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Just Look For Exotic Hotels Of London

When you are going to step in the dreamland of London, you would feel the pleasant smell, view the loving sites and enjoy your stay in one of the best hotels of London; here you are going to have all in one and added to all they are not to costly too. So come and glance the wonderful place by dwelling in the London luxury hotels.

The Shaftesbury hotels of London are one of the best and wonderful hotels to spend your holidays. They really feel honored to pay homage to their guests. The way they recreate them is mind-blowing, as they happily receive their guests with the broad faces and recreating smiles. So whether you are traveling for your pleasure or for your business, these hotels aid you every sort of facility. And do you know that it is the perfect choice of many too.

The modern, uniqueness, classic and different ambience makes these hotels entirely outstanding in whole of London. Just once you step the door of this hotel and surely are you going be surprised after viewing the magnificent skyscraper like hotel which is much spacious to amass thousands of people together, without retaining any sort of problem. The craving and structure of the hotels makes one dumbstruck. Then the locations of these hotels are just perfect as one enjoys the real natural beauty and every of room holds out the unique and special feature of seeing wonderful sites. The modern, quick, instant and technology based amenities mean elegance and exceptional value. Presently located at the superb locations, hotels specialize in heart of city with all easy access to best of city.

Some of the upstanding services of hotels are that they are completely air conditioned, starting from every of room to all public areas. Then every of the room is provided with the broadband and internet services such that you have all business terms and also have pleasure of net market. These hotels are non smoking through out and smoking detectors are also there to maintain the eco- friendly environment of the hotel.

The rooms are so architecturally built that one can’t face a single problem in it and more over you have the facility of getting small rooms if you are alone as there are three types of rooms as large for extra big families, medium and compact. If you want to savor the culinary tastes, then this the ultimate place to visit as the wonderful cuisines offered by the restaurants are just yummy.

If you just want to dine too, bars are wide open to satisfy you taste and wishes altogether with the best quality products. Laundry and dry cleaning facilities would make you free such that you can enjoy on your trip. The concierge and business services are again note worthy. These hotels also keep you in touch and connected to whole of world by delivering the local and international newspapers to each and every room. As it receives guest from all over the world of several; culture, caste, language and creed, so hotel have multilingual staff to properly entreat either of guest. Entirely green pitched parks are there for maintaining your healthy and hygiene. With elegant spa centers, swimming pools, fitness centers, there are other recreational activities too.

Is National Certification Worth It?

          What started out six years ago as a simple quest to become «qualified» to manage the activity department at a local Rehab has developed into a pursuit for «self».  Back then, I spent several weeks exploring my options and discovering resources for my new found profession.  The lure of being a nationally «certified» activity professional not just a «qualified» director won out. 

            I got an application and began to fulfill the requirements.  I found the nearest «certified trainer» to me was two hours away, halfway across the state.  Nonetheless, I contacted her and made arrangements to take the basic course with her, because that was all that was required on my national application.

            Eight weeks later, I had my certificate of completion in hand, and was in route to fulfilling the required hours of service, and getting transcripts from my alma mater.  Two years pass as I earned the 4,000 hours required.  Alas, with all my paperwork in hand, I mailed my application out.

            Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I accepted a new position at a manor very near my house.  One day, after I started, I got a call from National Headquarters.  They had received my application, but it was incomplete.  I was missing the advanced course work.

            It seemed that somewhere between me getting my original application and my submitting it, they had changed their requirements to include the advance course as mandatory for all certifications.  It was part of an initiative to improve the educational system by which they wanted recognition.

            I accepted their offer of provisional certification.  The stipulation:  I was required to complete the advance course within four years.  So I once again set out to find a «certified trainer» to teach me part two, the advanced course.  I found one, this time she was half a continent away.  We made arrangements and I completed the course.  Nine months later with my certificate of completion in hand and seeing that I only need to complete an additional 200 hours of consulting experience, I chose to jump to the head of the class and get the top of the line certification available.

            Well, National Headquarters «lost» all of my consulting hours, documentation, and pages from my application are missing.  Sure they gave me the «certified» activity professional credentials I wanted four years prior, but that wasn’t what I had spent the past year dedicating my life to.  Phone calls were made, the executive wasn’t available, wouldn’t be for several more days.  She’d return my call on Tuesday morning.  Tuesday morning comes and goes.  I called back, no, sorry the executive makes this decision, can you remind me again what this is about, I talk to 50 people a day and can’t keep it straight.  She’ll return your call.  The classic run-around.

            So I question is national certification worth it?

            At this point, no.

            Easily putting sour-grapes aside, not being disgruntled, harboring no ill-will, I ask:  is national certification worth it?  Compared to what?   I could have settled for being «qualified», but I wanted more than that.  I could have pursued state certification, but I wanted to be better than that.

