If you don’t want to spend the time packing on the pounds, and losing the fitness level you’ve worked so hard to build up, here are five great ways to keep up your exercise routine.

Packing

Being sure to pack your necessary workout gear is the most important step of all. If you don’t have the right shoes, it gives you the perfect excuse to skip exercising. If you’ll be staying at a hotel with a pool, be sure to bring your bathing suit for a great alternative work out. Swimming is one of the best low impact exercises there is.

Plan ahead

If you’re a runner, you’ll be much more likely to go for a run if you’re familiar with the terrain before you arrive. Do a quick search online and discover some of the best places to run, whether it’s on the beach, a trail, or on the street. Even better, if you can meet up with someone who already lives in the area you’re traveling to, having a partner to workout with is one of the best motivators there is.

Gym

If you normally work out at your local gym, inquire about fitness facilities at the hotel or resort where you’ll be staying, and it’ll be easy to keep up your normal workout routine, or something close to it. If they don’t have a fitness room, consider making a few calls to gyms in the area and see if you can get a guest pass for the duration of your trip.

Walking

If all else fails, try to do as much walking as you can. If there are sites to see, walking instead of driving is a good way to get some exercise in. If the weather isn’t cooperating, a indoor mall walk can even do the trick. When traveling internationally, it’s fun to see what people are wearing and what they display in store windows. Exploring any city on foot is the perfect way to get more familiar with the local culture too.

Dancing

Stay active by going to a night club and listening to some great local, live music and getting your feet out on the floor. Dancing is a great calorie burner. You can burn around 300 or more calories per hour, and you’ll have so much fun you don’t even realize your getting a great workout.

K.C. Dermody has been an avid runner, hiker, and yoga enthusiast for twenty years, and as a trained yoga instructor she taught a variety of students from senior citizens to competitive athletes. She enjoys combining her passion for sports, emotional and physical well-being with her love of writing.

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Food is fuel for your workout

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By Anusha Shrivastava

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With limited time off, I like to save some vacation days for “emergencies.”

So what constitutes an emergency? Well, it could be that my son needs to be driven to a Friday squash tournament for which the schedule is only posted on Wednesday. Or, it could be unexpected guests. Or, it could be a parent-teacher meeting we didn’t plan on when we first budgeted our vacation days. (Fortunately, I get a few sick days a year so I don’t need to plan ahead for illness emergencies.)

At least once or twice a year, there’s a contractor visit for which we need to be present or a plumber who needs to be let in or other household repairs that require someone to stay home.

This year, there were also weather-related issues – a hurricane in the Northeast and a snowstorm in October, but I was lucky I didn’t have to take any days off for either.

Generally, I save five days for emergencies. But is five enough? Events like the recent snowstorm make me wonder if I need to add to my reserve days just in case.

If I don’t manage to use those emergency days within the first 10 months of the year, I’ll be sitting on a bunch of unused days come November and December and I’ll cram them in at the end of the year. On the other hand, it sure would be fun to spend those emergency days with my husband and kids — in a non state of emergency!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my two remaining emergency days morph into “bonus” days.

Readers, how do you manage emergency days? Do you set aside vacation days to use just in case? Or is your workplace pretty flexible, allowing you to address emergencies as they come up?

Arnold, CA (PRWEB) November 15, 2011

Cedar Creek Realty, a vacation rental and property management company in Arnold, California reports that vacation rentals are being snapped up in the area.

“This was the best July we’ve ever had. It was record numbers for us,” said Kelley Stellar, vacation rental manager for Cedar Creek Realty in Arnold. “Many people who used to take their vacations to Hawaii, Europe or Tahoe are coming up to the Arnold area these days.”

Stellar believes this is partly due to the poor economy and partly due to the recent “discovery” of the Arnold area by young families in the East Bay of California’s San Francisco Bay Area.

Stellar estimates there are between 150 and 300 vacation rentals available in the greater Arnold area. Renters often just stay for the weekend, but week- and month-long stays are becoming increasingly common.

From a business perspective, experts believe that turning a second home into a vacation rental is a good way to supplement income. “It’s a great idea in this point in time,” Stellar said. “All of my rentals are second homes. Now, because of the economy, they have decided to rent them out for extra income.”

