Paradenitis

We switched to U-Verse after hearing a virtually one hour spiel from the sales rep who was canvassing the area informing us ATT had just finished installing it’s fiber optic network in our area and that U-Verse was now available.

There is no rejecting it’s less expensive than Comcast which, in this time, was the real reason we made a decision to go ahead with it.

We were told by the sales rep that installation would not take any longer than 2 hours. After seven hours of rewiring ( installation ), we found out we were sorely misinformed on many points, far less the length of installation time. First, he informed us if we installed the DVR boxes on two of our Televisions ( HD plasmas ), that our two other less used ( analog ) televisions would still work getting only basic channels, but that was fine for us. We’ve argued and won that point and will now have another box installed at no charge from ATT because of the sales reps disinformation. One TV will go new till we choose to pay to have one more box installed. The sales rep & installer never discussed that if your PC’s home network is working thru a wireless router, or unless you’ve got a completely wireless set up (including wireless printers / faxes, etc ) and you are switched to ATT web with their wireless adapter, a (wired) printer will not work thru a remote PC ( networked ) PC unless it’s hardwired to the “gateway” (read modem) that ATT installs – which, in our example, was installed in another room away from the printer.

The sole answer from ATT, when we called after we realized this, was to purchase a bluetooth wireless adapter for the printer at a price of $50-$100, or run wire all of the way down the hall so it may be hardwired to the gateway. There’s also no network file sharing working on our PCs now either – which we just discovered ATT does not support at this time, so for a fee they can send somebody out to mend it.

Unfortunately, for us, it suggests another who-knows-how-many hours of rewiring when they come, when all ATT wanted to do was have competent sales reps and installers who could answer the queries we posed when we were signing on the dotted line and in the installation process. We’ve also come to find out the sales rep was from a 3rd party company who was representing ATT. Perhaps that is the reason why he let us know all these things would work, when basically, they now don’t.

( Comcast never offered even two channels to be taped at once ). And, whilst their TV program guide is a touch more confusing and harder to read than Comcast’s, it’s tiny stuff like that we are able to live with compared to the monthly price difference.

In this article I will explain how to install phpList and how to use this great PHP script. First, let’s answer the question what is phpList good for. PhpList is free script written in PHP which can be used as a newsletter manager. With the double opt-in subscription system you can be sure that your subscribers are really interested in your newsletter.

Web hosting requirements for phpList:

Before you start the installation process, ensure that your web host support PHP and MySQL database and you have at least 10 MB free disk space (more space will be necessary when your newsletter will grow and more data will be stored in MySQL database). PHP version must be at least 4.3.x or higher and MySQL version must be 3.23 or higher. Developers recommend to run this script on Linux servers with Apache Webserver. They highly recommend to run phplist with “safe mode” in PHP off too.

How to install phpList:

Download the *.tgz or *.zip package from developers website. Unpack the archive files using WinZip, Total Commander or similar program. Then upload files in public_html folder to your web host. Edit the lists/config/config.php file and setup variables like Mysql database server (usually localhost), database name (if you have not created the database yet, you should do it through your web hosting control panel), database username and password. Other settings you should leave intact unless you are sure what are you doing. Then point your browser to http://www.yourdomain.com/lists/admin and follow the instructions on the screen. That is the last step, when done the installation should be finished.

Another and easier solution how to install this PHP script is to sign up for a quality web hosting service which offers pre-installed PHP scripts. Then easily go to your control panel, find the section with pre-installed scripts and select phpList. The installer will do all the job for you. All you need to do is to choose the script you want to install.

How to use phpList:

Login to admin interface and look at configuration functions. From this place you can setup e. g. mailing list url, how often you want to check for a new version, url where users can subscribe and unsubscribe etc. Then check out links under list and user functions. This is the section where you can see and manage current lists, users, eventually import or export users. Under administrator functions it is possible to add, edit or remove administrators and configure attributes for administrators.

