My struggle to beat my father on the chess board

My father was always purchasing inexpensive chess sets for us to play with at parks. We always used inexpensive ones because we were worried we’d lose pieces from a nicer chess set. We have been playing chess since we were old enough to sit up without chewing on the pieces. It was a major goal throughout my childhood to beat my father at chess — I came close a few times, but never actually decisively beat him. We played recently and I did win — but I suspect it was primarily because my son was hanging over his shoulder, wanting to play with the horses. Hardly a “decisive” win in my book – but I’ll take it!

While playing chess is fun by itself, you can also derive a lot of enjoyment by becoming a collector of novelty chess sets and pieces. Instead of just the regular black and white shapes, why not consider Civil War figures, Star Wars figures, or even Bible figures? You can find chess sets for almost every historical or fictional series, from World War II to Harry Potter, wherever there’s a story with two clear or natural “us versus them” sides.

I am a collector of chess sets. I recently purchase a miniature set made of genuine oak wood. The best chess set that I have in my collection is made of glass. The glass chess pieces are clear and frosted alternatively for the player to distinguish between white and black squares seen on a normal chess board. I have ten chess sets in my collection till date. I am looking to indulge in my hobby the next time I travel abroad.

Make Good Choices In Life

Why You Should be Considering a Plan B Stategy?

Who should be considering a Plan B Stategy?

With great companies like The Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG, filing for bankruptcy the gong has sounded for an end to job security.

There are now very valid reasons for creating your Plan B now.

Before I get into what a Plan B is, here are a couple of questions you should be asking yourself to begin evaluating whether this is a strategy you should be considering:

• How secure is your job or business today?

• How well prepared are you for taking retirement? [your "big holiday"]

• Or early retirement in the case of downsizing, suffering a sickness or accident? -

Did you know that statistically:-

• a 25 year old starting work today will have 9 career changes and be made redundant 16 times. Ouch!

• 1 in 3 [1 in 2 by 2015] will suffer from cancer Whew!

• there is a 100% chance we will die. Wow!

If “Murphy” has any thing to do with it they will show up at the worst possible time.

How can you prepare?

The first step is to start taking responsibility for creating your own financial security.

Realise that having a solid education is a “corner stone” that education doesn’t stop when we leave school, college or university. It has just started.

Understand that if you do find yourself living from pay check to pay check the “alarm bells” are already sounding for you that your chance of becoming financially independant are remote. 

Your way out is to create a Plan B strategy and start doing it sooner rather than later just in case you walk into work one morning and it isn’t there anymore. I encourage you to find your niche and educate yourself now because the reality of a secure J.O.B. doesn’t exist now.

You may believe that you aren’t capable of creating your own “Plan B”. Or maybe you are already looking to change your current situation but don’t know where to start.

You are in luck because there is a short cut to creating financial security…… You just have to find the right mentor. Follow in the steps of a successful person who has already travelled the road you want to travel.

Perhaps I can be that person for you……

If you’re an individual that has a clear vision, you are willing to work and you are willing to follow instructions, then visit me at www.ASuperAlternative.com

Travel for Vacation in Dubai or for Angling in Alaska

Many people from North America, Europe and Asia have the nice option to choose their future travel to the kind of tourist destinations they have dreamed of. Alaska is for example a wonderful place for angling. To go fishing in lakes and rivers and off shore in the artic waters around Alaska would be a wonderful experience for the seasoned angler.
Take a further look on trips to Alaska here.

If you enjoy fishing you should get ideas and tips by visiting fishing knots here

In fact Dubai is also offering fishing but only from the coast and in the Persian Gulf as Dubai is a desert country with practically no fresh water. On the other hand Dubai as part of the United Arab Emirates has a lot to offer to the tourist. The city of Dubai has become a high level tourist destination with an amazing level of property development and a steep growing economy which has attracted enormous investments from all over the world.

The level of construction in Dubai is without any comparison in the world at present time. Much of this construction is related to the tourist industry but also very much to the growing interest for foreigners to own a property in Dubai. Artificial islands for vacation and for living – often for part-time – for wealthy people are among the incredible development initiatives that have taken place in Dubai. Just to visit Dubai to experience this boom of hectic development is an experience in itself and enough to engage with Dubai travel.

