Creating Achievable Project Schedules

Producing your project’s results on schedule is an essential requirement for its success. To have the greatest chance of completing your project on time, you need to develop a project schedule that’s achievable, responsive to your client’s needs, and understood and supported by all project team members. Take the following steps to create a realistic and attainable project schedule:

• Identify all required activities.

  
  



• Break down activities into sufficient detail. For example, instead of including a single activity named “determine requirements for new product” in your schedule, break it down further into “review correspondence,” “interview salespeople,” “conduct focus groups,” and “prepare a report of the requirements for the new product.”

  
  



• Always consider both duration (the number of work periods required to perform an activity) and interdependencies (the order in which activities are performed) as you develop your project schedule.

  
  



• Identify your strategy for performing each activity before you estimate its duration.

  
  



• Factor in the availability of resources (such as the number of hours each day in May that the manufacturing engineer will be able to work on your project).

  
  



• Recognize and write down all assumptions related to your project and its schedule. For example, if you don’t yet know what your project budget is, write down that you’ll assume your budget will be $100,000 until you find out otherwise.

  
  



• Identify and plan for all significant project schedule risks (such as whether the redesign of the company financial system will cause your project to be delayed).

  
  



• Reexamine and revise, if necessary, your original schedule after your project is approved and before you start work on it.

  
  



• Involve your project drivers (people for whom you perform the project) and supporters (people who help perform your project) in developing the schedule.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/creating-achievable-project-schedules.html

Using Twitter for Customer Service for a Small Business

You, yes you, the small-business owner, can use Twitter for customer service. You may think you don’t have time for Twitter, because running your business can be very time consuming.

Here are a few things that you can do to provide excellent customer service on Twitter and possibly even save yourself some time:

• Recruit your loyal customers. Ask some of your best customers if they’d be willing to lend their expertise. Maybe a customer has a problem that other loyal customers may have experienced before. If you helped one of your loyal customers with this problem in the past, when someone else poses that question, that customer can answer it for you.

  
  



• Write blog posts about your customers’ most frequently asked questions or most common problems. If you see some of the same issues over and over, write a detailed blog post that explains what the problem is, how to fix it, and how to prevent it in the future. Then, write a very short tweet about it that includes a URL to the article, and save that tweet in a word processing file in which you store your most commonly used responses. Whenever you get that question, copy and paste that response in a reply, and then send it to the customer.

  
  

  When you send out commonly used responses that include a shortened URL, be sure to use the link from a URL shortener such as bit.ly. (Keep track of the number of times you send this tweet, and then track how many times twitterers have clicked the link.

  
  

  For a little variety, and if you have the time, use a different URL each time so that you can see what kind of traffic patterns each link gets. You may start to see a pattern in click-through rates that can help you figure out a new social media or customer service strategy.

  
  



• Write blog posts about issues that might become problems. If you identify an issue that may become a problem later on for your customers, write a blog post that addresses the issue. Don’t cover it up and hope it doesn’t blow up; otherwise, you’ll end up with much bigger problems (and a lot more wasted time). Promote the post to your customers through Twitter, e-mail, and any other communication you normally use with them. Try to head off most of the problems before they become problems.

  
  



• Put someone else in charge of customer service. If you have someone in your business who can also handle this kind of problem, have him or her manage the Twitter side of customer service, while you deal with phone calls and in-person visits.

  
  

  If you don’t currently have anyone else who can take some of your customer service workload, consider hiring someone to handle some of your customer service issues. Try to determine whether you could make up for the expense by spending all that reclaimed time in getting more sales.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-twitter-for-customer-service-for-a-small-bus.html

How to Fix Holes in Wood

If you have big holes — from using recycled wood or from a loose knot, for instance — you can fill them with another piece of wood, called a dutchman. This technique has been around as long as people have been working with wood.

Some purists cringe at the thought of using wood that has a blemish large enough to require a dutchman, but in the American Southwest, where using recycled wood raises the value of furniture, dutchmans are common. The procedure is pretty simple, and it’s made even simpler with a plunge router, a 1⁄8-inch straight-cutting bit, and two collars: one 5⁄16-inch and the other 9⁄16-inch. You can buy kits that contain these parts at most woodworking tool suppliers. They’re called inlay kits or inlay bushing bit with removable collar. The process with this setup is as follows:

1. Measure the size of the defect in your project and add a little extra around it. Cut out a hole in 1⁄4-inch plywood or Masonit, adding about 1/2 inch or so on all sides.

   
   

   Be sure to use a large enough piece so that you can clamp this piece to the wood you want to work with and have enough room for the plunge router to move freely in the template.

   
   



2. Attach the 5/16-inch collar to the base of your plunge router, followed by the 9/16-inch collar.

   
   



3. Insert the bit into the plunge router and set the depth of cut to 1/8 inch.

   
   



4. Clamp the template onto the board with the defect, making sure that the hole in the template is over the defect.

   
   



5. Run your plunge router clockwise along the inside edge of the template.

   
   



6. Carefully route or chisel out the remaining material in the center of the template.

   
   



7. Remove the outer collar (the 9/16-inch one) and lower the depth of cut to 3/16 inch.

   
   



8. Select a piece of wood that has a similar color and grain pattern to the wood where the defect was and clamp the template onto it.

   
   



9. Route clockwise around the edge of the template.

   
   

   Be sure to keep tight to the edge of the template; otherwise, you’ll cut into the dutchman itself.

   
   



10. Remove the dutchman from the scrap wood by setting your table saw to cut 1/8 inch into the board.

    
    

    If you use 3⁄4-inch stock, set the rip fence 19⁄32 inch from the side of the blade farthest from the rip fence. (If your blade has a kerf of 1⁄8 inch, the rip fence is 15⁄32 inch from the side of the blade closest to the rip fence.)

    
    



11. Set the depth of cut in the table saw so that it’s higher than the dutchman on the board.

    
    



12. With the dutchman facing out, run the board through the saw.

    
    

    The dutchman will fall out of the board as you run it through.

    
    



13. Apply glue to the underside of the dutchman and a little to the receiving groove and then press it into place.

    
    

    You may need to tap it lightly with a mallet. Use a scrap piece of wood of the same species to tap against. Doing so will keep you from damaging the wood. The dutchman will stick up 1⁄32 inch from the surface of the wood.

    
    



14. Sand the dutchman flush after the glue dries.

    
    

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-fix-holes-in-wood.html

Starchy Staples: Helpful Low-GL Alternatives

Use this table to find out which starchy foods to avoid, and discover tasty low-GL alternatives. Keep it handy, so you’re never left wondering if you’ve made the right choices!

Starchy staples	Low GL	High GL
Bread	Pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, soya and linseed, barley and sunflower, granary, seeded breads and pitta breads (moderate GL) oat cakes, rye crackers (moderate GL)	White, wholemeal, French stick, rice cakes, cream crackers, bread sticks
Cereal	Whole oats, oatmeal, porridge, no added sugar muesli, bran sticks, semolina, quinoa	Sweetened cereals, rice based cereals, bran flakes, wheat biscuits, shredded wheat
Pasta	Egg-based pasta, mungbean noodles	Overcooked pasta and pasta ready meals requiring re-heating
Rice	Long grain, wild, and basmati rice. Bulgur or cracked wheat, couscous, pearl barley	Short grain, sticky white rice
Potatoes	Baby new potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, celeriac, swede	Large floury white potatoes, French fries, mashed potato

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/starchy-staples-helpful-lowgl-alternatives0.html

Network Troubleshooting: Booting in Safe Mode

Windows provides a special start-up mode called Safe Mode that’s designed to help fix misbehaving computers. When you start your computer in Safe Mode, Windows loads only the most essential parts of itself into memory — the bare minimum required for Windows to work. Safe Mode is especially useful when your computer has developed a problem that prevents you from using the computer at all.

