golf59324

I spent several years as a retail store manager on Michigan Avenue. It always use to amaze me how I would see tourist walking into my store and being completely oblivious to the guy wearing the long, beat up overcoat in sunny 90 degree weather trailing close behind them. I would frequently walk around the seating area and notice women with their purses hanging open and with their wallets and personal items clearly visible. Chicago is a big city, but not necessary a dangerous one. Being safe is easy, but you just have to ensure that you keep a few things in mind:

1. watch your stuff.

You're not in Kansas anymore (forgive me Kansas folks). If you're downtown shopping, even on the Magnificent Mile, you need to keep tabs of your purse, wallet, bags, laptop, etc. There were many occasions when I would see an unattended laptop on a table in the dinning area with no one around. I stood watching for a few moments just to hear the bathroom door swing open with someone jogging back to the table.

Let me say, if you leave your stuff open and/or left alone, there is a good possibility that you might not have it by the end of the day. You don't have to grab you purse and bags if someone offers to open the door for you (now that would be weird), but just be aware of your things at all times. It sounds simple but its easy to forget while in the comfort of the high-end shopping world of Michigan Avenue.

2. Conversations with strangers

If someone is curbside asking you for money, the chance is they actual want it! (Ha! You didn't know that!) If you choose to give them cash, that's okay. However, don't pull out your purse or wallet on the street in order to dig out that cash or change. Have some in your pocket. Hand it to them, if you so desire, and keep moving.

3. The Empty "Loop"

If you're walking around the Loop (Chicago's Central business District) during daylight hours, you'll notice quite a few people about their personal and professional business. However, on weekends and evenings, the Loop turns into a ghost town. State street stays active for sometime while retailers remain open, but the rest is crickets. Remembering when the Loop may be deserted is worth remembering; particularly if you going somewhere at 8pm and its only "3 blocks" off State. You may want to consider a short cab ride instead of a light walk.

4. Increase your awareness at night.

It's true! The thieves come out "more" at night. You don't have to go back to your hotel room and get your piece at sunset. However, you do need to look around and become more aware of your surroundings. During the night hours in Chicago, you may have a good number of people around, but you'll probably see less of the friendly faces like your own.

5. Know your public transportation.

Know where you are going. Make sure of the route, particular if it's a bus. If you miss your stop a Wrigleyville to see a Cubs game, you can easily end up at a less desirable stop. Don't trail your family around in a bad neighborhood, stopping strangers to ask where's Harry Caray's restaurant (By the way. It' at 33 W Kinzie Street). You might find a helping hand or you might not.

6. Remember to have fun. Chicago is a fun city. If you are not comfortable, you won't think clearly and may not make the best decisions. If you're so focused on getting robbed or getting taken for a ride, you'll miss the reason why you came to Chi-town. Chicago is hardly one of the most dangerous cities in the country. We are not a mugging capital. However, don't have your fun ruined by not remembering the rules I've given you above. Stay safe and have fun.

visit Mypersonalcityshopper ( http://www.mypersonalcityshopper.com) for the "shopping by map" experience built and designed for only the true Chicago shopper

Bathony Williams has lived in Chicago for 20 years. Hes an avid shopper and lifelong tourist of the city.

Elite MP4 player Digital Camera Gadget - Exclusively Released By China wholesale Distributor ElectronicsMass.Com

This new handheld video-player device is only 100mm in length, 13mm in thickness - or should we say 'thinness', and weighs under 100g. Yet despite its portable size it packs in an impressive list of features.

The MP4 player can play hours of video on its large full color 2.4-inch screen, as well as MP3 and WMA music. What really sets it apart is the digital camera, built into the back of the chrome metal chassis, enabling the user to take high quality videos and photos to store on the onboard memory or SD card. Another unique feature is its built-in speaker so there's no need to use earphones to listen to songs. But if you want to use earphones, there are two jacks so you and your friend can both listen at the same time!

Many wholesale electronics buyers ask what 'MP4 Player' means. They are accustomed to referring to digital music players by the name "iPod" as if it is a generic term ("iPod" is a trademark of apple Inc.) But with the growing worldwide popularity of such products, "MP4 player" is rapidly becoming a recognised phrase - evidenced by increasing searches for this term in internet search engines.

We find that many consumers preferring our Made In China flash MP3 and MP4 Players over well-known big brandname music players. For a start, they're very low priced with great quality. And using them, even for beginners, is completely intuitive.

All the MP4 Players sold by ElectronicsMass.Com boast plug-and-play usb connection to PCs and require no software to be able to copy music and videos to and from the device's memory. All the devices come with an English menu, English instructions, and recharger power adapters to suit the delivery country.

