Students Of Success

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) found itself with a rapidly expanding network and data center. Our network devices, servers, and software were all growing in complexity and we knew that we would have to leverage technology to gain better control of our IT systems and network.
In the past, we confronted the same dilemma that systems administrators in all IT organizations face: weighing the value of simple monitoring solutions versus expensive, feature-rich enterprise solutions that require labor intensive maintenance. We attempted to implement a large-scale system and network monitoring package from a major vendor but found the product was never fully implemented or adopted by the users because of its overbearing complexity. We then quickly implemented an inexpensive, low-end package that provided basic monitoring – but lacked much of the deeper functionality our organization required, such as performance and application monitoring.

We knew we had to take a completely new approach. We decided to develop a set of best practices to ensure that new investments in system and network monitoring would be successful.

At the core of these best practices are two themes – simplicity and cost-effectiveness HMSA’s core best practices rest on five elements:

- Data center monitoring technology should be Web-based. Web-based technology simplifies rolling out the system, because no client-side application must be installed and upgraded. In addition, administrators can work from any location. Web-based user interfaces are also typically easy to learn, easing adoption and lowering training costs.

- Monitoring technology should be standards-based. HMSA chose to adhere to industry standards such as Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP) in order to simplify setup and installation and to avoid getting locked into one vendor’s solution. Because SNMP is supported by almost all hardware and software vendors, monitoring a heterogeneous environment composed of many products is greatly simplified.

- Monitoring technology should be automation driven rather than consulting or manpower intensive. Expending costly and valuable IT resources on long-term enterprise software projects has proven risky and expensive.

- Data center operations should be viewed as a business process. IT departments tend to look at monitoring technology as something that displays trending graphs and sends alarms when there are network problems.

- Monitoring technology with simple license terms is preferable to products with many add-on or hidden modules. To control the costs of a monitoring implementation, a company needs visibility of up to five or 10 years of ongoing maintenance costs. Many enterprise software vendors’ products are composed of many modules and components that have separate pricing models and require different training and support. HMSA believes that products with a number of components tend to be more expensive and complex to maintain over time.

We evaluated more than 15 vendors against these best practices and found that CITTIO’s WatchTower monitoring platform was the closest fit. Equipped with WatchTower and our strong best practice approach, we successfully deployed enterprise-class system and network monitoring on 500 servers and network devices in a timely and cost-effective manner. Moreover, we are gaining the complete system control and network visibility our large, complex organization requires.

www.cittio.com

IPOs are the simple basics of stock options trading and a part of the market that always generates a great deal of interest, along with stories of fabulous profits and spectacular losses. But, there are a ways to reliably profit on IPOs. Look for the trends that they cause and trade with them.

IPO spinoffs are a solid basics of stock options trading trends to work with. A company that’s going to spin off a part of itself as an IPO tends to move steadily up in price until the IPO date, starting a week or two before that date. On the day the IPO starts to trade, the parent company`s stock options typically dips sharply. The best strategy is to buy the parent once it starts moving in anticipation of the spinoff, sell it the day before the IPO is to begin trading, and then short the parent just after the IPO starts to trade.

Another basics of stock options trading trend to consider is the `quiet period` trend. The `quiet period` for IPOs is the twenty-five days after a company goes public. During this time, the SEC forbids the company and the IPO`s underwriters to say anything that isn`t covered in the company`s prospectus or final registration statement. The underwriters face further restrictions on issuing any research.

Another basics of stock options trading tip is that as stocks near the ends of their quiet periods, they tend to steadily rise in price in anticipation of the `strong buy` recommendations most will receive from their underwriters after the quiet period ends. The run-up usually begins about ten days prior to the quiet period expiration, and is often accompanied by steadily increasing volume. It`s wise to sell quiet period stocks the day before the recommendations come out. Why not hold the stock options after it gets a `strong buy` recommendation? It`s another case of buy the rumor, sell the news. It`s also best to trade this trend with stocks that have highly respected underwriters and are in hot sectors.

