Archive for July, 2009

The art of speaking also known as rhetorik is not always an easy task to accomplish. One man had to learn this the hard way. A former works council in a german company was requested to hold a speech at a festivity and messed up terribly. His speech was so worse that lots of people left the room, others looked ashamed away and some of them hissed him. He then left the room and was deeply in shame. After that day he promised himself never to be in a situation like that again. And he was determined to learn all about rhetoric he could. He visited every rhetorik seminar he could and spent thousands of euros finding the best techniques. He learned under nearly every teacher there is and found that lots of the teachings were contrary.

Eventually the student asked a lot of questions and finally he developed his own style of rhetoric and his own rhetoric tutorials (rhetorik uebungen). He took every method and tried and tested it so he could develop a feeling for it and its effeciency. So this person came up with a modern set of rules for rhetoric and a unique style of presenting. Which the most important milestone is without a doubt the abandonment of powerpoint. His teachings and trainings are most remarkably and now this man is well-known in europe for his unique approach. He is also about to start a campaign against powerpoint and to forbid it by law for use in company presentations. More on that in a future post.

With all the set rules that traditional speakers tell one who studies rhetoric this one man is an exception. Although he teaches some rules and guidelines he has also developed an approach to test every method for its viability to enchant the bulk. Celebrities come to his trainings and book exclusive coachings. He beats every powerpoint presentation with his way of presenting hands down and teaches everyone who is willing to listen the way how to do it. He recently improved a mailing which converted at 0,4% to a conversion rate of 15%! Who is that man, who makes that possible and is a seeked-out rhetoric guru? Who is that man who rised from zero to hero in the world of rhetoric? The answer: Matthias Poehm. A man, who has proven that everybody can succeed with speech. Welcome to Poehm Seminarfactory. If you want to find out more about him and his seminars (in german and english) just click one of the links above. 

There is a stigma about wearing hearing aids. An estimated 31 million in the U.S. have hearing loss, but only about 10 percent wear hearing aids. The reason is partly cosmetic – people think they look bad – and partly the cost, prices for a set of hearing aids (for both ears) range from $2,700 to $6,000, depending on the level of technology and the biggest reason for not using hearing aids is the technology. Until a few years ago, the technology was just not that good.

However, hearing aide technology has improved greatly over the last few years. Hearing aids now have digitized programming with smaller computer chips and directional microphones that can distinguish between human voices and background noise. People can now be treated with profound hearing loss with a more powerful, smaller device that can be programmed and adjusted for specific tones. Some hearing aids can be adapted to Bluetooth or other wireless devices, and many have remote controls so users can adjust the devices themselves.

While baby boomers are the largest market segment for hearing aids, hearing loss is not just an aging problem. Target practice with guns, using a lawn mower or weed-eater, driving a loud car or truck and blaring music, all can contribute to hearing loss if the ears are continually exposed.

Hearing is a brain function and the brain will want to focus on the ear with the hearing aid, which will hear better. Over time, the other ear, if not at a comparable hearing level with the assisted ear, may experience hearing loss because of neglect by the brain.

People of all ages should educate themselves about options for maintaining a good quality of life through better hearing. Residents of Arizona have access to one of the countries most cutting edge chain of hearing centers. Phoenix hearing aids and Scottsdale hearing aids can be obtained at Purtone Hearing Centers in Arizona. With a total of eight locations around Arizona, your hearing needs can be accommodated no matter where you live in Arizona.

Maintaining healthy hearing is no accident. Do not neglect the health of your hearing no matter what your age.

Getting rid of fleas on dogs

There are so many ways that we can get rid of fleas on dogs.

Advantage for dogs was the first real topical made for dog flea control. It had both an ingredient for killing the fleas and for killing the eggs and larvae from developing. Now, the fact is that the eggs and larvae are not on the dog, but still, it sounds good. It works well and is comparatively priced.

K9 Advantix for dogs is the best on the market. It is a combination of the original Advantage and the original BioSpot. We sold BioSpot for eons. It was convenient but had the disadvantage of entering the blood stream. Somehow the idea of using just enough poison to stop the fleas and not the dog, does not read well. Not only are the individual ingredents the same, but there are massive warnings to not use Advantix on cats. BioSpot used to kill cats as well.