To boot your computer in Safe Mode, first restart the computer. Then, as soon as the computer begins to restart, start pressing the F8 key — just tap away at it until a menu titled Advanced Boot Options appears. One of the options on this menu is Safe Mode; use the up- or down-arrow keys to select that option and then press Enter to boot in Safe Mode.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/network-troubleshooting-booting-in-safe-mode.html

Photoshop Elements 10 Selection Tricks

Photoshop keyboard shortcuts help you edit photographs quickly. Work with layers and selections, on a Macintosh or in Windows, with these shortcuts and cut, copy, paste, deselect, and adjust all you want.

	Windows	Macintosh
Add to selection	Shift-drag	Shift-drag
Deselect from a selection	Alt-drag	Option-drag
Deselect all but intersected area	Shift-Alt-drag	Shift-Option-drag
Deselect	Ctrl-D	Command-D
Reselect last selection	Ctrl-Shift-D	Command-Shift-D
Select everything on current layer	Ctrl-A	Command-A
Hide selection outline	Ctrl-H	Command-H
Cut selection	Ctrl-X	Command-X
Copy selection	Ctrl-C	Command-C
Paste last cut or copied image	Ctrl-V	Command-V
Paste into a selection	Ctrl-Shift-V	Command-Shift-V
Adjust levels	Ctrl-L	Command-L
Adjust hue or saturation	Ctrl-U	Command-U
Adjust image size	Ctrl-Alt-I	Command-Option-I
Open pop-up menu for Create options	Ctrl-Alt-C	Command-Option-C

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/photoshop-elements-10-selection-tricks.html

What Your Project Plan Should Cover

When you know the goal of your project and you believe it’s possible, you need a detailed project plan that describes how you and your team will make it happen. Include the following in your project-management plan:

• An overview of the reasons for your project

  
  



• A detailed description of intended results

  
  



• A list of all constraints the project must address

  
  



• A list of all assumptions related to the project

  
  



• A list of all required work

  
  



• A breakdown of the roles you and your team members will play

  
  



• A detailed project schedule

  
  



• Needs for personnel, funds, and non-personnel resources (such as equipment, facilities, and information)

  
  



• A description of how you plan to manage any significant risks and uncertainties

  
  



• Plans for project communications

  
  



• Plans for ensuring project quality

  
  

Always put your project plans in writing; doing so helps you clarify details and reduces the chances that you’ll forget something. Plans for large projects can take hundreds of pages, but a plan for a small project can take only a few lines on a piece of paper (or a tablecloth!).

The success of your project depends on the clarity and accuracy of your plan and on whether people believe they can achieve it. Considering past experience in your project plan makes your plan more realistic; involving people in the plan’s development encourages their commitment to achieving it.

Often the pressure to get fast results encourages people to skip the planning and get right to the tasks. Although this strategy can create a lot of immediate activity, it also creates significant chances for waste and mistakes.

Be sure the drivers and supporters of your project review and approve the plan in writing before you begin the project. For a small project, you may need only a brief e-mail or someone’s initials on the plans. For a larger project, though, you may need a formal review and signoff by one or more levels of your organization’s management.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-your-project-plan-should-cover.html

How to Back Up Your Dog Photos

If the photos you take of your dog are precious to you, be sure to maintain backup copies of all your work. Nothing is worse than having your hard drive inexplicably die and realizing that every photo you’ve ever taken has vanished into thin air, along with your dreams of doggie albums, wall art, and calendars.

This is one of those lessons that most people learn the hard way at some point in their lives. Remember, as sophisticated as your computer may be, it’s not going to live forever!

The good news is that you have lots of affordable methods to automatically back up everything — photos, spreadsheets, word processing documents, music files, and whatever else is on your hard drive. You just have to choose one that’s right for you:

• External hard drive combined with backup software: Simply purchase an external hard drive, connect it to your computer, and configure a backup software program.

  
  

  If you’re a Mac user, you already have the backup software Time Machine that came with your computer. When you plug in an external hard drive, it usually asks you if you want to make it your Time Machine device.

  
  

  If you’re a Windows user, simply visit your favorite search engine and type in “Windows free backup software” and you’ll find many options to choose from.

  
  

  The cost of external hard drives has plummeted over the years (and continues to fall. Shop online and you’ll probably find a hard drive big enough to backup your whole computer and then some for under $100. Choose a size that is slightly bigger than your computer’s hard drive.

  
  



• Online backup services: With this option, you don’t need to purchase a piece of hardware. Instead, you purchase a yearly subscription plan, and your computer gets backed up through your Internet connection.

  
  

  A major advantage of online backup services is that your data is stored away from your home, so unlike with an external hard drive, you won’t lose your photos if you’re the victim of a burglary or a house fire.

  
  

  If you’re interested in an online service, hit up that search engine again and enter “online backup services.” The price will fluctuate depending on how many gigabytes of data you need to store, but expect to see yearly subscription plans ranging from $50 to $100.

  
  

No matter what type of backup plan you choose, it’s always best to overprotect yourself, especially if you’re running a business. Keeping at least one copy of your files away from your home is always smart. Redundant? Sure. But hey, at least you can sleep at night knowing that the chance of ever losing all your photos is very slim.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-back-up-your-dog-photos.navId-323808.html

Understanding Accountability as a Management-Control Process

Accountability is a management-control process. Responding to a person’s actions lets the person know whether he’s on target or whether he needs to make a correction. Not responding to unacceptable performance unfortunately increases the likelihood that it will occur again.

Consider the following example:

You've recently joined a team working on a project to develop and implement an upgraded inventory control system for your organization. When you learn that your friend Eric had been on this team until a month ago, you call him to discuss his experiences on the project.

After listening to his in-depth account of his project involvement, you explain that you and three other team members have been asked to develop the new system’s users’ manual. You ask him whether, in view of his extensive knowledge of the project’s history, he’d be willing to do you a favor and write a draft of Chapter 1 of the manual that recounts the system’s background and evolution. Today is Monday, and you explain you need the draft by a week from Friday. Eric agrees, and you both hang up.

Unfortunately, you never receive the draft of Chapter 1 from Eric. He never calls you to explain why he didn’t submit the draft, and you never check with him to see what’s happening.

You probably make and receive requests like this one several times each day. Unfortunately, too many times people promise to help you out but don’t deliver. You have to find ways to hold people accountable when they make agreements to complete assignments for you — even if you have no direct authority over them.

Of course, you can hold people accountable only if they accept responsibility in the first place. Therefore, in the preceding illustration, the first question you have to ask is: After your phone call, did Eric accept the responsibility to write the draft for you and your colleagues?

Very simply, the answer is yes. How do you know? Because he said he would. Although Eric is responsible for preparing the draft of Chapter 1, you and your colleagues aren’t off the hook. Your responsibility to prepare the users’ manual hasn’t changed, but Eric accepted the responsibility to prepare the Chapter 1 draft for you. That Eric no longer works on the project or that he doesn’t report to you or your boss is beside the point. He’s responsible because he said he would be.

