The LuxMob Info Tags

Find a Good Teacher - There is no substitution for a good guitar teacher. You can buy all the books and videos you want, but in order to really become a good guitar player, you need to learn from a pro. A professional guitar teacher has the experience and wisdom necessary to teach you how to become a proper guitar player. Books, videos, and the Internet for that matter, lack in their ability to provide you with feedback and advice. A good guitar teacher will correct you if you are doing something wrong so that you don’t form bad habits or techniques. A good guitar teacher will also encourage you when you are doing something right.

Do Not Get Discouraged - When first learning the guitar, or any instrument for that matter, you may find yourself getting discouraged, or perhaps saying to yourself “this is just too difficult”. You may find yourself practicing the same song or chords over and over again, and never getting any better at it. Do not let this discourage you. Sometimes are brains just need a little rest, or need to be occupied with something else. Take a break and come back to your practice with a fresh mind.

Practice - The more often that you practice your guitar the more familiar you will become with the instrument. Your playing will become easier over time. Try and free up at least 20 minutes of time every day to practice your guitar. Find a time and location where you know you will not be interrupted. Interruption can really kill your concentration and snap you out of a good rhythm. Warm your hands and stretch your fingers before you play. Talk with your guitar teacher to develop the best practice exercises that are right for your style of playing.

Create an effective practice schedule - The length of your practice is not necessarily the most important thing. Usually it is the quality of your practice that is most important. Make sure your guitar teacher is giving you a well-rounded approach to guitar playing and helping you make the most of your practice sessions.

Slow Down - One great bit of advice with your practicing; don’t play too quickly! Many new guitar players will rush through a lick or a song in the beginning, trying to play it exactly as they hear it and only wind up butchering it. Before you can play anything correctly, you must learn to slow down and play it right at a much slower speed. You can then slowly increase your speed as you improve.

Watch your posture - Guitar playing should not be extremely painful and uncomfortable. If you find yourself with various aches and pains in your shoulders, your neck, your back, etc., chances are you are not in a correct playing posture. Ask your guitar teacher to demonstrate a proper playing posture, then do your best to stick to it. Tell your teacher to observe you during practice and correct you whenever you fall out of the correct posture.

Get a metronome - A very important part of guitar playing is the ability to keep good timing. An instrument, which will help you become better at timing, is called a metronome. You can purchase this at any guitar center. When working with a metronome, in the beginning, you should start off at a slow speed. This will help you build your muscles and develop better control and good playing habits.

Change your strings - Your guitar strings are very important to the quality of sound your guitar produces. How often you change your guitar strings really depends on how often you play. Professional guitar players may change their strings before every gig. Others who don’t play as often, may change their strings every 2 months or so. Again it really depends on how often you play, and how well you take care of your guitar strings. Don’t wait until your strings break before you change them and you should change all of your strings at the same time.

Try new things/experiment - If you feel uninspired in your guitar playing why not try something fresh and different? If you have mastered a particular song on your electric guitar, why not try the same song on an acoustic guitar? If you only play your guitar using a pick, put down the pick and just use your fingers. Perhaps you only enjoy playing blues guitar. Why not try some jazz or classical?

I hope these guitar tips were helpful. The most important thing is to never get discouraged and never give up. Persistence is key when it comes to playing the guitar. If you really have a sincere desire to learn, and you continue to practice, you will become a better guitar player.

You can learn how to play guitar free online. Visit www.artsymmetry.com/Category/Guitar-Lessons/199 for more great articles on guitar playing.

For most people of course, bankruptcy is very much a last resort, to be considered only after all other debt consolidation and debt reduction options have failed. Even so, the new bankruptcy laws passed in 2005 mean that filing for bankruptcy is now much more complicated, and for many people much more expensive that it had been before the new laws went into effect.

Just what has changed?

Perhaps the biggest change that was instituted in the world of bankruptcy laws is the introduction of a two part means test. The results of this means test are used to determine which of the two forms of bankruptcy the individual must use.

The first part of the means test uses a formula to find out if the individual can afford to pay at least 25% of the non-prioritized unsecured debt that is owed. This non-prioritized unsecured debt includes debt such as credit cards. The formula takes into account and exempts necessities like food and rent, but it can be fairly restrictive.

