How to Keep Yourself from Getting Sick

It’s winter, it’s cold and there’s nothing that we can do about it. Well okay, I suppose that it isn’t that cold now but I still have the feeling that more and more people are getting sick due to the low temperatures outside giving the bacteria a great environment to develop in.

Most importantly, never underestimate Mother Nature. Always go out with warm clothes because you never know how cold it might get. Even if it isn’t that cold, wind is enough to prove you that you’re taking your walk with way fewer layers of clothes than you should. Always wear a T-shirt and a few sweaters on top of you. This material is going to keep you warm, but isn’t going to protect you from the strong winds. So you need to have a jacket that is wind-proof. This means that you should get something like a skier type jacket. They are even water proof and you can even walk with them when it rains. Even if you are well clothed, try not to stay in places, where it’s draughty. It’s the same as the strong wind, but even a more silent killer than it. If you are going out, I forgot to mention, always wear a scarf and a hat. It’s even better if you wear a hat and any hood if your jacket or top has one. Your neck has to be protected from the cold as it is one of the main reasons for people to get sick. Put the scarf over your mouth and nose so that you don’t inhale the cold air and get sick from that.

If you feel that you are on the way to getting sick, you should take some safety precautions. Don’t go out for any reason. Even if you have to go to the market and get bread or other groceries, ask somebody else to do that for you. Exposing your body to lower temperatures even for the smallest amount of time can be bad for your health. And even if you don’t get worse from that, in places like supermarkets there is surely to be lots of bacteria in the air, sprayed by other customers who cough without putting their hand in front of their mouth. Even if you were going to get away with just a little cold, you are now going to get bad. So stay at home, near the heater or air conditioner or whatever you’ve got. Drink lots of hot beverages as they are good for your throat. Cold drinks and foods are just going to irritate it and make things worse. You also shouldn’t eat spicy foods, have fizzy drinks or smoke cigars. These are all things that irritate your throat and by irritating it you are likely to cough. And when you begin coughing you are caught in an endless cycle. Your throat gets irritated by the cough and you need to cough again and you get irritated again and so forth. I think you get the picture. So stay at home drink lots of tea, have hot soup and put the warmest clothes you have. Don’t go into cold rooms or anything like that and have showers each day. Your body will soothe from the shower and you might feel a lot better after one.

iPad vs Galaxy Tab

To me, these are the two leading tablets on the market at the current time. These are the two that are in a rough competition. Some might say that there isn’t anything on the world as innovative as Apple’s products, but other companies are keeping up and, if I might say, are even getting ahead in some areas.

So let’s start from the outside. The Samsung Galaxy tab is slightly bigger that its opponent. Apple’s iPad has 9.7” compared to Samsung’s 10.1”. Both are very thin and even though the Samsung tab is a little bigger in its dimensions, it weighs a few grams less from the iPad. Both have front and rear cameras, where Samsung once again beats Apple. The front cameras are 2MP (Samsung) and 0.3MP (iPad), rear cameras are 3MP(Samsung) and 1MP(iPad), both recording with 720p quality. Both of Apple’s cameras record videos at 30fps, so they are going to be pretty smooth. And I suppose that the tablets’ main purposes aren’t to take pictures or so. You should only use that feature if you have nothing else to take a picture with or if you are making a video call.

Both tablets have dual-core 1GHz processors, but Samsung has more RAM installed: 1GB, compared to iPad’s 500MB. (If there is any disparity, keep in mind that I’m reviewing the WiFi only versions). Both tablets have in-built speakers, but once again they aren’t of the same type. Samsung uses stereo speakers, whereas Apple has installed mono speakers on their tablets. The video and audio formats supported by the OS’s of the tablets are fairly the same and most common used. You could use your tablet to watch a movie or something like that if you are going on a long trip. You will also have no problem to work on your device, as long as you get used to the keyboard. I think that there are gadgets that can be connected to tablets that act as keyboards on a PC. So if you don’t feel comfortable with the touch-screen technology, you could use a normal keyboard. I suppose that those things won’t have useless keys like F1, F2, etc, rather only the alphabet and the numbers.

