All good newspaper articles start off with a good headline that will entice the reader to follow up and read the whole article, so it would be remiss of me not to cover the basics in this how-to guide for writing newspaper articles. The type of headline will likely be determined by your placement in the newspaper if you write for a physical product, so make sure to have plenty handy. If your article is to appear on the cover, something enticing will work well, however, if you’re stuck on the inside pages, you need to stick to the facts and write a more generic title. Your title also might need to be shortened depending on what kind of space has been allotted for your article. For online magazines and publications, you should find a more enticing title that will tell them about the key idea of your article, but mention that it contains a “surprise” or a “secret.” These two words drive more clicks than you can possibly imagine, and work very well for driving people to your articles.

For the body of the article, you need to find some good quotes from interviews. Nothing brings people in like quotes. It will make your article more personable and give it a human quality, plus it allows you to break the flow of facts.

There should be no more than three sentences per paragraph. If you have more to add about a particular topic, you should revisit it after a relevant quote or at the end of the article. Your article will be cramped into a corner and put in thin columns, so writing with short paragraphs will look more appealing and readable. Most people forget this, and will write long and interesting paragraphs, full of information, but will wonder why so many people skip reading them.

The last thing you need to know about how to write newspaper articles is that your article should contain a picture. Words are less powerful than a picture, and a captivating picture will make or break your readability. Without a picture, your article looks dry and unimportant. With a picture, you will suddenly gain notoriety and visibility.

If you follow those simple steps, then you will have learned the basics of how to write a newspaper article, and you can write a newspaper article quickly and easily. If you want to learn how to make some money with your newspaper articles, then click here to learn how to make money with your newspaper articles.

The Grand Theft Auto online game is a modification of the script for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and it is designed for multiple players. When playing the Grand Theft Auto online game you actually get to live in the city of San Andreas. Like any other citizen you get to earn money, deposit the money in a bank or manage a bank account. When you start playing the Grand Theft Auto online game you get to choose which character you want to be, you can buy a house and a car in San Andreas, take a drive around the city, and spend the money you have earned any way you like.

Like any other player you can also join a gang or even start a gang of your own. On the other hand, if your favorite character is a policeman you get to join the police and fight against the neighborhood gangs. The possibilities are unlimited when you are playing the Grand Theft Auto online game. The game will remember your online actions and when you return to play it will resume the action from where you left it the day before.

The Grand Theft Auto online game is a multiplayer game and therefore it does not have a particular script and it allows the action to unfold according to the players’ wants. You and your friends can go online, live in San Andreas and make the rules or break the rules. The action and adventure are as intense as you want them to be, because you control everything that happens in the city.

On the other hand, it requires substantial investment and knowledge of cultural factors on the part of the multinational corporation. The geocentric approach is more likely to characterize corporations that are found in advanced stages of internationalization. In the staffing of operations it is manifested by the utilization of home country, host-country, and third-country nationals in key positions, both in the headquarters and in the host countries of the multinational corporation. What matters most is credentials and fit into the role rather than the country of origin. The country of origin may be taken into account when this is considered as a factor that may affect success on the job.

For example, U.S. companies tended to prefer British nationals for managerial positions in their operations in former British colonies because the British were presumed to be most familiar with the culture and institutions of the host countries and also with U.S. culture (and language). In general, third-country nationals can bring the following qualities: (1) understanding of the operation from the perspective of a foreigner, who is not biased by the cultural perspective either of the home country or of the host country; hence, these individuals can bring more unbiased and potentially novel ideas and perspectives; (2) increased likelihood of acceptance by both home country and host country employees; and (3) demonstration of the global image of the multinational corporation.

An increasing number of corporations around the globe resort to appointing third-country nationals in key positions; a major reason for this is, as already seen, the need for the most competent individual to take over important roles, and the fact that as organizations become global they gradually become dissociated with particular countries. Even Japanese corporations, which traditionally have adhered to an ethnocentric approach in staffing, are gradually abandoning this policy. This is because they have increasing proportions of their interests in countries outside Japan, and they realize that there is a need for taking into account the perspectives of these countries in their strategic planning; hence, the need to include nationals of these countries in key positions, including the boards of directors.