Eric may argue that he has a personal obligation to complete the draft (because he said he would) but no organizational obligation because the agreement wasn’t in writing and he wasn’t officially on your project team. That argument doesn’t hold up, though; he’s responsible because he said he would be. If he didn’t want to accept the responsibility, he only had to say no.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/understanding-accountability-as-a-managementcontro.html

Improving Your Home Game of Hold'em

Playing poker at home means you get to see your pals and you don't get chewed up by the rake. To improve your home games of Hold'em or any other kind of poker, outfit the gameroom (kitchen, basement, wherever) with a decent deck of playing cards, great lighting and ventilation; well-chosen chairs and table; and, of course, food.

Upgrading your deck

By far the best thing you can do for your game is getting rid of those wax-and-cardboard playing cards and moving to a deck made entirely of plastic. This is what casinos use at their poker tables and you should, too. All plastic cards last longer, are less prone to warping, and are even washable (for when your Cheetos fingers stain the cards orange).

Paying $30 for a setup of two decks may make you gasp, but play one night with these babies and you'll wonder why you ever played with anything else.

All plastics have an odd form of fragility and that is that they're prone to cracking if you play them on a hard surface. If you play on something like a kitchen table, put a doubled-up sheet or a blanket down first. Your deck will last longer. (Oh yeah, and don't leave them sitting in the sun either.)

Chipping up

Top-of-the-line poker chips are made of clay (this is what casinos use) and come in a cool aluminum case. Sets will usually also include a dealer button (and maybe blind and kill buttons).

The best chips are known as clay composite and are weighed by the gram (heavier is better). A nice 15-gram set will run you around 11.5 grams (which are very playable and nice if you've been using bingo markers up until now) run around $40.

Chowing down

Come on, if you're gonna take the time to get together with your friends, you need to upgrade your food and grog. Seriously, get out of the generic aisle of your grocery store and quit serving that beer you stole from your parents so many years ago. If money is an object, have your pals chip in and bring something.

Poker/barbecue is a surprisingly good combo. Ordering (good) pizza is never wrong.

Lighting up

Before you host a game, set up the table the way want to use it, complete with chairs. Deal a hand around to every spot, and then play your own version of musical chairs, where you sit in each seat looking at hole cards to check out the lighting.

Don't light strictly from above (there isn't enough other ambient light to see the hole cards). An extra lamp here and there will make all the difference.

Venting it all

Home games get hot. Be sure you're playing in a place that has air-conditioning or windows that you can throw open to vent nicely (even more necessary if you're having a poker smoker and all the players are breaking out the stogies).

Your basement may seem like a cool place most of your life, but put ten sweaty bodies in there, and stir in a few bad beats, and the walls will be sweating in no time. Your living room or the kitchen are probably better choices if you don't have good ventilation downstairs.

Trashing the place

The amount of raw waste that can be spawned by a poker game is truly amazing. (In fact, it seems like the quality of the game and the amount of garbage it generates are directly proportional.) Trash bags: Buy 'em, use 'em, leave 'em lying around while the game is in play.

Wiping out the badness

You want a wet washcloth, a towel, and maybe even a set of baby wipes, at the ready. Card tables and spilled drinks go together like kids around your car's fresh paint job — leave the two together long enough and you know there's going to be trouble.

Be ready in advance, catch it when it happens. (And don't forget, you can always use the towel for those really bad beats — for chewing on or crying into.)

Standardizing chairs

Home games tend to have a problem in that not all the chairs are the same, almost always forcing a few players to crane their necks as they play.

If you're going to start playing a lot, it's worth the time and effort to go out and get a set of common chairs for the table so everyone's sitting in the same thing. Foldables work well (especially with cushions). The funky, college-student-budget alternative is to buy white plastic patio furniture.

When you get poker chairs, you want ones without arms — this lets you pack people in closer at the table (everyone rests his arms on the table anyway).

Getting tabled

A folding card table is a great buy because it gives you the soft surface you need for your all-plastic cards and you can store it away when you're not pretending to be a budding poker professional. You can put two bridge tables end to end. Good ones will run you about $100 each.

If you want to get even more serious, you could think about buying a table that is professionally padded and liquid resistant with a low-friction surface (in the casino world, this is known as speed-cloth). One with built-in drink holders and detachable legs makes more sense, unless you want to just dedicate an area to poker in an extra room or basement. A top-of-the-line table runs between $500 and $1,000, depending on the bells and whistles you want on it.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/improving-your-home-game-of-holdem.html

Ways to Generate More Sales Leads

To get more people interested and asking about your offerings, you need to have an abundance of lead-generating information out in the market at all times. Try some of these best all-around marketing choices:

• Toll-free telephone numbers (a big source of leads despite the rise of Web-based marketing; advertise your toll-free number everywhere)

  
  



• Directory listings (don’t forget Web directories!)

  
  



• Web site address (in all your materials and ads)

  
  



• Reader service cards (in trade magazines, along with your ad or insert)

  
  



• Blogs that share your expertise within your industry

  
  



• Offers of free catalogs (through ads, brochures, directories, and Web site)

  
  



• Coupons and special trial offers of all kinds

  
  



• Publicity (any media coverage tends to generate leads)

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ways-to-generate-more-sales-leads.html

How to Count in Italian

Learning numbers and counting in Italian isn't complicated. In fact, the Italians follow many of the same patterns that we do in English. There are a few differences, but it's when it comes to numbers and counting in Italian, it's really just a question of memorizing.

In Italian, as in English, there is a unique number from 0 – 16. After that they add the next number to the tens, making one word. So, 17, is the word for 10 followed by the word for 7 and so on.

1 to 19

uno	1
due	2
tre	3
quattro	4
cinque	5
sei	6
sette	7
otto	8
nove	9
dieci	10
undici	11
dodici	12
tredici	13
quattordici	14
quindici	15
sedici	16
diciassette	17
diciotto	18
diciannove	19

For the numbers in the twenties, thirties, forties, and so on, just add the number to the tens, with the exception of when you add a 1 or an 8. For these two numbers, drop the final "–i." For example, venti (20), ventuno (21), ventidue (22), venticinque (25), ventotto (25). See? It's not ventiuno or ventiotto.

20 to 99

venti	20
ventuno	21
ventidue	22
trenta	30
trentuno	31
quaranta	40
quarantuno	41
cinquanta	50
sessanta	60
settanta	70
ottanta	80
novanta	90

When you add the tre, the -e takes an accent: ventitrè.

Larger numbers in Italian follow the same formula.

100 and Higher

100	cento
101	centuno
102	centodue
150	centocinquanta
1,000	mille
2,000	duemila

In Italian, large numbers are said in the same order that we use for English. For example, 1916 would be 1916 (millenovecentosedici) (literally: one thousand, nine hundred, and sixteen).

The following phrases can help you when talking about numbers.

• Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?)

  
  



• Ho ventitrè anni. (I'm 23 years old.)

  
  



• Quanto viene? (How much does it come to?)

  
  



• Sei euro sessanta. (6 euros and 60 cents.)

  
  



• Quanto è per una camerasingola? (How much is it for a single room?)

  
  



• Centoventi euro. (120 Euros)

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-count-in-italian.html

What's in a Home Decorator's Bag of Tricks?

As a home decorator, you never know when you'll need to create some magic. Take a tip from professional home decorators: Pack a portable carry-all filled with all the must-haves of the trade — suggestions are in the following list — and you'll have decorating magic to go!