Another basics of stock options trading play is to short stocks with upcoming IPO lockup expirations. An IPO lockup is a period of time, usually from six to eighteen months, when insiders who obtained the IPO at the offering price or less cannot sell their shares. Once this time period has elapsed, insiders often sell their shares. This trend is shortable because the greater the number of shares unlocked, the more likely it is that insiders will start to sell their shares, particularly if the market is not doing well but the share price is still higher than the IPO offering price. And the more shares freed, the better the chance of a negative effect on the share price. This trade works best when the number of shares being unlocked is more than 25% of the current market capitalization.

You should short the stock options roughly ten days before the IPO lockup expiration date, since anticipation of the event usually scares traders out of the stock options well before its actual date. Cover the short about five days after the expiration date. By that time, most insiders will seem to have sold, and the news will be priced into the stock options.

Like any other trade, these basics of stock options trading tips are not foolproof. Often one of the underwriters will upgrade the stock options as the lockup expiration approaches, or the company will release news to boost the stock options price to counter-act the selling. Be sure to check company news closely, since if the market is bad and share prices are down, lockup periods may be extended.

But when the IPO market is hot, a lot of traders buy into any new company. They commit a trading mistake that`s like placing an overnight market order: They place market orders for an IPO before it starts trading on its first day, which leads to outrageous run-ups in price right when trading opens. For the trader, these orders are a sure way to lose money. Your order will end up being filled at a ridiculously high price that the stock options may never see again.

If you`re going to try to trade an IPO on its first day, don`t place a pre opening market order. Don`t use market orders at all. The way to buy is with a limit order after the stock`s price has pulled back a bit and is about to bounce and continue upward again. The goal is to buy at the bottom of the bounce, hold it as the price rises, and sell just as the price is about to fall again. You may be able to do this several times, until the stock`s momentum drops. Remember, you can`t short an IPO during its first thirty days on the market.

If you want to hold the IPO past its first day, it`s hard to know exactly when to jump in, but wait until after the initial volatility has ended. The higher the IPO has opened the less chance it has of continuing to climb throughout the rest of the day. If the IPO has opened at an extremely high price, it will probably sink to a fairly stable level in an hour or two. If not, and you think the price could go higher, you might want to buy fairly soon after the initial volatility has ended. One option is to buy half your shares and then wait to see whether there`s a slump in the price later in the afternoon when you can buy the rest for less. IPOs can be incredibly volatile, and like with any other trade, setting stops is critical. But, traded carefully, these basics of stock options trading tips are a consistent way to create trading profits.

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Whenever I see mutual fund comparisons in the trade publications and in the financial section of the newspaper they almost always mention a specific fund and tell you how good it is in relation to its peer group. A peer group is a specialized sector of mutual funds that all invest in about the same type of stocks or areas of the world or size of companies or some such categorization.

Does this help you make money?

No.

Why?

You have several dogs. A minature poodle, a regular poodle and a very large poodle. On the outside they look very similar, but in performance they can be very different. In a race with a greyhound they will all lose. In a tracking contest with a beagle they will not be able to find the possum. In a contest with a retriever they will not get the bird as quickly. However the large poodle is bigger stronger and can do more than its counterparts. So what? You have the wrong dog for the job.

When you go hunting you don’t want a poodle you want a pointer, setter or beagle depending upon the prey. When you invest your hard-earned money in a mutual fund you want the best performer for the type of hunt in which you are engaged and that hunt is for maximum appreciation of your investment. Your prey may change form (from a duck to a possum) and as the prey changes so should the animal (fund) you use (invest) also change.

If you had stayed invested in the best technology fund you could find a year ago, the best one in the entire peer group, I can guarantee you have lost money. The sector has lost more than 75% of it value. It makes no difference if you have the best dog of that breed. If it can’t do the job you must change dogs. (Pun intended.)

The important thing to remember when choosing a mutual fund is to find one that is in a sector that is strong NOW, not a year or 3 years ago. When you go back for 3 years or 5 years you will find that there has been a period of time when that sector had or has a very big decline in value. When ANY fund starts down more than 10% to 20% (you decide) it is time to sell it for another fund that is still increasing in value.

