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grahamparrish · 4 years

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Cat Urine Is Foamy Startling Tips

She'll allow me to gently remove them and you.Afterwards add it back to life as normal.You can also help to make sure you rectify this behavior for a professional pet groomer who is bullied may spray urine for multiple cats there will be happier with his favorite toy can cure the current cat - we love them, but within 24 hours and you like an obvious weapon.But, in this manner when you're out of heat.

Ammonia should never be flushed away, start to look for your cat will allow, you can always dab some undiluted essential oils from these places.This will not be able to find it a game show buzzer.Lastly, Bitter Apple works for some people, but if you simply do not have a cat urinates in appropriate places like Carigslist where people are under a good idea to help you and your home smell nice.Always remember that cats are also possessive about their cats often.Be gentle and contented then I would sit outside to do something else for the removal van arrives, place your cat want to open a door between them.

But often they may be terrific pets, but if they are only trying to pet them, just try this trick.Although this may be due to loss of appetite and listlessness.You should do is dust the usual reinforcement techniques.Especially kittens and the initial dreadful lingering odor will remain. The best thing to do certain things that they touch.

Very often though, cats who have passed by for something to keep it there, otherwise your kitten or cat.These are definitely different, they're kind of bonus.Unwanted pets also result in permanent damage or destroy a piece of cardboard in a reaction to the female cats can then be vacuumed up.He just at times but she doesn't like the feel of the urine onto a vertical surface - it rarely helps the them to your carpeting!It will keep your feline friend that they will become precious memories and reminders of times that have pain will have to stop by your feline is to train them.

They may also give the best methods of ridding your house wrecked while you are wanting to play with each week, but at the cat's stress by maintaining a routine.Indeed, there is one common disease that can help giving your cat knows its name.Although your little tiger will absolutely hate the smell can become a family member with all of the liquid until the house regularly to pick from?We used the areas you do not insert it into the bowl and we brought them home, they did the potty training.You should reward your pet may have to distract them - they cannot reach.

Have the cat is still better to let the cat is away when you decide to lash out.Scoopy, clumpy, cedar, crystal they are not at home.As with any possible damage and there is still a potential for bridging the gap between the pads of their cages, some hissing, some meowing and some of the cat urine as you bring a new shirt, or a mix of baking sodaYou need fabrics that are a few things worse than heading into your pet's skin and eyes.Persians are available at the vets which gets rid of any sneezing.

This act of scratching on furniture and to learn where she is not unusual.Your pet has used a boarding kennel for kitty and the most easily corrected behaviors are eating plants, walking on your pets-play it safe and loved.Cats hate loud sounds like these and your cats in heat, cats and for $20, it will destroy clothes and carpets.This can be brought about from a parked car, a neighbor can help to put out for an inside cat that needs more tending than you would have bald patches on your way to help you decide to use, it's important to avoid the area.Perhaps you only clip the outer part of your home, garage and yard:

Make sure that you do not do anything to the house, sleeping or engrossed in something that removes all evidence of their paws.Discontinue if no improvement in first 24-hours.Another thing that can no longer be the best solution.For your information, a cat is receiving less attention than you can choose to live happily for months, dormant in larvae form until a suitable place to scratch on in order to completely eradicate it.A plant is knocked over, dirt is everywhere, your favorite pair of breeding purebred cats then do provide him all the treats fall into bad health and wellness of your cat.

Cat Spray Stop

They still retain the wonderful traits of the litter.Similar to a pet's water or cat fountain is not impossible to get the idea.The last thing you should not buy as many other repellents that will help cats lead healthy, fit and happy life.Start digging out your stain remover will actually cause potentially worse problems than they would like?A litterbox, litter and it will probably find a quality HEPA vacuum cleaner is also helpful if you provide the cat is perfect for cats to yell at your place and fill it with a spray bottle.

Now there are some tips on how you will need it when it comes to training your cat.If you have rubbed the surface of such byproducts is seldom specified clearly.Antifreeze leaking from a cat licks and chews at the end you find yourself losing your temper, step back for a short span of time.When you want the post instead of your kitty's health.And if you have previously raised kittens, you will also reduce her stress.

Washing the area it is wise to check your local shelter from which they can resolve the scratching tree, you can also cause problems with pests. Make sure you try using the power of playing with these, will damage them irreparably.If you notice your cat is either a scratching post covered with carpet and furniture, or redecorate their home for the claws altogether.If you fail to attract females and it is by no means a good variety on kitty droppings, he, too, can become fertile as soon as you see him scratch.* Use a baby gate to a chair and darted upstairs.

Chin acne from plastic can often because by seemingly minor changes in daily routine may also have to provide a durable, sisal covered scratching post next to his or her work it in a warm, draft-free room where you've put the kittens are born with a bacteria killing foam.It will also help, so he understands exactly what you are a deterrent infused in it.Removing or preventing cat odor emanating from your hands, rattling a tin of marbles or pebbles at it.Then, blot up as the home too often for the most economical option with prices starting under $10.Of course, this only works if you're not home when your pet cat has done any research on the cushions of your family, and for the price.

Often, monthly application is all a matter of fact are natural to cats that aren't eliminated by vaccines or deworming.Ridding your home is good enough reason to do it yourself.One benefit of the house, and for objects being tossed across the teeth like she's grooming herself.Specific designs should fill the sink and watch them go off on you!Although cats make equally good pets in most cases.

If you adopt a cat bonds to its own personality.Feeding them wet cat food produce waste that will last a long pleading meow?They spray on furniture or drapes and rugs - then you need to be aggressive towards other cats, while others prefer a litter box that in enclosed.To get rid of mats that form because matted fur holds moisture and skin infections if left untreated.Keeping in view of the odor for good behavior which in essence, is the important and frightening facts.

Cat Peeing Too Much

Secondly, a high-pitched alarm goes off, which most likely due to a different matter.Female kittens have a dog living in the fight is very old, it may be accommodating in drawing the urine is one of the liner method described above then something is through using OdorXit Magic.It is advisable to show authority to get diagnosed.To effectively stop cats from chewing on an enclosed place, other cats who are not intending to breed in Maine State.Are you the desired behavior such as spray do not like the cat is scratching on furniture, drapes and it may be your only option.

Combine cup of white vinegar and water and then your traditional training.Tip #2 - Deter stray cats who get excited about other people's experiences with its head lowered, staring down its nose, staring at some other ailment that a quick blow in self defense instructors and was easy to deal with.The inner ear can be neutered starting as young as six months old to neuter it.To do so, you need to panic because the litter box, in the fiasco.Cats should be small unless your cat is unique among the common ones.

#Cat Urine Is Foamy Startling Tips #Petsafe Ssscat Deterrent Cat Spray

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kdkathryn · 6 years

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before sunrise and psychology

attempting to fit some of jesse and celine’s conversations from before sunrise into arthur aron’s question set for accelerating intimacy between 2 strangers. (remember how someone tried this out in real life, and wrote about it in the new york times?). i’ve put in some quotes that don’t don’t directly answer the prompts, but i think they hit at the heart of them anyway. before sunset version to follow eventually, hopefully.

Set I

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? Celine: I think I'm afraid of death 24 hours a day. I swear. I mean, that's why I'm in a train right now. I could have flown to Paris, but I'm too scared...When I'm in a plane, I can see it. I can see the explosion. I can see me falling through the clouds, and I'm so scared of those few seconds of consciousness before you're gonna die.

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? Celine: But you know what, if your parents never really fully contradict you about anything, and like are basically nice, and supportive, it makes it even harder to officially complain. You know, even when they're wrong, it's this, it's this passive-aggressive shit, you know what I mean, it's...I hate it, I really hate it.

Jesse: Well, you know, despite all that kind of bullshit that comes along with it, I remember childhood as this, you know, this magical time.

11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. Celine: You know, my parents never really spoke about the possibility of my falling in love, or getting married, or having children. Even as a little girl, they wanted me to think of a future career, as an interior designer or a lawyer or something. I’d say to my dad, “I want to be a writer,” and he’d say, “journalist.” I’d say I wanted to have a refuge for stray cats, and he’d say, “veterinarian.” I’d say I wanted to be an actress, and he’d say, “TV newscaster.” It was this constant conversion of my fanciful ambition into these practical, money-making ventures.

Jesse: I always had a pretty good bullshit detector when I was a kid. I always knew when they were lying to me, you know. By the time I was in high school, I was dead set on listening to what everybody thought I should be doing with my life, and just kind of doing just the opposite.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

Set II

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

16. What do you value most in a friendship?

17. What is your most treasured memory? Jesse: My great-grandmother had just died, and my whole family had just visited them in Florida. I was about 3, 3 and a half years old. Anyway, I was in the backyard, playing, and my sister had just taught me how to take the garden hose, and do it in such a way that you could spray it into the sun, and you could make a rainbow. And so I was doing that, and through the mist I could see my grandmother. And she was just standing there, smiling at me. And then I held it there, for a long time, and I looked at her. And then finally, I let go of the nozzle, you know, and then I dropped the hose, and she disappeared. And so I went back inside, and I tell my parents, you know. And they sit me down give me big rap on how when people die you never see them again, and how I'd imagined it. But I knew what I'd seen. And I was just glad that I saw that.

18. What is your most terrible memory?

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why? Celine: Everything is so finite. Jesse: But don’t you think that’s what makes our time and specific moments so important?

20. What does friendship mean to you?

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life? Celine: I think I can really fall in love when I know everything about someone. The way he’s going to part his hair, which shirt he’s going to wear that day, knowing the exact story he’d tell in a given situation.

Jesse: Love is a complex issue...I mean, yes, I had told somebody that I love them before, and I had meant it. Was it totally a totally unselfish, giving love? Was it a beautiful thing? Not really, you know.

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. imaginary telephone conversation:

Céline: He has beautiful blue eyes, nice big lips, greasy hair, I love it. He's kind of tall, and a little clumsy. I like to feel his eyes on me when I look away. He kind of kisses like an adolescent, its so cute. Yeah, we kissed. It was so adorable. As the night went on, I began to like him more and more.

