Many people believe that it’s more difficult to get cheap holidays for families, but if you research, you can find some great money-saving deals.
Family holidays are inevitably expensive because of the number of people travelling. In addition, most families are bound by school holidays, which means that they have to travel during the year’s peak seasons – Christmas, Easter and the summer. Try these tips to help keep costs down.
1. Travel out of season
If you have children that are below school age, then travelling outside the school holidays is a good way to keep costs down. Flying just a week before or after the main holiday periods can make a big difference to the price. For short breaks, try mid-week instead of weekend.
2. Try different accommodation
Instead of hotels, look into renting a self-catering apartment or villa. These are usually much cheaper than hotel accommodation and although you have to buy your own food, you can still make good savings, and you get the additional benefit of flexibility – eat and come and go as you choose – which is ideal for a family holiday.
3. Book early
If you like to return to the same place each year, then think about booking early. The earlier you book, the cheaper it can be and you can always book your accommodation and then wait for cheap flights to be released later on in the year. Register with online sites to get notification of good deals so that you can make savings as soon as possible.
4. Special family deals
Look out for package holidays that offer free flights or accommodation for children. Check out the small print to make sure that you really are getting a deal, but these are often great ways of ensuring that you don’t have to spend a fortune on your family holiday.
By starting early and taking the time to look at special offers and family deals, you can take your family on a great holiday for a great price.
Car Rental Port Macquarie Airport
Port Macquarie Airport Car Hire
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Power Behind The Xbox360
Although Microsoft's Xbox was able to sell millions and millions of units worldwide, it was still considerably outsold by its competitor, Sony's PlayStation. In this day, wherein another revolution in video and gaming technology is at hand, the Xbox360 is more promising than ever.
What difference does the Xbox360 hold against its predecessor? Well, just like all gaming consoles, it is basically a computer that is designed to run video game programs. The difference is that they focus specifically on this function alone.
So how does the latest model from Microsoft differ from any other gaming console. As was mentioned earlier, the Xbox360 is a computer designed for playing video games. But aside from this, it was also designed to perform as a complete stand-alone entertainment system. To break it down, this new console can allow users to connect via a network, it can copy, stream, and download all sorts of media. This would, of course include in its arsenal, the ability to download and play HD movies, audio, as well as digital photos and games.
Now, since we know that all gaming consoles are simply computers designed for playing video games, let us take a look at the heart of all computers – the CPU. Just the same, video game consoles have a processor that would, of course, 'process' all the information being fed into the system. You could think of it as similar to a car's engine – it is the one that powers every function of the whole system. The latest innovation in the Xbox360 is that, they “modified the engine” to be able to deliver optimum performance for players.
Traditionally, CPUs process information via a single path. The more technical term for this is a thread. Now what the latest edition of the Xbox is bragging about is that under its hood, is a processor, or a core, that is able to process two threads simultaneously. This means that all the information that is being fed into it, is processed more effectively and efficiently because the “brain” is “multi-tasking”. Meaning, information about sound could be processed via one path, the other for the video graphics, etc. If you've ever noticed, past video games would either pause a bit or stutter occasionally. This is because the system is being bombarded by too much information, and it takes time for their 'brains' to be able to cope with the demands.
In addition to this, Microsoft has incorporated with this technology, a multi-core system that allows them to integrate more than one processor into a single chip. This is by far the latest innovation by hardware manufacturers – and yes, Microsoft has included it in their new Xbox game console. Having the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time, it allows the game developers to come with strategies on how to maximize the potential of the machine, to deliver optimum performance.
This is the heart of why the Xbox has evolved to become even more powerful. There are a lot of other features about the new Xbox360 that definitely boosts its performance. But the heart of all of this, is of course the core that runs everything in it.
Buy an Xbox 360 for that special child for Christmas.
What difference does the Xbox360 hold against its predecessor? Well, just like all gaming consoles, it is basically a computer that is designed to run video game programs. The difference is that they focus specifically on this function alone.
