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One of my favorite times of year is Restaurant Week. If you’re planning to participate or just need some tips about how to dine out with your toddler, here are some tips that should make the process go much smoother. Of course, if you are even reading this, I know that circumstances did not allow you to get a babysitter.

Have a Plan

Going to a nice restaurant (especially for dinner) with a toddler will work best when there is a plan in place. Trust me on this one. My family’s frequent travel lifestyle has allowed us to dine in some of the finest restaurants around the world. But no matter if we are dining in London, Bali, New York or Maui one thing remains the same, we always have a plan in place when dining with the little one. One way to do that is to peruse, the restaurant’s menu online ahead of time so that you can and get an idea of what you would like to order. This will save everyone time and help things run more smoothly.

Dine Early

It is not a good idea to schedule dinner when your little person is sleepy or hungry. Yes you read right. Give your toddler a small snack right before you get to the restaurant so that he or she is not famished waiting for your order to get to the table.

Request a Corner Table

Ask the restaurant host/hostess about getting a seat in a corner or away from most restaurant patrons if possible. Remember, although you were not able to secure a babysitter for your night out, you should try to be courteous to other restaurant patrons that are enjoying their night out. Your time will come.

Set the Rules

Be clear with your toddler about what the rules are early on. Set boundaries and enforce them. For example, keeping your little tike in the booster seat or high chair through-out the course of the dinner is a good rule to enforce. Not only will it keep small fingers out of other people’s food but, it really is not safe for an un-guided toddler to be walking around a restaurant anyway. Candle lit dinners, knives, hot plates and bustling servers can make the restaurant an unsafe place for a toddler to be.

Kids First

Even if the server attempts to take your order first before that of your little one, politely request that you need to order the food of your toddler first. Also indicate that you would like your child’s meal to be served as soon as it is ready. More polished servers will do this automatically; novices however, may need a little reminder. Remember, although many steakhouses and fine dining restaurants may not have kid’s menus, the chef is willing and able to prepare items like chicken fingers, pasta with sauce and other items upon request. You just need to ask.

Come prepared

I always go to even the finest restaurants equipped with three things: a bib, a sippy cup, and a favorite book or quiet toy (such as a plush animal or book). In addition, do not forget to pack essentials like diapers, wipes, pull-ups etc if you don’t want any accidents.

Cut it Short

I hate to say it, but this is probably not the time to order the chef’s “special tasting or prix fixe menu”. A two course maximum is essential unless you are dining at a very kid friendly restaurant or your toddler is more patient than usual.

Be Ready to Call it Quits

At the end of it all, you should be ready to signal for the check and a to-go container at a moment’s notice. As a parent, you will know when your toddler has endured enough of a “good thing”. When that time comes, appreciate it for what it was and head out the door…food in hand of course.

Although I hope that you will not need these tips ( due to having a reliable sitter and back-up sitter on speed dial), following these pointers will make you a pro at dining out with your toddler in no time.

About this Author

Lisa Leslie-Williams the “Domestic Life Stylist”, is passionate and an expert in matters concerning the home as it pertains to suburban living. She takes a multi-faceted approach to the topic from a modern mom’s perspective.

Lisa is also the author of the ebook “21 Smart Ways to Save Money Now”.

For more information on cooking, travel, entertaining, budgeting, family health and to reserve your free copy of her ebook, subscribe to the free email updates at:

http://thedomesticlifestylist.blogspot.com/p/free-updates.html

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_Leslie-Williams

Analog television (or analogue television) encodes television and transports the picture and sound information as an analog signal, that is, by varying the amplitude and/or frequencies of the broadcast signal. Analog television, like all other motion picture systems, exploits the properties of the human eye to create the illusion of moving images. Analog television service is the traditional TV system. Analog television has been the standard broadcast technology since the inception of television using magnetic waves to transmit and display pictures and sound. Analog television has an aspect ratio of 4 by 3, which means the screen is 4 units wide by 3 units high.

HDTV

HDTV, the highest quality format, provides high resolution, a widescreen format, and surround sound. HDTV is a name given to two of the digital television (DTV) formats. HDTV programs can include Dolby Digital surround sound, the same digital sound system used in many movie theaters and DVDs. HDTV uses the same amount of bandwidth (the size of the communications channel) as the current analog system, but with HDTV, about six times more information is transmitted. HDTV is the highest quality of DTV, but it is only one of many formats. HDTV pictures are created by scanning up to twice as many lines. HDTV sets have wider, movie-theater like screens that more closely resemble human peripheral vision, making it more natural to watch. HDTV sets are “backward compatible,” meaning existing analog equipment (VCRs, DVD players, camcorders, video games, etc. HDTV is best viewed on a new high-definition television. HDTV uses a wider 16 by 9 aspect ratio, which delivers movies with less “edge cropping” and provides a more intense viewing experience. HDTV’s digital audio sounds better than a standard television’s analog sound, just like digital CDs are superior to analog radio.

Cable

Cable Television Networks are already being broadcasted in simulcast since 2004 and analogue cable services were switched-off in April 2007. Cable and satellite subscribers with analog TVs should contact their service providers about obtaining converter boxes for the DTV transition. Cable here faces minor but growing competition from satellite and more recently, television via high-speed Internet connections with the service known as IPTV. Cable operators must ensure that all local broadcast stations carried pursuant to this Act are ‘viewable’ by all cable subscribers,” explained Martin, in a statement.

Analog television was introduced in the Netherlands in 1951. Analog televisions will work until all analog broadcasting ceases. Analog televisions are now commonly referred to conventional televisions. Analog television sets will continue to receive analog broadcasts at least through 2006 and possibly longer. Analog Television signals, both broadcast and cable, as well as VHS, in most cases, will look worse on an HDTV than they do on a standard analog television. Analog television technology is around 60 years old but still produces good quality pictures. Analog televisions will no longer function unless they are connected to a cable or satellite supplier that continues to deliver analog. Analog television uses a series of wavelengths to represent picture elements.

Clint Thomas is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.TvThroughTime.com [http://www.TvThroughTime.com]. He provides more information about televisions and television issues [http://www.TvThroughTime.com] that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Buying a new car is a great feeling. The smell of fresh

leather as you The fresh smell of leather as you enter the

car. The paintwork is gleaming and waxy smooth. You might

even catch yourself stealing a glance at the reflection of

your pride and joy as you drive it out your house.

Skip ahead by 12 months and see how your car looks now. Is

it still gleaming new or does the paintwork look tired, dull

and “old”? How can some cars look brand new even though they

are already 3 years old? Why do others look “old” when it

just rolled out the showroom 12 months ago?

The secret is in how you care for your car. It is easy to

keep your car like new if you know how.

1) A Wash A Week Keeps Your Car Clean & Slick

Much as you wish that your car will remain clean by itself,

it just won’t happen. Dust will accumulate even if you just

keep it in your garage. There’s only one thing to do. Wash

your car! It’s very important that you wash your car

especially after you’ve driven in the rain. If you let the

water droplets dry naturally, especially under the hot sun,

there will be tough-to-remove watermark stains on your

paintwork.

The first thing you need to wash your car is a clean and

soft terry cloth. Alternatively, you can use cloth diapers

as well. You can get these easily at the baby’s section in

your local departmental store. They’re cheap and it works.

Of course, if you want to be posh, then get the Ultimate

Wipe cloth from Meguiar’s

([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-1.htm]). You’ll need a

good car shampoo next. I personally use Meguiar’s NXT

Generation Car Wash

([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-2.htm]). It’s reasonably

priced and a 64oz bottle will last you quite a while.

Start off by hosing down your car to remove any dirt, mud or

grime. Then mix 3 caps-full of shampoo with around 20oz (a

small bucket) of water. Apply the shampoo mixture to your

car using the cloth/diaper. Hose off the shampoo once you’ve

finished shampooing the car. Use your cloth under running

water to wipe off any remaining shampoo residue. It is VERY

important that you wipe your car dry with another clean

terry cloth/diaper. Make sure your entire car is wiped dry.

Next, clean your rims. Brake dust normally accumulates there

and cleaning it will make a huge difference in how your car

looks. It’s pointless to have clean paintwork you’re your

rims are dirty. It’s also advisable to vacuum the inside of

your car every week or every other week. You spend your time

inside the car, so cleaning the interior just makes sense.

2) A Monthly Wax Keeps The Shine To The Max

Waxing your car will keep your paintwork gleaming new. You

can either send it to an auto detailer or do it yourself.

It’s actually not that difficult to wax your car. If you

have an hour or so of spare time, then try waxing your car

yourself.

It’s important that you wash and wipe dry your car before

waxing. NEVER wax your car before washing/drying it! It’s

best to park your car under in a shady area when waxing. It

makes sense to use a good carnauba wax like Meguiar’s NXT

Generation Tech Wax

([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-3.htm]). Use the

included sponge and apply the wax in a small circular

motion. Wax your car one section at a time, remembering

which section you started with. Finish applying wax on the

entire car.

Wipe off the excess wax using a soft terry cloth/cloth

diaper. Start with the first panel that you applied the wax

and continue from there. You’ll find the wax residue

accumulating on your cloth. Shake it off periodically and

continue to remove excess wax until you’ve finished all

panels.

Look carefully and check for remaining wax residue. Use your

cloth to clean any remaining residue.

To prepare your cloth for your next wax, wash it with a

liquid softener. It’s fine to use the liquid softener that

you use for your clothes. This guarantees there isn’t any

remaining dirt/grime that may scratch your car during your

next waxing session.

3) Wax Your Tyre Next O’ Sire

For that shiny, wet look, wax your tyres after every

wash/wax. Use Meguiar’s Hot Shine High Gloss Tyre Spray

([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-4.htm]). The trigger

spray makes it easy to apply. You literally need less than 5

minutes for this but applying tyre spray/wax makes a big

difference.

4) Condition That Leather To Help It Fight The Weather

Make sure you clean and condition your leather seats at

least once every 2 months if you car comes with leather

seats. Use Meguiar’s Medallion Premium Leather Care

conditioner ([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-5.htm]).

Apply the conditioner with a clean cloth/cloth diaper, leave

for 15 minutes and wipe off excess conditioner. Your leather

will look and smell like new if you do this every month.

While you’re at it, clean any vinyl surface of your car

using Meguiar’s Vinyl & Leather Cleaner/Conditioner

([http://www.fdcars.com/newsletter/n2-6.htm]). This

maintains the interior looking like new.

