Tiller Blog

So you decided to become a freelancer but need to know where to find work. Finding work will vary depending on whether you can work online or not. In my personal opinion, anything you can do from a computer is far easier than in person. adults live But that is just me. live chat adult finder None the less, some work requires finding contracts locally and offline. These could be anything form entertainers to massage therapist, carpenters, builders, child care, or anything that offers a physical service. Here are a few tips to advertise yourself and find work when you are first starting.

· Word of mouth: Word of mouth advertising is always the best. You will always trust you friend’s recommendation before a TV advertisement. Therefore tell your friends and family that you are freelancing and have them spread the word.

·Social Networks: This is a tiny bit different then word of mouth because you may be having one way communication with people you never talk to outside of Facebook. None the less, it’s effective. I know someone from high school who post jobs and special for her photography on her personal Facebook and makes a killing from it. So don’t be afraid to post it up.

·Flyers: Ads on telephone pools and hanging at the local grocery store may seem corny, but they work. How many times have you stopped and looked at that advertisement board because you were bored? How many people walk past that board every day? It’s free and easy advertising and not below you, so use it.

·Ask for work: Don’t be afraid to email a business asking for work. For instance, if you are a writer then email the local paper and magazines and let them know you are available. Sometimes they have work that spills over. If you mow lawns, call up locals businesses and let them know you’re new and available right now. If you are a clown, call the local entertainment company and let them know you will take extra work. The may not have a clown. And do favors for these businesses as well. They will pass spill over work to you simply because they don’t have the time but still want to provide great customer satisfaction because you sent a couple of referrals there way.

Working online is a much easier beast, at least in my opinion. I prefer doing work from my pajamas with my cup of coffee personally. Still, the competition is tremendously higher online then it is locally. Your competition is the rest of the world, not your county. None the less, landing a job isn’t too bad. Here are a few all around places to look at that provide work for multiple lines of work. These are also the three that I use.

·Elance.com: I started here and this is my go to site for extra jobs. It’s crowded and the competition is harsh, but the system is set up better than any other freelancing site in my opinion.

·Odesk: Odesk is a per hour based freelancing job. That means you get paid per hour you work on a project, not per contract. Still, it is reliable to use.

·PeoplePerHour.com: This one is based in the UK, so American citizens beware. You have to have a bank account capable of international transfers. With that said, us Americans have the capability to make a lot more money from this place. And again, it’s reliable.

There are plenty of other freelancing sites. In fact, I have found thousands. Some are geared only towards a very specific niche. Others are very broad. Always read plenty of reviews about each site and dig through it thoroughly before accepting work. There is nothing worse than getting screwed on a job.

I would recommend staying away from Freelancer.com. It is a larger site like Elance, but has a lot of bad jobs on there. Freelancer.com does not police itself very well. And please don’t get that confused with Freelance.com. That is a different site.

When I was growing up in the tiny town of Gaston, Oregon (population: 325), there was a week-long festival in the “big” town of Forest Grove six miles away.

It was called the “Gay Nineties” and featured a parade with townspeople wearing clothing from the late 1800s. There was plenty of ice cream, a petting zoo, an imported carnival in the shopping center parking lot, and a dunking booth populated by local teachers and business owners.

Back in the 70s, this was seen as the highlight of the year for kids in my town. Sure, we had the Gaston Good ‘Ol Days parade, and we were guaranteed a spot by simply showing up with our favorite farm animal, but it was not nearly as elaborate as the Gay Nineties. After all, Forest Grove had over 10,000 people, so their events were much more exciting than ours. They had a marching band and a queen!

I went out of state to attend college in 1978, traveled around the world during my senior year in 1982, and when I came back to Gaston for a visit after graduation, I wasn’t

too surprised to learn that the Gay Nineties had been discontinued. You see, “gay” was no longer a word that meant “happy”–it was a word that meant homosexual. Gay Nineties was no longer considered an appropriate name for a town’s annual festival.

I moved to Japan, met my wonderful husband-to-be, and after our wedding, we spent time in Palm Springs. My aunt Linda, a divorcee, lived in a charming cottage there and gave us the scoop on her new city. Unimpressed by the pool of eligible males, she told us that Palm Springs was referred to as the Gay Nineties–because all the men were either gay or in their nineties!

In 1988, my half-brother Dennis, a brilliant ex-Foreign Service official and executive director of an international business council, called to tell me that he had been fired by the board for marching in Chicago’s Gay Pride parade. An openly gay man, he was stunned that his good work could be viewed as less important than his expression of pride in his sexual identity. He moved to San Francisco, became a high school history teacher, and shortly thereafter, became ill. He was diagnosed with AIDS, and died within a year.

