Vitamin Los

Taking a cruise for the first time can be one of the most exciting ventures you may take upon yourself. Cruises are a great time for fun, family, laughter and a care free lifestyle, but first-time cruisers are not advised to rush into the cruising thing very quickly. You may find yourself disappointed on a lot of levels.



The location of your cabin or sleeping quarters on the ship are a large part of whether or not you will enjoy yourself on your stay on the ship. It’s hard to have a cabin on the lower level of the ship under a veranda or walkway because people are constantly walking overhead, but if you have a cabin on sea level, you may have people outside your door at all times of the night. Having a cabin or state room under sea level can have its financial advantages, but sacrificing your cruising fun to save a little money may not be worth the extra dollars in your pocket if you are unhappy with your space. At that, state rooms are usually final after the cruise ship has ‘set sail.’



For those of you out there who are cruising for fun and want to get the most out of your voyage at sea, cabins at the rear of the ship may be your best bet. These areas do tend to be pricier than the standard two twin-bed cabins, but they are the most luxury rooms on the ship. These cabins are called aft cabins, or rear cabins and they usually feature some type of porch or balcony with a view of the ocean. The view is always breathtaking no matter what the weather, but take caution in the fact that these cabins don’t always take turbulence at sea very well. If you are inclined to sea sickness, a rear cabin may not be your best bet.



On the flip side, a bow cabin (a cabin at the front of the ship) also has an excellent view. Since it is so far above sea level, bow cabins usually take sea turbulence just as roughly, if not rougher than the rear cabins but they are excellent for the sailor at heart. Sometimes bow cabins feature balconies or verandas as well, and they certainly get an exhilarating spray of water from the ocean in these, more pricey living spaces.



While also an option to avoid if you are prone to sea sickness, higher deck cabins are also an option outside of the standard, lower level cabin quarters on the cruise ship. They are a lot closer to lounge areas, sun decks, the pool, and dance floors etc, which people are willing to pay extra money for. These cabins are usually a little above or at sea level, so the rock factor is also pretty high in these areas. Another down side to a higher deck cabin is the noise you may experience from passers by. No matter what the cost or level, cruise ship cabins generally do not offer a lot of privacy.



A mid-ship cabin is also an option available to you. A mid-ship cabin is the best choice for those prone to sea sickness but who are willing to pay a few extra dollars for a better living space. These cabins usually feature the same amenities as the rest (two twin beds or one large one, a nightstand or table, a dresser, a closet, a TV, and maybe a bathroom) but they are centrally located cutting down on walk time or elevator time; sometimes these quarters may offer a view of the ocean through a window or porthole as well.

If you’ve been blowing your nose until you resemble Rudolph and your head feels like it is about to explode from your sinus headache, you may be suffering from allergies to the pollutants in your home. Someone has probably mentioned that an air purifier will help you feel better. However, what does an air purifier do?

One of the most important functions of an air purifier is its ability to remove pollutants such as cigarette smoke, dust, pollen, mold, and pet dander from the air. Another reason people use these machines is to remove odors. There are several types of air purifiers and each works a bit differently. These filters in these purifiers include: the ionizer, the HEPA filter, the combination ionizer/HEPA filter, the activated carbon filter, and the antibacterial filter.

The ionizer is one of the most popular air purifiers. Unlike other purifiers, the ionizer does not actually remove pollutants from the house. Instead, this machine makes the pollutants so heavy that they fall from the air and drop to the floor. If you have allergies, you will need to use a vacuum that has a HEPA filter to clean the floors before the room is truly allergen free.

If you don’t want to pull out your vacuum, you may be thinking that you should simply use a HEPA filter instead of an ionizer. HEPA filters suck dirty air in, run it through the filter, where most pollutants are trapped, and then blow the clean air back into the room. However, a HEPA filter can’t clean the smallest particles from the air and isn’t great at removing odors from the room. To get your air really clean, you would need a HEPA filter combined with an ionizer or with an activated carbon filter.

The activated carbon filter used to be extremely popular. This filter is great at getting smells out of the air. However, it doesn’t do as good a job when it is trying to remove pollen, dust, mold, or pet dander. Now, this filter is usually used along with a HEPA filter instead of being used by itself.