So both tablets have batteries with around 7000mAH and are Li-polymer. Samsung Galaxy tab charges in 6 hours and Apple’s product takes just a little longer than that to charge itself. But there isn’t really a significant difference that would matter. I can tell you that Apple’s battery lasts a bit longer, because of the slick design of the OS. Another plus for the iPad is the fact that the colors are a bit more lively and vivid. And there isn’t much of a reflection on the iPad. If you want to get something and be sure that the pictures, apps and games are going to look great on a screen, then get the iPad. The only thing that is an absolute miss for the iPad is the fact that it still doesn’t support Flash. I know that it has substitutes and you can still log on to YouTube to watch videos, but it’s not the same. Nowadays websites use Flash more and more for sake of looking good and you might feel this as a discomfort. Even if you don’t visit sites that use flash to present their content, you still won’t get that desktop feel. With the Galaxy tab, you are going to feel as if you’re browsing with your home PC or Mac or whatever.

To sum it all up, I suggest you bought the Galaxy tab. It’s something new and I believe we’ve all had enough of Apple’s products that are just getting one size bigger. Both cost at $500 and in some UK universities, they give grants for tablets because they are a part of the education process.

Things to Do on a Cold Winter Day

Winter is still here and there is no sign that it will be going away any time soon. I suppose that nowadays kids like that, because they have more time to spend with their so beloved computers and play games all day, but isn’t there a lot more you could do at home.

Well, these might not apply for children at all, but adults will stay interested in the computer for no more than an hour. But it’s Sunday and you don’t feel like going to ski or spending money on a restaurant. The first and most obvious thing you can do is sit in front of the TV and do a little marathon of your favorite movies. If you don’t have DVD’s of your favorite movies, then you can just download them or something. But just be careful, because SOPA and ACTA will get you in the jail for that. Come to think of it, this is a whole new subject to talk about, but not now, perhaps later.

If you don’t like the idea of staying at home and watching television, then why not play some board games with your friends? I know this might sound a little infantile, but it’s a great way to spend time and it’s lots of fun. Monopoly is a great example of a game you can play in the cold winter games. Of course, there will be frustrations during the game, but that’s a part of it. What’s the point of playing a game if you don’t get drawn into it? You might even say a few bad words to your friends or feel like killing them (not literally, I suppose), but at the end I’m sure that it’s just going to be a great memory. Drinking a few cups of hot chocolate or fruit tea is a great addition to the board game, besides the fact that you are sure to have a great conversation.

If you don’t feel doing that either, then why not try and improve some of your skills. This might sound even more infantile, but if you’ve always wanted to be able to draw or paint well, this is the perfect time to do so. You can get alone in your room and begin practicing if you feel that you wouldn’t like to tell anyone else about your new hobby. And this isn’t the only thing you can practice and master. I know, you might think that you’re too old to develop any of your skills, but give it a try. The fact that you are trying to do something will get you drawn into it and you will be surprised at how time passes. The same goes with reading a book. Or you could read a few of your childhood student books. A little general culture is always great. Speaking of that, you might want to play Conquiztador.

If you don’t find shelter from the boredom in any of these activities, why not take a nap and rest yourself. It’s a great chance that you will go to work in the next few days  and then you will be crying and asking yourself why are you so tired. Sleeping more than 10 hours a day can be hazardous for your life (I can’t imagine how), but it’s a great thing to do when it’s cold outside. It’s better than getting yourself down with a sickness.

About Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a very innovative way to increase the capacity and coordination of our brain. There are always moments in which we forget something very important. The other day, I even forgot the PIN code to my debit card and I had to drive all the way home to check the paper that came with the card and read the code. The very best thing is that there is no distinction in the age in which you have to use the book. You can be an infant or you can be a grown up person.

Mind mapping in its own self is a graphical method of representing your thoughts. No really, this is a method in which you take a piece of paper and map all of your thoughts. The thing that you are doing is tracking down how your brain works. I can’t tell you why that is beneficial, but it really works. This is a very artistic way of taking notes if you like it that way. It’s a thing that can be very well implemented when working in a large team and you have to brainstorm something. Perhaps you are a software developer and you have to create a program for a thing like finances, but have to create it in a unique and unorthodox way. You can’t make profit from those things if you don’t bring something new and better to the market. That’s why things in our world are getting better, because if we want to sell our product we make it better than our opposition’s.

But let’s get back to the mind mapping. This is also good when you are presenting information. Think about it. Wouldn’t it be a great way to present information in a connected way? There are surely some things that the audience you are targeting will forget. By doing so and drawing a mind map for the product, you are sure to raise their interest and let them know how genius your product is.

