Surprising Jobs that Pay $25 an Hour

Career websites typically compile a listing of jobs that pay $25 an hour. The list of professions -- and the career training you need to pass the muster of recruiters -- can be daunting. But you don't necessarily need a post-graduate degree to qualify for a job that pays several hundred dollars a day.


While it may be true that helicopter pilots, high-tech administrators, and civil engineers earn $25 an hour or more, so do many other professionals in careers that require only an associate or bachelor's degree to leap onto the playing field.


Of course, you add to your hourly earnings by continuing your education, taking certification courses or advanced degrees that ultimately boost on-the-job responsibilities along with earnings.


Seven careers you might have overlooked paid workers $25 an hour in 2008, meaning you may be able to earn more performing the same role today. These 2008 salaries may also rise by the time you complete an online degree or career training program to pursue future job openings. Let's look at the education you'll need to land a job:


Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technician

Companies that design, test, and sell electrical and electronics devices need professionals to staff their labs. You won't need a master's degree in engineering to earn good wages. Most engineering technicians complete associate degrees in engineering at trade schools or community colleges to prepare for the field. In 2008, the mean hourly wage for engineering technicians was $25.96, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).


Human Resources Recruiter

In many cases, you can earn more an hour placing people in jobs than the salaries they'll receive when hired. That's what you call economic irony. And, if you remain in your human resources (HR) job, you may be able to build a hefty network and open your own personnel consulting company. To get going, enroll in an associate's or bachelor's degree program in business or human resources. In 2008, HR recruiters took home $25.90 an hour.



Paralegal or Legal Assistant

Attorneys that represent clients in local, state, and federal courts are swamped with research and paperwork duties. Hence, jobs for paralegals are expected to grow by 22 percent during the 2006-2016 decade. You can prepare by attending an online associate's or bachelor's degree program in paralegal studies. In 2008, paralegals earned just below $25 an hour ($23.46). However, top earners took home $73,450 for the year, making this a solid investment in a two-year education.


Respiratory Therapist

Breathe easy. Depending on the employer, many a respiratory therapist can land a job with as little as a two-year degree. More often, however, hospitals are looking for a bachelor's or master's degree to advance in the profession. All states require licensing. Job openings are projected to grow by 19 percent from 2006-2016. In 2008, respiratory therapists earned $25.55 an hour.


Police Officer

The physical requirements for a police officer's job are now legendary, thanks to the entertainment media. But with most agencies requiring new recruits to take departmental training, the baseline classroom training provided by an online associate's degree in law enforcement or criminal justice can greatly improve your chances of landing a job. In 2008, police officers and sheriff's deputies earned $25.39 and hour. And that's not counting shift differential compensation or overtime.


Advertising Sales Agent

With Americans becoming more cautious about their spending, companies are relying more than ever on well-placed advertising. Advertising sales agents take jobs with agencies, media companies, and corporate promotions departments. If you love closing a deal and being compensated for it, then enroll in an undergraduate degree program in advertising, journalism, public relations, business, communications, or new media. In 2008, advertising sales agents took home $25.56 an hour.


Interior Designer

More than 25 percent of all interior designers are self-employed. You're the boss and set your own hours. Jobs for the other 75 percent of working interior designers are predicted to rise by 19 percent during the 2006-2016 decade. You can prepare for the role by enrolling in an associate's or bachelor's degree program at a college or professional trade school. Or shoot for the stars and take classes in interior set design to work in the entertainment industry. Hourly pay for interior designers in 2008 averaged $24.53, just below the $25/hr mark.

Source: Surprising Jobs that Pay $25 an Hour

Improve Your Memory with these few Tricks

Memory, an intricate and complex function of the brain, requires millions of neurons to operate in perfect harmony. As we age, we experience memory glitches in which spontaneous memory loss occurs, such as when you can't recall something that is at the tip of your tongue.

Aging causes neuron loss, which can impact your memory of recent events. You might forget where you left your keys or the name of a person you just met. While this is a normal slip due to aging - or even due to an overtaxed mind, there are more serious non-age related types of memory loss. One is when you forget how to do things that you've done many times before or are unable to learn new things. Memory loss that gets progressively worse is also serious. Possible causes of memory loss include depression, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurodegenerative brain disorders, side effects from certain drugs, stroke, trauma, and alcoholism.

If you're experiencing less serious memory loss, like having a few more senior moments lately or you are more forgetful than usual, try these memory-improving tips and tricks. (These tips and tricks for less serious memory loss. If you think you might be experiencing a more serious kind, see your physician.)

1. Don't forget to be aware
We do so many things automatically: We come home, we throw the keys down, we sit down on the couch, we flip on the television — and many of these actions are done without thinking. Then, the next morning, halfway out the front door, we may suddenly realize we have no idea where the keys are.

This exercise is a helpful memory device: Become aware and be observant of everything. Wherever you put your keys, be aware of it. Be conscious of every little action that you do. And as you're doing each thing, you can reinforce it by making a mental note to yourself: "I just put my keys on the kitchen table." When you do this on a daily basis, this will increase your ability to remember things. Sometimes it is not so much that you're aging, it's just that you're too busy to pay attention.

2. Organized in life, organized in mind
When you are organized in your house, you are organized in your mind. Designate a special area for all items. If you take the tool out of the toolbox, always put the tool back in the toolbox where it belongs. Choose a space where you will collect bills or checks — and put them in the same place every time. Having this organization will not only help you remember, it will save precious memory space for you to fill with more important things.

And if you want to not forget to do certain things, make sure you write it down — list-making is another organizational device that helps your memory. Better still, do what you need to do now and don't procrastinate, because memory is fleeting even to the most brilliant, vital person.

3. Seeing is remembering
Another trick to help you to remember things is to see them. Many people are visual and remember better with a visual reminder. If there are certain things that you need to work on, put the document out where you're going to see it and remember to work on it. Or leave yourself a note on the breakfast table where you will be sure to see it. Keep what you need within your visual field and you won't forget!

4. Herbal teas to remember
Many herbs and supplements have been researched and found to help improve your cognitive capabilities. Sit back and let these herbs keep your brain young and your memory sharp:

Green tea prevents an enzyme found in Alzheimer's disease and is also rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that help prevent premature brain aging. Drink two cups a day to get the brain benefits.

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How to Educate Yourself for Free

Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

Like many college students, I drank a lot. I drank so much, that I had to take out a second loan to cover the cost of all the soda I bought. That’s really all I drank. I just have never been much into alcohol, not even in college. College costs a lot – certainly far more today than when I was attending. Is it worth it anyway? Absolutely, it is. A college education and a degree are priceless in many ways. But how the heck can you pay for an education these days?

Sites like OpenCourseWare Consortium can save you a large sum of money. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model.

Even though you don’t receive a degree or certificate, you are still educating yourself at no cost. There are any number of courses and types of things that you can find and learn on sites like this. All it’s going to cost you is the time it takes you to go through the material.

Education is a good thing, whether you pay for it or not… and whether you get a piece of paper at the end of the learning. What matters in this case is that you have expanded your mind, and broadened your horizons.

