The Retired Renegade

Imagine yourself to be…. And you shall be

A View on Aging… Great Advice From A 71 Year Old

Oct 19

Posted by Claude in Food for taught

Great advice from a 71 year old…

George Carlin on aging!
(Absolutely Brilliant)

IF YOU DON’T READ THIS TO THE VERY END, YOU HAVE LOST A DAY IN YOUR LIFE AND WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED, PLEASE DO SEND IT ON.


George Carlin’s Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions. ‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m four and a half!’ You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key. You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.  ‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m gonna be 16!’ You could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life ! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re Just a sour-dumpling.. What’s wrong? What’s changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone…

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!  So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make it to 60. You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80’s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; ‘I Was JUST 92.’

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. ‘I’m 100 and a half!’  May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

  1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let  the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.
  2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
  3. Keep learning.  Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s family name is Alzheimer’s.
  4. Enjoy the simple things.
  5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
  6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
  7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.
  8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
  9. Don’t take guilt trips.. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
  10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
And if you don’t send this to at least 8 people – who cares?
But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting…
“Holy Shit ….What a ride!”

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A Positive Attitude The Key to Success

Sep 24

Posted by Claude in Uncategorized

The Powers of a Positive Attitude

I am going to ask you to something very weird right now. First of all, I want you to listen to your thoughts. Now tell me, what thoughts fill your head? Would you label them as positive, or negative?

Now let’s say you are walking down the street with these thoughts. Do you think anyone who would meet you would be able to tell you what’s on your mind?

The answer to number one is up to you. But, the answer number two can be pretty generic. Although people will not be able to tell you exactly what you think, they will more or less have an idea of how you are feeling.

Here’s another question. When you enter a party filled with friends, do they all fall silent as if something terrible had happened? Or does everybody there perk up as if waiting for something exciting to happen?

You know what? The answer to all these depends on your frame of mind.

Thoughts are very powerful. They affect your general attitude. The attitude you carry reflects on your appearance, too – unless, of course, you are a great actor.

And it doesn’t end there. Your attitude can also affect people around you.

The type of attitude you carry depends on you. It can be either positive or negative.

Positive thoughts have a filling effect. They are admittedly invigorating. Plus, the people around the person carrying positive thoughts are usually energized by this type of attitude.

Negative thoughts on the other hand have a sapping effect on other people. Aside from making you look gloomy and sad, negative thoughts can turn a festive gathering into a funeral wake.

A positive attitude attracts people, while a negative attitude repels them. People tend to shy away from those who carry a negative attitude.

We can also define attitude as the way of looking at the world. If you choose to focus on the negative things in the world, more or less you have a negative attitude brewing up. However, if you choose to focus on the positive things, you are more likely carry a positive attitude.

You have much to gain from a very positive attitude. For one, studies have shown that a positive attitude promotes better health. Those with this kind of attitude also have more friends. projecting a positive attitude also helps one to handle stress and problems better than those who have a negative attitude.

A positive attitude begins with a healthy self-image. If you will love the way you are and are satisfied, confident, and self-assured, you also make others are around feel the same way.

A negative attitude, on the other hand, has, of course, an opposite effect. So, carrying a negative attitude has a twofold drawback. You feel bad about yourself, and you make others feel the same way.

If you want to have a positive attitude, you have to feature healthy thoughts. This is probably very hard to do nowadays since, all around us, the media feeds us nothing but negative thoughts. A study shows that for every 14 things a parent says to his or her child, only one is positive. This is truly a saddening thought.

If you want a healthier outlook in life, you need to think happy thoughts, and you have to hear positive things as well. So, what can you do? Well, for starters, you could see a funny movie, you could play with children, spend some time telling jokes with friends. All these activities fill you with positive stimuli, which in turn promotes positive attitude.

Although it is impossible to keep ourselves from the negative things around us, you can still carry a positive attitude by focusing on the good things, the positive things in life.

And this positive attitude you now carry can be of benefit to other people. Sometimes when other people feel down, the thing people mostly do is try to give them advice. But sometimes, all they need is somebody to sit by them, and listen to them. If you have a positive attitude you may be able to cheer them up without even having to say anything.

