Many plants vie for my attention during the month of May. Here are four of my favourites.

Cornus alternifolia “Argenta”

Cornus alternifolia “Argenta” is commonly known as the “Variegated pagoda dogwood”. Originating in Asia, its common name relates to its shape which resembles a sacred tower in China. This large deciduous shrub or small tree can have ultimate height of 3 metres (9ft); with a spread of approx 2 metres (6ft). Within the next week its layers of slim branches are dotted with clusters of star shaped yellowish-white flowers, followed by blue-black fruits. A special mention for the bright green leaves edged yellow which turn reddish-purple in autumn. You can use the “Variegated pagoda dogwood” as a large specimen shrub or as a small tree simply by removing any lower branches as they appear, this will create a clear stem and a showy canopy. To ensure quickest growth you must position this plant in full sun. I would highly recommend this dogwood if you have limited space and require a tree that will not over-power you garden.

Many garden centres may not have it in stock but it is only a phone-call to their suppliers away, and well worth waiting for.

Kolkwitzia amablis “Pink Cloud

Kolkwitzia amablis “Pink Cloud is commonly known as the “Beauty bush”. This fast growing deciduous shrub is a native of China and grows to an ultimate height of 3 metres (9ft); with a spread of approx 2.5 metres (7 to 8 ft). Because of this size and it’s slightly old fashioned mounded look it is not a shrub I see planted in many new gardens. This is unfortunate as the “Beauty bush” lives up to its name whilst in flower. For at least the 3 weeks you can expect to see showy masses of bell shaped pink flowers with a yellow throat. These flowers are held amongst its small oval grey-green leaves on slightly arching branches. Kolkwitzia amablis “Pink Cloud requires a position that receives upwards of 4 hours sunlight a day in a soil that is limey or alkaline.

If you are looking for a specimen shrub or a larger shrub for the rear of a bed then do not over-look this old time stalwart.

Ribes sanguineum

Ribes sanguineum commonly known as the “Flowering Currant”. This large deciduous shrub can have ultimate height of 3 metres (9ft); with a spread of approx 3 metres (9ft). A native to the United States, it is frost hardy and right now is laden down with pendulous reddish pink flowers. These flowers which resemble miniature bunches of grapes are held amongst light green leaves from mid to late spring. Both the flowers and leaves are scented, the leaves especially so when bruised or crushed. The “Flowering Currant” is mostly used in the mixed border as a showy specimen plant although I have also used it in whip planting schemes to good effect. If you would like to cut some flowering stems to bring indoors, they will last approx 6 to 10 days. To ensure quick growth plant in a position with full to partial sun and an adequate supply of water. I would highly recommend this shrub if you have a problem growing plants due to air pollution as it is very resistant to exhaust fumes etc.

Two varieties to look out for are “Pulborough Scarlet” and “King Edward VII”

Alyssum saxitile

The clump forming perennial Alyssum saxitile is commonly known as the “Basket of gold”. This native of Europe is evergreen and grows no higher than 20 cm (8 inches); it has a spread of approx 30cm (1ft). Because of its size and its ability to tolerate drought it is ideal for planting in cracks in your paving, crevices in your walls and of course in the rockery. For at least the next 4 weeks you can expect to see clusters of tiny vibrant yellow flowers above its grey-green leaves. Alyssum saxitile requires a position which drains freely and receives upwards of 4 hours sunlight a day.

If you would like to attract some butterflies to your garden then plant clusters of Alyssum throughout, sit back and watch as the yellow flowers draw them in.

James Kilkelly runs a professional garden design service in Galway, Ireland. He has a regular gardening column in an Irish regional newspaper. Visit his website at http://www.gardenplansireland.com/ He also regularly posts his expert advice on a gardening forum at http://www.gardenstew.com/

Article’s original location: Marvellous May Plant Colour

Expectations are entirely of the ego. When we invest our precious life essence in honoring ego expectationseither real or imaginedof self and others, instead of our own inner guidance about what is most perfectly in harmony with the Whole, we remove ourselves from the flow of Love/Life Force, and end up depleted and at lower frequency. (Can you spell “resentment”?!) Rightfully, the only one setting your agenda is your Spirit, which is the aspect of you that knows what actions are aligned with Wholeness and are consistent with the highest possibilities for harmony. How you experience your Spirit’s guidance about this is that you feel authentically motivated to do what is in alignment, and you feel a lack of motivation to do that which is not.