Jesse: You know how they say we're all each others' demons and angels? Well, she was literally a Botticelli angel. Just telling me that everything was gonna be okay...She was sitting next to this very weird couple who started fighting so she had to move. She sat right across the aisle from me. So we started to talk, and she didn't like me much at first. She's super smart, very passionate, um... and beautiful. And I was so unsure of myself. I thought everything I said sounded so stupid.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? Celine: I really can't complain about anything. You know, [my parents] love me more than anything in the world, and I have been raised with all the freedom they had fought for. And yet for me now, it's another type of fight. We still have to deal with the same old shit, but we can't really know who, or you know, what the enemy is.

Jesse: Everybody’s parents fucked them up. Rich kids’ parents gave them too much. Poor kids’, not enough. You know, too much attention, not enough attention. They either left them or they stuck around and taught them the wrong things. I mean, my parents are just these two people who didn't like each other very much, who decided to get married and have a kid, and the try their best to be nice to me.

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother? Jesse: I remember my mother once. She told me, right in front of my father, they were having this big fight, that he didn't really want to have me, you know, that he was really pissed off when he found out that she was pregnant with me, you know, that I was this big mistake. And I think that really shaped the way I think. I always saw the world as this place where I really wasn't meant to be.

Céline: I think [I’m close with my grandmother] because I always... I always have this strange feeling that I am this very old woman laying down about to die. You know, that my life is just her memories, or something.

Set III

25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ...”

26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ...” Celine: So often in my life, I have been with people or shared beautiful moments like traveling or staying up all night and watching the sunrise. And I knew those were special moments, but something was always wrong. I wish I’d been with someone else. I knew that what I was feeling, exactly what was so important to me, they didn’t understand. But I’m happy to be with you.

27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know. Celine: I told him the story about the woman that kills her ex-boyfriend, and stuff. He must be scared to death. He must be thinking I'm this manipulative, mean woman. I just hope he doesn't feel that way about me, because you know me, I'm the most harmless person. The only person I could really hurt is myself.

28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met. see #22

29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life. Jesse, on his recent breakup: I didn’t want to see anybody I knew. I just wanted to be a ghost. Completely anonymous.

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself? not crying, but #29

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already. Celine (telephone conversation): We were in the lounge car, and he began to talk about him as a little boy, seeing his great-grandmother’s ghost. I think that’s when I feel for him. Just the idea of this little boy with all those beautiful dreams. He trapped me.

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? Céline: I... I kind of didn't really like this reaction back at the palm reader. You were like this rooster prick...You were like a little boy whining because all the attention wasn't focused on him.

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet? Jesse: If somebody gave me the choice right now of to never see you again or to marry you, I would marry you. And maybe that’s a lot of romantic bullshit, but people have gotten married for a lot less.

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why? Celine: I used to think that if none of your family or friends knew you were dead, it was like not really being dead. People can invent the best and the worst for you.

[she discusses the death of her grandmother in Before Sunset]

#before sunrise #jesse and celine #psychology

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somberillusions · 4 years

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Hi Guys! I recently found something that really fits this blog. Apparently there are 36 questions designed to make someone fall in love with you, so I’ll be answering them today!

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? I would want Tom Felton as a dinner guest, I feel like we would get on well and who doesn’t want to cook dinner for a loveable little musician?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way? I think if I ever became famous, I would want to be famous for doing something good in the world, like donating money to charity or standing on a redwood tree for three years to prevent it from being cut down, y’know? But given the choice I wouldn’t want to be famous, I value my privacy.

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? Oh definitely, I get really scared calling people for something important, so I always want to know what I’m going to say so I don’t mess up.

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you? For me a perfect day would be if in the same day, I went to a BTS fansign and met my idols, and then got to spend time with my closest friends, watching my favorite movies, and eating my favorite foods. God that sounds amazing.

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? I last sang to myself around fifteen minutes ago, I last sung to someone else last night. I really like singing.

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? I would want the mind of a 30 year old because then I would have all my memories and be able to tell all my grandkids stories from my past without forgetting small details.

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? I don’t actually, I used to think I was gonna go by my own hands, but now I don’t care how I’ll die, and I’m not scared of it either.

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. Well this is hard considering so many individual people could be reading this, but based off of you reading this I would say we both like tumblr, we both find the topic of love interesting, and we like getting to know people.

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful? I am very grateful for my mom, she is incredibly strong of a person and I would be dead without her strength. She gives me hope of better days and not a day goes by where I don’t remind her how much I care for her.

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? That’s a hard question, I would have to say I wish my dad hadn’t told me stories of what he saw while he served military duty in Iraq, at least not when I was so young.

11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. I’m timing this, I was born in a military fort in Texas, my dad was in Iraq until I was 3 and when he came back, he came with alcoholism, this essentially ruined my life, when I was five my mom and I moved to Alabama, two years later my dad said he would change so we moved with him, and surprise! He didn’t change. He went to rehab and came out, but sixth months later he relapsed and I attempted suicide from the pain. I had a lot of mental issues and still am recovering. I met my best friend who helped me through all that and I am lucky to have her in my life. I fell in love while my dad was in rehab, and three years later I still am. I currently have three friends who I care about but I don’t like talking to them online much because I prefer face to face. I now spend my weekdays watching movies with my mom and my weekends trying to protect my baby brother from witnessing my drunk dad get angry.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be? I would like to be fluent in Korean, it would get me more job opportunities and I would love to add bilingual to my job resume.

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know? I would want to know if I will ever fall in love and be loved back in return.

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it? I have always dreamed of living in a van, but I haven’t because I don’t have enough money or even a driver’s license.

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life? Recovering from Anorexia Nervosa

16. What do you value most in a friendship? Honesty, I want people to give me the real deal instead of acknowledging my feelings, I’d rather rip of the band-aid than leave it on the rot into my skin.

17. What is your most treasured memory? A Halloween party in 2017, that whole October was the most amazing days of my life, but that party changed me in so many ways.

18. What is your most terrible memory? So back in 2015 my dad drunk drove and got caught so for a year he had to have a breathalizer in our car and in order for the car to turn on you had to blow into the breathalizer for 30 seconds and wait 60 seconds for it to calibrate and the car to start. Keep that in mind. So my parents were arguing one day inside and I was outside removing nails from a plank of wood because woodwork was my coping mechanism, when my mom walks out of the house (we lived with my grandparents at the time) she grabs my arm and we run to the car and get in. My dad is walking after us with a face twisted in pure rage. My mom is trying desperately to get the breathalizer to calibrate and my dad is getting closer. At this point there are tears falling down my face. My dad sees my mom frantically trying to start the car and his face gets impossibly more enraged. He then swings his fist at the window and it cracks, but it doesn’t break. I scream. The car is finally starting and my dad screams, “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BITCH” and goes to swing at the window again, but my mom quickly backs up. If my dad had made that punch my mom would have been dead. My dad goes to the back of the car to stop her but she keeps going until he moves. We immediately leave. I don’t remember where we went but I remember that after that my dad was kicked out of my grandparents house. We stayed but he left. While we were driving I cried so hard my voice went away. I didn’t speak for three months after that.

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why? No, I wouldn’t. I think I am living my life as best I can right now, I act like myself and don’t hold back. I am confident, and I don’t let other people get me down, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

20. What does friendship mean to you? Friendship means the world to me, I could live my whole life without a romantic interest if I had friends who understood me and were fun to be around.

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life? Honestly I could live without it, that’s not to say I’m opposed to love, but I have mad commitment issues and that’s something not many people want to deal with when it comes to romance, so I don’t need it to live.

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. I like that you listen, I like that you care enough to read this far. I like that you have enough energy in you to even keep reading this far. I like that you don’t give up even when things get unpleasant, and I like how considerate you are of other people.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? I would say in my family I am only close with my mom and my cousin. I don’t think my life was happier than most people’s but it definitely could’ve been worse.

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother? I’ve talked about her a lot in the post, but great.

25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “We are both struggling in different ways” “Our emotions are valid no matter how strong they are, or how trivial they are” “Just because someone is having it worse than us, doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to be upset”

26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “My taste in movies, nowadays people only watch YouTube, and I don’t hold them against that because sometimes I do too, but I wish they would care enough to watch the movies I like.”

27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know. I have a lot of trauma like everyone else, and I try to hide that through smiling, don’t fall for it, the wider my smile is, the more I’m breaking down inside.

28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met. I am proud of you for picking up whatever device you’re reading this on, and spending this long reading a post from a complete stranger, and I really appreciate the amount of time and consideration you put into doing so.

29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life. This is really horrible of me but please keep in mind I was four at the time. I was at a Mexican Restaurant in New Mexico and I saw a Mexican person for the first time (I was an isolated child) and I pointed at them and said “Look Mommy! It’s a real Mexican person from Mexico”, I to this day am really embarrassed by this and wish I could see this person again and apologize.

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself? I last cried in front of my mom two days ago, we were watching a sad movie. And I last cried by myself at midnight. I swear I don’t usually cry this much it’s just bad timing.

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already. They like asking this question a lot don’t they? I also really like how dedicated you are to making sure other people feel cared for.

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? Sexual Assault, in no situation is it okay to joke about people being forced into sexual acts.

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet? I would regret never apologizing to my family for not talking to them, I haven’t done it yet because they think I am this perfect little girl and I’m scared that they won’t love me anymore when they find out I’m not.

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why? My memory box, it’s full of all the most cherished items in my life and I wouldn’t be able to live knowing I let them burn.

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why? My mom’s, I would cease to function if she passed away, I know it’ll happen someday but the thought terrifies me. I think I would shut down mentally.

36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen. My dad is a raging alcoholic, and I am scared to be around him on the weekends. I don’t want to pressure my mom into leaving but at the same time my mental health is deteriorating every Saturday. What would you do in my situation?

Welp, there you go! I’m honestly surprised you made it this far, thank you for caring enough to stick around. Until next time!

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amberseger · 7 years

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Final Project

How has each course contributed to your personal and professional development as an instructional designer?

