Saving Money With Government Auctions

Why Pay For A Government Auction Site
Hi, I have been a Government contractor for many years and one of my favorite things to do has been to attend Government auctions and see what cheap or valuable items I can pick up for myself or to resell. Now in doing this I have undoubtedly and repeatedly run into the questions from friends of what I thought about the many Government Auction Sites on the internet.
Aren't Government auctions free? Why would I use a government auction website that cost money?
Yes, and because it saves time. Government auctions can be free to research if you have the time and patience. Sites like treasury.gov list many items the US Government wants to auction off. The problem is their information is hard to research, and when you can find the right place to search a lot of times their data is old or just not fully up to date. This is the US Government we are talking about, they are not know for being the best in interdepartmental communications and public relations. You may spend a few hours finding a house or car you want to try and purchase proceed to set bids or travel to a auction only to find out the house or car is either no longer available or has been held up by legal battling from the previous owner.
This is where a paid site comes into play. You are not paying for the free auctions; you are paying for correct and up to date easy to find and understand information. Some of these sites have a flat fee and some have a subscription. Whichever site you decide to go with you are paying for the ease of finding the information on the auctions and items you are interested in. This is what these sites are good at; this is what they are for.
Scams.
Yes there are a few Government auction sites that are scams, but it is rarer than you would think. I believe the biggest problem is they promise you the world when they don't have to. You've probably seen the adds "GOVERNMENT AUCTION: 2011 MUSTANG only $500"... Yeah that's not going to happen. Will you be able to get a good deal if you attend a Government or State auction, yes most likely but you have to do your research. This is kind of a added bonus to the better sites. Not only will they provide listings, auction locations and entry requirements, they help you know what you're walking into, they might have videos from previous auctions, they will have articles and tips on how recognize good deals and how to research auctioned items. These can be extremely valuable attributes for the new comer and experienced auction veteran alike. I believe the information put together by the government auction sites I have reviewed do a very good job of keeping me informed and helping me save money and time. That's really what it's all about saving money.
If you decide to use any of the sites listed on my blog please I invite you to come back and tell me about your experience, what you like and what was of no help what so ever.
Good luck and happy hunting.

Leadership and Leading

In every organization everyone is a leader. However not everyone believes they are a leader. Instead of me regurgitating what may have already been written or shown with regards to leadership and leading, it would be best to write from experience as a school teacher and as a person who has served in various leadership roles with titles such as, 'classroom teacher', 'co-ordinator', 'head of team', 'deputy principal', 'principal' within schools. The points that you will read do apply to many, if not all organizations. At some stage or other in people's lives they are either working for a higher authority or are the higher authority.

From observation and experience a leader derives his or her power from authority, knowledge, personality and persuasiveness. Tact in other words.

If people only follow because they 'have to' then one finds that the morale of the staff is low and that staff turnover is high. There are also quite a few 'sick' days! The leader is only a leader by title. The leader gets caught up in protocols, rights and organizational systems, as they become the basis for that persons authority and influence. The leader is 'in control' because of appointment. Definitely very little to no leadership skill is demonstrated by these types of leaders. Being the boss and being the leader are very different. Positive reactions from staff result when they experience leaders who coach, show how and continually hear the word 'we' from the leader. Negative reactions from staff occur when they experience leaders who continually drive, are continually told how much the 'leader' knows and continually hear the word 'I' sprouted by the 'leader'. The staff cringe when they hear the word 'leader' in these cases. These types of leaders have to realize that few people follow because of titles. People would have definitely experienced those types of leaders. They do exist.

Thankfully, it does get better.

When people follow because they 'want to' it means that relationships are being and have been developed. Staff do things when they aren't even obligated to. They see that the leader cares, has a heart and a good head on their shoulders. When staff see and feel that the leader has genuine concern for people and includes them in the journey then there is tremendous harmony within the staff. There is usually a win-win situation even when dealing with difficult people. Staff who are highly motivated are continually encouraged.