A travel to Alaska is a very different travel idea for your holidays compared to Dubai. The lush green landscape where there are enough precipitation to support vegetation as long as the summer is warm enough is an amazing contrast to the desert of Dubai. But anyway my recommendation is that you should take a look on both of these contrasting countries: Alaska with it wide open spaces and plentiful of wildlife that have attracted millions of tourists for half a century and Dubai with its hectic developing as a world tourist destination bringing millions of tourists to Dubai and billions of dollars to the investments.

http://ratioclassifiedads.com

Everyday Ingredient in Cellulite Creams ? Caffeine

It’s not a secret but there is one key substance that can help people reduce the appearance of cellulite.It’s not a chemical, and quite honestly it’s probably something that is right under your nose every morning.What’s this secret ingredient? Caffeine.I’m going to explain in this article why caffeine can reduce the look of cellulite, the correct usage of caffeine in treating cellulite, and the results you can expect to have.

Caffeine Treats Cellulite? How?

For starters don’t get to excited caffeine is not suddenly a magic weight loss product. Rather caffeine has an effect on the blood vessels and cells in our skin.Let’s use an example of applying a cellulite cream that contains caffeine to our legs, the caffeine will shrink the size of our skin cells by reducing the amount of water in the cell.By shrinking the cells the caffeine tightens skin over cellulite reducing the appearance of dimples that are normally visible.

Using Caffeine to Treat Cellulite

Before you take off to pour a pot of coffee on your legs let me tell you it’s not that easy.There are several cellulite treatment lotions that have caffeine as a listed ingredient, each one of those creams also has a specific delivery system to ensure the caffeine can get to your lower skin layers where it’s needed

Treating your cellulite with a specific treatment cream such as Revitol, Murad, or Bliss Fat Girl Slim will get the right amount of caffeine into your skin cells.To learn more about the different cellulite products and their ingredients be sure to read these anti cellulite cream reviews.

Expected results on Cellulite

The quality of results you see from using cellulite creams and caffeine for treatment depends on how severe your cellulite is, if you are over weight, and what part of your body you’re treating. Most people with mild to medium cases of cellulite that aren’t over weight will experience visual results in just a few weeks.

Products like Revitol cellulite solution provide you with a money back guarantee so that if you don’t get the desired results you expect you can request a refund.

Kids made the difference

I never was good at having too close of a personal relationship with anyone because of my unstable (for a lack of a better term) childhood. The one thing I knew at a very early age was that I shouldn’t have any children of my own. I was convinced that if I had children I would be unloving, mean, abusive and totally detached as my mother was to me and my siblings.

As I grew physically, mentally and emotionally I analyzed why someone would have children and then never regard them as anyone or anything of value. My conclusion is that it revolved around ignorance and laziness. My mother didn’t take contraceptives or learn anything about parenting because she didn’t want to. Another contributing factor for her ignorance was that she was a victim of her environment. She certainly didn’t have any good examples to follow from her childhood and so she adapted as a child and accepted that way of life in adulthood.

Enough dwelling on my mother. As I stated I made my decision very early in life not to have children. I lived for my career. I Worked hard, went to college nights and made it well known that I was ready for every promotion I sought.

By the time I reached fifty I had purchased my dream house; the one I was going to retire in (I thought). I was taking long walks on the beach at the crack of dawn, traveling whenever and where ever I wanted and I had no ties.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, lets just label the next chapter of my life as a life event.

I am not the type to make decisions impulsively so my decision to bring two boys into my life and my home was after a long assessment of the situation. My sister had three children and her oldest was already out on her own after having a baby at sixteen. My two nephews were twelve and nine. Both of them were doing below grade level in school and had enormous freedom to come and go as they pleased. So many factors revolved around me taking custody of the boys that I could write a book but I will spare you. I knew that I could make a difference for them financially but also I saw an opportunity to further break up that pattern in our family of poor education, lack of standards and expectations and set a good example of hard work pays off.

So, twelve years ago I brought two boys into my life so I could teach them how to pursue a better quality of life by getting a good education and working hard for the things they want. What I got in exchange was them teaching me how to open my heart and let love into it for the first time in my life. These guys have made me laugh, made me cry, and helped bring out the mothering qualities I never thought I had. They convinced me that I would have made a wonderful mother. They are twenty-five and twenty-one, well educated, in loving relationships and working hard toward goals and dreams that they have set for themselves. I see them often and always have my arms and heart open for all the hugs and “I love you” they offer.

