“Successful Dating”

Do a Google search for “dates from hell”, and you just might crash their servers. There are tons of websites devoted to subject. One described a guy who talked about his ex-girlfriend all night, then drove by his ex’s house a few times because he was “concerned for her welfare”. Another told the story of a girl who made another date for later that evening, over her cell phone, during dinner. I’m sure you have a few war stories of your own. You know what I think?

There are no bad dates.

“No bad dates??” you’d tell me. “You’ve obviously never spent an evening with Mr/Ms. X who thought the silverware was speaking to them…in Klingon”. Maybe not, but so long as you were not in any danger or got hurt in any way, it wasn’t that bad. It probably only lasted a few hours, and you must have found some humor in that person across the table, waiting for the mothership. Cross Captain Kirk off of your list and chalk it up to a learning experience.

The important thing is to not get discouraged and give up on dating completely. Stick with it, and keep looking to make that connection. Here are three quick tips:

Release yourself from expectation. Never “expect” your date to be “the one”, no matter how cute or nice they are initially. You set the date up to be a disaster by your unrealistic expectations. It creates undue pressure and leads you on a scavenger hunt for faults in the other person. Relax, enjoy the process, and don’t focus on an “end result” that you have invented for yourself.

It’s all about attitude! Your mindset is what determines the quality of any experience. If you approach your date with a good attitude, there are no bad dates. Each experience is a step towards finding the person that is right for you.

Go out on as many dates as possible. The way to that right person is through a lot of not-the-right persons. The more dates you have, the more opportunities you make for yourself. Mr. or Ms. Right will not come knocking on your door while you are watching TV. Date, date and then date some more, the process is the answer.

Meet many people that might be possible dates. A positive dating attitude gives you endless opportunities to meet the right person. Don’t rule out any method or avenue, and try them all: speed date, people at the gym, through friends, or online - even Aunt Millie’s set up. Do it all!

The Internet is fast becoming one of the best and most accepted ways to meet people. They call it online dating, but it should really be called online meeting, since you don’t actually date until you physically get together. It is, however, a melting pot of interesting people and opportunities. There are ways to meet people online safely and with great success! Go to The RealtionshipTools.com and get your free book, “Tools to Online Dating” and become a successful dater with no bad dates!

Your computer can prove to be your best friend in making your work a lot easier. It can also let you down if you are careless enough to store all your records and data on the hard drive without a backup system in place. If for some reason your computer crashes, without a backup, you will lose everything.

A DVD drive in your system allows you to store data on the DVD R Duplication. The ‘R’ in the DVD R stands for recordable. This means that the DVD is blank and data, records, movies and records can be recorded or duplicated on it. You can store data, records, movies and even music. You can also download from the net and store data on these DVD R discs, because they have lots of storage space.

DVD R duplication equipment can be found on the web. By surfing the web, you will find many companies offering bargains and great discounts. Make sure you check for quality brands, the quality of the discs, and speed capabilities. Also, buy discs that come with a guarantee. You can also visit brick-and-mortar electronics and media stores for DVD R duplication equipment. Find out what kind of deals they have going for big savings.

While searching, you will also come across companies who provide duplication services at cost effective rates. Do take advantage of these companies for significant savings.

The best way to find out what are the best brands and forms of DVD R duplication equipment or services, is to ask around with your friends and family. While a salesperson may be extremely knowledeable, he or she will always try to get you to buy the most expensive equipment or services, even if you don’t need the product.

DVDR provides detailed information on Dvd R, Dvd R Discs, Cheap Dvd R, Dvd R Dual Layer Discs and more. DVDR is affiliated with DVR Cards.

I broke a promise to myself that I never would, and joined a gym about six months ago.

I made a schoolboy error right off the bat, in that I joined the same gym as a much-fitter friend of mine was already using, and went for a workout with him.

As a warm-up, he decided to race me a kilometre on the rowing machines, on the highest possible setting. After a wheezing four and a half minutes, I ground to a halt in a distinctly silver-medal winning position. As the less charitable would put it: I lost.

“How was that?” My friend asked brightly, looking no more than fractionally ruffled.

