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Thursday, September 27, 2007

Making Time to Clean House When You Have No Time

No one likes to have a dirty house, but then holidays, kids, cooking, and job all make demands of you, its easy to see why housekeeping goes to the back of the line or falls out altogether. So, what do you do when you need to clean house but dont have the time? Change your standards.

Unreasonable standards

When you look back on your life, the things that stay in your mind are some of the things related to homekeeping not how much time you spent at the office. Its home and hearth you remember, you pine for, you need. Too many people think that they have to either be Martha or give up on home chores completely. Its not an either/or situation. Perfection is not the goal, a reasonably clean house is -- and it needs to involve everyone. Housekeeping is not a Mom or Mad or Mom and Dad job. Its a whoever lives in the house needs to help job.

Where can you find the time?

At Work. You probably put in extra time in your job. Just take out 10-15 minutes for yourself when you spend an extra hour at work and apply at home.

With the kids. Spend 10 less minutes with the kids and their homework. Do your quickie cleaning while they do their studying.

Get up 10 minutes earlier. If you find that you dont mind doing early morning cleaning, plan to do it then or whenever you find it bothers you least.

Get a digital video recorder (DVR). No kidding. TV sucks away your time. You can do your quickie cleaning while something is recording. A DVR will help you gain more of your life back. Check into them through your cable TV or satellite service.

Dont make housekeeping something to be endured Keeping a reasonably clean house doesnt require all day marathon cleaning week in and week out. Consistent cleaning on a regular basis is enough to get you through to the times when you can spend the time.

Two must-dos

Really, there isnt much you must do to keep a reasonably neat home, but there are two.

1. You must make your bed and have the kids make their bed. Nothing makes a house feel messier. It takes less than 30 seconds to make a bed.

2. You must do the dishes. Empty the dishwasher and fill it with the dirty dishes every single day. This is five minutes of effort.

Next, you need the right tools to help you quick clean.

Quickie Cleaning Tools

Think convenience here. Get the disposable mopping and cleaning wipes. Youll use these because theyre instantly ready to go to work.

Cleaning tools in every bathroom (toilet brush, cleaner, disposable cleaning wipes)

Popup glass or multisurface wipes that can be used on stoves, counters, appliances, windows, and bathrooms

Swiffer mop and mopping pads. The Swiffer mop with the pretreated mopping pads can help you get up all the stains and sticky stuff quickly and easily and its quick drying.

A quick vac. My favorite is the Eureka Quick Up for about $30. It has settings for hard floors and carpeting and works great.

A stack of microfiber towels for dusting

Even the person who says that they have no time can find about ten minutes to do a quick clean each day. Remember, you and your family need a living space where you can de-stress. Dirt and clutter add to stress. Take the ten minutes to give back to your house. Itll repay you and your family in enjoyment, relaxation and pride.

The 3-Step No-Time-to-Clean Cleaning Plan

1. Do a daily Clean Sweep.

Set the timer and get everyone in a different room of the house. Or, give someone a mop or a vacuum. Set the timer for five minutes. Everyone go at it straighten, put things away, give surfaces a quick dust, vacuum and/or mop.

2. Get a quick vac.

I cant tell you how much I love the Eureka Quick Up" cordless stick vacuum. I can sweep my tile kitchen and hallways and do a quick touch up on carpets in less than 60 seconds. It has settings for both kinds of floors. Its fast and convenient which means youll use it.

3. Clean it when you see it.

Give each room a one minute cleaning when you go in there. 60 seconds you can do that. It doesnt take but about one minute to clean a toilet. Run a brush around the rim and in the bowl. Whip out some all-purpose wipes and go over the exterior surfaces and floor around the commode. There. Done.

Kathryn Weber is a decorating and lifestyle columnist and the publisher of RealHOME E-zine, the e-zine with ideas and tips for todays real families. To subscribe, log on to http://www.realhomeezine.com and get this free special report, The 10 Habits that Help You Keep a Cleaner House.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Roast Beef Dinner Recipe

A wonderful recipe for coming home celebrations, or any time you need the perfect dinner, this is definitely a sit down family dinner, one that invites conversation at the dinner table. The aroma's that bring back so many memories fill the house! Make great memories by cooking great meals, and they will never forget. If you have been looking for a great roast beef dinner recipe, with ease of cooking and simple ingredients, this is sure to please your family or guests. A perfect recipe for new cooks, when you need to entertain, without being a slave to your kitchen!