So, as I plan my retirement I look around my house that is purposely in a neighborhood with lots of children, a town known for its multitude of children programs and in a school district recognized state wide for its academic excellence. I chose this town and house especially for the boys and get teary eyed as I plan to sell. But, those tears are short lived when I think of how great they did and how proud I am that I could help to groom them into wonderful, productive, society contributing young men. I also know that with the three of us breaking that pattern in the family of non-educated, non-productive and lack of motivation there is hope and high expectations for future generations of this family.

A Handy Mobile Phone Insurance CostReducing Tip

Its not un-rare these days to receive a free mobile phone from your network provider or high street retailer at the start of a 12 or 18 month contract. They can do this as you have offered them your business and custom for a fixed period of time, so they know a minimum figure of revenue they will receive, from you over the length of the agreement.

Just because you recived the phone free of charge, do not assume it is of no or little cost. It is not uncommon for mobile phones to have a very high replacement value if you had your mobile stolen, some of the latest phones are worth well over 400 pounds!

This is the time when it would be worth considering if it is worth taking out some protection in case you lost your mobile phone!

iphone insurance for example, with a replacement value of almost 400 pounds, your maybestolen iphone would have a monthly insurance premium of just 5 or 6 pounds per month, it could well be worth taking out this stand alone policy to protect it from such dangers.

A handy tip with phone insurance is to choose a policy that will not tie you into a long contract as you may well know, many network providers may be willing to upgrade your mobile phone, if you are in the last couple of months of your contract, as they can then be sure of your custom for another year or so!

Basically choose an insurance policy that you can cancel when you are at about two thirds of the way through your contract. If you do not damage your mobile, then you have saved, if you do lose or damage it you can get another free one from the network, but remember to get phone insurance for the new phone again!

Free Affiliate Software – Increase Website or Affiliate Program Traffic

SearchFeast is a free search engine that gives you a good chance to make money from the people who leave your site. SearchFeast helps people find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently from the ClickBank MarketPlace with your ClickBank ID attached!. So you will earn a commission if they buy any products from the ClickBank Marketplace.

SearchFeast can be used either as a pop-under or an exit popup and can be added to an existing website by cutting and pasting a few lines of code to add to your site. It is powered by the CBmall Search Engine technology.

It does not disrupt your visitor from seeing your important page first. And If they don’t find what they were looking for at your site, they will likely use the search engine to find what they do want. After all, the visitor is leaving your site. Give yourself a second chance to sell something either from ClickBank or from your ad linking to an affiliate program.

Probably the most important part of SearchFeast is the fact that at the top of every SearchFeast page there is a place for your own featured ad and link to a site of yours, or to an affiliate program. And you also have the option of placing your link on the pages of everyone you refer to SearchFeast, too. That’s what I call becoming really viral.

One of the best ways of increasing traffic to your site or online store is to allow thousands of webmasters to put your link on their website for free through SearchFeast and they get to have their own link as well. It’s a win-win situation.

Why is SearchFeast free? Jeff  Mulligan is able to receive huge traffic through his own ad displayed at the bottom of each page giving him a great source of money.

To sum up, SearchFeast is a free search engine that gives you a strong chance to make money from the people who leave your site. Commissions up to 75% on the best-selling InfoProducts, each with your affiliate link installed. And it is a powerful viral traffic generator due to your ad being displayed for free at the top of each page with the option of having your link displayed on the pages of everyone you refer. Their link will always be at the top.

So, if you have a website or blog what are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose SearchFeast is free.

Seeking Weight Loss Tips And Advice

I have been over weight for to long! So it’s time to develop a weight loss plan. I don’t want to spend days studying all the fads out there, I just need a few good weight loss tips and advice to help me get started. Like choosing the proper diet. Even though here is no such thing as “the” proper diet for every individual. Nevertheless, all humans are similar enough that there are probably broad categories, and many specifics, that are correct for almost anyone. A good diet like the the old-fashioned “balanced diet” that has remained largely unchanged for 60 years or more.

My friend said, why dont’ you try one of those fad diets? So I wonder, are fad diets a bad idea? It seems almost as if there is a new fad diet every week. Many of these contain elements of truth, but on the whole they contain much more good marketing than good science.

There is the 3-day diet, which touts eating little more than fruits for three days, followed by vegetables or meat or grains the other days. There are lots of variations. I just don’t know.