Leaders with such traits shouldn't rest on their laurels. There should be, must be a flow on with their leadership development. Hence staff follow a leader because of what the leader 'has done' for the school, the organization they work in. Staff momentum is high; it is flowing. Difficulties are overcome with very little fanfare or turmoil. Compared to what was mentioned earlier, morale is now high; energy is high. People really love coming to work. There is a great 'sharing' of information and results. Positive results rise quickly. They become the norm. When working with staff in this type of climate, this type of atmosphere, one finds the staff strive to work successfully towards achieving a particular purpose. They become result-oriented. The leader demonstrates that they are accountable too. They began with themselves. These leaders have developed themselves to be leaders of growth, personally and as a staff, and they have been able to clearly articulate the strategies and vision of the school or organization. Organizations love positive results.

Staff also follow leaders for what the leader has done for them as individuals and as a whole. Here staff stay for the long haul. The leader helps develop leaders and this ensures long term growth for the school, the organization. A leader is great not because of their power but because of their ability to empower others. This shows up here. They realize that success without a successor is failure. A worker's main responsibility is doing work himself/herself. A leader's main responsibility is developing others to do the work. It is here that staff and individuals are extremely loyal to the leader because they have been helped and encouraged to grow personally. These leaders have realized that people are their most valuable asset. They placed a priority on developing people.

Distance Learning Degree in Political Science - Is It Worth It?

You may be a person who hasn't made it into any of the Ivy League Universities. You may be one with commitments to work or family and can't afford, financially or otherwise, to attend a university. You may be a US Marine posted abroad. You may be anyone who just can't attend university but wants a good degree in political science. Well, here comes a distance learning degree in political science. But, is it worth it? This is the question I shall like to address in this article.

To start with, let me concede that there is no 'yes' or 'no' answer to this. Add to this, the answer for this shall vary from person to person. However, you shall find this article very helpful in making you find an answer for yourself. Let us now move and start delving into the issues involved to know if a distance learning degree in political science is really worth it for you!

Have you got the Aptitude?

Some people may be taken aback when being asked this question in regards to a subject like political science. This may be because they think that watching all the mess on news channels makes them perfectly suited for the course. Some may be simply curious to understand how do politicians operate and all such Machiavellian stuff knowing which would one day shoot them into some political office. If you are one of these persons, let me assure you that you are terribly mistaken if you are thinking of pursuing a distance learning degree in political science. What you shall study in this degree shall have nothing to do with this. In fact, you would not frequently find an issue in any news channel being worthy of finding a place in the curriculum. The degree is purely theoretical. It simply DOES NOT teach you how to be a politician. IT doesn't.

What you shall find in a degree are issues of theoretical significance. For example, what are the philosophical bases for the modern notion of statehood? What did many great political thinkers think about it? What is international law? How does it operate? What are interest groups? How are different political systems similar to each other? How does the Westminster Parliament differ from Congress? Are the British Prime Minister and US president true counterparts of each other? And just don't forget political philosophy, the toughest part of the course, which will simply make no-sense or relevance to anything modern. To the extent it does, it is that the questions we debate now are what the world has been debating for thousands of years.

William Penn Colonizer Influences Pennsylvania and Delaware

It took all kinds of people to make up America. Most of them were humble folk led by such sturdy members of the middle class as Captain John Smith and John Rolfe of Virginia, Miles Standish and William Bradford of Plymouth.
No individual founder of a colony contributed more fruitfully towards assisting English men and women in the attainment of their goal of a better life in America than William Penn
William Penn Quaker
William Penn was a well-educated aristocrat, schooled at Oxford, the son of a British Admiral, Sir William Penn. He readily won friendships and lasting influence in high places. William Penn was born into the Church of England, but was converted to the Quakers by Thomas Loe, a Quaker preacher.
As a Quaker, Penn quickly became a powerful advocate of freedom of conscience, preaching and writing to advance the teachings of the Quakers, and promoting acceptance of the doctrines of political liberty, being an opponent of economic oppression of the many by the few.

By virtue of his legal training at Lincoln's Inn, he was a successful defender of the security and property of Englishmen. William Penn was a man of no compromise. While in prison for his religious convictions, he wrote, No Cross, No Crown, setting forth many of the principles that Americans call, the American way of life.

