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Becoming VAT Registered

Becoming VAT registered?

It is compulsory for your business to register for VAT if your taxable supplies, distance sales, or acquisitions are expected to exceed the VAT registration threshold in the next 30 days, or if you are already trading, and they have exceeded the threshold in the past 12 months. The current VAT registration threshold for 2009/10 is £68,000.(from May 1st 2009). A free online knowledge database is available to find out the most up-to-date details.

Note: “Taxable Supplies” are any goods and services that are subject to VAT at any rate, including zero rate

VAT errors and omissons

If you have made errors on a previous VAT return you can correct these on the next return you submit.  From 1 July 2008 the error limit has been increased from £2,000 to the greater of £10,000 or 1 per cent of turnover, subject to an upper limit of £50,000. The 1 per cent is based on box 6 of the VAT return in which the error was found

If the error is greater then you will need to inform your local VAT office immediately or contact your accountant.

What are the VAT rates?

NOTE: The standard rate of VAT was reduced from 17.5% to 15% by the chancellor Alistair Darling on 1st December 2008. The standard rate is set to change again on 1st Jan 2010.

Zero-rated supplies

Below are examples of taxable supplies where the VAT rate of 0% is applied.

Most food, but not HOT food prepared in restaurants, take-aways, or any other food outlets. The only exception to this rule is if the food is heated but not with the intention to be consumed hot. Eg, Bread from a baker will often be sold hot or warm. Also pasties fall under this exemption. books; newspapers; young children’s clothing and shoes; exported goods (For further information see Notice 703 Exports and removals of goods from the UK.); most prescriptions dispensed to a patient by a registered pharmacist; and most public transport services.

VAT is not charged (therefore it cannot be reclaimed) on goods and services that are:

exempt from VAT outside the scope of VAT Exempt items

There are some goods and services that are exempt from VAT. Exempt goods and services are not taxable for VAT. Items exempt from VAT include insurance, some services from doctors and dentists and some types of education and training. If you sell or otherwise supply exempt items, you cannot register for VAT and you cannot charge VAT. If you buy exempt items, you cannot reclaim any VAT. If you sell some exempt items and some VATable items, your business is ‘partly exempt’ and you will only be able to reclaim VAT related to the VATable items you sell.

There’s an important difference between goods and services that are exempt from VAT and those that are zero-rated. If you sell or otherwise supply zero-rated items, you can claim the VAT back on your purchases.

Items outside the scope of VAT

Some goods and services aren’t covered by the UK VAT system at all – they’re outside the scope of VAT. You don’t charge nor reclaim VAT on goods or services that are outside the scope of VAT including any items that you:

sell or otherwise supply when you’re not registered for VAT – and you don’t need to be registered buy and sell outside the UK don’t sell or otherwise supply as part of your business buy and sell for your own personal use such as a hobby

Other items outside the scope of VAT include:

Donations to charity freely given by a business where the giver does not receive anything in return Statutory fees and services, eg MOT testing, congestion charge Tolls for bridges, tunnels and roads operated by public authorities Low cost welfare services provided by charities

Goods or services you supply within the European Union (EU) can be inside or outside the scope of UK VAT, depending on the particular transaction.

Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers hosts free seminars on “Wills and Trusts in Uncertain Times.”

DATELINE:  BOSTON, MA…

Are you relying on yesterday’s strategies to deal with today’s issues? Uncertain times are leading to changing economic circumstances for many individuals and families, making estate planning a topic of critical interest.

Learn more about “Wills and Trusts in Uncertain Times” at a seminar presented by Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers of Boston. This free seminar will be held on Tuesday January 5, 2010 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Wellesley Free Library located at 530 Washington Street, Wellesley Square, in Wellesley, MA. The same seminar will be repeated on Tuesday January 12, 2010 also from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Wellesley Library. On Thursday January 14, 2010 the seminar will be presented from 5 to 7 PM at the Wayland Library located at 5 Concord Road in Wayland, MA. The seminar is free and open to the public and light refreshments will be served. To reserve your place, please call (617) 218-2097 or email events@tbhr-law.com

The seminar will be presented by Perry Ganz, Esq. a partner with Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C of Boston. Attorney Ganz focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning and taxation and was named a Massachusetts Rising Star by Boston Magazine.  He is a frequent speaker on estate planning strategies and has written articles for various publications, as well as the chapter entitled “Making Charitable Contributions” in Drafting Estate Plans, a Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education publication. He has also been quoted in the Wall Street Journal on changes in the federal estate tax law.