An example of a third-country national appointment in a key position of a multinational is Jose Lopez (Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua), a Spaniard who in the 1980s and 1990s held executive positions in both General Motors (a U.S. multinational corporation) and in Volkswagen (a German multinational corporation). The ultimate manifestation of the geocentric human resource policy is the appointment of hostcountry nationals in key positions in the headquarters, that is, in the home country. These individuals are labelled inpatriates. A prime inpatriate case has been the appointment in 2005 of Howard Stringer (British, with a corporate career in the United States) as chief executive officer of SONY, allegedly the first foreign-born CEO of a major Japanese corporation.

Trait 1: Being arrogant

Without doubt you want a leader to be self assured and confident. At the same time you want them to be self aware and understand the impact that they have on others. If you are someone who is arrogant you will do a great job at turning people off and disengaging them.

Trait 2: Unwilling to listen

You are the leader, you are in charge, you take the decisions and you make things happen. You don’t need the views and opinions of others- right? Well yes if you want do completely de-motivate people and isolate them. On the other hand if you want to work with your people to deliver great service and performance, make the time to listen to them.

Trait 3: Bullying

No one likes or respects a bully. A bully is not only bad news for those that they lead but is costly too. An article in Personnel Today in December 2007 suggests that it hits the bottom line. At that time it was suggested that work place bullying was costing more than £2bn a year in sick pay, staff turnover and productivity.

In the long run, leaders who rely on bullying or heavy handed tactics will more than likely find themselves in the middle of an ocean in a sinking ship without a life jacket at some point. How appealing does that sound?

Trait 4: Favouritism

Tough as it may be, your job as a leader is to try and aim to treat everyone the same and avoid favouritism. It can be tempting to have favourites but can be extremely dangerous in the long run. The reason is that you will create divisions in teams that can lead to ‘in fighting’ instead of time and energies being focused on results.

Trait 5: Disorganised

If you have ever worked for someone who consistently turns up late for meetings, does not have all of their papers available and fails to keep on track, you will know just how troublesome this can be. With more and more demands on leaders‘ time, being organised is no longer an optional extra.

Bottom line- If you want to prosper as a leader you need to maximise good traits and minimise the bad traits. So what action do you need to take to achieve this?

Unfortunately, Hybrid cars are some of the Worst Polluters!

How’s that you ask? Ever read the label on a rechargeable battery? You can’t throw them out. They’re toxic and contain heavy metals that can pollute ground water. The battery in a hybrid car is also a rechargeable battery and they can weigh as much as 600 pounds. Think of what would happen if a hybrid car got into an accident right beside a city’s water supply. They would totally destroy it. Not to mention what do you do with that battery down the road. Think of 20 years from now, all the hybrid cars sitting in junk yards with their batteries leaking heavy metals into the soil!

A lot of proponents will tell you that the batteries will be recycled for new cars, but right now all Hybrids are using Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries, but in just a few years those will be obsolete as we move on to Lithium-Ion batteries. No, Hybrids are a fad, and unfortunately they are one that are just as likely to do more damage than good to our planet!

So what now? What other things are there that we can burn in our cars?

Because let’s face it, our entire economy is now reliant on cheap, fast transportation. If there is a solution out there that can allow us to keep our cars and not destroy the world we live in, we need to explore it fully.

For years now there has been talk of burning hydrogen. It releases nothing more than steam into the air. The downside is that hydrogen is dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Driving cars that carry tanks of hydrogen would be concerning to say the least. There is a lot of money being poured into ways to make impenetrable tanks to transport hydrogen, when there is a much easier solution, a solution that you can create yourself.

If this is so easy to do, why aren’t the car companies offering it?

Think back a hundred years when cars as we know them were first being created. Was it the big manufacturing companies of the day? Were the train companies branching out into cars? No, it was small inventors and machinists who took the important steps and created most of the major auto companies that are still around today. The Wright brothers were bicycle shop owners and they were mocked endlessly for their attempts to fly.

The reason why the big companies of the day didn’t do it then is the same reason why the big companies of the day aren’t doing it now. Money. They’ve invested a ton of money into creating the current technologies and building all the infrastructure to support them. Their shareholders wouldn’t take too kindly if they turned all of that on its ear.

It’s up to us to take the necessary steps to save our world.

