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Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.

Step 1: Identifying Career Cluster Interest Areas

Career clusters are groups of similar occupations and industries. When teachers, counselors, and parents work with teens, college students, and adults, the first step is to complete career cluster assessment. The assessment identifies the highest career cluster areas. Career assessments show teens, college students, and adults rankings from one of the following 16 Interests Areas or Clusters:

1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources

2. Architecture & Construction

3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication

4. Business, Management & Administration

5. Education & Training

6. Finance

7. Government & Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality & Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety & Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales & Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Step 2: Exploring Career Clusters and Related Careers

After pinpointing the highest career clusters, teens, college students, and adults explore the different careers and create education plans. Career cluster tools used in career and educational planning include:

• LISA: A comprehensive career cluster database
• Models
• Brochures
• Pathways
• High school plan of study
• Interest and Skills Areas
• Crosswalks

After completing a career cluster assessment, teens, college students, and adults look at web sites, career models, brochures, pathways, and high school plans. One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. There are 3 steps in the LISA program:

STEP 1: Click here to select a Career Cluster

STEP 2: Click here to select a Career Group

STEP 3: Explore Occupations within this Career Group

In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will see a description of the cluster. When you select a career group in Step 2, you see different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see a wealth of information:

• Job descriptions
• Educational and training requirements
• Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
• Abilities
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Tasks
• Work Values
• Labor Market Information

Even though LISA is an awesome program, in classroom or workshop settings, you need printed materials. When using printed materials, the career model is the best place to start. Models provide excellent overviews listing the cluster definitions, sample careers, pathways, knowledge, and skills. Visual models show career clusters, the cluster subgroups, and related careers. Models are an excellent way to introduce career clusters.

For presentations, workshops, and group discussions, the career cluster brochures provide additional information. Adults and teens read about the different careers that are available in each career cluster. Teachers, counselors, and parents use the brochures to solidify adults’ and teens’ potential career or educational decisions. The brochures cover topics such as:

• Definition of career clusters
• Careers
• Career pathways
• Employment outlooks
• Skills
• Credentials

Teachers, counselors, and parents use career pathways for more detailed information. The career pathways are subgroups or areas of concentration within career clusters. Each pathway contains career groups. The career groups have similar academic skills, technical skills, educational requirements, and training requirements. Career pathways are plans of study that outline required secondary courses, post secondary courses, and related careers. The career pathways are essential tools that teachers, counselors, parents, and other adults use to give educational planning advice.

Several web sites feature High School Plans of Study. These study plans show required, elective, and suggested courses for each grade level. The school plans also match the career clusters to related careers, career pathways, and post-secondary options. Teachers, counselors, and parents find that these school plans are guides for selecting the right high school courses to match potential careers. Beyond high school, the Utah System for Higher Education has created a College Major Guide. Parents, teachers, and counselors can use the guide to match college majors to Certificate and Degree Programs.

Additional Resources for Counselors and Teachers

For planning curriculum and educational programs, there are detailed Knowledge and Skills Charts and Cluster Crosswalks. The knowledge and Skills expand upon the information listed on the career cluster models. For each knowledge and skill area, there are performance elements and measurement criteria. Crosswalks show the relationships between career clusters and other career models:

Career clusters build a bridge between education and career planning. Different types of career cluster resources are available: videos, web sites, booklets, brochures, activity sheets, and workbooks. Teachers, counselors, and parents use career cluster resources to successfully complete career and educational planning.

Resources:

American Careers Career Paths, Career Communications, 6701 W. 64th St., Overland, KS 66202, 800-669-7795

Career Click, Illinois Department of Employment Security,33 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-5700

CIP Code Index by Career Cluster, Adult & Postsecondary CTE Division, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126, (717) 772-0814

Cluster and Career Videos, Career One Stop, U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, 866-4-USA-DOL

College Major Guide Utah System for Higher Education, Board of Regents Building, The Gateway, 60 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1284, (801) 321-7100

Find Careers (Videos), iSeek Solutions, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Wells Fargo Place, 30 7th St. E., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-7804

High School Plans of Study, New Hampshire Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street

Concord, NH 03301-3860, (603) 271-3494

Introduction to Career Clusters, Career Education, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, P.O. Box 543

Blacklick, OH 43004-0544,

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), customized Internet version of OSCAR, a product of the Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources, TWC/CDR, Austin, TX 78753

Maryland Career Clusters, Maryland State Department of Education 200 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, MD 21201,

Rhodes Island’s Career Clusters, Rhode Island’s Career Resource Network, 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920, 401-462-8790

School to Career Clusters, State of Connecticut, Department of Labor, Job Bank, 645 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457, (860)754-5000

States’ Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI), 1500 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, OK 74074

Career Pathway Plans, Career Cluster, Knowledge and Skills Charts

VTECS Cluster Frameworks, VTECS, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033,404-679-4501 ext 543

What are Career Clusters? Career Prospects System, New Mexico Career Resource Network, CAREER TECHNICAL AND WORKFORCE EDUCATION BUREAU (CTWEB), Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 827-6512

Dr. Mary Askew specializes in Holland Codes, career cluster, and transferable skills career tests, websites, and books for adults, high school students, college students, and teens. Find easy to use, yet comprehensive career resources. Move towards your career potentials at http://www.hollandcodes.com Contact Dr. Askew at learning4life@qwest.net

Are you familiar with HDTV basics? Are HDTV and DTV the same thing? What do I need to know before purchasing a new TV?

Are you thinking about buying a new TV right now, or at some time in the near future.

Is your Television Ready for the Transition from Analog to DTV on February 17th, 2009?

THIS DATE is much closer than you realize.

A better understanding of the transition to Digital TV, and knowing these HDTV basics, will help you to be ready when it’s time to consider a new television.

Buying a new television today can be overwhelming and involves more than just visiting your local television or electronics store. Shopping for a Digital TV or an HDTV can be confusing with all the abbreviations, terms, resolution, dpi, formats and the options that you can get on televisions today. And you thought that purchasing a new car was bad.

So What Do Consumer’s Need to Know

There are so many decisions confronting today’s unprepared consumer, just trying to navigate through this complex maze can be a daunting experience. However, many of these frustrations can be avoided by doing some homework before hand.

Things To Know Before You Go

What is Digital TV … and is Not. What is the Digital TV Transition… and how it will affects you. How is HDTV different from all other television formats … and How. Understand what you want and need, so you’re not Sold something YOU don’t want or need!

So Where Do You Start? Familiarize yourself with the different Terms and Classifications

TV Classifications:

NTSC Analog TV- (National Television Systems Committee), Traditional TV; now being phased out on February 17th.

ATSC Digital TV – (Advanced Television Systems Committee), DTV;

This is “SDTV” – Standard Definition TV – the new, (digital) TV Standard;

replaces NTSC Analog TV.

Integrated HDTV – or simply, HDTV; DTV with an Internal (built-in) High Definition TV Receiver.

This is able to Receive and Display all ATSC TV Signals – Including HDTV Signals.

Digital-HDTV – ‘Capable’ or ‘Ready’- Digital TV that is able to DISPLAY HDTV – BUT ONLY with the addition of an EXTERNAL HDTV Receiver.

EDTV – Enhanced Digital TV – a classification* describing Digital TV’s that are basically ‘high-end’ SDTV’s. While these often include some type of technical features, added by the Manufacturer to enhance the picture, nevertheless, the picture quality does NOT equal HDTV. Technically, there is virtually no visual difference between an SDTV and an EDTV – with the possible exception of the higher price.

* For many Consumers, this classification is of questionable value; by paying more for a TV tagged “EDTV” the consumer is only getting what can best be described as an ‘upgraded’ SDTV. The question is, how ‘up-graded’ is it, if the TV simply meets the standard for SDTV?

Different TV Display Technologies:

CRT – (Cathode Ray Tube):Traditional TV Technology – The established standard for television displays; best overall value – picture quality and cost; major drawback is bulk and mass as size increases. Plasma Display – Ultra-thin design, High Contrast Ratings, ‘Fixed Pixel’ Display: Size up to 60+ inches; some display limitations – costly, high burn-in risk; picture quality affected by inability to display black-color; displays are extremely heavy and fragile; picture quality lost as pixels fade; many Plasma Displays do not display HDTV resolutions. Development continues.

LCD – Liquid Crystal Display: Thin design, size limitations; good computer monitor; sharp picture for static displays; problems displaying images in motion; many LCD Displays are not HDTV capable. Development continues.

LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) – Improved LCD Technology, may hold promise for future HDTV display; costly; manufacturing problems continue; development ongoing.

DLP (Digital Light Processor) – Uses Chip and Software Technology – exciting, alternative display technology; excellent HDTV display; eliminates most short comings of other technologies; moderate cost; some viewers question “softer” picture, and use of “color-wheel;” promising future – development continues.

TV Display Configuration:

Aspect Ratio

The width to height ratio of a TV Monitor or Program.

Aspect Ratio can apply to either the television monitor (hardware), or to the TV program format.

Traditional – (4:3) aspect ratio; the display has ‘square’ appearance. All Analog TV programs are in 4:3 aspect ratio.

New ‘Wide Screen’ (16:9) aspect ratio; the display is rectangular.

Digital TV (SDTV) programs can be in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.

HDTV is always in 16:9 aspect ratio.

As you can see, consumers have a number of decisions to make, long before making their final buying decision. Understanding the basics of HDTV requires us to become familiar with an array of strange-new ‘tech-speak’ terms.

Examples:

Aspect Ratio – width to height (4:3) or (16:9); refers to the TV Display and to TV Programs.

Picture Resolution – 720-p; 1080-i; 480-i/p; – and recently added, 1080-p.

Progressive Scan – display method (“p” in 720-p)

Interlaced Scan – display method (“i” in 1080-i)

D/A – A/D – digital to analog and analog to digital converter

STB – Set-top Box (aka: Receiver, Tuner, Decoder or Descrambler)

OTA – ‘over-the-air’ or ‘off-the-air’ – refers to Local TV Broadcasts

These are just a few of the new terms you will encounter.