We are taught early on, however, to sacrifice our right to channel our own energy in ways that we feel most motivated to, and are most appealing to us, in exchange for fulfilling what others deem to be appropriate, and we begin to disown our ability to recognize and honor authentic motivation. It is a major part of our Earth indoctrination to learn to sublimate our natural energy flow and desires to comply with the behavioral program outlined by our parents, teachers, and society at large, so we get very used to just sucking it up and doing what is expected. But whenever we abdicate our energy autonomy and honor the emotional tug coming from others to do as they wish us to, instead of what our inner guidance says is right, we take ourselves out of the flow of Life Force. Whenever we are out of the flow, the energy we have available to us is diminished. Add resentment to that, and it’s a wonder we have enough energy to get anything done under the duress of expectation. Long term, this ongoing Life-Force depletion is deadly.

We are examining a phenomenon that involves more than the current expectations of others. In addition to feeling beholden to the wishes of others in the present, we continue to do what was expected of us by people in our past. Long after the human beings that originally programmed some of the expectations we were duty-bound to honor are gone, we’re still acting from them because they have become ensconced in our code of behavior, even if they don’t fit who we are. There are many, many things we do that we do not feel Spirit-motivated to do, but still we do them, simply because sometime, somewhere, someone said or implied that we should. In addition, in order to meet certain of our own ego needs, we create our own unrealistic, habitual expectations for ourselves without any direct input from others. Until we wake up and notice how honoring them is depleting our energy and make a deliberate choice to stop, we keep on fulfilling our own expectations to our detriment.

Taking a stand for your own energy autonomy and eschewing expectations is tremendously empowering. Deciding to do only what is in alignment with your Spirit’s guidance and consistent with your energy is liberating to a degree that you may be hardly able to imagine. Beyond just freeing up your time and energy for the specific moments that you aren’t doing whatever the thing is you decide not to do, it frees up your psyche and liberates energy that may have been stuffed down for years and years. Honoring your own energy flow allows your frequency to rise higher so that you spend more of your life in the “joy space,” closer to Spirit, and closer to Paradise.

Of course, liberating yourself from expectations is a process of developing healthy psychological boundaries and being willing, in many cases, to risk having someone be disappointed. Remember, however, that disappointment only comes from someone’s ego not getting what it has determined it needsnot from what is actually in alignment. It never authentically workscertainly not long-termto do something simply to keep from disappointing someone else. That person’s ego needs to be transcended just as yours does, and when you refuse to dance to their ego’s tune, you offer them an opportunity to rise above ego, too. It is crucial to understand that if something is not right for you, then it is not right for the others involved either.

Demonstrating the confidence to take a stand for your own sense of rightness is truly empowering to others because, in doing so, you give them permission to do the same. When you center yourself in your heart and lovingly make it clear that in choosing to do something other than meet their expectation, you are simply doing what is right and healthy for you, you liberate everyone else involved as well. It takes too much energy on the part of all to force situations that are not in the flow, so you are doing everyone a favor when you decide to honor your own sense of what is in the flow and what is not. You may even be thanked for it! Regardless, you have the knowledge that you have honored the Divine within you instead of your ego (or anyone else’s), and that is a huge reward in itself.

©2005 Julia Rogers Hamrick

For information on Julia’s f’ree teleseminars on spiritually empowering topics, be sure to visit http://www.recreating-eden.com and get on Julia’s list.

Julia Rogers Hamrick has been a spiritual-growth facilitator for over two decades, and is the author of Recreating Eden: The Exquisitely Simple, Divinely Ordained Plan for Transforming Your Life and Your Planet. Julia writes about and leads seminars on proactive joy, and the relationship between frequency and experience. For more information on Julia and on recreating Eden, visit http://www.recreating-eden.com. To read about Julia’s own dance with Spirit, ego, and frequency, read Julia’s blog, http://www.recreating-eden.com//weblog/.

In this article, we focus on the correct way of finding out the
keywords for which you should optimize your site for the search
engines. This article will give you the formula for the Keyword
Effectiveness Index (KEI) - a mathematical formula which I have
developed to help you determine which keywords you should be
optimizing your site for.

Step 1: Open your text editor or word processor and write down
all the words and phrases that you might have searched for if
you were looking for a company which offers products and
services similar to yours. For example, suppose your company
organizes packaged tours to Australia. Here’s a list of phrases
that I might have searched for if I were planning to make a trip
to Australia:

tourism in Australia travel to Australia travelling in Australia
travel agencies in Australia travelling agencies in Australia
Australian travel agencies

Of course, the keywords that came to your mind may have been
different. But that’s not important - the important thing is to
get an initial list of keywords.

You may be wondering why I have not used single word keywords.
Here’s why:

Firstly, single word keywords tend to be hyper-competitive. A
search for “tourism” or “travelling” in any search engine will
probably generate hundreds of thousands of pages. While it is
possible that you may get your page in the top 10 for such a
single word keyword, it is quite unlikely.