If positive attitude is really great, why do people choose to adopt a negative attitude instead? One who carries a negative attitude may be actually sending a signal for attention. Before you get me wrong, feeling sad, angry, or gloomy is not wrong itself. But dwelling on these thoughts for far too long is not healthy either. There is a time to mourn.

As always, if you are beset by troubles, even in your darkest hour, focus on the good things in life, you will always have hope. Problems become something you can overcome.

You do not have much to lose by adopting a healthy, positive attitude. Studies show that such an attitude actually retards aging, makes you healthier, helps you develop a better stress coping mechanism, and has a very positive effect on all the people you meet every day. So, what’s not to like about a positive attitude? Adopt one today.

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Career Change, Is It For a Baby Boomer?

Sep 16

Posted by Claude in Dialogue-retirement

Society may have long provided baby boomers for their emotional and basic needs, but there comes a time when this category of people needs to begin focusing on meeting these needs on their own, independently and intelligently. So is the case with their deciding on a career change initially, it may seem hard to take a decision, but no one says that changing professions needs to be a ‘drop of the that’ decision, so take your time and weigh the pros and cons of probable
career change options. Of course, a career change is not always a good decision, especially for those baby boomers already having attained a level of success in their current job, but sometimes, one can naturally feel that their natural path lies elsewhere.

In such a situation, it is best to introspect and come up with potential career change options based on talent, abilities and aptitude for excelling at the new occupation rather than just going by the lure of big money, which many people get misguided by.

A bigger pay package shouldn’t be the only measure for determining a career change since jobs already pay well enough today to satisfy all major needs especially with easy financing available for extras or for kids care etc. However, if one is really sick of working at the same job day in and day out, then a career change may be a good idea – for those who have no love left for their work.

Baby boomers are generally people who are already well-settled into their chosen professions by now, yet want to work harder and longer than others inspired by the need to excel with many taking late retirement and still others changing careers, too; thus, this category comprises a professional workforce that believes in contributing valuable expertise even after retirement. Retrement often justifies a change

Many baby boomer have changed jobs often and still lacked the satisfaction that comes with an ideal job; others find the decision making behind a career change a impressive task. Whichever category you fit in, you need to look within for the answer and take the ultimate step towards your reasons for considering a career change.

What makes it difficult for the baby boomer generation to confront a career change is the fact that they grew up in a comfortable world where their needs were met for them, so in today’s highly competitive marketplace, they are better equipped to contend with equally qualified people and should make an effort to do so,  for their own sakes.

The simplest advice a career adviser could give baby boomers looking for a career change is to look for something they love doing, and then stick to working at that, till retirement age  So, while many people leave jobs, and still others are not cut out for certain jobs, and even Many may be laid off, those that make career change a calculated and conscious choice, such as baby boomers are capable of doing, should meditate certain aspects of their life to make it a smart decision.

Some of these elements involved in a career change decision for baby boomers include, evaluating present skills and aptitude appropriate for other jobsor business, defining your passion, being honest about talents and sense of fulfillment in the career and considering taking on fresh training to gain new ground at the present place to increase scope of work productivity.

Experts advise baby boomers to overlook irrelevant factors such as age and gender; instead focus on qualifications and desire to learn, experiment and grow by contributing in a worthy organization that one is interested in or naturally inclined towards.

Stress on the experience on the job you have and the necessary training you have gone through to bring value to the business and you’ll find that even though change is not possible overnight,  it sure can be achieved with success once you plan and work towards making it all come true.

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Do you know what you Will be Doing When Retirement Arrives: Plan your new life

Aug 4

Posted by Claude in Dialogue-retirement

Life Mapping: A Vision of Success

Success is much more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for a successful retirement is about identifying all the aspects of your life. Similar to preparing for a trip, you need to define the following details: Who are you (origin), where your going (destination), how your going to get there (vehicle), your knowledge and experience (backpack), your objectives, goals (landmarks, and route).