The most important section is called message functions — from this place you can send messages to your subscribers. You can choose between HTML format, plain text or combination of plain text and HTML, pick some of the templates, set up criteria (e. g. send email only to users that answered “yes” particular question when they signed up) and other options.

I hope the installation and settings will be easy for your. Anyway if you will have any problem you can visit developers website where is extensive documentation and forum.

For quality hosting with preinstalled scripts including phpList visit Marble Host, web hosting company with 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Would you like an Internet Marketing tool that can put your efforts on autopilot?

In a recent interview for the List Crusade program, Matt Bacak revealed what he called the “foundation” for automatically building a successful and profitable ezine.

(Note: To access Matt Bacak’s complete audio interview for fre^e, see end of article)

A little about Matt: He was the leading facilitator for Robert Kiyosaki’s (of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame) Cash Flow 101 program. One of his secret techniques he used was to create the Millionaire Minutes ezine, which allowed him to stay in contact with participants even after the seminar was over.

With a several hundred thousand subscribers and around 750 new subscribers each day, Matt knows how to quickly develop an opt-in subscriber list.

The ezine was so successful the he was able to do mailings to his subscriber list three days before an event and fill the room to capacity.

He attributes the success of this ezine with causing him to cross over from wealth building to the Internet Marketing world. He now is considered one of the top Internet marketing mentors in the world.

Bazek gives these steps to develop and promote your ezine.

1) Get a Smart Autoresponder–Your Internet business must have a solid foundation with a Smart Autoresponder. The smart autoresponder allows you to capture names and email addresses.

You can then set it up to email a sequence of messages. For example, one of Matt’s ezine has messages set up to be mailed automatically over a period of two years. That means he can go on extended vacations and his sales messages still go out and make him money.

2) Choose a good title and description. Choose a title that captures your Unique Selling Proposition. Next write a 15-30 word description of your ezine to entice the subscriber with benefits of “what’s in it for me?” This is absolutely necessary when you begin submitting to ezine directories.

3) Next contact other ezine owners and set up joint ventures. Many will be glad promote your ezine to their list if it has value to their readers. There are literally thousands of other ezine owners out there. You can offer to promote their ezine to your list also.

4) Start submitting your ezine to directories. A search on the Internet will reveal many fre^e ezine directories on the web. They’ll list your title and description at no charge. You can begin getting subscribers almost immediately. If you have extra cash to help promote your ezine, try some of the paid directories-for a fee, you can be listed on these site along with many other sites that are members of their network. These can definitely speed up the growth of your ezine.

5) Use a mentor that can help you set up your ezine step-by-step, laying the foundation to put the ezine on autopilot. Often getting first hand guidance from someone who has set up a successful ezine is the boost you’ll need to get started.

With those foundational steps, you can quickly start a successful ezine and quickly bring in money, all on autopilot.

Rick Miller is a Certified Master of Web Copywriting and co-founder of List Crusade. For fre^e access to the entire interview and a fre^e coaching session with Matt Bacak, along with 51 other audio lessons from top Internet Marketing and Self Help Gurus–go to: http://www.scientificinternetmarketing.com/bacak2

© 2004 Rick Miller. All rights reserved. Feel fre^e to
reprint or forward this in its entirety to anyone you wish.

It’s a frightening feeling any time a doctor tells you that you have any kind of chronic illness. At first your mind wants to deny it, and then you steadily give into the shock of realizing that you really do have something up with you. Even if you have been exhibiting symptoms for a long time, your problem just isn’t set in stone till the doctor tells you those fateful words: I’m sorry to tell you, but the tests came back positive.

When the diagnosis is Tardive Dyskinesia [ TD ], it really shouldn’t come as any surprise. In truth, it may be be a relief, because once you know what the difficulty is, there are thngs you can do to reverse the condition, and you definitely need to do that. Perhaps you have been suffering from the embarrassment of your tongue popping out of your mouth every couple of seconds or of making hideous scowls that are out of your control. You could have had a lot of agonizing physical symptoms, like neck cramps or involuntary twisting of joints. believe anyone when they tell you that you will just have to live with the issues, as they wouldn’t want to if they were in your place. Instead, here is what you can do.