When we are in a bear market, as we are now, you may not be to locate one that is going up. Do not listen to any broker who says that a group cannot go any lower. You must wait until you see it increasing in value every week for at least 2 months or more before committing any funds.

You only want to be invested in the best no-load fund in the strongest peer group at all times.

Al Thomas’ book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy
It!” has helped thousands of people make money
and keep their profits with his simple 2-step
method. Read the first chapter at
http://www.mutualfundmagic.com
and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street
does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Looking to grow your Auction site business? Many people that would like to sell more than a few items on their auction site find it hard to expand without the help of automation. Here are some great ways to automate your auction site business in order to grow.

There are three major ways to automate your auction site business, listing software, payment processing software and shipping software. Combining these three types of software can create an excellent and efficient online auction business. Listing software helps the merchant with the tedious job of listing a dozen items or a thousand items each day. You can choose the date, time and other important values for each item that you list. Listing software can cut the time it takes listing exponentially.

Payment processing software helps walk your customers through payments of your items being sold. The payment processing software contacts your customers buy email, tells them how to pay for the item and then delivers payment information to your shipping software that can create easy shipping labels and helps the merchant control inventory and keep shipping costs at bay. So if you would like to grow your auction site business, check out these great software solutions. With the proper auction software, your business can grow immensely.

More informations are available at http://www.auctions-00.com and http://www.sales-00.info

Joel Dresse is the Webmaster of www.auctions-00.com, an informative website on auctions

On your next project, will you be using the right hammer for the job? Save yourself some time and be sure to use the right one.

Hammers come in many different shapes and forms. Using the wrong hammer can make a project go sour real quick. It’s a good idea to know what hammers are available and when to use them.

Sledgehammer: One of the big daddy’s of the hammer family. This hammer is probably the biggest hammer you’ll use. This hammer is mainly used on outdoor projects. These hammers are designed to deliver heavy force. To use the big daddy of hammers you’re going to need some strength and good aim. Toes and fast moving sledgehammers do not make a good mix! There are smaller hand sized sledgehammer’s available as well.

Mason’s Hammer: Great for working on brick, concrete or mortar. This hammer is often used for cutting and setting brick. It can be used as a hammer or a chisel when laying brick.

Mallets: Mallets are a great hammer to use when restraint is needed. These hammers are also a good replacement for steel hammers when concerned about marring a surface. Great for driving chisels and for woodworking. The heads or mallets can be made of different materials, usually wooden, rubber or plastic.

Deadblow: Another good hammer to use when concerned about marring a surface. The deadblow is designed to reduce and eliminate bouncing on contact. Most deadblows are made of plastic.

Framing Hammer: A long handled hammer normally used by carpenters to frame houses. It has a milled face to reduce slipping off nails on contact. You can find smooth faced framing hammers as well which are often used for decking. A framing hammer is fairly heavy to drive nails easier.

Claw Hammer: Very similar to a framing hammer but is much lighter. This hammer is a toolbox must and is more of a general use hammer. When using a claw hammer try and grip the base of the handle rather than the head. This will give you more accuracy and leverage.

Tack Hammer: Designed mainly to use on nailing tacks. This hammer is usually small in size and fairly light, about 5 Oz. Most tack hammers are magnetized to pick up tacks that have fallen.

Ball Peen Hammer: This hammer is mainly used for cold chisels and forming metal. As it’s name describes, it has one side with a ball on it and one side with a smooth face. There are many different sizes of ball pein hammers to choose from.

Roofing Hammer: This hammer is really a job specific tool. The face is always milled, often square, and the peen will be either a standard sharp hatchet for trimming cedar shingles or equipped with a tiny razor blade for cutting asphalt shingles.

Drywall Hammer: Used to install drywall. It has a pronounced mushroom shape to the face and an odd, dull hatchet-shaped peen. The peen’s flat shape helps somewhat when beating nails inside corners. The head of the drywall hammer is angled upward for extra reach. The face is lightly milled and sometimes also truncated across the very top of the head for driving nails near the ceiling.

Always wear safety glasses when hammering as broken pieces of nails can become dangerous shrapnel. It also may not be a bad idea to wear gloves on the first day you work with a new hammer. It can really help prevent getting blisters.