See Original Article: How to Educate Yourself for Free

You may be surprised which Big Companies are veering toward Bankruptcy

From The Business Insider:

Despite a few green shoots in the economy and a rocketing stock market, many large companies are still struggling to avoid bankruptcy.

A new report by Audit Integrity identifies some high-profile names "that have the highest probability of declaring bankruptcy among publicly traded firms."

Which companies appear the worst off? We took the list and removed any company with a market cap under $3 billion. We then ranked the remaining names by a simple measure of the market's perceived bankruptcy risk - Market Cap (MC) divided by Enterprise Value (EV). The less MC vs. EV, the less residual shareholders' value (above what debt holders can claim) the market is pricing-in for the company. Thus a lower MC/EV means the market thinks the company is more likely to go bankrupt.

1. Hertz
When you have tons of debt financing your fleet of cars, falling rental demand really hurts.
While the company raised new capital in May for some breathing room, Fitch and Moody’s actually cut their ratings for the company in July.
Ignoring the downgrade, shares kept rallying and are now at over five times the March $2 low. Best of luck.

Market Cap (MC)/Enterprise Value (EV) = 32%

2. Textron
What a tough time to be selling business jets.
Textron wrote down $2.3 billion its backlog this year after it canceled a new jet design, and demand for its other aircraft-related offerings has plummeted.

Shareholders may be heartened by the company’s ability to push back some debt maturities lately, but deteriorating credit quality at the company’s leasing arm makes the outlook uncertain at best.

MC/EV=39%

3. Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel is bleeding customers, and could lose as many as 4.4 million net post-paid subscribers this year.

This is a huge problem when you have large amounts of maturing debt over the next few years.

A recent Deutsche Telekom acquisition rumor offered some hope, but that appears to have faded. Facing a difficult road ahead on its own, the company better keep its lawyers on speed-dial.

MC/EV=41%

4. Macy's
Does anyone even shop at department stores anymore?
Same store sales will likely keep falling at Macy’s right through 2009. With $2.4 billion of maturing debt over the next five years, the company is trying to cut costs, and has already reduced its dividend.

Hopefully the US consumer will bounce back soon, and actually want to shop at Macy's.
MC/EV=47%

5. Mylan
In a classic case of management empire building, Mylan overpaid big time when it bought Merck’s generic business back in 2007 and is now stuck with $5 billion of long-term debt as a result.

From 2007 – 2008, the company lost over $1.3 billion very much due to goodwill write-downs.
While the company could earn $300 million this year, they’ll have to earn far more than that in the future to make their debt manageable.

MC/EV=51%

6. Goodyear
Demand for Goodyear tires has sunk, and the company is saddled with massive debt and pension obligations.
It doesn’t help that The United Steelworkers union prevents the company from proper cost control by forcing factories to stay open.

Shareholders have to wonder how much value will be left of the company after bondholders and the union members have their way.
MC/EV=53%


7. CBS
Weak advertising and falling license fees have sent CBS's earnings off a cliff in 2009.

If they remain depressed for too long, the company could have trouble refinancing $3.2 billion of debt coming due over the next five years.

It will really come down to whether or not CBS’s earnings collapse is merely cyclical, or the result of structural trend whereby traditional TV is dying.

As a business blog, we can't help but feel partly guilty here.
MC/EV=55%

8. Advanced Micro Devices
When will AMD actually make money again? The question is becoming more important by the day since it carries over $5 billion in long-term debt.

After losing almost $3 billion from 2007 – 2008, analysts expect the company to lose more money in 2009 and 2010.
While the shares rallied from their February $2 low, they still appear stuck in a long-term down trend from $40 highs way back in 2006.

MC/EV=55%

9. Las Vegas Sands
Las Vegas Sands over-expanded and over-levered in the last few years and now has over $10 billion in debt to deal with.
Despite jumping 13 times from their March low, Las Vegas Sands shares still face an uphill battle.
Conditions in Las Vegas are horrible, Asian expansion isn’t enough, and if this lasts too long then LVS will end up in bankruptcy court looking like it bit off more than it can chew.

MC/EV=60%

10. Interpublic Group
As one of the largest advertising and marketing companies in the world, IPG was slammed by the global recession.

As the company’s CEO said during recent second quarter results, the downturn “is proving steeper and more lasting than expected”.

Revenues have fallen double digits and the company’s exposure to General Motors as its largest client hasn’t helped.

MC/EV=80%

More coverage from: The Business Insider

Are there more jobs out there than we think? Looking for a job, here is an idea...

British graduate scores in sandwich-board job hunt

LONDON (Reuters) - In a pinstripe suit, silk tie and polished shoes, David Rowe has all the trappings of a successful London city worker, except for one stark difference -- he is wearing a sandwich board that says "JOB WANTED."
As he walked down Fleet Street, home to legal firms and investment banks, the 24-year-old history graduate showed the human face behind the "lay-offs" and "recession" headlines.
"The first 20 paces are the hardest, you feel very conspicuous, but you just steel yourself to get on with it," he said, starting a slow trudge toward the Law Courts before turning toward St Paul's Cathedral.

In previous economic downturns it was manufacturing and heavy industry that were worst hit. Now in Britain, and much of the West, white collar jobs have been culled in the financial crisis -- marketing directors on six figure salaries, IT specialists with 20 years experience.

That makes it especially hard for young men and women like Rowe trying to start professional careers. For many the corporate ladder has been pulled away.

They are left with the prospect of low paid unskilled work, if they can find it, and large debts.

"I have debts of about 20,000 pounds ($32,400), and that's not excessive compared with how much some students owe when they graduate," Rowe told Reuters as he took a break from his one-man advertising campaign.

"My dad bet me I wouldn't do this (walking with a sandwich board), that I wouldn't have the guts."

GRADUATE NUMBERS

Rowe was facing a tough market even before the downturn. Britain has seen explosive growth in the number of university and college students, but there has not necessarily been a comparable rise in graduate-level jobs.

Twenty years ago about 17 percent of 18-30 year-olds were in tertiary education against a figure of 43 percent in 2008, according to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. The Higher Education Statistics Agency said about 220,000 graduates joined the job market in the 2007-2008 period.

Add that mix to an economy in trouble and it makes uncomfortable reading for people like Rowe.

Latest figures from High Fliers Research Ltd, an independent market research company, found graduate vacancies at one hundred leading employers in 2009 had been cut by 28 percent against 2008 and more than 5,500 vacancies canceled or left unfilled.

Rowe is one jobseeker who is not downhearted. Just hours after he started wearing the sandwich board that offered his services free for a month with the option to then "hire or fire me" he struck lucky.

Gavin Walker of international recruitment firm Parkhouse Bell liked Rowe's initiative and decided to interview him.

"I liked the fact he had thought out of the box. I was impressed by that. I was even more impressed after the interview. He's very employable, so much so I offered him a job to work with me."

Rowe, who has amassed a growing collection of business cards, says he will think carefully about the job offer.

"I told myself I'd do the sandwich board for five days and I will follow through on that."

Read Original Article: British graduate scores in sandwich-board job hunt

Negative thinking is more powerful than you think

Cheer up! Be Happy! Find the Silver Lining. Smile.