The Digital TV Enigma

As consumers begin their quest for information about the Digital and HDTV, they soon notice what seems to be an “Information-Void.” Trying to get Useful, and Reliable information about what is needed to buy a digital television set can seem difficult.

Try asking questions regarding basic HDTV; for example: Does the Transition from Analog TV to Digital TV mean that everyone is forced to buy an HDTV? or, What is the difference between SDTV and HDTV; or What is needed to have High Definition TV reception in your home? Now compare the different answers you get or the lack of knowledge on the sales persons part.

Note: The seller must disclose or have posted information regarding the lack of digital capabilities of any television for sale to you the consumer. This is a government mandate.

In stark contrast, at the opposite extreme, is the continuous flow of ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation.’ This flood of unreliable information has inundated the general public. The path to useful and reliable information is littered with inaccuracies, fallacies and myths. And this is further aggravated by misleading advertising and marketing ploys.

As an example, here’s a question asked repeatedly by perplexed consumers concerning the transition from Analog TV to Digital TV:

“Can you tell me if it’s true, that “normal” TV is going to be stopped and everyone will be forced to buy an HDTV? I don’t believe they can do this … But if it’s true, when will it happen?”

Okay, that’s really two questions…

The answer to the first, is of course – NO, it’s not true. At least not in the way the question is posed. While it is true that “normal TV” (meaning traditional NTSC-Analog TV) will end, replaced by ATSC-Digital TV, you will NOT have to buy an HDTV!

IMPORTANT NOTE: The FCC’s mandatory transition from Analog TV to Digital TV does NOT refer to, nor mean ‘High Definition Television!’

Note: If you choose to keep your analog television you can purchase a converter box that will make viewing your television possible. There are coupons to help with this purchase on the website listed below and it is free to print.

This highlights one of the primary sources of so much of the public’s confusion concerning Digital TV and HDTV. These are two discrete terms, yet they are frequently used incorrectly – as if they were interchangeable words with the same meaning. They are NOT the same; they designate two distinctly different classifications of television.|

High Definition Television is ‘digital’; however, HDTV is just one (1) of eighteen(18) ‘Digital TV Formats’ designated in the ATSC Standard.

It is important for consumers to understand that ‘Digital TV’ does NOT mean HDTV.

Digital television’s “Standard Definition TV” – SDTV – is NOT equal to HDTV – High Definition Television.

So, it’s up to each consumer to inform her/him-self on the basics of Digital-HDTV.

But – Be careful!

Don’t take anything for granted; don’t accept statements at face value.

Verify everything you hear or read about Digital-HDTV, comparing it with different sources.

The Digital Difference

Digital TV signals are made up of coded instructions – (the same ‘bits’ of ‘ones and zeros’ that make your computer work, and give life to ‘CD’s’ and ‘DVD’s') – which are transmitted to your Digital Receiver, (aka: Tuner, Decoder or Set-Top-Box “STB”) which in turn deciphers the code.

A Digital TV receiver isn’t concerned with signal strength, or what conditions exist between your set and the transmitter. As long as the signal gets to the receiver, and the code can be read, the Digital TV is able to reproduce a near-perfect picture – virtually identical to the original, back in the TV Studio.

A distinct advantage of digital broadcasting is that bad reception is a thing of the past. One reason Cable TV caught on is because it delivers clear TV pictures without regard to the viewer’s location. Viewers don’t have to be constantly adjusting the antenna in an attempt to “tune-in” a weak signal from a distant transmitter to get a clear picture. Digital TV (DTV) eliminates the “snow” and “ghosting” caused by the weak signals from distant or blocked transmitting towers. If the analog television set does not receive a strong, undistorted signal from the tower, you will not get a perfectly clear picture.

Both digital and analog television signals weaken, the farther they travel away from the transmitting tower. On an analog TV, the picture slowly deteriorates from bad to worse as the distance between tower and receiver increases. However, the picture on a digital set will stay perfect until the signal becomes too weak for the receiver to distinguish between a (1) and a (0), at which point the image disappears completely.

This has been referred to as “the cliff effect” – the picture remains stable until it abruptly “drops off” the screen. This might be compared to sending Morse Code. As long as the person at the other end can make out the dots and dashes being transmitted they will be able to read the message. Once they lose the distinction between a dot and a dash they lose the message. Digital TV acts the same way; instead of sending dots and dashes, it sends millions of (1′s) and (0′s) every second.

As long as the TV Receiver can read the (1′s and 0′s) it displays a virtually perfect picture. The bottom line … you either receive a 100% quality image, or nothing at all. What this means to the digital television viewer, is not having to worry about getting a “bad” picture. Either you have a picture or you don’t. However, if you are receiving over-the-air, “OTA” (Over the Air) broadcasts, it is crucial for the antenna to be accurately directed towards the signal source – the transmitting tower of the station you are watching.

Adding an “H” to ‘DTV’ = W O W! While our objective is to become familiar with HDTV basics, so far we have focused mainly on Digital TV – DTV. What then is HDTV – High Definition Television? And what is the difference between DTV and HDTV?

DTV differs from NTSC-analog TV in the technology used to transmit the signal. And we looked at some of the reasons why Digital is better than analog. But when comparing Digital TV or “SDTV” (Standard Definition TV) to HDTV, the difference is as night and day! High Definition Television is digital television – BUT … It’s IMPORTANT to understand that Digital TV does NOT mean HDTV! HDTV is just ONE of (18) ATSC designated formats that comprise Digital TV. In High Definition Television, the picture displayed on your television screen begins as an HDTV signal captured by HDTV Cameras, (or converted from film or another format with HDTV Equipment). The HDTV Signal is transmitted to the HDTV Receiver and finally displayed on an HDTV-Capable TV Monitor. But it must also meet the ATSC Standards for High Definition Television in order for it to be “true” HDTV.

Note: It is more than likely you will confront mis-information stating that Digital TV in various configurations is ‘high definition television.’ This is NOT True! You may also be told that as long as the TV meets one or two criteria, or if it has been enhanced by the Manufacturer, using some proprietary engineering “magic,” this makes it – “as good as” – HDTV. Again, NOT TRUE!

If what you want is HDTV, be sure the television you are considering, is really “True” High Definition Television. How Do you Know a TV is – HDTV? To answer this question a ‘bit’ of basic TV technology will be helpful.

It will be helpful in understanding some of the basic elements of HDTV by educating yourself. After all, this is a discussion about Digital-HDTV – possibly the most significant ‘leap forward’ in consumer-technology to impact our society in more than a century!

The image you see on your television screen is comprised of a series of horizontal lines. An electron gun ‘shoots’ energy beams (light) which strike a layer of phosphor on the inside surface of the picture tube, causing it to glow. These glowing lines create the image displayed on your TV screen. How they are formatted, which resolution is used, what standards are met, are some of the factors that determine the type of television picture you will receive.

TV Resolution.The quality of the picture displayed on the TV screen is primarily the result of the television’s “resolution.” Put simply, TV ‘resolution’ refers to how many horizontal lines are displayed on the TV screen.

Note – Although the horizontal lines are counted, (in this instance) this is referred to as the “Vertical resolution,” because the lines are counted from top to bottom – or vertically. TV Resolution is sometimes expressed as the total ‘pixel’ count, which is a product of the number of lines and number of pixels per line

Why Is “Wide-Screen” TV The DTV Standard?

DTV sets are sold in two ‘Aspect Ratios.’ Aspect Ratio refers to the ratio between the horizontal (width) measurement and the vertical (height) measurement of the screen. This ratio is also used in reference to how the picture is transmitted and displayed on the screen. The two aspect ratios used in DTV are (4:3) and (16:9). That is, (4) units wide by (3) units high, and (16) units wide by (9) units high respectively. Your NTSC-analog television has an aspect ratio of (4:3); the screen appears almost ‘square’ because it has just slightly more width than height. For instance, a (4′) wide screen would have a height of (3′).

Go to the link below to find more information on the Analog to DTV Transition on February 17th, 2009 before your left in the dark.

This brief introduction to Digital TV and HDTV basics, provides an overview (intentionally simplified) of how DTV differs from traditional Analog TV, and how HDTV differs from Digital-SDTV; and a little about the Transition from Analog TV to Digital TV. This is just a start towards a better understanding of Digital TV. Now that you’re familiar with some of the basics, you are better prepared to begin considering which Digital HDTV is right for you.

http://inform4you.googlepages.com

Cat toilet training in easy steps:

Toilet training your cat is an easier task than you might think. Several techniques can be used for training your cat to use the toilet, and you can even buy products that will assist you in toilet training a cat.

The advantages of cat toilet training:

Teaching your cat to use the toilet can hold several advantages for any cat owner. The biggest advantage of having your cat use a toilet is that eliminates most of the disadvantages that using cat litter holds. Cat litter is expensive. After toilet training your cat, you won’t ever need to buy cat litter again. Cat litter boxes needs to be cleaned regularly or they will become smelly. With cat toilet training, the water in the toilet masks most of the offending smell and all you need to do is flush regularly – much simpler and easier than cleaning a litter box. Going away for weekends or holidays also becomes easier for your neighbor – instead of asking someone to clean out the litter box, all they need to do is flush your toilet once in a while (when they come around to water your plants and feed your cat).

How to toilet train a cat (do it yourself):

Toilet training your cat depends entirely on the cat’s personality. Toilet training sociable cats that love being praised make the training task much easier. You might want to adapt the toilet training technique described below to fit your cat’s personality. Training your cat to use the toilet can take anything between 2 weeks up to 3 months, depending on the individual cat’s personality.

Cat toilet training basically consists of a simple procedure: gradually moving your cat’s litter box closer and closer to the toilet, finally placing a bowl with cat litter inside the toilet, and removing it altogether when your cat is comfortable and used to it. Toilet training a cat is a gradual, step-by-step process, consisting of making small changes to the location of the litter box and only continuing to the next step when your cat is entirely comfortable with its current situation. You might have to wait anything between 2 days or 3 weeks before moving on a next step in cat toilet training. You might even have to go back a step once or twice when it turns out that your cat wasn’t ready to move on to the next toilet training step. Beware – cat toilet training takes a lot of patience!