To start you can learn everything there is to know about Tardive Dyskinesia lawyer. Sometimes it’s just great to have somebody you can talk to about your condition who will understand and offer proposals for what you should do next. Contacting the Foundation will put you in contact with caring folk who can help. You may also visit their site at www.dystonia-foundation.org.

Another group which may be in a position to offer you the data and help you need is We Move which is a support group for people with movement disorders. This organization has groups throughout the world. You can find the closest group by visiting their website at www.wemove.org. People who have developed Tardive Dyskinesia have filed successful lawsuits, and plenty of other court actions are in process. If you are diagnosed with TD after taking Zyprexa [ Olanzapine ], Risperdal [ Risperidone ], Seroquel [ Quetiapine ] or many other neuroleptic drugs, you may be in a position to file a lawsuit looking for compensation to help you manage the losses you incur because of the condition. Lawsuits are often filed successfully against doctors prescribing medicines known to yet TD. However, it’s yet to be seen if legal actions against the giant pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs will be settled in favor of patients.

There are several doctors who have analyzed TD and know the right sorts of treatments that may reverse the symptoms of the disorder and bring relief to patients. If your folks surgeon isn’t ready to give you this sort of assistance, you can contact a psychiatrist instead who has experience dealing with the side effects of anti-psychotic drugs. Additionally, you will find that a neurologist can properly treat your Tardive Dyskinesia Problem.

Even in this day of websites, many customers want to look at
a brochure or other form of hard copy. It’s important
therefore that your brochure tells the customer all they
need to know.

*It can be handed to the customer or used for direct
mailing

*It gives the customer much more detail

*Confirms what you’ve discussed

*Gives your business credibility and status

*Can help break the ice before you meet the customer

The elements of a successful brochure:

#1 It must have a call to action – You must ask the customer
to do something after reading your brochure (particularly
if
you use it for mailing) – place an order – request more
information – arrange an appointment.

Make them an offer they can’t refuse – an early-bird
discount – a special price – a never to be repeated offer.
It needs to have a Free-phone number or a tear off coupon or
an enclosed order form.

Remember – this is a sales document, its purpose is to get
you more orders not just to fill peoples head with
information.

#2 Think about the customer – Your brochure must talk in
terms of the customer’s interests – not yours. (Don’t let
your ego run away with you) It must explain how it solves
the customer’s problems and has benefits for him or her.

#3 Testimonials and endorsements – Include all the
statements that other people have said about your product or
service. They must be real statements giving the persons
name and their organisation.
People wont believe statements such as – “This service is
second to none” – Sales Director

#4 Specialise – If you’re targeting a particular market,
your brochure needs to reassure the customer that you
understand and have expertise in that market. You then need
to give examples of how you’ve solved specific problems in
that market.

#5 Make them want to read more – The front of your brochure
must have a headline that grabs the customer and encourages
them to read more. It needs to include a strong benefit or a
way to solve a problem.
For example – I might produce a headline for one of my
brochures that says – “Customer Service Training for the
Retail Industry” It would be far better if I went to the
heart of the problem and used the headline – “How to stop
customers walking out of your store and buying from one of
your competitors.”

Think about the problems that your customers face and how
your product or service resolves them – then write your
headline.
The most powerful words you can use in a headline are – “How
To”. It immediately grabs the reader’s attention if it’s
relevant to them. Other great words to use are – “Free” -
“You” – “Secrets of” – “Discover” – “New” – “Announcing.”

The headline needs to be:

*Believable
*Appealing to the emotions
*Not more than sixteen words
*In upper and lower case letters, not all caps
*In quotation marks
*Easy to understand

#6 Make it easy to read – People want to gather information
quickly and aren’t willing to plough through lots of text -
use bullet points. You want a clean uncluttered look.
Also – watch out for jargon, buzz words and technical terms.
Remember the selling acronym – KISS – keep it simple
stupid.