If you didn't know any better, you might say we're a country that preaches optimism. But some 30 to 35 percent of Americans employ a calculated form of negative thinking—called defensive pessimism—that can lead to very positive results, according to Julie K. Norem, PhD, a professor of psychology at Wellesley College.

We're not talking about a general disposition to see the glass half-empty: "Defensive pessimism is a strategy used in specific situations to manage anxiety, fear, and worry," says Norem, who has conducted seminal research on the subject. "Defensive pessimists," she says, "prepare for a situation by setting low expectations for themselves, then follow up with a very detailed assessment of everything that may go wrong." Once they've imagined the full range of bad outcomes, they start figuring out how they'll handle them, and that gives them a sense of control.
"What's intriguing about defensive pessimists," adds Lawrence Sanna, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has also studied the phenomenon, "is that they tend to be very successful people, and so their low opinion of the outcome isn't realistic; they use it to motivate themselves to perform better." For example, an executive is getting ready to pitch a project, and she thinks beforehand, "The client is going to be really difficult; he's not going to like my proposal. I have to make sure I explain things very clearly." "She uses defensive pessimism as a tool to work through all the possibilities so she's prepared for everything, even failure," Sanna says. "And if she does fail, she's ready for it, so it's not so catastrophic."

If all this sounds familiar (take the quiz to see if you use defensive pessimism), a piece of advice from the experts may give you a lift: Don't listen to appeals from friends or family to look on the bright side. "Research shows that if you pressure defensive pessimists into being optimistic, or try to manipulate their mood, their performance deteriorates," says Andrew J. Elliot, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester. One of the most frequent comments Norem got after publishing The Positive Power of Negative Thinking in 2001 was "Thank you. I can finally tell my mother to shut up."


Read Original Article: The Power of Negative Thinking

Top 5 small, Boutique Hotels

SINGAPORE - Small can definitely be beautiful, with boutique hotel specialists and booking service Mr. & Mrs. Smith listing its five favorite properties around the world. (This list is not endorsed by Reuters.)

Casa Tua, Miami

There's no sign above the door of this intimate hideaway, and it's screened from the street by wrought-iron railings and lush vegetation, but everyone knows where Casa Tua is. It has won acclaim for its excellent Italian-fusion restaurant and draws Miami's in-crowd to its exclusive members-only lounge bar. In each of the five guest rooms, which have a separate entrance, heavy cream drapes, soft white Bellora linens, rich dark woods and carefully chosen art pieces suggest rigorous editing and impeccable taste. White marble gleams in the bathrooms, and little balconies jut jauntily out over the garden greenery.


Lone Star Restaurant & Hotel, Barbados, Caribbean

This one-time petrol station has much more to offer than finessed world cuisine and a celebrity cast list, however; its four impeccably appointed suites offer a brand of luxury Caribbean accommodation with a refreshingly personal touch and a quirky designer eye. This Barbados hotel sustains a smart palette of blue, white and mahogany throughout. There are playful touches, too: huge gilt silver mirrors lean against palm trees on the talc-white beach, waiters and waitresses flit around the restaurant — dubbed 'the Ivy of the Caribbean' by British restaurant critic Michael Winner — in mechanics overalls in a throwback to the hotel's garage roots.

See Full Article:  Top 5 small, boutique hotels

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A Few Dumb Financial Moves in the Recession

This recession has brought to light dumb money management practices, forcing just about all of us to confront our financial foibles.


Maybe, for instance, you're one of the ones who panicked and sold during the market bottom. Or, you believed housing prices were guaranteed to rise.

The federal government is tapping behavioral economists -- experts on why we humans make the money judgments we do -- to help devise regulations so that people don't take on unaffordable mortgages and to help them understand their actual credit card fees.


But these efforts just scratch the surface. Here are four common mistakes that surfaced during this economic turmoil, and fixes that we can put in place to prevent ourselves from making the same costly error again:

Regret 1: I didn't have emergency reserves.

Outsmart yourself: When we're confident about our security, stashing cash can seem like a waste. We'd prefer to put the dollars into a "better" use, whether it be sprucing up our home or going on vacation.

Last year, when the unemployment rate started soaring, so did the savings rate of suddenly scared Americans.

If you were one of those scrambling to build emergency reserves, you may abandon the practice once your fear subsides -- setting yourself up for another panic at the next sign of trouble.
So prevent yourself from slipping out of the savings habit by establishing an automatic withdrawal from your checking to a liquid savings. Moreover, if you instruct the bank to sweep a certain sum into a short-term CD when your balance reaches a prescribed level, you won't be tempted to raid the emergency stash.

"The idea is to create a mechanism that will force a habit," says Dan Ariely, a Duke University behavioral economist and author of "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions."

If disaster does strike, there may be a small penalty to cash in a CD, but at least there'll be money to tap, says Ariely. Not all banking institutions may agree to automatically set up a short-term CD, however, so you might have to direct yourself periodically by putting the task on your calendar as a "must do."

Regret 2: I panicked when the market collapsed.

Outsmart yourself: Once a powerful emotion sets in, don't expect to overcome it, says Ariely. So head off the fear before it takes hold, he says.
When the market took a plunge earlier this year, Ariely says he personally took deliberate steps to block the reports of the Dow's dive. "I didn't want to look at my accounts online, so I input the wrong password three times. That locked me out," he says.
Don't listen to the business news, either, if that will rattle your resolve to hold your investments, Ariely adds.

Moreover, before an investment drops precipitously, you may want to set up alerts (many brokerage houses and financial Web sites offer this service) so that you receive an e-mail when a stock price drops to a certain level. Although he doesn't think most individuals know enough about a particular company to wisely invest in stocks, Eric Toya, a financial adviser based in Redondo Beach, Calif., says that these alerts could spur investors to talk with their adviser about keeping a holding that's losing value.

Regret 3: I greedily overinvested in a 'sure' thing.

Outsmart yourself: Studies have shown that the human brain's "wanting" system strongly activates when an asset goes up in value, driving us to buy more, says Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University.

So even if you've sworn that you'll never again put the bulk of your wealth in a single asset, like a house or a stock fund, what's to stop your brain from getting excited when the next "big" thing rolls around?

Enlist your financial adviser, your partner or a trusted friend to dampen your excitement, says Michael Ervolini, head of the Boston behavioral finance firm, Cabot Research.

While a broker or financial adviser may not actually be able to prevent you from dictating that you'd like to sink your money in one investment type, you can ask him, even put it in writing, to dissuade you.

Cleveland financial planner Kenneth Robinson says his clients sign off on a written asset allocation plan, which helps them stick to the resolve to diversify.

And, says Ervolini, especially if you invest with a partner who has a vested interest in the success of your investment plan, establish a pact that you won't make moves unless you've both talked it over.

Finally, for those who can afford to set aside some "play" money, a separate fund can placate the desire to follow the hot trend without "betting the farm," says Zak.
Regret 4: I didn't read the fine print on my loan.

Outsmart yourself: If you're one of those homeowners with a mortgage that seemed cheap initially but has since proven ridiculously expensive, chances are "you were just following what you thought was acceptable wisdom" when you took the loan, Ariely says.

