and the Internet is such a magnanimous thing these days, what about online maternity stores? I’d safely say there are just about half a million legitimate maternity stores right now flailing around the Internet wires for business.

And the amazing thing is that…YES, they make money! And why, I was wondering.

Because of one simple thing….even though my mother (like your mother) and my grandmother (and your grandmother) didn’t need maternity clothes when they were pregnant, the modern generation of pregnant women really, truly DO need maternity clothes. We’re living in an era that is completely different from their time and we cannot compare our pregnancy needs with their needs. The same rules no longer apply.

If you’re pregnant right now and am sitting around here wondering if you should get yourself a whole new wardrobe of maternity clothes, you’re in luck. I have some tips about buying maternity clothes for you.

Buy good-looking maternity clothes that can last at least 3 pregnancies

Like I said, maternity clothes are not cheap these days and maternity clothes are only wearable for the nine months that you’re pregnant and maybe another month or two after that. And when you get back in shape, you’re going to have to shelve those expensive maternity clothes or put the maternity clothes in sad boxes with the edges stuck together with cellophane tape.

So, buy only maternity clothes that are classy and of exceptional quality. You wear maternity clothes only when you plan to go out. For casual outings and at home, stick to your extra large clothes or perhaps, you can buy some large sweaters, t-shirts, overalls, or raglan to wear when you’re not required to look all-that-presentable. It works!

You won’t need CASUAL maternity clothes. In my books, that’s an oxymoron.

Maternity clothes that can double up as breastfeeding clothes later on would be good too

If you intend to breastfeed your baby after the whole pregnancy is over, you would have to think about buying MORE clothes…breastfeeding/nursing clothes. Now, as with maternity clothes, nursing clothes don’t come cheap either. And do we NEED nursing clothes as much as we need maternity clothes? Yes, sometimes we do. I have quite a few fashionable looking nursing clothes that I wear whenever I go out shopping or meeting up with friends. Other times, I wear my t-shirts with holes cut out for easy access to the breast! Yeah, it’s funny, but at home, who’s going to care?

And if you can get your hands on some good maternity clothes that can double up as nursing clothes later on, GO FOR IT! You will get your money’s worth that way.

Style of maternity clothes

Many maternity clothes designers are asleep when they’re designing maternity clothes – the selection is bad. Most of them are nothing but flower after flower, spiral after spiral, safety pins or perhaps some form of teddy bear or another. Forget about them! If you were to buy maternity clothes, invest one that makes you look good. If the maternity clothes are plain, that’s fine, it’s better than making you look like Bozo – most of them do, by the way.

The point is that you want to look CLASSY and DIGNIFIED even though you’re sort of….BIG. and wearing maternity clothes with large orange and yellow flower prints is NOT going to help you do that!

That’s just my opinion, of course, and you’re entitled to have your own opinion about maternity clothes that looks good.

Good luck!

Reprint Notice

Copyright 2005 Marsha Maung

Please feel free to reprint this article in your newsletter, website, magazine or other forms of publication freely. The only requirement is that the following biodata is included and the links remains intact. Apart from editorial or grammatical editing, other form of editing that may impair, change, or alter the context of the article is NOT permitted. If so, please contact the writer for written consent.

Marsha Maung is a freelance writer and designer. She designs apparel, household and premium items for http://www.allmomstuff.com Marsha Maung’s personal website is http://www.marshamaung.com

When I attended law school orientation day, it helped me become familiar with the college and faculty. This is something in the past I did not do whenever I attended colleges and Universities. I wish I would have, because knowledge is power. Knowing in advance the kind of college and the attitude of the administration toward college students is extremely important.

Here are some college student success secrets I tell university students throughout the world whenever I speak at orientation welcome week and college kickoffs.

1. Take your mentor, a trusted teacher, or parent along with you.

The wisdom and experience of years is priceless. Not to mention associating with such a person immediately gains you the respect of college administrators who handle you differently and speak to you professionally.

Furthermore having a trusted mentor of parent by your side will help lessen anxiety and help whenever you need to ask hard questions. Some you may forget to ask, but they can present some key and crucial points for you to consider at orientation.

No life transition is easy, particularly the one from high-school to college. Therefore don’t tackle this alone. Having somebody with you, even if just a respectable friend, will provide comfort and strength to you emotionally. If your parent can take time off from work to attend, this will later lessen you having to answer all of their many questions once you begin school.