Origin:  Who you are

Like a map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are at this moment. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, “Hi,my name is Chris and I am a 55-year old, retired manager.” It doesn’t tell you who Chris is; it only tells you about her present situation. To gain insights about yourself, you must look closely at you believe in, your values, and principles as well as your economical, professional, cultural, and civil position. Furthermore, you can also meditate on your experiences to give you discernment on your good and bad  traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon self-examination, Chris realized that he was extremely motivated, unselfish, service-oriented, but he was also impatient. His disposition was in educational activity. Furthermore, he thought that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were harmful to human dignity.

Destination: Where are you going, your vision of who you want to be

“Who do want to be?” That’s your vision. Now it’s crucial that you know yourself to have a clear idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to modify whether they be attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you barely know yourself, then your vision and objectives for the future would also be blurred. Your goal should embrace all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Pursuing Chris’s story, after he defined his beliefs, values, and principles in life, he found that he needed to have a life dedicated in helping his fellow men.

Vehicle: How will you get there, Your Mission

A vehicle is the means by which you will reach your destination. It’s similar to your mission or calling in life. To a large extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Based on Chris’s self appraisal, he decided that he was suited to become a teacher and that he wanted to become one. His chosen career in retirement was to teach. Describing his new ambition fully: it was to live his new life dedicated to helping people in his same situation (retired)  as a teacher.

Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude

Clothing, drinks, medicines, and other travelling essentials are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you indisputable knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These influence your competence and assist you in achieving your vision. Granted, there is a motive for you to measure what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to take in along the way. This double appraisal will give you ideas on your landmarks or measures of success. Chris recognized that he needed to add professional knowledge and skills in teaching so that he could become a teacher. He knew that he was a bit quick-tempered, impatient with people so he realized that this was something he needed to change.

Landmarks and Route: Objectives

Landmarks confirm if you’re on the right course while the route sets the travel time. So, in projecting your life, you also need to have landmarks and a itinerary. These landmarks qualify your success. These measures need to be specific, measurable, possible, realistic, and have an end so you can’t set two major objectives such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the least number of years to complete a master’s degree is two years. Going back to Chris for instance, he discovered the following landmarks in his life map: collecting the elements that will be part of  the program he would teach in his private course by the  the age of 56; completing the preparation of his course by the age of 57; his marketing program by the age of 58 ; Retiring at the age of 59; and teaching his course “how to start a business online”.

Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes

The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But frequently our plans are changed along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must expect them and adjust accordingly.

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Your a Baby Boomer Serious About Wanting To Start A Business At Home? 5 Steps on How To Achieve Your Dream!

Aug 1

Posted by Claude in Dialogue-retirement, Uncategorized

Don’t leave your day job just yet .If you’re a boomer looking to start a home business, there are 5 mandatory things you must do first.

Leaving the security of a job with an established retirement program, health insurance or other extra benefits can create a real tug of war for baby boomers who want to follow up on their dreams of  having their own business.

Prepare Your getting out scheme

Today the youngest of the baby boomers are about 45 and the oldest are turning 64,67.  Regardless of the group you’re in, preparing and studying a departure strategy from your job will be essential to your long-term success as a home business entrepreneur.  Do you have enough savings?  If you’re married, will you be able to participate in your spouse’s health insurance?

Build a Financial Plan

What is your salary today? What are your fixed, variable and less useful expenses?  Building a strong plan so that you and your family will know precisely what the financial situation will be until your business project takes off and begins generating revenue.

Selecting a Business Model and Legal Entity

There are many business models to choose from; Internet Marketing, multi-level marketing, consulting, and affiliate marketing to name a few.  You have to arrive at a decision based on your personality and what you are best-suited for.  Choosing a legal entity for your project should be discussed with a tax accountant or your lawyer.  Alternatives are single owner, LLC or  corporations.

Set Business Benchmarks

You wouldn’t travel across the country without a road map, for your business it’s the same thing.  Determining financial and business-building benchmarks will assist you to put together a focused plan that will help you to reach your success.

Get a Physical

What does having a physical examen have to do with your business?  When you leave your job, most probably your health insurance will change and as unjust as it may be, getting new health insurance when in your 40’s, 50’s or 60’s will be challenging.  Although going after your dream of a home business is something you are surely very enthusiastic about, if you don’t have good health to savour the rewards of your efforts, then nothing else is important.

