The Truth Bar

The comments below are quoted from a recent speech by Ben Bernanke, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors…

“Looking forward, I am sure that the Committee will continue to watch the oil
situation carefully. However, future monetary-policy choices will not be closely linked to the behavior of oil prices per se. Rather, they will depend on what the incoming data, taken as a whole, say about prospects for inflation and the strength
of the expansion. Generally, I expect those data to suggest that the removal of policy accommodation can proceed at a ‘measured’ pace. However, as always, the actual course
of policy will depend on the evidence, including, of course, what we learn about how oil prices are affecting the economy.”

In short, the Federal Reserve knows that there will be an impact. But no one knows how big and how fast. During the oil embargo of the 1970’s gasoline prices doubled several times over a matter of months. The effect was dramatic and sudden. It was difficult to adjust, because things were happening so fast.

This time around, it appears that the price climb will be gradual and steady, thus allowing the Federal Reserve and the government to make adjustments as they go, by examining economic data on a monthly basis. At least that is what they are hoping for.
They know that the economic climate is changing, but they are hoping that it will be slow enough to control.

This week as I contemplated my own reaction to the changing economic environment, I felt compelled to encourage you to give some serious consideration to your personal economic circumstances. If you have a large percentage of debt relative to your income, you should take steps now to eliminate as much of it as possible. Prepare yourself so that you will be protected against unexpected economic upheaval.

Being debt free, or having a very low debt to income ratio is the best way to protect yourself in an unpredictable and volatile world. As we learned on September 11, 2001
things can change dramatically in only a few hours. If you put it off, you may not have enough time to get it done.

The average person needs 4 to 5 years to pay off their
outstanding personal debt, not counting their home. In today’s world, it will pay to get started now. I have made it my primary objective to pay off my personal debt over
the next year or two.

If you currently own rental properties, be sure you have cash reserves for future emergencies.

But how might all this economic stuff affect real estate investing?

The interesting thing about real estate investing is that even bad economic conditions tend to have a silver lining. There is a cause and effect relationship at work in any
given economy, whether it is considered a “bad” or “good” economy.

In good times, such as we’ve had the past 8 years, retailing or flipping for cash was the hot ticket, due to high demand for housing and the ability to sell properties quickly. In recessionary times, higher interest rates and lower housing sales fuel more seller financing, and rental properties flourish. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking this is the case.

As interest rates got lower, rates of return for traditional investment vehicles went lower and lower. The result? More and more money poured into real estate lending.
Hard money and other types of conventional real estate financing programs expanded drastically, making millions of dollars in new funds available for real estate investors.

As housing sales reached record levels, home sellers began seeing a boom in housing prices. It has truly been a sellers market since rates fell below 7%. What happened to
investment property? During the past 5 years of an investing bonanza in Atlanta,GA prices for investment properties have doubled and even tripled. 3 bedroom 1 bath junkers were selling in 1999 for as little as $25,000, even in liveable condition. Today, that same type house regularly sells for $65,000 (or more) before repairs.

Going Forward:

Rising rates will have a positive effect for investors, by slowing housing sales even further. As sellers get fewer solid offers property prices will get softer. Rising rates could fuel more short selling of foreclosed properties, and this trend is likely developing now.

Foreclosures may eventually get to levels not seen since the late 1980’s, due to high levels of mortgage debt among homeowners, who in many cases, have mortgaged all of their equity to pay other bills.

If rates get above 7%, you can dust off your creative financing books, as seller financing will increase. Rising rates mean rising monthly payments. This will eliminate the borderline buyers from the housing market. They will start moving back
into apartments and rental houses. Vacancies will decline, rental rates will increase.

If rental rates increase, cash flows will increase. Rental property will be back in style with investors who abandoned rentals and focused on selling for fast cash in a hot market.

Companies that sell investment property can expect growing demand for rental grade properties. While it is still very early in the cycle, I believe this shift is already under way.

Economic recessions are boom times for smart investors who are positioned to take advantage of the situation. I am not predicting a recession per se’ but rising oil prices
and interest rates will eventually have a big effect on housing.

Be ready to take advantage when the opportunity comes.
You have plenty of time to plan for it now.