So how does the latest model from Microsoft differ from any other gaming console. As was mentioned earlier, the Xbox360 is a computer designed for playing video games. But aside from this, it was also designed to perform as a complete stand-alone entertainment system. To break it down, this new console can allow users to connect via a network, it can copy, stream, and download all sorts of media. This would, of course include in its arsenal, the ability to download and play HD movies, audio, as well as digital photos and games.
Now, since we know that all gaming consoles are simply computers designed for playing video games, let us take a look at the heart of all computers – the CPU. Just the same, video game consoles have a processor that would, of course, 'process' all the information being fed into the system. You could think of it as similar to a car's engine – it is the one that powers every function of the whole system. The latest innovation in the Xbox360 is that, they “modified the engine” to be able to deliver optimum performance for players.
Traditionally, CPUs process information via a single path. The more technical term for this is a thread. Now what the latest edition of the Xbox is bragging about is that under its hood, is a processor, or a core, that is able to process two threads simultaneously. This means that all the information that is being fed into it, is processed more effectively and efficiently because the “brain” is “multi-tasking”. Meaning, information about sound could be processed via one path, the other for the video graphics, etc. If you've ever noticed, past video games would either pause a bit or stutter occasionally. This is because the system is being bombarded by too much information, and it takes time for their 'brains' to be able to cope with the demands.
In addition to this, Microsoft has incorporated with this technology, a multi-core system that allows them to integrate more than one processor into a single chip. This is by far the latest innovation by hardware manufacturers – and yes, Microsoft has included it in their new Xbox game console. Having the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time, it allows the game developers to come with strategies on how to maximize the potential of the machine, to deliver optimum performance.
This is the heart of why the Xbox has evolved to become even more powerful. There are a lot of other features about the new Xbox360 that definitely boosts its performance. But the heart of all of this, is of course the core that runs everything in it.
Buy an Xbox 360 for that special child for Christmas.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Lose Body Fat and Sculpt Lean Muscle with this Brief and Effective Workout
Warning: this style of workout is WAY different than anything you've ever tried before and may result in a dramatically leaner, stronger body so that your friends no longer recognize you in a matter of weeks!
Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don't have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.
Please keep an open-mind and don't worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you'll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss.
Here's how it works:
Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for an hour at a shot, with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.
The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I've found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them! If you have a private office, then you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.
If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.
Some of the exercises that are the best to focus on are:
-bodyweight squats (and variations)
-pushups (and variations)
-forward, reverse, or walking lunges
-up & down a staircase if one is available
-floor planks (holding plank position from forearms and feet)
-floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
-one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts
This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.
The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body's muscles worked, and your body temperature raised. However, it's usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don't have to worry about sweating or getting smelly in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.
Here's an example routine (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):
Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am - 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)
Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)
In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).
The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you've accomplished with these "mini" workouts completed throughout each day... You've increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism. Even though each "mini" workout was a very short duration, you've accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn't even have to break a sweat during any of the "mini" workouts. And there's hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises. Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don't have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workout done little by little throughout the day. You've now got some extra free time on your hands!
Try this type of routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you'll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these "mini" workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.
Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn't mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I'd recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don't worry about what other people think so much...have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you'll be the one laughing back at all of the "blubber-bellies" that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!
Belly Flab - Blast The Fat For A Trim Stomach.
Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don't have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.
Please keep an open-mind and don't worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you'll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss.
Here's how it works:
Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for an hour at a shot, with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.
The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I've found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them! If you have a private office, then you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.
If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.
Some of the exercises that are the best to focus on are:
-bodyweight squats (and variations)
-pushups (and variations)
-forward, reverse, or walking lunges
-up & down a staircase if one is available
-floor planks (holding plank position from forearms and feet)
-floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
-one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts
This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.
The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body's muscles worked, and your body temperature raised. However, it's usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don't have to worry about sweating or getting smelly in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.
Here's an example routine (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):
Mon/Wed/Fri
9 am - 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)
Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)
In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).
The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you've accomplished with these "mini" workouts completed throughout each day... You've increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism. Even though each "mini" workout was a very short duration, you've accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn't even have to break a sweat during any of the "mini" workouts. And there's hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises. Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don't have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workout done little by little throughout the day. You've now got some extra free time on your hands!
