The Dbottino Weblog

Call it a fight, call it a discussion, call it whatever you want. But let’s be honest. The truth is that in every marriage there is fighting. No matter what you think, there is no such thing as the Cleavers or the Cosbys. That being said, if it happens in every marriage, why is it that there are some couples who seem to enter and exit the ring gracefully while others seem like there is never a break between rounds? The reason is that some people have learned the secrets behind fighting well and others are just swinging away hoping to connect.

Whether you have been married 20 years or 20 minutes, learning to fight well can
be the difference between being one of the most rewarding experiences of marriage
and the most challenging.

What fight do you want to fight?

Let’s clarify what was said previously. Everyone fights, but you may not
actually know it. Even if you are in the relationship. There are basically 2 types of
fighters; the Screamers and the Sweepers.

What does a screamer sound like?

This is the couple that nobody doubts is having problems. They are the ones
that fight over the smallest things, and these small things turn into World War III.
The fights turn brutal fast and leave deep wounds that are still raw as the next fight
starts. They fight about the same thing over and over and never seem to solve a
thing.

How deep is the carpet you sweep under?

These couples do have conflicts, but they keep it quiet. From the neighbors,
from the family, and even from themselves. When a conflict arises, these people will
quickly and effectively avoid the conflict and will work around it. When they come
into therapy, generally these people will talk about conflicts that were never
resolved 10 years ago that their partner didn’t even know was a problem.

Why do so many couples fight?

Here is the problem. There really are 3 things working against you in this
relationship.

What family tree did you fall from?
First is that neither one of you grew up in the same family. Maybe your family was
the kind of family that was loud and outgoing, always doing things together, and
constantly moving, whereas your partner came from a family where spending time
together meant that they were in the same room together listening to the same
clock ticking in the corner. It may not have been quite that extreme, but you get the
point.

Are you a fruit?
Secondly, no two people in the world have had exactly the same experiences and
thoughts as another person. Our experiences tend to form who we are and how we
see life. Therefore, no two people in or out of a relationship will ever see their
relationship exactly the same. It is like trying to compare apples to oranges.

What planet are you on?

Finally, there is one overlying theme that hangs over all of us in traditional
relationships. One of us is male and the other is female. Period. Although we are
not from different planets as you may have heard, society expects different things
from us and we therefore have different goals and expectations about relationships
and our roles in them.

Knowing that there are such strong, lifelong habits and traits that we are dealing
with, it should be

Why do we lose control?

When we fight, something interesting happens in our bodies. For most people,
fighting isn’t just an exchange of words. It is an emotional event that happens and
is felt throughout our bodies.

Emotion types

There are two types of emotions. Primary and secondary. Secondary emotions are
emotions that come after the main emotion occurs. In essence, it is a reaction to the
reaction.

When people come into a session, most often we hear “She pissed me off”, or
“He made me so mad”. That is not the real emotion. That is the reaction to the
emotion. The primary emotion is hurt, disappointment, or rejection. It is important
that this distinction be made.

Chemical Confusion

Part of the problem when we fight is that too often we are dealing with the
secondary emotions. We have felt something strongly like rejection or betrayal, and
then our bodies automatically go into defensive mode. Our brains release chemicals
that put us on alert and do not allow proper functioning of brain processing.

What we need to realize is that people who work off of secondary emotions do not
actually see reality because their brains cannot function properly with the chemicals
that are being produced. Our natural response is to retaliate without thought. How
can you fight effectively when your brain is not functioning? You can’t! That is why
you need to be able to see clearly enough to fight.

This is just not natural!

Why is it that fighting well is so difficult? Even the most practiced couple makes
mistakes at times and seems to go backwards. What needs to be understood is that
it is not natural to have the kind of conversations that will make marriages work.
Our natural reaction is to fight or run.

So what we are doing is trying go against what our animal instincts are telling us to
do. What needs to happen is that we need to transcend that instinct and move to a
higher level and do things that feel difficult and unnatural. It’s hard, but it can be
done using proven tools.

Other Topics in this Series

1) Check Out Time

2) Kitchen Sinking

3) Sucker Punch

4) Setting the Rules

…and many more

Topics discussed here are not intended to replace professional counselling. For
further information, more articles like this and downloadable audio files, visit
www.bestmarriages.com

With over 40 years of combined experience in marriage, family, and relationship counselling, Jay, Lawrence, and Darren offer a unique and refreshing perspective on what makes marriages effective.

