วันอังคารที่ 28 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Finding Vacation Rentals in North Lake Tahoe

The main difference between North and South Lake Tahoe is that most people who live on the lake year around tend to own houses on the northern end. Here you'll find housing developments of the highest quality, serene resorts, campgrounds, beautiful beaches as well as shopping and dining as good if not superior to the choices in the busier, more crowded southern end of the lake. North Lake Tahoe vacation rentals tend to favor the more family-oriented traveler, seeking peace and serenity. Because there are more permanent living facilities on the north shores, there are more houses and condos available for rent to tourists than there are on the southern shores. Furthermore, the resorts dotted throughout the area are, for the most part, more of the smaller, boutique resorts rather than the larger, bustling hotels. Because the northern shores are in California there is no gambling there. This major difference accounts for the total difference in ambiance between the two locations around the lake.

There are concerts, art shows, dance recitals and other local gatherings on the north shore that are more typical of a small town while the south end is more typical of a Las Vegas atmosphere. In Lake Tahoe you'll find more emphasis on skiing in the winter and mountain play all year round. You can take the Heavenly Gondola Tram into the mountains and hike to your hearts content. Then cool off with a relaxing swim in the lake. In the summer the Renaissance Fair holds its annual merrymaking in the hills around the north shore.

North Lake Tahoe is well known for its community living. Resort condominiums are springing up all over the area. They feature many of the same luxuries found in the major hotels with maid service, beautiful pools, lakeside cabanas and recreation rentals, with one exception ? you're an owner not a tourist. True, you can rent out your condominium to tourists as a source of extra income. Or you can just buy it and keep it to enjoy for the rest of your life. In North Lake Tahoe you get the best of both worlds ? the peaceful serenity of the mountains and the lake situated minutes away from the glamorous nightlife at the south shore casinos.

Lake Tahoe Vacation Rentals Info provides detailed information on South and North Lake Tahoe rentals, as well as Lake Tahoe home, condo, and cabin vacation rentals. Lake Tahoe Vacation Rentals Info is the sister site of Hilton Head Rentals Web.

วันเสาร์ที่ 25 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

If It Is The Lords Will I Will Live

My thoughts can get a little edgy at night. Possibly even deep. Reflecting on almost a half century of life. Some of it better than I would have imagined in my youth. Some not.

All in all I am glad that this present life is not all I have been given from the hand of God. At night I tend to wonder what it will be like to be on the other side of death's door.

According to the Reverend Gary Davis "Death don't have no mercy in this land." Thank God, Jesus does. Two or three mild strokes and a minor heart attack over the last 6 years could well have something to do with the way the stream of my consciousness flows.

Not melancholy thoughts. Thoughts of a hope and future God has prepared for me beyond the valley of the shadow of death. Makes me want to do right and be appreciative of what He has given me on this side of the valley and yet not to pin all my hopes and dreams on family and friends and the things that make life enjoyable in the present.

There is a day of reckoning and a day of rewards coming which will fit all of us out for eternal life. James, the brother of Jesus says it much better than I could hope to.

James 4:13-15 Weymouth NT

Jam 4:13 Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"

Jam 4:14 when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.

Jam 4:15 Instead of that you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that."

I need to learn humility. I wrote "we need" first but decided that was a cop out. This isn't a lecture, it's me sitting here in a nice warm quiet room, comfortably reflecting on the nature of human life.

What is the nature of human life? Nothing substantial, whether it's you, me or Michael Jackson. We live our lives from day to day and at any moment our breath could be terminated and our next conscious thought would occur before the presence of almighty God.

This life which seems so concrete to us is no more solid than a mist or vapor, a fog we walk through while heading towards God's light. That doesn't mean it is unimportant but it is impermanent and insubstantial compared to the life awaiting beyond the confines of incorporation.

Instead of steadfastly setting our faces towards our own plans and purposes, there I go with that "we" business again. You have to figure this out for yourself, you can't ride on my revelation of impermanance.

Anyhow, here's my thought:

I have some things I want to do and accomplish while still in the body, but I need to learn to temper my desires with the the fact that, "If it is the Lord's will, I shall live and do this or that." If it is not His will then I will be moving on to bigger and better things in the presence of the Lord.

Peace.

About The Author

Pastor Ray Stark
Celebration Christian Chuch
After a half century of life
30 years of marriage
22 years of pastoral and missionary work
and 20 years of parenting I hopefully have something helpful to pass on to you. Peace.

website: http://www.celebratingjesus.org

blog: http://www.celebratingjesus.blogspot.com

วันพุธที่ 22 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Cracking The Billable Hours Ceiling

How many of you made as much money as you wanted to last year? Don't be shy; raise your hands. Hmm, I don't see too many hands out there. What would you say is the cause of this gap between your goals and your earnings?