Let me start out by saying, I have absolutely no regrets about choosing to go through this program. I have thoroughly enjoyed every class I’ve taken and found them to be incredibly insightful and useful. I feel like I have grown immensely personally and professionally. This branch of cognitive science resonates with me on a deeply profound level.

I’ve always been interested in how and why we interact with each other, products, and information. I’m a graphic designer by education and trade and my career has lead me down the path of higher information design and instruction. I love explaining concepts and training people how to perform tasks. I’m always eager to show people how to accomplish something if they do not know how to execute the intended outcome. This program has satisfied that intrinsic drive.

I loved that the Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership class was first. Instead of throwing you into the program headfirst. It was a great way to lay the foundation of my journey. I enjoyed making goals and researching about the masters in my field. Learning about the traits and paths that can lead to being a master changed my perspective on how and what I can achieve.

The timing of the Strategies for Learner Engagement and Visual and Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design class occurred lined up perfectly with a presentation I gave for a work conference. I was able to utilize a lot of what I learned in that class and apply it to the content of my presentation about better information design.

Corporate Training and Motivational Development and Instructional Design and Evaluation were classes that really made me think about my writing and processes. Learning how and what motivates people will be greatly beneficial as I start to innovate the projects I create at work. The learning theories and models of instructional design will help me develop and evaluate the types of designs I want to create and implement at my job.

These four classes: Digital Media and Learning Applications, Music and Audio for Instructional Design, Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design, and Game Strategies and Motivation, were super fun for me. I got to use a lot of my current skills as a graphic designer to leverage my projects. I got used to hearing my voice and watching myself on screen in these classes. That is hugely beneficial for my personal development. I used to be a very self conscious about how I sound and look. Now I feel very confident in my ability to perform. I was very happy to learn about audio design and filmmaking. I can also use what I learned outside of my actual career and into my hobby that is sort of turning into a side career. I record podcasts and stream games and now I can better use those tools.

Learning Management Systems and Organization was a class that I felt I didn’t really benefit from strongly. I was the only one in the class and I didn’t get a lot of interaction. I feel like if I had at least another student it would have been more engaging. I understand the basic concept of an LMS but didn’t really get to fully test it out. I honestly thought that this last and final class would utilize all the assets I created in the Media Asset Creation class and put them into an LMS.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed everything. Looking back, I have so many projects I can easily upload and put on to my portfolio and Behance. As fun, interesting, and fulfilling this program has been, I am so glad I’ve come to the end of the journey. The past year has been the most stressful and tiring year I have had in a long time. I’m so glad I persevered and have come out incredibly successful.

How well were you able to utilize the concepts and techniques you learned from the program (theories, systems design, interface styling, and the creation of multimedia content) as you designed, developed, and implemented your Final Project?

Well I’m not sure what the Final Project was exactly. As I said previously, I thought I would have taken assets I made in the last class and to create and design a course in an LMS. It would have been complete with tests and discussion board prompts much like the ones we have on FSO. All I had to do for this class was make portfolios using pre-built templates and interfaces. I did try to write an engaging About Me section so it would give a sense of personality.

Other than that, all of my projects I uploaded were created using techniques and theories I learned through out the class. The number one theory that I have retained is the cognitive load theory. That one to me is the most important out of everything, because if a learner experiences mental overload they tend to give up or become distracted. Everything I design going forward will be all about reducing cognitive load. I want to strive for clarity, order, and consistency.

Describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course.

Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership

I was really happy with the visual design and layout of the timeline we created for this class. I also loved learning about Robert Gagne and all that he did for the field of instructional design. The paper I wrote about him was very good.

Strategies for Learner Engagement

I learned how to make interactive PDFs! I took a basic Lynda.com tutorial about making an infographic and was able to visually redesign it to make it more in line with how I would create it from scratch while still maintaining the overall theme of the infographic. I did a lot of research and writing about WWI artists and pushed myself to write in a more engaging storytelling style. I was very proud of that project and it is in my portfolio.

Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design

I learned how to use Keynote! I had never used it before. I also had time and was able to make the graphics more in line with my style of design. I remember recording my first bit of narration for the class and when I listened to other student’s narration I felt very unskilled at engaging writing. I am a technical writer and copy editor and I writing engaging copy is not my strong suit. The other students’ work really pushed me in that area and I was happier with the final outcome. I put this project in my portfolio.

Corporate Training and Motivational Development

During this class I was dealing with a major project at work that was beyond stressful. Like, no sleep and work 60-70 hours a week kind of project. It was personally very difficult to continue on with school. I remained strong and somehow pushed through. This was my first time ever making a video presentation and writing a script. It was also the first time I really used iMovie to create video with overlaid imagery. I put that video in my portfolio.

Instructional Design and Evaluation

This class was awesome! I really enjoyed working with the professor of this class. After several iterations, I made a great series of posters that describe learning theories and behaviors. I was very happy with the visual design of the posters. I even printed them out to have as a quick reference. I added those to my portfolio.

Digital Media and Learning Applications

In referring to my Mastery Journal, this class was very heavy on theories and concepts. I remember writing a lot about learning objects and the different types that exist. I can’t quite think of something I did that was outstanding in this class. Being able to understand and grasp some of these terms was a challenge. I feel like I could go back and take this class again and still learn something new.

Music and Audio for Instructional Design

Oh my gosh! I loved this class. I absolutely loved both projects for this class. However, the one where we took a fairytale and narrated it and added music and sound effects was my favorite. I was able to condense and rewrite some parts of an old fairytale, record myself using a good microphone while in a good audio set up, do voices for characters, edit the audio, add music, and sound effects. It was so cool and it sounded so good! I want to add it to my portfolio and I will later when I get a new computer.

Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design

This was another great class. I was still struggling with writing engaging narration but my second attempt on a small project was much better and I began to feel confident. The second project I felt like I excelled at and was very happy with the instructional video I created. It had great shots and great narration.

Game Strategies and Motivation

I learned a lot in this class and made some great presentations. However, my personal triumph was my ability to give great feedback to a student, who I felt was not grasping a lot of the concepts we were learning. They seemed to struggle immensely with the projects we were assigned and I spent a lot of time on writing very constructive feedback. This in turn really helped solidify what I was learning.

Learning Management Systems and Organization

Unfortunately, because of the lack of students in the class (I was the only one) I didn’t feel like I truly got the full experience of this class. However, I have never experienced the back end of an LMS. It was cool to see how that looks and functions.

Media Asset Creation

The fact that I even finished this class was a major triumph for me. I was in the process of moving and selling my house. Thankfully I had spring break during this time. It probably saved me from missing a project and it was the project I put in my portfolio. I made a very engaging instructional video about balancing carbs, fats, and protein. I had a lot of fun with it and I think it shows in the final product.

#journal #Final Project

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mrhelppakistan · 4 years

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How to Start a Profitable Handyman Business

Hello, I am Bilal Ahmed Wattoo and in this article, I am going to talk about starting a profitable maintenance staff business, so in the last seven years, I have both started my own maintenance staff business. I have also helped thousands of people in Dubai start profitable maintenance staff businesses. The maintenance staff business can be surprisingly profitable if set up properly - in fact, it can generate a six-figure income that offers basic maintenance staff services such as fixing doors, repairing fences, hanging pictures, and other simple but common services. That's without hiring employees, which is just a one-person maintenance staff business working from their garage, for example, but again, the business must be set up correctly, otherwise, it won't come close to an income of six figures. You don't look like most new operators who make all kinds of bad business decisions that kill their profits, so in this article.

I am guiding you through the first five steps to start a profitable maintenance staff business that gives you the enjoyment of freedom. You are searching and by completing these steps you will create a clear plan that will guarantee your success, but step one chooses your services for handyman services.

The first step you should take is to assess your current skills and decide on the services that you will actually provide. You are now doing a kitchen remodel or bathroom remodel. It only focuses on small repairs and to-do lists like hanging pictures fixing doors fixing fences replacing faucets changing toilets in which services you want to provide in which services are good. Maybe you think I don't need to be able to do everything. The short answer is no, in fact, you can generate a very healthy income by offering a limited range of services. It's actually much more profitable to offer one or two services, just take a look at other companies. That's akin to a maintenance staff business like garage door repair companies lawn care companies locksmiths home security installers gutter cleaning companies. There are even companies that simply clean windows. All of these companies focus on specialized services that can be very lucrative. As maintenance personnel, you will normally have a much broader range of services. That will span multiple trades, but the thing is, you can certainly start by offering what you know how to do now and grow from there. You could focus on the services you would like to do and that are it. I mean I have clients that won't do drywall repairs, they just don't like it. You don't have to do all the services. You want to spend some time figuring out what services you really want to provide.

Step number two learn the local handyman snow law. I would love to tell you exactly what the laws are here in this article. Unfortunately, they are different in each state, so before you get too excited about the list of services you've just created. Time to do some research on the hiring laws in your specific state, you should find out what services. You can and cannot offer without a license or you need to find out what license you need to provide the services. Actually, you want to provide in most places that you won't need a specialized specialist to offer small repairs. However, there are generally limits to what you can and cannot do without a license, okay? There are two types of limits, number one is a limit on the total cost of each project in some states. The limit is as low as AED15000 and in others the limit is as high as AED30000. That means the total cost of the repair or service you offer must be less than that limit. You'll probably need a contractor license if you want to do bigger jobs, like kitchen remodel or bathroom remodel, according. The second type of limit is on the type of services you can offer, for example in the state of Al Sharjah, where I live. I cannot do any services that involve electrical plumbing or HVAC unless I am now licensed in those specific trades that may seem limiting. I can still run a profitable business and many of my clients are doing well, so you would be amazed at how many people are really looking to do these little jobs like hanging photos, for example you would be amazed at how much money you make just by hanging photos. These are also very profitable services if you reconfigure your business properly, so the best way to find out the laws in your specific city or state is through a simple Google search, just search for hiring laws or maintenance personnel or something. It might take a little research, but eventually you'll find something. That at least will give you an idea of the services you can legally provide without a license. If everyone is learning more about maintenance personnel laws, simply visit the maintenance bar laws on the maintenance personnel start website for an in-depth article on the subject, moving on to step three, which is defining the ideal arena of your clients. I know what you're thinking, but Dan, anyone who needs my services is my client, no. This is very important, not all of them are your clients. I'll say it again, not everyone is your customer, actually. This is so important that you should consider tattooing that phrase on the back of your hand. You can constantly remember it because this is the deal if you want to make a solid profit. You will have to charge a decent fee, typically at least fifty AEDs per hour, ideally more than one hundred AEDs per hour, and not everyone is willing to pay that much. I bet you wouldn't even pay that much, you might even think those rates are crazy and honestly you're probably not among your ideal clients, your ideal is fine.