Donna Robinson is a real estate investor, author and consultant in Atlanta, GA.
More of her articles are available on her website at http://www.RealEstateInvestorHelp.com
She may be reached via email at drobinson@reihelp.com

1. Process Thinking follows the natural flow of the
business

A business process is a collection of interrelated work tasks
triggered by an event and geared towards providing results or
outcomes valued by the “customer”. The adoption of process
thinking causes an organisation to align its activities and
systems with the natural flow of materials and information from
the start to the end of the value chain.

Functional thinking creates silos with boundaries across which
information and other resource flows are not seamless, leading
to the absence of a shared understanding of what the business is
about, what factors are critical to the achievement of
objectives and how efforts can be coordinated to best attain
those objectives.

Carry out an experiment in your organisation. Take any core
process: ask five managers in different departments involved in
the process the following questions.

* Describe this process

* Who are the customers to the process?

* What valued outcomes do they expect?

* Who are the suppliers to the process?

* What inputs do they provide?

* What is the cycle time for this process?

If yours is a functionally oriented organisation, their
answers, where they understand your questions at all, are likely
to be all different. Some processes you might consider are order
processing, product development, recruitment etc.

2. Business Process Thinking focuses the organisation on
customer needs

Because of the insistence on definite identifiable outcomes
valued by the customer, process thinking helps the organisation
focus on correctly identifying and satisfactorily meeting and
exceeding their expectations. Measures of performance are tied
to current customer satisfaction levels as well as the
enhancement of capacity to satisfy the customer in the future.

Departmental or functional thinking is, on the other hand,
focused on internal measures of no value to the customer.
Examples of the different kinds of measures are input measures
(e.g. items delivered by suppliers), process measures (e.g.
cost, time, involvement, efficiency) and output (e.g.
timeliness, quality, ease of use, returns on investment)
measures. Decisions on appropriate measures must meet the dual
requirements of value to the customer and improvability.

3. Business Process Thinking Encourages Focus on Value
Addition

Organisations that have adopted a business process mentality
constantly strive to ensure that certainly all their processes,
and as much as possible, all activities within those processes
contribute towards the final outcome paid for by the customer.
All non-value adding processes and activities are eliminated or
minimised.

Many functionally oriented organisations for example have
lengthy approval requirements that serve no purpose. A company
drastically collapsed its approval chain after an experiment in
which unsuspecting approvers failed to detect that the documents
they had just endorsed only had the usual cover sheet
followed by a sheaf of blank sheets. This meant they were
approving requests without reading the contents! Talk about
non-value addition!

Consider also that in many processes the actual contact time
between a process document or work piece and the workers or
process operators is usually a ridiculously small fraction of
the process cycle time. The balance of the time is wasted on
such non-value activities as waiting, unnecessary movement,
locating misplaced items or documents etc.

4. Business Process Thinking Encourages a Focus on Quality

The bane of good quality products or services in majority of
organisations is the variation or inconsistency of process
outcomes. Organisations with a process mentality continuously
ferret out and eliminate sources of variation to achieve
consistent results. This is almost impossible to achieve within
functionally oriented organisations as their narrow focus
prevents awareness of the causes of problems that span
functional boundaries.

While a functional organisation might call for an arbitrary
amount of improvement in quality (e.g. 10% reduction in defects)
process oriented organisations apply a fact-based understanding
of the relationship between results and the processes that drive
them. Statistical tools are used to study what factors have the
most significant impact and effort is focused on influencing
these factors.

5. Business Process Thinking Institutionalises High
Performance and Guarantees Execution of Organisational
Priorities

A focus on business processes institutionalises high performance
in the following ways.

* Uses measures of performance that are meaningful to the
customer and other stakeholders. This is very important in view
of the axiom that what gets measured gets done. Rewards are
aligned to measures, which in turn support valued customer and
organisational outcomes. * Standardises processes by minimising
waste and variation, drastically reducing defects and improving
speed of delivery.

Everyone knows the internet can be very useful for finding information or learning something new. In all honesty, the internet should be your #1 resource for finding any remote information. The problem is everyone do not know how to use the internet to find information or to their advantage. It’s simple and I’ll give some tips & secrets to successfully using the internet to your advantage.

Surfing the Web:

The first thing the internet is …is “information”. Lots of it. Anything you want to know or need to know can be found on the internet, but where do you find it? There are so many resources and ways of finding information. Surfing the web is probably the best way to find non-targeted information and find a new website. When surfing the web you basically, start with a common site (or not so common). Begin by browsing the content within the site…then you click on a link which takes you to another site and you browse through its content, click on a link within that site which takes you to another external site…and you are surfing the web. Browsing through content. Those few task just mentioned can sometimes be an hour or two worth of surfing, mostly depending on the interest of content.

