Ball State

» Home Alarms and Protecting your Family

By China at 11:54 AM

When choosing to invest in a home alarm and security system it is extremely important to look over the needs, lifestyle and habits of everyone in your house or frequent visitors. Knowing who gets up in the middle of the night or how often your family goes on vacation and even the number of doors and windows in your home are important facts to have when choosing the right system for you. Random things like knowing the distance between locations of doors and windows or areas you need protected become crucial in the decision making and knowing what kind of alarm like a wireless alarm is the one for your family.

One kind of alarm that I have heard a lot about lately is the GE Simon XT. This security system is one that provides protection for up to 40 zones (many only protect up to 34-36 zones) and also has burglary and fire protection features as well as being able to record voice messages. It is important to find a system that fits all of your needs such as the fire protection.

Alarms have been becoming more and more popular lately. I can't really remember when I was younger ever seeing someone (whether it be a friend's home or a family members) with an alarm or security system. The first time I ever saw one was when I went to bring you daughter to work day with my dad and his company had one on their door and I thought it was so cool). But now it seems like it is much more common and almost a necessity with people traveling more often and I think a lot of people get it to lower the cost of their home insurance. This is something my dad and a lot of our family friends have discovered. So even though we don't use it as often as we probably should, usually only when we are out of town or my dad is away for work, we have it in case which I think gives us and a lot of other people a safer feeling knowing that something is protecting your home or your family when you are away or even when you are home. Times seem to be changing and you read more and more about burglaries and you think that it couldn't happen to you but really, it could happen to anyone and having an alarm system may not just catch a robber, but potentially scare them away from targeting your home.

» THE BIRTHDAY SURPRISE - CONCERT TICKETS

By China at 9:51 PM

My girlfriend called me and she really wanted concert tickets for her birthday. She loves music so she really didn't care which tickets I got for her, and so I went online and I found some really great places to get tickets, but mostly I was finding sports tickets. Well, I found a good set of football tickets really cheap, so I bought them, after all who can resist some cheap football tickets. Then I came across some theater tickets, so I decided that would make a great gift for my parents anniversary which was coming up in a few weeks. Still no concert tickets. That night I went out with a buddy of mine for a few beers and I told him that I just couldn't find a place to get cheap concert tickets. I told him I couldn't see getting them from ticket master or somewhere like that. They would cost too much and why bother when I knew if I could just shop around I could get a really good deal. He gave me some ideas of places that he had been able to get some concert tickets for a really good price in the past. I went online and sure enough I was able to find some great tickets for a really good price, like about half of what the tickets sites would have charged and they were really good seats. Not only that but I was able to get tickets for the actual night of her birthday, so I could take her to dinner and the concert and it would be a great evening. I could have told her that I got her tickets, but I decided to surprise her, and each time she brought it up, I asked her how disappointed she would be if I couldn't get the tickets. I was just stringing her along, but it was really a lot of fun. The week of her birthday, I told her I was taking her to dinner and then a movie. When we were waiting on our desert I handed her a little box that had the concert tickets tucked inside it. She thought it was just a regular gift, but when she opened it up and saw the tickets she was really happy. We went that night and had a great time. Still weeks later she is telling her friends about the great birthday surprise. I am really glad that I was able to get such a great price on those tickets and could surprise her with them. It was a lot of fun.

» Payday Advance and Location

By China at 1:05 PM

Where I grew up and went to high school, I have never seen a payday advance business anywhere in town. I really didn't even know what it was until junior year of high school when we talked about it in consumer education for about 5 minutes. But when I came to Muncie, Indiana for college, well for orientation, I saw a ton of payday advance businesses all over the town. How come we don't have more back home? Do less people in my suburb outside of Chicago need a payday advance than the people who reside in Muncie? I'm not sure, but when my dad and I were driving up and down the main road in Muncie, I saw about 10 to 15 signs advertising payday loans and businesses that I had never seen before at home.

Is it true then, that some places have more payday advance businesses and have a better need for them? Or is it just that they don't have them around home because people didn't think to open one in my town and that there are the same amount of people who need that service, but they have to go elsewhere to find it? I seriously have no idea, but it would be interesting to find out.