The boomer generation is equal to no other before or after it. Technically, we’re viewed as middle-aged, but we’re anything but middle-aged in mind, body and spirit.  We know there’s more significance to life than traveling back and forth to an unsatisfying 9 to 5 job, but there are also crucial steps we need to take first.  Planning and preparing for your business right away will result to fewer headache’s later.

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5 Tips To boost Your Motivation

Jun 16

Posted by Claude in Social

Motivation is the driving force behind life-enhancing change. It comes from recognizing exactly what you want to do and having an unsatisfiable, desire to do what’s necessary to get it. It keeps your dream on track because it is the power of motivation that keeps you going when the things gets tough.

Here’s 5 top hints to help you supercharge your motivation:

1. Create a picture board and fill it with pictures of your goals. The car you would like to own, the home you want to live in, the area where you want to live yes, they’re the obvious ones. Others could be images of  holiday destinations, prizes, first-class travel tickets, clothes you wish to buy, elegant restaurants you want to patronize, anything you can think of that makes your pulse race.

2. GET MAD. If you would like to change your life for the better then get raging mad about where you are at now. Having a bored attitude towards change isn’t what’s called for and it won’t produce a strong desire within you.

So ask: “Why do I want to change?” Is it because you are FED UP with debts? Is your work DRIVING YOU CRAZY? Is your life BORING AND PREDICTABLE? Are you DISGUSTED AND TIRED of doing the same thing week in week out? Are you BORED BEYOND BELIEF by the dull, uninspiring, discontented people you associate with?

THEN GET ANGRY ABOUT IT. And I mean REAL ANGRY. Write it all down,  the whole  frustrating, unrewarding, miserable lot of it that brands every day of your  life a dull slog until your final days. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

3. Talking of your last days, begin to appreciate the value of time. Time is among the most treasured resources you have and it’s also an nonrenewable resource. You are able to either use it fully or waste it. If you want to create change you’re going to have to put in a lot of time to make it happen.

Begin to reduce the time you waste on irrelevancies like: Television, newspapers, weekends spent shopping, partying, dining out, visiting an endless line of relatives and friends,  these won’t serve you get what you desire and all of them will steal time from you. Precious time that you can use so much more effectively by investing it in YOU.

Remember this: You have a limited amount of time here on Earth. You don’t know how much time you’ve got, no one does. Simply it’s how you use the time you have that matters. So make your time count and that means beginning right NOW.

4. Conformity. Are you a senseless little sheep who is way too shy to do things your own way? Do you have to follow where everyone else goes, behaving exactly like everyone else does and consequently, who obtains the equivalent levels of happiness as all the other little sheep?

Seriously, does this describe YOU? Are you too scared to be different than all of the other sheep because they wouldn’t appreciate it if you chose to pursue a different route? So you dutifully trot along following all the other sheep because if they’re doing it then that’s the right way?

Only if you do what everybody else does you’ll  get what everybody else gets. Do you want to be a foolish, shy little sheep who blindly conforms to all the other sheep? Or do you prefer to be a leader, a warrior who has the courage to be uniquely you and do what you want to do and realize your dreams?

If so then this implies you have to be more like a TIGER than a sheep. Do you really want to be a sheep? I mean, haven’t we got plenty sheep already?

5. Fear your fear. Fear is the power that is dictated to block you in your tracks and rob you of your dreams . But it can only do its job if you let it. Are you going to allow this brutal destructive charlatan trample on your dreams, steal your happiness and beat out your spirit? Suppose this thought haunting your last days: “I didn’t do the things I wanted because I was too scared to live my life”. And by then, it’ll be far too late to suppress fear. Refuse to let fear waste your life and begin taking action – now!

The world is desperatly looking for your singular gifts. Why keep it waiting any longer?

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“Secrets of a Positive Attitude”

Jun 12

Posted by Claude in Social, Uncategorized

Are you perpetually bombarded by thoughts of negativity? Troubled by feelings of insecurity? Do you consider everything in a negative way? The reason for this dwells deep inside your heart.