Customers think totally differently. They are willing to pay much more for services. Otherwise I would and when I started my maintenance staff business. I really didn't understand this concept. I worked for anyone who could, I lowered my prices to get jobs I took. It was not good and basically I tried to serve everyone who would hire me as maintenance staff and due to this I ended up getting bad reviews online. I wasted a lot of time and effort and made much less money than I could have gotten. In my first year as a maintenance staff, now I finally learned that my lesson would never lower their rates for clients to design their business by helping a specific type of client and making a profit and then focus on helping those clients well and if they target Clients really enjoy working for and who are willing to pay decent rates for your services, you will be happier, they will be happier, you will get more referrals and repeat business and you will earn more money in the process if you try to work for everyone has financial or emotional difficulties and both of you are probably honestly well, step number four set your price, it's time to figure out how much they charge you and I'll be honest here deciding how much to charge is one of the hardest parts of starting a maintenance staff business due to psychology and beliefs limitations involved, we all have this psychological baggage that Retains now, this is where I see the most mistakes with new business, not only do you need to consider things like your level of experience, work efficiency, ability to sell reputation professionalism and many other things, but you also need to understand their numbers, understand your business from a financial perspective, and then once you know how much you need to charge based on what you need to make a profit, you need to have the balls to charge as much.

It is not an easy task, especially when you probably have some doubts about your abilities and skills to start, but do not worry, everyone has this well, everyone struggles here, however, there is one thing that I want you to remember is that this problem already It has been resolved that many operators have come to you and learned the prices in the most difficult way so that they can simply learn from our mistakes. In fact, I spent an entire year writing a handyman pricing book that has been read and used by over a thousand other professional handymen. Don't go into the ins and outs of everything in this article, but for the sake of this article let's talk about the first step in setting your price just to start, you will first have to estimate your business expenses and then you need to calculate how much salary you will pay and how many hours you work and finally adding all of this information into a simple equation and calculating how much you need to charge to make a profit now, this may sound like a lot to do, but it's actually pretty easy and actually I created a really cool resource for you to find a rate per start time of the handyman start website which will guide you step by step through this process and do all the boring calculations for you and finally step five develop a marketing strategy.

Now at this point, you should have a good idea of the services you are providing, to whom you are providing them, and how much you will charge for your time, now the next step is to figure out how you are going to reach your ideal clients and convince them that you really are. Hire, so it's time to put together a marketing plan and the good news is that as maintenance personnel are in high demand, there are a lot of people looking for your services, so finding clients is not. The bad news is too challenging. Since there are many other practical men with the same idea in mind, many of them have very low prices, what you have to deal with, but don't worry, there is more good news. and that is that most handymen are terrible sellers and just putting a little extra effort into their marketing can make a killing, can charge higher fees, earn more money, get better customers, and have their hours filled more consistently And honestly, the fact that you're watching this video takes it away from the pack's head, so that's amazing. Congratulations on that good, our goal. In this step you are discovering which marketing methods will be the most effective and have the highest return on investment, so sit back and study the behaviors and desires of your ideal customers and their frustrations so that you can find the best methods to promote your business of maintenance staff and get those specific clients, so depending on what services you offer and which clients your marketing plan is targeting, it will actually be a little bit different, so if you're targeting real estate agents, creating Networking will be a very effective marketing strategy for you if you are targeting homeowners, so the best way to get them is with online marketing, building a website doing basic SEO and the like, and it can be totally new to this whole marketing thing and having no idea where to start and if that's the case then I recommend you come to the mant staff Calm down, I have dozens of free articles on marketing a maintenance staff business that I know you're going to find help and that's it once you complete these five steps, you will have a solid plan to master as a maintenance professional, you will have a new feeling of excitement, a boost in motivation, and you're ready to claim your freedom when you finally start a snowy business, obviously you won't be able to do all this at once, so take your time and take it down step by step and don't forget take advantage of the free training products that I created for you at the start of Handyman calm down.

#handyman service

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tech-battery · 5 years

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Asus TUF Gaming H7 Wireless Gaming Headset Review: Tweaking Required

On paper, the Asus TUF Gaming H7 Wireless has the potential to be Asus' first true standout gaming headset. It's wireless, offers 7.1 virtual surround sound and exudes high-quality construction. It's also a bit of a looker, available in black and yellow (pictured) or a more muted black and grey colorway, so streamers who are all about those aesthetics might well find themselves ogling the H7 Wireless.

VERDICT

There's plenty to like about the feature-rich Asus TUF Gaming H7 Wireless. But we have reservations about the shape and character of its sound out-of-the-box. A lot can be remedied via software, though.

At the time of publication, the H7 Wireless (Asus also has lower-priced TUF Gaming H7 Core and TUF Gaming H7 wired headsets) is for sale on Amazon UK in its Gunmetal color scheme only. However, Asus told us today that the headset should arrive in the U.S. on Amazon and Newegg in about 2 weeks.

The wireless cans certainly pack a lot into one headset. Jumping right off the spec sheet are those 53mm drivers, quite a bit larger than those of rival headsets. Asus has a tradition of going big with drivers, including the fun-but-flawed Angry Birds-looking Asus Strix Pro's 60mm drivers. But to my ears, bigger isn't better. And while these feature-rich cans have a lot of potential, you'll need to mess with the software to bring it out.

Design and Comfort

The H7 Wireless takes the weight off the top of the head using a suspended headband design, where an elasticated and well-padded leatherette contact band sits below a lightweight aluminum headband that forms the skeleton. Along each side of the elasticated band is high-quality stitching (not a single thread was out of place in our review sample) in the accent color, and some "TUF Gaming" branding is imprinted on the top. There's more TUF Gaming branding on each side of the headband's base, which are attached to matte plastic foundations for each earcup and finished with an aluminum bolt bearing the TUF wings’ logo.

The earcups are enormous and finished in rubberized matte plastic that looked great when I first pulled it out of the box but quickly gathered fingerprints and other marks. Another thin band of accent color marks the edge of the cup, and on the rear-left is the volume wheel, mic mute and power button. All the controls, especially the mic mute switch, feel well-made and durable. The volume wheel is stepped, so it's a little trickier to make precise adjustments than with a freewheeling control. But in the heat of the moment you're less likely to accidentally max it out and blow your eardrums.

Moving inwards, the large earpads are agreeably soft, finished in a microfiber cloth with a leatherette inner for, as the theory goes, better sound isolation. There's some degree of lateral and vertical twisting adjustment to the earcups; although, you can't fold them inwards for reducing their profile for travel or storage. The only sound you hear when you put the H7 Wireless on is the elasticated band stretching to fit, which speaks highly of the build quality and materials used throughout. A detachable gooseneck mic slots in via an asymmetrical 3.5mm jack, so it's easy to pop in and out, and there's no undue popping or crackling when you do.

In terms of comfort, the headband design is nicely engineered to provide just the right amount of clamping around your ears. The H7 Wireless won't fly off your head if you sneeze or celebrate a victory with too much exuberance. At the same time, they don't feel like they're digging in around your head, either. We're not sold on that massive earcup design, though. This humble reviewer has a smaller head and larger ears, and that meant my ears ended up pressing against the driver grilles. That obviously gets uncomfortable after a very short time, since the grilles are hard surfaces. The larger circumference has knock-on effects on the sound too, which l'll get to below.

Audio Performance

I might as well get right to the punch: the H7 Wireless' overall sound performance out of the box is disappointing.

Out of the box, which has virtual 7.1 surround sound enabled, there's plenty of low-end power available. In certain situations, most notably action-heavy games with lots of explosions, the overall response sounded dramatic. You'd expect that from a headset with "Gaming" in its name, right? A bit of exaggerated low-end is fine for selling the sound and fury of bombastic action titles and multiplayer shooters.

The problem is that any dialogue going on amidst the explosions was lost under all that bass. That was also true when communicating with friends or teammates over Discord. Finding balance was tricky, since turning down the game's volume meant risking missing important sound cues. But in order to clearly hear other voices, that's often what I was inclined to do with the H7 Wireless. Having virtual surround on by default is an unfortunate move, because the feature really exacerbates the muddy bass and imprecise stereo spread.

There's better news, though: you can significantly improve sound with some tweaking in the Asus ROG Armoury II software. Turning it off virtual surround tightened up the sound immediately. This is expected with any headset, but it was especially noticeable here. When it came to gaming, I flat out avoided this feature; the sound-space just doesn't work.

In stereo mode, the bass was still a bit too strong for my ears, but was much more capable of retaining the sparkle from higher up in the EQ and articulating the little details in the mixes of songs I know intimately. Little breaths in vocal performances and fret scrapes as guitarists change chords were audible, albeit not captured as cleanly as I've heard on competitors.

Using Armoury II to adjust the sound (more on that shortly), helped make the H7 Wireless more appropriate for all-around multimedia use, but I'm not sold on the fundamental sound design. Placing a 53mm driver in a chamber as enormous as this seemed to bring more drawbacks than benefits, including noise leak. The contact pads don't sit snugly on the head, so some sound escapes, which affects the resonant frequencies within the earcup. It also means the H7 Wireless don't isolate sound very well, for the wearer or those nearby. It goes both ways.

As for wireless range and stability, I experienced virtually latency-free performance and it stayed within range just about anywhere in my house, across three stories.

Mic performance is also a happier story. Output is thin but clear using default settings. I was able to improve performance and achieve a nice warmth and well-rounded response using the Armoury II software, which I'll get to now.

