X-Man

Debt consolidation has become an industry, with experts working hard to find
ways to help customers deal with debt.  Most experts who have been in the
field agree that a few simple tips can make your debt consolidation experience a
positive one:

•Consolidate for the right reasons.  Customers who are successful with
debt consolidation generally
consolidate debt in order to get their financial lives in order and
to face their responsibilities.  If you want to consolidate debts just to
keep overspending, then debt consolidation might not be your best option right
now.

•Consolidate the right way - and with the right company.  There are many
debt consolidation options - including debt payment consolidation and debt
consolidation loans, to name just two.  It is important that you consider
your options with a good debt consolidation company so that you select the
option that will really help you.

•Know what you want from debt consolidation. Knowing what you want from debt
consolidation can make it easier for you to select the right consolidation
options.  For example, if you want to repay your debts as fast as possible,
you may want different debt consolidation options than someone who wants the
lowest monthly bills possible.

•Monitor your debt consolidation results.  It is important to keep track
of how much money you owe.  That way, you can see whether debt
consolidation is working for you. Plus, by monitoring your results you can keep
tabs on how much money you still owe.

•Get the most out of the debt consolidation process. Experts agree that you
should take advantage of any
free services or bonuses that debt consolidation companies
offer you.  If you have the option of learning about budgeting,
for example, or if you have the option of getting free financial advice, then
these bonuses can make your debt consolidation the beginning of life-long good
financial habits.

Got Debt? Put an End to It

Did you know that the average household consumer debt in America is $10,000?
That’s quite a number especially in light of the increases in energy prices and
interest rates. This amount of debt could pull any family under financially in
good times let alone these harsh economic times that we are facing today.

The truth is that many families are facing critical decisions when it comes
to their debt.
Some file bankruptcy; others have to foreclose
on their family home. What will you do to settle your debt? Before you go out
and do anything drastic, you should take a look into a
nonprofit debt consolidation program.

Risky debt consolidation is a process in which you apply for a loan to pay
off all of your high-interest debt. The loan can be in the form of a refinanced
mortgage, a second mortgage or a consolidation loan. No matter which way you
choose to do it, a consolidation loan combines all of your debt into one loan
with a much lower interest rate than you are paying now.  A refinanced
mortgage is another way to consolidate your debts. Here’s how it works:  If
you own your home, you have likely built up some equity over the years. When you
refinance your home, you can borrow that equity to pay off your high-interest
debt. Of course, the amount that you owe on your house raises, but your monthly
debt payments are done away with and your mortgage payment stays the same or
close to the same as it was.

A second mortgage is a loan outside of your mortgage but is attached to your
house like a mortgage. It consolidates your debts into one loan and puts that
loan as a lien on your house. While you can get lower interest rates with this
type of debt consolidation (if your credit is good), you may lose your house if
you default on the terms.

A nonprofit debt consolidation service is just that. These services are not
guaranteed by any property, so there is no risk to your home.  As you can
see, there is no reason to keep that debt hanging around. All it is doing is
dragging you down. So, pay it off and start living again but don't risk your
home in the process.

Posted by matt byrd at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hmm, this title’s misleading because they are not my roots at all, I’m a New
Yorker, born and bred and proud of it. No, they’re my Dad’s roots. For more
years than I care to remember, he has been recounting the circumstances of when
his great, great granddad arrived here in the United States from Ireland . It
was around 1850 and the potato famine had hit Ireland . The people of Ireland
relied on the humble potato, not only as a staple food item but also as a crop
that they exported to England . A variant of potato blight hit the crop for
several successive years and a million Irish people died from malnutrition and
related diseases. Another million people left their home country and travelled
to England , Canada and the United States to start a new life. I’m not sure if
it was the Irish authorities trying to reduce the numbers of people dying over
there or the ship owners trying to make a profit from misery but false promises
were made to encourage people to start a new life in North America and the
travellers endured horrendous conditions aboard the so-called “coffin ships”.
I’ve seen estimates that as many as 25% of the people that started that journey
from Ireland did not survive the trip.

Great, great Grandpa was a fighter and survived the trip. He settled here in
New York and married a fine young woman from Poland and together they started
the New York chapter of our family tree.

