kenneth brannen

Fashionable Mom

kennethbrannen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:25:45 +0000

By Marsha Maung Youre a mom and youre still thinking about being fashionable? Thats the kind of response I got from someone I went shopping with. All I did was go shopping with this mom and when we passed a fashion outlet selling fashionable clothing and apparel, I commented that I wanted to get that frilly pink top with splashes of lime green that is flying off the shelves with a 70% discount tag! Is it wrong to be a mom and still want to be fashionable? In my personal opinion, theres absolutely NOTHING WRONG with wanting to be a fashionable mom! Being mom doesnt mean that we have to give up our rights to being fashionable, beautiful and healthy. Being mom doesnt mean that our lives and the entire focus of living has shifted from us to family. Of course, without a smidgen of a doubt, being mom zaps your energy and any mom with a sense of fashion can tell you that it takes a lot to be a fashionable mom. It already takes so much effort to dress up the kidsimagine trying to find time matching fashionable tops with fashionable skirtsand then find the blasted fashionable handbag with the same color and tone to go with the same-colored fashionable shoes! What an effort! When we used to be single, trying to be in fashion didnt used to be such an effort, did it? In fact, pulling out fashionable clothing off the shelves and donning them seems to come so naturally to most of us when we are young and LOOKING! Now that were not looking anywhere else but at our kids, we find it such an effort just to be fashionable? And yet, being a fashionable mom is still possible! ABSOLUTELY! All it takes is some effort, planning and some common sense. And work at it!! Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from home. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of “Raising little magicians”, and the popular “The Lance in freelancing”. More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marsha_Maung http://EzineArticles.com/?Fashionable-Mom&id=63946 unsecured personal loan companies
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Pricing in a Chaotic World

kennethbrannen — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:37:30 +0000