Several factors make learning Chinese a considerably more formidable task than learning another Germanic or Romance languages. Studying a foreign language is an excellent way for English and other language teachers to improve their own teaching. It also forces you into the role of a student so you can experience first hand the problems, difficulties and challenges your EFL learners face in your classes. Don’t believe me? Then look at what happened to me …

Greeting the language learning students with a cheerful “Ni Hao” (Hello), our teacher, Shutzng Zhang begins the second class session of the Santiago de Cali University’s first – ever course in Mandarin. The spartan class room contains a map of China – in Chinese of course, tacked to one side wall, desks, a small table, and white board. There are two worksheets with the vocabulary of greetings written in Chinese characters on her desk. We greet the teacher in return. She wishes to be called “Susana” to spare us the tongue-twisting pronunciation of her Chinese first name. She speaks Spanish fairly well but her English is considerably more advanced. Explanations are done in Spanish to accommodate the class majority.

Practice with vowels follows:

a, o, e, i, u, u

There are 11 Spanish-speaking adult students in the first week of the group. Each in turn tries their hand at getting their pronunciation of vowels and greetings phrases to an acceptable level. Then some consonants follow:

n, t, h, m, x, j, z

As I’d expected, there are more than a few problems in teaching the tonal sounds of Mandarin to speakers of a non-tonal language. Yiu Wing Fung, a Chinese man, has more trouble than others in the group. “Why is he here”, I wonder?

A series of common greetings is written on the white board with the Spanish transcribed underneath. I instantly want to make up (or have the teacher make) flash cards to give me something to study and practice. I make a mental note to ask later. I do ask for and get copies of two key pages of the phrases written on the board. I’ll make flash cards from these later on. That’ll do for a start at least.

Next, the pronouns are written on the board in singular and plural. They’re remarkably similar:

Wu, ni, ta – then ta, ta, nin

There are differences in the pronunciation tones to distinguish them, but I produce my own little chart in singular and plural.

Then the other shoe drops. We get to the tones in earnest. It’s like doing the musical scales. High, low, short, long, up and down. There are going to be three tonal values I think; high, medium and low. I’m wrong. There are five: first tone, second tone, third tone, fourth tone and no tone. Each student runs through their “version” of the pronunciation. Sometimes our young teacher giggles. Other times she simply shakes her head and has the student try again. From the look on her face, we know our speech is bad. We’ll need a tape recording of the pronunciations. Without it there’s no way to check, practice and mimic the tonal sounds. It’s a time-consuming but necessary process.

How do you ask, “Do you love me?” one of the ladies asks. In response, the answer; “I love you” along with “I love you too.” Are written and practiced by the class next. The five ladies in the class are thrilled and amused, blushing as they practice the phrases. “This isn’t foe me”, I think, but decide to stick it out another couple of weeks. Maybe with some practice and help I’ll make some progress and develop more enthusiasm.

Some photocopied sheets with the words and phrases on them would help. So would a practice tape recording of the sounds, pronunciation and tones. The spoken language and its related listening comprehension development need more than the cursory “twice a week” class attendance sessions to practice. We need much more exposure than that to internalize elements of the language.

A description with drawings of how Chinese characters are derived proves more interesting for us. For example, the character “sun” plus the character “moon” means “light” or “illumination”. Now we’re getting somewhere.

… Continued in Part 2 …

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an expert author and photographer offering Web Content Writing Services for top-quality articles on: Education, Language learning, Salt and Fresh water fishing, exotic foods, South American travel and culture, Ethnic issues – Blacks, Latinos, Indian native tribes, Health, Internet business resources and more … His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News, Brazil magazine and hundreds of sites online. For fr*e*e sample articles and available web content e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

RSS is the interactive communication tool being popularized by bloggers. It is also the newest method for ezine publishers to deliver their content to the web.

RSS puts control back where it belongs. Publishers have control over their content, and subscribers have control over what they read.

This system requires that subscribers manually subscribe to the feeds they choose to read. One simply cannot just enter an email address and hit a subscribe button, attached to an autoresponder.

RSS feeds require an aggregator to read them, similarly to the way a browser reads HTML on a web page. As a result of this necessity, absolutely no one can be subscribed to a feed without consent. This makes the reader 100% responsible for the acceptance of the content to which they have subscribed. The receipt of feed content can never be unsolicited, nor can it be redundant. One cannot have more than one active subscription to a particular feed.