The other part of the new means test is to compare the income of the bankruptcy filer to the median income for his or her state. Those who are found able to pay back at least 25% of the unsecured debt they owe, and whose income exceeds the state median, will be required to file for bankruptcy under the more restrictive Chapter 13 law, and they will be ineligible for the more generous rules of a Chapter 7 filing.

What’s the difference?

There are considerable differences between the two forms of bankruptcy filing, and the difference can add up to thousands of dollars. With a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, the debtor has all of his or her assets, except for those which are exempted by the state, liquidated, and the proceeds are used to pay off the creditors. If the amount of debt exceeds the proceeds of the assets, the remaining debts are cancelled, leaving the creditors holding the bag.

With a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, on the other hand, the debtor is required to complete a court mandated payment plan, lasting up to five years. Any debts that have not been repaid by the end of that predetermined period are cancelled.

As you can see, the Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing is quite a bit more restrictive, and it typically means that a greater percentage of the total debt must be repaid. It is important for any debtor considering a bankruptcy filing to look at his or her own situation, and apply the means test to determine which filing status he or she is likely to fall into. Being an informed consumer has never been more important.

Brooke Sikula is a freelance writer based in Ventura, CA and writes on a wide range of topics from home improvement to credit repair and everything in between. She is a regular contributor to http://www.loan-mortgage-auto.com and http://www.home-improvement4u.com For more information and advice on credit issues, check out http://www.credit-card-faq.com

With Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and most other popular image
editors being commercial, paid-for software, you might be
forgiven for thinking that there aren’t any free alternatives.
While they’re not very well publicised, there are plenty of free
graphic editing alternatives out there, if you know where to
look. Here’s a rundown of some of the best.

The Gimp

Despite its daft name, the Gimp is widely considered to be the
best graphics editor you can get for free - many devotees
compare its features to those of Photoshop. While it isn’t easy
to use as most commercial offerings, the Gimp is certainly
powerful, and has become the most popular image editor for Linux
(which doesn’t run Photoshop).

The Gimp (or GIMP, standing for GNU Image Manipulation Program)
was specifically designed to be an open source competitor to
Photoshop, in much the same way as OpenOffice.org competes with
Microsoft Office and the Mozilla browsers compete with Internet
Explorer.

However, Gimp still hasn’t picked up much of a following outside
the open source community, mainly because of its unusual
interface. Gimp is based on the Linux GTK (Gimp Toolkit) system,
and that makes its interface look very un-Windows-like, since it
is broken down into small, separate components. This approach
does come with advantages, however, such as the Gimp’s useful
ability to let you ‘rip’ menus and sub-menus away from where
they usually appear and use them as toolbars instead. If you
haven’t had time to get used to Photoshop, you might even find
that you prefer the Gimp’s interface.

In some areas, the Gimp outshines Photoshop by a long way. For
example, Photoshop comes with a rather limited selection of
filters, and there are plenty of companies who make a business
out of selling extra ones at a premium. The Gimp includes every
filter that the open source community has ever found useful,
which is quite a few, and they all come for free. Essentially,
if you’re willing to take a small hit in ease of use, the Gimp
provides you with thousands of dollars worth of functionality at
no cost whatsoever.

If you want to download the Gimp, go to
gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ to get the Windows installer version.
There is also a version that has been customised to have a more
Photoshop-like interface - you can get it at www.plasticbugs.com.

Paint.NET

Paint.NET is a recent arrival in the open source graphics world,
but has gained a lot of followers in the year or so it’s been
around. It offers a powerful graphics editing program with a
deliberately simple interface, based on the ‘Paint’ program that
comes with Windows - the fact that people already know how to
use that interface has been an important factor in its
popularity.

The program’s development is taking place at Washington
University, and is supported by Microsoft, making it likely that
it might be included in future Windows releases. Paint.NET can
currently be downloaded for free from www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net.

SodiPodi

SodiPodi isn’t really an alternative to Photoshop or Paint Shop
Pro - it’s more like a free version of programs like Macromedia
Freehand or Adobe Illustrator that graphics designers wouldn’t
usually use often enough to justify purchasing. It lets you draw
using vector graphics, giving you the useful ability to create
your own artwork instead of sticking with stock symbols. This is
mainly worth mentioning here because it makes a great complement
to tools like the Gimp and Paint.NET, letting you make something
of your own to apply all your fancy effects and filters to when
you’re making a logo or a design.