By Alain Meloche How many times have you and your company, debated and fought over the potential outcomes of a particular pricing strategy, only to have seemingly random, unpredictable factors rear their ugly heads? How many analytical tools have you used: game theory, forecasting, market research, decision-tree analyses, only to realize that none of these was able to help predict much beyond the next quarter or less. Welcome to our wonderful world of chaos! So what is happening? Just as in the movie, Jurassic Park, industries evolve in a very dynamic way given complex interactions. As in nature, very small disturbances can lead to significantly different outcomes- a reflection of a chaotic system. Briefly, chaos theory considers nonlinear systems. In a linear system, if I do A then I know that B will happen and C will happen as a result of this. But, according to chaos theory, a number of variables will change what happens between A and B and then between B and C. Again, as in Jurassic Park, a butterfly may flap its wings and its rains in Central Park.
There are a few points to be aware of when thinking about the impact of chaos on pricing:
There are deterministic relationships between the participants in a chaotic system but only patterned outcomes and not predictable, outcomes result. In the business world, outcomes reflect very complex underlying relationships that include the interaction of several potentially chaotic systems; crop prices for example, are influenced by the interaction of economic and weather systems. While, chaos theory provides guidance on crop price cycle patterns, it says that its basically impossible to predict exactly the size of the fluctuations or their timing. Chaos theory, however, does say that prices will vary between particular boundaries.
In chaotic systems, small disturbances multiply over time because of nonlinear relationships and the dynamic, repetitive nature of chaotic systems. As a result, such systems are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. For example, Dells mail order strategy forced other companies to reduce their prices and reexamine their traditional high-cost sales and service channels. While you might think that by obtaining better models and a more accurate specification of starting conditions, better forecasts would result. Chaos theory suggests that the payoff from developing more accurate models may be small. Oil companies recognize this and have developed pricing models that take into account the numerous factors that could influence prices at the pump- making ongoing adjustments to prices.
In contrast to game theoretic models that predict equilibrium outcomes, chaotic systems do not reach a stable equilibrium. They never pass through the same state more than once. The implication is that industries do not settle down and any apparent stability for example, in pricing, is likely to be short-lived. A chaotic system constantly changes based on the feedback that results from the actions of players in the system Chaotic behavior can take place on an attractor, in which case, a large set of initial conditions will lead to convergence towards a particular pattern of behavior. USING CHAOS THEORY IN PRICING STRATEGY
Use Of Feedback
The results of chaos theory help us know what transitions to expect when we add feedback to a system and suggest ways to adjust feedback. For example, suppose that you observe a change in your competitors behavior based on how often you change your prices. Normally, your competitor may not change prices when you make no price changes; but, if you have adjusted your prices, the competitor responds by changing prices on some key products. Should you double your rate of price changes to twice a year, your competitor may then change prices on all products. You have cut the time difference between significant events in half and observe a transition in the system. While it is not clear exactly how you can predict the next transition in competitive behavior by decreasing the time between price changes, you should at least be alert that the next transition in this system could occur only if we increase the frequency of price changes by a small amount. Such an understanding of the chaotic dynamics should help you understand and control your own response, selected from a flexible range of options, given the likely transitions tested when the system control parameters were tested. Another key use of feedback being introduced into a system so as to create chaos is the relative timing of an incursion on a competitive decision cycle (it may even be more important than the magnitude of the incursion). Many successful strategies hinge on getting inside the decision cycle of the competitor. The idea is to take some pricing action and then move with such agility as to make a subsequent move before the competitor has time to orient, observe, decide and act (OODA, to use a military term) in response to your first pricing move. Chaos theory offers an important new insight into this basic strategy: we should expect ranges of different responses depending on how tightly we approach the duration of the OODA loop. That is, to outpace the competitor that may operate on a semi-annual basis, revising prices on a quarterly basis may produce the same disruption and disorientation as would revisions on a monthly or weekly basis. You could then focus planning on other factors such as brand investment, efficient use of resources and so on. The idea is that you should expect ranges of control parameter values where the system behavior is relatively consistent; but you should also note parameter ranges where small adjustments produce drastic changes in response. If you were an IC manufacturer with facilities to improve efficiencies more quickly than your competitors, you may want to introduce small but frequent, price changes to disrupt the market and drive competitors out that cannot follow the efficiencies and maintain margins. PREDICTABILITY
HOW DOES chaos theory explain, reduce or increase predictability? In the near-term chaos can be used to uncover patterns and sub patterns that are not apparent and this information can be used to project the behavior of an industry that has irregular dynamics. Chaos analysts have been able to tease out competitors pricing activities by using techniques that allow them to find information embedded within a mass of background noise ( the economy, stock market fluctuations, commodity prices, etc) over the short term. In addition, using chaos theory, pricing decision-makers have been able to estimate how long the projections may be useful. Over the longer term, while the paths of individual chaotic trajectories cannot be predicted accurately for very long, knowledge of the system attractors provides useful information about the long-term trends in system/industry behavior. In chaos theory, the ’strange attractor’ plays an organizing role, as the order or pattern at the heart of what appears to be chaos. For example, if youre packing to go to Minneapolis in January, youll pack very differently than if you were going to Miami, without any current weather information. So, in Minneapolis the basic attractor is such that the temperatures trend to a point that will be below freezing. You would have made your packing decisions based on some knowledge of the system trends. One major producer of surfactants in Europe, knowing that market dynamics were such that an industry attractor was leading to rapid price declines, used that knowledge to offer 10% discounts upfront for the signing of one-year contracts. At the end of the year, other competitors were facing 50% lower prices. CONTROLLING CHAOS
Chaos theory helps first, by recognizing that an attractor can help understand and manipulate the industry or system since the attractor gives form and structure to behavior that we might otherwise dismiss as random. Second, if you can find an attractor for an industry (system), then any disturbances to the current state will still render its particular evolution unpredictable (think of a swinging tire). But any, transient behavior eventually dies out, and the global system behavior trends are unchanged. Third, there is some hope of predicting basins of attraction, so that in initiating pricing moves, you can set up initial conditions so that the systems evolves under its own dynamics towards the trends of the attractor that you want. For example, if you were the lowest cost producer in a price sensitive market with a large number of aggressive competitors, by taking a small decrease in price you would likely initiate a price war. The attractor, industry movement towards the lowest price, would ultimately favor you, as the lowest cost producer. KEY LEARNINGS
By thinking about your industry as a chaotic system, you need to be aware of the extent to which uncertainties can disrupt the industry and dramatic change can occur unexpectedly- so flexibility and adaptiveness in pricing are necessary
As a result, you need to identify the key metrics that will provide you with sufficiently fast feedback so that the chaos does not get to the extreme boundaries that chaotic systems can reach. By testing and understanding the dynamics of a chaotic system, you can mitigate the potential downside of a chaotic industry. Most importantly, Chaos can be controlled. Chaos theory demonstrates that a chaotic system, previously thought of as random, can be influenced so that it becomes stable. Small changes can make big differences. There are three techniques for doing this, described above. Regular periodic disturbances can be introduced into the system so that the system responds in a manner that will see it evolve into the longer term trends that you may want based on an attractor describing the longer-term recurrent behavior that you want in an industry. Real-time measurements of the system output to determine how far to adjust the selected control parameter ( think of keeping a yardstick balanced on the palm of your hand; by moving your hand a bit, you keep the yardstick balanced). While this requires a constant feedback loop, a stable output is reached intentionally, and not in a hit and miss manner. Extensive calculations can be developed to approximate the dynamics of the systems attractor. Alain Meloche, M.Sc., M.B.A. Alain has over twenty years of experience advising executives on strategic issues. He began his consulting career at Larson & Company, a strategic consulting boutique that was an offshoot of McKinsey, later acquired by Mercer Consulting, where he also worked. He has developed strategies for high technology companies in the software, internet, telecommunications, logistics, medical products and financial services industries. A key element in Alains consulting practice has been the combination of analytical approaches such as decision analysis and game theory to develop and implement a range of strategies. In addition to an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, Alain also has an M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering and an Honors B.S. in theoretical physics. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alain_Meloche http://EzineArticles.com/?Pricing-in-a-Chaotic-World&id=524391 personal loans gold coast
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Finding Free Recipes Online