2. Take as many entrance and placement exams that you can to become self-aware as a college student.

Self-awareness is a lifelong discovery process. The more exams you take, the more able you will be to gauge your strengths and weaknesses.

The ACT and SAT are just two college entrance exams that help colleges determine your scholastic aptitude and academic ability. Placement exams such as the CLEP also enable you to determine and identify what classes are appropriate and most suitable for you to begin as an entering freshman at college.

Prematurely taking a college class before you are academically ready and prepared for it could be disastrous, cost you unnecessary money, and damage your GPA. Save yourself the pain and heartache by accurately gauging your ability beforehand and becoming self-aware as to your academic ability before haphazardly enrolling in classes.

3. Be friendly, curious, humble, and network whenever possible.

Meet and greet as many people as you can. Express a genuine curiosity in others and take an interest in those around you. By doing so, you will learn more and be able to process the college experience and grasp the essentials for college success.

College student success requires you interact with others and learn from upper level, more established students who know the ropes and ways of your college. For example, you will want to know where the cafeteria and gym are. Finding classes may require you to step out and ask for help periodically. Getting the resources you need at the library will also demand you be friendly, courteous, and ask for help.

4. Develop meaningful friendships among college students who can assist you in your own academic progress and professional development. Depending upon your major, join a college association or organization for like minded students.

Once you pinpoint your passion and know which direction you are moving academically and professionally, it will be far easier to identify the appropriate and ideal student association with which to align yourself. Greek life is also useful to make friends for fun and feel a part of something larger than yourself.

The greatest thing you can do however is look for organizations that are wholeheartedly pursuing your interests and objectives. Once aligned with them, you can jump right in and become a part of a meaningful group on track to where you want to go.

5. Cultivate student advisors and professors to guide and mentor you.

Whenever possible, draw near and talk to student advisors and professors seeking their advice and guidance on issues of importance to your academic success. Student advisors don’t have mixed motives (as sometimes older students associated with an organization or association might) and it is their job to direct and advise you.

Therefore take advantage of the resource and don’t be afraid to ask questions whenever you need to know something.

6. Take a walk around the campus and become familiar with all of the nuances and peculiarities.

Each campus has its own protocol, policies, and procedures. As you spend time walking around, interacting, and observing the way things are done on your campus, you will quickly learn the ins and outs.

When you attend a college as a student, the campus becomes your home away from home. Therefore make sure you feel comfortable with your college and university before you proceed. If for any reason you feel uneasy, troubled, or disturbed about something on campus, quickly address and get these issues resolved before proceeding academically.

7. Get acquainted with the professors teaching your classes and review the syllabus well before classes begin.

By personally meeting and talking with your future professors, you get a feel for their personality and possible teaching style. When I did this once at a community college, I was shocked to observe a professor with whom I was to begin a course yelling and complaining about her computer. I immediately knew I wanted to withdraw from this professor’s course (since I wasn’t overly thrilled with the technology involved in the course and her level of impatience, which would not serve me well as a student).

Seek out older students who have taken classes with various professors also who can give you some helpful feedback about their teaching styles, coursework assigned, and class requirements. This will enable you to find and choose a professor that best matches your learning style.

8. Go to the college financial aid website and office to complete any application forms available for college funding and scholarships.

Complete every form available to get financial assistance. College is not cheap and you are going to need thousands of dollars to live on and cover the expense of your tuition. Think and plan ahead pertaining to the financing of your education.

Get your tax records in order and ready to submit whenever applying for financial aid. Ask your parents for their annual tax statements, when necessary, to apply for financial aid and various scholarships.

9. Be proactive in all things financial and beware of signing up for any free credit cards on camps when vendors offer you something.

Most of these credit cards are at high interest rates and can wreck your credit. Beware of vendors (especially mobile phone and credit card vendors) seeking to prey on you, get you to sign contracts, and obtain your social security number and financial information.

10. Always stay focused and healthy throughout your college experience.

Live strong and be strong. Eat well and exercise regularly. Don’t abuse your body partying. You can celebrate after you finish college and land a good paying job. Stay focused, have fun, but don’t forget why you have come to college.