Searching the Web:

A more targeted approach is trying to find information about a specific product, service, person, place, or thing. For targeted searches we need a tool, something that will help us find what we are looking for. The most common tool is “search engines”. Search engines are designed for this particular task, to find information across the web. Search engines have special digital robots which search through millions of websites at incredibly rapid speeds, crawling and digging through tons of websites and indexing them into its databases for faster retrieval. When you go to a search engine like Google and type in a keyword or phrase then click search you are presented with URL’s which have been indexed within the search engine database and matches the keyword or phrase which you entered. It cannot be expressed enough to say how well you should familiarize yourself with using a major search engine. You should be able to use a search engine to find just about anything you can think of.

Forums & Discussion Groups:

Forums & Discussion Groups are a great way to find information on the web. Participation and contribution is what makes a forum or discussion group useful, powerful, and successful. These are ways to help others, communicate with others, share knowledge or experiences with others, or simply chat and network with others. Most forums or discussion groups are niche markets and targeted to a particular audience.

There are a few that are for the general population. A very popular forum in the webmaster world is WebmasterWorld.com (no pun intended), their targeted market is webmasters, online advertisers, search engine optimizers, internet engineers, and internet enthusiast. You can find very useful information within most forums & discussion groups. The proper way to participate & contribute to forums & discussion groups is to help others when you genuinely have an answer, don’t just guess and post…you can make an educated guess and post, but blindly guessing just to raise your rank is childish and unhealthy for the platform. When debating, remain civil and courteous to others.

When debating, you should have some sense of intelligence and knowledge about the topic at hand. Respect others opinions and views. Don’t try to change minds but try to get your point across rationally. Never pick a fight or get in between a heated discussion. Keep your username/handle (and real name) respectable.

Remember that you cannot hide on the internet any information you provide or any public information can come back and bite you….e.g. username stalking, which I will get into more about later. Stick to those guidelines and your forums & discussion group experience may be well received.

Blogs a.k.a. Weblogs, Online Journals, or Online Diaries:

This is the next generation way of obtaining information on the web, but gracefully becoming a prominent way. Blogs are not only personal entries about a individual life. Blogs are used to convey information and provide a confident platform for retrieving the latest trends, gossip, news, information, rumors, and hype. This can be accomplished by an individual, a group, or a company.

Most blogs allow visitors to leave a comment. Familiarizing yourself with a handful of blogs is a perfect way to network and connect yourself with people who share your interest. Blogs are mainly niche markets, though there are many successful miscellaneous, personal, and general blogs. Blogs are most successful when updated daily and is dependent on the social and emotional connection you have with your audience. Blogs are usually personal thoughts, opinions, views, and experiences of individuals. Sometimes individuals form a group and author a group blog, providing thoughts, opinions, views, and experiences from each member of the group, this sometimes makes a more powerful and interesting blog, a popular blog which utilizes groups is boingboing.net.

It is a good idea to start a blog of your very own, there are numerous free blog host out here, such as: journalhome.com, blogger.com, and livejournal.com. The blog host makes it easy to begin blogging (the art known as authoring a blog). You simply signup for their service, choose your template (design & layout), and begin writing your entries. You do not need to know any programming, but it helps to understand HTML, if you plan to fully customize your template. It does not matter what you write about, it can be personal, professional, casual, informative, instructional, entertaining, or anything you can muster up. It is your personal space to author. Even though it is your personal space on the web it is strongly recommended to limit your personal information on the web, when visiting any website, never provide too many details.

Once you have had your blog hosted for some months/years and it has grown to a respectable state, then you may decide to host your own blog. The main benefit of hosting your own blog is the scalability and branding. Though, hosting your own blog means you will need to spend money, install scripts onto your server, and configure your script and server. I recommend using one of the mentioned blog host before hosting your own blog, hosting your own blog without an audience is not wise. Blog host are the best places to start, because it is free, easy, readily available, and they provide you a community (audience).