kennethbrannen — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:08:00 +0000

By Kimberly Chang If you love to cook, you are likely always looking for the next new recipe to try out on your family and friends. The thing about cooking is that it can be quite boring if you always cook the same things. So, when you are in need of new recipes, you might automatically run out and buy the newest cook book on the shelves. The problem is that when you do this, it can be quite expensive to try out new meals. One easy way you can get recipes for free is by looking online. You can find recipes online by doing several things. First, you can try to find free recipes by doing a search. Go to your favorite or nearest search engines and type in free recipes. You will be shocked at how many recipes will turn up. Another way you can find free recipes online is by visiting the sites of your favorite magazines. Magazines that focus mostly on women and family will likely always have a few new recipes per week on their sites, which can be very helpful to those seeking out the newest recipes for no cost. So, instead of shelling out thirty dollars for the newest cookbook each time you start craving new recipes, simply hop online and do some research. You will find that you can even type in a specific meat and get the results of new recipes containing that meat. It is amazing and fun to get so much for no cost at all and start cooking in ways you never imagined before. We specialize in Indian curry recipes. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kimberly_Chang http://EzineArticles.com/?Finding-Free-Recipes-Online&id=236090 cash advance risks
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The Myth Of Liposuction For Weight Loss

kennethbrannen — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:22:36 +0000

By Michelle Bery In a culture that is very much focused on instant gratification, we hold our weight loss up to the same standards, expecting pounds to shed immediately and muscles to be defined with the lifting of one weight. Its no wonder that more and more people turn to liposuction for weight loss a procedure that rids the body of pockets of fat. But what people fail to realize is that liposuction for weight loss does not address the underlying weight issue and will not achieve desired results without the use of proper diet and exercise. Liposuction is a surgical procedure that involves the making of several incisions around a particular area of the body that is storing excessive fat deposits. A surgeon then inserts an instrument into the incisions that allows them to vacuum out excess fat. The procedure, however, is far more invasive then it sounds; the surgeon must aggressively attack fat to remove it from the body and to maintain a consistent and smooth appearance. The liposuction patient who is most often put under general anesthesia faces recovery time like any other surgery - and some pain following the procedure. What has been shown is that liposuction works for trouble spots that have not adequately responded to proper diet and exercise. An overall healthy person often responds well to liposuction if they are using the procedure as a supplement to good nutrition and healthy physical habits. However, liposuction for weight loss in a patient who is overweight, physically unfit, and in the habit of eating poorly will almost always fail. The reason is that liposuction for weight loss is not a magic bullet. In such a case, the patient is required to adopt healthy eating habits and proper exercise in order to maintain the look of the liposuction. Liposuction for weight loss does not in any way mean that once the procedure is performed you can eat whatever you want and live a sedentary lifestyle. If you are interested in liposuction for weight loss, it is imperative that you go about it in the right way. If you are not already doing so, you must immediately adopt a diet designed for weight loss and optimum health; one that includes the eating of whole foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Practice portion control, drink plenty of water, and stay away from foods high in fat and sugar. Additionally, it is important to implement a consistent exercise program that incorporates cardiovascular work, weight training, and core work such as Pilates, yoga, and a stretching program. You may find that after several months on such a program you will see significant changes in your bodys appearance and that liposuction for weight loss is unnecessary. If however, you still want to have liposuction to address trouble spots, you will now be in a position to enter in to the surgery as a healthy person who can maintain a healthy lifestyle following surgery. For easy to understand, in depth information about liposuction for
weight loss visit our ezGuide 2 Liposuction. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Bery http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Myth-Of-Liposuction-For-Weight-Loss&id=528186 free credit score monitoring
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Diet and Exercise Tips

kennethbrannen — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:12:34 +0000