There is a simple solution. A Wright Brothers, or Dodge Brothers, or Mr Diesel type of solution: Water contains fuel. Think about it, water contains Hydrogen and Oxygen. ‘Burning’ is a chemical reaction of a fuel and oxygen, and if you can split the Hydrogen from the Oxygen in water, you have everything you need to create combustion and run your car’s engine. We’ll save you too much of the technical jargon, but there are several ways to create this separation. It isn’t a direct split, but rather an alteration of the water into a gas that can burn. One of the gasses is called ‘Brown Gas’ and another is called ‘HHO’. For the average person’s needs they are effectively the same, but feel free to Google them if you want to know more.

Burning HHO or Brown Gas is even better for the environment than just burning Hydrogen!

Think about what I mentioned above. Nearly everything that burns, burns because of a reaction with oxygen. The output of burning Hydrogen is that you combine oxygen and hydrogen and make water. While this certainly isn’t bad, it doesn’t help areas of the world that are already low on oxygen.

The natural mix of our ‘Air’ contains 15% oxygen. Humans start to die when it dips below 5%. Some places like Tokyo, Japan are already as low as 6-7% at times. That is dangerously low. By starting with water and creating Brown Gas or HHO, one of the things that will come out of your tailpipe is oxygen. That’s right, plain, simple O.

So can we help the environment and save money on gas?

That’s the question I asked when I first really started looking into this technology. I found a lot of wild and outlandish claims. Claims that stated that you could use 0% gas and 100% water. I did a lot of research and found that yes, that is true, but you’ll have to fill your entire trunk with water jugs to get enough HHO, or Brown Gas to run your car.

So I started looking at the hydrogen kits that enhance your car, but don’t claim to pull it off of gas permanently. These seemed more reasonable and feasible. I have a fairly good understanding of how cars work and what emissions are. One of the things that a lot of people know about is a little thing in their car called the catalytic convertor. This device sits in your exhaust pipe and simply put, gets really, really hot. It does this because your car’s engine doesn’t really burn all the gas, and a lot of it is expelled in a toxic, half burnt stew. The catalytic convertor gets hot and finishes the burn on this gasý mostly.

Adding hydrogen to the air-fuel mixture in a car’s engine will allow the engine to burn the gas more completely because the hydrogen is simply more flammable. This makes your engine vastly increase its efficiency and have a more complete burn. This is good for you, and for the environment!

Can our car do this?

Yes, nearly any gas burning car can do this! (Diesel owners can run their diesel engines on fuel made from vegetable oil, so they have alternatives too!). You can buy expensive kits to do this, or you can buy manuals that show you components you can pick up at any home improvement store and convert your car yourself!

Think about it, an ebook and materials that cost you under $200 that can save you as much as $10 each time you fill up! I don’t know about you, but that’s not even two months for me to make that up. And with vacation time around the corner I can recover an expense like that in a few weeks.

We’ve purchased a few of these kits and installed them, and have also spent extensive time on the Internet reviewing them, finding people who have installed them and seeing which work, and which don’t.

The following are the top 20 Christian grant funding sources in terms of funding generosity.

1. Of all the Christian grant foundations accepting applications at this time the Alharetta, Georgia-based National Christian Foundation (NCF) provides the most funds. Seeking to further the gospel of Jesus Christ, its funding territory is national. This is largely a donor advised fund. A donor-advised fund is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a third party and created for the purpose of managing charitable donations on behalf of an organization, family, or individual. A donor-advised fund offers the opportunity to create an easy-to-establish, low cost, flexible vehicle for charitable giving as an alternative to direct giving or creating a private foundation.

NCF helps individuals and families plan their giving through such programs as the Legacy Fund (after death giving). It advises them on asset giving (cash, stocks, real estate, business interests, restricted securities) and shows them how to balance income needs and estate planning goals (through charitable trusts and charitable gift annuities.)

The Single Charity Fund allows supporters to donate all kinds of assets; the Professional Advisors group – comprised of financial planners, CPA’s, attorneys, and more – advises supporters in the art of tax-efficient giving.