Doing Your Homework:

Using the mentioned information portals above, you should be resourceful in finding any information you need on the web. When doing business on the web you should only rely on trusted sources. This comes down to doing your homework. If you find a company on the web which you wish to do business with but have never heard of the company, then you should use good judgment. The best way to make a good judgment call is to research the company and website. If you utilize any of the mentioned above you should be able to find reliable information. Gather information from several different sources and then compare the results. Basically, does the good outweigh the bad? You now have a rational review to use good judgment. Using advanced technologies is also sometimes necessary such as using advance search operators, such as: ” ” (which when quotes surround the keyword will return the exact search phrase) or use of the plus (+) sign (which will return any search which contains keywords in your search phrase). A good site that makes use of Google operatives is soople.com.

Username Stalking:

Contrary to the name the art of “username stalking” is considered positive in my form of expression. It is wise to choose a quality username when conducting business online. Typically, an active internet user should have a different secure username/password for conducting professional business and a different username/password for personal and miscellaneous activities, as well as a different email addresses. Note: A different secure username/password can also be used for any account which stores any financial or credit card information, you should never use your personal, miscellaneous, or free account username/password in relation with your business username/password or your financial/credit card username and password. Having more than 3 different username/password combinations can become a bit confusing, just the same as explaining it is.

Username stalking is the act of searching the web by usernames. Usernames and handles when applicable are the most visible information about a person on the web. Choosing the right username and handle is suggested because you do not want to misrepresent yourself. E.g. if you never worked on cars you wouldn’t choose a username such as: TheAutoMechanic, would you? You want to choose something that represents you or something which is generic and general. When you are familiar with a plentiful of forums, discussion groups, blogs, and other communities, you will become exposed to usernames. These usernames can soon become handy.

If you are on a forum which interest you and after looking through the post you find someone who has your same interest, views, opinions, and thoughts…then surely you would be interested in frequenting his neighborhood. Finding his hangouts can expose you to a new crowd of individuals who you relate to. This new world can possibly be more advanced or less advanced than your current internet world, but hopefully something new and interesting.

Do a search on your own username in Google and see if it gives you results from sites which you are a member or have frequented. This is why it is recommended to separate business, pleasure, and finances on the web. Using different unrelated secure usernames/passwords is the best way to separate the three. Username stalking is not anything new, but it isn’t something publicized because most who use that technique are wrong doers for different purposes. This is a great example of how it can be used wisely and responsibly. Always, remember usernames and any other information deposited onto the internet is not a secret, even if you can’t find it.

About The Author

Ant Onaf is the owner and founder of http://www.JournalHome.com He is an online internet marketer, content writer, and IT consultant. Ant Onaf has years of IT-related experience and Internet-related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion for technology, internet marketing, & writing have made him a monumental icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at http://www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf

I come from a long line of communicators, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and even one telegraph operator.

All of them took language very seriously, and if you look at how they did in their careers, it worked out pretty well for them.

With this legacy in mind, please pardon me if I also show sensitivity to the impact of language. It’s in my genes!

I suppose, if you want to be a word-nerd, it doesn’t hurt having a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication, at USC. (Occasionally, it can even get you some football tickets!)

Anyway, I’ve had such great responses to my articles about wimpy versus winning sales language that I thought I’d treat you to more examples of sales words to use and to avoid.

Typically, it is good sense to avoid using these weak-at-the-knees, trembling, weasel words and phrases:

I’d like to…

Perhaps…

Possibly…

Maybe…

Do you have a minute to talk?

I’m not interrupting anything, am I?

Substitute the following positive terms and combinations:

What we’ll do is…

What we do…

What we’re doing…

I’m sure you’ll find…

Definitely…

Certainly…

This will just take a second…

I’m a strong believer in the “Try it, you’ll like it!” approach to selling, and so I encourage you to put these improved words to use, every day, in your presentations.

And then tell me how you do, okay?

Dr. Gary S. Goodman © 2006

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. A frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide, Gary’s programs are offered by UCLA Extension and by numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Gary is headquartered in Glendale, California. He can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

What is Desire? Let us see! Webster tells us that it is:
“The natural longing to possess any seeming good; eager
wish to obtain or enjoy,” or in its abnormal or degenerate
sense:”excessive or morbid longing; lust; appetite.
“Desire” is a much-abused term - the public mind has
largely identified it with its abnormal or degenerate
phase, just mentioned, ignoring its original and true
sense. Many use the word in the sense of an unworthy
longing or craving, instead of in the true sense of
“aspiration,” “worthy craving and longing,” etc. To call
Desire “aspiration” renders it none the less Desire. To
apply to it the term “laudable aim and ambition” does not
take away from it is character of Desire. There is no sense
in endeavoring to escape the fact that Desire is the natural
and universal impulse toward action, be the action or good
or bad. Without Desire the Will does not spring into action,
and nothing is accomplished. Even the highest attainments
and aims of the race are possible only when the steam of
Will is aroused by the flame and heat of Desire.

