The Enchanting Emerald is the May Birthstone

May 2, 2008

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May is here and spring is finally arriving in Spokane WA. We’re starting to see some green here which is, of course, a perfect match for the May birthstone, the Emerald.

Of course, Mother’s Day is coming up on the 11th and birthstones make excellent Mother’s Day gifts, especially if her birthday is also in May.

To learn more about the emerald check out our May Birthstone page or the Guide to Fine Emerald Jewelry.

Limoges Jewelry has some very inexpensive Emerald jewelry. If your tastes run to finer gems then check out the Blue Nile Emerald Jewelry

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How to Get Better, Cheaper Health Care Without Insurance

May 2, 2008

Here’s another great article by Sarah of special interest to those of us without a “traditional” healthcare plan, or even those who have no health insurance. The complete article is here: How to: Get Better, Cheaper Health Care Without Insurance (25 Tips, Tricks and Resources)

The previous article, Healthcare and Wal-Mart, covered the idea of Wal-Mart’s basic care clinics. This article adds to that with a bunch of good ideas. Here’s a clip:

By Sarah Scrafford

Health care has been at the forefront of political and popular debate more than ever as costs continue to rise in the face of an unstable economy. With rising energy costs, falling real estate prices, and no national health care system, many people simply have to learn to do without the medical care they need. There are, however, ways to save on health care costs without having to sign up for a pricey insurance plan. Here are a few tips for saving your healthcare dollars, as well as a number of information sources for localized, low-cost healthcare.

Medical Care

Need some advice on how to cut down on your skyrocketing health care costs? These tips can give you a few ideas that may help take some of the pressure off of your wallet.

Take advantage of walk-in clinics. Chances are, if you just have a head cold or need a refill on a prescription like birth control pills, you don’t need to head into a full-fledged hospital or even a traditional doctor’s office….read the rest here

Posted in Healthcare, health 1 Comment »

Healthcare and Wal-Mart

May 2, 2008

I’ve always thought that Nationalized Healthcare, in any form, is a truly bad idea. It will greatly limit availability, quality of care, and do nothing to limit costs. It’s just that we won’t feel the costs directly, since they’ll come out of our taxes, preferably the other guy’s taxes, right?

One possible solution to rising healtchcare costs might be to have a lot of basic care clinics. These would be the places to go for all the minor ailments that trouble us. The hospitals would handle the more serious problems. The basic clinics could be staffedby nurses and/or medical interns and provide first-aid treatment, basic medical advice, care for those basic illnesses we all get, and so on.

Have a heart problem? They’d send you to the nearest hospital.

Wal-Mart seems to be doing just that, as I’m sure a lot of you know. Sarah pointed me to the article:  20 Surprising Ways Wal-Mart Clinics Will Affect US Healthcare, which covers this topic quite nicely.Here’s a clip:

Big-box behemoth Wal-Mart has ventured into the healthcare realm, offering low-cost, walk-in clinics in more and more of its stores every day. Although Wal-Mart medicine may not sound like a great idea at first, these clinics can bring good changes to the health care industry, like insurance-free care, eased emergency rooms, and more widespread treatments. Of course, the plan is not without its drawbacks, creating a “Wal-Mart effect” on small practitioners, as well as a race to the bottom. Here, we’ll take a good look at some of the implications you might not have thought about.

1. More immunizations: With immunizations available at Wal-Mart, they’re much more convenient for those that may not have time to go to the doctor. As a result, more people will be immunized, and the risk of contagious disease will be lowered.
2. Flat fee visits: Most Wal-Marts charge a flat $45 for a “Get Well” visit, which is painstakingly simple when compared with health care’s typical insurance, co-pay, and deductible scheme. As Wal-Mart clinics become more popular, other health practitioners may be forced to adopt a similar pay structure in order to compete.

read the rest of this article here

Posted in Healthcare 1 Comment »

Free for You - A 4 Day Video Course!

April 15, 2008

Hey there all,

I thought spring was here… We had a couple of eautiful sunny days and rain yesterday, which is cool. Then an inch of snow this morning. Sigh…

And in your part of the world?

One of the things I enjoy doing is putting up websites and blogs. I even make a little money through this practice.

So naturally, when someone comes up with a cool related product I’ll sometimes mention it for the benefit of those of you who have/want sites.

Since a number of you do have websites, and a few have more than one, this will be of interest to you.

In fact, if you have any interest in having a website and making some money with it, then you should look into this free video set.

A little background: The Internet Marketing Center, run by Derek Gehl, has been around a looong time. hey have a killer marketing course, which I have, and which I mentioned to some of you sometime back.

Their focus is on teaching people like us how to put up a website and bring in a little, or a lot, of extra money (oops, there goes the spam filter…)

Naturally there are many people who feel that the Derek Ghels of the world have something that they don’t, so their success is impossible to copy.

Some will even come out and say as much. So….

Derek Gehl just got challenged by some angry blog reader to PROVE it’s possible to start a money-making online business in ONE WEEK OR LESS.