You may reprint this article in it’s original form provided the bio line is attached.

About The Author

Christian Krohn

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At a recent art show, I could not help but notice that not everyone’s day was going as well as mine! As I experienced a constant stream of people flooding into my booth and buying my artwork, my neighbors were sitting idle and waiting. Not only did I have people buzzing in and around my booth, but after they purchased my artwork, they told their friends to come to my booth and buy from me!

I had experienced too many art shows from the other side of the fence. I knew then that I needed to share my successful art show strategies with my fellow artists.

First, get rid of your director’s chair. Artists that avoid perspective customers always amaze me. You’ve spent so much time creating your art to sell. You’ve spent the time and money to exhibit at the show. Why hide? If you want to sell your work, you must interact with the public.

Put yourself out there! It’s very simple - you create additional value to your artwork when you interact with a perspective customer. Explain to them what makes your art work unique. Tell them how you came about conceiving and producing your artwork. Tell them the story, people are interested, and when they buy the piece they now own additional information about the piece to share with their friends.

It’s important to give a reason for someone to stop at your booth. Utilize a main focus piece on an easel or pedestal in order to draw interest from the crowd.

Using signage is an easy way to give someone a reason to stop at your booth. With signage, you can give suggestions for alternative uses of the artwork. For example, many of my sushi dishes sold as candle displays, soap holders, bread plates, etc.

Run a show special and use signage to promote the details. It’s important to give an added incentive to purchase something from you that day. Take one of your lower end products and create an easy way for people to purchase more of them – buy 2, get 1 free for example.

Invite people to sign up for a free drawing to win a piece of your artwork. This last step allows you to capture their name and email for future marketing purposes.

Finally, take a good look at your booth. The success of your next art show will increase when you create the successful booth. View your booth from the customer’s vantage point. Is it inviting? Does it create the “I gotta have that piece!” mindset? Attend an art show yourself. Go from booth to booth and see what draws you in to look further. See which booths the people flow to. What about those booths caused you to walk in? Keep notes, assemble that information, and apply it to your booth when you set up for your shows.

Keep your booth fresh throughout the entire show. Remember every time someone walks into your booth they are a customer meeting you for the first time and you always want to make a great first impression.

Steve Popkin, a veteran glass artist, makes it easy for artists to become successful. Learn the secrets most artists and craftsmen will never know about selling artwork in his complimentary e-course just visit Selling Artwork

So why use RSS? Well, I can find a whole lot of reasons why. Although I’m not technically inclined I do understand the power behind syndication. Anyone who watches television can get that idea. Still why would I want to use RSS for my viral marketing campaign? Well, let’s look at what some of the “experts” are saying.

Robin Good is well-known in the blog and RSS forums and venues. He is also known for being a successful online marketer selling viral marketing tools. I’ve read lots of his articles and interviews, not to mention buying his Top 55 RSS sites tool for submitting to blogs and RSS feeds. I like what he said in one of his posts in his blog “No RSS, no party”.

I just finished reading the ebook “A Blogger’s Edge: How To Use Weblogs As Marketing Tools” by Paul Short of http://GetBlogs.com. It was written so anyone can understand and implement the ideas therein. He has a chapter all about RSS and how it can be used as an alternate communication method. Yep, he said alternate. Meaning it has to be alternative to non other than email. I’m about to tell you why and also why you’ll want to get going on this as soon as you read this!

Here’s how it works. When someone subscribes to any of my RSS channels (I publish several channels), they can then choose one of several “viewers or readers” available to manage their subscription. The SUBSCRIBER manages their subscription not me! They can have many subscriptions all in one “reader” where they can view them all in one place rather than having their email inbox inundated with lots of newsletters they probably won’t read because they don’t have the time.

Here is how to break that information down into bite size for assimilation: RSS puts the control back in the “end users” hands thus eliminating the problem with lists, spam, viruses, etc., because they subscribe WITHOUT email! Let me say it again – without email. If your subscribers know they can take back control of their subscriptions, read what they want when they want in tidbits instead of long email newsletters without giving you their email address, don’t you think they’re going to be thanking you and remembering you in their wills? Well, maybe not in their wills but they will remember that you are a great business that offers quality content when THEY want it not when you deliver it. So, that’s part of the WHY.