Invite worldwide speaker and life-changing author Paul F. Davis to speak to your college students about success secrets and breakthrough leadership!
info@PaulFDavis.com
http://www.PaulFDavis.com
407-967-7553

Paul is an exceptional & frequently requested speaker for college student success, leadership, orientations & to kickoff college events. Paul’s 17 life-changing books have landed him celebrity guest appearances on Fox News Radio, Investor’s Business Daily, and 3 times on Oprah & Friends. After a 45 minute interview on Playboy Radio, Afternoon Advice host Tiffany Granath calls Paul an awesome relational coach and recommends his books on love, dating & sexuality. Paul’s academic success & leadership secrets for college students are unparalleled and greatly empowering. Paul builds bridges cross-culturally, cultivating diversity awareness, while empowering college students to discover their destiny and live their dreams.

A master in NLP & life coaching; Paul’s humorous, fun, playful and transformative messages graciously challenge college students to ask themselves hard questions and be their personal best. As a former high-school senior class English and ESOL teacher, Paul understands the challenges facing incoming college students. Moreover Paul personally knows what transfer students go through as he himself attended a community college where he graduated with a 3.8 GPA before entering UCF, where he graduated Cum Laude. As a worldwide professional speaker who has touched more than 50 countries and 6 continents, Paul greatly appeals to international students throughout the world. Paul worked at Ground Zero during 9/11; helped rebuild a home at the tsunami epicenter; comforted victims of genocide in Rwanda; spoke to leaders in East Timor during the war; inspired students & monks in Myanmar; promoted peace & reconciliation in Pakistan & has been deep into Africa where villagers had never seen a white man. Paul empowers people to love passionately, work together globally and live their dreams fearlessly.

http://www.PaulFDavis.com

Gourmet cooking may seem inaccessible, something only wealthy people can enjoy, or even intimidating. There’s no reason to feel this way about it. If you’re interesting in gourmet cooking, that’s the most important part. If you’ve never tried gourmet cooking before, don’t be afraid. With a little trial and error and a sense of adventure, you can get into gourmet cooking. You know the difference between what you like to eat and what you don’t, right? And you can tell what quality tastes like, right? Then you have the necessary tools to be an amateur gourmet.

To begin with, what makes a certain style of cooking “gourmet”? Gourmet cooking utilizes fresh, high quality ingredients. Take something common like garlic, for example. You can buy dry powdered garlic in the spice aisle at any grocery store. The gourmet will avoid this, though. They’ll even walk by the jars of chopped garlic. Only freshly chopped garlic will do for the gourmet cook. Another example is basil. Let’s say you have a recipe calling for basil. Again, you could get a jar of dried basil flakes from the spice aisle, or you can find fresh bagged basil leaves in the produce section. Gourmet recipes will prefer the fresh stuff. Better yet, grow your own! Whenever possible, if you can use ingredients you grew yourself, you’ll find that they make a world of difference in the taste of your gourmet experiments.

Another word for gourmets is “epicurean”. An epicurean is someone who likes only the finest food and drink. Or you can describe a gourmet as a “connoisseur”. Like an epicurean, connoisseurs are people who know what’s good and what isn’t.

To get into gourmet cooking, there are a few ways you can go about learning how. Most obvious are books. Your local bookstore will have plenty of selections on cooking for novices. Don’t be intimidated. There’s tons of help out there for the newbie. Often grocery stores will have books which are meant to introduce you to gourmet cooking. They’ll cover all the basics starting with describing all the different knives you can use to how to clarify butter and make stock.

Another resource for the budding gourmet chef is local restaurants. Nobody’s going to give away their secrets but just by going out to eat in nice restaurants every so often and trying things you’ve never had before, you’ll develop a broader range in taste and expand your knowledge of food. Don’t be afraid to ask your server to describe an item to you which you don’t know about. Ask what goes into the sauce. Ask what’s sprinkled on top. Take mental notes and give it a try at home.

Of course you can always finds tons of information on the internet. The internet is chock full of information of all sorts and gourmet cooking is no exception. Innumerable sites provide recipes and cooking advice. Countless forums have been set up to aid the novice and give the experts a place to trade tips and recipes. Don’t be afraid to go online and ask questions. Make sure you read what you can before posting questions, but rest assured that there are lots of people out there who are willing to provide advice.

Once you’ve decided to give a gourmet recipe a try, you may find that your local supermarkets don’t have all the ingredients you need. Whenever possible, shop locally but if you can’t find what you need there are a number of online food stores which will ship fresh food to your doorstop at a reasonable rate. Yes, gourmet ingredients tend to cost more but their quality and great taste will make it all worth it when your friends and family are being blown away by your latest excursion into gourmet deliciousness!