            Don’t get me wrong, I took the courses with some very remarkable instructors.  They helped me change the direction of my career.  They helped me become a better business leader.  I don’t need some «higher authority» to validate what I know, or what I know I can do.  I don’t need a piece of paper with initials stamped on it that I can use after my name.  I am just as good with it as without it.  What makes them so important?

            I ask this of the state level also.  What makes the state association so important?  It is a professional association.  Kind of like a pro-golfers association.  Sure you look good by being a member, but in the end, that’s all you are, a member.  They don’t license you to be a golfer, they can’t discipline misconduct.  All they can really do is take your money and say you’re a «certified» member and at worse revoke your membership.  It is not like the state or national certifying association is a state or federal agency.  We are not licensed by any one.  So who are they to say I am «certified»?

            How does being nationally «certified» improve my lot in life?  A certification indicates that a minimum of qualifications have been met.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re good at what you do.  It doesn’t even mean career advancement.  In my case, I am already at the top of the ceiling; there is no room for advancement.

            So why pursue national certification?   For me, it’s a milestone; a feather in my cap; proof of my unrelenting pursuit for self-improvement; a desire to show others that with a lot of hard work you can make a difference in your own life.  And with a difference in your own life, you can make a difference in someone else’s life.  And so on, and so on.  It has to start somewhere; I am always willing to be the one to step up.

            I do not need validation of an outside agency to know what I know.  I don’t need validation of an outside agency to do what I do.  I meet minimum state and federal guidelines to be «qualified» to manage my activities department.  The certificates of completion from continuing education classes and conferences and training courses do the same thing.

            So why pursue national certification?

            Because at the moment that’s all there is.  And because they claim to stand for the same things I believe.  They are fighting the good fight to improve educational requirements, improve our standing in the healthcare community, but they are standing in my way.  I am sure that for every one of me that gets rubbed the wrong way, gets our nose bent out of shape, there are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of other who have had the most remarkable, joyful experience ever.  God bless them.  But this isn’t about how we are treated, this isn’t about pointing fingers and saying you did this or you did that.  It’s about self improvement.  It’s about validating yourself.  The goal was never the certification; it was the journey to getting there.  That has been the most remarkable journey imaginable.  I would never have taken this journey if the goal weren’t to become nationally certified.  But the journey, and the people I have met along the way, is what’s important.  It is what changed my life.

            Is national certification worth it?

            I don’t know.

            I haven’t gotten there yet.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to look back and say it was all worth it.  I doubt it.  But the journey…

            Yes, the journey to pursue national certification was worth every painful paper cut, sleepless night, mad dash to a deadline, soul searching moment. 

            Yes, the pursuit for national certification is worth it.  That little piece of paper at the end, I can take it or leave it.  It is just another mile marker in my life that says I was here, I did this.

            If when the dust settles and everything clears up and they offer me my advanced certification, will I accept it?  Sure.  Gladly.  And be an asset to their team.  But I already am.  I just don’t have a key to the executive washroom.  And that’s okay.  My journey isn’t complete, even with certification, my journey won’t be complete.  My journey will never be complete.

            Is national certification worth it?

            To some yes, to many, perhaps, to me, I don’t know.  I guess it’s the wrong question.  Is going through nearly a year long process to become a better professional worth it?  Absolutely.  And getting certification too would just gravy on top.

            I absolutely recommend pushing your comfort level.  I absolutely recommend you tackle educational pursuits.  I absolutely recommend that you better yourself professionally and be more than merely «qualified».  I absolutely recommend that you be the best you you can be and the road to national certification is a great place to learn who you really are, what you can really do and what you are really about.

            And having that little slip of paper with initials that you can use after your name may not be that important.  It’s up to you.  I don’t know.  I’ll let you know if I ever get mine.

Hottest Vending Machine Home Based Businesses

A few years back, I worked retail at a paper store. Needless to say, there were many days on which hours would go by without anyone coming in under the extreme duress of needing to purchase a ream of paper. And right between the register and the door was a full-size soda machine and a small candy machine that had m&m’s, Runts, and roasted almonds. I can’t even tell you how many times I emptied that almond canister, popping in quarter after quarter after quarter in pursuit of that savory, salted goodness. And I wasn’t alone; everyone and their business partner managed daily to scrounge up 25 cents in spare pocket change and push it into that coin slot.

