How To Teach Creative Writing To Middle School Students

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High schoolers are an easier group of students to teach creative writing to than middle school students, but as businesses are putting more and more emphasis on the importance of writing, it is becoming increasingly important for children to start learning about writing from an early age. If you are either the parent of a middle school child or a teacher in charge of lots of middle schoolers, you can give each student a leg up on the future by teaching them basic creative writing skills and exercises at this early stage.

While preparing your creative writing lessons, you should make sure you are including a lot of writing assignments, as the best way for each student to learn about creative writing will be through the process of actually writing. As you plan these lessons, you should divide them into a pair of categories: One category should be assignments that will help your students "loosen up," by being creative and having fun, and other category should be assignments that encourage your students to "tighten up," taking a more stringent approach to the rules of proper grammar, spelling, et cetera.

Eventually, you will want to begin combining the two types of lessons into one, grading your students (or gauging their progress) based on both their creativity and their ability to adhere to basic writing rules; also, if you are teaching your students other things at the same time you are teaching them creative writing, you can combine creative writing principles with projects for other subjects!

Finally, the most important thing of all is for creative writing to feel like "fun" instead of feeling like "work"; you can accomplish this in a number of ways, but a couple things to consider is changing the setup of the room completely when you are going to be doing creative writing, and to participate in the assignments yourself, so your students can see what you come up with!

When you put all these elements together, you will be able to train your students in the basics of creative writing, which will lay a foundation for them that will grow into success in the future!

Record All of Your TV Shows in One Place

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When it comes to finding something to watch on television today the options are endless. The choices become endless when you broaden the rage out to cable television. A huge amount of shows that they get hooked on is not uncommon for people to find. The only problem is that with busy lives we may not have the opportunity to stay up to date on all of them. VCRs and recordable DVDs have given us options to record them for later.

These options are unfortunately not very efficient though. The space they can record on is very limited for both. A VCR is by far the worst of the options since you cannot jump from show to show. Instead you will need to watch the tape through or fast forward and guess where to stop. The media is expensive to buy on the DVD even though it doesn't have these same issues. Each DVD also only offers small amounts of space to record on.

TiVo TCD746320 Premiere DVR.

The best option for recording TV shows is a DVR. The DVR does not need to use media in order for them to record shows on it. The shows are recorded onto the device itself instead. A tremendous amount of space is available on DVRs when they are compared to a VCR or a DVD. You can watch at your leisure a bunch of different shows on the DVR. If you wish to record the same show every week you just need to set it for that. The need to set it up for recording every time is eliminated.

Technology that has been left in the past for recording shows should be left there. Instead get a DVR that will allow you to record all of your shows in a very efficient manner. Digital TV is great to pair up with your DVR as well, allowing the DVR to pinpoint shows you want to watch and record them with ease. The solution to all of your recording needs is the DVR.

A Cheaper Way to Enjoy Luxury Coffee

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Many families have cut back on what they consider to be luxuries as a result of the current economic environment. Coffee is one of the most common luxuries and often the most common one eliminated from budgets. Starbucks is a company that is seemingly on every corner. Their coffee is considered to be one of the best by people all over as they become more and more popular. They also realize that many people cannot afford to buy coffee from them daily anymore, so they did their best to accommodate these customers.

One of the ways that they decided to expand their business in order to cater to more customers was to offer their coffee to be brewed at home. Customers can visit any Starbucks location in order to purchase bags of coffee. These bags can then be brought home to be brewed whenever it is convenient. This brought the many customers who had cut back on luxury coffee back into that world since this is an affordable way to enjoy it.

Starbucks Sumatra Coffee Whole Bean 12 Ounce Bags.

One of Starbucks most popular coffee beans is the Sumatra bean. This bean is known for its full bodied quality and syrupy consistency. It isn’t acidic which allows the coffee flavor to hang around on your palate for longer periods. It can also be considered a little bit spicy and herbal which add to its signature earthy taste. All of these qualities work together in order to create the flavor those Starbucks lovers have come to expect in the Sumatra bean.

You can still enjoy daily luxuries in different ways even if you have had to cut back your spending in these specific areas. Starbucks coffee that is bought at the store each day may not be affordable anymore but you can still brew it at home and enjoy it as well. Brew some Sumatra beans today buy picking up a few 12 ounce bags from a store near you!

Taking A Look At Things To Check On Your Car Before A Road Trip

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A road trip, by nature, is often a spontaneous sort of adventure, and even those road trips that have been planned in advance have a tendency to take on this persona, but in spite of the fact that "spontaneity" and "adventure" might be part of the fabric of your road trip, there are still some things you will want to make sure you are planning. If you are taking a fairly new car on a road trip, you will probably be perfectly fine to pack up the car and go, but while this might be the case in a car that is a few years old, it might also not be the case, and for this reason, any car that is a few years old should be checked thoroughly before you leave in it for a road trip.

Safety is the first thing people tend to think of when it comes to "checking a car," but if you are on a road trip, the first thing you will notice is comfort; if your cruise control goes out on you early in the trip, or if your air conditioner stops working, you will not enjoy the drive very much, so get these things checked before you hit the road, and you will avoid any serious discomfort!

Another thing that will help you if you keep it in mind is the fact that some small things might cause your car to get worse gas mileage than it should, and on a road trip, this can make a big difference; make sure your tires are properly inflated before you head out, and make sure your engine is running smoothly, without any hitches or problems.

And of course, safety is definitely a concern when you are taking a road trip, so make sure the oil in your car has been changed before you head out, and have the engine looked over to make sure nothing will happen to it while you are on the road; also, check the lug nuts on the tires, check the safety features, and before you hit the road, make sure your car is prepared to bring you back home in one uninjured piece!

Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist"

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Now that it is summer, one of the things a lot of people will be looking for is a "light, breezy read" that they can pick up when the mood strikes - enjoying the book out by the pool or out in the sun. If you do not do much reading, it can be tough to know exactly what book you should pick up, as there is a seemingly endless pile of options when it comes to books; but one book that you certainly cannot go wrong in reading is Paulo Coelho's masterpiece The Alchemist.

Paulo Coelho is a native of Brazil, and The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese, and while Coelho is fluent in English, he did not translate the work himself; the book was popular when it was published in English, but it especially caught fire when Julia Roberts was photographed reading it, and the book has now been translated into nearly seventy languages and has sold over sixty-five million copies!