Are you perpetually bombarded by thoughts of negativity? Troubled by feelings of insecurity? Do you consider everything in a negative way? The reason for this dwells deep in you. You’re what you mentally and spiritually eat.

If a individual drinks day in and day out, odds are his body will be affected in some way. He might experience liver problems, develop cancer or experience some other type of ill health directly related to the quantity of alcohol he has downed.

In the same way, someone who constantly feeds themselves negative thoughts will just become a negative individual.

This is the time to go on a diet. A diet of positive attitude food. You’ve to virtually cease feeding your mind destructive thoughts. Ask yourself is this thought negative or positive or negative?

What do harmful thoughts look like? All right, they begin with can’t instead of can, no as opposed to  yes, will and not won’t. The Good Book (Bible) which is the most outstanding self help book ever published, talks all but taking every thought captive.

The problem in our society has become that what our thinkings have taken us captive. We have started to allow our thoughts to control us.

A great way to recognise what we’re negative about is to question those folks who are closest to us. You can ask your spouse or some other individual in your life who really knows you, how they’d rate your attitude on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being extremely positive and 1 extremely negative.

Ask this person to be totally honest with you. You’ll benefit from their honesty even if it  hurts. Ask  them what it is that you specifically say that they comprehend as negative.

Write down what they say and consider the actual words. Now is the time to be truthful with yourself.

Those words are a manifestation of what is in you. They are who you are. The swell thing is that you are able to change. It’s as simple as deciding to do so. You must choose to replace the sentiments of negativity with sentiments of positivity. Determine what words you’ll change the negative words on your paper to. Once you’ve done this, attempt to introduce these new positive thoughts in your mind.

You will start to detect a positive shift happening in your life. Your family, friends and colleagues will all notice it also. They might not know what is different about you. But they’ll know that you are not the same person that you were.

The items which are causing negativity in your life could very easily be the news, films, constantly playing back tragedy in your mind and the list could go on. These things should be ruled out if you want your new mental health regime to be a winner.

The news is really damaging and it doesn’t serve someone who’s trying to rid their mind of such thoughts. When you’re feeding yourself thoughts of death from a war or gunshot or car accident visually the consequence will be negative.

I do think there’s a time to grieve over the death of a loved one. Still, if a person constantly plays back this negative event in their heads it could lead to depression. The person who’s deceased is not coming back and we must end that chapter in our lives and move on to the following chapter. This is a difficult task which can only be done by arriving at a decision to continue with our own life, never mind how hard this may be.

You can do it. You can and will have a positive mental attitude, if you just take the steps explained above. You don’t have to live what you were in the past. You’ll be able to be different in the future. The choice is yours. I know you’ll make a positive one.

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Three Things You can do to Do to Help Yourself Be Successful In Life

Jun 11

Posted by Claude in Social

“Do you define success as having a lot of money? Or do you think success is living your life the way you want too?…..”

Do you define success as having a lot of money? Or do you define success as being able to live your life the way you want too? Either way, they’re both good things to reach for. We all know not everybody can be successful because there are checks and balances for achievers and nonstarters.

I really feel most folks prefer to be on the winning side. Nevertheless, we always bump into people that remain in the same situation in life. Do you feel you’re among those people?

Manifestly if you’re an individual looking and attempting to improve your life you prefer to be on the winning side.

Being successful could imply a lot of things. My definition of being successful is carrying through what you intend to do. For instance, I always intended to have a family and I now have a beautiful family. I consider myself very successful.

Success doesn’t imply to look better than the folks close to you. I believe it comes from within and how you think of yourself and your life.

Success is something that you don’t have to demonstrate on a day-to-day basis. Success is how you live your life.

Here are three tips on being successful:

Create a Vision of Yourself… Having a vision is the first and most vital step of any successful project. Create a vision of what you want to accomplish.

Write down how you wish to see yourself one year from now. Imagine what your life will be like. Having a vision will help you concentrate on what you want to achieve.

