It is May 2nd, and we woke up to snow this morning! Not a very spring/summer morning view, but hey, it is Minnesota. Mother's Day is May 12th, and a handpainted mug with some goodies would make a lovely gift! Feel free to contact me. (Pictures are on my website at http://www.jennymaroney.blogspot.com.) Warmer weather is soon to arrive—and as your Mary Kay consultant would like to stress to you all to make sure you are protecting your skin! Many of our products have sunscreen in them, including our men's moisturizer, our liquid foundation, Timewise day solution, and the foundation primer. UV rays always present, so take care of your largest organ! We also have great sunscreens available in SPF 30 and 50, along with a lip protector that has SPF 15. http://www.marykay.com/jennymaroney

On my previous post I said I was looking for someone who does Karoke for a Birthday party. I should have said We are looking for a DJ for a birthday party. If any one knows of one please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

We are looking for some who does Karoke for a birthday party on March 9th. Please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you know someone. Thanks

We are looking for someone who does Karoke for a birthday party on March 9th. Please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you know someone.

So I've been thinking and working a lot with web design and trying to implement Google into my marketing plan for this year. As a Minnesota wedding photographer and videographer, the competition is FIERCE. Seriously, it's incredible. There are however, other terms that I have a better chance at landing near the top. Finding those easy results on "how many people are searching for xyz" and "competition level" helped me understand what I could be targeting, however I wasn't getting the results that really made my mind spin. I was really looking for the numbers about my own site, and finding what terms people are using to find me right now, and to see where I can improve. Google Webmaster Tool is truly incredible. I can see so much information about my viewers and search optimization, it's truly inspiring. Especially inspiring since I've been talking with more and more business owners that are getting upwards of 25%, 50%, and even more of their total customers directly as a result of Google search terms. That's real dollars generated from zero advertising dollars. Just research, website design/content, and doing the work to make it all jive together and get noticed. Just have to say it, I'm pumped for this year and what I think my website is going to bring my business! Are you pumped?

Hi there, Today's tip comes from my experience this past Sunday where I had the opportunity to be the DP (Director of Photography) for a music video. As you might remember, this past Sunday had a low temperature of well below zero and the high of just 5 degrees. So how do you manage to do an all-day outdoors video shoot? Luckily each location had a house we could go inside and warm up at. For the first location, we were in and out pretty consistently (wardrobe/prepping/etc) until about 2pm. Once we went to location #2 (an old barn), since it was so cold and I felt bad having other people outside while I was inside warming up.. I just stayed out in the barn the whole time except for dinner. It wasn't too bad since we were out of the wind and had a small heater. However, being a ginormous old wooden barn, the heat only worked for about 2 feet. Tips: 1) Dress in Layers. I borrowed a slew of hunting gear that was designed (layer by layer) to keep me warm, dry, and to stop the wind. 2) Cover all exposed skin. Operating a camera, you need finger dexterity and the ability to adjust camera settings. Fingerless mittens with the magnetic snap cover gives you the best of both worlds. Full finger control when you need it, and you can quickly flip the mitten like cover over to warm them up! A few times I just "tested it" by not covering up right away - what a mistake! When it's only 2-4 degrees outside, exposed skin really zaps the heat from your body! For your face, I had a full head cover that had a flap going down the front and back of my jacket a little ways. I could stretch the opening to be just around my eyes and nose, but since I had glasses on and it would sometimes fog up I mainly had it down just below my mouth. Whenever possible, even if only for a few moments, I'd pull it up over my mouth to quick "warm up". 3) Warm up facility. At each location, we had a warm house for our talent (band members and volunteers) to warm up in. While we can't bring gear inside because it will fog up (like glasses do when going from the cold outside to a warm-humid inside), having the chance to go back inside and regaining the feeling in your toes is really nice. 4) Camera heat packs. The biggest challenge shooting in the cold is keeping the camera batteries warm enough to hold a charge. We found a few important solutions to this problem. We found that having 3 chemical type hand warmers (air activated - the ones you buy at target, cabelas, camping stores, etc.) worked great when gaff taped to the outside of the camera. My assistant cameraman had fully charged batteries in his inside pants pockets to keep them warm. We also had batteries inside on the chargers all day long. 5) Keep your equipment cold. This seems counter intuitive but keep your gear outside! Don't bring your gear in from outside unless you have at least 30 minutes for it to "thaw" out slowly. When you need to do so quickly, you can put your gear in 100% airtight ziplock bags while it is still outside and bring them inside. The reason you don't want to just bring it inside and let it fog up is that that condensation isn't just on the outside of your camera. The internal electronics and lens elements can have permanent damage from the moisture. If you need to shoot inside, if possible do that part first. Otherwise plan a break, perhaps lunch, to coincide with your transition from outside to in. That should give a little time for the "rapid warm up" via the sealed plastic bag. 6) Well planned. Make sure you have every scene well planned before heading outside. Using a storyboard helps everyone stay on track and helps in communication between the director, talent, and camera operators. Planning what scenes involve what backgrounds and what talent, a well planned project can pay off dramatically when it comes to the number of sections you can shoot in one day. 7) Communication with talent. Make sure you have someone who is coordinating with the talent on what scenes are coming up and who is needed and in what wardrobe/makeup. The fastest way to slow a production down is to have everyone waiting for talent to get out of prep. Have a call sheet for exactly when everyone needs to be there plus a scene by scene list of who's needed when. Communicate the needs with one another as clearly as possible. This will reduce the time needed outside for everyone involved! 8) Have extra hands. While you may be able to do things all by yourself, having an extra pair of hands (or more) really speeds things up. And when every minute counts (because it's so crazy cold out), those extra hands can make things go that much smoother for both yourself and the talent. I hope you found these tips useful. No matter the weather, I'm always here to help your shoot go smoothly! So if you have any commercial video production needs or ideas that you are interested in tackling this winter, give me a call at 612-208-8819 today. I'd be more than happy to chat with you about your idea and brainstorm a plan to accomplish your vision! Sincerely, Travis Johansen