The book has also gained its fair share of detractors, especially with how popular it has become; the good news, however - should you read it and become a detractor yourself - is the fact that the book is a short, breezy read that will not rob you of much time or energy.

As Coelho approaches the book with the intention of encouraging people to follow their dreams - and the entire story is wrapped in this idea - lots of people view the book as a "parable" more than as a work of literature. But whether or not The Alchemist is a great piece of "literature" - or is instead just a great "parable" - it has had an inarguable impact on the lives of millions, and if nothing else, it is worth reading for the pure, simple joy that Coelho pours into the story.

Consider picking up a copy of The Alchemist this summer; the worst case scenario is that you fall among the detractors and wish you had not used a few hours of your life on this book; but the upside of reading this book is extreme, as you just might find yourself among those millions who have had their lives changed by this jewel of a book.

Planning A Wedding Guest List

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Unless you have unlimited space at your wedding, one part of the wedding planning process that is usually among the least fun is choosing your guest list, as you will quickly realize that there is not nearly as much space as you thought – or rather, that the people you want to invite take up space a lot more quickly than you would have imagined. And while you might have entered the whirlwind of wedding planning imagining you would easily be able to invite all of your friends, once you realize that you have to account for not only your significant other’s friends, but also for their family and your family as well, it can start to become overwhelming; this is why it is tremendously important that you follow the proper procedure in order to plan your wedding guest list.

Four different lists to be created in order to start to planning of the guest list; the bride-to-be should create a list of her own, the groom should create a list of his own, and both sets of parents should create lists of their own, as this should cover all the bases as far as who might be invited to the wedding.

The second step of the planning of the guest list should bring the people who helped create all four lists together so they can go through the four lists, making sure you (that is, the bride and groom) know who are the most important to attend, and who it might be okay to leave off the list; realize, of course, that each person who makes their list will want most of the people on their list to be able to attend – but sacrifices will certainly have to be made!

In the third step, the bride and groom can come together and start making these sacrifices; without the input of the parents on either side, the bride and groom should begin to pare down the list, deciding who from all four lists is a “must stay,” who is in the middle ground, and who can be cut out completely. Eventually, of course, many of the names on the middle list will also have to be cut out; but this is best done between the bride and groom together, without the help of others — and after much time and lots of effort (and perhaps a few fights!), the final guest list can be presented at last.

Building Believable Characters In Writing

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Many people who are just starting out writing have a tendency to make the mistake of thinking all they need to do in order to write a good story is have a good plot, but in addition to needing a good plot, you must also be able to write well – and perhaps, even more important than writing well, is being able to create characters in your story are absolutely believable. Truly writing believable characters can take a lot of time and practice – as it is not usually something that “just comes naturally” – but as you practice, and as you keep the following tips in mind, you will soon be creating stories full of characters who feel as real as life itself.

Rather than opening the computer and starting to write right away, you should get to know your characters before you begin your story, and one of the best ways to do this is to create character profiles; a character profile is exactly what it sounds like – simply a list of things but the character, such as where they grew up, who their parents are, what their likes and dislikes are, and anything else you can think of that pertains to their personality.

Another great way to begin getting to know your characters, after you've come up with character profiles, is to write flash fiction stories of your characters; flash fiction is short fiction – anywhere from 300 to 500 words – and with these stories, you can start to get your know your characters a little bit better, figuring out how they talk, how they act, and how they will react to different situations.

And perhaps the biggest key of all when it comes to creating believable characters is having patience; you will sometimes have to wait much longer than you thought you would in order to begin writing your story, as it may sometimes take a while to work out all the kinks in your characters. But it will be well worth your time if you make sure you get to know your characters; in time, you will be writing stories with characters who feel real to the reader – which will make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.

Knowing The Basic Supplies You Need For Painting

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You might think that “talent” is one of the basic supplies you need in order to get started painting, but actually – as long as you have the proper supplies for getting started painting – you can have a lot of fun painting (and can even sometimes paint something that is halfway decent!) without any real talent at all! You will be able to sit down (perhaps in the park, with a beret on your head!) and just have fun with the canvas once you have all the things you need in order to get started painting – seeing what comes of your experiment.

The cost of canvases will certainly not break the bank for you, and of course, canvases will be important, as you will need something to paint on; look for canvases that are of a moderate size at first, as it is unlikely you will want to display your early paintings, but you will probably not want to throw them out, either, and smaller canvases will be easier to store.

You will definitely want to make sure the paintbrush set you get gives you plenty of options, as you will have fun experimenting with the effects of different brushes as you get started with your painting; take the time to shop around a bit, and find good deals on great brushes (this great set is only 8 dollars on Amazon).

Of course, before you can actually start painting, you will also need some paint, and if you are a beginner painter, acrylic paints will be the best route for you to go; the Reeves Acrylic Paint Set is a highly-regarded set of acrylic paints, and they are priced extremely reasonably, especially for those who are just getting started with painting!

Once you have these basic supplies in your possession, the only thing you will be missing is some old clothes (which will be necessary, so that you do not ruin any of your good clothes with wet paint!) and a pleasant day when you can go outside and have a bit of fun splashing paint on a canvas!

Make A Homemade Bird Feeder!

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If you have children, one thing they might particularly enjoy is a bird feeder - but while it can be simple and fun to go out and buy a bird feeder, it can often be even more fun to make a bird feeder with your child! There are lots of different ways to make a bird feeder on your own, but here are a few different ways to keep in mind that are both easy and effective!

Orange peel feeder: This is a really fun one, and all you will need is an orange, some peanut butter, and a pile of bird seed. Simply peel the orange in a circular manner - making sure it comes off in a long, circular strand - then coat the inside of the orange peel in peanut butter, sprinkle it with bird seed, and then you can hang it from a good tree branch!

Pine cone feeder: As was the case with the orange peel feeder, the only additional items you will need once you have the pine cone is some peanut butter and some seeds! Hold the pine cone upright and coat it with peanut butter - making sure you get down into all the crevices - then fill it up with bird seed and hang your new "feeder" from a tree!

