#I can’t afford that prime membership yet

[idoguwu]

Another I made in IBIS but it’s Ingo Lip Sync

#pokemon #submas #doodle #ingo #pokémon ingo #ibis animation #ignore the watermark #I can’t afford that prime membership yet

[wrightgraversen31]

Asia Cruise - How To Maximize Your Journey In 5 Easy Ways

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[rossiburnham64]

auto clicker bluestacks

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#BLUESTACKS

[positive-infinity]

Another productive afternoon trying to refresh myself on Endocrine disorders. I’ll be taking my boards on September next year and I just thought of starting to recall some concepts. Afterall, med school is about repetition.

I’ve also started this new study method wherein I first try to answer sample questions before reading up on a topic. In that way, my mind comes up with questions and learning objectives whenever I get the answers wrong. I read somewhere that you retain information more when you have a specific goal to actively learn about something.

This is where the Osmosis application comes in. I’ve been watching their youtube videos throughout my med school and I only found out now about their prime membership (but it’s really expensive and I can’t afford it as a broke medical student huhu!!!). So I availed the free trial for 2 weeks and it let me access tons of flashcards, videos, board review questions, and other study tools (check 2nd pic above for an example). So essentially, my study sessions go in this specific order:

Answering the flash cards on the topic I’m reading about

Based on what I got wrong, I mentally set my learning objectives then prepare myself for more active learning

Watching the video on the topic to have a comprehensive view on what I’m going to study

Read reference books and previous transes for more detailed explanation

Compile and type down information in my OneNote app. I use my laptop for this one but it automatically syncs my online notebooks to my other devices for more portability. This is so useful especially for times when I just want to access my notes when I’m in the hospital.

I’ve only been trying it for a few days, so I have yet to see if this works for me (though I have a good feeling it will!). In line with that, Osmosis app lets you get 2 free weeks if you refer the site to a friend. You both get 2 free weeks!

If you are interested in trying it out, you can click my referral link below to get a total of 4 weeks free! :)

https://www.osmosis.org/invite/XhxTvsc

It would really help both of us because we both get additional 2 free weeks and you can also try referring other people for more. Feel free to let me know if it helped!!! :) in the meantime, happy studying!

#medschool diaries #words #medschool #osmosis #medblr #studyblr #studytips #medicine #med school #med student #notes #medspiration #med life #medical school #student #study #studying #productivity #productivity app

[giancarlonicoli]

It was a decision I made with my heart and not my head. When I’m 80 and reflecting back, I want to have minimized the number of regrets that I have in my life. And most of our regrets are acts of omission—the things we didn’t try, the paths untraveled. Those are the things that haunt us. And I decided that if I didn’t at least give it my best shot, I was going to regret not trying to participate in this thing called the internet that I thought was going to be a big deal.

Policy news & views

Statement by Jeff Bezos to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Testimony before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law                                                                                           

July 28, 2020                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Statement by Jeffrey P. Bezos Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Amazon before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law July 29, 2020

Thank you, Chairman Cicilline, Ranking Member Sensenbrenner, and members of the Subcommittee. I’m Jeff Bezos. I founded Amazon 26 years ago with the long-term mission of making it Earth’s most customer-centric company.

My mom, Jackie, had me when she was a 17-year-old high school student in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being pregnant in high school was not popular in Albuquerque in 1964. It was difficult for her. When they tried to kick her out of school, my grandfather went to bat for her. After some negotiation, the principal said, “OK, she can stay and finish high school, but she can’t do any extracurricular activities, and she can’t have a locker.” My grandfather took the deal, and my mother finished high school, though she wasn’t allowed to walk across the stage with her classmates to get her diploma. Determined to keep up with her education, she enrolled in night school, picking classes led by professors who would let her bring an infant to class. She would show up with two duffel bags—one full of textbooks, and one packed with diapers, bottles, and anything that would keep me interested and quiet for a few minutes.

My dad’s name is Miguel. He adopted me when I was four years old. He was 16 when he came to the United States from Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan, shortly after Castro took over. My dad arrived in America alone. His parents felt he’d be safer here. His mom imagined America would be cold, so she made him a jacket sewn entirely out of cleaning cloths, the only material they had on hand. We still have that jacket; it hangs in my parents’ dining room. My dad spent two weeks at Camp Matecumbe, a refugee center in Florida, before being moved to a Catholic mission in Wilmington, Delaware. He was lucky to get to the mission, but even so, he didn’t speak English and didn’t have an easy path. What he did have was a lot of grit and determination. He received a scholarship to college in Albuquerque, which is where he met my mom. You get different gifts in life, and one of my great gifts is my mom and dad. They have been incredible role models for me and my siblings our entire lives.

You learn different things from your grandparents than you do from your parents, and I had the opportunity to spend my summers from ages four to 16 on my grandparents’ ranch in Texas. My grandfather was a civil servant and a rancher—he worked on space technology and missile-defense systems in the 1950s and ‘60s for the Atomic Energy Commission—and he was self-reliant and resourceful. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, you don’t pick up a phone and call somebody when something breaks. You fix it yourself. As a kid, I got to see him solve many seemingly unsolvable problems himself, whether he was restoring a broken-down Caterpillar bulldozer or doing his own veterinary work. He taught me that you can take on hard problems. When you have a setback, you get back up and try again. You can invent your way to a better place.

I took these lessons to heart as a teenager, and became a garage inventor. I invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker out of an umbrella and tinfoil, and alarms made from baking pans to entrap my siblings.

The concept for Amazon came to me in 1994. The idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles—something that simply couldn’t exist in the physical world—was exciting to me. At the time, I was working at an investment firm in New York City. When I told my boss I was leaving, he took me on a long walk in Central Park. After a lot of listening, he finally said, “You know what, Jeff, I think this is a good idea, but it would be a better idea for somebody who didn’t already have a good job.” He convinced me to think about it for two days before making a final decision. It was a decision I made with my heart and not my head. When I’m 80 and reflecting back, I want to have minimized the number of regrets that I have in my life. And most of our regrets are acts of omission—the things we didn’t try, the paths untraveled. Those are the things that haunt us. And I decided that if I didn’t at least give it my best shot, I was going to regret not trying to participate in this thing called the internet that I thought was going to be a big deal.

The initial start-up capital for Amazon.com came primarily from my parents, who invested a large fraction of their life savings in something they didn’t understand. They weren’t making a bet on Amazon or the concept of a bookstore on the internet. They were making a bet on their son. I told them that I thought there was a 70% chance they would lose their investment, and they did it anyway. It took more than 50 meetings for me to raise $1 million from investors, and over the course of all those meetings, the most common question was, “What’s the internet?”

Unlike many other countries around the world, this great nation we live in supports and does not stigmatize entrepreneurial risk-taking. I walked away from a steady job into a Seattle garage to found my startup, fully understanding that it might not work. It feels like just yesterday I was driving the packages to the post office myself, dreaming that one day we might be able to afford a forklift.

Amazon’s success was anything but preordained. Investing in Amazon early on was a very risky proposition. From our founding through the end of 2001, our business had cumulative losses of nearly $3 billion, and we did not have a profitable quarter until the fourth quarter of that year. Smart analysts predicted Barnes & Noble would steamroll us, and branded us “Amazon.toast.” In 1999, after we’d been in business for nearly five years, Barron’s headlined a story about our impending demise “Amazon.bomb.” My annual shareholder letter for 2000 started with a one-word sentence: “Ouch.” At the pinnacle of the internet bubble our stock price peaked at $116, and then after the bubble burst our stock went down to $6. Experts and pundits thought we were going out of business. It took a lot of smart people with a willingness to take a risk with me, and a willingness to stick to our convictions, for Amazon to survive and ultimately to succeed.

And it wasn’t just those early years. In addition to good luck and great people, we have been able to succeed as a company only because we have continued to take big risks. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment. Outsized returns come from betting against conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom is usually right. A lot of observers characterized Amazon Web Services as a risky distraction when we started. “What does selling compute and storage have to do with selling books?” they wondered. No one asked for AWS. It turned out the world was ready and hungry for cloud computing but didn’t know it yet. We were right about AWS, but the truth is we’ve also taken plenty of risks that didn’t pan out. In fact, Amazon has made billions of dollars of failures. Failure inevitably comes along with invention and risk-taking, which is why we try to make Amazon the best place in the world to fail.

Since our founding, we have strived to maintain a “Day One” mentality at the company. By that I mean approaching everything we do with the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of Day One. Even though Amazon is a large company, I have always believed that if we commit ourselves to maintaining a Day One mentality as a critical part of our DNA, we can have both the scope and capabilities of a large company and the spirit and heart of a small one.

In my view, obsessive customer focus is by far the best way to achieve and maintain Day One vitality. Why? Because customers are always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied, even when they report being happy and business is great. Even when they don’t yet know it, customers want something better, and a constant desire to delight customers drives us to constantly invent on their behalf. As a result, by focusing obsessively on customers, we are internally driven to improve our services, add benefits and features, invent new products, lower prices, and speed up shipping times—before we have to. No customer ever asked Amazon to create the Prime membership program, but it sure turns out they wanted it. And I could give you many such examples. Not every business takes this customer-first approach, but we do, and it’s our greatest strength.

Customer trust is hard to win and easy to lose. When you let customers make your business what it is, then they will be loyal to you—right up to the second that someone else offers them better service. We know that customers are perceptive and smart. We take as an article of faith that customers will notice when we work hard to do the right thing, and that by doing so again and again, we will earn trust. You earn trust slowly, over time, by doing hard things well—delivering on time; offering everyday low prices; making promises and keeping them; making principled decisions, even when they’re unpopular; and giving customers more time to spend with their families by inventing more convenient ways of shopping, reading, and automating their homes. As I have said since my first shareholder letter in 1997, we make decisions based on the long-term value we create as we invent to meet customer needs. When we’re criticized for those choices, we listen and look at ourselves in the mirror. When we think our critics are right, we change. When we make mistakes, we apologize. But when you look in the mirror, assess the criticism, and still believe you’re doing the right thing, no force in the world should be able to move you.

Fortunately, our approach is working. Eighty percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Amazon overall, according to leading independent polls. Who do Americans trust more than Amazon “to do the right thing?” Only their primary physicians and the military, according to a January 2020 Morning Consult survey. Researchers at Georgetown and New York University found in 2018 that Amazon trailed only the military among all respondents to a survey on institutional and brand trust. Among Republicans, we trailed only the military and local police; among Democrats, we were at the top, leading every branch of government, universities, and the press. In Fortune’s 2020 rankings of the World’s Most Admired Companies, we came in second place (Apple was #1). We are grateful that customers notice the hard work we do on their behalf, and that they reward us with their trust. Working to earn and keep that trust is the single biggest driver of Amazon’s Day One culture.

The company most of you know as Amazon is the one that sends you your online orders in the brown boxes with the smile on the side. That’s where we started, and retail remains our largest business by far, accounting for over 80% of our total revenue. The very nature of that business is getting products to customers. Those operations need to be close to customers, and we can’t outsource these jobs to China or anywhere else. To fulfill our promises to customers in this country, we need American workers to get products to American customers. When customers shop on Amazon, they are helping to create jobs in their local communities. As a result, Amazon directly employs a million people, many of them entry-level and paid by the hour. We don’t just employ highly educated computer scientists and MBAs in Seattle and Silicon Valley. We hire and train hundreds of thousands of people in states across the country such as West Virginia, Tennessee, Kansas, and Idaho. These employees are package stowers, mechanics, and plant managers. For many, it’s their first job. For some, these jobs are a stepping stone to other careers, and we are proud to help them with that. We are spending more than $700 million to give more than 100,000 Amazon employees access to training programs in fields such as healthcare, transportation, machine learning, and cloud computing. That program is called Career Choice, and we pay 95% of tuition and fees toward a certificate or diploma for in-demand, high-paying fields, regardless of whether it’s relevant to a career at Amazon.

Patricia Soto, one of our associates, is a Career Choice success story. Patricia always wanted to pursue a career in the medical field to help care for others, but with only a high school diploma and facing the costs of post-secondary education, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to accomplish that goal. After earning her medical certification through Career Choice, Patricia left Amazon to start her new career as a medical assistant at Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, supporting a pulmonary medicine doctor. Career Choice has given Patricia and so many others a shot at a second career that once seemed out of reach.

Amazon has invested more than $270 billion in the U.S. over the last decade. Beyond our own workforce, Amazon’s investments have created nearly 700,000 indirect jobs in fields like construction, building services, and hospitality. Our hiring and investments have brought much-needed jobs and added hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity to areas like Fall River, Massachusetts, California’s Inland Empire, and Rust Belt states like Ohio. During the COVID-19 crisis, we hired an additional 175,000 employees, including many laid off from other jobs during the economic shutdown. We spent more than $4 billion in the second quarter alone to get essential products to customers and keep our employees safe during the COVID-19 crisis. And a dedicated team of Amazon employees from across the company has created a program to regularly test our workers for COVID-19. We look forward to sharing our learnings with other interested companies and government partners.