Secondly, because of the sheer number of pages that single word
searches can throw up, most search engine users have realized
that they can get more relevant pages if they search for phrases
rather than individual words. Statistical research has shown
that most people are now searching for 2 or 3 word phrases
rather than for single words.

Thirdly, single word keywords won’t get you targeted traffic.
When people search for “tourism”, they are not necessarily
looking for tourist destinations in Australia - they may be
interested in any other country of the world. Even if you got
your site into the top 10 for tourism, you gain nothing from
such visitors. However, when someone searches for “tourism in
Australia”, he/she is your potential customer, and hence, it
makes sense for you to try and get a top ranking for your site
for that keyword. Hence, whenever you are trying to generate
keywords, try to be location specific. Try to think of keywords
which apply to the geographic area that your product or service
is designed to serve.

Step 2: Open any spreadsheet program that is installed in your
hard drive. I assume you are using Microsoft Excel. If you are
using some other spreadsheet program, just change the
spreadsheet related procedures outlined here to fit your program.

Create 4 columns - one for the keyword, one for the popularity
of the keyword, one for the number of sites that appear in
AltaVista for that keyword and the last for something I call the
Keyword Effectiveness Index (don’t worry - I’ll explain what KEI
means later on). In order to ensure that you can follow what I
am saying, I recommend that you add the following column headers
to the first four columns of the first row of your spreadsheet:

Keyword Popularity No. of Competitors KEI

In case you don’t want to take the trouble of creating your own
spreadsheet, download the keywords.zip file from
http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?4901&download.htm The file
contains a sample spreadsheet in Excel 97 format.

Step 3: A great way to obtain a list of keywords related to the
ones you have developed in the first step is to use
WordTracker’s keyword generation service by going to
http://the-easy-way.com/wordtracker.html Click on the “Trial”
option at the top of the site. In the page that appears, type in
your name and email address and click on the “Start the trial
>>” button. In the next page, click on “Click here to start the
trial”. In the next page, type in the first keyword that you
developed in Step 1, i.e. “tourism in Australia”, in the text
box. Click on the “Proceed >>” button.

Step 4: In the next page, WordTracker will display a list of
keywords related to the keyword that you had typed in. (Just
scroll down the left pane to see the keywords). Now, click on
the first keyword in the left pane which is applicable for your
site. In the right pane, WordTracker will show a list of
keywords which contain the keyword you had clicked on in the
left pane. Then in the table that you have created in your
spreadsheet, copy each of the keywords in the right pane and
paste them in the first column of the table. Also, copy the
number of times those keywords have been used (i.e. the figure
present in the Count column in WordTracker) and paste them in
the second column. In order to ensure that you can follow me,
make sure that you type the first keyword in the second row of
your spreadsheet. Of course, you should only bother adding a
keyword to your spreadsheet if it is applicable for your site.

Once you have added all the keywords in the right pane which are
applicable for your site, click on the next keyword in the left
pane which is applicable for your site. Once again, WordTracker
will display a list of keywords in the right pane which contain
the keyword you had clicked on in the left pane. Again, copy the
keywords in the right pane which are applicable for your site
and paste them in the first column of your spreadsheet. Also,
copy the figures present in the Count column and paste them in
the second column beside the corresponding keywords. Repeat this
process for each of the keywords in the left pane.

Step 5: Once you have finished with all the keywords in the left
pane, press your browser’s Back button a number of times until
WordTracker again displays the text box which asks you to type
in a keyword. Type in the second keyword in your original list
(i.e. “travel to Australia”), click on the “Proceed >>” button
and repeat Step 4. Do this for each of the keywords that you
developed in Step 1.

Step 6: Go to AltaVista. Search for the first keyword that is
present in your spreadsheet using exact match search (i.e. you
should wrap the keyword in quotes, i.e. you should type a
quotation mark before typing the keyword and a quotation mark
after typing it). AltaVista will return the number of sites
which are relevant to that keyword. Add this number to the third
column of the spreadsheet in the same row in which the keyword
is present. Repeat this process for each of the keywords present
in your spreadsheet. Once you have done that, your first column
will contain the keywords, your second column will show the
popularity of the keywords and your third column will contain
the number of sites you are competing against to get a high
ranking for those keywords.

Now it’s time to calculate the KEI!

Step 7: The Keyword Effectiveness Index is the square of the
popularity of a keyword multiplied by 1000 and divided by the
number of sites which appear in AltaVista for that keyword. It
is designed to measure which keywords are worth optimizing your
site for. Higher the KEI, better the keyword. How the formula
for the KEI is arrived at is beyond the scope of this article.
If you want to know, send a blank email to
mailto:kei@1stSearchRanking.com

If you had used the spreadsheet file that I created for you (see
Step 2), you won’t need to enter the formula for calculating the
KEI yourself. The KEI would be automatically calculated for you
the moment you enter the values in columns 2 and 3. You can go
straight to Step 8.