5) Your Car’s Now Shiny So You Can Be Happy

Your car will look like it’s brand new if you follow this

routine. An hour or so every week pays huge dividends.

Friends and family will think you’ve just bought a new car

even though it’s 3 years old. The best thing is when it

comes time to sell your car. A car with gleaming new

paintwork and a clean interior makes a strong impression and

will automatically raise the selling price of your car!

P.S. The writer does not work for Meguiar’s and only

recommends the products as a satisfied customer.

*********************************************

Fantic Carro is the owner of FD Cars [http://www.fdcars.com] which is a resource for

car lovers worldwide. For more articles, reviews and tips on

cars, please visit his site below:

[http://www.fdcars.com]

*********************************************

Florida Health Insurance Rate Hike

Florida Health insurance premiums have touched new heights! Every Floridian has the common knowledge that most annual health insurance contracts will endure a rate increase at the end of the year. This trend is not new and should be expected. Every time this issue pops up it seems as though the blame game starts. Floridians blame Health insurance companies; Health insurance companies blame Hospitals, Doctors and other medical care providers, Medical care providers blame inflation and politicians, well, we really don’t know what they do to help the issue… No one seems to be interested in finding the real cause of the health insurance premium rate increase. Most individuals, self employed, and small business owners have taken Florida Health Insurance Rate Hikes as the inevitable evil.

Hard Facts

What are various reports telling us? Why do Health insurance premium have annual rate increases?

Rate of inflation and heath insurance premium rate increase.

America’s health expenditure in the year 2004 has increased dramatically, it has increased more than three time the inflation rate. In this year the inflation rate was around 2.5% while the national health expenses were around 7.9%. The employer health insurance or group health insurance premium had increased approximately 7.8% in the year 2006, which is almost double the rate of inflation. In short, last year in 2006, the annual premiums of group health plan sponsored by an employer was around $4,250 for a single premium plan, while the average family premium was around $ 11,250 per year. This indicates that in the year 2006 the employer sponsored health insurance premium increased 7.7 percent. Taking the biggest hit were small businesses that had 0-24 employees. There health insurance premiums increased by nearly 10.4%

Employees are also not spared, in the year 2006 the employee also had to pay around $ 3,000 more in their contribution to employer’s sponsored health insurance plan in comparison to the previous year, 2005. Rate hikes have been in existence since the “Florida Health Insurance” plan started. In covering an entire family of four, a person will experience an increase in premium rate at every annual renewal. If they would have kept the record of their health insurance premium payments they will find that they are now paying around $ 1,100 more than they paid in the year 2000 for the same coverage and with the same company. The same item was found by the Health Research Educational Trust and the Kaiser Family Foundation in their survey report of the year 2000. They found out that the premiums of health insurance that is sponsored by the employer increases by around 4 times than the employee’s salary. This report also stated that since 2000 the contribution of employees in group health insurance sponsored by employer was increased by more than 143 percent.

One business man predicts that if nothing is done and the Health insurance premiums keep increasing that in the year 2008, the amount of health premium contribution to employer will surpass their profit. Professionals within and outside the field of Florida health insurance, think that the reason for increase in Florida health insurance premium rates are due to many factors, such as high administration expenditure, inflation, poor or bad management, increase in the cost of medical care, waste etc.

Florida health insurance rate hikes affect whom?

Rising rates of Florida health insurance generally affects most of the Floridians who live in our beautiful state. The highest affected individudals are the minimum wage and low wage workers. Recent drops in the renewal of health insurance are mostly from this low income group. They just can’t afford the high premiums of Florida health insurance. They are in the situation where they can not afford the medical care and they can not afford the medical insurance premiums that are assosiated with adequate coverage. Almost half of all Americans are of the opinion that they are more worried about the high health insurance rate and high cost of health care, over any other bill they have on a monthly basis. A survey also finds that around 42% of Americans can not afford the high cost of health care services. There is one very interesting study conducted by Harvard University researchers. They found out that 68% of people who filed bankruptcy covered themselves and their family by health insurance. Average out-of-pocket deductibles for people filed bankruptcy were around $ 12,000 per year. They also found some co-relation between medical expenditure and bankruptcy. A national survey also reports that main reason for people not to take health insurance is the high premium rate of health insurance.

How to reduce Florida’s high health insurance cost? Nobody knows for sure. There are different opinions and experts are not agreeing with each other. Health professionals believe that if we can raise the number of healthy people by improving the lifestyle and regular exercise, good diets etc. than naturally they will need less medical care services which decreases the demands of health care and hence the cost.( This year in Florida the smoking rate has increased by 21.7 percent) One Floridian sarcastically suggested that there are ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in health care that are needed to reversed. That the state of Florida is to ‘high’ in cost of medical care compare to other States and ‘low’ in the quality of health care.

Florida Health insurance rate hike has attracted many frauds. These frauds float many bogus insurance companies and offer cheap health insurance rate which attract many people to them. These companies usually through assosiations that are based in other states.

Meanwhile reputable Florida health insurance companies provide different types of health insurance like employer sponsored group health insurance, small business health insurance, individual health insurance etc. to vast number of employees and their families. Still there are many people in Florida that lack any health coverage. Today the employer also has found it challenging to decide how to offer employer sponsored group health insurance to their employees, so that both of them arrive at some point of agreement.

For Floridians it is very important to shop around for a quality health insurance program that doesn’t break the bank.

You need to find an agent or web portal like Florida Health Insurance Web, http://www.FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com that offers a variety of products. There you will most likely be able to get quotes, compare plans, and apply online.

Florida Health Insurance Consultants can help you!

Morgan Moran

In today’s fast-paced society, many families depend on some form of childcare arrangements to help meet the demands of family and work. The majority of parents in America work outside the home, creating a need for dependable childcare. Reliable, responsible childcare employees are crucial to successfully performing your job and caring for your family.

Childcare employees and parents can find numerous resources and organizations to help meet that challenge. You can find practical advice on choosing childcare employees, payroll and tax issues, and hints on how to provide your child with quality childcare. Local, state, and Federal agencies have a wealth of information regarding licensing, insurance, and tax laws.

Many companies are offering on-site childcare to employees as a way to reduce unplanned absences and time lost from work due to family issues. Flexible scheduling and the convenience of receiving high quality day care at your office has made the task of balancing work and family easier for many families. For those who do not have access to childcare at their place of employment, federally funded programs are available to assist you in locating and paying for childcare.

Childcare employees working in federally funded facilities are trained and licensed to maintain a certain standard of quality and professionalism while employed in the childcare center. Information is available to you through a variety of programs to help you in choosing a childcare facility, screen childcare employees, and how to monitor the level of care your child receives while in the day care center or home you have chosen. There are checklists you can copy or print to assist you in asking the right questions and evaluating childcare employees.

The first step in locating quality childcare employees is to identify several candidates and conduct a telephone interview to help you determine which you’d like to speak with or visit in person. Those who don’t impress you during the telephone interview will probably not impress you in person either, so you can eliminate the ones you are not interested in right away. You can then visit or speak personally with the facilities and potential childcare employees who need further consideration.

Once you have made your final decision, you will want to take steps to monitor the quality of care your child receives. This can be accomplished by involvement in your child’s activities, observing your child in the presence of the childcare employee or day care center and discussing any problems or concerns you may have, talking with your child about how he or she feels about the time they spend with the caregiver or in the center or home.

Make frequent visits and observe the number of children and caregivers in attendance, the condition and appearance of the home or day care center, and the atmosphere created by the childcare employees. If the caregiver is employed inside your home, there are a number of electronic surveillance devices that will allow you to monitor the caregiver and you child while you are at work.

Finding adequate childcare is a major concern for families in which both parents work outside the home or single parent families. Utilize the resources available to you and research the facility and/or childcare employees to give you peace of mind at work and to ensure that your child is well cared for and happy.

Ed Charkow is the webmaster for http://www.random-related.com

This article may be republished as long as this resource box remains intact.

Market Overview

The car rental industry is a multi-billion dollar sector of the US economy. The US segment of the industry averages about $18.5 billion in revenue a year. Today, there are approximately 1.9 million rental vehicles that service the US segment of the market. In addition, there are many rental agencies besides the industry leaders that subdivide the total revenue, namely Dollar Thrifty, Budget and Vanguard. Unlike other mature service industries, the rental car industry is highly consolidated which naturally puts potential new comers at a cost-disadvantage since they face high input costs with reduced possibility of economies of scale. Moreover, most of the profit is generated by a few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis. For the fiscal year of 2004, Enterprise generated $7.4 billion in total revenue. Hertz came in second position with about $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.97 in revenue.

Level of Integration

The rental car industry faces a completely different environment than it did five years ago. According to Business Travel News, vehicles are being rented until they have accumulated 20,000 to 30,000 miles until they are relegated to the used car industry whereas the turn-around mileage was 12,000 to 15,000 miles five years ago. Because of slow industry growth and narrow profit margin, there is no imminent threat to backward integration within the industry. In fact, among the industry players only Hertz is vertically integrated through Ford.

Scope of Competition

There are many factors that shape the competitive landscape of the car rental industry. Competition comes from two main sources throughout the chain. On the vacation consumer’s end of the spectrum, competition is fierce not only because the market is saturated and well guarded by industry leader Enterprise, but competitors operate at a cost disadvantage along with smaller market shares since Enterprise has established a network of dealers over 90 percent the leisure segment. On the corporate segment, on the other hand, competition is very strong at the airports since that segment is under tight supervision by Hertz. Because the industry underwent a massive economic downfall in recent years, it has upgraded the scale of competition within most of the companies that survived. Competitively speaking, the rental car industry is a war-zone as most rental agencies including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the major players engage in a battle of the fittest.