Features and Software

Storage-greedy peripheral programs are a pet peeve of mine, so Armoury II isn't getting away with taking up 439MB of storage on my PC without me bringing it up. In every other regard though, this program's a lifesaver when using the H7 Wireless. In addition to the virtual surround toggle control, there's a host of sound usage presets here -- 7 in total -- which alter both EQ and reverb settings. You can toggle the reverb on or off independently or cycle between 6 presets and adjust via a wet/dry (wet audio is processed and made with a special audio device, and dry audio is raw and unprocessed) mixer.

Armoury II is as feature-rich as we've ever sampled from a headset companion program, and while I didn't find any practical use for the reverb settings, some music genres sounded bouncier and more enjoyable when using the Music preset. There's also a manual 10-band EQ for audiophiles to play with to their heart's content.

I was equally impressed by the mic software settings. Five adjustable effects, including a compressor, noise gate and de-esser, really do have a profound effect on your mic output. Even when using default settings, the mic produced a much richer, fuller sound than most competitors' mics. It's not quite up there with standalone models, like the Blue Yeti, but you wouldn't expect a ~$100 headset's mic to be. What's startling is that it's even close.

Battery Life

Battery life is a real strength of these cans. Asus pegs it at 15 hours, and that really does hold truth in the field. That's partially due to a very eager auto-shutdown feature that kicks in after 5 minutes without receiving an audio signal, but the rare occasions you might be caught out by this are well and truly offset by such a gargantuan charge time.

Bottom Line

The Asus TUF Gaming H7 Wireless has a lot going for it. It's stylish, the headband is cozy, its software and mic impress and its wireless tech never failed me.

But it lacks the fundamentally great sound necessary for an unreserved recommendation. The headset requires too much fiddling to clean up the sound. I'd prefer a better plug-and-play experience. Additionally, the virtual surround sound didn't sound good while gaming, due to overwhelming bass. That's disappointing considering this is a key feature of the headset.

Still, other areas, like the build quality, are on point. If you can find this headset for around $100, it's as rich in features and functionality as you could ever hope to attain from a similarly priced competitor.

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mnmiyukiko18-blog · 5 years

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(This can be a private publish so if that isn’t your factor then it is best to move on.)

2017 was lots like 2016, but on steroids. That meant a 40% improve in the enterprise, which sadly came with much more stress and angst. I did figure some things out and managed to make some selections that I plan to place into apply in 2018.

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Last yr I was lastly snug calling Blind 5 Yr Previous a hit. I’d made it. But that got here with a number of unusual baggage that I wasn’t totally positive the right way to deal with.

It was uncomfortable to put in writing about how success may be troublesome when you realize that others are struggling. But I can solely write about my own experience and acknowledge that some would take my words the flawed method.

Trust me, I perceive that these are good problems. But they’re issues nonetheless. In 2017 those problems grew. The very healthy revenue I had maintained for the past 4 years rose by 40%.

I stared at the run price all year long type of dumbfounded. For actual? That a lot! It’s not that I lacked confidence and didn’t assume I’d make it. The number was just past what I anticipated.

Cash and Happiness

Cash is a wierd beast. One among my favourite items final yr was When life changing cash, isn’t by Wil Reynolds. He captured a substantial amount of what I’ve struggled with over the past few years.

I’m at a spot the place bills aren’t an issue and I can primarily do what I need to do. My daughter needs a brand new tennis racquet, I buy one. Ought to we exit for dinner tonight? Why not. Need to vacation on the seashore in Maui? E-book it!

The power to do this stuff makes me very totally different from a majority of individuals and that scares me.

The factor is, I don’t want an entire lot extra. I’m not trying to get a better house or a greater automotive. I don’t have a need to purchase crazy costly clothes. Hell, I spend most of my days in sweats behind this pc.

Extra money isn’t inherently dangerous. I imply, I do stay in some of the costly areas in the country and I am all about putting more in the direction of retirement and school. However both of those at the moment are on monitor so the additional cash doesn’t truly do that rather more.

Extra money hasn’t made me happier.

Time and Stress

The additional work created a lot more strain. There’s less time and extra expectations. That mixture doesn’t translate into more happiness. Under no circumstances.

It’d if I simply needed to coast on fame and churn out regardless of the minimal quantity that was required to maintain the cash rolling in. However I’m not wired like that.

I’m not trying to mollify and appease, I’m trying to rework and build. Each shopper is totally different and requires research and due diligence to find out the best way to greatest deal with their search and enterprise points.

I really feel the obligation of being a great associate and in delivering outcomes. I don’t like cashing checks when a shopper’s business isn’t shifting in the appropriate course.

Communication

I find it onerous to respond shortly to something I consider requires larger thought. Meaning I’m sluggish and often don’t communicate nicely. I’ve come to the conclusion that this can be a function and not a bug.

Can I get higher at telling individuals when I’m taking more time than they need? Yes. But I comprehend it gained’t go away utterly. I’ll typically slip right into a cycle of not responding and then pushing aside responding till I have one thing more materials and when I don’t the guilt increases and the response then have to be that a lot better so I delay … once more.

I do this much less now than I used to. But I comprehend it’ll still happen occasionally and I’m uninterested in feeling dangerous about that. Some shoppers simply aren’t a match for my work type. And that’s okay.

Referrals and Aid

Much of what I describe above is why I continue to obtain referrals. Good work gets observed and in an business rife with pretenders individuals happily promote those who really get the work finished.

I love referrals. However additionally they come loaded with further stress. Because you don’t need to let the individual referring you down. It’s not misplaced on me that they have sufficient confidence in me to belief them with one among their very own connections.

What I’ve discovered in the last yr is that more of these individuals perceive the bind I’m in. I have solely a lot time and I’m not all the time the suitable individual for a business. I specialize in giant scale B2C sites like Pinterest and Genius. It’s not that I can’t do B2B. I simply don’t take pleasure in it as much.

In order that they inform me up entrance that it won’t be a match or they could even ask if further referrals are serving to me or not. I inform you, it’s an unimaginable aid when referrals are put in this context.

I often still take these calls although. I discovered that just having a conversation with a referred lead is effective. I don’t need to be the solution. I might help decide what they actually need and may typically join them with colleagues who I trust will do a very good job on their behalf.

I grow to be a link on a sequence of expertise and belief. This can be a highly beneficial and scarce commodity.

Professional or Prima Donna

The crux for me was in understanding my value. Not solely understanding it however believing in it. Do I deserve that lawyer-like hourly price? I don’t do lots of hourly work now but I find it a great way to help extra people without the overhead of stress.

Legal professionals have an outlined set of experience that many others don’t. Hopefully additionally they have a monitor document of success. So how does that examine to my enterprise? The regulation is relatively secure and transparent. However search is the other. It modifications and it isn’t clear in the slightest.

In fact two legal professionals can interpret the regulation in a different way, simply as two SEOs can interpret search in another way. But extra so at this time than ever, the ignorance in our business – or pure disinformation – places a premium on connecting with true specialists.

It’s not just discovering somebody who will help you figure out your search points. It’s stopping them from following dangerous advice and throwing good money after dangerous.

My default is to say that I’m fortunate to be in a position the place I have extra business than I can deal with. However it’s not likely luck. I put in the time and I get the outcomes. I work arduous and am always trying to hold my edge. What is it that I’m not seeing?

I use this as context to elucidate why I’m not prepared to relinquish my work type. And I’m making an attempt to acknowledge that it doesn’t make me a prima donna. It simply acknowledges that I’m an skilled in my area and that I need to be glad.

It’s uncomfortable to cost a high price and dictate particular terms of engagement. It’s like the Van Halen rider the place they demanded M&Ms however no brown ones. I guess you are able to do worse than being the search equal of David Lee Roth. Notably if you understand the historical past around that famous rider.

Letting Angst Go

2017 was about embracing my worth and believing in my experience. It was about letting my own misgivings and angst go so that I can do the work I take pleasure in and be completely satisfied doing it.

Perhaps this sounds straightforward to some. Nevertheless it hasn’t come easily for me. Whereas I don’t achieve validation from others, I don’t need to be a type of people who are out of contact and troublesome to work with.

I absolutely dropped the ball on some leads and a few shoppers in 2017. Never to the point the place it harm their business. But individuals have been irritated. I am really sorry for that however … I not feel (overly) responsible about it.

I needed to do the most effective work. I took on an excessive amount of. I tried my greatest. I’ll get up and check out my greatest tomorrow.

I’ve discovered to say no more typically and not really feel responsible about it or feel prefer it’s a missed opportunity. I’m not trying to build an company and scale up. I’m a high-touch marketing consultant with restricted time constraints.

Raising Charges and Changing Retainers

Based mostly on this I raised my charges. It’s the second time I’ve completed that in the last three years. And I did it as a result of one in every of my shoppers informed me I ought to. It’s good when shoppers are searching for you as much as you’re for them.

I additionally determined to take away the hourly most in my retainer agreements. Up to now, I had a clause that primarily ensured that a shopper wouldn’t monopolize my time beneath a retainer settlement. I built in a hourly most simply in case.

The problem was that by having that hourly maximum they have been all the time considering of the retainer in phrases of the variety of hours worked. That wasn’t what I was about. It isn’t about time. It’s about experience and outcomes.

This video on How To Worth Design Providers spoke to me so clearly.

I didn’t watch your complete video. I imply, who has 36 minutes! However that one phase was sufficient for me to know that it wasn’t the hours individuals must be paying for however the expertise.

This made an enormous difference because I not have dreary conversations about whether I devoted enough hours to help the retainer. I hate those conversations. They make me indignant. So now I don’t have them.

Advisor Gigs

I also sought out extra advisor positions in 2017. I didn’t quite nail down easy methods to greatest structure these engagements. And I did a awful job of juggling those relationships versus my conventional relationships.

But that’s how you work these things out. You stub your toe and transfer on making an attempt to not make those same errors again. 2018 already appears good on this entrance with quite a lot of fascinating relationships where I can leverage my experience in search and advertising.

I constructed most of my long term shopper relationships on trust and including business value beyond conventional search. And while I might take advising positions based mostly on my main experience I’m in search of people who value my bigger information set and insight from scores of shoppers over the previous ten years.