It makes me sad though that people, especially families with children have to get by that way. The only thing that I have heard about payday advances is that they are expensive and you have to pay back a lot more than you are given in the first place, and the loan really isn't over a long period of time, usually just until you get your next paycheck or money comes in, but the interest rates are insane. Right now though with prices of our everyday needs skyrocketing, it doesn't surprise me that more and more families have to resort to this option to get money for food or rent. It is extremely sad that is has come to this (although I am sure payday advances have been happening for much longer than this) and our economy may be facing a depression. It is weird to hear older people who have lived through the depression compare what they are seeing now, to what happened then. It really does make you scared to see what will happen in our near future, especially since I will be graduating college soon and entering the real world.

» Giving away logo merchandise

By China at 4:29 PM

We're coming down to the wire now folks. IS anyone else feeling the pressure? Wednesday night was the third and final presidential debate and I am just ready to blast forward to the forth of next month and find out who our next president is going to be for the next four year. I am of course swayed towards John McCain and so I have my hopes up for now about whom it will be. I agree with his policies so much this year that I have been volunteering every week since June. In the beginning I did mostly general Republican Party stuff like handing out the elephant logo merchandise. Then I moved on to doing the voter registration and buttons. Those types of things are really great around here because we all know that as college students we love free stuff and if it says something about who we are and what we believe in then it is a double gift. All of these promotional products have since shifted to having the McCain name and the Palin name on them as well. Now it's sort of funny giving things away because everyone that takes it is someone who is in obvious support and not just someone who wants something for free.

Our final push this fall in terms of getting his name and the word about his platform out there is again in the form of giveaways but in some different forms. I proposed the idea at the Republican students office that we should model our last push after tradeshow giveaways. I am a business student so I know the power of one little piece of something in the hands of the right people. Putting something on a single college student can only get you so far. But imagine a respected boss wearing his corporate gifts with logos and what you'd think if you saw that. That is what we have done with local business owners. We found the ones in support and asked them represent the party through wearing some kind of logo product that we gave them for free. This in turn gets the word to their employees and their customers while at the same time easily opening a dialogue between all of them. It is really exciting this time of year and I am just dying to see what happens next month.

» shopping for shade a canopy in California

By China at 12:32 PM

Even in these troubling economic times it is hard to not want to just move on with your life. As of this morning we have heard of some economic changes that most would still assume to be short lived. We're all just waiting for everything to get much, much worse. It is especially important during times like these that we just get our minds away from these things and enjoy the world and the lives that we have.

Having grown up in Southern California, I understand what it means to be laid back and relaxed about life in general. I have a general attitude about life that consists of just trying to let every problem bounce off of my hard shell. If they refuse to bounce off then I just let them pass right through without ever touching my soul. These issue we grow from and the others we avoid. When I was a kid growing up out there, there was one big thing that every adult seemed to have in mind as his or her getaway from the problems of every day life. They would spend all of their free time working on either maintaining or remodeling their homes. Shade sails California or shade structures California were two companies that would just reap all of the benefits of this obsession. The shade canopy California companies would be there every time a job was lost and a new one was gained. People would use their houses as a means of resolve to their unease or overexcitement.

Now I think back to when I lived out there and I wonder what people are doing. Now instead of having the means and the desire to relax in this way, many don't have the money or even the homes to do so. Whenever I read the stories now about the housing crisis and the economic troubles going on in the world I just think of all of my old neighbors back home and wonder how they are holding up. I wonder if they have had to take up new hobbies, or if they are just in some smaller homes. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing because they have much more to work on than they did before.

» Credit Cards in the world today

By China at 11:41 AM

In my finance class I am learning so much more about ‘real life' than I thought I would. With our economy being the way it is now there is so much to learn and thankfully I am learning it now before graduation, instead of later when I'm actually facing these issues. We learned a lot about credit cards for our last test. We usually focus on several topics for each test since we only have three in the whole semester but my teacher (who is a financial planner) felt that as college students we needed to spend more time on our bank accounts and credit cards.

First of all we learned about merchant accounts. With a merchant account, a bank extends a line of credit to a merchant. We talked a lot about this and the way that it has affected our economy. But mainly we talked about credit cards and credit in general.

