My Life

2006-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

After being interviewed by the school administration,
the eager teaching prospect said:

Let me see if I've got this right.

You want me to go into that room with all those kids,
and fill their every waking moment with a love for
learning,and I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their
ethnicity,modify their disruptive behavior,
observe them for signs of abuse, and even censor their
T-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually
transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass
destruction, and raise their self esteem.

You want me to teach them patriotism, good
citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote,
how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a
job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe
environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior,
make sure all students pass the state FCAT exams,
even those who don't come to school regularly or
complete any of their assignments.

Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with
handicaps get an equal education regardless of the
extent of their mental or physical handicap.

I am to communicate regularly with the parents by
letter, telephone, newsletter and report card.

All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a
computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a
starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!

You want me to do all of this and then you tell me . .

I CAN'T PRAY ????"

Also is it no wonder for even less money why I no longer substitute teach!

2006-10-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

It takes time to build and promote each site.

Face the facts, not all your sites will be instant hit. So you need to understand that you're not going to be able to start earning this kind of income within a few weeks. But it can be done!

The trick is to break down your goal into smaller chunks.

Doing this makes it seem much less daunting and removes the stress out of thinking you have to build 100 sites to make a decent income.

All you need to do is simply build one site per week for the next 10 weeks and you will be well on your way to achieving your goal.

Each week you need to be focused to research your affiliate products, create an autoresponder series or newsletter, design the site itself and find content to place on your site to act as fodder for the search engines.

You just need to place one foot in front of the other and take the time to learn how to create effective and informative content sites.

Then it's just a matter of marketing your sites to begin driving traffic to each of them through the use of unique articles, blog post, linking programs, etc. While this may sound complicated and time consuming, it's not.

2006-10-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

The secret to getting more done without necessarily working harder is proper time management.

Time management allows you to get more done with less effort. It also helps reduce the stress and pressure that goes hand-in-hand with having to finish multiple jobs at the same time. And this is even more important if you are trying to manage your online business while still working your day job.

If you truly are desperate to juggle all your responsibilities without having to sacrifice too much of the limited time you get to spend with your family or loved ones, then here are some tips and techniques to help you on your way:

1. Keep notes...

Notebooks and mini-recorders are very effective tools for organizing your day. Some of the best time managers have a handy notebook in tow in which they are able to keep track of the day and the things they need to do.

As the world becomes increasingly technology-based, more and more mobile organizers are becoming available. These organizers help you schedule appointments and duties and make keeping appointments a snap.

These are also good productivity tools. You never know when a good idea could hit you. So if you are constantly armed with pen and paper - or an organizer for that matter - you are in a better position to capture the idea and put it in motion.

The fatal mistake most people commit is to think that they can delegate all the organizing and note-taking to memory.

Unfortunately, just like you have forgotten what you dream about last night, you are bound to forget whatever idea you whipped up a few days ago.

This is where Mini-recorders are especially useful. I find it very handy to keep a recorder in my car so that when I come up with a brainwave about a new idea, I just record my thoughts so that I don't forget. Then I can transcribe my thoughts at my leisure.

2. Modularize...

The best way to deal with multiple major problems is to divide and conquer. If you feel that a problem is too big to handle, then it probably is. Instead of buckling under the pressure, the best thing to do is to cut up the problem into more manageable parts and deal with them separately.

After making the problem more manageable, you can then allocate resources such as schedule, finances and effort towards accomplishing the project.

For example, rather giving yourself a headache about how you're going to build multiple streams of income, develop a realistic step-by-step plan and then just concentrate on one step at a time to build your online income.

3. Delegate...

Another way to manage your time wisely is to delegate some jobs to other people and making sure that everyone works in sync. This will take a lot of communication, skill, and effort - but ultimately it is the only way to accomplish anything that may be too large for one person.

This part of your online business is imperative if you're goal is to earn a REAL income. You simple can't do everything yourself, so you need to outsource various parts of your business. Rather than do everything yourself, your role should be to supervise these tasks and then fit the pieces of the puzzle together as each task is completed.

Time management is no easy task. However, you should realize that the you spend time planning and managing your use of time, the more time you will have to enjoy your rewards.

2006-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Live Life today as it was your last day on earth.

�Chose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and holding fast to Him� (Deut. 30:19-20)

For everything there is a season and we all will face many challenges and it will be how we meet and then deal with those hard times that will show what we believe.. That day in 1990 that I first learned I had ESRD was frightening. It was hard after to always stay upbeat as I also faced unemployment and lost of our housing, a transplant (which 3 months later had to be removed), cancer, then almost 10 years of three times a week 4 hour dialysis treatment. A was a most difficult season that would have been impossible without the love and support of caring of family, friends, skilled medical professionals, and mostly without God.

Remember not everyone who is negative is wallowing in self-pity. Depression, grieving, suffering a lost, or just have one of those bad days can all be causes for many to feel life has disappointed them. They might have also learned that many people just don�t feel sorry for others, are willing to get involved and help, or don�t want to just hug them and hear just one more of their complaints.

A spirit of optimism doesn�t come by birth and both parents and teachers who play a powerful part in determining the way we will approach life. We all must learn to better focus on those things we can change rather than what we cannot change. Everyday we must chose to face problems with zest rather than resentment. We must learn how love yourselves, to better communicate, to seek and build life long friendships, and to get involved joining our neighbors and those in your church doing good works and making a real lasting difference.

�How you think and how you act today will determine your future. To an overwhelming degree, you can control your life and changes, by how you perceive them. So, plan and pray your way toward tomorrow.
Words from Robert Schuller

�Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice� Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:4,6-7)

.

2006-08-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

When the building at Martin was completed so was my good job as a guard. As it ended I found a company online Crossmark. (Crossmark.com). By phone I was employed a sales rep being a part of their very large Dedicated team for Rayovac batteries and Remington hair and shaving products.

So I�m on the �road again� everyday but home at night and have weekend off. I love doing what I know best able to service retail account and with no selling. I just as Bunny chaser checking on stock and displays in the large Target, Walmart Super Centers, Big Kmart, and other local accounts. There are 47 stores in my area that runs from Clermont to Deland, and Kissimmee to Sanford.

While I set my time I still must call on all and most more than once each month. I was training and then using MapPoint to find the best route to them in July. While August is slower and we had a forced energy saving cut back we again be busy (even without any hurricanes) from September all building to a big December push.

It�s a large national service company and they offered me a good rate to start. Plus they pay for all my admin (computer) time, driving time, mileage, tolls and other related expenses. There is almost no written paperwork, most entered quickly on online or done by phone and email. Best it�s all year retail service work with their current contract running for next three years.

Perhaps in time now with the extra funds in time I will be able to afford a newer car and this one with the AC cold and working.

2006-07-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

Please call me!

What if you need to reach a colleague quickly. First you look up their phone extension and give them a call, only to be directed to their voicemail. After you leave a message, you find their mobile phone number and leave a second message. Next, you send an email. If you happen to be in a meeting when your colleague gets your messages and tries to reach you, the process repeats itself, but from the other direction.

It seems that a decade's worth of software innovation has transformed the workplace and empowered information workers to do their jobs with greater speed, effectiveness and intelligence. But communicating with colleagues and sharing information is still far too complicated.

In a recent study, there's a 70 percent chance that when you call someone at work, you will get voicemail. Another study found that one in four information workers spend the equivalent of three full working days each year trying unsuccessfully to connect with other people by phone. When you do reach the person you've called, there's no guarantee that it's a convenient time for them to answer your question, or that they have access to the information you need.

Today the PC has largely replaced the telephone as the way people prefer to communicate in the workplace. In a recent poll, 61 percent of information workers cited email as their primary communication tool, while 75 percent said they check their email every morning before they check their voice messages.

Companies that provide unified communications framework that these young people expect will see incredible benefits. Recruiting young talent will be easier, of course. But the gains will be much broader. Unified communications technology will help companies raise productivity and respond more rapidly to changing business conditions. These technologies will also enable organizations to create closer ties to customers, develop innovative products more quickly and reduce costs.

Ultimately, unified communications is about delivering a new way of doing business that recognizes that people are more important than processes. It is were technology unleashes the whole passion and potential that each one of us brings with us every day when we go to work.

2006-07-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

THE SHEPHERD AND THE YUPPIE

A shepherd was tending his flock when he saw a young man in an expensive car. The man said, "I'll tell you exactly how many sheep you have if you give me one." The shepherd agreed. The man pulled out his laptop and checked a spreadsheet. He looked up and said, "You have 1,586 sheep." The shepherd said, "You're correct. You can have one of my sheep." The Yuppie put an animal into his car. Then the shepherd said, "If I tell you what your business is, will you return my sheep?" The yuppie agreed. The shepherd said, "You showed up uninvited, you want payment for an answer I already knew, to a question I didn't ask, and you know nothing about my business. You're a consultant. Now give me back my dog."

2006-07-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

How to set Picasa as the default application for pictures.

It's quite easy to get pictures into Picasa. But if you're looking for an option to scan your computer, you could get tripped up. You need to use the Folder Manager. Click Tools>>Folder Manager.

Use the Folder List to find the folders where your photos are located. You can select a single folder or an entire hard drive. Then Select Scan Once or Scan Always. Scan Always means Picasa will watch the folder for new photos and add them to its library. Finally, click OK. It will automatically start adding photos.

Now, I would recommend not selecting your entire C: drive. You'll end up adding a lot of junk to Picasa. For example, you'll add pictures in your temporary Internet files folder. So, try to be as specific as possible when selecting folders.

To get all pictures to open in Picasa, you must change your file associations. I have a tip that explains how to do this on my site. You'll need to follow the steps for every type of photo (JPG, GIF, TIFF, etc.) you want to include.

If you don't have Picasa, download it from Google's website. This free software may become your favorite photo-managing program. It's a snap to use!

2006-07-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

HAVE A COMPLAINT ABOUT A BUSINESS? GET HELP ONLINE!
Patrick in Hilton Head, SC, wants to file a complaint about an online business. He's wondering if there is an online agency like the Better Business Bureau.

If you have a complaint, there are several things you can do. First, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Your second option is to contact the attorney general's office. Most have a consumer affairs office. A full list of attorneys general is online.

These are good options for resolving a dispute. If you believe you've been defrauded, you should also contact the FTC. It has an online form for reporting a number of grievances. However, it doesn't get involved in dispute resolution.

To learn more, you can read about the FTC's complaint process on my site. Then, you can link to the complaint form.

2005-11-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

Heart's Desire

In the Yearning Desire there is a theme that weaves throughout it like the life and all the works of C. S. Lewis

For example in the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Beavers inform the children that Aslan is on the move and the children feel a strange stirring in their hearts. Peter in particular says he's "longing" to meet this Aslan. He doesn't say he's curious; he says he's longing, and that carries a very different meaning�.

To long for something means you've had it in your mind for a while and now you have it fix your heart on getting it like that special something for Christmas�Longing carries with it the concept of desire.

Another example is the Surprised by Joy, where C.S. Lewis introduces the concept of longing as the signature quest of his childhood and young adulthood.

While for a time an atheist it wasn't until years later when C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity that he eventually realized what he'd been longing for: God. It was not the Norse gods of the pagan world, not even the gods or spirits of fantasy worlds, but the God of the Bible�a real, living Being in whom we have life and a life promised to go on forever.

When we meet God it becomes our heart desire and a part of our role, to becomes like C.S. Lewis, to help all we call friend to understand that their inward heart desire and all those longing comes from an inborn desire to know the God of the universe.

We become, like those Beavers with Peter, telling all about God and Jesus, the King of King with an urgency knowing that as each pasting moment it only brings still closer Jesus imminent return.

We all long to meet the true King but will you recognize his Name?

Next in 2006, like C.S. Lewis, will you seek to help all who you friend then do the same.

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. Psalm 73:25 NLT
adapted from Walking Through the Wardrobe by Sarah Arthur (Tyndale) pp 77-83

2005-11-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

"
Are you a rebel?

A rebel rejects the expectations, rules, and power of the organization or individual holding authority.

Here living in the South, in my adopted state of Florida, I�m learning that sometimes being a rebellion can be good.

For example our US history shows it was rebels who led our nation to victory and our independence from British rule. Rebels by their actions did not accept what they saw as unjust treatment. They were unwilling to giving to pressure, from the Tories those loyal to England, to just conform. While for a time they negotiated and petition when then giving no other choice in 1776 became willing to confront going to war.

A good picture of rebellion is a great tug-of-war with the authority figure holds one end of the rope while the rebel pulls on the other. Yet when we look at our rebellion it�s not a tug-of-war because the picture changes dramatically. As the rebel our feet is mired in quicksand and God is pulling on the rope, not to ruin our lives, but to lead us to a safer footing.

My wayward children," says the Lord, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts." Jeremiah 3:22 NLT

When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and you stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:305 NLT

Create in me a new heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.�Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 41:10,12

from the TouchPoint Bible with commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 1257

2005-11-29T18:02:00.000-08:00

Follow your destiny, Wherever it leads you.

That the title of Blue Mountain Arts card by Vicki Silvers the verse inside read in part:

There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by. Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the why�s and what if�s,and rid yourself of confusion.

As I read this card I thought about my life its passage as it seem to vividly described where I am now!. I also hope some that read about it in this blog will see the truth that resonate with that passage. They know they are at a very special fork in the road.

Throughout my life I of remember a line from a great Robert Frost poem I learn some 30 years again in high school from, The Road Not Taken It has always had a very special place in their life:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

If you have also reached the point often describe as being sick and tired of being sick and tired, please take time to set your Goals 2006 looking to:

Take life to the next level in order to win or in the process set a new world record in the process

To be a contender become close enough this time to grab the gold ring instead as you have in the past always seem to come up a little short

To become unwilling to any longer sit in stands and watch others win at a game you are just as capable of winning

Last to ollow the final words in that Vicki Silver�s card:

Whatever was is in the past. Whatever is and what�s important. The past is a brief reflection.

The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.

2005-11-29T17:36:00.000-08:00

C. S. Lewis was born on Nov 29 1898

Forty years plus after his death it is startlingly clear that he was not only a keen apologist but also a true prophet for our postmodern age.

Lewis wrote his book Miracles in 1947, before most Christians were aware of the emerging philosophy of naturalism, which says that there is a naturalistic explanation for everything in the universe.

Naturalism undercuts any objective morality, opening a door to tyranny. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis warned that naturalism turns human beings into objects to be controlled and turns values into "mere natural phenomena" that can be selected and inculcated into a passive population by powerful Conditioners. He predicted a time when those who want to remold human nature "will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique."

Why was Lewis so uncannily prophetic?

One reason is that Lewis was a professor with a specialty in medieval literature. This gave him a mental framework shaped by the whole scope of intellectual history and Christian thought.

We Christians need to liberate ourselves from the prison of our own narrow worldview and immerse ourselves in Christian ideas "down the ages." The best way to celebrate Lewis's birthday is to be at our posts, as he liked to say, with renewed spirits and with probing and informed minds.

adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 665-66

2005-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Small changes can generate new feelings of freedom.
By Ed Mitchell

Have you ever seen one of those optical illusion drawings? You know the ones where there is a picture and at first glance you can just see one face. But as you continue looking and change your focus ever so slightly you get a surprise when another image in the picture appears!

The world is seen very different from the perspective of a giant eagle and that of a field mouse. In the same way own perspective on life is like one of the optical illusions and become very powerful but we won't necessarily see them until we seek a different viewpoint. The results being just to make needed small shift of our perspective so to bring about profound changes and to develop visualization exercise so to use creative mind to see all the until than hidden information. We need build our faith and our own ability to allow changes easily letting it build our self-esteem and to inspire and allow us to enjoy a new sense of freedom.

2005-11-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Life exists and is connected
By Ed Mitchell
From Dr Robert Anthony's "Rapid manifesation" program

That which I seek is seeking me, I let go of how it would come to me and I focus on my heart desires. My higher self within me knows how to make it happen, so I just relax and let go. Everything that is necessary for the fulfillment of my desires is lovingly and harmoniously drawn to me. I accept this or something better, I am ready, receptive and grateful and so it is.
When our thoughts become God's thoughts, and when our desires become God's desires, God cannot fail to bring about our desires. They all will be fulfilled so need not worry about our future but ask to be given.
While this is true most of us still living life of struggle? The reason is we still are experiencing anxiety and unhappiness because we invited or asked at some point in the past we are living now often unconsciously due to having negative beliefs.
Although we live still a �fallen� world and a negative world we don�t need to think negatively. As natural forces like the earth gravitational force is overcome we are able to climb to the top of any mountain. As we overcome negative forces and negative thoughts we will begin to prosper. Also we overcome negative thoughts and forces when we replaced them with positive thoughts.
The problem is very few people have even learned these very profound and powerful techniques and then apply them so to receive all the hidden benefits

First to receive, you must ask and clearly know what we ask.
Imagine you want to go London, or is it perhaps New York. Fulfillment will only result when you know were you do want to go or you will go nowhere.
Goal setting and writing those goals down will help you get a clearer vision of how to ask so to end the thousands of negative thoughts that are in conflict with your written goal or desire.
Next every morning when you wake up and every night before you retire, revise that goal and write down all you want like this "I intent to ....and will accept it or something better."

Use the exact words because words are so important, but trust God and you will see in time results.

Second break all your negative thoughts so to speed up the process
Dr Robert Anthony shares that there will be dramatically change in the quality of your life when you do what he calls flip switch. From time to time during the day, take at least 17 seconds to think about good feelings. Think of the people or events you feel good about, and grateful. Think of what makes you feel good, and focus on that for 17 seconds. Feeling bad, flip the switch, so you can feel good; feeling good, flip the switch so to feel even better. Focus for just 17seconds and you will see dramatically change in your life.

Third stop worrying and for 3 minutes seek whether your desires to be fulfilled.
John Harricaran shared this 3 minutes power pause technique. Before you exercise, or at other time in your schedule of events make a deal with yourself to leave problems alone for 3 minutes so to think about whatever you want. For 3 minutes follow each of these 3 steps: step one: disconnect with your problems. This step is done. Second step: think of how you would feel if your desires have already come true. This step done: Third steps say thank you, be grateful to God.

Each technique is very simple, right? Then begin today at follow each and you will find out what happens, you must remind yourself seek only the truth.

2005-11-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

'Don't Worry, Be Happy'
By Ed Mitchell
I know most of you must have heard the hit single 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' by Bobby McFerrin. While it�s a very catchy song it perhaps does not best convey why not to worry.

Yet we don�t need to worry and can live a happy, resilient and optimistic life. Also when life is wonderful protects us from the stress linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.

For example Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
The choice is simple choose to be happy and is relatively easy, if only we decide to be a happy person. It begins by having a relationship with God and others that is essential to our happiness.
Daily we need to avoid clashes, constant arguments, and let go of all resentments. When an argument seems unavoidable we need to still try and make an effort to understand the situation and get along with well with others.

Here are 8 WAY TO �Not Worry and BE HAPPY�

1) Being grateful is a great attitude as is being thankful.
Get into the habit of thanking everyone but mostly each day thank God for being alive.

2) News is stressful. Get less of it.
Some people just can't live without knowing the latest news, but be sensible do let reports give you a bad day.