Cat toilet training steps:

1. Start gradually moving your cat’s litter box nearer to the toilet until finally it should be next to the toilet. Ensure that your cat is always comfortable and sure of its litter box’s location.

2. Now start elevating the cat’s litter box. Put something non-slippery like newspapers or cardboard underneath the litter box. A normal rate to increase the height of the litter box would be about 5cm a day, but be very attentive to signs that your cat is not comfortable with the current height, and adjust the pace of raising the litter box accordingly. The cat litter box should be raised until it is at a level height with the toilet bowl. Throughout this process it is very important to keep the toilet lid open and the seat down, because your cat will get used to it and might even start climbing on the toilet seat in order to reach its litter box.

3. Move the litter box to rest on the open toilet seat. Keep it there until your cat seems comfortable with this arrangement.

4. Buy a metal bowl or tray that will fit snugly inside the toilet bowl. It would be advisable for the metal bowl to have small draining holes. Fill the bowl with cat litter (preferably the flushable type). Now remove your cat’s litter box entirely. If you have reached this step successfully you are very close to having a toilet trained cat!

5. While your cat is using the metal bowl inside the toilet, be attentive to where its paws are. The goal is teaching him to squat with all four paws on the toilet seat rim. You can move the cat while it is using the toilet and praise it (or reward it) when it is sitting in the correct position. Normally the cat will first sit entirely inside the metal bowl, then with front paws on the toilet seat, and finally it should sit with all four paws on the toilet.

6. Start using less and less cat litter. This can get smelly, so be sure to clean the bowl after every time your cat uses it. Cats scratch in sand or cat litter to cover up the smell (this is out of instinct), so if the bowl becomes too smelly your cat won’t be comfortable using it (and you probably wouldn’t be comfortable with using your toilet either). Using flushable cat litter makes cleaning the bowl very easy – just throw out the contents in the toilet and flush down, rinse out the bowl, refill with correct amount of cat litter and replace. A handy tip is to place newspaper on the floor around the toilet to help keep the room clean should your cat scratch in the cat litter. Decrease the amount of cat litter in a pace that your cat feels comfortable with.

7. When you basically don’t use any cat litter inside the bowl anymore, start gradually filling the bowl with water. The water will also help mask the smell so your cat will be more comfortable using the toilet. Be attentive to your cat’s behavior through this whole process – if your cat stops using the bowl inside the toilet, you may be moving on too fast and might need to go back a couple of steps.

8. When the water level in the bowl has reached about 4cm and your cat has no problem using it, it is time to remove the bowl entirely. Your cat should now be toilet trained. Remember to always leave the toilet seat up and flush regularly!

Products to assist you in toilet training your cat:

There are several cat toilet training kits available on the market. They basically consist of a tray that fits inside the toilet, and with a hole in the middle that you can gradually make bigger. When choosing a cat toilet training kit, ensure that you buy quality. The cat training kit should not be flimsy and should be able to support your cat’s weight even when the hole becomes large. Be aware of cheap, flimsy products you buy at toy stores or pet stores, because if your cat falls in, it might loose interest in toilet training completely.

The disadvantages in toilet training your cat:

Not everyone agrees that cat toilet training is such a great idea. They argue that it is unnatural for a cat to use a toilet, as it goes against their natural instincts to cover up their smell. Toilet seats can also be slippery and there might be the risk of your cat injuring itself. Even if your cat doesn’t fall in at all, he may become anxious whenever he uses the toilet and going to the toilet can become an unpleasant task.

A litter box also has the health benefit in that you can easier monitor your cat’s urine for signs of infections or sickness.

Moving locations will also be harder for the cat, because a litter box can be moved easily but the cat will first need to get used to using the new toilet. With some cats this is no problem and they can become comfortable with the new toilet very fast, while other cats might be less adaptable.

Things to remember when toilet training a cat:

The most important thing to remember is that the toilet training should be done gradually. Be very patient and never rush to the next step until you are sure that you cat is completely comfortable with the current setup.

Make using the toilet as easy as you can for the cat. Always remember to keep the toilet seat up and the bathroom door open. When you have guests, ensure that they also know about considering your cat. Flush the toilet regularly as cats do not like using smelly toilets.

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

Winter’s grip has lightened. Spring school break has already passed. Every kid scratches and itches to finish this year’s schooling and be released into the summer! But, for parents 2007 summer camp realities are already here.

Choices Galore. Besides sifting through the menu of summer camp program possibilities … from outdoor summer camps with wilderness focus such as Outward Bound or National Outdoor Leadership … to team sports camps like summer tennis camps, lacrosse summer camps summer golf camps summer cheerleading camps and more … to arts and academic programs including summer acting camps, summer dance camps, summer art camp … to special need summer camp programs including ADHD summer camps and even weight loss summer camps combining healthy living and moderate exercise.

Paying The Tab – Cost Saving Tip #1. “Early bird gets the worm” may be the operative cliché to describe what parents need to do, which is pick your summer camp program as early in the year … or even register in the previous year if possible. What do you get? Not guaranteed, but most camps reward early registrants with significant contract discounts of up to 15% or more. Why the discount? It’s all about business, money, knowing their future summer camp program revenue stream, so that their summer camp counselor jobs levels can be determined and the right kids selected.

Picking your summer camp program early may also “save money” not because you’ll get a discount, but that you’ll save real money and a lot of headaches if you fail to get your child a camp spot, and then have to scramble … you could end up literally spinning your wheels and paying 50% more in some make-do situation.

Cost Saving Tip #2 – Think Locally For Great Programs And Lower Overall Costs. The greatest cost factor “variable” may be travel and transportation costs. Living in Maryland and then sending Johnny to Montana’s Glacier Park wilderness may sound cool … but you’re looking at serious money. Yes, you want the “experience of a life time” for Johnny … but money doesn’t grow on trees so if you decide on a distance camp … then you must hustle onto the Internet travel sites and buy your ticket as early as possible, before the “prime time” season rates lock in.

Simple solution? In virtually every State and region … across America and Canada … families can select from a wide range of cool, exciting, challenging summer camp programs, all within 1-day’s drive distance.

Ask For Scholarship Aid – Cost Saving Tip #3. If you have modest means … if you’re a single parent … if both parents work full time and can’t afford either time off or extra money, then you need to ask your target camp whether they’ll accept your child at a discounted price! The key here is to “offer” something in exchange for a lower price. All summer camps’ owner-managers try to lower costs while eking out an income over the short summer months period. Be direct. Ask whether your child can join the camp, but … also work for the camp. Cleaning up, preparing food, chopping or carrying wood, doing laundry, drying dishes, whatever. It’s all about creating a value-exchange that means something for your family and the residential summer camp.

Controlling “Sundries” Expenses – Cost Saving Tip #4. Day trips … canteen snacks costs … rentals … any of the normal “temptations” on hand could represent a significant “hidden cost” that parents need to investigate.

Refunds And Sick Child Early Departures – Cost Saving Tip #5. Reputable camps will have clear standards for assisting families who pay “early deposits” then have a change of mind. Make sure that any deposit moneys will be refunded in whole or in part before you make payments. Also, families may save significant money, in the event that your child become ill while at camp, by ensuring that the camp refund policy covers sickness early departure without penalties.

Creating Lifestyle Changes That Work. Explore the practical side of 2007 summer camps … costs … family strategies … plus the many exciting and challenging summer camp program choices opening up around the country and world.

Summer Camps for Teens: http://www.wise4living.com/kidcamp/ Or Sports Summer Camps: http://www.wise4living.com/kidsport/

Author Robin Derry is publisher for http://www.wise4living.com/ a specialty knowledge site that gives insights and solutions for families committed to summer camps, body health, home and gardening projects, unique gift designs, HDTV and home entertainment systems, technology gifts, household, sport, travel, footwear, education, and family legal needs.

The old dreaded tune-up, this automotive service has changed immensely. In the older cars a tune up consisted of several replaceable items. I will mention some of these items in this article and compare the old vs the later model tune up. Read on.

-Distributor type ignition systems require more tuning than distributor-less found on newer vehicles. Distributors have been around for years and continue to show their presence. Distributor type ignition and the related components are the reason the tune up was born. This service helps allow the average, basic mechanic to keep working in the auto repair industry. Again their are several replaceable parts that you will need when performing “distributor type ignition tuning”. These parts may include the distributor, cap, rotor, wires and spark plugs. Use caution, these components can get extremely expensive, especially when there is someone replacing them and they are not bad. A good auto repair technician can perform the service in his sleep and can pin-point whether or not the vehicle needs to be tuned. Note Drive ability problems are not necessarily because you need a tune-up.

-Distributor-less type ignitions need much less maintenance. This makes tuning as easy as changing the spark plugs. I educate people, who frequently state, “my check engine light is on, my car needs a tune-up”. Warning, most of the time a vehicles check engine light takes more to repair than just a tune up for repair. This is why a qualified automotive repair technician is needed. Exercise your right to understand your automobile, one of your most important possessions.

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Automotive Engineering auto service is an independently owned and family operated automotive repair and maintenance facility. We have been performing Professional, Honest Auto repair in the Mesa area since 1987. We have and properly use the latest diagnostic equipment to guarantee your vehicle is repaired and serviced properly and in a timely fashion. We only use quality replacement parts, and our technicians are ASE-certified. auto repair mesa

How do you decide whether or not online movie rental is right for you? Every time I log onto my computer, in every delivery of mail I get, and at nearly every commercial television break I see something about online movie rental. It seems like a good idea, but it is hard to know if it is right for me, or even to know how it works.

There are basically two types of online movie rentals. One kind offers you the chance to do your rental selecting online, but you have to eventually go to the store and pick up your rental movie. On the other hand, there are the online movie rentals that have you choose your movie and rent it online, then it is mailed to you. There are advantages and disadvantages with both.

