Your Info Guide

The Charming Narciso Rodriguez

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:27:05 +0000

Narciso Rodriguez was born in New Jersey in 1961 to Cuban parents. He studied at Parsons School of Design in New York, and upon graduation worked for designers such as Anne Klein, TSE, and Calvin Klein. His parents were not overly happy that Narciso choose fashion as his career. They would have much rather seen him in something more serious such as architecture.

Whether on the runway or on the red carpet, designer Narciso Rodriguez is in demand. He began is designer career in 1985 as a design assistant for fashion legend Anne Klein.

Narciso has a gift for fitting a dress so that it is flattering to the shape of the woman’s body. “It’s so fantastic,” Narciso says, “to create a frame for a woman’s personality and her true beauty.”

While working at Calvin Klein Narciso and Carolyn Bessette [later to become Carolyn Kennedy] became best friends. It was Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress design that brought Narciso front and center stage in the design world.

Narciso’s wedding dress design for Carolyn was the buzz around the world. On September 21, 1996, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy stepped out of church on the arm of John F. Kennedy Jr. Women went gaga, literally drooling over Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress.

Carolyn’s wedding dress was made from pure white silk. This simple dress was combined dress elegance, classiness, and sexiness into one knockout package. Woman began to realize a wedding dress could in fact look sexy.

This was a whole new concept, never heard of before. For years most women had landed up looking like an overstuffed pilsbury dough boy on their wedding day. Narciso had accomplished in Carolyn’s wedding gown what women thought to be impossible.

She had been transformed into this bewitching sexy princess. That look was created by one of her best friends, Narciso Rodriguez. It was Carolyn’s wedding dress that made Narciso’s a household name.

Once word got out who had designed the dress, Narciso was in demand by every major designer in the world. A dream came true when Narciso joined the house of LMVH. The draw back to this career move was that Narciso spent his life living out of a suitcase with very little time to spend with family and friends which he valued and missed dearly.

Narciso pressed on encouraged by the idea that he had finally “made it.” However, working for a large company can often stifle ones own independent design ideas, and it wasn’t long before Narciso discovered he no longer loved his work.

The turning point in his life was when Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was was killed in a plane accident. Narciso had lost one of his dearest and best friends and for him this was a reality check and a wake up call..

Life without friends, family and the love of his work didn’t seem like such a great opportunity anymore. Narciso left LVMH and came home realizing what he needed was the freedom of his own design collection.

Narciso was able to focus on his own line of clothing creating the perfect look for woman. Rather than designing dresses for matchsticks, Narciso’s designs accentuated the curves and bustline of the woman, creating what was called a real woman design.

Narciso Latin background came through in his designs with each having a hint of Latin flare. Narciso said Latino women had figures and were proud of that fact so they were perfect for where he wanted to go with his designs.

Narciso talents as a designer were so good, he was even able to make the petite woman look voluptuous. Sarah Jessica Parker, Sheryl Crow and Salma Hayek all wore exquisite gowns designed by Narciso. Not one of these celebs was 6 feet tall, yet the fit of these gowns was to die for.

In the spring of 1998 Narciso debuted his ready to wear signature collection in Milan. It made it into virtually every major fashion magazine. Rodriguez’s American experience and Latin roots, combined with his flair for European tradition of fine design, are all part of his great success.

In 1997 Narciso won Best New Designer from the VH1 Fashion Awards, and was awarded Hispanic Designer of the Year. In 1998 he won the CFDA Perry Ellis Award,

In the past these honors have gone to designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. In the past two years Rodriguez has been with the CFDA Awards: In both 2002 and 2003 he won the Womenswear Designer of the Year.

In a more recent issue of O Magazine Oprah Winfrey stands proudly wearing a golden dress designed by non other than Narciso. Now believe it or not this dress just isn’t gold in color, it is made of gold metal that has been pressed to make a dress fabric. The dress can be seein in O Magazine as well as at oprah.com.