Paint your own feeder: There are also a number of different options that enable you to buy a fully functional feeder and paint it yourself, which can be a fun way to put up a bird feeder that your child feels has a touch that is uniquely "theirs," without having to make a bird feeder on your own. If you decide that one of these feeders is right for you and your children, make sure you take the time to paint it with them, as it will be a memory that sticks out in their mind every time they look out the window to watch the bird feeder!

Bird feeders can be entertaining and educational - and when you build one yourself, they can also be a whole lot of fun!

Cooking On An Open Fire

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You might not know what you are missing if you haven't ever cooked on an open flame. Cooking over an open fire is both an art form and a technical skill. With the help of some great tools, you can go a long way with it.

Of course you can always stick a bratwurst or a hotdog on a stick and roast it over an open fire, but your options go way beyond this if you are willing to learn a few skills. You will find you have quite a few options with a good set of cast iron pans.

What makes cast iron so great is that they distribute heat evenly when the coals you cook over may be uneven heatwise. It works great for cooking eggs, pancakes, and bacon off of.

You can also wrap your veggies like potatoes and corn on the cob (still in the husk) in aluminum foil directly in the hot coals. After you finish cooking your steak, you can pull out the veggies to go along with it. We loved using the cast iron sandwich makers as kids to make hot pie filled treat, grilled cheese, etc.

You can use what ever filling you want and simply place a piece of buttered breat on either side of the cast iron. The sandwich maker is then closed and heated over the fire to the desired doneness. This can really make for some great eats.

A rotisserie and grill grate is also a handy tool to cook on. You can run a rotisserie by hand along with providing a grill grate to cook on. Making a wonderful roasted chicken. Nothing will impress your neighboring campers more then you being able to cook an entire chicken over an open fire.

Painting A Landscape

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One of the aspects of painting that tends to really appeal to people who are just starting out is the idea of landscape painting. And while there are many aspects of the technicalities of landscape painting that are similar to any other painting, there are also a number of differences. You need to make sure you take some time to study if you want to learn the points about landscape painting that will help you to get to where you want to be.

One of the big aspects of landscape painting will be speed, as you will need to be able to paint a lot of things in a short time. After all, there is nothing terribly wrong with painting a landscape from memory or from a photograph beside you, but in order to truly capture the beauty you want to capture, you need to paint outside - with the landscape right in front of you.

When it comes to painting an entire landscape quickly, it does not necessarily mean you have to be able to paint every detail quickly. Really, this simply means that you need to learn how to capture the essence of an entire landscape - without even painting all the details at all!

Even when it comes to paintings that look incredibly detailed from far away, most of them actually have very little in the way of detail when you look at them up close. What the artist has done is, they have learned how to convey a certain aspect of landscape using a simple technique. The more techniques you learn - and the more you practice - the faster you will become at being able to use these techniques to capture a landscape.

The work of Bob Ross is probably the best place of all to go in order to find materials on techniques that will help you to effectively paint a landscape. Ross wrote a number of books - and even had a number of videos - in which he gave you simple instructions on everything you need!

When you are able to get outside and paint a landscape, it can be extremely relaxing; and once you are able to paint a landscape well, it can also be rewarding!

How To Make Your Fantasy Football Message Board Fun

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For some people, simply playing fantasy football will be enough for them to enjoy it, as they will not really care what league they are playing in or who else is in their league, as long as they are getting to play fantasy football, but for others, the thing that will make fantasy football especially fun is the camaraderie built through interacting with and competing against a group of their close friends. One of the best ways to promote "interaction and competition" in fantasy football is to get the guys in the league to all participate in the message board together - but if you are wanting to get all the guys to participate in the message board, it will be important for you to realize that it will not happen naturally, unless you know how to promote such interaction.

If you want to get message board banter and participation going, the most obvious approach is to start different discussion threads each week; these discussion threads can be related to the league, to football in general, or to fantasy football, just so long as you can come up with something that others will enjoy chiming in about.

Posting "Power Rankings" on the message board each week is another great idea; post these Power Rankings in the same way such sites as ESPN do, giving each team's ranking in order, and giving a humorous or clever reason behind your having ranked them in that particular position.

And because of the huge role that statistics play in fantasy football, one thing that is a lot of fun is to explore some statistics in your message board posts - but rather than simply exploring stats that relate directly to fantasy football, you should also explore stats that relate to your league specifically, as you just might find that this creates the most discussion and banter of all!

Of course, even without these things you can have fun with fantasy football, but if you have a fantasy football league with people you are close to, it can become a whole lot more fun if everyone participates in weekly message board banter.

Maximizing Your Use Of Amazon Author Central

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One of the most important things for you to do after you have finished writing a book is for you to successfully market the book - after all, marketing the book will enable people to know that the book exists, and if people do not know a book exists, they will never be able to take the step of purchasing it! There are plenty of ways to go about getting the word out about your book, but considering that Amazon is one of the places where people visit most frequently, one of the best places for you to focus your attention is also on Amazon - using Amazon Author Central.

People are likely to look at the "reader reviews" when they look at a book on Amazon, but they are also likely to look at the reviews posted in the "Editorial Reviews" section; this is the section where you can take great snippets from official reviews of your book, posting them on the Amazon page of your book in order to encourage readers to make that leap toward purchasing your work.

You will also find that many Amazon pages have strange characters and formatting in the description of the book, due to the manner in which certain fonts translate onto the Amazon web page; in Amazon Author Central, you can change the description so that these odd characters do not show up.

Also, people will be able to click on the author's name, and be taken to the author's "Home Page" on Amazon, if the author uses Amazon Author Central; on this page, you can link to your blog and your Twitter, and you can even write a letter to readers - which provides you with a great way to share your thoughts on the book with prospective readers.

Amazon Author Central is just one of the things you can do in order to get the word out about your book, but it is a big thing, as Amazon is one of the most visited sites on the internet, and being in control of what readers see when they visit Amazon is certainly no bad thing!

Make Your Own Pizza & Ice Cream

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Looking for a good idea for your next summer part, try making homemade pizza and ice cream. This fun idea is a great way to really get your kids interested in making their own food. Most kids love piza and ice cream, and this can make for a great way to combine both.

Making homemade pizza doesn’t mean you necessarily have to make everything from scratch. Many companies have been making premade crusts like Mama Marys wholewheat pizza crust. There are also a number of different pizza sauces that are easily available in stores, usually found by the spaghetti sauces. This is where you can really have fun. Chop up the pepperoni, onions, bell peppers, black olives, mozzarella cheese, pineapple or anything else you think your kids might enjoy. Typically they bake within 15 to 20 minutes depending on the oven and the amount of stuff they put onto the pizza.