Like a true man, I lied. “Yeah, not bad,” I said, pretending it was no big deal as the room spun crazily around me and my blood pressure went somewhere north of lethal. Sweat had pooled on the floor around my machine, as had mercifully indistinguishable tears and blood.

Since then, things have improved somewhat (my best period in terms of overall satisfaction was when I damaged the ligaments in my knee and therefore didn’t have to go for a while) but the trouble with things like this is that it’s you’ll never be as good as you want to be. You just have to do what you can.

Today, however, I came up across something I couldn’t ever hope to be good at.

I was on an exercise bike, watching the wall-mounted TV, and “Countdown” was on.

I can’t do Countdown, and it makes me sulk. I can’t play “Minesweeper” on a computer, either, but this is a separate and equally sore point.

Countdown, for those who don’t know, is the mid-afternoon programme for students and elderly people who are trying to prove their brains aren’t entirely turned to slush, yet. The basic premise is that two people you’d like to punch pick 9 random letters (asking for various numbers of vowels and consonants) and then try to make the longest word possible. I usually end up with “Cat.” Or, once, “Dog.”

Then at the half-way mark, there’s a maths round where a contestant picks random numbers and then a computer sets a total. The two smarmy types try to make the random numbers conform to the total. For example, if the random numbers were 10 and 5, they would have to try to make fifteen, and would do it by adding one to the other.

Sadly, it’s never this easy, and the above sum is at the outside edge of my mathematical talents.

Then, after thirty seconds, the smug bastards tell you that they’re within two places of the total, when you’re still somewhere in the “+/- 100″ bracket, and then Carol Vorderman, the show’s quivering female lackey, comes out and solves it all with her mutant adding ability whilst simultaneously setting the cause of feminism back ten years every time she’s ordered to put more letters up and simperingly complies.

I might just be saying that because I’m bitter, to be fair.

I don’t like being made to feel stupid, least of all by people in their twenties who wear cardigans, who seem to comprise a large percentage of the contestants. Today, whilst I was watching, the following letters came up: “GAIDORTSE.”

I may not have the precise order correct, but those were the letters. I know this because, whilst pedalling my exercise bike with increasing desperation, I frantically managed to create the following words:

GOAT. (A horned, woolly animal.)

GOATS. (More than one horned, woolly animal.)

GROAT. (A currency once used on the TV show Noel’s House Party. I’m not sure it’s really a word.)

GROATS. (I’m lying, this didn’t occur to me at the time.)

GOAD. (To prod.)

GOADS. (I didn’t think of this one, either.)

STOAT. (It’s only since I’ve reviewed things on paper that I realise I didn’t have enough Ts for this small, furry animal.)

GREAT. (Very good. Not applicable here.)

…Time was by now well and truly up. The game was passed over to the first smarmy, cardigan wearing bastard.
“ASTEROID,” he said.

…I got off the bike and went for a shower.

Since its release in 1987, QuarkXpress had made an immediate impact to computer enthusiasts. QuarkXPress introduced precision typography, layout and color control to the desktop computer, and delivered those features to designers at a fraction of the cost of proprietary typesetting systems. Quark software programs had been widely utilized to create, design and manage their documents such as books, catalogs, brochures, packaging, newspapers, magazines and online materials.

At present, Quark maintains its industry leadership with a product line that ties together traditional print publishing with enterprise content management, personalization and tools for creating collaborative, cross-media workflows. Regarding enterprise content management, I have here a brief description about moving or copying content between print and web layouts. Here are the ways to achieve this.

First, change the layout medium type in the Layout Properties dialog box (Layout > Layout Properties). Next, drag items between projects. Then, copy items from one layout and paste them into the other. Drag items into a library, and then from the library into a layout. It is important to note that if you convert a box from one type of layout to another, some of that box’s attributes may no longer apply. However, they are saved with the box. Say, a text box in a web layout is set to export in JPEG format. If you convert the layout to a print layout, the “export as JPEG” setting is ignored. But if you drag that box into a different web layout, it will still remember the “export as JPEG” setting.