The global retail market we compete in is strikingly large and extraordinarily competitive. Amazon accounts for less than 1% of the $25 trillion global retail market and less than 4% of retail in the U.S. Unlike industries that are winner-take-all, there’s room in retail for many winners. For example, more than 80 retailers in the U.S. alone earn over $1 billion in annual revenue. Like any retailer, we know that the success of our store depends entirely on customers’ satisfaction with their experience in our store. Every day, Amazon competes against large, established players like Target, Costco, Kroger, and, of course, Walmart—a company more than twice Amazon’s size. And while we have always focused on producing a great customer experience for retail sales done primarily online, sales initiated online are now an even larger growth area for other stores. Walmart’s online sales grew 74% in the first quarter. And customers are increasingly flocking to services invented by other stores that Amazon still can’t match at the scale of other large companies, like curbside pickup and in-store returns. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on these trends, which have been growing for years. In recent months, curbside pickup of online orders has increased over 200%, in part due to COVID-19 concerns. We also face new competition from the likes of Shopify and Instacart—companies that enable traditionally physical stores to put up a full online store almost instantaneously and to deliver products directly to customers in new and innovative ways—and a growing list of omnichannel business models. Like almost every other segment of our economy, technology is used everywhere in retail and has only made retail more competitive, whether online, in physical stores, or in the various combinations of the two that make up most stores today. And we and all other stores are acutely aware that, regardless of how the best features of “online” and “physical” stores are combined, we are all competing for and serving the same customers. The range of retail competitors and related services is constantly changing, and the only real constant in retail is customers’ desire for lower prices, better selection, and convenience.

It’s also important to understand that Amazon’s success depends overwhelmingly on the success of the thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that also sell their products in Amazon’s stores. Back in 1999, we took what at the time was the unprecedented step of welcoming third-party sellers into our stores and enabling them to offer their products right alongside our own. Internally, this was extremely controversial, with many disagreeing and some predicting this would be the beginning of a long, losing battle. We didn’t have to invite third-party sellers into the store. We could have kept this valuable real estate for ourselves. But we committed to the idea that over the long term it would increase selection for customers, and that more satisfied customers would be great for both third-party sellers and for Amazon. And that’s what happened. Within a year of adding those sellers, third-party sales accounted for 5% of unit sales, and it quickly became clear that customers loved the convenience of being able to shop for the best products and to see prices from different sellers all in the same store. These small and medium-sized third-party businesses now add significantly more product selection to Amazon's stores than Amazon's own retail operation. Third-party sales now account for approximately 60% of physical product sales on Amazon, and those sales are growing faster than Amazon’s own retail sales. We guessed that it wasn’t a zero sum game. And we were right—the whole pie did grow, third-party sellers did very well and are growing fast, and that has been great for customers and for Amazon.

There are now 1.7 million small and medium-sized businesses around the world selling in Amazon’s stores. More than 200,000 entrepreneurs worldwide surpassed $100,000 in sales in our stores in 2019. On top of that, we estimate that third-party businesses selling in Amazon’s stores have created over 2.2 million new jobs around the world.

One of those sellers is Sherri Yukel, who wanted to change careers to be home more for her children. She started handcrafting gifts and party supplies for friends as a hobby, and eventually began selling her products on Amazon. Today, Sherri’s company employs nearly 80 people and has a global customer base. Another is Christine Krogue, a stay-at-home mother of five in Salt Lake City. Christine started a business selling baby clothes through her own website before taking a chance on Amazon. She has since seen her sales more than double, and she’s been able to expand her product line and hire a team of part-time employees. Selling on Amazon has allowed Sherri and Christine to grow their own businesses and satisfy customers on their own terms.

And it is striking to remember how recent all of this is. We did not start out as the largest marketplace—eBay was many times our size. It was only by focusing on supporting sellers and giving them the best tools we could invent that we were able to succeed and eventually surpass eBay. One such tool is Fulfillment by Amazon, which enables our third-party sellers to stow their inventory in our fulfillment centers, and we take on all logistics, customer service, and product returns. By dramatically simplifying all of those challenging aspects of the selling experience in a cost-effective way, we have helped many thousands of sellers grow their businesses on Amazon. Our success may help explain the wide proliferation of marketplaces of all types and sizes around the world. This includes U.S. companies like Walmart, eBay, Etsy, and Target, as well as retailers based overseas but selling globally, such as Alibaba and Rakuten. These marketplaces further intensify competition within retail.

The trust customers put in us every day has allowed Amazon to create more jobs in the United States over the past decade than any other company—hundreds of thousands of jobs across 42 states. Amazon employees make a minimum of $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage (which we have urged Congress to increase). We’ve challenged other large retailers to match our $15 minimum wage. Target did so recently, and just last week so did Best Buy. We welcome them, and they remain the only ones to have done so. We do not skimp on benefits, either. Our full-time hourly employees receive the same benefits as our salaried headquarters employees, including comprehensive health insurance starting on the first day of employment, a 401(k) retirement plan, and parental leave, including 20 weeks of paid maternity leave. I encourage you to benchmark our pay and benefits against any of our retail competitors.

More than 80% of Amazon shares are owned by outsiders, and over the last 26 years—starting from zero—we’ve created more than $1 trillion of wealth for those outside shareholders. Who are those shareowners? They are pension funds: fire, police, and school teacher pension funds. Others are 401(k)s—mutual funds that own pieces of Amazon. University endowments, too, and the list goes on. Many people will retire better because of the wealth we’ve created for so many, and we’re enormously proud of this.

At Amazon, customer obsession has made us what we are, and allowed us to do ever greater things. I know what Amazon could do when we were 10 people. I know what we could do when we were 1,000 people, and when we were 10,000 people. And I know what we can do today when we’re nearly a million. I love garage entrepreneurs—I was one. But, just like the world needs small companies, it also needs large ones. There are things small companies simply can’t do. I don’t care how good an entrepreneur you are, you’re not going to build an all-fiber Boeing 787 in your garage.

Our scale allows us to make a meaningful impact on important societal issues. The Climate Pledge is a commitment made by Amazon and joined by other companies to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net zero carbon by 2040. We plan to meet the pledge, in part, by purchasing 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian—a Michigan-based producer of electric vehicles. Amazon aims to have 10,000 of Rivian’s new electric vans on the road as early as 2022, and all 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2030. Globally, Amazon operates 91 solar and wind projects that have the capacity to generate over 2,900 MW and deliver more than 7.6 million MWh of energy annually—enough to power more than 680,000 U.S. homes. Amazon is also investing $100 million in global reforestation projects through the Right Now Climate Fund, including $10 million Amazon committed in April to conserve, restore, and support sustainable forestry, wildlife and nature-based solutions across the Appalachian Mountains—funding two innovative projects in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy. Four global companies—Verizon, Reckitt Benckiser, Infosys, and Oak View Group—recently signed The Climate Pledge, and we continue to encourage others to join us in this fight. Together, we will use our size and scale to address the climate crisis right away. And last month, Amazon introduced The Climate Pledge Fund, started with $2 billion in funding from Amazon. The Fund will support the development of sustainable technologies and services that in turn will enable Amazon and other companies to meet The Climate Pledge. The Fund will invest in visionary entrepreneurs and innovators who are building products and services to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably.

We recently opened the largest homeless shelter in Washington state—and it’s located inside one of our newest headquarters buildings in downtown Seattle. The shelter is for Mary’s Place, an incredible Seattle-based nonprofit. The shelter, part of Amazon’s $100 million investment in Mary’s Place, spans eight floors and can accommodate up to 200 family members each night. It has its own health clinic and provides critical tools and services to help families fighting homelessness get back on their feet. And there is dedicated space for Amazon to provide weekly pro-bono legal clinics offering counsel on credit and debt issues, personal injury, housing and tenant rights. Since 2018, Amazon's legal team has supported hundreds of Mary’s Place guests and volunteered more than 1,000 pro-bono hours.

Amazon Future Engineer is a global childhood-to-career program designed to inspire, educate, and prepare thousands of children and young adults from underrepresented and underserved communities to pursue a computer science career. The program funds computer science coursework and professional teacher development for hundreds of elementary schools, introductory and AP Computer Science classes for more than 2,000 schools in underserved communities across the country, and 100 four-year, $40,000 college scholarships to computer science students from low-income backgrounds. Those scholarship recipients also receive guaranteed internships at Amazon. There is a diversity pipeline problem in tech, and this has an outsized impact on the Black community. We want to invest in building out the next generation of technical talent for the industry and expanding the opportunities for underrepresented minorities. We also want to accelerate this change right now. To find the best talent for technical and non-technical roles, we actively partner with historically Black colleges and universities on our recruiting, internship, and upskilling initiatives.

Let me close by saying that I believe Amazon should be scrutinized. We should scrutinize all large institutions, whether they’re companies, government agencies, or non-profits. Our responsibility is to make sure we pass such scrutiny with flying colors.

It’s not a coincidence that Amazon was born in this country. More than any other place on Earth, new companies can start, grow, and thrive here in the U.S. Our country embraces resourcefulness and self-reliance, and it embraces builders who start from scratch. We nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups with stable rule of law, the finest university system in the world, the freedom of democracy, and a deeply accepted culture of risk-taking. Of course, this great nation of ours is far from perfect. Even as we remember Congressman John Lewis and honor his legacy, we’re in the middle of a much-needed race reckoning. We also face the challenges of climate change and income inequality, and we’re stumbling through the crisis of a global pandemic. Still, the rest of the world would love even the tiniest sip of the elixir we have here in the U.S. Immigrants like my dad see what a treasure this country is—they have perspective and can often see it even more clearly than those of us who were lucky enough to be born here. It’s still Day One for this country, and even in the face of today’s humbling challenges, I have never been more optimistic about our future.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and am happy to take your questions.

#united states

[eknowledgetree2015]

Which is better Hulu vs Netflix?

Introduction

Which is better between Hulu and Netflix? This is a very relevant question in 2020. Netflix's membership costs are going up, and Hulu's primary version is reasonable. So with new expenses to consider, it merits returning to the qualities of each help and differentiating the two. I know there are a lot of individuals out there with both Hulu vs Netflix calculated into their repetitive month to month memberships. However, you are attempting to chop down and consider if either is extremely justified, despite all the trouble in case you are as of now paying for Amazon Prime or HBO or something different. Presently, it is imperative to recollect that Hulu is just accessible in the United States. So if you do not dwell in the US, I assume Netflix just takes this by relinquish. Now, we are going to discuss Hulu vs Netflix in various aspects.

Hulu vs Netflix: Highlights

Netflix streams in 4K. Netflix underpins HDR video. You can download Netflix videos to watch on a cell phone when you are travelling. Hulu offers none of those things. I have collected some relevant data about them normally throughout the years and still have no away from when 4K and offline downloads may show up. The primary concern Hulu has that Netflix can't give you is live TV: Hulu with Live TV (presently $45/month) combines the video-on-demand service with a live link from various devices that you can stream from anyplace and when you need. In any case, if live TV is the thing you are thinking, you will need to climb to a unique valuing level. I understand that 4K made Netflix most costly, however offline playback — accessible over the entirety of its versions — is significant enough for the simple win here. Gracious, and there are no advertisements.

Hulu Vs Netflix: Cost

Presently $6/month, Hulu's conventional advertisement bolstered plan is essentially more affordable than a Netflix membership. The inquiry you will need to answer is whether you can endure Hulu's advertisements. A significant number of us discover them sufficiently simple to disregard. However, some of you truly appear to detest when your shows have interfered. If you cannot bargain, Hulu's $11.99 "No Commercials" will dispose of by far most of the breaks. Netflix simply reported another value climb, raising its membership expenses to $12.99 for the standard version, $15.99 for premium. But, if you need a 4k version video, then you must go for Netflix.

Hulu Vs Netflix: Flexibility

Netflix's exceptional version considers four concurrent streams, which is a number that Hulu does not match at present. The "standard" plan, which is Netflix's most mainstream choice, offers two, with "fundamental" taking into account each stream in turn. Hulu's primary version — the reasonable, engaging one — is restricted to each stream in turn, so it is not extremely functional for offering to companions or an accomplice except if you keep up different calendars. It goes for the more costly no-advertisements plan. If you step up to Hulu with Live TV, you get two simultaneous streams. To get more than that, you can pay $10 for one extra use-anywhere stream and "unlimited" access for gadgets in your home. Netflix and Hulu are frequently entwined as the modern-day video streaming platform, yet the two administrations are more unique and they are similar. Realizing what each help offers is critical to making sense of which one you need to go through around $10 per month on — or which one ought to be your favoured decision. One of the key contrasts between Netflix and Hulu is "comfort TV." These are programs that are off the air, yet individuals regularly need to return to. Hulu has inclined intensely into this sort of authorized programming. The administration is co-operated by the absolute greatest systems and studios, including Disney, NBCUniversal (Comcast), and Warner Bros. (AT&T). Hulu licenses those systems' versions and circulates them to its subscribers through their primary video streaming platforms. Even though Hulu is likewise taking a shot at its unique version — including the honour winning The Handmaid's Tale — Hulu's greatest draw is its broad library of authorized programming. The Simpsons, 30 Rock, ER, and Seinfeld are only a couple of instances of shows gushing on Hulu that Netflix supporters do not have. That is the reason Hulu has gotten a standout amongst other spilling administrations for authorized TV. Netflix offers a lot of authorized shows, yet it puts a lot greater accentuation all alone unique programming. The organization has an ever-developing choice of unique shows, narratives, satire specials, and motion pictures, and it appears as though something is continually drifting via web-based networking media. At present, that is Bird Box and Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, yet one month from now it will be something different like Jake Gyllenhaal's unpleasant Velvet Buzzsaw. Netflix is additionally ready to explore different avenues regarding design more, has appeared with the ongoing Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Hulu Vs Netflix: Location and Availability

Hulu is just accessible in the US and Japan. Netflix is accessible in the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Western European nations and a sum of 41 nations. In any case, not all the programs are accessible in each nation, as limitations depending upon the locale.