First of all is there anywhere that you can think of that doesn't accept credit cards? There is one place that I know of, it is a tiny family store by my house, but I heard that they recently switched over to accept credit cards because it became such a hassle for customers. Even though they have now switched, the cute old man that owns it (and has been running it with his family since before I was born) always feels like he needs to bring up the cons of using your credit card. He tends to make people that don't know him feel bad about using them, but really he is just old fashioned and hasn't conformed to the way that society is now (if that's worked for him this long, why not stay that way).

Another thing he always lectures us about is the actual credit card processing, He tells us all about how it charges us an extra 20 cents to use the credit card and that he hates that there is now a middle man (the bank) when it used to just be the customer and him. I guess he feels like it takes the closeness out of the transaction, which I kind of agree. He always knows everyone's name and talks to them about their families while they are checking out, so maybe since it doesn't take as long because you don't have to actually handle cash, he feels cut out of people's lives a little. It seems though that our society is getting more and more like that everyday though.

» The role of Web Design in Society

By China at 11:23 AM

Markham Web Design Companies is a company that specializes in both business and personal web development. This is a subject that interests me a lot more now than before because my roommate is an interior design major, but she has a minor in computer design. So although she isn't a web page developer, she does a lot with computer design and has helped me immensely with class projects or even presentations for our sorority. I had no idea that you could do so much with a computer and graphics (her dad is a web graphics developer so he has really been helpful for her as a resource).

The link for this company is http://www.tradewebdesign.com/, and it explains more about what the company does including web designing for businesses and individuals, reliable hosting solutions, search engine marketing, e-commerce integration, traffic generation and so much more. This company can help you to expand your business or personal page by a lot. Just by getting your name out there in search engines for you, Markham web design can help to increase your business and its awareness in society.

This web design in Markham can work with clients step by step and explain to them the important of web design and development and the role it can play in increases your business and popularity. Everyone now is online (even my grandparents have internet and look things up and use online bill paying and other resources). So if a 90 year old lady is looking up things online and sees an AD, you can bet all other ages are doing the same. By getting your business out there on the web by using a company like Markham Web Design, you can positively portray what your business has to offer. This positive outlook will help you to gain popularity and loyalty and interest in your product and business (or yourself if it is an individual page) and it can help to drive up your sales and gain new leads.

A lot of people know the basics about computers and how to search and use their email and probably a lot more as well, but by hiring a professional company, they know the ins and outs and can help you to really expand by getting your name out there on search engines and advertisements on other companies websites as well. I can increase your business unbelievably.

» Why Try Loose Tea

By China at 1:34 PM

If you've been a tea drinker for years, but have never indulged in the art of the loose tea leaf, it is time to branch out from the simple tea bags you've been using and try the real thing. Why?

Loose tea has more health benefits. When a full leaf tea is processed and squashed into a bag, it looses some of its natural characteristics. Loose tea leaves are larger and for the most part unchanged from their natural state. This means steeping a tea leaf rather than a tea bag gives you greater access to the natural goodness of tea.

Tea tastes better with loose tea leaves. When you make tea "dust" for bags, much of the natural oil and flavor from the leaf is lost before you even put the bag near a tea cup. Using the loose leaves means you are able to enjoy all the oils of the leaf. These oils are responsible for both the flavor and aroma of tea. Your cup or pot of tea will look, taste and smell more delicious.

Loose tea leaves offer you a greater variety of tea options. When you rely on tea bags, you have a limited choice of tea. When your options are opened to include all manners of tea from around the world, your choices are practically endless. With the clearer flavor of loose tea, it's very possible that you might even discover you love a particular kind of tea that didn't hold your fancy when you tried it via tea bag.

Loose tea is fresher. Processed tea bags take time to produce and then sit on store shelves and in distribution centers making the aging process even longer. Loose tea is almost always fresher and as it can be purchased in boutiques and from more specialized distributors, the loose tea leaves make a fresher, more flavorful, cup of tea.

» Drinking White Tea

By China at 11:08 AM

I used to never drink tea. My dad loves drinking hot tea and my sister loves iced tea and bottled tea like the kind that Snapple has. When I would get sick my grandma would tell me to gargle salt water and to drink tea and I would never listen. I love water and Gatorade and I drink a lot of diet coke (way more than I should) but tea just always seemed so bland to me. Then freshman year of college my roommate got me hooked on white tea. It finally became another staple in my diet and I began to eat (or so I was told, healthier).