When you transfer content from a print to a web layout, several cganges occur. The Convert to Graphic on Export check box is checked for all text boxes. This ensures that text in the print layout is displayed, whether or not the text styles can be formatted in an HTML text box. Linked text boxes on facing pages are displayed as separate text boxes on the same page in a Web layout. The first box of a spread of linked text boxes can be moved to a Web layout and it will contain the content from all the linked boxes in the spread. Tabs are displayed as spaces in a Web layout. Remember also that style sheet attributes that are not supported in HTML text boxes are marked with an asterisk in the Edit Style Sheets dialog box (Edit > Style Sheets).

There you have it, folks! You can now apply this simple tutorial in your next project using Quark Xpress. Enjoy what you’re doing.

For Comments and Questions about the article and for additional info’s about creative designs log - on to http://www.ucreative.com

Too soon for lunch and hungry after a spin through town on my bike, I spied a Dunkin Donuts and stopped for a break. To while the time, I brought along my graphic arts workbook. Next to me two stools away sat an old man, dressed in scruffy, rough clothing, craning his head to get a better look at my workbook. I asked him if he would like to see it and he slid over eagerly.

He introduced himself as Henry and revealed that he worked as a graphic designer in New York in the fifties. Though his wife died of cancer twenty years ago, he continued to live in their house, alone except for two stray cats. He offered to show me some of his graphic art that he saved.

So the following Saturday I rode over to his house. I stood transfixed in the path to the front door. Surrounding me were weeds head high, rubble strewn across the brick path as if it were a forest floor. I carefully made my way through treacherous rose thorns, stickers and assorted junk to rickety stairs leading to a small porch. At one end sat a large wooden chest and an old doorless refrigerator at the other. These signs of neglect failed to prepare me for the unimaginable scene inside the house.

Inside, Henry led me through a dark hall through an archway leading to the living room/dining room, apologizing all the way for the mess. And what a mess! Covering the floor were newspapers, Victorian bric-a-brac of every description. More appalling was the inch-thick layer of dust covering every unused surface. Framed art filled every square inch of wall space, festooned with trailing spider webs and glass hiding under a layer of grime. It would take at least twenty years of neglect for this amount of dirt to accumulate!

Henry shuffled over to a low, homemade bookshelf and retrieved a large scrap album bursting with paper. Henry lovingly turned each page, reminiscing how and for whom he created each piece. I learned that many a nineteen forty- six Macy ad came from his brushes.

In the center of the room sat a large oak drafting bench with an angled work top and adjustable shelves underneath. Dozens of brushes, pencils, and assorted drafting tools sat waiting on its surface. I’m sure none of them had been used for two or three decades. Nearby on a small table sat a new looking portable typewriter with a partially typed sheet of paper in the carriage. While Henry went to fix us a cup of coffee, I sneaked a peek at the first paragraph. It seemed to be the beginning of his memoirs, featuring his experiences repairing the old Morris Canal in the fifties. The grammar and sentences flowed quite well, but the typing was littered with mis-strikes and typing errors.

One cat wound his body around my legs and another peeked with one eye from the kitchen. After coffee, I offered to help clean up, curious about the rest of the house. Following Henry into the kitchen, he proudly pointed to the new refrigerator in the middle of one wall in front of the two windows. It turned out that his oldest son had it delivered one day. I gathered that his son only visited his Dad once a year to see how he was doing.

During the next three weeks, I started to help Henry make his kitchen more livable. I painted the cabinets, threw out the forty-year-old spices, washed the dishes (most of which lay congealed in a pantry sink. The back door was completely blocked with junk, his garbage being carried out through the front door and onto the porch. Henry wasn’t too concerned with the unsanitary conditions, but would rather have me fix up some of his treasures. Like a two foot long sailing ship he and his son made together. It needed major repairs and re-rigging. So I took it home and worked on it for a couple of weeks. He cried when I gave it to him. Henry showed signs of dementia, forgetting to eat and being confused with time and the days of the week. A neighbor finally contacted a free lunch program which would supply Henry with at least one good meal per day.

During the rest of the summer, I enjoyed repairing various things around the house. One interesting project was the restoration of an old Gibson mandolin. Missing were the strings, the bridge, a tuning knob and pieces of mother-of-pearl decorations. Henry told me a story how he saw it in a pawn shop window and bought it for ten dollars. I placed it exactly where it was on the wall over the book shelf, gleaming with new varnish and looking as it must have looked in 1888 when it was new. Throughout the house were samples of Henry’s wife’s hobby — collecting Victorian paraphernalia. Old dolls, boxes, hand-made toys and antique books of every description were piled on every surface.