Glue gun: Use this for a variety of decorating and crafts projects.	Pins: Keep straight pins and safety pins for draping and shaping.
Hammer: Choose one that lets you hammer in nails and pry them up, too. Pick a size that fits comfortably in your hand.	Plate hangers: Look for these in different sizes for both small and large plates.
Magic Hem: Iron-on Magic Hem creates seams without sewing. It's available at grocery stores and craft or sewing shops.	Screwdriver set: Pick a pack that includes several sizes of both standard and Phillips head (cross-shaped head) screwdrivers. Don't use the wrong size or style driver — you'll destroy the screw.
Measuring tape: A 25-foot retractable steel tape works best.	Screws: Choose a variety pack of styles and sizes.
Nail kit: Look for a set that includes a variety of sizes for various jobs. Or assemble your own, including fine nails, long nails, short nails, and finishing nails.	Tool kit, tackle box, bucket, or basket: Use this for storing your gear. Keep it handy for quick fix-its and instant decorating.
Notebook: Pick one that has unlined sheets (for sketching and note-taking) and is small enough to fit inside your tool kit.	Velcro: This comes in handy for making items such as easy-to-remove slipcovers.
Picture hangers: Use these to make hanging art easier.	Wire: Use wire for hanging, fixing, and holding things.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/whats-in-a-home-decorators-bag-of-tricks.html

How to Identify and Correct Causes of Project Delays

An effective project manager tracks every aspect of a project as it progresses in order to identify and correct causes of delays. After you confirm that a problem exists, you have to understand what caused the problem before you can bring your project back on track.

The following circumstances may cause schedule delays:

• 
  

  During the performance period, people spend less time on the activity than they agreed to.

  
  


• 
  

  The activity requires more work effort than you planned.

  
  


• 
  

  People are expanding the scope of the activity without the necessary reviews and approvals.

  
  


• 
  

  Completing the activity requires steps you didn’t identify in your plan.

  
  


• 
  

  The people working on the activity have less experience with similar activities than you anticipated.

  
  

The following situations may result in people charging more or less time to activities than you planned:

• 
  

  The person is more or less productive than you assumed when you developed them.

  
  


• 
  

  You allowed insufficient time for becoming familiar with the activity before starting to work on it.

  
  


• 
  

  The person is more or less efficient than you considered.

  
  


• 
  

  The activity requires more or less work than you anticipated.

  
  

You may spend more or less money on your project activities than you planned for the following reasons:

• 
  

  You receive the bills for goods or services later than you planned, so they’re paid later than you planned.

  
  


• 
  

  You prepay for certain items to receive special discounts.

  
  


• 
  

  You don’t need certain goods or services that you budgeted for in your plan.

  
  


• 
  

  You need goods or services that you didn’t budget for in your plan.

  
  

When your project’s performance deviates from your plan, first try to bring your project back in accordance with the existing plan. Then, if necessary, investigate the option of formally changing some of the commitments in the existing plan to create a new plan.

Consider the following approaches for bringing a project back in line with its existing plan:

• 
  

  If the variance results from a one-time occurrence, see whether it will disappear on its own. Suppose you planned to spend 40 person-hours searching for and buying a piece of equipment, but you actually spent 10 person-hours because you found exactly what you wanted for the price you wanted to pay at the first store. Don’t immediately change your plan to reallocate the 30 person-hours you saved on this activity. Most likely, you’ll wind up overspending slightly on some future activities, and the work-effort expenditures will even each other out.

  
  


• 
  

  If the variance suggests a situation that will lead to similar variances in the future, consider changing your plan to prevent the future variances from occurring. Suppose a team member requires twice the allotted work effort to finish her assignment because she’s less experienced than the plan anticipated. If her lack of experience will cause her to be less productive on future assignments, revise the plan for her to spend more effort on those assignments.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-identify-and-correct-causes-of-project-dela.html

Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Heart Disease

When you're being evaluated for heart disease or any other condition, asking the questions in the following list can help you get the information you need:

• What is my diagnosis?

  
  



• What tests will I need to undergo?

  
  



• Do these tests have any side effects or dangers?

  
  



• What is the recommended treatment?

  
  



• What are the potential side effects of the treatment?

  
  



• What treatment choices are available?

  
  



• Should I be asking any other questions?

  
  



• Is there any source of information that I can read about my diagnosis?

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/questions-to-ask-your-doctor-about-heart-disease.html

Why We Drink Milk

Drinking cow’s milk is like taking a liquid nutritional supplement. It’s a concentrated source of calcium and a rich source of protein, riboflavin, potassium, vitamin B12, and other vitamins and minerals. It’s the perfect food for transforming a 75-pound calf into a half-ton cow in a matter of months. Perhaps as a result, although cow’s milk is meant for cows, humans have claimed it as a dietary pillar for generations.

Despite all the good nutrients it provides, milk also includes some things humans need to limit in their diets, such as sodium and saturated fat. Milk also is low or devoid in other necessary substances, such as dietary fiber, iron, and some of the beneficial phytochemicals (substances found in foods of plant origin, such as broccoli and beans).

For those who can digest cow’s milk, a little bit of nonfat or low-fat milk in the diet is probably fine and provides a dose of nutrition. Too much, though, puts you at risk for displacing calories from foods that can provide other much-needed nutrients not found in cow’s milk. Getting the balance right can be a challenge when you’re raised in a cow’s milk–happy culture.

Calcium is the one nutrient most associated with milk. When you hear recommendations to drink cow’s milk, it’s primarily because, where calcium is concerned, it’s the mother lode. Health professionals care about how much calcium you consume because it’s so vital to your health. If you don’t get enough calcium in your diet — or your body can’t hang on to the calcium you already have — you may develop osteoporosis, a condition in which your bones become porous and brittle, allowing them to break easily.

Government guidelines for healthful eating have for many years perpetuated the idea that milk is a part of a balanced diet. You may remember the Basic Four Food Groups, which started as an industry marketing tool and was later adopted as a government meal-planning guide. Everyone was advised to eat foods from these four groups every day in order to achieve a so-called balanced diet.

Doctors and nutritionists have long had people flocking to cow’s milk to keep up their calcium levels. The calcium in cow’s milk — and its relationship with bone health — is why milk has been given its status as a singular food group in dietary guidance tools. But bone health depends on far more than the amount of calcium in your diet.

Cow’s milk is still identified as a recommended food group in the U.S. Department of Agriculture MyPyramid food guide. However, the guide now advises choosing only nonfat and low-fat varieties of milk, yogurt, and cheese. After all, cow’s milk is a food with nutritional pros and cons when consumed by humans.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/why-we-drink-milk.html

How to Access Junos for the First Time

First-time users of the Junos network operating system most typically access the Junos OS running on their device in one of two ways:

• 
  

  Over a network: Someone else installed the device and can provide you with the hostname as well as the username and password assigned to you. The device may be on a separate subnet behind a gateway device that protects unauthorized access to it, in which case, you will also need the login credentials of the gateway server.

  
  


• 
  

  In direct connection: You are directly connected to the device through the console or a management port using a null-modem or rollover cable. The first time you log into a device that has never been configured, log in as root user, to avoid needing a password. The root user performs any operation from looking at the status of the device to changing the configuration and rebooting the device.

  
  

To install and access your new device out of the box, check out the Quick Start Guide for your product. Navigate to your specific product to find the guide for your device.

Whichever way you access your Junos device, follow these steps to log in:

1. 
   

   If you are accessing a previously configured device (otherwise skip this step), use a terminal emulation program, such as Telnet, to open a connection. Use netnik as the hostname:

   
   

   telnet netnik

   
   


2. 
   