My dad was yearning to take a trip to Ireland to see if he could find the
little village in County Cork where great, great Grandpa had lived until the
famine. So, plans were made, suitcases were packed,
advice to travellers was checked, flights were booked and
the great voyage of discovery began.

We flew from JFK to London ’s main airport, Heathrow, and then took a bus to
another of the London Airports, Gatwick. We had booked a flight to Cork from
Gatwick early the following morning so had decided to stay at one of the hotels
near to Gatwick ready for our early start. We stayed at the
Copthorne Hotel which is about 10 minutes drive from the
airport. What a wonderful hotel it was. Set in stunningly beautiful grounds, it
is built around a 16th century farmhouse. We had a marvellous time exploring the
hotel and grounds and after a delicious meal it was time for bed.

The flight went smoothly and bearing in mind that public transport is fairly
sparse in Ireland we decided to
hire a car at Cork Airport . In no time at all we were on
the open road and I now know the true meaning of that phrase. Once out of the
airport we were driving along deserted country roads where we were more likely
to come across a herd of cows in the road than another vehicle. Our initial
destination was a small town called Mallow, which seemed to be the nearest one
to the village that we were searching for. Having checked into our hotel, we
went for a walk hoping to meet some of the local people who might be able to
help us in our search. In no time at all we came upon a delightful old man who
was able to tell us the exact location of the village that we were searching
for. Sadly, it was now little more than a small group of ancient derelict farm
workers cottages; all signs of life had long since left the scene. It was heart
breaking to realise that our journey had achieved so little and we returned to
Mallow with heavy hearts. We had been lucky enough to find an amazing hotel
called the
Springfort Hall just a couple of miles outside of Mallow.
It was hidden away in a beautiful country estate that dated back to the Norman
invasion of Ireland in 1169. The hotel itself was the 18th century manor house,
a stunning, magical building that conjured up memories of a bygone age. Later
that evening we were sitting in the lounge bar appreciating why people swear
that Irish Guinness is different to any other variants found throughout the
world. We entered into a conversation with a gentleman called Seamus and it
transpired that he was one of the officers of the Mallow Historical Society. He
knew everything there was to know about Mallow and the surrounding area. He knew
of the deserted village that we’d seen earlier and was able to tell my dad the
complete story of how almost 50% of the villagers died during the famine and the
remainder left to start a new life elsewhere. Seamus was delighted to hear our
stories of how great, great Grandpa had made it to the United States and how the
family had blossomed from that time. We had a delightful evening listening to
the tales told by Seamus (all Irishmen are wonderful storytellers) and we were
so sorry to have to say goodnight to our new found friend. The decision had been
made to leave Mallow the following day and to spend a couple of days sightseeing
around the South West of Ireland. Imagine our surprise when Seamus appeared
early the following morning clutching a pile of magazines for my Dad. It seems
that there’s an annual journal published by the historical society and he’d
brought at least a dozen back issues as a gift for my Dad to read. The books are
brim full of the history of Mallow and the surrounding areas and tears welled up
in Dad’s eyes as he thanked his new friend for the simple gift that meant so
much to him.

We had to keep the journals under lock and key to stop Dad reading every one
of them before we continued our travels. We promised to let him read a couple of
them on the long flight home to the U.S., but in the meantime we still had a few
days of our trip to Ireland remaining and we were determined to make the most of
it. It was decided that we’d visit the beautiful South West corner of Ireland
with the lakes and mountains of Killarney and Kerry. En-route we stopped off at
Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone and gain the gift of eloquence (now you
know why I talk so much). Later that day we booked into
The Lake Hotel in Killarney, a magnificent, majestic hotel
with the most amazing views. Built in 1820, it still features the original
elegant lounges with open log fires. England’s Queen Victoria stayed in the
hotel in 1861 during her tour of Ireland and the hotel has been sympathetically
updated since those times to give a combination of modern amenities coupled with
old world charm and service. The hotel was a wonderful base to enable us to
discover this very special part of Ireland and the time simply flew by. Before
we knew it, we were back to Heathrow and the flight home to New York .