"Figuring out how to borrow is very complex," he says. Instead of delving through loan documents and plotting out just how much payments can rise, consumers are lured into complacency when they hear platitudes like "you can always refinance" or "if you're moving again in a few years, you don't have to worry."

Make a pact with a partner or friend that you won't take on debt without reading all the fine print, says Ervolini.
The federal government aims to make that easier with proposed reforms, like requiring a lender to give a one-page outline of a loan's risky features.

Still, complex loans will likely stick around. Ervolini says, "If you are not willing to read and really understand what a loan is all about, pledge that you'll go with the plain vanilla option."

Read Original Article:  A Few Dumb Financial Moves in the Recession
by Marilyn Kennedy Melia

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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Do you know anyone who is afraid of the internet? See how it's costing them...

Ways fear of the Web costs you

In 2009, making financial transactions online isn't just mainstream -- it's quickly becoming the norm.

A July 2009 study by Fiserv found that 69.7 million households now use online banking services, and 64.4 million households pay at least one bill online.

Numbers on that scale mean cost-cutting banks and other businesses increasingly are focused on taking their services online, and consumers who can't -- or won't -- do business online may end up paying high fees and missing out on great deals.

The following are five ways that fear of the Web may be stealing money from your wallet.

Banking -- higher fees. Banks have been trying to shift transactions online since the Internet came into its own. Why?

"(Online banking) is a cheaper channel to service customers," says Emmett Higdon, a senior analyst for Forrester Research.

Higdon cites the example of Bank of America, which recently announced it would close up to 10 percent of its branches because so much of its customer traffic has moved online.

In past years, some financial institutions -- like Bank One (now part of JPMorgan Chase) -- even tried charging a fee of $3 on some accounts for the privilege of visiting a teller. Needless to say, the fees were unpopular.

"We learned this lesson the hard way a few years ago," says Higdon. "A lot of people voted with their feet on that particular measure, and we learned very quickly that customers will not be forced into using a particular channel."

Today, banks are less likely to browbeat customers into going online. Instead, they offer perks to savers as a way of enticing them to take the online leap.

For example, Higdon says customers who check their fee schedules may notice that some online transactions -- such as transferring funds to another account or sending money overseas -- are much cheaper than the same services performed at a brick-and-mortar branch.
Technology analyst and BlackPlanet.com co-founder, Omar Wasow, agrees banks generally have moved away from the online-banking hard sell and now are trying to woo customers with perks.

"If you're trying to open up a certificate of deposit, for example, you're able to get better rates online. Right now, it's more carrots than sticks," he says.

Meanwhile, customers who still insist on receiving paper correspondence may pay a price. Many banks are now charging customers extra to mail hard copies of canceled checks, a service the banks used to routinely perform for free, Higdon says.

Banking Luddites also may miss out on one small bonus: Some banks now offer a statement credit of a few dollars when you stop the stream of paper statements coming to your home.

Saks Fifth Avenue Special Giveaway (First-Ever Shampoo Swap)

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Hollywood Beach Latin Festival (Free)

If you’re thinking about fun things to do during the weekend, here’s a free event to keep you busy on Sunday.

The Hollywood Beach Latin Festival, 11 .m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 20, is emphasizing health and fitness.

In addition, the event includes music, art and Latin food vendors. The festivities are along Hollywood beach off Garfield and Johnson streets.

See details: Free Hollywood Beach Latin Festival

Airlines offer lightest fall schedules since 2001

DALLAS – The U.S. airline industry is shrinking to a size not seen since the months after the 2001 terror attacks.
The airlines have been trimming flights for the past two years, matching the falling demand for air travel. Additional capacity cuts are under way at American, the nation's second-largest carrier, and at No. 3 United.
It could get worse.

Most big airlines depend heavily on a relatively small chunk of passengers who pay the highest fares, "and that's generally business travelers," says Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in Port Washington, N.Y. "If business travel doesn't rebound, we're going to see further (capacity) cuts."

Less capacity means consumers will be left with fewer flights to choose from and planes will be crowded. Fewer seats normally means higher fares but that might not happen this time unless the economy begins a true recovery and passenger traffic picks up.

Airlines measure capacity in "seat miles," the number of miles flown multiplied by the number of seats on the planes. Capacity is crucial in the airline industry in the same way that inventories matter to car dealers and retailers. Too much capacity, and airlines have to cut prices, just as a department store stuck with too many suits and dresses will hold a fire sale. Airlines cut capacity by reducing the number of flights or using smaller planes that carry fewer passengers.

The Air Transport Association, the trade group for big U.S. airlines, estimates that carriers will offer fewer than 12.5 billion seat miles in the U.S. in the fourth quarter. That's not much more than the low of 12.1 billion late in 2001, when airlines were reeling from the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and it's down 13 percent from the fourth quarter of 2000.

Read Full Article: Airlines offer lightest fall schedules since 2001

Oprah's 24th Season Kick Off Celebration

Remembering 9-11

Have you heard of Trazzler.com?

(I found this article about Trazzler.com and wanted to share with my viewers) Find Original Article Here


A little about Trazzler.com
Written by Travel Writers News

What I think is most interesting about Trazzler is that, as a travel writer, you can submit a short post to Trazzler that links to your longer articles elsewhere on the web, and thus drive traffic to your other articles. In fact, Trazzler encourages this: “You are always free to republish anything that you submit to Trazzler or to submit previously published (copyright-friendly) material that is edited to fit Trazzler’s style. Published Trazzler trips always come with a prominent credit/byline for the author, appear on a profile that you can customize, and look professional, so please feel free to use them to promote yourself and your writing.”


Here’s how they describe themselves: “Trazzler helps would-be travelers answer the question “Where should I go?” Trazzlers meander through a world of trips—hand-picked, concise, compellingly written slices of life that pull the reader into a real experience: a hotel stay, walk, adventure, spa, restaurant, ice cream stand, pony ride… really anywhere that travel can take you. And that’s where you come in. Each Trazzler trip is dominated by a photo that sets the scene so that your writing can tell the rest of the story. Our travel-writing philosophy is different from anything else out there.

“The rules that govern our relationship with writers are different too. Here are a few of them:

1. Start from the premise that the quality of the content matters.

2. Rely on a combination of free and paid writing.

3. Surface the best writing.

4. Reward the best contributors with real freelance writing contracts.

5. Dedicate at least 15% of our budget to pay writers and editors (the same as The New York Times).”

See Original Article by Travel Writers News

Tips to Succeed as a Young Professional

To date I have launched two companies; Charles River Web Connections (CRWC) and Brand-Yourself.com. CRWC launched while I was still a sophomore in high school. Both companies are going strong.

College-aged business owners aren’t a rarity these days, but starting a serious business as a high school student is still intimidating. Getting a business off the ground is the first obstacle a young entrepreneurs faces today. Good ideas are everywhere, but to make them into great ideas, you have to put them into action. You can start your own company at any age. Entrepreneurship isn’t just for people with specific business training; it’s for anyone who wants to take advantage of an opportunity. Here are some tips to help you get started:

1) Starting a company at an early age can give you a competitive edge. Young people have many creative ideas flowing, and often a substantial amount of free time. If you’re doing something you love, thinking about your company becomes your daydreaming. I had always been around computers, and my business grew out of that. Another key motivation for me was the desire to manage my own schedule, and be able to plan my work around my other interests.