   At the login prompt, enter your username (use the username root if you are logging in for the first time). At the password prompt enter your password (or press Enter if you are logging in for the first time as the root user):

   
   

   netnik (ttyp0)
    
   login: wiley
   password: ********

   
   


3. 
   

   If you logged in with the root username (otherwise skip this step), you see a shell, similar to a UNIX shell. Type cli to enter the Junos command-line interface (CLI).

   
   

   root@Amnesiac% cli

   
   


4. 
   

   You are now in the operational mode of the CLI. You see a command-line prompt, which shows your username followed by an @ sign and the hostname of the device. You can enter a ? anywhere in the command-line and receive a list of possible entries.

   
   

   wiley@netnik> ?

   
   

A few users may access the Junos operating system their first time through one of the Junosphere services available from Juniper Networks. Junosphere offers a virtual network running Junos in a cloud-based delivery model. See the sidebar for more about Junos in the cloud.

Junosphere is a cloud-based environment where users can configure and connect virtual devices that are running Junos to support training, network modeling, and other lab activities. The Junosphere services from Juniper Networks enable realistic, large-scale virtual networks, including a means to interoperate the virtual network with physical network elements.

Additionally, users can incorporate Junos Space, the Junos and Junos Space SDKs, virtualized testing equipment and other lab elements into their network. Together these elements enable organizations to create a highly scalable virtual network of devices running the Junos operating system without requiring dedicated lab resources.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-access-junos-for-the-first-time.html

Services that Won’t Move when Upgrading or Migrating to 10.7 Lion Server

Lion Server doesn’t include several services and features that were part of previous versions of Mac OS X Server. When you migrate or upgrade, the settings and data for these items will not be moved to Lion Server because Lion Server no longer supports them:

• Print service

  
  



• Windows Primary Domain Controller (PDC) or Backup Domain Controller (BDC)

  
  



• Wiki-based mailing list and archives

  
  



• Apache Tomcat and Apache Axis web services

  
  



• Mobile Access

  
  



• QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS)

  
  



• NetBoot images that were created with versions of Mac OS X Server before version 10.5

  
  

The MySQL database is also not included in Lion Server; it’s been replaced by PostgreSQL. However, the upgrade and migration processes will move MySQL and its data to Lion Server. You will lose a graphical user interface to manage MySQL, however, because Server Admin 10.7 no longer supports MySQL. You’ll need to use the command line in the Terminal utility to manage MySQL.

Note also that an upgrade procedure will delete launch daemons located at /System/Library/LaunchDaemons. The update replaces them with newer Lion Server versions. This shouldn’t be an issue unless your server includes customized launch daemons.

You can’t use any of the administration tools from previous versions of Mac OS X Server. These are Server Preferences, Server Admin, Workgroup Manager, Podcast Composer, System Image Utility, and Xgrid Admin. You can download new versions separately. (The Server app replaces Server Preferences.)

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/services-that-wont-move-when-upgrading-or-migratin.html

Tax Rules for Selling Your Home

Until recently, if you purchased a home, you were required to keep track of the original cost and the cost of improvements to the home for tax purposes. Then, when you sold the home, if you made a profit on the sale, you had to either pay tax on the profit, or roll the profit forward into your next home, and next home, and next home.

Someday, when you stopped buying homes, you might have to pay tax on the accumulated profits on all your homes. Unless of course you were over age 55 when you sold the final home, in which case you were exonerated from at least some of the tax bite.

But times change, and so do tax laws. Keep in mind that, as with any tax law, there are exceptions to the rules and special rules for special cases, and it always makes sense to speak with a tax professional before making decisions that affect your tax return. That said, here are the basic rules you need to know when buying and selling your personal residence:

• If you own the home for at least five years and live in the home as your primary residence for at least two of those five years, and sell the home for a profit of not more than $250,000 (or $500,000 if you are married and filing a joint tax return), you don’t have to pay tax on the profit, nor do you have to report the sale of the home on your income tax return.

  
  



• If you don’t meet the above requirements, you might have to pay tax on the profit from your house.

  
  



• If you use part of the home for business purposes, you do need to keep track of all of the costs associated with your home, so that you can take a tax deduction for the business portion of your home.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/tax-rules-for-selling-your-home.html

What is SaaS in Cloud Computing?

12 of 17 in Series:
The Essentials of Services in Cloud Computing

Today, Software as a Service (SaaS) is the most mature area of cloud computing. SaaS gained initial traction with the customer relationship management (CRM) market and has expanded into others — particularly the collaboration market and the enabling tools and management environments.

What characteristics have to be in place for an SaaS to be commercially viable?

• The SaaS application needs to be generalized enough so that lots of customers will be interested in the service. Here are some examples of these types of applications: accounting, collaboration, project management, testing, analytics, content management, Internet marketing, risk management and of course, CRM. What doesn’t work as SaaS? A specialized one-of-a-kind application with a small number of potential customers.

  
  



• SaaS applications need sophisticated navigation and ease of use. If an SaaS application isn’t easy to use, customers will simply stop subscribing. Most SaaS vendors offer prospective customers a free trial for a month or so. If the customer doesn’t start using the application during that first month, it's likely that the customer won’t sign a contract. This is really important because it has been reported that less than 20 percent of users remain customers after the first month or so.

  
  



• The SaaS application needs be modular and service oriented. Without this modular approach, it will be hard to change and difficult to have third-party independent companies join the ecosystem.

  
  



• An SaaS application needs to include measuring and monitoring so customers can be charged actual usage.

  
  



• An SaaS application must have a built-in billing service.

  
  



• SaaS applications need published interfaces and an ecosystem of partners who can expand the company’s customer base and market reach.

  
  



• SaaS applications have to ensure that each customer’s data and specialized configurations are separate and secure from other customers' data and configurations.

  
  



• SaaS applications need to provide sophisticated business process configurators for customers. Each customer can change the process within the standardized SaaS application. For example, a company might want to add a process so a manager has to approve the price being offered to a new customer. A built-in configuration tool enables this to be done on an ad hoc basis without programming.

  
  



• SaaS applications need to constantly provide fast releases of new features and new capabilities. This must be done without impacting the customer’s ability to continue business as usual.

  
  



• SaaS applications have to protect the integrity of customer data. That includes providing techniques for allowing data to migrate either to a private database inside the firewall or to a third-party storage capability.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-is-saas-in-cloud-computing.html

Truths to Embrace when Recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

You may hit some rough patches on the road to recovery from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Sometimes, setbacks stem from low expectations of yourself and negative self-talk. Here are some statements that can point you toward the positive side when your spirits are low.

• Persevering through this time and continuing with my healing is courageous.

  
  



• Setbacks are just bumps in the road — I can get past them and continue my journey.

  
  



• Taking care of myself is important for me and for my loved ones.

  
  



• The stronger I become over time, the easier my road to recovery will be. The beginning of this journey is the hardest part.

  
  



• I’m doing my best each day, and I don’t need to be perfect.

  
  



• I have supportive people in my life who will help me overcome this problem.

  
  



• Just because I feel afraid doesn’t mean I’m in any danger.

  
  



• Often when I feel afraid, it’s because I haven't processed my emotional trauma, putting it behind me, and moving on. After I do this, I’ll be less afraid. I can look forward to that time in the future, even if I’m afraid today.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/truths-to-embrace-when-recovering-from-posttraumat.html

Measure How Long Visitors Stay on Your Website

Measuring the amount of time visitors spend on your website provides important insight. You can figure out whether visitors are taking a quick look, then leaving, or whether they’re hanging around a bit longer and actually reading your online material with the view to possibly taking action.