A variety of real life issues will be discussed, including pending and/or recent estate tax changes, common estate planning errors, asset protection strategies, estate tax reduction strategies, and avoiding probate. Plan on attending to learn more and to explore current estate planning issues and options.

Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C.

Formed in 1991, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. is committed to providing high quality, comprehensive legal services to its clients. Featuring a breadth and depth of experience and perspective usually found only at larger law firms, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers. P.C. offers sophisticated legal counsel to entrepreneurs, businesses, individuals, families, and institutions.

Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers’ areas of expertise include corporate law, employment matters, mergers and acquisitions, litigation and dispute resolution, estate planning, taxation, real estate, bankruptcy, and municipal law.

The offices of Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rodgers, P.C. are located at 101 Huntington Avenue, Prudential Center, in Boston, MA 02199. For additional information, or to arrange for a consultation, please call 1-617-218-2000, e-mail info@tbhr-law.com, or visit www.tbhr-law.com.

Data Entry Work From Home

Data entry work is becoming very popular as many companies are outsourcing their jobs to data entry workers from home. Company paid data entry work is increasing therefore; those companies are looking for online data entry work from home. What this means to you is that data entry work is going to be available by the boatload in 2010. Many more companies are outsourcing their data entry work as the amount of work exceeds the abilities of their staff.

Data entry work at home is really a legitimate way to make money from home! Are you not convinced the data entry work is a way to make money out of your house? Still thinking data entry work is a sham? Well, check out what the Department Of Labor statistics say: The latest Department Of Labor statistics on data entry work say that 25,000,000 people work from home and a large percentage of those people are doing some sort of data entry work.

A couple of things to be aware of:

Data entry work is available from companies looking for able bodies that can type at home. You are one of many people looking for data entry work at home and there are more people in 2010 going to do data entry out of there home offices.

You will need the following in order to do data entry work from home: obviously you will need a computer or laptop, an internet connection or WiFi connection, and typing skills of some sort. The better you type, the more work you can accomplish in a day. The more data entry work you can do in a day, the more money you can make from the data entry work you finish. Some of the typical data entry work you will see is typing and entering data, proofreading, updating data, correcting data errors, database updating, etc.

Some companies pay for your data entry work by the hour or by the jobs you complete. You get to decide how you get paid on the data entry jobs you do, but not always. Legitimate data entry work companies offer a money back guarantee for the sign up fee they charge for accessing their relationships with the companies that outsource their work to home based data entry workers. These companies have a low setup fee (between $25-50 is normal) which this covers your account maintenance, support and back office setup. These fees are well worth the cost you pay as they allow you to get started right away with your home-based data entry work.

Working from home doing data entry work as many advantages that you may not have considered. Working from home doing data entry work will both make you money as well as save you money as you don’t have to commute to work, pay for gas, and have the expense of dry cleaning that you would have in a normal job. There are many online data entry work websites that are going to be a perfect fit for your needs and allow you to do data entry work you will enjoy. Data entry work from home is perfect for stay at home moms, dads, college students, and retirees.

Here is your opportunity to work at home doing data entry work and enjoy being your own boss, make as much money as you want, and setting your own work hours. 25,000,000 other people are working from home and a great percentage of those people are doing some sort of data entry work. You can start your own data entry work at home business here. Why wait? Get started now!

Triple Point Technology Acquires Enerbility Software

WESTPORT, CT–(Marketwire – January 19, 2010) – Triple Point Technology®, the leading provider of multi-market commodity and enterprise risk management software solutions, announced today that it has acquired Enerbility Software GmbH. The acquisition extends Triple Point’s straight-through processing capability to connect European energy traders with suppliers and customers from trade execution to cash settlement. The automation of the end-to-end business process dramatically reduces information delays and improves data accuracy between organizations.

Failure to automate the transaction process, including electronic confirmation matching, opens tremendous room for inefficiencies and error. A 2008 ISDA study notes that, on average, it takes three days for commodity trade confirmations to be agreed to by counterparties. Additionally, the ISDA study found that 8% of all commodity transaction records contained errors. That’s three days of inaccurate position and exposure information feeding risk management decisions.