Some of the occult teachings are filled with instructions
to “kill out desire,” and the student is warned to beware
of it even in its most insidious and subtle forms, even
to the extent of “avoiding even the desire to be
desireless ; even desire not to desire. Now this is all
nonsense, for if one”wishes”, or “wants”, or “is inclined”,
or “thinks best to”, or “is pleased to” Kill Out Desire ;
in any of these cases he is but manifesting a Desire “not
to desire”, in spite of his use of other names. What is
this “wishing to; wanting to; feeling like; inclination;
being pleased to;” and all the rest, but just plain, clear,
unadulterated Desire masquerading under some of these names.
To proceed to “kill out desire” without “desiring” to do so
is like trying to lift oneself by pulling on his own
bootstraps. Ridiculus. What is really meant is that the
occultist should proceed to kill out the lower desires that
he finds within his nature, and also to kill out the
“attachment” for things. Regarding this last we would say
that all true occultist know that even the best “things”
are not good enough to rule and master one; nothing is good
enough for the soul to allow itself to be unduly attached
to it so that the thing rules the soul instead of the soul
mastering the thing. That is what the teachings mean,
avoidance of “attachment. “And in this the occult teachers
are clearly right. Desire is a frightful master, like fire
it sweeps away the supports of the soul, leaving nothing
but smoldering ashes. But, also like Fire Desire is a
splendid servant and by its harnessed power we are able to
generate the steam of the Will and Activity, and to
accomplish much in the world. Without proper Desire the
world would be without activity. So do not make the mistake
of using Desire any more than you would refuse to
use fire, but in both cases keep the mastery in your own
hands, and avoid allowing the control to pass from you
to Desire.

Desire is the motivating force that runs the world; as
little as we care to admit it in many cases. Look around
you and see the effects of Desire in every human act,
good or bad. As a writer has said:”Every deed that we do,
good or bad, is prompted by Desire. We are charitable
because we Desire to relieve our inner distress at the
sight of suffering; or from the Desire of sympathy; or
from the Desire to be respected in this world, or to
secure a comfortable place in the next. One man is kind
because he Desires to be kind, because it gives him
satisfaction to be kind; while another man is cruel from
precisely the same kind of motive. One man does his duty
because he Desires to do it ; he obtains a higher
satisfaction from duty well done than he would from the
neglecting of it in accordance with some weaker desires.
The religious man is religious because his religious
desires are stronger than his irreligious ones, because
he finds a higher satisfaction in religion than in the
pursuits of the worldly minded. The moral man is moral
because his moral desires are stronger than his immoral
ones.He obtains a greater satisfaction in being moral
than in being the contrary. Everything we do is prompted
by Desire in some shape or form, high or low. Man cannot
be Desireless and act in any way. Desire is the motivating
power behind all actions, it is a natural law of life.
Everything from the atom to the monad; from the monad to
the insect; from the insect to man; from man to Nature,
acts and does things by reason of the power and force
of Desire, the Animating Motive. “

All the above at the first glance would seem to make of man
a mere machine, subject to the power of any stray desire
that might happen to come into his mind. But this is far
from being so. Man acts not upon EVERY desire, but upon the
STRONGEST Desire, or the Average of his Strongest Desires.
This Average of Desires is that which constitutes his Nature
or Character. And here is where the Mastery of the “I” comes
in! Man need not be a slave or creature of his Desires if he
will assert his Mastery. He may control, regulate, govern
and guide his Desires in any directions that he pleases. Nay,
more, he may even CREATE DESIRES by an action of his Will,
as we shall see presently. By a knowledge of psychological
laws he may neutralize unfavorable Desires, and grow and
develop ; yes, practically Create New Desires in their
place… all by the power of his Will, aided by the light of
his Reason and Judgment. Man is the Master of his Mind.

End of Part 1, Part 2 is comming soon…

**Attn Ezine Editors / Site Owners**
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety
in your ezine or on your site so long as you leave
all links in place.

Carl Cholette is a young entrepreneur, motivational
coach, and syndicated author.
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A committee appointed by President Bush has come up with an alarming recommendation. They want to limit the tax deduction for mortgage interest!