Ingredients:

3 pound beef bottom roast

3 tablespoons grape seed oil, or a quality cooking oil

3 cups baby carrots

1 large can whole mushrooms 10-16 oz

1 large yellow onion chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 package brown gravy mix

1/4 cup flour

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Coat the beef with flour and cook in the oil about 5 minutes on each side to lightly brown, then place the carrots, mushrooms and onions in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place the beef on top of the vegetables. Mix 12 ounces of water with gravy mix and pour over beef. Cover and cook on low heat 8 to ten hours or until beef and vegetables are done and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with mashed potatoes, this roast gives you the perfect gravy to top the potatoes, and a variety of vegetables, salad and rolls with real butter, jellies and honey.

Owner of Up2Tempo located in Cincinnati, Ohio selling a variety of Cooking and Dining Magazines and sharing some of my favorite recipes.

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Great Radio and TV Commercials Always Employ Great music
Ever since I can remember, hearing the great commercials from the past has always conjured up warm and well I hate to say it, cozy memories. From McDonalds, to Burger King and moving melody lines of United Airlines and a multitude of other jingles that many of us can remember, remain as one of the great eras of modern day broadcast.
Why is that? We can all say its the musicstupid And that answer is correct. Whats happened with modern day advertising? Its moved well past the memorable melody lines into a rhythmic fever. It seems that many rely solely on loops in their musicproduction and then go on auto pilot with no sense of creativity or longing for something half way creative. I love virtually any kind of musicand most of todays styles, but with the onset of crunched marketing dollars and an almost forgetful memory of the great lines and lyrics that still stand the test of time even today, it seems that weve moved into a very shallow and unadventurous and mundane marketing circle.
There are still great jingles being written and you should look at employing great musicand jingles in your advertising if youre thinking about running a radio or TV campaign. Great writing can run the gamut of todays styles and even pulling from yesterdays And with most anything goes musically, the doors are really wide open And you should, most definitely, employ great musicbeds and jingles when at all possible.
What makes a great musicbed and jingle? Its all of the elements put together from the lyric, to the singer, musicians, etc. You say, Well I know that. Most people could tell you that, but when forced to recognize a potentially great piece of musicor writing for their commercial, they might as well walk right by it. They really wouldnt know it if it bit them in the behind. So I go back to my statement that great musicand writing needs not only to be employed in your campaign, but instantly recognized. Thats the first key to great writing its instantly recognizable. You deserve a break today. I could hum the lyrics or just read the lyrics and youd know exactly what company and commercial we were talking about of course McDonalds.
Stay with hooks and ending melody lines that you can own. The problem with much of todays mediocre writing is that you cant own the melody even if you have a great lyric. Its trite, over used and abused and unimaginative. You want to stay away from jingles that sound too much like a jingle or incorporate too much hype. You almost want to feel like your singing a song And it can be rock, dance, pop you name it. Thats when you know you have a good melody line going - Couple that with great lyrics and your marketing dollars should go along ways and it should serve you well.
Along with a great hook and melody line should be a solid and well thought out voice over so that when the ending melody line comes back in, its already been reinforced and your listeners are waiting for it because youve baited them with the tie in voice over Now youre cooking. Youve got a captive audience and an audience much more likely to listen to your spot and remember your spot and to retain the information Hence increased sales and credibility with your buyers.
Stick with great melody lines in any musicgenre with great lyrics and voice scripting and youll be well on your way to a successful advertising campaign!
Mr Gauger is an accomplished TV and radio writer with too many credits to list here. You may contact the author at tgauger@reelmusicianpro.com or 615-300-5030. You may visit the author's website at http://www.reelmusicianpro.com This author works with small business to national brand names.

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Getting A Heat Pump? Know The ARI Reference Number

So, the day has finally arrived - the contractor is installing your heat pump. What to look for? Even if you don't check anything else, you must verify the ARI reference number before the installation. This number is a very important piece of information about a heat pump. The ARI reference number guarantees that the heat pump is an Energy Star unit with the proper SEER rating and the correct amount of cooling. Every air source heat pump must have the ARI reference number. These next paragraphs will make you an expert on the ARI reference number.

An air source heat pump has two main parts - the condensing unit installed outside of the house and the evaporator installed inside the ductwork. For a heat pump to work up to specs, or sometimes to work at all, these two components must be properly matched. Each condenser works properly with only a limited number of evaporator models. Each of the matches has a unique identifier -- the ARI reference number. Think of the ARI reference number as the marriage certificate for the components of your heat pump. It's that simple.

On the invoice, among other information, you contractor must show three crucial pieces of data the model number for the condenser, the model number for the evaporator, and the ARI reference number. Before the evaporator gets concealed inside the ductwork for good, check that the model number on the evaporator matches the number on the invoice. Do the same for the condenser.