#7 Doesn’t need to be expensive – It obviously makes sense
to use good quality paper and it’s best to stick to white or
cream semi-gloss or glossy stock. Your brochure needs to
feel good in the customer’s hands – classy – quality image.
It can contain as many pages as you like but why not
consider a “one-page” which obviously has two sides.

You could have several “one-pages” produced, each relevant
to the market you’re targeting. You could also produce
individual one for each product or service that you provide.
I have searched, frustratingly, through many a brochure
trying to find specific information on a product or service.

#8 Laminate – buy a laminator (they’re not expensive) and
laminate one-sheets or pages from your brochure. They make
the information look and feel much better and encourage the
customer to hang onto them for longer.

#9 Friendly – Your brochure should give the potential
customer the feeling that you’re business is friendly and
interesting to deal with. Depending on what business you’re
in, you might want the customer to know that you’re also
“fun” to deal with.

Don’t make your brochure too businesslike even although
you’re selling a technical product; remember you’re
communicating to a human being who is primarily driven by
their emotions.

It makes sense to build a relationship with a graphic
designer who you like and who understands what you’re trying
to achieve. However, if you want to have more control,
there’s software you can buy and internet sites where you
can create your own stationary.

Discover how you can generate more business without having
to cold call!
Alan Fairweather is the author of “How to get More Sales
without Selling” This book is packed with practical things
that you can do to – get customers to come to you .
Click here now
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com

You do not need an additional graphics program to insert a Target Diagram into your MS Word 2003 document.

Target Diagrams are great to show the successive steps leading to a central goal.

First of all, display your DRAW toolbar which will be very handy in changing the formatting of individual pieces of your diagram.

Then click the 3-ball button on your DRAW tool bar to display the Diagram Gallery dialog box.

Select the Target Diagram button on the lower-right. When you click the OK button, your diagram will be inserted in the document where your cursor is.

By clicking the different buttons on your Diagram mini tool-bar you can accomplish the following changes to your diagram:

• You can insert additional rings by clicking the Insert Shape button. To delete a ring, just select it and press the Delete button on your keyboard.

• Here is a feature I really love – to move the rings in and out, click one of the two “Move Shape” buttons on the mini tool-bar. It’s great fun to see the rings moving around the “target board.”

• Click Layout drop-down list and select an option from the drop-down menu to change the formatting of the diagram.

• To select one of the pre-saved diagram templates, click the Autoformat button and choose a template.

• Click the “Click to Add Text” text to change the label of individual rings.

• By clicking on the appropriate buttons on the DRAW toolbar you can change the formatting, color etc. of individual rings in any way you like.

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How to get rid of a guy – fast!

(Mimi, have you lost your marbles? Why are you writing about how to get rid of a guy?)

Because today’s article is about what NOT to do if you want to keep the interest of a man who has not yet made a commitment to you.

This is written especially for the women who have written me who are very upset that they have made an embarrassing mistake with a man, or that they want a certain man which they do not currently have.

I see a lot of pain in the emails I receive lately. It makes me sad to see my readers hurting. So this particular message is for these women – who in my opinion do not appreciate how special THEY are. They are focused on how special a certain man is and that is all they are able to think about for the moment.

Of course, men do not think the way women do. When a woman is in a relationship, she is focusing on him and on her emotions.

Emotion is certainly present for a man, but in a different way. Men and women each have built-in triggers which the wrong words at the wrong time can set off.

If you set off the wrong trigger in a man, you can be almost certain that he will be finding any excuse to head out the door to start looking for a woman who is not so easy to attain.

In my opinion, the woman should never be the first one to say “I love you.”