Finally, for people concerned with bacteria or germs, an antibacterial filter is an important air purifier. These filters are especially popular in situations such as a home daycare, where people are being exposed to many germs. However, while these filters are very effective at removing germs, they are rarely used on their own. They work best when they are combined with a HEPA filter.
You’ve probably scoffed at the cheesy adverts on TV telling you how taking out a debt consolidation loan can give you financial freedom. However, if you do have debt, a consolidation loan could actually save you money.

So how does a debt consolidation loan work and how can it be beneficial to the millions of people who are paying high interest credit on credit cards, store cards, and bank overdrafts?

Basically, it is a loan where all your existing debts are lumped together and paid off, leaving you with just one debt and with just one monthly repayment.

Many people look to consolidate their debts as – if it is done properly – you are left with lower interest charges and lower monthly payments. This is because you are looking for a consolidation loan which will reduce the amount of interest you are currently being charged.

And by paying lower interest charges, you’ll also be saving money in the short term as well as having one manageable monthly outgoing as opposed to a myriad of monthly demands. Even this in itself can have a physiological benefit – looking at your bank account and seeing just one payment going out every month instead of a hotchpotch of debt, can give you a better perspective when dealing with your finances (and your budget).

To see if a debt consolidation loan could lower your monthly debt repayments, tot up all your existing debts (such as monies outstanding on your credit cards, overdraft, existing loans, store cards etc). Then also make a note of the total amount you need to repay every month to service these debts.

Get several quotes for a loan that would pay off all your credit and compare the monthly repayments against current monthly repayment. This will give you a good idea as to whether a debt consolidation loan could be right for your circumstances.

If you do decide to go ahead and take out a debt consolidation loan, however, be aware that while it can be the answer to your finance nightmares, if you blindly go ahead and consolidate your debts without firstly understanding how you got into debt in the first place, in the long term, you will find yourself in even more financial difficulty.

So, take a realistic look at how you got into debt (eg are you living beyond your means?) and use the exercise as a never-to-be-repeated-again learning experience. And, most importantly, if you are looking to consolidate your debts, you should realise that a consolidation loan does not clear your debt, it simply moves all debts into a simpler repayment vehicle and it is not an excuse to go out and blow the lot!

Spring is here and decorating is in the air. We all love putting out fresh new looks in our homes this time of year, but have you thought recently about the outside? Often we’re so busy decorating or redecorating inside, we forget to do the same outside as well. So here are a few quick and easy outdoor decorating tips that will help spruce up the curb appeal of your home:

1. Paint: You can paint the entire house and trim, or simply touch up the trim alone… either way will make a huge impact on how your home looks to the passing public.

2. Porch or Patio: If you already have a porch or patio, simply putting new furniture out can make a wonderful difference in the presentation of your home. Alternatively, you can simply buy new cushions or covers for your existing patio furniture. Other quick patio spruce ups can be as simple as putting out a few flowering potted plants, adding gnomes or statues, or putting a small water fountain into the space.

3. Walkways: Having walkways outside your home add a cozy, homey and inviting feel to the overall outdoor presentation. Just a straight concrete walkway can be spruced up by putting a bit of garden bed edging along each side… putting small solar walkway lights on each side… or planting colorful annual flowers such as petunias on each side. If you don’t already have a walkway and want to create one, I think the prettiest are those made of stone. Add an extra decorative touch by making the walkway curve or wind a bit to your front door instead of leading straight there.

4. Yard ornaments: These can be as simple as a small bird house, a pole mounted outdoor lantern light, or even a wheelbarrow with flowers. Putting a little something extra in your yard defines you and your tastes, plus it gives your home a more unique personality that stands out from your neighbors.

5. Flowers, Plants, Vines & Bushes: Probably the most popular way to spruce up a yard quickly is to simply put out some pretty plants, bushes, vines and flowers. Annuals are great for adding dashes of color quickly, because you can usually buy them this time of year in bloom. To get continuous color and greenery, plant some perrenials too. Then once the annuals are starting to die out, you’ll have something to replace them. You’ll also have the added joy of seeing the perrenials sprout again for several years to come.
Spring is here and decorating is in the air. We all love putting out fresh new looks in our homes this time of year, but have you thought recently about the outside? Often we’re so busy decorating or redecorating inside, we forget to do the same outside as well. So here are a few quick and easy outdoor decorating tips that will help spruce up the curb appeal of your home:

1. Paint: You can paint the entire house and trim, or simply touch up the trim alone… either way will make a huge impact on how your home looks to the passing public.