Narciso is like a breath of fresh air when it comes to woman’s fashion. He designs for real woman. If you are interested in Narciso Rodrigues and his designs visit his web page at http://www.narcisorodriguez.com/narciso

Sher from Estate Jewelry International has been serving customers for over 20 years, providing fashion, jewelry, and wedding help. Please visit us at http://www.estatejewelryinternational.com/

Food Poisoning–An Overview

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:18:01 +0000

What is Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.

But the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year about 76 million people in the United States become ill from pathogens in food, and about 5,000 of them die.

Over 55% of such cases are caused by improper cooking and storage of foods, and 24% by poor hygiene, such as not washing your hands while preparing food. Only 3% of cases are from unsafe food sources. Keeping your hands clean while working with food is the single most important thing you can do to prevent food poisoning.

About 20 organisms can cause food poisoning. After you eat food contaminated with bacteria, they will multiply in your stomach and bowels. Some bacteria give off a toxin when they multiply. As a result, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea occur. Vomiting and diarrhea are the body’s way of eliminating the toxin, and most cases of food poisoning run their course without needing medical attention.

Not all invasive organisms cause vomiting as a symptom, but almost all of them cause diarrhea. Blood in your stool occurs in many types of food poisoning and is considered to be serious. Abdominal cramps are also common, and sometimes you will have a fever. Be sure to contact a physician if a fever or bloody stools are present.

Common Sources of Food Poisoning

Campylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial food poisoning in the USA. It causes several million cases a year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Eating undercooked chicken or food that has been in contact with raw chicken most commonly causes campylobacter. The Center for Disease Control estimates that up to 70%-90% of chickens are infected with campylobacter.

To prevent the disease, cook chicken thoroughly, with no pink remaining. Wash your hands frequently when handling raw chicken. Use paper towels to dry your hands. If you are using a sponge or dish-cloth to clean the counters, use a fresh one after working with raw chicken. Wash your cutting board with a diluted bleach solution before using again. And any utensils or dishes having contact with raw chicken need to be washed and rinsed with soap and water before using again.

E. coli 0157: H7 infection causes an estimated 25,000 cases of food poisoning each year in the USA. Most of these result from undercooked, contaminated ground beef. The organism lives in the intestines of healthy cows. Meat can become contaminated during slaughter when intestinal fecal matter is mixed with beef that is ground into hamburger. Contaminated meat looks and smells normal, so it is not readily detectable. Bacteria on cow udders or milking machines can also contaminate raw milk.

To prevent this form of food poisoning, cook all ground beef until no pink is showing. Make sure all of the meat juices are clear, not pink or red, and that the inside of the meat is hot. If you are served an undercooked hamburger in a restaurant, send it back. Consume only pasteurized milk products, and drink only water treated with chlorine or other disinfectants.

Botulism is caused by clostridium botulinum, a spore-forming bacteria. This form of food poisoning is very rare, but can be life-threatening. It may result from eating improperly processed, low-acid foods such as green beans, mushrooms, spinach, olives and beef or fish. Improper home canning methods often account for botulism cases. Improperly processed commercial products can also cause this serious disorder.

To avoid botulism, don’t even taste canned food that is soft, deteriorating, fermenting or doesn’t smell right. It isn’t worth a life-threatening illness. When in doubt, throw it out.

Infant botulism is more common in spring and summer, and is rare in winter. Infants younger than one year of age are at the highest risk. Symptoms include muscle weakness, a weak cry, difficulty in feeding, constipation, head lag, increased heart rate and a decreased gag reflex. A baby with botulism is described as a “floppy baby,” as the infant will have weak muscles, especially in the arms, legs and neck.

Infant botulism has been associated with eating honey. The Center for Disease Control suggests that honey should not be given to infants under six months old, and the Honey Industry Council extends the safety limit to one year. Honey is not an essential food for infants, and should never be given to them.