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as gourmet gift baskets at http://www.finegourmetgiftbaskets.com

“Can I wash my own dog? It can’t be that hard can it?” These are the words that I hear everyday as I go about my business working at the Pooch Parlor in Northern Idaho. Each time I walk a customer through this process, I find myself wondering why in the world something so simple is so doggone hard to explain. Washing your own dog may seem simple, but – only if you think and speak ‘dog’ – the language of your own dog.

I run a shop for full service and self-service dog grooming and bathing, and I LOVE it! There are dogs, and owners, of every size, every breed, and every temperament that come in to use the self-service doggie wash. Most owners are excited, some are scared, and some are cocky, but no matter who they are, or what they do for a living, there is nothing quite as intimidating for them as washing their own dog in public! The thought of doing this can give even the most confident person, performance anxiety, and for good reason! It is a true test of trust and tolerance and friendship for the person and dog companion. And, on a very basic level, it is an honest mirror for the owner, and how he or she deals with life, and with conflict. The likelihood of a successful experience for both is completely dependent upon the psychological relationship that exists between them, and, to a large extent, the ability of both to comprehend the body language of the other. You may be surprised to know that I have found that dogs are supremely better at reading their humans than their humans are of reading them. It is this relationship between human and canine, that shows itself without modesty during bathtime, and, keeps me coming to work day after day with a smile on my face.

My clients have been giving their dogs baths in my shops for 10+ years now, and, each year is more entertaining than the last when it comes to watching regular people washing their own regular dogs. The average person that comes through our doors is highly successful, which usually means – intelligent – and, because like attracts like, so is their dog. And, so why oh why, they ask me, should this simple task of cleaning their dog be so difficult? I ask them time and again, “Well, how well do you speak dog?” Invariably, their reply is a blank stare. So, this is the time to ask yourself, “How well do YOU speak dog?”

There is a lot to say about the theories of why dogs and humans behave the way they do, but I’m going to get back to the practical things to look for while bathing your own dog. The bottom line to remember is that your dog’s energy and personality traits are a mirror to your own. Take this into consideration when attempting to get him into the tub and have him be happy about it.

1. Deciding when to bathe your dog. Timing and Personality traits: Timing is important. Look at your own needs regarding timing to know how your dog will react. Are you the kind of person that is up for anything anytime? Or do you need to accomplish your day in a scheduled, systematic way? How do you do with new experiences? Do you find them refreshing and fun, or do you feel fearful until comfortable with a new activity? Your dog is going to deal with the bathtime experience in the same way you deal with life experiences. Remember that your dog is going to reflect your own personality traits – not necessarily the traits you show the world, but the traits that are truly inside you.

a. Fun-loving, extroverted, and social humans. If you enjoy regular physical activity, then so will your dog. For this type of person and dog, I suggest you take your dog out for a bout of exercise before the bath. In the city where I work, we are fortunate to have a designated beach on the lake just for dogs and their humans – dogbeach. There is a long path to run or walk on, and there is a large beach area to swim and play in. This is the perfect scenario for pre-bath timing. The dog can choose to get muddy, run, socialize, or just enjoy being outside. In any case, the dog is able to spend big reserves of energy outside in a fun way, just like letting human children play before naptime. If you love exercise, do something like this with your dog before taking him into your own tub or a professional facility for a dog bath. A common fault of the social dog and owner: Just because you are friendly, out-going person does not mean everyone wants to accept your friendly, and out-going gestures. It’s hard to fathom, I know, but it is true. If you have a very social dog (if you are a social person), it is easy to forget that many dogs (like their owners) are not social and do not appreciate the social requirements (like butt-sniffing) of others. Please remember to respect their space when in public or otherwise. Keep your dog restrained and under control, even if your dog has the friendliest intentions.