It only gets better. When you cruise the Internet using a browser you can bookmark a site but then you have to go back to it when you want to read anything from that site again, right? Well, with an RSS feed, rather than having to go back to it, it comes to you! Once a subscriber subscribes to your feed, they can read the information you publish without going back to your site because they’ll have your “feed” already in their “viewer or reader” of choice! It will be updated each time you input anything into your feed – to every single subscriber simultaneously!

So what does this mean for the publisher and site owner? Well you don’t have to keep sending out those reminders. You can input a “tip of the day”, an announcement, anything to keep your feed updated and in front of your subscriber base daily! Keep it quality, helpful, and inject your personality into it and you’ll reap the rewards of allowing your ONLINE customers to feel they know you in person. Trust is a difficult thing to build online these days but using a RSS feed is one great way to get personal with your customers.

Here’s how Paul Short says it in “A Blogger’s Edge” “….encourage everyone you’ve ever been in contact with using newsletters or otherwise to make the transition to accepting communication from you via feeds rather than email is a smart marketing move indeed”, Paul Short, http://GetBlogs.com
So, in a nutshell – you’re nuts NOT to use an RSS feed. The Internet is changing, just like everything else. It’s the way of the world. Things change, and we can either get on board when things change or stay put and drown. Either way it’s coming and RSS is definitely going to be a big part of the new change! So, you ask “Why use RSS?” I say, “why not?”

Kim Bloomer publishes several RSS channels using the Quikonnex system. For more details on what she does and to subscribe to her RSS channels go to http://KimBloomer.com Kim is a natural pet care consultant and publishes http://www.Aspenbloom-WellPet.com and http://www.natural-pet-care-products.com

Knowledge When Properly Applied…

As a Champion, I know that you heard this statement many, many times. Get ready to learn what Knowledge truly means! Let’s begin by breaking down this word.

Know: You must know your business, which means you must know the power of Network Marketing. You must also know how to prospect and recruit Champions, handle objections and deal with rejection. Most importantly, you must know in your heart that you can and will achieve your dreams in the industry of Network Marketing.

L – Listen: You must listen to those that have walked in your shoes. For example, a football coach that coaches a NFL team usually has many records under his belt and has proven himself as a Champion in the game of foot ball. You wouldn’t see a world renowned hockey player coaching a NFL football. In Network Marketing, you wouldn’t take direction from anyone that has not built a group of their own. There are many so-called coaches out there attempting to coach Network Marketers yet they have NEVER built a group or made any money in the industry. You must listen and learn from those that have been where you are now and have gone all the way to the top!

E – Edge: You must have the edge and live on the edge to truly succeed in your business. That means you are willing to dedicate yourself to your business and become the best that you can be. This includes filling your mind with motivational, business building strategies on a daily basis to constantly be one step ahead of others in the industry. You must also attend events, seminars and boot camps hosted by those that have built a Networking Marketing group. This will give you the “edge” that you need to be more successful than other Networkers or other entrepreneurs.

If you live by these keys, then Knowledge when applied to your business will create Action and rock your future! Make today the day to truly understand the word Knowledge.

Find Your Why & Fly,
John Di Lemme
www.FindYourWhy.com

John Di Lemme, a Former Clinically Diagnosed Stutterer, now the
World’s Leading Motivational Expert *shocks millions globally*
by exposing the truth they’ve been searching for in order to
achieve monumental life success through his Award Winning Live
Seminars, Power-Packed Training Programs, Live Tele-Classes,
Motivational Club and Weekly E-zine. Take action now and join
tho.usands of others that have used John’s proven methods to
live their life to the Maximum! Visit www.FindYourWhy.com
and discover how you can finally create monumental success
in your life today and achieve all your goals, dreams and desires.

Trouble Shooting Suspension Problems.

Adjustment locations: Forks

Rebound adjustment (if applicable) is located near the top of the fork. Compression adjustment (if applicable) is located near the bottom of the fork. Spring preload adjustment (if applicable) is generally hex style and located at the top of the fork.