Jenny's Blog: How Your Spouse's Driving Record Can Impact YouFeb 21, 2011 By Jenny Li, Editor in Chief, State Farm™ Employee Share Email Print There's so much to think about when you first get married, and I'm talking about the logistics, not the actual marriage part. There are potential address changes, name changes, status changes...it almost seems endless. I got married last September, and I'm still going through this process. Calling my agent was one of the first steps I took, and I learned a few things. Your spouse's driving record could have an impact on your ability to be insured. If both partners have good driving records, then you may be in store for some good news. The new couple could be eligible for a multiple car discount, if there are now two or more cars at the same address insured by the same company. If the individuals are under the age of 25, their rate could change to a married rate, which could be less expensive. The eligibility and rates may vary depending on the state you live in and your insurance provider, so ask your insurance company or your agent for specific information.  But if one of the partners has a bad driving record, there could be a negative impact on the other's auto insurance. For instance, a policy may recognize a household rather than individuals within the household. Companies may handle this differently, so it's important to talk to your agent or insurance provider to see how your new status could impact your policy. Things like too many speeding tickets or accidents, suspensions, or DUI's could present auto insurance issues for a newly married couple. In the insurance industry it could take 3 to 5 years for the impact of such incidents to go away. As if marriage isn't enough work already...perhaps it would be best to get this conversation going early while you're still in the "newlywed" stages.

For all of those with Elmo fans in your household.....

Our personal experience has shown that the use of a beloved muppet, and a catchy tune can facilitate alot of cooperation. Enjoy!

Hi guys and gals,

Are you looking to finally get organized and stay on top of your blogging this year because you want to really make 2013 awesome? Perhaps you'll enjoy this website I found (it's actually a blog - go figure!) that links to 20 nice blog planners. Some of them are quite cute. Here's a link: http://www.fabnfree.com/2012/08/30/20-free-printable-blog-planners/ While some of them are from 2012, and some of them are out of date, there are a few that work year after year. One in particular caught my interest.