Now, go to http://www.ceehvacdirectory.org/hp.php?reset=true At the very top of the page, type into the window the ARI reference number from the invoice. Click Search The Database. This is the moment of truth. The site will give you the model numbers for the condenser and for the evaporator, as well as the SEER rating for the heat pump and its cooling capacity. Do they match the numbers on the invoice? They'd better to. If they don't, do not allow the contractor to proceed with the installation. Do not accept ANY excuses. That would be my best advice to you.

About ARI. It stands for Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. ARI is a trade association that represents the manufacturers of more than 90 percent of the air conditioning and commercial refrigeration equipment installed in North America. An internationally recognized leader in developing standards for these products, as well as certifying their performance, ARI is also a major advocate for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) industry both domestically and abroad.

About the Author. Boris Sherman is a residential heating and air conditioning contractor His company Cozy World installs furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps in the Greater Toronto Area. Find your air conditioner at http://www.cozyworld.ca/

Copyright 2007 - Cozy World. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links unchanged, do not edit the article in any way and give Cozy World name credit.

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

Graduation Songs

music has always been an integral part of human life, as it is the best way of giving expression to the innermost feelings on any occasion. The language of songs knows no boundaries and can communicate most subtle and special feelings. Whether it is meeting or parting, music has the power to convey emotions related to each and every moment.

One such moment is graduation. Graduation is one of the most memorable events in life. It is a celebration of completion of a significant step that forms the basis of future life. Students who have been together for some years may part after graduation. Graduation songs are perfect for this occasion, as they highlight all the moments, happy or sad and have a nostalgic effect on listeners. They also bring out the value of friends and the days they spent together until graduation. Graduation songs can be an ode to the teachers who helped shape the minds and thoughts of students.

Graduation songs can have many themes. Some can be self-created, while others can be inspired by themes given online. Graduation songs can be group or individual songs. Though they are college specific and change from year to year, there are certain songs that have withstood the test of the time. These songs have become a must for any graduation party and are almost universal. Their universality can be proven by the fact that they are listed among the most popular graduation songs such as the album "Vitamin C" recorded in 1999 by Colleen Fitzpatrick, as a solo artist and also graduation songs from "A Chorus Line" and "Wicked."

Graduation songs have all the ingredients of making people remember their graduation days with a smile. The underlying emotions and sentiments of these songs keep the fond memories of graduation days alive.

Songs provides detailed information on Songs, Song Lyrics, Song Titles, Free Songs and more. Songs is affiliated with Soundtrack Lyrics.

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A review of the Most Popular Garage Door Openers

Genie, Chamberlain, Sears, Wayne-Dalton, Linear, and Universal (SkyLink) make some of the best garage door openers on the market. The following product reviews should be useful for those in the market for a garage door opener.

The Genie Company is one of the most well-known and trusted companies in the US. Founded in 1923 under the name of the Alliance Manufacturing company, Genie manufactures consumer, industrial as well as military products. The Genie brand of garage door openers are very popular for their high power remote-controlled garage door opening systems.

Genie produces a wide range of garage door openers and the most popular brands from Genie are: the Excelerator, the Screw Drive and the Chain Glide. Other brands include the Alliance, the Blue Max, the Crusader, Python, Pro-Max, Lift-a-door, OverHead Door, Norelco, Code-Dodger and Intellicode.

Genie uses state-of-the-art technology in its garage door openers. The Intellicode remote access security system changes the security code to one of billions of combinations each time the transmitter is used, thus making it one of the safest systems in the world. Its Sate-T-Beam infrared beam system can sense the presence of objects in the doors path and can thus prevent damage to equipment. Genie garage door openers can be installed on both single as well as double doors. They use horsepower and can work on doors that are up to 8 feet high. Genie garage door openers open twice as fast as other garage door openers but close at normal speeds. They are very quiet, have a bright, wide-angle lighting and powerful motor design and can work in any weather conditions. Such advanced technologies make the Genie brand of garage door openers most popular in the world.

Chamberlain GmbH based in Saarwellingen, Germany is a principal supplier of residential garage door openers, commercial and residential gate operators, and remote controls in the world. The company has offices in France, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovak Republic and Singapore. Chamberlain products are available almost across the whole world.

Chamberlain offers garage door openers in commercial as well as residential varieties. Chamberlain, Whisper Drive and Power Drive Garage Door Openers are the most popular brands from Chamberlain.

