Don’t get caught up in a nasty situation! Learn to recognize common fraudulent situations and avoid being victimized by following these tips provided by Allstate in their auto insurance fraud infographic.
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If you’re looking for something fun to do on vacation, here are some suggestions in this great infographic by OwnerDirect.com.
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Whether or not you are planning a trip in-state or going internationally this holiday season, it’s important to keep in mind a few tips. This busy time of the year can be stressful and expensive unless you are adequately prepared. Here are some of my favorite tips for traveling during the holidays:
1. Get a deal. If you carefully avoid peak travel times, you’re much more likely to save. Try searching online for different airlines and check the “my dates are flexible” option on your search. When you travel at off-peak times, you will reap the rewards of saving—allowing you more money on gifts and spending money during this notoriously cash-strapped time of year. Additionally, the earlier you book, the more likely you are to get a discount. Try nailing down your plans ahead of time. If you are unsure about your plans, make sure to check the airlines return and exchange policies. If you need a hotel and/or rental car, try booking them at the same time for packaged savings.
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Earlier this year cloud computing provided by Amazon Web Services experienced a bit of downtime. When looked at overall, the amount of time their systems were down actually are rather minuscule, but that’s not the point. What is salient is that many of the Internet’s leading websites, social communities and other online businesses rely wholly or in part on the computing power, storage and other processing capabilities provided by Amazon’s cloud services.
When active users of sites like Reddit, HootSuite, Foursquare, and many others including CRM blogs are suddenly, with no warning, unable to access their accounts due to circumstances beyond the site’s control, things can get a bit hairy. For a small percentage of AWS clients, real data was lost in the outage. Now there is permanent damage that has to be reconciled for something the service providing company had no part in causing.
To be clear, the advantages of using cloud services far outweigh the potential for challenges of hosting ones systems in the cloud. Most cloud providers have in place a number of automated back-up features which theoretically maintain data integrity with real time mirroring of client information. Transactions which rely on access to historical data can, again, in theory, be back up and running in moments when things are done correct in the cloud.
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Work can be great. Work can be rewarding. And work can be unbelievably stressful. Once the clock strikes 5 and the work day is over, it would be great if our minds and bodies would automatically relax . But that rarely happens without a bit of help. It’s hard sometimes to go from work to home and not be thinking about work or even feeling like we’re still at work. If you have trouble unwinding after the work day, here are 8 easy and fun tips to help you.
1. Talk It Out
Sometimes when something happens at work, we can think and obsess about it for hours when we get home. Take 15 minutes to talk it out with your spouse or a friend. Tell them about your day. Verbalizing it will not only make you feel better, but having someone commiserate with you and maybe even help you problem solve will get it off your mind. The key is once you’ve talked it out, it’s done. Dwelling on it all evening won’t help you relax.
2. Exercise
The last thing you may feel like doing after a full day at work is exercise, but it can go a long way to helping you unwind. Talk a short walk, hop on the treadmill or bust a move to your favourite song. Not only will you get rid of any nervous pent up energy from the day, but you’ll get your endorphins pumping and give yourself a mood boost.
3. Play Time
If you have children, spend some time when you get home just hanging with them. Ask about their day. Go for a walk or play in the yard. Paint. Colour. Just spend time with them. It will help you relax and will also remind you what’s really important. If you don’t have kids but are a pet owner, take a few minutes to give them head scratches and belly rubs. They’ll love the attention and you’ll love giving it.
4. Take a Shower
Hop in the shower as soon as you get home. This is a great way to not only get a few minutes of you time to decompress after work, but it’s also a great ritual to help you switch from work brain to home brain. Use your favourite products and take your time.
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Chores are boring. Anyone can get stuck doing them and when one is finished, where’s the pride in accomplishment? Instead of getting oneself bogged down in doing the necessary work around the house, why not consider jumping into one (or all!) of the following three projects that can easily be started now and completed well in advance of the scorching heat likely to befall the DIYers this summer.
Depending upon the person undertaking this little project, the sexiness factor of having a fully operational compost pile can be amazing or drudgery. Going for the former over the latter is the goal here.
For those wanting to the easy route and simply buy a composting system, there are some very interesting options on the market, including some very easy to use rotating drum style compost barrels. Even if one goes this route, having a solid pad for their barrel to rest upon can be a good quick project to undertake.
Though easy, those pre-made solutions can get pricey. Instead, digging a square of at a minimum three foot long and wide and approximately eight to twelve inches is a great place to start the compost project. One only needs a shovel, some labor, and the time.
Be sure to save the excavated dirt to use later. As kitchen and generally organic household wastes are collected they can be piled in the dug out section of the yard. Mound over the materials with a little bit of dirt, generally keep moist (water if necessary) and turn the pile over onto new materials on a regular basis. Add more dirt from your saved pile and as it grows, the compost will increase. By the time summer comes around, the usable material may just be surprising.
Tablet computing. Friend or foe? You just got yourself a smart phone and it about killed you to make the decision. So many questions, like:
So now you’re considering doing the very same thing with respect to buying into a tablet computer. Did you realize you were going to have to find out the answers to many of the very same questions as when you got your smart phone? Yes. Pretty much the case.
To help in the process, here is a brief cross section of answers so you won’t have to take time off work.
Throwing a party for friends and family is a great way to get everyone together for some shared enjoyment of food and drinks while you reconnect. However, not everyone knows how to turn a simple get together into a successful party. With so many activities in our busy lives, many of us need a compelling reason to pencil one more party in our schedules. If you’d like to make your next party into a rousing and unique celebration, take a few simple steps to add some excitement and a unique flare to your party.
Consider a New Twist on A Theme Party
Parties for events like the Oscars can be turned into theme parties if you transform every aspect of the evening into an homage to classic movies. Don’t simply invite everyone over to watch the Oscars together; instead put some thought into way to make your party all about the glitz and glamour of the red carpet. Hosting a black tie Oscar viewing gives everyone an excuse to turn up the glam factor. Rent a big screen television if you don’t already have one and tuck a popcorn machine into one corner of the room.
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