In case you didn’t download the file, here’s how you can
calculate the KEI.

I am assuming that you have created the spreadsheet columns in
the way I recommended in Step 3 and that you are using Microsoft
Excel. If you using some other spreadsheet program, you will
need to adjust the formula to the requirements of your
spreadsheet program. Click on cell D2. Type in the following
exactly as it is shown:

=IF(C2<>0,B2^2/C2*1000,B2^2*1000)

Then click on the Copy button to copy the formula, select all
the cells in column 4 which have keywords associated with them
and press the Paste button to paste the formula. The KEI for
each keyword will be displayed.

Step 8: Use your spreadsheet program’s Sort feature to sort the
rows in descending order of the KEI. In Excel 97, you would
click on the Data menu, click on the Sort menu item, choose KEI
from the drop-down combo box named “Sort by”, click on the
“Descending” option next to it, and then click on OK.

And guess what - that’s it! You now know the keywords which you
should optimize your site for. You can now start optimizing your
site one by one for each keyword, starting with the keyword with
the highest KEI. Exactly how many of the keywords you choose to
optimize your site for largely depends on the amount of time
that you can spare from your normal business activities. But
whatever the number of keywords that you target, it obviously
makes sense to go for the most effective keywords first.

Tying up the loose ends:

The number of related keywords that WordTracker displays in the
trial version is limited. In order to get all the keywords which
are related to the keywords you had developed in Step 1, you
would need to subscribe to WordTracker’s paid service. We highly
recommend that you do subscribe to WordTracker’s paid service as
otherwise, you will miss out on a lot of keywords that can prove
to be extremely valuable to you.

All football supporters have one hatred in common and that is the “wanker in black”. This person has the ability to affect the outcome of any game. Their mistakes can be more costly than that of a keeper and yet we only have semi pro’s doing these important roles. Any club will have countless examples where they have been on the end of a wrong decision and it never gets any less frustrating. This is not helped when some refs seem determined to make headlines by doing things that are completely outrageous. In fact in many cases I am sure that refs are only trying to complete their autograph collection and that’s why they book certain players.

As a old Chelsea supporter I remember when we were in 10th place and playing teams at the top of the league all the decisions went their way, now we are up there we get the decisions. This cannot just be coincidence and this only adds to the “gulf” between the top and the bottom of the premiership. As a club fighting for survival in the premiership a bad decision has the potential to be devastating at the end of the season. To sum all this up refereeing is sub standard.

There have been many ideas about how to improve the decisions the one that is always mentioned in bringing in technology and this to me is not the way forward. I agree that technology can play a part maybe line sensors that let you know when there is a goal. (Similar to ice hockey just not as OTT) the reason I think this is good is that there has been an increase in the numbers of goals that have not been given the biggest that springs to mind is the one for Tottenham against Man U last season. The line sensors would have picked that up but for a change you can’t totally blame the officials who were up with play its just play was so far away from the goal line due to the distance of the shot. However I think that to just technology such as replays like they do in rugby or cricket would be a big mistake. All football fans like to see nice flowing football and already get annoyed when games stop and start, if you start putting in breaks for replays it will be a nightmare. You would also find that it would cause as many arguments as it avoids. For example your team are attacking and have the opposition pinned in their box then there is a break for a replay your team could lose all their momentum they have built up.

I do think that there are alternatives to technology the best for me is to look at the rules. The Rules are subjective because there has to be intent they have to be interfering with play and many other things alone these lines. In fact the referees should have to have degree in physiology to be able to make some decision. Did the player intentionally block the attacker even though he has his back to him and there was nowhere else for him to go? Who knows the only one who knows is the defender but the fact remains he has still block his path. However for me the worst rule is the offside rule. Any of you who play on a Saturday or a Sunday and have had the misfortune to have to run the line will know that it is not as easy as it looks to call the offside correctly (admittedly in any league I’ve played in the rule is a little different it goes more like it the player beats the defence and looks like scoring he’s offside) I think the main problem is that the rule require you to be looking alone the line and watching the play so you can see when the ball is played. While desperately trying to look in two directions at once you also need to ask yourself “Is he interfering with play?” I’m not saying that I have all the answers but when asking this much from a human being there is always going to be mistakes.

Another thing that I had not considered until speaking to my girlfriend (who until recently had no interest in football therefore looking at it completely differently to me) do we really want perfect decisions. She pointed out that we all talk about the decisions and most discussions come from bad ones. If there were no bad decisions would we be happier or would we just have to find something else to talk about. Are the bad decisions made by referees one of the points that make football the most talked about sport in Britain?