2) Be prepared to make mistakes and ask for help. When I first started CRWC I did a lot of shooting in the dark. If I didn’t know how to do something, I found someone who did. At first, I was surprised to realize how much information and advice was available. People love giving advice about things they have a passion for. The knowledge was there, I just had to ask the right questions. Don’t be timid; learn as you go – you don’t need to have it all figured out at the very beginning; it’s an educational process.

3) Perfect your time management skills. Handling a triple-major workload and a rapidly growing company requires an extraordinary amount of efficiency. Once you reach the level of being able to plan out your time and sit down and work through projects, you’ll find that you can get a surprising amount of work done at once. Standardizing and streamlining day-to-day processes to minimize inefficiencies is often helpful in both the short- and long-term. If administrative processes are “lean”-efficient and easy to duplicate-entrepreneurs can spend less time supervising and more time expanding on new ideas.

4) Balance, balance, balance. Earning an undergraduate degree and running a business both require a lot of time, but I still make time for other things I love, including dirt biking, woodworking, photography, and some occasional XBOX. Having other interests and a social life is crucial to avoiding early burn-out. Don’t develop “target fixation”-concentrating too hard on one problem. Being creative and efficient often requires a fresh mind, so time away from work is imperative.

5) When you’re ready to grow, choose carefully. Be selective about who you hire when the time to expand comes. Make sure their goals are aligned with your own, and pay close attention to their work habits. Hiring people who bring out the best in your company, people you can work with, is very important. It’s important to have well-written contracts that minimize liability and protect both the owner and the employee. Being clear about expectations from the very beginning is central to creating a healthy work environment.

6) Creative marketing is key. One mistake I made early on is that I wasn’t innovative enough in my marketing strategies. Since then I’ve learned to keep my target audience in the forefront of my mind at all times. It’s important to think like potential clients and walk through each step to get an idea of what the marketing piece looks like from the other end. You have to be in the places where they’d look for you, otherwise you’re just wasting time and money.

7) Stay focused. Don’t let your entrepreneurial spirit shut off the second you take the leap into starting your business. That’s just the beginning. Stay opportunity-focused. There is a way to use everything to your advantage, so keep being creative! And a special piece of advice for college students: there’s a useful little thing I like to call “the morning.” Don’t forget to use it! From nine to noon the dorms are quiet, and your clients are already at the office – it’s a great time to clear administrative work out of the way.

Resource: http://www.brand-yourself.com/.

During a Recession is a GREAT time to become an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs


If you're hustling to support a family and pay a mortgage, be under no illusions: starting a business is risky and takes lots of energy. But opening a small business might be the perfect thing if you are at midlife and have your biggest expenses — mortgage, tuition, etc. — behind you. "Our data suggest that workers aren't necessarily looking for high wages or benefits as they move through the end of their working years," reports the AARP Public Policy Institute. "Self-employment may fit the bill for many." Workers value the control it gives them over their day; assuming it's a job you like, it's also less stressful. The idea is to scale back from your primary career and turn a hobby into a small business, like, say, taking pictures, opening an art gallery or restoring old cars. A new AARP study shows that 27% of workers age 50 and over switch careers and often accept a pay cut or give up pension and health-care benefits to do so. But a staggering 91% of these people say it was a good trade because they now enjoy their work, and half report less stress. You don't have to raid your 401(k) or extract your home equity to fund a start-up. You may qualify for attractive terms on a loan through the Small Business Association, especially if you are a veteran. The SBA can help you find a micro-loan or possibly even a grant. For free advice on how to write a business plan and get started, you can turn to the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a volunteer organization of retired business people.

Source: TIME
See Full Article

Is Walmart planning to take over the world?

Walmart loves to shock and awe. City-size stores, absurdly low prices ($8 jeans!) and everything from milk to Matchbox toys on its shelves. And with the recession forcing legions of stores into bankruptcy, the world's largest retailer now apparently wants to take out the remaining survivors.

Thus, the company is in the beginning stages of a massive store and strategy remodeling effort, which it has dubbed Project Impact. One goal of Project Impact is cleaner, less cluttered stores that will improve the shopping experience. Another is friendlier customer service. A third: home in on categories where the competition can be killed. "They've got Kmart ready to take a standing eight-count next year," says retail consultant Burt Flickinger III, managing director for Strategic Resources Group and a veteran Walmart watcher. "Same with Rite Aid. They've knocked out four of the top five toy retailers, and are now going after the last one standing, Toys "R" Us. Project Impact will be the catalyst to wipe out a second round of national and regional retailers." (See 10 things to buy during the recession.)


Though that's bad news for many smaller businesses that can't compete, Walmart investors have clamored for this push. Despite the company's consistently strong financial performance, Wall Street hasn't cheered Walmart's growth rates. During the 1990s, the company's stock price jumped 1,173%. In this decade, it's down around 24% (Walmart's stock closed at $51.74 per share on Sept. 3). "Walmart is under excruciating pressure from employees and frustrated institutional investors to get the stock up," says Flickinger. (Read "Can Toys "R" Us Sell Toilet Paper?")


Many analysts believe that the store-operations background of new CEO Mike Duke will keep investors quite happy. Though the recession finally caught up to Walmart last quarter, when the company reported a 1.2% drop in U.S. same-store sales, Walmart was a consistent winner during the worst days of the financial crisis, as frugal consumers traded down. While most retailers are shutting down stores, Walmart has opened 52 Supercenters since Feb. 1. Joseph Feldman, retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, estimates that each store costs Walmart between $25 and $30 million. In order to continue the momentum that it has picked up during the retail recession, over the next five years the company plans to remodel 70% of its approximately 3,600 U.S. stores.

Read Full Article: Walmart's Project Impact: A Move to Crush Competition

Make-A-Wish-Foundation and Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery® Hosts the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social” to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation®


Make-A-Wish® Child Inspires Ice Cream Creation and Community Support Nationwide
 
Cold Stone Creamery will fulfill more than just ice cream wishes and waffle cone dreams this month as Cold Stone Creamery stores launch a month-long fundraising effort to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.


All Cold Stone Creamery ice cream and ice cream cake purchases made in September will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Also, for a$1 donation, Cold Stone will invite ice cream lovers to invent their own signature ice cream Creations™ and have their names and recipes inscribed on a special Make-A-Wish star to be posted on the store walls throughout the month.

In September, Cold Stone Creamery will also debut “Cole’s Creation” inspired by Cole, a 10-year-old wish kid from Colorado. Cole’s Creation consists of chocolate ice cream blended on a cold granite stone with yellow cake, chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles.

The Fifth Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social

Cold Stone Creamery stores throughout the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico will host their fifth annual “World’s Largest Ice Cream Social” on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006.Cold Stone Creamery will treat guests to free servings (3 oz cups) of Cole’s Creations from 5 to 8 p.m., encouraging communities to share Cold Stone treats and support an incredible organization.
At the end of September, Cold Stone Creamery will donate the star proceeds, all customer donations, and 50 cents for every case of ice cream sold during the month to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.Donations from the month-long promotion and Fifth Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social will help grant the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. Such fundraising efforts grant wishes like Cole’s. He was so moved by the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 that he wished to travel to New York City and meet the firefighters he had seen on television and come to admire.