Through the acquisition, Triple Point provides European power and gas utilities and traders with a system to automate trade confirmation matching, all in accordance with standards set by the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET). The electronic matching system confirms commodity OTC transactions in real time, greatly reducing operational risk.

“Commodity XL was built around the operational benefits of straight-through processing (STP). In recent years, Triple Point expanded this product pillar and extended STP to external entities including exchanges, data providers, and partners such as SAP,” said Michael Schwartz, chief marketing officer, Triple Point. “With the acquisition of Enerbility, we further advance our strategic product roadmap by providing STP between counterparties. Triple Point’s ability to provide its customers with the infrastructure and systems to truly control and reduce operational risk is unmatched.”

All employees of Enerbility, including the founders, have joined Triple Point. In addition to driving product advancement and accelerating customer adoption of the solution set, the Enerbility team adds leading subject matter expertise in the European power and gas markets.

“Triple Point experienced tremendous growth in the European region over the last two years, including over 70% growth in revenue, a 100% increase in staff, and the opening of new offices in London, Vienna, and Geneva,” said Peter F. Armstrong, president and CEO, Triple Point. “The acquisition of Enerbility is another pivotal milestone in our strategy to serve European customers as the energy industry in Europe continues to evolve. Triple Point is well-positioned in local expertise and product breadth to provide the cutting-edge solutions required to succeed in fast-moving and complex European energy markets.”

Enerbility was founded in 2004 and is the pioneer of automating back-office processes in the energy trading industry. Based in Vienna, Enerbility’s notable energy customers include Alpiq AG, E.ON, Statkraft, Verbund APT, BKW FMB, and Vattenfall Energy Trading Netherlands NV (formerly N.V. Nuon) among others.

“Integrating with Triple Point, a larger successful organization, gives Enerbility the resources and global reach to build on our legacy of innovation and continue to deliver the utmost business value to our customers,” said Hannes Stiebitzhofer, co-founder, Enerbility. “We look forward to bringing our shared expertise in the European power and gas markets to Triple Point.”

About Triple Point Technology

Triple Point Technology® is the leading global provider of multi-market commodity and enterprise risk management software solutions. Triple Point’s Commodity XL profitably integrates physical and financial markets on a real-time, service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform for commodities including power, oil, gas, coal, emissions, base and precious metals, agricultural products, biofuels and freight. In addition to Triple Point’s award-winning commodity and energy trading software being used by more than 25 percent of both Global 500 commodity trading and Global 500 energy companies, other organizations with large raw material and energy exposure, including consumer products (CP), discrete manufacturers and big box retailers, are quickly adopting the Triple Point solution. Named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 for ten straight years, Triple Point is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, USA. The company was founded in 1993 and serves clients from eleven development and support centers located around the globe. More information is available at www.tpt.com.

Retail Industry in India:challenges Opportunties and Strategies

Introduction

Retailing involves all activities incidental to selling to ultimate consumer for their personnel family and household use. It does this by organizing their availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to a customers on arelatively smallscale. Retailer is any person/organization instrumental in reaching the goods or merchandise oer services to the end users.Retailer is a must and cannot be eliminated.

The Indian retailing industry is becoming intensely competitive, as more and more payers are Vying for the same set of customers. The major retail players are Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers Stop, Reliance,etc..,

Retailing is one of the biggest sectors and it is witnessing revolution in India. The new entrant in retailing in India signifies the beginning of retail revolution. India’s retail market is expected to grow tremendously in next few years. According to AT Kearney, The Windows of Opportunity shows that Retailing in India was at opening stage in 1995 and now it is in peaking stage in 2006. India’s retail market is expected to grow tremendously in next few years. India shows US$330 billion retail market that is expected to grow 10% a year, with modern retailing just beginning. India ranks first in 2005. In fact, in 2005 and 2006, India is the most compelling opportunity for retailers, because now India is in peaking stage.

This window of opportunity is useful for executives who plan their market-specific strategies; the four stages or the lifecycle of this industry is as as follows:

Introduction:

An introduction is the opening phase of a market and is one that is just entering the GRDI, Global Retail Development Index This index is based on more than 25 macro-economic and retail –specific variables.for instance ,the country risk includes parameters like political risk,economic performance,debt indicators,credit ratings,access bank finance and business risk.The market attractiveness covers reail sales per capita ,urban population ,laws and regulations and business efficiency.