You can make your own ice cream by using an electric ice cream maker or using an old fashioned turn crank ice cream maker The old fashion crank ice cream maker can be very fun because everyone can take a turn making the sweet treat. If you stock up on fun additions to the ice cream to allow everyone to make their own ice cream. Some fun additions include gummy bears, mint chocolate pieces, chocolate syrup, nuts, and caramel. The list doesn't stop there, it is only limited by your creativity.

This is a great way to motivate your kids into learning how their food is made. Children from kindergarten up can really get a kick out of doing this.

Tips For Making Money With Your Camera

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If taking pictures is something you enjoy doing, you should be aware of the fact that it is entirely possible to make a living with photography; making money with your photography is a great way to bring in some extra cash and even eventually, perhaps, to even have a career doing a hobby that you enjoy - and even if you do not make much money at all, making a little bit of money with your photography will at least be a good excuse for you to have that expensive camera you have been wanting!

When you want to make money with your photography, the first step will be investing a little bit of money in books and even lessons that will help you to find out everything you need to know about your camera, your camera's settings, and taking pictures in general; this extra knowledge will go a long way in making your pictures better than they could possibly be if you only knew how to point and click.

Taking pictures of others and having them pay you to take these pictures is a great way to make money with your camera; you can go about doing this by taking pictures for people's weddings, by taking engagement pictures of couples, by taking senior pictures, by taking family pictures, or even by taking pictures of people's babies!

And if taking pictures for others does not especially interest you, and you are instead looking to make money off the pictures you are already taking on your own, you should realize that this is a tougher path to take, but that it is certainly doable if you start getting creative; selling your pictures as stock photos is one great way to make money with them, as people can pay to use your pictures their websites and blogs, and another great idea is to talk to your local coffee shop, finding out if they would like to host an exhibition of your pictures, through which you can make your pictures available for purchase as well.

As you start to look for ways to make money with your camera, you are more likely to come across more ideas - and somewhere down the road, you may even find that you are able to make a living, doing something you love!

Knowing How To Buy Used Books Online That Are In Good Shape

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While book shopping is fun, it is also expensive - and this can be difficult for anyone who enjoys reading, and you probably enjoy shopping for books too! Because of how pricey new books can be, many people turn to online retailers, where they can find a large selection of used books at great prices. There is only one problem with purchasing books online, however, that is the fact that you never can tell what sort of shape these books will be in! Follow these tips, however, and you can shop for used books on Amazon with confidence, knowing that you won't have to worry about the shape the books are in.

The first thing to pay attention to, when it comes to used books on Amazon, is the seller's rating. This will give you a good indication as to the sort of condition you can expect their books to be in; after all, you probably won't get good books from someone with a bad rating!

You also need to pay attention to the description of the item, lest something end up slipping by you unnoticed. For instance, you might receive a book with lots of writing inside it - and when you go back and look at the description, you will find that it mentioned this!

Purchasing hardcover copies is the best way to get used books that are likely to still be in good shape. Hardcover books are usually better used books, as they are more durable and therefore remain in good shape for a much longer span of time. But you still need to pay attention to the descriptions; many used hardcover books are ex-library books, and these can be more tattered. You can usually get great deals on good-looking hardcover books, especially if you do your best to avoid ex-library books and if you do not mind a hardcover book that no longer has a dust jacket.

In the end, you can never be 100% positive that a used book you buy online will be in the condition you are hoping for. But you can maximize the chances that the used books you buy on Amazon will look great if you take these simple steps.

Thinking Up Ideas As A Writer

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A lot of people have a concept of what "being a writer" would be like, and they envision someone who is able to sit in a comfortable room all day and do no work at all - but if you have ever made an effort yourself to start writing, you have surely realized that there is a bit more to writing than this, and one of the toughest things of all (through all the mental olympics a writer's mind must endure) is constantly coming up with ideas!

In order to come up with ideas as a writer, the first thing you should make sure you are doing is sitting down on a daily basis to write, even when you do not feel like it; you surely have another job or other responsibilities in addition to writing if you are just starting out as a writer, but this discipline of making writing of tantamount importance and of sitting down daily will go a long way in helping your ideas flow freely.

Another great way to develop ideas as a writer is to spend time around people; many writers end up finding themselves closed off from the world, existing more in their imagination than they exist in real life, but when you take the time to be around people - watching them and allowing them to inspire you - you will grow to understand them more and more, and you will be able to write about them more and more freely.

And lastly, one thing that is especially tough when it comes to coming up with ideas as a writer, but that is certainly among the most important, is that you learn to allow ideas to come to you; too many people try to force ideas, without realizing that sometimes the best ideas will come to you when you simply let go and allow them to saturate your mind.

There is no "formula" for coming up with ideas as a writer (just as there is no formula for the act of writing itself!), but when you follow these tips, you will put yourself in a much better position to constantly come up with ideas as a writer.

What Is The Best Sports Camera?

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While the GoPro is the world's best selling wearable HD camera for sports, this does not necessarily answer the question of whether they are also the best. Of course, before this question can even be answered, we first have to make sure we know exactly what the GoPro aims to be.

The GoPro  is an HD video camera, but it is also much more than that; it is an HD video camera designed to be used while doing things such as hiking, skiing, surfing, skydiving, and everything in between.

The GoPro cameras come with special mounts that are intended to be used for different activities; for instance, there is a helmet mount for bicycle sports, and there is a special mount for skiing, in case you want to strap the GoPro onto one of your poles. The GoPro even has a special camera and mount designed for motor sports, if - for instance - you wanted to strap a GoPro to the front of a race car.

Before the GoPro can be compared to other comparable products, there are two questions that must first be answered about the GoPro. The first question is whether the GoPro actually works without getting damaged; the second question is whether the video taken by the GoPro is any good.

Considering its small size, the GoPro is an amazingly sturdy device; skiers have found that they can take big spills without hurting the camera, and surfers even find that the waterproof case truly is waterproof! As for the second question, the purported "HD quality" of the videos that the GoPro takes is more than just sales speak; the tiny little camera truly does take incredible HD footage.