During the 90s, my father–who announced he was homosexual back in 1964, his dumbfounded Mormon wife forced to pack up the three preschoolers to go live with her parents–would vent hostility at the mere mention of the word “gay.” Never one to speak honestly about his own sexuality to his children despite the fact that it was stunningly obvious, he felt the word “gay” was somehow demoralizing.

In 2003, my younger brother Lynn, who had struggled mightily since the age of three with depression and an overpowering sense that he was not who he was, took his own life. He had been in counseling to find the courage to explore and embrace the seemingly shameful but unshakable notion that he had been meant to live as a woman. It didn’t take.

I never miss the Gay Pride parade here in Portland. Every year, it’s held on Father’s Day. It is a joyful celebration of diversity and acceptance in all shapes, sizes, colors and preferences. I see a little bit of my loved ones there.

It bears absolutely no resemblance to the Gay Nineties parade of my youth. There may be petting, but no farm animals. It is raucous, bawdy, bittersweet, and full of tremendous affection and humor. There are wild costumes and vivid colors accented by throbbing music and boisterous dancing.

In short, it is gay–in every sense of the word.

Collecting is a hobby that is fun and can be a great way to escape everyday pressures for a little while. Every collector has his or her own specialisation.

When it comes to model vehicles some people will collect a marque – Cadillac, Jaguar, VW – or they might collect cars they have owned or Formula 1 race winners or 1/43 scale British cars of the 1950s or tractors or – well, anything. Often the theme of a collection is hard to define though the collector will know just what is to be included and what is not. I collect classic toy cars of the 1950s and 1960s but also modern models of a similar scale of cars of the same era. I also have some smaller models in the collection and a few that are models of newer cars; I can’t quite explain why but they belong there as well.

If you are starting your collection you may well want to build up numbers without spending too much too quickly. A good way to achieve this goal is to look for bargains. Just because a model is cheap does not necessarily mean that it is inferior and the search for a bargain can be exciting in itself and will improve your nose for a good addition to your collection.

One source of bargains is eBay where you will find people selling off unwanted gifts and collectors who are thinning out their collection or unloading models that do not quite fit their collection’s theme. Remember that you are unlikely to find everything that you want among the current offerings of the model manufacturers. They have to vary their ranges over time to keep their customers interested so, for example, if you are looking for that exact colour of Morris Minor that your uncle used to have, the chances are that you will not find it among current models but you may find it among the contents of an old collection.

Another source of bargains is where a manufacturer is unloading excess stock originally produced to sell with part-works. These are often indistinguishable from models that were on sale earlier at a much higher price. The main cost of producing a diecast model is in the design and the mouldings. Once the first few hundred have been produced the cost of producing one more is minimal so the manufacturer can sell at a greater profit or a lower price. This kind of bargain may be found on eBay or among the stock of any diecast model dealer.

Cararama is an inexpensive brand of 1/43 scale model diecast cars which offers great value for money. Corgi Vanguards models of classic British cars also offer good value. If farm tractors is your thing, take a look at the Universal Hobbies range.

You will soon get to know which model manufacturers offer the best value in your particular specialist area. You will also become familiar with the best dealers to buy from.

With gas prices on the rise, everyone is trying to conserve fuel. This is leading to an increased interest in hybrid cars, which are fast becoming a very popular option for many different types of people. Before you decide to buy a hybrid vehicle, you need to know the basics of their operation, the cost to buy one as well as the costs involved to maintain on of these newer types of cars.

1- It is important to note that on average a hybrid vehicle will cost around $3,000 more than its all gas counterpart will. While most people will weigh this price increase against the price of the gas that they will be saving, it can cause a pretty severe case of sticker shock. Be prepared for this if you are shopping for a hybrid.

2- Just like conventional vehicles, hybrid cars need a battery to run. While a traditional battery will cost approximately $50-$150 to replace, a battery for a hybrid car costs considerably more, about $2,000-$3,000 and those prices are just for starters. With this in mind, it is important to know that hybrid batteries have been known to run between 8 and 10 years before needing to be replaced.

3- If you are sitting on the edge of making a decision of whether to buy a hybrid vehicle or it is more traditional counterpart, you may be interested to know that the government may allow a tax deduction to those people who choose to purchase the more fuel-efficient hybrids. While this deduction is not guaranteed from one year to the next, it has been as high as $2,000 in the past.