Iin this stage all, which are outside the top 30 markets, falls in this stage. At this stage, retailers should monitor and performing high-level assessments, they should plan for their entry strategies. India in the late 1990’s is a good example in the opening stage, while in 2006, Kazakhstan is the country in introduction stage.

Stategy suggested:A rapid penetration strategy is suggested at this stage i>e low price and high promotion.

Growth:

In growth stage, the market is developing quickly and also ready for modern retailing. Countries, which are in Peaking stage, are India, Ukraine and Vietnam. Retailers entering this stage have the best chance for long-term success. Retailers at this stage should enter through local representations, sourcing offices and new stores. Wal-Mart success in china in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s gives us the importance of committing to a promising high-growth market at right time.

Strategy suggested: The strategy of adopting quality and styled products with new models and shift of advertising from product awareness to product preference Eg the big bazaar advt says surf exel is cheaper than the market price.The idea behind adopting strategy is to strengthen against competitors.

Maturity:

In this stage the market is still big and growing, but the space for new entrants will become tighter and retailers should act quickly at this stage because retailers at this stage have limited time to explore, and also their margin for error is thin. In general , they should act according to the established rules and should be open to face the competition from international retailers. This stage generally lasts longer than the previous two stages.

Strategy suggested: Enter new market segments that is either enter new geographic areas eg vishal megha mart has opened stores in smaller cities tier II and III cities

Decline:

The window of opportunity is closing fast and modern retail share is reaching 40 to 60 percent. Though the opportunity is closing the existing retailers can enter with new formats such as discount models or non-food formats such as consumer electronics and apparel.

Window of opportunity ends for about 5 to 10years before a market enters the closing phase and reaches saturation level. India for example, was in the opening stage in 1995 and entered peaking stage in the year 2003 and reached number 1 rank in2005.

Strategy suggested: Identifying weak segments, maintaining investment level selectively.

Unorganized retailing in India

In India, the most of the retail sector is unorganized. In India, the retail business contributes around 11 percent of GDP. Of this, the organized retail sector accounts only for about 3 percent share, and the remaining share is contributed by the unorganized sector. The main challenge facing the organized sector is the competition from unorganized sector. Unorganized retailing has been there in India for centuries, theses are named as mom-pop stores. The main advantage in unorganized retailing is consumer familiarity that runs from generation to generation. It is a low cost structure, they are mostly operated by owners, has very low real estate and labor costs and has low taxes to pay.

Organized retailing in India

In late 1990’s the retail sector has witnessed a level of transformation. Retailing is being perceived as a beginner and as an attractive commercial business for organized business i.e. the pure retailer is starting to emerge now. Organized retail business in India is very small but has tremendous scope. The total in 2005 stood at $225 billion, accounting for about 11% of GDP. In this total market, the organized retail accounts for only $8 billion of total revenue. According to A T Kearney, the organized retailing is expected to be more than $23 billion revenue by 2010.

In organized retailing will grow faster than unorganized sector and the growth speed will be responsible for its high market share, which is expected to be $ 17 billion by 2010-11.

Retailing will show good prospects in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, kolkata, Banglore and Kanpur. After Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, In India Delhi will be the next big retail destination, According to Confederation of Indian Industries whose findings have shown that Delhi has the good resources and good conditions for the retail sector. Out of the total earnings of the Government of Delhi Rs 11,000 crore, Rs 6,500 crore is achieved from the retail sector.

- Share of Organised Retail

1999 2002 2005

Total Retail (in billion INR) 7000 8250 10000

Organized Retail (in billion INR) 50 150 350

% Share of Organized Retail 0.70% 1.80% 3.5%

The organized sector is expected to grow faster than GDP growth in next few years driven by favorable demographic patterns, changing lifestyles, and strong income growth. This organized retail sector mix includes supermarkets, hypermarkets discounted stores and specialty stores, departmental stores. For example, Spencer network has 69 stores, which includes seven Spencer hypermarkets, three Spencer super markets and 49 Spencer Dailys. Now the company is planning to open 20 stores in 10 cities in six months. The top 10 retailers account only for 2% of total market, today modern retailing is expected to enter a boom phase, which has major players and these players might capture 10% of total market, within next five years. The retail sales in India for future are shown below (data from 2005-2008 is based on estimates):

PRESENT INDIAN SCENARIO

* Unorganized market: Rs. 583,000 crores

* Organized market: Rs.5, 000 crores

* 5X growth in organized retailing between 2000-2005

* Over 4,000 new modern Outlets in the last 3 years

* Over 5,000,000 sq. ft. of mall space under development

* The top 3 modern retailers control over 750,000 sq. ft. of retail space

* Over 400,000 shoppers walk through their doors every week

Growth drivers in India for retail sector

• Rising incomes and improvements in infrastructure are enlarging consumer markets and accelerating the convergence of consumer tastes.