The blog planner that really caught my interest (and I printed it out) is #5 titled “Blog Planner Printables ~ Organize Your Blog Planning” by Homeschool Creations Here's a direct link to the download page: http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2012/07/free-printable-blog-planner/

The thing I liked about it most is that it's an easy to read, yet vibrant and cool designed, and has an area for my month's goals and projects. When it comes to my commercial video work or photography projects for clients, those obviously have due dates and can be scheduled. However, when I have personal projects that I am working through, it is really nice having more of a "list" for the month. Another great thing about each days checklist is the social media reminder check boxes. I remember reading that "unless an artist finishes their work" (and displays it to the world), "their work is just wasted". Likewise if we write an insightful article or post some amazing images and fail to share them, was it wasted work? Having those little check boxes also makes it easy to see how much you've been doing/sharing online.

I plan on using the blog calendar to help keep me on track as well as plan out some marketing campaigns and really stay diligent! How about you? Which design do you like best? Are you using a different calendar to stay on track?

Leave a comment or message me!

Question of the Day: What do you use to deliver digital media? I have been using Vimeo where I upload the high resolution video file and just let clients download it direct through the site. It works slick - and I've always got a backup of full resolution finished files available online/on demand! Pretty nifty. For other times, I upload to my web hosting company via Filezilla (FTP) and send clients a simple link to download a zipped folder of files! I can upload however big a file I want as long as I don't go over my storage limit. And lastly, I just re-discovered Dropbox. It works really nifty when installed on your computer where you just drag a folder of files into it (I have it on my desktop) and it synchronizes in the background. Then I can invite to share it with people through the folder itself - super simple and quick! (If you don't have a dropbox account, use THIS LINK to signup and you'll get a bonus EXTRA 500MB of space for FrEE!!! >> http://db.tt/SEuTNVjZ ) For clients that get a DVD/Blu-Ray, I use Lightscribe disks with a photo from their session/event with their name/date on the disk itself. I then print out a custom DVD case insert on photopaper with their name/date/event on the front and my logo on the back corner. Super nice looking and I always get compliments on how amazing it looks. Simple, affordable, and yet surprisingly remarkable. What business tools couldn't you live without?

A cabin air filter? Such a thing exists? What is it and what does it do? A cabin air filter is one of the most overlooked filters on a vehicle simply because many people don’t even know they have one. Basically what it does, is filter out pollutants and allergens before they make it into the cabin of the vehicle. If you’ve got allergies this little guy is a blessing in paper form. In most vehicles, they are located under the windshield wiper cowl at the base of the windshield, and because of it’s location a lot of debris can build up on it, significantly reducing it’s effectiveness. Here’s an example of what we usually see when we pull one out: Yuck! Also, moisture can sit on your filter and begin to mold, at which point you may experience a funky smell inside the car. Watch out for these symptoms: *Reduced airflow *Increased cabin air temperature *Increased air pollutants/excessive dust buildup on the dash *You have allergies and you’re sneezing a more than usual, or have itchy eyes These are all symptoms of a plugged or contaminated cabin air filter. Are you ready for some good news? Cabin air filters are CHEAP, and relatively easy to replace on most vehicles. We here at Superior Service Center suggest checking your cabin air filter frequently, especially if your car sits outside under a tree.

I’ve talked to a number of clients recently about “Social Media” in the “Workplace”. The two aren’t necessarily synonymous terms to some employers; whereas others see it as a necessary means of doing staying competitive in business. On one end of the spectrum some employers limit or prohibit social media during work hours citing the lack of productivity. On the other end, other employers encourage their staff to use social media frequently as a means to connect with their audience. So which one is right? Depending on your industry and organization, it varies. It is no surprise that social interaction is an integral part of our personal culture as much as it is in the workplace. While it is common to see people texting, tweeting, or posting photos online in their personal time, some employers may have a hard time knowing where to draw the line for usage in the workplace. So how can employers objectively measure social media? Here are some tips: 1) Determine whether social media plays a role in connecting with your audience (clients, constituents, members, or market). If yes, you will want to write policies that encourage and reward your staff for positive online interaction with your audience. If no, then evaluate what end-benefit your workforce will have by engaging in personal online activity. You may find that allowing personal social media time may have some morale boosting benefits; however you may want to limit the usage. 2) Find out how much time you and your workforce are spending on social media each day. Visit www.rescuetime.com. This application loads to any PC and tracks the tasks and online activity throughout the day. The results are telling. You can determine a lot from the report it produces. It can give employers objective insight on the social media scene and help evaluate whether you need to make changes in the workplace. 3) Write policies that clearly outline social media use in the work place. It's difficult to determine if social media is productive or not if there is no set standard. Social media changes quickly; evaluate your policies regularly to make sure they are relevant and address your workplace as a whole. Consistency is the key, so make sure everyone is on the same page and stick to it.