By Allison Burr-Miller The formula for weight loss is unique to the individual, but the path may begin with something as simple as a tasty low-calorie recipe and a 15-minute ab routine. The below mini-guide explains body mass index, popular diets and offers simple recipe modifications. Working the Abs The most popular area of the body people want to improve upon is their abs. If you feel trapped in the world of the mundane sit-up, there are many different ways to work your abs without killing yourself or needing to buy convoluted machinery. Try doing scissor crunches: First, lay down flat on your back with your legs straight. Next, cross your arms across your chest and sit up until your elbows contact your legs. Start off doing 3 sets of 25 or so repetitions. If you have an exercise partner, or desire an exercise you can do with a partner, try doing sit-ups with a ball. Get in a sit up position and on your way up, have a friend throw you an exercise ball (5-12 pounds ideally). Go back down with the ball, and on your way up, toss your friend the ball back. Continue this process until your friend tells you to stop. Just kidding! Try 3 sets of 25 reps again. Body Mass Index explained Your weight isnt always indicative of your health and fitness level. In fact, it can be a very arbitrary number. Many experts suggest your body mass index (BMI) is a much more telling statistic because it considers your weight, height, and body type to calculate your body fat. In so doing, your BMI calculation gauges when extra pounds begin to be a health risk. The BMI Formula: weight X (height X height) X 704.55 To calculate your body index, you divide your weight by the product of your height squared. Then you multiply by 704.55. According to BMI medical guidelines, if the number you come up with is 25 or less, you are of normal weight (if it is 18 or less, you are underweight). Body Mass Index calculators, such as the one found at http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/news/page/1042/bmi can perform these calculations for you. The only information you need to enter is your sex, height, weight, and waist size. Popular fad diets explained There have been many diets introduced in recent years preaching that they can help you lose tons of weight in minimal time. There is weight loss success for some while others struggle to stay committed long term. The premise behind almost all of these diets (i.e. the Atkins diet, the grapefruit diet, vegan diets, etc.) is that an entire food group is being scantily used, if not, altogether cut out from a dieters list of allotted foods. Such drastic alterations in your diet could give you the short-term results youre looking for, but actually may hurt your health in the long run. For this reason, it is important to know the ins and outs of a potential diet before you decide to jump on the bandwagon. The Atkins diet pioneered the idea of the evil carbohydrate Vegan and vegetarian diets are often scorned for lacking protein (despite steps taken to incorporate non-carnal proteins into such diets) Low-fat diets are faulted with providing too little fat, and consequently the body has nothing to absorb nutrients with Weight Watchers and other such diets often require too much portion control for the casual dieter, and as a result seem destined for failure The grapefruit diet a rather extreme example of abandoning core food groups and nutrients Food Label Meanings Knowing what certain words on your food label actually mean is important. Common ingredients such as flour and high fructose corn syrup actually mean refined, sugar-filled carbohydrates, or bad carbohydrates. According to health author Lee Dobbins, carbohydrates that come from fruit, vegetable, and whole grain sources often get a bad rap. However, if these foods are actually put under the microscope, there is no reason to scrutinize their nutritional value they fuel and cleanse your body. Good-for-you Recipes Dieting does not require cutting all of your favorite foods. If you make a few lifestyle decisions substitute low-fat or low-calorie ingredients for those ingredients that contain higher levels you can consistently eat well and not even notice. Recipe connoisseurs Kim Beardsmore and Jeff Rosales have a number of good-tasting as well as good-for-you recipes. Spicy chicken cacciatore can be prepared and contain less than 250 calories with a recipe that naturally calls for lean chicken breast and a tomato based sauce as opposed to fatty cream sauces. If youre looking for a breakfast suggestion, try banana toast. If you alter the traditional French toast recipe by substituting whole eggs with egg whites and by using skim milk, you have a much healthier meal. *About the Source: The complete ArcaMax Publishing Diet and Exercise guide can be found at http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/news/channel/1042. Other news and special sections available at www.arcamax.com include vacation planning, gardening, parenting tips for the new school year, and much more. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allison_Burr-Miller http://EzineArticles.com/?Diet-and-Exercise-Tips&id=69781 credit report song tab
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Why Repetition is So Important for Marketing Success