The new "Elite" MP4 player is the latest in a range of over 200 different portable multimedia players (PMPs) offered at wholesale prices for buyers worldwide. Importers can view at http://electronicsmass.com for more detail informatons.

The new Elite MP4 player with Camera SD Slot can be found on ElectronicsMass.Com in three different capacities: 512MB, 1GB, 2GB - which can store over 60 hours of music. Because flash memory requires no moving parts, the internal battery gives several hours of playback on one charge.

Details:

Elite MP4 player with Camera SD Slot- 2.4 inch screen http://www.electronicsmass.com/list.asp?id=966

Listen to MP3 Music and Watch Videos in AMV at 30FPS (conversion software supplied for other video formats)
Record Video at 25FPS (digital camcorder)
Take digital photos - 1.3 MegaPixels
View your stored photos in JPG, BMP, and GIF. Picture can be rotated on the player screen.
Built in mobile phone style illuminator for added light in pictures or video recording

Note: When in Photo or Video Record mode, press the left button to access camera menu, and then choose flashlight setup for pictures or lamp setup for videos to switch this function on or off.

FM Radio
SD /MMC card slot - expands storage up to 4GB
Recharges directly from computer via usb. Also included is a usb-power adapter which lets you plug the player in for recharging in a normal mains socket. Works with both 110V and 220V. Socket adapter supplied by Chinavasion according to delivery destination.
FCC and CE compliant.
Dimensions: 100 x 65 x 13 mm
2.4-inch screen (240x320)TFT display

Specifications

Built-in speaker
3.5mm standard microphone jack
ID-3 tag support
Super-long VOX voice digital recording from built-in microphone
7 Equalizer settings
Menu languages: English (default)/ Arabic / Chinese
Built-in Li-Ion rechargeable battery giving up to 8 hours playback on a single charge
Additional functions: built-in games; phone book; text file reader; photo slideshow

This MP4 player is sourced direct from the factory in Shenzhen, China. It's available to buyers worldwide unbranded; however, ElectronicsMass.Com also offers OEM branding options for business importers.

China is already the factory of the world, and it's becoming increasingly common to see technical innovation coming direct from Chinese manufacturers. The market in China is already very open. More and more importers are establishing wholesale sources here in China. But it's never too late to start. With so many new products around there are endless profit opportunities, and consumer electronics are known to be some of the most profitable products to import.

About us: ElectronicsMass.Com is a Professional Electronics Exporter and Wholesaler with direct cooperative factories located in China Mainland. Consumer Electronics, Latops and PC Parts,Car Audio and Home Electronics are our main products. We also keep on developing more and more new and good products to meet the demand of our customers.

I have often talked about the skewed parenting skills of my father, who, without ever realizing it, was quite the entrepreneurial genius. Though he never dabbled in business and it certainly didnt occur to me at the time, many of the lessons I learned from him about life can be put to practical use in your business today.

For example he would take me fishing and hang the dead worms on my hook and the lively wigglers on his. In business we call that, Getting the competitive edge.

He would direct me to cast my line in waters that he knew were barren while he cast his line in waters teeming with fish. In business we call that, Knowing your market.

He would turn to me every so often and say, Look, son, Ive hooked another one! That makes eight for me in the last ten minutes. How many have you caught? None? Gee, thats too bad.

In business we call that, Creating a monopoly.

There were times I recall sitting in that tiny boat with he and his big string of fish on one end and me and my empty string on the other, that I imagined myself picking up an oar and giving it a swing to see how far I could knock him out of the boat.

In business we call that, Customer satisfaction.

So lets look at a few of the lessons I learned from those fishing trips that pertain to how you should be doing business. first off, you may recall in the last column that I mentioned that the old man had surveyed every square inch of that lake and knew exactly where the fish were hiding.

In business we call that, Conducting market research, and if your business is new or contemplating a move into new markets, failing to conduct market research could leave you sitting in the boat with no customers nibbling at your hook.

Why do market research? The most obvious answer is to verify that there really is a market for your product or service and to determine if the market will support your efforts. A market should be large, easy to reach, and have lots of disposable cash. A market should be hungry for and passionate about the product you are trying to sell. Otherwise you will find yourself trying to build a business that caters to a market of disinterested, broke people; like selling house plants to homeless people, not a good idea.

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of giving consideration to their product first, without worrying about who will buy the product when its done. They come up with a great idea that they are sure the world will love without bothering to ask the world its opinion. They pour thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars into their great idea only to end up asking, Now who will buy my wonderful new widget? Hello? Anybody out there?

The old man taught me that you should find a pond full of hungry fish first, then come up with the bait to catch them. Remember, you succeed by giving customers what THEY want or need, not by trying to sell them what YOU think they want or need.

