Thursday, November 12, 2009

How to Keep From Getting the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus

In the previous post, we covered the topic of the swine flue in great detail, but there's no reason panic. Here are a few steps to keep yourself from getting the swine flu and stay healthy this winter.

Wash your hands as often as possible. Hand sanitizers such as “Germ-x” or “Purell” are also very effective.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth especially when you are out in public because germs can be transferred from your hands to these places.

Avoid being around sick people. Obviously this is not easy to do as you will have to be around sick coworkers. But just try to keep your distance as much as possible.

Do NOT touch surfaces such as doorknobs, railings, etc. The germs can survive anywhere from 2 hours to 8 hours!

After you come home from work or a public place, shower immediately and wash your clothes.

Make sure your eating very healthy! Take vitamin c to boost your immune system. Also, avoid food high in sugars as these can weaken your immune system.

Exercise to improve your overall well-being so that you are stronger to fight this flu off. However, be very cautious how and where you are working out. If you work out at the gym, be especially careful as the many surfaces there are ideal to spread the virus.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

How to Conquer Your Procrastination

By: timsgurl

My little 5 year old brother loves to cut paper into teeny tiny little pieces and scatter them all over the floor so it looks like it “snowed.” One time when he did this, he was asked if he knew that he would have to clean it all up. He looked up and said very seriously, “I might not have to.” He was told that yes, he would and he replied, “Well, I might not have to. Jesus might come back first.”

Procrastination. It is something we all struggle with, coming up will all kinds of excuses for not doing a certain task. Even a little 5 year old doesn’t have to be taught to come up with creative excuses to try to get out of things! I want to talk about a few tips on how to overcome those habits

Keep your goals realistic. Realize your limits - you can’t do everything in one day. Set long-term goals, then decide on daily tasks that will help you to reach your long term goals in a reasonable amount of time.

Don’t be a perfectionist. This is probably one of my biggest problems! If I don’t have time to do a task all the way, I won’t even start it. I will mess around, keeping very busy with other little jobs. In the end, I get nothing important done and have huge projects that need done with no time to do them. If you don’t have time to finish something right then, still start it and just get as much done as you can! Then finish it later. (And no, don’t put that last little bit off!)

Make a list and set priorities. Don’t even give yourself the chance to procrastinate on an important project! Sit down and write your list and arrange it in order of priority.

Tackle some of the bigger things on your list first. If you can see some progress, you will feel better about what you have gotten done and you will be more motivated to get even more done! If you are like me and have a short attention span and get sidetracked easily, it may be a good idea for you to set an alarm reminder for laundry, downloads and backups, or whatever projects you are working on that you walk away from and forget.

Reward yourself! After you have reached your goals for the day, take a break and do something fun!

Remember that no matter how well you plan out your day and goals, things will come up that you can’t help. You just have to be honest with yourself on whether this is something you can’t help or if it’s something you are using it as an excuse.

*Article Courtesy of timsgurl. To see more of her work click here.

How to Stuff Wedding Invitations

By: timsgurl

The big day is fast approaching and it's time to get out the invitations! All the etiquette concerning the invitations can make this a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be that way. This article will show you the proper way to assemble your invitations.

Sort out all your various enclosures into piles facing. This will make it easier as you just have to grab one from each pile to stick in the envelope.

Your actual invitation will be the first to go into the envelope. You want to put it in so that the wording is facing out.

The reception card will go in next. This is optional as some people just add that to the wedding invitation.

The response envelope and response card will be next. You will want to fold the flap of the response envelope over the card and face the card so that when you open the invitation the wording is facing out.

Last but not least, put in your direction card or small map. This is especially nice to include if your wedding is in a small town or you have family and friends coming to the wedding who are not familiar with the area

If you want to include tissue in your envelope, it would be placed over the wording of the invitation.

If you have handwritten the envelopes, make sure that the handwriting on the actual invitation envelope and the handwriting on the response envelope match.

*Article Courtesy of timsgurl. To see more of her work click here.

How to Grip a Football Like a Pro

By: timsgurl

Wish you could throw like the pros? It all starts from knowing how to grip the football properly. A good grip will get you well on your way toward throwing a perfect spiral!

Grab the football in your non-throwing hand. Turn it over so that the laces are facing up toward you.

Place your right hand on the ball. You want to have your thumb and middle finger below the white line as close as you can to the laces.

Place at least your pinkie finger inside the first lace. Ideally you want to place your ring finger and pinkie finger inside the laces and place your middle finger just inside the white stripe. If your hands are larger move your fingers up so that your middle finger, ring finger, and pinkie finger are inside a seam.

You will want to make sure that your thumb is positioned beneath your middle finger just inside the white stripe. When your fingers are positioned properly they will form an "L" shape. There should be a slight gap between your hand at the bottom of the "L" and the ball. The positioning of the thumb can make the difference between a "wounded duck throw" and a perfectly spiraling missle.

Position the index finger near the tip of the ball. Ideally it will be within one to two inches from the tip. This will provide extra stability behind the ball.

Be sure to grip the ball firmly but not too tightly. Gripping it to hard will hinder ball control and the release.

*Article Courtesy of timsgurl. To see more of her work click here