While you could certainly name the economy or inadequate marketing as the culprit, I'd like to suggest a third alternative. It may be the constraints of the billable hours model that keep you from your financial goals.

Let's face it, there are only so many hours you can actually bill to clients. For example, the national average for consultants is 22 billable hours per week. You can only raise your rates so high and still find enough customers. And if you spend more time on marketing, that's less time you have available to bill.

But there's a way out of this trap. No matter what type of business you're in, you can use intellectual property to crack the billable hours ceiling. Here are just some of the ways to start tapping into this resource today:

  • Package your process. What if every time you began work with a new client, they paid an up-front fee before you spent even one hour with them? If you sell a process rather than your time, clients will pay for access to your previously developed materials. Examples are workbooks, forms, assessments, surveys, games, self-paced programs, and train-the-trainer packages.

  • Give a class. When you assemble a group of people to learn together, you can earn more per hour than working with them separately. Classes can be given at your office, at a rented (or borrowed) facility, on the phone, or on the web. Your market for classes is not just your clients -- think about what you could teach your colleagues as well.

  • Record a tape, CD, or video. The simplest way to make recordings is to capture your live classes or speaking engagements on audio or video. Make your unedited recordings available immediately on the web or by phone. More polished recordings can be made with the help of a local studio or editor, or you can learn to do this yourself with the right equipment.

  • Write a white paper, workbook, or booklet. Short publications like these are easily within your reach, even if you don't consider yourself a writer. A simple 20-page booklet might have as few as 4000 words in it. If you've written four articles to promote your business, you've probably already written this much. These are perfect formats for e-books, which cost you nothing to print.

  • Author a book. This might seem an impossible task, but if you write one page a day, five days a week, at the end of a year you'll have a full-length book. If writing isn't your strong point, find an editor, ghost writer, or even a co-author who has the skills you lack. You don't have to wait until your book is finished to start selling excerpts as articles and white papers.

  • Market other people's products. If you don't yet have your own product, don't let it stop you. You can begin earning passive income by selling other people's books and tapes, becoming a re-seller for software or assessment tools, licensing someone else's process, or joining affiliate programs. Any of these products can be marketed in conversations with prospects and clients, in your standard marketing kit, in mailings or newsletters, on your outgoing voice mail message, and on your web site.

    If you've been counting on hourly fees for your entire income, you may be surprised at the impact developing your intellectual property will have. It will add not only to your revenue, but also your professional credibility. And in poor economic times, you will find that prospects who hesitate to pay for personal service will still purchase classes and information products.

    About The Author

    C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Since 1992, C.J. has been teaching business owners and salespeople to make more money with less effort. She is a Master Certified Coach and leads workshops internationally. Read more of her articles at http://www.getclientsnow.com

  • วันอาทิตย์ที่ 19 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

    Managers: Are You PR-Fit?

    Can you honestly say that your business, non-profit or association's key outside audiences behave in ways that help lead to your success on-the-job?

    Or, have you pretty much ignored the reality that target audience behaviors can help or hinder you in achieving your department, division or subsidiary's operating objectives?

    Truth is, your unit's public relations effort can never be truly fit until the primary focus of the PR people assigned to you is shifted from tactical concerns to a more comprehensive public relations action blueprint like this: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving- to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

    What such a foundation gives you is the ability to help persuade those important external stakeholders to your way of thinking. Which can cause them to take actions that lead to your success as a manager.

    Any idea how to make that happen?

    First, tell your public relations team that you're serious about nailing down what those outside audiences with the behaviors that affect your unit the most, really think about your organization. After you list the external stakeholders, prioritize them so we're certain we're working on one of your key target audiences.

    Next, you and your PR team must interact with members of that audience by asking a number of questions aimed at finding out how you're perceived. Look for inaccurate beliefs, troublesome misconceptions, potentially dangerous rumors, and any other negativities that might translate into target audience behaviors that could hurt you.

    Of course, you could hire a professional survey firm to interact with members of your target audience and gather the perception data you need. But that can get expensive indicating, at least to me, that the alternative use of your own PR staff to handle this chore, is the better choice.

    Question now, how to achieve that public relations goal? Obviously, you need the right strategy to show you how to do it. Luckily, where opinion/perception is concerned, there are really only three strategy choices: create perception/opinion where none exists, change existing perception, or reinforce it. And be certain the strategic choice you made clearly fits your new public relations goal.