Reform

Following his re-election, President Bush set up an aggressive agenda in which he hoped to reform social security and the tax code amongst other things. As with many things in the political world, this sounded easier done than it really was. With social security, political forces have forced the President to pull back from private accounts. With tax reform, a similar political and practical mistake is being made.

Limited Deduction

The bipartisan tax reform committee appointed by President Bush is making a mess of things. They are proposing the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is clearly a good thing. Unfortunately, they are also proposing a limit on the tax deduction you can take for mortgage interests.

Although the final recommendations are not yet published, leaks have led to the belief the tax reform committee is going to propose the mortgage interest tax deduction be limited to the percentage of any loan that the Federal Housing Administration would write. Put another way, you would only be able to write-off interest on the first $315,000 of a mortgage! On top of this disaster, the committee is proposing to eliminate the deduction for property taxes.

Economic Disaster?

The implementation of the above recommendations would be an economic disaster for the United States. The real estate industry would suffer incredibly and the real estate boom would become a bust. In many parts of the country, a single family home averages well over $315,000. In San Diego, the average cost of a home is in the $600,000 range. To get into such homes, many families apply for interest only loans to make ends meet. If they lose half of the interest deduction, default will not be far behind.

Once again, we are faced with a situation where politicians just don’t get it. Our housing market is incredibly strong and they want to throw a wrench in the process. Developers and homeowner associations have vowed to fight this “tax reform”. You should as well if losing half of your deduction troubles you.

Dan Lewis is a mortgage broker with www.gwhomeloans.com - San Diego mortgage brokers providing home loans and refinances. Visit gwhomeloans.com/services.html to learn more about options for San Diego mortgages.

Sure you want your guests to enjoy themselves at your wedding
reception, but if you don’t want to break the bank or the law
here’s what you will need to know, including how to calculate
how much to buy.

Unquestionably, one of the hottest topics that must be dealt
with when planning a wedding reception is whether to have an
open bar or a cash bar. Why does this particular topic tend to
be so controversial?

Well, for one thing, some people will tell you that it would be
rude to invite guests to your reception, then ask them to pay
for their own drinks. On the other hand, an open barat which
your guests drink for free, perhaps into the wee hours of the
morning if they last that longcould leave you with a bill that
will forever remain etched in your memory.

Both points of view are well taken. It’s true that one wouldn’t
ordinarily invite people to dinner or a party with the
expectation that they will pay for what you serve. But it is
equally true that people tend to be overly indulgent, not to
mention downright wasteful, with alcohol they aren’t paying for.
They will take a sip or two, set their glass down and begin
talking, then walk away. Later, instead of returning for their
glass, they will head for the bar to order yet another drink.
So, what’s the answer?

Options, Anyone

There really isn’t a correct answer, but there are options. You
could:

*Serve free champagne punch. Since it is relatively light in
terms of alcohol content, your guests aren’t as likely to become
obnoxious, even if they’ve had more than their fair share.

*Have an open bar for the first hour or two. This approach will
prevent you from feeling, and looking, like a cheapskate but
will allow you to keep your bank account in the black.

*Have each table set to include the allocated bottles of wine or
champagne. For example, a table seating six to eight people
might be decked with two bottles of wine or champagne. Since you
can expect each bottle to hold between 4 and six glassfuls,
everyone will have one to two glasses for dinner and the toast.
(Obviously, you will want to have the toast as early as possible
to avoid an embarrassing situation in which guests will be
forced to hold up empty glasses.)

*Use the open-and-shut-case approach. This requires purchasing
beer kegs or cases of good-quality beer, plus several cases of
good-quality wine. Since you have purchased the supply in
advance, you will determine just how much is being spent on
drinks.

For guests who insist upon drinking until the cows come home or
would like something stronger, make a cash bar available.

*Have waiters and waitresses serve drinks from a tray. This
approach is not only stylish, it is also quite cost effective
because you remain in control of how much is consumed.

Choose a few different drinks to be served, including beer and
wine. Then have the staff circulate throughout the reception
area at pre-scheduled intervals. Perhaps the waiters and
waitresses might offer drinks when the reception starts, then
just before or during dinner, then a few times later in the
evening but not throughout the night. With tray service, you
guest will not pay for their drinks, but this will still be a
lot cheaper than having an open bar.

At-home Receptions

If you are planning to have your reception in a home or backyard
and you will not be using a caterer, here is what you will need
to know.