Oh, almonds-now I want some again. But that wasn’t my point in telling my silly story; my point is that candy vending is an amazingly profitable business, precisely because the average American can’t avoid dropping a quarter into a machine for a tasty treat-after all, it’s just a quarter. And though a quarter doesn’t sound like much, when all the quarters are added up, some reports estimate that the average vending machine distributorship makes a little over $70 an hour, which is no small wage at all. But before everyone goes racing out to start dropping off vending machines around town, it’s important to choose your vending franchisor wisely. Here are what we would consider the big, trustworthy names in the industry.

Truth be told, most vending franchises are pretty similar, which doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out: machine, candy, and owner pretty much sum up what any vending outfit looks like. Still, there are some that carry an added punch that makes them worthy of a little extra attention. Uturn Vending is one such business, set apart from everyone else by their machines, which are some of the best in the industry. More interesting than the average vending machine, these «money machines»-as the company likes to call them-pivot around a central post, making 8 compartments available where a stationary machine would only have 4. And aside from the increased choices, the machines are some of the most sturdy available.

The machine, though, isn’t the whole story to a successful vending home based business. Of as much importance is the actual stock; what kind of candy do you have? If what your equipment is sporting is a knock-off brand of gumball or-heaven help us-something healthy, no one in their right mind is going to give you their hard-earned quarters. That is why Vendstar also makes the list as one hot vending commodity, providing only brand-name, recognizable treats. Although, there is something to be said for selling a new product as well. All of us like trying something novel-as long as it’s good-and few candies are more novel than the newest creation sold by American Vending Systems work at home franchisees: Buzz Bites. Though I will admit that it sounds like something you’d find at a bar, it’s really much more benign than that. It’s a tasty chocolate chew with a caffeine equivalence of a cup of coffee, and who doesn’t want one of those?

Not all vending machines sell food products, though. In fact, there are three great business opportunities in the vending market that specialize in not selling food, but rather selling everything from DVDs to lobsters-yes, seriously. If what you want is something original in your machines, one of these is for you.

First, the DVDs. The concept has made a huge splash in Europe, but it is just starting out in the US, and that idea is the automated DVD vending kiosk. DVDNow is leading the way in this country, renting out movies without the use of employees or storefronts, which keeps prices drastically lower for both owner and customer. And on the way home from renting a video, the consumer in question could very well stop off at a local supermarket parking lot to visit someone else’s Polar Ice Express franchise, which is prefect because the shopper doesn’t even have to leave her vehicle to use the machine. The ease of use for her is only beaten by the ease of ownership for the franchisee, who merely has to run periodic clean-ups, refill the ice bags occasionally, and keep up relations with the owner of the establishment he is renting parking space from. And finally, if this particular lady is feeling especially culinary, she may want to stop and get some lobster from a Love Maine Lobster Claw vending machine inside the grocery store. I’m not sure how many people actually manage to snag a lobster from the tank, but this machine makes money like no other, off of sheer oddity, because there is nowhere else that a person can actually work to grab their lobster of choice from the tank with the use of a small crane. They all may seem a little out of the ordinary in terms of the classic concept of vending, but DVDNow, Polar Ice Express, and The Love Maine Lobster Claw are all completely legit and well worth the investment of your investigational time.

All in all, there is a lot to be said for vending business opportunities. Kids always manage to get their parents to drop that quarter into the machine, hungry employees will always sacrifice a quarter to tide themselves over until lunch, and the rest of us appreciate the ease of getting a DVD without the trouble of human contact; as a culture, we cannot stay away from either candy machines or other kinds of vending machines. Anyone smart enough to get in on the business can certainly make a pretty penny. All they have to do is choose the right company to go with.

Investment Gobbledygook

There are no orphan shares …
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A lot of what passes as serious investment commentary is simply «gobbledygook» i.e. nonsense or drivel. It defies share market realities and is at odds with the philosophy that markets work.

Yet, unfortunately, some of the people and organisations generally regarded as finance experts are the main proponents of this gobbledygook. Let’s consider a couple of examples.

In a recent article in the «Sydney Morning Herald», a private client adviser of a major stock broker explained why the share market had fallen for the past three days, after a period of strong gains, as follows:

«I think it comes down to a bit of profit-taking. I guess the market is acknowledging we’ve had it pretty good for the last couple of months and it’s time to take a breather.»

In a similar vein, the finance reporters on the evening television news will often attribute a rise in the share market, after a period of weakness, to «bargain hunters» taking advantage of lower prices. Sometimes, more glibly, since they believe they are stating the «bleeding obvious», they will explain a rise in the market as due to «more buyers than sellers».

But all these types of comments overlook one indisputable share market fact. That is, for every buyer, there must be a seller – there are no orphan shares. So if a seller is «profit taking», what is the buyer doing? Or, if the buyers are «bargain hunters», what does that make the sellers?

Share markets do not move because of the weight of buyers or sellers. Rather, they respond to changes in expectations of the factors that drive share prices i.e. expected profits and the discount rate used to convert those profits to today’s dollars.