Stellar said that along with the booming rentals, home sales are also up in the area. “We get people who actually are up here looking to purchase a home to put it in a vacation rental program. They know that now is a good time buy.”

There are two main seasons for vacation rentals. During the summer, families come up for vacations and enjoy the lakes and rivers and exploring the mountains. In the winter, numerous skiers head to the hills. “From the third week in June (when kids get out of school) through Labor Day” is a booming time, Stellar said. “We start getting busy again when the snow flies around Thanksgiving. That lasts through Easter.”

Who rents?

People come from all over the state and beyond to stay in the cabins and homes in the Arnold area.

“Most people are coming in with two to three families,” Stellar added. “They rent the larger houses. Usually, it’s families. People in their 30s with children ranging from 5 to 13. We get a lot of them from the Bay Area.” Luckily for owners, there are very few younger renters, and the cabins do not receive very much damage. “We don’t get a lot of the 20-somethings up here,” Stellar said. “Almost all of them are families. I really don’t get a lot of damage. I might get a spill on the carpet from kids carrying a Coke. Really, it’s very good.”

Why Arnold?

“People have actually started to discover us,” Stellar said. “We have a whole lot to offer. Once somebody comes up here once, they go home and tell their friends and bring their friends up. Then they come back up year after year. They often use the same cabin every year. It’s kind of a tradition. It’s actually becoming a big draw.”

“If you’re taking a family of five to go skiing and go to Tahoe, you spend a bundle. You can come here instead and spend a lot less.”

“I think it’s more beautiful here,” Stellar said. “It’s a beautiful easy drive from the Bay Area. The people up here are incredibly friendly. There is so much to do. From Murphys all the way up, there is so much diversity.”

Blue Lakes Springs is one of the most popular rental areas because there’s a lot to do within the subdivision.

“Most people are looking for the recreation areas,” Stellar said. “Blue Lakes Springs is very popular because of all the activities they offer. Most families want something for their kids to do.”

This popularity of the vacation rentals has led to home sales rising as well, as some vacationers want a permanent home in the scenic Highway 4 corridor.

About Cedar Creek Realty

Mountain living is a unique experience. Cedar Creek Realty’s staff offers both the local knowledge and the big city expertise to handle the real estate needs of full-time residents and second homeowners from the San Francisco Bay Area. Every property has its history of ownership, slope nuances, and unique characteristics. Cedar Creek Realty combines insider perspective with extensive experience, garnered all across California, in the full range of real estate services from sales and marketing to rentals and property management.

# # #

Tessa Bungee
Cedar Creek Realty
866-746-5050
Email Information

A supporter to repeal Senate Bill 5 holds onto his sign during a rally Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio voters rejected a new law restricting the collective bargaining abilities of public employee unions in an unusually vigorous off-year election that drew attention across the nation.

Tony Dejak/AP

A supporter to repeal Senate Bill 5 holds onto his sign during a rally Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio voters rejected a new law restricting the collective bargaining abilities of public employee unions in an unusually vigorous off-year election that drew attention across the nation.

It should have been a quiet Election Day this year, but two states drew national attention at the polls.

The proposed personhood amendment in Mississippi that would have effectively outlawed abortion was struck down. In Ohio, voters rejected a measure that would have restricted the rights of unions.

The outcomes suggest the electorate isn’t completely in line with a party claiming an ideological mandate.

John Boccieri, a pilot and former congressman, knows about the quickly changing atmosphere of Washington. In 2008, he became the first Democratic congressman since 1950 of Ohio’s 16th District, a moderate-to-swing district in northwest Ohio.

His district didn’t vote for Barack Obama, and he tells Jacki Lyden, guest host of weekends on All Things Considered, that as soon as he got to Capitol Hill, he felt the political headwinds pick up.

“Almost immediately when the president had taken office, there seemed to be some sort of organized effort to try and build as many roadblocks as they could in front of moving any agenda of the president forward,” Boccieri says.

Although Boccieri might not have filled his term with his personal political projects, he did support Obama’s health care and energy legislation. Those became polarizing issues, and Boccieri found himself become a one-termer in 2010.

“I think that people from all parties, all corners, and all spectrums of Ohio believe that government is not working for them,” he says. “And what they see in Washington, they see trench warfare, they see Democrats and Republicans digging in, not working together to solve our country’s problems.”