 

Personal Motivation

Nowadays life is much faster that it has been years ago. I know that most of you think that that’s normal such things to happen with the progress of ages. But if we come to the conclusion that these things are normal, then what will happen to us. Are we not becoming a group of people who pay much more attention to money and career development than personal happiness? Did you know that a hundred years ago it was normal for families in my country to have 8-9 children? The average number of children a family had was 5 to 6. The families then were poorer than most people are now. Life might have been hard, but the fact that they were families in the complete sense of the work, has saved them. Not to mention that the only things, literally, that you could buy in the shops have been sugar, salt, gas (for the lamps) and matches.

Nowadays people have their first child at a very advanced age, at least for the old standards. People prefer to become parents at about the age of 30 or later. Of course, this might not be the case in your city or town, but it’s generally like that. This is the age that is supposed to give more assurance to one’s life. At that age people suppose that they will have a good job, enough money and that they will have already met the love of their lives and that they will have spend a few years with them, just to make sure that it’s so and not a false alarm. Could you believe that people in the past got married when they were just 19 and barely knew each other? This was also a time when there were much lesser divorces. Even thinking about divorce and that something could go wrong breaks personal motivation. If you’re constantly under stress from work, your boss is giving you no room to breathe, because you have a very important project to complete and you have very little time to do so. When you’re unhappy at work that will eventually break when you get back home and you might get a scandal from your spouse. This will just additionally give you a hard time.

This is the most common scenario that breaks people mad and gets them into depression. If there is no place where you feel comfortable and nice, then what are we living for. There are also many other reasons that might bring one to depression.  The answer that I have found for myself is motivational books. Motivational books, I call those little books with hundreds of positive proverbs in them. Those little proverbs are a great reason to think about the things of life and to do that in a very positive way. Those little proverbs make you realize that there are many little things in life that are small and in the same breath important. So take such a book and read a proverb every day and make sure that you start your day positive and end it positive. If you’ve had a bad day, then you’ll most probably even have trouble going to sleep. Reading a few proverbs and knowing that things will change to better very soon is a good idea. Keep your head up and always remember that there are people in the world which are coping with situations much harder than yours.

 

Nice Little Vacation

It’s still winter everyone. Yes, Christmas and New Year might have passed and us normal people do have to go to work and do feel that the winter for them has passed, but I don’t feel that way. There is still much more to come. You might suppose that I have the thinking of the kid, but that’s the way I am, you know.

Last week I went on a vacation. All the people took days off between Christmas and New Year, but I thought that I should do so just right when we get into 2012. It was in the mountains and it was a great fun. I was with a few friends and we didn’t really go skiing. We really did something childish. We rented a few sleighs and did races on a small slope. This was great fun and I can’t really wait till my next vacation. Too bad that it’ll surely be in the summer and I won’t be able to feel as a kid again, but who cares since it’s still vacation and I’m going to get a rest from the busy buzz of the city.

As about the vacation I was on, it was really nice. Riding the sleighs wasn’t the only fun thing that I did when I was there. I can’t remember the last time I slept in a room which had an open fireplace. I felt like I was in a movie. Well, it wasn’t just as quiet and romantic in the movies, there were a few students next to our hotel who thought that they should have a night snow fight. The next thing was that the room wasn’t that comfortable too. Yes, I did pay more to get the fireplace, but I think that was the only thing I was paying for.

Well apart from that, I remembered that normal people have dreams. I have those too and I remembered some of the ones I had when I was younger. When I was young, I always asked myself how to become a graphic designer. I knew that I need to draw very well, but I couldn’t believe that I would part take in things like making movies and designing decorations and stuff like that. I’ve always thought that these things were secret.

The Beauty of Fireworks

Gunpowder has been discovered by the Chinese hundreds of years ago. Since then, it has found many uses and one of them is really commercial. Every one of us, I suppose, likes fireworks. We use them when we celebrate weddings, New Year, birthdays, graduations or any other occasions.

Since New Year is just hours away, I thought that I should express my opinion on fireworks. These are certainly no toys and should be used with precaution. Don’t let children use them, or at least supervise them when they do so. But let’s get back on track. Fireworks can be really pretty when used the right way. Some might say that they are always great, but I think that they should be used in some logical succession. Many people just light up all the fireworks that they can and just sit back and watch the light show. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against that, but depending on the color and the type of explosion, you will be able to create a great light show and entertain yourself, your family and, why not, the whole town. There are also such jobs in celebration agencies – light show architects. Their job is to create a unique light show that you will remember and that will make you feel special and the star of the night.