LiftMaster is the most popular brand from Chamberlain. This range also includes the Liftmaster garage door opener remotes, replacement parts, mini transmitters, keychain remotes and other accessories. LiftMaster garage door openers are available in different drive and horsepower modes and are combined with a wide range of accessories and options. The LiftMaster range contains: the Estate Series, the Premium series and the Contractor series. These are available in the belt drive; screw drive as well as in chain drive models.

Chamberlains Power Drive and Whisper Drive belong to the residential garage door opener category in the do-it-yourself range. The Elite range contains premier residential and commercial gate operators and access control systems. The Sentex range is for secure residential and commercial garages.

Sears Holdings Corporation, parent of Kmart and Sears, Roebuck and Co., is the third largest broad line retailer in the US. Sears Holdings is a leading supplier of tools, lawn and garden, home electronics, and automotive repair and maintenance. It supplies the Craftsman range of garage door openers.

Craftsman supplies power tools, storage chests and cabinets, bench power tools, mechanics tools, power tool accessories, general hand tools, compressor tools, carpentry tools and home security and garage door openers and accessories. The Craftsman range of garage door openers consist of simple hp garage door opener, hp garage door opener in chain drive models. Other products include the universal remote control conversion kit with 1 remote, the 10ft chain drive extension kit, the 10ft extension kit for garage door opener, the 8ft extension kit for garage door opener, the 8ft rail extension kit, the Remote control, 3-function security, keyless entry pad, plug-in light control for garage door opener, the wireless garage door monitor and the extension kit (screw drive).

Wayne Dalton, established in 1954, is the producer and supplier of the safest residential and commercial garage doors and garage door openers in the US. Wayne Dalton supplies two kinds of garage door openers: wall mount and ceiling mount. The wall mount openers, an exclusive product from Wayne Dalton, can be mounted on the wall beside the door. This helps to eliminate the chains, belts, screw drive and tract that usually clutter the garage ceiling. This model also helps to eliminate noise and vibration to a large extent.

The Linear Corporate is a major producer of security systems like garage door and garage door openers. Linear produces garage door openers accessories like the Linear Act 21 key chain transmitter, Linear DR3A Linear Moore-O-Matic gate or garage opener receiver, Linear DT2A gate or garage door opener replacement transmitter, Linear DTC Moore-O-Matic Delta 3 Remote (same as DTD or DT) gate or garage door opener replacement transmitter, Linear DTKP wireless keypad, Linear MDR Megacode System single channel receiver, Linear MDT-1 and MDT-2 Megacode gate or garage door openers, Linear MDTK wireless keypad model, Linear MT-1B channel visor block coded transmitter, Linear MT-2B channel visor block coded transmitter etc.

Linear also makes the Stanley range of garage door opener parts and accessories like Vemco, Quiet Glide, LightMaker, Home Innovative, Whistler, Popular Mechanics, SecureCode.

Garage Door Openers Info provides detailed information about best garage door openers, as well as garage door opener parts and repair Garage Door Openers Info is affiliated with Business Plans by Growthink.

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Friday, September 21, 2007

ATA vs SATA

Hard Drives: ATA versus SATA

The performance of computer systems has been steadily increasing as faster processors, memory, and video cards are continuously being developed. The one key component that is often neglected when looking at improving the performance of a computer system is the hard drive. Hard drive manufacturers have been constantly evolving the basic hard drive used in modern computer systems for the last 25 years, and the last few years have seen some exciting developments from faster spindle speeds, larger caches, better reliability, and increased data transmission speeds.

The drive type used most in consumer grade computers is the hearty ATA type drive (commonly called an IDE drive). The ATA standard dates back to 1986 and is based on a 16-bit parallel interface has undergone many evolutions since its introduction to increase the speed and size of the drives that it can support. The latest standard is ATA-7 (first introduced in 2001 by the T13 Technical Committee (the group responsible for the ATA standard)) which supports data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. This is expected to be the last update for the parallel ATA standard.

As long ago as 2000 it was seen that the parallel ATA standard was maxing out its limitations as to what it could handle. With data rates hitting the 133MB/sec mark on a parallel cable, you are inviting all sorts of problems because of signal timing, EMI (electromagnetic interference) and other data integrity issues; thus industry leaders got together and came up with a new standard known as Serial ATA (SATA). SATA has only been around a few years, but is destined to become the standard due to several benefits to be addressed in this Tech Tip.

The two technologies that we will be looking at are: ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) a 16-bit parallel interface used for controlling computer drives. Introduced in 1986, it has undergone many evolutions in the last 18+ years, with the latest version being called ATA-7. Wherever an item is referred to as being an ATA device, it is commonly a Parallel ATA device. ATA devices are also commonly called IDE, EIDE, Ultra-ATA, Ultra-DMA, ATAPI, PATA, etc. (each of these acronyms actually do refer to very specific items, but are commonly interchanged) SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) a 1-bit serial evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.