Henry died at ninety-two, six years ago. The house still stands as it was, dilapidated and run down. Everything was left as it was except for a few things his son took away — the mandolin, the Boston rocker and the model ship. Nobody cared for this kind old man who missed his dead wife to the point of barely existing. How many poor souls are there out in the world with no-one to share a life with? I’ll miss him.

Writing soothes my soul.

One of the nature’s wonders is the waterfalls. How this body of water continuously flows from the top of a mountain is such a mystery. Was there ever a waterfall that runs dry? What I’m sure is the relaxing feeling it brings to watch the water falling like having a big shower!

An amazing view I saw last weekend was a waterfall situated beside the road. It was at the side of the mountain flowing under the bridge towards the ocean. The water runs vigorously and freely towards the rocks and the bigger body of the water. It seems like each particle is on a race towards a large horizon. Just like what we are. We are like these particles that runs towards a free and wider direction. Who always on our way, struggling and racing through life’s troubles to be able to get ahead and experience boundless atmosphere where we could do more out of life. We worked in a fast phase in able to have a more relaxed state in our life. We pursuit freedom and wanted to be carefree. Like being in the ocean where you could just stand by and let go allowing the wave to bring us where it wants us to be.

The waterfall could be compared to us human. We have our down moments where we suddenly fall down. But it’s telling us that in every failure, there will be a wider, much bigger opportunities that awaits us. In that moment, we will be able to see more options and a broader place to be.

In many ways, you probably know how to live a simple life, but do you want to? Many want the complexity and constant drama of their lives. This is something we each have to look at honestly. However, some of us really want simplicity, and some would want it if they knew what it felt like to live more simply and at peace. Here are a few ways to get there.

Just Say No … Or Say Yes

An important secret to how to live a simple life is to learn to look honestly at how life gets complicated. This may be different for each of us, but there are some common habits we share. One such habit is taking on new responsibilities without fully acknowledging the costs and complexities they add to our lives.

When a man buys a boat, for example, does he usually think about the time he will spend maintaining it and cleaning it? Does he think about the trip to the insurance office for insurance, the necessity to shop for accessories like life-jackets and fire extinguishers? Does he remind himself that boats break down, and he’ll have to deal with hauling it someplace to have it repaired? Does he consider the trailer-hitch he’ll need, the tarp to cover the boat, the tarp to replace that one when it tears, the bearings in the trailer wheels that will someday fail. Finally, Does he think about the hours he will be committed to working to pay for all this fun?

It isn’t about the boat, by the way. There’s nothing wrong with owning a boat. With nothing else was going on in his life, all of the above could easily be a part of “the simple life.” Hwever, when we don’t honestly recognize the role of our own choices in adding complexity to our lives, we take on more than we can possibly handle. As a result, a million exercise devices sit unused in basements while ten million hours are spent working to pay for them. Look honestly at all the costs, and make well-informed choices - this is the first secret of how to live a simple life.

Money Brings Simplicity - Or Complexity

Isn’t it simple for a rich man to own a boat? He can just pay someone to take care of it while he plays with his kids. Money can bring simplicity to your life, but it’s all in how you use it. This is the second important secret of how to live a simple life.

People use money in ways that overly complicate life, as when they put a down payment on a hot tub that they really don’t need. Then they have to work to pay the interest, they have to clean the tub, find a place for it, and have it repaired. Of course, if you are wealthy enough, someone will take care of these things for you. However, if you make $8 per hour, a hot tub will almost certainly overly complicate your life.

If you really want the simple life, the choice then is to make more money, or live a life that is simply supported by your current income. After I paid off the mortgage loan on my first home, and got rid of the car, life became simpler and more relaxing. As I make more money, I can easily add more “things” back into my life, while keeping it simple, as long as I maintain the balance.

Drama Adds Complexity

For a simpler life, have fewer friends. This may sound harsh, but how many friends do you need? Don’t get rid of true friends, but don’t add people to your life unless there is a real exchange of value between you. We all have acquaintances we call “friends” and yet only tolerate just to “be nice.” Do you think it is selfish to say you don’t owe anything to these people? Then how selfish is it for them to say you do?