You may be feeling this love for him; it may be true; and it may be true for him. But until HE says these words to you, he is not ready for it. (Also, be sure your BS meter is running and you aren’t hearing those words in an attempt to woo you briefly and then drop you flat. Hey, it still happens ALL the time – and to younger and younger women and girls. That bothers me greatly.)

When you are in the mood to say “I love you,” you may be thinking that you are willing to lay your heart on the line for a man you have fallen for. That is a noble thought and I understand it well. And who will be feeling really bad shortly thereafter? You will, if you make the mistake of saying those three little words first.

When a man truly loves you and is in love with you – the kind of man you want, that is – he wants to shout it from the housetops. He wants to show you off to everyone. If you are not seeing THAT kind of reaction – then distance yourself emotionally.

I’m not telling you to be rude or unkind or to even stop seeing the guy. I’m telling you that you need to be your own best friend and protect yourself. What’s more, you need to be in the frame of mind that whether this man likes you, loves you, or not – is not going to make or break your life!

Yes, you might get your heart broken over someone. But you know what? You will move on. You will get over this man and find that there is more to life than any one particular man – no matter how special he is to you. Trust me that this is true.

Instead of focusing on how special a man is, focus on how special and unique YOU are. Show off your best qualities by making yourself the best person you can be, inside and outside. Trust that when the time is right for you, a good relationship that is worth waiting for will happen in your life.

Now, for you purists out there, and I know you’re out there, yes. I know that there are men out there who will not bolt and run if you say “I love you” first. (Gotta love those guys, too.)

However, those same men will bolt and run if you have been acting clingy and as if your entire emotional future depends on their acceptance of your undying love.

Besides, if you say ‘I love you’ first, that is kind of like peeking at the Christmas presents. It spoils all their plans. They want to do the wooing and pursuing – don’t ever forget that. If they are not actively wooing you, they are not interested in you.

For some readers, all of this is well known information that they already follow in their lives. But many, many of my readers need to hear this. Being head over heels in love makes us vulnerable – and makes us do crazy things. One of the craziest times of all is right after a divorce – if that’s your situation, hang on to your hat – be careful.

For more advice and free emails on this subject, be sure to visit IrresistibleToMen.com.

Mimi Tanner reveals the secrets of flirting and getting the attention of your man. It’s not as hard as you think. Check out Secrets of Flirting With Men. Sign up for her emails, which are read by thousands every day. (You may reprint this article if this statement is included, with all links unchanged.)

A friend transferred me $10 on PokerStars to play in a private poker online tournament. I don’t have money on that casino site anymore, so I only deposit or get transfers for individual games; meaning I have no bankroll.

After the private online poker tourney, I had a few dollars leftover and I decided to jump into a .05/.10 limit Omaha Hi/Lo ring game. They players were really terrible, as should be expected at such low limits. Basically, any hand I played, I would raise preflop. Since Omaha is a draw game, I wanted multiple players to commit chips to the pot before they saw the flop. If I let them see the flop cheaply, they are either folding if they miss or bet/calling if they flop a hand or a draw. By raising preflop, I’m guaranteeing more bets to be made, regardless of the flop. This is totally different than raising in NL Holdem. Here, I’m not trying to narrow the playing field, I’m just trying to build a pot. If I miss, I can check/fold, and if I hit, I am getting 4-5 extra bets.

The players were really, really tight. They would check call with the 2nd nuts…in a limit game. In pot limit, or no limit, I can see the point in trying to keep the pot small by checking, but in limit, it’s a bit absurd. You have the 2nd nuts, and if your opponent has a good hand, but not a great one, you’re getting paid off. In the off chance that they have the absolute nuts, you’re only losing one extra bet by bet/calling as opposed to check/calling. Most times it’s obvious too what your opponents are drawing to. All in all, these players at the low limits miss so much value.

I only bought into the table with $2 and after about 15 minutes, players started to drift off and leave the table. Eventually, I was heads up with one player, exactly where I wanted to be. I played riskily and lost some money, but the icing on the cake was this final hand.