I have read that “the South Beach Diet is a phased approach to weight loss and nutrition. In the three major phases dieters will eat selected foods and avoid others, in order to balance the glycemic index to lose weight and achieve optimal metabolism.” What the heck is the “glycemic index”?

With all the diet informatiom available, it looks like it’s going to take me a lot longer than expected to figure out the best plan for me. Oh well, I suppose I will doing a little more reseach on the subject.

How To Know If A Home Business Is A Scam?

Many people want to work from home. Most are searching to make more money, or to improve on their income. There are so many sites on the Internet that promise quick and easy money but requiring that you pay them a fee first.

Although “quick money on the internet” is never as easy as it seems. How do you tell between the good businesses and the scams? Once you are able to differentiate between the legitimate work at home businesses and the scams, you will earn a good income.

I have had a very successful home business since 2000. Most often I am asked “How did you know it wasn’t a scam?” I explained that it was a proper business and I was registered. Sometimes I had to pay a small amount to access work but I never paid to advertise for another company or anything like that. That would obviously not be a normal business.

There is an alternative, start your own home business. Many thousands of Internet Workers are called Virtual Assistants. They run businesses offering any sort of business work you can imagine. From simple copywriting to creating Risk Registers for major government projects.

This type of work is hard as not only do you have to find clients you also have to do your own bookkeeping and ensure you are obeying your local business laws. Sometimes when work is slow you can use alternative Internet companies who will supply you with work or take articles you have written and pay you for them. These are useful companies and can make the difference between make or break.

Just because one person did not do well with a site or a scheme does not mean that that site is a scam. Many people think the Internet is magic and will produce money at the drop of a hat. Just the opposite is true. It is exactly the same as the real world, work hard and you will prosper, be lazy and you will get nothing.

It is far easier to work in a job but far less fulfilling. Having worked as a VA or Virtual Assistant for so long I would never go back to being employed. I love the interaction with my clients and the variety of work that I do. Being part of the fastest growing Internet sector also adds to the whole experience.

Di Chapman

http://www.powerdropping.com/

Interior makeover tips No 5 ? designerhome

A kitchen to inspire the chef in you

The kitchen is the heart of the home – and possible the best place in your home to relax and unwind.   A well-designed kitchen can inspire you to become an enthusiastic chef. Good kitchen design ideas are therefore always in demand.   If you are searching for kitchen design ideas, you can find them in your local kitchen design store even fashion and interior decorating magazines.

These kitchen design ideas can often give you great ideas on how to make the best use out of limited space.  The main trick is to use integrated kitchen appliances when ever possible.  Integrated appliances use much less space, and are available in all sizes.  Select the right size for your home – if you have a small 2 bedroom apartment, go for a small dishwasher and a combined washer dryer.

The key to good kitchen design is neatness and compactness. A neat kitchen can make you want to cook, and a compact kitchen can keep everything close to hand, you don’t need to walk too far from one area to another.  Keep this in mind as you search for design ideas to fit your kitchen needs.

A bedroom to relax in

Whatever your bedroom design ideas – whether your bedroom needs to save space, needs to be practical for the family or is the bedroom design chosen on style, there are bedroom design ideas to help everyone make the right choice for their new bedroom.

For clean, fresh and stylish bedroom design ideas look for a bedroom suite that offers a versatile choice of colour finishes, a wide range of fittings and features together with various layout and storage options that to match your own life style.

On the other hand you may be looking for the French elegant style bedroom design, this works well in larger spaces, more likely to be present in larger period country homes. 

One of the keys to good bedroom design is creating a warm relaxing space, with a separate dressing room with ample storage space, and a shower ensuite.

A bathroom that is a fashion statment

A good tip when looking for bathroom design ideas is to try to avoid the latest fads and fashions. Sometimes, what looks good and stylish today will appear tired and out of touch tomorrow.  In the seventies avocado green was the fashion, in the eighties, peach and pink.  Now we have gone full circle in time and white is the only choice.

Bathrooms are also becoming a new technology room.  Steam showers are becoming popular, LCD TV mirrors, if you need to keep up to date with the news while shaving.  Automatic toilet flushing systems are very simple to use.  And not forgetting the splash proof TV at the foot of the bath, just to keep up to date with the latest TV soaps while relaxing. 

Bathroom furniture is every bit as important as the fittings, a contemporary basin looks great but can soon cluttered with toothpaste and brushes, so fit toothbrush holders to the wall, and use wall mounted cabinets to keep the area free from clutter.