Capstar for dogs and cats is not really a liquid that goes on the skin of the pet. It is a oral treatment that can be given to the dogs that will kill the fleas immediately, typically within 30 minutes. The fleas run first, and the pets scratch like mad for about 15 minutes. It has no residual effect and will not continue to kill the fleas within hours after being taken. But by then, all of the fleas are gone and the dog will not be reinfested until he goes back into an environment with live fleas. At that point, the dog is totally susceptible to being reinfested. You always have to follow it up with a topical like Advantage or Frontline to keep the dog free of fleas for any length of time.

How To Print Laser Labels

Printing high quality self-adhesive labels on a laser printer is simple. All you need to do is to place them in the paper tray so they will print portrait, set your printer software on the labels setting and then print as normal. For improved positioning of the print you can use the media bypass slot usually positioned above the paper tray, this reduces the number of rollers the label sheet passes through and helps to prevent the print from slewing left at the top and right at the bottom of the A4 sheet.

The labels setting on your printer driver software is usually in the settings or properties section, and these options are on that rather annoying page that pops up every time you print something. Some of the more expensive or modern laser printers have auto sensing, which means they automatically sense the thickness of the media they are loaded with.

You do have to print A4 labels in a portrait direction; this is because, like wood, paper has a grain direction. The grain direction is from the top to the bottom of the sheet rather than side to side. The result of this is that the paper is more rigid along its length; this means that the labels are better supported on the backing paper and less likely to peel off the backing paper while printing.

Laser printers are not designed to print labels, they are designed to print thinner A4 sheets, so it is always a good idea to read the printer manufacturer’s manual to find out what they advise for label printing. To enable the printers to print labels well you need to use laser labels made from laser grade paper and cut in a layout that also reduces the chances of separation from the backing during printing. Laser grade paper has a specified smoothness so that the laser toner can achieve the resolution you need.

Laser labels also have a specified water content this is essential and helps the toner to key into the paper when it passes through the fuser in your printer. (The fuser is like a heated mangle with the paper passing between two rollers one of which is heated.) If the labels dry out then the laser print will smudge so always keep unused labels in their packaging. Laser labels also have a [particular|certain} type of backing paper which provides enough friction so that the rollers in the printer can move it accurately.

 

A Day in The Life Of A New Home

I still feel like a child within. I have a difficult time looking in the mirror and seeing a fully realized mature man. You would have believed the birth of my second child would have changed it, but I still seem to be in self-denial of the aging process.

And regarding aging — or rather putting it off — my dear wife and I moved into a new house and this home possesses enough space in the basement for a exercise room my wife had always desired. Of course, I am seeing dollar signs when I brainstorm all the large and tiny items essential, from the essential but oft-neglected weight benches and mats for exercise to selecting the most versatile stationary bicycle. An exercise bike can be tricky these days. Do I buy an upright or a recumbent exercise bike? Should you select an old-school analog or electronic?

Of course, my dear wife seems determined to get an elliptical trainer too. You read that right. A stationary bike and an elliptical trainer — not only one or the other. My guess is that it will go with the cream for stretch marks she started using after the birth of youngest child. Oh boy I’m gonna get it for that joke.

I must be careful with the budget because our new house is more of a fixer-upper. We desired it to be this way, but we still must carefully budget everything, even to a knob for a cabinet (I’m not kidding). My wife has an ambitious kitchen cabinet refacing design plotted, but must remind her the bathroom sinks she wishes installed shall set us back a pretty penny, too.

Thankfully, we both appreciate the organic, rustic look, so we are furnishing our new house with natural furniture. Of course, it still involves some polishing off, but she and I can keep our expenses down and create better furniture than we could purchase anywhere anyways.

I recently uncovered a great pair of coffee tables with some decent, raw knotting and a console table in matching oak. For our patio outside we are considering an outdoor fireplace and we will furnish with a little inexpensive furniture made with wicker initially.