2. The Christian Aid Ministries is a foundation based in Berlin, Ohio. Having an international gift giving scope, the Ministries seeks to “provide spiritual and material assistance such as food, clothing, medicine, and Christian literature to needy people in various countries.” It also provides emergency funds and in-kind gifts. The Ministries supports Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptists as they minister to the physical and religious needs of people worldwide. It aids victims of war, famine, and natural disasters.

3. The Nehemiah Corporation is a foundation out of Sacramento, California. Its mission is to facilitate “home ownership and asset development opportunities for diverse populations in underserved neighborhoods across the U.S., while maintaining a commitment to successful, responsible homeownership.” It gives mostly to California foundations and individuals and to Christian organizations that support its mission.

4. The Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana is a foundation from Tustin, California. It supports Christian services and organizations that seek to spread the gospel around the world. It provides care, comfort, and emergency aid to the sick, the disabled, the homeless. It is also known for producing televised religious broadcasts for ministries that spread the gospel worldwide.

5. The Barnabas Foundation is a foundation from Tinley Park, Illinois that supports its nearly 200 member Christian ministries through planned giving and estate planning. Its participating churches include Legacy Churches, Good Steward Ministry Churches, Member Asset Management Churches, Member Churches. It also offers stewardship education as well as development programs that facilitate stewardship “based on God’s ownership of all gifts.”

6. The J. Bulow Campbell Foundation is an independent foundation from Atlanta, Georgia. The foundation seeks to uplift “intellectual and spiritual life, preferably projects of a permanent nature or for capital funds.” It does not fund operating expenses or recurrent programs except in cases where funding might allow a significant new program to succeed without continuing support from the foundation. It gives anonymously to church-related agencies of the Presbyterian Church, but not to congregations. It mostly supports organizations in Georgia, though it does give to organizations in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

7. The Rupert H. Johnson Foundation is an independent foundation in San Mateo, California that generally funds only educational programs in California and Virginia. Only Christian organizations seeking grants for education programs in these two geographic regions would be eligible for funding.

8. The Rees-Jones Foundation, a family foundation based in Dallas, Texas, funds “programs that help improve the quality of life for the underserved of north Texas.” It provides employee/matching gifts and funds capital campaigns, general operations, management and program development, and scholarship funds. It supports churches that seek to relieve hunger, and it provides medical care for the mentally and physically disabled, educational opportunities for youth, and affordable housing, shelter, and spiritual development for those left behind.

9. The Poplar Foundation is an independent foundation that mostly gives within its base of Memphis and the metropolitan area. It funds mostly youth services and education. Ministries that focus on these two areas are eligible for funding.

10. The Wege Foundation, an independent foundation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, gives mostly within Kent County and above all in Grand Rapids. Christian agencies that provide health, human services, and education are likelier to receive funding from the foundation than those that do not. It funds annual campaigns, building/renovation, capital campaigns, curriculum development, endowments, equipment, matching/challenge campaigns, and program development.

11. The Hope Christian Community Foundation is a Christian public charity community foundation in Memphis, Tennessee that “helps Christians share their wealth with others in the most thoughtful and efficient ways.” It serves ministries by administering and managing agency funds, offering a cash management pool, investing endowments, and making grants through the Hope of Memphis Fund. It partners with churches to serve the community, administer church and donor-advised funds for church members, and offer a cash management pool.

12. The Maclellan Foundation is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based independent foundation. It gives internationally and nationally, stressing Chattanooga. It is the largest of a group of four family foundations that are committed to “fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ through strategic giving.” The foundation provides financial and leadership training to local organizations that enhance the spiritual wellbeing of the Commission by working “to extend the Kingdom of God to every tribe, nation, person, and tongue.” Toward that end, the foundation offers consulting services, equipment, general/operating support, program development and evaluation, and seed money to Christian organizations.

13. The New York City-based American Bible Society is a foundation that translates, publishes, and distributes the Bible in every language it can. The Society wants every person “to experience the Bible’s life changing message.” It collaborates with other Christian organizations including Faith Comes by Hearing, the creator of an audio version of the Bible. Other partners are Feed the Children, the Military Ministry, Mission Year, Samaritan Purse/Operation Christmas Child, United Bible Societies, and the National Association of State and Regional Bible Societies.

