Photography tips

»Testing a New Camera or a New Film
When testing a new camera or new film, keep a notepad handy to record basic information regarding exposures, apertures, time of day and any other information that will help you remember what you did. Have a proof sheet made along with the prints with your first roll. This way you can review your notes easier and see exposure differences quicker.

» Adding drama to your Image
By incorporating a silhouette in the foreground you can add dimension and drama to your images. Sunsets appear more intense and it gives the viewer a point of reference.

» Look for Patterns
Use patterns of everyday objects to create images of abstract art. When ever you are getting ready to photograph look in the places no one else thought of i.e.; above your head, below, left and right. Sometimes very interesting scenes are right there for you to capture.

» Use the Night
Night scenes can be very exciting. By using long exposures, car headlights and tail lights create a parade of lights in motion. Use a tripod or a stationary surface to set your camera on. Set your aperture at f 8 or f11 and open the lens for 30 to 60 seconds. Experiment with times and f stops to create multiple images.

» The perfect Exposure
If you’re taking pictures outside and do not have or forgot your light meter, use the f16 rule to create images with the perfect exposure.
Take the ASA of the film and use that number as your shutter speed.
For example for ASA 200 use 1/250 sec or ASA 400 use 1/400 sec Then set your f stop at f16 on a bright sunny day. Adjust your f stop according to the amount of light i.e. cloudy bright/f11, overcast/f8, heavy overcast/f 5.6
Using this simple guide will help you capture that perfect exposure every time.

» Favorite Accessory
My most valuable piece of equipment is probably the least expensive. It is a bag of rice (bean bag). It is an ideal substitute for those times you don’t feel like carrying a tripod. Its size and weight allows me to take it everywhere.
Most valuable piece of equipment is probably the least expensive. It is a bag of rice (bean bag). It is an ideal substitute for those times you don’t feel like carrying a tripod. Its size and weight allows you to take it everywhere. It conforms to most surfaces and provides protection to the bottom of your camera. You have used it on cars, rocks, handrails, signs, mailboxes, and whatever you can find to suit the situation. It can also be used against vertical columns (such as doorways, sides of buildings, trees, etc.) to stabilize the camera when there is nothing around to set it on.

Instructions
1.) Take too pieces of fabric (make it 1/4″ larger on all sides than you need it)… Mine is about 4″x6″.

2.) Place the two pieces on top of each other so the inside of the bag is facing out.

3.) Use the sewing machine to stitch around the sides (about a 1/4″ in from side) but leave a small opening in the middle of one of the sides.

4.) Turn the bag inside out through the opening.

5.) Add the rice (a small funnel will help).

6.) Sew the opening closed.

I think it took about 30 minutes with almost no sewing experience.

» Dry Mounting
Dry mounting is a process in which a piece of artwork or photograph is pressed and bonded to a foam board by heating an adhesive layer between the artwork and the board.
I highly recommend that you get your prints dry mounted. It will protect them from wrinkling if any humidity is in the air.
I had a few large prints dry mounted at a nationwide craft store. They damaged one in the process, but are very good with giving you options to fix or replace the artwork at their cost. You decide what is best for you. Now I go to a local art and framing shop. It doesn’t take as long for him to finish and he charges less.

» Psuedo Mattes
An inexpensive way to get an expensive look is to get the image printed with a border. This will save the extra cost of purchasing a mat. Special order borders can be done in any color. My favorite is simply black with a white trim.

3 Easy Steps To Better Digital Prints

3 simple steps you can take to get better prints from your digital photos…

1. Watch the resolution - Remember that in order to get a quality print, you’ll need to have the DPI to back it up. The “Dots Per Inch” – pixels if you will – are the stuff your photos are made of. If you don’t have enough of ‘em, you aren’t going to get a good print.

As a general guideline, try to keep your resolution between 200-300 DPI. More than 200-300 DPI doesn’t hurt, but usually isn’t going to improve the image much either (unless you look at your prints with a magnifying glass or something).

If your photo doesn’t have the resolution to make the size print you want, consider a smaller print and some nice matting. Don’t “force” your photo program to create the extra pixels you need – it just never works very well.

2. Use Good Paper – When printing photos, use a “photo” paper. Generally, the stuff the printer manufactures sell is really good. It’s designed to be used with the ink in your printer and will almost always give great results.

If you don’t want to fork over the big bucks for the paper from your printer manufacturer, there are some good alternatives out there. For instance, I’ve had a lot of luck with various papers from Kodak, and I have a friend who’s had great results with Office Depot photo paper (really). It usually takes a bit of experimentation to get the printer settings (paper, color, etc) just so, but once you have it, these alternative papers do look great.

Oh, and if you really wanna get fancy, I’ve even seen some pricey “fine art” photo papers you may want to consider.

3. Printer Settings – This is the most important of the bunch. When you print a photo, be sure to hit the “Properties” button on your printer dialog box.