Growth

Over the past five years, most firms have been working towards enhancing their fleet sizes and increasing the level of profitability. Enterprise currently the company with the largest fleet in the US has added 75,000 vehicles to its fleet since 2002 which help increase its number of facilities to 170 at the airports. Hertz, on the other hand, has added 25,000 vehicles and broadened its international presence in 150 counties as opposed to 140 in 2002. In addition, Avis has increased its fleet from 210,000 in 2002 to 220,000 despite recent economic adversities. Over the years following the economic downturn, although most companies throughout the industry were struggling, Enterprise among the industry leaders had been growing steadily. For example, annual sales reached $6.3 in 2001, $6.5 in 2002, $6.9 in 2003 and $7.4 billion in 2004 which translated into a growth rate of 7.2 percent a year for the past four years. Since 2002, the industry has started to regain its footing in the sector as overall sales grew from $17.9 billion to $18.2 billion in 2003. According to industry analysts, the better days of the rental car industry have yet to come. Over the course of the next several years, the industry is expected to experience accelerated growth valued at $20.89 billion each year following 2008 “which equates to a CAGR of 2.7 % [increase] in the 2003-2008 period.”

Distribution

Over the past few years the rental car industry has made a great deal of progress to facilitate it distribution processes. Today, there are approximately 19,000 rental locations yielding about 1.9 million rental cars in the US. Because of the increasingly abundant number of car rental locations in the US, strategic and tactical approaches are taken into account in order to insure proper distribution throughout the industry. Distribution takes place within two interrelated segments. On the corporate market, the cars are distributed to airports and hotel surroundings. On the leisure segment, on the other hand, cars are distributed to agency owned facilities that are conveniently located within most major roads and metropolitan areas.

In the past, managers of rental car companies used to rely on gut-feelings or intuitive guesses to make decisions about how many cars to have in a particular fleet or the utilization level and performance standards of keeping certain cars in one fleet. With that methodology, it was very difficult to maintain a level of balance that would satisfy consumer demand and the desired level of profitability. The distribution process is fairly simple throughout the industry. To begin with, managers must determine the number of cars that must be on inventory on a daily basis. Because a very noticeable problem arises when too many or not enough cars are available, most car rental companies including Hertz, Enterprise and Avis, use a “pool” which is a group of independent rental facilities that share a fleet of vehicles. Basically, with the pools in place, rental locations operate more efficiently since they reduce the risk of low inventory if not eliminate rental car shortages.

Market Segmentation

Most companies throughout the chain make a profit based of the type of cars that are rented. The rental cars are categorized into economy, compact, intermediate, premium and luxury. Among the five categories, the economy sector yields the most profit. For instance, the economy segment by itself is responsible for 37.7 percent of the total market revenue in 2004. In addition, the compact segment accounted for 32.3 percent of overall revenue. The rest of the other categories covers the remaining 30 percent for the US segment.

Historical Levels of Profitability

The overall profitability of the car rental industry has been shrinking in recent years. Over the past five years, the industry has been struggling just like the rest of the travel industry. In fact, between the years 2001 and 2003 the US market has experienced a moderate reduction in the level of profitability. Specifically, revenue fell from $19.4 billion in 2000 to $18.2 billion in 2001. Subsequently, the overall industry revenue eroded further to $17.9 billion in 2002; an amount that is minimally higher than $17.7 billion which is the overall revenue for the year 1999. In 2003, the industry experienced a barely noticeable increase which brought profit to $18.2 billion. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, some of the smaller players that were highly dependent on the airline industry have done a great deal of strategy realignments as a way of preparing their companies to cope with eventual economic adversities that may surround the industry. For the year 2004, on the other hand, the economic situation of most firms have gradually improved throughout the industry since most rental agencies have returned far greater profits relative to the anterior years. For instance, Enterprise realized revenues of $7.4 billion; Hertz returned revenues of $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.9 billion in revenue for the fiscal year of 2004. According to industry analysts, the rental car industry is expected to experience steady growth of 2.6 percent in revenue over the next several years which translates into an increase in profit.

Competitive Rivalry Among Sellers

There are many factors that drive competition within the car rental industry. Over the past few years, broadening fleet sizes and increasing profitability has been the focus of most companies within the car rental industry. Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the leaders have been growing both in sales and fleet sizes. In addition, competition intensifies as firms are constantly trying to improve their current conditions and offer more to consumers. Enterprise has nearly doubled its fleet size since 1993 to approximately 600,000 cars today. Because the industry operates on such narrow profit margins, price competition is not a factor; however, most companies are actively involved in creating values and providing a range of amenities from technological gadgets to even free rental to satisfy customers. Hertz, for example, integrates its Never-Lost GPS system within its cars. Enterprise, on the other hand, uses sophisticated yield management software to manage its fleets.

Finally, Avis uses its OnStar and Skynet system to better serve the consumer base and offers free weekend rental if a customer rents a car for five consecutive days Moreover, the consumer base of the rental car industry has relatively low to no switching cost. Conversely, rental agencies face high fixed operating costs including property rental, insurance and maintenance. Consequently, rental agencies are sensitively pricing there rental cars just to recover operating costs and adequately meet their customers demands. Furthermore, because the industry experienced slow growth in recent years due to economic stagnation that resulted in a massive decline in both corporate travel and the leisure sector, most companies including the industry leaders are aggressively trying to reposition their firms by gradually lessening the dependency level on the airline industry and regaining their footing in the leisure competitive arena.

The Potential Entry of new Competitors

Entering the car rental industry puts new comers at a serious disadvantage. Over the past few years following the economic downturn of 2001, most major rental companies have started increasing their market shares in the vacation sector of the industry as a way of insuring stability and lowering the level of dependency between the airline and the car rental industry. While this trend has engendered long term success for the existing firms, it has heightened the competitive landscape for new comers. Because of the severity of competition, existing firms such as Enterprise, Hertz and Avis carefully monitor their competitive radars to anticipate Sharpe retaliatory strikes against new entrants. Another barrier to entry is created because of the saturation level of the industry.

For example, Enterprise has taken the first mover advantage with its 6000 facilities by saturating the leisure segment thereby placing not only high restrictions on the most common distribution channels, but also high resource requirements for new firms. Today, Enterprise has a rental location within 15 miles of 90 percent of the US population. Because of the network of dealers Enterprise has established around the nation, it has become relatively stable, more recession proof and most importantly, less reliant on the airline industry compared to its competitors. Hertz, on the other hand, is utilizing the full spectrum of its 7200 stores to secure its position in the marketplace. Basically, the emergence of most of the industry leaders into the leisure market not only drives rivalry, but also it varies directly with the level of complexity of entering the car rental industry.

The Threat of Substitute

There are many substitutes available for the car rental industry. From a technological standpoint, renting a car to go the distance for a meeting is a less attractive alternative as opposed to video conferencing, virtual teams and collaboration software with which a company can immediately setup a meeting with its employees from anywhere around the world at a cheaper cost. In addition, there are other alternatives including taking a cab which is a satisfactory substitute relative to quality and switching cost, but it may not be as attractively priced as a rental car for the course of a day or more. While public transportation is the most cost efficient of the alternatives, it is more costly in terms of the process and time it takes to reach one’s destination. Finally, because flying offers convenience, speed and performance, it is a very enticing substitute; however, it is an unattractive alternative in terms of price relative to renting a car. On the business segment, car rental agencies have more protection against substitutes since many companies have implemented travel policies that establish the parameters of when renting a car or using a substitute is the best course of action.

According to Tracy Esch, an Advantage director of marketing operations, her company rents cars up to a 200-mile trip before considering an alternative. Basically, the threat of substitute is reasonably low in the car rental industry since the effects the substitute products have do not pose a significant threat of profit erosion throughout the industry.

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Supplier power is low in the car rental industry. Because of the availability of substitutes and the level of competition, suppliers do not have a great deal of influence in the terms and conditions of supplying the rental cars. Because the rental cars are usually purchased in bulk, rental car agents have significant influence over the terms of the sale since they possess the ability to play one supplier against another to lower the sales price. Another factor that reduces supplier power is the absence of switching cost. That is, buyers are not affected from purchasing from one supplier over another and most importantly, changing to different supplier’s products is barely noticeable and does not affect consumer’s rental choices.

The Bargaining Power of Buyers

While the leisure sector has little or no power, the business segment possesses a significant amount of influence in the car rental industry. An interesting trend that is currently underway throughout the industry is forcing car rental companies to adapt to the needs of corporate travelers. This trend significantly reduces supplier power or the rental firms’ power and increases corporate buyer power since the business segment is excruciatingly price sensitive, well informed about the industry’s price structure, purchase in larger quantities and they use the internet to force lower prices. Vacation buyers, on the other hand, have less influence over the rental terms. Because vacationers are usually less price sensitive, purchase in lesser amounts or purchase more infrequently, they have weak bargaining power.

Five Forces

Today the car rental industry is facing a completely different environment than it did five years ago. Competitively speaking, the revolution of the five forces around the car rental industry exerts some strong economic pressure that has significantly tarnished the competitive attractiveness of the industry. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, many companies went under namely Budget and the Vanguard Group because their business infrastructure succumbed to the untenability of the competitive environment. Today, very few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis return a slightly above-average revenue compared to the rest of the industry. Realistically speaking, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry because of the level of competition, the barriers to entry and the competitive pressure from the substitute firms.

Strategic Group Mapping

As a moderately concentrated sector, there is a clear hierarchy in the car rental industry. From an economic standpoint, disparities exist from a number of dimensions including revenue, fleet size and the market size each firm holds in the market place. For instance, Enterprise dominates the industry with a fleet size of approximately 600,000 vehicles along with its market size and its level of profitability. Hertz comes in second position with its number of market shares and fleet volume. In addition, Avis ranks third on the map. Avis is among one of the companies that is having issues recovering its revenue margins from prior to the economic downturn. For instance, in 2000 Avis returned revenues of approximately $4.23 billion. Over the course of the next several years following 2000, the revenue of Avis has been significantly lower than that of 2000. As a way of reducing uncertainty most companies are gradually lessening the level of dependency on the airline industry and emerging the leisure market. This trend may not be in the best interest of Hertz since its business strategy is intricately linked to the airports.

Key Success Factors

There are many key success factors that drive profitability throughout the car rental industry. Capacity utilization is one of the factors that determines success in the industry. Because rental firms experience loss of revenue when there are either too few or too many cars sitting in their lots, it is of paramount importance to efficiently manage the fleets. This success factor represents a big strength for the industry since it lowers if not completely eliminates the possibly of running short on rental cars. Efficient distribution is another factor that keeps the industry profitable. Despite the positive relationship between fleet sizes and the level of profitability, firms are constantly growing their fleet sizes because of the competitive forces that surround the industry. In addition, convenience is one of the crucial attributes by which consumers select rental firms. That is, car rental consumers are more prone to renting cars from firms that have convenient rental and drop off locations. Another key success factor that is common among competing firms is the integration of technology in their business processes. Through technology, for instance, the car rental companies create ways to meet consumer demand by making renting a car a very agreeable ordeal by adding the convenience of online rental among other alternatives. Furthermore, firms have integrated navigation systems along with roadside assistance to offer customers the piece of mind when renting cars.