2. Porch or Patio: If you already have a porch or patio, simply putting new furniture out can make a wonderful difference in the presentation of your home. Alternatively, you can simply buy new cushions or covers for your existing patio furniture. Other quick patio spruce ups can be as simple as putting out a few flowering potted plants, adding gnomes or statues, or putting a small water fountain into the space.

3. Walkways: Having walkways outside your home add a cozy, homey and inviting feel to the overall outdoor presentation. Just a straight concrete walkway can be spruced up by putting a bit of garden bed edging along each side… putting small solar walkway lights on each side… or planting colorful annual flowers such as petunias on each side. If you don’t already have a walkway and want to create one, I think the prettiest are those made of stone. Add an extra decorative touch by making the walkway curve or wind a bit to your front door instead of leading straight there.

4. Yard ornaments: These can be as simple as a small bird house, a pole mounted outdoor lantern light, or even a wheelbarrow with flowers. Putting a little something extra in your yard defines you and your tastes, plus it gives your home a more unique personality that stands out from your neighbors.

5. Flowers, Plants, Vines & Bushes: Probably the most popular way to spruce up a yard quickly is to simply put out some pretty plants, bushes, vines and flowers. Annuals are great for adding dashes of color quickly, because you can usually buy them this time of year in bloom. To get continuous color and greenery, plant some perrenials too. Then once the annuals are starting to die out, you’ll have something to replace them. You’ll also have the added joy of seeing the perrenials sprout again for several years to come.

Nobody likes it. It’s a wonder anybody still does it. It’s what makes some people so leery of ever embracing email and it’s what has lead to so many others opening up secondary, “junk” email accounts. As such, it’s also the bane of ISPs and hosting providers everywhere. As of the writing of this article, spam has constituted almost 50% of the content of people’s email inboxes and internet users, ISPs, and hosting providers have just about had enough.

By 2007 it is expected that, if no further action is taken against spammers, it will make up closer to 70% of the content of our inboxes. With arrests made, fines paid, and (in some cases) jail time pending, you’d think incidents of spam would finally be on the decline, but we have no such luck.

The first piece of spam was distributed in 1978 (back when the internet was called the ARPAnet and long before the days of competing consumer hosting providers). The first piece of anti-spam legislation was passed in 1997, in Nevada. Other states, like Arizona, have since followed suit. Most anti-spam laws today dictate that:

1. Any unsolicited email must indicate with the letters “ADV” in the Subject line that it is an advertisement.

2. The sender and recipient not in any way be obfuscated. In other words, it must be perfectly clear who sent the email and to whom.

3. A working “Unsubscribe” link must exist somewhere in the body of the email.

California, however, seems to be taking the war on spam a step further, designing a bill that permits consumers, internet service and hosting providers and the state to sue spammers for $500 per piece of spam.

Virginia currently boasts the harshest anti-spam law, banning automated spam tools and forged headers/footers entirely, and punishing offenders who either send 10,000 messages in a 24 span of time or earn $1,000 from unsolicited ads with up to 5 years in prison.

Internet service and hosting providers aren’t waiting for laws to curb the insidious threat to their livelihoods, taking charge of the spam pandemic in their own ways. Consider Earthlink, who matches all incoming emails against the email addresses in the recipients’ address books. If a message is sent from an email address not included, the recipient is notified of the attempted delivery and given several options for how they’d like the message to be dealt with, both in the moment and in the future.

By this method, Earthlink and other internet service providers and hosting providers with similar “challenge-response” systems in place obtain that very approval from their clients for delivering each email message that spammers, by definition, lack. Though some consumers may be irritated by having to actively participate in the unending process of eliminating spam from their inboxes, the method itself is extremely successful in reducing incidents of spam, in some cases, to almost zero.