Try this type of routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you'll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these "mini" workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.
Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn't mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I'd recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don't worry about what other people think so much...have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you'll be the one laughing back at all of the "blubber-bellies" that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!
Belly Flab - Blast The Fat For A Trim Stomach.
Amazing Present Ideas for the Holidays
It's that time of the year again, the holidays are here! The nights become brighter as people put up their festive lights, and all the decorations really bring about the holiday cheer! We all get together with family and friends to really enjoy each other's company with lots of wonderful food. It's a great time of year to make memories, and don't forget the presents!
Gifts are great, but they also create some extra stress for a time of the year that can already pile it on. After all, we have to focus on cooking and entertaining friends and family on top of everything else. And then, we have to get the "right" gift for our family and friends, and sometimes coming up with an idea can be difficult. Especially when you only have a couple of weeks to figure out what you want to buy them. Luckily, whether you need a big gift, or just a small stocking stuffer, this article has a great idea for you: stuffed toys. This is a present that can be great for any age, especially around the holidays.
Stuffed Animals for Kids
Getting a plush toy for a child is something of a no brainer, after all, traditionally toys are for children. And stuffed animals in particular are great for kids. They give them something fun to play with, and let them learn about animals. They can even be a great substitute when mom and dad don't want the child to have a real pet. A lot less mess, but still a lot of fun! Even though it's the age of technology, stuffed animals will never go out of style, and they will certainly continue to help children jump start their imaginations.
Stuffed Animals for Teenagers
Teens are the consumer generation, and there a ton of items marketed to them, but this just gives you too many choices. Make things easier by giving a stuffed animal. There's a lot more to plush toys nowadays then just the small, traditional plush bear. For teens, one good idea is to get them a gigantic plush toy. These big stuffed animals can be around 5 feet tall, bigger than some people! These can be a particularly great gift for a teenage girl. Not only does the sheer size of the toy make it a "wow" gift, but it becomes a conversation starter when anyone else sees it. Just imagine her bringing a gigantic teddy bear to college, her dorm mates would want to ask about it and it could be a great icebreaker. Plus, something nearly her size could become a good friend, and keep her from being lonely. That way she'd have something soft to hug when she is upset. A gigantic stuffed animal can really be a fun, and unusual gift for a teenager. Consider one the nex t time you have to buy a present for someone in this age group.
Gifts are great, but they also create some extra stress for a time of the year that can already pile it on. After all, we have to focus on cooking and entertaining friends and family on top of everything else. And then, we have to get the "right" gift for our family and friends, and sometimes coming up with an idea can be difficult. Especially when you only have a couple of weeks to figure out what you want to buy them. Luckily, whether you need a big gift, or just a small stocking stuffer, this article has a great idea for you: stuffed toys. This is a present that can be great for any age, especially around the holidays.
Stuffed Animals for Kids
Getting a plush toy for a child is something of a no brainer, after all, traditionally toys are for children. And stuffed animals in particular are great for kids. They give them something fun to play with, and let them learn about animals. They can even be a great substitute when mom and dad don't want the child to have a real pet. A lot less mess, but still a lot of fun! Even though it's the age of technology, stuffed animals will never go out of style, and they will certainly continue to help children jump start their imaginations.
Stuffed Animals for Teenagers
Teens are the consumer generation, and there a ton of items marketed to them, but this just gives you too many choices. Make things easier by giving a stuffed animal. There's a lot more to plush toys nowadays then just the small, traditional plush bear. For teens, one good idea is to get them a gigantic plush toy. These big stuffed animals can be around 5 feet tall, bigger than some people! These can be a particularly great gift for a teenage girl. Not only does the sheer size of the toy make it a "wow" gift, but it becomes a conversation starter when anyone else sees it. Just imagine her bringing a gigantic teddy bear to college, her dorm mates would want to ask about it and it could be a great icebreaker. Plus, something nearly her size could become a good friend, and keep her from being lonely. That way she'd have something soft to hug when she is upset. A gigantic stuffed animal can really be a fun, and unusual gift for a teenager. Consider one the nex t time you have to buy a present for someone in this age group.
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