b. Non-social, active, or inactive humans. If your personality is not conducive to social interaction, then I still suggest that you walk your dog or do something that is comfortable within your life that involves light exercise before bathing your dog. Taking a walk with your dog does wonders to alleviate excess tension or stress for both human and dog. By getting rid of stressful energies during a walk, it does not present itself during bathtime. Getting exercise is especially important for those humans,( I mean dogs), that are highly nervous. I recommend giving your dog Valerian root (liquid form) or Rescue Remedy (liquid or spray) orally 30 minutes before the bath. Both of these products are natural remedies to calming down jittery nerves- and it works great for humans too. If timing is important in your life, take your dog to a self-service bathing facility when the least amount of people are there, usually early or late in the day. A common fault of the non-social dog and owner: they communicate poorly within their own species and with other species. Many people that tend towards isolation, often do this because they never figured out how to communicate effectively in human society. Their dogs typically have the same problem. I have seen it happen many times that owners of aggressive dogs unwittingly encourage their dog’s unwanted behavior, when they think they are doing the opposite. They do this by projecting their worrying thoughts about the ‘what-ifs’ of a social situation. Dogs of this type of owner act out their dog interpretations of their human owners signals. The dogs often pick up the ‘what-if’ fears of the human as the request of their human, actually creating the ‘what-if’ behavior to occur. Without human intervention and boundary setting by the owner (requiring advanced communication skills), it is quite common for this type of dog to exhibit increasingly aggressive behavior. Most owners are dismayed by their dog’s aggressive behavior, but they simply lack the skills required to communicate what behavior they will and won’t allow from their dog. I recommend that if you have a dog that is displaying increasingly aggressive behaviors to consult a professional dog behaviorist or trainer. Just a few simple tricks will convey an accurate message to a dog that is most likely misunderstanding your expectations.

Language barriers for humans and dogs. Its no surprise that miscommunication between owner and dog happens often. If you are a human that is finding you don’t understand why your dog does what he does, remember, you are learning a whole different language and culture. Give yourself time and give your dog time to understand each other. Just don’t expect your dog to act like a human, especially during conflict. It takes time and practice for anyone to learn a new human language. It’s no different learning dog language. We all know how to interpret a human smile in society. When a dog pulls his lips back over his teeth, it typically doesn’t mean he’s happy! Would a human dream of greeting a new acquaintance by sniffing their butt? Right! But, in doggie language, that’s the equivalent of shaking hands. A dog that shakes his head to get the slobber off of his mouth is no different than a person smoothing his slacks or dusting off his shirt to look more polite. The differences are huge, so give yourself and your dog a break if you have hit a communication block wall.

2. Deciding where to bathe your dog: There are not a lot of choices when it comes to bathing your dog. A. You can use your own bathtub at home which requires no human socializing – hard on your back, it’s very messy with extended after cleaning, and potentially traumatizing to human and dog. B. Bring your dog to a self-service doggie wash shop – easier on your back, requires some basic social skills by owner and dog, can be noisy and hairy, requires no after cleaning, and it does cost more than just the shampoo. C. Tie the dog to a fence and wash him with a hose in the yard (hopefully on a hot, sunny day) – not easy on the back, hard on the dog with cold water, potentially traumatizing for nervous dogs, but does not require human or dog socialiaing. D. Wash the dog in your nearest lake -which is very popular in my neck of the woods – hard on the back, requires advanced human and dog social skills, is potentially harmful to the environment, and how clean can you really get a dog in lakewater?

Regardless of where you wash your dog, take into account your own physical limitations, and your dog’s physical limitations. Is it worth wrecking your bathroom and hurting your back to wash your dog at home? For the clients I see, the answer is a definite, no! Emotional requirements are often a factor for dogs. For instance, (in general) Labrador retrievers have no issue being bathed in a lake (even though they don’t get clean), but they often resent being restrained in a tub with a sprayer hose pointed in their direction. For a farm dog that has never been away from home, tying them to the fence is a better solution than trucking them to the city and asking them to have manners in a grooming shop, or in a populated lake. At least next to the fence, even with cold water, they are comfortable with where they are and what is expected of them.

My vote is, of course to find a self-service doggie wash facility. The equipment is professional and easy to use, the water is warm (most of the time) and typically the dogs get treats when they walk out the door, which makes them happy campers. So, for those that want to know about washing your dog at a laundradog facility, here you go:

2. Getting your dog in the tub and getting him to stay there! At this grooming shop, the average dog that comes in for self-service is around 100lbs. All the dogs are washed at waist level where they stand on a grate in the tub. Getting them in the tub can be a trick. It’s kind of like asking a human to put ice skates on, and stand on the ice and not worry about how to do it. The easiest way for dog and human is to not give the dog time to decide whether or not he wants to. (Not the easiest task for shy or overprotective owners). The owner is given a large choker chain or cloth noose which goes around the dogs neck.