The first thing to check is for a “paper type” option. If you’re stuffing photo paper into your printer and have plain paper selected. In order to get the best quality, always match your paper type properly!

Next, check the color settings. Some printers give you a ton of options here, some none at all. In my experience, most of the time I just go with the defaults and I’m pretty happy. If you think your photos could look better, by all means use this area to try and enhance ‘em.

Here’s how my screen looks – your mileage will almost certainly vary:

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to experiment. Sure, you’ll go through some photo paper in the process, but discovering the best print settings will be worth it. Besides, once you find the ideal match between paper, resolution, and printer settings you’ll be able to repeat it all the time.

How to Erase Your Data Trail

Start the Registry Editor by clicking Start, Run, and type “regedit” (without quotes).
Go to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Session Manager\Memory Management
On the right, locate the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value.
Right-click the value, select modify, and change the data value of the registry key to 1.
If the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value doesn’t exist, add it. Right-click the right side of your specified key and add it as a DWORD value. Then change the data value to 1.
Restart for your changes to take effect.
Note: Your shutdown time may slightly increase.

Student Visa

Now that you have been admitted to any University in US, you are probably thinking about when and how to get your F-1 Student Visa. This article will address general requirements and provide some tips for making the student visa application process a smooth one. We also recommend that you visit the State Department’s new web site that provides helpful information and tips about obtaining visas.
The first thing to understand is that there are always exceptions and that the particulars will vary for each person; therefore, it will be very important to obtain accurate information, instructions and forms for the specific U.S. Consular post through which you will be applying for the student visa. Click here, “U.S. Embassies and Consulates” for an official list of U.S. embassies and consulates in your country.
In general, most U.S. Consulates allow students to apply for the F-1 student visa no sooner than 90 days before the “start date” indicated on the I-20. UB’s official start date for Fall 2004 is August 23, 2004 (although it may vary for some majors and summer programs); that means most consulates will only allow you to apply for your visa after May 23, 2004. Some U.S. Consulates may have different application filing dates and deadlines; be sure to check directly with the U.S. Consulate through which you will apply for the F-1 visa.
There is no standard visa processing time; some consulates can review and issue an F-1 visa in as little as one week or less; some consulates may take as long as two months or more. We strongly recommend that you begin the student visa application process as soon as you can. May through August will be the busiest months for issuing student visas; allow enough time to learn about the requirements; allow enough time in the process in case you are called for an interview or must come back a second or third time. Some U.S. Consulates may require a 30-day waiting period so that a background check can be conducted. Do not wait until the last minute!
Most U.S. Consulates require that your passport be valid for at least six months after the date you plan to enter the U.S. For example, if you plan to enter the U.S. on August 23, 2004, most U.S. Consulates will require that your passport be valid at least through February 23, 2005. Even if the U.S. Consulate in your country does not have this requirement, it might be a good idea to make sure that your passport does meet this requirement – we don’t want you to encounter any problems when you attempt to enter the U.S. If you arrive in the U.S. with a passport that is valid for less than six months, the immigration officer at the Port of Entry has the right to deny your admission to the U.S. and send you back home. Check your passport now – better to be safe than sorry.
Most U.S. Consulates have very strict requirements about how you can submit your visa application form and documents. Some have a “drop box”; some require that you mail the application; some require that you use a visa service or authorized travel agent. Follow the instructions provided by the U.S. Consulate in your country.
Most U.S. Consulates do not accept letters or faxes sent to them directly from UB. We will not be able to honor requests for letters of support sent on your behalf. The merits of your visa application will be determined by your own efforts and your own documents.
» What do visa officers look for when you apply for an F-1 student visa?
1. They must be sure that you have the ability and intention to be a full-time student in the program and school to which you have been accepted.
You will demonstrate this by presenting your Certificate of Visa Eligibility (the I-20 Form or the DS-2019 Form for J-1 visas) and your official university acceptance letter. The consulate may also require that you present documents showing scholastic preparation: academic transcripts (with above average grades), TOEFL score reports, and standardized test scores (SAT, GRE, GMAT, etc.). Sometimes the U.S. Consulate asks to see documents that the university did not require; this is their right – they can do this; that’s why it’s always a good idea to have taken the typical standardized tests even if not required by UB. They may also check to see if you are prepared, in their opinion, to successfully complete your studies for the major to which you have been admitted. So if they doubt that you will succeed at UB in the major/department you indicated, they can reject your visa application.
2. They must be sure that you have adequate financial resources to pay for all of your studies and living expenses while in the U.S. without needing to work while in the U.S.
You will demonstrate sufficient financial resources by showing the visa officer your financial documents.
If you’re receiving a scholarship and/or an assistantship, be sure that your award letter is printed on official university department letterhead paper; if it’s not, contact your department immediately to request this. The visa officer will expect these letters to be printed on university letterhead paper.
If you’re documenting your own finances (from your personal funds, your family’s, or another sponsor’s), check with the U.S. Consulate in your country to see what forms of documentation they require. Some consulates require bank statements, past tax statements, company letters, employment contracts, etc. Some consulates require that you show evidence of funds for all years of study; some require evidence of only one year; some require that you actually bring a bank draft for the amount listed on the I-20. Check with the U.S. Consulate to see what you must bring. Then be absolutely sure that the documents are prepared and presented in exactly the manner required (for example, if they say “original only,” that means original only – no copies, no certified copies, no notarized copies, etc.).
3. They must be sure that you intend to go to the U.S. only to study; they must be sure that you have no intention of working; they must be sure that you do not intend to immigrate to the U.S.
This is the tough one! The U.S. Consular visa officers are required by law to begin with the presumption that visa applicants intend to immigrate to the U.S. and that they should therefore reject your visa application. The consular visa officers are supposed to issue the student visa only if they are persuaded beyond any doubt that you do not intend to immigrate; they must be 100% convinced you are going to the U.S. only to study, that you will not work, and that you will return to your home country after completing your studies.
You will attempt to document your intentions of returning home by showing that you have “strong ties” to your home country and legitimate, self-serving reasons to return home after graduation. “Strong ties” to your home country are things that bind you to your home town or homeland: future job, family, financial prospects, property that you will inherit, investments, etc. You will need to explain how you will gain the education and talent to succeed in jobs that are in high demand in your country. You will need to show that you are a familial son or daughter and will feel obligated to return home after graduation. If the visa officer thinks that you may work or stay in the U.S. after graduation, your student visa may be rejected.
Some U.S. Consulates may require a personal interview as part of the visa application process.
»If you are required to have a personal interview, what can you expect?
The interview will almost always be conducted in English.