3) Seek God
A supportive religious connection is not just recommended it needed. Become a part of a religious group which has singing, sacraments, and prayers that brings an inner peace.

4) Manage your time.
Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be developed into a finer skill to give you that extra reserve you desire.

3) Laugh and laugh everyday.
Seek out daily a good joke? Tell it to friends or family for as they say -'Laughter is the best medicine'.

4) Express your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you.
When you share they will reciprocate sharing with you too. Its important not to keep pent up anger of frustrations, that is bad for your health. Find ways of express feeling in a way that will never cause more injury or hurt to anyone.

5) Work hard doing something that brings tremendous personal satisfaction.
Employment, hobbies, sports, or volunteering is needed. You need to do something that gives you a feeling of being competent in finishing a task. Accomplishments are necessary for they give us a sense of value. Do things worthy of the investment of your time.

6) Make learning a joyful exercise.
Try and learn something everyday. Learning expands and broadens your horizons and will prepare you for even more opportunities in the future.

7) Run, jog, swim, or walk but something for your body so to feel alive.

8) Avoid exposure to the negative like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.

Remember and follow these 8 simple things everyday and �Don�t Worry -Be happy�
and 'The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change' Therefore, when you find yourself in an unbearable situation don�t worry but have faith that God knows about it and act knowing you do have the ability to change it.

2005-11-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

What determines the quality of our life?
By Ed Mitchell
The quality of our life is determined by feelings. You choose your thoughts so learn to be the rider not the horse. Learn to think the better you feel the better life you live. Feeling of worry and anxiety never produces a good life; only feeling of happy and being enthusiastic each and every day.
Dr Wayne Dyer tells us "A feeling is a physical reaction to a thought.
The quality of our life starts in your mind. You can't bypass your thinking so to experience different kind of feeling. Your thoughts need to change in order to change the quality of our life.
The reason we think that way we do is that we have been conditioned. We have learned to react to things and events in an automatic manner. For example upon hearing about a death we feel sad and depressed and those thought causes a bad day.
"Yet, why should I feel sad and depressed? Are those thoughts making your situation better or are we just making everyone miserable?"
The answer is obvious, depression and sadness doesn�t help anyone, but only makes you and everyone around you miserable.
Begin by learning not to listen to bad or negative thoughts, and instead, choose to believe the promises of God and be happy and enthusiastic. God can help you take absolute control of your thoughts every moment of the day so you can change and learn to think deliberately.
Start by believing God wants you to enjoy happiness, to be loved, and live in prosperity. Refuse any thoughts of unhappiness and pessimism.
Second begin daily to determine the quality of your life by learning to the rider, not the horse and control you own state of well being, it�s a task worth all the effort.

2005-11-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

How to Use Article Directories to Increase Traffic

By Cody Moya

SEO. Keywords. Metatags. Metadescriptions. Spiders. Robots.

Do you feel overwhelmed when you hear people talking about all these things? Most people do. Here's a quick glossary, and then the reason you don't have to worry about these words if you know a couple of web secrets.

- Metatags � Words embedded in your web page that tell viewers and search engine automatons about the content on your page.

- Metadescriptions � Same as metatags, but in sentence form, and with the possibility of being used on search engines as your site description.

- Keywords � The words you use in your metas and in the text on your page to describe your product or service.

- Spiders or Robots � miniprograms or automations sent out to automatically browse the Web by search engines, they catalog your site by keywords.

- SEO � Search Engine Optimization, this means your site has the appropriate keywords and structure to be properly cataloged by those spiders and robots.

Here's why this information isn't that important: it's archaic. Metas were devised in the early days of the search engines, when they weren't terribly powerful, so that your good content could be properly referenced by the engines.

What they found was that unscrupulous webmasters loaded up the metas with keywords that were popular and would rank well, but that really had nothing to do with the content on the page. This is called search engine spam because it works the same way and is approximately as useful.

Spiders today don't pay much attention to the metas. They look for keywords in your content, and the most cutting-edge ones look for grammatical structure as well.

It won't be long before they can tell whether your site is actually sensible. And they are looking for web pages that are frequently updated, not just static sites that contain the same information year in and year out.

Interestingly, your customers are looking for good content as well. One simple little trick can satisfy both of them inexpensively.

Good articles containing information about your product or service, rotated regularly.

Drive Traffic with Great Content

Not everyone can write well enough to fulfill this requirement. And not everyone has the time to sit and write these articles. For those who can't, there are several options.

You can hire a professional writer to ghostwrite these articles for you. This is an expensive and time-consuming prospect. Most writers charge a minimum of $35 per hour, and web writers often charge much more.

And you'll have to sit with that writer, educate him or her on your product or service, and ensure they're ready to tackle writing about it before they start.

You can copy someone else's content with permission. This is an interesting idea. There are a number of online databases that provide pre-written articles optimized for your keywords, for free.

The hitch: you must also display a resource box on your website referencing the original author of the article and providing a link back to his or her page. This makes them into the expert, not you.

You can purchase keyword-optimized articles from an article broker like www.YourOwnArticles.com . This is the happy medium. You have good optimized articles, created for you by professional writers, published on your site with your name, and costing you minimal cash because they are mass-produced.

Using Article Directories for Your Purposes

But wait, there's more!

After you purchase articles to publish on your website with your name, you can also buy extras to publish to article directories. Not everyone's going to be as smart as you about how they put content on their site.

Many will instead take the easy way, and download those free articles to publish, with resource boxes, to their own website.

If they download your articles, those resource boxes will point to your website. In essence, you can direct traffic from your competitors and from those who provide similar or complementary products and services to you, straight to your own website. And you can do it for free, after the cost of the article.

Some article directories online are:

- Go Articles: http://www.goarticles.com
- Ezine Articles: http://www.ezinearticles.com
- Idea Marketers: http://www.ideamarketers.com
- Marketing Seek: http://www.marketing-seek.com/index.php

Resource for this lesson:

Get Article Submitter here:
http://subscriptionserver.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=91&c=348307

Here For Your Success

Cody Moya

Usefull resources:

Private Label Articles
http://subscriptionserver.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=92&c=348307

=================================================================
Article Re-print Rights Information

You may re-print the article published in this email as long as
you comply with following terms:

Article must be published "as is" (unedited). Article must be published with below the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. URL in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks. Article cannot be used in spam communications

Bio paragraph (resource box) below:

----------------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his free 50 parts
course on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his free
Article Marketing Course and get additional information at his
website: http://www.articlemarketingcourse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------

2005-11-11T07:02:00.000-08:00

Choosing whom to serve

As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15 NLT

A momentous document

the place was the Mayflower, anchored off the coast of Cape Cod. One hundred and two passengers, including 34 children had spent seven weeks crossing the ocean from England. Among them were 27 adults and 14 children who were Pilgrims, separatists who had fled England for Holland, yet wished to retain their English heritage. They made arrangements with the Virginia Company to settle just south of the Hudson River within the northernmost boundary of the Virginia Charter. However, fierce winds blew them off course to the north�to the shores of Cape Cod.

They realized they would be on their own since they had no agreement with the New England Company. On board the ship some of the non-Pilgrim bonded servants and those hired by contract greeted the decision to settle in Cape Cod as an opportunity for rebellion. The Pilgrim leadership saw that they must act quickly to prevent a mutiny.

The result came to be known as the Mayflower Compact, the first time in recorded history in which free men covenanted together to form a civil government with the authority to enact laws that the people promised to obey.

Before leaving the Netherlands, the Pilgrims had knelt on the dock to ask God's blessing on their voyage. After the first winter on Cape Cod, 47 people died, leaving only three families intact. These humble Christian men and women were to be the seeds of what would become the United States of America.

adapted from The One Year� Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale) pp 632-33

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

2005-11-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

Southwestern Chicken & White Bean Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Vegetable cooking spray

1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes

3/4 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 3/4 cups Swanson� Chicken Broth (regular, Natural Goodness� or Certified Organic)

1 cup Pace� Chunky Salsa

1 can (about 15 oz.) small white beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

2005-11-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Higher Rankings Through Private Label Articles

By Cody Moya

The Internet, above all, is a vast repository of data, and most data is stored in the form of text. When search engines prowl the web in search of good sites to rate highly, the only thing that will register on them is text.

If your page is light on text, chances are you will not rank well. And if your page has plenty of text but it's put together in the wrong way, you probably will rank poorly too.

That's where private label articles come in. PRAs are groups of articles, generally organized into broad categories that you can purchase in bulk from an article broker like www.YourOwnArticles.com .

You have a choice between purchasing a subscription, in which large listings of these articles are sent to you or made available to you to download, or making a single purchase of a group of articles.

These articles are pre-optimized for search engines with keywords arranged properly, correct grammar and spelling, and a reasonably generic focus.

Best of all, they are yours to do with as you will. You have purchased all rights to the use of this article, and you can personalize it in any way you want, add or delete content, and put your name on it as author if you like.

After you've chosen the most appropriate keyword for your website and your sales methodology, you can put private label articles throughout your website. With their optimized mention of keywords in appropriate places, your ranking on the major search engines will start to rise.

Why Not Use Free Articles?

You've probably also seen article directories � large public databases where you can download as many articles for your own use as you like, provided you retain the resource box placed there by the author crediting him or her. Resource boxes also contain a link to the author's website that you cannot tamper with.

These articles are free for use, at least financially; however, they'll cost you in other ways, like loss of prestige, loss of sales, and loss of customers. One or two of these articles, particularly if you go for the known experts in the field, won't hurt you. If you fill your site up with free articles, you're sending a message you don't want to send.

Specifically, you're telling your customers that you aren't competent enough in your supposed field of expertise to write your own information.

You are also giving every person who browses your website an easy way to get away from your website and onto someone else's � they just need to click that link in the reference box. And if the article's good enough to capture your attention, chances are good it will pique your customer's attention enough to get them to look for more from the same author.

In short, the resource boxes steal your customers and your sales, and you're not even aware of it when it happens.

Other Things To Improve Your Rankings

You can use the article directory system along with private label articles to boost your search engine ranking, just as others do. Article directories take most articles submitted to them, provided they are written with some competence by people who have not violated their terms of use. You can donate your private label articles, under your name and with your resource box, to article directories too.

The first thing this does is set up another link to your website from the article directory. Every time someone links to your website, your ranking goes up just a little bit.

This works especially well if the link includes your chosen keywords as well. Since the resource box is yours to set up, you can ensure that the keywords used are exactly what you want.

Now you sit back and wait. Others will come along and, if your article is a good one and contributes new or necessary information to someone else's website, they will download your articles and use them. Each website that uses an article with your resource box helps boost your search engine placement a little bit more.

There are dozens of other methods in which you can use private label articles to boost your ranking: newsletters, ebooks, viral reports. Experimentation on your website is the best way to determine which methods are best for you.

Here For Your Success

Cody Moya

Usefull resources:

Private Label Articles
http://subscriptionserver.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=92&c=348307

=================================================================
Article Re-print Rights Information

You may re-print the article published in this email as long as
you comply with following terms:

Article must be published "as is" (unedited). Article must be published with below the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. URL in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks. Article cannot be used in spam communications

Bio paragraph (resource box) below:

----------------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his free 50 parts
course on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his free
Article Marketing Course and get additional information at his
website: http://www.articlemarketingcourse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------

2005-11-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

How do things look to you today?

The wicked will not rule the godly, for then the godly might be forced to do wrong.

Psalm 125:3 NLT

Seeking what is really there

"Life under Louis XIV was not easy for the French Huguenots. They loved to sing psalms, but the king made an edict that forbade the singing of the Psalms almost everywhere. So the Huguenots went out to the fields and forests and continued their singing. Psalm 125 was a favorite of theirs, maybe because it said that the wicked would not rule the godly. Or maybe it was because the Huguenots could see something that Louis XIV couldn't see.

Remember the story of Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6:8-23)? The servant couldn't understand why Elisha wasn't bothered about the hordes of enemy soldiers surrounding them. It looked like disaster, but Elisha could see horses and chariots of fire surrounding the enemy soldiers.

The same has been true for many other saints, including Paul and Silas, who sang at midnight in the Philippian jail, and Shadrach, Meshech, and Adednego, who calmly entered the fiery furnace.

When John Woolman, a Quaker missionary to American Indians, was faced with danger, he wrote, "I found my soul filled with comfort as I meditated on the love of God."

John Paton, missionary to South Sea Island natives, was surrounded by men seeking to assassinate him, but he wrote, "I never left without hearing, 'Lo, I am with you always.'"

How does it look for you today? Hopeless? Then take another look.

adapted from The One Year� Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for October 24"

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

2005-11-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to send me any comments or questions you
may have about My Life Blog

Its called a Feedback Loop. I would be only too happy to
help you in any way that I can.

Send your email and from time to time I'll send you important updates that
will provide information that has the potential to
greatly improve your online bus�ness...and prof�ts!

Rest assured that I will only ever recomm�nd products that are considered
to be of HIGH value and will provide indisputably benefits to help you grow
your bus�ness... that's Newgenco.com "Doing Business A New Way" guarant�e!

Ed Mitchell
edm@newgenco.com

2005-11-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

============================================================
Trivia Question Answer
============================================================
Here's the answer to the trivia question I asked earlier...

Why is a Coca-Cola can red?

Answer: The following is from The Coca-Cola Company:

Almost from the beginning, the colors red and white have
been used in visual advertising for Coca-Cola to dramatize
the trademark. The earliest use of red in our advertising
was by Atlanta drug stores selling Coca-Cola.

They would hang a white oil cloth sign on the store front
or awning with slogans printed in red that stated "Drink
Coca-Cola, Delicious and Refreshing 5 cents" or "Coca-Cola
Sold Here 5 cents."

In 1890, the trademark "Coca-Cola" began to appear in red
in newspapers. During the late 1920s, the trademark "Coca-
Cola" was used in white on a "Standard Red" background.

The color arrangement of red on white and white on red has
been used alternately over the years. In 1970, the Dynamic
Ribbon Device was introduced, and the "Standard Red" became
brighter.

2005-11-03T08:16:00.001-08:00

============================================================
How Blogs and RSS Can Boost Your Website's Page Rank!
============================================================

A few months into Internet market�ng and you'll get to
realize the importance of search engine optimization for
your online business. Search engine optimization, or SEO,
is a vital approach to have your website figure prominently
in search engine result pages for relevant queries.

In fact, 80% of the traffic you will be able to generate
for your website would come from search engines, hence the
value of tapping into the market that the said search
engines would provide.

A few months into search engine optimization and you'll
get to realize the value of having your link appear in as
many places as possible in the World Wide Web. Your
website's link would be a convenient way of directing web
users to your pages.

The number of links you have displaced all over the
virtual world is reflected through a statistic called your
link popularity. The higher your link popularity is, the
better chances you'll have of driving more traffic for your
website and succeeding with your online business.

There are a lot of ways by which you could boost your link
popularity. A lot!

But one of the most potent strategies is the use of blogs
and RSS.

Blogs, or web logs as they are formally called, were
originally meant to serve as online journals for people to
share the events of their days and their thoughts about
different matters.

But with the powerful features attributed to blogs, it was
only a matter of time before Internet marketers discovered
their market�ng potentials.

Today, blogs are powerful weapons used by online
businessmen to promote their commercial websites. Let's
take a look at the reason behind this.

* Search engines love blogs. Try to run a search about any
subject, and chances are, you'll find blogs dominating good
position in the result pages.

If you apply for a free blog account like www.blogger.com
which is owned by Google, undoubtedly the largest search
engine in the world with a 67.4% market share, you'll
immediately see an undeniable connection that would favor
your needs if you do decide to avail of this service of
theirs.

* Blogs are accessible for a lot of people. Blogs are easy
to set up and use. Additionally, updating your blog would
be a simple task as well. All you have to do is to type
what you want to share and click on a button to publish.

And search engines love regularly updated content. With
blogs, you could achieve this without having to change your
source code.

* Blogs are free. Whether you decide to use a web account,
like the aforementioned www.blogger.com , or a movable type
program which you could upload on your own server under
your own domain name, like www.wordpress.com , blogs won't
require any financial burden.

* Blogs have their own network. This interconnectivity
would allow you to reach a new audience which would get to
receive your business message.

The trick is to include your main website's link in your
blog entries. These entries can be in the form of reviews,
news items, opinions and the likes. Instantly, you'd have a
high ranking website promoting a link to your main website,
and this would provide a big boost on the volume of traffic
for the latter.

Additionally, blogs can also generate RSS feeds from the
entries therein.

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. It's slowly
becoming the industry standard for message conveyance. By
2010, it is expected that 90% of Internet users would be
relying on RSS for their online communication needs.

Currently, RSS 2.0 technology is being used to deliver
highly compressed audio and video files. This means that
you could include the same for your website without
alienating users with slower connections.

RSS is a great market�ng tool. When your visitors would
subscribe to your mailing list, you could send them RSS
feeds instead. Such would be delivered straight to their
desktop, in real time, hence eliminating the possibility of
your message being filtered as spam.

Also, RSS feeds can be displayed on your website, or
websites, in real time as well. This means that your
website, or websites, would be fed with ever-changing
content, hence, increasing their page rank for every
relevant search engine query.

With all these facts, it's no wonder why blogs and RSS are
hailed as the greatest innovations in Internet market�ng,
the recent years considered.

They are two of the most efficient ways of catapulting
your online business to the next level, as they could most
certainly boost the number of visitors that grace your
website, and consequently, the number of sales you'll be
able to close.

------------------------------------------------------------
David Isaacs is the co-founder of Infinite Revenue, an
all in one onl�ne market�ng solut�on private membership
site that provides all the services and products you may
ever need to make mon�y onl�ne... for less than the cost
of a candy bar a day!
http://InfiniteRevenue.notlong.com

2005-11-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

"Onl�ne Market�ng Tips & Tricks" Newsletter.

D�rect market�ng's a tough way to make a living, but if
you can master certain skills it can be extremely
lucrative. It takes on many different forms, some of which
are easily translatable to the web.

Although the term may bring to mind door to door salesmen
pushing their wares to housewives in robes and curlers, it
also has roots in print ads such as classifieds and space
ads and d�rect mail.

The internet has created a massive opportunity for the
skilled d�rect marketer to thrive without doing the
customary legwork and engaging in personal contact with
their prospects, basically expanding on the concept of
d�rect mail.

So what skills do you need to hone in order to succeed at
d�rect market�ng?

The top priority of anyone interested in making money on
the internet should be their copywriting skills. This is
simply putting your sales message into words.

Since the face to face encounter has been eliminated you
need to be able to convey your pitch through the words on
the pages that your prospects are reading.

A great way to polish your copywriting skills, even if
you've never written a single word of ad copy before, is to
create a swipe file. This is just a file of already
successful ad campaigns.

Swipe files are incredibly useful tools. Every major
player in d�rect market�ng keeps a swipe file and for good
reason. Everybody gets stuck for words and ideas at some
point. When this happens it's good to have an example of
past successes to go to and freshen your creative juices
and get the words flowing again.

What should your file consist of?

You should gather any material that has spurred you to
action, whether its purpose was to get you to buy something
or just leave your name and email address. Copy the good
stuff and study it. Realize what was in the ad that made
you act on the offer.

Look for layout designs (bulleted lists are a big direct
market�ng tactic), action words, headlines and sub heads.
You'll notice certain words popping up along with questions
and statements that are all fairly alike but are tailored
to specific products and services.