If the majority of your website visitors aren’t staying long, review your site content and look at ways to attract and hold visitors’ attention. Search engines, such as Google, also measure the amount of time visitors spend on your site and this information contributes to where your site is placed in their rankings.

For search engines, this measure is called stickiness and is calculated according to the time that elapses between a user clicking on your link on the search engine’s results page and returning to click on the next link in the search listing.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/measure-how-long-visitors-stay-on-your-website.html

What to Look for When You Analyze Account Balances

As an auditor you have to analyze your client’s account balances. Management assertions address the correctness of balance sheet account balances at year-end. These account balances include the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity. Here’s a refresher on the balance sheet accounts:

• Assets are resources the company owns. Examples of assets are cash, accounts receivable, and property, plant, and equipment.

  
  



• Liabilities are claims against the company by other businesses. Examples of liabilities are accounts payable, unearned revenues (which occur when a client pays the business for goods or services it hasn’t yet received — like a deposit), and salaries payable (wages the company owes to employees).

  
  



• Equity represents the difference between assets and liabilities. It’s also known as net assets or net worth. Examples of equity are retained earnings (the total of all company earnings from day one to the date of the balance sheet after deducting dividends) and common stock.

  
  

Four types of management assertions directly influence account balances:

• Existence: This means that any asset, liability, or equity account and dollar balance on the financial statements actually exists as of the balance sheet date. For example, assuming a December 31 year-end date, if the company purchases a delivery truck in October, the asset account has to reflect the cost of that truck plus any other trucks it owns.

  
  



• Rights and obligations: The balances reflect assets the company owns or obligations the company owes. A car that the business’s president personally owns isn’t shown on the balance sheet in the vehicle asset account. It doesn’t make any difference if the president drives the car only for company business; he holds legal title to the car — not the company.

  
  



• Completeness: All balances as of the balance sheet date are complete and include all transactions that occurred during the year. For example, if the company sells a delivery truck, the truck and all related depreciation are removed from the balance sheet, and the gain or loss on the sale is recorded in equity. Depreciation is the way the cost of using assets is moved from the balance sheet to the income statement.

  
  



• Valuation and allocation: Valuation means that a business records all account balances in the right amounts, and allocation means that the company records the amounts in the appropriate accounting period. For example, a company takes a physical count of its inventory, which totals $500,000. The inventory asset account on the balance sheet shows $510,000. The difference between the two ($10,000) needs to be allocated from inventory to the current year expense cost of goods sold

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-to-look-for-when-you-analyze-account-balances.html

Important Biblical Events Timeline

The Bible is vast and encompasses everything from Creation to the end of time. This brief timeline represents key events that happened in the Bible:

• “In the beginning”: Creation (Genesis 1)

  
  



• Very early: Adam and Eve (Genesis 2–3)

  
  



• Still quite early: Noah’s flood (Genesis 6–9)

  
  



• Around 2000 b.c.e.: Abraham and Sarah leave for their Promised Land in Canaan (Genesis 12–25)

  
  



• Around 1250 (or 1450) b.c.e.: Moses leads the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery (Exodus 1–15)

  
  



• Around 1000 b.c.e.: David begins ruling as Israel’s King (2 Samuel)

  
  



• Around 950 b.c.e.: King Solomon, David’s son, builds the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6–8)

  
  



• Around 925 b.c.e.: Israel splits into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah (1 Kings 12)

  
  



• 721 b.c.e.: The northern kingdom of Israel is conquered and exiled by the Assyrians, becoming the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (2 Kings 17)

  
  



• Around 622 b.c.e.: King Josiah enacts many religious reforms (2 Kings 22–23)

  
  



• 586 b.c.e.: The southern kingdom of Judah is conquered and exiled by the Babylonians, which begins the Exilic Period (2 Kings 25)

  
  



• 538 b.c.e.: King Cyrus of Persia allows the Jews to return to their homeland, which begins the Postexilic Period (2 Chronicles 36:22–23)

  
  



• 515 b.c.e.: The rebuilt Temple is dedicated under the leadership of the Judean governor, Zerubbabel, which begins the Second Temple Period (Ezra)

  
  



• Around 425 b.c.e.: Nehemiah repairs the walls of Jerusalem, and Ezra and Nehemiah enact religious reforms (Nehemiah)

  
  



• Around 165 b.c.e.: The Hasmoneans, under Judah Maccabee, rededicate the Temple, which is today celebrated as “Hanukkah” (1 Maccabees 4)

  
  



• Around 6 b.c.e.: Jesus is born during the reign of Herod the Great, a Roman-appointed King of the Jews (Matthew 1 and Luke 2)

  
  



• Around 30 c.e.: Jesus is crucified during the rule of Pontius Pilate, the Roman-appointed governor of Syria-Palestine (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

  
  



• Around 46–64 (or 67) c.e.: The apostle Paul’s missionary journeys and letter writing (Acts 13–28 and Pauline Epistles)

  
  



• 70 c.e.: The destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans

  
  



• Around 95 c.e.: Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, is completed

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/important-biblical-events-timeline.html

Read E-Mail and Make Notes with Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Nuance has made e-mail a priority in Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Several voice commands help you get things done faster. You can use NaturallySpeaking to read your email to you and to make notes using Outlook Notes.

Getting your mail read to you with NaturallySpeaking

Your NaturallySpeaking assistant can read your e-mail to you. Isn’t that what you’d expect from a first-rate assistant? Use the text-to-speech feature to do this. Open the Extras toolbar from the DragonBar and click the Read That button. The text will be read back to you in the voice you have chosen from the options available to you.

If you want to modify the voice of your assistant, go to Tools→Options→Playback/Text-to-Speech and look at the Text-to-Speech attributes. Where you see Voice, use the pull-down list to see your options.

If for any reason your application doesn’t work that way, just copy the text of the message from the reading pane of your e-mail application into the NaturallySpeaking Dictation Box and say, “Read Document.” The NaturallySpeaking voice and diction won't compete with James Earl Jones's voice, but you will understand what it is saying.

Making notes with NaturallySpeaking

Outlook Notes is a great place to jot down important things you don’t want to forget. It works well with NaturallySpeaking because its main purpose is dictation, just like any word processor. If you want to dictate notes in Outlook, make sure that NaturallySpeaking is running and then do the following:

1. Say, “Start Microsoft Outlook.”

   
   

   The Outlook application opens.

   
   



2. Say, “Open notes.”

   
   



3. Say, “New note.”

   
   

   A note opens for you to dictate into.

   
   



4. Dictate your note.

   
   

   After you dictate the note, proofread it for mistakes and make corrections as you would with any other type of dictation.

   
   



5. Say, “Save the note.”

   
   



6. Say, “Close the note.”

   
   

   If you want to view your note, say, “Click Notes List” to select the radio button and view your missive.

   
   

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/read-email-and-make-notes-with-dragon-naturallyspe.html

How to Buy Apps for Your Galaxy Tab from the Market

Some great free apps are available, but many of the apps you dearly want for your Samsung Galaxy Tab probably cost money. It’s not a lot of money, especially compared with the price of computer software. In fact, it seems odd to sit and stew over whether paying 99 cents for a game is “worth it.”

You may want to download a free app before you try to buy one, just to familiarize yourself with the process.

When you’re ready to pay for an app, follow these steps:

1. Activate the Galaxy Tab’s Wi-Fi connection.

   
   



2. Open the Market app.

   
   



3. Browse or search for the app you want and then choose the app to display its description.

   
   

   Review the app’s price.

