The Refresh Orlando Heirs

Hi there. Looking for conversation tips, are you?

Conversations can be hard work. First you have to break the ice, then you have to try to keep the conversation going, and then you have to try to make an exit that’s not awkward. Here are some tips that may help you make the process run smoothly.

First you need to break the ice with a conversation starter. Try commenting on something you and the other person both have in common, like the place you’re at. You could also comment on what the other person is reading, eating, etc. “Hi. Is that a cabbage smoothie you’re drinking?” Of course, once you start a conversation, you want a way to continue it.

Questions are great for conversation. Get the other person to talk by asking questions such as “What do you like to do for fun?” If he/ she gives only short, one-word answers, ask a question like “And why is that?” or “Like what?” or “In what way?” to keep the conversation going. Don’t ask questions that are hard to answer or a little too personal. Listen to what the other person has to say so you can ask questions about what he/ she is talking about. If there is a long awkward pause, you can break the silence by using something the other person was talking about.

Once you run out of things to talk about, and the usual questions like “What do you do for work?” stop working, try asking something unusual, like “What would you do if you were rich?” You can find more unusual conversation topics at www.contopics.com . Try to keep the conversation fun and interesting by using unusual topics.

Use body language. Lean forward to look like you’re interested. Watch the other person’s body language. If he/ she looks bored or disinterested, maybe it’s time to change the subject.

If you use compliments, be careful. Don’t draw attention to the person’s physical appearance, like his/her hair or eyes. That makes people uncomfortable. It’s better to compliment his/her clothes or house or car or job title. It might be better not to give compliments at all.

Dont annoy the other person by interrupting. Just follow the rhythm of conversation and wait until the person finishes making his/her point before you start making yours. And don’t ramble on and on about stuff that only you might be interested in. Don’t over-dominate the conversation, let the other person have his/her turn to speak.

When the conversation winds down, you can make a graceful exit by saying, “Well, it’s been good talking with you. I going to go and do such and such…”

Well, its been good chatting with you. I’m going to go talk to some people now. Later.

About the Author: By Jesse Edwards, author of 100 Highly Unusual Conversation Topics (www.contopics.com) and creator of Mingling Cards, the Ultimate Mix-and-Mingle Party Game (www.minglingcards.com).
Copyright 2005 Jesse Edwards.

Source: www.isnare.com

As you will learn, soap making can be simple or complex. Some people enjoy the challenge of going all out professionally, which is fine. However, other people simply want to make soap for personal use or to give as an occasional gift.

Keep in mind that safety precautions should still be followed because soap becomes dangerously hot when melted, regardless of the skill level involved. Here, we will discuss easy melt and pour techniques, perfect for the novice or skilled soap maker!

First, keep in mind that most handmade soap is made from glycerin. When you purchase store-bought soap, the majority of the glycerin has been processed out. Therefore, when you make your own soap, you have a great opportunity to create something that is glycerin rich and soft.

Although “glycerin” is usually clear, with today’s colors and fragrances, you can create beautiful soaps that not only make your skin soft but also look great. With glycerin, because it is a humectant, moisture is drawn out of itself. That means when you use glycerin soap while bathing, a very fine layer will stay on the skin, adding moisture.

BUYING SOAP

To go through the easy melt and pour method, you want to stop by your soap-making supply or hobby store, or online soap supply store. There, you will find large blocks of clear soap. These vary in size and type. Remember, the prices will vary depending on where you live and the store or business where you buy.

Regardless, the following are the types of melt and pour soaps you would need to make your homemade soap.

Hemp Glycerin Soap

This type of glycerin is great for the “melt and pour” system, creating semi transparent soap with the benefit of hemp. Hemp oil is rich with essential fatty acids, enzymes, Omega 3 and 6, and vitamins A, D, & E. When buying hemp glycerin, you should look for blocks that are around 20% glycerin, is alcohol free, and free of any harsh detergents.

Typically, you will find 11-pound slabs, which will make approximately 44 bars of soap, each four ounces. If that is too much, you might try to find smaller slabs or go in with another soap maker to split the soap. This size slab will average $40.

Olive Oil Soap

Olive oil soap is semi-transparent with just a slight tan color. However, the benefits and features are very close to that of hemp glycerin. The only difference is that instead of hemp, olive oil is used. When buying, look for cold pressed olive oil that contains essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and as close to 20% glycerin as possible. Again, an 11-pound slab for olive oil soap runs around $40.