• Liberalization of the Indian economy

• Increase in spending Percapita Income.

• Advent of dual income families also helps in the growth of retail sector.

• Shift in consumer demand to foreign brands like McDonalds, Sony, Panasonic, etc.

• Consumer preference for shopping in new environs

• The Internet revolution is making the Indian consumer more accessible to the growing influences of domestic and foreign retail chains. Reach of satellite T.V. channels is helping in creating awareness about global products for local markets.

• About 47% of India’s population is under the age of 20; and this will increase to 55% by 2015. This young population, which is technology-savvy, watch more than 50 TV satellite channels, and display the highest propensity to spend, will immensely contribute to the growth of the retail sector in the country.

• Availability of quality real estate and mall management practices

• Foreign companies’ attraction to India is the billion-plus population.

Employment opportunities in retail sector in India

India’s retail industry is the second largest sector, after agriculture, which provides employment. According to Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), the retail sector will create 50,000 jobs in next few years.

Retail companies are starting retail manamgent courses in partnership with management institutes, roping in talent from other sectors and developing comprehensive career growth and loyalty plans for existing employees.

Top players like Pantaloon Retail India Limited, Trent, Shopper’s Stop, RPG Group and ebony are virtually on their toes.

Consider the plans of largest player, The Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, the company has developed a comprehensive strategy, where in it expects that in 2years, it will not recruit any new managers from outside.

“The estimated need is 1 lakh of employees till 2011″, said Mr. Sanjoy Jog, HR Head at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. Pantaloon has the concept of partnership with educational Institute to run retail courses across the entire chain. The company has tied up with 11-B schools including K J Somaiya , Welinkars, Narsee Monjre and IISWBM. “The students joins the course and they are given an appointment letter by Pantaloon to become employees” said Mr. Jog, Pantaloon. Pantaloon is also planning to tie up with Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design to start a course in visual merchandising. “The apex body of Indian organized retailers, Retailers Association of India( RAI) is also lending help hand to tide over the shortage of employees in organized retail sector.

Trent has also started in-house learning programmes and now goes to under graduate colleges to recruit students.

Since, the job market is hugely receptive to this with more and more business schools focusing on the sector and large retailers setting up retail academics.

Challenges of Retailing in India

In India the Retailing industry has a long way to go,and to become a truly flourishing industry, retailing needs to cross the following hurdles:

* The first challenge facing the organized retail sector is the competition from unorganized sector.

* In retail sector, Automatic approval is not allowed for foreign investment.

* Taxation, which favors small retail businesses.

* Developed supply chain and integrated IT management is absent in retail sector.

* Lack of trained work force.

* Low skill level for retailing management.

* Intrinsic complexity of retailing- rapid price changes, threat of product obsolescence and low margins.

* Organized retail sector has to pay huge taxes, which is negligible for small retail business.

*Cost of business operations is very high in India.

Conclusion

Many agencies have estimated differently about the size of organized retail market in 2010. The one thing that is common amongst these estimates is that Indian organized retail market will be very big in 2010. The status of the retail industry will depend mostly on external factors like Government regulations and policies and real estate prices, besides the activities of retailers and demands of the customers also show impact on retail industry.

As the retail market place changes shape and competition increases, the potential for improving retail productivity and cutting costs is likely to decrease. Therefore it is important for retailers to secure a distinctive position in the market place based on values relationships or experience.

Finally it is important to note that these strategies are not strictly independent of each other; value is function of not just price quality and service but can also be enhanced by personalization and offering a memorable experience

Now Can be What You Were Waiting for

Why is the present so alien and distance from us, like the Martian landscape, the rings of Saturn, Jupiter’s moons, and the outer reaches of the Milky Way? So distant is today that those alien shores of tomorrow are closer to our present thoughts, our presence missed by this day, right now.

 

We take something negative from the past and give it greater weight by bringing it into the present. Why go back to the seat of your failure now?