Summary of Food Poisoning

Most symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are due to viral infections and are not true cases of food poisoning. An accurate diagnosis can be difficult because the pathogenic organisms are found in different kinds of food and have varying incubation periods. Also, eating a substance and getting sick immediately afterwards is not the typical course for food poisoning. Most people are not aware that food eaten several days previously can be the cause of food poisoning. Always be sure to consult a physician when experiencing severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

Information in this article was gathered from the Safety Information website at http://wellness.ucdavis.edu/safety_info/poison_prevention/poison_book/food_poisoning.html and the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse website at http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/bacteria/index.htm.

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Auto Coverage In Alabama

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:17:12 +0000

If you live in Alabama and want to know what insurance you need read on. By speaking with car insurance agents online you will also be able to get car insurance estimates. Having the right coverage and getting it for the right price are important.

Bodily injury liability is required by law in Alabama. It provides coverage for damages to a person covered by the policy to pay for bodily injuries to other people involved in the accident when you are responsible. If you injure someone in an auto accident the liability can add up very quickly sometimes totaling into the hundreds of thousand of dollars. So you need to make sure you have adequate bodily injury liability coverage to protect yourself and your financial interests. Always purchase the highest amount you can afford. The more assets you have and the better off you are financially the more coverage you will need.

Property damage liability is also required by law in Alabama. This coverage protects the policy holder from damage caused to property when you are at fault. Property includes vehicles, houses, lamp posts and any other non human item. Here again you should purchase as much as you can afford. Remember some of these new cars are worth a lot of money and if you don’t have adequate insurance to replace the vehicle then the other party will come after your personal assets.

Uninsured motorist bodily injury is not required by law, but the law does require your rejection of coverage in writing. Since you have to buy insurance to protect yourself from financial loss for others you might as well buy some coverage to protect yourself too. Uninsured motorist bodily injury protects you if the other driver is in the wrong and does not carry adequate liability insurance. It’s a good policy to have.

Medical payments are not required by Alabama law. This coverage protects against medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident. Costs such as ambulance, x-ray, hospital visits are all covered. Whether you require this will depend on what type of medical insurance coverage you have. If your coverage has limitations you will want to carry medical payments coverage.

If your existing medical insurance has unlimited coverage you may not require this coverage. The only problem is that medical payments also covers passengers in your vehicle and if they don’t have adequate medical coverage you could be held liable for expenses and without medical payments coverage it could put you in the poor house.

Collision coverage is not required by law in Alabama. This is the coverage that helps pay for damage to an insured auto as a result of an accident even if you are in the wrong. The premiums can be reduced by choosing a higher deductible. This is the portion you are willing to pay before the insurance company starts to pay. Never choose a deductible that is higher than you can afford because the insurance company is not going to pay their portion until you come up with yours.

Comprehensive coverage is not required by law in Alabama. This coverage protects against damage to your vehicle that is not a result of an accident. For example, hail, theft, vandalism, or falling objects. Again you can reduce your premium by choosing a higher deductible.

There are also additional coverage you can purchase if needed. For example coverage for your stereo system, or loss of vehicle coverage. If you require any of these coverages check with an agent.

It is very important that you make certain you have adequate coverage. An accident occurs in just a split second and no matter how good of a driver you are you just never know when you might be involved in an accident. You certainly don’t want to risk the financial well being of yourself and your family by buying insurance carelessly. So take you time and make sure you understand the coverage you have purchased. Make sure you have adequate coverage for the laws of Alabama.

Sher from The Auto Insurance Center has been serving customers for over 20 years. To find out how to save on your auto insurance Please visit us at http://www.all-auto-insurance.com/

Coffee Breaks - Do They Create Stress

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:02:01 +0000

The American custom of taking break during the working hours. Thus coffee breaks began in the early 20th century. At the end of the 19th century, the American workplace was a dreadful place for a break.

But as the century turned, social reform was gaining steam. Companies and factories installed in-house lunchrooms, and coffee breaks became part of the reform.

In 1952, the term “coffee break” was coined by a Pan-American Coffee Bureau ad campaign that read, “Give yourself a Coffee-Break — and Get What Coffee Gives to You.”