The Pendulum Swings

One year later, it’s the Republicans getting burned after making big pushes for their agendas. But the results from Ohio shed some light on the meaning of a political victory. Although it was impressive Democrats were able to mobilize their base with a lot of help and money from unions, during an off-year election, it doesn’t mean they can rest easy. Voters in the state also approved a proposal to prohibit people from being required to buy health insurance as part of the national health care overhaul.

“The fact that voters not only turned over the collective-bargaining reform, but also sent a message about individual mandate, means that simply trying to project a partisan or ideological read misses the larger story,” says John Avlon, a senior political writer at Newsweek and The Daily Beast.

Avlon says that increased participation during a non-presidential election year is a good thing. But the idea of mandates from the voting booth might be past its prime.

“The idea of … one party declaring an ideological mandate after they win a wave election is, at this point, totally discredited,” he tells Lyden. “It is a willful misread of an election result.”

It happened in 2006, when Democrats swept back to power in the House, Avlon says, and then the opposite happened in 2010 when Republicans came back and took away one-party rule in Washington. He says the same thing is happening in 2011.

After a big win, that misreading of the election results, Avlon says, is when a party’s most ideological activists issue the party mandate. That, he says, is what immediately begins the pendulum swinging the other direction.

“We are in a cycle of overreach and backlash in our politics,” he says.

Morris Fiorina, a professor of political science and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, agrees.

Democratic and Republican candidates for president build their base from the left and right, respectively, Fiorina says. But in order to win, they have to get the center. But that all changes once a candidate takes office.

“In the case of Obama administration … the pressures (from the left) were to act on things like cap and trade, stop global warming [and] health care,” Fiorina says. “But those were not the priorities of the country. The priorities … were jobs and the economy.”

This causes an administration to get out of touch with the bulk of the population, Fiorina says. The overreach is just that: acting in a way that causes an administration to lose the marginal members of their electoral coalition, he says.

The People’s Mandate

Avlon says that the center has been sending a consistent message: It doesn’t like it when one party has unified control over Washington and it wants some form of fiscal responsibility.

“What’s interesting about this particular time in American politics is that, in the past, divided government has not meant dysfunctional government,” Avlon says. “That is a key difference.”

That “dysfunctional” government is what perpetuates the swing of the pendulum and one of the reasons it is moving so quickly, he says.

So Americans’ preference for government from the center might be what’s pushing back on government from the extremes.

Fiorina says you’d have to go back to the late 19th century to find comparable volatility and instability in Congress. A finger can be pointed to the leadership in both parties, he says, as to why this is happening now.

“Parties like to think to think if they won, they have a mandate. The American people don’t have (ideological) mandates,” Fiorina says. “The mandate is to solve problems and to move the country forward. If you don’t do it to the satisfaction of the electorate, they turn you out.”

Instead of paying attention to the seemingly large swings from party to party, perhaps politicians should look a little more closely at the results. What happened in Ohio and Mississippi, Avlon says, is happening in the minds of the voter and their sense of limits in America, a good lesson for next Election Day.

“There’s also a heartening sense … of discernment that comes with swing voters who are decidedly saying that they are not going to walk in lockstep blindly with one party or one ideology,” he says.

That, he says, is a lesson beneath this election as we look toward 2012.

The Wrestle for a Cure Duals managed to get teams from across the country to attend. The teams may have been looking for extra and competitive matches for wrestlers, or the teams may have been seeking potential recruits. Some teams happened to have room on the schedule or were in the area. Whatever the teams’ reasons for coming to the event, it was beneficial to all participants and raised money for a good cause.

Two of the schools had exceptionally good matches at the event. The University of Nebraska, new to the Big 10, did an impressive job and swept all three of the matches the Huskers were in. Utah Valley University is relatively new to wrestling. The school’s wrestling program is around 10 years old. During the event, the Wolverines defeated two teams, but lost to the University of Illinois and Ohio State University.

In addition to the college matches, high school club teams also competed. It was a great opportunity for high school students to get noticed by college coaches. The high school clubs were from the general Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region. Since these were club teams, the student athletes may not have otherwise gotten major colleges’ attention.