    Now, remember that the message you use to communicate your corrective message to members of your target audience is not only crucially important to the program's success, but a real writing challenge for you and your public relations team. The message must be clearly written as to why the offending perception really needs to be clarified. Supporting facts must be above challenge and believable if your message is to be persuasive. And, it should be compelling.

    Delivering your message, perhaps surprisingly, is not a complex assignment because you have a long list of communications tactics to help you do the job. They range from media interviews, emails, personal contacts and newsletters to facility tours, press releases, brochures, consumer meetings and many others. The only caution here is to check and double-check that those you choose are known to reach people like those who make up your target audience.

    Sooner rather than later, you will need to determine how much progress you're making in altering the damaging perception and its equally damaging follow-on behavior. This is also not a complex challenge.

    Here, you and your public relations people must once again interact with members of your target audience and ask questions similar to those used in the earlier benchmark monitoring drill.

    The big difference this time around? You'll be alert to change. In other words, you want to see clear indications that the damaging perception is actually undergoing alteration in your direction.

    You can always add more communications tactics, increase their frequencies and sharpen your message to move things along at a faster clip.

    The result for you as a business, non-profit or association manager, will be a workable department, division or subsidiary public relations blueprint that succeeds in creating key outside audience behaviors that help lead you to success on-the-job.

    About The Author

    Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and association managers about using the fundamental premise of public relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR, Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com.

    วันศุกร์ที่ 17 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

    Children Cooperate When Appreciated

    Do you want your child to cooperate with you more?

    Children are much more likely to cooperate with adults who like being with them and who let them know they are worthwhile. This builds a level of trust and a feeling of safety. Within that environment, they are more likely to respond by being helpful and pleasant.

    Relationships are created step by step. Sometimes the smallest things - a word of encouragement or small act of appreciation - can tilt the balance and create a whole new energy in a relationship.

    We all need to feel accepted and approved of.

    If your children walk into the room and you look up and smile, glad to see them, they will receive the message:

    "I am worthwhile."

    "I am welcome and appreciated."

    That unspoken message creates an atmosphere in your home that feels safe and inviting.

    So start looking for things you appreciate about your child.

    We humans tend to notice the things we focus on.

    Let me give you an example. I never paid much attention to cars and trucks. If the one I had got me where I wanted to go, I was happy, so I didn't notice what other people were driving.

    A few years ago, I bought a Saturn sedan - turquoise. Very pretty, I thought. For the next several weeks, everywhere I went, I saw Saturns. And lots of them were turquoise. I hadn't noticed before, because I wasn't thinking about Saturns. But all of a sudden, there they were. Everywhere.

    What changed?

    My FOCUS.

    My ATTENTION.

    After buying a Saturn, I was thinking about Saturns, so I noticed the ones around me. It's human nature. We notice what we look for.

    Look for the things you want to see in your child.

    Do you want him:

    - to be smart?

    - to take responsibility?

    - to be capable?

    - to be lovable?

    Then look for those things in him.

    If you look for things he is doing wrong, you will find them.

    If you look for things he is doing right, you will find those as well.

    If you look for things you can praise, they are there, but you have to notice.

    Just as the Saturns were all around me, I didn't see them until I was focused on them. The same is true of people.

    Your children are doing things now that would please you, if you took the time to notice. And they are waiting to be acknowledged.

    Stay in your heart.

    When you are not in your heart, you are likely to be judging, condemning, looking for things that are wrong. And remember: whatever you look for, you will find.

    So why not deliberately think about things that you feel good about? They are there, waiting for you to notice.

    Make a list of the things you most enjoy or admire in your child.

    - Think of qualities she has such as a sense of humor, a tender heart or determination.

    - Think about abilities he has, such as artistic, musical or athletic.

    - Think about good times you have had together - memories that make you smile and feel your heart connection with your child.

    Write them down.

    Then, take time to sit quietly and think about those things.

    Read over your list. Stay with it until the love wells up within you. When you get the FEELING of love, sit with it for a few minutes. Savor it?without an expectation that it will be reciprocated. At this point, this is all about YOU - your thoughts, feelings, actions.

    Then take that feeling of love with you every time you interact with your child.

    You may start to see results right away - changes in your child. If so, that's great. If not, give it time.

    This process is about transforming something in yourself, rather than trying to change anything in your child.

    Now, as you go through your day, not just today, but every day, look for things to appreciate in your child.

    Then let her know.

    Tell him you love him.