Other hosting providers are taking the issue to court. In response to 8 million customer complaints, America Online (AOL) – which reported that in a single 24-hour period in March of last year its email filters had rid users’ inboxes of 1 billion pieces of spam – has filed at least 5 separate lawsuits against spammers.

Hopefully spammers are less invulnerable than the cockroaches you might say they emulate. In the meantime, it’ll be up to legislators, email clients, internet service and web hosting providers, and consumers like us to stand vigilant against them. While waiting for the courts and the government to do what they can to take care of the problem, you should take it upon yourself, at the very least, to make sure that both your internet service provider and, if you run one or more websites, your hosting providers include free spam prevention technology for their customers.

One of the many reasons people love to play poker is the many variations and styles that that has evolved from the game. In any poker room, be it an online poker room or in a brick and mortar casino, you’ll find a myriad of poker games to join.



Omaha Poker is a variant on the popular Hold’em poker series. Each player is dealt four cards face down, which are referred to as hole cards. Five cards are also dealt face up on the poker table, which are called community cards. The players try to build their best hands using two of their hole cards combined with three of the community cards. The player holding the best five card hand is the winner.

An Overview of Omaha Play

Players who are familiar with Texas Hold’em will feel right at home playing Omaha Poker, as the betting is structured in quite the same fashion. The poker game begins with each player placing their pre deal mandatory blind bets.

The dealer deals out four cards face down on the poker table to each player. These are the player’s pocket cards. These are cards number 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The first betting round begins, and is usually set at a lower limit.



The dealer then turns over three community board cards face up on the table. This part of the game is known as the flop. These are cards number 5, 6 and 7.

The second betting round begins now. This second round of betting is also usually set at a lower limit.



The dealer now turns over one more community board card face up on the table. This part of the poker game is known as the turn. The turn accounts for card number 8.



It’s now time for the third betting round, which is now set at a higher limit. The dealer turns over the final community board card face up on the table. The placing of this card in the game is known as the river. The river accounts for card number 9.

Now it’s time for the final round of betting. This betting round has a higher set limit.



With all bets now in, it’s time for the showdown.



In an Omaha Poker showdown, the players must use two of their pocket cards and three community board cards to make their best five card hand. The player holding the best five card hand is the winner.

YESTERDAY YOU ATE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE KILLING YOU

CHRISTOPHER GUERRIERO

YES MY FRIENDS, YESTERDAY YOU ATE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE KILLING YOU. WORSE YET, YOU’RE FEEDING IT TO YOUR FAMILY. YOU SEE PEOPLE EVERY DAY EATING MORE AND MORE OF IT. IT’S KILLING OUR NATION AND MAKING YOU FAT IN THE PROCESS – STOP EATING IT TODAY, AND START LOOKING AND FEELING BETTER WITHIN 24 HOURS!

For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guidelines has identified sugar as a part of our diet we should limit, prompted by an overwhelmingly amount of evidence that proves high-sugar foods, such as cookies and soft drinks, not only lead to weight gain, but they often replace the foods that really need to be eaten each day to survive and thrive.

If you eat a healthy diet and meet your nutritional needs on most days, you can still enjoy guilty pleasures like a sweet dessert or an occasional sugary soda. But, keep in mind, that no matter what form of sugar you eat – from Gummi Bears to Wheaties – carbohydrates (sugars) contain 4 calories per gram, they break down to simple sugars during digestion (except for fiber which is indigestible) and are either used for immediate energy, or stored as fat!

While you need sugars in your body to keep it running, you should pick sugars that come in the form of nutrient-rich starches like whole grains. You should also eat plenty of vegetables – which do contain sugars, but do contain an abundance of valuable vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting chemicals.

The kind of sugar that you should stay away from is added sugar (the sweeteners that are dumped into foods by manufacturers). Added sugar is causing increasing concern because consumption of this diet-buster has risen more than 30 percent in the last two decades, with Americans now gobbling up a whopping 64 pounds of this fattening substance each year!

According to the USDA, 20 percent or more of the daily calories for nearly one-quarter of adult women come from sugar, making it the culprit of weight- gain and diet disasters nationwide, not to mention that fact that it’s part of the cause of diseases like breast cancer.

With this in mind, let’s look at some ways we can shave calories from sneaky sugar sources. These include