Monday, August 27, 2012

Moving Tips - A Successful Timeline For Moving

Relocating is never easy, even if your company is covering all the expenses of your move. Regardless of who is footing the bill, you can make everyone's life much easier by following a basic moving timeline. Following an organized system will prevent many potential problems and also save much of your sanity.

Eight Weeks

1. Get at least two quotes from professional movers if you choose to hire help for your move. Once you select a mover, sign the contract and make the required deposit.

2. Take things out of easy-to-forget places such as your attic, basement, and tool shed. Start determining what you will take, what you will discard, and what you will give away to family members of a charitable organization.

Six Weeks

1. Start using up anything perishable such as frozen food. Use items you would prefer not to move, especially laundry detergent and household cleaning supplies.

2. Purchase necessary moving supplies such as magic markers, packing tape, and labels. If your moving company does not provide the boxes necessary for your relocation, buy plenty of boxes.

3. Visit your child's school and request copies of all records be given to you and also shipped to your child's soon-to-be school.

Four Weeks

1. Request copies of your medical records as well as veterinary records for any pets. Get copies for yourself as well as your future medical professionals.

2. Start packing away things you want to keep but do not need until after you relocate. Label each box clearly with not only an item description, but also the room in which it should be placed. Some people use different numbers or colors for each room.

3. File a change of address card at your local post office. Personally notify all important parties such as banks, credit card lenders, and key family members and friends.

4. Call all of your utility companies and arrange for a service disconnection date. Arrange for service at your future residence.

Two Weeks

1. Get a fireproof, lockable safe box. Place any valuables such as jewelry or important papers in it. If you have a safety deposit box at a bank, visit the box and empty its contents.

2. If you are moving with your vehicle, take it to a trustworthy mechanic. Have any necessary fluid additions or tune ups made before you hit the road.

3. Call your moving company, if applicable, and re-confirm arrangements for moving day.

4. Return all videos and library books before you forget to do so.

5. Make any necessary arrangements for your pets to move safely and also get a babysitter or trusted person to take care of your kids on moving day.

One Week

1. Pick up any dry cleaning, tailored items, and the like. Make sure any debts you owe to local businesses are paid in full.

2. Transfer your prescriptions to a pharmacy in your new community.

3. Take your pets to the veterinarian for a check-up as well as any required immunizations.

4. Drain oil or other fuel out of any equipment such as a lawn mower.

5. Create detailed directions for movers and other parties helping you get to your new home. Include all emergency contact numbers, especially cell phones.

Two Days

1. Defrost your refrigerator and freezer. Unplug it and block all the doors to stay open to children and animals cannot accidentally end up in the refrigerator or freezer.

2. Put all important personal items such as a change of clothes, medications, and toiletries in a box that you will carry with you on moving day. Do the same for your spouse, children, and pets if this applies to your moving timeline.

One Day

1. Record all utility meter readings, ideally with a camera. Do the same throughout your house, especially if you have a landlord and do not want to be charged for damage you did not cause.

Moving Day

2. At the end of your move, sign a bill of inventory with the movers. Lock all windows and doors.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Government Grants Within The United States Natural

The United States of America is a nation full of natural riches, from rain forests, rivers, lakes, oceans, desserts, and whatnot. If sustained, supported, and consolidated properly, these natural resources can turn into economical and industrial behemoths that can serve the people environmentally and financially.

For this reason, the United States Government has developed a slew of agencies that are established solely to render concerns related to the country's natural resources.

The United States Forest Service, one of the agencies in the natural resources sector, is an agency operating under the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres of land.

The mission of the agency is "to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations."

The agency is divided into three primary divisions, the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, and the Research and Development branch. The agency carries out its mission by establishing grant programs such as the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program, which was generally intended to encourage individuals, businesses, groups and other organizations to collaborate on the design, implementation, and monitoring of projects that value local and traditional knowledge, promote healthy and productive forests and watersheds, and build ownership and civic pride.

The National Park Service, on the other hand, is a United States federal agency that manages manages all national parks, various national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations.

The grants and programs of the National Park service are all geared towards the achievement of its primary agency mission which is to "provide quality law enforcement to safeguard lives, protect our national treasures and symbols of democracy, and preserve the natural and cultural resources entrusted to us."

Meanwhile, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, operating within the United States Department of the Interior, is the primary agency dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats.