Posted by matt byrd at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok. Last night was out of control. I've had about enough of miami beach for the next century. BTW, what is up with these girls that are totally out for money and blatant about it? Im out.

Posted by matt byrd at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

OK so for anyone has been questioning what the greatest song of all time is, it is definitly crazy game of poker by OAR. Is this even a discussion. I will say Led Zeppelins stairway to heaven, GNRs Nighttrain and the Crues Kickstart my heart are up there though.

Posted by matt byrd at 04:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Now MySpace has certainly got some bad press recently but still its arguably the greatest revolution that ever came onto the internet with over two hundred million users.

And one site we like and thats helping to make myspace cool again is PimpMyArea.com they specialise in free layouts.

PimpMyArea.com has everything you can possibly need to Pimp MySpace to the max. It features  FREE MySpace Layouts, Codes, Graphics, Backgrounds and Generators to draw major attention to your page.

Along with the MySpace Layouts you can also get the Coolest Toys, MP3 player, Photo Rubiks Cube, Fridge Magnets, Soundbox, Crystal Ball, World Map Locator, Shout Box and other MySpace Tweaks. Now you can easily show the world the real you. To PimpMySpace with great MySpace Layouts, FREE MySpace Layouts, Free Layouts use PimpMyArea.com. 

Another cool site of theres worth checking out is is PimpMyMusicVideo.com a Music Video Codes site which allows you to share Free Video Codes on your Myspace page and blogs.

There latest site is PimpMyFilm.com a funny videos site. They aim to bring you the most  stupid videos, extreme clips, and bizarre videos from around the world in one place!! Its updated daily and its safe for work!!

Posted by matt byrd at 03:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't watch a whole lot of TV anymore, but last night I flicked through while I waited for my roommate to get dressed. I sank deeper into the sofa as I watched sitcom after sitcom of families with harsh and sarcastic humor, eating take-out and rushing to their next event to get away from each other. They say that TV reflects life and having lived in the suburbs of Orange County for 24 years, it's true. I have found that in suburban America, Jack in the Box, Ikea Furniture, Chipotle and Starbucks are considered culture. Moving out of the house at 18 is pretty standard. From then on its friends that become your family. From there you make your own family with your selected spouse. Of course your own parents will continue to live in their own home. The big difference is when you compare America to Latin and European families where three generations live under one roof. Now as Americans we are cultured to think of this as hell. Our culture teaches us that diversity, independence and freedom are vital to our happiness. If we don't move out on our own with the ability to pick out our own dining room furniture and sectional sofa then we will just be miserable with the ones our parents have chosen. Never the less the pain of living a lifetime in eye sight of our doting parents eyes.

In actuality Europe and Latin parents are a lot more laid back about sex, curfews and career then Americans. Sex for one is encouraged, considered to be a part of the fullness of life. Which is a far cry from the conservative bible belt of America which vows to wait until marriage.

The biggest difference I have seen is in the men these cultures foster. I dated a Latin man with traditional values. At 26 his parents continued to discourage him from moving out of the home until he was married. He has quite a bit of savings, owns property and drives a nice car. However, my mother was quick to call him a "mama's boy." She warned me of the repercussions of a man who can't live on his own. However I saw something a little different in this mans family. I saw this man extremely close to his brother, having more respect for his parents than any person I've ever known and being a man of great character. I can't help, but wonder if his "unconventional" and "un American" living situation fostered the man he is.

 I still don't know which side of the fence I stand on living at home vs. independence. My mom's house is definitely a lot more grandiose then my current hand me down leather furniture, she is obviously more aquanted with the local furniture store than I. Then again I've never thought twice about the living room furniture when I talk to my roommates who feel like my long lost sisters.  I would be interested in finally getting some proper home office furniture though...

Posted by matt byrd at 03:54 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I ran into a friend that recently told me MPM Screen Printer sales is a great industry to become involved in. Apparently the market is growing at an alarming rate and although competition can be stiff, it’s a great place to be. These are used in heavy manufacturing.

The next question is whether to sell new or refurbished mpm printer. This may be dependent on the economy, so if it’s good then go with the new, and if it’s bad go with the refurbished. It may make sense to be a broker of both.