 Hulu Vs Netflix: Popularity

As of June 2014, Hulu has about 14 million subscribers and Netflix has more than 50 million subscribers around the world. In November 2019, it was affirmed that Netflix would be accessible in Australia and New Zealand in March 2020.

What Should I Choose Between Netflix and Hulu

Most importantly for motion picture fans, Netflix is a superior alternative and if an individual likes to remain current on all the most recent TV shows, Hulu is a superior choice. When contrasting, it is less expensive to get both Hulu and Netflix than satellite TV.

Conclusion

So, now I am asking you, which is better between Hulu and Netflix? I have provided my analysis from a different perspective as a viewer. Now, it depends on your favourite shows. Read the full article

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 2//28/2019

Good MORNING  #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Thursday 28th February 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

NO CRIME CRISIS – Certain crimes, particularly murder, are on the up, but the situation has not yet reached crisis stage. Deputy Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce gave Barbadians this assurance as he addressed the National Strategic Consultation On The Social Response To Crime In Barbados conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday. “The Royal Barbados Police Forces sees the recent crime events in Barbados as a major cause of concern . . . . However, we do not believe by the stretch of the imagination that we are in a crime crisis,” he said. Boyce said the 12 murders (nine males and three females) and over 15 reports of shootings for the year were unprecedented, but serious crime rates had fallen within the past few years. (DN)

STUDY: 6 GANGS, GUNS FOR RENT – There are six major gangs in Barbados, and guns are being circulated or rented for up to $10 000. These were among the findings from a study conducted by the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit, and director Cheryl Willoughby said there were over 50 blocks in Barbados in both rural and urban areas. She said the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Special Branch had identified these six gangs, which ranged from 25 to 50 people, while smaller ones had a membership of 15 to 30. The general age range was 17 to 40 years old, with the average age of members in the mid-20s, but research showed some as young as 15 were frequenting the blocks.  The crimes committed by those groups, she said, included theft, robbery, drug possession and distribution, firearm possession, serious bodily harm, woundings and murder, and they were “very organised”. Speaking at the National Strategic Consultation On The Social Response To Crime In Barbados conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday, Willoughby said some communities had warring factions and this led some young people to get involved in gangs and criminal activity. “During our research, we learnt of a phenomenon, I refer to as the ‘Circle’, where inmates spoke of being in groups where firearms could be easily obtained and passed from one person to another if you were of a particular circle or group,” she said.   (DN)

GANJA ‘FOR MEDICINE NOT FUN’ – A prominent evangelical pastor has given his blessing to medical marijuana but holds firm against decriminalising the drug for recreational use. Senior Pastor at Apostolic Teaching Center, Eliseus Joseph, based his stance against freer use of the herb on his belief that the drug affects individuals in different ways, saying ganja “does not agree” with every human being. Saying that not everybody has the same genetic make up, he told reporters: “We need to understand that we can’t legalise this whole idea of marijuana for recreational purpose. “The idea of having marijuana for medicinal purpose, we are not arguing against that. But the point is that when we legalise marijuana for recreational purposes, there is a challenge for some people who are not genetically predisposed for one smoke.” The Pentacostal preacher and professional counsellor gave his views to journalists at the Restoration Ministries, Brittons Hill Church, on Tuesday, to announce plans for a Weekend of Prayer. Late last year, Prime Minister Mottley announced that there was soon to be a framework for medical cannabis put in place, and pointed out that Barbados could no longer afford to miss out on the emerging marijuana industry. But she said that allowing the drug for recreational use would be put to a referendum. Mottley said that Barbados would not be going about it carelessly, and indicated that thorough research would have to be carried out. Joseph continued: “We believe that one drink does not fit all. You could have one person who drinks one beer, and he can engage in psychotic behaviour, because his genes don’t predispose him to drink one beer. “The same thing applies to marijuana. One smoke does not fit all. We as a church understand that there are people who might smoke one spliff, and that spliff would certainly predispose them to psychotic behaviour.” Reverend John Carter told the news conference that Government ought to be specific about the purpose for which it would legalise the drug. Carter declared that right now, people “are just growing whatever they can grow”. He told journalists: “There is nobody in Barbados, as far as I know, who is specifically growing medical marijuana. The marijuana that is being grown in Barbados, [or] is being imported, it is for recreation. And the Government has to be very careful with that approach.”  (BT)

POLICE BLAMED – Relatives of the 18-year-old who was shot and killed by police at London Road, Brittons Hill, St Michael, on Tuesday, are crying foul. In fact, they have already sought legal advice and are planning to sue the cops. Kadeem Ifill’s immediate family confirmed the pending action against the Royal Barbados Police Force in an interview, hours after the death of their loved one, who police claimed was one of two males who attacked them as they responded to a report that there were two armed men at the location. This morning, members of the London Road community, and the deceased’s friends, gathered in the area, reflecting on the loss of one of the younger members of the community. Still reeling from the pain of the loss, the teenager’s grieving relatives expressed anger and outrage over what they described as an unfair killing. His aunt Michelle Ifill said that while she would not seek to assure Barbadians that her nephew was “a saint or a good boy”, she believed his death was unjustified. “We the family know for sure, Kadeem ain’t had nothing. We know Kadeem did nothing but get scared and attempt to flee. That was his only mistake and unfortunately it was fatal. Police ain’t had no right to do it, and they know it too,” Michelle said. A statement from the Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Rodney Inniss, indicated that lawmen responded to reports that two men with guns were at London Road. According to the statement, two police units responded and upon arrival at the scene, they came under attack from two individuals with what appeared to be firearms. “As a result the police responded. One man fell to the ground, and one loaded firearm was recovered,” Inniss said. However, Michelle who described some of what was reported by police as a “smear campaign”, said she was standing firm to her belief that her nephew, whom she claimed had no criminal record, was innocent. “The police has in essence, launched a smear campaign on an 18-year-old who we know is innocent. Just come and let the family know that it was a grave error by one of your own, and deal with the one of your own who made the grave error. “Do not try to subject the family to further shame and scandal, like if we don’t know how to train up we children,” Michelle said. The aunt also stressed that the family was displeased with the way they were treated at the scene. Ifill’s mother, Angela Ifill, who was being comforted by loved ones, lamented that she was still in disbelief that the last of her four sons was “gone”. The mother said she had the best ever relationship with her son who was unemployed, but did odd jobs for family members. “Out of all the boys Kadeem was the closest to me. I cannot say he was an angel. I am not the type of mother to say ‘not my child’, because in these times, on the streets, anything goes. “But to me, he was the best out of the lot. When I say the best I mean he was closer to me than the rest. Kadeem would call me every day at lunchtime to see if I good,” the mother said. Ifill said she would forever remember that phone call she received, when the other person on the line told her to hurry and get home because something had happened to her child. The relatives also argued that they found it hard to believe that Ifill, who was still recovering from an injury, was able to run from the police. One of Ifill’s friends said she was already missing the teenager who she said was a “nice, loving” boy. “We went to St George Secondary together and he was humble and peaceful. He wasn’t a troublemaker at school. He don’t get in nobody way. “He just used to smile. If his mother quarreling he would just smile. He was a peaceful boy. He used to do he own thing, and talk to he friends. He was irie.  This death break down a lot of people. It is hurtful. The friend said she saw Ifill about 30 minutes before he died, close to the area where the incident took place. About seven hours before the incident, a group of pastors gathered at Restoration Ministries Church, just a stone’s throw away from where Ifill died, to announce plans for an upcoming weekend of prayer. The pastors, including David Durant, who is known throughout the Brittons Hill community, called for an end to gun violence. “We are appealing to the youths to please, please put down the guns and desist from the violent activities. Also to the drug lords who are mobilising our youths, please reconsider the destructive paths being created and the fear in communities that this is causing. “And to the importers of illegal guns, recognize that every person murdered or robbery committed with these weapons, you had a part to play in that lawless violent activity. Let’s bring a halt to this downward slide,” Durant said. Pastor Durant visited Ifill’s relatives this afternoon where he offered them words of comfort. (BT)

POLICE INVESTIGATE FATAL SHOOTING AT BLACK ROCK, ST MICHAEL – Police are on the scene of another shooting at Clevedale Road, Black Rock, St Michael. Reports are that two males were shot and one has died. More details as they come to hand. (BT)

MAN REMANDED ON FIREARM, ASSAULT CHARGES – A 24-year-old man who appeared before a Bridgetown Magistrate this afternoon was remanded to HMP Dodds for sentencing next month. Shaquille Ricarla Calderon, of Thores Gap, Lands End, Spring Garden, St Michael, was not required to plead to having a firearm without a valid licence last December 20. He was also not required to plead to the indictable offences of assaulting Linda Abbott with intent to rob her last December 8 and robbing Elke Sommer of a $500 cell phone last December 20. However, he pleaded guilty to three counts of breaking and entering and two counts of theft, but denied two other robbery charges. He returns to court on March 27 for sentencing. (DN)

JORDAN GETS SIX MONTHS – A reputed thief added yet another conviction to his name when he pleaded guilty to an offence dating back to December 16, 2018. Fifty-year-old Richard Dacosta Jordan, of no fixed place of abode, was sentenced to six months in prison after admitting to being on the premises of Capri Condominium with intent to comment theft. “I am sorry for going on the property. I was playing racquetball and the ball deviated and went on the property. I shouted for someone to come and assist me but no one came, so I went for the ball but I was wrong,” Jordan who has over 50 convictions for offences of a similar nature told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant. “I beg you don’t send me to jail,” he pleaded. However, his plea fell on deaf ears.  (BT)

‘I WAS OUT OF WORK’ – Standing in the docks of the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today a 24-year-old man used his unemployment as a defence for committing four of ten criminal offences beginning in January last year. “I try to get back to work . . . this is not my life . . . I couldn’t pay my rent,” Thornes Gap, Lands End, Spring Garden, St Michael resident Shaquille Ricarla Calderon told Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant this afternoon after the facts were detailed by police constable Kenmore Phillips. The 24-year-old first got an automatic 28-day remand at HMP Dodds for allegedly having a firearm in his possession on December 20, 2018 without a valid licence. He was not required to plead to this indictable charge nor to robbing Elke Sommer of a $500 cellular phone on the same day and assaulting Linda Abbott with intent to rob her on December 8, 2018. The accused then entered not guilty pleas to robbing Patricia Stroudley of a cellular phone and case worth $1,068.89 on December 2018, stealing an $800 cellular phone when he burglarized the home of Monica Maynard on January 20, 2018 and stealing US$200 belonging to Jean-Luc Beauhieu on December 10, 2018. Calderon however pleaded guilty to entering the home of Melvia Callender as a trespasser between January 21 and 22, 2019 and stealing a number of electronic devices worth $2,185 as well as robbing Shanice Gilkes of a cellular phone, a chain, and a purse worth $1,055, which also included $85 cash. He told Cuffy-Sargeant that he was the one who took three watches and a cellular phone totaling $1,700 when he burglarized the home of Daniel Debidin on February 21 as well as a $2,000 television from the home of Mark Downie on the same day. The prosecutor revealed that in most of the crimes the complainants secured their homes and later returned to discover the items missing. Another complainant was woken to a light flashing in the bedroom and the culprit ran away when he realized that he had been spotted. In the case involving Gilkes, Calderon came from behind a tree and demanded her phone. She first refused but the accused pushed his hand in his pocket, pulled a weapon and made good his escape after snatching her purse. Investigations into those four crimes were still ongoing. However, Calderon admitted to committing the offences when he was detained in connection with other crimes on February 22. “I was working, I got laid off . . . the reason for the offences was I was out of work I accustom to working but I try to get back work but I did not get it so. . . . “I apologise to the complainants, to the court for my crimes because this is not my life. I just could not pay my rent or my bills,” Calderon stated moments before he was remanded until March 27 when he will be sentenced.  (BT)