You can get SodiPodi at www.sodipodi.com, although you might
also like to look at another version named Inkscape
(www.inkscape.org), which again has a more Photoshop-like
interface.

Picasa

Finally, if all you want to do is organise photos simply and get
them ready for display on the web, you could do worse than
Picasa. Recently bought by Google and made available for free at
www.picasa.com, Picasa makes it simple to organise your
photographs and apply simple effects like red-eye removal to
them.

John walked into the kitchen and slumped against the counter.

“Hi John, “ I said. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Oh, nothing,” he mumbled.

“Must be a woman,” I laughed. John was my roommate’s brother and
his romantic adventures were a source of great amusement at our
house. He was always on the make but rarely successful.

“Yeah, well…there’s this girl I met at a party and she’s sooooo
cute. And I got her number and I’ve been calling her but she
keeps coming up with excuses when I ask her to a movie.”

“So what does she say?”

“Well, last night she said she was busy on Saturday because she
has to wash her hair. The last time she said there was something
she wanted to watch on TV.”

“And did she suggest another time?”

“Well…no.”

“John! Where’s your brain?” I exploded. “The girl isn’t
interested!”

“But how do you know that?”

“Because she gave you the lamest excuse on the planet and she
didn’t suggest a alternative.”

“But she was friendly at the party,” he countered.

“Maybe she was just in a good mood. Or maybe she was making
someone jealous. What matters is what she’s telling you now. And
it’s definitely a NO.”

“But she’s so cute,” he whined.

“That’s got nothing to do with it,” I replied. I saw the hangdog
look on his face and took pity on him.

“Okay, John, here’s the deal. The next time you decide to ask a
girl out, you give her three chances to say yes. You stop
calling her after the third no.”

“That’s it? Three calls?”

“Yes. If she’s interested she might say no but she’ll come up
with an alternative. Or she’ll say yes by the third call.’

“But what if she’s just playing hard to get?”

“Fine. Give her three chances. If she says no more than three
times you don’t want her anyway. You really don’t need to get
involved with someone who’s so insecure that they need you to
jump off a cliff for them.”

“But what if she would have said yes on the fourth call?”

“Then she’ll call you. Haven’t you noticed that when you pursue
someone and then you suddenly stop, they miss the attention and
come after you? Of course, that’s only if they were interested
in the first place.”

John’s face fell. “That’s never happened to me.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” I laughed. “You don’t give up until
you’ve badgered them to death and by then they can’t stand you.
Any attraction that might have existed is long gone.”

John was stunned. It was time to repair the damage.

“Look, I’m telling you this to help. Make it a rule to give a
girl three chances, then stick to that rule. You’ll save
yourself a lot of time and heartache. And for God’s sake, pick
them for a better reason than the fact that they’re ‘cute’.”

John squared his shoulders. “Right! She gets one more chance.
I’m calling her now.”

I groaned as he strode from the room.

I doubted that the he’d stick to the three strikes rule. The
movies offer many romantic storylines where the couple start off
hating each other and then fall madly in love. Many people like
John are confused about when no means yes or no means no.

But it’s still safest to take a no at face value. Life’s too
short to try second-guessing other people. And it’s much less
stressful when the people in your life are honest and open and
aren’t afraid to tell you that they care. Why settle for
anything less?

The world of blogging has become a serious place. In many circles it has almost become a fashion statement to run your own blog, and for good reason. But as online publishers, by the thousands, scramble to create new themed blogs every day, there are some pitfalls associated in using many of the so-called free blog services available.

Many bloggers use a free blogging service to support their first entry into the field. Naturally, this makes a great deal of sense for someone starting out. Free providers do offer some extremely simple to use and relatively competant and dynamic platforms. Furthermore, avoiding a financial expense certainly reduces the risk concerned to an absolute bare minimum.

Free blog hosting services can be a great way to introduce oneself to the concept of blogging and to discern a little bit concerning the process. Nevertheless, they are usually (With some exceptions, using the right methods) a poor choice for those hoping to generate any substantial blogging income. There are simply too numerous pitfalls associated with their use and functionality.