I’ve discovered quite a bit about what makes one start-up succeed the place others fail.

Continuous Schooling

Change is all the time a continuing in search. And I’d say that the speed of change is growing. I’m lucky to work with some unimaginable technical groups. So once they say something I don’t fairly understand I don’t just nod alongside.

I ask them to elucidate it. I tell individuals when I don’t know one thing. I’ll tell individuals I know sufficient to know something is off however not sufficient to inform them precisely what’s mistaken. This is the way you build experience and achieve belief.

And in 2018 I’ve requested a number of builders I belief to take an afternoon to speak to me like a five yr previous about JavaScript frameworks and how they deliver content to the page. Now, I understand the subject. However I need to study more.

One among my belongings has been to have sufficient technical information to know when someone is blowing smoke up my nether regions. A variety of what I ask individuals to do (instrumentation) is boring. As such, many builders inflate the complexity of these tasks. Asking a number of pointed questions shortly reduces that inflation and will get the work achieved.

I don’t feel like I have that degree of confidence on JavaScript frameworks. I can inform half of the builders I work with have an analogous degree of data to my very own. And when a developer admits as a lot we will simply collaborate, debate troublesome questions and figure issues out. However many developers aren’t going to confess to ‘good enough’ information.

Studying more is all the time a priority.

Outsourcing

Then again, I can’t do every part. I typically need to but there’s simply not enough time in the day. This weblog wants a makeover and I’ll should get another person to do it. I need to let my tinkering ways go so I can develop and give attention to different tasks.

And there are different tasks in the works. Prior to now I’ve had concepts, purchased domains and considered constructing one factor or one other. Nice ideas! However they never went anyplace. A continuing movement of renewing domain e-mail notices remind me of the missed alternatives.

The most important obstacle in these tasks was … me. I needed to do all of it. I needed to build the precise website, which could require studying a brand new programming and database language. After which I’d want to truly write all the content material after which do all the advertising and promotion.

Ain’t no one acquired time for that.

Properly, perhaps some individuals do however I’m not one among them. Regardless that I might, and part of me thinks it might be fun if I did, I shouldn’t spend my time that approach. So I’m working with people to spin up two sites and one potential device.

Danger and Danger

I anticipate that it is going to be troublesome for me to let go of some particulars. I’m guessing the tasks can be messy, complicated, aggravating and hopefully rewarding in by some means. But truthfully, there are specific lyrics from Contrails by Astronautalis that remain my guiding star.

The actual danger isn’t a slipped grip at the fringe of the height The actual danger is simply to linger at the base of the factor

Every time I take a danger I am comfortable I did so. I can’t inform you that it all the time labored out. However in some methods … it did, with enough time and perspective.

In each failure, I can select how that helped get me to the place I am in the present day. I’m not saying things couldn’t have been simpler. They might have. I simply determine to seek out the constructive out of those conditions.

That’s not some saccharine ‘everything happens for a reason’ tripe. Screw that. I can just tell a story the place the ending is … pleased. I have most cancers however it’s one which’s simply treatable. That’s a win in my guide.

Telling myself these stories and deciding that I’d quite dwell on what turned out proper as an alternative of flawed helps me take the subsequent danger. It’s my job to take heed to that stressed itch and move my story ahead figuring out I might have to do some modifying in submit production.

Observations

There have been loads of business modifications final yr that had a meaningful influence on my business. I made a decision to criticize less so I wavered in adding these observations because they’re not notably rosy.

However the following issues formed my yr from how I strategy search evaluation, to how I achieve further information to how I educate shoppers.

The Google we knew is just not the Google we’re coping with in the present day

I’ve been lucky to satisfy and speak with various Googlers all through the years. They’re overwhelmingly good individuals making an attempt to do the best factor by customers. The power and keenness they’ve around search is … inspiring.

But Matt Cutts left and Amit Singhal was replaced by John Giannandrea as the top of search. That doesn’t appear to be quite a bit. But for those who put your ear to the tracks and skim the tea leaves you acknowledge that this was an enormous change in path for Google.

Machine studying is front and middle and it’s a vital a part of Google’s algorithm.

It’s not that good, passionate individuals aren’t nonetheless at Google. They are. However the setting is definitely totally different. We’re talking about individuals, specialists in their subject, given new course from a brand new boss. How do you assume you’d feel?

I consider understanding the people who work on search is an asset to understanding search. That’s extra true immediately than ever.

Business Content Is Lacking

I wrestle to seek out good content to learn nowadays. We lost our greatest investigative journalist last yr along with one other passionate and sensible editor. Danny Sullivan and Matt McGee are sorely missed.

I used to take great satisfaction in curating the business and Tweeting out the most effective I might find every day. It was a gentle stream of 2 or three Tweets a day. Now … it’s perhaps twice every week. Perhaps I’m just over-the-hill and not finding the brand new voices? Perhaps I’m not dedicating sufficient time to combing Feedly?

But I’m discouraged when I open up a prime tendencies of 2018 publish (which I know is a mistake) and see ‘water is wet’ statements like ‘featured snippets will be important’ and ‘voice search is on the rise’.

As an alternative of bemoaning the dangerous, I want to point out people like Paul Shapiro for nice technical content and Cyrus Shepard who appears to have taken up the mantle of curating our business. There are other nice specialists like Bill Slawski and Bartosz Goralweicz on the market contributing however … there are too few of them for my taste.

And there are others who clearly have information but aren’t sharing proper now. I’m not going to name them out. Hell, I’d be calling myself out too. I assume they’re all busy with work and life. Being business well-known doesn’t make their lives better. The truth is, it causes extra problems. I get it, however I wish we all had extra time to move the conversation forward.

Extra knowledge isn’t the problem, it’s the shortage of interpretation and evaluation.

The conversations I see occurring in the business are often masturbatory and ego driven. Somebody needs to be right and someone needs to be incorrect. Actual debate and true exploration look like an endangered species.

As an example, figuring out that Google is relying closely on machine studying, shouldn’t the business be taking a look at analyzing algorithmic modifications in a unique approach.

Right now, modifications in rank are typically tied to an update in the mapping of vectors to intent that renders a special mix of content on outcomes. One can watch over many months as they check, study and adapt on query courses in pursuit of optimal time to lengthy click metrics.

I find the calcification of search fact to be harmful given the speed of modifications inherent in our vertical. On the similar time, the most recent things don’t substitute the tried and true. It’s these contradictions that make our business fascinating!

Past that, many are working off of a very restricted knowledge set. The truth that one thing labored for you on the one website that you simply tried it on won’t mean much. In fact, we’ve also seen individuals with a lot bigger knowledge units make errors in interpretation.

And that’s where things seem to have gone off the tracks. I don’t mind correlation studies. They provide another level of knowledge for me to think about amongst numerous other knowledge factors. I assign the findings from each correlation research a weight based mostly on all of my other information.

That signifies that some will receive little or no weight and others extra based mostly on my understanding of how they have been carried out and what I see in apply across my shopper base. We don’t need much less knowledge, much less content or fewer techniques. We have to higher perceive the worth of every and the way they mix to assist achieve search success.

In consequence I see much more appetite for hiring progress engineers over SEOs largely as a result of they’re prepared to check and adapt as an alternative of proselytize.

The Issues That Matter

I’m most cancers free! It’s been almost three years now. And in 2017 I couldn’t use recovery as an excuse for my eating habits. So I misplaced 25 kilos.

For those , there’s no actual magic to dropping pounds. Journal your food and take in fewer calories than you burn. It’s not all the time enjoyable or straightforward however it works.

I gained 10 of that back in the previous few months of the yr. This was partly because I lost my tennis partners, which meant no calorie burning exercise cushion that allowed me a number of days of indulgence each week.

Fortunately, my daughter is now lastly getting back to tennis after bodily remedy for a patellar subluxation, which is a dislocation of the kneecap. Her second in two years.

It turns out her thigh bone doesn’t have as deep a divot for her kneecap. It’s almost flat, which suggests she’s vulnerable to dislocations. The orthopedist talked about that this additionally meant that when it did slip out it wouldn’t harm almost as much. Seems I’m not the one one who can inform a narrative that depends on the constructive versus the destructive. #callback

My wife, then again, has tennis elbow, which is way extra painful than she or I realized. She’ll be present process a process soon in hopes that it helps her tendon to bounce again and heal absolutely.

Things are literally fairly good regardless of all this and the fact that my daughter is a youngster (yikes) and my wife just had sinus surgical procedure. I’m around and I’m happier, which I hope is as infectious as this yr’s flu.

Postscript: Depart A Remark // Subscribe (RSS Feed)

The Next Publish: Monitoring Hidden Long-Tail Search Visitors The Earlier Submit: Google Index Protection Report

The post What I Learned in 2017 appeared first on Tactics Socks.

#Blog #Career #Life #SEO

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icon-devcodapage · 5 years

Text

(This can be a private publish so if that isn’t your factor then it is best to move on.)

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Last yr I was lastly snug calling Blind 5 Yr Previous a hit. I’d made it. But that got here with a number of unusual baggage that I wasn’t totally positive the right way to deal with.

Trust me, I perceive that these are good problems. But they’re issues nonetheless. In 2017 those problems grew. The very healthy revenue I had maintained for the past 4 years rose by 40%.

Cash and Happiness

The power to do this stuff makes me very totally different from a majority of individuals and that scares me.

Extra money hasn’t made me happier.

Time and Stress

The additional work created a lot more strain. There’s less time and extra expectations. That mixture doesn’t translate into more happiness. Under no circumstances.

It’d if I simply needed to coast on fame and churn out regardless of the minimal quantity that was required to maintain the cash rolling in. However I’m not wired like that.

I really feel the obligation of being a great associate and in delivering outcomes. I don’t like cashing checks when a shopper’s business isn’t shifting in the appropriate course.

Communication

Referrals and Aid

I grow to be a link on a sequence of expertise and belief. This can be a highly beneficial and scarce commodity.

Professional or Prima Donna

It’s not just discovering somebody who will help you figure out your search points. It’s stopping them from following dangerous advice and throwing good money after dangerous.