Source: Make-A-Wish-Foundation and Cold Stone Creamery

Free Events in and around Fort Lauderdale, FL

Free Events in Hollywood Tuesday

* Free wine tasting 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays at Hollywood Vine, 2035 Harrison St. in downtown Hollywood. For information, phone 954-922-2910.

* Music & Dancing Under the Stars, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Hollywood Beach Theater at Johnson Street and The Broadwalk. For information, phone 954-921-3404.

* Free coffee tasting and art exhibit Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Starbucks, 1801 Young Circle, Hollywood. For information, phone 954-924-1587.

Free weekends at Florida museums
Posted on | September 3, 2009 | No Comments

It’s the first weekend of the month, and that means Bank of America customers can visit museums free through the bank’s Museums On Us program. Just show your Bank of America credit or debit card Saturday, Sept. 5, or Sunday, Sept. 6, and you’ll get free admission to more than 120 museums and attractions in cities across the United States.

Here’s the current Florida lineup:

In Palm Beach County, you can make a free visit to the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach.

In Broward County, you’ll find deals for free admission to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science ,the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale plus Young At Art Children’s Museum in Davie.

In Miami-Dade, you can use your card for free admission to the Miami Art Museum, Miami Children’s Museum, Miami Science Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami and the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach.

In Jacksonville, the deal is good at the Museum of Contemporary Art and The Museum of Science and History.

In the Tampa Bay area, you can get free admission to the Florida Holocaust Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, both in St. Petersburg.

Source: http://floridaonthecheap.com/

September is National Sewing Month

Back in 1982, then-President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation #4976, declaring September as National Sewing Month:

Tens of millions of Americans sew at home. Their efforts demonstrate the industry, the skill and the self-reliance which are so characteristic of this Nation.

In recognition of the importance of home sewing to our economy the Congress has, by Senate Joint Resolution 205, designated September, 1982, as National Sewing Month.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September, 1982, as National Sewing Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of Sept. in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightytwo, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventh.

Ronald Reagan

Currently, two organizations – The American Sewing Guild (ASG) and Sewing & Craft Alliance (SCA) – keep this month-long celebration going by encouraging sewers new and old to pick up a needle and get sewing. Sewing is definitely seeing a resurgence. From creativity to thriftiness to therapy, there are as many reasons for sewing as there are sewers. During the month of September, sewing retailers, machine manufacturers, teachers and sewing groups offer promotions, specials, classes, challenges and more from coast to coast.

The National Sewing Month website offers a wealth of information for anyone interested in learning to sew, honing her skills, or taking on this year's sewing challenge to Reuse, Remake, Restyle. Prizes include sewing equipment, fabric, sewing notions and tools, and more. So get sewing!

Contact JoAnn at: joann@gardenofdaisies.com or http://www.gardenofdaisies.com/

Why 09/09/09 Is So Special

Have special plans this 09/09/09?

Everyone from brides and grooms to movie studio execs are celebrating the upcoming calendrical anomaly in their own way.

In Florida, at least one county clerk's office is offering a one-day wedding special for $99.99. The rarity of this Sept. 9 hasn't been lost on the creators of the iPod, who have moved their traditional Tuesday release day to Wednesday to take advantage of the special date. Focus Features is releasing their new film "9," an animated tale about the apocalypse, on the 9th.

Not only does the date look good in marketing promotions, but it also represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we'll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101), or a millennium (mark your calendars for January 1, 3001), depending on how you want to count it.

Though technically there's nothing special about the symmetrical date, some concerned with the history and meaning of numbers ascribe powerful significance to 09/09/09.

For cultures in which the number nine is lucky, Sept. 9 is anticipated - while others might see the date as an ominous warning.

Math magic

Modern numerologists - who operate outside the realm of real science - believe that mystical significance or vibrations can be assigned to each numeral one through nine, and different combinations of the digits produce tangible results in life depending on their application.

As the final numeral, the number nine holds special rank. It is associated with forgiveness, compassion and success on the positive side as well as arrogance and self-righteousness on the negative, according to numerologists.

Read Full Article:  Why 09/09/09 Is So Special

How to Make a Chic Gold Baubles Necklace with Wooden Beads

What you'll need:

* Scissors & Glue *Q-Tips

 *1/8" Ribbon   *Gold Spray Paint   *Wooden Craft Beads

*Cardboard Box

Twitter user celebrates 104th birthday and over 27,000 followers

Ivy Bean might be the oldest person using Twitter but she certainly has more energy than people half her age. Ivy turned 104 today and has over 27,000 followers. From her residence in the northern English city of Bradford, Ivy keeps her followers updated on all aspects of her life -- from getting her hair done, what she's eating to the sad passing of a friend.
With her Facebook page maxxed out at 5,000 fans, turning to Twitter was the next step for this social media maven. Move over, Ashton Kutcher.

What is Ivy Bean tweeting about? Here are a few of her latest tweets:

glad its friday because im having fish and chips for dinner

i dont like peas just salt and vinegar a slice of bread and a cup of tea with my fish and chips

dont worry about your language it wont be anything i not heard before but nice of you to think about me

its a very sad day today my friend norma who i went to blackpool with died suddenly last night god bless her

its a very sad day today my friend norma who i went to blackpool with died suddenly last night god bless her

a short and sweet tweet deal or no deal is on now so goodbye every body xx

According to her recent interview with CNN, Bean says she prefers Twitter because it's easier than Facebook -- it only requires updating. She has linked both accounts so that her tweets automatically show up on Facebook. Bean says she knows people must think it's amazing that she's so active on online, but she thinks it's a good way of keeping in touch with people.

Ivy doesn't need to boast the title of Social Media Expert to know what the secret of being successful on Twitter is. She said it quite simply---she's keeping in touch with people. If more people on Twitter had that mindset and realized that Twitter is about connecting, not selling. Go, Ivy!

Stay up to date with Ivy (if you can keep up) by following her on http://Twitter.com/IvyBean104
Source: http://cnn.com/

Michael Jackson's glove auctioned in Australia

Michael Jackson's glove auctioned in Australia

A bejeweled white glove Michael Jackson tossed to an Australian fan more than a decade ago sold at auction Sunday for 57,600 Australian dollars ($48,400), almost twice the estimated selling price.

Warwick Stone, a buyer for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, beat out five other bidders for the late King of Pop's glove, said Charlotte Stanes, spokeswoman for the Melbourne auction house Bonhams and Goodman. The estimated selling price before the auction was AU$30,000..

"We are very happy with the result," Stanes said. "It's the first glove we know about in Australia.".

Bonhams and Goodman said it was the first auction of a Michael Jackson glove since his death on June 25 this year at age 50..