Adopt Good Habits and get rid of the bad Habits… Always read and learn about the world around you. Think an opportunity through and don’t be impulsive when an opportunity presents itself.

Eat healthy and exercise. After all everything you do beginnings from within. Be in good health and don’t take your wellness for granted. Add physical fitness to your life. Learn to deal with distractions because there will be piles of distractions to deal with. Don’t use distractions as an alibi to fail.

Enjoy the ride… Savour your road to success. The course will be filled with adversity. Maintain your sense of humor because you could go through very tough challenges along the way. Be accountable, try and control your time by being as efficient as possible.

Remember success isn’t free and it does require sacrifice. The price you pay is time and hard work. Success is difficult but gratifying (even during the pursuit for success). To reach your objective you must work hard, be patient, develop yourself and perhaps have a bit of luck on your side.

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Guide to Buying a Computer

Dec 11

Posted by Claude in Uncategorized

What do you have to know when shopping for a computer?

The first question to ask yourself is: what will I use it for? From the answer depends a lot of stuff! If you want to mostly stock pictures, (photos) for example, go for a large screen, a lot of memory. For games, chose a high performing graphic card and small speakers to immerse yourself in the games. To read or write emails and navigate on the web, or again for word processing or some accounting, a base model with sufficient RAM memory will do. Today these models cost as little as 500$ but at this price its a low quality machine.

The numbers

Now let’s talk about the numbers. The most important ones to remember are the following: The RAM memory of the computer, that will allow it to do multiple tasks at the same time. I don’t see why you should buy anything less than 1G (gigabyte) of memory, the price of memory these days is relatively cheap. Double it if you’re to use your computer to play video games.

Now for the storage capacity of the hard disk. Its recommended to go for 250 Go (gigabyte). You can always work with less, especially if you don’t have the intention of saving (backup) many documents or photos. But if you have the tendency to collect and file stuff and use large programs you need more than 200 Go (gigabytes).

Today most computers run with two processors (the motor of the machine) Its become necessary because more and more people listen to video on their computers. The minimum speed of each of these processors is more or less 2 MHz ( megahertz). The higher the number the faster the speed of the processor, the faster  the computer will react. If the new McIntosh have two processors, its not always the case with the PC.

Table Top or Portable?

An other important question : Do I need a portable or Table top computer? Ten years ago portable computer were reputed to be slower than Table tops. Today , they do the same thing. But they are more  fragile and expensive to repair, and more susceptible to break since we carry them around.

If for example, you want to show photos to your family without having to print them, you can move around with your portable from place to place. If you travel and you like the idea of communicating with your friends and family by email or connect to the Internet from your hotel room, a portable is a good choice. Today, most hotel rooms have wireless Internet connections.

But if you spend many hours at your computer, for whatever reason, you must think of ergonomics. Portables are reputed to give back aches because you have to bend your neck to see the screen. The keyboard of the Table Top computer is wider and more comfortable to use, The display adjusted at eye level and the mouse close at hand are assets for good posture.

Concerning the mouse, chose an optical model, for the same price as the out of date traditional mouse. All computers come with a CD and DVD  reader/burner. This is an indispensable tool to keep security copies of all your important documents.

Protect your documents

Remember that the hard drive of your computer is the worst place to keep your documents because it can be damaged at any moment, and you risk loosing everything. After four or five years of good service a hard drive will give signs of weakness. That’s why if you produce a lot of documents (photos, text, drawings plans accounting reports) , seriously think of buying an external hard drive, 250 Go for a Table top and 100 Go for a portable.

You can save on this external drive, additional copies of all your important documents. And for additional security transfer your important documents ounce in a while on a CD or DVD. Tedious, certainly, but necessary to protect yourself from losing everything on an unlucky day. It’s recommended to do an integral copy of your computer’s hard drive. If ever it crashes, your copy on the external drive will resurrect it nothing less.

Mac or PC?