Rather than having to open an over-flowing mailbox, to find the information you are looking for, RSS acts as a special delivery agent, placing the content right next to your toast and coffee. Feeds are delivered straight to the desktop of the subscriber via the aggregator, providing the subscriber with freshly updated information, as it is refreshed by the source [publisher].

The subscriber receives the most recent headlines available, not a bulky periodical, and from there, can choose which articles they want to read, by clicking on that particular headline. When the reader finishes reading the feed, they just exit the program. There is nothing to store, nothing to delete.

Because RSS is set up as a dynamic, interactive system, publishers can allow, and often encourage, reader comments. This fascillitates dialogue between authors and readers, in real time. It invites the reader to express opinions, or ask questions. It provides readers with access to their mentors, that is non-invasive, yet direct.

One consideration to keep in mind is that not all RSS feeds are created equal. Not all aggregators can read all feeds. This is not a case of one size fits all. There are several different versions of RSS feeds, and they are completely different from each other, not mere upgrades of the previous.

Does this mean that one must carry several different aggregators to read various feeds? Not at all. The folks over at Quikonnex.com, Jim Gray and Carolyn Peltier, have, in their mastery of code, developed their own aggregator, QuikView, that will read all RSS feeds, regardless of version. They offer their ‘channel viewer’ free of charge to anyone wanting to receive information via this medium. If you want to learn about and utilize RSS in your communications, these are the people to follow. They are not your run of the mill gurus, Jim and Carolyn are the ones writing the code and manipulating it to meet their vision. Believe me, these two are not short sighted individuals either.

Quikonnex provides its members with audio and video training, weekly workshops, one-to-one live support, and a forum that is filled with knowledge. Cost of membership: FREE.

RSS is certainly the new generation in communication. There is a learning curve involved, but isn’t that true of anything? We all had to learn to connect to the Internet, surf the web and use email. Learning how to use RSS is no different.

Copyright © 2004
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine

Trina L.C. Schiller is a professional network marketer, the publisher of the Internet marketing ezine, “Trii-Zine” and owner of TLC Promotions, as well as a founding publisher at Quikonnex.com, and President of AdsOnQ.com, the Internet’s first syndicated advertising agency.

She has also authored the following ebooks:

“Your Beginner’s Guide To Syndication” http://www.ads-on-q.com/booksales.html

RSS, Blogs and Syndication… The Facts vs The guruese” http://www.ads-on-q.com/RSS.html

Recently, I was in a conference with five people who constitute the movers and shakers of a company.

One of them asked me a lot of questions about selling, not because she doesn’t know how to do it. In fact, she’s quite effective.

Her concern is how can we teach others to do what seems to come so naturally to her?

For instance, how will trainees know when to abandon a prospect that is a long shot to turn into a customer? How will neophytes be able to sound natural, especially if they’re using scripts?

My reply was simple: Don’t worry; I’m not going hire natural, born salespeople.

There aren’t that many of them, and we’d have to pay a ton to make the job attractive to them.

We’re going to “make” salespeople; to manufacture them, from raw material, because we must, for the sake of economy and speed.

As a general principle, it is imprudent to try to clone “naturals,” because many of them have very bad habits that shouldn’t be imitated.

Consider Johnny Cash, the late, great country singer, and a true “natural” in his field. His atonality is legendary, but he was able to break with convention and make it work. He found an appreciative audience for his style, mistakes and all.

But it would be foolish to try to develop the next Johnny Cash.

People would probably pick up his worst habits and not even see his best.

“Made” sellers are selected because they have the capability of following a design created by others; they actually like using a mold, and being molded, while naturals abhor them, and break them at every turn.

A natural resists being guided and managed, and made sellers require it, and often are glad to accept it.

There are other differences, as well.

But natural salespeople have nothing to worry about. They’ll always be in demand, if only because they’re so rare!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Physical security is very important to a home owner. Your home is one of your most important possessions since this is where you and your loved ones reside.

Once you know that your home is safe from intruders, you can rest assured that your material and personal possessions as well as your loved ones, are secured.

There are several parts of your home that you need to secure by using electronic devices:

- The perimeter of your house to prevent burglars from intruding on your home.