4- Another consideration to buying a hybrid vehicle that needs to be addressed is the maintenance that needs to take place after the car has been on the road for a while. The more intricate power train systems that accompany a hybrid equate to higher prices, this is because there are not as many mechanics that are trained to fix them. This price consideration should pretty much go away as more of these vehicles hit the road and the demand for properly trained mechanics goes up.

5- These cars require the use of special high mile tires, they are smaller than the tires you are used to purchasing, but can cost considerably more to replace. This may be acceptable to some drivers since the tires last on average 30,000 miles longer than other types of vehicle tires.

6- Many purchasers of hybrid vehicles do so for one reason, they can live with the increases in aftermarket parts and the high prices of mechanics because they know what their car can offer them, fuel savings. On average, a hybrid car gets between 50 miles per gallon (MPG) in the city and up to 70 MPG on the highway. When these numbers are compared to an average of 30 MPG city and 27 MPG highway on a fuel-efficient gas car, the savings are clear.

7- While it is important to know the costs that are involved when you decided to buy a hybrid vehicle, it is also important to know what you will be saving. For all of the millions of people all over the world, who choose a hybrid over a traditional the bottom line is clear. The savings that they see at the gas pump far outweighs any money that will need to be paid out to keep their vehicle running in the future.

If you have a car that runs on petroleum, then you should be worried about the impact that this has on the environment. The carbon emissions that cars produce are no longer insignificant, and the environmental deterioration that takes place continuously is a threat to your very health. However, LPG conversions are an affordable and beneficial alternative for vehicle owners that will prove not only beneficial for the environment, but for your pocket as well.

Environment Friendly

Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a fossil fuel that is much safer in comparison to traditional petroleum as an energy source for your vehicle. Vehicle owners who get their cars converted to use LPG will have their cars emitting 20% less carbon dioxide than before if they previously used petroleum, and almost 2% less than cars that run on diesel. Vehicles that run on LPG also produce less engine noise, so you and others don’t have to suffer the annoyance of a loud engine.

Convenience

Getting your car converted means that your vehicle will now be able to be powered by LPG as well as petrol. This will mean that even in case you have no access to LPG gas at any particular time, you can revert to petroleum temporarily. Currently, there may not be enough LPG stations available, but this will soon be history. LPG is fast becoming the fuel of choice for many drivers, and may very well replace petrol as the most popular fuel.

Save on cost

LPG is 40% cheaper than petrol and 20% cheaper than diesel. Of course, the LPG conversion comes at a cost. However, this will soon be recouped with the amount of funds you will save on fuel costs in less than a few years. In addition, you also get tax cuts such as the London Congestion Charges and even some car parking discounts.

Economy

In the UK, there is an estimated 6 million tones of LPG produced annually. However, because the local demand is low, about 3 million tones end up being exported to other countries. Increased LPG conversions will ensure that this important resource is put to good use locally. As a result, there will be a definite positive effect on the economy too as less money will be dedicated to the importation of petroleum.

Investment

Getting a LPG conversion should be taken as an investment. Not only will the long-term benefits be realized at a personal level, but the environmental benefits should be considered as part of your communal obligation.

1. Keep your mind & eyes open for interesting designs

Being a graphic designer, you have to keep your eyes and your mind open for new trends, ideas, and concepts. Never be scared to be a pioneer in graphic designing. You could be the next Picasso of flyers, Leonardo da Vinci posters or even Rapheal Sanzio of websites; the world is still talking about these artist because they made history with their work thinking out the box, creating art pieces that are worth millions today. Sorry for the melodrama, but your graphic design work should mean something no matter how small or big the project because you never know who’s looking at your work. Your work will be a stamp of excellence, which will persuade other designers to be even more creative.

2. Join creative discussions

Joining creative group discussions will assist you in getting familiar with the graphic design industry’s trends; such as, the demand for certain types of designs, new design software’s (Adobe Creative Suite changes every year), and how’s the market for other designers.

Being part of a group also helps with marketing your portfolio or website. You can place a comment or opinion on a design blog or website (if comments are aloud), and then leave a link to your website as a text link with your keywords which is great for SEO, something you can do to help market your service without paying for search engine optimization that some companies will charge you to do.

3. Follow other designers

Get a Twitter or Facebook account if you don’t have one already. All the best & amateur artists have their portfolio on the Internet through social media marketing. Simply because every body has a Facebook (65% of America). You can follow these designers without them even knowing or you can build a business friendship with them. The good thing about building a relationship with them is that they can send business your way if they’re too busy and vice versa. Web designers are part of a secret club and one hand washes the other.