In this situation, a cash bar is simply not one of the available
choices. It is against the law to sell alcohol without a liquor
license. (You wouldn’t want to spend your honeymoon in the
pokey.)

If the home is not equipped with one, you will need a rented bar
(or a sturdy table or two, dressed to the floor or ground with
linen). Plan to stock the bar or table(s) with beer, vodka, rum,
whiskey, tequila, cordials (liqueur), brandy, gin, wine,
sparkling juice, and possibly punch.

Offering a sparkling white wine is also nice. If you are
planning to serve champagne (Although only a sparkling white
wine made in the Champagne region of France can be truly called
champagne, people often refer to any bubbly by that name.),
expect to pay more. A decent bottle (You will only disappoint
the true connoisseur, and they are a dying breed.) will cost
between $10 and $12 and will serve seven to eight glasses. Even
at these prices per bottle, you may want to reserve it for the
toast.

Borrow or shop for a bartender’s guide (Mr. Boston Deluxe
Official Bartender’s Guide, for example). For your mixologist,
you might also stock such things as lemons, limes, celery,
maraschino cherries, and olives. You’ll also want to have soda
water, tonic water, sparkling water, coke, ginger ale, and a few
other soft drinks, plus swizzle sticks and cocktail napkins,
Last, but not least, remember to have an ample supply of ice
(crushed and cubed) on hand.

Standard Guidelines for Consumption

Expect each guest to have four to five drinks at the reception.
You’ll get twenty-five drinks from a fifth of liquor, providing
you’re using a one-ounce pony to make them with one ounce of
alcohol each. Using one and a half ounces of alcohol (that is, a
one-and-a-half-ounce jigger), you’ll get eighteen drinks per
fifth of alcohol. A single case of alcohol contains twelve
bottles. Assuming that you’re using one ounce of alcohol to make
every drink, then one case will yield 300 drinks.

If you would like to serve beer on tap, half a keg will yield
260 eight-ounce glasses of beer. Seven cases of beer will yield
the same amount.

With regard to unopened bottles of alcohol, don’t be too
concerned about over stocking. It is better to have too much,
rather than not enough. Besides, unopened bottles of alcohol can
usually be returned to the store.

The Law and Your Liability

Needless to say, it is against the law to serve alcohol to
anyone under the legal drinking age. The sobering fact is that
courts have consistently ruled that restaurants, caterers, and
hosts are financially liable when minors who are served alcohol
are injured, become involved in a car accident, or break the
law.

You can also be held liable for an adult who suffers an injury,
become involved in a car accident, or step outside of the law
after drinking too much in your home. Caterers and restaurants
are subject to the same liability.

Your best protection against legal liability involving alcohol
is to plan ahead and react sensibly. If your reception is to be
catered, discuss a plan of action with the caterer before hand.
He or she undoubtedly will cooperate.

Avoid serving salty foods since they make people thirsty. Foods
high in proteinsuch as meat, fish, eggs, and cheesewill help
to keep your guests sober.

Once a person is drunk, it’s too late to reach for the pot of
coffee. Giving your happy drunk coffee will only make him or her
hyper and jittery. If you need to sober someone up, try to get
the person to drink water, which will dilute the alcohol in
their system and flush it out.

By no means, let that person driveno matter what they say.
Instead, call for a taxi or find another driver to take the
person home.

© Copyright 2005 Bachcroft.com. Permission to reprint this
article, as is, is granted as long as the proper attribution
(author’s biography) is given and all active hyperlinks remain
intact.

Summary: Force yourself to laugh and you will soon be laughing.

Have you ever seen Monty Python’s “And Now for Something
Completely Different?”

This collection of their most memorable skits includes one about
the world’s funniest joke.

We are looking over a disheveled man’s shoulder. He is hunched
over a desk scribbling on a piece of paper. On the floor of his
ill-kept bedroom are piles of crumpled paper, his discarded
joke-writing attempts.

The voice-over tells us that the man, Ernest Scribbler, is about
to write the world’s funniest joke.

The writer (Michael Palin) writes the joke, giggles, and starts
laughing hysterically. Clutching the paper, he falls over dead.

His mother (Eric Idle) enters the room and is horrified at her
son’s lifeless body. She snatches the paper from his hand,
thinking it is a suicide note.

She reads it, laughs, laughs harder, then laughs even harder,
and falls over dead.

The joke (of course, we never see it) is turned into a secret
weapon in World War II. It is translated into German by isolated
teams of translators working one word at a time.

