Daily Handy Tips

Archive for October, 2009

Online dating can be fun, but do not neglect safety and common sense when you try to hook up with a mate. At minimum, take caution in the following areas.

Protect Your Computer

Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you may want these two solutions that are offered at no charge to home computer users (i.e. not for commercial use): a free firewall from ZoneAlarm and a free anti-virus program from AVG anti-virus.

Personal Security

Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service. How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend. In addition, search “online dating services” and keep a notebook of their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place. Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others.

Always think security first. Guard your computer with the right tools and arm yourself with the right knowledge and you will have a blast.

Now that we have discussed security, let us talk about growing an online relationship with someone. Just like all your relationships with family and friends, online relationships need tending to grow over time.

1. Relationships are about giving time and taking time. Does your prospect try and contact you on a regular basis? Do you do the same? Neglecting online chats, IM, or emails is a form of abuse and neglect. You both should be treating each other with respect. If you are not, then you should end the relationship.

2. Communication needs to “feel” right for both of you. If one of you is too pushy about meeting, for instance, that can give off bad vibes. So do not rush. Take time to learn more about each other and develop trust.

3. Respect boundaries and privacy. Never share personal emails or photos with your other online friends.

4. Share special online and offline fun times. Online - send greeting cards, links to favorite places to upload digital photos of your favorite pet, download music and video clips, post on favorite forums of interest. Offline - if you are exchanging addresses or post office boxes, send print greeting cards and postcards, and small items from your area (like a key chain with your state bird).

Tend your online relationship. Water it with care and over time it can sprout and grow.

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Bed bugs cause unnecessary annoyance to family members in countless homes. These pests are infamous bloodsuckers and have a preference for warm blooded animals like cats, dogs and humans, with humans being their first preference. Pest control efforts should be carried out earnestly if this problem is to be eliminated.

Bed bugs infestation is mostly spread through travellers, but once these nasty bugs reach a new place they make it their own quickly. They invade beds, furniture, carpets and any such articles where they can find holes and cracks.

A widely held belief about bed bugs is that they grow in places with poor standards of cleanliness and hygiene, but this is not true. Bed bugs are pests that are thirsty for blood and not trash, and therefore trash removal is not a very useful way to remove them. On the other hand, if the surroundings are kept sanitized, then the pests can be easily detected.

Another popular myth associated with bed bugs is that they can’t be seen without an aid as they are very small. In reality bed bugs are actually large enough to be seen without any magnifying device but they have a flat body which helps them disappear into little cracks and clothing layers easily, making it hard to locate them.

Bed bugs bite. They can survive long without eating - up to 6 months or a year.

When it comes to cleansing a house of bed bugs, no one can do the job better than an expert pest controller, so it is better to call in such a person instead of trying to get rid of these pests on your own. Of course some home cures do fight bed bugs, like washing bed sheets, carpets and other affected items of clothing in warm water and afterwards exposing them to strong sunshine. Cracks in the walls must be filled with a sealant, and any furniture item that has holes must be got rid of as they can turn into potential habitats for these pests.

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A house becomes your home only after it is decorated according to your tastes and reflects your individuality. Many people who are artistic give interior designing a go but often don’t measure up because they are always bothered about getting it wrong.

Even if you consider entrusting the decoration or renovation of your home to a specialist in interior designing, you might still not like the idea of completely relying on an outsider for doing such a critical job on your home all by himself. Therefore, it is important to find a middle path - first decide your preferences and then consider hiring someone for the task.

Here are some guidelines, which can simplify the tough but significant job of choosing an interior designer. You must pick an interior designer who has been working in this area for a long time and is recognized in the profession.

You can tell the designer about your ideas for your house. He is likely to come up with a few recommendations on the spot, and by sampling those initial solutions, you can judge whether his ideas are in line with yours or not. You can also look at examples of the work undertaken by the designer in the past, seek references from other customers, and try to find out whether he is well informed before employing him.

Even if you take up the job of renovation and interior design of your home by yourself, you must take care of some key aspects. First of all, you must have a clear picture of how you want your house to look. After you have crystallized the basic idea, you can look up trade magazines, the world wide web etc. to choose the kind of furniture and other stuff which are needed for your home. Needless to say, you will have to take care of the budget while doing this. After all the stuff is bought, you are ready to decorate your dream home in a layout of your liking.

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We’re all resistant to change - even when we know that we need a major upheaval. Fear of the unknown can take over us - fear that things might actually get worse, not better, and that the price for change might be just too big.