Clear Glycerin Soap

This type of soap is transparent and has low shrinkage qualities. In addition, clear glycerin soap has very little problem with discoloration. This soap is vegetable derived and an excellent choice for “melt and pour” soap bars. You can add color or fragrance easily and the soap will leave your skin feeling soft and smooth.

Clear glycerin soap is also a great choice for making soap with multiple layers, novelty soaps (those with toys, flowers, or other objects inside), and yet the clarity is exactly what you would buy from your favorite boutique. If you want a good daily soap, one that is fun for the kids, and makes an excellent gift, clear glycerin is it.

Goat’s Milk Glycerin Soap

This type of soap originates from the beautiful Rocky Mountains. The feel is creamy and rich, and very luxurious. The appearance of this soap is off white. Many people shy away from goat’s milk glycerin because of the name but you will find that it has no fragrance and actually takes both color and fragrance perfectly.

If you want soap that is natural, this is a great choice. Typically, goat’s milk glycerin soap is slightly higher than the other types of soaps but still very affordable and well worth the investment.

MELT AND POUR SOAP MAKING EQUIPMENT AND INGREDIENTS

The great thing about using melt and pour is that you can use equipment you typically have on hand. With this method, you can use the base of a double boiler or your microwave oven.

Keep in mind that if you choose the microwave, the bowl with the soap substance will need to be covered with plastic wrap to keep it from splattering but more importantly, to help keep the excess moisture from evaporating. For the microwave method, you would melt the base soap on high for about one minute, stirring in the remaining pieces not yet melted.

For the double boiler option, bring the water to a boil. Then, add your melt and pour soap of choice, cover, and leave on low. This will take quite some time to melt so about every 10 minutes, check the base to see if it is melted. If you like, you can stir occasionally to ensure an even melt.

Fragrance

For both methods of melt and pour, if you want to add in fragrance, once the base soap has melted, then you would add the fragrance oil. Be sure the fragrance is mixed in completely and that the base of the soap does not have a cloudy appearance.

Although you can use more or less fragrance according to personal preference, typically a good rule to follow is to use .25 ounces to every one pound of soap base. In addition to fragrances, you can also use essential oils.

Color

Now for the color, if you want to create colored soap, add approximately one-eighth teaspoon to one-quarter teaspoon mica in with the melting soap base, making sure to mix in it well.

If any bubbles form on top of the soap, you can leave them for design effect or spray them with rubbing alcohol. If you want to use food coloring, start with just one drop to the melted base, stirring well. Then, you can add one additional drop until you find the color of preference.

After the fragrance and color have been added to the soap base, pour the melted base into the mold of your choice. Again, if you want to remove any bubbles that will settle on top, spray them with rubbing alcohol. After the soap has hardened, generally a few hours, you can use it and enjoy!

COST

As you can see, to make your own soap at home, you would pay around $40 for the slab of base, a few dollars for fragrance, a few dollars for coloring, and that is about it. The process is very cost effective, fun, and you end up with exactly the type of soap you love most.

Most people figure that one bar of homemade soap will average .50, far less than you would pay elsewhere. In addition, you can add in special items or effects to jazz things up.

Making soap using the melt and pour process is easy and fun… and makes for very inexpensive soap. Not only is it great for making your own soap, but it makes for truly unique and creative gifts.

Dave Cushion is the creator of the very popular book “Soap Making Made Simple!” To get additional soap making tips, go to http://www.soap-making-made-simple.com and learn much more about this very fun and useful craft.

What is the most valuable tool for bird watching? That’s simple, a bird feeder. Just as the name implies, a bird feeder is a device that is placed outdoors for the purpose of dispensing food to birds. This type of product is usually installed for the purpose of bird watching, which is a very popular hobby. The ultimate success of a bird feeder is determined by it’s placement, the types of seeds provided and the design of the feeder itself.

To begin with, a bird feeder must be large enough to accommodate the nearby species. Birds need to be able to get to the seeds easily if they are to continue to use the bird feeder. In addition, the feeder should be placed somewhere convenient and easily accessible for both the birds and for bird watching. Most bird feeders are located in a tree that birds are known to frequent. In some instances, individuals may also opt for hanging a bird feeder on their porch, which will allow for a real close up view for bird watching enthusiasts.

The type of bird that you wish to attract will ultimately determine the type of food that you supply in the bird feeder. For example, while most food is made in the form of seeds, hummingbirds prefer liquid nourishment. This is a very important distinction as bird feeders are created for bird watching and, without the proper food, there may not be any birds to watch.