kennethbrannen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:24:47 +0000

By Peter Geisheker In this marketing article I want to discuss one of the most important aspects of successful marketing repetition. Successful companies use marketing repetition. Unsuccessful companies do not. As a marketing consultant, I speak with many businesses and there is one huge mistake that nearly all of them make in their marketing. They wrongly think it takes only one marketing piece to get a prospect to buy. They will send out one postcard or one sales letter or one email to a list of prospects and wonder why so few people (or zero people) purchased their product or service. Or, they will place one ad in a trade publication and wonder why they received few or zero sales. The reason for their lack of success is simple. It takes repetitive marketing over time (6-12 months or more) to build trust and desire. It has been proven that most people (and businesses) have to receive a minimum of 7 marketing pieces from a company before they will even consider buying. Why is this? There are several reasons: 1. They are not interested in what you are selling today. However, that does not mean they wont be interested in what you are selling tomorrow, next month, or a year from now. A “No” today does not mean a “No” tomorrow. 2. Trust. Nearly all people need to have a feeling of trust toward a company before they will do business with them. Trust is built by receiving regular and consistent marketing messages over time. 3. Mood. The day your prospect receives your marketing piece he/she may have been in a lousy mood and threw it away or ignored it. 4. No money. The prospect wants what you are selling but cannot afford it right now. However, in 3, 6, or 12 months from now, they may have the money and they will buy. 5. Too busy to think about it right now. 6. For one reason or another, your marketing piece never reached them. When you look at all the reasons prospects have for not buying, you now see why repetitive marketing is so important. To be successful in marketing, you must keep marketing to your prospects over and over. So what is repetitive marketing? Here are a few examples: 1. Sending out a sales letter or a postcard to your list of prospects every month. 2. Having an email newsletter that goes out to your prospects every month. 3. Sending out a monthly paper newsletter to all your customers and prospects. This does not need to be a fancy 4-color 12-page newsletter. A simple 1 page black and white newsletter printed on both sides is more than sufficient. Again, the key is repetition. Send it out every month and keep the content very friendly, information-based, and personal. The more friendly and personal it is, the more marketing success you will have. 4. If you advertise in print publications such as trade journals, you need to advertise in every issue. It is much smarter and more effective to place a small ad every month rather than placing one large ad one time. 5. If you advertise on radio, it must be done month after month. As soon as prospects stop hearing your name and sales message, they forget about you. Same thing with TV - for it to be successful, it must be done continuously. Out of site is out of mind. My e-newsletter is a perfect example of marketing success caused by repetition. Many of my clients had been receiving my free marketing newsletter for upwards of a year or more before they decided to make first contact with me. What this means is that they received at least 12 marketing pieces from me before they finally decide to take action and purchase my services. If I had only contacted these prospects one time, I would have never gotten them as clients. If you want to be successful in marketing, the key is repetition. To Your Success! Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
“Innovative Marketing for Innovative Companies”
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 592-9595 To subscribe to my free marketing newsletter, please go to http://www.geisheker.com/newsletter.htm You can also download my free marketing plan and marketing strategy ebook by going to http://www.geisheker.com/newsletter.htm Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Geisheker http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Repetition-is-So-Important-for-Marketing-Success&id=319243 phentermine 37.5 mg diet pills
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Can Anxiety Problems Be Hereditary?