I’m not 100% sure where I want to go after graduation, but hopefully Ill figure it out. At least I’m looking, right? Wall Street has always been an option, and with much manufacturing going overseas services may be the way to go. I just can’t see myself working 15 hour days in a big investment bank.

The other thing I was told is supposed to be pretty good is SMT assembly equipment sales. SMT stands for surface mount technology, and deals with computer chip engineering. Manufacturing will always be a good place to be if your in on the technological end of it I think.

Posted by matt byrd at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You may be wondering what a church
bus is and how it is different from any other sort of a bus. A church bus
is a type of vehicle mainly used by various churches and charities for carrying
out their mission goals and ministries. Some church buses can be used as motor
homes as well. These buses are mainly used by traveling evangelists or ministers
and become not only transportation means for their owners, but also serve them
as their homes. However, mainly the buses for churches are used for meeting
transportation needs, such as taking their church members to and from the services
or prayer meetings, driving them to special event or outreach locations, transporting
kids to summer camps or camping sites, etc. Keeping all the above said in mind
we understand that church buses are the vehicles fit for meeting quite simple
transportation needs. Most of the vehicles do not have separate and specially
equipped luggage compartments in them. Nor do they have additional luxuries
or fancy decors, such as leather seats or air conditioners. Nevertheless, used
church buses have at least one very significant advantage over coach buses.
It is their low price. In most cases, churches or businesses can find purchasing
a church bus a very appealing deal.

Now, let us take a look at some things a church has to learn or consider before
deciding to buy a bus. First of all, even
though it is pretty nice to have your own church bus, your congregation has
to decide whether it really needs to have one. In some cases, it would be much
easier to go with the rented vehicle, because besides the advantages purchasing
your own church bus includes certain responsibilities and expenses, such as
maintenance costs and insurance. Next, you should decide on your bus purchase
budget. This will help you to determine whether to go with a new or used church
bus. Both of these options have certain advantages and shortcomings. New
buses are much more expensive than the used ones, though getting a new church
bus you will not have to worry about such things as repairs or insurance. However,
if you can find a good used church bus it can help your church to save much
money, too. For, as a rule, well maintained used
buses for sale already fit well for your church transportation needs. Another
thing to consider is a size of your church bus. They vary from 15 and up to
100 passenger seats. You may use your former travel experience as well as your
future outreach projects to determine on this one. Thus, understanding of your
ministry needs lies in the core of making a successful purchase. As to where
one may find a good new or used church bus, there are several options there.
You may do it on your own or you may turn to bus trading companies. Plus, you
may search the Internet and find the best offer available online. Those were
some clues on what a church bus is and how to select one that would meet your
church needs the best.

Posted by matt byrd at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Search Engines / On line Resources:

Google Live Yahoo ASK

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Search Engines :

A search engine is a system designed to help find or retrieve information stored on a computer system. Information is retrieved from computers on the World Wide Web, corporate networks, proprietary networks and in a PC (personal computer). The search engine gives a searcher a way to ask for specific content relating to the searchers criteria (keywords or key phrases entered into search box). The search engine will then retrieve a list containing items that match the person search request. Engines often sort sort the list with respect to relevance of the sites. Search engines determine the most valuable answers to a search by using a number of factors like site age, links freshness of content, keyword use in pages, titles and more.

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All Web search engines have different work differently. Try searches on these engines below and you will get varied results. This will depend greatly on witch of the factors mentioned above are deemed important to SE's algorithm.

Top Engines

Google
Altavista
MSN
Ask
Alltheweb
Yahoo
Clush
Exactseek
AOL
Lycos
Hot Bot

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Search Engine / Directories

Many search engines collect and store data available select databases or directories (DMOZ). Web directories like DMOZ are maintained by human editors and volunteers. A search engine is different it operates on an algorithm. Below is are examples of human edited directories.

Top Directories :

Dmoz Open Directory Project
Google Directory
Yahoo Directory
Alive Directory
Aviva Directory
Best of the Web Directory
Search Site Directory

SEO Services Search Engine Marketing Link Building

Posted by matt byrd at 11:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)