There are movie stores that are now offering online movie rental where you come into the store to pick up the movie. Their inventory is electronically linked to their website. You simply log on and browse for the movie you want. Once you find what you want and see that the store has it in, you go to a screen where you can check out. Then, once it is all taken care of, you go to the store and just pick up the movie that is ready for you. It works well because you can get the movie right away, but as online movie rentals go it does have the drawback of limiting you to the inventory of your local store with online capability.

There is also a plethora of online movie rental that is based on national online rental companies or large movie rental stores. That trend is to allow you to choose a number of movies you want to see. The company sends you the movies a few at a time, and you can watch them at your leisure. Most of these online movie rental companies then do not require you to send them back at any certain time. Once you do send a movie back, though, you are immediately sent another movie off of your list. With this method, you are in a possession of a new online movie rental at any given time. These types of online movie rentals are good only if you are someone who rents movies often. That is because you are charged a monthly fee to do it.

The internet is good for many things and for creating convenience in your life. One of the most recent advances it online movie rentals. There are, of course, a couple of different types of online movie rental. Each has its own pros and cons, but they both also have positives to them as well. The best thing to do to help you determine if online movie rental is right for you is to look over both options. You will also want to take some time figuring out how much you spend on rentals [http://www.maryvillepress.com/category/technology-reviews/] each month. Do your homework and you will know which type of online movie rental is right for you.

If you would like to find more of my personal articles on online movie rentals [http://www.momovieonlinerentaltips.info] please check out my movie website [http://www.mormovieonlinerentaltips.info]!

Do Not Read This Unless You are Making a lot of Money!:

If you would like to know how you can save up to 47% on your current Health Insurance Coverage read on… this is going to be one of the most informative messages you will ever read. After reading this message you will never going to have words; expensive and health insurance in the same sentence.

As you already know health insurance costs are at highest they have ever been and there is no sign of them slowing down. More and more Americans are forced to cancel their coverage simply just because they cannot afford it.

Who are the uninsured?

o Approximately 46 million Americans, or 15.7 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2004 (the latest government data available).

o The number of uninsured rose 800,000 between 2003 and 2004 and has increased by 6 million since 2000.

o The increase in the number of uninsured in 2004 was focused among working age adults. The percentage of working adults (18 to 64) who had no health coverage climbed from 18.6 percent in 2003 to 19.0 percent in 2004. An increase of over 750,000 in 2004.

o Nearly 82 million people – about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2002 or 2003 without health coverage.

o The number of uninsured children in 2004 was 8.3 million – or 11.2 percent of all children in the U.S. (1).

You might say that I have great coverage that I am happy with… that’s totally fine.

For past sever years average rate increase for health insurance was 16.2% and what if it keeps on going? If you are right now paying $500 per month for your health insurance in three years from now you would expect to pay over $780 for the same plan. Wait… we all know that insurance companies consistently decrease their benefits and increase co-pays and deductible. Therefore you will pay more for less coverage. By the way if you keep same plan for over five years you will pay over $1000 a month just for your medical coverage. What if you use your Health Insurance?… Chances are if it is not for a regular doctor visits or a check ups it would be considered pre-existing condition. That means your chances of changing to a more affordable coverage in the future will be nearly impossible. That is one of the main reasons people cancel their health insurance because they were diagnosed with something or taking a prescription medication and the insurance company kept raising their rate until they could not qualify for any other coverage and could not afford the one they had.

Now you are saying I do not need coverage my spouse works for a company and I have group coverage… Great.

What would happen if your spouse left that job or the company stopped providing benefits? Probably the most obvious things that you can see how much that group coverage is really costing you. Next time check how much is deducted out of the paycheck for health coverage, especially for dependents. Group plans do cost more money because by law they are what are called “guaranteed issue”. That means you can have serious medical conditions and still get coverage. Insurance companies have to follow the law and they know they have to accept everyone who works for a large company, therefore they do charge more money for coverage. The biggest problem is not the cost of group health insurance it is what happens if some one, while on the group plan, is diagnosed with a condition or starts to take prescriptions medications. We get back to same issues as mentioned before, unable to qualify for health insurance in the future. There are people that want to leave their job but they cannot because they are going through treatment and cannot to pay for it on their own.

There is another solution… Some might save, so what is the point of even having health insurance. Once you diagnosed with something and insurance company is going to keep raising rates to the point where I am going to have to cancel it anyway. Especially if something does happen and I have to use my coverage I might not be working and I might not have income. Is my insurance company is still going to keep raising my rates? YES.

Before you think about canceling your coverage consider this. Here are some statistics

o A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.

o Illness and medical bills caused half of the 1,458,000 personal bankruptcies in 2001, according to a study published by the journal Health Affairs.

o Average day in the hospital is $7500 per day.

How can you save up to 47% on your health insurance? Simple… You probably already heard of Health Saving Accounts. They are becoming more and more popular everyday. With the way health insurance prices are moving today Health Saving Accounts are the only way to keep your coverage, save hundreds per month on your health insurance and still have a peace of mind.

To this day I was not able to hear a good definition that everyone can understand. I will do everything I can to make it simple to understand. The easiest way to understand Health Saving Accounts is to think of them as Roth IRA or your Company’s 401k plan. Instead of giving your money away to insurance company you get to keep it more of it for yourself. The way HSA plans work is there health insurance combined with savings account which works in a similar way to your retirement account. There tremendous benefits to have HSA qualified health plan. First all the money that you put in to your HSA account is 100% tax deductible and it is your money that rolls over year after year. At the age of 65 and up if you have not used up all of your HSA money you can roll it over in to your retirement account. Second your health insurance costs are going to be cut almost in half. For example if you had Health Insurance plan with $2500 deductible now and it is costing you $300 per month the same plans with HSA qualified plan, now will cost you only about $160 per month. The reason you save so much money with HSA qualified health plan is because HSA qualified plans do not cover anything until the deductible is met. There are exceptions depending on the Health Insurance Company. Some insurance companies will pay for your once a year physical before you meet your deductible.

Let take an example of how HSA qualified plan could benefit you. Let take some actual numbers from actual health insurance company. In this example I am going to use HSA plans from company called Assurant Health. Assurant Health is leader in Health Saving Accounts and they one of the first companies to implement them. The main reason is that Assurant Health is part of the world’s largest financial company that sets up retirement accounts. In this example I am going to use a family of four, husband 46, wife 42, kids are 12 and 16. On a regular family plan with $2500 deductible, maximum out of pocket of $5500, co-insurance of 80% and doctor visits covered with $35 co-pay, they are going to pay $676.40. Something to keep in mind that all of the regular PPO plans that are available on the market today have family deductible which is double of individual deductible. That means that if you have a plan with $2500 deductible and $5500 maximum out of pocket that means that your family deductible is $5000 and your family maximum out of pocket is $11,000. When we are comparing HSA qualified health plans there is only one deductible, once you meet it you are covered at 100% on the most plans. There are some companies and plans that you still might be responsible for the percent age of the bill until you reach your maximum out of pocket. Most HSA plans do not have maximum out of pocket that meant once you met your deductible you are covered at 100%, it’s that simple. The same plan with $5700 deductible for the entire family with HSA qualified health plans will only be $491.64 per month. For the total monthly savings of 184.76 per month. Also your maximum out of pocket will decrease from $11,000 on a regular plan to $5700 with HSA health plan. That’s yearly savings of $2,217.12 and additional savings of $5300 on the maximum out of pocket. (that’s if you have had to use the plan for emergencies) The main reason for starting HSA health insurance is for Saving Account and being able to put money in to account, at your discretion, tax free. You can put money in to HSA qualified account up to your deductible and you do not have to put any money in to that account if you do not want to. Health Saving Accounts are as flexible as you would want them to be. TO get more information on HSA accounts and get quotes for HSA qualified health coverage see my bio.

Dennis Alexander – leading consultant for employer group and individual/family health insurance. Marketing consultant for major health insurance resource websites and brokerage firms online. Some of the websites consultant and/or administrator http://www.HealthCoverageQuotes.com and http://www.GuideToHealthInsurance.org For Assurant HSA Plans visit [http://www.AssurantHealthCoverage.com]

Starting college is a big milestone in anyone’s life. In some families, starting college is almost like getting married – it’s a big step, a giant move towards independence. Everything that happens during college counts towards the future – that’s why it’s so important for students to start college on the right footing.

First of all, see if you have everything all pinned down before you start college. If your college is going to be quite a distance away from home, you’ll need to find a place to stay. And if you’ve already found a place to stay, you’ll need to find roommates who can share the rent with you. You’re only starting college and finances are going to be tight – with someone sharing the place with you, you can bring the expenses down.

The next thing that you have to decide on before starting college is the mode of transportation. Your options are…college car, a motorcycle or a bicycle. The mode of transportation depends on how far you are going to be housed from the college. If you’re within college campus, you can probably start with a bicycle. If you’re located outside the college campus, you might need a car to get you around.

Next, go shopping for college clothes. A whole new wardrobe is necessary only if you are moving to a place where the weather is very different from where you live, for example, your home is in Maine and your college California. Otherwise, you can probably live with what you already have in your wardrobe. If you don’t know the kind of clothes you will need for college, why not factor the cost of a new wardrobe into your starting college funds. You can go do some shopping when you’ve started college. Living on your own and starting college also means that you’ll have to do some calculations on the use of kitchen utensils (getting some of your own is a good idea), and also some entertainment. Yes, you’re starting college but you still need to have some fun once in a while.

Starting college means that you’re probably going to need your own computer, printer and scanner too. Most colleges have these facilities in their college campus. The options are:- buy new ones if you can afford it before you start college, buy second-hand ones, loan one from your relatives or parents, use the ones available in college or pay for the services in Internet cafes where these facilities are widely available. Research the area near the college and see if there’s a need to get your own electronics. If you can save the money for something else, you can start college without it and use the ones in the college first.

If you have reasons to want to move tables, beds, furniture and shelves from home, this could save your parents some money. Starting college is already ripping the bank accounts apart, so, if you can save on furniture, why not? If you’re bringing the furniture from home, find a relocating service contractor to help you move the furniture to your new place.