That's the key to a good swipe file. Gather a wide array
of different styles and mold the message to your particular
target audience. Study the material and write out many
different versions of the same ad. Practice your art and
perfect it.

A word of caution though. Never copy an ad word for word.
That's plagiarism and it's illegal. Use your swipe file as
an aid only, to sharpen your copywriting skills and make
you better at d�rect market�ng :-)

-----------------------

As you would already know, driving traffic top your site
is the key to building a solid online business. Trouble is,
this is also one of the hardest things to achieve online.

However I've just discovered a brand new 8-day ecourse
that shows you exactly how to dominate your niche and get
high search engine ranking using simple strategies even a
"internet dummy" could do.

Not only this, but it's completely fr�e. You can see all
the details yourself and signup for the ecourse here...

http://www.nichebot.com/keyword-courses/total-niche-domination.php

-----------------------

Here's another freebie pdf report I found recently. If you
haven't read it before I suggest you do read it. There are
a few concepts in the report that are very important if you
are interested in accumulating huge wealth fast.

Grasping a few of the "new" wealth concepts discussed in
the report will benefit you immensely in the months to come.

You can download your fr�ebie here...

http://www.XoneMarketing.com/vault/speedwealth.pdf

-----------------------

For your enjoyment (and information), h'ere is this week's
quick trivia question...

Why is a Coca-Cola can red?

Forl the answer email edm@newgenco.com

2005-11-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

Niche Marketing with Great Articles

By Cody Moya

One of the most magnificent qualities of the Internet is that, by bringing the world close together, it enables people who fill one tiny corner of interest to come together, marketing to each other, sharing ideas, and growing as a niche community.

For instance, consider antique marble collecting. I don't know many people who collect antique marbles. But if I do a search online, I can find dozens of sites that specialize in it, many with excellent information on their sites, places to trade and sell my antique marbles, and tools with which to make my own marbles.

How can you leverage the enormous power of niche marketing?

The best way is by providing your web site with great content focused directly at these niche markets. Instead of selling to the masses who are interested in Bono and Coca-cola, sell to those who are hungry for information and resources concerning their special interest.

In order to do this, you must identify yourself as an expert in the field you're targeting.

Becoming A Guru

Gurus are the wise men who sit on the mountains, dispensing advice. You don't have to sit on a mountain but you do need to dispense advice if you're going to be a guru. This means you should know what you're talking about.

Online, degrees and education don't mean as much as the information you can prove you have. The way you prove your knowledge online is by supplying your website, whether it's a sales website or a networking one, with great, original, valuable content.

This is great news for anyone who writes well. Despite its promotion as a great image-based medium, the Internet is primarily a text-based medium.

It delivers pictures, music, and video very well indeed, but most information today is contained in text, and the search engines that catalog your website deal in text as well (even the image-based search engines focus on the titles and descriptive text you assign to your pictures and video).

But what if you know your niche market, but don't write well? There's a solution for that too. You can purchase content others have written for you from www.YourOwnArticles.com, or you can have content custom-written for your niche market.

Finding Great Content

There are numerous great places to find content online to add to your website, and � better yet � you can get the content for free.

Or so it would seem.

Sites like GoArticles and Idea Marketers are known as article directories. They provide the service of matching well-written, informative content with webmasters who desperately need it.

The articles are free for the taking, with the caveat that if you display one on your website, you must also cite the article's author and link to his or her website.

Well, free isn't always free. And in this case, when you're trying to establish yourself as a knowledgeable expert in a niche market, it's likely to undermine your entire purpose.

When you list someone else as the author of an informative article on your website, you're setting that other person up as the guru on your website.

And you're even providing this competing guru with the ultimate marketing tool � a link to his or her website when they've just interested the customer with an excellent piece of information.

Instead of using article directories, you're better off running articles on your website that you can claim as your own. You want articles ghostwritten for you, and the way to obtain them is to go to article brokers like www.YourOwnArticles.com.

These companies deal with private label articles, content that you can claim as your own because all rights to the article have been sold by the author. Instead of advertising someone else as the guru, you've just shown your customers that you, yourself, are the knowledgeable one.

Articles, Newsletters, and Ebooks

Private label articles can be used either as individual articles or content on your website, or they can be used to build newsletters that you can send out to subscribers.

If you get a nice collection of articles, you can even create ebooks to sell or give away to your customers as reference sources. All of these purposes are valid and intelligent ways to use private label articles, and any of them will drive business to, not away from, your website.

Here For Your Success

Cody Moya

Useful resources:

Private Label Articles
http://subscriptionserver.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=92&c=348307

=================================================================
Article Re-print Rights Information

You may re-print the article published in this email as long as
you comply with following terms:

Article must be published "as is" (unedited). Article must be published with below the author's bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information included. URL in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks. Article cannot be used in spam communications

Bio paragraph (resource box) below:

----------------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Moya writes about Article Marketing in his free 50 parts
course on Internet Marketing. You can sign up for his free
Article Marketing Course and get additional information at his
website: http://www.articlemarketingcourse.com
----------------------------------------------------------------

2005-11-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

"Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil." � As A Man Thinketh

In the original Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield tells the story of Monty, who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer of little means. During his senior year he was assigned a writing project to describe what he wanted to be when he grew up. His seven-page essay minutely detailed the 200-acre ranch he wanted to own. It included a diagram of the ranch and a detailed floor plan of his 4,000 square foot home.

Despite the passion and effort Monty put into his paper, he received it back with a large �F� written on it and a note to see the teacher after class. The teacher told Monty that the reason he had given him that grade was because his paper was unrealistic. He went on to cite all of the reasons why, and told Monty that if he would rewrite the paper with a more realistic goal, he would reconsider the grade. After considering it for a week, the young man turned in the same paper with no changes, along with the remark, �You can keep the F and I�ll keep my dream.�

The conclusion of the true story has the teacher bringing 30 students for a summer campout at the 200-acre ranch of the now grown (and successful) Monty who lives in his 4,000 square foot dream home.

If it worked for the son of an itinerant horse trainer it will work for you. The principle is simple: (1) create a dream that is so big that it will keep you excited, (2) define the dream in minute detail, (3) live in the dream so that it becomes real to you on the inside, (4) and then hold on to it so tightly that no one can take it away from you.

James Allen goes on to offer this great wisdom, �Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals...For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.�

But Monty, perhaps, offered the greatest wisdom, �You can keep the F and I�ll keep my dream.�

And that�s worth thinking about.

2005-11-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Blogs for beginners by Mary Hunt

The first time I heard it, I was clueless. I didn't even know how to use the word "blog" in a sentence. Now I have one. Blog, a shortcut word for "Web log," is an online diary or chronology of thoughts. These days, it seems like just about everyone has a blog. I remember when a diary was so personal you put a padlock on it and wore the key around your neck. Now we open our diaries for the whole world to see. Sometimes I invite readers to leave their comments on my blog, although most of the time it's just me pontificating on whatever happens to cross my desk or my mind on any given day.

If you do much work on a computer, you know the meaning of "computer crash." I contend that computers

only crash when their operators have been negligent in making back-up copies or saving their documents with regularity. I don't think I've ever had a crash to which my response was, "So what? I just saved!" You know that feeling in your stomach when you look at the screen and it's blank, or the version of a document you thought you dumped weeks ago is now all that remains.

Anyway, I started keeping my blog early in September. I didn't have a great number of entries, but I had amassed a nice collection, including numerous comments from readers. I liked it a lot. Visitors to the site could scroll down to read previous days' offerings.

Not long ago I opened my blog to add an entry and got that empty-screen sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nothing. Blank. Empty. Not a single entry, not a comment. It was as if in the dead of night it had erased itself. I couldn't believe it was gone. Argh.

I poked around for a bit to see if there might be some auto back-up function. No. But I did find a tiny calendar. About then I realized it was the first day of a new month. Could it be...? I clicked on the previous month and up popped all the entries. Apparently, this clever program has an auto-archive function. On the last day of the month it simply takes all the entries and comments and neatly files them into an archive. It cleans house!

Mary Hunt is the creator of Debt-Proof Living newsletter. Mary Hunt is the creator of Debt-Proof Living newsletter. You can signed up this or any other off Waterfront Media's email newsletters. If you later prefer not to receive these emails its easy to remove yourself from our mailing list via our email newsletter management page.

2005-11-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Stir-Fried Beef and Potatoes
Vinegar and garlic give this easy-to-fix dish its tasty zip.

Yield: 6 servings
Serving size: 1 1/4 cup

1 1/2 lb sirloin steak
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 large onions, sliced
1 large tomato, sliced
3 cups boiled potatoes, diced

1. Trim fat from steak and cut into small, thin pieces.

2. In large skillet, heat oil and saut� garlic until golden.

3. Add steak, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Cook for 6 minutes, stirring beef until brown.

4. Add onion and tomato. Cook until onion is transparent. Serve with boiled potatoes.

Each serving provides:

Calories: 274
Total fat: 5 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 56 mg
Sodium: 96 mg
Total fiber: 3 g
Protein: 24 g
Carbohydrates: 33 g
Potassium: 878 mg

2005-11-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

Famous last words

"John Wycliffe lay dying in Lutterworth, England. The year was 1384, and most of his influential friends in church and state had deserted him. Many thought he had gone too far.

For one thing, Wycliffe had dared to translate the Bible into English. He also urged a separation of church and state in order to reform the church. He attacked the corruption and the abuses of power that he observed�particularly among the friars. But most of all he preached that the Bible should be made available in every language.

It sounded like heresy, and since Wycliffe was now at the point of death, some felt he should reconsider his statements. So four friars and four senators crowded into his bedroom. They spoke sternly to him, reminding him of all he had advocated. Now was the time to confess the error of his ways.

Wycliffe was surprisingly alert. He asked if he could be raised in his bed so he could speak more clearly. Then he summoned all his remaining strength to quote Psalm 118:17, or at least part of it: ""I will not die, but I will live, and will again declare the evil deed of the friars.""

Wycliffe died, but his message and work lived on: the English Bible available to the common people. People die, but what they have begun is not halted by death. The trail they have left behind them goes on ahead of them.
�I will not die, but I will live to tell what the Lord has done. �Psalm 118:17 NLT
adapted from The One Year� Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for October 1"

2005-10-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

Alone in a Group of People
By Ed Mitchell

I know loneliness, true loneliness, and why it�s difference then being alone during my separation and later divorce. I could be in a room full of people, and loneliness was there. Loneliness was for a time my constant companion. During this time I felt separated from people, mostly due to the rejection by someone whose opinion truly mattered.

�I was just a reject, a loser who couldn't even make a eighteen year marriage work."

However, God�s Word showed me:

"I took you from the ends of the earth from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:9-10).

"For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected" (1 Timothy 4:4).

Once again I found hope as I discovered that I am incredibly worthwhile and valuable in God's eyes. God does not judge or look down at me but has chosen me as His special worker. Also God would strengthen me for whatever the task I faced, and upholding every step along the way.

Lord God, Thanks for chosen me to be Your child. Help me know I am a person of strength and worth because of You. Amen.

2005-10-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

Unless the Lord builds the house

"Benjamin Franklin is best known for his inventions (lightning rod) and his aphorisms ("early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"). But he was also a key figure when the thirteen colonies were giving birth to a new nation.

At the age of eighty-one, Franklin was the oldest representative at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Weeks after the convention began, representatives were still haggling about the relative voting power of large states and small states. Then Franklin stood up and said,

"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.�Have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men.�We have been assured, sir, that 'except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it,' and without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel."

The verse from Psalm 127 had its effect. A compromise was soon worked out, and a Constitution ratified by the states the following year.

adapted from The One Year� Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for October 27"

2005-10-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

My Physical and Emotional Isolation All Contribute To My Loneliness.

"I am like an owl in the desert, like a lonely owl in a far-off wilderness. I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof" (Psalm 102:6-7 NLT).

I was a lonely person like someone in a dark room staring off into the corner as loneliness became with my separation and divorce very much a part of my life. Struggling with loneliness cause to think and sometime share, 'Nobody seems to understand.'

Too often I was feeling the emotion of loneliness, and a feeling of isolation. It was becoming a huge gap between others and me for time, which I could not find a way to cross. I had shut myself off stopped caring to even answer the phone. I knew I was the one who created my loneliness.

Though this time I discovered mostly I didn't have many real friends and had not want to be around others. Now I just couldn't deal and still didn't want them around them. In this way I have chose this isolation. It was be by choice, and I had allow it to continue to now be contributing to my deeper problems of loneliness.

I had to make changes in order to fill the gap I had to get out and interact. I work at attending and becoming a part of Discovery Church, Divorce Recovery, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Moose. There I found other waiting to greet me. However, at first I still felt lonely and as soon again tempted to stay at home and not bother.

Still In a short time that huge gap of isolation began to close as my calendar once again filled with times being with other people.

God, please give me the strength and the will to kept going out and spend time with other people so to bridge the gap. I'm so tired of being alone. Amen.

2005-10-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ebooks are part of the new frontier of cyberspace.

Ebooks are an entirely new medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your ebook to increase incrementally. It's obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.
The publishing industry, I hope, does not intend to forever banish the printed word to the dustbin of history. Books in print have their own special qualities and merits, and the world would be diminished by their disappearance.

Having said that, let's look at what makes ebooks so important and so unique. Ebooks have certain abilities and qualities that other mediums do not possess.

For example, ebooks are fairly easy to produce, and their production cost is inexpensive. Just think about it: you don't need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the right software.

Additionally, ebooks are easily and rapidly distributed online. They are also easily updated; they do not require a second print run. All you need is to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.

Ebooks are also immediately obtainable. You don't have to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download it from a website, and presto! It's on your computer, ready to be read.

Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The potential is virtually limitless.

Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.

Another wonderful quality is that ebooks have no barriers in terms of publishing. You don't need to go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software. Figure out your market, write your book, post it on your website, and with the right business savvy, your audience will come to you.

Finally, you have creative control over your ebook. You don't have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don't have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.

2005-10-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Advertsing online is full of traps and dangers, but occassionally I come across something that gets me excited.

Of course, everyone knows that blogs are popular. You probably read one or more blogs yourself.

You may even have your own blog.

Well, did you know there are blogs that have thousands, some even millions, of loyal fans? The demographics are very good for offers of all kinds: High level of discretionary income, technology savvy and information hungry.

Think of them as raving, opinionated, enthusiastic people with money ;-)

What's that got to do with advertsing?

Well, similiar to Google AdWords, there is BlogAds.

If your product is positioned to appeal to bloggers (online addicts!) then this might be right for you.

BlogAds.com also has "MiniNetworks" of blogs you could advertise on. Check them out.

http://www.blogads.com

That's all the news for today,

-Dave Vallieres

2005-09-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

What was happening to me. There was no joy in what I usually loved doing

"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music" (Psalm 57:7).

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand" (Isaiah 41:10 NLT).

If you no longer enjoy the things you used to enjoy, it's another sign that you are like me experiencing depression. I have experienced some dark times, just as you are, but I have learned to kept my eyes on Jesus Christ and placed my faith in Him.

God is daily seeing me through, and today I can better understand those who are hurting, who don't feel God's love, and who desperately need His comfort.

God wants to help, just pray and ask

Faithful God, even though I don't feel like doing anything, I know that I need to get up and do something. Lead me back to an old hobby or activity, or perhaps I could try something new. Amen.

Also email edm@newgenco.com if I can help.

2005-09-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

How well are you running the race?

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what I should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NLT

Running the Race

As he watched athletes training for and competing in their games, Paul saw an illustration of the struggles and victories of the Christian life. Although our final victory over death through Christ is always assured, we must strive for daily victory over the issues and temptations we face now.

We discipline ourselves, not in order to earn salvation, but to experience the joy and victory God intends for us now!

Look hard at your spiritual life. Are you vigorously participating in the game, barely keeping pace, or merely watching from the stands?

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

2005-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

What are you and what will you become?

Pablo Picasso said, "Action is the foundational key to all success." He also reported as saying, "My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I
was a painter, and became Pablo Picasso."

2005-09-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

Guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness may be an integral part of your daily life now. The emotions themselves are not wrong, but the questions you need to ask yourself are Where will I let these emotions lead me? Will I let these feelings bring me down, or will I choose to keep my eyes on Jesus no matter what? Jesus loves you regardless of what you have done, what you look like on the outside, or what you look like on the inside. You can never do anything that will cause Him to love you less. That is amazing. That is God.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

Heavenly Father, when I choose to focus on You, I realize I am worthwhile and strong. Thank you for filling my future with hope and gladness. Amen.

2005-09-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

"Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?" (Jeremiah 20:18).

Good question. Maybe you have asked God a similar question.

There are times when hopelessness and pessimism may overwhelm you.

"You have a negative view of the past, of the present, and of the future. You feel that nothing is going to get better�that it's terrible now and it's going to stay this way the rest of your life," says Dr. Archibald Hart.

Hopelessness and pessimism are symptoms of depression, but depression will not last forever, even though it may sometimes feel like it. If you feel that you have no hope and if your words and thoughts are marked by negativity, tell God. Ask hard questions like Jeremiah did. State specifically why you feel hopeless and why you feel pessimistic. God answered Jeremiah's question with words of hope and promises of joy. Be honest with God and watch what He can do.

"They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion," declares the LORD. "They will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD�the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow" (Jeremiah 31:12-13).

Lord God, this is why I feel hopeless . . . and this is why I am pessimistic . . . Please turn my mourning into joy. Amen.

2005-09-26T09:08:00.000-07:00

10 Reasons To Survey Your Visitors, Subscribers And Customers

1. You'll find out what type of content visitors want to see at your web site. This will attract your visitors to revisit and read the content.

2. You'll find out how to improve existing products or services. This will attract new customers to buy from your business.

3. You'll find out which products or services your customers would like to see you sell in the future.
This will increase your back end product sales.

4. You'll find out how to improve your customer service. This will cut down on customer complaints and how to better resolve problems.

5. You'll find out how to improve your sales letters or ads. This will increase your sales, traffic or ezine subscribers.

6. You'll find out what kind of articles or interviews they want to see in your free e-zine. This will raise your e-zine's readership.

7. You'll find out how to design your web site to fit your visitors needs and wants. This will increase the time your visitors spend on your web site.

8. You'll find out what kind of non related products or services your customers would buy. This will help your business easily move into a different market.

9. You'll find out how to better price your products.
This will help you sell your products or services at at a price that will pull the most orders.

10. You'll find out were your potential customers are hanging out. This will inform you where to market and promote your products.

Next week featured article:
10 Web Site Add-Ons That Can Catapult Traffic

Stay tuned next Friday.

To download your resell rights

EASY LIST CLEANER SOFTWARE and PROFIT PULLING REPORTS

http://www.bmtezine.com/downloads/easylistcleaner.zip

http://www.bmtezine.com/downloads/ppreports.zip

Next week you will get link to download resell rights

INSTANT POP UP SUBSCRIBER SOFTWARE

and

HOW TO OUTSELL OTHER RESELLERS AND
BECOME A SUPER AFFILIATE

Best of Success,

Cody Moya

2005-09-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

One key for business success using eBay is sourcing products to sell. The first questions eBay sellers should ask themselves
are: "What can I sell?" and "Where can I buy?"