Letting Angst Go

I needed to do the most effective work. I took on an excessive amount of. I tried my greatest. I’ll get up and check out my greatest tomorrow.

Raising Charges and Changing Retainers

This video on How To Worth Design Providers spoke to me so clearly.

Advisor Gigs

I’ve discovered quite a bit about what makes one start-up succeed the place others fail.

Continuous Schooling

Studying more is all the time a priority.

Outsourcing

Ain’t no one acquired time for that.

Danger and Danger

The actual danger isn’t a slipped grip at the fringe of the height The actual danger is simply to linger at the base of the factor

Every time I take a danger I am comfortable I did so. I can’t inform you that it all the time labored out. However in some methods … it did, with enough time and perspective.

Observations

However the following issues formed my yr from how I strategy search evaluation, to how I achieve further information to how I educate shoppers.

The Google we knew is just not the Google we’re coping with in the present day

Machine studying is front and middle and it’s a vital a part of Google’s algorithm.

I consider understanding the people who work on search is an asset to understanding search. That’s extra true immediately than ever.

Business Content Is Lacking

Extra knowledge isn’t the problem, it’s the shortage of interpretation and evaluation.

As an example, figuring out that Google is relying closely on machine studying, shouldn’t the business be taking a look at analyzing algorithmic modifications in a unique approach.

In consequence I see much more appetite for hiring progress engineers over SEOs largely as a result of they’re prepared to check and adapt as an alternative of proselytize.

The Issues That Matter

I’m most cancers free! It’s been almost three years now. And in 2017 I couldn’t use recovery as an excuse for my eating habits. So I misplaced 25 kilos.

For those , there’s no actual magic to dropping pounds. Journal your food and take in fewer calories than you burn. It’s not all the time enjoyable or straightforward however it works.

Fortunately, my daughter is now lastly getting back to tennis after bodily remedy for a patellar subluxation, which is a dislocation of the kneecap. Her second in two years.

Postscript: Depart A Remark // Subscribe (RSS Feed)

The Next Publish: Monitoring Hidden Long-Tail Search Visitors The Earlier Submit: Google Index Protection Report

The post What I Learned in 2017 appeared first on Tactics Socks.

#Blog #Career #Life #SEO

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badgerrose-blog · 5 years

Text

(This can be a private publish so if that isn’t your factor then it is best to move on.)

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Last yr I was lastly snug calling Blind 5 Yr Previous a hit. I’d made it. But that got here with a number of unusual baggage that I wasn’t totally positive the right way to deal with.

Trust me, I perceive that these are good problems. But they’re issues nonetheless. In 2017 those problems grew. The very healthy revenue I had maintained for the past 4 years rose by 40%.

Cash and Happiness

The power to do this stuff makes me very totally different from a majority of individuals and that scares me.

Extra money hasn’t made me happier.

Time and Stress

The additional work created a lot more strain. There’s less time and extra expectations. That mixture doesn’t translate into more happiness. Under no circumstances.

It’d if I simply needed to coast on fame and churn out regardless of the minimal quantity that was required to maintain the cash rolling in. However I’m not wired like that.

I really feel the obligation of being a great associate and in delivering outcomes. I don’t like cashing checks when a shopper’s business isn’t shifting in the appropriate course.

Communication

Referrals and Aid

I grow to be a link on a sequence of expertise and belief. This can be a highly beneficial and scarce commodity.

Professional or Prima Donna

It’s not just discovering somebody who will help you figure out your search points. It’s stopping them from following dangerous advice and throwing good money after dangerous.

Letting Angst Go

I needed to do the most effective work. I took on an excessive amount of. I tried my greatest. I’ll get up and check out my greatest tomorrow.

Raising Charges and Changing Retainers

This video on How To Worth Design Providers spoke to me so clearly.

Advisor Gigs

I’ve discovered quite a bit about what makes one start-up succeed the place others fail.

Continuous Schooling

Studying more is all the time a priority.

Outsourcing

Ain’t no one acquired time for that.

Danger and Danger

The actual danger isn’t a slipped grip at the fringe of the height The actual danger is simply to linger at the base of the factor

Every time I take a danger I am comfortable I did so. I can’t inform you that it all the time labored out. However in some methods … it did, with enough time and perspective.

Observations

However the following issues formed my yr from how I strategy search evaluation, to how I achieve further information to how I educate shoppers.

The Google we knew is just not the Google we’re coping with in the present day

Machine studying is front and middle and it’s a vital a part of Google’s algorithm.

I consider understanding the people who work on search is an asset to understanding search. That’s extra true immediately than ever.

Business Content Is Lacking

Extra knowledge isn’t the problem, it’s the shortage of interpretation and evaluation.

As an example, figuring out that Google is relying closely on machine studying, shouldn’t the business be taking a look at analyzing algorithmic modifications in a unique approach.

In consequence I see much more appetite for hiring progress engineers over SEOs largely as a result of they’re prepared to check and adapt as an alternative of proselytize.

The Issues That Matter

I’m most cancers free! It’s been almost three years now. And in 2017 I couldn’t use recovery as an excuse for my eating habits. So I misplaced 25 kilos.

For those , there’s no actual magic to dropping pounds. Journal your food and take in fewer calories than you burn. It’s not all the time enjoyable or straightforward however it works.

Fortunately, my daughter is now lastly getting back to tennis after bodily remedy for a patellar subluxation, which is a dislocation of the kneecap. Her second in two years.

Postscript: Depart A Remark // Subscribe (RSS Feed)

The Next Publish: Monitoring Hidden Long-Tail Search Visitors The Earlier Submit: Google Index Protection Report

The post What I Learned in 2017 appeared first on Tactics Socks.

#Blog #Career #Life #SEO

0 notes

imuzikanterabcdefghijyzus-blog · 5 years

Text

(This can be a private publish so if that isn’t your factor then it is best to move on.)

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Last yr I was lastly snug calling Blind 5 Yr Previous a hit. I’d made it. But that got here with a number of unusual baggage that I wasn’t totally positive the right way to deal with.

Trust me, I perceive that these are good problems. But they’re issues nonetheless. In 2017 those problems grew. The very healthy revenue I had maintained for the past 4 years rose by 40%.

Cash and Happiness

The power to do this stuff makes me very totally different from a majority of individuals and that scares me.

Extra money hasn’t made me happier.

Time and Stress

The additional work created a lot more strain. There’s less time and extra expectations. That mixture doesn’t translate into more happiness. Under no circumstances.

It’d if I simply needed to coast on fame and churn out regardless of the minimal quantity that was required to maintain the cash rolling in. However I’m not wired like that.

I really feel the obligation of being a great associate and in delivering outcomes. I don’t like cashing checks when a shopper’s business isn’t shifting in the appropriate course.

Communication

Referrals and Aid

I grow to be a link on a sequence of expertise and belief. This can be a highly beneficial and scarce commodity.

Professional or Prima Donna

It’s not just discovering somebody who will help you figure out your search points. It’s stopping them from following dangerous advice and throwing good money after dangerous.

Letting Angst Go

I needed to do the most effective work. I took on an excessive amount of. I tried my greatest. I’ll get up and check out my greatest tomorrow.

Raising Charges and Changing Retainers

This video on How To Worth Design Providers spoke to me so clearly.

Advisor Gigs

I’ve discovered quite a bit about what makes one start-up succeed the place others fail.

Continuous Schooling

Studying more is all the time a priority.

Outsourcing

Ain’t no one acquired time for that.

Danger and Danger

The actual danger isn’t a slipped grip at the fringe of the height The actual danger is simply to linger at the base of the factor

Every time I take a danger I am comfortable I did so. I can’t inform you that it all the time labored out. However in some methods … it did, with enough time and perspective.

Observations

However the following issues formed my yr from how I strategy search evaluation, to how I achieve further information to how I educate shoppers.

The Google we knew is just not the Google we’re coping with in the present day

Machine studying is front and middle and it’s a vital a part of Google’s algorithm.

I consider understanding the people who work on search is an asset to understanding search. That’s extra true immediately than ever.

Business Content Is Lacking

Extra knowledge isn’t the problem, it’s the shortage of interpretation and evaluation.

As an example, figuring out that Google is relying closely on machine studying, shouldn’t the business be taking a look at analyzing algorithmic modifications in a unique approach.

In consequence I see much more appetite for hiring progress engineers over SEOs largely as a result of they’re prepared to check and adapt as an alternative of proselytize.

The Issues That Matter

I’m most cancers free! It’s been almost three years now. And in 2017 I couldn’t use recovery as an excuse for my eating habits. So I misplaced 25 kilos.

For those , there’s no actual magic to dropping pounds. Journal your food and take in fewer calories than you burn. It’s not all the time enjoyable or straightforward however it works.

Fortunately, my daughter is now lastly getting back to tennis after bodily remedy for a patellar subluxation, which is a dislocation of the kneecap. Her second in two years.

Postscript: Depart A Remark // Subscribe (RSS Feed)

The Next Publish: Monitoring Hidden Long-Tail Search Visitors The Earlier Submit: Google Index Protection Report

The post What I Learned in 2017 appeared first on Tactics Socks.

#Blog #Career #Life #SEO

0 notes

eddiejpoplar · 5 years

Text

TEST DRIVE: 2019 BMW 330i – Coming Back With A Vengeance

“It has to beat everybody in the segment in driving dynamics because all the Australian, UK and American journalists say ‘ooh the E46 CSL was the last real 3 Series’,” said BMW development chief Klaus Frohlich recently to a group of media. “I do not want to hear that s[..] anymore,” was apparently what the BMW R&D boss has added.

So clearly, BMW had some big plans for its seventh-generation 3 Series, the bread and butter of the company, and the one that put BMW on the map 40 years ago. Over the last few months, I’ve had the chance to see the car in person at the Paris and LA Auto Shows, but now it was time to drive the car to see if the new G20 3 Series can live up to the expectations.

My review of the M340i xDrive just went live, but it was the 330i with M Sport Package that I had the opportunity to drive more and over longer distances. To do so, I flew into Faro, Portugal, the sunny and beautiful city in the most southern point in Europe, a place not only filled with great weather and scenery, but also with some great driving roads.

