Friday, January 29, 2016

Create and/or Extend the Reach of Your Home WI-FI Network

Here are links to three separate videos that will teach you how to establish, and to extend the capability and capacity of your home Wi-Fi network. These videos focus on Apple products.








Monday, December 14, 2015

Transitioning Careers - Military to Civilian

Transitioning careers can be a challenging task. Transitioning from a military career to a civilian career may be more complex.


Transitioning careers, especially when you are in your late middle-aged years can be a stressful endeavor. You have to assess your value with respect to the current market place. You begin to look for something more stable in terms of a steady income. You are getting older and competing with people a generation or more younger than you who potentially have more skills, specifically technical skills, that are more to the to the liking of business wanting to expand their profit margins and operational reach.

If you are transitioning from the military to the civilian world, you have additional challenges. I experienced this myself more than concerns expressed in the aforementioned paragraph.

Military persons are not used to selling themselves, and justifying their own value at the expense of others in terms salary and compensation. Employers play on this sense of humility, even former military members who are now business leaders. I observed this in person myself…don’t fall for it.

I found myself missing camaraderie; seeing associates hold themselves accountable for shortfalls; developing team members and subordinates to become better performers and better people to work with. There’s more, but these are just some of the biggest changes. These changes come with some razor cuts and blood-letting…you learn how to survive on the streets…without a team at your back…securing and justifying your own existence where God and country are automatically made subordinate.

As a military member, you are transitioning cultures and societies with a different optic on life and relationships. You must understand this in order to move forward.

So the first challenges you must really deal with are embedded internal known systems, such as the following:

·      Recognize who you really are as a person and in terms of values; then correlating and applying those observations to the outside world in a way that is value-added. This may sound too esoteric for some, but here are a few examples.
o   Take initiative to excel whenever opportunities surface, to include creating a self-education program. At the same time, being self-aware and socially aware of your actions and their impacts on your local environment. Some people will appreciate your energy and you may be promoted, or justify the employer retaining you. Other people may see you as a threat (competition), whereby you need to begin watching your back to potential subversive actions, and adapting to potential subversion with carefully applied interpersonal skills and social intelligence.
o   You need to prove you are adaptive, able to learn and grow. This may mean starting from a low position and slowly working your way back up the chain of influence you once achieved.
o   Being a team player and building teams. You likely know how to motivate and lead people into action…leading to highly functional teams.  
o   You are your own command structure:
§   You are your own S1 (Administration),
§  S2 (Intelligence/Marketing/Competitive Analysis/SWOT),
§  S3 (Operations/Planning/Execution/Metrics/Training),
§  S4 (Logistics/Resource application and Managements) and
§  S6 (Communications- interpersonal and technical). You know how functioning systems work, how to create and shape systems, and how to allow systems to run on their own without being micro-managed.
§  Medical – you have to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.
Apply this knowledge and expertise as opportunities surface over time.


These are just some considerations when preparing to transition jobs, specifically if you are military. There’s more that I hope to add later.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Air Filters, Fire Alarms, Garage Door and Water System- Fall/Winter Checks

Think - Air Filters, Heating System Inspections, Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Water Systems and Garage Door Openers
Hello everyone, its time to start preparing your house for the winter. There are several things you need to do to ensure your house runs well, and safe.
First, you need to arrange to have your heating system checked out to ensure it is running efficiently by a local heating and cooling technician. Second, you need to go outside and ensure there are no obstructions around your heating system so that way air is flowing freely.  Once you do that, you want to go inside the house and change out your air filters. Air filters should be changed out about every 90 days unless you have some kind of specialized filters that can be reused.  
Next thing you want to do, is change out all the batteries on your emergency warning systems. I'm talking about changing out batteries for your fire alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, and smoke alarms throughout your house. And also, don't forget about changing the battery to your garage door keypad. I can't tell you how inconvenient it can be on the batteries run out on your garage door keypad on a cold rainy day - the door will not open.
And, one thing you might want to consider while you change out your batteries and your filters. If you have wood floors I highly recommend using rubber mats you could purchase through Amazon or through Walmart. I'm talking about the pads the people like to use for gyms or weight rooms. These pads are about 1 inch thick and they protect your floor from anything you might drop such as batteries or tools, or even the filter door covers so you don't hit your floor and scratch them up. Depending on the size your home, floor repairs can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to about $4000… Very expensive.
Last, if you live out in the county, you want to make sure that if you use a well water system for your home that you fill up the salt supply. You should check on your salt levels frequently that way your water system doesn't corrode because of hard water.
Cheers





Monday, October 13, 2014

Unique Links For Fredericksburg, Virginia and the Local Area

Hello All and a Happy Columbus Day to you.  Below are some links I think a number of you will find of value regarding links of interest to you, your family and/or business.

If you are working to stand up a new business, creating new networks and/or want access to local training used by local business professionals, check out the Chamber of Commerce link.  The University of Mary Washington also offers business development assistance in the form of understanding various types of contracting mechanisms whether they be government, or civilian.  The Expo Center link is an excellent resources for local shows, job and business related events.  Did you know your local library has business research tools available to you?  Visit your local library and ask for assistance from the librarian researchers. 

Coupons…I use them, and so might you.  This link puts you in touch with coupons online, vice having to let paper pile up in your mail box.  You will see discount related information for everything from restaurants to business services…check it out.

Looking for a job, and/or want to understand what certain jobs are paying in the areas your search.  Check out this link.

Business - Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce
Business - Small Business Development Center - Local
Business n Family - Fredericksburg Expo Center
Business n Family - Library - local, business and law
Coupons - Local
Jobs - local and anywhere

 

Thursday, May 1, 2014

How One Woman Paid Off $23,000 Of Debt In 15 Months - Yahoo Finance

 Paying off $23,000 of Debt in Under 18 Months- Key Points


  • Plan for a spending fast

    • Create a “wants and needs list”

    • The “wants and needs list” should be specific to each person to ensure each person can best stay on the fast

    • Have a flex account for “non-needs”

    • If you are a natural spender, like many Americans, you will be tempted to break the fast

    • For more information about how this plan worked, visit the Amazon book link below     



Here's the book produce by the subject of the article 

Exercise exercises for strong knees

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL1NIlSPov-/?igsh=OTFveHQ0NXpmemk0