As part of the event, a one hour clinic for young wrestlers was held on Friday, November 11, 2011. To be eligible to participate, wrestlers had to be in the sixth grade or younger. The clinic was held at Central Dauphin High School, not far from the Farm Show Arena. The clinic was put together by four of the wrestling coaches for the University of Illinois. Each participating wrestler contributed $5 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It was a great opportunity for the region’s young wrestlers.

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Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) November 15, 2011

Sydney-based Internet business expert James Schramko has built a reputation for coming up with excellent quality, great value products at very affordable costs. He is also known for sharing the knowledge that he has amassed and organizing it in such a way that he could present everything in a systematic manner. With Traffic Grab, an extremely comprehensive but very understandable online course enlightening business owners on how they can achieve online success through getting targeted traffic to their site, Schramko is able to impart many of the strategies, techniques and tools he has used to achieve his own fortune on the Internet.

According to Schramko, “Traffic Grab is a complete, big picture overview of the process that you can use over and over again to get more qualified, buying traffic that converts into sales.” His audience can rest assured that he is not merely spouting theories; he actually knows all that he teaches from personal experience. He emphasizes this in the course introduction, stating, “Traffic Grab is the powerful proven system that I use on my own websites for grabbing targeted traffic fast.” Considering the volume of his sites’ traffic and their rankings, the smart thing to do is to pay very close attention to what the man says about improving traffic to your website.

Testimonials and reviews have been very positive. One customer said that the course just kept giving and giving, and that he had to remind himself to take it in chunks so he wouldn’t miss anything or overwhelm himself. This is very encouraging to those who are leery that they might be paying for just a rehash of old and tired so-called tips that some marketers claim as their unique secrets or discoveries. Another customer asserted that he would recommend Traffic Grab to anyone who is serious about promoting his or her online business. He pronounced the price to be very reasonable, and complimented Schramko’s teaching style as well as the availability of transcripts, which save the customer the effort of taking down notes.

As a matter of fact, the price is not only reasonable, it is a real steal. There are 6 modules and the first 3 are offered for free. This generous gesture is made by Schramko to counteract the greedy efforts of many marketers out there. He explained, “Internet marketing products have for too long been over-priced, and they often fail to deliver on their promises. Many are theory-based and outdated. By offering the first three modules of Traffic Grab at no charge I’m aiming to restore some balance.”

Everything that needs to be learned on how to increase website traffic is in the course. It includes 24 traffic techniques that, combined, make up an ingenious traffic system Schramko himself concocted called the “Spaghetti Bowl”. The course is also very straightforward and customers need not worry about irritating pop-ups or upsells. Everything is in line with Schramko’s code of ethics. Choosing to go with Traffic Grab means ending up with a product of superb quality and high value, as well as dealing with somebody who transacts with integrity and transparency.

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Matthew Winters
SuperFastBusiness
+61 0400 660022
Email Information

Bay Shore, NY (PRWEB) November 14, 2011

TelcoDepot.com, a supplier of business phone systems, VoIP equipment, business VoIP service, Hosted PBX solutions, conferencing system solutions, and general telephony equipment and support for businesses, has launched an expanded line of battery backup units for businesses on its online phone system store. Businesses will now be able to access a wide range of UPS systems for virtually any operating environment and business or industrial application from TelcoDepot.com. Discount rates and free shipping are available on some models.

Most businesses today rely a great deal on electronic equipment working properly in an undisrupted fashion. Even when power outages are expected and backup generators are in place, it is often necessary to ensure that the transition to alternative power sources occurs without a loss of power to the working equipment, and that is where the battery backup units come in – they provide a line of defense for the equipment and ensure that work processes and production continue to run until the alternative power source kicks in.

Failure to insure working equipment in this way can lead to a temporary but expensive loss of production, along with possible damage to the working equipment and resulting loss of work data, processes and business opportunity. Great care, therefore, should always be taken to ensure that battery backup units are installed on production sites and offices and integrated properly with the working equipment.