Don’t be scared, share your work. Share your vision. Share your passion with the world. You’re in the business to make money & make yourself known so let the world know.

4. Seek Criticism

Leave your feeling at home! Constructive criticism is vital! You cannot become the best designer all on your own. Multiple perspectives can always shed new direction on a project. This may be a tough one for many of you to accept because we don’t ever want to hear critiques on our work; but in this business your critiques can serve a purpose in making you the best graphic designer you can be. Sometimes you may have to swallow your pride because some people can’t wait criticize your work, but be humble and keep moving forward with creative designs. Whether you do Graphic design, posters, flyers, web designs, or print designs – having someone else look over your work is critical and highly advised. If you don’t have the immense amount of time, than hiring a good SEO services company to handle promoting your website will be a great idea.

We’ll That’s all Folks….I’m “Biz The Kid” from Boasting Biz.com and I’m out of here.

Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand. Margaret Bourke-White

These tips should help you relive those moments back where you’ve said “if only I had a camera.” Now you will have it captured on film. These tips should help you to be camera ready.

1. Get as close as you can to the subject or action

Remember, if you’re using a instant camera

a lot of them have a minimum shooting

distance. This is usually about two metres.

If your closer than that, your shots will be

out of focus.

Try to take shots with the viewer

focused on the subject. Meaning the closer to the

subject filling the viewer the better.

2. Photos Tell A Story

Photos of an event or activity such as camping with a

group or fishing trip with family and friends tells a

great story for all to relive and enjoy.

3. Decide What It Is You Want and Don’t Want in The Picture

Its best to keep the background as uncluttered as you

can. Background clutter will remove the focus from

your subject.

4. Take Surprise Shots

You’ll get some great shots if you take pictures when

people least expect them. Just think of the facial

expressions you’ll get.

5. Make a Slide Show

Slide shows are great to have later when those involved

in the activity can watch and laugh at themselves and

relive the activity in their minds.

6. Liven Up Posed Shots

Try to avoid taking boring posed shots. Instead of using

“Say Cheese” try have people say Rumplestilskin.

That should help get a real smile. If people see you’re going to

take their picture, tell them you will click on four and

then click on three.

That should catch them in a more relaxed state.

7. Camera Hardware Tips

Does your camera have the correct options set up?

Check your lens and make sure its clean. it could have a

finger print on it. That would make it almost impossible

to focus.

Check to see if you have auto focus or manual focus. Test

it to see if it will work as stated in your manual. Make sure

you know how to control it.

if you are using slide film set the ISO button

one spot ahead of the film. An example would be

if your using ISO 64 slide film, set the ISO at 80.

The results will be deeper colour saturation and

more vibrant shades of yellow, red, and orange. This

tip will not work with print film.

Using a digital camera, always make sure the battery

is charged.

For more room on your memory card delete all

pictures you don’t want to keep. Your now ready for some

fun and games clicking away with your camera.

For more excellent tips, surf to Kodaks web page at

http://www.kodak.com.

The most important part of a high end car audio system is the amplification. That’s right, amplification. You can get everything else RIGHT (speakers, subwoofers, wiring, head unit, etc) and still be frustrated with the final outcome. However, if you have great amplifiers and tune them right, you will get very good results from your system. You can fix your deficiencies as you go, but at least you know you’re on the right path.

Perhaps the most talked about “most important thing” for any audio system are the speakers. Naturally, great speakers are very important to high end sound but in order to get the most of them (and justify their high cost) you’ll need great amplifiers to do so. Often times I’ll see discussions about what speakers to buy and the amplifier discussion that follows is very complacent like “Oh, just make sure you have at least 150 watts per channel and you’ll be good”.

If you do this, you’ll most likely be in for a big letdown. There is far more to an amplifier’s quality than how much power it produces in watts. Many of the factors that contribute to a quality amplifier are beyond what is printed in a spec sheet.

So what else should we be looking for? Knowing what “Class” it is helps (e.g. Class A, B, A/B, D). Depending on your application and your car’s electrical system, one of these classes will be ideal.

Knowing the dimensions and weight of an amplifier also helps. A very light amplifier with a tiny footprint putting out say 150 watts per channel versus an amp 4 times the size and weight putting out the same power should leave you suspect of the smaller amp (in many cases).