The interview will be very short (probably 2 – 3 minutes).
Usually no other family members, friends or representatives can attend the interview with you.

The visa officer will render his/her decision immediately when the interview is finished.

» What does the visa officer expect from you?
Honesty.
Short and direct answers; not a memorized speech.

Good English proving that you have the necessary language skills to succeed in a competitive university in the U.S.

Documents that are in proper order as specified in the consulate’s instructions.

» What kinds of questions might you expect in an interview?
What is/was your high school (secondary school) GPA (grade point average)?
Graduate students: What is/was your university GPA?

Did you apply to local universities?

If not, why not?

If yes, why aren’t you going to a local university?

How many U.S. schools did you apply to?

How many U.S. schools accepted you?

Why did you apply to UB?

Did you do a lot of research about UB?

What’s so good about UB?

Why did you choose UB?

Name five things about UB that made you decide to choose UB.

Why didn’t you choose the other universities?

Why did you choose UB over the other universities?

What do you want to study? or What’s your major?

Why are you choosing this major?

What do you expect to get out of your education?

What’s the job scope (job market) for this major?

Do you intend to stay in the U.S. after graduation and work?

Would you like to stay in the U.S. after graduation in order to work?

Do you have any family in the U.S.?

Do you have examples of any family that studied in the U.S. and then returned home (to your home country)?

Does your family own any homes, businesses or property in the U.S.?

Does your family have any funds (bank accounts, money markets, stocks, etc.) in the U.S.?

How do you and your family intend to finance your education in the U.S.?

Don’t memorize your answers; rather prepare well and give short, direct answers.
You can see that most of these questions attempt to check and verify your academic intentions, how serious you are about your academic decisions, and your true intention of staying in the U.S. or returning home. Think about these questions carefully so that you can answer quickly and with confidence.

Final tips
Come to the interview well groomed and dressed neatly (but a suit or formal dress is not required).

Come to the interview prepared with all of the forms and documents as specified in the consulate’s instructions.

Have all of your documents organized neatly and logically. If the visa officer asks for a specific academic document, test score or financial document, you should be able to pull it from your file/organizer quickly. If you have to hunt through a stack of papers, the visa officer will think you are disorganized and hence not serious about your academic future.

Be prepared for quick, rapid-fire questions from the visa officer.

Keep your answers short and direct.

Practice your conversational English. Speak clearly (enunciate!) and with the appropriate volume.

Do not argue. Maintain a positive attitude. Be friendly and courteous.
The outcome of your interview depends on your answers, how well prepared you are, and some luck. So prepare well and hope for some luck!

How to Succeed in Mathematics?

Math Study Skills

Active Study vs. Passive Study

Be actively involved in managing the learning process, the mathematics and your study time:

• Take responsibility for studying, recognizing what you do and don’t know, and knowing how to get your Instructor to help you with what you don’t know.
• Attend class every day and take complete notes. Instructors formulate test questions based on material and examples covered in class as well as on those in the text.
• Be an active participant in the classroom. Get ahead in the book; try to work some of the problems before they are covered in class. Anticipate what the Instructor’s next step will be.
• Ask questions in class! There are usually other students wanting to know the answers to the same questions you have.
• Go to office hours and ask questions. The Instructor will be pleased to see that you are interested, and you will be actively helping yourself.
• Good study habits throughout the semester make it easier to study for tests.