For a start, many free blogs hamstring the user’s capacity to utilize one of the greatest and most effective ways of producing a profit via blogging, namely; Adsense. Different free blog hosts offer the free blog and server room in exchange for the display of their own Adsense ads. The terms of service directly disallow the user from featuring any additional contextual ads. This is how the free services develop their revenue, and the prohibition makes complete sense to the providers, who are essentially still providing a free service to the blog owner. However, it takes one very powerful mechanism out from the blogger’s moneymaking armory.

Second, whenever one adopts a free service they hand over mastery of their Web page to a large degree. This is not just a matter of ads or content restrictions which one may be able to generate an income. The void of mastery has far reaching implications which are far more serious. Blogger.com, for pattern, is known to commonly freeze and/or revoke blogs altogether for unknown grounds. Those blogs just disappear and a great deal of effort vanishes with them.

Further, lesser-acknowledged services may be severely hindered or given restricted potential and may just go down - taking the blogs straight down the drain with them.
Third, there is the issue of credibility. Whether it’s right or wrong, surfers appear to accord a major measure of credibility to (and are accordingly more likely to visit) sites which have their own URLs. A blog which is an obvious sub domain at a free host can cause likely guests and customers wary of a blog’s credibility and can register an adverse effect on fruitfulness.

Finally, there is the matter of flexibility. Different free blog services limit your options in agreement of appearance and may use platforms which unavail different elements which can potentially aid in fruitfulness. For part, the blogs at Blogger.com tend to lack the variety of categories appearing in their Wordpress equivalents. Further free services may offer only a few templates which can only be tweaked ever so moderately. In order to behave optimally, one need be equipped to append any and all appropriate changes to their moneymaking blog.

You can find a variety of competant and dynamic blogging programs which won’t charge you a dime. The competitive fields of hosting and domain registration cause owning your own allotment of cyberspace surprisingly affordable. Which means the present context, enlisting a free blogging service as a method to launch part of your online business, just does not make the best of sense.

The least expense required to own and effectively run your own World Wide Web documents is an absolute steal when one considers the drawbacks associated with the flipside.

Wayne Smith

For the best way to make effective use of free blog platforms, visit
profit using free blogs.

Why is it that people look so good and healthy with a little colour, yet tanning can be so harmful to your skin? Recent studies and the news report that there are more cases than ever of melanoma and we all know that extensive exposure to the sun will cause your skin to age more quickly.

There are solutions to the problem of harmful UV sunlight that allow you to have all of the aesthetic benefits of a rich tan without the harmful side effects. The answer is in the types of tanning products you use to care for your skin while in the sun and after.
 
Pre-Tanning Preparation
 
It is always good to keep your skin moisturized. Cold weather and dry air can dry it out as well as salt water and chlorine. Always protect your skin with moisturizers day and night. They are most effective if applied immediately following a shower because the skin is moist and freshly exfoliated from washing.

Before going out in the sun, even in the winter, it is important to protect skin with a moisturizer that has a SPF protection factor of 15 or more. This rating is how many times more protected skin is than if it had nothing on it. It is so important to protect the face because it is more susceptible to sunburn.
 
Tanning Beds
 
Tanning beds are only slightly less harmful to the skin that the actual sun. However, there are tanning bed lotions meant especially for tanning beds that give a deeper tone to the skin and protect it at the same time. Artificial tanning bed light bulbs are extremely strong, and that is why you can tan in just a few minutes per session. This also prepares the skin to deepen in colour each time you go to the beach.

Many salons have tanning booths where you stand or beds where you lie down and get all areas of the body tan at once. This is a good place to go if you are planning to go on vacation to a warm weather climate in the middle of winter. You can enjoy all of your holiday without having to worry about sunburn, because you can condition your skin to the sun before you leave home.
 
Lotions & Creams and other Tanning Products
 
It can be confusing knowing what type of lotion to use to best protect your skin and still give you great colour. There are spray on lotions, facial tanner products, a lotions with all kinds of number on them! Much of what you should use depends on your skin type.

If you are fair skinned then you need to choose a tanning product that protects the most. An SPF rating of at least 15, but 30 would be better. Those with darker, olive skin tones can use a lotion with an SPF of 8 and be adequately protected, provided they reapply the lotion frequently if there are going to be in the sun for long periods of time. There are also sunless tanning products that offer no protection from UV rays, but will change the skin colour without the sun.