Read More: Michael Jackson's glove auctioned in Australia

Jackson visited Australia in 1996 as part of his HIStory world tour. While in Sydney, he attended the Australian premiere for the film "Ghosts," in which he had a starring role. At the end of the screening, he tossed the glove at audience member Bill Hibble, who has since died, said national head of collectables Giles Moon..

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Oprah Interviews Whitney Houston

Oprah launches her 24th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show with what she calls "the most anticipated music interview of the decade." In back-to-back episodes starting Monday, September 14, Oprah sits down with Whitney Houston for a candid, revealing, no-holds-barred interview. In a world exclusive, Whitney opens up for the first time in seven years—drugs, rehab, marriage, divorce, her new album. No topic is off-limits. Winfrey asks the questions on everyone's minds: "When did the drugs start?", "What finally made you decide, 'I’m out of this marriage'?" and "Were you afraid that you had lost the voice?"

Since her 1985 self-titled debut, Houston has built an illustrious career that has generated more than 170 million combined worldwide sales of albums, singles and videos. Cited by the Guinness World Records as music's "most awarded female artist of all time," with an unsurpassed tally of 411 awards, inclusive of six Grammys, two Emmys, 23 American Music Awards and 16 Billboard Music Awards. Houston remains a singular force in music today.

Listen to Whitney's New Album!

Whitney Houston's sixth studio album, I Look to You —featuring collaborations with Alicia Keys, Diane Warren, R. Kelly, Akon and David Foster—is now available. Listen to the entire album now!

Whitney Houston's Biography : The voice, the unforgettable songs, the woman. Get to know Whitney Houston.

Secrets of Surviving Bankruptcy

Secrets of Surviving Bankruptcy
Anger and shame are natural byproducts of bankruptcy, but these 3 women discovered they could reinvent themselves and be entrepreneurs again.

In 2002, I was forced to declare personal bankruptcy. OK, "forced" may not be entirely accurate, but my lawyer advised me that the only way to get out from under an $80,000 lien on my personal bank account was to declare bankruptcy.

Why did I have an $80,000 lien on my personal bank account? Because a former business partner defaulted on his company's line of credit, and I was the only one dumb enough to personally guarantee the loan. So dumb, in fact, that when he handed me the papers to sign years earlier, I didn't even bother to look at what I was signing, trusting that everything was in order because he said it was.

I didn't know it then, but that blind trust and business ignorance put me on a path to bankruptcy court.
The shame of having to declare bankruptcy was crippling. I tried to block it out of my head, but every time I tried to do anything involving a bank, I was shamed all over again.

"I think the major emotion [I've felt] has been that of failure," says Robin Hardy, whose company The Moosey Group Inc. taught adults and children financial literacy. "The creditors really make you feel like you failed, you are a loser and you are worthless."

Hardy explained that the adults she worked with expected the services to be free and, while working with kids was rewarding, the youth programs were more of a community service--one her company couldn't afford. Income had come to a standstill.

She says overcoming feelings of failure was a challenge.
"That was a huge process that took [many] affirmations and deep soul searching to overcome," Hardy says. "We all need to understand we did not fail because we went bankrupt and do not own it personally . . . I did not plan to do a [bankruptcy]. I really believed we could come up with maybe grant money to continue the program."

Hardy filed for business bankruptcy last fall and is in the process of filing personal bankruptcy this year.

From a business standpoint, she says dealing with bankruptcy made her explore who she really is and embrace the opportunity to reinvent herself.

"I worked with a coach that helped me move through the negative mind-set of failure to the positive mind-set of reinvention," Hardy says. "Plus, the [bankruptcy] attorney shared great stories of multimillionaires that had rough starts leading to bankruptcy yet in the reinvention created a more powerful business opportunity, so why can't I, and why can't each person moving through this part of their life?"

While people consider bankruptcy for many reasons, not everyone chooses that path. Author and public speaker Diane Darling considered declaring bankruptcy in late 2002.

"I was trying to get [my business] Effective Networking off the ground, I had debts from a business that didn't make it, and too much was in my own name," explains Darling, who also got sidetracked by other projects that weren't generating income.

Darling went to a Debtors Anonymous meeting.

"I'm not a spender per se; it was more that I am an under-earner," she says. "They (at Debtors Anonymous) said that rarely does declaring bankruptcy fix the real problem, which is more emotional/psychological. In retrospect I wish I had met with a bankruptcy lawyer and looked into it a bit more. It's been a struggle."

For Darling, anger, humiliation, frustration and depression were present as she moved through the process of considering bankruptcy. She also worried that her professional image was too visible and was afraid of what people might think of her if she declared bankruptcy.

I can understand Darling's fears. A few years before I began the process of declaring bankruptcy, I was interviewed for a documentary film about powerful and inspirational women. When I got in touch with the producer a year later to see how the project was going, she said I was taken out of the film. I asked why.

"Well, I heard you went bankrupt. So you can't be in the film," she snapped. At that point, I had recently started and shut down a second internet company because of the 2000 market bust but was nowhere near bankruptcy. Knowing someone else thought I was bankrupt was painful and embarrassing.

Darling admits she actually avoided bankruptcy due to "sheer will and naïveté."

Recalls Darling, "I did go to a credit counselor who said I had to give up my apartment. I avoided it for a while--just had too much else to think about. Finally an opportunity came to move out and decrease my costs. It was the first of nine moves from 2003 to 2007."
Avoiding the Abyss

Attorney Edward E. Neiger, founding partner of Neiger LLP, says among the most common reasons he's seen women declare bankruptcy is the dishonesty of a significant other.

Says Neiger, "In one case, a woman's husband convinced her to put the home in her name only. When the relationship went sour, she was stuck with the mortgage burden. In another case, the woman forgot to take her fiancée off her credit card. After she broke off the engagement, she was forced to file for bankruptcy because of the bills he racked up."

Other than that, says Neiger, other common reasons include job loss and the bad economy.

Neiger says many women he sees have had to file for personal bankruptcy after going through a divorce if their current job is not enough to sustain their debt. On the business side, he says he hasn't seen much difference between businessmen and businesswomen in their reasons for declaring bankruptcy.

It takes time to rebuild your credit after bankruptcy. Most experts say about seven years.

Fast Forward . . .

Darling now has two housemates, paid off her debt last spring and is saving for a down payment on a place. Her business is OK, and she says she can do well when she puts her energies into it.

Today, Robin Hardy is a business consultant, sales trainer and motivational expert. She feels like she is finally following her passion.

Me? I married a wonderful man with impeccable credit who "floated" me for the past few years, adding my name onto everything he could--car, credit card, title of our house--hoping it would help boost my financial snapshot. Over the past few years, I've also learned how toxic my relationship to money had been. I recognized my tendency to ignore the fine print and important details than dig in and understand financial details. I realized if I didn't change that, I'd bring my family down into a black hole of debt.

As a couple, we are now living debt-free, only using credit cards for emergencies and paying them off in full, and I'm continuing to identify and break bad financial habits. I'm six years post-bankruptcy and recently had a major financial breakthrough when a new corporate bank provided me with a line of credit in my own name. My business is thriving.

I'm not entirely out from under the financial mess of my former company. Luckily, I now have a banker who believes in me (not to mention my husband). And I finally believe in myself.