Most importantly, before starting college, you’ll need to get a list from your college so that you can purchase the books before college starts. It is best that you start college on the right footing, so, don’t wait until all the books are gone.

Dakota Caudilla, journalist, and website builder Dakota Caudilla lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of [http://www.your-college-life.com] on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

In this case, the means of “smart” can be taken as intelligent or clever. Smart clothes are the perfect blend of both, intelligence and fashion. The smart clothing covers all that garments produced with intelligent textiles, or in they are applied.

The intelligent textiles are mostly applied in fashion and insulation. Below is a highlight over the new developments in this field.

Applications in Insulation

Physical activity and the close atmosphere, i.e. humidity and temperature play major role for thermal insulation of the garments. The amount of heat generated by a person depends much on the physical activity, ranging from 100W to 1000W. In the cool atmosphere, the thermal insulation is defined to make the body warm.

In the case of winter sports, the temperature of body raises with more heat. In order to pull down this raised temperature in a bearable limit, the body perspires to extract energy by evaporative cooling. In thermal insulation, a part of the increased heat can be eliminated, thus the body does not perspire so much.

The density and thickness of component fabrics would govern the insulation in clothing against cold and heat. Lower density and more thickness are recommended to enhance insulation. In many cases, thermal insulation is produced by air gaps between the layers of the garment. But, the outer temperature also affects the insulation. Consequently, a garment is equipped with an ability to safeguard against cold and heat, selected temperature by the wearer.

A garment produced from a thicker fabric will weigh more and the wearer will not feel comfort. Thus an intelligent fabric that responds to external temperature can give comfortable protection.

Implication of intelligent textiles in fashion

The intelligent materials are mostly applied in the fashion garment assortments to produce exclusive design with the help of the chromic materials. These materials makes it possible to produce garments, which can change color depending on the quantity of light received. It is likely to have several color-changes, and in different ways, such as a swimming costume, which changes color when it is wet.

Recently, thrilling developments have been witnessed concerning to clothing with electronic systems built-in into the constituent fabrics and fibres, even in a print that is applied to the garment. Below are examples of recent developments:

Solar Jacket: It holds tools for communication and inspired playing like display, camera and microphone.

Corporate Clothing: Includes a microphone built-in the collar, a display and a digital helper incorporated in the sleeve.

Massaging kimono: It massages to the wearer, which can be govern on the level of relaxation.

Musical T-shirts: The wearer can enjoy favorite music stored in a chip, or even tune in many radio stations. It also provides moving images over the back.

Incorporation of technology into clothing depicts the beginning of new trends in the fashion sector. The new generation technology is briefly highlighted in the below content.

The new generation

In the next few years, clothing assortments are likely to incorporate more intelligence. The clothing will include the purpose of intermediate, transporter and interface for an enormously broad range of micro-systems. This latest innovations creates significant demands on creative capability in the clothing industry.

Micro-system technology is continuously making tinier components allowing intelligence to be blended with more exclusive products without producing off-putting results on the utilization.

A model medium between environment and humans is specifically clothing. Everybody wears many clothes one on the other, which makes it possible to incorporate micro-system components easily. The initiative should now be towards put-together computer systems and microchips as invisible into clothing.

This sector is full of inventions and potential for future of exclusive proportions that also offers possibilities in business terms. A founder of the “Smart Clothes” portrays intelligent clothing as perfect blend of mobile multi-media technology with wireless communication and tiny computers incorporated into garment. They differentiate between clothing that is defined for a particular profession, “smart uniforms” and clothing that everybody wear, even in their free time, “smart clothing”. This deference does not concern to the technological aspect.

Intelligent clothing is expected to make people enable to communicate with others and computer systems to access worldwide information, such as through the Internet, and to govern activities wirelessly. This makes custom tasks smoother and will display new working ways, with the importance in both, making current applications easier and providing entirely new application fields.

Thus all the analysis required to enhance these smart clothes consequently provides push-up to needs on:

. Textile materials (type of processing, material composition, blends of non-textile materials).

. Processing (appropriate processing techniques, safe-guard of integrated communication technologies, stability)

. Patterning (ergonomics, comfort in wear, modular design, design of contact-sensitive zones, integration of communication modules)

Anticipation for “intelligent clothing”

It is anticipated that the results will likely to support the possibility of creating and producing smart clothes technologies in the clothing sector and the offering services in integration of intelligence with clothing.

Working close with the clothing industry will develop the base that is needed to offer developments in intelligent clothing with the huge commercial potential with minimum risk. At a later stage of development, it is likely to create more solid product assortments. Veterans expect that technologies in smart clothing will be launched in the market within the coming five to ten years.

This creates an opportunity for the clothing industry to work with inventive partners from different industry and buyers, contributing increase in turnover in the sectors like safety, entertainment or leisure sectors.

Fibre2fashion.com- Leading B2B Portal of Fashion, Textile and Apparel Industry offers Free Fashion Articles, Free Fashion Trends Articles, Free Industry Reports, Free Articles, Free Fashion Designers Articles, Women’s Fashion Tips, Fashion Tips Free Fashion Case Studies and Fashion Market Country Reports – submit your reprinted articles, featured articles free and get advantage of largest community of textile apparel, fashion and retail industries.

To read more articles on Textile, Fashion, Apparel, Technology, Retail and General please visit http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article If you wish to download/republish the above article to your website or newsletters then please include the “Article Source”. Also, you have to make it hyperlinked to our site.

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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

When you go about securing a car loan the vehicle itself is used as the collateral on the car loan which is what makes the secured car loan itself. The car finance company online that you end up going with will then loan you the finances for the car based upon the cars current value at the time of the loan based upon the loan value of the car. This loan value will usually be about seventy five to eighty percent of the actual retail cost of the car itself. There is an answer to why this is the case and that is simply because one year after you drive a new car off of the car lot the value of it lowers to that amount which is called depreciation.

The car finance company online that you go with will want to make sure that the car loan they are giving you will cover this so that the overall end result cost of the car loan is equal to or less than the value of the loan itself. This is to ensure that they will be able to make a profit if they wanted to sell the car if they were to ever go about having to take it away from you for nonpayment at some point.

An upside down car loan online is when a car balance is worth more than the value of the loan that is on it. Another way of putting it is that the car itself is not worth the amount of the loan. In order for you to ever go about selling the car back or if you were to ever go about trying to trade it in you will find that you are going to have to pay the difference of the car value in cash in order for you to be settled up with the car loan company.

This is a very bad thing to find yourself into because even with great credit you can have a car loan lender approve you for the full amount of a car loan but as a result of that you could end up owing a lot more then you should for several years because you are always trying to pay down more of the balance then the car itself ends up being worth until you end up paying off a car to the value that it really is. Another problem with having this happen is that if you have car insurance it only will cover the cost of the book value on your car so in the event that you get into a major accident or if perhaps your call was stolen then you very well may end up being forced to pay the difference in cash.

This is something that you are going to want to make sure that you remember when you go to buy a new or used car online. You should make sure that you are going to stick with it for a while and that you do not over finance the worth of the car or you could end up in a really bad process where the end result is you paying a lot more money then you should be paying. You can avoid these things so long as you do the proper research and plan out carefully the car itself as well as the car loans that you go about getting for this car.

The other thing that you are going to want to be aware is that a car loan company may entice you with very low car loan rates in order to get you to end up financing more on the car than you should. You should only take these sorts of options if you are lucky enough to have the cash in hand to pay for something should the situation ever occur otherwise do not take the risk unless you understand fully what you may be getting into before this happens.

This is not rocket science in order to make sure that these things do not happen to you and your car loan so long as you are capable of following a few bad credit upside down auto loan guidelines online itself. The first thing that you are going to want to try and do is put down as much money as possible on your initial deposit on the car itself. The more money that you put down the less that you are ultimately going to need to pay and the less that you actually owe.

Try to take out a car loan with the short length car loans term as your budget sees fit. The longer the car loan term the less the monthly payment but the more money you will end up spending due to the car loan rates, so as a result of that try to find yourself a good middle ground. Make certain that you do not add in the taxes and the additional fees to the car loan itself. You want to make sure that the car loan is for the total value of the car itself because this is all that matters. If you are able to pay more than the monthly minimum payment each month then do so.

The more money you can pay off of the principle on the car loan the quicker you will be paying it off and less money you will be spending on paying off interest. If you have any sort of refinance upside down car loans on another vehicle make sure that you pay it off first before you go about getting another car loan.

Simply make sure that you are not paying more than what the car is worth in the first place so do your homework to avoid that one. Make sure that the car that you are getting a vehicle loan for falls into the budget that you have to spend each month. Try to hold onto a car for at least a couple of years because the first couple of years on your car loan the monthly payments that you are making are for the most part going towards the interest on the loan itself.

Whatever choice that you make when it comes to get any upside down auto loan it is really a matter of doing all of the research that needs to be done in order to make sure that you do not make the mistake of falling into an upside down car loans online. This research while at times may seem tedious or boring could help you avoid a huge mistake down the line that could negatively impact not only your finances, but your credit as well.

If you have credit problems, repossession, bankruptcy, slow pays or are a first time buyer and in need of upside down car lenders in USA. The upside down car finance company offers the opportunity to buy a car on credit when you have been refused credit in the past. So, whatever the reasons – bad credit or no credit or bankruptcy, 90SecondCarLoans.com – there is a good chance we can help you!

It’s FAST, FREE and Pre Approved car credit program will try to secure the best auto loan available for you depending upon your current situation. Regardless of your credit history, our network of thousands of bad credit car lenders can help.

Auto repair advice gives you simple and practical solutions for questions regarding your vehicle. There are numerous web sites providing comprehensive information on auto repair. These sites also feature links to auto repair service centers, shops and garages near your place.

You are given instruction on auto parts and their functioning. Online advice resources provide the service of experts who pinpoint the exact cause and suggest possible repairs before you visit the shop. You can even post car care or repair questions on their message boards. Car owners and mechanics exchange advice and help through these forums. Auto repair advice given on these sites is often free of charge.