As the GoPro truly does take incredibly high-quality video with a sturdy, durable design, the question can now be answered: Is it the best sports camera available? The answer to the question, quite frankly, is that it is not even close; the main competition for the GoPro is the clunkier CountourHD and the clunkier and more expensive Drift HD170, each of which fall short of the GoPro design. And what's more, neither of the GoPro's main competitors offer as many accessories or take video with clarity to match the GoPro; truly, the GoPro is in a class of its own!

Getting Along With New People

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Getting along with new people will be very natural for you if you are a "people person," and you will not have to keep anything specific in mind in order to ensure that the goal of getting along with people becomes a reality, but if you are not especially a people person, or if you are not around new people all that frequently, it will be helpful for you to know a few things you should keep in mind in order to get along with new people.

Simply being friendly is probably the biggest thing of all when it comes to trying to get along with new people; people who are “not a people person” have a tendency to start out disliking a person before eventually changing their mind, but a much better approach is to decide that you like people first – only changing your mind to “dislike them” if they have done something specific to cause you to feel this way.

After you have decided to be friendly and “like everybody at first,” the next thing for you to make sure you are doing is asking questions. When you ask other people questions, you will be showing an interest in them, and this will not only make your time with them more enjoyable for you, but it will also make it more enjoyable for the other person; and of course, once you have asked questions of the other person, you will also need to make sure that you are taking the next step of listening to the person's answers as well!

Even though these things might seem on the surface as if they are terribly simple, making sure you are doing them will go a long way in helping you to get along with new people – and when you get along with new people that you meet, each new situation you find yourself in will be that much more enjoyable.

A Great Read for Companies Looking to Make the Leap

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Many people who are running their own businesses want to maximize its potential. This is easier said than done. These businesses are often very successful on a level of smaller competition than they could face. So how does one of these moderately successful businesses make themselves one of the best around? Following the advice of those who have done it already is the best way for these companies to do so. One of the best places to get this advice is through a book written by a business success expert.

Jim Collins wrote about his findings on business success in Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't. He then went on a quest to determine what steps needed to be taken. The first thing he realized is that there are no fast tracks to the top. Instead he realized that the companies he chose to focus on all had one thing in common. The corporate model they all followed was exemplified by the employees they built around.

Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Dont.

The companies Collins focused on all had their focuses in the same place regarding their corporate model. They all stressed that responsible decision making was more important than anything else. None of them made the leap because of reasons many think are the most important. The best business strategy, best products, or best technology were not needed by these companies. Focusing on corporate values that they held dear to their heart and then building around them was the best strategy.

So if you are looking to take your business from good to great you would be doing yourself a great service by reading Jim Collins book. The book was written after years of research and they allowed him to include many specific examples. These examples detail stories of greatness and also of those that are not so great. This allows the reader to get both positive examples and negative examples in order to compare what they are currently doing in their company.

Keeping Your Pool Cool In The Summer

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

With how hot this summer has been so far, one thing that is always nice is to be able to jump into a cool pool to escape the heat for a bit - but also, with how hot this summer has been so far, one big problem a lot of people are dealing with is the fact that their pool is no longer all that cool or refreshing anymore! If you have a pool that spends a large portion of the day in the sun, you will probably find that you are stuck with a pool that is so hot by late July that it is no longer fun or refreshing to swim in, and for this reason, it is great to have an idea of ways to keep your pool cool during the summer.

Even before you hit the heat of summer, you will want to start keeping your pool cool, as one thing that will go a long way in helping you is that you do not heat the pool when the weather is still cooler; even though this will force you to have to wait a bit longer before you can swim, it will also provide you with a cool pool for a couple more weeks during the heat of the summer.

You should also consider planting bushes and trees around the perimeter of the pool so that they can provide shade over the water; of course, this will not be a short-term solution, as the best you will be able to do at first is block the shade for the latter part of the day, but in time, you can get this shade to grow until it keeps your pool from getting so scorched by the sun.

And with the heat being what it has been this summer, you are probably finding that the water in your pool is evaporating quickly, forcing you to fill it up all the time; when you fill up your pool, wait until right before you swim, as this cooler water coming into the pool will make a big difference in your level of enjoyment!

Keeping Your Garage Organized

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Lots of people turn their garage into a storage space, which causes them to quickly run out of room – and this leaves them with a garage that has no room for their cars, or even for anything else that they would like to keep in there. If you are already using your garage for storage, it might be quite an undertaking to clear out all that storage and to start over, but if you are moving into a new house, it will be quite easy to make sure you are keeping space open in your garage – enabling yourself to actually use it!

Deciding how many cars you want parked in your garage is the first thing you will want to do in order to make sure you have enough space; if you only have one car, or if you are only wanting to park one car in your garage, you will have a bit more space to work with – but if you are wanting to park two cars in your garage, keep this in mind as you decide how to use the rest of your garage space.

The next most important thing when you are setting up your garage is that you make space for the things that truly belong in your garage; these things include power tools (as well as space for more power tools to be added), your lawn mower, and any toys or games that your children frequently used in the front yard.

And you will know how much space you have left to work with for storage after you have made sure you have room for the number of cars you want to store in your garage, and for the things that actually belong in your garage. Use this space wisely, stacking things in such a manner that you optimize the space you have, and always realize that there is a chance you are keeping more stuff than you really need – and that you can free up space not only in your garage, but also in the rest of your house, by getting rid of anything that is “extra”!

Tips For Becoming Better At Putting

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you want to improve your golf game, one of the biggest aspects will be becoming good at putting (after all, you are unlikely to hit as low a score as you are hoping to hit if you cannot get the ball from the green to the hole!), but despite its obvious importance, putting is also one of the things that people tend to spend the least amount of time focused on. Smashing a drive that goes three hundred yards is certainly more glamorous than being able to consistently sink a thirty foot putt, but sinking these putts without any problem will be one of the biggest pieces of piecing together your golf game.

When you watch golf on television, you will see the golfers examining the green before they make a putt, and while many who go out on the golf course for fun try to do the same thing, they still end up aiming for the hole itself when they actually putt the ball; after you have examined the green and determined the break, forget about the hole completely, and simply aim for the spot you have determined you need to aim for!

A lot of golfers also make the mistake of focusing on the ball, instead of focusing on their swing; practice swinging your putter on a perfect pendulum both with and without a ball, and you will always be able to hit the ball in the direction you want it to go.