- Enclosed areas within the house should be secured as well, in case of fire.

- Your garage should also have an intruder alarm to protect your vehicles, aside from the anti-theft device on the car itself.

It does not matter what style of life you lead. Home security should be and essential part of your budget to give you peace of mind. In addition to providing physical security in the home, your home security system should also help you find help should an emergency ensue.

Here are some tips when planning for the security of your home:

1. Make an initial survey of your house and from there, develop a home security plan.

Check all of the rooms and the area outside of your house. Determine if the neighbors have a clear view of what is going on within your house.

Having a very open area that can be easily observed by anyone from the outside may be a threat to your security.

2. When placing burglar alarms or intruder sensors, place them in strategic areas in and out of your house.

Home security need not be expensive. You do not need to put in alarms and sensors on each and every part of the house.

As long as they are installed on the proper places, then your house will be secured enough.

3. Review your way of living and the size of your family.

Do you often have visitors who may roam around freely? Do you have a member of the family who may come inside the house in the middle of the night?

These factors will help you decide on the level of security system that you will install on your home.

4. You can place sensors within your house. These sensors can be installed on windows to alarm you of intruders.

In addition, you may install sensors within the house, specifically in hallways, to warn you of intruders within the house.

5. Place fire alarms in areas around the house which is most likely to gather heat or smoke.

An unusual level of smoke, fire or heat can easily be detected to warn you of impending fire threats.

6. There are mechanical locks and sensors that you can install on doors for good measure.

7. For households with babies, you may purchase a baby monitor or a video surveillance.

A video security system in your house will give you peace of mind. You may also automate your home, and watch your children from your TV screen so that you can keep track of what they are doing.

Whether you choose to install it yourself or get the services of a company which specializes in building security systems, home security should not be taken for granted.

You should put in extra time and effort in order to ensure that you and your family have a happy and physically secure environment.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides home security resources on www.just-home-security.info.

What would you say if I told you I know of a simple method that can make emotional stress such as upset, anger, fear, concern and distress simply melt away in a few minutes and all you had to do to achieve this is simply touch a few “magical points” on your face and hands?

Yes, it’s true, it can be done, and you can learn to do how in a few minutes, for free, if you’re interested.

I am delighted to introduce to the most important innovation in self help and psychology this millenium has seen so far – Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT for short.

Based on the well known and highly effective Chinese system of body meridians, EFT doesn’t use needles but instead, soothes and stimulates the energy flow by lightly and gently tapping on main meridian connector points.

EFT is so simple that even a young child can learn to do it in minutes.

EFT is so profoundly relaxing and mood changing that even therapists many years experience simply have to shake their heads and declare they have never seen anything like it.

So Simple, So Easy …

Like many profoundly useful things in this world, EFT is extremely simple. A straightforward easy to use protocol designed by Stanford Engineer Gary Craig to cover all of the most important meridian points in a single treatment lasting about five minutes ensures that users need know nothing at all about meridians or the finer points of Chinese medicine to experience profound relief right away.

What s more, the basic Emotional Freedom Techniques protocol is absolutely free and freely available to try out and for you to share with friends, loved ones and anyone else you wish to share it with.

The Benefits Of Acupuncture, Acupressure & Massage

Everyone who has experienced the calm and restful state that follows a good massage, or has been treated with acupuncture for example, knows that working directly with the meridian system really produces profound changes in how we feel inside.

The great advance of the new meridian therapies, of which EFT is the embassador, is to focus the mind on a particular disturbance whilst stimulating the energy system at the same time. By thinking about your problem, you automatically target the right parts of your meridian system and without years of study, that s something anyone can do.

Perfect For Emotional Crisis Management

And what could be more appropriate than having something that can help you right in a middle of crisis? That is the time when your mind is absolutely focussed on the problem; in many cases such as physical pain or severe upset, it is the only thing we can think about. Whilst we are in the crisis we are in the perfect place to use EFT to target the root causes of the problem and help alleviate the symptoms and disturbances swiftly.

No Will Power Required!

Now here is one of the most fantastic news about EFT.

EFT *melts away distress* of all kinds – and it is distress we try to get away from with anger outbursts, over-eating, with substance and activity addictions, with procrastination, with depression, with sickness and with headaches.

When the distress is gone, you are free to CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY, and there is no more will power required.