Furnishing a new house might seem so adult, but I can’t help but sense I am merely playing house. The exercise equipment and furniture just feel like a new era of playthings.

Imitating Filthy Cleaning Services

In order to maintain cleanliness, it seems that more and more people are looking to the help of professional cleaning services. Professional cleaning services free up your time so that you can pursue other activities. Whenever you consider selecting a professional cleaning service you should always be sure to hire one that is not incompetent. It’s important to select highly-skilled, competent individuals.

Perhaps using a cleaning service has already crossed your mind. If this is your situation, select a company that is able to meet your cleaning needs. It is similar to maid Beverly Hills. Picking a company with an impeccable reputation will be a very wise choice.

Consider what your cleaning needs will be. Although it might sound good, it is not like jantitorial service. Some areas will need only minor cleaning, while others will require a complete cleaning. Determining the frequency of the cleaning service will help you to save money by only using them when it is truly needed and not wasting money by paying for services when you don’t need them quite so often.

Delivering consistent results is something that you are paying for, so it is not really optional. This is similar to Beverly Hills house cleaning. We know that these kinds of commercial cleaning services have a lot of services to offer their customers. A properly insured cleaning service is mandatory. Be sure to verify the cleaning service is fully insured before hiring.

Omitting this step could yield serious consequences in the future. Also be sure that the company utilizes best practices including employees wearing uniforms and maintaining regular schedules.

A cleaning service should also offer specialized services for cleaning different surfaces. A competent cleaning provider will always ensure that you receive proper services that are always satisfactory. In addition to being more enjoyable, a clean area is also better for your health.

Save Space With Shelves

It’s possible to find lots of types of storage systems you can fit in your workshop area to make it more sensible. Workshop storage shelves offers several advantages that make them the superior choice among others.

Shelves are of course very accessible. This makes it an simple to use storage system where you can gather your most frequently used gear such as repair or painting tools. Shelves are also incredibly effective in view of the fact that they exploit merely a very tiny area of your garage’s vertical space. And nonetheless they still offer a lot of storeroom space for your belongings although being space-saving. This is why it’s a great idea to make your own plywood corner shelves and save room.

Storage space shelves are as well very flexible. They come in a broad range of configurations  to match your needs. No matter what you need to store in your garage, you can find a shelving style for it. They are as well to be had in diverse materials. For durable, long-lasting storage space shelving, you can select steel shelves that are not just tough but are good-looking as well. You can acquire engineering steel garage shelves in furniture shops. There are also free-standing metal storeroom systems whose shelves can be without difficulty accustomed according to the volume of the item you are going to store.

Workshop storage shelves are comparatively less luxurious than most storage systems. You can actually construct your own storage system applying plain house tools. In case you like to do things by yourself, you can try installing your own workshop storage shelf with planks of timber and some tools. In case you decide to construct your personal wooden shelves, get hardwood for example fir or pine. These wood types can effortlessly endure serious loads and will often last for a long time.

These are just several of the kitchen storage shelves issues you can mull over. Also, you have to make aluminum brackets and create the best possible storage system.  Before you make any changes in your workshop, it is best if you cautiously plan every aspect. Confirm your plan will be competent to get the most out of every inch of room in your kitchen.

Hypnotism

Organizations that implement a change management programme need to be careful that all the predicted efficiencies are not then negated by an abundance of dissatisfied employees suffering from low moral and excessive pressure. The benefits of a company having a highly motivated workforce can be considerable and the two goals of having a workforce that is both motivated and productive should not be regarded as being mutually exclusive to one another.

Left unresolved employers run the risk of alienating their employees and events can then cause employee frustrations to explode resulting in employers finding themselves on the back foot, faced with problems that cannot be ignored.

In an ideal world employers would take time to understand the needs of their employees and learn from their experiences of working on the front line, but employers are often themselves tied up day to day fighting their own fires.

By automating the majority of the intelligence gathering process and having the findings in a format that can be easily analysed online surveys provide employers with an efficient and cost effective method to help towards establishing a pleasant working environment, where employee satisfaction and productivity is high.