Jerry Blackburn released a lot of articles for the news section of www.tanning-lotions-tips.com . Amongst his works Jerry is working on topics like tanning products www.tanning-lotions-tips.com/sunless-tanning-products.html and provides information on sunless tanning.

“Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.” - William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”

Fear is ever-present and an inescapable part of being human. Where there is a dream, there is fear. Where there is change, there is fear. Along with new opportunities, come fear. Yet somehow, fear has been vilified. We have come to think of fear is inherently bad—something to avoid or eliminate. But the truth is fear plays an important and meaningful role in our growth and development.

In “Take Yourself to the Top” Laura Berman Fortgang wrote “Every choice you make is rooted either in fear or in courage.” Like the two sides of a coin, fear and courage are closely melded together. When you toss the coin into the air each day, which side have you been landing on? If fear seems to be prevailing, try these strategies to make a friend of fear. Only then will your coin be able to safely land on courage.

1. Respond, rather than react, to fear

2. Listen to the fear as you would a trusted friend

3. Take your fear to the end

RESPOND TO FEAR RATHER THAN REACT TO IT…

What is your natural way of dealing with fear? Many times we simply react. Re-act. We STOP!, we change direction, we settle for something less fear-inducing, or we ignore it and struggle forward in spite of our fear. None of those reactions makes the best use of our fears. These reactions actually prevent us from fully achieving what we desire or dream.

The first step toward making friends with fear is to stop reacting to it and start responding. Our fears are there because they are trying to tell us something about ourselves. When we respond to our fears, we are taking the time to listen and then make changes, correct something, or create something that we need. At the first sign of fear, STOP, LISTEN and RESPOND. The longer you ignore it, the more likely you are to react and regret.

LISTEN TO THE FEAR AS YOU WOULD A TRUSTED FRIEND

What if you viewed your fears as a friend instead? What would your friend want you to know? What is it asking of you? When we react to fear, we usually are trying to turn off the “negative” emotion. It’s uncomfortable for us and we want to withdraw from it.

Embrace it! Love it as you would a friend. It is not asking you to shrink away from your ambitions, hopes, dreams, opportunities or possibilities. It is asking MUCH MORE of you than that. It’s asking you to Act Bigger. To be self interested, self preserving. Dream big but take care. Have a Plan B. And a Plan C. If you fear failure, build a safety net so that you can get back up and keep moving forward rather than having to spend time and energy putting pieces together. If you fear rejection, give yourself acceptance—fully.

IF YOU ARE FINDING THAT FEAR IS HOLDING YOU BACK, TRY THIS:

* Write down the fear-based messages you are dealing with. (For example, What if I fail? What if this doesn’t work out? What if they say no? What if they say yes? I am afraid of losing. I can’t do this.)

* Look at these messages and ask yourself…what is my friend fear trying to tell me? What is it asking of me? Is it true? Write down your response for each fear based message you have listed.

* Finally, reflect on this question: Who would I be without these messages?

TAKE YOUR FEAR TO THE END

Recently, I discussed fear with a budding entrepreneur. I asked him what his biggest fear was and he said “fear of failure”. What is failure?, I wondered. He explained “losing all my families money, savings, home, and being bankrupt.” “And, what if you failed? What would you do?” I asked. He thought for a moment and said “I’d start over…plus, I would never let it get that far. I would get out way before losing my house and all my savings.” Ok, then “what do you have to do to safeguard you and your family against losing everything?” And, after a few minutes of listing what had to be done, his fear was settled. It had been heard, responded to, and taken to it’s natural conclusion. No more mystery. His coin could now flip to courage because he knew, once and for all, that he would be OK if his business did fail. Failure, for him, wasn’t about whether this particular business stayed afloat or made a ton of money…he could always try something else. Instead, it was keeping his family afloat that mattered most. And that requires something different from him…something he knows how to ensure.

It’s really that simple to be on friendly terms with your fears. Take your fears out of the dark and examine them in the light. Ask them what they want you to know, and/or do. Carry them to their natural conclusion—keep asking “what if that happens” and quickly you will have the answer. You will know what to do. You will have responded to the fear rather than reacted to it. You will have a new friend in fear. Now, go flip that coin and start acting out of courage with your friend fear right behind you!

PARTING PEARLS OF WISDOM:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It’s our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”. –Nelson Mandela in his Inaugural Speech.