There are two kinds of sellers on eBay, garage sellers and business sellers. Garage sellers are people who sell products they are not going to use any more and that are usually not new.
Garage sellers are not profit driven, their main objective is usually to get rid of some stuff they don't need.

They will be happy to make some money by selling something that is no longer useful to them. On the other hand, business sellers are people who will buy and sell products for profit, they consider eBay a business and need to earn profit on the products they sell.

The first key to success for business sellers is an old marketing rule, RESEARCH. The products you need to sell are products that eBay buyers will want to buy.

Apart from being a massive market place, eBay offers you a cheap source of research that you can conduct without moving from your computer.

If you are a business seller, it is fundamental that you spend some time researching before you decide which products you want to sell. Follow these research guidelines:

1. Search for the categories that are most popular. The first index is the number of listings that exist under each category. In addition, you need to look at how many bids the products have.

2. Look at the ratings of the sellers who are listing products in each category and study their profiles. See how many products they are selling and how many products they have sold in the past.

3. Analyze prices. You need to become an expert in your category and you need to know at which price a product is worth buying as well as the expected final winning price of your auction.

4. Select no more than one or two categories. "Specialization" is another basic rule of marketing. It is better to become an expert on something, as this will inspire confidence and trust in your potential customers. Online marketing is all about trust.

For conducting good research, you need time and organization.
There are different software programs in the market that can help you save time as well as optimize your research.

Now that you are becoming an eBay expert and have conducted a proper search, you are almost ready to start your business. Before starting to sell, you need to buy! Here are some ideas from where you can source products:

1. Write your own e-book and sell it. If you have any passion or are an expert on a subject for which you can find a niche in eBay, do not hesitate to spend some time on writing your own book.

The advantage of this is that after your initial time investment, you can sell and sell copies of the book without having any additional costs. Selling information products is one of the most profitable businesses. Even if you are not an expert writer, you can find other people who can write the book for you.

2. Use drop-shipping. There are wholesalers that will sell you products and send them to the address that you tell them. The advantage of this source is that you do not need to carry inventories, so your investments are minimized.

After your auction is finished, you send them your customers address and they will do all the shipping. If you decide to use this kind of source, you need to make sure that your auctions winning price can be higher than the price you will pay for the articles. At minimum you should expect to double your costs.

3. Buy from eBay. Many eBayers success comes from knowing how to buy well on eBay and sell the same products at a higher price. If you know your category very well, you can easily find opportunities that will allow you to buy and resell making profit. Again, solid research is fundamental.

4. Buy Asiatic products. If you are willing to carry some inventories, you can invest on Asiatic products and buy them for a very cheap price. You can easily start importing Asiatic products from the Internet at www.alibaba.com.

5. Sell local products. If you live in an area that produces local products which can be bought at a cheap price and shipped to other areas where people would pay more, you should take advantage of the situation.

Best wishes for your success

Next week featured article:
10 Sure-fire Ways to Kill Your eBay Business

Stay tuned next Friday.

Best of Success.

Cody Moya
eBay Tips eZine Editor

2005-09-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Yahoo offers a human powered directory and visitors are offered the results from this directory. The directory is supplemented by web page index created by crawling.

Yahoo currently uses Google for its crawler indexing. The directory is an important channel in the area of search engine marketing.

It is popular and is used extensively by people to locate sources of information. Moreover the directory is a valuable boost to your site for crawling and ranking in other search engines, as the directory provides a high quality link to your web site.

When a visitor is looking for information or relevant sites, he/she could either browse through the hierarchy of directories and sub directories or search for an appropriate directory through a search interface.

As your site can be listed in just one category, generally, the choice of category is an important step. Choose the top category that your target visitor who is making a search may select out of the different categories offered to him/her.

Select your target keywords and find out which categories relate to those keywords. For submission of non-commercial sites also the Yahoo Express submission is recommended rather than the Standard submission option.

Listing of your site on the results page in your chosen category is in two possible sections (for most categories). One section is called Most Popular Sites and this is on top, while the remaining listing is Alphabetical in the second section on the page.

Yahoo does not reveal how it includes certain sites in the Most Popular Sites list. However link analysis, clickthroughs are likely to be factors.

You cannot pay to be included in this section. Certain sites with sunglasses shown next to their name or @symbol shown at the end of the name reflect that Yahoo considers those sites as excellent.

Inktomi (MSN Search, AOL Search, Hotbot)

Inktomi is a search engine that does not offer its search services through its own site, but through Partner sites � prominent ones being MSN Search, AOL Search, HotBot and others.

Inktomi through its crawler creates three different indexes. Best of the Web index has around 110 million pages that it indexes on the web and considers high in link analysis. The next set of around 390 million pages is indexed as Rest of the Web, considered as lower in link analysis.

The third index is of paid inclusion. It also offers specialized regional indexes as well as targeted news, multimedia and directory indexes. It avoids duplication of the same page in more than one index.

Link crawling and paid inclusion are the two most effective ways to get covered by crawling. For bulk submissions to its paid program, it offers IndexConnect (for 1000 or more pages). Again there is a cost per click basis, with a monthly minimum.

Ranking at Inktomi is determined by a combination of factors including HTML links, keywords and description tags near the top of the page or in the Title tag.

If the search string matches with what is found at these places on the page, the ranking is higher. Link analysis and analysis of clickthroughs are other important criteria that it adopts.

AltaVista

AltaVista will accept free listings through its addurl link, but it also has paid inclusion features. Generally their crawler may visit every four weeks.

Paid inclusion may be desirable if you have a new website or pages or if your pages are refreshed every week or so and you do not wish to wait till the next cycle of crawling. There is an Express Paid inclusion service of self-service type for upto 500 pages at a time.

This service will enable weekly crawling. Their bulk program called Trusted Feed will enable the pages to be directly linked to their index. Pricing for Trusted Feed is on a cost per click model with a monthly minimum.

In this program you can submit the Meta data, descriptions and keywords directly to the index. Nevertheless, the engine will check whether the destination page has the same Meta data or not and could levy a penalty for spam.

AltaVista�s ranking policies are a combination of various factors. The frequency and positioning of keywords and descriptions is important, so are Title tags or words that appear near the top of the page. Besides, it applies link analysis to determine relevancy and page ranking.

It levies penalty on spamming and also it does not recognize invisible or tiny text, keyword stuffing, identical pages, mirror sites, and quick meta refresh tag.

Stand by for next part

You can always check where you are in course by looking at table of contents at http://imcourse.com

Best of Success,

Cody Moya

2005-09-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

There are many eager people who will zip through life in record speed and I admire your drive. However, to get the most through experience, it's essential.

Think of it like this ...

Imagine that you take a potato and dip it into a bowl of soy sauce for just a moment. When you take it out, you'll find that the surface has slightly changed color, but if you cut into it, you'll find that the core hasn't really changed.

If you let it sit in the bowl for a while, however, the soy sauce starts to seep in. Before you know it, the whole thing is saturated and it's changed color to the core.

OK, that may just be one of the silliest metaphors I've ever written, but you get the point.

If you work go to quickly nothing will have really changed. It's the day to day use of the principles that will have the most impact on your life.

2005-09-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

One sign of depression is a feeling of disconnectedness. You no longer feel that you are connected to other people. You aren't sure if you know how to connect with people anymore.

Not being able to relate to others is a serious loss, but it is a loss you can grieve and then remedy. Express your feelings of disconnectedness to God and then to another person: "I feel alone. No one understands me. I feel uncomfortable around people. Other people feel uncomfortable around me. I'm just bringing everyone down."

After you have acknowledged, expressed, and grieved your emotions, you must take steps to build friendships again. You need your family and friends to make it through this tough time.

Still remember, at this stage in your healing, it is important to focus on friendships with people of the same sex. You need more time to heal before you become romantically involved.

"By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst" (Ecclesiastes 4:12 Msg).

Lord God, I need to express my needs to You. Help me to get up, get out of the house, and spend time with people. Amen.

2005-09-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Beef Barley Soup

Prep Time : 20 min. Cook Time : 40 min.

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley

1 lb. sliced boneless beef sirloin or top round steak, cut into 1" cubes

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups Swanson� Beef Broth (regular, Lower Sodium or Certified Organic)

1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed

Generous dash ground black pepper

2 medium carrots, sliced

Directions:

HEAT water to a boil in saucepan. Add barley. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 40 min. or until barley is tender.

COOK beef in nonstick saucepot until browned and juices evaporate, stirring often.

ADD mushrooms and garlic and cook until tender.

ADD broth, thyme, black pepper and carrots. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 min. or until carrots are tender. Stir in barley. Serves 4.

TIP: Substitute 1/2 cup quick-cooking barley for pearl barley. Cook 12 min. (or according to pkg. directions) until barley is tender.

Quick Spinach Salad

Prep Time : 20 min.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (10 oz.) fresh spinach leaves, washed and torn into bite-size pieces

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced (optional)

3/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing

1 cup Pepperidge Farm� 4 Cheese & Garlic Croutons

Directions:

TOSS spinach, bacon, eggs and dressing in a large bowl until evenly coated. Top with croutons. Serves 6.

2005-09-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Cody Moya with next part of imCourse.

You have been subscribed to Internet Marketing Course since Aug 10 2005. For unsubscribe information see the bottom of this email.

Next Part of Course

We studied how search engines work. An integral part of any Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimization campaign is to know exactly which search engines to target. This section discusses some of the top search engines today.

Google

Google has increased in popularity tenfold the past several years. They have gone from beta testing, to becoming the Internet's largest index of web pages in a very short time. Their spider, affectionately named "Googlebot", crawls the web and provides updates to Google's index about once a month.

Google.com began as an academic search engine. Google, by far, has a very good algorithm of ranking pages returned from a result, probably one of the main reasons it has become so popular over the years. Google has several methods which determine page rank in returned searches.

Yahoo

Yahoo! is one of the oldest web directories and portals on the Internet today, and the site went live in August of 1994. Yahoo! is a 100% human edited directory, and provides secondary search results using Google.

Yahoo! is also one of the largest traffic generators around, as far as web directories and search engines go. Unfortunately, however, it is also one of the most difficult to get listed in, unless of course you pay to submit your site. Even if you pay it doesn't guarantee you will get listed.

Either way, if you suggest a URL, it is "reviewed" by a Yahoo! editor, and if approved will appear in the next index update.

AltaVista

Many who have access to web logs may have seen a spider named 'scooter' accessing their pages. Scooter used to be AltaVista's robot.

However, since the Feb 2001 site update, a newer form of Scooter is now crawling the web. Whichever spider AltaVista uses, it is one of the largest search engines on the net today, next to Google.

It will usually take several months for AltaVista to index your entire site, although the past few months scooter hasn't been deep crawling too well. U

nlike Google, AltaVista will only crawl and index 1 link deep, so it takes a good amount of time to index your site depending on how large your site is.

AltaVista gets most of its results from its own index, however they do pull the top 5 results of each search from Overture (formerly Goto).

Inktomi

Inktomi's popularity grew several years ago as they powered the secondary search database that had driven Yahoo.

Since then, Yahoo as switched to using Google as their secondary search and backend database, however Inktomi is just as popular now, as they were several years ago, if not more so.

Their spiders are named "Slurp", and different versions of Slurp crawls the web many different times throughout the month, as Inktomi powers many sites search results.

There isn't much more to Inktomi then that. Slurp puts heavy weight on Title and description tags, and will rarely deep crawl a site. Slurp usually only spider�s pages that are submitted to its index.

Inktomi provides results to a number of sites. Some of these are America Online, MSN, Hotbot, Looksmart, About, Goto, CNet, Geocities, NBCi, ICQ and many more.

Lycos

Lycos is one of the oldest search engines on the Internet today, next to Altavista and Yahoo. Their spider, named "T-Rex", crawls the web and provides updates to the Lycos index from time to time. The FAST crawler provides results for Lycos in addition to its own database.

The Lycos crawler does not weigh META tags to heavily, instead it relies on its own ranking algorithm to rank pages returned in results.

The URL, META title, text headings, and word frequency are just a few of the methods Lycos uses to rank pages. Lycos does support pages with Frame content. However, any page that isn't at least 75 words in content is not indexed.

Excite

Excite has been around the web for many years now. Much more of a portal than just simply a search engine, Excite used to be a fairly popular search engine, until companies such as Google seemed to have dominated the search engine market.

As of recently, Excite no longer accepts submissions of URL's, and appears to no longer spider. To get into the Excite search results, you need to be either listed with Overture or Inktomi.

Looksmart

Getting a listed with Looksmart could mean getting a good amount of traffic to your site. Looksmart's results appear in many search engines, including AltaVista, MSN, CNN, and many others.

Looksmart has two options to submit your site. If your site is generally non-business related, you can submit your site to Zeal (Looksmart's sister site ), or if you are a business, you can pay a fee to have your site listed. Either method will get you listed in Looksmart and its partner sites if you are approved.

Once you have submitted your site, and it is approved for listing it will take up to about 7 days for your site to be listed on Looksmart and its partner sites.

AOL Search

America Online signed a multiyear pact with Google for Web search results and accompanying ad-sponsored links, ending relationships with pay-for-performance service Overture Services and Inktomi, its algorithmic search provider of nearly three years

Stand by for next part

You can always check where you are in course by looking at table of contents at http://imcourse.com

Best of Success,

Cody Moya

P.S. Giveaway this free course as bonus to your subscribers or web visitors and earn $48.50.

http://imcourse.com/internetmarketingcourse.html

2005-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

INTRO: Creating killer information products requires three things: 1) Marketability; 2) Focus; and 3) Benefit.

Learn how each of these factors contribute to create the perfect information product!

Let's get started!

------------

Why People Buy Information Products

People buy information to improve themselves in some way, to solve a problem, to posses secrets or to be better off than they were before you had the information.

And that's the pure unadulterated power of information products.

Using Marketability, Focus and Benefit: The KEY To Creating Information Products That Sell

"Marketability" is simply determining if there is a potential market for an information product.

This stage is the most critical of all, because if you haven't got a strong market, why develop the product?
The stronger the market the better chance you have of success.

Once you've determined if there's a market you can safely begin developing your information product.

Creating information products is done by determining what the focus and benefit your information product will have.

For example, will the focus be on stock trading, or...
marketing, or... alternative health, or... elder care, or... real estate investing, or... the Internet, or...
living trusts, or... growing herbs, or...sports nutrition, or... etc? It could be any of a 1000 or more different topics but it should always be something you, personally, are interested in, or have some experience or knowledge of.

You don't have to be an expert in the topic you choose either! If you're not an expert here's an easy and inexpensive way to get experts to praise, provide testimonials, endorse or even contribute to your information product - giving you instant credibility:
Simply ask them to contribute to your ebook or manual with a 10 or 20 page chapter!

Why would they agree to do this? Because at the end of the chapter you include a link back to their web site or information how the reader can get in touch with them! It's free publicity for them to be in your book. The more books you sell, the more business they will get.

Envisioning The Deliverable Benefit

After determining the focus of your information product simply envision what the deliverable benefit will be, such as... better health; improved performance at work; more money; greater self-esteem; higher grades in school; increased sex drive; quicker mental functioning; winning the lottery; predicting the future; succeeding in business; enjoying life to its fullest; increased physical conditioning; improved spiritual life; better, more fulfilling marriage; increased charisma and personal power; faster weight loss;...etc.

The benefit is always the end result someone who purchases your product can expect to achieve with it.

Developing A Hot Selling Information Package

Developing your information product means creating
a package that delivers to your targeted audience
the benefits you say it will.

The package could be a digital file sent over the
Internet such as an ebook or pc-video, or... it
could be a simple 10 page report and audio file,
or... it could be a 500 page manual with a pc-video
and some audio files, or... it could be an online
newsletter, or online course, etc.

When developing information products, aesthetics
(or the beauty of your packaging), is almost always
secondary to delivering the information and benefits
you promised. The great news is, you can be extremely
creative when it comes to packaging and delivering
your information product!

You may ask, "But, even if I do come up with a great
info-product, will it be difficult to sell?"

If you conceive and develop your info-product
according to the system I'm outlining here, you
will have, automatically, a ready, willing and able
audience that will be eager to buy your product,
guaranteed.

Getting your product into the hands of your target
market and cashing the checks and credit card orders
will be as easy as tying your shoe or taking your
dog for a walk in the park.

I can almost hear you saying, "What's the best way
for me to get started developing my own information
products?"

Do You Know What You're Really Buying?

In the last few years you have probably purchased
one or several 'how-to'' or instructional information
products of some kind: A special report; a video
tape; a course sold through the mail; a correspondence
course; an ebook; a cassette tape; a software program;
a language program; a self-improvement book or tape set;
or even an digital audio or video file on the Internet,
etc.

What you may not have known was that many of those
products were earning their developers huge profits,
sometimes completely hidden from view: cloaked affiliate
links, jv's, list rental and a number of profit centers
can be built into your information products to generate
an income years after it's sold to your customer.

There isn't any other product produced with the
incredible mark-up that information products enjoy.

Why?

... to be continued... tomorrow :-)

That's all the news for today,

-Dave Vallieres

2005-09-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

In the Bible, David felt emotionally as if he were in a "slimy pit" full of "mud and mire." While in this emotional state, David "waited patiently for the Lord." Not only was he patient in his depression, but he was also vocal in it. He cried out to the Lord. As a result, God lifted him up and put his feet on solid ground. God put a new song in David's mouth. God will do the same for you if you trust in Him.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God" (Psalm 40:1-3).

Lord, I am so depressed. My life no longer has meaning or joy, and sometimes I just don't care. I cry to You, God. Lift me out of this pit. Put my feet on solid ground. Please put a new song in my heart. Amen.

2005-09-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Howe a search engine can tell you where a file or document?

First the item must be found.

To find information on the hundreds of millions of Web pages that exist, a search engine employs special software robots, called spiders, to build lists of the words found on Web sites.

When a spider is building its lists, the process is called Web crawling.

In order to build and maintain a useful list of words, a search engine's spiders have to look at a lot of pages. How does any spider start its travels over the Web?

The usual starting points are lists of heavily used servers and very popular pages. The spider will begin with a popular site, indexing the words on its pages and following every link found within the site.

In this way, the spidering system quickly begins to travel, spreading out across the most widely used portions of the Web.

Indexing

Once the spiders have completed the task of finding information on Web pages, the search engine must store the information in a way that makes it useful. There are two key components involved in making the gathered data accessible to users:

- The information stored with the data
- The method by which the information is indexed

In the simplest case, a search engine could just store the word and the URL where it was found.

In reality, this would make for an engine of limited use, since there would be no way of telling whether the word was used in an important or a trivial way on the page, whether the word was used once or many times or whether the page contained links to other pages containing the word.

In other words, there would be no way of building the ranking list that tries to present the most useful pages at the top of the list of search results.

To make for more useful results, most search engines store more than just the word and URL. An engine might store the number of times that the word appears on a page.

The engine might assign a weight to each entry, with increasing values assigned to words as they appear near the top of the document, in sub-headings, in links, in the meta tags or in the title of the page.

Each commercial search engine has a different formula for assigning weight to the words in its index. This is one of the reasons that a search for the same word on different search engines will produce different lists, with the pages presented in different orders.