MAN WITH 81 CONVICTIONS GOES BACK TO PRISON – A 50-year-old handyman was intoxicated on December 3 last year when he loitered on the property of another man with intentions of burglarizing the place. For that crime, Alvin Anthony Harris, of Clevedale Road, Black Rock, St Michael was sentenced to six months in prison. But, having already spent two months on remand, he will have to spend only four more months of the sentence imposed by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant today. “I was under the influence of alcohol because I does drink really hard and I am asking for you to be lenient. I was wrong,” Harris said to the District ‘A’ Magistrate who revealed that the accused had over 81 convictions to his name. “I don’t know how many I have but that was my past, when I used to smoke cocaine . . . that’s five or six years ago. I don’t smoke now,” the offender said. However, Cuffy-Sargeant told him that explanation did not bode well for him as it highlighted that he committed other offences even when he was not under the influence of drugs. “Ma’am that was when I was young and stupid,” he added before the sentence was imposed. (BT)

CARMICHAEL JAILED FOR BREACHING BOND, BURGLARY – Claims that he was a “psychiatric patient” were not enough to save a 53-year-old man from an 18-month prison sentence for two burglaries. But before his sentencing on the two matters, Andrew Delisle Anderson Carmichael of No. 10 Pine Plantation, St Michael received a three-month prison term for breaching a bond imposed on him two weeks ago after pleading guilty to similar offence. Standing before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant this afternoon Carmichael pleaded guilty to entering the home of Valdeen Broome as a trespasser and stealing an $800 vase, a $900 ornament and two bowls worth $800 between December 1, 2018 and February 23, 2019. He also admitted to burglarizing the home of Lemuel Smith on January 6, 2019 and stealing a spray can, a pair of shears, a hoe, a chair and a bowl worth $362. Prosecutor, Station Sergeant Cameron Gibbons revealed that Smith was at home when she spotted a man moving from the area of her basement with several items in his hands. However, Carmichael threw a coffee bottle at Smith as she approached and then ran away. In the other case the caretaker for the Broome residence was notified that that a man was seen leaving the property with a number of items. When asked if he had anything to say in his defence Carmichael responded: “I am a psychiatric patient”.  (BT)

GAYLE NOT ENOUGH – Veteran Chris Gayle struck a scintillating 25th one-day international hundred and passed 10 000 career runs, but the task of completing their highest-ever successful run chase proved too much for West Indies and they slipped to a 29-run defeat to England in an entertaining fourth ODI here yesterday. Faced with a daunting target of 419 at the Grenada National Stadium after Jos Buttler and captain Eoin Morgan had pummelled high-quality hundreds, West Indies appeared poised to spring a massive surprise when the left-handed Gayle smashed a breathtaking 162 off 97 deliveries. But despite Darren Bravo’s 61 from 59 balls and Carlos Brathwaite’s maiden ODI half-century in gathering 50 from 36 deliveries towards the end, the Windies suffered a late collapse to be all out for 389 off 48 overs– their highest ever ODI total. The hosts lost wickets in clusters as speedster Mark Wood, with four for 60, triggered a middle-order collapse before leg-spinner Adil Rashid polished off the tail with five for 85, in an anticlimactic end to the high-scoring affair. The Windies were under pressure at 301 for six in the 36th over before Brathwaite and Ashley Nurse (43) revived their hopes with a sensible 88-run, seventh-wicket partnership. (DN)

BRITISH JOCKEY EXPECTS BIG RUN – First-time jockey in the Sandy Lane Gold Cup, Sean Levey, is hoping for a big run in the Caribbean’s biggest horse race at the Garrison Savannah on Saturday. The 30-year-old English international, who will sit in the saddle of American horse Bodie Tap for the Gold Cup told NATION SPORT that despite not being familiar with the track he was confident ahead of his first mounting Barbados. “I’m looking forward to it. This is really a big race. I’m not worried about the conditions. My horse is in very good form no doubt about that. Obviously, he is not a local horse and he would not have been around this track before; that is the only thing I am worried about. He seems very versatile and I’m hoping for a big run,”Levey said. “It’s tighter than normal tracks I’m used to going around but I have a couple favourite tracks and I think I will be alright,” added the experienced Levey, who has running starts in Europe and Africa. (DN)

DRUMS COMING BACK – Music and the party-LIKE atmosphere that have been part of every secondary school track and field championships for more than two decades, are likely to beat again for the first time in ten years in a more organised fashion. It had been mooted for some time and confirmed yesterday at a Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS) meeting at Harrison College.  A highly-placed source told the NATION students would be allowed to play music on finals days of the Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships (BSSAC) on March 21 and 22. “The music will be back but it will be in a structured form. Selected students from across the schools will provide the music,” the source said. (DN)

NO KITE FLYING IN RESTRICTED AREAS – The Barbados Civil Aviation Department has received reports of kite flying taking place in some districts that pose a danger to low flying aircraft. And the department is reminding those people who fly kites in these districts that they may be prosecuted if caught doing so. Kite flying restrictions are in place for districts which fall within five kilometres of the perimeter of the Grantley Adams International Airport, which runs from Oistins in Christ Church to Boarded Hall in St George, and Brereton and Six Roads in St Phillip, back to South Point and Oistins. The districts in Christ Church where kite flying restrictions exist include: Silver Hill, Gall Hill, Kingsland, Wotton, Maxwell, Cane Vale, Newton, Scarborough, Pegwell, Gibbons, Thornbury Hill, Silver Sands, Ealing Park, Wilcox, Lowlands, Coverley, Charnocks, Pilgrim Road, Fairy Valley, Durants, Callenders, Chancery Lane, Parish Land and Leadvale. Other areas where kite flying is prohibited are: Gemswick, Mangrove, Heddings, Foul Bay, Ocean City, Diamond Valley, and Rock Hall, all in St Philip. Offenders found guilty of flying kites in these restricted areas are liable on summary conviction to a fine of $50 000, or imprisonment for a term of 12 months, or on indictment, to a fine of $100 000, or to imprisonment for a term of two years. (BGIS)

A NIGHT OF MASH-UPS AND MISSES – Machel Monday had great moments. To say, however, Machel Montano’s concert performance at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on Monday night was his Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) would be a large oversell. The soca GOAT promised a diverse musical experience reflecting the nuances of cultural expressions that are the Caribbean. And in many ways he did just that. The problem is, the show was far too long and at times lacked clarity to allow patrons the opportunity to fully appreciate the wealth of talent on offer. In some cases, guest artistes seemed reluctant to leave the spotlight and lingered on stage needlessly.  Montano clearly aimed to give all his guests a fair opportunity to shine, but the people didn’t come to see Destra Garcia or Calypso Rose in concert and their extended performances affected the flow and energy of Montano’s set. Intermittent rain didn’t help either. Montano may have buried his grouse with the self-proclaimed soca water lord Iwer George with an open invitation for him to attend and/or perform at Machel Monday. Iwer, however, refused, citing a lack of rehearsal time with Montano’s band. But his presence was surely felt with the amount of water that fell from the skies and doused the scampering feteing crowd. Montano started well enough when he took to the stage at 10:30 p.m., with a huge pyrotechnic-fuelled opening to his three-hour-plus set. Dressed in a gold and black tracksuit with matching headband, soca’s biggest star ran on stage beneath a larger-than-life matching Carnival portrayal to the sound of his Road March contender Release. The band was emphatic and the fireworks above the stadium majestic. The problem was the energy of the stage presentation didn’t match that song, at least the public reception of it. And that reality became even more evident when he cued his band, moments later, into the opening notes of his hit collaboration with Skinny Fabulous (Gamal Doyle) and Bunji Garlin (Ian Alvarez) Famalay. “It will be Bunji’s first and we welcome Skinny, one Caribbean. I am looking for Road March number what?” Montano asked, showing the crowd his ten fingers. His perfect opening sequence was completed when he followed with a medley of his road dominators that included Like A Boss, Advantage and Ministry of Road. Cuban fusion star Cimafunk (Erik Alejandro Rodriguez) brought a Latin swing to the stage when he appeared with dance troupe et al. Though they may not have understood a word of Spanish, the crowd showed appreciation to the rising talent when he performed his hits Me Voy and Parar el Tiempo. Not to be outdone, Montano showed his pedigree with a performance of his Spanish-language hit La Vida. About an hour later when he invited Kassav lead singer Jacob Desvarieux, he created another one of those special memorable moments. Desvarieux’s voice is pure gold. The veteran performer didn’t require any backing tracks when the duo sang their 2019 hit Dance. The performance compelled everyone to get on their feet and dance in the pouring rain. The decision to have acts sing atop backing vocal tracks was perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the showcase. Some artistes couldn’t match their studio recordings and ended up going off key as was the case of Nessa Preppy (Vanessa John). Another poor decision was the inclusion of Candice, the dancer made famous for rolling down the Diego Martin main road like a car tyre in a viral video. Candice did the most toppling, rolling, contorting and jumping into split positions. All this happened in full view of several minors in attendance at the show. American R&B star Ashanti Douglas, meanwhile, restored a level of class to the show with immaculate vocal runs during a fantastic performance of her collaboration with Montano The Road. Ashanti shocked the audience when she leapt off her feet and asked them to jump and wave. They obliged wholeheartedly. And when she arched her back and rotated her hips and instructed them to wine the entire venue lit up just as brightly as during the concert’s opening sequence.  (DN)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 307 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[newstfionline]

As Brexit Nears, a Look at How 5 People Are Coping

AP, March 13, 2017

LONDON--Brexit. It’s coming, but no one knows what form it will take. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to fire the starting pistols this month, leading to at least two years of complex negotiations between Britain and 27 other European Union nations with competing interests.

The results will redefine Britain’s role outside the EU, transform immigration and trade laws, and affect everything from intelligence sharing to the classification of bananas.

Brexit hasn’t happened yet. The formal process is about to begin. But the June 23 referendum in which Britons voted to leave the EU is already having an immense impact on peoples’ lives. Not because of what they know about Brexit, but because of what they don’t.

Five people--three in Britain, two in continental Europe--tell how they are coping with the uncertainty:

THE GERMAN ACADEMIC. German-born Henning Meyer and his German wife have lived in London long enough to easily qualify for British nationality. And it’s likely the British government will eventually decide to allow EU nationals already living in Britain to stay even after the split, so they could probably live here even without U.K. passports.

But the Meyers are leaving. They are building a small home in Berlin and selling their place just north of London. They no longer feel welcome here and they believe London’s role as a vital international hub will soon shrivel.

“If you’re not allowed to live here as Germans, there is no reason for us to be here,” says Meyer, 38.

They took six months to decide to abandon Britain--a move shaped by the belief that something fundamental had been altered in the tolerant, multi-cultural society they had embraced.

“It’s not just the immediate reaction after the referendum,” he said. “You know everybody knows what happened to--not me personally--but Polish citizens or others who have been subject to abuse or even worse. So what also changed is how the referendum campaign altered the public discourse in this country. Because it was a shameful campaign and it has made stereotyping xenophobia mainstream.”

He said some friends no longer feel comfortable speaking German with their children on London streets, and others try to conceal their Polish or German identities. Meyer doesn’t want to live that way.

THE LATVIAN STUDENT. Katrina Rubina’s dream is almost in her grasp. She fears Brexit will snatch it away.

The 18-year-old high school student’s cherished goal--call it an obsession--is to study in Britain, a country with a proud tradition of academic rigor that regularly turns out skilled graduates who can compete in Europe’s tight job market.

“I’ve been dreaming about studying in the U.K. for a long time,” Rubina says. “Since I was 6 years old, purely because of Harry Potter. At first I imagined everything there is like that, but of course it is not. But I never lost that dream. U.K. symbolizes for me a new beginning. I can leave everything I did here in Latvia and take only the things that I want with me to the U.K.”

Her fear is that Brexit will shortly make it much harder for students from other European countries to study in Britain. She anticipates many roadblocks: New visa rules, rather than the border-free travel Latvians and other EU citizens now enjoy, a hike in tuition for non-British students and, most importantly, a sharp cut in scholarships for EU students.

That’s made getting to Britain a now-or-never proposition. She and many other Latvian hopefuls are flooding British universities with applications--academic officials note a marked increase since the referendum.

She has been provisionally accepted at the Royal Holloway in London to study international business, but needs an excellent showing on her final round of exams. Her counselor has told her she must study still harder--competition has increased because so many students are trying to get to Britain before the rules change.

“I’m not going to give up all my hard work just because there is Brexit,” she says. “I’m going to find a way to get there anyway.”

THE MAN OF STEEL. John Reid & Sons is looking to hire six people at its steel fabrication plant in southern England--and managing director Simon Boyd thinks the 98-year-old company’s expansion is a Brexit blessing.

He has argued for years that membership in the EU was holding Britain back because of a welter of regulations. The day Brexit comes into full force, he says, will be the day when Britain is liberated from unwanted workplace rules and the capricious dictates of the European Court of Justice.

He knows that in a legal sense nothing has changed, that the implementation of Brexit is at least several years away, but thinks the business climate has dramatically improved now that the end of EU regulation--overregulation in his view--is in sight.

The midsize firm he runs is already reaping benefits--the falling value of the British pound since the Brexit vote has helped its exports--and the company’s largest ever expansion project is being planned in consultation with local officials. The 56-year-old Boyd, who started his career making tea and sweeping floors, says orders and inquiries for major projects increased after the referendum vote and should shoot still higher in the coming years.