But the fear holding us back is usually no more than an imaginary barrier that we’ve envisioned in our mind. To knock down this barrier, we need to massively outweigh the negative obstacles we’ve created, and replace them with even bigger reasons to move our lives forward.

Look at this mathematical formula for change: D x V + F is gerater than R …namely… Dissatisfaction x Vision + First Steps is greater than Resistance to Change.

Our reasons for doing something have to become bigger than our resistance to change. When we’re thinking about making changes, it’s usually because we’ve become fed up with putting up with the circumstances in our current life. Whether it’s our career, relationships, job, lack of money - whatever we’re unhappy about, we have to break down the problem and make it a motivating force for action. In truth, we need to get down and dirty and really be honest with ourselves; life can be much more than the scraps we’re getting, and we don’t need to miss out any longer.

The power of this dissatisfaction can be multiplied by envisioning how good things will be once we’ve made the changes. To mentally focus on a life of plenty is a great feeling - we’re in control of our destiny because we took responsibility for change. Our resolve becomes stronger the more we can visualise our success.

Our minds can not hold positive and negative thoughts at the same time. So by actively focusing on positive thoughts, and simultaneously pushing out the negative ones, we strengthen our will, and weaken the power those downbeat feelings had over us.

Once we’re prepared mentally, we can start making the first moves towards change. Little, encouraging steps build confidence, and we begin to create a positive feedback loop which leads us to more action and then more confidence and self-esteem. Building on these first moves progressively overcomes and breaks down our hesitancy to change.

W N Murray, a member of the Scottish Himalayan Expedition wrote:

“…Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That truth is, the moment one commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events occur once the decision is made, raising in ones favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

Similarly Goethe said, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

‘It’s easy to think that those who achieve in life are lucky, that somehow things were simpler for them - they had the breaks. The truth is we make our own luck, by deciding when to make a move, and then committing wholeheartedly to its execution’. This acknowledgement of the different ways we respond when there’s a need for change comes from a book written in our own time. “Who Moved My Cheese” by acclaimed author Spencer Johnson says it all.

(C) 2009. Go to LearningLolly.com for clear info on Security Essentials for Computer Users and Security Essentials for Computer Users Training.

Many of us have gardens. We like our gardens but they’re usually there because they came with the house. Unlike those gardens in the United Kingdom or in Europe, our gardens don’t really serve a grand purpose but there’s no harm in listing them down for a home improvement project.

We don’t call on our friends or our neighbors to come into our gardens for high-tea in this part of the world. We call them in for pot-luck lunches, grilled steak luncheons, and children’s parties; we ask them to proceed to our lawns. All is just as well if you’ve got a garden, there’s always room for something hip and new out there. That’s always a good part of who we are, being hip and in style.

Now, for those of us who don’t own gardens which are as big as our houses and aren’t quite as big or large enough to boast about; they remain parts of our houses just the same. It won’t hurt us to add some garden decor here and there now, would it? It sure wouldn’t hurt and there are many enjoyable ways to do that.

For those gardens which begin in front the house and end where the lawn starts, why don’t you start with a special arrangement of thin stones with designs painted on their smooth surfaces? You can paint a whole bunch of things on these stones though this idea is freely given for you to use.

Take a flat stone, it could be white or black, and start painting the end parts of a bumblebee’s stripes. Continue with this pattern until you’ve finished with a set that will look like a bee when the stones are put together. When you’re done, put them in your garden in half circles like a necklace, from right to left.

You can have as many rows as you like. Just don’t place them beyond your garden’s border and out into your front yard or lawn. You may paint on these stones using acrylic paint, too. Don’t forget to glaze your garden decor stones with a coat of clear varnish so that the rain does not get to the designs of your painted patterns.

Your stone decor arrangement can be patterned from this design or you can choose one from the seemingly endless list of choices out there. You can choose a pattern of flowers, or marble colored swirls, curvy waves or even polka dots.

Let’s give you another design idea. Want your garden decor stone to be really eye-catching? Dress them up with photo transfers. There are shops which specialize in this. Find one that’s near you and tell them that you’d like them to print famous oil paintings on your stones. If you’d like to be lots more creative, print the photos of celebrities. You can also simply choose to print your favorite album pictures on these stones. Again, it’s all up to you and the theme you’ve chosen. You can even use this idea without having a specific theme in mind.

These photo transfers may not come cheap and are a little bit heavy on the pockets but think of how you’ll have a whole lot more to talk about with you neighbors, relatives, and other house guests, once you’ve finally set up your new garden decorations. Now, that’s priceless.

Ready to upgrade your garden decor, remember that there are lots of choices when it comes toyard art christmas.