An indoor putting green such as the Grassroots Par Three is a great way to practice.

And finally, being relaxed will be extremely important; a tense golfer is a poor golfer, and since one of the main reasons you are getting out on the golf course on the weekend is in order to relax, it should be no problem at all for you to accomplish this simple, important step!

Once you follow these tips, you will be able to start seeing improvement in your short game, and this will make those “relaxing” mornings on the golf course a lot more relaxing, and a lot more fun!

Listen to Audio Books Instead of Reading

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Most of us are so busy today that we don’t have time to sit down and enjoy a good book. Commutes are increasing in time and the few hours we would normally have at night are taken up by driving. Still good books shouldn't be taken away from these types of people. A great way to fill up the time during these commutes is to listen to some audio books. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a great series that is available on audio books that you could get into.

Stephen King started writing the first of the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, early in his career. When he released it his fans absolutely adored the story of Roland. It took an enormous amount of time to write the seven different entries into the Dark Tower series. Different books in the Dark Tower series sometimes would be written five years apart from each other.

Now the entire series is available and finished by King. There won't be time spend waiting for the next installment of the series to be written. Audio book format has also been given to each of them. Roland is the main character in this series and it details his quest to travel all the way to the Dark Tower. All power and understanding in the universe emits from the Dark Tower. Evil has taken control of the tower and Roland wants to get their to destroy it.

Roland takes his companions with him on the journey through these worlds. The team is comprised of members that have special skills and unique short comings. The reader is brought close to each character through their difficult situations. A raw human element is visible in every book. The grow stronger than ever as they journey together across many worlds.

The Dark Tower Series is a story that you will become addicted to as soon as you begin listening to it. You will enjoy every moment of the journey you will be on over the time you listen to the books. So don’t waste your drive home listening to the same three songs on loop on the radio. Give your mind a work out with the audio book series of Stephen King.

The Gunslinger The Dark Tower I

How To Find Good Restaurants In A Tourist Town

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you are on vacation in a tourist town – either somewhere in the mountains, somewhere on the beach, or even somewhere out of the country – you will find that it is a great deal of fun to get a taste of the local flavor by exploring the restaurants in the area. Unless you are going out to eat every night, however (or even a couple times a day all throughout your vacation), you will not exactly be able to explore every restaurant – which means that making sure you know how to pick the right restaurants in a tourist town will be extremely important so that you can get the most out of your meals.

There are two things that many tourists start to look for when they are searching for a restaurant in a tourist town: the first thing is the location of the restaurant, and the second thing is how busy the restaurant is. But due to the fact that the restaurants with the best locations often attract a lot of tourists – as these tourists assume that this restaurant must be the best – these restaurants are usually full, which causes more tourists to go there (thus perpetuating the cycle!), but this does not necessarily mean that these are the best restaurants, so make sure you are not just looking at location and busyness if you are searching for a restaurant in a tourist town.

Finding out what each restaurant's specialty is will be one of the keys to finding a good restaurant in a tourist town; although some of these restaurants might not have great food across the board, most of them will do a very good job with their specialty, so understanding what each restaurant's specialty is will give you a better idea of what they probably do well.

And of course, when you are in a tourist town, the best source for finding out the best restaurants is those who actually live in the town; talk to the locals who live around you, and search online on sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor, and you will be able to get a really good idea of which restaurants are the best ones to try out!

Thinking Toward Your Children's Futures

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

There will be lots of things you will need to keep in mind when you are a parent, as you will still have your normal responsibilities of work and relationships, all on top of the responsibilities of raising your children; but even beyond these present obligations and responsibilities, there are things down the road that you will want to build toward. While this truth pertains to both your personal life and your life as it pertains to others, perhaps the area where this is most true is in the future you are helping your children build; there will come a time when you will no longer have a big say in what your children do or where your children go in life, but when you take the right steps now, you will be able to do a lot to dictate what your children's futures are like!

For many parents, the area where they are most aware of this is with college, but what most people do not realize is that it is just as important that they help their child prepare for college as it is that they help their child be able to pay for college. In addition to saving money for your child's college, you should start preparing them for their standardized tests and their college applications early on, as this will go a long way in helping them get into the eventual school of their dreams.

As far as things go with money, one of the best things you can do for your children is teach them how to be good with money on their own; in addition to helping your children learn how to take care of their money, you can also help your children get started – setting up investments for them when they are young so that this money will be waiting for them when they are old enough to take control of it!

And of course, every parent wants children who are well-rounded and built to thrive in life; as a parent, you need to realize that this is not something that “just happens,” but that it is something you will have to build toward by focusing on the little things now that will help your child grow into who you want them to be in the future!

Tips For Personal Finance: Study Before Investing

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Although there are plenty of people who make good money in the stock market, there are also plenty of people who lose good money! After all, you can only buy a stock if someone else is selling it. And when someone has decided to sell the stock, they are either making the right choice or the wrong choice. When investing, this is the single most important thing to keep in the front of your mind, the fact that you are able to buy because someone else has chosen to sell. If you want to make money in the stock market, you need to understand how important it is to research.

One problem that many people make, when they invest on their own, is that they jump in with two feet right away. They end up learning from their own mistakes as they put all their money out there at risk. It is, of course, good to learn from your mistakes when you make them, but when it comes to investing, you might not end up with any money left if your sole strategy is to learn from your mistakes! Pleny of online investing sites allow you to practice investing by using fake money in real stocks, which allows you to see how your money would do if it were real. In using such tools, you can begin to understand the mistakes you make and the things you do right.

Also, you have to realize that you cannot be afraid to ask questions. Contrary to the way some people feel, asking questions is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. The knowledge and wisdom of others is the best way for you to learn things yourself. By asking questions, you can begin to understand all the ways that you can do things differently yourself.

You also have to make sure you realize that the stock market does take time. When you go with a "get rick quick" stock, it is just as likely that you will become poor quickly! If you truly want to watch your money grow, you need to do research and find solid stocks that can carry you for a long time.

It is not difficult to make money in the stock market, if you take the time to learn. But you do have to make sure you take the time to learn, unless you want your financial future to depend on nothing but luck!