“I think government is in an excellent position to negotiate a really good deal with our European friends, and we can get out of this really damaging European Union,” says Boyd, who chafes at the way European workplace rules hamper his flexibility in a business that is cyclical by nature.

“I can’t see anything other than positive possibilities,” Boyd says.

THE BRITISH RETIREE IN SPAIN. If Brexit means that retirees Karen and Peter Watling have to leave the Mediterranean coast of Spain to return to the British Midlands, expect them to be kicking and screaming on the plane back home.

“I would hate it. He would hate it,” says Karen Watling, 70. “It’s not what we chose to do.”

Their decision to retire in Spain after long careers in England made perfect sense--before Brexit. They enjoy a reciprocal health care arrangement between Britain and Spain that allows them to receive free medical care and medication, which is crucial because Peter, also 70, has a serious ailment.

Karen Watling doesn’t expect the health care agreement between the two EU countries to survive Brexit, which would force them to seek government-sponsored health insurance in Spain or reluctantly move back to England.

“For us it would be a disaster because it would be well over 300 euros a month plus medication,” she says of the insurance she would need in Spain. “We wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

Brexit has already hit their purchasing power. Their pensions are paid in British pounds, which have, since the referendum, dropped by about 15 percent in relation to the euro.

Karen Watling says she has been anxious and tearful since June 23. She is angry at the government--believing that Britons living in other EU countries are being used as a bargaining chip--and mortified by what the referendum results say about the country where she worked as a teacher for decades.

“I’m certainly not proud of what Britain seems to have become,” she says. “Britain is never going to be Great Britain again.”

THE ITALIAN LONDONER. Brexit has cost Marco Vineis money, plenty of money each month as the cost of importing meats and cheese from Italy has risen because of the drop in value of the British pound. But the founder of Gastronomica seems most upset by Brexit’s emotional pain, not its financial toll.

“I feel myself quite a Londoner, even if I wasn’t born here,” says Vineis, 52, in his salami- and cheese-filled deli, where the aroma of rich Italian espresso lingers. “Now I feel myself a bit of a foreigner. So, this feeling I don’t like it a lot. This is after 25 years I’ve been here.”

He expects his business to survive, even if he has to start selling English cheddar rather than pay the high cost of importing Italian pecorino. But he is baffled--and hurt--by Britain’s decision to break away.

“Before Brexit, we didn’t think it would change so much,” he says. “People didn’t realize how many rights people living in Europe get. The freedom to go from country to country without a border. It is a moment to reflect about our condition. It means that after years of war and conflict and fighting we reach this wonderful system, and we should not lose it. I don’t know why they are doing this.”

#Britain #Brexit

[paulpowder2-blog]

3 Terrible Purchases That Finally Made Me Change My Lifestyle

With the approach of a New Year, I think it’s inevitable that we all start reflecting on ourselves and what we’d like to change. While I definitely fall into the category of people who are “New Year’s Resolution-Makers,” I actually do try to implement changes throughout the year and not just at the beginning. I’ve learned throughout the years that I can get easily sidetracked and distracted by multiple goals and projects, so if I truly want something to change, I just have to start (or least start planning) now instead of waiting for a particular date.

But I am a fan of New Year goals and resolutions. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having that motivational push and if it that’s what you need to help you get into the self-improvement mindset. So in the spirit of 2019, these are the three lifestyle changes I’m continuing to work on after making some of my worst purchases. Sometimes these were made out of insecurity and vanity, and sometimes they were simply because I was irresponsible. Either way, these seemingly innocent purchase mistakes ended up teaching me more than how to better manage my budget.

1. A Custom Blazer I Saw On Instagram

Cost: $100 CAD ($75 USD)

When Instagram became popular a few years ago, I began to follow a lot of fashion and lifestyle bloggers. They all posted these incredibly beautiful photos — you know the ones — posing in a stunning outfit in front of a white-washed background with perfect hair and make-up. At the age of 21, I was super impressionable and in awe of all the beautiful people and things on Instagram.

So in 2015, when I was visiting my family in Vietnam and was in the city of Hoi An, famous for custom tailoring, I decided that I was going to treat myself. I had a custom blazer made in the same style as one of the fashion bloggers I had been following. She had just posted this incredibly chic photo in New York in it and I thought it would be perfect for when I returned to work after my trip. To be clear, it was not an average blazer, it was this cape-style blazer that didn’t have sleeves, but instead had the arms slits cut mid-way down the blazer.

I didn’t even wear it once before I threw it in the donation bin a year later.  

I realized then that a lot of the beautiful things fashion/lifestyle bloggers wear are on Instagram are not only impractical, they’re down right uncomfortable. That blazer was not functional; because it didn’t have proper sleeves, I couldn’t move my arms without it slipping into an uncomfortable position. Literally the only thing that blazer was good for was Instagram likes.

I knew I couldn’t afford the designer blazer she was wearing so I had a custom one made instead and while $100 didn’t break my bank account, it was a lot of money for me on a backpacker’s budget.

To me, that blazer was the physical manifestation of all those Instagram photos of influencers that I aspired to be like – carefree, beautiful, and always perfect looking with this effortless backdrop. But that blazer taught me I had to be careful not to let beautiful photos skew my perception of reality in how I see myself and what I can afford to spend.

I’d like to say that I cut off all Instagram influence after this experience, but it wasn’t that simple. Sure, I unfollowed fashion bloggers here and there, but it wasn’t just the clothes, it was the lifestyle. Every year I try to get better and better at critically thinking about who I follow and what kind of online world I want myself surrounded by. I try to unfollow people throughout the year if I don’t think if they positively contribute to my life anymore, but I recently found a loophole into this horrible habit. For the past year, I’ve instead been lurking the profiles of people who live these perfect lives to see what they were up to and what they were wearing. And every time I searched them, it would appear as a suggestion in my search bar. So it would be this vicious cycle of me still viewing these people’s highlight reels except I would check back on their profile instead of following them, which was worse (you can judge me for this one, because it really was creepy).

You probably think I sound obsessive, and honestly, it’s probably bordering there. But as of recently and into 2019 I’m going to get more use out of the hide, mute, and block function on Instagram to stop myself from going down that rabbit hole. I fully understand that these are not bad people; I’m sure they are great people, but in trying to stay authentic to myself, I’ve learned that I have to be surrounded by people online that I would want to hang out with in real life. This means following people who genuinely share their successes and challenges in life, and not just the perfect cool girls who were nice, but I never ended up staying in touch with after high school.

2. The Subscription I Refused to Cancel

Cost: $518.64 CAD ($387.75 USD)

One of the worst and costly mistakes I’ve ever made was being too lazy to cancel subscriptions that I do not use. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this one since gym memberships are notorious for being a prime example of how long one can deny the use of a subscription until actually canceling it. Thankfully, I’ve never lied to myself that much and bought a gym membership. I much prefer to exercise in the outdoors; I pay enough for it by living in Vancouver, BC.

However, there were many times that I talked myself into other costly subscriptions and never fully used them, which is exactly the same thing as a dusty gym membership. For me, my vice is learning. I want to learn everything.

So after discovering the world of calligraphy and typography (on Instagram of course), I got swept away with the idea of learning all things graphic design. Shortly after, I looked into getting an Adobe Photoshop license for my computer, even though I was nowhere near that level that required it. And because I still had a student email account, I learned I got a discount if I subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite instead which would come with all of their programs as opposed to just the one or two I needed and I thought, “what a great deal! What a great chance to learn more.” The problem was I only clicked into those other programs maybe once before deciding it was not for me and never opened them again because I was too overwhelmed. I should have just canceled it after the two months after realizing that I didn’t need it and wasn’t interested in learning all these programs after the initial excitement wore off, but I didn’t. I lied to myself for a bit more than a year before finally letting go of that $30+ charge each month.

The plus side is that I did a lot from it, but not surprisingly, I really only learned Photoshop and Lightroom which were the only two I was interested in. More than that, I learned that I did not need the software to really practice my hobby (if I wanted to turn it into a side hustle sure, but I was nowhere near that level yet).

I think constantly having the desire to learn more and further my self-improvement is a wonderful quality and I do really like that about myself. But I’ve also learned I need to put limits on it, both in time and in money. I can’t just jump into things thinking I have the time and desire to learn it. More importantly, I shouldn’t just sign up for costly subscriptions and software to think that I needed them to pursue a hobby. We do live in the age of YouTube and tutorials and if I really wanted to learn something, I should use make use of free resources to consider if I truly enjoy the hobby, before jumping in credit card first.  

I could have waited a bit longer to see if I really needed those programs, but I got tempted by the package offer and caved into the idea that I would be “saving money” with this bundle. In the end, I spent over $500 on this very expensive lesson.

Nowadays, I have a budget and account for creative projects. Whenever I make money through my side hustles, I put it towards paying for new creative things I want to learn. I have a budget for everything else, why not creative hobbies? Having a set budget for it really makes me critically think about whether I have the time, energy, and interest to really pursue a particular creative project because I have to work extra hard for side hustle money as opposed to my regular salary.

So far, it’s going great, and made me really think about what I enjoy enough to spend money learning more about. For 2019, I’m going to continue using the budget mostly for my blog because more and more I’ve found my passion for it, and be super honest with myself if I have the budget for more projects. The best part of this system is that it has created a definite limit on my spending and makes me super cautious of subscriptions. Before, the charge would just come off of my credit card, and it would be buried underneath a mountain of other transactions. Now, there’s a set amount in a specific side hustle account in my PayPal account and everything for creative projects gets paid out from there. If I don’t add to it, I simply run out of money and can’t buy it.  

3. The Wrong Paint

Cost: $42.97 CAD/$32.13 USD (for the wrong one), $34.97 CAD/$26.14 USD (for the correct one)

Yes, I paid more for the wrong paint.

This one is just a reflection of how poorly I plan and research sometimes. After buying my apartment, I naturally wanted to put a fresh coat of paint on it. Not only for the obvious reason that it would look nicer, but because the previous owners also chose this horrendous brown-y yellow paint for a small bedroom. Like, why?

In my excitement, I did absolutely zero research on what type of paint I actually needed and based 100% of my decision solely on the color of paint.

Life lesson: There are different types of paint.

I ended up buying two colors of paint; a grey one for my living room and a white one for my bedroom. However, after painting my entire bedroom with friends, I learned that I had accidentally bought “exterior” paint, which is sturdy and sticks the second you apply it. While painting, I could see that it looked really streaky, but I told myself that it would look better when it dried. When my mom came over and jokingly remarked “wow, this looks really bad”, I responded defensively. But when the paint was fully dried, I realized (of course) that my mom was right and it did look really, really bad. I had to come to terms with the fact that I had made a mistake and it not only cost me financially, but it cost me time. If anyone has ever painted an entire room before, you’ll know it’s not quick. I had to re-paint the whole place myself and it took many evenings after work to complete it.

Prior to this, if something was broken or needed repair in the home, my parents or landlord would fix it. This was the first decision regarding a home where I was the one completely responsible for the damage and for the repair.  And the responsibility was hard to deny when I was literally standing in the middle of a horribly painted bedroom.

As I’ve continued to decorate and organize more of my apartment, I’ve gotten better and better at planning and researching my needs beyond just the aesthetics of it. I’m not perfect, but I’m getting there. More specifically, I’ve started especially really paying attention to the exact measurements of things instead of just eyeballing it. And probably to no surprise, it’s been working. What a concept.

In the end, these were all purchases I’ve made that were probably not my best choice. I actually choke a little when I think about all the money I spent on the fancy tools and software for hobbies I became enamored with (I did not include all of them or else this article would have turned into an essay), but spending this money badly taught me a lot. These bad purchases showed me, in a tangible dollar amount, the not so nice parts of me. It showed me how much I truly do care about my looks (despite what I think), the cost of my ambitions, and the consequences I have to pay when I rush into home purchases.  Sure, I could have learned these lessons another way, but these bad purchases really pushed that mirror on me to reflect upon.

These are changes and lessons I’m currently incorporating, and working to improve upon in 2019. I’m definitely not perfect when it comes to curating the noise of social media or planning for my home but every month I get better and better. I’m using the New Year as a way to ride onto the “new year, new me” wave, but I hope you’ll think about something you’ve been meaning to change too. Even if you don’t start on January 1st, that doesn’t make it any less important or mean it will be any less successful.

Kimberly is the writer behind www.millenniallifeadmin.com. MLA is a blog that helps break down the everyday adulthood tasks of growing up; one unavoidable responsibility at a time. You can also find her scrolling through memes and sassy posts on Instagram @millenniallifeadmin.

Image via Unsplash

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Source: https://thefinancialdiet.com/3-terrible-purchases-that-finally-made-me-change-my-lifestyle/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[pullcarol0-blog]

3 Terrible Purchases That Finally Made Me Change My Lifestyle

With the approach of a New Year, I think it’s inevitable that we all start reflecting on ourselves and what we’d like to change. While I definitely fall into the category of people who are “New Year’s Resolution-Makers,” I actually do try to implement changes throughout the year and not just at the beginning. I’ve learned throughout the years that I can get easily sidetracked and distracted by multiple goals and projects, so if I truly want something to change, I just have to start (or least start planning) now instead of waiting for a particular date.