An index has a single purpose: It allows information to be found as quickly as possible. There are quite a few ways for an index to be built, but one of the most effective ways is to build a hash table. In hashing, a formula is applied to attach a numerical value to each word.

The formula is designed to evenly distribute the entries across a predetermined number of divisions. This numerical distribution is different from the distribution of words across the alphabet, and that is the key to a hash table's effectiveness.

The Search Engine Program
The search engine software or program is the final part. When a person requests a search on a keyword or phrase, the search engine software searches the index for relevant information.

The software then provides a report back to the searcher with the most relevant web pages listed first.

Stand by for next part

You can always check where you are in course by looking at table of contents at http://imcourse.com

Best of Success,

Cody Moya

P.S. Giveaway this free course as bonus to your subscribers or web visitors and earn $48.50.

http://imcourse.com/internetmarketingcourse.html

2005-09-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR FLYING THE FLAG
Gary, in E. Machias, ME, said he likes to fly the flag. But he doesn't know the rules for flying it at half-staff. So, he wants to know if there is something on the Web about that.

You're in luck, Gary. There's a ton of information about flag rules.
Here are three sites you will find helpful:
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html
http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html
http://www.legion.org/pdf/flagcode.pdf

Orders to fly the flag at half-staff come from the president. There are two such proclamations in effect currently: for the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and in memory of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. You can stay up with presidential proclamations at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/proclamations/

By the way, Gary says "machias" is a Native American word for "bad little falls." Thank you pointing that out, Gary!

--> HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS YOU PROBABLY DON'T HAVE
When you do business on the Web, it can be more difficult to solve problems. Companies often don't respond to e-mail, or respond with a canned e-mail that is off-point.

Getting someone on the phone is even more difficult. However, eBay and Amazon have customer service numbers. In case you haven't found them, here they are:
Amazon--800-201-7575
eBay--800-322-9266

Write them down. Save them. You never know when you'll need them.

--> IF I HELPED YOU, CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME?
Help me find new listeners and readers. There are a few ways.

1. Tell your co-workers, employees, team members, poker buddies, family and friends to check us out. I have a form that makes it easy on my Web site.
http://www.komando.com/newsletter.asp#friends

2. Link your blog or site to my site. Instructions and cool artwork are waiting for you right here:
http://www.komando.com/fanlinks.asp

---> IN THE COOL SITES: A freebie, and a contest to enter <--
* Should you turn off your computer, or leave it on all night?
* A Koranic verse for bad sites; and a funny to make you smile

2005-09-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

God gives us strength to cope with hard work
How diligently do you do your work?

Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Romans 12:11 NLT

Personal responsibility comes home

The USS Astoria was the first U.S. cruiser to engage the Japanese during the Battle of Savo Island, a night action fought 8-9, August 1942.

About 0200 hours Signalman 3rd Class Elgin Staples was swept overboard by the blast when the number one 8-inch gun turret exploded. He was kept afloat by a narrow life belt that he managed to activate.

At around 0600 hours, Staples was rescued by a passing destroyer and returned to the Astoria, whose captain was attempting to save the cruiser by beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples, still wearing the same life belt, found himself back in the water. Picked up again, he was one of 500 survivors.

On board a transport, he closely examined the life belt that had served him so well. It had been manufactured by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, and bore a registration number.

Given home leave, Staples asked his mother, who worked for Firestone, about the purpose of the number on the belt. She replied that the company insisted on personal responsibility for the war effort, and that the number was unique and assigned to only one inspector. Staples remembered everything about the life belt, and quoted the number. It was his mother's personal code and affixed to every item she was responsible for approving.

Commander Eric J. Berryman, quoted by R. Kent Hughes in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes (Tyndale House) p 234-35

2005-09-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

What to offer on the Internet?

The Internet is primarily used to communicate, entertain, educate and research.

It is thus no wonder that nonperishable, information-intensive products - including computers and software, books, travel, consumer electronics, magazine subscriptions - are the most popular online products at present.

Content-rich sites, subscription-based sites to advertiser-supported sites focusing on a wide range of topics, have been sprouting all over the Internet.

Services such as hotel reservation, air travel and investments have successfully translated themselves to the Internet.

Unique services such as Online driving schools have been prospering. Some states in the US have set up online payment sites for Government services.

Residents of a state can log on to a common site to pay all bills and other expenses, such as parking tickets to the local/County courts.

However, all kinds of services cannot be run entirely on the Internet. The Internet is less effective when face-to-face selling is needed to close a deal.

The Internet can give lots of preliminary information that's useful in setting the scene for the closing. But the actual closing takes place offline - i.e., not on the Internet.

Products can also be marketed and sold successfully on the Internet. The kinds of products and services that sell best on the Internet are those that take advantage of the convenience of the Net.

Remember that convenience is the primary reason why consumers flock to the Internet in the first place. People can shop any hour of the day at any site. They can avoid crowded stores, irritating sales clerks, and even avoid pickpockets.

Offbeat or unusual products and services often attract online attention and sell strongly. You would generally not try to sell items people can get at the corner store.

Thus, few toothbrushes are sold on the Net; the same thing with daily food and beverage purchases. But special cheeses, rare cigars, Turkish plates, long-aged wines, even diamonds, can and do sell on the Net.

Most products sold by catalog and mail order also sell well on the Net. However, people tend to buy only those products that could be shipped at a reasonable price.

Higher shipping costs diminish the price competitiveness of online products and turns-off a lot of potential buyers. In fact, high shipping costs is the primary factor that discourages people from buying online more than any other single reason.

An Ernst and Young report shows that 53 percent of online shoppers are concerned with shipping costs that are too high, compared to only 19 percent who are concerned with credit cards being stolen.

As an online merchant, you have to work out the advantages as well as disadvantages of selling either products or services. However, in the recent past, online services have known to flourish.

Nevertheless, if you chose to sell products you need to rethink your product offering if the total costs of the product and the shipping are higher than what is offered elsewhere.

2005-09-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Pray without Stopping

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of talking honestly with God and building a relationship with Him. God knows you intimately, more than any person ever will. Talk with Him daily as you go about your business at home, at work, and at night in bed. He is always available to listen, and He wants to hear from you.

"Pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Holy God, You know everything I am thinking and feeling. I want daily conversations with You to be a life-long habit. Thank you for listening to me and for loving me. Amen.

2005-09-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Wireless Providers Ride to Rescue in New Orleans

In the aftermath of Katrina, the complete breakdown of all phone and Internet service, both wired and wireless, was one of the most serious problems. Police and paramedics had to rely on a few portable radios, and even FEMA lacked sufficient communications. Refugees were pretty much left out in the cold, unable to contact loved ones or try to reunite their families.

While satphone companies pitched in with as many handsets as they could scramble up at the beginning, the bigger and longer-term response is coming from the wireless community. Cellular providers like Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel are working overtime to restore service using self-powered mobile cell towers where electricity is still off, and are offering free calls to victims in relief centers. Sprint also provided 3,000 Nextel Walkie Talkie handsets for emergency services, and T-Mobile offered free Hotspot service last week in the tri-state area.

But that's just phone service. For Internet connections, Intel, Cisco, and Dell are at the head of a consortium working to provide both computers and Wi-Fi access to emergency workers and victims alike. One Wi-Fi connection can also serve many computers for VoIP phone service, making more efficient use of scarce lines. Vonage has provided hundreds of handsets, as well as free service.

On Friday, the FCC met to coordinate efforts of wireless providers, and over 8,000 smaller wireless ISPs, members of Part-15.org, are also set to provide service at shelters around the country. Hopefully, the lessons learned in Hurricane Katrina will lead to faster communications restoration in future emergencies, with wireless in the lead.

2005-09-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

Can you tell me how to get the odor out of old books that have been stored? -- Linda T., Missouri

DEAR LINDA: That odor is caused by moisture that has penetrated the paper and cover of the book, resulting in mold and mildew. I suggest that you spend about $12 for a Smelleze Book and Antique Deodorizer Pouch, specially developed to absorb, neutralize and encapsulate musty mold and mildew odors from all types of books and antiques. You can find this product online at www.NoOdor.biz (or by calling 770-667-8621). Type "book" in the search box. One book pouch can be used over and over again to remove offensive odors.

2005-09-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our work matters to God.

There is immense dignity in all honest human labor, for our work is an opportunity to glorify God. While we often don't like work, it really is a gift from God. When he created this world, he did not make it with trees and bushes filled with bread, or money, or refrigerators filled with meals ready to eat. Instead, he provided a world of rich and wonderful resources, and he gave humans the ability�just like their Creator�to make things. We can imagine, we can solve problems, we can use our minds and the strength of our labor to take raw materials and fashion them into useful things. We can easily idolize material things, but at their root, they are reflections of the very essense of God as Creator.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

2005-09-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

I realized that there is hope

"God loves me, and my self-esteem is not based on whether another person loves me or rejects me. My self-esteem is based on the love that Christ has for me."

You are the one who is in charge of what you think about. When thoughts come into your mind that are negative and bring you down, you must renew your mind by replacing the bad thoughts with good ones immediately. This will help build your self-esteem.

God's Word tells us to keep our minds focused on things that are right and good.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable�if anything is excellent or praiseworthy�think about such things" (Philippians 4:8).

Jesus, You love me so much that You died on the cross to save me from sin and death. I want to focus on Your love and find my strength and self-worth in You. Amen.

2005-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

A Goal An Employer Can't Provide

Most people goal is simply to earning more so have enough income
for them and their family. I also have a simple goal to be able to work from
anywhere in the world earning an living most would think was
impossible.

So, why is so diffult to share a home internet based business, it because many
had seen program that must think we are crazy when the say in a few short
months we coudl be making $20,000/week profit following their Get-Rich-Quick
promises. The trouble is all these claim just kept many sophisticated people being
life long employees without the income needed to take them through retirement.

So if you have a goal of own your own business, let's get a group together. Let's set up
a conference call with some other people as we all travel down the road less traveled.

2005-09-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here are my commission-multiplying strategies for you...

1) Speak with the people you know, friends, family and
business associates who can benefit from building a business
from home or who should be using the Web to improve existing
business results.

2) Attend local seminars and put together a group of 10, 20,
50 or more for a FREE conference. Heck, they've paid
hundreds or thousands already. An SBI! teleconference will
not only teach them more, but it will give them the tools
and approach to execute what they learn.

3) Run the same idea past any other business group you know.
Your local Chamber of Commerce? Or your town's association
of small businesses? Perhaps a Multi-Level Marketing group
you know? How about this one... take an ad in your town's
newspaper for a "free e-commerce conference."

4) Maybe you know 10 stay-at-home spouses who'd love to
start a second family income? Perfect.

5) Real estate agents? Approach the entire REMAX or Century
21 group in your area. Let them know the other is about to
get a HUGE jump on them! ;-)

6) How about this one? Offer a free teleseminar through
your Web site or e-zine! Wow! I'll do it alone, or with
you on the line. In one hour, if you have an extensive
reach, you could make 100 sales!

Those are the easy and obvious groups to reach. The key
word is GROUP. A group conference takes on a life of its
own. Everyone gets everyone else interested and excited.

And you know what people really love?

I don't give a lecture. It's give and take, question
and answer. I've heard all the questions, worries, and
needs before. And I know what I believeI!.

Best each time we all have a blast.

2005-09-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

Moving With the Cloud
Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Numbers 9:21b

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and they had to pass through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. God was their guide by means of a cloud that appeared overhead. When it moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped - sometimes a day, a week, even a year.

Imagine living with the uncertainty of this situation. One day you work at getting your "house" in order, only to have to pick up the stakes and move. Your ability to plan is totally gone. But even greater is the temptation to move when the cloud did not move because you felt it was time to move. For the Israelites, perhaps the grass was no longer green. Perhaps the water was not easily accessible. Perhaps the bugs were a problem. Whatever the case, they were strictly prohibited from moving if the cloud did not move.

It is still the same today. We are not to move unless the Holy Spirit instructs us to do so. We are not to make that business deal on the basis of whether or not it makes sense, but on the leading of the Holy Spirit's "cloud" in our life. It is a difficult process to move only when we are directed, and to remain if we are not. The pressure is always upon us to move, to plan, to act. But if we act, we may move into a place where the presence of God may not be. Hence, the rub. The Christian workplace believer must learn to move when God says move; it is a sign of complete surrender and dependence on God's Spirit to direct our steps.

Ask God today if you are sitting under His cloud. Or, have you moved when He said stand still? He will show you.

2005-09-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Forgive Yourself

If you have given in to temptation and are feeling guilty or angry, stop. There is no need to dwell on what has been done. Turn to God for forgiveness and forgive yourself.

When you ask God to forgive a sin, He forgives you thoroughly. This is extremely difficult for our human nature to comprehend, as we like to remember and rehash things in our minds. God's Word says there is "no condemnation" for those who seek forgiveness through Jesus Christ. You must be an imitator of Christ and stop blaming yourself when you have already been forgiven. God is not pleased with self-condemnation because that is not how He taught us to behave.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:1-2).

Dear Lord, please forgive my sins in the name of Jesus Christ. Help me develop a plan to keep me from future temptation. Amen.

2005-09-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

10 Ways To Increase Your Fre.e eBook Downloads

1. Anticipate the objections your visitors might have about your free ebook offer. You should research your target audience's needs and wants.

2. Allow your visitors to feel good about themselves by giving them compliments. If they feel good, they will also feel good about downloading your ebook.

3. Tell your visitors the emotional and logical reasons why they should download your free ebook. It can be the goals they'll acomplish, positive feelings, etc.

4. Publish a list of respected or famous people that have downloaded your free ebook. Just remember to get their legal permission first.

5. Tell people what they're thinking and feeling as they read your ebook ad. Most people will start to actually do it, statements should back up the ebook.

6. Make your free ebook offer very rare. People perceive things that are rare as being more valuable.
You could use a limited time offer or free bonuses.

7. Create rapport with your visitors by telling them something they already know is true. They'll know for sure you're not lying and download your ebook.

8. Show your visitors how much enthusiasm you have for your free ebook. Most people will start to feel the same and download your ebook.

9. Make your visitors curious about your free ebook by telling them they need to sign-up to get access to a password protected site in order to download it.

10. Motivate people to download your free ebook.
Tell them a lot of positive things like: "You can now reach your goals and change your life forever!"

If you want to find out more about ebook marketing check link below.

http://bmtezine.com/r/ebookmarketing.php

2005-09-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

How To Maximize Your Sale Price
by S. Houghton

Ever noticed that some auctions just seem more hot than others?

Yes, it's partially what you're selling and partially the starting price, but there are some other factors that can make a difference in the number of bids and final value.

Pay Attention to Trends

What's popular with teens and twentysomethings? Is there a current movie, book or TV program whose popularity you could capitalize on? What's selling well on eBay right now?

Buy Low, Sell High

Find merchandise which will cost you very little, but which others want to buy at market price. You can make items yourself, find items which are inexpensive in your area but pricey elsewhere, or take advantage of personal connections to purchase items at low prices. Then set starting prices at market value or a percentage below it (but still enough to make a profit).

First Impressions

Prepare your merchandise for sale. Make it as clean and attractive as possible, particularly if you're selling used items. Make sure photos of your merchandise are high quality, set light items on a dark velvet background, take pictures in plenty of natural light, and make sure you've focused properly.

A digital camera, although not essential, lets you see immediately whether your photos are suitable for sale purposes. Write clear, understandable auction text with lots of accurate description. Let buyers see at a glance that your merchandise is superior.

Plan Ahead

Prepare everything you can ahead of time. Store merchandise in a safe place. Get packing materials. If possible, pre-pack and weigh merchandise so you can let the winning bidder know the shipping charges right away. Seek out the most appropriate category to sell your item. Check sale prices of similar items to determine a fair starting price.

If a certain item sells better at the end of the year, set it aside until then. Take advantage of eBay's free listing days (check the Announcements board regularly to find when they occur). Time your auctions so they end near the first or fifteenth of the month–these are paydays for many bidders, and selling when they have money makes them more likely to bid.

Spread the Word

Don't spam anyone it's rude, counterproductive, and can get you kicked off eBay. But if you can legitimately use a third-party site to advertise your auction, do it! If you're polite and follow the rules, you can let numerous potential bidders know what you're selling. I've had buyers create an eBay account just to bid on an advertised auction.

Be Brutally Honest

If your merchandise has flaws, don't try to conceal them from bidders. If you do, you're likely to have an angry buyer on your hands. Take a good hard look at your merchandise. Consider what you'd want to know about this item if you were buying it. Would you pay full retail price for it? If not, why not? Make sure potential buyers know just what they're getting.

Wise business practices, preparation and honesty are three keys to getting high bids on your auctions. Your buyers will appreciate them as well.

Best of Success.

Cody Moya
eBay Tips eZine Editor

=================================================================
Resources

- The Auction Resource Network - The Ultimate Learning Resource Site for Online Auction Sellers.
http://subscriptionserver.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-t.pl?l=28&c=25744

2005-08-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

Public domain contains knowledge and innovation to which absolutely no one can establish proprietary rights. What this means for you and me is that basically anything that is contained within the public domain is up for grabs. Furthermore, the amount of knowledge and information contained within the public domain is quite substantial and more is being added everyday because copyrights are continuing to expire each and every day at an amazing rate.

What is contained within the public domain:

Unpublished works from authors who died before 1935.

Works published in the US before 1923.

Works published without a copyright notice from 1923 through 1977.

Works published without notice, and without subsequent registration from 1978 to March 1, 1989.

Works published with notice but copyright was not renewed from 1923 through 1963.

Works published outside the US before July 1, 1909.

Works published outside the US in compliance with US formalities between July 1, 1909 and 1922.

Works published outside the US between 1923 and 1977 and in the public domain of its home country as of January 1, 1996.

Anytime a copyright expires, that work goes up for grabs too.

I am not lawyer and information here is only for informational purposes but all books in members area are certified by lawyer to be in public domain.

Can you imagine how much information this covers? The amount is mind boggling. And it�s all right there, available for the taking, without fear of copyright infringement.

All this great stuff makes up the public domain

2005-08-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

When is Anger Sin?

Anger is a sin when it is accompanied by bitterness, blame, and unforgiveness. "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger" (Ephesians 4:31).

Anger is wrong when it stirs up arguments and produces controversy. "An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins" (Proverbs 29:22).

Anger must not be stored up within you for any extended period of time.

"Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:26).

Righteous Lord, forgive me for letting my anger get out of control. Please refresh my spirit and give me the strength to walk rightly with You. Amen.

2005-08-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

THE WEEKLY COLUMN: Web searches make finding audio files easy

There's no way to know exactly how many music files, newsclips, speeches, sound effects and more are available on the Internet.
Fortunately, because there are so many, search sites have begun indexing audio files, much as they do Web sites. They make finding precisely what you want to hear easier.

Yahoo! (http://audio.search.yahoo.com) is the latest, and perhaps the largest, site to offer audio searches. With it, you can locate specific music, sound effects and other audio, such as speeches.

Yahoo!'s audio search works similarly to its Web search. Simply type your search term and hit Enter. You get a list of results, which may be overwhelming.

That's where the site's additional search options come in handy. Using them, you can limit the results to music or other files. You can also specify if the search term is an artist, album or song title. For further refined results, click the More Options button.