Tips For Helping A Puppy Acclimate To Its New Home

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

You will probably be so enraptured by how cute and lovable a new puppy is when you add it to your home that you will become numb to the fact that it is also important for you to help the puppy acclimate itself properly to its new home; while making the puppy feel comfortable and safe is part of helping your puppy acclimate itself, another part of helping a puppy acclimate itself will have to do with making sure this puppy will grow up into an obedient and enjoyable dog!

When you are bringing a puppy into your home, the first thing you should do is make them feel as comfortable, as safe, and as secure as you can; be aware of the fact that a puppy has a need for a safe, loving, and nurturing environment, so shower this puppy with love and affection while doing everything you can to ensure that the puppy is comfy and safe.

Of course, the easiest part of all is loving on the puppy and keeping it comfortable and safe, but  one step that is a bit harder - but that is just as important - is that you also start training the puppy and setting boundaries; you will want to do this while still continuing to express love and communicate safety to the puppy, but keep a firm hand as well, realizing that a puppy will naturally try to push the boundaries, and you will have a mess on your hands down the road if you allow your puppy to do this now!

And you will want to get your puppy exercise from an early age in order to help them acclimate; most people think of physical exercise when they think of "exercise," but while physical exercise is part of the prescription for helping your puppy acclimate, you will also want to make sure your puppy gets mental and social exercise as well, as this will help them grow into a well-adjusted adult.

When you bring a new puppy home and try to help them acclimate to your home, there will be a steep learning curve, but the learning curve will be a whole lot easier for you and your family to endure as you keep these tips in mind.

How To Have A Perfect Pool Day

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you grew up with a pool in your backyard, you probably remember it being a whole lot more fun than your pool is now, and while part of this is because seeing the world through a child's eyes makes everything seem more fun, another part of this is because you are probably not doing everything you can to get the most out of your pool! If you think back to the time when you spent days at the pool as a child, you will realize that there used to be entire "pool days," where you would sit by the pool from the time the sun came up until after the sun went down, enjoying an entire fun, relaxing day - and if you have ever felt like it would be nice to unwind a bit and capture some fun, a pool day might be just the thing you need!

Making sure that you do not have a "plan" for the day, but rather, that you have your entire schedule clear, is the first step to having a successful pool day; you should be ready to go with the flow - no matter where that flow leads you! When your designated "pool day" arrives, get up relatively early, and get out beside the pool even before the sun has reached its highest point in the sky.

If you want to have a perfect pool day, it will not really have nothing to do with "swimming all day" (or even with "being in the sun all day"), but will instead have more to do with the fact that you will get the most enjoyment out of the day if you spend the day outside around the pool, perhaps taking a break to go get ice cream, or taking a break for a movie in the afternoon before heading back out to the pool, but all-in-all, doing what you can to relax outside and not worry about anything else. As you are probably used to a much more fast-paced life, you may even find this difficult at first - but once you settle in, you will be able to enjoy your pool day to its fullest, capturing the fun you used to have as a child!

Raising Butterflies

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you have grade school aged children, raising butterflies can be a great experience. Monarchs make for one of the most ideal to raise at home. This can be a great hands on experience for them. You can teach and show them the different life stages of the butterfly.

The first thing you really should do is purchase a book about monarchs this will help your children begin to understand their life cycle. Monarchs use common milkweed as a food source, along with laying their eggs on them. Planting milkweed in a butterfly garden is a great way to get some monarch eggs. Monarchs generally lay their eggs, whcih look like tiny white footballs, on the bottom of milkweed leaves. Then you simply clip the leaf the egg is attached to with a scissors. Once you have clipped the leaf, put it into a Tupperware container.

Now this is a good temporary home for your egg. It wont take long before they hatch and turn into tiny caterpillars. The caterpillar will need new milkweed leaves every couple of days. Make sure to remove old leaves, since they will mold before too long. A butterfly net house is a great place to move your caterpiller as it begins to grow. These are idea for housing your caterpillars as they turn into butterflies. Just make sure that when you open the top you are very careful of any chrysalis that may on the top.

A Monarch chrysalis is a bright green and will remain this color until right before the butterfly immerges. About 24 to 48 hours before it is ready to immerge, it will turn clear, allowing you to see the monarch's wings. If you want to learn more about attracting butterflies to your home, along with housing them, the butterfly book is a great resource. This can be a great learning resource for your children.

Tips For Getting Started Writing A Novel

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

For anyone who has ever had a desire to write a novel, one of the hardest parts can actually be just knowing where to start. And while you might hear people say, "Just sit down and write," this is not always the best way to get started. After all - if you actually dream of getting this novel published - you will need the story to have more continuity than something can have if you "just sit down and write."

Of course, the first thing you need - even before you start writing your novel - is the seed of an idea. The idea does not need to be fully-developed or even complete when you get started, but it needs to be in place, as it will be your launch point. It will be time to start populating the story with fully-developed characters after you have come up with the seed of the idea. This is one of the most important steps, as you can turn a mediocre story into a great story with three-dimensional characters, and you can turn a good story into a great story! Plus, you will enjoy the work on the project - the daily writing - that much more if you are working every day with characters you truly enjoy.

Having all these elements in place will be an indication that you are ready to start the story; this does not, however, mean you are necessarily ready to start writing. Sometimes, to "start the story" means nothing more than to start figuring out exactly where you will go with it next. The story might actually feel too stilted if you plan it all out from the start, so this is not necessary - but you should begin with a general idea. And as you start to move through the writing, you should make sure you keep this "general idea" flexible, so it can change as necessary. In this way, you will be able to let the story take you forward, instead of trying to direct the whole thing yourself!

It can be an immensely rewarding experience, when you write a novel - and you will be that much closer to completing it well once you know how to get started properly!

Idea Walks

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

No matter what sort of life you lead or what sort of job you have, there is a good chance you sometimes find yourself "stuck" on an idea or issue - regardless of whether it is something that has to do with work, your family, your personal life, or any number of other things. And while different people all have different approaches that tend to help them get "unstuck" at such times, one thing that seems to work for people across the board is spending a bit of time alone and taking a walk in order to "get over the hump" - and if you have ever found that such "Idea Walks" work well for you (or if you would like to find out whether an Idea Walk would work well for you), here are a few great approaches to try.

Morning Idea Walk: If you are taking an Idea Walk in the morning, the best way to do it is to get outside around the same time the sun is coming up; try to make sure your walk leads you to a place where you can see the sun coming up over a scenic setting.