Auto repair advice is sometimes provided in manuals given along with your vehicle. Whether opting for online advice or depending on repair manuals, the vehicle owner should have a clear understanding of the terms and techniques involved. In case you are taking your vehicle to a service centre, a written estimate should be sought and the history of the shop should be checked out with the Better Business Bureau. One has also to check whether the repairs provided have any guarantees. If so, get the details in writing.

It is important to verify whether your car is still under warranty before venturing to repair the car yourself. For cars under warranty, the repair work must be performed by a mechanic or a technician certified by the manufacturer. The repair in this case is usually carried out at the dealer’s service center. Some manufacturers do not offer to perform repair work and you may have the provision of carrying it out elsewhere. Read your warranty carefully to find out how you can get the repair costs reimbursed.

You can get repair advice from mechanics and experienced persons in the automobile industry. Repair advice is given for almost all models and types of vehicles, whether domestic or imported.

Auto Repair provides detailed information on Auto Repair, Auto Glass Repair, Online Auto Repair, Auto Body Repair and more. Auto Repair is affiliated with Discount Auto Parts.

INSPIRATION AND PERSPIRATION!

Ever thought of putting together a pinup calendar featuring hot guys enrolled at your college or university?

Most people who think of creating a “Men of (Your) University” calendar assume that all they need to do is locate only 12 hunky college males and have them photographed. These tasks must be accomplished. But there’s much more to publishing a calendar and many more than 12 college guys must be recruited.

Besides recruiting, selecting, and training your student male models, there is production of the actual calendar, which includes photography, arranging graphic design and commercial printing. After the calendars are delivered, news media publicity must be arranged. Promotional events must be held. And, of course, your pinup calendar must be marketed!

But, first, the best-looking campus guys at your university or college must be recruited. After a decade of publishing, recruiting of college men, the Campus Men Calendar operation has learned a great deal and refined its approach. So, here are the facts:

GUYS WANT TO DO IT!

There is a high demand to appear in pinup calendars of college men. Publishers should be able to choose from many college guys. Therefore, do not cater to, or try to convince any one college student to appear. Either they want to appear in your calendar or they do not! Students who need special handling often drag their feet and cause delays. Delays cost in potential sales. Therefore, students who expect you to cater to them, cost you sales.

BEWARE OF GIRLFRIENDS!

Beware of any college guy who involves his girlfriend into your operation. Why? Because girlfriends do not truly want their boyfriends to “model.” Yes, they want their boyfriend to be “good looking” and for his looks to be “model quality,” but they really do not want them going on photo shoots, meeting female models and certainly do not want the competition that is generated from having their boyfriend’s body being advertised to other females by appearing in a calendar.

When it comes time to choose the best calendar photograph, girlfriends can spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E. A revealing photograph may be threatening to a girlfriend. When it comes to their bodies, guys want to “show it off.” Girlfriends want their men under wraps.

If you hold a promotional event after the calendar is released, any controlling girlfriend will either want to attend the event or will encourage your model not to attend. Remember, you cannot replace a model once the calendar is printed. You will only be able to select from the batch of 12 who appear in the calendar. That means if five guys are unreliable, you only have seven to choose from. How many of those seven will be working at their job during your event? If you convince a bar owner to hold an event, but only have one model show up, you might be in big trouble and possibly owe the bar owner for their advertising costs. If no models show up at a retail store that carries your calendar, you just might loose that store as an outlet!

In summary, chose independent-minded males.

SEX STILL SELLS?

The theme of the calendar drives which students should be recruited and selected. At Campus Men, we chose a theme that was developed after years of trial and error. Our theme was to present young, all-American college guys in sensual poses.

Your photos should answer the question of: I wonder what that incredible-looking guy I saw on campus would look like in bed? If a publisher wants to sell calendars, it is foolish to feature college men wearing sweaters. Publish photographs of guys wearing suits, fully clothed or face shots only – and you will not be returning to the market with a calendar the second year. If you want to sell calendars, appeal to the sexual motivations of the viewer, whether through a cute smile, great face or body or skimpy clothing. Attempt to give the viewer a fantasy of what it is like to be intimate with the college student.

You do not have to depict models fully nude with penis showing. Snug-fitting boxer briefs (or less) are just as exciting. Many guys will readily show their bare buttocks. By choosing students who are exhibitionists versus guys who are conservative, you give yourself valuable creative freedom when it comes time to photograph these college male models. Choose a male student who obsesses about which poses he will not pose for, versus choosing a young guy who is grateful for the opportunity you are offering, and you will undoubtedly find the production process more difficult.

Remember, there are thousands of students enrolled at your university. Why choose the ones who do not care about your profitability? You will find that buyers will remark on the one or two provocative photos that appear in your finished calendar. “Skin” photos draw more e-mails and sell more copies.

Campus Men learned this by accident. Gus Dakis posed for what our male model photographer calls a “miracle photograph” because the photo shoot was hastily put together due to bad weather. Gus and our photographer sped off to the photo shoot location and set up equipment as the rain still dripped from gutters around the pool house.

Yet, once set up, there was still no sun, which was needed for the photograph. Gus stood in exact position under the showerhead and our photographer stood by with his camera, continuously measuring light readings. Just as they decided to wrap it up and go home without taking any photos, the sun fell below the clouds, engulfing the pool area in a beautiful, brilliant deep gold color. A half roll of film was snapped off before the sun fell beyond the horizon.

Surprisingly, Gus’ photograph, which was created in two and one-half minutes, became the most popular image in Campus Men that year and was responsible for many sales. Why? Because the photo depicted Gus in a pair of wet, white shorts that inadvertently became translucent because of the hectic pace of that day’s photo shot.

GO FOR A CAMPUS FEEL

Design photographs with a collegiate or athletic feel to them, rather than “beach” themed photos. If people want to buy a beach theme calendar, they will buy the “Chippendales” calendar. Even the Chippendales calendar has changed to more “bedroom themes.” Remember, buyers want YOUR calendar because it offers college guys. While college guys are seen on beaches only during Spring Break, one will usually find college guys on the school’s quad, in a fraternity house, or playing sports. So, photograph your college men where buyers expect to see college guys. Plan imagery that brings college life to mind or portrays the college student as a sexy athlete.

Remember, the successful theme of a calendars should be: “Here’s what that athletic guy you passed on the quad looks like in bed.”

RECRUIT EXTENSIVELY

Far more than 12 students must be recruited. Calendar production processes call for locating as many attractive males on your campus as possible. It is not usual to evaluate at least 125 college guys and as many as 500 during the entire process. If you want to organize a calendar, your goal should be to meet hundreds of hot college guys.

A large number must be secured because the most important issue – other than quality of photographs – is timing of delivery. Delivering early in the sales season is very important. Calendars must be produced for delivery on June 1 of each year. This allows a seven-month selling season and allows featured college guys to talk up and sell calendars during the summer (when they have ample time to sell because they are not enrolled in classes; are usually home among family and friends). It also allows sales through national magazines, and allows the producers to reach incoming freshmen college guys visiting the campus during orientation sessions, held during June through August. This means the calendar also will be on store shelves in time for students who arrive back for the beginning of fall quarter and are seeking to decorate dorm or sorority room walls.

Winter term is a poor time to recruit college guys because completing any activity takes more time due to cold weather. We cannot easily see what college guys look like because they cover themselves with clothing when outdoors. College guys generally stay indoors, become sedentary, gain weight, and do not have tans.

If only 12 college guys are recruited, the operation can be delayed if even one student drops out or is dismissed.

Recruit a large number of college guys because appearing in a calendar is not for everyone. We found that we had to screen all guys to select only those who are willing to pose nude or nearly nude. Why? Because college-oriented calendars are not the thing for timid or conservative young men. We have published many pinup calendars with varying degrees of provocativeness. Tame pinup calendars are nice. But, few buyers actually part with $15 to buy a boring male calendar. More risqué calendars have always been more popular in sales.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Here’s what to look for in a college-guy model for a pinup calendar:

o Outgoing, can sell calendars. Guys who like to talk to everyone and anyone

o Muscular or defined body

o Confident guys. Young men with self-esteem problems make problems for you.

o Comfortable posing nude, uninhibited, the kind of guy who would skinny-dip for fun or go streaking at the drop of a hat

Advertising did not bring in the “right” type of college guys. Many young men who are perfect for your calendar would never think of submitting their names to you. They must be invited. That is where student recruiters are valuable.

Advertise for a team of students whose sole duty is to stop college guys on an informal basis. Advertising to locate recruiters can include classified ads, as well as fliers to sororities, career placement offices and dorms. Aim for at least three “hard core” recruiters, a Greek system recruiter and a minority representative. Recruiters need not be female. Guys can recruit and sometimes find it easier to approach other guys in gyms, classes and on the quad. Girls sometimes thinks asking a guy to pose is like asking him for a date.

NUMBERS GAME

About 60 percent of the college guys recruiters find will be acceptable. Of those students, 75 percent will accept an offer to appear. Therefore, to secure 22 acceptable college men, recruiters should locate 50 guys per calendar.

Compensation to recruiters is a finder’s fee paid for each “found” student who appears in the published calendar. Fees are payable only if the recruited student appears in the calendar. Do not pay a finder’s fee if you do not select the college student to appear, if the college student declines your offer to appear, drops out before publication, or is dismissed for any reason.

After a college guy applies to appear in a calendar (through a website), collect a bio or tape an interview with the individual. That’s how selection of new “male model” begins!

Campus Men, a calendar and male modeling resource company has been making good looking college guys famous since 1990. Campus Men recruits males age 18-26 as male fitness models, fashion models and underwear models. It has publishes excellent photography of young calendar men.

There are many benefits you can get from online tennis training. There are a variety of resources including eBooks, online videos and articles written by expert tennis instructors. Some of the online training can give you information on the best tennis techniques, best tennis equipment and the best ways to play a better game of tennis through exercises designed specifically to improve your stance and swing. Many people like the convenience that online tennis training offers, which has made it one of the more popular ways to perfect your tennis game.