Then we see German soldiers reading leaflets dropped by the
British, breaking into laughter, and keeling over.

Imagine how much fun they had shooting this bit of dark humor!

Imagine watching a bunch of cut-ups pretending to read a piece
of paper, laughing, and falling over.

Can you imagine if someone got the giggles? I’ve love to see the
outtakes!

That’s because when you engage the physical laughter mechanism,
you really do start laughing.

You don’t need a reason. When the hard wiring is activated, the
body laughs. No joke required.

Force yourself to laugh. It’s silly, but you will really start
laughing.

It will change your state of mind.

And you will experience something completely different.

Copyright 2004 by Tony Papajohn. Tony writes and speaks on
success. Subscribe to his free SuccessMotivator e-zine at
http://www.successmotivator.com.

Emotional Intelligence is all about self-awareness,
understanding how emotions work within you and others. Our
feelings are regulated by neurotransmitters such as serotonin,
norepinephrine, and dopamine. Here are some things to know about
serotonin, called the “feel good” neurotransmitter.

Research indicates that low levels of serotonin in the brain can
lead to the underlying inability to handle powerful feelings
which can results in impulsive acts, aggressive behaviors, poor
judgment, and self-destructive tendencies. According to the
Society for Neuroscience, in experiments, monkeys with less
serotonin are the ones who take daring jumps from the trees and
injure themselves. Rats low in serotonin do risky things in
experiments, and also accept small immediate rewards instead of
waiting for a bigger prize.

Restoring levels of serotonin in the body relieves symptoms of
depression and anxiety. According to Carolyn Meltzer, MD,
serotonin receptors decrease significantly with age, up to 55%,
so as you age, keep this in mind.

How do we get more serotonin or use what we have better?
According to Dr. Allan Lieberman, MC, FAAEM, vitamin B6 and
magnesium can elevate it. Some natural sources are bananas,
pumpkin seeds, peanuts, tomatoes, plums, avocadoes, pineapple,
eggplant and walnuts.

Antidepressants work with the serotonin you produce; they don’t
make more of it. Your body produces serotonin through
L-tryptophan. L-tryptophan is present in pork, duck and turkey.
According to Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen, author of
“Prozac Backlash,” (
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743200624/susandunnmome-2
0 ) it can also be enhanced by talk therapy and by aerobic
exercise such as jogging or dance.

Touch also increases serotonin during massage and decreases pain
levels, improves sleep patterns, decreases fatigue, anxiety,
depression and cortisol levels in fibromyalgia patients,
according to the International Journal of Neurology.

Another important source of serotonin can be increased light.
Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health,
feels that the intensity of the light is what counts, not the
spectrum. However full-spectrum light used in the poultry
industry causes chickens to live twice as long, be calmer and
less aggressive, and produce eggs 25% lower in cholesterol.
Apparently, even human cholesterol levels drop when people are
exposed to sunlight.

Non-full-spectrum lighting, which is often used in work places,
has been shown to create hormones ACTH and cortisol in levels
considered stressful.

Being around water can help some people feel better. Research
has shown that a cruise can be beneficial to your wellness.

There are more tips about feeling better in “Depression: The
Need to Go Within,” (
http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html ) by Susan Dunn.

In sum, part of emotional self-awareness means becoming aware of
what physical factors innate to you enhance your mood - the
foods you eat, the chemicals you put into your body, the
exercise you get or don’t get, and your surroundings.

Erectile dysfunction incidence varies by age. A recent study in United States evaluates that as many as 18 million of American male population are affected. About 5 percent of men aged 20 to 40 are dealing with this condition, while male population aged 70 and older is more affected, about 70 percent having erectile dysfunction.

The conclusions also show that erectile dysfunction is especially present among men with diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors.

This is the first time a study reveal national data regarding the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in the United States. By all opinions erectile dysfunction is closest related to diminish of function of cardiovascular system. Therefore, the study suggests that overall lifestyle intervention, such as healthy diet and regular exercise, may be an effective way in prevention and treat this condition.

The final conclusion of the study is that such major lifestyle changes could have a beneficial impact not only on the incidence of erectile dysfunction among the adult American men. Maintaining a normal weight with adequate diets and regular physical activity as well as permanent control of cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes can also decrease the incidence of strokes and heart attacks.

Valerian D is a freelance writer interested in health issues affecting men such as erectile dysfunction