14. The National Endowment Association is a public charity in Princeton, Indiana that helps small to mid-sized charities in the United States, mostly religious ministries, endow funds. The objective is to free ministries from the constant demands of fundraising so they can devote more time to their missions. The association helps them solicit long-term planned gifts, something the larger charities already have the means to do. It helps them tap into larger funding sources through tax-exempt planning. It also helps them promote their charity by offering website templates, educational classes, marketing material templates, marketing/fundraising consultation, and donor/consumer seminars.

15. The Harold Simmons Foundation of Dallas, Texas is a company-sponsored foundation. It provides grants that support zoos, arts and culture, education, energy, health, substance abuse treatment, HIV/AIDS treatment, disaster relief, athletics, human services, human rights, community development, programs that address women’s issues, and Christian organizations. It gives mostly in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

16. The Norcliffe Foundation is an independent foundation in Seattle, Washington. It gives to organizations that benefit the arts and cultural organizations, hospitals, early childhood development, higher and secondary education, and historic preservation. It also supports medical research and health associations, hospices, the environment and conservation, and social services that include programs for the disabled, the homeless, child welfare, youth agencies, and the aged. The foundation’s Christian grantees are the Roman Catholic Church and religious associations. It gives mostly in the Puget Sound area of Washington, especially in Seattle.

17. The Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation of Wilmington, Delaware is an independent foundation that gives throughout the United States. It supports nonprofit institutions, communities, and organizations that support research, medical, health, educational, sports, social services, and artistic programs in communities across the nation. Christian organizations that work in any of these areas are eligible for funding.

18. The Harry J. Lloyd Charitable Trust in Overland Park, Kansas “supports God’s work as described in the Great Commission by spreading evangelism throughout the world.” It primarily supports organizations and programs that further this mission. The Trust provides grants that help start new ministries or new programs or expand current programs. It funds organizations that are creative, accountable, stable, and effective. It also funds Christian programs that provide housing, food, medical assistance, and education for the poor. It may also support medical research in different areas.

19. The Lynn and Foster Freiss Family Foundation is an independent foundation out of Jackson, Wyoming. It mostly funds faith-based entrepreneurial programs, especially one-one-one mentoring. The foundation provides general/operating support, matching/challenge support, and program-related investment/loans.

20. IBS-STL is a foundation from Colorado Springs, Colorado. It came about in 2007 from a merger of the National Bible Society and Send the Light. It gives nationally and internationally to Christian organizations that further its mission of translating, interpreting, and publishing the Bible. Its goal is to give more and more people throughout the world the opportunity to experience the Bible.

Some foundations exist solely to benefit Christian ministries and churches. Others lack a direct connection to Christianity but work to solve problems that are at the core of Christian concern. Some have a limited geographic focus; others have a national focus; still others have an international focus. But wherever your organization operates, and whatever programs it has, many (if not most) of these foundations are viable funding possibilities for your organization. And there are countless other possibilities. The Christian Funding Directory (CFD), Foundation Directory Online, and Foundation Search are the most valuable sources of information about foundations.

1. One page wonder.

Your professional biography should be a few paragraphs and kept to one page or less. One page is perfect for copying on the reverse side of a handout or flyer. Several paragraphs, left justified make it easier to read and skim.

2. First, second, or third person?

Always write your biography in the third person. That is, refer to yourself by your name or she/he as appropriate. It sounds more professional as it appears that a third party wrote the text. For example, “Alexandra has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and Time magazines.”

3. Business in brief.

Not only do readers want to know what you do, but also they want to know who you work with – because they might want to work with you! A professional biography should include a sentence or two about your business niche (or niches) as well as the types of clients you serve. A modified version of your 30-second elevator pitch might be perfect.

4. And the winner is….

Make sure that you include a list of awards that you have received. Readers are interested in knowing about your talents and the organizations that recognize you for them.

5. Organizations.

Include names of the organizations, clubs, or associations to which you belong. A reader’s interest might be highlighted at seeing that you belong to the same alumni association or professional business group. Again, these connections might possibly lead to some interesting and exciting business opportunities.