Shawn Driscoll, owner of Succeed Coaching & Development, partners with motivated professionals to dramatically improve the quality of their career and lives. She challenges clients to stop struggling and sacrificing in the name of making a living and inspires them to re-define success on their own terms. Pick up your free copy of her special success report “How to Chart Your Course for Success and Fulfillment” at http://www.succeedcoaching.com/report.html.

As a professional wedding photographer I get this question asked more than anything else. Rarely will somebody ask me about my wedding photography education, awards, or professional memberships. I believe the root to this question lies on misinformation about the different qualities of film and digital.

Film

For a photographer with no computer experience or who does not want to spend the time correcting digital files film is the way to go. Film allows the photographer to photograph a wedding or event and at the end of the day be done with the process. When the time comes to print the photographs the photo lab will take care of color balance adjustments and retouching.
From a technical aspect film has a wider dynamic range than digital. This means than in high contrast scenes film has the edge. It can handle them better without blowing the highlights.

Digital

The greatest advantage for digital is the control of the photographic process in the hands of the artist. The photographer is not longer at the mercy of the lab to produce a photo that reflects his inspiration and vision.

Digital allows the photographer to shoot more frames without the expense of film and development, which can translate into a more complete coverage. After the event the photographer simply edits out the bad photos and you as the customer end up with the best selection of the day.
The digital medium is ideal for backup. Multiple copies of the event can simultaneously exist in different locations in the event of a catastrophe. With film there is always only one copy of the negatives, which could be duplicated, but the second copy suffers significant quality degradation.
With digital it is possible to produce different versions of the same photo including black and white, color, sepia, etc. through a very simple process.

Digital allows for a faster workflow. If your photographer offers digital gallery previews your photographs can be available in a matter of hours for viewing and ordering. In addition, slide shows and DVDs can be produced for the client.

Digital retouching in the hands of an expert can create amazing results.
Since there is no chemistry involved to develop digital the digital process is more environmentally friendly.

Resolution

In terms of resolution both film and digital can produce similar results. With the advent of 11 mega pixel and above digital cameras, digital has the edge for enlargements due to its lower noise levels and the lack of grain.
Many purist talk of the film look, which is basically film grain and noise that gives film its unique look. This film look can easily be simulated with digital image processing techniques.
Many people would be surprised to know that most photo labs will scan film prior to printing. In other words direct film to print is a myth. Digital photos when printed on true photo paper are virtually indistinguishable from their film counterparts.

What does the film vs. digital war means to the client? I believe that when selecting a wedding photographer the client has to focus on the end product more than anything else. At the end it doesn’t matter if the photographer uses film or digital. What really counts is the quality of the photographs that he or she will produce for your wedding day.
There are good and bad photographers using film or digital. Your task as a client is to weed out the bad ones and select a photographer that will capture beautiful memories of your wedding day.

Juan Carlos Torres is a very respected and awarded wedding photographer in Oregon. He has a Masters Degree in Remote Sensing with a strong background in digital image processing and photography. He is a member of the several professional photographer organizations including the Professional Photographers of America, the Professional Photographers of Oregon, the Wedding Photojournalist Association, and the Oregon Wedding Photo Guild. His wedding photographs are unique and very artistic and have been featured in national and international magazines. For a sample of his works please visit oregon
wedding photographer and
salem oregon wedding photographer

When I walked into Dallas’s famous Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse, all I wanted to do was to enjoy my New York Strip steak, relax and quietly review my notes for the following day’s speech. Little did I know that a valuable business lesson awaited me at the table.

The only other customer in the bar was a guy sitting in the corner pounding away on his laptop. He didn’t look up when I walked in. The bartender on the other hand noticed my nametag when I arrived and yelled, “Hey Scott! Grab a stool and have a drink!”

I walked over as he flung a coaster down and said, “What’ll you have?”

“Actually,” I said, looking at that man in corner, “I have some work to do. Is it cool if I grab one of those corner tables over there?”

“Sure, sit wherever you want,” he said.

I sat down at the table caddy-corner from Mr. Laptop. He had one of the new Apple G5’s. Nice computer, I thought. Briefly peering over at his screen, I saw that he was working online.

“Excuse me, but do you get high speed access in this bar?” I asked.

“Yeah! I’m set up with a wireless system. And it’s nice because I’d rather work here than in my hotel room.”