This is quite a debate. The McIntosh company is reputed to build good equipment that operate with there in-house operating system, Mac OSX. (Mac control their operating software and computer).This is a token of quality. As for other computers the PCs they are machines of more or less quality assembled with parts of many origins, and they have in common Windows as the operating system. It doesn’t mean you wont find very good PCs built by reputed manufacturers. What I mean, if you are an artistic user (photographer, graphic designer, etc) You would as a rule be better served with a Mac. Thought you could also easily get by  with a PC also. Its a question of personal choice …. and budget. A McIntosh is generally more expensive than a PC. But Macs have a better longevity and a better resistance. But when the time comes to have them repaired, there are fewer repair shops.

Other equipment

Computer screens are bigger and less expensive today. For a table top get a 20 inch screen they are more comfortable when visualizing two documents side by side. For the portable, get a 15 inch screen. But if its for traveling light, a 12 or 13 inch screen would be OK. If you what to print photos or other documents chose a a popular combo printer/scanner.

Short Life

Legend is that once you leave the store with your computer it’s out of date. Its true that it’s life span is not always as long as you’d wish. The fault is not as much the computers, although some are of bad quality, than the spectacular development of software that demand more and more memory on our computers.

I hope this article will benefit you and help you make a good choice there are so many types and brand of computers on the market today . Best of luck in your quest for a new computer.

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Are you Active or Sedentary

Dec 5

Posted by Claude in Uncategorized

You aspire to become more active?

Today very few people are not aware that being physically active is good, its good for your mental and physical health. On the physical side doing regular physical activities, will in effect bring an important reduction in the risque of developing cardiovascular problems, certain cancers, diabetes type 2, hypertension, osteoporosis, and sometimes it even slows down the aging process.

On the psychological side, benefits are also important it will have an impact on your: mood, your concentration you’ll sleep better, it will reduce mental fatigue, anxiety, and your stress level. Are you taking advantage of these benefits? In other words are you a physically active or sedentary person.

Are your sedentary.

First let’s determine what being sedentary is. A person is considered sedentary when, day after day his or her activities are reduced to a minimum and the energy spent is close to rest, for example the regular daily activities are limited to watching TV, reading, working on a computer, driving a car or from time to time doing the groceries or going to the bank. Is this your situation? If you answered yes and you want to change read on.

Understand that the quantity of exercises needed to leave this sedentary life is not to do a marathon, far very far from it. All you need to do is enter the aerobic zone, even if go in on the tip of your toes… this zone includes all aerobic exercises, that will facilitate oxygen to flow freely in your active muscles. For this to happen the exercise must be demanding for the large inferior muscles (thighs, legs, buttocks) for a certain amount of time.

The key here is to exercise moderately. Moderate aerobic exercise increase your breathing, your pulse, and your body temperature, but you are still able to hold a conversation while working out. Its certainly not an exercise that will completely put you out of breath. A quick walk, swimming, social dancing, cycling, roller skating, are examples of good aerobic activities.

Its understood that when your exercising if your breathing gets heavy, your hearth beats faster your effort goes from moderate to high intensity, it may be your walking up a stiff hill, or involved in a hot tennis game. Be careful, try to keep it moderate. However, if you wish to grow the intensity of your training to this level, do it when your in good physical shape and with the approval of your doctor.

Getting in the aerobic zone

Here is a simple way to enter the zone. First avoid staying inactive for long periods of time, like watching TV for hours. Get up ounce in a while move around before getting back to the couch. Use the stairs when going up a few levels. When walking on the street or in a shopping center, walk faster up to 100 steps a minute. Walk at this speed for five(5) minutes in the beginning, than for ten(10) minutes and than fifteen(15). Do some of these activities for the next few weeks, and you will find that going from sedentary to being physically active is not so hard after all.

Eventually go for 30 minutes of fast walking per day or around 200 minutes a week. Its the minimum recommended by most health organizations. Its also understood that you can replace walking by any moderate aerobic exercise. You could also reach the 200 minutes in many different ways such as:

  • 30 full minutes a day or 2 blocks of 15 minutes per day
  • 5 times 40 minutes per week or 2 blocs of 20 minutes per day per week
  • 4 times 50 minutes per week or 2 blocs of 25 minute a day 4 times

Finally if you are a very active person and everything is going well, what is there to say but keep up the good work.

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