But I am a fan of New Year goals and resolutions. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having that motivational push and if it that’s what you need to help you get into the self-improvement mindset. So in the spirit of 2019, these are the three lifestyle changes I’m continuing to work on after making some of my worst purchases. Sometimes these were made out of insecurity and vanity, and sometimes they were simply because I was irresponsible. Either way, these seemingly innocent purchase mistakes ended up teaching me more than how to better manage my budget.

1. A Custom Blazer I Saw On Instagram

Cost: $100 CAD ($75 USD)

When Instagram became popular a few years ago, I began to follow a lot of fashion and lifestyle bloggers. They all posted these incredibly beautiful photos — you know the ones — posing in a stunning outfit in front of a white-washed background with perfect hair and make-up. At the age of 21, I was super impressionable and in awe of all the beautiful people and things on Instagram.

So in 2015, when I was visiting my family in Vietnam and was in the city of Hoi An, famous for custom tailoring, I decided that I was going to treat myself. I had a custom blazer made in the same style as one of the fashion bloggers I had been following. She had just posted this incredibly chic photo in New York in it and I thought it would be perfect for when I returned to work after my trip. To be clear, it was not an average blazer, it was this cape-style blazer that didn’t have sleeves, but instead had the arms slits cut mid-way down the blazer.

I didn’t even wear it once before I threw it in the donation bin a year later.  

I realized then that a lot of the beautiful things fashion/lifestyle bloggers wear are on Instagram are not only impractical, they’re down right uncomfortable. That blazer was not functional; because it didn’t have proper sleeves, I couldn’t move my arms without it slipping into an uncomfortable position. Literally the only thing that blazer was good for was Instagram likes.

I knew I couldn’t afford the designer blazer she was wearing so I had a custom one made instead and while $100 didn’t break my bank account, it was a lot of money for me on a backpacker’s budget.

To me, that blazer was the physical manifestation of all those Instagram photos of influencers that I aspired to be like – carefree, beautiful, and always perfect looking with this effortless backdrop. But that blazer taught me I had to be careful not to let beautiful photos skew my perception of reality in how I see myself and what I can afford to spend.

I’d like to say that I cut off all Instagram influence after this experience, but it wasn’t that simple. Sure, I unfollowed fashion bloggers here and there, but it wasn’t just the clothes, it was the lifestyle. Every year I try to get better and better at critically thinking about who I follow and what kind of online world I want myself surrounded by. I try to unfollow people throughout the year if I don’t think if they positively contribute to my life anymore, but I recently found a loophole into this horrible habit. For the past year, I’ve instead been lurking the profiles of people who live these perfect lives to see what they were up to and what they were wearing. And every time I searched them, it would appear as a suggestion in my search bar. So it would be this vicious cycle of me still viewing these people’s highlight reels except I would check back on their profile instead of following them, which was worse (you can judge me for this one, because it really was creepy).

You probably think I sound obsessive, and honestly, it’s probably bordering there. But as of recently and into 2019 I’m going to get more use out of the hide, mute, and block function on Instagram to stop myself from going down that rabbit hole. I fully understand that these are not bad people; I’m sure they are great people, but in trying to stay authentic to myself, I’ve learned that I have to be surrounded by people online that I would want to hang out with in real life. This means following people who genuinely share their successes and challenges in life, and not just the perfect cool girls who were nice, but I never ended up staying in touch with after high school.

2. The Subscription I Refused to Cancel

Cost: $518.64 CAD ($387.75 USD)

One of the worst and costly mistakes I’ve ever made was being too lazy to cancel subscriptions that I do not use. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this one since gym memberships are notorious for being a prime example of how long one can deny the use of a subscription until actually canceling it. Thankfully, I’ve never lied to myself that much and bought a gym membership. I much prefer to exercise in the outdoors; I pay enough for it by living in Vancouver, BC.

However, there were many times that I talked myself into other costly subscriptions and never fully used them, which is exactly the same thing as a dusty gym membership. For me, my vice is learning. I want to learn everything.

So after discovering the world of calligraphy and typography (on Instagram of course), I got swept away with the idea of learning all things graphic design. Shortly after, I looked into getting an Adobe Photoshop license for my computer, even though I was nowhere near that level that required it. And because I still had a student email account, I learned I got a discount if I subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite instead which would come with all of their programs as opposed to just the one or two I needed and I thought, “what a great deal! What a great chance to learn more.” The problem was I only clicked into those other programs maybe once before deciding it was not for me and never opened them again because I was too overwhelmed. I should have just canceled it after the two months after realizing that I didn’t need it and wasn’t interested in learning all these programs after the initial excitement wore off, but I didn’t. I lied to myself for a bit more than a year before finally letting go of that $30+ charge each month.

The plus side is that I did a lot from it, but not surprisingly, I really only learned Photoshop and Lightroom which were the only two I was interested in. More than that, I learned that I did not need the software to really practice my hobby (if I wanted to turn it into a side hustle sure, but I was nowhere near that level yet).

I think constantly having the desire to learn more and further my self-improvement is a wonderful quality and I do really like that about myself. But I’ve also learned I need to put limits on it, both in time and in money. I can’t just jump into things thinking I have the time and desire to learn it. More importantly, I shouldn’t just sign up for costly subscriptions and software to think that I needed them to pursue a hobby. We do live in the age of YouTube and tutorials and if I really wanted to learn something, I should use make use of free resources to consider if I truly enjoy the hobby, before jumping in credit card first.  

I could have waited a bit longer to see if I really needed those programs, but I got tempted by the package offer and caved into the idea that I would be “saving money” with this bundle. In the end, I spent over $500 on this very expensive lesson.

Nowadays, I have a budget and account for creative projects. Whenever I make money through my side hustles, I put it towards paying for new creative things I want to learn. I have a budget for everything else, why not creative hobbies? Having a set budget for it really makes me critically think about whether I have the time, energy, and interest to really pursue a particular creative project because I have to work extra hard for side hustle money as opposed to my regular salary.

So far, it’s going great, and made me really think about what I enjoy enough to spend money learning more about. For 2019, I’m going to continue using the budget mostly for my blog because more and more I’ve found my passion for it, and be super honest with myself if I have the budget for more projects. The best part of this system is that it has created a definite limit on my spending and makes me super cautious of subscriptions. Before, the charge would just come off of my credit card, and it would be buried underneath a mountain of other transactions. Now, there’s a set amount in a specific side hustle account in my PayPal account and everything for creative projects gets paid out from there. If I don’t add to it, I simply run out of money and can’t buy it.  

3. The Wrong Paint

Cost: $42.97 CAD/$32.13 USD (for the wrong one), $34.97 CAD/$26.14 USD (for the correct one)

Yes, I paid more for the wrong paint.

This one is just a reflection of how poorly I plan and research sometimes. After buying my apartment, I naturally wanted to put a fresh coat of paint on it. Not only for the obvious reason that it would look nicer, but because the previous owners also chose this horrendous brown-y yellow paint for a small bedroom. Like, why?

In my excitement, I did absolutely zero research on what type of paint I actually needed and based 100% of my decision solely on the color of paint.

Life lesson: There are different types of paint.

I ended up buying two colors of paint; a grey one for my living room and a white one for my bedroom. However, after painting my entire bedroom with friends, I learned that I had accidentally bought “exterior” paint, which is sturdy and sticks the second you apply it. While painting, I could see that it looked really streaky, but I told myself that it would look better when it dried. When my mom came over and jokingly remarked “wow, this looks really bad”, I responded defensively. But when the paint was fully dried, I realized (of course) that my mom was right and it did look really, really bad. I had to come to terms with the fact that I had made a mistake and it not only cost me financially, but it cost me time. If anyone has ever painted an entire room before, you’ll know it’s not quick. I had to re-paint the whole place myself and it took many evenings after work to complete it.

Prior to this, if something was broken or needed repair in the home, my parents or landlord would fix it. This was the first decision regarding a home where I was the one completely responsible for the damage and for the repair.  And the responsibility was hard to deny when I was literally standing in the middle of a horribly painted bedroom.

As I’ve continued to decorate and organize more of my apartment, I’ve gotten better and better at planning and researching my needs beyond just the aesthetics of it. I’m not perfect, but I’m getting there. More specifically, I’ve started especially really paying attention to the exact measurements of things instead of just eyeballing it. And probably to no surprise, it’s been working. What a concept.

In the end, these were all purchases I’ve made that were probably not my best choice. I actually choke a little when I think about all the money I spent on the fancy tools and software for hobbies I became enamored with (I did not include all of them or else this article would have turned into an essay), but spending this money badly taught me a lot. These bad purchases showed me, in a tangible dollar amount, the not so nice parts of me. It showed me how much I truly do care about my looks (despite what I think), the cost of my ambitions, and the consequences I have to pay when I rush into home purchases.  Sure, I could have learned these lessons another way, but these bad purchases really pushed that mirror on me to reflect upon.

These are changes and lessons I’m currently incorporating, and working to improve upon in 2019. I’m definitely not perfect when it comes to curating the noise of social media or planning for my home but every month I get better and better. I’m using the New Year as a way to ride onto the “new year, new me” wave, but I hope you’ll think about something you’ve been meaning to change too. Even if you don’t start on January 1st, that doesn’t make it any less important or mean it will be any less successful.

Kimberly is the writer behind www.millenniallifeadmin.com. MLA is a blog that helps break down the everyday adulthood tasks of growing up; one unavoidable responsibility at a time. You can also find her scrolling through memes and sassy posts on Instagram @millenniallifeadmin.

Image via Unsplash

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Source: https://thefinancialdiet.com/3-terrible-purchases-that-finally-made-me-change-my-lifestyle/

[thewebofslime]