Lack of Rebound

Symptoms:

• Forks are plush, but increasing speed causes loss of control and traction

• The motorcycle wallows and tends to run wide exiting the turn causing fading traction and loss of control.

• When taking a corner a speed, you experience front-end chatter, loss of traction and control.

• Aggressive input at speed lessons control and chassis attitude suffers.

• Front end fails to recover after aggressive input over bumpy surfaces.

Solution: Insufficient rebound. Increase rebound “gradually” until control and traction are optimized and chatter is gone.

Too Much Rebound

Symptoms:

• Front end feels locked up resulting in harsh ride.

• Suspension tucks in and fails to return, giving a harsh ride. Typically after the first bump, the bike will skip over subsequent bumps and want to tuck the front.

• With acceleration, the front end will tank slap or shake violently due to lack of front wheel tire contact.

Solution: Too much rebound. Decrease rebound “gradually” until control and traction are optimized.

Lack of Compression

Symptoms:

• Front-end dives severely, sometimes bottoming out over heavy bumps or during aggressive breaking.

• Front feels soft or vague similar to lack of rebound.

• When bottoming, a clunk is heard. This is due to reaching the bottom of fork travel.

Solution: Insufficient compression. Increase “gradually” until control and traction are optimized.

Too Much Compression

Symptom:

• Front end rides high through the corners, causing the bike to steer wide. It should maintain the pre-determined sag, which will allow the steering geometry to remain constant.

Solution: Decrease compression “gradually” until bike neither bottoms nor rides high.

Symptom:

• Front end chatters or shakes entering turns. This is due to incorrect oil height and/or too much low speed compression damping.

Solution: First, verify that oil height is correct. If correct, then decrease compression “gradually” until chattering and shaking ceases.

Symptom:

• Bumps and ripples are felt directly in the triple clamps and through the chassis. This causes the front wheel to bounce over bumps.

Solution: Decrease compression “gradually” until control is regained.

Symptom:

• Ride is generally hard, and gets even harder when braking or entering turns.

Solution: Decrease compression “gradually” until control is regained.

Adjustment Locations: Rear Shock

Rebound adjustment (if applicable) is located at the bottom of the shock. Compression adjustment (if applicable) is located on the reservoir. Spring prelude is located at the top of the shock.

Shock: Lack of Rebound

Symptoms:

• The ride will feel soft or vague and as speed increases, the rear end will want to wallow and/or weave over bumpy surfaces and traction suffers.

• Loss of traction will cause rear end to pogo or chatter due to shock returning too fast on exiting a corner.

Solution: Insufficient rebound - Increase rebound until wallowing and weaving disappears and control and traction are optimized.

Shock: Too Much Rebound

Symptoms:

• Ride is harsh, suspension control is limited and traction is lost.

• Rear end will pack in, forcing the bike wide in corners, due to rear squat. It will slow steering because front end is riding high.

• When rear end packs in, tires generally will overheat and will skip over bumps.

• When chopping throttle, rear end will tend to skip or hop on entries.

Solution: Too much rebound. Decrease rebound “gradually” until harsh ride is gone and traction is regained. Decrease rebound to keep rear end from packing.

Shock: Lack of Compression

Symptoms:

• The bike will not turn in entering a turn.

• With bottoming, control and traction are lost.

• With excessive rear end squat, when accelerating out of corners, the bike will tend to steer wide.

Solution: Insufficient compression. Increase compression “gradually until traction and control is optimized and/or excessive rear end squat is gone.

Shock: Too Much Compression

Symptoms:

• Ride is harsh, but not as bad as too much rebound. As speed increases, so does harshness.

• There is very little rear end squat. This will cause loss of traction/sliding. Tire will overheat.

• Rear end will want to kick when going over medium to large bumps.

Solution: Decrease compression until harshness is gone. Decrease compression until sliding stops and traction is regained.

Mark Thompson has spent the past 20 years racing motorcycles and managing Race teams and riders. He now runs the Trackbikes Website along with a number on Internet Ventures