Penn's Interest In America
At the age of thirty-three, Penn first became interested in America, having his great convictions formed and developed. He was given the opportunity to put them to practice when he was made one of the trustees to manage the property of West New Jersey, which the Society of Friends had acquired as a refuge for its members.
In 1677 Burlington was founded under a charter of "Laws, Concessions, and Agreements" largely drawn up by William Penn, guaranteeing religious freedom with the statement that 'no Men, or number of Men upon Earth, hath Power or Authority to rule over Men's Consciences in religious Matters." At first opportunity Penn had written his liberalism into fundamental law and put it into practice in a new society.
William Penn Influences Pennsylvania and Delaware
In 1681 Charles II, King of England, paid a long-standing debt to Admiral Pen by granting the son, William, a huge tract of land north of Maryland. Penn named it Pennsylvania in honor of his father. The following year, Duke of York, transferred the territory known as Delaware to him.

8 Reasons Why You Should Attend Sunshine Act Training

The Sunshine Act is quite a new law and opinions regarding its usefulness are mixed. Healthcare training companies have recently started offering Sunshine Act training courses in order to help medical professionals get familiarized with the new legislation. If you are not sure if you should attend this course, following you will find the top eight reasons why any medical professional should attend training.

• The regulations introduced by the Act are meant to help physicians and medical manufacturers communicate better in order to come with new therapies and medical products. The development of new, reasonable, and efficient therapeutic alternatives is crucial because, despite all the advances the medical world has made, there a still numerous challenges this industry has to face on a daily basis.

• Improvement in communication between doctors and medical manufactures makes it easier for physicians to know what to expect from using certain products and it helps manufacturers understand any possible glitches in the development of their devices.

• Apart from the development of new products, the Act also strives to improve the safety of already existing devices, therapies, drugs, and biological products. This, in turn, will help improve the quality of life for patients, reduce side effects, and increase survival rates. Training teaches medical professionals how to report incidents involving medical devices so that these issues can be solved quicker.

• The Act strives to reduce medical frauds and increase the transparency of the US healthcare system as a whole. A fair and transparent medical system improves the efficiency of those who work in this environment and it also promotes credibility and trust amongst the general population.

• Proper training reduces the number of legal cases involving medical practitioners or manufacturers that make it to court. This reduces legal costs and the Government can use the tax payer's money saved in this manner for more noble causes.

• It is important for both physicians and medical manufactures to have a certificate that validates their knowledge of the Sunshine Act because it gives them more credibility in front of their business partners.

How to Make Good Revision Notes!

Avoid writing in block text where possible! Make notes look like notes! Use bullet points or tables, graphs or even little sketches to show your work. Arrows and diagrams also work well, it depends entirely upon what your preferred style is and how you best like to set out your work. (As long as everything is all still understandable to you when you come to revise!)
· Use Highlighters and Coloured Pens to emphasise particular areas or things you need to remember, is a good idea. This way when you come to revise you can easily see what areas you may need to pay closer attention to.
· Summarise large passages where you can- this really makes you focus on what it is you need to remember without trying to remember lots of words that have little to do with what is important to remember!
· Put headers on paragraphs so that everything is clearly marked for when you come to revision and are looking for something in particular to look up and revise! It makes the task of revision easier and far more satisfying as you have already done half the work!
· Circle important passages with bubbles and different shapes to show they mean different things. This is a great way of differentiating between different meanings and concepts.
· Revise in ways that make sense to you! Don't feel you have to be regimented into using plain paper and black pens and standard paragraphs in your revision notes!
· Make your notes eye catching so you can quickly skim read and still be revising the key important points. This way if you find something you feel unsure of you can look into those in more detail and not have to waste time reading detailed notes on a subject you already know!
· Detail is sometimes necessary to achieve the highest marks in an exam but make sure all the key points and important facts to remember jump out at you on the page. This breaks up the detail. makes the page look more manageable to revise from and less overwhelming!
· Use post-it notes - put a key word on each note and stick these on your mirror, fridge (or where ever you are likely to see them often) and try to recall from memory everything you can when you see a particular word.