ՀԱՅ РУС Politics Law Economy Event Press digest Science/tech Sports ARF-D cabinet members resign as party pulls out of coalition government 14:33 • 26.04.18 Three cabinet members from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) laid down their ministerial portfolios on Thursday, a day after the party officially announced a plan to pull out of the coalition government. According to an official statement by ARF-D press service, Davit Lokyan has handed in his resignation as the acting minister of agriculture. Levon Mkrtchyan and Artsvik Minasyan are stepping down as the acting ministers of education and science, and nature protection, respectively. In its decision issued Wednesday evening, the party cited the internal political situation in Armenia as a serious reason to end the coalition partnership with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). Armenian News - Tert.am LATEST NEWS 14:47 • 09/03 US actor Jussie Smollett charged over hate 'hoax' 14:36 • 09/03 Maradona acknowledges paternity of kids in Cuba 14:27 • 09/03 Two Armenians killed, one reported injured after traffic crash in Russian town 14:10 • 09/03 Nagorno-Karabakh reports more Azerbaijani ceasefire violations 13:51 • 09/03 Azerbaijani FM travels to Iran for official visit 13:14 • 09/03 Australian town left devastated after beloved 15ft, 80-year-old crocodile is found dead 13:00 • 09/03 North Korea preparing rocket launch 12:32 • 09/03 Trump’s private talks with Putin may contain clues to his Russia romance 12:02 • 09/03 Money can't buy you love: Ex-wife of New Jersey lottery winner insists even the $273m jackpot isn't enough to convince her to take him back 11:48 • 09/03 Armenia's labor and social affairs minister to attend UN gender equality forum in New York 11:15 • 09/03 Azerbaijan to host military drills ahead of Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting - Defense Ministry spokesperson 10:26 • 09/03 US intends to focus on diplomatic pressure on Venezuela 13:45 • 08/03 Reforms on EU-Armenia agenda should focus on 'strengthening our country first' – politician 12:44 • 08/03 Trump's ex-campaign chief sentenced to 47 months 12:36 • 08/03 Russia, Turkey conduct joint naval drills in Black Sea 12:28 • 08/03 Queen Elizabeth publishes first Instagram post 12:15 • 08/03 Turkey’s Erdogan sues opposition party leader over alleged insult 11:44 • 08/03 Chanel’s Gerard Wertheimer to visit Armenia upon president's invitation 10:53 • 08/03 Armenia needs embassy in Israel 'more than Israel does' in Armenia, says analyst 09:59 • 08/03 Kim Kardashian and daughter North cuddle in their PJs while flying to Montreal on a private jet 09:51 • 08/03 Boston community hosts first ever 'Dolma Festival' 09:41 • 08/03 Armenian sapper injured in Syria 17:47 • 07/03 Russia’s position on Karabakh peace ‘unchanged’, says Foreign Ministry spokesperson 17:20 • 07/03 Converse Bank launches surprise offer ahead of Women’s Day 16:53 • 07/03 Gabriel Garcia Marquez's '100 Years of Solitude' to become Netflix series 16:35 • 07/03 Karabakh conflict is ‘all about physical survival’, says Italian parliamentarian 15:55 • 07/03 No official records on Azerbaijan's '$50bn lawsuit against Armenia' available in ECHR archives - lawyer 15:13 • 07/03 Erdogan: Turkey buying Russian S-400s a done dealErdoğan 14:34 • 07/03 Cabinet downsizing approved: Armenia will have 12 ministries instead of 17 13:56 • 07/03 Current and former ombudsmen of Artsakh joint European Parliament's conference on Armenophobia in Azerbaijan 13:24 • 07/03 Venezuela and Palestine sign diamond production deal 12:30 • 07/03 EU committed to back reforms in Armenia 'but not ready to offer 100% funding', says prime minister 11:42 • 07/03 The Telegraph: Jose Mourinho 'almost 100 per cent' certain to return to Real Madrid after European champions' defeat to Ajax 11:32 • 07/03 US teacher, 59, wins $10,000 after reading fine print on insurance policy 11:21 • 07/03 Nagorno-Karabakh's independence 'irreversible from now on' – Russian politician 10:45 • 07/03 Zhoghovurd: New lowcoster entering Armenia's aviation market 10:12 • 07/03 Zhamanak: Armenian government proposes bill to alleviate private businesses' burden 09:40 • 07/03 Huawei sues US government over product ban 09:13 • 07/03 Facebook not to store data in countries with recorded violations of human rights 17:54 • 06/03 Armenian premier 'hopeful' to finalize gas supply terms with Russia in 2019 17:01 • 06/03 Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old 'untouched' Maya ritual site containing hundreds of ceramic vessels 16:43 • 06/03 Ousted Nissan boss leaves Japan jail after $9 million bail 16:23 • 06/03 Societal stereotypes 'breeding ground' for violence against women in Armenia - ombudsman 15:35 • 06/03 NATO's Stoltenberg to visit Georgia 'later in March' 15:17 • 06/03 SME development projects discussed with GIZ representatives in Armenia 14:12 • 06/03 EU backs rapid completion of visa liberalizations talks with Armenia – Pashinyan, Juncker sum up meeting in Brussels 13:11 • 06/03 Mammadyarov discusses developments over Karabakh with top OSCE official 12:38 • 06/03 Armenia considers opening embassy in Israel, says deputy minister 12:06 • 06/03 Forbes lists 4 Armenians on 2019 World’s Billionaires Index 11:35 • 06/03 Zhoghovurd: Iranian visitors’ number ‘drops sharply’ in Armenia 11:09 • 06/03 Azerbaijan enlists infamous Congressman Hastings in its anti-Armenian propaganda – Sassounian 10:11 • 06/03 Trump extends Venezuela sanctions, national emergency 09:52 • 06/03 Hraparak: Georgian president planning trip to Armenia after controversial visit to Azerbaijan 09:13 • 06/03 Football: Ajax ousts 3-time champion Real Madrid 17:52 • 05/03 Armenian citizens ‘look forward to opportunity’ for visa-free travel to Europe - Pashinyan to EU’s Tusk 17:38 • 05/03 Azerbaijani FM slams Armenian official’s statement on Karabakh peace 16:37 • 05/03 Single Eurasian market plan ‘not easy-going process’ – Tigran Sargsyan 15:50 • 05/03 Benjamin Netanyahu confuses Azerbaijan with Afghanistan during speech 15:37 • 05/03 Second known adult in the world gets HIV cure 15:30 • 05/03 World’s 'saddest elephant' dies after 43 years in solitary confinement at a Spanish zoo 15:17 • 05/03 Michael Jackson’s estate posts concert film during 'Leaving Neverland' premiere 14:56 • 05/03 I am the light! Image of Jesus appears in sky as sun bursts through clouds over Italy 14:47 • 05/03 Nagorno-Karabakh talks must include ‘Republic of Artsakh’, prime minister tells Euractive 14:35 • 05/03 Zenit St Petersburg ‘interested’ in Henrikh Mkhitaryan 14:15 • 05/03 James Warlick: Armenia's new leadership shows 'real commitment' to reaching peace over Karabakh 13:28 • 05/03 Mercedes-Benz reveals first real all-electric racecar 12:42 • 05/03 Armenia’s developing partnership with EU ‘unhindered’ by strategic alliance with Russia – Nikol Pashinyan 11:54 • 05/03 Effective implementation of ECHR judgements discussed with CoE officials 11:26 • 05/03 White House calls new house probe 'disgraceful' 11:11 • 05/03 168 Zham: Armenia 'suspending' membership in NATO? 10:34 • 05/03 Ex-Nissan boss granted bail by Tokyo court 10:07 • 05/03 Armenian military commander Vazgen Sargsyan would turn 60 today 09:11 • 05/03 French President Macron calls for Schengen reform 17:39 • 04/03 Council of Europe's human rights chief pledges support to democracy reforms in Armenia 17:05 • 04/03 The Prodigy's Keith Flint dies at 49 16:55 • 04/03 Madrid principles 'undermine Armenia's positions' over Karabakh - opinion 16:27 • 04/03 NBA: Harden leads Houston Rockets to streak-extending win over Boston Celtics 16:20 • 04/03 Huawei scandal: Meng Wanzhou sues Canadian government over arrest 16:05 • 04/03 EAEU member states, including Armenia, will have 'simplified access' to Iranian market, says minister 15:13 • 04/03 Netflix responds to Oscars backlash and Steven Spielberg 14:16 • 04/03 Azerbaijanis misrepresent Khojalu events 'through Gencocide-era photos' at Iranian exhibition 11:52 • 04/03 Any attempt to resort to violence in Armenia must 'meet strong legal counteraction', prime minister says 11:28 • 04/03 Iran ready to help resolve Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, says Foreign Ministry spokesperson 11:15 • 04/03 Donald Trump blames Cohen testimony for collapse of summit with Kim Jong-un 10:52 • 04/03 'My job is to not allow any encroachment against Armenia’s, Artsakh’s security system', says top national security official 10:46 • 04/03 Estonian opposition party wins general elections 10:12 • 04/03 'Elixir of immortality' found in central Chinese ancient tomb 09:42 • 04/03 23 killed in Alabama tornadoes 09:19 • 04/03 US-led coalition uses white phosphorus in Syria attacks 14:58 • 02/03 Nagorno-Karabakh reports more Azerbaijani ceasefire vilations 14:34 • 02/03 Iran probes for chances to import Armenian mining extracts ‘in exchange for natural gas’ 13:31 • 02/03 Artsakh's return to peace talks 'not the only issue' dominating Armenian-Azerbaijani agenda 12:01 • 02/03 Tesla launches its most affordable car yet: Firm finally unveils $35,000 base version of its Model 3 11:31 • 02/03 Zhamanak: Iran-EAEU free trade deal to boost Armenia's trade turnover 11:08 • 02/03 Zhamanak: Courts to hear Kocharyan's criminal case in 'closed-door regime' 10:52 • 02/03 When will the US recognize the Genocide?: Fresno-Armenian asks President Trump 10:38 • 02/03 ‘Who is the Boss?’ star Katherine Helmond dies in US at 89 10:28 • 02/03 US, Turkey negotiate Patriot missile sale 10:07 • 02/03 Monumental loss: Azerbaijan and 'the worst cultural genocide of the 21st century' – The Guardian 17:51 • 01/03 Alaska Airlines passengers, crew treated after strange odor causes flight to divert VIDEOS 10:20 • 09.03.19 Armenia Will Not Be Authoritarian, Prime Minister Tells Euronews 10:20 • 09.03.19 Armenia Will Not Be Authoritarian, Prime Minister Tells Euronews 10:42 • 06.03.19 European Commission President Jan-Claude Juncker Holds Press Conference with Nikol Pashinyhan 18:16 • 05.03.19 EU’s Donald Tusk Praises Armenian Prime Ministers Resolve to 'Bring About Democratic Reforms' 15:08 • 05.03.19 Armenian President Hosts Financial Times' Innovation Editor John Thornhill 12:08 • 05.03.19 Armenian Prime Minister Responds to Members of European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs 15:40 • 28.02.19 Nikol Pashinyan Visits Mosque, Ali Qapu Palace in Isfahan 12:06 • 28.02.19 Iranian-Armenians Give Warm Welcome to Armenian Prime Minister 09:33 • 21.02.19 Unpacked 2019: Samsung Reveals Second Generation Galaxy Buds 12:34 • 20.02.19 Egypt President Takes ‘First Step’ in Recognizing Armenian Genocide 11:51 • 18.02.19 Armenian President Conducts Brief Talks with Joe Biden in Munich 10:56 • 16.02.19 President Armen Sarkissian's Speech at University of Heidelberg 11:12 • 02.02.19 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Speech at Konrad Adenauer Foundation 10:11 • 02.02.19 German Chancellor Merkel Welcomes Armenian Premier at Federal Residence in Berlin 14:21 • 01.02.19 Galaxy F: Samsung Foldable Phone Official Video Leaked 17:43 • 31.01.19 Armenian Prime Minister's Speech at Technical University of Cologne 16:29 • 31.01.19 LA Police Release Footage of Armenian School Hate Crime 10:02 • 30.01.19 EU Commissioner for Human Rights Issues Report in Armenia 09:37 • 30.01.19 We are Looking Forward to Closer Cooperation with Our EU Partners - Armenian President to Commissioner Johannes Hahn 17:46 • 24.01.19 It's Time for Armenia to 'Transform Political Revolution to Economic One', Pashinyan tells Euronews 09:57 • 24.01.19 Armenia to Create New Economic Model to Promote Micro-Businesses’ Development, Pashinyan says in Davos 09:13 • 23.01.19 Pashinyan, Aliyev Discuss Situation over Karabakh in Davos 09:48 • 22.01.19 Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Meets with Swiss Businessmen in Zurich 10:02 • 17.01.19 Armenian President Delivers Keynote Speech at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Summit 09:33 • 27.12.18 Firefighters Revisit Scene of Armenia's Earthquake in 1988 10:20 • 24.12.18 Armenian-Style Revolution Implies Also Generational Change in Thinking, President Tells Indian TV Channel 16:57 • 12.12.18 Pashinyan will Face Real Challenges Amid Economic Transformations in Armenia– Ruben Vardanyan's interview with DW 11:25 • 06.12.18 Lynne Tracy: We Acknowledge Historical Facts but Support President’s Policies on 1915 Events 16:15 • 23.11.18 Women and Youth are Stakeholders in Building Security - Zohrab Mnatsakanyan's Speech at World Forum for Democracy 12:38 • 10.11.18 First Armenian Military Robot Tested 10:06 • 23.10.18 Serj Tankian Warns of Hazards of Exploiting Amulsar Mine 15:42 • 19.10.18 Turkish Violin Virtuoso Dedicates Piece of Komitas Music to Ara Guler's Memory 11:46 • 11.10.18 Samvel Farmanyan's Speech in PACE 14:43 • 25.09.18 iPhone Xs & Xs Max Fail Resistivity Test 13:18 • 15.09.18 Slavik Hayrapetyan at US International Skating Classic 2018 16:42 • 05.09.18 Official Trailer of Anders Breivik Movie Goes Viral 14:17 • 18.07.18 How Armenia Teaches Chess to Young Kids 15:01 • 13.07.18 Armenian PM urges NATO to send message to Azerbaijan: Euronews Exclusive 17:21 • 12.07.18 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Meets with European Officials in Brussels 15:16 • 19.06.18 How corruption has damaged Armenia's environment - France 24 16:43 • 13.06.18 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Welcomed at Moscow Airport EXCLUSIVE 10:53 • 08.03.19 Armenia needs embassy in Israel 'more than Israel does' in Armenia, says analyst ''Visits and mutual visits have been very frequent in point of fact. As early as one year ago, the former foreign minister, Edward Nalbandyan ... POLITICS 13:31 • 02.03.19 Artsakh's return to peace talks 'not the only issue' dominating Armenian-Azerbaijani agenda POLITICS 10:05 • 27.02.19 Armenia’s ‘Velvet Revolution’ was 'alien' to Russia-led allies, says deputy FM POLITICS 11:00 • 26.02.19 US seek firm foothold in Azerbaijan 'for anti-Iranian policies' – Armenian analyst POLITICS 10:23 • 22.02.19 Richard Giragosian: Baku tends to maintain aggressive rhetoric over Nagorno-Karabakh POLITICS MOST POPULAR ARTICLES Today Yesterday For a week POLITICS 12:32 • 09.03.19 Trump’s private talks with Putin may contain clues to his Russia romance 11:15 • 09.03.19 Azerbaijan to host military drills ahead of Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting - Defense Ministry spokesperson 10:26 • 09.03.19 US intends to focus on diplomatic pressure on Venezuela 10:53 • 08.03.19 Armenia needs embassy in Israel 'more than Israel does' in Armenia, says analyst LAW 12:44 • 08.03.19 Trump's ex-campaign chief sentenced to 47 months 12:15 • 08.03.19 Turkey’s Erdogan sues opposition party leader over alleged insult 15:55 • 07.03.19 No official records on Azerbaijan's '$50bn lawsuit against Armenia' available in ECHR archives - lawyer 09:40 • 07.03.19 Huawei sues US government over product ban ECONOMY 13:24 • 07.03.19 Venezuela and Palestine sign diamond production deal 12:30 • 07.03.19 EU committed to back reforms in Armenia 'but not ready to offer 100% funding', says prime minister 17:54 • 06.03.19 Armenian premier 'hopeful' to finalize gas supply terms with Russia in 2019 15:17 • 06.03.19 SME development projects discussed with GIZ representatives in Armenia EVENT 14:27 • 09.03.19 Two Armenians killed, one reported injured after traffic crash in Russian town 14:10 • 09.03.19 Nagorno-Karabakh reports more Azerbaijani ceasefire violations 13:51 • 09.03.19 Azerbaijani FM travels to Iran for official visit 11:48 • 09.03.19 Armenia's labor and social affairs minister to attend UN gender equality forum in New York PRESS DIGEST 10:45 • 07.03.19 Zhoghovurd: New lowcoster entering Armenia's aviation market 10:12 • 07.03.19 Zhamanak: Armenian government proposes bill to alleviate private businesses' burden 11:35 • 06.03.19 Zhoghovurd: Iranian visitors’ number ‘drops sharply’ in Armenia 09:52 • 06.03.19 Hraparak: Georgian president planning trip to Armenia after controversial visit to Azerbaijan SCIENCE/TECH 13:00 • 09.03.19 North Korea preparing rocket launch 09:13 • 07.03.19 Facebook not to store data in countries with recorded violations of human rights 17:01 • 06.03.19 Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old 'untouched' Maya ritual site containing hundreds of ceramic vessels 15:37 • 05.03.19 Second known adult in the world gets HIV cure SPORTS 14:36 • 09.03.19 Maradona acknowledges paternity of kids in Cuba 11:42 • 07.03.19 The Telegraph: Jose Mourinho 'almost 100 per cent' certain to return to Real Madrid after European champions' defeat to Ajax 09:13 • 06.03.19 Football: Ajax ousts 3-time champion Real Madrid 14:35 • 05.03.19 Zenit St Petersburg ‘interested’ in Henrikh Mkhitaryan CULTURE 14:47 • 09.03.19 US actor Jussie Smollett charged over hate 'hoax' 09:51 • 08.03.19 Boston community hosts first ever 'Dolma Festival' 16:53 • 07.03.19 Gabriel Garcia Marquez's '100 Years of Solitude' to become Netflix series 15:17 • 05.03.19 Michael Jackson’s estate posts concert film during 'Leaving Neverland' premiere ENTERTAINMENT 13:14 • 09.03.19 Australian town left devastated after beloved 15ft, 80-year-old crocodile is found dead 12:02 • 09.03.19 Money can't buy you love: Ex-wife of New Jersey lottery winner insists even the $273m jackpot isn't enough to convince her to take him back 12:28 • 08.03.19 Queen Elizabeth publishes first Instagram post 09:59 • 08.03.19 Kim Kardashian and daughter North cuddle in their PJs while flying to Montreal on a private jet Helix TERT AM, LLC Address: 1 Yeghvard Highway, Yerevan, Armenia, 0054 Tel: [phone] E-Mail: %s Contact number for ads: 055 52 11 11 , 093 639 312. 2008 - 2019 © Armenian News - Tert.am All rights reserved. Reference to Tert.am is mandatory when making citations. Full or partial televised reading of the website articles is prohibited without reference to Tert.am.