   
   



4. Touch the Buy button.

   
   

   That app’s price is listed above the button.

   
   

   The next window, titled Purchase & Allow Access, displays the services the app uses, such as Storage to keep high scores or other data, Networking Communication to access the Internet, and so on.

   
   



5. Choose your credit card.

   
   

   The credit card information is at the top of the Purchase & Allow Access window, on the right. The card must be on file with Google Checkout. If you don’t yet have a card on file, choose the option Add Payment Method. Choose Add Card and then fill in the fields on the Credit Card screen to add your payment method to Google Checkout.

   
   



6. Touch the OK button.

   
   

   Your payment method is authorized, and the app is downloaded and installed.

   
   

The app can be accessed from the Apps Menu, just like all other apps available on your Galaxy Tab. Or if you’re still at the app’s screen in the Market, touch the Open button.

Eventually, you receive an e-mail message from the Android Market, confirming your purchase. The message contains a link you can click to review the refund policy should you change your mind on the purchase.

Be quick on that refund: Some apps allow you only 15 minutes to get your money back. Otherwise, the standard refund period is 24 hours. You know when the time is up because the Refund button changes its name to Uninstall.

Any apps you’ve already purchased in the Android Market — say for an Android phone or other mobile device — are available for download on your Galaxy Tab at no charge. Simply find the app and touch the Install button.

You can review any already-purchased apps in the Market: Choose My Apps from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the list of apps, under the heading Not Installed, you find any apps you’ve already purchased at the Market.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-buy-apps-for-your-galaxy-tab-from-the-marke.html

Placing Charts in Excel

In Excel, making charts is most of the work, but that's not all of it. You still have to decide where to put the charts. First, you need to figure out whether to put a chart on a separate chart sheet. That's nice and easy — you don't have to consider anything else, such as the size, or whether other charts, text, or numbers are nearby.

Your other option is to place a chart smack-dab in the middle of a worksheet. You may wonder why anyone would want to do that. Actually, putting a chart in the middle of a worksheet seems to be the preferred way to go. More decisions are involved, such as how large or how small the chart should be, and where on the worksheet it should go. But these options give you the power to align your chart next to supporting information.

The chart location choice is on the last screen (Step 4) of the Chart Wizard, as shown in Figure 1. It's interesting to note that of the two choices, the Chart Wizard defaults to placing the chart on a worksheet, not a separate chart sheet. The wizard must know something!

>

Figure 1: Deciding where to put the chart.

Placing charts on separate chart sheets

To place a new chart on a separate chart sheet, you just select the As New Sheet option in the last step of the Chart Wizard. You can accept the name supplied by the Chart Wizard, or you can enter your own. The supplied names are functional, such as Chart1, but not specific to your chart or data. Entering your own name isn't a bad idea.

Chart sheets aren't the same as worksheets. A chart sheet only displays a chart. There are no cells, and you can't enter any data on one.

Placing charts on separate chart sheets is great for getting a fast, full-sized chart, as shown in Figure 2. Note in the figure that the chart tab on the bottom is the name entered for the chart sheet. The name of the chart in the last step of the Chart Wizard — whether it's the one supplied by Excel or your own entered name — becomes the sheet name on the tab.

>

Figure 2: Viewing a chart on a chart sheet.

Here's what you need to do to place a chart on a chart sheet:

1. Enter some data on a worksheet.

If you want, you can use some good data you want to plot, but for this exercise any old data will do.

2. Click the Chart Wizard button on the Standard toolbar or choose Insert --> Chart.

The Chart Wizard opens.

3. Click the Next button three times.

4. In the last step of the Chart Wizard, select the As New Sheet option.

If you want, change the name.

5. Click Finish.

You now have a chart on a separate chart sheet.

6. Click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar or choose File --> Print Preview.

Now you can see how your chart will look when it prints.

You can use the Page Setup feature to make some alterations. While still in Print Preview, click the Setup button. On the Page tab in the Page Setup dialog box, you can set up your chart in either Portrait (vertical) or Landscape (horizontal) orientation. Figure 3 shows how a chart looks in Portrait view.

>

Figure 3: Viewing the chart in a different orientation.

What if you have a chart on a separate chart sheet, but you wish it were placed on a worksheet. Not to fear, the designers of Excel thought of everything. Here's what you do:

1. If you're still in Print Preview mode, click the Close button.

2. Choose Chart --> Location, or right-click on the chart and choose Location from the pop-up menu.

The Chart Location dialog box appears. It resembles the last step of the Chart Wizard.

3. Select the As Object In option, and select the worksheet from the drop-down list.

4. Click OK.

Placing charts on worksheets

Placing charts on worksheets has some advantages:

• They can be easily resized.

• They can be strategically placed near related information.

• You can put multiple charts on a worksheet.

The way to place a new chart on a worksheet is to select the As Object In option in the last step of the Chart Wizard.

Charts that are placed on worksheets seem to not have names. Actually, they are named, but the name is irrelevant to placing and manipulating the chart on a worksheet. The chart names do come in handy when using VBA to work with charts.

Figure 4 shows one of the reasons placing charts on worksheets is so popular. In this illustration, six charts, one per month, are placed together to convey comprehensive information. Placing charts together in this fashion is possible only with charts placed on worksheets.

>

Figure 4: Placing charts where you want them on a worksheet.

Here's how to take a chart that is on a worksheet and place it on a separate chart sheet:

1. Select the chart by clicking on it once.

2. Choose Chart --> Location, or right-click on the chart and choose Location from the pop-up menu.

The Chart Location dialog box appears. It resembles the last step of the Chart Wizard.

3. Select the As New Sheet option.

You can accept the supplied name or enter one of your own.

4. Click OK.

>
dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/placing-charts-in-excel.html

How to Wrap Text around a Graphic in Word 2010

To control how an image and text interact in Word 2010, click the image to select it. When the image is selected, Word displays a Format tab, from which you can choose the Text Wrapping menu, found in the Arrange group:

• In Line with Text: The image is treated like text — specifically, like a large, single character. The image can have text before it or behind it, be in the middle of a paragraph of text, or be on a line by itself. The image stays with the text while you edit, and the line that the image is on grows extra vertical space to accommodate the image.

  
  
  



• Square: The image sits on the same plane as the text, but the text flows around the image in a square pattern, regardless of the image's shape.

  
  
  



• Tight: Text flows around the image and hugs its shape.

  
  
  



• Through: Text flows around the image as best it can, similar to the Tight option.

  
  
  



• Top and Bottom: Text stops at the top of the image and continues below the image.

  
  
  



• Behind Text: The image floats behind the text, looking almost like the image is part of the paper.

  
  
  



• In Front of Text: The image floats on top of your text, like a photograph dropped on the paper.

  
  
  



• Edit Wrap Points: You can specifically control how text wraps around an image. By adjusting tiny handles and dashed red lines, you can make text wrapping as tight or creative as you like. Of course, selecting the Tight option does pretty much the same thing.

  
  
  

Selecting More Layout Options summons the Advanced Layout dialog box, which provides custom controls for image position, as well as wrapping options.

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-wrap-text-around-a-graphic-in-word-2010.html

Characteristics and Personality Traits of a Good Day Trader

Day trading is a great career option — for the right person in the right circumstances. Being a successful day trader requires certain personality traits like discipline and decisiveness, as well as a financial cushion and personal support systems to help you through the tough times. Think you have what it takes to go into business for yourself as a day trader? See how many of these characteristics apply to you:

• Discipline: Day traders maintain strict discipline about how they approach their trading day and what they do during market hours.