Of course, fireworks do have precautions. You always need to have a bucket of water nearby. You might light a fuse and not see a firework go off. In that case you should never try to light it again. Wait it a few minutes and then put it in the bucket of water. You should always use water if you are unsure whether fireworks are lighted or not. If you are afraid to touch the firework, then pour the water over it.

Set up the light show during the day. Make sure that everything is in its place and that you have put all of the fireworks on a flat surface. Wait for the night to come and then begin preparing for the light show. Depending on what you are celebrating, there might be a few ideas on when you should light the fireworks. But it’s usually a great party ender. I haven’t seen people who greet their guests with fireworks, but I have seen many who tell them goodbye with a really nice light show. Although using fireworks when under the effect of alcohol isn’t a great idea, you should also make sure that your, or any other children don’t have access to the fireworks. Kids do things and they don’t even know why they do them. Or they might know why they do these things, but expect something different to happen. Many kids have used different fireworks under the required minimum distance. This has resulted in nothing good. That’s why there should always be an adult to supervise that and teach them how things are done.

The secret, to me, to a good light show is to use many fireworks. You might want to start off a slow start and have a grand finale when it’s most intense. You know that people usually pay attention to either the first or the last moment. If you manage to create a great last moment, then you will be remembered for that. Who wouldn’t want to create a great show for not only himself, but many others.

Bringing a Little Sweetness to Christmas

Brownies anyone?

No, I’m not going to talk to you about the joy of the time and how much we should cherish and love our relatives. I mean it literally.

You can’t serve a Christmas dinner without pastry. So I thought that this week’s post should be a bit different. I’m going to mix it with a cooking recipe for some of the most delicious sweeties you have ever tasted.

I thought that the best thing to begin with was the brownies recipe. This is something that is loved by all – even by the people who don’t like eating things with sugar that much. These brownies are special and I’m sure that you’ll find them really good.  For this one you’ll need:

• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ spoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• A cup of sugar
• A teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs

And now for the cooking itself; you must first heat the oven to about 350 degrees. Then you have to mix the oil and the sugar. After that add the vanilla and the eggs and stir until they are well mixed. Then, in a separate bowl, we mix all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder). After mixing them, add them to the oil mixture and stir until it’s well mixed and blended. The only left thing to do is to bake it. You should take a square 9 by 9 (for these doses of ingredients especially) and put the mixture in it. Then bake it for around 20 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Before cutting the brownies make sure that they are completely cooled off. I really fancy these brownies and I think that they are really something tasty every person should give himself and his relatives as a present for Christmas.

Although you might think that being a chef isn’t one of the best careers a person might pursue, keep in mind that it could magically make people smile. So if you combine that with chocolate chip cookies, you can’t miss. Or in short terms: here is a recipe for some of the tastiest chocolate chip cookies you have ever tried/tasted. You’ll need:

• 

  Mmm, chocolate chip.

  1 cup of softened butter

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 2 cups of chocolate chips, preferably not that much sweet
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups of flour

You’re going to have to heat up your oven again at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit that is, or half for Celsius). You’ll start off by mixing the butter and two types of sugar and stir until it becomes a nice smooth mixture. Then break the eggs and beat them in the mixture one at a time and consequently add the vanilla. Then dissolve the baking powder in hot water and add it to the batter alongside with the salt. Then add all of the other ingredients (especially don’t forget the chocolate chips) and continue mixing. Put it in large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans so that they get their form. Bake for 10-20 minutes. You can decide that when you see the edges get brown. Enjoy responsibly.

The Joy of Decorating the Christmas Tree

Everybody has his own taste.

Christmas is nearing and it’s time to decorate the Christmas tree if you haven’t done so already. The Christmas tree is something that really leaves us thinking about the beauty of the time and how much we love each other.

So if you have already acquired a Christmas tree, then you should choose where you are going to put it. Make sure that it won’t bother you that much and that you won’t have to go near it very much. You wouldn’t want to risk breaking the toys by accident. Put it next, or near to, a corner where I suppose you won’t go very often. If you have a fireplace and free space around it, then consider putting it there, but not too close to it. If you have a real tree, make sure that you have at least a few feet distance from the fireplace, just to make sure that you won’t get your house burned.