Many people take a coffee break while at work, believing that this will ease their stress. Research has been conflicting on the effects of caffeine; some studies suggest that it can worsen anxiety and trigger stress, while others show it boosts confidence and alertness.

Recently, however, a study done by psychologists Lindsay St Claire and Peter Rogers of Bristol University in the United Kingdom suggests that taking coffee breaks while working may actually deter employees’ ability to do their jobs and undermine teamwork instead of boosting it.

So this raises the question: do the classic American coffee breaks hurt more than help?

The study found that caffeine is particularly unhelpful to men and can disrupt their emotions and hamper their ability to perform certain tasks.

This latest report, released by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, also suggests that caffeine makes people less co-operative when working in teams.

“Our research findings suggest that the commonplace tea or coffee break might backfire in business situations, particularly where men are concerned,” says St Claire. “Far from reducing stress, it might actually make things worse.”

The researchers began their work after they heard a story during a stress workshop. A man described how he and a group of co-workers went on a business trip to the United States.

In the United Kingdom, coffee isn’t readily available in the workplace. However, in the United States, coffee was freely available and the team drank indulgently. Soon, they noticed that their stress levels had risen.

They felt that the extra caffeine had disrupted their team cohesiveness and affected their ability to work together.

The team from Bristol University tested caffeine’s effects on 32 coffee drinkers. The subjects were that they would be given one of three drinks; a caffeinated coffee that would enhance their performance, a caffeinated coffee that would make them feel stressed, or decaffeinated coffee.

This, however, wasn’t completely true. Half of the drinks contained 200 mg of caffeine and the other half contained none. The subjects were then asked to perform two stressful tasks.

The results of the tasks? Men did significantly worse than women in coping with the caffeine from the coffee. Those that had been told that their coffee contained the performance-enhancing caffeine had higher heart rates and showed more stress, especially during a public speaking task.

The caffeine, however, did not affect the men when it came to mathematical tasks. When the subjects performed a “desert survival task” in teams, taking coffee breaks did reduce stress, especially in men, but drinking coffee seemed to reduce teamwork.

So when it comes to coffee breaks, it may be advisable to lay off a bit if you’re about to speak to an important client or head into a team meeting where you know there will be much bickering about the latest project plans.

And while coffee and caffeine have been shown to be extremely beneficial in other areas of your physical health, maybe they should be reserved for before and after work or on the weekends.

Randy has more articles on coffee such as Colombian Coffee, Are Coffee Enemas the Real Thing?, and Arabica Coffee.

IRS Obtains More Than 100 Injunctions Against Tax Scheme Promoters

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:30:05 +0000

The IRS has obtained civil injunctions against more than 100 promoters of illegal tax avoidance schemes and fraudulent return preparers in an ongoing crackdown that began in 2001. Many of the injunctions, obtained in cooperation with the Department of Justice, also order the promoters to turn over client lists and to cease preparing federal income tax returns for others.

Signaling a renewed fight against tax fraud, the federal government stepped up the use of civil power four years ago. Civil injunctions have subsequently been used to stop:

1. Abusive trusts that shift assets out of a taxpayer’s name but retain that taxpayer’s control over the assets.

2. The misuse of “Corporation sole” laws to establish phony religious organizations.

3. Frivolous “Section 861″ arguments used to evade employment taxes.

4. Claims of personal housing and living expenses as business deductions.

5. “Zero income” tax returns.

6. Abuse of the Disabled Access Credit.

7. The claim that only foreign-source income is taxable.

The IRS identifies abusive tax promoters through a variety of means, including ongoing examinations, Internet and media research or referrals from external sources such as tax professionals. If the findings of an investigation support a civil injunction, the IRS refers the case to the Department of Justice.

If the Justice Department concurs, it files suit against the promoter requesting that the court order the promoter to refrain from the fraudulent activity. Depending on the facts and circumstances of the case, the court may issue a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction or a permanent injunction.

At present, the courts have issued injunctions against 99 abusive scheme promoters — 81 permanent injunctions and 18 preliminary injunctions. They have issued permanent injunctions against 17 abusive return preparers. The Justice Department has filed an additional 49 suits seeking injunction action — 28 against scheme promoters and 21 against return preparers.