Knowing if the amplifier is a high current design or not is also critical. Since current is what actually drives the speakers, it is important that you get a high current amplifier. Power in watts is the product of current times voltage. So it is very possible for two different amplifiers putting out the same power in watts to have different current and voltage ratings.

Finally, you need to know what type of amplifier you need in your particular application. An amplifier to drive a full range component system might be different than one needed to drive a pair of tweeters, or a pair of subwoofers.

So to repeat, speakers are important but not as important as the amplifiers…in a HIGH END SYSTEM. To truly experience the power and ambience of the music, a good amplifier is imperative.

Coming fossil fuel crisis becomes closer from day to day. That makes many people think of alternative fuels, which will be used in future. There are a few main alternative energy sources are used today and supposed to be developed in future. These are solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy and hydro energy. All these energy sources are used for producing electricity and heat.

Oil is now the most expensive and one of the main fuels, which is used in many spheres of human activity, especially in vehicles. The vast majority of contemporary vehicles, even those with hybrid engines, use fuels produced from oil. Hence major car manufacturers think of engines which may use alternative fuels making internal combustion engine a part of history.

As you may find there is a great number of cars, which work with the help of hybrid engines. Almost every car manufacturer can offer you several models with this type of engine. Hybrid means that the engine uses gas along with electricity. In some vehicles electric engine only helps to move a vehicle, thus consuming less fuel. Other engines can be used as gas and electric separately. For instance, a car with this kind of engine can run about 80-100 miles using electric traction. Hybrid cars become more and more popular due to their fuel economy, but in the same time the cost of such cars is higher that of the same models with a usual ICE. Certainly, the price will be lower in future and even today the number of such cars increases with every next year.

However the hardest work concerns engineers, who develop electric and other cars on alternative fuels. Contemporary vehicles with electric engine are not comfortable for an average person today. They cannot run many miles and should be recharged for 12 or even 24 hours. Moreover, such cars require the same number of power stations as we have for gas stations. So, such a situation does not allow us to travel for long distance using an electric car. But as we can see electric cars have a great future ahead.

Certainly, the main factor for researching alternative fuels and developing new car concepts is not environmental protection, but fossil fuel crisis. If people could use fossil fuels forever, they would not think of any alternatives at all. But we cannot disagree that alternative energy will help to save our planet from ecological disaster. That is why, such a decision is reasonable from both points of view economic and ecological.

Do you want to draw? Whether you want to learn how to draw faces, entire realistic people, landscape, still life, technical, it doesn’t matter. Getting out your artful side can be a lot of fun, and for creative types, it is simply something they feel they need to do. Drawing is a great way to express your artistic bent.

There are many different forms and styles of drawing; however, in this article we are going to focus on the subject of how to draw faces. Below I will briefly explain four helpful tips that should point you on the right track when learning to draw faces. You can easily apply these tips to any subject you are drawing.

#1. Make it life-like. This is possibly the hardest to get right, as it is somewhat hard to teach. You more or less have to have a natural understanding of how it works. Making the angles right, making the eyes, nose, lips, and hair look correct and natural can be somewhat challenging. But it is your job as the artist to breathe life into it. If you can create a life-like face, you will become well respected for your drawing ability.

#2. Study photography. One of the best ways to learn how to draw faces is to study photos of faces. There is no better teacher than a still picture, the idea being to use the photo as a model to base your drawing on. In the beginning, when you are a novice sketch artist, you can use photos as sort of a template; after you have the skill mastered, you will no longer need to use photos to guide you, although you may still choose to study photos to help inspire with fresh ideas for your drawings.

#3. Use different colors. Whatever you are drawing, it is important to experiment with different coloring, shading, and texture options until you get the look you desire. Sometimes the type of drawing you’re doing dictates the colors you should use. Do you want a super realistic look? Maybe you want a cartoon or caricature? Or other stylized look that you could call your own. Experiment with different colors, shadowing, textures, etc. to achieve just the right look. The beautiful thing about drawing is that there is no right or wrong way; there is only your way and your style.

#4. Live model classes. This is a great way to learn not only how to draw faces, but how to draw the entire human body as well. You can find a variety of classes offered in local community centers and colleges. This can add a level of fun to the experience of learning to draw. Learning how to draw faces can be a very satisfying accomplishment. Once you are a master artist, you will be admired and respected by your friends and family.

Remember, like anything else, practice makes perfect, and you’ll likely have to draw hundreds of rough sketches until you have the perfect creation that you can be proud of.

Drawing is a lot of fun, and you will get the hang of it. Just don’t give up, and good luck to you.