Rainy days...

Living in a tropical country I experience rainy days quite often.  This makes commuting difficult and makes you want to just stay home and relax.

However, there are many other useful things that you can do to spice up those rainy days when you're stranded at home:

1. Organize:  Often we plan our work day and organize what we do at the office in order to deliver on or before our deadlines.  When we find ourselves stuck at home we tend to relax and go with the flow.  Organizing how you spend your day at home can be just as fulfilling.  Organize your garage or toss out old stuff that was piling in your storage closets.  This is the time to look at your tools or supplies so you know what's there and what isn't.  Organize old pictures and/or movies; the kitchen... anything.  You will see that much can be accomplished even during these rainy and lazy days.

2. Connect:  We usually forget that other people are around us at home.  After a day's work we can be so tired that we don't want to spend time talking to anyone.  Rainy days could be days spent reconnecting with the people in your home; learning what's been happening to them during the week and how you could help fix a problem or issue.  Find time also to connect with relatives and friends who are abroad or whom you haven't spoken to in ages.  The internet is ripe with ways we can connect with one another.

3. Relax:  Rainy days are a great opportunity to sit back relax and catch up on your reading; or watch a home video with your family; or rent/buy a DVD that the whole family can watch together.  Nothing is better than seeing you and your family just sit and read or watch or play board games.  These are moments that families will never forget.

These are just some suggestions I think we should all consider given that our lives are so distracted with technology and work.  We can still enjoy the simple joys of life and you don't need to spend a cent.

Start now... start simple and see what happens.

Rainy days getting you down?  Not anymore...

Acting Lessons: Where to Learn the Fundamentals

By Andrew R Woods

In a way, acting auditions are like your job interviews. If you want to land a role in a sitcom or movie, you have to pass the test that's usually given by important people behind the production such as directors and producers. Now, just like how sports teams hold tryouts to evaluate the conditioning and skills of some players, these auditions are made to assess your acting chops. So if you don't want to blow this excellent opportunity that you can use as your stepping stone en route to stardom, be sure that can immediately show them your acting prowess. But if your background in performing arts is not something that you can brag about, why don't you take acting lessons to guarantee that you can hone your skills? By doing this, you'll be more confident that you can make a good impression even on the first try.

Every aspiring actor should know the fundamentals in acting. From something as simple as proper breathing to technicalities such as stage blocking, all of these can be vital to your acting career. If you don't know where you can take acting lessons, there are several schools that offer crash courses that can help you sharpen your acting skills. In fact, even in Hollywood Boulevard-where the stars of famous actors and actresses are imprinted, you can surely find an acting school with a good reputation. Who knows? You might even get these acting lessons Los angeles style. Whether it's your comedic timing in a short skit or the way you express emotions in a drama, you can guarantee that you can improve them once you've taken lessons from competent coaches and trainers.

If you think that adults who want to have careers in acting are the only ones that would benefit from taking acting lessons, you're very much mistaken. Believe it or not, there are acting schools that have courses specifically made for children. Acting lessons for kids are designed to teach them the basics to make sure that they won't look amateurish in front of the camera or on stage. Aside from this, these courses also aim to build confidence so children can deliver excellent performance even if they're under tremendous pressure. In simple terms, taking lessons can also teach them how to control their fear of the stage and its bright lights. Most acting schools have competent teachers that really know what they're talking about. They have first-hand experience in dealing with the anxiety and other common problems that aspiring actors eventually encounters. Plus, they can also give you helpful tips on how to get ready for various auditions.

Would you ever risk going into a job interview unprepared? Unless you don't really like the position that you're applying for, it's expected that you would put your best foot forward so you can create a good impression. Now, take that same mentality in your audition. Whether it's a stage play or a movie, the only way you can get noticed is to astonish them with your acting prowess. But if you think that you're still ill-equipped for such situation, you can easily compensate for your inadequacies by taking an acting lessons.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_R_Woods

Do You Want To Find The Best All In One Printer At A Good Price

By Ron Gillespie

Before we talk about some of the best all in one printers let's look at why they have evolved so dramatically over the last decade. The reason is that it made more sense for the big corporations such as HP, Canon Epson and Lexmark to design printers that can carry out various task such as to printing, copying, faxing and even scanning with one device instead of many. The thought process behind this is that the consumer will save money by buying only one printer with various multifunction capabilities. Let's have a look at several printers that ticks all the boxes.

The first wireless all in one printer that we are going to look at is the canon Pixma MG6150. This printer is a good all-rounder and is very user friendly with the help of its touch screen capability. The controls of the touch screen are very responsive and light up when touched.