TelcoDepot.com now provides an expanded line of battery backup units for all types of applications and equipment configurations. Xtreme and Minuteman UPS models are available from TelcoDepot.com including 1500VA/1050W (with 6 outlets and surge protection), 1500VA/900W (6 outlets, 3 surge), 1200VA/720W (6 outlets, 3 surge), 1100VA/770W (6 outlets), 800VA/480W (6 outlets, 3 surge), 700VA/490W (6 outlets, 2 surge), 600VA/360W (6 outlets, 3 surge) and 500VA/350W (4 outlets, 2 surge). Rackmount UPS models are also available including 1000VA/800W rackmount (6 outlets) and 1500VA/1200W rackmount (6 outlets).

TelcoDepot.com provides discounts and free shipping on some UPS models, please inquire from TelcoDepot.com Customer Support.

“Backup battery units exist to protect businesses from losses resulting from unexpected power outages. At TelcoDepot.com, we provide quality and reliable UPS equipment to keep business and working equipment running smoothly until alternative power kicks in, safeguarding critical data, production and operations in the process,” says Tom Grinde, V.P. Sales, TelcoDepot.com.

Battery Backup units help safeguard vital electronic equipment, work systems and processes in the event of power failure, and are a must-have for businesses that leave no margin for error in their daily operations, as critical production, data or business opportunities may be lost if working equipment are not properly backed up during even the briefest of power outages.

The TelcoDepot.com range of quality battery backup units provides a convenient and reliable solution that can be easily deployed and configured with any existing electronic equipment setup. TelcoDepot.com is also on-hand to offer support for installations, configuration or any assistance with the battery backup units that may be needed.

To learn more about the TelcoDepot.com battery backup units, including available systems, accessories, support and pricing, visit http://www.telcodepot.com/phone-system-equipment/battery-backup-systems. For additional inquiries, call TelcoDepot.com support lines on 1-800-390-1200 or send an email to info(at)telcodepot(dot)com.

About Telco Depot

Telco Depot is a leading supplier of quality business telephone systems, business VoIP service, VoIP phones, phone headset equipment, video surveillance systems, voice data cabling solutions, conference phone solutions and Microsoft Response Point Systems. The company’s top priority is to help its clients make informed decisions based on their specific small business phone system needs by providing experience and expertise and guiding them in selecting the best phone systems for their businesses. Telco Depot ensures that their phone systems are fully scalable, affordable priced, and provide the highest value for their clients.

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Yaron Ram
Telco Depot Corporation
800-390-1200
Email Information

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) November 15, 2011

Lendio.com, an online business loan matching service, announced today it will work with LegalZoom, the nation’s leading online legal document service provider, to help small business owners concurrently create legal documents and secure business financing.

“LegalZoom has helped millions of people create legal documents and take the right steps in starting their business,” said Brock Blake, Lendio CEO. “This relationship will help even more small business owners get their companies off the ground, organized and funded.”

LegalZoom offers prepaid legal plans for individuals and small businesses at a cost of as little as $15 a month. Customers can obtain legal advice over the telephone and other services from an attorney licensed in their state. Lendio’s service, which is free for business owners, instantly matches entrepreneurs with the best type of financing from more than 3,000 lenders and 13,000 different types of business loans across the country.

“Lendio does a tremendous job of helping small business owners get the capital they need, and LegalZoom has always been a champion of small businesses,” said Jacob Varghese, VP of Sales and Business Development at LegalZoom. “The addition of affordable legal documents to loan matching will help provide cost-effective solutions that make it easy for entrepreneurs to start and grow their companies.”

Both organizations have experienced recent, rapid growth. Since March, customers have requested more than $4 billion in transactions through Lendio’s system. LegalZoom has helped more than 2 million customers, and offers its legal plans to over 80% of Americans.

About LegalZoom.com

LegalZoom is the nation’s leading provider of online legal document services. Since 2001, the company has helped over 2 million Americans write a will, start a business, register a trademark and more. In addition to do-it-yourself services, the company provides an integrated legal plan where members have access to licensed attorneys at a low monthly fee. LegalZoom is headquartered in Glendale, California, with offices in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.legalzoom.com

About Lendio

Lendio is a free service for business owners looking for capital. Lendio makes business loans simple by matching qualified small business owners with active banks, credit unions, and other lending sources. Through a proprietary matching technology, Lendio helps business owners identify the type of business loan and specific lenders that offer the highest probability to prepare for and secure a business loan approval. For more information, contact Lendio at press(at)lendio(dot)com.

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Dan Bischoff
Lendio
801.858.3635
Email Information