6. Certifications and designations.

Include any professional certifications or designations you hold. Make sure you write out their names in full, rather than use abbreviations. Not everyone might know that CMA stands for Certified Management Accountant. And, perhaps, in a different discipline, it might represent something else – like a Certified Materials Analyst. If you no longer hold a particular designation, but it has played a major role in who you are and what you do, don’t hesitate to make a reference to it. For example, “Ann is a former Certified Data Processor and spent the last decade as an adjunct faculty member teaching higher mathematics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.” Don’t include abbreviations of college degrees, like MBAs as it looks unprofessional. The only exception to this would be for a Ph.D. designation.

7. Published?

Have you written any articles, books, e-courses or e-books? Self-published or not, your works add to your level of professionalism and credibility. Showcase them in your biography and you might earn additional royalties in terms of new clients or other opportunities.

8. Did I mention the media?

Have you been a guest on talk radio or television? Were you or your business featured or even mentioned in a newspaper article? If so, readers want to know. Again, these types of “mentions” add to your credibility and presence.

9. Call me any time.

People who want to know about you will read your biography for just that reason. And, if its compelling, rich, and includes the information they’re interested, in, they’ll want to contact you. Include complete contact information like your title (if any), name, address, telephone, fax, email, and website address. Make it easy to find this information by including it in the last paragraph of your professional overview.

10. Write, rewrite, and do it again.

After you have written your biography, edit, edit, and edit again. You may need to do a dozen or so revisions before you get it just right. Eliminate extra words, use descriptive words, keep the sentences short but varied in length, and write in the third person. Ask some friends to provide input as well. Make sure to revise your biography regularly to keep it up-to-date and refreshed.

Copyright 2004 by Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff.

Don’t turn your nose up until you taste these SPAM SALAD BITES. You will need:

1 can Spam or other processed potted-ham lunch meat product (but I have found the Spam brand works best)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 tablespoon pimento
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise (or mayonnaise style salad dressing)
Crackers or toasted baguette slices

In the bowl of a food processor place the ham product, cut into cubes, and the other ingredients except the mayo. Pulse until all ingredients are mixed and mixture resembles coarse crumbs. It should not quite form a ball but be moist. Remove and mix in the mayo. Spread about a teaspoonful on each cracker or toasted baguette. Garnish with a sliver of pimento.

OPTIONS: You could also stuff this mixture into prepared cherry tomatoes. Simply remove the end and hollow out the seeds and pulp. Stuff the cavity with the ham mixture. Try using a can of white meat chicken or tuna instead. I have even used canned salmon and can shrimp which came out deliciously and was a real surprise to my guests.

BANANA HORS D’ OEUVRES You will need:

2 large bananas
1 cup citrus juice, (lemon, pineapple, grapefruit, or orange. You can also use a lemon-lime soda but you lose some of the flavoring)
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Peel and slice the bananas into one inch slices. Marinate the slices in the juice in a plastic bag in the fridge for about 1 hour. Drain the juice and pat the bananas dry on a paper towel. Stir the softened, room temperature cream cheese to remove any lumps. Spread each slice of banana with the cream cheese and roll in the chopped nuts. Serve with toothpicks or on a skewer. This is also a great addition to a chocolate fountain table.

OPTIONS: You can also do this with tart sliced apples or even firm pears. You could also use slices of melon for a delicious alternative or you may want to do some of each.

And Here is an old favorite of my grandmother’s. We all love deviled eggs and these HARLEQUIN EGGS are no exception, although they are a nice twist on an old standby. You will need:

1 cooked carrot
1 cooked beet (or you can used cooked, canned beets, about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup cooked and minced green beans
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 hard cooked eggs
Paprika

Shred the carrot and beets. Mix with the beans and blend with mayonnaise and seasoning. Cut the eggs into halves lengthwise, as you would for deviled eggs. Remove the yolks and set aside. Fill the cavities with the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with sieved egg yolks. If you don’t have a sieve you can crush the yolks finely with a fork. Garnish with a pinch of paprika, a sliver of carrot, beet or bean, or even a slice of olive.

In a hurry? Try one of these Optional BALLS ON PICKS Appetizers.

Anchovy balls – mash 4 ounces anchovy paste with 2 hard-cooked eggs. Add 5 drops of Worcestershire sauce, a few grains of cayenne and 2/4 cup minced parsley.
Celery balls – Combine 3 ounces cream cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, dash of pepper and a small pinch of cayenne. Form balls and roll in 1 cup of minced celery.
Burning Bush – Combine 3 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 teaspoon minced onion and roll in minced dried beef.