Many people around the world enjoy bird watching and some even record their experiences on video. Some individuals use webcams, while others use a regular camcorder to capture their birds on film. Photographers often enjoy bird watching for fun and profit. As birds get close enough to enjoy the food in their feeder, photos can be snapped in hopes of capturing their beauty. With all of the bird food in your yard, don’t be surprised if you happen to catch a squirrel in your photographs. These little critters love bird food and are often drawn to areas where it is readily available. The best way to remedy this problem is to put a separate squirrel feeder outside to deter squirrels from snatching all of the bird food as it falls to the ground.

A bird feeder is easy to find at any retail or online store, but the many choices available may make the decision a difficult one. Ultimately, the size of the feeder and it’s design will be the most important consideration. The next thing to consider will be your bird watching budget because, as we all know, cost plays a large role in every purchasing decision that we make.

Most people tend to think that a DVD Burner is a better option than a CD Burner for data back-ups either in the office or at home but once you look at the options you can see why CD Burners are still available in the market and is no-where near an era of old technology.

Before one goes out and purchases a CD Burner or DVD Burner the reason for having the Burner needs to be looked at allowing the best choice to be selected.

So what is a DVD Burner useful for?

A DVD Burner is useful for when you are looking to copy or duplicate a DVD disc or to burn video files into DVD Format so they can be played on a home DVD player. DVD discs allow Gigabytes of Data to be burned to the disc, in some cases a whole hard drive of data, making a tempting choice to use as a data back-up tool.

One needs to remember though that you will need a DVD-ROM to have the ability to read the data that was burned onto the disc, if you are in a office environment and need to use the disc on multiple PC’s then this may cause an issue as most PC’s in an office don’t come installed with a DVD-ROM – if they do then it’s a waste of money on the IT departments part.

DVD media has no advantage when it comes to burning Audio files such as MP3’s as DVD discs cannot be read on a normal CD-ROM or CD Player not leaving much of point on why you would burn audio to a DVD Disc.

So what is a CD Burner useful for?

Although CD Burners are somewhat slower than today’s DVD burners they do have more pros than con’s when comparing to a DVD Burner for data back-ups. Blank media Discs for CD Burners are either 650MB or 700MB in size, yes a lot smaller than that of a DVD disc.

CD-R discs can either hold data or audio and can be read in almost any CD-ROM and if the CD-R is made into an audio disc then its possible to read the disc in a Hi-Fi or a car CD Player – you will need to make sure the drive has the ability to read CD-R media, most newer models of CD-Players are compatible to read CD-R media.

Another pro of CD-R’s and CD-RW’s is the fact that you can burn video files such as MPEG or AVI onto disc so that they can be read in a home DVD player – most newer models of DVD players are mutli-read compatible meaning they can recognize CD-R’s or CD-RW’s.

So as you can see a back-up made with a DVD Burner is less compatible than a back-up made from a CD-Burner –Think wisely before purchasing any form of data back-up and ask yourself what is your need and how will be used.

Gavin Duncan is the editor and publisher of http://www.cd-burner-help.com, a site to help people facing problems with Burning CD’s.

How you can start earning money with Adsense can be done easily
and quickly. You will be amazed at the results you will be
getting in such a short period of time.

Adsense is considered as one of the most powerful tool in a
website publisher’s arsenal. It enables a person to monetize
their sites easily. If used properly, it can generate a very
large and healthy income for them. However if you are not using
them rightly and just maximizing the income you squeeze from it,
you are actually leaving a lot of money on the table. Something
all people hate doing.

Start by writing some quality content articles which are also
keyword incorporated. There are a lot of people given the gift
of being good with words. Writing comes easy for them. Why not
make it work in such a way that you will be earning some extra
cash in the process.

There are actually three steps to put into mind before you begin
writing your ads and having an effective Adsense.

Keyword search. Find some popular subjects, keywords or phrase.
Select the ones which you think has more people clicking
through. This is actually a keyword selector and suggestion tool
that some sites are offering to those who are just their Adsense
business.

Writing articles. Start writing original content with keywords
from the topics that you have achieved in your search. Take note
that search engines are taking pride in the quality of their
articles and what you will be writing should keep up with their
demands.

Quality content site. Build a quality content site incorporated
with Adsense ads that is targeting the subject and keywords of
your articles and websites. This is where all that you’ve done
initially will go to and this is also where they will prove
their worth to you.

The proper positioning of your ads should be done with care. Try
to position your ads where surfers are most likely to click on
them. According to research, the one place that surfers look
first when they visit a certain site is the top left. The reason
behind this is not known. Maybe it is because some of the most
useful search engine results are at the top of all other
rankings. So visitors tend to look in that same place when
browsing through other sites.