Industry Attractiveness

There are many factors that impact the attractiveness of the car rental industry. Because the industry is moderately concentrated, it puts new market entrants at a disadvantage. That is, its low concentration represents a natural barrier to entering the industry as it allows existing firm to anticipate sharp retaliations against new entrants. Because of the risks associated with entering the industry among other factors, it is not a very attractive sector of the marketplace. From a competitive standpoint, the leisure market is 90 percent saturated because of the active efforts of Enterprise to dominate this sector of the market. On the other hand, the airport terminals are heavily guarded by Hertz. Realistically speaking, entry in the industry offers low profitability relative to the costs and risks associated. For most consumers, the main determining factors of choosing one company over another are price and convenience. Because of this reason, rental firms are very circumspect about setting their rates and that generally force even the industry major players in the position of offering more to the consumers for less just to remain competitive. Hertz, for example, offers wireless internet to its customers just to add more convenience to their travel plans. Avis on the other hand, offers free weekend specials if a customer rents a car for five consecutive weekdays. Based on the impact of the five forces, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry to potential new market entrants.

Conclusion

The rental car industry is in a state of recovery. Although it may seem like the industry is performing well financially, it is nonetheless gradually regaining its footing relative to its actual economic position within the last five years. As a way of insuring profitability, besides seeking market shares and stability, most companies throughout the chain have a common goal that deals with lowering the level of dependency on the airline industry and moving toward the leisure segment. This state of motion has engendered some fierce competition among industry competitors as they attempt to defend their market shares. From a futuristic perspective, the better days of the car rental industry have yet to come. As the level of profitability increases, I believe that most of the industry leaders including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis will be bounded by the economic and competitive barriers of mobility of their strategic groups and new comers will have a better chance of infiltrating and realizing success in the car rental industry.

Sources

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“Car & Truck Rental.” Hoover’s AB&D Company. Jan. 2005 . Hoovers. 04 Feb 2005. http://premium.hoovers.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/subscribe/ind/factsheet.xhtm. “

Rental car foes war on each other’s turf.” The Associate Press. Fall 2004. The Enquirer. 08 March 2005. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/11/biz_rentalcars111.html.

“United States – Car Rental.” Data Monitor Industry Market Research. Nov. 2004. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/sessions?products=BNI.

“A synthesis of tactical fleet planning models for the car rental industry.” IIE Transactions. Sept. 2003. Gale. 12 March 2005. [http://www.fleet-central.com/arn/01stat3.cfm].

“Corporate travel plans moving to Web.” Crain’s Chicago Business. Apr. 2001. ProQuest. 12 March 2005. http://www.proquest.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Tracy Esch.” “Car rental market leaders make rebound .” Business Travel News. May 2002. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Avis Equips Rental Car with Satcomms 1999.” Newsbytes News Network. Oct. 1999. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Car Rental In the United States.” Data Monitor Industry Market Research. Nov. 2004 . Gale. 13 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

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“Corporate and Travel Trends.” Travel Trade Gazette. Nov. 2003 . ProQuest. 14 March 2005. http://www.proquest.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Car rental market leaders make rebound.” Business Travel News. May. 2002 . Gale. 14 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Car rental market leaders make rebound.” Business Travel News. May. 2002 . Gale. 14 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Ovation Travel.” Wall Street Transcript. May. 2002 . LexisNexis. 14 March 2004. http://www.lexisnexis.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/cis.

“Avis Offers New Deal for Free Weekends.” Newswire. Feb. 2004 . LexisNexis. 15 March 2004. http://www.lexisnexis.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/cis.

Rodrigue Monestime has authored several articles. He holds a BS in Business Administration with high concentration in Management Information System (MIS). He is the founder of BizVita.com [http://www.bizvita.com], a site designed for busy professionals with an all-in-one approach to the daily facts of the global business environment.

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It happens every time during your Caribbean sailing charter. You are relaxing onboard in a peaceful, idyllic anchorage – the crystal clear turquoise water gently lapping against the hull- when suddenly, the warm tropical breezes lure you ashore like a siren song with the sound of a party! Every year, the Caribbean plays host to hundreds of different parties ranging from religious celebrations, music festivals, fishing tournaments, sporting competitions to sailing regattas. No matter where you go, a party in paradise can almost always be a part of your Caribbean sailing vacation. The greatest party, however, is the annual Carnival celebration. Basically a street party, it is a fun mixture of party, theater, art and folklore tradition. For each island, the annual Carnival is big business, and preparations for the next one begin almost the day after the last one ends.

The history of Carnival celebrations began hundreds of years ago in Italy where Catholics held wild costume festivals right before Lent. Since they were not supposed to eat meat during Lent, the festival got the name, “Carnevale”, which means “to put away meat.” The famous Carnival celebrations eventually spread to other Catholic countries, including France, Spain and Portugal. As Catholic Europeans set up colonies and entered the slave trade, Carnival took root in the New World as well.

Today, Carnival celebrations are found throughout the islands. They have been transformed, however, from those original Italian costume festivals to something distinctly Caribbean that differs from island

to island. The Caribbean Carnival is a blending together of many European cultures, as well as African dance and music. Important to the celebration of the Caribbean Carnival is the African traditions of parading in costumes and masks and moving in circles through villages in order to bring good fortune, heal problems and calm angry spirits. Carnival is an important way for the people of the Caribbean to express their rich African cultural traditions by creating elaborate masks and costumes. It takes months and a lot of energy and creativity to come up with a concept and develop costumes for the dancers to depict a common theme.

When Carnival first began, it was celebrated from December 26th until Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Still using this traditional time, Trinidad has the largest carnival, with daily events for four weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday. The last two days are the frenzied culmination of all the parades, the largest floats and the final competitions to decide the winners of various contests.

Other islands hold their carnivals at different times so as not to clash and allow people to enjoy several celebrations during the year. If you are planning a Caribbean sailing vacation, check with each island’s tourist office to get a schedule of events. It is great fun to plan a charter around Carnival. Although each island may hold Carnival during different times of the year, there are some common elements to the celebration. Many of the islands will use Carnival as the perfect occasion to commemorate other events in the island’s past. All will include elaborate costumes (Mas) worn by many people. Colorful floats and street parades (Pan) are accompanied by lots of music (especially Calypso) and bands, and there is usually an elected King and Queen.

Following is a glimpse of Carnival celebrations throughout the islands:

British Virgin Islands

The biggest event in the BVI, this Carnival goes by two names. Some locals refer to it as the, “August Festival”, while others call it the, “Emancipation Festival.” It begins July 1st and ends August 31st. This annual celebration marks the 1834 Emancipation Act which abolished slavery in the British West Indies. All the islands celebrate with events taking place across the region, although most celebrations are held in Road Town, Tortola. Visitors are in a for treat including live music, dancing, street performers, parties, parades and food and drink booths laced with a distinct Caribbean flavor. A hotly contested calypso competition leads to the coveted crowning of the Calypso King. There is also a competition for a festival Queen. Events not to miss include the food booths set up near the waterfront in Road Town; the children’s pageants; calypso, reggae and costume competitions; bands on huge sound trucks cruising the waterfront accompanied by crowds of dancers; steel bands on floats; all night parties and the grand costume parade.

St. Martin/Sint Maarten

This island is unique because it has a French and Dutch side-both of which are extremely distinct from one another. The way in which Carnival is celebrated is also distinct, depending on which side of the island you are on. Since French St. Martin is considered a part of Guadeloupe, see below. Carnival in Dutch Sint Maarten begins with the Balloon Jump-Up after Easter and lasts until April 30th, the birthday of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The Balloon Jump-Up celebrates the opening of Carnival Village, an area two blocks from Front Street that houses more than 100 food booths. The Jump-Up parades are a top Carnival attraction with their brightly costumed dancers, floats and live bands. The largest of the processions is the Grand Carnival Parade, which features elaborately dressed Carnival dancers winding along a four-mile route. In between parades, spectators are entertained by steel drum bands from other Caribbean islands. Competitions (especially Calypso competitions) are an integral part of the festivities. A traditional art form of the Caribbean, Calypso competitions test the improvisational and narrative skills of a solo performer. The winner goes up against the previous years’ Calypso King or Queen in a battle for the new title. The day after a new Calypso monarch is crowned, a Jump-Up Parade called Jouvert (pronounced Jou-vey) begins at 4 a.m. and lasts until sunrise. The grand finale to Carnival is the Last Lap Jump-Up, lead by King Momo, the straw figure who reigns over Carnival. The burning of King Momo signals the end of Carnival. Local folklore is that he takes the sins of the villages with him, thus leaving the island pure.

St. Barths

St. Barths is one of the three countries in the world where Carnival actually ends at the end of Ash Wednesday. It officially begins the Saturday preceding Ash Wednesday, but unofficially starts the day after New Year’s Day. During this unofficial time, the Carnival associations begin rehearsals in the street and people spend their time making the beautiful floats for the parades. The official start of Fat Saturday (Samedi Gras) is an all night dance party. The king of Carnival is King Vaval – a giant mannequin. He is featured with revelers and floats on Fat Sunday (Dimanche Gras) when people enjoy Jump-Ups during the day and all night parties. There are parties every night during the official celebration of Carnival. On Fat Monday (Lundi Gras), everyone dresses in red for the day of the red devils. The costumes are beautiful works of art decorated with glitter and reflective silver. Finally, Ash Wednesday is the day everyone dresses in black and white for the funeral of King Vavel. Festivities continue until 7 p.m. when the straw figure of King Vavel is burned, marking the end of Carnival.

St. Kitts and Nevis

Carnival on St. Kitts and Nevis officially begins on Christmas Eve and ends on New Year’s Day. The unofficial start occurs months before with costume making and float building. The Carnival season consists of many different activities such as beauty pageants, street jamming, calypso shows and competitions, masquerades, mocko jumbies and other traditional folklore.