“Oh yeah, I know the feeling,” I replied. “That’s why I came here too.”

Pointing down at my nametag, he asked what convention I was attending. I smiled and told him, “Actually I always wear a nametag. It makes people friendlier and more approachable.” He chuckled, as most people often do when I give them my standard answer to this frequently asked question.

“Well Scott, it certainly worked on me! My name is Joachin. It’s nice to meet you.”

Joachin was a tech consultant from Orange County. He also flew in for the day to give a speech to one of his clients. Not surprisingly, we clicked instantly! And for the next hour, Joachin and I had one of those rare stranger conversations that covered just about every topic you could imagine. It was like we were old friends! And both of us seemed to have forgotten all about the work we’d each brought to the restaurant.

God I love it when that happens, I thought.

The more we got to know each other, the more it felt like our conversation could have lasted for hours. But it was getting late, and we both had big days ahead of us. So, after exchanging business cards and agreeing to drop each other a line sometime, Joachin left and returned to his hotel.

Wow! I’m so glad I talked to that guy! I said as I grabbed the notes for my speech. And as I took another bite of my steak, I also thought to myself, now wait a sec – something just happened here…

One of the principles of communication I often discuss in my workshops and books is called “Sitting With The Right Company.” This idea reminds us that every new encounter represents a choice. For instance, we can walk into a meeting, a party or even a restaurant and immediately seek out the easy seat. That seat could mean sitting all by ourselves or perhaps with a group of people we already know.

You’ll notice this will happen a lot at networking functions. Employees from the same company – who work together 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year – will always sit together.

Because it’s comfortable.

But sometimes, a temporary sacrifice in comfort is worth the value of the conversation that otherwise would not have existed. Sometimes you’ve just got to throw yourself out there. Sometimes you’ve got to break the silence and step onto the front porch of someone new.

Because you just never know. You never know whom you will meet, what you will learn or how it will reciprocate. Unfortunately, too many people are held captive by this comfort. And it is those people who are missing out on opportunities to enhance the net worth of their social capital. Sure, it’s easier to talk to people we already know. But there’s also something to be said for digging your well before you’re thirsty.

After I paid my check and hopped back into the cab, you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The cab driver probably thought I was drunk! But for some reason, the conversation I had with Joachin gave me more energy than the seven dinner rolls I’d just eaten!

And MAN that was beautiful.

Now, will we become life long friends? I doubt it. Business associates? Certainly, that’s a possibility. But…will we either of us regret spending our meal talking and connecting with an exciting new person instead of sitting alone in a corner burying our noses in work?

No way. And in the end…

I was SO glad I didn’t sit at the bar.
I was SO glad I didn’t work on my speech.
And I was SO glad I DID sit with the right company.

© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.

The Florida Keys is a beautiful archipelago with more than 1,700 islands spread over 127 miles, divided into the upper, middle and lower keys. The outlying Keys in the Biscayne National Park, the Marquesas and the Dry Tortugas are easily accessible by boat. Accessible by the Overseas Highway connecting the islands, the Florida Keys is a great holiday destination.

Why the Florida Keys? Located between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the Keys have sunny climes and are a great getaway to beat winter woes. Though these subtropical areas are often subject to frequent evacuation owing to hurricanes and tropical cyclones, this hasn’t deterred tourists. These jewels lying in the Florida Straits offer attractions of all kinds–especially for water sports like snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, skiing and swimming. Its largest island, Key Largo (remember the Bogart movie?) has Hemingway’s residence, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Hammock Botanical State Park, in addition to a heady mix of Caribbean and American culture.

Timesharing is an arrangement that gives you the right to use property for a limited, predetermined time. There are many factors to be taken into account before buying a deeded or non-deeded vacation. Luxurious timeshare resorts can be found in the Keys, including the Matecumbe, Topsider É and Caloosa Cove resorts in Islamorada, Sport fishing capital of the World. Port Largo Villas, Florida Bay Club and the Anchorage Resort are great options in Key Largo. In Key West there are Banyan, Galleon, Hyatt Beach, Reflections at Ocean Key House and the Coconut Beach Resort. Cocoplum Beach and Tennis Club, the Hammocks and the Hawks Nest are in Marathon. As with all timeshare properties, the Florida Keys’ vacations share the same advantages and disadvantages.