Its Spring Ahead Time Again

By Sarah Meehan, USA TODAY

Sunday's start of daylight saving time will throw off the clock only by an hour, but that's enough to leave people feeling groggy for a day or two, sleep experts say.

By setting clocks ahead an hour, daylight saving time allows us more light through the spring, summer and fall. But when the time changes at 2 a.m. Sunday (except in Arizona and Hawaii), it will cost one hour of sleep. We'll regain that when the clocks fall back on Nov. 4.

"Losing an hour is harder than gaining an hour," says Steven Feinsilver, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. "It's sort of like a mini jet lag."

It takes no more than 48 hours to adjust to a one-hour loss, says New York pulmonologist and sleep specialist Nicholas Rummo of Northern Westchester Hospital's Center for Sleep Medicine. "The day or two after people aren't quite alert," he says. "Most people might feel it Monday into Tuesday."

Some people will be more sluggish than others Monday morning — particularly those without regular sleep habits, such as waking up at a consistent time or snoozing seven to eight hours each night.

"Millions of Americans can ill afford to lose one more hour of sleep given that so many of them are so sleep-deprived," says Russell Rosenberg, board chairman for the National Sleep Foundation.

Sleep directly affects health and safety, Rosenberg says, and the sleep loss associated with daylight saving time has been linked to increases in traffic and on-the-job accidents the Monday following the time change.

Specialists encourage people to use this, the National Sleep Foundation's National Sleep Awareness week, to adopt good habits so that next year, it won't be quite so tiring to make the leap forward. Sleep doctors offer a few tips for making up for lost z's:

•Start early. Move your schedule up a few minutes each day — eat dinner and go to bed 10 to 15 minutes earlier every night.

•Take a nap Sunday to "build up a little sleep in your sleep bank," says Russell Rosenberg, board chairman for the National Sleep Foundation, noting that siestas should be less than an hour.

•Every minute counts, so set the alarm clock for the last possible minute Monday morning.

•Soak up the sun. Sunlight jump-starts our bodies and sets our internal clocks forward, so sip your coffee in front of a window for an extra jolt. "Light in the morning makes us want to go to bed earlier," says New York pulmonologist and sleep specialist Nicholas Rummo.

•Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which interfere with the hormones and chemistry that regulate our bodies and make it more difficult to fall asleep and wake up, Rummo says.

By Sarah Meehan, USA TODAY

Dont Forget to Change The Batteries In ALL your Smoke Detectors!!!!!!

Thirty Days

Thirty days, what are you gonna do in the next thirty days? It can be anything, take a picture everyday, make a video, blog, learn something new, send a card or letter to a service person for 30 days, exercise, write. There are so many things you could do.

 I started March 1. I have added to my workout routine planks, squats and pushups. I said I would never do push ups, well my goal is to get to thirty at one time without stopping. Sounds easy, its not well at least not for me. Currently 6 is my max when I started barely could do 3. Planks I could not hold  for15 secs.  up to 40 secs., Squats 40.

 I have been following a blog called Blog of Impossible Things, By Joel Runyon. Follow him he has good info on doing impossible things.

Meet Joel

My name is Joel Runyon and I write about pushing your limits and telling a great story by doing impossible things. I run triathlons, travel the world, adventure, and throw spears on occasion.

You can get free updates directly in your inbox via your new favorite newsletter.

Twitter --> @JoelRunyon
Facebook Page.
Follow Me On Google+.

Current Location: Chicago, Illinois

My Vision Board

I finally put together my vision board. Interesting that most of my vision is on health/fitness
and acting and a small part is on real estate. My daughter gave me a card and I cut out the words from the front of it . It says: patience & strength & faith & courage & humility & execellence & laughter & LOVE. I am trying to remember these as I go along my days.