To Sum up referees are not up to Scratch. I feel at the very least they need to become professional so that they can concentrate on being fit enough to keep up with the games. I believe that some rules could be simplified to make them more black and white and I also think that technology can be used but should not be allowed to interfere with the great game.

Leave a comment on this article from focus on football.
An article by David Runacre who writes articles for Focus on football - Football news and articles from the fans.

“Love is long suffering, and is kind; love has no envy, love is
not boastful, love does not behave itself inappropriately, seeks
not its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices
not in injustice, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all
things, believes everything, endures everything” (1 Corinthians
13:4-7).

These beautiful words hold us to a high standard. That is why it
has been said that before marriage one ought to open our eyes
wide, but afterwards keep them half closed. In order to hold up
this standard, so necessary for a marriage to work, we need to
choose wisely. To decide if you are ready for marriage, you need
to choose someone you can trust, because distrust erodes a
relationship, and so does undeserved trust. You also need to
know what your responsibilities to the marriage partner are so
that you can evaluate yourself realistically. These two things
can be done with the help of pre-marital therapy.

Why do you need Christian pre-marital therapy? The quote above
is from the Bible. The greatest book of love is the Bible. The
book of Luke is considered by many to be the most beautiful book
ever written. The book of Luke, as well as the gospels of
Mathew, Mark, and John, tells how Jesus died to save us - the
believers and now the church- from our sins. “Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, giving himself
up for it” (Ephesians 5:25). God is the expert, par excellence,
on love.

There is nothing wrong with going to a psychologist, a social
worker, a professional counselor, or a psychiatrist for
pre-marital and marital therapy. In fact I would encourage you
because churches sometimes give only six sessions of pre-marital
couple therapy, or group pre-marital therapy with non
professional married couples as group leaders and this is barely
just enough. Many couples who have received pre-marital therapy
say that it helped them but that they wish they had received
more therapy. There is so much need in the church for marital,
family, addiction, and other kinds of counseling, that there is
not enough pre-marital therapy. I would recommend supplementing
the church’s pre-marital therapy with other pre-marital
counseling.

However, Christian pre-marital counseling adds a dimension that
secular therapies do not usually have. For example, the
Christian counselor advises couples not to have sex before
marriage. In his book on dating, Boy Meets Girl, Pastor Joshua
Harris explains how a manager of a hotel for honeymooners would
run out of activities for the newly married to do. This was
because the now bored couples had pre-marital sex. Whereas,
Joshua and his wife, who did not have sex prior to marriage,
hardly left their room!

In the city where I live there is a saying among the
non-believers. They say that marriage kills sex. But it is not
marriage that kills sex, but pre-marital sex that kills
marriage. I knew of one couple that lived together and had sex
everyday before to marriage. After marriage, the wife confided,
they had sex once a month. It is not worth it to ruin twenty
five or more years of marital sex for one year or even less of
pre-marital sex.

If you are contemplating marriage and you are living together,
you must move apart and stop having sex for a time until you get
married under the guidance of the pastor or Christian counselor.
Physical intimacy is like a battery. It becomes charged with non
sexual activities and gives off energy with sex. Do not skip
that pre-marriage charging time.

When thinking about what pre-marital therapy is, people have
different points of view. One woman tells how she was looking
forward to marital therapy thirty years ago. “I thought that we
would receive counseling courses about marital responsibility,
but the entire time, the courses, which were called ‘marital
counseling’, were about catechism.” She was disappointed as were
many people in the course.

Decades later, now divorced, she expects that marital counseling
should be about what marriage is, what people expect it to be,
and what it will really be like. Dr. Wayne Mack makes a point
that partners differ in expectations and should not wait until
marriage to discuss these differences.

Dr. Nancy Alvarez, secular psychologist and sexologist says that
some men want marriage with weekends off. That means they spend
weekends drinking with their male friends as if they were
single, instead of being with their wife. Obviously, that does
not work out. Couples should also discuss why they are in love
with one another. It has been observed that some people become
happy when they hear why their betrothed wants to marry them,
others become angry.

It is certainly natural for a marital counselor to talk about
spiritual intimacy. In the book, “The Five Love Needs of Men and
Women”, Christian marital experts Dr. Gary and Barbara Rosberg
explain how there are two kinds of intimacy in marriage,
physical and spiritual. Differences in religion could lead to a
lack of understanding and different values. But not everything
is religion.

Counselor Grisel Lpez of El Sendero de la Cruz Christian Church
in Puerto Rico explains that even in the case that the couple is
of the same religion, some couples do not have compatibility of
ministries. For example, if both are church leaders, and one
sings in the altar and the other preaches, they are compatible.
But if one is training to be a foreign missionary and the other
is a pastor of a local church, then one of the two will have to
give up his or her dreams for the success of the other, because
they can not make both dreams come true and live together
happily at the same time.