But are there any white tea benefits from drinking it? I read an article somewhere that white tea can help to boost your immune system so drinking it can help prevent you from getting sick and also if you do end up getting sick, it can help you to get well faster. The part I like most about it though when I'm sick is the warmth on my throat. I had never had that before because I usually drank diet coke or sports drinks, so I never really drank anything hot or soothing on my throat. I also have heard that white tea has many other health benefits like prevention of cancer. It is full of antioxidants that inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Other health benefits of white tea include: lower blood pressure, heart protection, stronger bones, healthy teeth and gums and even glowing skin.

All of these health issues are ones that need to be addressed while in college (even though a lot of students think that they are invincible and cancer is later in life and blood pressure is only high in adults). We need to be aware of our health and be doing things like exercising and eating the right foods and making good decisions now so that when we are older we don't have problems. A lot of diseases and illnesses are caused from earlier life decisions that are catching up with you, like not exercising, eating right or even from smoking and drinking at a younger age. The things we do now will affect our bodies forever so when we find a food or drink that has a positive effect on our health we need to find a way to incorporate it into our diets and lifestyles.

» Finding the right Car Insurance

By China at 10:46 AM

Being a college student (a really lucky one) I have yet to pay for my own insurance, and to be honest I have no idea what the car insurance rates are for my family, my car, my age or my driving history. I do however know that it is expensive and way more than I could afford without my dad (thank God for dads). In my finance class though we are learning about personal finances and savings and important information that will really help out later in life regarding mortgages and even little things like car insurance quotes.

For one of our projects we had to go online or visit a branch of the car insurance that we currently have and if we don't pay for our own insurance and don't know, we had to go and get a quote for what it would cost if we did. I had no idea how much detail they go into to get you a quote. You need to know all the information about your car, like the mileage, year, make and model as well as knowing your driving history and record and even little things like your grade point average for a good student discount. It is interesting how much your age plays into it and even the color of your car makes a big difference and how long you plan on having that insurance or switching over to another provider.

Obviously cheap car insurance is what people aim for, but after getting into several accidents and a few tickets, it seems a lot more important to have a reliable and trustworthy provider than it is to pay less. For example I just signed up for a motor club with my insurance provider because I am an out of state student and I have a car so if something were to happen like an accident or even a flat tire or something small, my dad is 300 miles away and can't help me with it. So we pay a monthly fee in case anything was to happen and thankfully we do, because I have had to use it. I feel like you can't really put a price on safety, especially when it comes to driving and being on the road. It makes me feel much better knowing that someone will come right away and help me if something were to happen, even if we're 20 dollars poorer every month. Ha.

» LIVING WITHOUT A HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION

By China at 10:03 AM

My mother moved to a new house on a Lake a few years ago, and now she is very limited as to the services that are available. When she moved in, she wanted to get high speed internet service, however, she was told by each company that she called that it wasn't available in her area. Her internet connection, is quite frankly so slow it is beyond frustrating. Half the time when she tries to bring up a page, she has to give up because if there are a lot of graphics on the page, then it takes forever to load, and on several occasions she has had to call me and ask me to do stuff on the internet for her that she is unable to do with her current connection. Whenever I go there, I try not to have to get on the computer because it is really too slow to do anything with and since I am used to having a much faster internet connection, it frustrates me to no end when I use her computer.

Recently my mother received good news, high speed internet was now becoming available from one company in her area. She called them right away to sign up and they sent someone out to get her started. Well, she knew that her neighbors had gotten it, and was really excited that she was now going to be able to save time accessing information on the web. Well, all did not go smoothly, because even though her neighbors can get a connection, for some unknown reason my mother's house does not receive the signal. They can't really tell her why, however she can't get the high speed connection at her house. Now this is the really funny part, when my brother comes to visit and has his laptop and internet card with him, he is offered to connect to the neighbor's high speed internet connection. Not only that but sometimes when the neighbors get online my mother hears the dialing in the background of her own phone. Even to the point where if she is not on the phone, her answering machine will pick it up. When she contacts the company, they tell her that this is impossible. They say there is absolutely no way that things like that can happen. Well, honestly I wouldn't have thought so either, but I have seen it first hand and know that it really does.

Now here my mother sits without a high speed internet connection and the neighbors dialing through her phone. It is all really quite interesting.