Fill those plates with these delicious appetizers and your guests will stop asking you, when will dinner be ready.

I really get sick of hearing people say, “No pain, no gain!” But the old adage is true when it comes to riding bikes to lose weight. By pushing your cycling distance or speed, you are sure to feel some pain in your leg muscles, your hands, wrists, and your derriere– even some pain in your throat and lungs as your body tries to accommodate your increased demand for oxygen.

HEALTH TIP: Stretching exercises prior to exercising are helpful in preventing injury!

GETTING YOUR BICYCLE READY…TO ROLL OFF THE WEIGHT

Your first concern will be outfitting your bicycle. If you need an excuse to purchase a new bike, this is an excellent opportunity! I went from a 3-speed bicycle for leisure riding, to a 24-speed bicycle for more committed exercising. Once I learned how the different gears worked, I was very thankful for the extra speeds. They make my ride faster and the hills a lot easier to handle.

We’ve found the guys at the bicycle shop to be very helpful, and concerned for our unique cycling needs. Rather than simply steering us toward the most expensive bicycle available (as I had expected), they asked how much riding we would be doing, whether we were trying for speed or leisure, and whether we would be riding on paved roads or dirt trails. When you honestly share your goals and level of experience, the sales clerks can match you with exactly what you need. They want you to be successful in your biking venture!

Some state laws require bicycle lights. But if you will be riding anytime from dusk to dawn, common sense demands that you have lights on your bicycle. These little accessories are battery-operated and last a long time. There are a variety of lights to choose from. My tail light has different blinking speeds, and is designed to make my bike visible to cars approaching from both the rear and the sides. Check for brightness before you buy one. Install the light where it makes the most sense.

We held off on buying a speedometer and odometer unit for our bikes, but once we got serious about losing weight and getting in shape, this feature became a “must have.” You simply cannot track your progress without knowing how far and how fast you’re riding.

If you already have a bicycle, take it to the bike shop for a safety inspection each season. They should check the gears, tires and brakes to make sure everything is working properly. They can adjust your seat to fit your height and adjust the handlebars to fit your reach, making your ride more comfortable. If you’re lucky, they might even clean and polish your bike!

If you want to save money in the long run, you can find books and videos that teach you how to care for your own bicycle. It’s always a great idea to know how to change your own flat tire and adjust a loose chain.

Another must have is a bicycle pump. Ask your bike dealer how many pounds of air pressure to put in your bicycle tires. Check the tires each time you get ready to ride! We guessed at the air pressure one summer day, and lived to regret it. We rode the bikes to the swimming pool, not realizing that one tire was too full. While we were cooling off in the water, the hot sun was rapidly expanding the air in the tires-one tire blew as it sat in the parking lot. The day in the sun was not so fun, once the pool closed and we had to wait for a truck to haul us home!

HEALTH TIP: Talk with your doctor first, and get his or her blessing before you increase your rate of physical activity!

STAYING COMFORTABLE ON YOUR BIKE

Sitting for long periods of time on a bicycle seat can cause pain, discomfort, and even serious blood circulation problems in avid bicyclists. At your local bike shop, you’ll find a variety of bicycle seats made specifically for your comfort and health. The salespeople at our local bike shop encouraged us to try out new seats on our bikes for a few days. My husband found the split seat to be more comfortable for himself, while I opted to keep my old gel seat. Someone has even invented seats that look more like a bird perch than a bicycle seat!

HEALTH TIP: Get off your bicycle seat and walk around every 25 minutes or so to get the blood flow to important unmentionable parts of your body.

Think about your clothing…you don’t have to have padded biker shorts and special clothing to start riding bikes. There are actually scientifically engineered fabrics designed to pull sweat away from your body in the summer and to keep you from getting hypothermia in the winter. But for now, just wear layers of comfortable sports clothes.

Make sure your clothes aren’t so tight that you are miserable trying to pedal. But they shouldn’t be loose enough to become entangled in the bicycle chain, either! If you become overheated, strip off a layer. If you get cold, add a layer. Wear light or bright colors to allow drivers to see you easily.