Leading: We have the owner quickly lead/pull the dog up the stairs with another person on the other end of the dog to give a quick boost on the butt end. The dog is on the grate, and in the tub before he has decided to be worried about it. Once the dog is in the tub, the owner hooks them in (not something you can do in your tub at home) to a variety of metal hooks inside the tub.

Choking: The dogs that are new to having a bath will sometimes turn in the tub and pull on the choker chain. We prefer the choker chain to a regular noose because the dog quickly learns with a choker that he is in control of whether or not he feels the choking sensation. The second the dog realizes he controls his own choking, AND realizes his owner is going to allow him to learn this (this is very difficult for the overprotective and/or mother types of owners-most all of us!), the pulling behavior stops. With a regular cloth noose, or one that does not self-regulate, the dogs will pull and pull and often never learn that they have the control over their own pulling more than any other behavior during the bath. Owners feel like they are directly causing their dog injury and should rescue them immediately when they hear them coughing and sometimes gagging. It is natural to feel concern over your dog choking, but it helps to think of the dog’s pulling and coughing similar to putting a toddler into his crib for a midday nap.

Many human toddlers HATE taking a nap and will cry hard enough to cough and gag. If parents rescue them from their cribs when this happens, they are reinforcing this coughing behavior for their child. Parents that monitor the crying, and coughing from a safe distance where the toddler cannot see them, soon find that their babies submit quietly to naptime without expecting to be rescued each time he utters a sound. Naps and baths may not be pleasant to begin with, but they are both essential habits of life. Dogs have the same learning behaviors regarding rescue. Owners that react with excessive concern over the pulling (as the dog is expecting), or crying and screaming tantrums, find they are only encouraging more pulling and tantrums from their dog. This point is so crucial that it is worth repeating. The more upset and worried the owner gets over the dogs behavior, the more they get of that dog behavior. If the owner is calm and without fear – and projects this to their dog, it is not long before the dog understands that pulling on the chain is only hurting himself, and that tantrums are a waste of their energy. When the owner believes everything is fine despite pulling and tantrums, the dog does too, and he stops the undesirable behavior accepts that today is bath day!

So many nurturing owners find this part difficult, but try to remember, when you expect your dog to learn how to control his own anxiety, he will learn, but it requires that you LET him learn. The best ways to learn to control ones own anxiety is to actually go through the experience of having the anxiety and dealing with it. If you are the type of owner that cannot allow your dog to experience this emotion without taking over and stopping the experience, your dog will learn to go into an anxious state more and more easily because of the reaction that he can expect from his owner. This becomes upsetting for both dog and owner and as you can see becomes an escalating cycle. If you allow your dog to go through this experience of the bath, anxiety and all, you will see that they will calm down and before you know it, you have a dog that allows you to bathe him! And having clean dog is essential to most dog owners. When your dog does calm down, i.e. quits pulling on the noose and allows the bath experience, that is the right time to express heightened emotion of happiness through praise and treats. If you take this time to praise your dog, it won’t be long before your dog asks to be washed with a happy, wanting-to-please attidude.

However, as with any rule, there are a few exceptions: old, very young, asthmatic, and dogs with neck or throat problems should be closely watched if they exhibit excessive pulling on the choker chain.

Ignore or not to Ignore: Most of the time, I recommend to owners to simply and quietly ignore their dogs protesting to get the behavior to stop (and it does), with the only exception being a small puppy (like a yorkie) or an old and fragile dog. Both the young and the old dogs that are not used to baths can injure their tracheas or create a medical problem (like asthma) if their nervous behaviors are allowed to escalate. It is in this circumstance that I tell the owners to use a harness to hook the dogs in the tub or in the case of a small and wild puppy, to use a sink or bucket in which they can immerse the dog in warm, soapy water. Puppies are wired to swim and that’s what they do if they find their bodies in water. Swimming is easier to work with than a freaking out jumping bean. If you do choose to ignore your dog’s protesting to the bath, REMEMBER to give lots of praise when the dog show’s signs of acceptance and/or begins to calm down.

Drying Your Dog: Drying a dog depends on the type of hair, type of temperament and grooming experience the dog has. If you have a shorthaired dog, towel drying is generally adequate. In the grooming shop, we use high-power dryers that blow the water out of thick or double-coated dogs like shepards, collies, and huskies – and in this case – standard poodles.