Some people are sceptical on this point. I firmly believe it can be done, how about you?

… And Derek accepted the guy’s challenge! (no, he’s not nuts.)

How’s he going to prove you can build a profitable business in such a short time?

Simple: He’s going to do it himself — on camera!

Yep, that’s right…

… Derek is going to start a brand-new business 100% from scratch in less than ONE WEEK — and he’s going to film the entire process and turn it into a FREE video course, so you can see how easily it can be done!

Derek will release the complete “X-Treme Challenge” video course over a four-day period: April 21-24th.

These videos will be absolutely FREE, but will only be made available to people who sign up for Derek’s notification list.

So if you want to learn how to build a money-making online business in ONE WEEK OR LESS, then you need to go to his site soon.

I’m looking forward to seeing the videos. Join me? It’s April 21-24th, Derek will send notice.

See you there!

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How to Think Positive

April 3, 2008

Lots of motivational quotes say something along the lines of Think Positive Thoughts. Stop Think Negative Thoughts. Ok, fair enough. Now we have this question: How do we think positive and not think negative thoughts?

The short answer is this: concentrate on thinking the thoughts you want to think, all the time, every time. Catch yourself sliding into the negative thinking? Immediately replace it with positive thinking. Find something to think positively about.

The long answer is here: How to Start Thinking Positively and Stop the Negative Thinking

Posted in Affirmations, Self Help No Comments »

An Exotic Green to Add to Your Salad

March 17, 2008

Spring is coming, the snow has pretty much disappeared, and stuff is starting to sprout.

Some of which you can add to your salads, such as… Stinging Nettle.

And if that didn’t make you spill your coffee…

It seems that Stinging Nettle is actually edible. Want proof? Check out this video.

The guy who runs the site, LearningHerbs.com, teaches people all about the uses of all kinds of herbs, from cooking to medicinal use. He’s even put together a board game which will teach the players a lot about herbs in a fun way.

No more dry 1200 page textbooks. Grab a copy of the game here: LearningHerbs.com.

Posted in Organic Food, Herbs No Comments »

Keep Those New year’s Resolutions

January 2, 2008

Here it is, January 2 already. Have you kept your New Year’s Resultions so far?

Just kidding. Really.

For those of us who might have difficulties keeping to their New Year Resolutions and Goals there’s a free report you might want to grab and check out.

The title is: 7 Reasons Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Will Fail.

And then, after telling us why our resolutions will fail, the authors will show us how to remove the stumbling blocks that keep us from sticking to those resolutions. Get your copy here

So who are these guys writing the report?

The concepts in the report are taken from “The HabitGuide,” which was written by Mike Riddet (Co-author of passionforhealth.org.)

Mike has over 20 years experience studying and coaching healthy and happy living and writes about the same on his site. Here’s an example.

On Jan 7th Mike, and his brother and partner James, will be releasing the updated version of The Habit Guide. The first 300 people who go for it will receive a 20% discount off the retail price.

I’m going to pick up a copy on the 7th. How about you?

Posted in Personal Development, Goal Setting No Comments »

What About This Blogging Stuff?

December 20, 2007

Posted in Self Help No Comments »

Are You Getting a Little Too Much Information?

August 16, 2007

Perhaps some of you have experience the following problem, like I have: Before starting any project we have to get some more information. And then some more. And more still. And then, because we’re still not confident enough to start we buy yet another book, ebook, report, or visit yet another website.

Maybe we even use the “looking for more info” as an excuse not to start and spend all our free time web surfing.  Looking for the magic bullet that will suddenly cause our excuses to dissolve and make the project easy.

Rich Schefran,  a well respected business coach, has a fascinating post on this subject. It’s primarily oriented towards entrepreneurs, but I think anyone can benefit.

If you’ve ever experienced even a twinge of information overload, here’s a unique solution that will get to the root cause of the problem once and for all.

From what I can see, most recommended solutions are Band-Aids at best. That’s because they only deal with the symptoms you’re feeling and not the root cause. So they never really eliminate the problem once and for all.

Since the cause of information overload isn’t obvious, let me ask you a question.

Back when you were in school, did you ever get nervous before a test?

Here’s the rest…

Posted in Personal Development, Self Help, Goal Setting No Comments »

So Where Are You?

August 7, 2007

On the main site we have a lot of articles on goal setting. Some cover the basics, other cover concepts such as gratitude, and so on. I think it’s something that we can all focus on a little bit more or differently.

Here’s  another view of the topic by an expert, which you may not have seen before. I certainly haven’t. Here’s a clip, but you should hop over to his blog, HypnoticMarketing, and read the whole thing:

…

At lunch with the staff, I stood up and told them something that I felt inspired to share.

I put a dot on the whiteboard on the wall and circled it.

“You are here,” I said.

I told them the whiteboard is like the map at the mall where all the stores are listed and a little box says “You are here” to give you your bearings.

“Where do you want to go from here?” I asked.

…

Yes, where DO we want to go from here?

Posted in Personal Development, Self Help, Goal Setting No Comments »