kennethbrannen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:11:33 +0000

By Shane Baxter It’s fairly common for people who have suffered with panic and anxiety problems to find out that their siblings and/or parents also suffered from the same types of issues. Unfortunately, many people keep the problems hidden and they don’t learn about the history until the problem has developed into something more serious. In many cases, they only find out about the history of anxiety when their own problem becomes overwhelming and they seek help for it. They will often tell their family, at which point other family members may also come forward. Unfortunately there is a stigma associated with anxiety and panic disorders, and many people are unwilling to admit to it. Anxiety is not strictly hereditary, however. Even if there is no history of it in their family, a person can develop problems for many reasons. Some of the most common are major events in their life, such as:
Grief - The death of a loved one or close friend
Major trauma - A car accident, being held up or a life threatening sickness
Financial problems - Unexpected job loss, large amounts of debt
In some cases, it is easy to identify the seed that has grown into a panic or anxiety problem. Other times it is not so simple. It can sometimes take years after a stressful event or situation before anxiety disorder symptoms start to appear, and it’s not always easy to see the relationship. So, to answer the initial question, yes, anxiety problems can be hereditary but they are not exclusively so. If your family has a history of anxiety, however, it is likely that you are at risk of similar problems and should be more aware of any potential signs of a problem. Shane Baxter writes about anxiety disorders and other related problems for the Anxiety Action website. For more helpful information about anxiety and stress visit http://www.anxietyaction.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shane_Baxter http://EzineArticles.com/?Can-Anxiety-Problems-Be-Hereditary?&id=365506 cheap phentermine online consultation
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Oh, No! Another School Fundraiser!

kennethbrannen — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:08:38 +0000

By Al Jackson If you have children still attending school, then you probably know all too well the feeling you get when you receive a flyer stating the need for yet another fundraising event! That horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach that says you’re going to have to contribute in some way, either buying something you really don’t need and really can’t afford, or by donating hours of your time, hours that you don’t have either. But do not despair. Life for fundraising people has got easier because of the Internet, and with computers in general, as you can use the computer to make your life easier in many ways. You can document the jobs needed to be done by volunteers, you can email volunteers to keep them all informed of meetings, jobs and the like, and computers can help you keep track of donors, donations, and so much more. The trick with fundraisers is to find something that people want to buy from you, either a product or a service, and that you want to sell and promote. And of course, if the event is because you are fundraising for your school, ideally it should be something that will inspire as many students as possible to participate. That rules out the good old favourite bake sale, as it is hard to devote the time to helping preschoolers bake for a bake sale, but with so many food allergies around, and fear of food contamination, I think those days are over. I remember how awful I felt when I baked for the school fundraiser, only to find that my daughters had bought the goods so they could see what mommy’s baking tasted like! I must admit, baking didn’t happen very often because of a shortage of time, but I didn’t realize my family felt so deprived! Then there are car washes, and this one I like because the time involved can be limited to one day, or one weekend, and the kids can take part themselves, under adult supervision of course. Kids love to get wet on a nice hot day, so summer car washes often work well, and aside from advanced advertising, there is not a lot of preparation to do in advance, and very few funds need to be spent on supplies. There are school fairs that can be lots of fun and they can raise significant income, but the level of organization means it is not for everyone. And there are so many more options, too many to list here. Ok, so how else can computers help you, other than with the organization of your fundraising events? There are websites out there that provide you with a ton of advice and loads of suggestions that you can look at to see what fundraiser best suits your group. They suggest how to go about organizing it, how to advertise and promote it to your best advantage. There’s information about how to target your fundraiser, in other words, lots of information about aspects of fundraising that you may not have even considered in the past. One of the problems I always encountered with fundraising, was that I provided some goods to sell, but then was expected to buy some at the event too, so it seemed like a double hit to me. Instead, see if there is a section of the community that you can target. For example, our daughters always did very well when they were collecting donations by standing outside a liquor store. I don’t know whether it was a guilt thing or not, but people entering the liquor store seemed to give more readily than those entering a grocery store! ( Not all municipalities permit this kind of fundraising, so you need to check first.) You need to consider what your expenses will be especially those needed in advance of your fundraising. Do you have the funds to cover this? Is it worth paying for advertising? Is it worth mailing to companies to ask for donations, or to others to ask for support? Who is likely to support your fundraising cause? Are there others out there that could be reached? Easily? Yes, it will take a little time to read all this information, but it can be well worth it, as it may save you from having to organize a second event if the first one does not raise the funds you need. It gets you thinking about who you can sell your goods or services to, other than those already involved in your organization, who will benefit from your product or service, and how you can reach them without huge expense and without a huge commitment of time. So get a coffee, take a deep breath and re-evaluate your school fundraiser! Al Jackson takes pride in being a complete non-techie who, despite the challenges of life with her particular husband and daughters, enjoys creating websites intended to inform, entertain, and help, others. Her website http://www.practical-fundraising.com is a compilation of many useful ideas for novice fundraising, reflecting her own experience as a teacher and parent and incorporating an entire eBook on the topic. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Al_Jackson http://EzineArticles.com/?Oh,-No!-Another-School-Fundraiser!&id=186283 order phentermine online no prescription
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Should You Get A Pay Day Loan?