Lower current share prices compared with two years ago almost certainly reflect lower expected company profits. And, perhaps, a higher discount rate (or expected return) to entice investors to take the necessary risk. It is not because investors have «fled» share markets as is often suggested in the financial media. Because, in aggregate, they simply can’t.

«The Arithmetic of Active Management»

Another prevalent example of investment gobbledygook is the claim that depressed share market conditions are best suited to active, stock picking investors as opposed to passive investors who simply hold share portfolios designed to replicate the market’s overall performance.

Since the share market peak of November 2007, hardly a day goes by without a financial journalist opining or quoting some stock broking source that «it’s a stock pickers’ market». No proof is provided. It is simply asserted.

We recently received an invitation from a major financial institution to a seminar to hear three prominent active fund managers present on why they believed they would outperform the overall share market in these difficult times. The invitation explained:

«At the peak of the bull market most fund managers were able to produce strong absolute returns with ease. Moving forward active management and fund manager skill will play a far greater role.»

The implied claims appear to be:

1. now is a good time for active funds management; and
2. you can pick the most skilled active managers.

A response to Claim 2. will need to be the topic of another article. However, in summary, the best available research suggests it is very difficult (some say, impossible) to distinguish luck from skill.

But rebutting Claim 1. doesn’t require research – simple arithmetic will do. The essential message of Nobel prize winning financial economist, Professor William Sharpe’s classic 1991 paper, «The Arithmetic of Active Funds Management», is that:

* since active and passive investors make up the entire share investor universe; and
* passive investors earn the return of the total share market less their relatively small costs

it follows that active investors, in aggregate, must also earn the same total share market return less their relatively high costs.

This will always be the case. There are not good times and bad times for active investors, compared with passive investors. In our view, given the higher costs of active investment, there are only bad times!

The moral of the story …

Often, in investment markets, propositions that sound plausible, and are being put forward by people or organisations with apparent expertise, prove to be total bunk when subjected to appropriate scrutiny.

As a smart decision maker, serious questions you should ask yourself are:

* do I have the knowledge and wisdom required to distinguish between often self serving investment gobbledygook and the opinions and research of the world’s leading financial economists and behavioural scientists;
* if not, is it the best use of my time to acquire that knowledge and wisdom;
* what are the costs, risks and foregone opportunities of not accessing that knowledge and wisdom; and
* am I prepared to accept those costs, risks and foregone opportunities?

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Industrial suspended ceilings

Have you ever thought about getting industrial suspended ceilings installed? Are you wondering how to get it done and who to ask for the job? There is some good news for you. Installing your own industrial suspended ceilings can be perfectly done all by yourself. Granted, it will take you quite some time for an average room, but it is well-worth the effort. As a result, the job is best undertaken by at least two people who are somewhat experienced in doing technical jobs around the house . However, one does not really need any specific expertise to do the job, as the tools and techniques that are in the process used aren’t too difficult.

You usually don’t need a permit to work on your industrial suspended ceilings, but it is always a good idea to check the regulations at the local building department, just in case. Better safe than sorry. Regulations may differ for industrial purposes.

Industrial suspended ceilings are supposed to be hung from the ceiling joists with a metal grid. This creates the opening between both the joists and the ceiling where wires, pipes, and ductwork can be installed and worked on. A tile ceiling is either glued directly to an existing ceiling or onto so-called «furring strips» that are glued or nailed to the existing ceiling. This type of ceiling works very well both in covering over any older existing ceilings or where a lack of height is a consideration and a suspended ceiling would drop wat too low for comfort. All you need for an industrial suspended ceiling is sufficient head space. Requirements vary, but most codes insist that you need a minimum 7 1/2- feet ceiling height for a new construction.

Industrial suspended ceilings needn’t just look great in your house, they also hold many great advantages. They are great at muffling all sound, covering up wires and cables, supporting lighting systems and they often have fireproof characteristics. For example, ceilings made of mineral fiber on the other hand are a good option for rooms with a possible fire hazard, which is an important factor for industrial buildings But for most other purposes, a classic industrial suspended ceiling is the best choice.

Always make sure you use the right tools while installing your own industrial suspended ceilings is using the right tools. Fortunately, an industrial suspended ceiling isn’t that difficult to install and requires no expensive equipment. However, since you are most likely covering a medium-size to large room, the metal grid requires at least two people to install it. Many of the tools needed for either suspended or tile ceilings are the same, including  metal tape, straightedge, nails, a ladder, safety goggles and face mask, a pencil, chalkline, a drywall pan, a miter box, a screwdriver, tiles, ganer wire, cross tees, a coping saw and many more.