Antigua

The Antigua Carnival dates back to August 1, 1834, when slavery was abolished and locals went to the streets to joyfully express their celebration of freedom. The celebration continued until 1957, when it was officially declared Carnival. Antigua’s Carnival always takes place around the last week of July through the first week of August. The ten days of revelry includes marches, parades, Jump-Ups, shows, and dances to the beat of Calypso. The Antigua Carnival is a great time for visitors on a Caribbean sailing charter to immerse themselves with the culture of this island. During Carnival, St. John teems with street performers, food and drink booths. Pan Ban- steel pan orchestras- are followed by dance troupes wearing intricate costumes. The lively event culminates with a massive road party called Jouvert, (meaning “day break”), where everybody is on their feet dancing to the beat of steel drums.

Montserrat

Carnival in Montserrat is celebrated between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The festival includes steel bands, Jump-Ups, King and Queen competitions, and parades. One of the highlights of Carnival is the calypso competition finals where performers dress up and act out their calypsos. Calypso is usually a social commentary about things that are going on in the island as well as feelings about the current government. There is usually a double entendre and the songs tend to be quiet risqué. The winner of the competition is awarded prizes and celebrity status on the island, and they will represent Montserrat in the inter-island competitions. Besides the calypso competition, Carnival also includes steel bands, sporting events, barbecues, and dancing contests.

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe’s Carnival also finishes on Ash Wednesday. Rehearsals begin in January, with groups disguised in costumes dancing and singing in the streets. Carnival reaches its feverous pitch between Shrove Sunday and Ash Wednesday. Shrove Sunday begins with parades, dancing, costumes, masquerades and street parties. On Shrove Tuesday, pajama clad masqueraders dance throughout the day. On Ash Wednesday, Guadeloupe’s unique celebration of Carnival is apparent as revelers dressed up in black and white he and she wolves take to the streets. That evening, with people dancing and dining, Carnival comes to a close with the cremation of King Vaval. Midway between Carnival and Easter Sunday, Carnival is revived for one day at Mid-Lent Thursday, where revelers, depicting themselves as devils, dress up in red and black costumes.

Dominica

Mas Domnik is held at the traditional pre-Lenten time. During the ten day celebration, there are lots of activities taking place around the island. It is a feast of calypso shows and street Jump-Ups. The opening parade kicks off Carnival. The Queen contestants, calypsonians, the most popular bands, people in sensay costumes, moko jumbies, cheerleaders and many more people parade through the streets in a kaleidoscope of colors encouraged by a huge crowd of onlookers. Throughout Carnival, there are calypso competitions, costume contests, street jams, sensay festivals and beauty pageants. On the two final days of Carnival, music, culture and people merge to celebrate with costumes, bands and parades. The final event takes place on Ash Wednesday with the burning of the Carnival King and the beginning of Lent.

Barbados

Beginning in May and continuing throughout the summer with various events, Crop Over is Barbados’ biggest, loudest and best-loved festival. Dating back to the late 1700s and early 1800s, when Barbados was one of the biggest sugar producers in the world, the end of the sugar cane harvest was celebrated with big parties. Today, the celebration continues with more flamboyance and extravaganza. The event officially begins in early July with a ceremonial delivery of the last sugar cane harvest and the crowning of the Carnival King and Queen. The following five weeks is marked by a heady mix of live music (including tuk, calypso, soca and street bands), dancing, food and craft markets, cultural presentations and much more. The Pic-O-De-Crop is part of the Carnival celebrations and is a part of a fierce competition to pick the best calypso band. The best bands then compete against one another in a bid to win the honor of taking on the reigning Calypso Kings. This is a great community event. Carnival culminates with a parade called, “Grand Kadooment.” Costumed bands take to the streets for the final competition for “Designer of the Year” crown. Revelers dressed in elaborate costumes depicting various themes wind their way through the streets, dancing as DJs play the most popular music.

St. Vincent and The Grenadines

Vincy Mas, as Carnival has become known since 1977, was first celebrated as a pre-Lenten festival by French colonists in the late eighteenth century. The observance of Carnival as a celebration of the privileged class continued under the rule of Great Britain, who celebrated the four days preceding Ash Wednesday as their annual, “Masked Balls”. With the coming of freedom, the ex-slaves took Carnival to the streets introducing African cultural traditions. In 1872, the colonial authorities attempted to ban the celebration. On February 11, 1879, Vincentians decided that Carnival would be celebrated, ban or no ban. The people resisted the armed forces of the empire, leading to riots in the streets, and the St. Vincent Carnival Riots became part of the island’s history. The peoples’ festival continued to grow until 1973, when the Carnival Development Committee took charge to put resources into the planning and organization of the carnival. In 1976, the CDC decided to change the dates of the official celebration of Carnival, and the rest is history. Beginning the end of June, Vincy Mas today is a ten day festival of Pan (panorama), Calypso and Mas (costumes), where society becomes classless and non-racial. The streets of Kingstown become a hive of activity with around the clock excitement. Vincy Mas is filled with mirth and gaiety. The streets are filled with the constant hammering of DJ music blaring out of temporary bars. Various competitions, including costumed bands, Queen Shows (beauty pageants) and calypso are all part of the celebration. If you are on a Caribbean sailing charter, you will be overwhelmed by the riot of color, clash of music, display of talent and the teeming mass of humanity that overtakes the island during Vincy Mas.

Grenada

Carnival is one of Grenada’s biggest annual festivals. Renowned for its color, creativity and unique cultural character, Carnival celebrations are held during the second week in August, just one week after Emancipation Day festivities. Although each parish has its own brand of traditional costume or mas, the main Carnival action is in the streets of St. George’s. Festivities begin in July with the opening of various calypso tents, where singers vie for a chance to compete in the National Calypso Monarch Competition. In early August, Carnival celebration gains momentum. Every night of the week, there are cultural presentations and calypso shows, while steel bands rehearse for the upcoming Panorama competition. Carnival week proceeds with the National Carnival Queen show, the Soca Monarch Finals, and the Panorama Steel Band Competition. Carnival Sunday brings the Dimanche Gras Show- featuring the Kings and Queens of the Fancy Mas Bands in competition for King and Queen of Carnival. From dawn on Carnival Monday, the streets of Grenada’s towns are filled with traditional masqueraders depicting Jab-Jabs (devils) and social commentaries of the highlights of the past year (Ole Mas). Spectators, and masqueraders alike dance in the streets to the sound of steel bands and popular music played by DJs. On Monday afternoon, the fancy or pretty bands appear on the streets as they make their way to the big stage for the fierce Band of the Year competition. The street party continues late into the evening as the Monday Night Mas Bands weave their way through the streets dancing and waving brightly colored fluorescent lights and continues until the early hours of Tuesday morning. On Carnival Tuesday, spectators and masqueraders again dance through the streets with the fancy bands. The party continues until midnight, when the official Carnival celebration ends.

Although the dates of the music competitions, Jump-Ups, food booths, beauty pageants, costume parades and others activities that make up the festivities vary from island to island, Carnival celebrations are held annually through the Caribbean. Even though each island may have its own twist to the event, it is an opportunity for the people of the Caribbean to express themselves artistically and socially. Carnival is a celebration of the sheer joy of life! Regardless of what your social status is or the color of your skin, everyone, including spectators, is a part of the celebration. No matter where you go, you do not need an elaborate festival to have a great time in the islands, but a Carnival celebration can be a fun part of your Caribbean sailing vacation.

Remember, “Dis party can’t done ’til morning come.”

Donna Wolfson also know as “Sailgirl” at Virgin Island Sailing, has been sailing in the Caribbean and writing about it for years. Learn more about Catamaran Charters.

The way you choose to furnish your home will reflect greatly on your personal style. Therefore it is important to think very hard about what you want before you buy furniture for your home. There is different kind of furniture for every room in the house. Whatever type of furniture that you decide to buy, it should accentuate the style and general theme of your house. Here are a few things that you might want to consider to help you buy stylish furniture for your bedroom, dining room as well as your kids’ room.

Elegance should be part of your dining room decor. The dining-room furniture that you get should be able to bring out the elegance in your dining room. The dining room set should not only be visually pleasing, it should also be comfortable enough.

Your bedroom furniture should provide a peaceful ambiance to the room since this is where you will be relaxing most of the time. You want to get the furniture that will fit perfectly into your bedroom and still leave some room for other things. Make sure that you get furniture that is of quality, stylish and comfortable.

When buying children furniture, the most important thing to think about is how attractive it is. The surface of the furniture also matters. Kids can be a little rough sometime, and you do not want them destroying their furniture when they are playing. For that reason, you should get furniture with hard and durable surfaces. It is important to buy the furniture that is discounted as this will help you save some money.

Buy colorful, playful and stylish Children Furniture to keep in their bedrooms. When there view exquisite and elegant Dining room furniture and Bedroom Furniture Sets.

Cars – they are your passion, necessity, luxury, earning member. They have speed, they have music, they have curves, they have comfort, they have security, they have safety – they have something for everyone. Secured car loans can realize your car plans especially if your budget is stringent. Secured car loans options are stretched far and wide along the loan market. Buying a used car or a new car can be a pleasant ride with secured car loans.

According to National Statistics’ annual research, more people in Britain have more than two cars rather than no car at all. With such a transformation in the present condition the need for cars has become a precondition. To find a secured car loans is as easy as it is tricky. With such a huge pile of secured car loans alternative, you might want to pick the one that shines the brightest. But all that glitters is not gold. It is very true with secured car loans. They may look all attractive and advertised with 0% APR the bottom line is, it still may not prove to be your secured car loan type.

Secured car loan would mean you need to pledge your home or your property as an assurance. Having prepared yourself for that, you are all set to hear the good news. Secured car loans are in fact very easily available to homeowners. Secured car loans are a great opportunity to finance a car on your own terms. Am I getting too loud with my claims of the goodwill of secured car loans? You need to hear this. Secured car loans are flexible enough to mould in the financial requirement of any kind of loan borrower. With secured car loans you can get into your car and make your first payment after thirty days.

Getting a good secured car loan can save your money to a great extent. Sort out the car you would like to buy and how much it would cost you. This will enable you to figure out how much you need for your secured car loan. After you have set your budget you can go on to see the top secured car loan site. You can ask for a free quote and compare secured car loan rates online.