Source of Article: Secrets to Surviving Banckruptcy

DIY Puff Sleeve Petal Top

Found this really cute top and realized that there are directions on how to do it yourself. I wanted to share this with everyone. These are times that everyone is trying to save - here is a great resource to do just that.

You can make this really neat top for yourself, children, or a good friend as a gift idea to make together.

Find more ideas by clicking on the link below the pictures (hope you enjoy)!

Find Full DIY Here!

How 20 popular websites looked when they launched - Telegraph

How 20 popular websites looked when they launched - Telegraph

Here are a few examples:

How 20 popular websites looked when they launched - Telegraph

Labor Day sale at Dade & Broward Salvation Army stores

Great news for bargain hunters. Forget the beach and that barbeque this Labor Day…Go Shopping! On Monday, September 7, the Salvation Army Family Stores will be holding a Labor Day Sale offering shoppers even greater discounts on their already low prices. You'll never know what treasures are lurking there unless you venture in!


In Broward County, clothing is an additional 25%-50% off. Furniture is reduced an additional 10%-25%. In the Miami Dade stores items are reduced anywhere from 20%-50% off


100% of the proceeds from sales at the Salvation Army Family Super Store go directly to the operation of The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Centers.


BROWARD LOCATIONS: 1791 W Broward Blvd; 310 N State Rd. 7/Margate; 2300 SW 56th Ave/Hollywood; 451 E Copans Rd/Pompano Beach; 7707 W Commercial Blvd/Tamarac; 888 North University Drive/Pembroke Pines

MIAMI DADE LOCATIONS: 90 NW 23 St/Miami; 14701 W Dixie Highway/N. Miami; 9790 Bird Rd/Miami; 8001 NW 27 Ave/Miami

How to Lose $3 Million in Six Years

Stop us if this sounds familiar:
A very lucky person wins the lottery and expects life to change for the better, but instead, things go horribly wrong. It's a story as old as the hills, but each time it happens, it causes a huge commotion in Search. The latest "victim" of sudden wealth is a young woman from the U.K. who won millions of bucks several years ago, only to lose the vast majority of it shortly thereafter.

Callie Rogers was just 16 when she won a whopping $3 million in the lottery. Six years later, she reports that she blew untold sums on drugs, partying, exotic cars, and breast implants. A staggering $730,000 went to designer clothes alone, Ms. Rogers explains in an article from AOL. Says Rogers: "I honestly wish I'd never won the lottery money — and knowing what I know now I should have just given it all back to them." She's currently left with around $32,000.

In these trying economic times, Ms. Rogers will likely find little sympathy. Still, it's worth noting that she's hardly the first big winner who wished she'd never bought a ticket. There is such a thing as the lottery curse: As mentioned in a previous Buzz Log, there are numerous cases of lotto winners getting divorced due to stress and losing everything from poor investments. A few have even died at the hands of greedy relatives. A 2007 article from ABC will fill you in on a few more examples.

Knowing she's not the first jackpot winner to suffer hardship won't make her life any easier. But perhaps Ms. Rogers can take some comfort from the fact that there are others out there with eerily similar stories: They won big then lost big, and often wish they'd never even played.

Read Original Article: How to Lose $3 Million in Six Years

America's Most Stressful Cities

America's Most Stressful Cities

Sinking property values, high unemployment and prices, and poor environments add to the pressure felt by residents in these metros.
By Sarah Lynch, Forbes
 
Few enjoy their commute. Just ask Stephen Dinwiddie, M.D., a psychiatrist at the University of Chicago.

"I think anybody who, like I do, commutes on the Kennedy on a daily basis knows exactly what stress is," he says, of his daily home-to-work commute on Chicago's expressway that extends from the Chicago Loop to O'Hare International Airport. "It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to several centuries—at least subjectively."

But more pressing factors make Chicago for the second year in a row the country's most stressful city. Crowding, poor air quality, a high 11 percent unemployment rate and free-falling home values have created a cocktail of constant worry affecting many in the Windy City.

In Pictures: America's Most Stressful Cities


Los Angeles ranks second, followed by New York, Cleveland and Providence, R.I. (Click here to see the full list.)

Behind the Numbers

To find the country's most stressful cities, we examined quality of life factors in the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas, or metros—geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics. We looked at June 2009 unemployment figures provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and cost of living figures from the Council for Community and Economic Research. We examined median home-price drops from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009 that were provided by the National Association of Realtors. Population density based on 2008 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI also factored. Last, we examined the number of sunny and partly sunny days per year, based on 2007 data from the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, as well as air-quality figures, based on 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The economic climate is clearly kicking up stress levels. In March, the National Sleep Foundation reported that more than a quarter of 1,000 survey participants were sleeping less because of the economy.

The recession has also forced Americans to skimp on health care. In a February telephone poll of 1,200 adults conducted by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, 53 percent of respondents said they cut back on health care costs by avoiding doctor's visits, skipping dental checkups and not filling prescriptions, among other strategies.

Year-over-year housing-price drops may also be behind Americans' anxiety.

"A forty-three percent drop is something that could easily be classified as a housing-market cataclysm," says Andres Carbacho-Burgos, economist at Moody's Economy.com, of the Q1 2008 to Q1 2009 median home-price plunge in San Francisco. That's compared with the national median home-price dip of 14.7 percent during that same time. "Over that long a period of time a drop that significant for San Francisco, or for the Bay Area as a whole, indicates just that the economy has turned sour and that credit is very, very tight and has been over the past year."

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What's more, the drastic decline is not representative of the housing market as a whole—rather of the composition of homes being sold, says Walter Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. Almost 50 percent of homes sold nationwide in the first quarter of 2009 were distressed homes. One-third of those were short sales, and two-thirds were foreclosures, Molony says.

Though there are signs of a bottoming in some markets, falling home prices can immediately impact residents in two ways: first by affecting employment in the housing-related or real estate fields, and second by reducing consumer spending in metro areas with relatively large home-equity declines. Consumer spending in July was flat, erasing hopes of a kick-started economy.
And few are going to start spending when jobs are scarce. Perhaps no one knows that better than residents of Detroit. There, unemployment is 17.1 percent, thanks to the collapse in the auto industry. Employee cutbacks in General Motors plants and other makers of car parts led to the drastic 14.8 percent unemployment rate increase from May to June 2009, says Steve Cochrane of Moody's Economy.com.

Other cities have different reasons for stress: Pittsburgh comes in second for the least amount of sunny days, and ninth for low air quality. While for years we’ve been told to avoid certain skin cancers by staying out of the sun, new research showed a link between low vitamin D levels and increased propensity to the common cold. It’s also believed that vitamin D receptors in cells and tissue may help regulate the immune system. Irritants in the atmosphere can cause increased incidences of asthma, chest tightness or cough.

But there are ways to stay sane in cities while the state of the economy stays stressful. Dinwiddie says it's important to identify what's causing stress to be able to tackle it, and to find a good balance between work and home. He also points out that one of the good things about big cities is that they offer a variety of things that can rapidly change an individual's environment. "It's easy, for example, to go to the beach or catch a Cubs game," he says. "Although I suppose some people wouldn't consider that to relieve stress."