A Miracle Technique – And It Is FREE!

EFT has certainly been described in terms of being miraculous, and not just once but a hundred thousand times or more, by very different people with very different problems, by professionals and simple folk alike, all around the World.

EFT works first time for about 85% of the population, but even if it just manages to noticeably reduce feelings of anxiety, fear, anger for you personally, that could be a starting point to a whole new level of happiness and health.

You can try a short version right now – the Two Minute Stress Release Technique. You are very welcome to share it too with your friends and family. You can find this and a totally free complete EFT protocol as well in the “Free & Premium” section at http://starfields.org .

I encourage you to simply try it for yourself.

I have been around the houses with personal development and healing. Hypnosis, NLP, Reiki, Meditation, Personal Development, Psychology – for 25 years I have been researching techniques for change and I have NEVER come across anything as profoundly useful and as userfriendly as EFT has turned out to be.

It has helped me personally immensely, it has helped not only my clients but my friends and my children too.

I cannot rate EFT highly enough. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

So go and try it now. It’s free, it’s simple.

You have absolutely nothing to lose, but you could gain the very real possibility of absolute Emotional Freedom At Your Fingertips.

About The Author

Silvia Hartmann PhD

Director, The Association For Meridian Energy Therapies

http://TheAMT.com

Laptop Notebook – Your Portable Office

In much of today’s business world, portability and mobility are the keys to success. Having a laptop notebook computer provides business men and women with portable computing capability, and these notebooks help them take their mobile business functionality to a new level.

Notebook Computers Provide Portability to Today’s Workers

Advances in computer electronics have brought us to the point where we can take these mobile and portable notebook computers all over the world, conduct business from home with our notebooks, and even connect our laptops to a computer network in Los Angeles from a coffee shop in Atlanta. These notebooks have changed how we conduct business, and in order to keep up with these changes more and more professionals and companies are making the investment of notebooks for themselves and their mobile workforce.

For the small company or individual business owner, the investment needed to buy notebooks and move into the world of portability and mobility doesn’t have to be enormous. Some companies, especially larger ones, will make the decision to invest big money in the top of the line notebook computer. Other companies will choose to make a lesser but equally valuable investment in discount or used laptops. As long as the laptop computers meet the mobile business needs, making the smaller investment in notebooks works out great for companies or individuals who are conducting mobile and portable business on a tighter budget.

Want to read more about Electronics? Visit electronicsme.net or electronicsme.com for the latest articles on televisions, digital still cameras, and notebook computers.

Electronicsme: Where electronics are made easy!

Written by the eme team

Electronicsme.net: Where electronics are made easy! The latest articles on televisions, laptops and digital cameras.

and

Electronicsme.com: Where electronics are made easy! The latest news, reviews and comparisons of electronics, photography, and computers.

Oftentimes, when the words “public” and “relations” are thrown
together in a sentence, a light bulb goes off in the head
shining, “Advertising”. However, using advertising and public
relations as synonyms is a long shot. So what’s the big
difference?

One of the most crucial differences between public relations and
advertising is that PR is free. That’s right, none of your hard
earned cash is going to be thrown down to promote your business.

For example, if you run an advertisement in your local
newspaper, they charge you for the space you use as well as for
the time frame that the ad is run. But if that same newspaper
decides that your business or product is article worthy, you are
getting great publicity with no out of pocket costs.

While it’s great to get free recognition if someone writes an
article about your product, the downfall is that you have no
content control. In other words, the journalist that takes on the
task is going to have all the say in the length, word choice, and
format of what is being said about you and your business.
Advertising, on the other hand, makes you the boss as long as
you’ve got the cash flow for it.

Along with the benefit of knowing exactly what your ad is going
to say, you also have the option of running the ad campaign over
and over again if you’re getting good results. The media will
most likely only run your story once, unless you give them new
topics, or an interesting new way of looking at the old ones.

That’s not to say that there aren’t great benefits that come with
public relations, too. How many times have you looked at an ad in
a magazine or on a billboard and been beyond skeptical in terms
of the product’s reliability? When you read an article or blurb
about it in a printed media source, though, you are usually more
inclined to think that the product is trustworthy.

Sending off a great press release has a lot of advantages that
you might not have taken into consideration before. Let’s say
that your small business is sponsoring a local charity event. It
would probably sound awfully snobbish of you to run an ad
promoting your own selflessness, but if some other media source
decided to talk you up, that would be okay, right?