This printer takes six CLI-526 cartridges, you can get alternative cartridges such as Jettec and they produce a multipack for £27.99 which is not only good value but are also very good compatibles. This printer can produce extremely colourful and sharp photographs at very fast speeds and the scanner is also quick, it can produce very good colourful copies. The preview screen on the printer lets you edit and remove red eye as well as many other functions.

There are various ways to print with the MG6150 for instance you can use compact flash, memory sticks and all multimedia cards via its card slot or by using the PictBridge for direct printing from your camera, lastly you can print by using canons own application for the iPhone and android devices.
Another printer which is great is the MFC-795CW Brother all in one printer. This printer has certain features that make it stand out from the crowd. It can either be wireless, Ethernet or USB which is similar to the canon. It has a 5inch wide colour LCD touchscreen that is simple and extremely responsive. What this printer has that other don't is a handset as well as colour fax capability giving it more flexibility in the office environment.

This Brother will print up to 23 pages per minute in Mono and 20 pages in colour and the copy resolution is 1200 x1200 dpi which is not bad. This printer takes four cartridges, they fit neatly at the front of the printer which makes it simple and very convenient to insert. Just like the Canon it also takes jettec compatibles.

The top of the canon range is the MG8150 Canon wireless all in one printer, it has a price tag of around £220.00 and can do almost everything apart from making a cup of tea, and it is superb value for money. HP has also produced many great all in one printers for example the HP photosmart plus is a good all-rounder, it produces great photo prints and the copy capability is extremely good. It also has a touch screen facility.

Visit www.newcomputerstore.co.uk and see how we have brought together over 6000 leading brand computers, printers, laptops and netbooks and all under one roof. You will save time and money!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_Gillespie

RePost: My New iPad: A User's Guide Book Review - No Starch Press Book (by Doug Felteau)

My New iPad: A User's Guide Book Review - No Starch Press Book

By Doug Felteau

Wallace Wang, best seller of My New Mac and My New iPhone for the No Starch Press publisher has written a new book detailing everything you need to know about the iPad in a book called "My New iPad: A User's Guide." No Starch Press provided a reviewer's copy of "My New iPad: A User's Guide" for this review.

"My New iPad: A User's Guide" includes seven chapters including: basic training; customizing your iPad; getting on the Internet; sharing data with your iPad; video, music, and eBooks; organizing yourself and additional tips. Each chapter is small and comes in easily consumable chunks of information that can instantly help new users complete a certain task with easy to follow step by step instructions.

The first chapter called "Basic Training" teaches you how to turn on and off the iPad, what the various buttons and slides perform and how to use and customize the virtual keyboard. Apple changed the Screen Location Lock since the book was published so information has changed since the publish date resulting in incorrect information.

"Customizing Your iPad" is the second chapter that details how to customize your home screen, set the date and time, restoring and resetting your iPad and installing and uninstalling iPad apps.

The third chapter called "Getting on the Internet" shows how to use the email client and web browser called Safari including some intermediate information such as how to use bookmarks and automatically fill out forms with Safari.

If you do not know how to transfer content to your iPad, chapter four is perfect for you. "Sharing Data with Your iPad" shows how to synchronize with iTunes to transfer media such as photos, movies, TV shows and even podcasts. The chapter further goes on to show steps to synch your eBooks, Audio Books, Contacts, Appointments, Mail, Notes, Bookmarks and even iTunes University Courses. The book is light on how to actually configure Yahoo! or Google services with your iPad however.

The next chapter focuses on content consumption on the iPad and it titled "Video, Music and eBooks". This chapter shows you how to watch your photos to listen to your music to watching YouTube videos.

Chapter six focuses on how to use the iPad to keep yourself organized using included iPad apps and is called "Organizing Yourself."

Finally, the last chapter called "Additional Tips" provides some additional miscellaneous tips including how to update the iOS or use foreign languages. This last chapter also includes a section called "Best iPad Apps" which includes some good apps but is dated. To keep up with the best iPad apps, you should watch for articles that continually are updated such as the Gizmos for Geeks Favorite iPad Apps monthly updated list.

I started and finished "My New iPad: A User's Guide" in one afternoon. The book is geared towards new users of not only the iPad device but of Apple's iOS devices including iPod Touch and iPhones and definitely not towards advanced user's of the iOS. For example, this book would be ideal for my parents since they have never used an iOS device, but I found the book way to simplistic to really become engaged.

Doug Felteau enjoys blogging about the latest gadgets and anything technology related and maintains a monthly article on Gizmos for Geeks listing the best iPad apps. An avid iPad user since the device was released, Doug has integrated the device and apps into his everyday life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doug_Felteau