kennethbrannen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:28:29 +0000

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tim_Gorman]Tim Gorman Whether you have good credit, bad credit or no credit, you are still eligible for pay day loans. Pay day loans come in all shapes and sizes. The amount you can borrow for your pay day loans really depends on how much you would like or need, anywhere from three hundred dollars to one thousand dollars. You can borrow pay day loans online through literally hundreds of pay day loans companies, or you can visit a physical location. You’ve probably seen plenty of pay day loans stations in your neighborhood, or at least fairly close by. However, as you may be aware, pay day loans can set you back for quite a while once you’ve approved the pay day loans. Some pay day loans companies require interest on the loan. This owed money, whether in increments like a credit card payment or one lump sum may very well become more of a hassle than not getting pay day loans would have been. If you’re unsure if pay day loans will be worth it for you or not, crunch the numbers. Let’s say your regular weekly paycheck, minus taxes, nets you about four hundred dollars even. But you won’t get paid until Friday, and you need money now. Should you take out pay day loans in the amount of five hundred dollars? Well, it really depends on the interest you will be charged. If you are charged 7.8 percent interest, you will actually end up owing the pay day loans company five hundred and thirty nine dollars, not five hundred. And if you can’t pay off pay day loans back immediately, it will end up being more than that, because, like credit card companies, you end up paying more money if it takes you longer to pay it. Pay day loans shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. Tim Gorman is a successful webmaster and publisher of Military-Loans-Online.com an online website that offers money saving rates on auto, home, bad credit, [http://www.military-loans-online.com/payday-loans.html]pay day loans and other free loan information that you can view in the privacy of your own home. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Gorman http://EzineArticles.com/?Should-You-Get-A-Pay-Day-Loan?&id=27448 non prescription phentermine
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Food in the Caribbean

kennethbrannen — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:07:45 +0000

By James Penn The earliest inhabitants of the Caribbean islands were the three Indian tribes of Arawak, Carib, and Taino. Their daily food comprised of vegetables and fruits. It was the Taino tribe that first started cooking meat and fish, using large clay vessels for this purpose. The Arawaks took a different way and used thin strips of green wood to cook meat more slowly and allowing it to absorb the flavor of the wood. The wooden grate they used was called barbacoa and now you know where the term barbeque comes from. Not to be left behind, the Carib tribe made their fish and meat recipes really spicy by adding pepper sauces, lime, and lemons. In fact, the Caribs are credited with having cooked the first pepper pot stew. The last of the above three has had a tremendous impact on Caribbean food, which should not be surprising because the Caribbean Sea was named after this tribe. In the present day, Caribbean food is still a representative of the food that was originally eaten by the early inhabitants and includes okra, fish cakes, callaloo, ackee, salt fish, pudding, souse, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, and mangoes. The concept of “jerk” cooking has also originated in the Caribbean when early African hunters would often leave their homes to go on long hunts and take with them pork cooked in a very spicy recipe over hot coals. In the post-slavery era, Indian cooking culture was introduced in Caribbean food recipes and still remains an active part of the Caribbean cuisine. Most of the curried meats and curry powder recipes that are found today are directly derived from original Indian cuisine. Rice was introduced to the Caribbean by the Chinese and is now a staple. The Chinese also unleashed mustard on the islanders while the Portuguese sailors did the codfish. Most of the fruit trees that are familiar to the visitors to the island were actually brought here by the Spain and include orange, ginger, lime, figs, plantains, sugar cane, tamarinds, grapes, and coconuts. America brought with it the various beans, squash, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and chili pepper to the island. In fact, some of these food spread to the rest of world through the Caribbean, before which, they were unknown. This are but some of the few reasons why Caribbean food is so unique and creative. Flavors from all over the world have found a home in Caribbean food through countless generations and the flow of history. James Penn runs the highly informative Caribbean website http://www.caribbean-charm.com/cheap-caribbean-vacation.html which details how to find cheap Caribbean cruises & also the ten best activities in the Caribbean at http://www.caribbean-charm.com/caribbean-activities.html for families & couples. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Penn http://EzineArticles.com/?Food-in-the-Caribbean&id=368592 pharmacy phentermine cod
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