  
  



• Independence. Most day traders work at home, alone. If being in charge of your own business and your own trading account sounds exciting, then day trading might be a good career option for you.

  
  



• Quick-wittedness. Day trading is a game of minutes, so a day trader can’t be deliberative or panicky. Traders have to have act quickly when they see a buy or sell opportunity.

  
  



• Decisiveness. Can you make a decision and act on it? Can you assimilate information quickly into a good strategy? If you screw up, do you figure out what you did wrong? If so, you have the basic personality of a good day trader.

  
  



• Persistence. Good day traders are persistent. After they find a strategy that they trust, they stick with it.

  
  



• Tech-savvy. If you like to mess around with programs, don’t mind maintaining your computer, and understand how to set up your hardware efficiency, you’re in good shape for day trading.

  
  



• Interest in the markets. If you watch the business news for fun and have been following the securities business for years, you might be a good candidate for day trading. An understanding of the cycles and systems that drive securities prices will give you a foundation on which you can build.

  
  



• Investing experience. If you’ve invested in the past, you’ll know some of the language and limitations of the markets. And that will give you a base to work from.

  
  



• Knowledge of trading systems. It can take a long time to find a strategy that works enough of the time to make it worth your while. If you’ve taken the time to create and test a good strategy, then you’re ready to go.

  
  



• Can afford to lose money. You shouldn’t be day trading with money you need to live on. Be sure to set aside enough money to cover your living expenses while you get started. And keep a second pot of money, your walk-away fund, so that you’re free to quit day trading and move on to your next adventure if you decide it’s not for you.

  
  



• Has a strong support system. Trading is stressful. The markets gyrate with news events that no one can foresee. Good day traders are psychologically strong. They have people and activities in their lives that help give their brains a break from trading, ranging from regular exercise routines to good friends to hobbies.

  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/characteristics-and-personality-traits-of-a-good-d.html

How to Profit from Part-time Day Trading

Can you make money day trading part-time? You can, and some people do. Successful part-time day traders approach trading as a part-time job, not as a little game to play when they have nothing else going on.

A part-time trader may commit to trading three days a week or to closing out at noon instead of at the close of the market. A successful part-time trader still has a business plan, still sets limits, and still acts like any professional trader would, just for a smaller part of the day.

Part-time trading works best when you can set and maintain fixed business hours. Working on a fixed schedule helps your brain know when to go to work and concentrate on the market, because the habit is ingrained.

The successful part-timer operates as a professional with fixed hours. Think of it this way: your son is a patient in a group pediatric practice that has some part-time doctors. These part-time doctors keep set hours and behave like the other doctors in the practice; the only difference is that they work fewer hours each week.

They still commit their attention to medicine when they are on the job, and patients only know about their part-time hours when it comes time to make an appointment. These doctors don’t pop into the office and start giving shots during their lunch break from their “real” job, sneaking around so that their “real” boss doesn’t find out.

If you want to be a part-time day trader, approach it the same way that a part-time doctor, part-time lawyer, or part-time accountant would approach work. Find hours that fit your schedule and commit to trading during them.

Have a dedicated office space with high-speed Internet access and a computer that you use just for trading. If you have children at home, you may need to have child care during your trading hours. And if you have another job, set your trading hours away from your work time.

Trading via cellphone during your morning commute is a really good way to lose a lot of money (not to mention your life if you try it while driving).

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-profit-from-parttime-day-trading.html

Great Twitter Marketing Ideas in 140 Characters

These thoughts on how to use Twitter as a marketing tool come from experts all over the world. Many marketing experts replied by tweet, so all the advice here comes to you in nuggets of 140 characters or less.

• Marketing:

  
  
  
  

  • @DavidSpinks If you’re not seeing results, it’s probably not Twitter’s fault; it’s how you’re using it. That’s ok.

    
    
  
  

  • @BeerFoxTM Have you written a lot? Tweet the titles of all articles you have written, and each URL, so your followers can easily find them.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Marketing is about promoting what your expertise is & how that is advantageous to someone else. Now get tweeting that!

    
    
  
  

  • @watsonk2 Tweet 80% content your readers will find helpful and 20% self-promotion. A good mix will get you farther than 100% promotion.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Find the perfect balance between the quantity of your tweet and the quality.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Promoting your brand:

  
  
  
  

  • <Anonymous> You are the brand!!! Nothing else. You’re selling yourself as a person and showing that you are worthy of being followed.

    
    
  
  

  • @Alonis DO NOT PUSH YOUR PRODUCT. There, in 25 characters.

    
    
  
  

  • @azvibe Don’t use Twitter if all you’re going to do is promote the latest and greatest or ask for help for your business. Be yourself!!

    
    
  
  

  • @bnyquist Don’t constantly change your avatar as it’s one of the main consistencies in your online branding.

    
    
  
  

  • @brianspaeth If you murder someone, don’t tweet about it. Bad for the brand.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Building relationships:

  
  
  
  

  • @divinewrite Help people.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Be the first to share. Get an RSS feed of topical news for your industry and post a link as soon as breaking news hits the search engines.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Use Twitter as way to grow your networks on other social media channels. It can be the hub of your social media wheel, each channel a spoke.

    
    
  
  

  • @mooshinindy Be yourself on Twitter. People will either love you or hate you for it but at least it’s you.

    
    
  
  

  • @appellatelaw If someone you know has good news, but is too modest to tweet about it, you might consider tweeting about it yourself.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Engaging in Conversation:

  
  
  
  

  • @calamity7373 Create a dialogue with your followers; don’t just push promotions about your brand in their face.

    
    
  
  

  • @virtualewit Twitter is a conversation. Take some time to listen to what is going on and respond; don’t just talk at people.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Don’t just talk about your product; talk about your area of expertise.

    
    
  
  

  • @hatmandu Don’t just use auto-follow tools to spam legions of people — instead, create individual conversations.

    
    
  
  

  • @followthecolson Twitter is not a scripted dialog. It is an open conversation between you, your followers, and your potential followers.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Following and followers:

  
  
  
  

  • @bradjward Don’t get caught up in the numbers game. 100 relevant followers on Twitter is worth more than 1,000 followers any day of the week.

    
    
  
  

  • @sarahebuckner It drives me crazy when people don’t post for a few hours, then post 9 times in a row. If they do that a lot, I unfollow.

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> First — get followers. Second — keep followers. Sounds easy, right? It’s actually not. It takes patience and hard work.

    
    
  
  

  • @Arsene333 Before you click Send, ask yourself “Would I follow this person solely based on this one tweet?” If yes, clink Send.

    
    
  
  

  • @jecates Following thousands of people hoping to get their attention is more likely to get you blocked than followed.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• Using Twitter wisely:

  
  
  
  

  • @krisplantrich All tweets are read — not just your branding or marketing ones. Be careful what you tweet!

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Keep your business and personal life separate. Would you like to see someone you were considering to do work for you drinking on a boat?

    
    
  
  

  • <Anonymous> Twitter works best when integrated. Use it to supplement blogging and other social media efforts.

    
    
  
  

  • @unmarketing Twitter is a conversation about your business/industry, whether you’re there or not. Your choice.

    
    
  
  

  • @wowbroadcasting Add the Twitter icon to your website.

    
    
  
  
  
  

dummies

Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/great-twitter-marketing-ideas-in-140-characters.html