Yahoo! lists songs available from numerous music download sites. You'll need to pay for these downloads. But Yahoo! also searches free audio files that are posted legally.

GoFish (http://www.gofish.com) helps you search for songs and audiobooks.
You can do a general search or limit your search to one type of file. Simply enter your search phrase and click GoFish.

Additionally, GoFish will search song lyrics. If you know a few words from the song, use them as your search term.

The search results are neatly organized by artist, album, song and audiobook. Clicking on a link opens a list of stores selling the audio file. It shows the file type, player compatibility and price. There are also links for purchasing the music on CD, if a disc is available.

Unlike the other sites, America Online's Singingfish
(http://www.singingfish.com) only indexes free files. Included are songs, newscasts and other audio files that are posted legally to the Internet.

Singingfish allows you to limit your search to specific file formats.
Categories help you limit the type of content.

Some files can be downloaded to your computer. However, others are streaming audio. This means you must connect to the site to listen.

AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com) and Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) have also offered audio searches for some time. And expect other sites to follow the lead set by Yahoo! and AOL. Google (http://video.google.com) currently offers video searches.

A word of warning: As with any other Web search, audio searches can turn up pornographic content. Explicit files are indexed just like other audio files. There may be no indication that files are explicit.
Singingfish, AltaVista and Lycos allow you to filter out objectionable content. But their filters are not perfect.

Also, remember that these sites can list copyrighted files. Downloading such files without paying for them is illegal, regardless of how they are found.

--> WHAT ABOUT MY AUDIO FILES AND PODCASTS?
In June, I hired a Web development firm to redo my entire Web site.
It's a big project. And from what I have seen, the new site is going to be great. Hopefully, it will be up and running by the end of the year.

2005-08-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Don't Overlook the Business Basics
by Kathe Nielsen

Thousands of people every day buy and sell on the most successful to date online auction house, eBay. This phenomenon took off in the late 90s and continues to soar despite the demise of much of the dotcom world.

Its marketplace, which offers more than 6 million items per day, lures both buyers and sellers because of the diversity, depth, range and scope of the items offered.

Its more than 22.5 million users can search for the most ridiculous (the world's longest French fry) to the most sublime (a baseball card of Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Honus Wagner, which sold for more than $1 million).

A quick check through search engine Google lists close to 1 million articles published on the Internet about how to be successful selling on eBay. While many of these articles are useful, many can boggle the brain, intimidating the beginning seller with confusing terms and technology.

Many of those basics must be learned in order to become a successful eBay seller, but just as important to learn are some basic business concepts that fledgling sellers tend to overlook in their zeal to sell.

Forget the shotgun approach

Because the Internet has gotten so vast, many experts are now suggesting that sellers forget about trying to be all things to all people. Specialization has become the watchword for successful sellers on the Internet.

Develop your own niche market. Rather than trying to list items in 20 different categories, focus on one category or even one particular manufacturer within that category.

Become the expert

Buyers trust a seller who knows their merchandise. Once you decide on a niche, spend the time it takes to become the expert in that field. Research the background of the items, the history of the manufacturer, the times during which the items(s) were created or produced.

Details that are not normally supplied by a seller can greatly add to the perceived value of an item. Your credibility on an item will never be questioned if you become the expert in the field.

Know your audience

Just as important to success as knowing your merchandise, is knowing your buying public. Do some homework on who collects what. Do your research on shopping trends and study the demographics on who is buying on eBay. More generically, study the most recent trends on who has disposable income to spend on your type of merchandise--and then market to that audience.

Conduct your business more than ethically

The majority of sellers that transact business via Internet auctions are ethical business people. They list their items, close the sale, process the payment and mail along the item to the highest bidder.

That level of business practice is the norm--and not enough. In order to become a stellar seller, sellers need to develop exceptional customer service.

Including as much in-depth detail as is known on the item for sale (you've done your research), listing any flaws (even microscopic), promptly answering any buyers' questions (in a timely manner), notifying the buyer of any delays in shipping (problems can arise), and finalizing the sale with a personal note and positive feedback, is what will build a repeat customer base.

Customer service and quality merchandise are the cornerstones of a long, successful career in online auctions.

Continue to expand

Once you have established yourself as an expert in your niche market, don't limit yourself. By continuing to learn about your merchandise, your business and your audience, you can widen your horizons and expand your product line and customer base. This can be accomplished in a number of ways:

Poll your customers. Ask them to fill out a survey of other items they may be interested in when you mail them their purchases.
(Include a SASE in their package.)

Expand your line with similar items or items produced by the same manufacturer that your buyers liked originally.

Seek out more potential buyers by offering a newsletter on the type of items you sell (you've become the expert after all) or join an egroups list for people interested in your product type (those offer a great source of free publicity and provide an automatic customer base).

Whether you are a neophyte just learning the basics of selling on eBay or already a successful eBay entrepreneur, focusing on some of these key concepts will create a loyal customer base and will guide your business practices through many successful years of selling via the Internet.

2005-08-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Defining Anger
Day 59

Dr. Les Carter says that having anger means standing up for your own worth, needs, and convictions.

"You don't get angry when folks are kind, pleasant, or understanding. Anger shows up when someone has rejected you or is being uncooperative, or when a person is being critical, harsh, or difficult to get along with. When anger appears on the scene, it arouses your sense of self-preservation.

"You want to preserve one of three things. You want to preserve your worth as a human being; your anger can be your way of wishing to say, 'Please, show me some respect, will you?' Anger can be your way of preserving your basic needs: 'Recognize that I have needs, and acknowledge them, please.' Or anger can be a way that you stand up for your deepest convictions. It is your way of saying, 'I believe in things, and I don't want to back away from them.'"

You will feel anger at some point in your divorce. Do not try to deny or suppress this emotion. God does not condemn you for your anger when it is justified. God Himself is described as "slow to anger"�not "never angry."

"And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness'" (Exodus 34:6).

Lord God, sometimes my anger is justifiable; sometimes it's not. Help me to be slow to anger, like You. Amen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the DivorceCare HelpCenter

2005-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business Product From An Online Auction

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1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value.

2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money.

3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth.
Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid.

4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.

5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it.

6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept c.redit cards make sure they have a secure server.

7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back g.uarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not s.atisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about the their products or business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product.
If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price.

10. Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again.

Quote of the Day:

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power that resides in him is new in Nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Warm regards,

Chad Van Norman
http://www.getresponse.com/t/771784/

2005-08-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

10 Tips For Writing A Profit Producing Ad

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1. You can get ad copy ideas by studying similar product's advertising material. Collect their sales letters, classified ads, web ads, e-mail ads, etc.

2. Know exactly what you want your ad copy to accomplish. It could be to qualify prospects, make sales, generate leads, attract web t.raffic, etc.

3. Make a complete l.ist of your product's benefits and features. Begin your ad with the most important benefit either in your headline or first sentence.

4. Make your ad benefits as specific as possible.
Include exact numbers, percentages, times, colors, smells, sounds, descriptive adjectives, etc.

5. L.ist all the ways your product is different from your competition's. Include all the differences in your ad copy that are better than their product.

6. Use graphics, pictures and drawings of people actually using your product to solve their problem.
Include a picture that also shows the results.

7. Make a l.ist of your target audience. Write down what reasons would attract them to purchase your product. Include those reasons in your ad copy.

8. Include any proven facts in your ad copy. They could be customer surveys, scientific tests, product reviews, etc.

9. Tell your audience what kind of support they'll get after they b.uy. It could be f.ree consulting, tech support, f.ree servicing, etc.

10. Ask people at the end of your copy why they decided not to b.uy. This will give you new ideas on how to produce a more profitable ad copy.

Quote of the Day:

"A desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being whose mind is not debauched will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge." -- Samuel Johnson

Warm regards,

Chad Van Norman
http://www.getresponse.com/t/771788/

2005-08-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Citrus Chicken and Rice

Prep Time : 5 min.

Cook Time : 35 min.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 3/4 cups Swanson� Chicken Broth (regular, Natural Goodness� or Certified Organic)

1/2 cup orange juice

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley OR 1 tbsp. dried parsley flakes

Orange slices

Directions:

COOK chicken in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 10 min. or until browned. Set chicken aside.

ADD broth, orange juice, onion and rice. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 min. Return chicken to skillet. Replace cover.

COOK 10 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in parsley and top with orange slices.

Glazed Snow Peas and Carrots

Prep/Cook Time : 25 min.

Ingredients:

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 3/4 cups Swanson� Vegetable Broth (regular or Certified Organic)

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 lb. snow peas

1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

MIX cornstarch and 1 cup broth until smooth. Set aside.

HEAT remaining broth in skillet to a boil. Add carrots and onion.

COVER and cook over low heat 5 min. or until carrots are tender-crisp. Add snow peas. Cook 2 min.

STIR cornstarch mixture and add. Cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Stir in lemon juice.

2005-08-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

SALMON CAESAR SALAD
2 cups cooked salmon, broken into small pieces
1/4 cup bottled Caesar dressing
2 cups cubed French bread
Olive oil flavored cooking spray
6 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 cup sliced cucumber
2 medium tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper (optional)

Coat French bread cubes with cooking spray; place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Combine bread cubes, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese in a large serving bowl. Pour dressing over lettuce mixture and toss well. Top with the salmon and sprinkle with pepper, if desired.

Serves: 6

SALMON SALAD
2 cups cooked, flaked salmon
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
5 tablespoons mayonnaise, more or less
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
Salt and pepper

Place salmon and chopped eggs in a large bowl and mix together gently. In another bowl, combine bell pepper, cucumber, onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice and seasonings. Stir until well combined. Pour mixture over salmon and toss lightly to combine. Serve on a bed of lettuce or as a sandwich.

Serves: 4

2005-08-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

The salmon we had for dinner last night was out of this world, but I can hardly take the credit. It was impeccably fresh -- and on sale. No wonder it tasted so good.

First, I dusted the salmon with Old Bay Seasoning (find this in your grocery store with the spices), followed by a sprinkling of dried dill weed and salt, then rings of sweet Vidalia onion and slices of lemon. Next, I drizzled olive oil over the top and wrapped the fish in foil. Fifteen minutes on a hot, covered grill and it was done to perfection.

.

2005-08-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

MY FRIDAY STORY

26 Quick Tips for Living an Inspired Life
(� 1991 Carol James)

Here are 26 quick tips for living an inspired life.

Ask for what you want.

Be who you say you are.

Care about others.

Dare to live your dreams.

Ease through the day.

Find the best fit.

Give to another.

Hug a friend.

Inspire someone to greatness.

Jump over a boundary.

Kick a bad habit.

Leap across a fear.

Mention something uplifting.

Never say never.

Open your mind and heart.

Pursue your innermost passions.

Quit complaining.

Restore your smile.

Set your sights high.

Trust yourself.

Use all the day.

Value everything.

Wait until it feels right.

Xpress yourself.

Yank weeds from your mental garden.

Zoom into the now.

Sent to you as a courtesy of...

Your friends at AsAManThinketh.net
For a free eBook of James Allens classic:
http://www.AsAManThinketh.net

2005-08-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Beef, Asparagus & Portobello Stir-Fry

Prep Time : 15 min.

Cook Time : 15 min.

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak , 3/4" thick

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 3/4 cups Swanson� Beef Broth (regular, Lower Sodium or Certified Organic)

2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp. packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 lb. asparagus, cut into 2" diagonal pieces

2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup roasted red pepper strips

4 cups hot cooked rice, cooked without salt

Directions:

SLICE beef into very thin strips. Mix cornstarch, broth, soy, sugar and garlic powder until smooth. Set aside.

COOK beef in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned.

ADD asparagus, mushrooms and roasted pepper. Stir broth mixture and add. Cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

*For easier slicing, freeze beef for 1 hr.

Berry Crumb Tarts

Prep Time : 10 min.

Bake Time : 30 min.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm� Frozen Puff Pastry Shells

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp. butter OR margarine, melted

1 can (21 oz.) fruit pie filling (blueberry, cherry or strawberry)

Directions:

BAKE pastry shells according to pkg. directions.

MIX flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter until crumbs form.

SPOON about 1/3 cup pie filling into each pastry shell. Top with crumb mixture. Bake at 400�F. for 5 min. Let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 pastries.

2005-08-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

This TOO EASY PEACH COBBLER is as simple as it is quick and easy and will have even the pickiest of little eaters in your home will be begging for more.

TOO EASY PEACH COBBLER
7 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
5 slices white bread, crusts trimmed
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Place peaches in prepared dish. Cut each slice of trimmed bread into five strips and lay them over the peaches in a single layer. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, egg and butter and mix until well-blended. Pour over bread and peaches. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden. Serve hot, just minutes out of the oven, with ice cream or heavy cream.

Cobblers -- and pandowdy, slumps and grunts, too! -- are meant to be eaten right away. If necessary, they can be made a few hours ahead and kept, uncovered, at room temperature.

2005-08-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

I Don't Care

by Doug Patton

Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'll care when Clinton-appointed judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!

2005-08-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

This program is for our $47 new ebook and software program collection
�How To Get $277 Worth Of Computer Speed Software And Information
For Windows XP For Less Than A Steak Dinner For 2!�

You are about to learn the secrets to making Windows XP run faster, better, safer, and longer!

Speed speed and more speed that's what we want from our computers. The problem has been how to get that speed. Well now the problem has been solved! What you really need is a computer speed system.

A computer speed system is a collection of several pieces to a puzzle. Once you put these pieces together you always have a fast computer. Lucky for you someone gave you this Special Report because the pieces are about to be put together for you.

You are about to learn how to:
� eliminate computer freeze ups
� prevent computer crashes
� extend the life of your computer indefinitely
� create computer speed that you have never seen before,and
be able to multitask and leave windows & programs open without glitches

Normally computer speed has been gotten by making one or two changes to your computer. The most popular is simply adding more memory or getting a bigger hard drive which of course works. But it doesn't solve the problem.........

What is slowing down your computer?

Computer speed has five specific parts to it. When you address only one or two of these parts you don't get the kind of speed that you really want.

The parts to computer speed are:

1) Windows XP software settings.
2) Windows XP tweaks, adjustments, and maintenance
3) Spyware and Adware removal
4) Antivirus Software
5) Software to organize your hard drive

If you concentrate on learning about and implementing those 5 things you get computer speed.

Of course there is still a problem! It will take you a long time to learn all about these five items.

This Special Report is a shortcut. By going to our site and using our recommendations you don't have to bother learning all that stuff. And you can have computer speed almost instantly.

Why? Because we have done the research and created software that handles the computer speed problem quickly and easily.

To put it in simple English �we have created a computer speed system that you can use on your computer now.�

Our computer speed system has these five parts:

1) Windows XP software settings are hard to find and sometimes it�s very difficult to make the adjustments. So what we decided to do was make a piece of software that automatically adjusts vital Windows XP settings with a click of a button. This alone is a $97 value!

2) We have found 82 Windows XP speed secrets that tweak, maintain and adjust Windows XP and put them in a simple digital e-book. The information and research we put into this book is worth $47.

3) We have found the best adware and spyware remover on the Internet and it is included in our system for free. You will learn how to set and forget it !This is a $30 value.

4) In chapter 5 on page 16 of the e-book we show you where to get free antivirus software. We especially like the second one that is recommended there. Software of this type is sold for $70 and more!

5) In chapter 2 on pages 9 and 10 we recommend a software that will automatically organize your computer while you sleep every day. This will extend the life of your computer almost indefinitely.

6) Plus a Special bonus on Privacy erase software . another $30 Value at no extra cost!

As you can see we've done a lot of your homework for you when it comes to computer speed.

The really exciting part about our computer speed system is it doesn't cost much and you don't have to go to the trouble of learning all this stuff.
Give this Special Report to your friends, associates and family so they can have computer speed too.

To get absolute proof that our computer speed system works go to the website below and watch our amazing video demonstration called:
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CLick here to learn more.<

2005-08-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

Your personal information might be given away or sold on a daily basis. Strangers, including marketers, are looking for ways to find you. And there are many online directories to fill the demand. Your information could be on those lists.

Some of these directories compile listed phone numbers. They might include your name, address and number. Others serve up more personal information as sales leads. They scour public records for your information.

Public information can include records from courts, real estate registrations and voter registration. It can also include hunting permits and marriage or driver licenses.

However, online directories aren't out to get you. In fact, they typically offer a way to opt out of their listings. But you have to find the exit.

I've already done some searching for you. Here are the opt-out pages for 10 major directory sites:

555-1212.com
http://www.555-1212.com/contact_support.jsp?type=R
You are required to enter at least a name, phone number and e-mail address.

Addresses.com
http://www.addresses.com/how_to_update.php
You must find your listing before requesting a removal.

AnyBirthday.com
http://www.anybirthday.com/optout.htm
Confirm your name, ZIP code and birthday to remove your listing.

AnyWho.com
http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html
Remove your phone number online or by mail.

Acxiom.com
http://www.acxiom.com/default.aspx?ID=1688&Country_Code=USA
Scroll down to see the opt-out information. Use e-mail or phone.

InfoSpace.com
http://www.infospace.com/home/about/corporate/privacy.htm
Scroll down for the Public Records and Choice/Opt-out sections.

Intelius.com
http://find.intelius.com/privacy-faq.php#5
You must fax documents proving your identity to remove listings.

Switchboard.com
http://www.switchboard.com/helpnew.htm#DELNR
Find the listing and click its "remove" link.

US Search.com
http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/commerce/about/faq.jsp#q31
You must mail a letter proving your identity to remove listings.

WhitePages.com
http://www.whitepages.com/cust_serv/removal_form
You must provide at least a name, address and phone number.

2005-08-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

===============================================

Marketing Tips Newsletter
August 12, 2005 -- Issue 112

===============================================

Hi Ed,

This issue includes...

1) "Discover What You DIDN'T KNOW About Your Favorite
Search Engine -- And How You Can Use This Information
to Grow Your Business!"

2) "FREE Upgrade to our Premium Edition!"

3) "Free Content for Your Web Site or E-zine"

4) "Visit Our Newsletter Archives"

5) "Tell Us What You Think!"

For those of you who prefer the HTML version of our newsletter, you can still read it in this format at:

http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletter/issue112

================ FEATURE EDITORIAL =======================

1) "Discover What You DIDN'T KNOW About Your Favorite Search
Engine -- And How You Can Use This Information to Grow
Your Business!"

============================================================

Less than seven years ago, a tiny company of 10 employees
launched a web search engine...

Today, that search engine attracts more than 81.9 million different visitors each month! Of course, the search engine I'm talking about is none other than Google.com.

Visitors can access Google's web site in over 100 different languages (including Klingon, Pig Latin, and, a personal favorite, Elmer Fudd).

Search results are generated from over eight billion indexed web pages and one billion images. And over 50% of the traffic to Google.com comes from outside the US.

Google has some impressive financial numbers, too. In mid-August 2004, they went public with their stock opening at $85; less than one year later, it is trading at just under $300 a share.

They have been profitable month after month. In fact, in the first quarter of 2005, they made over $1 billion.

Quarterly profits are not what motivate Google, though.
Google is very much focused on long-term development and will forego short-term revenue for it.

In fact, it's widely reported that when Google first launched one of their biggest search products, Google News, they forgot to put advertising on it! They were more focused on developing a high-quality product with the user's best interests in mind.