With friends and family, don’t get involved in the drama more than you need to. Watch closely, and you’ll see that until a person is ready to change, you rarely can help them in any case, neither with words nor with money. Save your efforts for when you truly can help. You weren’t born with an obligation to anyone, and it’s incredibly selfish for anyone to make such claims on your life. Let the drama swirl around you, but don’t get involved in it. This is a crucial lesson on how to live a simple life.

Steve Gillman has been exploring new ideas for decades. Visit his site for invention ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and more. Get a free gift too: New Ideas (http://www.999ideas.com)

Most people believe the only way to cure their acne problem is from the outside. Well, you definitely need to keep your skin clean, but often, acne sufferers scrub too hard or use harsh chemicals to try to clean deep. This can actually make matters worse. Simply clean your face at least twice per day with a mild cleanser, especially after sweating. I keep a bottle of astringent in the shower b/c I don’t like cleaning my face with soap like some people (my husband). Soap seems to leave a residual, as far as I’m concerned. And women, I know you won’t like this, but try to wear as little makeup as infrequently as you can get away with or put up with. It just clogs your pores. When you do wear it, make sure you clean your face before you go to bed, even if it’s late. Just do a quick job!

Home remedies for acne are much better than prescriptions, especially the ones with side effects like Accutane®. You could feel sick, get liver problems, get depressed and worse yet, your child may have birth defects from using it! Be careful what you choose to cure your acne with. Read all ingredients and warnings.

Using a natural acne remedy on the inside and out is your best acne solution. For exterior cleaning, try to find a product without alcohol, as it will dry your skin. Tea Tree oil is natural, but also very strong. I wouldn’t use it for mild to moderate acne unless it had other ingredients in it to dilute it. If you have severe acne, that may work for you. An acne product that protects your skin and prevents acne from coming back is even better. There’s one listed on my web site, see below.

Now, about cleaning acne from the inside out; this may seem a bit strange to you, but a lot of acne is caused by internal imbalances and/or impurities. Chocolate doesn’t really cause acne, unless you are allergic to it, but eating junk food definitely won’t help you. Eating too many white carbohydrates creates a pasty like sludge substance in your intestines and bacteria love to stick to it, gross! That’s partly why you are told to avoid white starches and sugars, but that’s a subject for a different day.

Antioxidants, like Vitamin C, E and Alpha Lipoic Acid, are very helpful in clearing acne. Aloe Vera is an anti-viral as well as an anti-microbial, that can help cleanse you from the inside out. Hydrolyzed Collagen prevents moisture loss. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get all these, plus DMAE, Co-enzyme Q10 and Bioperine all in one capsule you only have to take once per day? Yes, there is an acne solution from a pill and it’s not a prescription. You can clear your acne from the inside out naturally.

As a precious metal, gold represents less work to maintain its appearance than other metals, such as silver. Gold does not tarnish, smudge, or discolor, but it can become dulled by contact with soaps, perspiration, hand creams and other substances from your daily life.

A good rule of thumb, is to wash your hands before putting on, or taking off, gold jewelry. This prevents contamination with natural body oils and other matter that your hands have touched. Also, if you’re going to be wearing perfume, creams, lotions or other chemical substances, put them on before your jewelry. Gold items will be dulled and dirty from lying on skin that is still moist with make-up, or if they are in the line of fire from hairspray.

Always be sure to remove your rings before immersing your hands in the dishwater or laundry. Repeated exposure to harsh chemicals like chlorine, can permanently damage the gold’s luster. That also means removing rings when using swimming pools.

Store gold jewelry that you aren’t wearing, in their original boxes, or clean, cloth bags in a drawer away from other jewelry. Never leave pieces jumbled together in a box, as they can scratch each other, particularly if they happen to be set with hard gemstones. Even wrapping each piece in plain tissue paper, will preserve the surface and the shine.

The gold portions of jewelry can be cleaned with a mild soap solution and a soft cloth for polishing. A used, soft-bristled toothbrush may be helpful in reaching small crevices such as the links of a chain, or the underside of settings in a ring.

La Salinella is a Apartment in Marsala, located in Vicolo delle Saline

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