She adds that even church leaders, who know the Bible in
general, still need pre-marital counseling. Some churches do not
require pre-marital counseling for church leaders because the
leaders know Christianity well, yet the divorce rate for
Christians is about the same as for non-Christian marriages.

According to Dr. Wayne A. Mack, some of the things covered in
pre-marital counseling are relations with in-laws, making a
budget together, comparing differences in the way each one
expresses love, good communication (a factor in most marital
problems), and conflict resolution. It is important to plan
ahead how you will approach problem solving, not waiting for the
problems to begin and then start by seeking marital therapy.
This is because there will be problems anyway so reducing their
volatility will prevent bad memories that are hard to forget
later.

Dr. Mack’s workbook, “Preparing for Marriage God’s Way”, can be
used both in addition to marital therapy, (or independently, for
those persons who live in areas where there is little
availability of Christian pre-marital therapy). Two copies of
the workbook are used. Each member of the couple reads and fills
out the answers individually. Then the couple meet and discus
their answers together. Mack suggests they can make note of
significant differences and seek therapy for those issues as
well.

Pre-marital counseling can be fun also. You get to take
personality tests with your betrothed, learning more about each
other in the process. Or it could lead to more deeper and
interesting conversations to talk with your loved one. Some
people think they already know each other well. But even people
who have been married twenty years face surprises.

You should also find out some of your betrothed’s faults in the
process. There may be faults that you understand about, this is
called unconditional love. But there could also be faults that
you do not tolerate. Some things are not negotiable like giving
little importance to fidelity. Others might not matter to one
husband, for example, that his future wife likes a relaxed style
of housekeeping, as long as she is a business woman, but it
could matter a lot to another man.

Counselor Grisel Lpez teaches that the best way to find your
ideal love is to tell the truth about how you are so you can
find someone who will be happy with you instead of turned off.
If you do not reveal your faults you will not know if it is safe
to relax your guard with your betrothed and find the joy of
being loved as you are.

So you think that hard drive has finally died? Have you got the
dreaded “Inaccessible Boot Device” or “Unmountable Boot Volume”
message? There are several things that you may be able to do but
one thing not to do is PANIC!! Listed below you will find
several things to try and depending on the value of the data to
you there is always - Data Recovery Services - a costly but
normally effective method of getting the data back from that
expired hard drive. But try these things first:

Windows 2000 or Windows XP

Running CHKDSK

Boot to the Windows 2000 or XP CD and when you see the Welcome
to Setup press the letter R. You will get a DOS prompt. Type
“chkdsk /p” without the quotes and hit enter. Type “fixboot”
without the quotes and hit enter. Type “Y” without the quotes
and hit enter.

Type “exit” without the quotes and hit enter.

The system should now restart and boot into the Windows
operating system. If this doesn’t work try the Recovery Console.
Running Recovery Console (*This process will take longer)

Boot to the Windows 2000 or XP CD and when you see the Welcome
to Setup press the letter R (for recovery).

You will get a DOS prompt.

Type “chkdsk /p” without the quotes and hit enter. Type “exit”
without the quotes and hit enter. The system should now restart
and boot into the Windows operating system.

Disconnect the drive power cable and data cable. Reconnect the
cables and try booting again. Try the drive in another computer
that you know works but install it as a slave drive. When you
boot up and go into Windows Explorer you should see an
additional drive. If the drive is there I would copy all of the
important files to the C drive of the computer immediately of
the computer that you are using to test the drive with.

If the drive is not there you can use Hard Disk Drive Recovery
Software or a Hard Disk Drive Recovery Service (NOTE: You should
do your research on the service or software that you use due to
the fact that the service or software could destroy the data on
the drive and you probably only have one chance for data
recovery using either of these methods).

Just a reminder to prevent this problem in the future BACKUP,
BACKUP, BACKUP!!

You can purchase external hard drives that will allow you to
backup your computer automatically at scheduled times every day.
These drives will allow you to restore data from several days
past in the event that you loose or have a hard drive crash. You
should also get a battery backup if you get one of these drives
to be sure that the power doesn’t go out while using the drive.
This could cause you to loose the information on the backup
drive due to hard drive corruption.

Budgeting is a chore people put off indefinitely. They know the bills pile up, the only time they jolt out of complacency is when they have to pay them.

This creates a problem. The difficulty is created due to the fact that you deal with matters as they arise. So you have no organization or direction. You do not put yourself in a position of anticipation.

Why do we need a budget, family or individual? This question may sound silly, because it is so obvious. A lot of people know the importance of it, yet do not have one. Often those who do not budget have poor discipline in spending.