Secured car loans are a better option than car dealership. Car dealership may seem convenient round the clock service. They will be charging you more for your car finance. It is important to learn about your credit score before you go ahead with your secured car loans. Your credit report or your credit history would have important information about your payment history, mortgages, loans, inquiries from business when you have requested for loan, public records and collection information. Bad credit score would not prevent you from getting secured car loan, though it would increase the interest rate. Some loan lenders specially deal with cases of secured car loan with bad credit. Screen them and work out with them in case you have bad credit.

Car loans are considered precarious as loan types for car loans are for a possession that loses its value easily. Research, browse, study – you would certainly find a secured car loan deal. They are so many options. Read the fine print. Many of the additional costs are hidden in the fine print. Don’t accept secured car loans on impulse. Otherwise ask questions. Clear your doubts especially about monthly management fees, ongoing bank fees, redemption penalties, is the loan daily reducible, extra payments of any amount to be made, and at any time.

Secured car loans are short term loans ranging from 36 to 72 months. According to Automobile finance Study, 82% of the new vehicle loans are over four years while 31% of them are over five years. When you agree to more than 72 car payments, it means that you are overburdening your monthly budget. Car is a possession which depreciates rapidly so in case you intend to sell it, it is not a good idea to sell a car which already has a loan on it. Secured car loans are to be paid back even though you are driving the car you bought through them.

Secured car loans are celebrated for many reasons. Secured car loans mean better car and lesser payments. You are pledging your home or valuable asset and in return on it you get benefits in the likes of lower interest rate, flexible loan terms, varied repayment options so on and so forth. Secured car loan can also be bought with car insurance to protect against misfortune like illness or job loss. I know this car is special and you have been waiting for it for so long. But let us be a little practical and take an objective view while taking car loan. We can write our car legend when we own one. Till then let us write the specification of taking a secured car loan.

After having herself gone through the ordeal of loan borrowing, Natasha Anderson understands the need for good quality loan advice. Her articles endeavor to provide you the wise counsel in the most elementary way for the benefit of the readers. She hopes that this will help them to locate the loan that beseems their expectations. She works for the UK secured loan web site uk finance world.

To find a Secured or unsecured loan that best suits your needs visit http://www.ukfinanceworld.co.uk

An application for a job is accompanied with a resume. This is a document that presents all the information about your qualifications, abilities, skills and personal traits in a proper format, such that the reader gets all the required information about you. The main purpose of your curriculum vitae (CV) is to answer the employer’s queries related to the vacant job position. It is thus used for a formal and professional communication. This makes it very important that you have a professional resume. Your CV or resume is your first impression on the prospective employer. It will represent your professional attitude, and not make you look very casual.

Some resumes do not have a standard format throughout. The fonts, spacing, tabs, bullets, etc. keep varying throughout the resume. The quality of paper on which the resume is printed also matters a lot, when it comes to giving a professional look to your resume. The page borders, page background, etc. need to be thought over well before drafting a resume on it.

It is very important to give your resume a professional look. Your resume should present you in such a way that you stand out among others, and make the reader believe that it is beneficial for him/her to choose you over others. The instructions given below will help you draft a professional resume.

HOW TO DRAFT A PROFESSIONAL RESUME?

Resume Basics:

The resume should be divided in various sections to present all the information systematically. Before choosing the style of a resume, and writing a resume, one must know some basics that are a must for a professional look of the resume.

• The resume should never be handwritten.
• Use Times New Roman, Verdana, or Arial font, and the font size should be 12.
• Do not vary the font size and font in your resume.
• Instead of changing the size of the font for headings, it is advisable to mention the headings in ‘bold’. This will maintain the standard font size throughout.
• Never use, Italics, fancy fonts and fancy page borders in your resume.
• Never use any color, watermark or background color for your resume. It should be on a plain white background, and the font color should be black.
• While taking a hardcopy of your resume, always take a print on a good quality paper. Never take photocopies of your resume, which gives it a very blurred and dull look.

The above mentioned points are basics for any resume. These should never be overlooked or else a ‘professional looking resume’ will be a myth. After this, comes resume writing. The style of the resume depends completely upon the candidate’s information to be included in it. A fresher and a candidate with work experience will definitely have different styles of resumes. There are basically three styles of resumes.

Chronological Resume:

This is a resume, which lists all the qualification and professional details in a chronological order. It is more like a list of all that one has done and achieved in life. This style of resume has very less scope for the reader to interpret and understand the applicant, because it is merely a list of information.

Functional Resume:

This kind of resume gives the applicant a chance to be descriptive, and speak about his/her qualifications, achievements, experience, etc. The drawback of this style is that it becomes too descriptive, and might make your resume look like a thesis.

Hybrid Resume:

This style of resume is the most preferred. It takes the strong points from chronological as well as the functional resume. It presents all the information in chronological order, and also provides scope to be descriptive, where necessary. This makes it very impressive as the reader gets all the information in a proper order, and also gets a chance to judge you.

Content of the resume:

After choosing the resume style, the next step is presenting all the necessary content in your resume.

• Heading: The heading of the resume should include your name and contact details. You can keep it aligned to the left or center of the page.
• Objective: The resume objective should be written carefully, and should be such that it clearly presents your career goals.
• Academic Details in chronological order beginning with the recent.
• Details of Professional experience.
• Achievements: Academic as well as professional
• Personal Details
• Declaration and Sign

These contents presented using the ‘resume basics’ tips given above, in the right style, will help you prepare a professional resume. You can take reference from many professional resume templates and resume samples, to get a clearer idea on this.

Stela a professional writer here to share some tips regarding to resume building and cover letter building through my website where one can get number of resumes and one can build their own resume by referring resume samples provided here.

Nowadays, children, besides of going to the school, practice a sport, mostly a team sport. And just like so many things, this also has its advantages and disadvantages on physical, emotional and mental field.

The decision of which one is greater, the advantages or the disadvantages depend on the point of view of the parents and of the children.

Emotional advantages:

- They will learn the value of teamwork

- They will learn how to work in a team

- They will develop their ability of trusting someone else

- They will learn how to select the trustful people

- They will make more friends

Emotional disadvantages:

- the pressure of being the best

- the possibility of not being the best

- possible emotional implications of not being the best can affect the self-esteem of a child

Mental advantages:

- physical activity stimulates the brain

- sport is a way of relaxing of the stress and pressure from the school, therefore, after exercises, the lessons will be automatically easier to understand and to learn

Mental disadvantages:

- competitive sport takes precedence over a child’s education

- learning may be neglected

- lack of mentally challenge

Physical advantages:

- they will learn the benefits of being fit, limber and strong

- it ensures a great and healthy growth of the body of the child

- they will be protected by obesity

Physical disadvantages:

- the danger of long-term injury

- early overuse of joints, ligaments and muscles can lead to joint and tendon problems, arthritis, back and neck problems

These issues have to be considered again and again before deciding on the type of sport that your child will be practicing.

For further information regarding sports, you can always rely on the Sport Folks Site!

Preparing gourmet food with the help of butane stoves provides quite a trial by fire. If faced with such a dicey situation, how would you go ahead and prepare tasty meals in order to make a great impact on your family and friends? The word gourmet, when carefully studied, refers to food that is made painstakingly and skillfully and of a high quality. It is gently prepared at the proper temperature and served in an attractive manner. Now that things are clear, you certainly can attempt preparing gourmet food on handy butane stoves.

Prepare in Advance and Excel

For you to emerge successful in this endeavor, a number of crucial factors have to be taken into account. In the first place, you need to have a suitable recipe to prepare. It is very likely that you may wish to locate all the recipes that can be attempted over the open fire. After this, you may wish to experiment with them. Cooking gourmet food on handy butane stoves is not as simple as it looks, but a little bit of effort and actually trying them out is all it takes for you to for you to excel in any kind of gourmet cooking using a butane stove.

Always bear in mind that you should have a butane stove that is of the finest quality. You may wish to purchase something that is durable and is very convenient for you to use, ensuring the correct cooking temperature is maintained and prevent food from being excessively done. Usually, getting used to cooking on the butane stove takes a certain amount of time, before one excels in making delicious food using it.

Lastly, you need to have suitable equipment to deal with the task in hand. In order to cook gourmet food with a butane stove, you need to have proper cooking utensils, as well as a good quality thermometer you can locate.

This is your most precious tool, as you can prepare food effortlessly, recognizing the exact moment when the right temperature is attained, thus ensuring your food is properly done. You should stock the herbs you require and use them liberally to turn any uninteresting meal into fabulous rich one. You are also required to have suitable cooking pans and pots for using on these grids to ensure the proper consistency is attained and you dish looks truly wonderful.

If you wish to prove your mettle by attempting to cook gourmet food using a handy butane stove, then the ideal approach is to meet it head on. You may well appreciate the superiority and the know-how of the resources available on the web, which assist you in selecting the best recipe and supply you with the necessary cooking instructions. With this invaluable support, cooking gourmet food using handy butane stove turns out to be simple and pleasurable task.

Abhishek is a cooking enthusiast! Visit his website http://www.Cooking-Guru.com and download his FREE Cooking Report “Master Chef Secrets” and learn some amazing Cooking tips and tricks for FREE! Learn how to create the perfect meal on a shoe-string budget. And yes, you get to keep all the accolades! But hurry, only limited Free copies available! http://www.Cooking-Guru.com

Visiting the vet can be a stressful event for many kitties, but by using a few easily applied techniques you can substantially decrease your cat’s anxiety levels. The following are some tips that will make trips to the veterinary clinic much more pleasant!

Find a Feline Practitioner

Not all communities have feline specific veterinary clinics, but if you do live in a region in which there are cat clinics, it’s imperative that you take advantage of this!

• Your cat’s stress levels while waiting in the reception area of the clinic will be substantially less if they aren’t sitting 1 or 2 metres away from a loudly barking German shepherd dog!

To look for a feline specific clinic in your area, search the American Association of Feline Practitioners website for all AAFP registered clinics in North America.

Find an ABVP Feline Practice Board-Certified Diplomate

Not all communities will have board-certified feline specialists either, but it’s always worth looking because if there is an ABVP Diplomate (American Board of Veterinary Practitioners) in your area, it is another great resource for you and your kitty!

ABVP Feline Practice Diplomates are veterinarians who have completed the intensive ABVP species-specific (feline) clinical practice residency program (a minimum of two years), and who have successfully passed the ABVP Specialty Exam.