Put cotton in the dog’s ears before you begin as the dryer is loud. Make sure there is a minimum of play in the noose or chain that connects the dog to the tub, as the more room the dog has to throw a tantrum, the more room he’ll use. Start the dryer on the back end of the dog and aim the dryer side to side moving towards the head until the water is not dripping off the dog any longer. Most private owners go home with their dogs still dripping because of the tantrum factor. This is where the above information comes into play. The majority of dogs are nervous at first, but they quickly learn that the air is only loud, not painful. If the owner stays calm, the dog will quickly find this state during the drying process.

There are a few more minor steps that do occur in the grooming shop, such as brushing, nail trimming, anal expression, ear plucking and cleaning, teeth brushing and scaling and more. You can check out more ‘how to’ information on these specific techniques at www.thepoochparlor.net. Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living, the chances of your dog having a pleasant experience during the bath is highly dependent upon the ability of the dog’s owner to understand his or her own needs regarding life and society. Consider all the factors, energy reserves of your dog – spend them before the space wherever you go will increase your odds for success. Consider how much you actually do know about dog language. Above all else, remember that you, the owner, are in charge, and that if your dog is temporarily distressed with a new situation, you have to stay calm long enough to allow your dog to understand and accept the experience. It’s a curious notion that a human would have to delve into the basics of his or her own psychological needs to give their dog a great bath experience, but if you do that, you and your canine friend will have many years of happy and successful bathing experiences.

Author DuAnn Lustig-Chambers has been grooming since 1997 and owns Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Training Academy in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Author: DuAnn Lustig-Chambers
Owner/Instructor/Dog Behaviorist Pooch Parlor Groomer Training Academy
210 Triangle Dr. Ste. D
Ponderay, ID 83852

Are you off from work? No plans for the weekend? All work and no play makes somebody dull, so goes the saying. And chances are you will find yourself toying with ideas of doing something for recreation. You have lots of choices for this. One of them is hiking, which now is becoming increasingly popular among Americans. We discuss the reasons why.

1. Hiking as a challenge

For those who love hiking, it helps that most places in the United States have hiking trails or hiking parks. So whether one wants to hike for a few hours or for a couple of days, he or she knows that getting into it is just a few steps away.

People love hiking for many reasons. Some find it as a challenge. While other recreational activities–like basketball or baseball–offer fun and excitement, they believe that hiking generates more thrill and surprises. A hiking trail never stays the same, posing new sets of challenges to hikers every time they try to test it. Of course much of the credit goes to the affluent wonders of nature, where hikers get treated to a variety of scenery and landscaping, making each experience a unique adventure and each adventure a unique experience.

2. Hiking done anyway you like it

Others think that hiking is a popular activity because of the many ways by which one can do it. Depending on what you feel is best for you under any given set of circumstances, hiking can be done individually or in groups. However, most hikers choose to hike with people they know, like friends or relatives. And if you do get to hiking all by your lonesome, it is always best to have your safety in mind. For example, it will help if you let somebody know your itinerary: where and when you will be out hiking; or when you can be expected back. Bring with you protective gears–like boots and vest, as well as communication and related equipment–like cellphones, maps, compass and GPS.

3. Hiking promotes physical fitness

Still others believe that hiking is in because it promotes physical fitness. It is a form of exercise. The hiking trails offer excellent venues for physical conditioning. Hiking allows you to scale the slopes, jump over mounds of earth, glide along strips of water, tip-toe upon rock formations, descend from hills–all kinds of movement that can truly work your body out. It is your gym with lots of bonuses around like landscaping, great outdoors, and fresh air. Those who are hooked into it and have made hiking as part of their physical regimen, checking with local parks can be useful. Some of these parks offer discounts or special privileges to members.

Whatever the reason–whether we do it for fun, recreation, physical workout, or simply to relax and get out of daily routine–the fact remains that hiking has attracted legions of believers.

Hiking buffs may also find it nice to know that almost all towns and cities in the United States can boast of their respective hiking trails or parks. Some of them have even more than one of these health-promoting natural facilities. So if you have not yet tried hiking yourself, the place for you to get it going is likely to be within a walking distance away, as it were. Many of us have been there and enjoyed the benefits they offer.

Abhishek is an avid Camping enthusiast and he has got some great Camping Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 84 Page Ebook, “How To Have An Unforgettable Camping Vacation!” from his website http://www.Camping-Guru.com/768/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.