 

Unproductive & dissatisfied

There are a plethora of reasons why employees may become dissatisfied with their job that can result in them channelling their frustrations into demands for higher salaries and reduced hours. Employers who tackle problems thinking it is all about salary and hours, will often find later that they have been dealing with the symptoms and not the root cause.

 

It’s not about money

The following is a list of common barriers that will prevent an organization from achieving an increase in productivity, none of which are likely to be resolved by increasing salaries or reducing hours:-

  • Inadequate training
  • Out of touch management
  • Dated working methods
  • Lack of proper tools and equipment

Increasing salaries is not always a solution to employees’ problems nor as many studies have revealed is it the most important motivator for most employees.

Take the case of a single mother who is juggling a full time job with the need to look after a child. Out of frustration she may demand more money so that she feels that she is able to cope where a better solution, for both her and the business, may be more flexible working hours.

 

Establishing good communications

It is in all companies interests to encourage good communication. A company where the management does not communicate well with their employees, or will wait for any problems to be raised, can often be deceived into thinking that they have a content workforce when they don’t. It can take only one aggrieved employee with one small problem for an entire workforce to develop a destructive ‘them and us’ attitude.

 

Improving communication

It would be ideal if the employer and employee could meet one on one but in practice this is impractical for everyone except very small organizations.

Regular meetings between management and worker representatives are good in theory but they often become talking shops and can begin to lose their edge as the participants become familiar with one another and the forum runs the risk of being hijacked by the more extrovert personalities.

Suggestion boxes can have their value but they can be viewed as token efforts by management as they wait for personnel to highlight a problem.

Newsletters can provide a positive contribution but they only offer one way communication and their primary function is to inform and not discuss employee issues.

 

Keeping the initiative

Conducting employee satisfaction surveys on a regular basis can be used to ask each employee specific questions and demonstrates a pro-active management initiative where the whole workforce can be consulted on various issues. Surveys are able to provide a level playing field between the quieter and more vocal employees.

Consultation should not be seen as a sign of weakness, a confident manager will often take counsel from others before making a decision. By issuing a survey and keeping the initiative the employer is able to tackle problems from a position of strength as opposed to waiting for problems to fester and then develop out of proportion.

If small problems are left unresolved the employees mood can change from positive to negative over night should a minor problem breaks the camel’s back.

 

Easy and quick

For the majority of companies online surveys represent a proactive and low cost solution. They can be created very quickly and for the majority of organizations, where most of the personnel have desktop computers, they are also quick to deploy direct to the individual.

In situations where not all of the personal have access to a computer there are options available to implement the online survey solution such as providing a shared computer, have an operator input their responses or as a last resort, a hardcopy survey.

 

Job satisfaction

There are combined elements that will contribute towards an employee’s job satisfaction, including company ethics, working methodology, ethos and environment to having decisive and effective management. Job satisfaction brings benefits through improved productivity and motivation from a workforce that feels that they are treated as individuals and not a commodity item.

 

Educate and inform

A less appreciated benefit of online surveys is that they can be used effectively to educate and deliver important information to the workforce, ensuring that the ‘message’ is delivered consistently and does not become corrupted as it is passed down the line.

An online survey can explain to the employees a difficult situation and get valuable feedback as to the best solution. It is rare in this situation that the workforce would appear negative; it is more likely they will feel informed and empowered and that might be enough to unite the workforce and turn a negative problem into a positive challenge.

 

Exit surveys

Exit surveys are an excellent way of ensuring that when personnel leave an organisation they are leaving for the right reasons and not due to reasons that if appreciated earlier could have been addressed and resolved by management. Identifying a problem may not be enough to prevent a person from leaving but it could lead to an unappreciated issue being resolved that may be all that is required to stop other key personnel from also deciding to leave.