There are online tennis training websites that feature lessons for every tennis stroke, how to mentally prepare to think and play tennis like a pro and you can take advantage of free lessons that teach you everything a beginner should know or teach you some of the more advanced tennis playing techniques that the pros use. There are thousands of people that learn to play tennis by watching the pros play and many of the online tennis training videos feature the best techniques that are easy to master.

The great thing about training online is that you can learn at your own pace and put what you have learned into practice on the court as you learn the techniques. Some people might criticize that learning online is a one-way street with little feedback from an instructor, but there are many forums and chat sites where you can ask questions and get tips from expert players without paying the high costs associated with a gym membership or private tennis lessons.

For those that love to play tennis recreationally, online tennis training can improve your game. By taking advantage of the free online tennis courses and videos, you can learn the basics and some of the more sophisticated tennis techniques, which is all that most amateur tennis players need to know, when it comes to beating their opponent.

Because tennis and many other sports involves some visualization and mental attitude to be successful, it is believed that tennis training online can offer a lot of benefit to many tennis players that want to improve their game. Of course, professional athletes can gain some additional perspective from online tennis training, even though they may be involved in professional lessons from the pros.

Tennis is a game that requires good hand-eye coordination and a great degree of agility. Some of the online lesson give you warm-up exercise routines and upper body strength building exercises that can improve your swing. Getting expert advice about the best tennis equipment is part of the improvement that many beginners find out about, but they can learn new techniques that they might not come across any other way, as well.

If you have an interest in tennis and are looking for ways to improve your game, you should consider some of the excellent online tennis training that is available. You might be surprised by what you can learn from watching the videos and most of the eBooks are quite affordable, convenient to download and have a lot of information you can use to improve your tennis game. It is the convenience that online tennis training offers that makes it so popular with those that want to learn about better tennis in the comfort of their home.

Learn about some of the available online tennis lesson plans such as Tennis Insider Strategies and the Ten Laws of Tennis

How does one find the best Pennsylvania car insurance? What are some of the cheapest auto insurance companies in Pennsylvania? What are the PA minimum auto insurance coverage requirements? What are some things to look for when comparing Pennsylvania car insurance rates? How does one find Pennsylvania rental car insurance – and should it even be purchased in the first place? These are all key questions for PA residents that are of legal driving age. Read on to learn some of the PA auto insurance basics and see if maybe you can end up saving yourself some money in the process!

Pennsylvania No Fault Auto Insurance Laws

The state of Pennsylvania uses a no-fault system in regards to car accidents. This means that your insurance company will pay your injury claim regardless of who was at fault in the event of an accident. Since no-fault laws vary from state to state and can change over the years, you might want to call or visit the website of the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance if you have any questions.

PA Car Insurance Minimum Coverage Requirements

Under Pennsylvania law, you are required to have bodily injury coverage in a minimum amount of $15,000 per person, up to $30,000 per accident. Bodily injury insurance will cover such things as medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and any legal defense costs you may incur as a result of an accident.

Pennsylvania also requires that you carry a minimum of $5,000 worth of property damage liability car insurance. Property damage coverage will pay for damage to another person’s property such as a fence, house, or car, as well as any legal costs that may arise from that damage.

Personal injury protection, or PIP, is required by Pennsylvania state law as well. There are different levels of personal injury coverage available, but the minimum amount required is $5,000. Pennsylvania calls the minimum amount required First Party Benefits-Medical. If you are in an accident, this coverage will pay for related medical and surgical expenses, rehabilitative services, such as physical therapy, any necessary dental, psychiatric, and optometric expenses, ambulance and nursing services, and required medications, medical supplies and prosthetic devices. The policy will only provide benefits to you, any other drivers listed on the policy, and any relatives living in the same home as you.

PA Tort Laws

In Pennsylvania, you must choose a tort option. A tort option defines your right to compensation if you, or any members of your household, are injured by another driver in a car accident.

The limited right to recover damages, or limited tort, provides limited benefits. While you will be covered for all medical and other expenses as a result of an accident, you will not be able to receive compensation for pain and suffering, or other non-monetary damages unless your injuries are serious, such as a life long disability or death. If you choose the limited tort option, your premiums for property damage, full first party benefits, and income loss coverage will be lower than if you choose the full tort option.

If you opt for the full tort coverage, your rights to recover financial compensation are not restricted. Under full tort, not only will you and other members of your family be able to recover damages for medical and other expenses, but you can seek full financial compensation for pain and suffering, and other damages for injuries you received that were caused by another driver in an accident. If you choose the limited tort option, your premiums for property damage, full first party benefits, and income loss coverage will not be reduced.

Optional PA Auto Insurance Coverage

Optional liability coverage in Pennsylvania includes first party extraordinary medical coverage. This type of coverage may give you and any members of your family medical benefit coverage in an amount up to $1,000,000. If you choose this coverage, it will take effect once the limit for your medical expenses has been reached under your personal injury protection insurance.

First party income loss coverage will pay you up to 80 percent of your lost earnings if you are unable to work after being injured in an accident. This coverage is limited to $2,500 per month with a cap of $50,000.

You may also personal the optional first party accidental death car insurance coverage. This type of coverage will provide a death benefit of up to $25,000 if you or a member of your family living in your home dies from injuries sustained in an accident for a period of 2 years after the accident occurred. The $25,000 will only be paid to the designated beneficiary that you will name at the time you purchase this coverage.

First party funeral coverage is another car insurance coverage option you can choose in the state of Pennsylvania. This policy will pay $2,500 toward any funeral expenses if you or a member of your family living in the same household dies as a result of a car accident.

While not required under Pennsylvania law, you may want to also purchase uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) bodily injury coverage. This will pay for any expenses such as medical, lost wages, injuries sustained in a hit-and-run, and other general damages in the event you are injured by another driver who is either underinsured or uninsured.

You can also purchase the optional uninsured motorist bodily injury car stacking policy. This option will let you increase the limits for uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage. This coverage will, however, increase your car insurance premium.

In addition to all the liability insurance options available in Pennsylvania, you may want to purchase some type of vehicle coverage such as collision, comprehensive, emergency road service, rental car limits, loan/lease gap coverage, and customized equipment policies.

Collision coverage will pay for repair or replacement cost of your car if it has struck another car, object, or has rolled over. Collision coverage cannot be purchased without purchasing comprehensive coverage as well.

Comprehensive coverage will pay for damage from such things as falling objects, fire, certain natural disasters, vandalism, theft, glass damage, and damage caused if you hit an animal.

If you have a loan on your car, or lease your car, the bank or other financial institution may require you to have both collision and comprehensive coverage on your car.

Customized equipment coverage will pay for any special equipment permanently installed on your car, truck, or van such as running boards, brush bars, roll bars, fog lights, bed liners, etc. You can only purchase customized equipment coverage if you have both comprehensive and collision coverage as well.

The optional loan/lease gap insurance available in Pennsylvania will cover the actual cash value of you car at the time of loss, and any greater amount owed at the time of the loss, if your car gets damaged in an accident. This does not include any deductible, unpaid finance charges, excess mileage, or wear and tear charges, and any payment under this type of coverage will not exceed 25 percent of the actual cash value of your car at the time of the loss.

Pennsylvania High Risk Car Insurance

The state of Pennsylvania also has an Assigned Risk Plan. This program offers high risk Pennsylvania car insurance to drivers who are not able to get certain types of coverage. You may need to use this plan because of your driving record, type of car you own, or if you have an unavailable motor vehicle record.

Pennsylvania Rental Car Insurance

Many PA drivers agonize over whether they should purchase rental car insurance. While it is true that your regular PA auto insurance policy will travel with you and cover you even while driving a rental car it is important to make sure that your regular auto insurance policy has all of the coverage that you will want while driving the rental. For example, if you have a very bare bones regular Pennsylvania auto insurance policy then you may want to consider purchasing the rental car insurance.

Finding The Cheapest Pennsylvania Auto Insurance Company

While no one PA car insurance company is the cheapest for everyone it is certainly true that PA has a number of top auto insurance companies. Here is a listing of some of the best:

AIG

SF Insurance

Allstate

Esurance

Progressive Direct

GEICO

Liberty Mutual

Be sure and compare rates from at least 5 different companies in order to find the best policy for your needs.

Compare Pennsylvania Car Insurance Quotes Online

With all the options for car insurance available in Pennsylvania, it may be wise to shop around online for the best rates and coverage. You might want to do a side-by-side comparison of rates, and services available at several different car insurance companies. A little time and research may save you hundreds of dollars on your car insurance policy in the state of Pennsylvania.

Get started finding Pennsylvania car insurance today!

I. Summary of a marketing plan

The marketing planning (concretized in the marketing plan) is an essential organizational activity, considering the hostile and complex competitive business environment. Our ability and skills to perform profitable sales are affected by hundreds of internal and external factors that interact in a difficult way to evaluate. A marketing manager must understand and build an image upon these variables and their interactions, and must take rational decisions.

Let us see what do we call a “marketing plan”? It is the result of the planning activity, a document that includes a review of the organization’s place in the market, an analysis of the STEP factors as well as a SWOT analysis. A complete plan would also formulate some presumptions on why we think the past marketing strategy was successful or not. The next phase shall present the objectives we set, together with the strategies to achieve these objectives. In a logical sequence, we will further need to evaluate the results and formulate alternative plans of action. A plan would consist in details of responsibilities, costs, sales prognosis and budgeting issues.

In the end, we should not forget to specify how the plan (or plans) will be controlled, by what means we will measure its results.

We will see how to build the marketing plan, what is its structure: after we will see how to build the traditional marketing plan, we will take a look at the e-marketing plan and see how the unique features of the internet will require some changes in the approach of writing a marketing plan.

But, before we continue, we must understand and accept that steps of the marketing plan are universal. It is a logical approach of the planning activity, no matter where we apply it. The differences you meet from a plan to another consist in the degree of formality accorded to each phase, depending on the size and nature of the organization involved. For example, a small and not diversified company would adopt less formal procedures, because the managers in these cases have more experience and functional knowledge than the subordinates, and they are able to achieve direct control upon most factors. On the other hand, in a company with diversified activity, it is less likely that top managers have functional information in a higher degree than the subordinate managers. Therefore, the planning process must be formulated to ensure a strict discipline for everyone involved in the decisional chain.

