I am absolutely loving my degree.  I never imagined how fulfilling it could be to pursue a creative career.  I had been spending so much time on my finance major and I couldn’t believe how hard it was, and how stressed out and upset it was making me.  My heart wasn’t in it, but I thought that I was the career for me; I should have realized earlier that yes, there are those days after a party when you just don’t want to get up, but if you can’t stand to go to class every morning, you’re studying the wrong subject.  I feel like I can breathe easier in photography, and I’ve never found any place as relaxing as the dark room.  This week we’re studying commercial applications of photography, and how to print photos on to pretty much any item.  We’ve made photo throws, a picture blanket, and custom pillows (Christmas is now taken care of!).  It’s just so much fun, it doesn’t seem like so much work.  I’m really enjoying myself, and I didn’t realize how much more powerful and effective you can be when you aren’t stressed out. I think this the start to living a life that is really and truly mine.

Technorati Tags: custom pillows, Finance, photo throws, picture blanket

I did a criminal records search recently for a friend on an employee that she had hired a few months ago but had failed to do a background search on at the time she hired him. I told her with one point screening available these days, she had been a fool not to take advantage of the many resources and benefits to screening employees that you are going to be granting immeasurable access to for all levels of the company. I did a good job scaring her and I do not think she will ever hire another person again without being smarter about it but I was still concerned about one of her employees in particular.

His name was William and he just seemed like a dodgy character to me from the moment I met him. Sure enough when I ran a check on his criminal history it came up that he had been convicted of smuggling illegal aliens across the border from Mexico into Arizona. Not only was my friend vehemently against illegal immigrants coming into the country, but the very job for which she had hired him involved driving across the border of the two countries several times a week. If she had done the check, she would have known.

Technorati Tags: background search, criminal records search, one point screening

When I decided to offer an introduction course on local search optimization for companies in my area, I had no idea what the response would be.  I wanted to offer it not only to promote my SEO business, but also to let others know how important SEO is to their company’s online livelihood.

I had the advertisements up for only a day and a half when my Tampa online marketing company was inundated with people calling and email wanting to sign up for the course.   Seems there was an interested in it!  In fact, there was so much interest I ended up adding two more classes to accommodate everyone. 

And I was pleasantly surprised that it was not just online company owners and managers who were attending.  Consumers were also interested in learning a bit more about how SEO affected them and I even had a couple of employees from other Tampa Internet advertising companies who were interested in seeing what we had to offer.

All in all the courses were fun to teach and even I found some of the questions asked challenging.  There has already been interest in more courses, which I will definitely offer in the future.

Technorati Tags: local search optimization, Tampa Internet advertising, Tampa online marketing

When I was in college pursuing my undergraduate degree, about a quarter of the classes I took were online, even though I attended a traditional campus-based college.  Not all of their classes were offered online, but a good number of them were, and for scheduling purposes I took as many of the online courses as I could manage.

Initially I was a bit skeptical about online classes, but I pretty quickly grew to love them.  In many ways they are far superior to campus classes.  Sure, you miss out on the classroom environment, but the virtual classroom has its own set of advantages.

• More time for studying and coursework.  Since you don’t have to commute back and forth to campus or spend time in a classroom, you therefore have more time for doing assignments, reading the text, and studying for exams.
• More one-on-one with instructors.  I’ve found that online instructors tend to be more interested in connecting with their students one-on-one via email and messaging, and therefore more inclined to give extra help when needed.
• Lectures you can refer back to.  Many online instructors post lectures in the virtual classroom.  Because these are text, audio, or video files, they can be saved and referred back to at a later date, making it easier to study and learn the material.  After all, taking notes in a lecture class format can be so inaccurate!
• More freedom and flexibility in your learning habits.  Taking courses online allow you considerably more freedom in when and where you choose to learn.  If you have a busy schedule, you can do your coursework late at night in the privacy of your own home.  If you learn best when it’s quiet, you can take your laptop to the library.

Of course, because of its convenience and growing popularity, the cost of online education can be considerably more expensive than traditional college tuition costs.  So if you are interested in pursuing an online degree, you will probably want to look at ways to decrease the cost of college.  With the convenience and the advantages, though, I’m sure you’ll find it’s worth the extra effort!

Technorati Tags: college tuition costs, decrease the cost of college, online classes, online degree, online education, undergraduate degree

I once dated a man who contracted gout. I remember upon his diagnosis how we were both amazed at the ambiguity of the disease. We went out and bought some natural healing books and changed his diet. One of his friends was a in a human movement graduate program and referred us to a physical therapist.

Gout is a form of arthritis that attacks joints and causes swelling and pain. Gout is caused from a buildup of uric acid in the blood, as the acid builds up it forms crystals around the joints. Foods high in the chemical purine such as beer, certain meats and fish can bring on a gout attack.

My roommate was getting her masters in a health science program and told us to talk to a nutritionist. At times the gout attacks would get so bad, my boyfriend, who owned a five speed car, could not push in the clutch to switch gears, and therefore could not drive.

Eventually he got into a transitional physical therapy program which helped when his joints got stiff and achy. In addition we made some changes to his diet and increased his water intake, which helped to ward off the painful gout attacks.

Technorati Tags: human movement graduate program, masters in health science program, transitional physical therapy program