The mission of the agency, which is "to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people", is carried out by creating several grants and initiatives that serve this purpose.

One of these grant programs is the Evaluation of Mixed-grass Prairie Biotic Communities Project, which was developed to assist with research study design, statistical analyses, data assimilation, and development of written scientific manuscript or report regarding the present situation of mixed-grass prairie biotic communities.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Why a Map of Maui Is Necessary for Tourists

Details as to climate profile, fauna and flora, geographical location, latitude and longitude, physical characteristics, soil structure, vegetative structures, etc. of places are provided by maps. Over the years, maps have been used for education and/or reference in school and colleges, houses and in offices. Maps used to be in 2-dimensional paper-printed formats. Now, more up-to-date and accurate information is represented by dynamic or 3-dimensional maps. Thus, for anyone visiting Maui or interested in America's 17th largest island, there is a lot that can be learned from a Map of Maui.

Maui has 729 square miles of land area, which makes it the second largest Hawaiian Island. Its length is 48 miles and at its widest point, its width is 26 miles. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Maui is 144,444. 36% of the population is Caucasian, 23% is Japanese, and the rest includes Chinese, Filipino and Hawaiian. "Valley Isle" is the nickname of Maui. Kahului, Lahaina and Wailuku are the biggest towns in Maui.

Maui's main airport is located in island's central valley in Kahului. Direct service from Canada and the United States to Maui is offered by all major airlines. In West Maui, Kapalua, there is also a smaller airport, and in East Maui, Hana, there is a commuter airport. Cattle, Diversified Agriculture, Pineapple, Sugar and Tourism are the major industries of Maui.

The climate in Maui around the year is fairly mild since it is a tropical island, and the Pacific Ocean tempers the island's climate. At sea level, 75° F is the average afternoon temperature during the cold winter months of January and December. In the summer, the hottest months are September and August when the temperatures are in the low 90s, ranging from 75° F to 85° F. As a result of prevalent trade winds, most rainfall hits the northeast or north-facing shores, which leaves the southwest and south areas comparatively dry.

Thus, there is definitely a lot more that people might not know about Maui, even if they are living nearby, and tourists might actually be absolutely clueless about the details of this island. This is why a map of Maui can give quite a lot of insight of this large island, especially to those who are planning to travel there very soon. Maps of Maui are easy to find and can make traveling around the city quite easy.

When tourists go to a particular place, they often come to a point where they have no clue where they are going. The only reasons tourists are not able to find their way out is because they do not carry a map with them. Had they carried a map with them, it would have guided them in the right track. The same can also happen to someone traveling to Maui as well, since the island is so enormous. Luckily, today have a map while traveling does not mean carrying a piece of printer paper. Today, tourists visiting Maui can access the map of Maui online.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Challenges Facing Part Time Lecturers In Institutions Of Higher Learning

Education is central to development as it empowers people and strengthens nations and hence it is critical to nation's development. Investment in education benefits the individual, society and the world as a whole. A broad-based and good quality education is among the most powerful instruments known to reduce poverty and inequality. Quality education can only be achieved in a university. Quality is a good academic training based on good knowledge transfer, a good learning environment and a good relationship between teaching and research. This implies that the quality of the lecturer (who transfers knowledge and sets the learning environment) is a critical component of quality university education.

Lecturers find themselves moonlighting in addition to their full time work while others who are part time in one institution add work in other institutions. The reasons for moonlighting include the need for extra income, career development, meeting the needs of understaffed departments and changing environments.

However, part time lecturing on top of regular work comes with various challenges.

First, the lecturers have no forum for airing their concerns and these impacts negatively on the teaching/learning process. They remain docile in an environment that requires open interaction with their full time counterparts. Second, it is difficult to balance between full time and part time work thereby making it hard to plan for the available time. In addition, they are never sure of getting part time teaching and as such they cannot predict how to plan their time.

Third, accurate payments, low payments and being paid on time are a big challenge. They do not benefit from institutional deductions for medical cover, car loans, computer loans, annual leave, pension scheme and insurance cover. Payments are irregular and there are delays that sometimes take two to three months particularly at the end of the semester. Four, lack of choice of friendly courses for part time teaching means that lecturers are not imparting the right knowledge to the students. They are sometimes given courses that remain unallocated to full time lecturers and these may not be in their strong areas of specialization. To avoid doing without a course to teach they accept them because they cannot choose for themselves what they desire to teach. Five, these lecturers are overworked when they move from one institution to another and taking too much workload. Chances of taking many courses are there because there is no system of monitoring the loads they have elsewhere.