My BIG Goals for the year: $40,000 in my pocket from Real Estate
                                              Knock personal debt down
                                              New to wife car.
                                              New Bike
                                              Teeth
                                              Lose 45Lbs be at 200 (-1.5 a week)
                                              Run 5K in April
                                              Triathlon in July and Sept.
                                              Get back to Acting
                                              Pictures,Audition, Get Gig
                                           

A look into the future by Trulia's Chief Economist

As we wrap up 2011, Trulia’s Chief Economist looks ahead at what’s in store for the battered housing market and which cities have a big reason to celebrate the New Year.My crystal ball is never as crystal-clear as I’d like, but I do think that we can expect a gradual economic recovery to move the housing market a few steps back toward normal in 2012.
Before getting into the predictions, let me be upfront about what I’m assuming. After 14 months of job gains, I expect the economy to continue its slow but determined recovery. I don’t do my own macroeconomic forecasts, but every single one of the fifty-ish economic forecasters surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expects the economy to grow throughout 2012, and that makes sense to me.
Here’s what I expect in 2012 and what it means for agents:

Delinquencies will go down, but foreclosures will go up.

Fewer borrowers will fall behind on their payments next year, thanks to the strengthening economy and refinancings. The share of delinquent borrowers is already down more than a quarter from the peak a couple of years ago. But many borrowers who fell behind on their payments during the housing crisis are still in limbo: last year’s robo-signing controversy threw a wrench in the gears of the foreclosure process. That means that some delinquent loans haven’t yet gone through the foreclosure process. Once a settlement is reached with banks over robo-signing, we’ll see a new wave of foreclosures and foreclosure sales.

What it means for agents: Despite the decline in delinquencies, the wave of foreclosures will hurt. New foreclosures will depress prices for several reasons – foreclosed homes are often sold at a discount and used as comps for non-distressed homes; vacant homes bring down the value of their neighbors; and high foreclosures are the worst thing for consumer confidence in the housing market. That will hurt seller motivation even more than buyer motivation since lower prices will mean deals for some buyers. Agents should be gearing up with competitive pricing strategies to catch buyers and preparing to counsel their traditional seller-clients about the depressed prices to come in high-foreclosure areas.

Rents will rise – which is a bad thing.

With fewer people buying homes and more people losing their homes to foreclosures, rental demand is increasing. High rents will hold back economic growth if businesses can’t pay workers enough to have a roof over their heads. Squeezed city-dwellers won’t get relief until late 2012: that’s when a wave of new multi-unit construction projects that started late this year will be completed and available for rent. To tackle growth-killing high living costs in the priciest cities head on, local governments need to get rid of height restrictions and arduous permitting processes, which hold back urban construction and push development to the suburbs.

What it means for agents: Rising rents and falling prices make buying a great deal – but only for prospective buyers who can afford the downpayment and qualify for a mortgage. When counseling buyers, agents need to be aware of the struggle and sacrifice required to save for down payments in this climate. But the good news is that there will be clients motivated by available inventory and low prices – even though these clients may require more hand-holding around financing options.

Mortgage rates will inch up – which will probably be a good thing.

A stronger economy will push Treasury bonds and mortgage rates up because inflation becomes more likely and investors demand higher rates to hold bonds. But lots of factors can push rates up or down. For the housing market, which direction rates go is less important than why. Gradual economic recovery is good news for the housing market even if it means higher mortgage rates – because higher mortgage rates should go hand-in-hand with greater housing demand.

What it means for agents: Higher mortgage rates mean higher monthly payments for buyers, but a stronger economy means that buyers will be better able to afford those rates. Higher rates probably won’t hold back buyers much: rates are only one of many factors that enter into the cost of buying a home, and for many buyers the downpayment is a much bigger barrier to homeownership than the monthly payments. Also, buyers need to be reminded that homeownership has other costs on top of the monthly mortgage payment, like insurance and maintenance, which can add half again as much to the cost of owning a home. Agents should help buyers figure out the overall costs and benefits of homeownership, not just the monthly mortgage payment.

Government will sit on its hands.

In election years, politicians don’t take risks: they’re more talk and less action, so don’t expect any bold housing policy reforms next year. What’s more, with the housing market now recovering, we’re not in enough of a crisis to force political opponents together. Instead, in 2012 we’ll see the effects of modest housing proposals from this year: easier refinancing under the expanded HARP program, and more government-owned homes coming to market for sale or rent. But the bitter debate in Washington over the budget deficit and debt will continue.

What it means for agents: No news may be good news: I don’t expect major changes in policy that will upend the housing market. But government is slowly scaling back support for housing, both to encourage the private sector to come back in and also to help deal with the federal budget deficit. Late this year we saw increased fees on Fannie and Freddie to help fund the payroll tax cut, lower conforming loan limits, and proposals to scale back mortgage interest deduction. Agents should explain to buyers what these changes means for their mortgage costs, both before and after taxes.