To search for a Feline Diplomate near you, visit the ABVP website and click on the “Find a Diplomate” button. ( http://www.abvp.com/ )

Have a cat carrier

Cat carriers tend to be inexpensive, although there certainly are some pricey models available these days as well. It’s well worth investing in at least a regular, mainstream carrier for your cat, since over the course of your cat’s lifetime you will need to travel with them repeatedly.

Some cat owners bring their cats to the clinic by placing them inside gym bags, suitcases, cardboard boxes, laundry baskets, and other such improvised versions of cat carriers. This is an unwise decision for multiple reasons.

Part of an improvised carrier needs to remain open so the cat inside can breathe which means that they can easily escape from it. Cats will often seize the opportunity to jump out while they are being carried through clinic parking lots, which are highly dangerous places since they can easily be hit by cars.

Gym bags, duffel bags, purses, and other such items have no firm structure to them since they aren’t built to support animals, unlike soft sided cat carriers. Without sturdy bottoms in their carrying bags cats feel unsupported and insecure which greatly increases stress levels and may even cause them to panic.

Additionally, improvised bags don’t have nice familiar odours inside so they don’t impart any sense of comfort to cats since they are not items which kitties use regularly in the home.

Carrying cats from the car to the clinic in one’s arms is even more dangerous than using improvised carriers since cats can escape even more easily in this kind of scenario.

Cats are already tense and a bit frightened after experiencing the car ride to the clinic, and are prone to bolting – many clinics are situated on busy roads, and I have seen more than one cat unexpectedly get away from owners that were intending carry them into the clinic!

Have the RIGHT carrier

Carrier should be large enough that cats can comfortably stand up and turn around… you might be surprised to know how frequently cats arrive in clinics squeezed inside kennels that they outgrew 10 years prior when they entered adulthood!

Carriers best suited for going to the vet are ones with snap tops that are easily removed. These are extremely handy because cats can remain comfy and snug in the bottom half of the carrier through the majority of their exam, and can then be gently lifted out when better access is needed to complete the exam or perform procedures. This method of extracting cats from their carriers is far less stressful than ‘dumping’ them out of their carriers.

Keep your cat’s carrier out & available for their use at all times

Your cat’s carrier should not be associated only with use for trips to the vet clinic and other stressful events such as air travel, otherwise your cat will associate the carrier with these negative experiences – upon seeing the carrier your cat’s fear and anxiety levels will amplify instantaneously, irrespective of why you have brought it out of storage.

If the cat carrier only appears out of the front hall closet the day before a trip to the veterinarian’s office, your cat will quickly learn that it’s time to go into hiding until the carrier disappears from view once again!… Chasing your cat down and retrieve them from underneath the bed only results in heightened stress levels for both of you before you’ve even left the home, and can also result in missed veterinary appointments.

Place a comfortable pad or blanket in the bottom of the carrier.

Your cat should consider their carrier a safe haven, a place that they frequent for little cat naps – the carrier should be associated with a sense of security and their home environment so that when your kitty travels in their carrier they know that they are inside their safe haven.

What to put inside the carrier (aside from your cat!)

As mentioned above, the carrier should be a comfortable environment with a familiar cushion or blanket inside.

Many cats like to burrow themselves and hide under their blankets when they are stressed, so this not only provides them with familiar smells, but also allows them to retreat underneath when they are stressed.

Provide some treats and familiar toys in the carrier to create a positive association with being inside the carrier.

This should be done not only when traveling to the vet clinic, but also on a regular basis at home.

Pheromones!

There is now a synthetic version of cats’ ‘happy pheromone.’ Kitties naturally produce this happy pheromone within skin glands that are located by their cheeks.

When cats are happy and content they rub up against people and nearby objects, depositing their happy cat facial pheromones all around them.

The synthetic form of this molecule is called Feliway, and is fairly inexpensive.

Use of the synthetic version can greatly decrease cats’ anxiety levels while travelling!

To use Feliway:

Spray the entire inner surface of the carrier as well as the blanket inside, with Feliway, starting 24 hours before the veterinary visit. Repeat this at least four times during the 24 hour period prior to the visit in order to build up a good coating of Feliway in the carrier. Don’t spray the carrier and place your cat immediately within it – leave at least 15 minutes because alcohol is one of the carrier molecules in Feliway and should have time to evaporate since cats don’t enjoy the scent of alcohol!

Desensitize your cat to car travel

A significant stressor when bringing a cat to the vet is the transportation which leads to their arrival at the clinic… car rides often put cats into panic mode long before they even set paw inside the clinic itself!

Car rides are an infrequent experience for most cats. Cars are also noisy and mobile. Many cats don’t cope well with new situations, let alone situations involving engine noises and fast, unpredictable movements.

Car travel is like an overwhelming sensory assault to cats; it creates simultaneous auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile stimuli and there is no time during which cats can acclimate to the situation. This kind of travel experience creates negative associations in cats’ minds, and they will not relish future repeats of the experience!

To help your cat deal more effectively with transportation the solution is helping your cat slowly adjust to the experience in small increments. Once your cat is accustomed to being in the car, take your cat for car rides that don’t end up at the veterinary office so they don’t automatically associate car trips with vet visits!

Ideally cats should be acclimatized to travel in kittenhood, but later in life is still better than never.

• Place your cat in your car without starting the engine. Don’t go anywhere, simply allow your cat to explore a bit and just sit in his or her carrier, becoming familiar with the car’s appearance and smells. Provide lots of treats, praise, and positive attention.
• Once your cat has been inside the car multiple times and seems fairly comfortable with it, then place your cat in the car and start the engine. Again, do not go anywhere, just allow your kitty to understand that the noise of the engine is not a threat, it is simply a background noise.
• Once your cat is accustomed to the noise of the engine and the feel of its vibrations, go for your first short car ride. Keep your cat safely enclosed in their carrier, take turns slowly and gently, and do not open the windows or have music playing. Drive slowly around the block or just around the parking lot and that will be enough for your cat’s first ride.
• Next, take your kitty for a longer drive. Again, go slowly, keep the windows closed and the car radio off. The motion of the car ride alone, combined with the sight of other vehicles on the road and the traffic noise will be more than enough for your cat to contend with.
• Again, reward your cat with lots of treats, praise, and stroking once the drive is over but you are still in the vehicle. When you return home, give your cat one of their favourite foods – tuna, liver bits, cooked turkey, or whatever they love most!

Once your cat knows how to cope with travel it won’t be a major stressor when you need to transport them to the vet clinic – it will simply be one of many little rides they have experienced and they’ll know that there will be a delicious meal awaiting them upon their return home!

Your cat’s demeanor inside the vet clinic

When a cat is in a clinic they may behave in ways they have never behaved at home. They may growl, hiss, swat, be generally uncooperative, or even try to bite. These actions do NOT mean that they are “bad cats” – they are simply frightened and are reacting to what they perceive as a scary situation with natural defensive feline behaviour.

Some owners admonish their cats if they believe their cat is ‘misbehaving’ in a veterinary office. Some go so far as to yell aggressively, tap or smack their cat on the nose or head, or they even spank their cat’s rear end. This should NEVER ever be done.

This form of ‘discipline’ may be a reaction to owners’ embarrassment about their cat’s behaviour, but it’s critical to know that these are normal cat behaviours and veterinarians understand this better than anyone! There is no need to apologize or feel embarrassed about feisty cat behaviour because vets will not think these frisky cats are “bad cats” – veterinarians deal with fractious kitties on a daily basis and are trained to handle scared, aggressive cats in a safe and gentle manner.

Yelling at a cat, or worse, tapping or smacking them, only serves to heighten the their stress levels, and is always a BAD idea. Yelling at and smacking a cat makes the kitty even more frightened and reactive – not only are they now in a foreign environment but their one source of comfort and familiarity, their owner, has become scary and foreign as well.

‘Punishing’ a cat makes the veterinarian’s job of handling the frightened cat even harder. Additionally, it creates a negative memory of the clinic in the cat’s mind which means that the next visit will be even more stressful than the last one, and the cat may behave even more defensively.

The best action to take if your cat is upset, is to pet and reassure them when your veterinarian requests that you help them by providing positive distractions during their physical exam. Otherwise, it’s best not to interfere until your veterinarian is finished. Once the exam is over, lots of praise, treats, and positive attention are warranted.

Social time at the clinic!

An excellent way of teaching your cat that a visit to the clinic is not a scary event, is to bring your cat in for visits when he or she does not require an exam or procedure of any kind.

Call your veterinary clinic in advance to ensure that it is a good time to visit – you do not want to impede work happening at the clinic if they are extremely busy, and you also do not want the visit to be too overwhelming for your kitty if it is a bit chaotic at the time of your planned visit. For instance, mornings when surgical procedures are being done may be a convenient time – the clinic will not be busy in the waiting room and exam rooms, and your kitty may be allowed to spend lots of time exploring the reception area and elsewhere.

Bring some food along for your cat, and feed him or her in one of the exam rooms if possible. Play with some toys and some catnip, and see if one or two staff members of the clinic are available to play with your cat for a short period of time.

Practice makes perfect

Train your cat to accept certain kinds of physical manipulation that are similar to routine procedures done at veterinary clinics. If your cat is used to these procedures at home, then veterinary exams will be less stressful and will be better tolerated by your cat.

Slowly teach your kitty to accept having their paws touched, nails unsheathed, being groomed, having their teeth brushed, ears cleaned, and having their belly’s touched.

Start practicing with your cat as soon as you can – from kittenhood ideally, but training your cat in adulthood can work as well.

To read more articles by Veterinarian Dr. Ko please visit http://www.catdoctorko.com

The information provided in this article is for educational reference purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for the advice and care of your veterinarian, nor medical diagnoses or treatments. All questions regarding your cat’s health should be discussed with your veterinarian. © 2011 K & J Ventures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. Ko is a passionate believer in the importance of preventative medicine and educating cat owners about its benefits for their cats. It was this ideal which was the motivation for the creation of the Dr. Ko website.

catdoctorko.com is a brand new site dedicated to providing cat owners with information to help them provide effective and preventative health care for their cats. Within the site, Dr. Ko, a licensed veterinarian, has created Know-How Videos, Cat Health Articles, Ask Dr. Ko tips (in which she answers your cat health questions), information on toxic substances, product recalls, dangerous household items and much more! In addition, the website houses a store filled with products specifically selected for their benefits to optimizing your cat’s quality of life!