As you can imagine, it takes a lot more than 10 employees to hold down the Google fort these days. As of the end of 2004, Google employed over 3,000 people.

As the company has grown in numbers, it has also grown in scope. While Google is staying true to its philosophy of "doing one thing really, really well," it has expanded its reach in all kinds of different directions.

If you haven't looked beyond the clean, simple interface of Google's main page, you are missing out on a LOT of great services and tools that can help you enhance your own business.

Google has a huge variety of services, tools, labs, and advertising avenues that every online entrepeneur should know about. Yet many people are unaware that Google is so much more than "just" a search engine.

So let's look at some of the key resources you can use to benefit your online business.

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Enhance your business with Google services
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The six most well-known services Google offers are easily accessed from Google's main page. Beyond the main page, there is a wider world of Google services that are less familiar to most people.

The "more" link on the main page will give you access to some of them; for others, you'll have to dig a bit deeper...

We'll take a look at the "big six" from the main page, explaining what they are and how you can use them in your business, and then point you towards a few of the other services your business can benefit from.

1. WEB SEARCH:
http://www.google.com

When people think of Google, web search is what comes to mind first. Google has harnessed the power of many computers to index eight billion web pages and then use a complex (and
secret!) mathematical formula to determine the relevance or importance of each page.

When you enter a "keyword" or search term into the search box, Google searches for web pages containing those words and lists the pages in order of importance.

As a web site owner, you need to make sure that your own web site is optimized with keywords, high-quality content, and inbound links so that Google ranks you above your competitors in search results. For more information on how to do this, go to:

http://www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_july04

Use Google search to monitor whether or not changes you make to your web site are helping you beat your competition to the top of the search results list! But don't expect changes to take effect immediately -- it may take days or even weeks for your changes to make a difference to your ranking.

2. IMAGES:
http://images.google.com

Google caches over one billion images that are searched in exactly the same way web pages are. Typing your search term in the box and clicking on "Search Images" gives you thumbnails of images related to the keyword search term you used.

Each of the thumbnail images is linked back to its original page, where you can view the larger size. This can save you tons of time in locating an image that suits your purpose, since you don't need to sort through the standard search results to find a web page that might contain the image you need.

NOTE: Make sure the image is not protected by copyright before you download it. And, if one of YOUR images is protected and you prefer that it does not come up in Google's search results, you can request that it be removed
at: http://www.google.com/remove.html

3. GROUPS:
http://groups-beta.google.com

Within Google Groups, you can find communities of people discussing all kinds of different topics. Any member can join or start a group. This is a great way for you to discover what your potential customers are interested in.

If, for example, your products promote natural and holistic health, you might find some great ideas for new products and markets by reading messages posted in the Natural Health group. You'll read about problems people have, which might spark a great idea for a way that you can solve that problem with a product of your own.

You can also get the word out about your products to the targeted audience in the group.

4. NEWS:
http://news.google.com

Google News is a terrific way for you to stay on top of events. You can customize the news you get so that it comes from a specific region or source. You can also trace a particular story's history to see how it has developed over time.

These can be really useful and time-saving ways to do research in your area. Rather than wading through oceans of news, tell Google to give you news on specific topics from your target area.

Unfortunately, unless you are a news organization yourself, you can't add your own news story as a way of marketing your product. Press releases don't show up on Google News either.

5. FROOGLE:
http://froogle.google.com

Froogle is a search engine that looks only for products that are for sale online. It helps buyers find a web site that sells the things they want to purchase.

The search results are completely "organic"; in other words, online sellers can't "buy" a higher ranking in the search results by paying Google more money than a competitor.

If your web site isn't already listed in Froogle's search results, you'll want to make sure it gets listed because the people who search through Froogle are there to buy something! You can submit your site at:
https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/welcome

You can then use Froogle's "Product Feed" to automatically update your listing every time you make a change to your site. You can -- and should -- submit your product feed regularly so that Froogle always has the most current information about the products you are selling.

6. LOCAL:
http://local.google.com

Google Local is a quick way of limiting your search results to a specific region.

When you click on the "Local" link on the Google main page, you get two search boxes labelled "What" and "Where." You can quickly and easily search for things like local suppliers and potential business contacts.

In April of this year, Google integrated Local Search with Keyhole, a 3D mapping technology that gives a local business a "flag" on the map that accompanies search results.

The businesses that are included in search results are ones that are already indexed by Google or that exist in one of the databases that Google accesses, like YellowPages. If your business is not showing up in search results, you can submit it to Google here:

https://www.google.com/local/add/login

Now, let's move beyond Google's homepage to the wider world of Google tools and resources.

7. GMAIL:
http://gmail.google.com

Gmail is Google's free web-based e-mail service. It offers 2GB of storage space and the ability to send image files up to 10MB in size, which is much more than any of the other free webmail services offer.

Gmail also offers new ways of storing, organizing, and archiving e-mail files. But the really unique thing about Gmail is that it "reads" each e-mail message it receives and matches ads to keywords it finds in the message. These ads are then displayed alongside the message.

This is a great system for advertisers, of course, because their ads are being shown to a highly targeted group.
Google's Privacy Policy and sensitivity filters assure Gmail users that their e-mail messages are secure and that the ads placed beside them will not be in poor taste.

However, Google cannot guarantee that your competitors' ads won't show up on an e-mail you send to your customers.

Gmail is still in beta, though, and it is likely that the number of people on your e-mail list who use it is very small.

8. MAPS:
http://maps.google.com

Google Maps works in tandem with Google Local, adding an interactive element to searches by location. You can toggle between street and satellite views of an area, and you can get directions simply by choosing "Directions" and typing an address in the search box.

Your customers will easily find your brick-and-mortar business or the directions to an event you're sponsoring with a link to your own Google map right on your web site.
All you have to do is navigate within Google Maps to the view you want your customers to see and click "Link to This Page." You'll get a URL that you can add to your web site's HTML.

You also have the option to embed the map itself on your site. To do this, you'll need to sign up first:
http://www.google.com/apis/maps/. You can then add functionality and interest to the map on your site by overlaying information boxes and directional lines.

9. ZEITGEIST:
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

Google Zeitgeist is a way of keeping on top of patterns, trends, and surprises in how people search on Google. It gives you a one-page snapshot of the top-ranked search terms over the past week and month, with links to the search results pages. "Zeitgeist Around the World" gives you similar tidbits organized by country.

If you are interested in tracking keyword use related to the hottest trends online, this is a useful page for you to bookmark. And there are archives that go back to January 2001, too!

10. PLUS MORE...
http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

There are a lot more Google services to explore! Just for starters, have a look at Google Print to search the complete text of books, Google Mobile to search with your cell phone, and University Search to find links to the web sites of educational institutions.

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Save time -- and money! -- with Google's free tools
------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to its many valuable services, Google offers you several really useful -- and free! -- tools. You might be using some of them already, but you might not have considered how to really make them work to enhance your business.

1. TOOLBAR:
http://toolbar.google.com

Google's free toolbar is a great way of adding functionality to your web browser.

It can be a real time-saver as it spellchecks your URLs as you type them, autolinks addresses to maps, and jumps to searched words on a page. It also, of course, puts a handy Google search box right at your disposal, no matter where you are on the Web!

2. PAGERANK:

If you're familiar with the Google Toolbar, then you know that PageRank is the green bar and number that give you an instant sense of a web site's importance (ranked from 0 to 10).

Google determines the "importance" of your site by monitoring how many other sites link to you and how "important" they are. PageRank is just one of the indicators (along with relevant links and high-quality content) that Google uses to place your web pages in search results.

By monitoring your PageRank -- and that of your competitors
-- you can get a general sense of how well-optimized your pages are for search. PageRank can also indicate the quality of a site you're checking out as a potential link partner.

3. BLOGGER:
http://www.blogger.com

Google's free blogging tool is an excellent opportunity for you to develop a web presence with dynamic content and an RSS feed. The growing importance of RSS will change how new pages are optimized -- news goes out to readers rather than readers coming to look for news.

According to a recent issue of Planet Ocean's "Search Engine Watch," in the not-so-distant future, it will become more important to have large numbers of sites pulling your RSS feed than it will to have a high rank in search results.
Blogger is an easy way to get the jump on your competition!

Google, itself, uses Blogger for its own blogs -- have a look at --

* http://www.GoogleBlog.blogspot.com
* http://www.AdWords.blogspot.com
* http://www.buzz.blogspot.com
* http://www.code.blogspot.com

4. CODE:
http://code.google.com

If you're a bit of a techie, then you'll appreciate Google Code! This is a site that Google has for external developers who want to try their hand at improving Google's products.

There are currently several projects that are being featured, all related to different aspects of projects that are actively being developed at Google. Google's engineers decide which ones to release as open source for public development and welcome knowledgeable input.

5. DESKTOP SEARCH:
http://desktop.google.com/

Desktop Search is a free tool that you can use to search your own computer. You can locate files, previously visited web pages, e-mail, and more by installing Google's search bar on your desktop.

If your business is growing and you want to be able to search several computers, you can use the free Enterprise edition of the Desktop Search box.

6. GOOGLE EARTH:
http://earth.google.com

For pure fun, you HAVE to take a look at Google Earth. It lets you swoop around the Grand Canyon, zip over to your old neighborhood, and have a look at the area around that resort you booked online.

You can zoom in and out and rotate the view. While you won't be able to see your dog wagging its tail in your backyard, it will give you a great sense of terrain, architecture, and landmarks.

7. PLUS MORE...
http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

Google offers a number of other tools like Hello, which is an instant messaging system with images, and Translate, which lets you view web pages in other languages.

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Get a jump on your competition in Google Labs
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Google devotes about 70% of its efforts to developing its web search and targeted ads, which are the core of its business, and about 10% on developing products -- like Blogger -- that are fun, interesting, and useful, but only peripherally related to web search.

The remaining 20% of their time and energy is where a lot of Google's most innovative development comes from.

The company requires its engineers to spend one-fifth of their time developing their own projects -- things that interest them apart from their regular jobs -- and this has led to products like Google's desktop search engine, "search by location," and Gmail.

Unlike many companies, Google is not afraid to let people "look under its skirt." In other words, you can get a good idea of what Google is working on and what direction they might take with the services and tools they offer.

Take a look at Google Labs (http://labs.google.com) for some current examples.

This is where Google showcases what its engineers have been up to in their "personal project" time. It is also where Google asks you for your input.

You can try out tools while they are still in the development stage and give your feedback on how you think they could be improved or developed -- tools like...

1. SITE FLAVORED SEARCH BOX:
http://www.google.com/services/siteflavored.html

You can put a Google search box on your web site that will tailor your visitors' searches according to a profile you have predefined.

You provide Google with information about yourself, your business, etc., and when your visitors use the search box, Google flags certain results as likely to be more relevant.
You have the ability to block your competitors' sites from being presented in the search results, too.

2. PERSONALIZED SEARCH:
http://www.google.com/psearch

Personalized Search orders your search results based on what you have searched for before.

This can be a real time-saver for a small business owner who is trying to do market research. You can store and retrieve previous searches, and as your search history grows, so will the efficiency of your searches.

3. PLUS MORE...
http://labs.google.com

Visit Google Labs to see what else is in the pipeline (or "recently graduated"). There is a ton of useful stuff, and by getting to know how Google plans to make things better for you -- and your customers -- tomorrow, you can be better prepared than your competition to take advantage of all of those tools and services.

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Promote your business by advertising with Google
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If you're not already advertising with Google, it's time to get cracking! Because of the massive number of visitors to Google each day, it is a HUGE source of potential traffic for you.

1. WEB SEARCH:

Just showing up in your potential customers' search results is the easiest way to use Google for free advertising.
You'll need to optimize your web site to achieve the highest ranking possible.

You may already be aware that you need to spend some time getting the right keywords on your web site and increasing your "link popularity." You might not have known that Google looks at the first block of text it encounters on your web page and uses that for the few lines displayed about your site on search result pages.

So if you want to get listed and also catch the eye of your customers, make your first paragraph of text count: It should be roughly 300 words with about 8% of them being keywords to be most effective.

2. SITEMAPS:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps

Google's spiders constantly index web pages, and it is impossible to predict accurately when they will visit your site.

If you have paid attention to optimization for search, then they WILL crawl your pages. However, you cannot be sure that they have indexed ALL of your web pages -- they might index just part of your site on one visit. And since they start at the top of a page and work down, they might not even index the entire page before moving on!

One thing you can do to increase the likelihood of your entire site being searchable is to submit your site to Google Sitemaps. There are several ways to do this; for an overview go to:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/docs/en/overview.html

When you do this, Google creates and stores an XML file that allows for instant updates and indexing whenever your site's content changes. This is like having your own data cable running from your computer directly to Google!

3. ADSENSE:
http://www.google.com/adsense

AdSense is one of the two kinds of advertising avenues Google offers. The ads generated through AdSense are third-party ads that sit on your web site. The program is free for you to use AND you make money each time someone clicks on an ad to move off of your web site.

In other words, these ads entice your visitors away from your site (bad thing), but you are compensated each time that happens (good thing).

Google matches the ads to your site by finding similarities in the keywords of each. You can set a filter to prevent your competitors' ads from appearing on your web site, and you can customize the appearance of the ads so that their background color is the same as your site's, making them look more like informative content than sales pitches.

Try testing Google AdSense on your site to see if it negatively affects your traffic and sales. If it doesn't, then you've just found a new revenue stream!

How much will you earn? That depends partly on how much the advertisers are paying Google for the keywords and partly on how many people click through the ads on your site.

You could earn anywhere between $0.03 and $15.00 per click and up to several hundred dollars a day if you have a well-optimized site that draws lots of targeted traffic.

4. ADWORDS:
http://www.google.com/adwords

The second of Google's advertising opportunities is AdWords.
These are ads that you create to promote your business and that Google places on other sites for you.

There are three main places that you will see AdWord ads --

* On the right side of the page next to Google's
"organic" search results
* On other sites as AdSense ads
* Alongside your e-mail messages in Gmail

When you create your AdWord ads, you are in control of how much they cost. You decide how much you are willing to pay for specific keywords in your ads, and each time your ad is clicked you pay that amount.

The amount ranges from a minimum of $0.05 to a maximum of $100, and you can set a daily budget that will not be exceeded.

Google uses the keywords you chose to place your ads on sites that have content relevant to yours, so you can be assured that the traffic you are paying for is highly targeted. AdWords reach 80% of Internet users AND you can define their target region and language.

If you're wary about using AdWords because of the possibility of your ads appearing on sites that do not convert to sales for you, you can apply a "negative filter"
when creating your ad to exclude specific sites.

Of course, you'll need to test whether your advertising investment is making money for you. If the click-through traffic is not converting to sales, if your traffic drops off, or if a particular keyword is not drawing the traffic
-- and sales -- you had hoped for, it is time to rework your ads.

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Monitor Google -- and your site's Google ranking -- with other tools
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We shouldn't always take a company's word for it about what they offer. It's always wise to get a second opinion or look to the experts to see what the buzz is about a company's products.

Using Google is no different, and there are a large number of ways that you can discover who is saying what about Google's plans and products. There are also a lot of people who provide tools and services that supplement Google's, and these, too, are worth knowing about.

Let's look at a few examples...

1. GOOGLE ADVISOR:
http://googleadvisor.org

This is a blog that focuses on AdSense, AdWords, and PageRank strategies. For information, tips, tricks, and strategies related to Google, this site is a good first stop.

2. GOOGLE RANKINGS:
http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php

This site gives you a free tool for checking your keywords.
You can enter your site's URL and get a report about your keyword density. You can then check how highly Google ranks your site for each of the keywords.

3. GOOGLE GUIDE:
http://www.googleguide.com

This site offers guides for both novice and experienced users. Experienced users can find out about creating a web site, including tips on PageRank, getting listed, and advertising revenue.

In addition, don't forget to "google" for blogs, resources, and news about Google. That's always a sure way of coming up with great ideas!

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Final thoughts
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You know you've really made it when your company name is turned into a verb. "Let me google that" is part of our everyday speech -- and the verb "to google" has even been added to the Webster's dictionary!

>From tiny beginnings not that long ago, Google has had a
huge impact, not only on how we search the Web, but also on how we talk about it. Google has become synonymous with online information.

And there is much more to Google! In fact, we're barely scratching the surface of some of Google's most recent advancements here -- not to mention the complexities of improving your ranking in Google's search results...

There is a ton more information on search engine optimization with Google in our "Insider Secrets" course.
Just go to: http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html

Be sure to check out the sections on AdWords, AdSense, and tips for optimizing your site for Google in particular.
We'll walk you through the tricky bits and point out the hidden gems that you can use to ensure you are coming out ahead of your competitors.

Above all, remember Google's philosophy: "Focus on the user, and all else will follow." Every step of your business should be about solving a problem for your customer.

Google's services and tools will help you achieve that.

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All rights reserved.

2005-08-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

The Faithfulness of God
The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
Psalm 145:13b-14

Have you ever had a relationship with someone who was faithful? You knew you could depend on that person to do what he said. You learned that his word was completely trustworthy. If he said he would call you, he would. If he said he'd be somewhere at a certain time, he'd be there. In fact, if he was late, you began to wonder if he had an accident because it was so contrary to his nature. It's great to have friends who are faithful.

God is faithful. He is faithful to fulfill every promise in His Word. Sometimes we think God isn't faithful because it appears He has not fulfilled a desire that we have. Sometimes we think He is not faithful because of a crisis event that seems to say God isn't faithful. We must remember that God is more concerned about accomplishing His ultimate purpose in the life of every believer than giving us the desires of our heart. Sometimes this results in hardship.

The Bible is full of accounts of God's faithfulness that was often accompanied by hardship. He brought Joseph out of slavery to be greatly used in a nation. He delivered the people from Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. He gave Abraham the son of promise late in his life. He delivered David from his enemies and made him a king. In story upon story, we learn of God's faithfulness.

2005-08-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Greeting;

Thanks to all who responded to last email.
All of your responses were more than expected..
Sorry - Microsoft Windows XP Professional in retail box is now GONE

Here are just a few of great questions asked!
Why the Sale?

It�s impossible, let�s say, to keep oxen in a barn without having to clean up the mess from time to time. It just comes with the territory, the result an abundant harvest. This sale is helping to allowing me to get a mess in order and some items has to go!

To say more simple - Money � I need working capital and debt reduction funds.
I have been working to raise the fund as a notary, merchant restocking, mystery shopping, security guard, selling on the Internet, or sub teacher and soon I am going to cut back and just have to take time to sleep again.

Are there still Limited Software Partnership available?

Yes, a very few Senior is $200 and also a few General or Junior for $100.

For example Microsoft Office Professional, Small Business Accounting would cost you $1,400 or more. You get both and full activation. All update when you become a Senior Limited Software Partner. (Email for details and to see if there is still an opening)

Also Both Senior and Junior Software Limited Partners, for a time also have a choice of many additional business programs left over from 2004-2005 Partner pack. (Email for a current list and to see if there is still an opening)

When will the Partnership be withdrawn?

Very Soon, yearly sign time needs soon. It just can�t last at these prices. Don�t Be Disappointed.

Any products Left?

Yes, at least, when this email was sent!