Studying Math is Different from Studying Other Subjects

• Math is learned by doing problems. Do the homework. The problems help you learn the formulas and techniques you do need to know, as well as improve your problem-solving prowess.
• A word of warning: Each class builds on the previous ones, all semester long. You must keep up with the Instructor: attend class, read the text and do homework every day. Falling a day behind puts you at a disadvantage. Falling a week behind puts you in deep trouble.
• A word of encouragement: Each class builds on the previous ones, all semester long. You’re always reviewing previous material as you do new material. Many of the ideas hang together. Identifying and learning the key concepts means you don’t have to memorize as much.

College Math is Different from High School Math

A College math class meets less often and covers material at about twice the pace that a High School course does. You are expected to absorb new material much more quickly. Tests are probably spaced farther apart and so cover more material than before. The Instructor may not even check your homework.

• Take responsibility for keeping up with the homework. Make sure you find out how to do it.
• You probably need to spend more time studying per week – you do more of the learning outside of class than in High School.
• Tests may seem harder just because they cover more material.

Study Time

You may know a rule of thumb about math (and other) classes: at least 2 hours of study time per class hour. But this may not be enough!

• Take as much time as you need to do all the homework and to get complete understanding of the material.
• Form a study group. Meet once or twice a week (also use the phone). Go over problems you’ve had trouble with. Either someone else in the group will help you, or you will discover you’re all stuck on the same problems. Then it’s time to get help from your Instructor.
• The more challenging the material, the more time you should spend on it.

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Problem Solving

• The higher the math class, the more types of problems: in earlier classes, problems often required just one step to find a solution. Increasingly, you will tackle problems which require several steps to solve them. Break these problems down into smaller pieces and solve each piece – divide and conquer!
• Problem types:
  1. Problems testing memorization (“drill”),
  2. Problems testing skills (“drill”),
  3. Problems requiring application of skills to familiar situations (“template” problems),
  4. Problems requiring application of skills to unfamiliar situations (you develop a strategy for a new problem type),
  5. Problems requiring that you extend the skills or theory you know before applying them to an unfamiliar situation.
• In early courses, you solved problems of types 1, 2 and 3. By College Algebra you expect to do mostly problems of types 2 and 3 and sometimes of type 4. Later courses expect you to tackle more and more problems of types 3 and 4, and (eventually) of type 5. Each problem of types 4 or 5 usually requires you to use a multi-step approach, and may involve several different math skills and techniques.
• When you work problems on homework, write out complete solutions, as if you were taking a test. Don’t just scratch out a few lines and check the answer in the back of the book. If your answer is not right, rework the problem; don’t just do some mental gymnastics to convince yourself that you could get the correct answer. If you can’t get the answer, get help.
• The practice you get doing homework and reviewing will make test problems easier to tackle.

Tips on Problem Solving

• Apply Pólya’s four-step process:
  1. The first and most important step in solving a problem is to understand the problem, that is, identify exactly which quantity the problem is asking you to find or solve for (make sure you read the whole problem).
  2. Next you need to devise a plan, that is, identify which skills and techniques you have learned can be applied to solve the problem at hand.
  3. Carry out the plan.
  4. Look back: Does the answer you found seem reasonable? Also review the problem and method of solution so that you will be able to more easily recognize and solve a similar problem.
• Some problem-solving strategies: use one or more variables, complete a table, consider a special case, look for a pattern, guess and test, draw a picture or diagram, make a list, solve a simpler related problem, use reasoning, work backward, solve an equation, look for a formula, use coordinates.

“Word” Problems are Really “Applied” Problems

The term “word problem” has only negative connotations. It’s better to think of them as “applied problems”. These problems should be the most interesting ones to solve. Sometimes the “applied” problems don’t appear very realistic, but that’s usually because the corresponding real applied problems are too hard or complicated to solve at your current level. But at least you get an idea of how the math you are learning can help solve actual real-world problems.

Solving an Applied Problem

• First convert the problem into mathematics. This step is (usually) the most challenging part of an applied problem. If possible, start by drawing a picture. Label it with all the quantities mentioned in the problem. If a quantity in the problem is not a fixed number, name it by a variable. Identify the goal of the problem. Then complete the conversion of the problem into math, i.e., find equations which describe relationships among the variables, and describe the goal of the problem mathematically.
• Solve the math problem you have generated, using whatever skills and techniques you need (refer to the four-step process above).
• As a final step, you should convert the answer of your math problem back into words, so that you have now solved the original applied problem.

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Studying for a Math Test

Everyday Study is a Big Part of Test Preparation
Good study habits throughout the semester make it easier to study for tests.

• Do the homework when it is assigned. You cannot hope to cram 3 or 4 weeks worth of learning into a couple of days of study.
• On tests you have to solve problems; homework problems are the only way to get practice. As you do homework, make lists of formulas and techniques to use later when you study for tests.
• Ask your Instructor questions as they arise; don’t wait until the day or two before a test. The questions you ask right before a test should be to clear up minor details.

Studying for a Test

Start by going over each section, reviewing your notes and checking that you can still do the homework problems (actually work the problems again). Use the worked examples in the text and notes – cover up the solutions and work the problems yourself. Check your work against the solutions given.

You’re not ready yet! In the book each problem appears at the end of the section in which you learned how do to that problem; on a test the problems from different sections are all together.

• Step back and ask yourself what kind of problems you have learned how to solve, what techniques of solution you have learned, and how to tell which techniques go with which problems.
• Try to explain out loud, in your own words, how each solution strategy is used (e.g. how to solve a quadratic equation). If you get confused during a test, you can mentally return to your verbal “capsule instructions”. Check your verbal explanations with a friend during a study session (it’s more fun than talking to yourself!).
• Put yourself in a test-like situation: work problems from review sections at the end of chapters, and work old tests if you can find some. It’s important to keep working problems the whole time you’re studying.

Also:

• Start studying early. Several days to a week before the test (longer for the final), begin to allot time in your schedule to reviewing for the test.
• Get lots of sleep the night before the test. Math tests are easier when you are mentally sharp.

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Taking a Math Test

Test-Taking Strategy Matters

Just as it is important to think about how you spend your study time (in addition to actually doing the studying), it is important to think about what strategies you will use when you take a test (in addition to actually doing the problems on the test). Good test-taking strategy can make a big difference to your grade!

Taking a Test

• First look over the entire test. You’ll get a sense of its length. Try to identify those problems you definitely know how to do right away, and those you expect to have to think about.
• Do the problems in the order that suits you! Start with the problems that you know for sure you can do. This builds confidence and means you don’t miss any sure points just because you run out of time. Then try the problems you think you can figure out; then finally try the ones you are least sure about.
• Time is of the essence – work as quickly and continuously as you can while still writing legibly and showing all your work. If you get stuck on a problem, move on to another one – you can come back later.
• Work by the clock. On a 50 minute, 100 point test, you have about 5 minutes for a 10 point question. Starting with the easy questions will probably put you ahead of the clock. When you work on a harder problem, spend the allotted time (e.g., 5 minutes) on that question, and if you have not almost finished it, go on to another problem. Do not spend 20 minutes on a problem which will yield few or no points when there are other problems still to try.
• Show all your work: make it as easy as possible for the Instructor to see how much you do know. Try to write a well-reasoned solution. If your answer is incorrect, the Instructor will assign partial credit based on the work you show.
• Never waste time erasing! Just draw a line through the work you want ignored and move on. Not only does erasing waste precious time, but you may discover later that you erased something useful (and/or maybe worth partial credit if you cannot complete the problem). You are (usually) not required to fit your answer in the space provided – you can put your answer on another sheet to avoid needing to erase.
• In a multiple-step problem outline the steps before actually working the problem.
• Don’t give up on a several-part problem just because you can’t do the first part. Attempt the other part(s) – if the actual solution depends on the first part, at least explain how you would do it.
• Make sure you read the questions carefully, and do all parts of each problem.
• Verify your answers – does each answer make sense given the context of the problem?
• If you finish early, check every problem (that means rework everything from scratch).

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Getting Assistance

When

Get help as soon as you need it. Don’t wait until a test is near. The new material builds on the previous sections, so anything you don’t understand now will make future material difficult to understand.

Use the Resources You Have Available

• Ask questions in class. You get help and stay actively involved in the class.
• Visit the Instructor’s Office Hours. Instructors like to see students who want to help themselves.
• Ask friends, members of your study group, or anyone else who can help. The classmate who explains something to you learns just as much as you do, for he/she must think carefully about how to explain the particular concept or solution in a clear way. So don’t be reluctant to ask a classmate.
• Go to the Math Help Sessions or other tutoring sessions on campus.
• Find a private tutor if you can’t get enough help from other sources.
• All students need help at some point, so be sure to get the help you need.

Asking Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Any question is better than no question at all (at least your Instructor/tutor will know you are confused). But a good question will allow your helper to quickly identify exactly what you don’t understand.

• Not too helpful comment: “I don’t understand this section.” The best you can expect in reply to such a remark is a brief review of the section, and this will likely overlook the particular thing(s) which you don’t understand.
• Good comment: “I don’t understand why f(x + h) doesn’t equal f(x) + f(h).” This is a very specific remark that will get a very specific response and hopefully clear up your difficulty.
• Good question: “How can you tell the difference between the equation of a circle and the equation of a line?”
• Okay question: “How do you do #17?”
• Better question: “Can you show me how to set up #17?” (the Instructor can let you try to finish the problem on your own), or “This is how I tried to do #17. What went wrong?” The focus of attention is on your thought process.
• Right after you get help with a problem, work another similar problem by yourself.

You Control the Help You Get

Helpers should be coaches, not crutches. They should encourage you, give you hints as you need them, and sometimes show you how to do problems. But they should not, nor be expected to, actually do the work you need to do. They are there to help you figure out how to learn math for yourself.

• When you go to office hours, your study group or a tutor, have a specific list of questions prepared in advance. You should run the session as much as possible.
• Do not allow yourself to become dependent on a tutor. The tutor cannot take the exams for you. You must take care to be the one in control of tutoring sessions.
• You must recognize that sometimes you do need some coaching to help you through, and it is up to you to seek out that coaching.

What goods we need for Travelling and Tour

Paperwork and Documentation
Personal Identification    Airline, Cruise and/or Train                                            Tickets
Driver’s License             Coupons
Travel Itinerary             Travel Vouchers
Reservation and Confirmation numbers for
Relevant Membership Cards
Air Travel                     Address Book
Rental Car                    Guide Book
Lodging                        Maps
Train
Copies of your prescriptions and generic names
Insurance Cards/Information (Auto, Health, Travel)
Money
Cash (some in your local and destination’s currency)
ATM Cards
Traveler’s Checks          Long Distance Card
Credit Cards
PIN numbers for credit, phone and ATM cards. (Safely      packed in your memory)
Toiletries
Soap                          Razor
Facial Cleansers           Shaving Cream
Moisturizing Lotion        Comb/Brush
Shampoo                    Nail Clippers
Conditioner                 Nail File
Deodorant                  Q-Tips
Toothpaste                 Sunscreen
Toothbrush                 Baby Powder
Dental Floss                Cologne/Perfume
Bridge Cleaners            Towel/Washcloth
Lip Balm
Clothing
Try to coordinate around a central color so you can mix and match items and consider taking items you can use to layer outfits instead of taking heavy limited use items.
Undergarments            Shirts/Blouses
Socks                        Sweaters/Sweatshirts
Hose                         Suit/Dress
Pants/Jeans               Ties
Skirts                        Scarves
Belts                         Handkerchief
Nightgear
Pajamas Slippers
Robe      Sleeping Mask
Shoes
Walking Shoes   Arch Supports
Sport Shoes      Odor Eaters
Dress Shoes
Swimming
Swimsuit   Eye Goggles
Swim rap   Swim shoes
Swimcap
Raingear
Raincoat/Poncho Rubbers for your shoes
Umbrella
Miscellaneous
Medications       Jewelry
First Aid Kit       Cuff Links
Contraceptives  Wristwatch
Sunglasses        Binoculars
Glasses (Bring an extra old pair if possible)
Swiss Army Knife (in checked bag only)
Contact Lenses with case and cleaning kit. (Extra lenses if                                                                          possible)
Clothes Pins-To keep Hotel curtains completely shut.
Transit Entertainment (reading material etc.)
Maintenance
Laundry Detergent Travel Iron/Steamer
Inflatable Hangers Sewing Kit
Lint Brush
Electrical
Hotel Door Alarm              Laptop
Travel Alarm Clock            Video recorder
Power Coverters/Adapters Camera
Walkman Radio
Batteries for all the above items
Flashlight
Recharging equipment for Cell Phone and Laptop
Hair Dryer
Film for camera and video recorder.
Curling Iron                    Lenses
Travel Iron
Film Travel Packaging (Lead Pouch)
Cell Phone

Web Site Garage

Improve your web site with the  Web Site Garage. Web Site Garage provides services for maintaining and improving your Web site. Automate site maintenance checks, optimize your graphics and analyze your traffic. You can get a FREE, one page tune up.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting involves the placement of a web site or many web sites on a server that is connected to the Internet. The web hosting server is located off site at a web hosting company that leases the use of the server. The web hosting company should have two or more separate connections to the Internet for redundancy. Since very few web hosting systems need the throughput available on the Internet connection, the connections are shared to reduce cost. There are two primary web hosting methods, virtual web hosting and dedicated web hosting.

Virtual Web Hosting:
Virtual web hosting is where many web sites from different companies are placed on one server and the server is controlled by the hosting company. This is the least expensive way to have a web site as you only are paying to lease a small portion of the web hosting server. However, a virtual web hosting server tends to be less reliable and the available bandwidth is shared among hundreds of companies. These might be of 2 kinds

Shared Hosting:
These hosts run server machines hosting from hundreds to thousands of domains. They give great value if your needs aren’t too high and your budget is relatively small. You usually get one web domain, private FTP, email, a few gigabytes of data storage and bandwidth per day but no SSH or anonymous FTP. If you are just a beginner in web publishing or do not need sophisticated features, then these should be ideal for you.

Virtual Dedicated Servers (VDSs):
VDSs give you the flexibility of hosting multiple domains with no extra cost for an expense of a higher monthly fee than shared hosts. Similar to dedicated servers but you have “neighbors” that you share the machine with. You do not “see” your neighbors but if your site grows much, you will notice that they are there. They will give you anonymous FTP and SSH/telnet support for you to logon to the usually UNIX (Linux or BSD variant) operating systems command console. These plans are usually twice as expensive as their shared counterparts.

Dedicated Web Hosting:
Dedicated web hosting is where only one company places its web site on a server and that company controls the administration of the server. Dedicated web hosting is much more reliable than virtual web hosting and much more flexible. Since you control how the server is used you can configure it to your exact business needs. A dedicated web hosting server is more expensive to use, but for companies that rely on the Internet for their business it is normally a better value. A dedicated web hosting server also can be part of a cluster to increase throughput and reliability even further.

How to Make an Ad Believable!

Starting an online business is easy depending from which corner you look at it. But take out the word of your business to the mass is harder than most people tell you. When you hear the lies which what they offer you their products or services on the net your ‘hair stands up straight’. Some people might think that’s advertising. But let me ask you a question, “Would you buy a second time from an advertiser telling lies”? Frankly spoken, I wouldn’t.
What is the purpose of advertising?
The advertiser’s task is not always an easy one. You can have the best product but without a good advertising campaign nobody will buy your product or won’t come to your business.
On the other hand you can have a bad product but a good advertising campaign and you’ll sell your product like “hot bread”. But…you will sell only one time to a customer and he never will come back to your business again. And the worst…he will tell all of her friends that they should not buy from you. So, what is your result…you will have a front end sale but you never will have a backend sale. The most cash comes in with your backend sale.
The purpose of advertising is to get trusted. It doesn’t matter how clever your advertisement is, it has to attract the customer and he has to get trust in your advertisement to buy your product. You must get attention; explain your product and being persuasive. You must overcome the readers distrust and most important to get her to believe you.
Besides the techniques of building credibility through testimonials and research tests…the key to being believed is to tell the truth. To tell the truth about a product, you have to believe in the product you offer and you have to know it.
The reader of your advertisement has to feel your passion and enthusiasm you have about your product. This passion has to jump over to your reader or prospect. Only this way you will win a future customer to your business and his trust.
When writing ads you should always be telling the truth. Be ethical and professional, this way you will have your customer for a lifetime and not only for one sale.
You have to believe that the product you advertise will do a lot of good to your reader. If you are sincere with your ad-writing, it comes across to your readers and they believe what you’ve written.
Don’t burn yourself with unethical behavior. Never do to your customer what you wouldn’t like they do to you.

Adding Send to the Recycle Bin

Add a SHORTCUT TO THE RECYCLE BIN in your SEND TO folder.
That way you can just right click on a file you want to delete, and send it to the recycle bin without having to confirm each time.

3 deadly Search Engine Marketing Sins!

My inbox this week provided glaring examples of three all too common rookie search engine marketing mistakes. What you could call three deadly search engine marketing sins. Starting with

===> Inadequate Keyword Research

Hey! If you’re going to spend hours developing a web site, isn’t it smart to invest some time to insure you’re focusing on the most traffic laden keywords?

Especially when typically the plural form of a keyword phrase generates way more traffic than the singular form. For example “dog dishes” rather than “dog dish”.

Yet just this week I was asked to look at a site that had focused on the singular form. Evidently the owner hadn’t bothered to do any digging to make sure that was their best keyword move.

Look, you’ll never know for sure unless you research it. Besides, you can access Wordtracker, the tool of choice for what? a measly $7 a day.

Even better here’s a quick and dirty way to get the most out of that day.

Search for your target keyword in Google.

Visit the top ranking sites. Use the “View Source” feature of Internet Explorer to check out the keyword meta tag of each site. You’re looking for a site listing lots of keywords there. Do this with each of the top listings or until you find one stuffed to the gills with keywords. Ah-ha! There’s your starting point for your list of likely keyword phrases.

Repeat with a couple of other sites and you’ll soon have a long list of candidates to check out in Wordtracker.

Enhance your list further using this tool:

http://www.promoteindia.com/keywordtool-beta.htm.

It will give you more keyword ideas from Google and Overture.

Now you’re ready for Wordtracker.

Once you’ve compiled your Wordtracker results, you could simply sort by KEI and then by searches per day.

That gives you the strongest keywords with the most searches. (And yes, I realize KEI assumes all search engine listings are of equal value. But I did say this was “quick and dirty” didn’t I? However if you want another approach that improves on KEI there’s a spreadsheet available at http://www.seo-works.com/seo-resources/keyword-effectiveness-rank.html)

Anyway, once you’re sorted your keywords in some way to highlight the most profitable, simply take the top 25 on the list and create content for those first. No, not every one will be a natural born traffic magnet. But enough of them will be to get the ball rolling.

Repeat with the next 25. Don’t stop until you have at least 100 pages of hot content.

Remember, two or three word keyword phrases are usually your best bets. And I really like keyword phrases that are actually several keyword phrases in one. For example “irish setter dog dishes” gives “irish setter”, “irish setter dog”, “dog”, “dog dishes”, “setter dog dishes”.

===> Site Bloat

Twice this week I was asked to look at sites that would have let me read War and Peace while waiting for them to come up. And no visitor is going to have a copy of that handy.

To avoid losing any precious visitors lose the huge graphics. One of the sites had a graphic 501K in size! No wonder it took nearly two minutes to load up on a 56K modem.

Then too lose the Flash – unless you have a very good reason for using it. Even then lose the Flash.

If you’re wondering how your site’s download time measures up test it here: http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm

It won’t cost anything to find out. But a slow loading site can cost you plenty. Because as the Net Mechanics follow up reports says, it’s a good idea to keep your page load times under about 12 seconds on a 28.8 modem. Otherwise your visitors will be wearing out the back button trying to escape.

===> Too Few Links

Did you know links can account for up to 80% of your success with Google? Yet someone else complained to me about how much work it took to get them.

Well doh! Ever think that maybe that’s why (in part) Google assigns so much value to links? Because you can’t quite as easily game links as you can on page content? Meaning you actually have to work to get links. Both by having link worthy content and by actively seeking them out on a regular basis.

It’s a given that most niches require you have a healthy collection of links to be competitive. Yet if you’re lucky enough to be in a niche that doesn’t, but you do, then you can easily dominate those rankings.

Anyway in a nutshell you can easily avoid these three search engine sins. Do your keyword homework. Keep your pages on a strict diet. And don’t forget link up with as many other quality sites as you can.

Do all that and you’re well on your way to search engine success. Ignore this advice and you’re, well you know, your Google goose is probably cooked. Leaving you perpetually stuck in Google purgatory.

Thematic.me – A Customizable Page for Your Twitter Images

Thematic.me has one goal in mind: displaying your Twitter images on a customizable, branded page. In a nutshell, Thematic.me is “photo sharing for brands,” though you really don’t need to your own “brand” to post images. Then again, when you think about the word brand, we all can be considered our own brands in one way or another.
Thematic.me makes it easy for you as brand to create your own mini-site just for your Twitter images. You can add your own custom background, track your statistics, and even use a custom domain (optional). Let’s take a what Thematic.me can do for you.

Change Your Design

In settings you can select a theme or upload your own background image. You can also important your Twitter background so that your Thematic.me page matches your Twitter page. There are a few options here for background tiling, along with changing the colors of the background, image borders and font.

Upload An Image

Adding images is easy. Just click on “Upload” from the top navigation and find the file on your computer. You can also provide a caption, which will also be used as your tweet (if you choose to post it on Twitter).

Share Images via Email

You can add images via a custom unique email address provided by Thematic.me. With this option, your image will automatically be posted to Twitter; the subject of your email will be used as your tweet text. You can also customize the 4 digit “pin number” for your unique email address, so that it’s easier for you to remember.

Connect with Twitter for iOS

If you have the official Twitter app on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, you can use Thematic.me as your default image sharing service. You do this by adding a custom image sharing service. That way, when you upload a picture to the iOS app, it will automatically post to your Thematic.me profile page.

View Your Images

This is what others see when they click on an image: caption, image, your username, when it was uploaded, number of views, share buttons, and a comment area. As you can see, it’s very simple, yet leaves plenty of room for interaction.
Also note that when you receive a comment, it will be sent to you an @mention on Twitter.

Custom Domain

You can even setup your own custom domain to be used instead of http://thematic.me/username.
If you choose this option, you can choose whether or not to use your domain in your links. Meaning, you can have links to your images show as http://thematic.com/photo-1 or http://mydomain.com/photo-1.
Again, if you’re focused on branding, then it’s a good idea to use your own domain in your links.

View Your Stats

Finally, there are a ton of stats that you can use to keep track of your Thematic.me profile.

• last visits


• visits by local time


• length of visits


• frequency overview


• pages per visit


• list of keywords


• list of external websites


• best search engines


• visitor countries


• visitor browsers


• operating systems


• normal/widescreen (display monitors)


• global visitors configuration

A Look Ahead

In the future Thematic.me is looking to add: Facebook integration, video uploading, and an API.
Thematic.me looks promising. Why use a service like TwitPic when you can have your own branded page which can even match your Twitter profile which includes in-depth stats? It’s definitely a good look and a step in the right direction as far as increasing your brand’s reach on the web.