After you have made sure that your Christmas tree is positioned perfectly, the time has come to choose what colors you are going to use for the decoration. I strongly suggest that you used only one or a combination of two colors for your tree. Some examples are: red and gold, red and silver, or just silver. I, myself, think that red somehow brings the spirit of the holiday with itself. Think about it, all our Christmas stockings and hats are red and even Santa is red. Well, yes, snow is white but that’s the reason we add silver decorations to our trees too. Go to the nearest shop that offers Christmas tree ornaments and toys and still trying to match your initial color scheme ideas, pick toys that match your taste. But don’t spend your hard earned scholarships if you’re a student, you’ll need them for the Christmas dinner. You might want to get toys that are a little bigger than usual if you want the emphasis to be on the ornaments themselves. If you want to just have a good tree that looks like one full, then you should consider your tree size and get toys according to the height and width.

Just to add some more emphasis on the tree ornaments, you should get some lights that are plain white or yellow. You wouldn’t want them too bright or big. After all, the idea of your lights is to make your toys more notable. You should wrap them around the tree, beginning from the top and getting to the bottom. Depending on your idea for the lights, you should get between 1 and 2 cords of lights for every foot and a half. It also depends on the width of your tree. If it gets too wide near the bottom, then you might need more lights, because you are going to put them a little close to the stem, but not so close that they are going to be unnoticeable.

For the decoration process itself you should call your kids, if you have any that is. Kids just bring a special flicker to the tree when they are decorating it. You shouldn’t let them do just anything they want. Their ideas reside in chaos. You should let them do a small part of the work and teach them how to decorate the tree by themselves. These tutorials might not stay in their heads for more than a few weeks, but they are surely going to come to the surface when they have children of their own.

Celebrating New Year

Firewords are an integral part of celebrating New Year.

Christmas might be time for family and cleansing your soul, but New Year is far from that. New Year is that time of the year, when you have to make a party that good, that you will either talk about it for the rest of the following year, or won’t remember it at all. These are just the benchmarks for how good a party has been. But if you are leading an FBI lifestyle, you will most probably choose the first option. I suppose that the ethics of people working for the nation are just too messed up.

We all know that going to a restaurant for this type of celebration is not for young people. Sitting on a chair all night, dining and pretending that you have good manners isn’t something that a young person should do. Neither should he be stopped from dancing. So it’s sure: we won’t be celebrating at a restaurant this year. So if you would like to sacrifice your own house or apartment, than you are going to be the hero of the day or the year, I suppose.

If you are really going to host a party, then you should have an exact idea of what your party is going to be like. And to have an idea of what your party is going to be like, you have to know what people you are going to invite. If you have many friends, there is a chance that not all of them like the same kind of music, for instance. This is why you should consider getting pieces of music for all tastes. I’m sure that people won’t complain if they have to sit out a song or two, after all, everybody needs to be equal. And for dinner, you will probably have to get many, many snacks. A good meal is mandatory, but I’m saying that you shouldn’t think that people are going to finish it. It’s the first hour of the party, while all are at the table, when people are going to eat. After that people are going to just dance and have a few drinks along with the dancing. And drinks go with appetizers, such as chips and small snacks.

To go more deeply into the music theme, I really think that pop music is really something that is going to be fancied by most of your guests, no matter of their taste. Hits like “Danza Kuduro” by Don Omar, “Where dem Girlz at?” by David Guetta (by the way, he won the best DJ in the world award of 2011) and “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida, are surely titles that are going to make anyone’s body move. You shouldn’t just let a music player play the music and shuffle the songs randomly. Having someone at the computer is a great idea, because you wouldn’t want anyone to just go and change the song whenever they like. Drunken people usually tend to be more egoistic, so they’ll play songs which they really like. No matter how embarrassing they are.

Probably the most important part of it all is the decoration. Without decoration, there isn’t going to be any New Year spirit to make the people want to party. Putting garlands all over the place and garnishing it with many little lights is going to be really great. The Christmas tree should also be at a central place, where it could be seen by all. But it shouldn’t be on the dance floor. At the beginning it would be great to go with the normal lights and turn off the Christmas ones. But when people are starting to get up, switch things around – turn on the colored lights and turn of your normal lamps.