One important thing to remember is that no one is going to cover
your story if it’s not interesting to the editor that goes over
it. First you have to grab their attention, and hope that the
editor or journalist will want to give your business some
recognition. You also have to wonder if the audience that sees
the coverage will be captivated enough to remember your name when
looking for products in your specific market. When you pay for an
advertisement, the only audience you have to target is your
prospects.

There are great benefits in both the worlds of advertising and
public relations. Depending on your budget and your needs, you
can figure out a combination that will suit you best

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Ventura specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and
individuals get media coverage. She is a PR expert at DrNunley’s
http://FullServicePR.com , a site specializing in affordable publicity
services. Reach Ana at mailto:ana@fullservicepr.com or 801-328-9006.

Westwood, California the northern central portion of L.A.’s West Side. If you are looking to get a little bit out of the way, from LA, you will find this is an area you will have fun, and you will find close to everything you need at the same time. Westwood is bordered by Brentwood, Bel-Air, Century City, and Beverly Hills, along with West L.A., Sawtelle and Rancho part. The Westwood home boundaries are considered Olympic Blvd on the southeast Beverly Hills on the northeast side, Sunset on the North, the San Diego Freeway on the southwestern. You can access many shopping areas, as well as find a job in just about any of the surrounding areas you would like to work. If you are already living in CA you know how beautiful the seasons are, and Westwood is no different, great scenery while still being accessible to many highways, byways and areas.

Westwood is the place for many movie premieres and has many vintage movie theatres like Art Deco Crest and Mann Bruin, so you want to explore entertainment, this is a great area to live. They are a great place to spend an evening or Saturday night when you want to get out on the town. Westwood is also the home of Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, which is the resting place for many stars just think about it – who knows who your neighbor, is going to be! Since this is the place of the stars, Westwood would not be complete without a couple museums in honor of the many rich and famous who have left their mark on society rather it be off or on the screen. If you want to learn more about movies, or enjoy the movies, or even if you want to break into the movies yourself, you can find all types of entertainment can be found in Westwood.

Westwood, for awhile was known to have it’s troubles, much like L.A., but over the years Westwood’s good name has been shining and Westwood is once again a good place to live. It is to be predominantly tourist, but California has once again re-claimed Westwood and many people purchase homes in Westwood. In fact, Westwood is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city and has a pretty good retail sector, though Santa Monica, Century City, and Culver City is some of the best shopping areas located in Westwood.

When it comes to the ethnicity of the residents, many are from European and Persian decedents. Many of the well do live in high-rise apartments and in Holmby Hills. Today in L.A. single-family houses tend to be east or southeast of UCLA; which is near Sepulveda, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Wilshire.

There is a high demand for homes and apartments in the Westwood Area and that is why they tend to be so expensive. Even if you are planning on renting, you should be prepared to pay a higher price than in most areas. The price is all worth it, since Westwood homes are very good investments and are worth every penny. When you live in Westwood, it is not that far fetched to see some actors or artists in Westwood. You can always go down to the huge theatres and see all the “A listers” going to their movie premiers. Westwood is the ultimate L.A. area. If it is ethnic that you want, Little Persia is located along Westwood Blvd.

While looking for Westwood real estate, you want to take inconsideration the smaller neighborhoods that make up Westwood, like Little Holmby, Century City, Westwood Hills, Cheviot Hills, and Rancho Park. You will always know where you are because each neighborhood has their own little marker or characteristic and they also share some common boundaries with landmarks. Westwood Village is the place to go for shopping sprees, movies, and the college crown. The area is very upscale and elegant with the traditional and Spanish-build homes. For recreation you can find several different basketball courts, handball/racquetball courts, soccer fields, picnic areas, playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts, and some indoor gyms. You will also notice that Holmby Park has a golf course, running trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, and many other recreational activity areas.

As you can tell, Westwood was something for everyone and for any type of budget. You should be able to find a home in Westwood rather you are middle or high society class. Westwood reality companies will let you know where you best bet is to start your search for that perfect home or apartment and they will also tell you the best schools that are located in the area. Your realtor should be able to answer any questions that you may have about the area and the schools or whatnot that is located in the area.