Identify a market first, develop the product second. Never put a dime into product creation until you are sure there is a market that will give you a dollar or more for every dime you spend. Never go on instinct and never trust your gut. More often than not youll find that the great idea you have churning in the pit of your stomach is just gas, and not the kind that will make you money.

Fortunately it has never been easier to conduct market research. Thanks to the Internet you can thoroughly research a market with a few keystrokes. most industries have associations that publish statistics about their market. The government publishes enough industry data to choke a horse. You can use online directories and business research tools to gather data. You can also use search engines like Google and Overture (Yahoo) to search the web for market data and gather competitive intelligence. visit forums and newsgroups to see what people in the industry are talking about. What problems are they complaining about? What needs do they have that are not being met? What itch do they have that you can scratch?

You should also research the competition in the market you are considering.

You can learn a great deal from your competitors, such as: what are the top product lines in the market, what is the demand for goods, what are the price points, what is the range in quality, what are they doing that you can do better, etc.

And if you find there are no competitors in the market take that as a red flag. A lack of competition usually means a lack of market. Rarely does a product come along that is so revolutionary that it creates an entirely new marketplace, so keep that in mind as you do your research.

At the end of the day business, like fishing, is all about finding a pond full of hungry fish and coming up with the best bait that you can use to catch them. He who reels the most customers into the boat wins the game.

Tim Knox

A recent study has found that overweight or obesity increases the chances of pregnancy while using birth control pills. Gynecologists say that birth control pills (also known as oral contraceptives) have not enough effect on overweight or obese women. Overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9) women have 60% and obese (BMI 30 or more) women have 70% more chances of pregnancy than normal weight (BMI 18.5 to 24.9) women while taking oral contraceptives regularly. For women who missed oral contraceptive, the risk of pregnancy more than doubled compare to overweight or obese women. Study says that out of hundred overweight women taking the oral contraceptives, five got pregnant while only three out of hundred normal weight women who take oral contraceptives got pregnant each year.

The reason of failure of oral contraceptives is not clearly known. This is a big research area. They said there are several possibilities for failure of oral contraceptives in obese women.

The hormones in oral contraceptives are soluble in fat which is in enough quantity in obese women. Due to this, fat hormones dissolve in fat rather than entering the bloodstream.

Metabolism is also a major cause. The basal metabolic rate increases according to body weight; more the body weight, more basal metabolic rate. The increase in metabolic rate decreases the duration of medication effect. This is the also one of the causes due to which oral contraceptives do not work.

Due to obesity, there is an increase in liver enzymes which help metabolize the hormones in oral contraceptives.

Nowadays the hormones level in oral contraceptives is reduced by five times than first introduced.

Circulating blood volume in obese women is greater than normal women in which the steroids are transported. Fat cells may sequester steroids. Obese women also metabolize steroids in different way than normal one.

now the real question arises. Should overweight women who dont want to risk an unplanned pregnancy should take more oral contraceptives or higher dose oral contraceptives or not? Gynecologists say it is not necessarily because overweight or obese women have more chances of cardiovascular disease risk factors than normal weight women. They suggest that obese women who completed childbearing use some permanent form of birth control such as tubal sterilization.

Obese women who want to be pregnant may use condom or other methods. Another method for obese women suggests that first they should lose their weight, and then plan to use oral contraceptives. For weight loss, obese women can use weight loss diet pills, natural supplements, exercise, yoga and other weight loss programs. Through exercise losing weight takes more time which is not considerable for women. For quick weight loss they can use weight loss diet pills.

Gynecologists say that birth control pills (oral contraceptives) may have many side effects; one of them is weight gain or obesity. Most of the women get five pounds weight after taking oral contraceptives. Normally women get weight after few days or a month from starting of taking the pills. In most of the cases, women gain weight who do not take oral contraceptives in the last half of their menstrual cycle; this is due to hormonal changes. This is also important to know why women get obese by taking oral contraceptives. Reasons for this are as follows.

Due to oral contraceptives, the level of metabolism alters. This is because both the estrogen and progestin present in these pills can cause fluid retention, a temporary effect that often begins in the first month as a result of an increase in sodium. The cause of weight gain (increase of hips, breast, or thigh) is due to estrogen.

Oral contraceptives contain progestin which cause increase in appetite and permanent weight gain.

Pills administered for depression may also be the cause of weight gain.

women who get weight due to oral contraceptives may loose weight through weight loss diet pills, natural supplements, exercise, yoga and other weight loss programs.

For more information on weight loss diet pills visit: http://www.pillslim.com

Author is the webmaster of http://www.pillslim.com which gives valuable information on weight loss diet pills.