Some of those who are just starting at this business may think
they are doing pretty well already and thinking that their
clickthrough rates and CPM figures are quite healthy. However,
there are more techniques and styles to generate more clicks to
double your earnings. By knowing these techniques and working
them to your advantage, you will realize that you will be
getting three times more than other people who have been
previously doing what they are doing.

Finally, Adsense has some excellent tracking statistics that
allows webmasters and publishers to track their results across a
number of site on a site by site, page by page, or any other
basis you wanted. You should be aware oft his capability and
make the most of it because it is one powerful tool that will
help you find out which ads are performing best. This way, you
can fine tune your Adsense ads and focus more on the ones being
visited the most rather than those who are being ignored. Adsense Guide

Another thing you should know. Banners and skyscrapers are dead.
Ask the experts. So better forget about banners and skyscrapers.
Surfers universally ignore these kinds of ad formats. The reason
behind this is that they are recognized as an advert and advert
are rarely of any interest that’s why people ignore them.

To really start making money with Adsense, you should have a
definite focus on what you wanted to achieve and how you will go
about achieving them. As with any other kind of business
ventures, time is needed coupled with patience.

Do not just ignore your site and your Adsense once you have
finished accomplishing them. Spare some time, even an hour,
making adjustments to the Adsense ads on your sites to quickly
trigger your Adsense income.

Give it a try and you would not regret having gotten into
Adsense in the first place.

eCriteria to Focus on Blog Integration Database-Driven Weblogs
Address Business Needs Culver City, Calif. – October 16, 2002 -
eCriteria announces today an exciting new initiative for
combining its web-hosted databases with the increasingly popular
weblog or Blog technology. Adding quick and simple-to-use
database-driven functionality to blogs solves many Web
application and collaboration requirements. eCriteria plans to
work with blog technology companies such as WebCrimson
(www.webcrimson.com) to provide solutions useful in business
environments. An example of a database-enabled blog designed for
conducting market research may be found at the Web address:
http://voteforbooks.crimsonblog.com.

A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently
updated message entries arranged chronologically. The content
and purpose of blogs varies greatly. Blogs began with purely
personal applications such as family news items, commentaries
and links to favorite sites, diaries, photo journals, essays,
and poetry to just name a few. Recently however, blogs have seen
a rise in business-oriented uses where blogs make for an
excellent communication tool on company intranets. The main
drawback with blogs is that they’re static-only content and
non-interactive. Adding eCriteria Web databases changes all that.

With embedded database functionality that eCriteria brings,
blogs can now be used to address dynamic requirements such as
maintaining project schedules, sales journals, and company
calendars. Both blogs and eCriteria web-databases are hosted
applications requiring no programming, no database knowledge,
and no software to install. The blog providers host the web
pages, and eCriteria securely hosts the database content.

eCriteria plans to offer licensing and channel partner
opportunities for its Web database publishing technology for the
purpose of integration with blog publishers.

A Word From the CEO

“Blogs represent an exciting new collaborative technology that’s
beginning to find significant success in business settings,”
says Dan D. Gutierrez, eCriteria’s founder and CEO. “We see
broad-based market potential by embedding our secure Web
databases in business blogs, and with this initiative we hope to
help enhance their acceptance as a useful tool at the enterprise
level.”

eCriteria is a self-funded spin-off venture of 18 year-old
AMULET Development Corp. (www.amuletc.com), a database back-end
web development and e-commerce integration firm based in Los
Angeles. eCriteria defines a new genre of ASP called a Database
Service Provider (DSP), providing a facility for quick, easy,
and cost effective publishing of “shrink-wrap” web databases.
eCriteria requires no programming or knowledge of databases.
Using the Web Database Publishing Wizard, Data Authors may
create their own web databases in minutes. The site is located
at www.eCriteria.net.

If you’re a computer expert, you’ll probably already know about these tips (hopefully this will provide you with a little reminder). If you’re not an expert, don’t worry - these tips are simple, and don’t require a lot of computer experience.

While an old computer will never operate at the same speed as a newer (and bigger & faster) computer, you can help your computer stay as “young & healthy” as possible.

1) Disk Cleanup

Performing a disk cleanup regularly is a good idea. Whenever you “surf the internet”, open attachments, delete files, your computer saves a record of your activity. Many of these files are harmless, and individually are very small. But if you spend a lot of time on your computer, before long you’ll take up enough space to slow your computer down a bit.