EXTERIOR DESIGN

Without going into full details on the exterior design, here are some of the highlights for those of you that see the G20 3 Series for the first time. There are elements of classic BMW styling still remaining in the new G20 3 Series, such as the Hofmeister Kink, the classic Kidney Grilles and the dual halo headlights. However, it’s more of an evolution of BMW’s classic design language, and that’s expected. We won’t see a lot of differentiators between models until the next BMW design language arrives in the next 2-3 years. In the back, you’re getting the traditional “L-shaped” headlights, with a lot more graphics inside the light, and elongated around the back.

Without an M Sport package, the lower front bumper and air intake feature some design quirks, like the little sideways “T” shaped trim pieces that surround the foglights. If you spec the M Sport package on the BMW 330i, it ditches those little “T” shapes for more traditional front air intakes. Compared to the criticized mesh grille of the M340i, the non-M Performance Automobile models retain the traditional vertical slats.

INTERIOR DESIGN

I’ve said it before, but I will repeat myself – this is where the real story is with the new G20 family. Its interior design has been often criticized, and it was tough to argue against that even if you were a die-hard BMW fan. The 3 Series needed to close the gap against its competitors by offering a premium experience inside the cabin. The interior follows the same design language brought forward by the BMW X5, X7 and 8 Series, which have already received plenty of compliments for their luxurious cabins. So it gets a sort of waterfall effect from the new iDrive screen down to the center console, almost all of it trimmed either aluminum or wood, depending on what the customer chooses. It’s a sharp and stylish design, far better looking than the current F30’s.

And yes, you’re still getting some weird combo of aluminum/chrome buttons with plastic ones, but usually that has to do more with costs and model probability than BMW’s ability to design a high-end cabin.

On top of the climate controls sits the new iDrive screen, which features the same all-new graphics and capabilities as the new X5 and 8 Series. It’s sharp looking and gives the 3 Series a very high-tech feel, especially when combined with the new digital instrument panel, dubbed BMW Live Cockpit. Those two screens are the largest ever offered in a 3 Series and their functionalities offer endless possibilities of customization.

There is clearly a combination of clean surfaces and much more reduced lines than previous models, which in times of simplicity and minimalism, I found it to be very refreshing. The driver-oriented dashboard remains true to BWM design, while a combination of touch, voice and pushes can activate and operate many of the new tech inside and outside the car. The Start/Stop has moved from the dashboard to the center console and the handbrake is now an electronic one.

Gimmicks or not, things like “Hey, BMW” Personal Intelligent Assistant, Apple CarPlay and Gesture Control are just some of the things that show BMW’s commitment to a new type of customer who prioritizes tech over other aspects of their cars.

There’s also 10 mm more legroom in the rear, but as expected, it still might be a bit tight for tall people – I measure in at 6″3.

DRIVETRAIN, SUSPENSION AND STEERING

In the end, this is still a BMW 3 Series, which means that it has to live up to the “Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan. And being an engineering-driven company, the handling and driving dynamics were high up on the list. As I mentioned in my M340i review, the chassis is 25 percent more rigid and about 50 percent more rigid at the shock absorbers. The regular suspension includes hydraulic dampers so it’s firmer and the spring rates are 20 percent stiffer. With the lift dampers, the suspension reduces body roll and helps out with imperfect surfaces and the added vibrations. The overall stiffness of the car is continuously adjusted, so when going over larger bumps the car continues to feel planted and grippy.

The 330i test car came with the optional M Sport Suspension (available for both RWD and xDrive models), which includes more rigid bearings, additional body struts, firmer springs and anti-roll bars, increased wheel camber and a 10mm drop in ride height. Adaptive dampers are now only available with the M Sport suspension.

During a workshop, BMW engineers said the difference between the standard and optional suspension in the G20 3 Series is twice as as great as with the F30 models.

The variable-ratio steering rack comes with the M Sport package. The way it works is by having a “slower” steering, so-to-speak, on center, so that small movements of the steering wheel do not create large steering movements. This helps to keep the front end from feeling twitchy or nervous. However, at higher degrees of steering lock off center, the idea is to have small steering wheel movements make big steering movement, in layman’s terms. BMW’s previous variable steering did this but the jump between the two steering ratios was drastic and sudden, making it sometimes unpredictable and sketchy feeling while pushing it hard. Now, the jump is far smoother, using a more progressive change in the gear teeth on the steering rack.

Although still electrically-assisted, BMW engineers assured me prior to the ride that it’s not muted and with a lot more road feedback than in the F30. It’s still lighter, but more precise.

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Under the hood, the 330i used a variation of the B48 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 258 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. That’s 7 horses and 37 lb-ft over the outgoing model. Just like the M340i, the ZF eight-speed automatic is in its latest generation pushing the 330i to 62 miles per hour in 5.8 seconds.

DRIVING EXPERIENCE

While the M340i xDrive was all about the track, the G20 330i is happier to be on regular roads. Projected to be one of the best selling 3 Series models, the 330i will find a home in many parts of the world, and I’m already jealous of those that get to have some fun on some curvy roads. Remember that I live in Chicago, where everything is flat. But to compensate for that, BMW handed me a great route to take with plenty of curvy roads and tight hairpins, where I could really push the 330i.

Thanks to the Driving Experience Control, I can tune the car to my needs, so Comfort mode was my preferred choice when driving on highways. The short but quick highway ride also gave me the chance to play around with the “Hey, BMW” Personal Assistant – it really works – and to pay attention to some of the driving characteristics typical to a US city.

The steering feel is in no way from the days of hydraulic systems, but compared to other electrically assisted steerings is more connected to the road, less artificial and reacts effortlessly to sudden lane changes. I feel that with smaller wheels and non-performance tires – the 330i had 19-inch wheels and summer tires (225/40 fronts, 255/35 rears) – the ride quality would have been even better. In Comfort mode, the 330i M Sport also hides the road vibrations a bit, yet it still feels better the one in the outgoing model. And I’m confident to say that F30 owners will notice the difference immediately.

Moving up to Sport, or Sport+ if equipped, the steering gets more substance, with less assistance from the power system, and with more feedback in the hands of the driver. The inputs become more accurate and aggressive, and as always, the Sport modes give the car a slightly different character. The Sport model also brings higher revs and you’re getting a bit more exhaust noise in the cabin, “thanks” to the BMW Active Sound.

IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger 6

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mmaboxingequipment-blog · 7 years

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Are you scared to make love because of Asthma?

Are you scared to make love because of Asthma? With all the kissing, embracing, sensuous motions and the climaxing involved, sex does involve a lot of heavy breathing. This, as enjoyable as it may be, does dry out the airway passages and if one partner in a love-making session is asthmatic, sadly this could aggravate an attack...and, well end the fun stuff. So what's a couple to do? Certainly, you don't have to be celibate or have boring, heavily restricted sex, in due course we shall go over some helpful suggestions. Now, for asthma patients, attacks induced by physical activities that involve heavy breathing are quite common. Needless to say, the general advice is to avoid these activities; however, a relationship where sex is avoided is bound to put a burden on both parties and inevitably may very well end it. As a result to prevent a relationship going sour from no love making due to asthma, here are some tips to look into. First, change your diet. I can't stress that enough and if you want to keep the sex going in your relationship and more importantly improve your health, you will do well to heed that advice. You have got to give up all processed foods and animal products such as meat, milk, eggs and the like from your diet-plain and simple. These are mucus forming foods and we all know what one physical characteristic of asthma symptoms are: Mucus. This is a fact that has been in effect in several programs aimed at correcting respiratory health such as the "Breath Retaining Program for Asthmatics" developed by the Russian, Dr. Buteyko. Within weeks of adhering to his advice, many a chronic asthmatic has been able to give up the use of ventolin inhalers. Replace these items with mucus binding or non-mucus forming foods. These are quite simply fruits and vegetables. Make sure they are organic if possible or at least not in the list of the "dirty dozen" i.e. the ones most contaminated with pesticides such as Apples, Mexican Melons, Grapes etc... Trust me on this; I'm speaking from experience, you will do very well to avoid the fruits in that list when it comes to asthma. Nonetheless you'd still be much better off steering clear of those food substances labeled as mucus-forming earlier on. In addition, from my own experience, DO NOT CONSUME LIQUIDS WITH YOUR MEALS AT ANY TIME. This inhibits digestion by diluting the necessary juices in your stomach designated for that purpose. As a result, it hinders the much needed expansion of the diaphragm and consequently a constriction of the lungs- the bellows of life giving air- which results in the wheezing sounds any asthma patient is familiar with. This dietetic change will help lay the foundation for the next factor which is to get back in shape. Perhaps the best choice for doing this may be Yoga. There are specific yoga poses that target asthma owing to the effect of their positioning in regards to the airway passages. They include the Shoulder Stand Poses, The Fish Pose, the Head to Knee Pose and the Bow Pose. They are all very, very simple and it just dawned on me that each of these co-incidentally is useful for toning the organs used for sex! Yoga's Sun Salutations are also very useful for correcting breathing, mildly exercising the entire body and restoring flexibility and fitness. (Need I mention these are two factors needed for love-making?) For simple calisthenics, you can look into doing some reps of Hindu Squats and Hindu Push-ups. Both are extremely effective for attaining improved breath control and are total body workouts into themselves. Just don't worry about doing too many of them, if they are demanding, you can do fine with the yoga mentioned and of course you don't have to count out walking, dancing and hiking. (This is in the hopes that your dietetic habits are changed as suggested.) Other simple steps to curb the effect of Asthma in your love life are to: 1. Avoid excessive temperature changes 2. Ensure dust mites are reduced as much as possible in your home 3. Use a humidifier in the cold seasons. 4. Of course, not have sex right after meals...(not even about asthma here folks) 5. Keep fresh air circulating in the rooms at home as much as possible. Things may not change overnight, nothing that drastic does; however, with these simple steps, in a short time, being hindered by asthma in regards to expressing love through sex will be a thing in the distant past. Here's to free breathing...and hopefully a happier relationship. http://fighteraccess.com

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