You should also be able to find a Westwood, California condo that would be perfect for your type of life and living style. Westwood condos are some of the best that are located in the L.A. area. In fact, all Westwood homes are some of the best in L.A. that you will be able to find in your budget. Westwood homes and real estate are located in one of the safest parts of L.A. and are mostly big, beautiful investments. It is also not just for the richie-riches, Westwood is affordable to practically anyone in California. Although a lot of people who are higher class purchase a home in Westwood, it only gives the area more credibility. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that celebrities are frequent in the Westwood section because you deserve to live and a safe and beautiful home for your family.

The house listings in Westwood are very diverse in style and price. If you were to sell your home in Westwood, you would have no problem just for the fact that Westwood has a high market demand for homes, condos, and apartments. When it comes to selling or purchasing a Westwood home, a good realtor will allow both the seller and the buyer to get a good or fair deal. Westwood homes for sale can be very elegant and look like they are worth a million bucks, and some can be. The average price listing for a house in Westwood would be anything from $350, 000 and above. This price range is not bad considering that is a great area to raise children and to purchase a home. You can find anything from a one bedroom, to a five bedroom, an apartment or even a condo in Westwood to raise a family while being close to the action in CA.

If you feel that you are ready to see a Westwood home, contact a Westwood realtor. They will be able to answer all your questions and they will make sure that you find the best home, apartment, or condo that fits within your budget. Westwood is a great place to live and realtors will make that evident when you are shown just how nice the area can be and how the Westwood environment stands. Both buyers and sellers realize that they are making a good investment on Westwood real estate and that’s why Westwood homes and apartments can be expensive, but they are worth the added money, because Westwood is one of the best places to live in the L.A. area.

Jennifer Hershey has more than twenty years of experience as a mortgage loan officer. Her site www.explainingmortgages.com – a real estate investing and mortgage resource devoted to making mortgage types and home loan programs easy to understand.

Does your association’s mission include educating the public or your members? Your web site leads the charge! Here’s how to win your visitors’ loyalty.

1. Know what your visitors are looking for. Which pages do they visit most frequently? If they call for information, what questions do they ask most often?

2. Know who is looking for what. For example, are non-members looking for a referral to one of your expert members, while members are looking for ways increase their expertise? Identify visitor types.

3. Organize information into “threads” for your most common visitor types, and make it easy for them to find what they need. For example, links on your home page might ask, “Looking for an expert?” and “Looking for classes?” The visitor chooses a thread to follow by clicking the link.

4. Help the visitor decide this is the right page by starting every page with a description of the goal the page helps the visitor reach. Examples: “When you’re looking for an expert to help you…” “Do you want to join our profession?” Without this assurance, the visitor is likely to click away and keep looking.

5. Tell your visitor what to do to achieve the goal. “Read about our experts, then click for a referral.” “To sign up for one of our convenient teleclasses, click the date…”

6. Make it easy to achieve a goal. The fewer clicks it takes, the more loyalty you’ll build. If your procedures are murky or convoluted, get a business analyst to help straighten them out.

7. Keep paragraphs short, two or three sentences at most. Make your point in the first sentence. If you don’t, the skimming reader will skim right past!

8. Make your web site part of your strategic plan to advance your association’s mission this year. Review how your site measures up to the competition as well as your own educational goals. Know the value it offers your membership and fund development accordingly.

9. Populate your web site committee with members who can create content on schedule, or make one person the “shepherd” responsible for pulling everything together. Don’t let your mission become mired down or your costs inflated by well intentioned but unreliable volunteers. If you don’t have an expert content shepherd in your association, consider hiring one.

10. Know the personality or “brand voice” you want your site to convey. Don’t let multiple writers make your site seem schizophrenic. If you don’t know how to convey your association’s personality and values in a consistent brand voice, hire an expert.

Keep in mind that whatever skills you need to complement your teamfrom business analysis to brand voicecan be provided by a good content shepherd. Whether your association’s mission is to educate, inform, promote, or persuade, you can keep your visitors reading with clear, crisp content that conveys your values.

Copyright 2005 Content Wheel, All Rights Reserved.

Award-winning writer Susan Raab is the creative force behind hundreds of non-fiction titles. As an executive, founder and designer, she’s brought the Power of Clear to corporations like Sony, Microsoft and McGraw-Hill as well as professional associations, entrepreneurs, authors and self-publishers. For her FREE how-to articles and writing tips, visit http://www.ContentWheel.com