Let’s say one earns $2000 a month net. In your budget you save 5% of your net earnings. Secondly you pay rent or mortgage which costs $700 a month. Then you have living expenses, such as gas for the car, utilities, food, credit card bills, and recreation. With a written budget you can see the interest charges on your credit card. The budget helps you to see how much the interest charges cost. You now see that making your current payments how long it would take you to pay it off. Believe me this is an eye opener, which can make you think twice before charging items to the credit card in the future.

So one of the advantages of having a budget is that it helps you to pin point costs along with when and where you may be spending too much money. The problem may not be that you need to earn more money; it may be that you budget needs some attention. You can, when you are attentive, bring it back to health. This puts you in a position of anticipation.

Some folks would say that they can do all this in their head, that is fine, however you cannot remember everything. When it is not written down you are not as committed. Those who do not have a budget written down are in danger of spending beyond there means. When I know I earn $2000 a month and I want to increase spending or pay off credit cards, then I know I need to set a detailed goal on how I can earn an additional $300 a month in order to achieve that. When I do not have a budget then what? A budget is only important to you, if you deem it so, but factually you see how it works, and how it can improve any given situation.

So having a budget and writing things down reveals the truth of a financial situation in a given set of circumstances over a certain period of time. Writing something down is thinking in action. This action takes place by physically taking the time and effort to write it on paper. This helps you to see your current situation in an objective sense. Then it is up to you to deal with or not.

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Paul Hegarty is the owner of learningfromdvds.com. A guide to educational DVDs with price comparisons, reviews, and free E-books. Read this month’s e-book on “How To Spot A fraudulent Email”. Grab your free copy today.

While I was in college, if you would have asked me what I would do if I had an extra 20 hours to spend in a week, the first thing I would have told you is that I would definitely NOT spend it studying. I actually would have gone down a long list of hobbies and activities I would like to do if I had the time. So when my co-workers asked me to find out what owners/managers of sign companies would do if they had an extra 20 hours per week, I was very interested in hearing the responses. What types of activities are sign shop owners doing with their spare time? Was there a common activity or hobby in the sign & graphics industry? Or would I hear several different responses?

The Results

The results were unexpected to say the least. By my fourth call I started to hear a common trend forming among sign shop owners. None were used to having leisure time, or so it seemed. In fact Marion Ward, the owner of AWC Signs, told me he hasn’t had 20 extra hours in twenty years. “I wouldn’t know what to do” he said about having time off from the shop. Marion explained that he has been in this industry for quite a long time, and was soon going to retire. Just the thought of having extra time on his hands was completely foreign to him. Does Marion represent sign shop owners as a whole? Is the sign & graphics industry really so busy that owners/managers don’t even have time to think about leisure activities? Or, are shop owners unaware of how easy it is in this day and age to save time?

The next person I talked with was also surprised by the question. Randy from Bama Signs told me he “never thought about it”. Never thought about saving time I asked “Can you think about it now and tell me what you would do?” After a little probing and a little time to think about the question, Randy said he would most likely “spend the time fixing up houses” which he liked to do on the side to make a little extra money. This was getting interesting. Already two people who never thought about having a couple extra hours or even the ability to save time for that matter. Two people who were surprised simply by the question itself.

Increasing Productivity

Being the Gen-Xer and fresh out of college guy that I am, I have always looked for ways to make things easier. Isn’t that what we do in college, look for ways to spend less time but get the same or even better results? At one time, my goal was to figure out how to work less but get paid more (I hope my boss isn’t reading this) without cheating of course. This is what most owners or business graduates call “Increasing Productivity”. Well, in this day and age with so many advances in technology, there is always a way to work less and get paid more, therefore increasing your productivity. In fact I now work for a company that helps shops do just that.

Software - It’s amazing!

SOFTWARE! The amazing world of mouse clicks, GUI interfaces, pricing screens and automation. A brain, or what techies call a processor, that thinks even when the power is turned off, or so some of us think. A world where you don’t have to be the only one estimating jobs, because your pricing is built into the software. Where you can fill out customer information one time and never have to re-enter it again. Where you have the ability to duplicate information and go from estimates to orders, easily and effectively by simply converting and cloning. A world where you can set automatic reminders that tell you who needs to be called, what needs to be done, and when to do it. Where it’s possible to truly, never again be in “management overload”, so you can actually relax and enjoy your cup of coffee in the morning. A world where you can search through hundreds, thousands, even millions of customer records/information in a matter of seconds, rather then hours or days. Imagine the power and control given to you in this world. This is the world I have come to know and this is the world I have come to love. The world where we all can work less, take advantage of technology, and still increase revenue and productivity.