In addition, they lack time to prepare for lessons, administer assignments and mark to beat the deadlines for the various institutions. Six, commitment to one's work is important for good service delivery. Part time lecturers, however, are never committed to the institutions they work in for once they are through with their teaching they leave. They cannot be expected to be loyal to the dictates, vision and mission of these institutions because they are there for a short while only. The worst scenario is when part time lecturers feel unwanted by their full time counterparts; sometimes even looked down upon and discriminated against.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Writing Quality Online Content On Educational Topics

With the future of education in limbo and everyone drawing lines in the sand and picking sides, it seems there is enough chaos and controversy to fill up a 1000 newspapers with articles about how we ought to be running our education system. Whereas, we as Americans all seem to agree on the importance of education, it appears to be the getting everyone on the same pages as to how to get there which may never be agreed upon, in fact, I bet you'd agree to all this so far right? Good, so let's talk.

Think about all the sub-topics available for education article writing, you can write about getting admitted to the college of your choice, choosing which college to attend, and the need for stronger education in subjects of math and science. You can also talk about controversial topics such as the political correctness, socialism slant, and left-leaning professors indoctrinating students in college. And if you do like contentious issues, education is full of them, here are some more things that I've written on and you can too:

Vouchers
School Sports
Homeschooling
For-Profit Colleges
College Tuition Costs
Student Loan Problems
Special Education Needs
English As a Second Language
Rote Memorization and Creativity
Standardized Testing and the NCLB Law
Teachers Unions, Pay, Legacy Costs, Tenure
Textbooks Versus Digital E-Textbook in the Future

Indeed, I would urge all online article writers as the 2012-2013 school season begins to put forth your very best articles on these topics and topics of a similar vein. Education is on everyone's mind, and not just because it is an election year, because it very much has to do with the future of our nation. We are only as good as our schools were 20 years the prior. If we mess up our education, we will have hell to pay, and we will find ourselves nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history of great nations which once were.

Keeping the topic of education at the top of our list in our society guarantees that we will continue to put energy in the right spot and as our civilization becomes more technologically advanced we need well-trained, well-schooled, and highly educated people to run it. Just because in the future the robots may be doing all the work, or our education system may be completely be online that doesn't mean we don't need educated folks to make it work. We definitely will.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Independent Schools Offer Several Benefits For Students

Independent schools differ from public institutions in a few ways. The main one is that they are self-funded and self-governed, so they do not depend on the city, state, or federal government to stay funded. Instead, they usually charge tuition, and they may also accept cash donations. No matter where the funding comes from, there are a few advantages of a school that does not rely on the government for money.

One of the most important benefits of independent schools is that they usually offer high-quality education for all students. This is because they can carefully budget based on the money they either already have or know they will get from benefactors. By contrast, a public school often has a fluctuating budget that depends on the tax rate and overall economy since it is funded by taxpayers. Therefore, in a bad economy, programs may be unexpectedly cut, and due to this, there may not be a good variety of classes available for students.

This advantage applies to extracurricular programs, too. Since many independent schools have control of their own budget, they can offer a wide variety of after-school options. If you want your kids to have their pick of several sports, clubs, and performing arts options, choosing this type of school may be a good idea. This will help them with their college applications since most universities like to see a variety of extracurricular activities on any student's resume. If your kids have a passion for a program that the typical public school cannot afford, independent schools may be the best choice.

Additionally, due to the fact that the budget is often higher, this type of option usually attracts experienced teachers. This can clearly be quite beneficial for students. You want to send your kids to an educational institution that is able to appeal to the best teachers, not just new graduates or average teachers who are simply desperate for a job. This type of educational institution offers enough benefits and opportunities to teachers that it has its pick of several applicants. Such teachers usually end up offering students the help they need, which may include one-on-one assistance and constant communication with parents to update them on how their kids are doing.

If you are trying to decide whether public or independent schools are the best for your kids, you should keep these benefits in mind. There is no way to say that either type is the best for everyone, but you can look at the benefits of each. Then you should schedule a time to check out the campus and talk to administrators before making up your mind.