 

For a Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey:- Employee Satisfaction Survey Template

For a sample Employee Exit survey:- Employee Exit Survey Template

The Towncar’s air supension’s longevity is determined by how much extreme heat and cold the Town Car is subjected to; extreme conditions degrade the components. At last you can leave your air suspension problems behind you forever! Installing our conversion means NEVER worrying about an air leak again, while still enjoying a luxury car ride. Get your Towncar back on the road today. Our coil spring conversion converts the air suspension system to a dependable high quality passive spring system. Our springs are designed to give your vehicle a smooth ride. Springs fit perfectly in the seat without welding to the suspension. The package includes detailed instructions. Everything you need to replace the air suspension components. When we remanufacture the air spring. We utilize the original top and bottom. We have found that the composition of the plastic that is originally produced by Firestone is much more durable than any other. We replace the original air bladder with a new air bladder that has been produced directly for Suncore Industries by Good Year. We provide installation instructions with your purchase. We are always available for any technical assistance needed. The air spring comes with o-rings. A large o-ring to go between the solenoid and the upper air spring assembly. 2 o-rings for your solenoid, and 1 small o-ring for the air inlet valve on the solenoid. The Compressor is completely remanufactured to O.E.M. performance standards. The shocks are brand new Monroe shocks.

At Suspension Alternatives, we offer you the option of staying with the air system, by offering new air springs, air suspension compressors we rebuild ourselves to better than new standards, and new dryers.  We strongly suggest that you change the dryer whenever you need to change either the air springs or the air compressor. A bad dryer can allow water to get into the springs, damaging your new investment. As the dryer gets filled with moisture, the back pressure can overload and burn out your compressor. Our suspension compressor for your Town Car is completely disassembled and remanufactured from the ground up. We replace all the high wear parts such as bearings, sleeves, and bushings with name brand parts. Our compressors are inspected and tested numerous times before leaving the factory. We not only remanufacture them, we make them better. Please note: the dryer assembly, shown attached to the compressor in the illustration at left, is not included in this purchase price. Suspension Alternatives strongly recommends changing your dryer any time you change your compressor or other critical suspension parts.

Sites and Fun in Washington DC

There’s so much to see and do in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC that it is sort of very unlikely to see them all in a single visit. However, that didn’t stop my other half and kids from attempting to cover everything on our current vacation. Here are only a few of the highlights we experienced on our trip.that trip.

Our first challenge before we even left home was finding an affordable place to stay in the Washington, DC area. For the main part, hotels are pretty high priced in that area and make it difficult to locate a good place for a family of five to stay without absolutely blowing the old budget. We ended up choosing the American Inn in Bethesda, MD and are really happy with our choice. It’s not the most glamorous hotel in the area but extraordinarily convenient, clean and affordable. So, we highly reccomend it when looking for Bethesda hotels.

Then, on to the tourist sites we enjoyed. Naturally we started with the famous Countrywide Monuments and Memorials. These included the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial,the Washington Monument, and the Arlington National Cemetery. There were several more as Washington is a town of monuments and memorials. Many are found on the National Mall but others are pretty spread out so you will get a very good walk exercise if you plan to visit them all on foot as we did. (I admit I had to visit my Sacramento podiatrist when I got back home to deal with some foot pain from so much walking)

Next came our tour of the three different branches of official Govt buildings.When sightseeing in Washington, D.C., the regime, the Capitol and the high court are key places to visit. Touring these galvanizing buildings will help you understand more about our executive and its history. Plan in advance and learn about schedules and special events. The regime is the home and office of the President and is found at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. To order a tour you must make a request through one of your members of Congress. Group tours are held Tuesday through Saturday from 7:30 a. m. through 11:30 a. m. and are booked one month ahead.

At the east end of the nation’s Mall stands the majestic U. S. Capitol Building. Due to heightened security, the Capitol is open to the public for led tours only.

The one thing you will need to do for sure is take a large amount of pictures as you tend to remember everything as you are going to remember everything as you are time but believe me, your memories tend to fade and it is always better to have some photographs to help bring those memories back into sharp focus. I’m not a Commercial Photographer but wish I was to have better captured some of the beauty we saw on ths holiday

Also, in addition to the typical traveller attractions mentioned above, you will find that the Washington, DC area has some of the best eateries in the country. I suppose this may be due to all of the important politicians that live there as well as the many dignitaries that visit the area and need to go out to eat.

Well, that rather sums up our trip and I can only hope that you get the opportunity to visit the Washington, DC area.