All of the topics that Dr. Ko writes about are provided by members of her website. To suggest an article topic for Dr. Ko, please visit her website and set up a membership – it’s fast and free!

Options for Resume Layouts

There are many options of available to today’s job seeker. With a quick change of graphical elements such as fonts and style, the feel of a resume can change from traditional and conservative to creative and modern.

In addition, today’s job seeker has the added benefit of being able to mail and hand deliver resumes in the old fashioned way as well as surf the web with their resume.

A job seeker who wishes to take advantage of the many different resume layouts available, should be aware of when and how to use the various options, in order to get the most impact from their resume.

Printed Resumes

A print version of your resume refers to the version of your resume that is ready to print; either for mailing for job leads or for hand delivering to potential contacts.

This version may contain bold print, italicized text, bulleted lists and less well known fonts, however these should be used sparingly. Too many graphical elements can result in a jumbled mess where nothing jumps out. Design elements should be also be used consistently.

Whitespace

The amount of whitespace should also remain consistent throughout the resume. The use of whitespace in a resume can be critical. Too much whitespace will draw attention to a resume that may be lacking in skills and experience.

However too little whitespace results in a jumbled mess. Using a 1-inch margin on all four sides of the paper will generally result in an acceptable amount of whitespace.

Scannable Resumes

A scannable resume contains the exact same information as print version resume layouts but is presented in a less ‘fancy’ manner.

A scannable resume is to be used for those situations when you wish to cut and paste your resume into online databases. There are a few guidelines that should be adhered to when creating a scannable resume, however to avoid disaster.

Due to the high volume of resumes they receive after posting a job, more and more employers are using computer databases to sort and categorize resumes.

Graphical elements that would perhaps be used in a print version resume should be avoided in a scannable resume. While they might encourage visual attention from humans, they can be a death trap when scanned into computer databases. Some computer systems might not understand special characters and react by tossing out your resume.

Fonts

Stick to safe fonts such as Ariel, Helvetica or Courier. Use a font size anywhere between 10 to 14 points and refrain from bolding, underlining or italicizing any text. Also do not use any symbols such as parenthesis, asterisks or bullets.

One Column Resume Layouts

A one column resume layout is much more traditional. This type of format would be more appropriate for use when applying for a position in a conservative job market.

It might be a disadvantage when applying for work in a more upbeat or creative job market. All lines are left justified; objective, work history and education are placed in blocks on the page.

Two Column Resume Layouts

A two column resume layout is more creative. This type of format would be better suited when applying for a position in an industry that is known for its creativity. It would not be appropriate for more traditional type jobs. Headings are left justified while the corresponding information is placed in the right column.

Left Aligned Resume Layouts

Left aligned resume layouts are particularly good for resumes that are short in nature. All headings and corresponding information are aligned to the left.

Centered Resume Layouts

A centered resume layout can be hard on the eye and difficult to read, however this can be minimized with skillful use of formatting and style features to clearly delineate information.

For example, all categories would be bolded and underlined; sub-categories would be italicized and bullets would be used to draw attention to impact and action statements.

Indented Layouts

This type of resume can feel traditional, but the paragraphs can be hard on the eye; particularly for employers who simply want to ‘scan’ a resume. An indented resume features left-aligned text, but the paragraphs are indented.

There are many ways in which you can combine the above design elements into your final layout. To get the maximum impact is partly a science and partly an art… your best option is to follow the guidelines and aim to keep the overall design as uncluttered as possible.

Roger Clark has an excellent selection of articles on free resume cover letter writing techniques posted on his blog and if you need some resume cover letter builder [http://www.jobs-resume.com/always-include-a-personalized-resume-cover-letter] information then this is an article you should not miss.

I feel like it’s about time that I paid back to the community for all of the knowledge and help that I received along the way. Hopefully this post will help you get started in the AdSense business even if you have little or no money to spare but desperately want to try your hand at it.

Normally Google won’t approve AdSense applications for free websites, but there is one exception. So if you’re short on cash for hosting and are eager to get started, you might give this a try.

Blogger.com Blogs

Not long after Google bought Blogger.com, they made AdSense available to Blogger blog owners. Blogger is great because it has an easy interface, Google and Yahoo crawl the blogs quickly, and best of all if you’re broke–they’re free, and Google loves to give out AdSense accounts to Blogger owners.

So if you’re looking to get started with AdSense and not spend much money, Blogger is a great way to get started.

Before I talk about how to setup a Blogger blog for AdSense, though, let me tell you what an RSS feed is and how it works. If you already know this you can skip ahead. I make reference to this in the setup instructions, so it’s important to understand.

An RSS feed (as it applies to a blog) is basically a list of all of the recent posts made to your blog. People can use “RSS Aggregators” (software that continually checks up on your RSS feed to see if there’s anything new) to keep up with new posts on your blog. Websites will also want to publish your RSS feed on their sites if your content is good. This gives them fresh content for their visitors. And we all know that content is King in the world of website building.

Blogger blogs come with an RSS feed built-in, and you can use this to your advantage to generate traffic to your blog. I’ll discuss that in a bit, but first let’s get into building the blog.

Create Your Blogger.com Account

Determine Your Blog Topic First

Before you create the blog, you need to figure out what topic the blog will focus on. Think about your skills or hobbies that you’re really good at. You might not be a mechanic, but if you’re really good at working on cars on the weekend, and you love to do it, that would make a great blog topic. Brainstorm your skills and interests to determine what you would enjoy writing about. It’s important that you like to write about it, since you will have to do so to build up the blog!

I will say this: If you have some knowledge on a commercial or industrial topic, this will usually get higher paying AdSense ads. But a hobby blog can do very well also (I know this from experience!).

Create the Blog

Once you have a topic chosen, it only takes about 5 minutes to setup a blog. From the Blogger homepage click the “Create Your Blog Now” link and follow the blog wizard instructions. I won’t get into detail about them because it’s pretty straight-forward, but there are a few points I want to make.

First of all, when you choose your blog URL, make sure that the URL contains the keywords for your topic. For example, if you’re creating a blog about health insurance, “healthinsurance.blogspot.com” is ideal, or “health-insurance” or even “health-insurance-blog” or “health-insurance-12345”. Just make sure that your keywords are in the URL, that will help you be found when people search for your keywords in the search engines.

Also, be sure to pick one of the professional looking templates. I suggest you just pick the plain-white one that is first in the list of templates when you’re creating the blog. Once the blog is created, then click on the “Templates” tab and select one of the nicer ones shown there. I’m not sure why Blogger doesn’t show you all of the available templates in the blog setup wizard, but they don’t.

The Settings Tab.

A discussion of the important points of each settings tab is outlined below.

Basic

On the “Basic” settings tab, set your blog title to the keywords you want to show up for in the search engines. That will help you get ranked.

Give a good, detailed description about the benefits of reading your blog daily. You want to get people to add your RSS feed to their aggregators and websites so you can get traffic, and this will help.

Answer “Yes” to the question “Add your Blog to our listings?”. This will have your blog appear on the main page of Blogger when you make new posts (albeit for a brief period of time), and allow people to search and find your blog using Blogger’s search tool.

One other, lesser known detail about setting that question to “Yes” is that if you set it to “No” Blogger will shove “nofollow/noindex” meta-tags into your blog template header, which will prevent your site from getting crawled or indexed. I believe this was done to fight what Blogger called “spam blogs”.

Publishing

Set the “Notify Weblogs” setting to “Yes”. This will send a notification to Weblogs every time you make a new post. Weblogs is a site that lets people (and search engine crawlers) know when new content appears on a blog. You want the crawlers (and visitors) to hit your pages when you add new content, so be sure this is set to Yes.

Formatting

You can do what you want on this tab–I personally set the number of posts on the main page to between three and five.

Comments

Allow comments unless your blog topic is really controversial and you’re likely to get a lot of flaming (people lashing out at you for what you have to say). Allowing comments is good because it gives more food to the search engines and keeps your blog updating and fresh even when you’re not posting to it.

I usually let anyone comment, and don’t limit it.

Don’t show the comments in a pop-up window, because that will prevent the crawlers from being able to get to the content since it’s javascript-based.

If you’re concerned that people might flame you, but you want to allow comments, enable comment moderation so that you have to approve each comment that is added before it goes live.

If you want to be notified when a comment is made, set the Comment Notification Address to your email address.

Archiving

Set your archiving to daily if you post every day, or weekly if you only post every few days. If you post every day daily is the best way to go, because it gives the search engines more unique pages to crawl and index. More unique content means more traffic to your blog and more clicks on your AdSense ads (I’ll get to adding your AdSense to the template in a bit).

If you don’t do a daily archive (and maybe even if you do), enable post pages so that each post will still have its own unique page even if multiple posts appear on the same archive page. Having multiple posts on one archive page is not a bad thing if you have post pages enabled, since the posts tied all together make for yet another unique page on the blog.

Site Feed

Definitely enable the site feed. If your posts tend to be very short, you might enable full descriptions. But if you have long posts (which I recommend), do not enable the full feed, use the short feed. Here’s why:

If you put the full post in your RSS feed, then the person reading the feed doesn’t have a reason to go back to your blog since they have already read the full post. No visitors to the blog means no clicks on your ads. AdSense has an “AdSense For Feeds” in beta testing, but it’s not open to all publishers yet, so at least for now you need to induce people to visit the blog.

If they can only read part of the blog post, then if they want the whole story they will need to go to your blog. You can plan for this by making sure that your title and the first 255 characters (about the first 50 words) really pull in the reader’s attention. You need to use those first 50 words to make them just have to read the rest.

Also, if your RSS feed appears on websites, you don’t want to give away the farm by showing the whole post. You’re letting websites use your feed so you can get clicks on the posts in that feed and get visitors to your site to build AdSense revenue.

So set the “Descriptions” to Short, write long posts and make the title and the first 50 words count.

The Templates Tab

If you haven’t already picked a nice template from the list, click on the “Pick New” link under the templates tab and select one of the templates that you like and that fits your topic.

If you don’t already have an AdSense account, you can click on the “AdSense” link and apply for one straight from the blog instead of having to go to Google.com to apply. That’s how badly Google wants Blogger blog owners to use AdSense on their blogs!

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to paste your AdSense code into your template. Click on the “Edit Current” link if you’re not already there.

There are two methods of setting up your template. You will generate the most clicks by doing the following:

1) Find the section of the template that looks like this: