The Rare Gang

How Much Money Will I Need to Earn to Retire?

This is the most common concern of people who are contemplating retirement. While most financial planners would tell you that you need to earn as much in retirement as you did while you were working, this isn’t always the case. Much of this depends on your lifestyle.

If you own your house and it is debt-free, you often need less income than a retiree who is renting.

If you want to travel and see the world, you will need more income.

If you do not plan on leading a very active social life in retirement, often you will need less income.

If you want to set up education trusts for your grandchildren, you will need more income.

If you are flexible enough to consider living in Mexico, you will need less income.

If you plan on working part-time or run a business after you retire, you will need less income.

By the way, I have never met a retiree yet who has told me
that they had too much money when they retired!

The big trade-off for saving for retirement is that often you are giving up quality of life now to insure quality of life in the future. I know some people who are so obsessed with saving for the future that they are not really enjoying life in the now moment. On the other hand, I know many more people who are not preparing at all for the future and they may not be living very well at all when they retire.

Excerpted from Transform YOUR Relationship with Money: A Step-by-Step Guide for Financial Empowerment. For more information about this guide, please check out my web site located at http://TransformYourRelationshipWithMoney.com

Bill Austin is a spiritual healer and teacher based in St Petersburg FL. He has assisted hundreds of people around the world in gaining the clarity they need to realize more of their full potential. To find out more about his healing practice, please check out his web site at http://www.HealingHolograms.com

When you sell on eBay, it’s important to know how to take advantage of the kinds of markets you encounter in the different seasons. As a rule, the summer months are slow and the winter period is fast, but there’s more to it than that.

It Depends What You’re Selling.

Your sales won’t necessarily be slower in the summer than in winter - they might just be different. If you’re selling sports equipment, for example, you’ll probably find that surfing gear sells in summer while skiing gear sells in winter. You should make sure you are aware of any seasonal variations there will be in your particular market, and plan in advance to take advantage of them.

Selling in Peak Season.

The holiday season is eBay’s peak, and the best time to be selling on eBay - the December rush is relatively short, but if you play it right then you could make half your year’s profit over those few days.

In the holidays, people are looking for presents, and eBay run more advertising than usual targeted towards buyers, not sellers. Target your auctions more towards new users than experienced ones, writing easy-to-understand descriptions. If you have any items that are in demand, try listing some at auction and some with high But it Now prices, to see what works best.

The chances are you’ll be surprised when the Buy it Now auctions go almost instantly and the auctions rack up bids like nobody’s business. It is important to remember, however, that most of these buyers will only buy from you once.

Selling Off-peak.

For the rest of the year, the market is far slower. Don’t worry though - you can still make money. It’s a little like being a stockbroker: you can make money whether the market is good or bad, if you know what you’re doing.

Remember that your target market is a little more ‘expert’: you’re mostly selling to people who know what they’re buying, and know what they want to pay. Cater to this by providing a service suitable for these customers. Show that you know what you’re selling and sell things consistently and you’ll have people coming back again and again.

Here’s one extra tip that you might try. If you know of items that have a consistent value, it might be worth buying up as many as you can cheaply in the summer, storing them for half a year, and selling them during the winter rush. If you’re willing to give over a little space for storage, you can make a lot of profit for little effort. After all, you don’t even have to take the items out of the packaging the last seller put them in.

If you’ve tried searching for a few more eBay tips using the big search engines like Google and Yahoo, then you might have come across someone offering to sell you all the secrets of eBay success for a ‘low, low price’. In the next email, I’ll let you in on their little secrets for free.

Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

It’s hard to get through the day without hearing about antioxidant supplements these days.

It’s about time we started to hear about them, considering some of the best nutritional supplements act as powerful antioxidants.

First, let’s discuss what antioxidants actually do for you in plain English. Antioxidants can neutralize the damaging effects from free radicals that roam about inside your body. Free radicals are reactive chemical substances that travel around within the body. They can cause havoc internally and damage the body’s healthy cells.

Some scientists believe that free radical damage is the root cause of today’s many diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and more nasty diseases. Some of these scientists even say that this is why we actually age!

If the above is true, and after all it does make a lot of sense if you think about it, then taking an effective antioxidant supplement could dramatically improve your health.

Antioxidants keep these free radicals from roaming about causing damage. Now that you know a little more about antioxidants, let’s take a look at some examples of weak and strong antioxidants.

Weak antioxidants are your typical vitamins, such as vitamin C and vitamin E. They may be weak but they are antioxidants nonetheless. At the other end of the scale, there are nutrients that are so powerful and often used in a quality nutrition supplement. It’s very unlikely you will find these in your typical multivitamin formulas. Some of them are hundreds of more times powerful! Let’s take a look at 2 examples

Green Tea

The extract of green tea which is available in some antioxidant supplements comes in a concentrated form. It has been proven that green tea is 1oo more times powerful than vitamin C as an antioxidant.

Because of antioxidant power, green tea acts as a powerful immune system booster. Green tea may stop the formation of cancer cells due to the power of its anti oxidant capabilities.

Turmeric

Turmeric is native to India and a long history of use among India. A compound known as curcumin is a potent extract of the Turmeric root and is known for its therapeutic benefits.

This powerful antioxidant won’t be found in your typical multi vitamin supplements, however, some quality formulas use this ingredient.

A featured antioxidant product that we personally use with excellent results can be found at http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/what-we-use.html

We also have a nutrition book which details everything you need to know about vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrition supplements in general.

Its an easy to read book and you will probably get through it in one sitting. You can find our book at the end of this article. We are currently running a promotion for subscribers where you get out recommended nutrition book for free!

We also have special offers for our subscribers. For more information check out
our website below.

You can grab a free copy of our recommended nutrition book at the end of this article. You need to read this book; you will probably get through the book in one sitting. So set some quiet reading time and grab your free copy while you can. Free spots are limited and we may be adding a small price tag to the book due to customer feedback

John Gibb is the owner of Nutrition guides, a website offering free nutrition advice and a quality nutrition book with special offers and bonuses for newsletter subscribers.

http://www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com/
Dedicated to optimising health.

No matter what industry you’re in, it’s absolute vital that you
either sell software or offer free software to your customers.

By the time you are done reading this article, you will
understand why.

1. “It’s the Product, Stupid”

No amount of marketing “how to” is going to make up for not
having a killer product.

People are sick of being told how to do it. They want something
that will “do it” for them.

Software does just that … It *does* things for people.

Stop trying to sell “how to” and start selling instant
solutions. That’s where the real money is.

2. Downloadable Viral Marketing Tools

OK, so you don’t want to sell software. Fair enough.

You’re crazy if you don’t use software as a viral marketing tool.

Many of the largest lists on the Internet were built using free
software downloads as an enticement for subscribing.

You can easily add viral twists to these tools and before you
know it hundreds or even thousands of sites could be offering
your free software - becoming virtual newsletter subscriber
magnets.

What if you created just one new tool like that a week?

How big would your list be inside of 6 months?

3. Create Value-Added Customer Helper Apps

What if you were to create applications that simply added value
to your existing products and services?

How much higher would your customer satisfaction be if you
created various software tools to teach, train, support, or
otherwise help your customers?

How many more sales would that added customer satisfaction
generate for you without any additional effort year after year?

4. Upsell Products

As you probably know, selling new products to existing customers
is the easiest way in the world to make money.

It’s 5 times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is
to acquire a new one.

Why not create new products using “Make Your Own Software” and
sell them to your existing customer base?

Instant profits.

5. Highest Profit Margins in the World

Electrons are free.

If you’re selling an instantly downloadable product, your
product fulfillment costs are virtually nil.

Plus, in the software industry there is no inventory to manage,
so it’s probably the easiest business in the world to manage as
well.

****************************************************************
Mike Chen was one of the pioneers of the software security
industry and is a widely respected Internet Marketing expert.
Mike’s newest product, “Make Your Own Software,” allows even
those who don’t know a single line of code to create software
programs instantly. EDITOR’S NOTE: “Make Your Own Software” has
our highest rating. It’s a mission-critical tool:
http://www.makeyourownsoftware.com/amydh03.art
****************************************************************

With just a little Tender Loving Furniture Care, genuine hardwood furniture will last several lifetimes. Consider grandfather’s roll-top desk - a valued treasure passed on from generation to generation. Taking good care of your solid hardwood furniture ensures its continued longevity.

Heat, Humidity and Hardwoods

Did you know that up to half the weight of freshly sawn wood is water? Furniture is crafted from wood that has been carefully dried, retaining just enough moisture for the furniture to properly acclimate to the relative humidity in your home. The wood in wood furniture continues to exchange moisture with the air, shrinking and expanding in response to changes in relative humidity.

Like your own skin, solid hardwood furniture’s natural response to extremely dry air is to lose moisture and shrink a bit. The halves of an extension table may part slightly or a few tiny openings may appear on a solid wood surface. This will correct itself as the relative humidity rises, and the wood furniture absorbs enough moisture to expand slightly.

On the other hand, if you don’t have an air conditioner or dehumidifier, your home’s relative humidity may get too high. Parts of your wood furniture may absorb excess moisture from the air and expand, perhaps causing drawers to stick. Once again, this will correct itself as your home’s relative humidity decreases. The furniture’s quality and sturdiness are not affected by these natural changes.

Here are some ways to ensure your solid hardwood furniture’s longevity:
For your comfort, as well as to provide proper furniture care, use a humidifier in the winter and an air conditioner in the summer to keep the relative humidity at 25 to 35 percent. Avoid placing furniture directly in front of radiators, heat ducts or fireplaces.

Don’t expose hardwood furniture, or any other wood furniture, to continuous direct sunlight. Draw the curtains occasionally.

Store table leaves as close as possible to the table. Keep them in an upstairs closet rather than in a damp basement, so that the table leaves are adjusting to the same relative humidity as the table they fit.

Tender Loving Furniture Care

It’s surprisingly simple to protect and enhance hardwood’s natural beauty. All that’s needed is some tender loving care. Here are a few tips from the experts:
- Read the manufacturer’s care directions carefully and keep them handy for future reference.
- Dust with a soft cloth by following the grain pattern of the wood. Use an old T-shirt, baby diaper or cheesecloth that’s been laundered to remove the sizing. Dust often to remove everyday abrasive particles from wood surfaces. Before dusting,

moisten cloth lightly with a spray product. A dry cloth can leave hairline scratches on the finish.
- Surfaces also can be cleaned with a mild non-alkaline soap and water. Use the suds on a damp sponge or cloth, but be sure to pretest the solution on an out-of-sight-section to make sure it doesn’t damage the finish. Dry immediately with a soft cloth and buff lightly, following the grain.
- Wood finishes benefit from an occasional waxing or polishing. A paste wax can be applied every six to twelve months. Remove old wax first with a mild non-alkaline soap and water solution.
- Avoid waxing urethane-finished furniture. Waxing these surfaces causes them to gather dust and dirt rather than repel it.

Repairs Made Simple

Minor damage to solid hardwood furniture can be repaired quickly and effectively with the right materials, a bit of elbow grease, and some careful attention to detail. More complex repair or refinishing jobs are best left to the professionals, especially if the piece has one of todays “super finishes”.

Scratch and Nick First Aid

When preparing to repair small nicks or scratches, always test an inconspicuous area of the furniture first to make certain the mixture won’t damage the finish.

Finish Treatment

Dark Wood or stain - Fill the scratches with shoe polish that matches the lightest shade of the finish. Another method is to rub with walnut or Brazil nut meat in the direction of the scratch. A child’s crayon or felt-tipped marker can also be used.

Cherry Furniture - Fill the scratches with cordovan or reddish shoe polish that matches the wood, or apply darkened iodine with a cotton swab or thin artist’s brush.

Light Wood or Stain - Fill the scratches with a tan or natural shoe polish, or apply darkened iodine diluted 50 percent with denatured alcohol.

Stain Removal

Today’s high-performance finishes demand special and careful attention when it comes to stain removal. While there are countless remedies for stains, some may actually damage the furniture’s finish. If you’re at all unsure, you should call a
professional refinisher.

These common stains often can be treated with do-it-yourself furniture first aid. But bear in mind: always test your remedy on a small area to see if it removes the stain without disturbing or damaging the finish.

Stain Treatment

Water Marks and Rings - Often rings are in the wax, not the finish. Cover the stain with a clean, thick blotter, press down with a warm iron, and repeat. Or rub with salad oil, mayonnaise or white toothpaste. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

White Marks - Rub with a cloth dipped in a mixture of cigarette ashes and lemon juice or salad oil. Or rub with a cloth dipped in lighter fluid, followed by a mixture of
rottenstone and salad oil. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Milk or Alcohol - Use your fingers to rub liquid or paste wax into the stain. Or rub in a paste of boiled linseed oil and rottenstone with the grain, substituting pumice for dull finishes. Or rub with ammonia on a dampened cloth. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Other Home Remedies

During everyday use, your hardwood furniture may be subjected to mishaps and spills which temporarily mar its finish.

Problem Treatment

Cigarette Burns (light) - Rub with scratch-concealing polish, or with a paste of linseed oil and rottenstone, working with the grain until the burn mark disappears.

Heat Marks - Rub gently along the grain, using a dry steel wool soap pad or a cloth dampened with camphorated oil or mineral spirits, or rub gently along the grain with extra-fine (0000) steel wool. Wipe clean and wax or polish.

Nail Polish - Blot the spill immediately, then rub with fine steel wool (0) dipped in wax. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Paint Marks - If fresh, remove latex paint with water and oil-based paint with mineral spirits. If dry, soak spot in boiled linseed oil, wait until paint softens and lift carefully with a putty knife or wipe with cloth dampened with boiled linseed
oil. Residue can be removed by rubbing along the grain with a paste of boiled linseed oil and rottenstone. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Sticking Paper - Dampen the paper thoroughly with salad oil, wait five minutes and rub along the grain with extra-fine (0000) steel wool. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Wax or Gum - Harden the substance by holding an ice cube wrapped in cloth against it, then use your fingernail or plastic credit card to remove it. Rub the area with
extra-fine (0000) steel wool dipped in mineral spirits. Wipe dry and wax or polish.

Keep Your Furniture Looking Great

Furniture is made to be used and enjoyed and accidents happen, especially when there are small children at home. Take the following steps to keep damage from everyday life to a minimum.

Unless your furniture has a new “super finish” to protect it, use coasters to prevent spills, stains and damage from hot dishes. Blot all spills immediately. Keep solvents, alcohol, nail polish and polish removers away from your furniture surfaces.

When dusting, always lift lamps and other objects - don’t slide then across the furniture’s surface. Always lift furniture to move it - don’t drag it. Open and close doors, drawers and
lids gently.

Michael Domeck is a trainer and a mentor working with students from all walks of life. As a Mentor he has become very astute with many different Niches as he has helped his students. As a trainer he has worked with 100’s of students helping them to acheive their dreams. Visit http://www.homefurnishingsforless.com for more tips on furniture.

Do your finances seem like a black hole? Money comes in, maybe even lots of it, but it gets sucked into nowhere and you’re not sure how it happened? This may occur for lots of reasons, but the biggest is biting off more than you chew (or pay for). Another way of saying this is you are not living within your means. For example:

Buying a new car when a used one is good enough.

Purchasing a bigger, more expensive house thinking your income will go up fast enough to cover the expense.

Paying for services such as housecleaning, yard maintenance, childcare, club memberships, computer site fees, etc.

Expensive, exotic vacations

Charging everything from groceries to clothing to home remodeling on your credit card.

Did you know that most millionaires got rich by living below their means?

Being self-employed or being salaried but getting big bonuses may increase your risk for over-committing. You believe you can afford something because you have the money right now, but don’t remember that next month’s income may be much less or you may not get a bonus next year.

But the biggest contributor to biting off more than you can pay for is not knowing the true state of your money flow. Lots of people say, “But I don’t spend that much money” without having any facts to back it up. They may think or feel that because they are comparing themselves to others or to some ideal way of living. Do you know to the penny, okay, at least to the nearest dollar, what your fixed and discretionary expenses are each month? Do you have a spending plan for your fixed expenses that only come once a year such as auto insurance, property taxes, and home insurance, etc.? Do you have a spending plan for the big discretionary expenses that only come once a year such as birthday and holiday gifts, vacations, and seasonal clothing, etc.?

So what do you do?

For starters, if you don’t already know where your money goes, write down every penny you spend for a month. This will give you an idea of your daily discretionary spending. Is it going towards lattes, cokes, donuts, clothes, or lunches at work? Then comb through your bills, checkbooks, and credit card statements. The idea is to build an accurate picture of your entire financial life…what comes in, what goes out, and what do you have stored (savings, investments, assets). This may take you some time, but it is absolutely critical in understanding and finally changing your financial life. It is not fun, just necessary.

You may have to face some hard truths about your spending, but it is the first step to gaining control. And gaining control, I promise you, will vastly improve the way you feel. When reviewing your spending and income patterns, remember that it is no shame, no blame. It is what it is so don’t beat yourself up. You’re doing the courageous thing by looking at your money flow in the clear light of day. Having debt and finances that are out of control, or even that just don’t meet your own goals, wears on you, making you moody, irritable, worried, fearful, exhausted and may even affect your health and relationships.

Cutting Your Expenses

Now that you have been tracking and understand your money flow so that you have a total picture of your spending and income, it’s time to look at where your money is going. No matter how little money you have and how necessary you think the spending is, there are always ways to cut more, often without even feeling it.

So why cut your expenses? Many of us would like to save more…for retirement, for emergencies, a long vacation, a better car, or a sabbatical. Some of us are deeply in debt or moving in that direction. Some of us can’t make monthly bill payments. If you want to save more or are spending more than you can afford, you may want to start economizing or cutting your expenses. Here are my own favorite top ten ideas:

1. My number one pick for saving on your expenses is to stop shopping! Don’t go to the mall, don’t look at the dozens of catalogs that arrive in the mail, and don’t surf the Internet for stuff! Window-shopping can be dangerous to your wallet. If you find yourself overcome with desire, wait at least three days. If you still must have it, then buy it. Most of the time, the desire will pass.

2. Each month pick one utility or service bill and reduce or eliminate it. For example, on your phone bill, eliminate all those “extras” such as call waiting,
call forwarding, caller ID, etc. I use a 3-cent a minute phone card for all long distance and so cancelled my long distance carrier that charged me
$7/month for nothing. And, of course, I don’t pay the ridiculous high prices for long distance they would have charged me! For electricity, shop around. Your service provider may not be the cheapest. You could save as much as 20%. Do you really need a monitored alarm system? Could you be comfortable with only an audible alarm? What about cell phones? The plans change frequently…and I do mean
frequently! Call your cell phone company and request a lower rate or a better plan. Well, you get the idea. Don’t just assume that there is nothing you
can change.

3. Look at any service fees you may be paying. Service fees are the fastest growing category of spending for consumers. For example, Internet service providers,
investor reports and services on the Internet, weather bulletins, subscription fees, user fees, download fees, etc. These can add up to hundreds of dollars a month if
not carefully watched. There are several really inexpensive Internet service providers that work quite well. Don’t stick with AOL or Earthlink just because
you always have. It’s easy to investigate others and many give free 30-day trials. For example, try academicplanet.com, netzero.com, ev1.net, hal-pc.org or pcpeople.com.

4. Everyone seems to assume that they must have cable or satellite television and that the $50 or $70 or $99 per month charge is “just the way it is”. I double-dare you to take charge of your family’s television viewing. With no cable or satellite, you still get 3 to 6 stations in Houston, for example. If you need more,
buy the absolute minimum you can live with. For example, if you get HBO only to watch the Sopranos, can you watch it with friends? Ask them to tape it for you? Or at least have HBO connected only during the season! Don’t even get me started on how bad TV is for children and how much time adults waste watching it!

5. Shop around for big-ticket items. If you have not shopped on the Internet, you will be amazed at the differences among prices for the same item. Prices can vary hugely. You can always go to a brick and mortar store to see and touch the item, make a selection, but then shop online for best prices and warranties. You can use shopping comparison sites such as nextag and pricewatch. I just this week bought a popular money software program that was listed for $89.99 at my local office supply stores. I checked around and it was the same price at my local huge discount store. Online, I found lots of lower prices including $79.99, 59.99, 41.95 and 23.88. I finally bought it on ebay for about $29 with shipping. This all took about 10 minutes.

6. For smaller, regularly used items, shop around, both on the Internet and locally. For example, I buy my printer ink cartridges at half the office supply store price at a local store called Cartridge World. The first time I went in, I saved $122. For gift-wrap
items such as paper and ribbons, try a dollar type store or your local party goods discounter. When I bought my day planner updates for 2005, the price at one office supply store was 1/2 the price at the other a few blocks over for the identical item, a savings of $22!

7. One of my biggest weaknesses is books. I read voraciously. The Houston Public Library has an online service that is incredibly useful and efficient. You can look in their catalog, find the book you want, have it sent to your local library branch and they notify you when it arrives and is ready for pick-up. If the Houston Library system does not have the book, they will search other libraries in the state including university libraries, have it sent to your local library and notify you. You can even renew the book online. Many libraries across the country have the same service. If you really must buy a book, try Half-Price Books (chain store) and as well as consignment and thrift stores locally. But none of these has catalogs so you have to go and look around for what you want. Online, try the book shopping comparison services: fetchbook.info and addall.com. Also try for used books on half.com and ebay.com. Again, you can often get books for pennies on the dollar. I promise!

8. Reduce or eliminate a daily habit. For me it is canned sodas. I drink several a day. Eliminating these would save me $2/day or more than $700/year. I have cut back, but haven’t eliminated them…yet. I’m not suggesting you do without all pleasures, but
many are just habits, nothing more. Lattes? Bottled water? That morning donut or candy from the vending machine? One more purple stuffed bear for your collection? Another pair of shoes? Be a conscious shopper. Recognize why you are shopping and what purpose in your life the purchase serves.

9. Insurance of all kinds: life, house, health, and auto. Each year, at renewal time, take the time to shop around for each of these that you have. Company prices vary tremendously. Use every discount you can get, especially for house and auto
insurance. Ask your agent about these because they don’t always tell you. For example, most insurance companies will give you a discount if you have your house and auto at the same company. There are discounts for alarm systems in house and auto, for reenters, for smoke alarms, etc. For life insurance, the first question is, do you really need it. Many people have it that don’t and many of those that do need it, don’t have it. If you really do need it, shop around. Try quotesmith.com for comparative rates.

10. If you are carrying balances on your credit cards, call your credit card company today! Ask them for a lower rate. The credit card companies are in stiff competition. They know you can always leave them for a low or zero interest rate on another card.
Be insistent. If you have high credit card debt, check out the payment calculator at MotleyFool.com. You put in your debt amount, interest rate and payment amount;
it tells you how many years (or decades!) it will take to pay it off. The information will be shocking, sobering and motivational.

Has life got you down? Are you ready to live your big dreams but don’t know where to start? Sign up today for my free monthly newsletter and receive the free report “85 Ways To Be Happier Now!” at http://www.LifeUnfolds.com/news.htm

Mary Anne Fields
Life Coach, Trainer and Speaker
http://www.lifeunfolds.com

The elegant and sophisticated look of glittering, gleaming gold.
There’s nothing quite like it.

Some people never grow tired of the look of pure gold jewelry.
Gold, being our most precious metal, is often a first choice
among couples looking for that perfect gold wedding ring.

While yellow gold remains very popular with the wedding crowd.
Many people prefer the brilliant hue of a white gold wedding
ring.

White gold will look beautiful on you whether you’re a man or a
woman. You can find online a great selection of white gold
diamond wedding rings and white gold wedding ring sets. Also, if
you’re looking for something a little fancier that can also
become a piece of wonderful keepsake jewelry, white gold makes a
very elegant engraved wedding ring that can be passed on to
future generations.

The one thing you need to be aware of when buying a white gold
wedding ring is that it will need periodic maintenance in order
to keep it’s luster.

To obtain it’s much desired glittering white color, white gold
is coated with another alloy called Rhodium (the natural color
of white gold is really light gray). Rhodium will wear down
after a while, so to maintain your ring’s luster, you’ll need to
visit your local jeweler about every 12-18 months and have it
re-plated with a new coating of Rhodium. The cost for this
should be very reasonable.

Whether you’re looking for a plain gold wedding band, or a
wedding ring with sparkling diamonds, white gold is an excellent
choice for those looking for something a little extra special.

When I was growing up as a child in the sixties, kitchens were
always a hidden affair. If it was not separated by a wall from
the other rooms in the house, then a divider had to be installed
to hide it from the rest of the world. Inviting friends over to
the kitchen to show off your new kitchen island or cooktop was
not the thing to be done.

But not anymore. The kitchen of my adult years has now become
the focal point of the house and the people who live in it.
There is still the obligatory lounge room to receive guests but
it is now just a little room on the way to the grand, open space
of kitchen, family and rumpus rooms combined.

This is where most families now gather after a long days work -
the parents preparing the family meal while the children (if
they are in their schoolyears) do their homework in the family
dining table or (if they are already young adults), sit and
chatter around the breakfast nook or family room couch. Kitchens
now exude warmth and welcome helped by the oak or teak
oil-finished kitchen cabinets that usually line the kitchen
walls, as well as mahogany or red cedar curio cabinets housing
revered family treasures such as photos and bowling trophies.

I have long used my kitchen as my lounge - one of the rooms in
the house that I consider most comfortable, functional, tribal
and welcoming . My husband and I and anyone of my kids who
occasionally fancy themselves as the new Jamie Oliver can
showcase our gourmet talents as we gracefully move around the
red and brown speckled granite kitchen island or benchtop to the
glistening stainless steel sink to the brown flattened glow of
the ceramic cooktop. All these in view of the rest of the
family, and often times friends and guests who we show in
straight to the kitchen/family/dining room area to sit in our
beloved dark aubergine brown no-nonsense, yet sumptuous and very
practical “Virginia” sofa.

Gone are the days when you felt you needed to detain your guests
in the comfort of the Italian velvet sofa in the lounge while
you excuse yourself and slave away in the dark, hot and steamy
recesses of the kitchen preparing their food. Now there is no
shame or cringe to invite friends over to the kitchen because
kitchens have become the hub of family life and social
entertaining. Architects, home builders and appliance
manufacturers have all taken heed of the new trend and have made
kitchens not only functional and efficient but also
overwhelmingly stylish. Even whitegoods now come in different
colors of stainless steel, earthy brown, luminous orange or
buttercup yellow to suit everyone’s desire and taste.

Friends are invited to hover around stylish marble-topped
kitchen islands as they continue with their socialising, talking
about nothing and maybe even lending a hand in washing the
vegetables and peeling the potatoes. Even wine bars are now in
the domain of the kitchen (not the basement or the lounge) as
friends sit down and relax in the midst of kitchens sipping
their favorite red or white.

Even when alone, my kitchen has always been a delight and a
quiet refuge from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
When I wake up in the morning, I find no greater joy than seeing
the sun streaming through the beige voile curtains of the
northeast facing kitchen window into the deep purple flowered
african violets and tall and lanky chinese fortune plants that
brighten up the farthest end of my granite kitchen benchtop. And
when I come home from work in the evening, I open the very same
northeast facing kitchen window to be greeted with the sweet
scent of the orange jasmines that line the backyard fence.

My kitchen has certainly come a long way from its hiding place
in the sixties and I intend to enjoy it and keep it that way for
a long, long time more to come.

Before the Korean War I was a member of the Utah National Guard. During the summer we always spent two weeks at beautiful Camp Williams just south of the Utah State Prison.

I was in an artillery observation battalion.

I was in the “Sound Ranging” Platoon.

We could locate the position an artillery shell was fired from by recording the sound as it hit individually six microphones laid out on a surveyed two-mile baseline. A machine called the GR-8 recorded the time the sound arrived at each microphone as soon as the forward observer push an activation button that said he had heard a sound and it was on its way to the microphones.

A plotting table allowed us to record the time differential between microphones. Corrections were added to the speed of sound of 369.2 yards per second according to temperature and humidity. The “enemy” gun was then located and fire could be directed to the “enemy” position. We never fired on enemy positions at Camp Williams because the “enemy” was our own artillery.

Sound Ranging was used in World War II. There were only two Observation Battalions in the United States. One was in Europe supporting NATO and the other was the First Observation Battalion at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This unit trained us at Camp Williams. Later we were called up during the Korean War and replaced the First Observation Battalion at Fort Sill, training new recruits in the art of sound ranging, flash ranging, weather, survey, and RADAR. The First Ob was sent to Korea. (I was to join them there, but at Camp Drake in Japan, they didn’t know what a “Sound Chief” or a “Survey Chief” was and I ended up in the Infantry.)

Be that as it may, I decided that cooks got lots of time off (that is why they are always in the stockade) and I wanted to try it. I had made sergeant because of my ability to somewhat understand sound ranging but I decided to try cooking. I went to Camp Williams a week early and spent my time in the kitchen with the fine regular army cooks of the First Observation Battalion.

Things went well during the week. We learned a lot and didn’t have to think too much about it. But as the week went on I longed to get back into sound ranging. Finally on Friday, we got the shocking news that the regular army cooks were going into town and that we would be cooking lunch on Saturday.

Saturday morning we learned that we would not be using the cooking facilities in the kitchen. We would be using camp stoves. These bruits are known for their orneryness. It took us forever to get them lit and burning. The menu was macaroni and cheese and fried liver, a culinary delight.

Things didn’t go well and a line of regulars were standing outside the mess hall waiting to be fed. We finally got the macaroni cooked. We immediately dropped it onto the kitchen floor when we tried to drain it. The would-be cooks moaned about what to do. I was only a teenager but I could make decisions. I said, “Get it back into the pot. We don’t have anything else to feed those guys.”

The regular army troops that had decided to stay at beautiful Camp Williams patiently ate there floor-drained macaroni and cheese and ate their liver. Well, at least some ate the liver. We were standing there wondering how they could eat such crap without complaining when in came the base general. Here’s how our conservation went:

General: Sergeant, Can you feed me?

Me: You don’t want to eat this crap, General. The cooks are in town.

General: Well, the men are eating it. I would appreciate being fed.

I brought the general his delicious meal and watched him eat it.

General: That was very good, Sergeant.

Me: You are very kind, General. Do you know what I’m going to do tomorrow morning as soon as my unit moves in here for their two week camping experience?

General: What, Sergeant?

Me: I’m going back to Sound Ranging!

I wasn’t the only would-be cook that went back.

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: http://www.tjbooks.com

Business web site: http://www.aaaflagpoles.com

Diabetes is a serious disease that needs to have medical attention as soon as some symptoms begin to surface. The reason why diabetes is serious is because it will cause the body to shut down and you will go into sugar shock. After sugar, shock the body will go into a coma and a person may never come out of the comatose state. Diabetes, in general, can cause the body to stop circulating the blood flow properly and that’s why many diabetics have to have parts of their body amputated. Diabetics also have a higher change of developing kidney, pancreas, and other organ diseases.

Type two diabetes will usually affect people much older than that of type one. It is the most common type of diabetes and effects thousands of people each day. It is also referred to as adult onset diabetes.

Typically, it is due to being overweight, but there are exceptions to the rule. Type one is where your body lacks insulin and type one is where you body will begin to resist insulin. This type is developed by usually genetics and often is passed down through generations. The insulin levels with type two diabetics are sometimes normal, but the body won’t respond to it. This will create higher blood levels because the body is not using the glucose up. When you have type one you are considered to have symptoms of hyperglycemia, however you will have the opposite reaction with type two and have hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia is where you have low blood sugar. It is from the fact that your body cannot provide enough energy for the activities of the body. It will cause you to be hungry much like type one. It will also make you very nervous or shaky. You will perspire more than the average person and you will become dizzy or light headed. You will become over anxious or weak which will cause you to have difficulty speaking or feeling restless. You will also become confused and possibly hallucinate. Because of your anxiety, you may have nightmares or perspire so much during sleep that your entire bed becomes wet or damp. You will often wake up tired, irritable, and confused.

Type two is the most common type of diabetes and exists in all cultures. It is often the result from obesity and it is doesn’t discriminate ethnically or racially. Obesity has become a problem for today’s world and has been found as a tendency to promote diabetes rather it’s genetically enhanced or not.

The causes of the disease have many factors to blame, but genetics seem to be the strongest factor. Obesity is also found to be genetically enhanced and the two could be related somehow. Treatment is simple, it is taken orally to lower the blood sugar which can cause hypoglycemia and at some point insulin injections may be needed.

You can find more information on http://www.all-about-diabetes-symptom.com

Kenneth Langlet is an independent writer and webmaster on the site http://www.all-about-diabetes-symptom.com/ where you can find more information about diabetes symptom.