Like most business professionals who try to manage increasing demands on time and productivity, the thought of spending extra time learning or even “doing” social media can be daunting. Balancing productivity usually means focusing on the things that require the most immediate attention with the things that require planning longer term. You know the drill... You see that you have an hour or so in your schedule to do that “social media stuff” and figure today is the day to get started. Soon you find yourself putting out a fire or tending to something else that came up. Before you know it, the day is done. You sigh and tell yourself that tomorrow you'll get started; and so the story goes...

If you're like me, you need simple reminders that help you stay on track while balancing the "fires" of life. Here are 3 tips to stay focused:

1) Set small achievable goals. Even if you don't know much about social media, make it a goal to learn more. Write your goals out and give them a specific time you want to have them accomplished. Nothing worth doing is usually easy, so give yourself a realistic timeframe to accomplish them.

2) Take the initiative to learn about the social media that benefits your audience the most - blogs, tweets, posts, forums, etc.- and do it incrementally. If you spend 15 minutes a day for one month "experimenting" with social marketing sites, you'll have a pretty good sense of what's valuable to your audience and what's not. Learn what your audience wants and give it to them!

3) DO IT! I've heard it best summed up as this - The road to mediocrity is paved with good intentions. 99% of the time no one is going to tell you to BLOG, post, tweet or get going on your website. You simply need to start doing it. I hear it all the time… The single biggest demotivator to learning and "doing" social media is getting stuck in the rut of thinking you can't do it or you simply don't have the time. The reality is everyone can find an extra 5 - 10 minutes in their day to get in the game...

Vitamin D is one of the few vitamins our body needs that it can produce independently of our diet. This fat-soluble vitamin is unique in humans because it functions as a prohormone, a precursor to the ordinary hormone, and is synthesized when our skin is exposed to the sun. It is produced in the kidneys in the form of calcitriol, before it is released into the body as a hormone.

It regulates the concentration of calcium and phosphate in the blood stream, helping to promote healthy growth and remodeling in our bones. The regular intake or production of Vitamin D in our bodies can help to prevent rickets in children and the onset of osteomalacia in adults.Vitamin D, especially when combined with calcium, helps to maintain healthy bones and can also reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life.

While it is commonly known that Vitamin D is good for the health of our bones, many people do not know that it also affects the function of the neuromuscular and immune systems, inflammation and cell growth [1][2][3].

Vitamin D also partly modulates the genes in the body that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis [1].  The recommended dietary intake, recommended by the Food and Nutrition board at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, is about 15-20mcg in a healthy adult for optimal bone and overall health [1].

Even though getting regular sunlight is the simplest way to top up Vitamin D levels, many people don’t get sufficient sun, particularly if they live in a colder climate or during the winter. Fortunately there are plenty of food sources out there that can help support our Vitamin D intake. In some countries, it is not uncommon to come across food that has been artificially fortified with Vitamin D [4].

But the regular consumption of fatty fish, such as catfish, salmon, mackerel, sardines, eel and tuna, can help to naturally get enough Vitamin D in our diet. Other food sources are also rich in Vitamin D, such as: whole eggs, beef liver, fish liver oils – including cod liver oil, mushrooms and yeast that have been grown under UV light. It is important to maintain a healthy balanced diet rich in Vitamin D and to get enough sunlight when the weather is nice enough to do so.

Vitamin D is important for a healthy skeletal system, immune system [5], may help reduce the risk against several cancers [6] and may even reduce the overall mortality risks from any cause [7][8].  

Would you like to know more about Vitamin D or nutrition?  