The Scared Stigma

So why aren’t more business owners jumping onto the “software train”. Could it be that computer software and new technology scares them? It seemed to scare Marion Ward when I spoke with him. Is there some stigma behind software that leaves the non-Gen Xer’s afraid? If so, to those people I say “Do not be afraid”. These advancements in technology will make it easier for people such as Karen Bouknight of A Plus Signs & Graphix to “Relax and just chill” as she easily put it when I spoke with her. It will give Mike Bayliss of Bayliss Signs Plus more time to “Play Golf” as he stated he would like to do more. It will give us all a chance to “Take a vacation and take off” along side of Bill from Grafx Sign & Design.

Whether it be estimating and business management software like Cyrious Software, or some other software package that helps you save time, my only question is what would you do if you had an extra 20 hours per week?

About The Author

Daniel Tangredi

For more infomation on Cyrious Software go to http://www.cyrious.net or call 1-800-552-1418

You’ve probably heard of Pilates mat exercises, and have
probably heard that it works great, or you probably heard that
it sucks because it’s so hard. Pilates mat exercises, are the
bare basics of the Pilates exercise invented by Joseph Pilates
in the Early 1910. First of all, your idea of Pilates must have
included something with machines that have springs and bands,
but Pilates can also be done without machines, just a simple
mat, and this is called Pilates mat work, or simple Pilates mat.

Pilates Mat exercises have been considered very beneficial,
especially for those who want stronger abdominal muscles and a
stronger core. By core I mean the abs and the lower back.
Pilates, as Joseph Pilates made it to be, is a low intensity
groups of exercises that supposed to strengthen your muscles.
Usually, exercises are done with Pilates machines, but Pilates
Mat exercises however, have more challenging exercises simply
because your body doesn’t have to rely on the support of the
machine to do the work, making it shoulder the work that you are
making it do. These results in a variety of developments, more
so, on the abs than any part of the body, and we all know that
that piece of fat under the navel is really hard to get to.

The other benefit of a Pilates mat exercise is its sheer lack of
exercise equipment. Unlike other Pilates exercises, this only
requires you, as the name says, a Pilates mat. And you’re ready
to go, of course every Pilates exercise requires you some sort
of instructor, either a real one, or a video, to tell you what
to do, or if what you’re doing is correct, which brings us to
the question of do I really need an instructor? And the answer
is yes, every exercise needs an instructor, even something you
might think as simple as a Pilates mat exercise won’t look very
simple once you’re in a hospital bed. Pilates mat exercises can
be very advanced body work, and doing it wrongly can as with
every type of work out, give you injuries. A Pilates mat
instructor has to be certified by a qualified school make sure
that your instructor has real qualifications before you take
Pilates mat classes.

So when we touch the issue of a Pilates mat instructor, we ask
what would be best. A DVD or a real one? Essentially, most
Pilates experts recommend a real instructor, an instructor can
point out what your doing wrong, can position you correctly if
you don’t have the right posture, and can personalize the
exercise you’re doing specifically for your body’s needs.
However, there are lots of Pilates mat exercise videos out there
that have been getting good reviews recently. Some people might
have gone on to saying that it’s as good as the real instructor,
well to each his own, but my suggestion is, if you can afford a
real instructor, then get one. That’s the problem with real
instructors though, the price, you’ll have to pay for classes
monthly for that, but with a DVD, you’ll only have to buy it
once and then you can use it for years to come. What’s also good
with a Pilates mat exercise DVD is its convenience, you won’t
have to travel to the gym or to class you can just spread your
mat on the floor, turn on the DVD and the you’re good to go.

I grew up on a farm, moved to the big city, if there is such a
thing in Nebraska, only to come home and marry the farmer 13
miles up the road from where I grew up. I know a thing or to
about cultivating. To the non-agriculture readers cultivate on
the farm means to go out into the field and run a machine
through it to remove all the weeds and debris from the corn
rows. This allows the corn to get all the nutrients that it
needs to grow, so that when harvest comes around we have the
best yield we can get.

Today was a cultivating day. My office was so stacked with crap,
I could barely find the keyboard. I finally had to sit down and
clear it out so that I could focus on the work that needed to be
done.

Then I proceeded to look out the office door only to realize
that the rest of the house was nearly as bad. I needed a machete
to cut through the clutter just to find the kids.

Once the house was clean I noticed my 3 kids needed some extra
tending so I shut off the phone and heaven forbid hit the power
button on the computer. We played some games and even watched a
movie.

Then I laid down for a long over due nap.

Work at home moms and dads need to take some time to cultivate
something other than their work if they plan to be productive.
Going 9 - 0 on the business, the house and the kids all at the
same time will eventually take over your productivity. Your
focus will be come skewed and you will begin to work more with
less output. I bet that the moms and dads that are reading this
can relate to these words.

We need to be reminded to stand back and cultivate the important
things in life every so often and you will see a greater yield.
Do you need to cultivate today?