Disk Cleanup is a Windows utility that helps keep unused and unwanted files from taking up extra storage space on your computer. You can think of it as “spring cleaning” for your computer.

Basically, it removes files that may have once been useful or used but now are just taking up extra room that could be used for more useful programs and files.

To perform a disc cleanup, click on the Start button on the bottom left of your computer screen, then Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disc Cleanup. A small box will pop up, allowing you to select the files to delete (most files are OK to delete, but if you are unsure, it is best to not select the file). Then click OK, and the unused files will be removed.

If you’ve never done a disk cleanup on your computer, now is a good time to get started. Then, depending on how much you use your computer, you can perform a disk cleanup every few weeks to keep your computer running smoothly!

2) Defragmenting Your Computer

Another way to improve the performance of your computer is to defragment your hard drive. What is defragmenting, and why do you need to do it? Here’s a simple explanation:

Basically, defragmenting is putting files back where they belong. With the files in the proper order, your computer will run more efficiently.

You don’t need to hire a computer expert to defragment your computer. It’s simple to do. You just need to plan ahead, because if you have a lot of “stuff” on your computer, it could take a while.

And it’s best not to use your computer while defragmenting.

Not sure how to defragment your computer? You can either click on your computer’s help file (Click the “Start” button on the bottom left of your computer screen, then Help), or click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Defragment - for most computers) .

Keep in mind that the actual wording is slightly different depending on the operating system you use (Windows 95, 98, XP, etc) so you might need to refer to your computer’s help file.

Periodically defragmenting your computer will keep it running smoothly!

3) Removing Spyware & Adware

If you’ve ever had spyware or adware on your computer, you know how frustrating it can be - strange things happening, your homepage changing, inappropriate popups, unfamiliar icons…
What exactly is spyware or adware?

Simply, files that are often downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge (or at least without you knowing what they really are).

Unfortunately, many of these programs “sneak” their way onto your computer, so avoiding them entirely is difficult, especially if you spend a lot of time on your computer, surfing the Internet and downloading new programs and files.

Fortunately, there are ways to remove these unwanted files from your computer.

Here are 2 adware/spyware removal programs that are simple to use (and both are free):

Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Why does adware/spyware continue to be such a problem? Because most of these programs make money for the people creating and spreading them, unfortunately. So, all we can do is try to avoid them as much as possible, and to remove them when they do find their way onto our computers.

If you do find spyware on your computer, don’t panic. In many cases, you just have some extra “junk” on your computer. But keeping spywaer and adware off of your computer will help it run more quickly and efficiently.

4) Uninstalling Old & Unused Programs

While uninstalling old, unused programs will help speed up your computer, removing the wrong files can cause you some big problems. So, please proceed carefully. And if you are not comfortable, please ask for help from someone you know who is more knowledgeable.

Most programs that you download simply have an “uninstall” feature that comes with them. If you’re like me and you download a lot of free programs or free trials, after a while your computer begins to slow down. That means it’s time for me to remove some of the old programs I don’t use any more (and most I only used once just to see how they work).

To uninstall unused programs from your computer, first click on the Start button on the bottom left, then Programs, then click on the name of the program and Uninstall. If there is no uninstall option, then click on the Start button on the bottom left, then Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.

Again, if you are unsure whether or not to remove a program, it is best to leave it.

If you follow these instructions, you should find your computer working faster right away.

5) Get A High Speed Internet Connection

If you spend a lot of time on the internet, a high speed internet connection is a must. It is more expensive, but for most people the savings in time and effort is worth the added expense.

There are several advantages of having a high speed internet connection - faster surfing, web pages open more quickly, files download faster, and if you send or receive large files, like pictures or video, trying to open these files with a slower dialup connection is extremely frustrating!

If you’re already spending $20 a month or more for your dialup connection (through your phone line) then you’ll find DSL to be comparable in price, and a lot faster.

A cable internet connection might cost a little more, but it is usually the fastest type of internet connection you can get from home.

High speed wireless connections are available for those who travel a lot. And high speed satellite internet is available in areas where other options are not (check your options first, as this is the most expensive high speed connection).

That’s all the tips for increasing your computer speed and helping your computer run more efficiently. We hope you found these tips helpful!

Kris Bickell is the owner of Hi-Speed-Internet.com, a helpful site for consumers comparing high speed internet services. For information on high speed DSL, Cable, and Wireless Internet, visit: http://www.Hi-Speed-Internet.com, and sign up for the free email course “5 Simple Ways To Increase Your Computer Speed”. © 2005 Hi-Speed-Internet.com