References:[1] Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2010.[2] Holick MF. Vitamin D. In: Shils ME, Shike M, Ross AC, Caballero B, Cousins RJ, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 10th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006.[3] Norman AW, Henry HH. Vitamin D. In: Bowman BA, Russell RM, eds. Present Knowledge in Nutrition, 9th ed. Washington DC: ILSI Press, 2006.[4] DRI, Dietary reference intakes: for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. 1997. p. 250. ISBN 0-309-06350-7. Nutrition[5] http://web.archive.org/web/20080419071840/http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061111/bob9.asp Accessed October 2011[6] Ingraham, BA; Bragdon, B; Nohe, A (January 2008). "Molecular basis of the potential of vitamin D to prevent cancer". Current Medical Research and Opinion 24 (1): 139–49. [7] Autier P, Gandini S. Vitamin D supplementation and total mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1730-7.[8] Giovannucci E. Can vitamin D reduce total mortality? Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1709-10.

Read more on Vitamin D...

There are a number of tax cuts that were enacted over the past 12 years that are due to expire at the end of 2012. If no action is taken, we are looking at the largest tax increase in history! While there is still time before the end of 2012 to take action, it would be prudent to understand how this tax increase may impact you.

I will write further on this topic in the coming weeks giving you some items to look at related to your own tax situation and some tips on minimizing the impact of the tax increase.

Many businesses struggle to keep up with their accounting and bookkeeping work while trying to perform sales and marketing duties as well as keep up with servicing their customers. This is where Perpetual Resources, Inc. can help. We can take over just the accounting and bookkeeping tasks that you need us to so that you can concentrate on running your business.

 

• Here are some common questions that we encounter:
  
  Do you wonder why your bank accounts do not reconcile or your numbers do not balance?
  Do you wonder why your Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable records are not correct?
  Do you seem to work harder and harder, but your bank balance is not growing?
  Would you like to understand and analyze your financial statements?
  Do you wonder if you can do things differently in order to reduce taxes and other costs?

<A href="/index.asp?PageID=3">Contact Us</A> to discuss a plan for improving the performance of your business

Do we over think problems?

8809=6     5555=0

7111=0     8793=3

2171=0     8096=5

4567=2     7896=4

2222=0     9778=3

8526=3    2581=?

What is the answer?

This problem has been solved by pre-school childer in under 10minutes, by programers in an hour, and by people with higher education... well check yourself!

Overthinking and Your Child-Like Mind

Con­sider the ques­tion in the image above. (If you want to know the answer. It's at the end of the arti­cle.)

 

As the chil­dren we once were, grow­ing up was a process of becom­ing adults. Not only bio­log­i­cally but also men­tally. We learned to be respon­si­ble, to pay the bills, to get things done and we learned the com­plex world of adult­hood. To become adults we had to lose our tantrums, silli­ness, our child­hood. And we lost our minds. Our child-like minds.

The mind of a child is the great­est gift we will ever receive. As embryos in our moth­ers' womb, our heart, the first organ to develop only to power the next organ—the devel­op­ing brain which is soon mak­ing a quar­ter of a mil­lion new neu­rons every minute. In the first 10 years of life, our infant brain will have made bil­lions and bil­lions of con­nec­tions. It is a super­charged engine for learn­ing and cre­ativ­ity. Yet by adult­hood we have lost most of this creativity. We now think like adults. That is we think too much and our thoughts are too influ­enced by our knowl­edge. We need to get back our abil­ity to think like kids again. How?

Where online would you find a lot of smart and knowl­edge­able peo­ple? Quora of course. I really like to visit Quora and learn from sub­ject mat­ter experts show­ing off their wits and exper­tise. Though some­times they over­think and com­pli­cate prob­lems with com­pli­cated answers. Many times peo­ple are just try­ing to show off how clever they are with rocket sci­ence. Like this question on Quora.

Con­jur­ing com­plex math­e­mat­i­cal equa­tions may make you look smart but to become truly cre­ative you need to be able to lib­er­ate your mind from the the shell of knowl­edge, edu­ca­tion and adul­ti­fi­ca­tion you have accu­mu­lated. Only then can you think like a child again.

Answer to the numbers question

The ques­tion has noth­ing to do with math­e­mat­ics. Look for the closed loops or shapes in each num­ber and count them. In 0, 6, 8 and 9. 8 has two of them. 2581 has two. The answer is 2. thanks lifehaker