The IRS is currently investigating more than 1,000 additional promoters for possible referral to the Justice Department and conducting individual examinations on thousands of tax scheme participants.

Richard Chapo is CEO of http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses by finding overlooked tax deductions and credits through a free tax return review.

Stress is No Kiddy Matter

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:18:12 +0000

Kids today no longer live the kind of privileged lives that we used to live as kids. This, I am absolutely sure of.if there’s nothing else in this world that I am confident about. Kids live such stressed lifestyles now that I feel that it’s not even worth being a kid anymore and in fact, I’d rather be an adult, if I had a choice. Kids between the ages babies to 4 years old and during the preadolescent ages are the most susceptible to stress and stressful situations.

First off, let’s examine the kind of life that the stressed kids live each day, I believe, in most of our societies.

There’s school, there’s tuition (Math, English, Art, Scienceetc), and then there’s tuition (swimming, drama, mandarin, French, Japanese, Spanish, dance, tennis), and then there’s also homework (which most working adults no longer have)and some parents even give their kids more homework at home at their own accord, as if the homework given by schoolteachers are not enough. Blagh!

Looking at the kind of schedule that kids have these days, it’s not hard to imagine why they’re so stressed out! Wouldn’t you be too, if you were a kid? The moment the kid sits down to watch TV or to play a simple game on Playstation, the parents starts shooting off about how they are wasting their time and not doing or learning anything worthwhile. In the meantime, mom still gets to go for her facials and dad still continues to channel-surf on the TV, apparently oblivious to the things happening in his home.

Yes, we are living in a very competitive world. Yes, we want the best for our kids. Yes, we want them to be the best that they can be. And yes, every experience should be a learning experience. But what about being a kid? Isn’t being a kid part of the ‘experience’ of living as well? Don’t stress your kid out like that! They need some personal space and time to de-stress themselves orspend some time being what they are.kids.

When in stressful situations, kids have the fight or flight feeling
Remember the time when you were asked to carry out the presentation when your colleague suddenly called in sick in the office? Remember the first time you performed on stage, storytelling, singing or choir performance? Remember them? Didn’t you feel like you wanted to bolt from the situation because as a kid, you were feeling stressed out?

That’s the kind of feeling that your kid is feeling when you put him or her under too much pressure. Let’s face it, they don’t have to be perfect - and like you, they have the right to be who they are as naturally as possible. And you’re the only one who can help them do that.

Identify their natural talent; uncover and nurture it
Instead of forcing them to take tuition after tuition, lesson after lesson and do things that they don’t like doing at all, why not spend some time with each of our kids each day, talking with them and discovering their inner self. When we sit down with our kids, we will discover what they like to do and we can uncover some hidden talents. For instance, I talk with my kids before bedtime and we spend about a good 10 minutes just yakking and talking about the day’s events.

One night, my elder son, Joshua told me that he liked to draw. I said, “Yeah, it’s kind of fun to use all those colors and mix them up together and see what we can come up with, isn’t it?” to which Joshua replies, “But mom, I don’t like to use colors. I don’t like to PAINT, I like to DRAW”.

I didn’t think there was much difference until his art teacher told me that Joshua prefers to draw cartoon figures and sketches. He doesn’t quite like to spend his time coloring any of his paintings, although he does it.

Just from the boding process itself, I discovered Joshua had this natural aptitude for sketching and drawing. And I swear I’ll do anything to help him shine in that area, as long as he remains focused. I won’t put pressure on him to excel, and if he thinks he wants to take this a step further later on his life, he has my blessings.

Give them due credit and listen to their problems and concerns
We know all this already, don’t we? It’s pure simple logic! But yet, we tend to listen more to adults than our own kids because we naturally and sometimes subconsciously think and believe that we know better and we’re in a better position to make the decisions for them. When kids confide in you and tell you about their concerns, take the matter seriously. It may seem trivial to us but it’s very important to them. So, take their concerns to heart. Listen hard and listen well and don’t interrupt when they are on the roll. Sometimes, your kids may just want you to listen to them talk and voice their opinions out, instead of looking for advice or helping them solve their problems. When you listen to your kids talk and take their concerns seriously, you’re actually helping them de-stress themselves.