Afternoon Idea Walk: Because there is so much "hustle and bustle" in the world in the middle of the afternoon, it can be more difficult to find a quiet place for an afternoon Idea Walk; your aims for an afternoon Idea Walk should be to find a place that is shaded, quiet, and cool.

Evening Idea Walk: The evening is the best time to take an Idea Walk in an area that has other people around, as most of the people around will be unwinding from their day; find a subdued park or a neighborhood that is relatively quiet, and enjoy some pleasant walking and thinking.

Each person tends to find that there are a few unique specifics that help them to get "unstuck," but the Idea Walk ends up being one of the best approaches for most people - and you certainly cannot go wrong with trying it!

Tips For Getting What You Want Out Of Your Wedding Photos

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

In time, you will realize that your wedding photos are some of the most important photos of your life, as your wedding album will become a tremendous keepsake for you and your spouse – something the two of you can look back on and enjoy for years and years – but in spite of how important the wedding pictures are, many people go about selecting a wedding photographer in the wrong way. If you are currently planning a wedding and are looking for a photographer, here are a few important tips for you to keep in mind in order to ensure that you get the most out of your wedding pictures.

The first thing you need to know is what you want your wedding pictures to look like, as there are all sorts of different styles when it comes to wedding photography; rather than simply selecting a wedding photographer based on the what will get you the best price, take the time to browse the websites of different wedding photographers, and select one based on who you think will do the best job giving you the sorts of pictures you want.

As you get closer to the wedding, make sure you meet with the photographer at some point, getting a feel for their approach, and making sure you let them know some of the specific things you want them to make sure they do and make sure they get.

And perhaps the most difficult step of all (but also perhaps the most important) is that – when the wedding day comes – you allow your photographer to be in control; it is easy for a bride or groom to become concerned and want to monitor the photographer, but as long as you have followed the first two steps, you can rest assured, knowing that the photographer you chose to hire will get everything you need as long as you allow them to work!

By following these tips, you will end up with a wedding photographer who knows exactly what you want, and who will have no problem delivering on what you want when the wedding has come to an end.

A Way to Still Enjoy the NFL This Upcoming Season

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

The lockout in the NFL is still dragging along with little progress, so this upcoming fall we may not have a football season. Players and owners are arguing over many different points without any conclusion so far. Neither side seems to want to make any concessions even though billions of dollars are on the line for both of them. This means that fans across the country may be left with Sundays that are very empty this fall. Fantasy football, Monday night football, and live games in stadiums are all activities that may fall victim.

Thankfully though video games will still allow us to enjoy football this season. Madden NFL 12 has come out and is the newest game to date from the John Madden franchise. There are new features to enjoy and updated graphics as well since every new Madden game delivers them. The rosters are also updated with rookies and trades inserted appropriately. If drastic player movement occurs due to the end of a lockout, internet connections on each system can be used to download update rosters for all the teams. Roster updates throughout the season are usually delivered by the Madden franchise.

What really stands out from the new features are two important changes. Madden NFL Ultimate Team is a feature that combines many different aspects of football that fans love. Trading cards, fantasy football, and video game play are all combined to deliver a unique experience to the new edition. New this year is another feature called Dynamic Player Performance. Dependent upon your player’s performance each game, you will see a difference in them. Their confidence levels and their skills will adjust according to the successes and failures they have.

No football this year isn't a certainty just because the NFL is in the midst of a lockout. The football season can still be enjoyed thanks to the new Madden NFL 12. Play games on your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 this upcoming season instead of just watching the games on Sundays.

Madden NFL 12.

Ending An Argument Without Allowing It To Carry Over

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

Very few people actually “enjoy” getting in an argument, but even though you might not especially want to get in an argument, the truth of the matter is that arguments are often unavoidable; of course, understanding how to resolve an argument when it arises is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal, but just as valuable as this (and something people think of far less often) is knowing how to move on from the argument itself without allowing it to carry over into the rest of your day.

The first step to being able to move on from an argument is being able to make amends with the person who you were arguing with; sometimes, this can be easier than other times, but regardless of how the argument ends or who you feel was “right,” making amends with the other person will go a long way in putting the argument completely to rest.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should do your best to put the argument completely out of mind after it has ended; this is often easier said than done, but when you make a conscious effort to put the argument out of mind, you will soon be able to move on from it completely without allowing it to carry over into the rest of your day.

And finally, perhaps the biggest key of all when it comes to trying to move on from an argument is that you point yourself in the opposite direction, and the best way to do this is to go out and do something “fun" after the argument has ended; by doing this, you will be able to point yourself in the opposite direction, removing yourself as far from the argument as possible!

Even though you may want to avoid arguments, you should also realize that they are inevitable; but by being sure to follow these tips and tricks, you will have a much easier time moving on from these arguments when they occur, without allowing them to carry over into and ruin the rest of your day!

Writing The First Draft Of A Novel

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

A lot of people imagine it would be lots of fun to write a novel, but while they might have a great idea for a novel, and while they might even have moderately good (or even very good) writing skills, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly how to get started; of course, there is no right or wrong way to get started, as long as you are able to finish in the end, but there are certain things that anyone would be well-served to keep in mind in starting a novel, as these are some things that tend to work for anyone who chooses to put them to use!

The first steps to writing a novel will be coming up with a general idea for the story, and coming up with the characters who will populate the story; you do not have to come up with a blow-by-blow rundown of everything that will happen in the story, but rather, come up with a simple outline of what you expect to happen, then insert the characters you have created and see where they take the story!

Consistency will be the next step to writing a novel, and this means setting a certain amount of time you expect to write each day, and even setting a time of day during which you will tackle this "certain amount of writing"; in theory, this part is easy, but keeping up with this writing every day is one of the most difficult parts of the process - and all the while, it is also one of the most important!

And a lot of people face the problem of overanalyzing things as they move through the first draft, always asking if the writing is good enough, or if the story is good enough, or if everything is polished enough. But it is important for you to realize that at the end of the first draft's completion, you will end up spending far more time editing the manuscript than you spent writing it, and during that time you will be able to clean up everything that requires cleaning up - but the hardest part of all is simply getting the story down on paper, so do not worry about how polished it is, but instead, just keep drumming away on it every single day!