Basic Features & Connections

SATA drives are easy to distinguish from their ATA cousins by the different data and power connections found on the back of the drives. A side-by-side comparison of the two interfaces can be seen in this PDF from Maxtor, and the following covers many of the differences

Standard ATA drives, such as this 200GB Western Digital model, have somewhat bulky, two inch wide ribbon cable with 40-pin data connections and receive the 5V necessary to power them from the familiar 4-pin connection. The basic data cables for these drives have looked the same for years. A change was made with the introduction of the ATA-5 standard to better improve the signal quality by making an 80 wire cable used on the 40-pin connector (these are commonly called 40-pin/80-wire cables). To improve airflow within the computer system some manufacturers resorted to literally folding over the ribbon cable and taping it into that position. Another recent physical change also came with the advent of rounded cables. The performance of the rounded cables is equal to that of the flat ribbon, but many prefer the improved system air flow afforded, ease of wire management, and cooler appearance that come with them.

SATA drives, such as this 120GB Western Digital model, have a half inch wide, 7 blade and beam data connection, which results in a much thinner and easier to manage data cable. These cables take the convenience of the ATA rounded cables to the next level by being even narrower, more flexible and capable of being longer without fear of data loss. SATA cables have a maximum length of 1 meter (39.37 inches), which is much greater than the recommended 18 inch cable for ATA drives. The reduced footprint of SATA data connections frees up space on motherboards, potentially allowing for more convenient layouts and room for more onboard features!

A 15-pin power connection delivers the 250mV of necessary power to SATA drives. 15-pins for a SATA device sounds like it would require a much larger power cable than a 4-pin ATA device, but in reality the two power connectors are just about the same height. For the time being, many SATA drives are also coming with a legacy 4-pin power connector for convenience.

Many modern motherboards, such as this Chaintech motherboard, come with SATA drive connections onboard (many also including the ATA connectors as well for legacy drive compatibility), and new power supplies, such as this Ultra X-Connect, generally feature a few of the necessary 15-pin power connections, making it easy to use these drives on new systems. Older systems can easily be upgraded to support SATA drives by use of adapters, such as this PCI slot SATA controller and this 4-pin to 15-pin SATA power adapter.

Optical drives are also becoming more readily available with SATA connections. Drives such as the Plextor PX-712SA take advantage of the new interface, although the performance will not be any greater than a comparable optical drive with an ATA connection.

Performance

In addition to being more convenient to install and drawing less power, SATA drives have performance benefits that really set them apart from ATA drives.

The most interesting performance feature of SATA is the maximum bandwidth possible. As we have noted, the evolution of ATA drives has seen the data transfer rate reach its maximum at 133 MB/second, where the current SATA standard provides data transfers of up to 150 MB/second. The overall performance increase of SATA over ATA can currently be expected to be up to 5% (according to Seagate), but improvements in SATA technology will surely improve on that.

The future of SATA holds great things for those wanting even more speed, as drives with 300 MB/second transfer rates (SATA II) will be readily available in 2005, and by 2008 speeds of up to 600 MB/second can be expected. Those speeds are incredible, and are hard to imagine at this point.

Another performance benefit found on SATA drives is their built-in hot-swap capabilities. SATA drives can be brought on and offline without shutting down the computer system, providing a serious benefit to those who cant afford downtime, or who want to move drives in and out of operation quickly. The higher number of wires in the power connection is partially explained by this, as six of the fifteen wires are dedicated to allowing the hot-swap feature.

Price

Comparing ATA drives to SATA drives can be tricky given all of the variables, but in general it is the case that SATA drives will still cost just a bit more than a comparable ATA drive. The gap is closing rapidly though, and as SATA drives gain in popularity and availability a distinct shift in prices can be expected. Considering the benefits of SATA over ATA, the potential difference of a few dollars can easily be justified when considering an upgrade. Computer Geeks currently has a limited selection of SATA drives, but several technical sites, such as The Tech Zone and The Tech Lounge, offer real time price guides to see how comparable drives stack up.

Final Words

The current SATA standard provides significant benefits over ATA in terms of convenience, power consumption and, most importantly, performance. The main thing ATA has going for it right now is history, as it has been the standard for so long that it will not likely disappear any time soon. The future of SATA will be even more interesting as speed increases will help hard drive development keep pace with other key system components.

Jason Kohrs Computer Geeks tech tips and computer advice