Microsoft Office Professional $129(without retail box)

It won�t be offered long! Great clearance price

Advertised in the Orlando Sentinel - Bargain Corner
(I bet you didn�t know I owned in Maryland a gift store by that same name)

Arrowhead� Meat Carving Knife, Sportsman�s Knife, Cleaver Knives in sheath $40 each or all 3 for $98.00 Retail Price $119-$129 each
They have to seen to be believed! � Designed and Guaranteed to Last a Lifetime

Heathcraft� Liquid Core Electric 5 QUARAT Saucepan. $219.00
Versatile for slow cooking, roasting, deep frying or baking. Goes up to 350 degrees! Retail $339.00

Note: Both of the above products are Used, New products can only be bought at a Factory Authorized Demonstration

ED

Call 407-529-8729 or email

2005-08-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sent to you as a courtesy from Ed Mitchell, Newgenco.com

Remember Everyone must row with the oars they have- An English Proverb

Available with activation Code � Current selling in Newgenco.com Amazon Z Store

Microsoft Windows Pro with Service Pack 2 � ($145 Retail) - $89

Digital Image 9 ($99 Retail) - $59

Microsoft Office Pro 2003 ($295) - $129

Going...going...almost gone. This may be your last chance to join Newgenco.com Limited Partner Program to receive a full copy with activation code of programs like:

Small Business Accounting 2006: Smart Business for Your Business ($995 Retail)

Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 is including in the current Microsoft Action Pack. Small Business Accounting 2006 brings together financial, customer, and business information to help you manage your business smarter. Best of all, it's easy to use. For a LOW registration and shipping fee needed to cover expenses get this Plus many other Microsoft Action pack programs. Reply today and ask about them.

ED

P.S. It�s almost time for 9 -11 ( http://Chartyforcharties.org) event and I still have a few $25 Tickets

Want A free gift from AsAManThinketh.Net
Get your free eBook of James Allens classic:
http://www.AsAManThinketh.net

2005-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Words of Wisdom

It would be impossible to keep oxen in a barn without having to clean up the mess from time to time. It just comes with the territory, but the result of the oxen is an abundant harvest. God may be allowing a mess in order to ensure a fruitful harvest in your life. Learn from Him so that you might experience the fulfillment of His purposes for you in these times.

2005-08-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hi Ed,

In the next few letters I'm going to reveal a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

Introduction

In business, as in life, there's a lot of misinformation that is hurting your chances for success.

People will say something to you or you'll read something somewhere that looks 'pretty good' or sounds true, but it may only be partially true or an outright lie.

How can you tell?

Here's one way: Question EVERYTHING.

When you make a decision based on misinformation you are making a decision that will hurt your business in one way or another, maybe even permanently. The larger the decision and the larger the amount of misinformation you receive the larger the potential harm the decision could be to your business.

Some misinformation could be so harmful that it could put you right out of business.

As an example, here's a small bit of misinformation you may have mistaken for the truth at one time:

"People hate to be sold on anything".

How many times have you heard that?

Well, I'm here to tell you it's a lie.
How about this one:

"People hate to be sold, but love to buy".

This statement is a half-truth.

It's true, people do love to buy things for themselves and as gifts. But I'll show you that they also love to be sold.

In fact everyone loves to be "sold" because when people are being "sold" on something they are following and doing something that gets them closer to what they "want".

But anyone who starts out in business may believe that "people hate to be sold" is true and make decisions that effect their business based on this misinformation.

On the other side of this coin, there are also a lot of entrepreneurs who hate to sell. They hate being pushy or believe they need to be pushy in order to make sales.

That's also not true.

If you're in this category, then this short report will be like a breath of fresh air to you.

The truth is: Selling is not difficult. If it appeals to people, has value and you've made it easy to purchase, people will buy from you. There are some people who will buy your product or service if they have the smallest interest in it just to satisfy their curiosity.

It truly amazes me what people will buy.

There are some people who are compulsive buyers. Make them just about any offer, and they'll order if they trust you.

But they will only account for 1 out every 10,000 customers.

Selling on the Internet isn't much different than selling through the mail or television or radio.

You may be really lucky and get as many as 1 in 10 visitors to your web site to order something. If you do, you will be considered one of the top marketers on the net.

The real expert marketer takes that small flame of interest that's inside your potential customer and fans it until it becomes a burning desire that can only be satisfied when they have purchased your product.

Using the following methods in this report can help your potential customers become actual customers, with very little effort on your part. Potential customers will be drawn to your products and services almost like magic.

Why People Buy A Product Or Service

This is not something people talk about at polite social events.
You're not likely to hear about it at your son's soccer or your daughter's softball game. Even your best friend will not discuss it, if they even thought about it, with you. Not one in a thousand books will ever mention it. But it is the very foundation of 'trade'
and business success!

To understand what I am about to say you have to be a student of human nature or at least you need to have some understanding of it. I'm not a psychologist. I only know what I see and observe.

And I have been a life-long 'student' of human nature.

It doesn't take a genius to understand this, but once understood it will change the way you do business forever!
Read this slowly. It's not as profound as it is insightful.

This is what I call the "The ONE Secret":

THE ONE SECRET:
"98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically."

You may have heard this before. You may have even understood it.
But I doubt you have fully comprehended the total significance of it.

What I'm going to do is OPEN YOUR EYES, illuminate this truth so that you'll never forget it.

... to be continued...

That's all for today...

Best wishes,

-Dave Vallieres

2005-08-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep Time : 10 min.

Cook Time : 30 min.

Ingredients:

Vegetable cooking spray

1 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces

3 1/2 cups Swanson� Chicken Broth (regular, Natural Goodness� or Certified Organic)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained

1 cup Pace� Chunky Salsa

1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

2 tbsp. lime juice

Crisp Tortilla Strips

Directions:

SPRAY saucepot with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat 1 min. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often.

ADD broth, cumin and rice. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 20 min.

STIR in corn, salsa, cilantro and lime juice and heat through. Top with Crisp Tortilla Strips.

TIP: Crisp Tortilla Strips: Preheat oven to 425�F. Cut 4 corn tortillas into thin strips and place on baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Bake 10 min. or until golden.

Pepperidge Farm� Apple Pecan Pastries

Thaw Time : 30 min.

Prep Time : 20 min.

Bake Time : 15 min.

Ingredients:

1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm� Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 cups diced, peeled Granny Smith apples

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tbsp. cold butter, cut into pieces

Confectioners' sugar

Directions:

THAW pastry sheet at room temperature 30 min. Preheat oven to 375�F. Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add apples, pecans and butter and toss to coat.

UNFOLD pastry on lightly floured surface. Roll into 15" x 10" rectangle. Brush lightly with water. With long side facing you, spoon apple mixture on pastry to within 2" of long sides and all the way to short sides. Starting at long side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into 12 (1 1/4") slices. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheet.

BAKE 15 min. or until golden. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Makes 12 pastries.

2005-08-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

From Ed Mitchell

With God, there is always hope of a restored life, that I will have joy in my heart again.

I must more forward and stop the looking than backward to have this sense of hope and find meaning in life. Now more than ever I need to be able- while still feeling exhausted most of the time�knowing that with God there is hope with a sense of direction for my future.

Jesus . . .came to "To comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion�to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor" (Isaiah 61:2-3).

2005-08-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

FDLE Missing Children Alert website. By registering, we will provide you with Missing Children and AMBER Alert email notifications that occur within Florida. With your assistance, we will be able to react quickly when a child is reported missing through the use of advanced Internet and cellular phone tecnology.

Again, thank you for your help.

Missing Children Information Clearinghouse www.missingchildrenalert.com

2005-08-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Bloggers post information along with the names of his friends in a blog. So many people go online and "ego surf" or look up their own names, not only using Google, but also search sites for blogs like DayPop (http://www.daypop.com) and Technorati (http://www.technorati.com). It might be a way for them to find him.

Blogging continues to show astounding growth. Most recent figures show that there are more than 14 million blogs--short for Weblogs--on the Internet.

So, do you have something to say? Why not get started? There are a number of sites that will host your blog for free. That's the easy part. Getting people to read it is harder. But you have to start somewhere, so try these:
http://www.blogger.com/start
http://www.livejournal.com/
http://www.typepad.com/

And here are a couple caveats: People are actually going to read what you write. If you're a good writer, you could attract a significant audience. So be careful what you say. Libel law applies to the Web, too. And if you write derogatory stuff about your employer, you could be a former employee.

Also, digital writing never goes away. Somebody, somewhere will save your pages. Somebody could do a search and find ugly stuff you wrote years earlier, before you grew up.

2005-08-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

An eBook Publisher's Dilemma: Should I Use PDF or Exe Format? by Michael Southon

An eBook Publisher's Dilemma: Should I Use PDF or Exe Format?
by Michael Southon

If you write and publish eBooks, sooner or later you
will probably be faced with a dilemma - should you
create your eBooks as .exe files or .pdf files?

PDF, which stands for Portable Document Format, is the
file extension for files created with Adobe Acrobat.

Exe, which stands for 'executable', is the extension
for files created by eBook compilers.

PDF is widely considered to be the 'industry standard'
for eBook publishing, and for good reason. Here are
some of the advantages of PDF files over exe files:

(1) With most eBook compilers you have to set up each
page of your eBook as a separate web page. With Adobe
Acrobat you can use a single MS Word file as the
source document.

(2) PDF files automatically number each page - exe
files don't.

(3) PDF files are very easy to edit - you can insert
pages, replace pages and delete pages (and the page
numbering is automatically adjusted).

(4) Printing from a PDF file is much easier than
printing from an .exe file.

(5) The 'bookmark' column on the left side of a PDF
file makes navigation very easy - much easier than in
an exe file.

(6) PDF files compress better than exe files, so you
end up with a smaller, more manageable file.

(7) It's virtually impossible to transmit a virus
through a PDF file - exe files are susceptible to
virus transmission and can become corrupted during
download.

(8) Finally, by using PDF you automatically expand
your potential market because PDF files can be read on
both a PC and a Mac (exe files can only be read on a
PC). Over 8 percent of the online population in the
U.S. are currently Mac users
(www.nielsen-netratings.com) - not a huge increase in
your market, but nevertheless significant.

But exe files do have some advantages over PDF files.
Until recently, one of the most important of these was
price - most eBook compilers are a fraction of the
cost of Adobe Acrobat.

However, a number of PDF creators have recently
appeared on the market with price tags similar to those
of eBook compilers. Here are some of them:

http://pdfcreator.com/
http://www.jawspdf.com/
http://www.win2pdf.com/

Another advantage of exe files over PDF is the
rebranding feature. The following eBook compilers all
have a built-in rebranding function:

http://www.ebookcompiler.com/
http://www.ebookgenerator.com/
http://www.ebookedit.com/
http://www.ebookpaper.com/

If you use free eBooks as a viral marketing tool,
rebranding is the key to success, because people are
much more likely to promote your free eBook if they
can customize it with their own affiliate links.

------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for
over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters
how to use this simple technique to build a successful
online business. Click here to find out more:
http://infowaremall.com/cgi-bin/vp/hop.cgi?i=mhsouthon
------------------------------------------------------------

2005-08-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

AT LAST! EASY WIRELESS SECURITY
Wi-Fi networking was a great invention. But it has always had a serious
problem: security. Encryption has been available, but it has been less than reliable. And it's often hard to set up.

Linksys has announced that wireless routers and access points now have security at the press of a button. Furthermore, owners of older equipment can upgrade it for the system, called SecureEasySetup.

If you own a Linksys router or access point, select your model number at the link below. Then, you will see any available updates to it.
http://www.linksys.com/download

Hopefully, other manufacturers of wireless equipment will adopt this technology. It will be a boon for their customers.

2005-08-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

MSN'S VIRTUAL EARTH IS ONLINE
Microsoft has gone live with its Virtual Earth mapping project, which is intended to compete with a similar feature from Google. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be ready for prime time. I couldn't get it to do much.

However, it can find you, based on your IP (Internet Protocol) number.
Click "See your location on the map." Google doesn't do that. It's at:
http://virtualearth.msn.com/

2005-08-01T14:38:00.001-07:00

MOVING A HUGE FILE OVER THE INTERNET
Petro called from Atlanta, asking about FTP (file transfer protocol).
He has a 30 megabyte file that he wants to send to a friend.

FTP will work fine, Petro. I wrote a Killer Tip explaining that two years ago. You'll find it at:
http://www.komando.com/tips_show.asp?showID=7645

However, today I'd use a Web site intended for transfers of large files.
There are several such sites, all easy to use. And most are free.
Here are three to consider:
http://www.yousendit.com/
http://www.dropload.com/
http://www.sendthisfile.com/

2005-08-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

FREE CELL PHONES "OUT THE DOOR!"
http://www.myrateplan.com/free_before_rebates

There are plenty of free cell phone offers out there, but many of them are only free after you submit a bunch of rebate forms.

MyRatePlan.com gives you a list of free cell phones that will cost you $0.00 TODAY.

FREE cell phones offered from all major carriers here:
http://www.myrateplan.com/free_before_rebates

Phone will be free with qualifying Cingular service, after all rebates associated with offer. Not all offers available in all areas.

2005-08-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

Lemon Herb Grilled Chicken

Prep Time : 5 min.

Cook Time : 35 min.

Ingredients:

1 can (14 oz.) Swanson� Chicken Broth (regular, Natural Goodness� or Organic) (1 3/4 cups)

3 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed

Directions:

MIX broth, lemon juice, basil, thyme and black pepper.

GRILL or broil chicken 35 min. or until chicken is done, turning and brushing often with broth mixture. Discard remaining broth mixture. Serves 4.

Baked Zesty Fries

Prep Time : 10 min.

Cook Time : 30 min.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

2 large potatoes (about 1 lb.), cut into 1/2" sticks

1/4 cup Swanson� Chicken Broth

Directions:

MIX chili powder, garlic and black pepper. Set aside.

TOSS potatoes with broth. Drain. Place potatoes on baking sheet. Add seasoning mixture. Toss until evenly coated. Arrange potatoes in single layer.

BAKE at 450�F. for 30 min. or until golden. Serves 4.

2005-07-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

How does God bless the wealthy?

Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They give generously to those in need. Their good deed will be never be forgotten. They will have influence and honor.

Psalm 112:6-9 NLT

Being Generous

A spacious home. A well-paying job. A new car in the driveway. The luxuries that this world offers may appear to give the person who owns these things security and confidence. But Scripture says that placing our trust in money is a very dangerous thing to do. A well-paying job can disappear overnight. Stocks and mutual funds can decline. Another driver rear-ends the shiny new car. The only place we can securely and confidently place our trust is in God. We need to remember this when we're experiencing good times as well as bad times.

The Bible tells us that one way we can demonstrate our wholehearted trust in God is by giving away a portion of what we have. If we're generous with God first and our neighbors second, the Bible says, we won't have to "fear bad news" or "evil circumstances." Followers of God can be confident that he will take care of them. He is able to protect them and to supply what they need. Ask God to create a generous spirit in your life. Look for opportunities to give generously to those in need, and ask God to cultivate a confident trust in him in your heart and home.

Adapted from Praying God's Promises for My Marriage by Jon Farrar (Tyndale House) pp 160-61

2005-07-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hi,

How 'common' is common sense? Not very... here's a story (true) that illustrates what I mean.

A local new business, "Have A Sushi Bar" (name changed to protect the innocent ;-) was scheduled to open in a few weeks. It was positioning itself as an upscale shushi restaurant/bar and it had created a bit of a 'buzz' in our town of 55,000.

To get the marketing campaign rolling the owner decided to give 50 people a special invitation package that allowed them to invite one other person, of their choice, to the restaurant on a special night to sample the menu and have some drinks. It wasn't free, you had to pay for your meal and drinks (I think they said something about some 'free'
champagne) but still, it would be kind of a fun thing to do.

I liked the idea... thought it was a pretty smart way to get people excited and involved in the opening. But like all good ideas, if it isn't carefully planned and all contingencies accounted for, it ends up backfiring.

First off, who do you choose to give the invitation packets to? At first I thought they would hold a drawing... they could have gotten some free publicity with one of the local radio stations and offered everyone who called a special number to be entered to get one of the "Invitation Only Day"
packets.

The owners could collect the names and addresses of the callers...that would have had the dual purpose of building a mailing list as well as getting a ton of people who hadn't heard of the opening a chance to discover it.

Out of the hundreds of people who would call in to the get the special "Invitation Only Day" packet they would have randomly picked 50 lucky winners!

I mean what a great idea!

Everybody wins! The owners get people excited about the opening, they get at least 100 people to come to the restaurant on this special day to have fun and try it out and they get a ton of free publicity from the station!

And, if this was my restaurant, I would have contacted every person who called in to get the packets. I would have told them that even though they didn't get chosen for *this* night, that we are scheduling a second night and they would still be able to get special "Invitation Only Day" packets but for another night!

In fact, if there were enough people who called in, I would have immediately scheduled 3 or 4 or 5 "Invitation Only" days and stretched it into a "Invitation Only Month!" so that my restaurant was filled any day I wanted it filled!

And you know what really happened instead?

What did the owner do instead? He hand picked 50 of his closest friends, relatives and business partners to get the invitation packets. They in turn could invite only one person to attend this 'special' opening day with them.

That still would have been ok... but what happened is that the word got around that some people received the Invitation 'packets' and, not knowing beforehand that the person who received the packet was limited to inviting just ONE person, people started asking if they could go with them. When the person said, "no", that they could only invite 'one' person, people started to get offended.

The owner was notified that there were a lot of people who wanted to come, but were turned down. He didn't seem to care.
He just told everyone they could only bring "one" person and that was that.

At that point he still could have 'rescued' the situation by getting the names and addresses of everyone who wanted to come and offer them something else, but he didn't ... instead, a lot of people were really offended, and they had the impression that this restaurant (and owner) was not very friendly (a snob).

I know one person who told me that they didn't care if they had the best sushi in New York State, they would drive 60 miles to a larger neighboring city than ever step foot in this restaurant.

I think the restaurant was open about 14 months before it closed.

The owner was not using common sense, or any kind of sense.

Is 'common sense' that common? I don't think so...

That's all for today...

Best wishes,

-Dave Vallieres

2005-07-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Finding Help
Day 31

When human life is threatened by serious injury, a medical system is activated to provide help. Patients are sped to an emergency room to stabilize their condition and to get a diagnosis of what is wrong. Recovery might take months or years, but a health care system is in place to help the patients each step of the way.

The emotional damage from divorce can be just as traumatic, just as devastating, as physical injury.

"I didn't sleep at night," says Sherry, "and all these info-commercials come on at three and four o'clock in the morning about anxiety. I knew exactly what it was because my heart would be racing so hard that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Then I started praying to have a heart attack."

The help system for divorce trauma is not as apparent. There is no hospital emergency room to go to. Yet, if you read God's words in the Bible, you will find that a different kind of help system, or emergency room, exists, and it's up to you to discover more about the healing offered there. Just as God restored and healed the nation of Israel in the Bible, He promises to heal your wounds as well. Can you trust the promises of God?

"'I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the LORD, 'because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares'" (Jeremiah 30:17).

Lord God, You are known as the Great Physician, and through You I will find healing. I understand that it will take time, but, because of who You are, the healing will be full and complete. Amen