Helping our kids plan and expect stress
When you know your kid is going to be in a stressful situation, teach them how to anticipate it, plan for it, get ready for it, face it and then learn something from it. Stress is not always a bad thing, even for a kid but like they say, too much of anything is not a good thing. So, help your kids handle stress better and stop giving them more stress.like they don’t already have enough stress in their lives already!

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works rom her home in Selangor, Malaysia. She loves nothing than blowing bubbles in the park with her 2 kids, Joshua and Jared and considers getting her hair yanked while playing horsey an absolute privilege. She is the author of “Raising little magicians”, and the popular “The Lance in freelancing”. More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com

Selfishness is a True Declaration of Life’s Purpose

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:18:05 +0000

In your quest for enlightenment, always ask what’s in it for me?

On the surface the above statement will sound selfish because humanity sees it the other way around and selfishness is measured in human terms, but the truth of the matter is that “nature” is selfish by nature. Nature gives back to nature only after it has satisfied the needs of sustenance of each individual first. Humanity has taught its members to be selfless and “give” or “do,” whether you like it or not, without question or critical thinking.

The purpose of life is to create life. No aspect of nature can do that effectively until self needs are met first. I will have little to give back unless I have something in the first place. My first priorities are to sustain my own physical awareness, my own basis needs of food and shelter must be met.

During the course of a day one will encounter many hands that are reached out, starting with your immediate family and continuing throughout the day. These requests for help are not obligations; they are opportunities that you bring into your life to demonstrate other aspects of your emotional or feeling self. A thought is always manifested or demonstrated physically. If you know yourself to be generous and giving, opportunities will come to you that allow you to reflect that thought. If you know yourself as irrationally selfish you will demonstrate that in your daily affairs.

All circumstances are opportunities for you to declare who you are and to demonstrate it. They are thoughts acted out on the physical stage for your benefit only. The wants, desires, concerns or feelings of others have nothing to do with you directly unless you decide to respond to them. When you walk by a large display window in a department store, you are not obligated to buy anything, it is simply an opportunity. If you act out of anger, fear, obligation or guilt then you move against what your natural instinct or intuition tells you to do. You are denying the opportunity to demonstrate who you really are by going against these personal characteristics of ego, in short you are lying to yourself which is the worst blasphemy.

You are obliged by nature to simply be who you are, and not what others would have you be. A rose can never be a watermelon, and it would be insane for the rose to think that it could be. An apple tree can not give until it has satisfied all its basic needs to bring it to fruition. At that point it will bare fruit and give back to nature.

A child takes selfishly until it is mature enough to sustain itself and collect abundance. At that point it will start to give back, because it has something to give.

As physical humans beings we give emotionally because we are secure within ourselves to give some of ourselves. If we lack love, we will have no love to give. If we have lacked receiving, we will be reluctant to give. If we have an abundance of anger, we will give anger. If we are fearful, we will generate fear.

All of us by nature give generously, the feelings or emotions that are abundant in us. If all we have is lack then that is what we will give away. It is in our own best interest to acquire emotional abundance so that we know we have it to give away, because with maturity comes the awareness that the abundance is given back to us. We cannot give without receiving and we can not take away without loosing.

We cannot give to another without receiving the feeling of giving, nor can we take away from another without the feeling of loosing something. These feelings remain true to us and reflect our own personal nature, they are validations of how we are feeling and our current thought process, and they are physical symbols that we cannot hide from.

In all things that we do or say, we must always consider first, what’s in it for me. Is what I am about to do truly reflecting who I am? If it does then you do the thing selfishly from love of self. You benefit yourself first from an enlightened awareness of who you are and your model of the world and yourself in relationship to it. The wants of others are only important to you if you see them as reflections of yourself bringing opportunity to self, to demonstrate who you are and express self awareness that you are alive and this is who you are.