It really helps to have a small cargo rack on the back of your bike. Mine looks like a little shelf over the back tire. It has two bungee cords to keep any cargo securely fastened to the bike. I’ve used it to tote a small picnic cooler, a shopping bag or extra clothes.

I had the bike shop attach a water bottle holder to the bike under my seat. I can grab a quick swig as I ride or pour some water over my pulse points to cool off a bit. Take small sips of water when needed during your bike ride, rather than chugging huge gulps.

A helmet is almost a must. Life is filled with hazards-and biking has its share. Be smart. Wear a helmet. You can buy a cool rear-view mirror for your helmet. The mirror helps you see when it’s safe to turn and lets you observe traffic coming up from behind.

I recommend wearing sunglasses-both for the sun and for bugs! At certain times of the year, the air is thick with flying insects. Getting a tiny bug in your eye is a painful event. For contact wearers, carry a contact case and lens cleaner on bike rides for just that reason. Some day you’ll be glad you did!

HEALTH TIP: Shake your hands downward frequently to get the blood flowing and to prevent pain or numbness in your arms and hands.

MAPPING OUT A WEIGHT LOSS PLAN

You will want to keep a record of your daily diet and food intake, your weekly body measurements and weight, as well as your bicycling miles and time.

The web site http://www.OpenFitness.net is an excellent way to track your progress. It is very easy to use-simply type in your information you wish to track. As the only community fitness web site of its kind, you’ll find it to be a fantastic motivation tool that will print out charts and graphs to show how much progress you’ve made in a few days, a week, or a month!

It keeps track of your food, vitamin, and supplement intake. Thousands of foods have already been analyzed by experts for number of calories, fat, carbs, and protein. You simply select the foods you ate from a pull down feature, and the daily total is tallied for you. Make sure you don’t exercise when you’ve just eaten, or when it’s almost meal time. Both times will slow you down.

No matter how humiliating it is, measure your arms, legs, chest, waist, neck, hips and thighs once a week. The software keeps track of your weight and body measurements. The thrill of seeing those same inches melt away in the coming weeks will be worth the effort. It’s especially impressive seen as a graph!

Consider investing in an instrument that actually measures body fat-there are inexpensive pincer-type instruments that measure fat by pinching you, or buy a set of bathroom scales that cost more but calculate body fat quite painlessly.

Try to ride 4-6 days per week. When you map out your weight loss plan, your short-term goals will change as you change. You’ll quickly develop stamina for longer distance. As fat turns to muscle, your speed will increase. Each week, try to increase either your mileage or your speed.

You know how far you’ve been able to ride, thus far. Start keeping track of the exact route you are taking, the total mileage, and the length of time it took you. Make notes in your records for special circumstances. Did it get dark outside so you were forced to cut your ride short? Did the road crews dump a layer of gravel on your normally paved road?

What was the weather like? Was it dangerously hot? Was it windy? The wind can be your friend or your enemy. When the wind is behind you, your ride is a breeze…but coming from any other direction, be prepared to huff and puff. Accept any length of time as a job well done and simply get the ride accomplished!

Finally, add an upper body workout three times per week. Bicycling works your legs, but to get the rest of your body firm and trim, you’ll need to exercise your upper body, as well. The http://www.openfitness.net web site, created by a certified personal fitness trainer, has excellent features which allow you to design and track this portion of your fitness program, as well.

Bicycle riding is a fun, inexpensive form of aerobic exercise-it’s good for every part of you. But be warned-you will need to buy a whole new wardrobe for the thinner, more beautifully fit body that emerges!

The pre and post 360 degree feedback results indicate that after only one year of executive coaching the Leaders being coached outperformed the Leaders who simply received training on 4 out of 5 measures. The research, measurement and feedback was based on the model of Transformational Leadership. We will keep watching for results from years 2 and 3 of this study.

Become a Truly Effective Leader

Things to work on with your executive coach:

Shift from “managing” people to truly leading them

Improve ability to communicate with & inspire teams

Get more personal satisfaction out of your role as Leader

Learn to coach your team to greater productivity & success

Make a positive impact within your company or team

Your specific goals

To start improving the performance of the leaders in your organisation through Executive Coaching, start your own research. You may (or may not) be surprised by what you find.