Ladder Safety

I've heard a lot of people say that ladders are dangerous and unsafe. The truth of the matter is that ladders are completely safe when used properly. We use ladders on a daily basis, while cleaning windows and pressure cleaning houses, and have never had an injury. Ladders are only as dangerous as the user. Here you will find several safety tips to make sure that you are completely safe when using ladders. This tips are meant for extension ladders but may come in handy for step ladders as well.
Before you even touch the ladder you want to make sure that you are properly taken care of. So let's take a look. Are you wearing the proper type of footwear? I would hope that its obvious that climb a ladder in flip flops is not a safe practice. Have the proper shoes on before starting, for example, sneakers or work boots, and make sure that they are tied properly. The last thing you want to do is trip over a shoe lace while climbing or descending a ladder. Now that your foot wear is taken care of lets check everything else. Make sure there is nothing on your body that could get caught on a rung or interfere with your feet or hands.
Next, if you are working with tools make sure that you have a proper tool belt. It should fit properly so that it is not slipping or falling off as you work. Do not carry tools in your hands while climbing a ladder. You want to make sure that your hands are free so you can have a proper grip.
Now, the ladder. The first thing you should do is purchase ladder mitts. Ladder mitts are a soft rubber mitt that fits on the top of the ladder. They serve two functions: 1. The protect the ladder from scratching the siding of a house or whatever the ladder will be leaning against. 2. They grip to the surface they are leaning against and prevent the top of the ladder from sliding while climbing or working. You can also purchase a ladder stabilizer if you wish. This piece of apparatus needs to be attached to the ladder and spans a couple feet. This adds extra stability to the top of the ladder. We don't use these but some do.
You can also add adjustable leg extension to a ladder. These attach to the feet of the ladder and extend to about a foot. The great thing about this type of device is that you are able to adjust one leg longer then the other which is great for uneven ground or working on stairs. Make sure that you purchase a good pair of extension if you decide to add these. If you are using a heavier ladder you will need a more heavy duty extension. Also, these are not something that should be added to large ladders like a 40 foot extension because the ladder itself is so heavy the extension may not be able to handle the weight.
OK, so we have taken care of the you and the ladder. The next thing to look at is where you are placing the ladder. First, getting to where you need to be. The two easiest ways to carry a ladder are parallel to the ground or in an upright position. You can put the ladder on your should and stand it up where you need it. For guys like us, who carry a ladder from window to window, carrying the ladder upright is easiest. Make sure the ladder is not extend and grab a lower rung with one hand and use the other to keep it stabilized. If you carry a ladder upright, or when you are raising a ladder, make sure you are clear of any power lines. The last thing you want is to be electrocuted.
Next, you want to make sure that the ground is as level as possible. Putting a ladder on an uneven surface will make the ladder tilt to one side which is extremely unsafe (leg extensions will help with unlevel surfaces). You also want to make sure that the base of ladder is the right distance from the wall it will be leaning on. When you put a ladder against a wall you do not want it to be too close or too far away. This will make the angle of the ladder too steep or too shallow of an angle. Too steep and you run the risk of falling backwards off of the wall; too shallow and your weight may make the base of the ladder slide out from under your bring the ladder and your body crashing to the ground below.
If you have to put a ladder on a surface that may be slippery make sure that you have someone holding the base of the ladder. Wood decks, tiles, etc. can be very slippery and may cause the ladder to slip out from underneath you if not careful. If your ladder is in the dirt, you are pretty safe. The feet of most extension ladders can be turned so that they dig into the ground adding extra safety. When you put the ladder against the wall make sure it is as close as possible to the area you are working. You do NOT want to be extending while working. The farther you have to reach, the more at risk you are of falling. Another rule of thumb is to not be on the top rung. The farther down the ladder you are the safe. Optimally you would want to be at least 3 rungs from the top.
The last tip I am going to give is make sure you are comfortable. If you are not comfortable working on a ladder you are more at risk of an accident. Start out working on a smaller ladder, like a 16 ft extension ladder and work your way up. After a few times on a ladder you should start to feel more comfortable. As always, if you are not comfortable make sure you have someone with you. If you fall and get hurt, you will need someone to call for help.