One should never feel guilty for being rationally selfish, but notice one’s own feelings, if one gives from fear, guilt or anger. The feeling of self denial or betrayal most always brings awareness of anger towards oneself if you betray your own feelings and do not consider them first.

Give to others because that is who you are, with the expectations that you will receive recognition first from the act itself, this is the greatest reward. The validation of your own existence, expect nothing else.

The next time someone calls you selfish, be aware of how you feel. If you react to this statement harshly from guilt, fear or expectation, you have not yet reached a higher level of awareness, which will allow you to acknowledge your selfishness spiritually.

If you feel comfortable with being called “selfish,” you have reached enlightenment and it is an acknowledgement of your enlightenment and compassion for those that would call you selfish in ignorance of its true meaning.

If everyone acted from true spiritual selfishness, there would be no lack, no war and no separation. There would be peace and abundance for all

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A student of NLP, ordained minister, New Age Light Worker and Teacher. Roy has written and published five books on New Age wisdom. Roy’s books are thought provoking and designed to empower you to take responsibility for your life and what you create. His books and articles are written in the simplicity and eloquence of Zen wisdom.

You may not always agree with what he has to say. You will always come away with a new perspective and your thinking will never be the same.

Roy’s style is honest and comes straight from the heart without all the metaphorical mumble jumble and BS.

Visit Roy at: http://www.klienwachter.com

Real Estate Investment - One Simple Formula

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:09:00 +0000

I saw the ads in our small-town newspaper for years before I realized exactly what was going on. They were always the same: A house for sale with 5% down and payments of 1% of the purchase price. It might be a three bedroom home for $90,000, for example, with $4,500 down and $900 per month payments.

A friend started doing the same thing and explained the process to me. It was a way to get a great return on capital. It was the opposite of buying with no money down. You bought for cash.

A Real Estate Investment Formula

It is simple, really. When you buy for cash, you often get a much better price. A house that needs a little work might be worth $75,000, for example. By offering $65,000 cash, you negotiate your way to a $68,000 purchase price. If not, you walk away - there are always others.

Then you put few thousand into high-return repairs and improvements. Paint, carpet, and maybe asphalt for the dirt driveway. For our example, we’ll say you put $5,000 into it.

Now it’s worth $85,000 perhaps, but you target those who can’t get financing easily, and you finance it yourself. By making it easy for the buyer, you can get $90,000 for the home - and do it without a realtor’s commission. Whatever the sales price, you let the buyer put 5% down, and make monthly payments of 1% of the purchase price. Of course, you get higher than market interest too.

The buyer is thrilled that they can buy instead of renting, and you get a capital gain of perhaps $14,000 after expenses, plus good interest. Your total rate of return is somewhere over 25%!

The first to do this cosistently in our town were a father and son. They were both lawyers, and saved money by doing their own foreclosures when necessary. After forclosing, they just raised the price and sold it all over again, of course. By the way, if you can get an average return of 18% on your money, you’ll turn $75,000 into more than one million dollars in about fifteen years.

Steve Gillman has invested real estate for years. To learn more, and to see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Satellite Radio - Installation Costs

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:06:09 +0000

The cost of a satellite radio installation is broken down into two different groups, the startup (installation costs) and the monthly subscription to either XM satellite radio or Sirius satellite radio. Receivers and mounting hardware, the cost of activation are all start up costs. Recievers are available for your car, your home, your computer and now portable receivers are available. So how much does satellite radio installation really cost?

Satellite Radio installation costs are broken down as follows:

Activation costs are the amount that both XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio charge to start service. Activation costs vary, where $5.00 with Sirius and $9.99 with XM will get you ready to go. Telephone activation is $15.00 with Sirius and $14.99 with XM. Monthly subscription costs then play into the cost, but these depend on some factors. Recent media campaigns are dramatically dropping the cost of installation and activation, both XM and Sirius are offering free activation in some instances. Further Detail at: www.TopSatelliteRadio.com

A typical cost of a car satellite radio installation can vary depending on whether you use a Satellite radio which is dedicated only to satellite radio reception or if it also can play CDs.