II. The general marketing plan

The classical marketing plan would follow the following scheme of 8 stages:

1. Declaring the mission: this is the planning stage when we establish the organizational orientations and intentions, thus providing a sense of direction. In most cases, this is a general presentation of the company’s intentions and almost has a philosophic character.

2. Establishing current objectives: it is essential for the organization to try to determine with preciseness the objectives to be reached. These objectives, in order to be viable, must be SMART. SMART is an acronym and stands for “Specific”, “Measurable”, “Attainable”, “Realistic” and “Timed”. The objectives must also convey the general organizational mission.

3. Gathering information: this stage is based on the concept of marketing audit. After performing the audit of the macro-environment by analyzing the STEP factors (social, technologic, economic and politic), we should turn the focus upon the immediate extern environment (the micro-environment) and analyze the competitive environment, the costs and the market. Finally, we will conclude with the SWOT analysis, by this way we will have a general view upon the internal environment compared to the external one. The SWOT analysis combine the two perspectives, from the inside and from the outside, because the Strengths and the Weaknesses are internal issues of an organization, while the Opportunities and Threads come from the outside.

4. Re-formulating objectives: after the close examination of data gathered in the previous stage, sometimes it is needed to re-formulate the initial objectives, in order to address all the issues that might have come up from the previous stage. The distance between the initial objective and the re-formulated objective will be covered by appropriate strategies. We must ensure the re-formulated objective is SMART as well.

5. Establishing strategies: several strategies are to be formulated, in order to cover the distance between what we want to achieve and what is possible to achieve, with the resources at our disposal. As we would usually have several options, we should analyze them and chose the one with more chances to achieve the marketing objectives.

6. Plan of actions: consists in a very detailed description of the procedures and means to implement the actions we want to take. For example, if the strategy implies a raise in advertising volume, the plan of actions should establish where the advertisements will be placed, the dates and frequency of the advertising campaigns, a set of procedures to evaluate their effectiveness. The actions we plan to take must be clearly formulated, measurable, and the results must be monitored and evaluated.

7. Implementation and control: consist in the series of activities that must be performed in order to run the marketing plan in accordance to the objectives set by the marketer. At this stage, it is critical to gain the support of all members if the organization, especially when the marketing plan is due to affect the organization from its grounds.

8. Performance measurement: constitutes the last but not the less important stage of the marketing plan, since we can achieve only what we can measure. In order to measure the performances achieved through the marketing plan, we need to constantly monitor each previous stage of the plan.

The marketing plan that has a feedback cycle, from 8th stage back to the 4th. That is because sometimes during the planning process, we might need to perform stages 4 to 8 several times before the final plan can be written.

III. The e-marketing plan

The e-marketing plan is built exactly on the same principles as the classical plan. There is no different approach, but there might be some formal differences given by the uniqueness of the internet environment. Many of these differences come from the necessity to ensure a high rate of responsiveness from the customers, since the e-world is moving faster and requires faster reaction from its companies, compared to the traditional offline marketplace.

Even though it is perfectly acceptable and is a common practice to use the 8-stage classic model for the e-marketing plan as well, you might want to consider the simplified version proposed by Chaffey, who identifies four major steps to build the e-marketing plan:

1. Strategic analysis: consists in continuous scanning of the macro- and micro-environment. The accent should fall on the consumers’ needs that change very rapidly in the online market, as well as on surveying the competitors’ actions and evaluating the opportunities offered by new technologies.

2. Defining strategic objectives: the organization must have a clear vision and establish if the media channels will complement the traditional ones, or will replace them. We must define specific objectives (don’t forget to check if they are SMART!) and we must also specify the contribution of the online activities to the organization’s turnover.

3. Formulating strategies – we do that by addressing the following essential issues:

- develop strategies towards the target markets;

- positioning and differentiating strategies;

- establish priorities of online activities;

- focus attention and efforts on CRM and financial control;

- formulate strategies for product development;

- develop business models with well-established strategies for new products or services, as well as pricing policies;

- necessity for some organizational restructuring;

- changes in the structure of communication channels.

4. Implementing strategies: includes careful execution of all necessary steps to achieve established objectives. It could refer re-launching of a website, promo campaigns for a new or rewritten site, monitoring website efficiency and many more.

Note: a common strategy to achieve e-marketing objectives is the communication strategy. The steps to built a coherent communication plan will be presented within a further article.

IV. The e-marketing plan (sample titles)

1. Executive Summary

a. overview upon present conjuncture;

b. key aspects of the strategic e-marketing plan.

2. Situational Analysis

a. characteristics of the e-market;

b. possible factors of success;

c. competitors’ analysis;

d. technological factors;

e. legal factors;

f. social factors;

g. possible problems and opportunities.

3. The e-Marketing Objectives

a. product profile;

b. target market;

c. sales objectives.

4. The e-Marketing Strategies

a. product strategies;

b. price strategies;

c. promotion strategies;

d. distribution strategies.

5. Technical Issues

a. website content;

b. website “searcheability”;

c. logging security (for customers and staff);

d. customer registration procedure;

e. multimedia;

f. autoresponders;

g. order forms and feedback forms;

h. access levels to online resources;

i. credit card transactions;

j. website hosting;

k. website publishing;

l. technical staff (size, requirements)

6. Appendix

7. Bibliography

Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in “Principles of e-Marketing” and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.

You can contact her via her personal website at BRAINmarketing.net [http://www.brainmarketing.net] or check out her developing Marketing, e-Marketing and e-Business resources portal at TeaWithEdge.com

South Portland, ME – November 29, 2007 – If you’re like many Americans with pets, your holiday travel plans may very well include your four-legged family members. Before hitting the road with your pet, it’s important to take some precautions and be prepared. Traveling with your pet can be a wonderful and bonding experience if you do it right. Here are some tips to help ensure that your holiday season is a happy and safe one for you and your pet.

Healthy start: The last thing you need is a sick pet when traveling. Before you start your trip, be sure that your pet is “up” for their journey. This means a visit to the vet for a medical checkup and to ensure that your pet is up-to-date with all necessary vaccinations.

Is your pet returnable? A pet ID tag is essential. This means a temporary ID tag, along with your pet’s permanent ID tag. This is one of the most important aspects of traveling with your pet, but also one of the most overlooked. If your pet runs off while traveling, a temporary ID tag that lists the address of where you are staying, will help ensure that your will pet be safely returned to you.

No heads out the window: Although many pets find that sticking their head out the window is the best part of the road trip – it’s not safe. Your pet can easily be injured by flying debris. This should go without saying, but NEVER travel with a pet in the back of a pickup truck. Some states have laws restricting such transport and it is always dangerous.

Frequent pit stops: Always provide frequent bathroom and exercise breaks. Most travel service areas have designated areas for walking your pet. Be sure to stay in this area particularly when your pet needs a potty break…and of course, bring along a bag to pick up after your pet. When outside your vehicle, make sure that your pet is always on a leash and wearing a collar with a permanent and temporary travel identification tag.

Proper hydration: During your pit stops be sure to provide your pet with some fresh water to wet their whistle. Occasionally traveling can upset your pet’s stomach. Take along ice cubes, which are easier on your pet than large amounts of water.

Watch the food intake: It is recommended that you keep feeding to a minimum during travel. Be sure to feed them their regular pet food and resist the temptation to give them some of your fast food burger or fries (that never has a good ending).

Don’t leave them alone: Never leave your pet unattended in a parked vehicle. Extreme cold and warm temperatures are very dangerous to your pet. On warm days, the temperature in your vehicle can rise to 120 degrees in minutes, even with the windows slightly open. In addition, an animal left alone in a vehicle is an open invitation to pet thieves.

Practice restraint: Be sure that your pet is safely restrained in your vehicle. Utilizing a pet safety harness, pet barrier, or travel kennel are the best ways to keep your pet safe. They not only protect your pet from injury, but they help by keeping them from distracting you as you drive. A safety harness functions like a seatbelt. While most pets will not have a problem adjusting to it, you may want to let them wear the harness by itself a few times before using it in the vehicle. If your pet prefers a travel kennel, be sure it is well ventilated and stabilized. Many pet owners prefer vehicle barriers, particularly for larger pets. Vehicle barriers are best suited for SUVs. No matter what method you choose, back seat travel is always safer for your pet.

Safe and comfortable: Whatever method you choose to properly restrain your pet in your vehicle, be sure to make their comfort a priority. Just as it’s important for your “seat” to be comfortable for your long road trip, your pet’s seat should be comfortable too. Typically their favorite blanket or travel bed will do the trick. There are also some safe and very cozy pet car seats available that your pet may find quite comfy.

Pet-friendly accommodations etiquette: If your journey’s itinerary requires a stay at a pet friendly accommodation, there are a number of tips to consider.

Get a ground floor room to make bathroom runs easier.

At check-in, inquire about areas to walk your pet.

Cover any furniture and beds your pet will be allowed on.

Place litter boxes in the bathroom to make clean up easier

Avoid leaving your pet alone in the room. Even the best-behaved pets can bark and become destructive when in a new environment. If your plans require you to stay for a longer period of time, inquire about local pet sitters or pet day care. If your pet’s demeanor is such that you are able to leave them alone for a short period of time, be sure to alert the front desk. It also may help to put the TV or radio on to keep your pet comfortable, and place a note on your door indicating that your precious pet is inside.

Always keep your pet on a leash and refrain from taking them into the lodging dining areas.

And of course…always clean up after your pet after bathroom runs.

Following some basic rules during road travel will help to make your holiday trip with your little one much more enjoyable and safe!

TRIPSwithPETS.com is the premier online guide for pet travelers and their people – offering resources to ensure pets are welcome, happy, and safe when traveling. Visit http://www.tripswithpets.com to find a directory of pet friendly accommodations across the U.S., pet recreational activities, airline pet policies, pet sitters, pet travel supplies, along with other pet travel resources.