    Tell her what you appreciate about her, be sure that it is totally sincere.

    Do not let any day go by without acknowledging your child at least once. More is even better, (but don't over do it, or it may seem phony).

    Appreciation is very powerful.

    Whenever you bring feelings of appreciation, rather than judgment, you are in a powerful position to invite your child to join you.

    As you begin to notice the positives and express your appreciation, your child will respond, but do not expect or require a change in his behavior. That will happen naturally, in its own time. This is not about him - it's about YOU.

    As you are falling asleep tonight: be sure you are in your heart.

    Use pictures, memories or thoughts about your child that invite the feeling of appreciation. Perhaps it will be a memory from today.

    Fall asleep considering the things you appreciate about your child, and allow yourself to enjoy the feeling of love that wells up within you.

    Then surely, you will have sweet dreams, knowing you just created a tomorrow filled with love.

    Pat and Larry Downing have many years of experience counseling teenagers and their parents, conducting family mediations and leading workshops and support groups. They are co-authors of the e-Book, "Feel Good Parenting: How to Use the Power of Your Heart to Create an Extraordinary Relationship with Your Child."

    For more information on how to create relationships that are peaceful, harmonious, cooperative and joyful, you may go to go to http://www.feelgoodparenting.com to sign up for a free e-Course and a free e-zine for parents.

    This article is copyright protected.

    PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on websites, provided you include ALL the above information about the authors, as it appears, including copyright information and live website link.

    วันอังคารที่ 14 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

    We Have Compiled a List of Wireless Cell Phones General Cautions and Warnings

    For the most part, wireless cell phones are safe. And who could deny the convenience and freedom they have bought to our lives. Wireless cell phones bring our family and friends closer and allows us to do transact business more conveniently than ever. But, take note as we compiled a list of general cautions that you should be aware of.

    Never place your wireless phone in the microwave as it will explode.

    Coins, paperclips or pens in your purse, bag or pocket may short circuit the + or ? terminals of your mobile phone battery. (Hint: the metal strips on the battery.)

    Do not disassemble your cellular phone.

    Do not sit weighty objects on the power cord. Furthermore, do not crimp the power cord as it may cause a fire or electrical shock.

    Do not take or receive calls when your cellular while charging the phone as it might short circuit your cellular phone causing electrical shock or fire.

    Do not bend, twist or heat the power cord. Do not use the plug if you notice that it is loose. This can cause a fire or electrical shock.

    The power plug must be firmly connected. This might result in extreme heat or fire.

    As we said in the beginning of this article, wireless phones are very safe if used correctly. We wish to enlighten our cellular phone customers about proper use of their new cellular phones.

    Catherine Kenyeres is a free lance writer and publisher for Best-4u-Cell-Phones.com. Catherine provides the latest information, reviews and comparisons for cell phone clients.

    วันเสาร์ที่ 11 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

    Online Payday Loans Offer Quick or Instant Approval For a Fast Cash Loan

    Online payday loans companies offer quick approval with their online application process. Once you have entered your personal information and source of income, you can be approved for a payday loan in as little as five minutes, and a cash advance can be deposited in your checking account the next day.

    Online Application

    Online payday loan companies do not require a credit check or faxed copy of your latest pay stub. You will be required to provide contact information which includes your phone number and address. You will also need to provide information about your income. Most payday loan companies require a work history of 90 days or other income of at least $800 a month. Once you submit your application online, you will receive approval in less than an hour. Many payday loan companies approve applications within minutes.

    Once you have received approval of your application, you will also receive notice on how much you can borrow. Your state's laws and your income level will determine the maximum amount of your payday loan. Most loans are approved for amounts between $500 and $1000.

    Money Deposited Electronically

    Your cash advance can be electronically deposited into your checking account the next day. You can skip waiting for a written check, taking it to your bank to deposit, and then waiting a couple of days to clear. With an online payday loan the whole process is quickly and discreetly handled online.

    Easy Payments

    Payments are also handled online. Most payday loan companies by default will charge your checking account finance fees after your next payday. However, you can choose to pay a portion of the balance or the total loan amount. Your payments are processed online, so you don't have to worry about mailing in paper checks.

    Speaking With A Representative

    Even though your entire application and repayment plan can be processed online, you can speak with company representative if you have any questions. If you need to change your repayment plan, they can approve those changes. They can also answer questions about fees and rates, but reputable companies will list that information on their website.

    To view our list of recommended payday loan companies online, visit this page: Recommended Payday Loan Companies Online.

    Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide, an informational website with articles and information about various types of loans.