Smart cities are hot.

In 2012, the local housing markets that will enjoy rising prices, new construction or both, are those that start the year with stronger job growth and fewer empty homes holding back the market. My top five cities to watch are Austin TX, Houston TX, San Jose CA, the Boston suburbs, and Rochester NY. Most of these cities have strong high-tech industries or high-skill workforces. During the housing boom, the go-go cities tended to be lower-skill, lower-education metros. But in 2012, smart is hot.

This is a e-blogg from Christope Choo's facebook page

Thanks for the info Christophe

formspring.me

Ask me questions about Movies & TV http://www.formspring.me/chucklinn

The Isle of March

THE IDES OF MARCH




The stars in this movie:
Ryan Gosling (Stephen Meyers), George Clooney (Gov. Mike Morris), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Paul Zara), Paul Giamatti (Tom Duffy), Marisa Tomei (Ida Horowicz), Jeffrey Wright (Senator Thompson), Evan Rachel Wood (Molly Stearns), Max Minghella (Ben Harpen), Jennifer Ehle (Cindy Morris), Michael Mantell (Senator Pullman) and Gregory Itzin (Jack Stearns)
,Clooney plays Mike Morris, the Pennsylvania governor in the thick of an Ohio Democratic presidential primary against Sen. Pullman (Michael Mantell). It's press secretary Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) who stands to lose in this campaign. Stephen crucially mistakes the charm-boy governor's blunt talk for idealism. A working conscience is the first thing to go in modern politics. And Stephen finds himself in conflict with Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Mike's campaign manager, and Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), the strategist who aims to lure Stephen over to Pullman's team. Sexy intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) is another temptation, especially when Stephen figures out he's not the only one she's screwing. Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) shows his real intent when Stephen Meyers goes back to get the job.


I give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars. Just remember like the movie says “don’t screw the interns”.

Emmys 2011

Emmy Awards 2011
DRAMA:
Best Actor                            Kyle Chandler,           'Friday Night Lights'
Best Actress                         Julianna Marguiles,   'The Good Wife'
Best Supporting Actor            Peter Dinklage,         'Game of Thrones'
Best supporting Actress         Margo Martindale,      'Justified'
Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Paul McCraine                  ' Harry's Law'
Guest Actress in a Drama Series:Loretta Devine               'Gray's Antatomy'

COMEDY:
Best Actor, Comedy                      Jim Parsons                   'Big Bang Theory'
Best Actress, Comedy                  Melissa McCarthy          'Mike & Molly'
Best Supporting Actor                  Ty Burrell                       'Modern Family'
Best Supporting Actress              Julie Bowmen                'Modern Family'Guest Actress                                Gwyneth Paltrow           'Glee'
Guest Actor                                    Justin Timberlake         'Saturday Night Live'

Best Series, Drama                                      'MAD MEN'
Best Series, Comedy                                   'MODERN FAMILY'

  
The Hostess for the awards show was Jane Lynch from Glee. She did a pretty good job of hosting, was not to fond of the lesbian jokes.But before anyone gets affended I dont think awards shows are the place to make any sexual jokes keep them for late night and comedy shows.

 I am glad to see my favorite show Modern Family picked up so many Emmy's. Melissa McCarthy from Mike and Molly won her Emmy Best Actress for Comedy was very sweet in her acceptence speech. Loved to see that Margo Martindale won for best supporting actress for a drama series. Its nice to see actors that have been in the business for some time get awarded for their hard work in the business. My one gripe about the award shows , why do they not have a couple of men to help the ladies up the stairs to the stage. These ladies usally are wearing very long dresses ,high heels, dresses with trains come on how do they not see this? The memorium was very well done, it is sad to see all the talent and wonderful people we lost the past year. The Candian 4 Tenors sang Haleluja during the memorium very nice.

Big suprise to see and hear Charley Sheen act like a nice guy again. I am sure everyone was waiting for him to bash Two and Half  Men and the people that were there and CBS, he was very respectful. Maybe he is getting help with his problems. Maybe Charley is really winning this time. Well the award shows have started can hardly wait for The Academy Awards.