The typical costs are detailed below:

Receiver $75 - $125

Radio $125-250

Antenna $60.00

Labor $80.00

Activation $10

———————

Total $400 - $600

Typical costs for a home satellite radio installation:

For this to work, you must choose to install a dedicated stereo receiver unit. Common AM/FM receivers are very similar to satellite radio receivers. Your auxiliary input is used to connect and a antenna is used to receiver the streaming content.

The typical costs are detailed below:

Receiver $150-$300

Antenna $60.00

Activation $10

—————-

Total $220 - $370

Portable units are now being offered and can give you the ease of using your satellite radio anywhere you want! Each room in your house would require a home kit, which includes antennas, output cables, and power supplies. Home kits offer flexibility and ease of use as they can be plugged into your home stereo, computer, and boom boxes. Portable satellite radio installation costs are as follows:

The typical costs are detailed below:

Receiver $120

Home Kit $140

Boombox X 2 $100

Activation $10

—————-

Total $370

Scott Fish is the owner of Top Satellite Radio which is a resource for consumers seeking the history and facts about satellite radio. We also sell electronics related to Satellite Radio.

http://www.TopSatelliteRadio.com | Quick Access: http://www.TopSatRadio.com

sf@topsatelliteradio.com

Google Slavery…Old Habits Die Hard

yourinfoguide — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:07:07 +0000

For the first few months after Yahoo decided to go their own way
with natural search (and MSN decided to get serious about the
search business), the search results provided by those two could
only be described as bizarre. Enough time has now passed that
the dust has somewhat settled and there are three main (from a
traffic standpoint) sites for quality natural searches.

The term “natural search” is to distinguish true searches, as
opposed to paid advertisements which appear in the search results
for many search engines these days. I guess you can’t really
fault the search engine companies from wanting to make some money
(actually, BIG money) selling ad space, but the debate over the
virtues of natural search versus paid advertising search is
something that could take up a very large book and still have no
clear resolution…much like arguments revolving around religion
or politics.

Like most people that have been working as online home business
entrepreneurs for a few years, I was strongly conditioned to the
need to “feed the 800 pound gorilla” of the search engine world.
Basically, “if Google didn’t love you”, it was very difficult to
get any meaningful natural search traffic to your website. Since
Google was actually the search engine that was serving up the
results for most of the popular search portals, if Google didn’t
look kindly upon your site and rank you well, you would not be
ranked well for most of the high traffic search sites on the
Internet.

However, the search landscape changed dramatically early in 2004
and things have been very fluid and interesting since that time.
Its not that Google has stumbled, or become ineffective as a
search vehicle, its just that major players like Yahoo and
Microsoft (via MSN) have decided to make a major thrust into the
search business.

Having been firmly conditioned (since shortly after 1998) that
Google was the “supreme deity of search engines”, I took the
highly publicized search entries of Yahoo and MSN with more than
the proverbial “grain of salt”.

Throughout a very recent two month period, one of my websites
occupied the #5 position on Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a very
popular and important (at least in my line of business) three
word search term. This situation provided an opportunity to
measure the current popularity of each of these three search
providers.

If asked “before the fact”, I would have guessed that Google
would still be the overwhelming #1 search choice and that
Yahoo and MSN would be distant #2 and #3 choices. Therefore,
I was somewhat surprised by the results that were tabulated
during this recent 60 day period.

For the period in question, the search popularity results were
as follows:

Google: 34%

Yahoo: 31%

MSN: 20%

All others: 15%

Granted, the above results are for a single search term over a
particular 60 day time period, but the results clearly show
that Yahoo and MSN are already important players in the search
business.

Webmasters that stick to the old ways and focus entirely on
Google are missing out on a lot of search traffic these days if
they are not also well ranked by Yahoo and MSN.

Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and
coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.
Visit his website at
Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.