#TheWebOfSlime

[marilynjackmm]

TIP! Before you make reservations at a particular hotel, check its reviews on websites like TripAdvisor. These provide you with first-hand information about people’s recent experiences at each hotel.

How often have people told you that they had an amazing vacation, but the hotel was awful? Your hotel is a huge part of your vacation. You probably would like an affordable place with excellent service. Use this article to find exactly that!

Room service can make your stay more enjoyable. The cost will be a bit higher, but not having to dress up and go out will be worth it.

TIP! Room service is one of the best parts about a hotel. How else could you possibly enjoy a midnight snack without leaving your bed? While it may cost a little extra, it is worth it if you can stay in your comfortable room as you satisfy your cravings.

When leaving your hotel room, keep any electronics you have secure by putting them in the room’s safe. Place all electronics there along with important documents, such as your passport or plane tickets.

TIP! There are things to think about when choosing a hotel. Price is one, but a prime location is another.

What groups are you a member of? Sometimes you can get discounted hotel prices through these organizations. Discounts of 10% or more are often available, and people sometimes forget that they are eligible to claim them. This can result in significant savings, especially for longer stays. That’s almost an extra free night throughout an entire week.

TIP! Take advantage of online hotel searching tools. These sites can help you get good deals.

When picking a hotel, there is a lot to think about. Of course price is a big deal, but a hotel close to where you are head is a big consideration. A pool, a gym, a restaurant, free breakfast, free local calls and free Wi-Fi are other amenities that may be important to you. You want to secure a room at a hotel that provides the things you desire.

TIP! Inspect your room before unpacking your bags. Make sure there is no mold or mildew anywhere in the room.

In order to save money on hotel stays, book far in advance. It’s not uncommon for a hotel to offer a discount if a room is booked a couple of months ahead of time. You might only pay half price for premium hotels.

TIP! Find out the exact time for check-in and check-out. You don’t want to arrive early only to find out your room isn’t ready yet.

Always remember to pack running clothes and any thing else you need for exercising while on your trip. When you wake up in the morning, throw on your gear and head out for a morning jog. It’ll let you explore the city in a new way.

Sign up for frequent guest programs at hotels. They provide you with points for every stay. In time you may even get to stay there for free!

TIP! If you go out to travel quite a bit, it’s good to get signed up for a hotel’s loyalty program. These programs provide perks to those who stay at a particular chain regularly.

You should always find out how much hotel transfers will cost before you book a room. If the rooms are cheap, the transfer could ruin the deal. You will save more by asking about such a thing in advance.

TIP! If you are worried about the environment, consider taking a “green” vacation. Green hotels can feature specialized recycling programs, may only use recyclable products and use environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.

To get the most out of your hotel stays, particularly if you travel a great deal for business, join a membership program such as that offered by Choice Hotels or Marriott. These programs allow you to collect points that can be applied toward further travels.

TIP! Join a membership program if you travel frequently. This way, when you stay at a hotel, you can get points and then turn those points into free stuff that you can do with your family.

A membership in AAA can make booking a hotel easier when you travel. AAA members receive excellent discounts on hotels, car rentals and other attractions. In addition, parents may enjoy the benefit of having free car seats provided.

TIP! If you are traveling with kids, make sure the hotel you book has a working pool. There is nothing worse than having to tell your excited kids they cannot swim.

Don’t call long distance in your hotel room. Use the Internet, instead. With a Wi-Fi connection, you can use Skype for your calls. You can stay in touch with work or family without the high cost of a call from the phone in your room.

TIP! Ask if your possible hotel reservation is either smoking or non. If you are a non-smoker, you may not want to stay in a smoking room.

Start by inspecting the hotel bathroom if you need to make sure there are no bed bugs. Bedbugs usually won’t stay here. This makes it an ideal spot to put your luggage as you check out the rest of your room for bedbugs. It’s safe for pets and kids too.

TIP! Do you smoke? If so, it is important that you are aware of a hotel’s smoking policy in advance. Most hotels have designated smoking rooms.

Make sure to ask up front if the hotel you’ll be staying in allows smoking or does not. If you’re someone who doesn’t like cigarette smoke, you may want to find a different hotel. While you can book a non-smoking room, smoke can infiltrate your room and settle into your clothing. You may find that a smoker has been in your non-smoking room before you and ignored the rules. To avoid the experience of breathing in smoke during your stay, try to stay in a hotel that doesn’t allow smoking.

TIP! Be aware that you can’t normally check-in early at your hotel. Make sure you plan around your check-in time, or you will be forced to sit in a lobby to wait for your room.

You can find quality accommodations on the cheap if you know where to look. This article has provided some helpful tips in the approach to finding the perfect hotel. You can have a great stay in a reasonably priced hotel room. Keep the tips here in mind so that you find the best hotel for your needs.

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[heyligaya]

Am I really entering “Late 20′s”?

The staggering twenty six as I call it.

Here i am, just finished cleaning out the dishes and thinking

“wait, am I really in my LATE 20′s?”

Suddenly, i had trouble accepting that thought.

I spent most of my birthdays with friends or at work but today, I decided to NOT DO ANYTHING. I even scheduled the articles I was supposed to finish reading for school instead of thinking what to prepare. I did enjoy my last few years looking forward to having a great day with people but I just really wanted this day to be WITH MAHZELF! you feel? :P 

I mean, it’s a step forward to being A FULL BLOWN ADULT. It’s not the same when you turn 18. At this age, the feeling of being able to drive, buy R-18 horror movies, drink alcohol and stay out of the house til midnight is perhaps a little less monumental since you don’t have a benchmark to look forward to. The most exciting thing you’ve probably have ever done is buy a complete set of pens and post-it’s and try making non-sense reminder just to feel the first paper strip its pad. Amirite? 

So, I started writing this after I finished my duties at home and there isn’t any more adulting than that right there.

Thinking about it now, honestly, I didn’t expect reaching this prime. Due to some personal struggles, I really thought that I will NOT celebrate another birthday. Im not claiming anything but you can think whatever it is I am trying to say. That’s something I want you to hold. Not much of a surprise to many but I really am still contemplating the fact that I am still ALIVE right now and I can’t believe how much I’ve grown. So Im going to try my best to atleast pick out the things I’ve grasped through the years. I'm usually fairly cynical of blog posts which are written on an advisory basis, especially when they come from my own head.... I'm fairly certain that I'm as clueless as the next person. I do hope I can make proper points here and there.

I don’t look 26

I’ve been told I look like I’m in my early 20’s (20 – 22), even with makeup. And it doesn’t help that I’m 5’0. To this day I still get asked if I’m breaking curfew.

Getting rid of toxic people is awesome.

A year ago I said bye bye to toxic people in my life: flat out stopped responding to negativity and cut ties with them. I’ve never been happier!

I need my daily alone time

Over the past year, I’ve learned that I need some alone time to really get my creative juices flowing. No offense to my loved ones, but being with people all time time can be draining. Do you ever feel like this?

Wellness is really important

If you want to feel good you need to take care of you before taking care of anyone else. Last year was so crazy I think I developed a few eating disorders BUT im all good now, BUT STILL, being in that situation will make you realize how important it is to take good care of yourself. 

Early twenties are uncomfortable, emotionally and financially

I’ve learned how to buy stuff that I can afford without using credit but with the money I saved and can hold. This kept me out of debt. Im just happy I have financially good friends who teaches me how to use, hold and take money. 

Success feels hard

There is a quote bandied about a lot in start up circles - "you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable."  Whilst I find some of these motivational quotes pretty trite and some downright untrue, I do feel that there is something in the sentiment here. Being uncomfortable keeps you hungry for more and stops you becoming complacent. The act of trying something is perhaps success in itself, regardless of the outcome.

Your priorities change with age

I remember being 16 and having a hard time thinking how can my allowance fit my everyday habitual coffee drinks + my phone case addiction. I will not eat for 2 days just so I can afford those shoes I saw at the mall the other day. Not to mention to think about those cheesy monthsary gifts you put out there and be tagged as THE BEST COUPLE EVER.

Jul aged 25 cares about quite a lot of different things - her partner is now a 6 year old beagle dog, her friends, her MA in all of its varied forms, local politics, getting that scratch out of her car from a mini accident at the parking, my data plan, and the emergency money you hide for an EMERGENCY urge to file a membership for anytime fitness (yup, I upgraded).

Whilst the list exercise above is slightly reductive, I think its a fair observation that the things you want/ have to spend your time on change throughout every stage of life.

I have also found myself valuing my time a lot more, which has resulted in my choosing to spend it only on things I actively want to do. Alongside being more efficient, this has also made me a lot happier, as my policy of not doing things I don't want to do has massively cut down the the time I spend on things that make me resentful. I still do the dishes though... some things you can't escape!

Trust your gut, with exceptions

Overall the whole going with your gut thing works quite well - in my case anyway.

However there have been occasions where my gut has said "YES!" but my head has gone "wait, let's take a second to think about this." 

I have ignored this on a couple of occasions in the past, only to be faced with quite a big, fact based, objection once the initial emotional response has worn off. Basically what I'm trying to say is that whilst emotions fade, rational and objective thoughts generally hold up.

People move forward in their own paces

While people get married and start a family by now, I manage to pursue my MA even this late which shows how people move forward in their own steps of paces. Doesn’t mean you’re not having the same thoughts as what your 26 year-old friends are having, means you’re being left out. It’s just that you are moving forward the way you know how, I think that is even braver. Being able to achieve something and be somewhere by yourself, with your own decision is also considered as making the leap of faith.

TRUST GOD

Whether you’re 26 or 96. Your faith must never wander. Whether you’ve improved or not, gained or lost, challenged or won, struggling or pursuing, always hold on to what God has promised you. Pray when you’re having a hard time and pray when you’re grateful. 25 for me was one heck of a year and Im just happy to be alive. That’s all. Breathing, typing, thinking.. LIVING. So, Thank you, Lord. You’ve done a great job teaching me yet again. How amazing You are. 

Take your time but don’t waste your time.