 

I look at the opportunity in the face, but my held perceptions of prior failure stay with me. My current perceptions of what might be an opportunity will be skewed on this seeming failure or lack of success in the past. I am putting yesterday between then and what I could have now.

 

I might be using past failure as a shield to slide from present opportunities.

 

Come out from under the waterfalls of negativity. Stop getting caught in the catch 22 from yesterday and that distant future. Why ambush the present with yesterday and tomorrow?

 

Kennedy said we’ll go to the moon before the decade if over. If you don’t start to move now when are you ever going to get to the moon? When is your lift off date?

 

I go to a restaurant I have to trust the cook. If there is some reason that I shouldn’t trust the cook, I should be aware of this possibility. What can happen is if you have been operating in an environment of distrust, this can be counter to other personal projects of importance that require personal trust. The cascading negativity bellows into the future and inhibits my ability to move forward in trusting the present.

 

I go to an amusement park today. All the rides are open and I can go on any one I want today as I brought a ticket that includes the cost of any ride. What rides will I choose and which will I choose to go on more than once? If I get on a ride I don’t like, with all the other rides in the park, why wouldn’t I just try other rides and forget about the one I don’t like. If I find a ride I like, why not go on the ride again. It’s my day at the park and I paid for all the rides right up front, so it’s just a question of what I want to do and where I want to go.

 

Break some patterns at least for awhile. If you have to read the news everyday, take a break from it. Even take a break from some of the good and positive things that you do want to keep going, because breaking patterns get you perspective that the present is here whether you stay with this pattern or not. You can live in the present another way without necessarily following this or that pattern.

 

You might be quite upset for the reason things went wrong, it is not only that things went wrong but the reason seems like it could have been controlled and overcome and it wasn’t. It might have gone wrong for another reason, if that is any consolation. The reason however may not be enough to close the wellspring of what you still have the offers into the situation and you can still give this another thought or even another try.

 

It is amazing how one thought can stop us and keep us from proceeding even on what is actually a clear path. Whether we take this path or not, to superimpose one thought against a clear path is not the best reasoning for making decisions not to proceed now or in the near future. Why is one thought carrying all the weight? I could be wrong about my one thought and if you ever play the horses you will realize that your thoughts can be errant.

 

I might be looking to proceed or go forward only if it can be 100 percent correct. This could be a bit of a hangover from getting graded in school all the time and having too much exposure to the idea of correctness. What you want to do if you are dealing with less than 100 percent correctness, say even 99 percent, is to actually give yourself permission to proceed and not be correct by just leaving room for correction. If you have to be 100 percent correct, than leaving room for correction is not a concept that matters. But it may matter if you are proceeding into murky waters for you and leave room then for correction with an understanding that you know you aren’t 100 percent correct on this, and you will just leave the room to adjust to corrections as they arise including heading for the hills if the need arises.

 

I have been working on building those artificial walls between the present and future, and maybe most of it was wasted time and energy.

 

I might be vacillating between now and never. I keep saying I’ll hold off and I say that today, I say that tomorrow and I keep saying that until days, months and finally years passed and I’m still holding off. Finally, I have held off for the duration.

 

One concept that might not get us going in the present is the concept of earning my way. As good as that is, it can become the built in excuse. For example, if I work double time, I am earning double the money. So everything is okay, because I am earning my way. In the meantime, some other things that might have come my way just aren’t going to because they are opportunities that can’t be earned. I might be working indoors, earning my way and I miss the golden sunset, never to be seen again in that exact formation. So the concept of earning doesn’t necessarily get us off the hook on procrastinating and it can just as easily be used as a haven serving the true avoidance and a safe cover not to. The lauded work ethic seems to justify working your life away into oblivion from anything else that might matter to you that did require separate time blocks from earning your way, especially when the reality was, much of the ride offered was free.

 

We might as well look to move off some of these concepts that have gotten us nowhere or in a place where we are standing still.

 

I have these qualities. I think they are good but they will be worth more in the future. I do have these qualities, but I will hold them for the future, I will let them kick in at a later point. I procrastinate on the very qualities I am aware of possessing now. Increased awareness might be one step I can take that will hold me up in the present.

 

I might also be brushing against every obstacle down that road. It is like the skier who hits every obstacle down the hill while trying to ski for the gold. Maybe avoid some of those obstacles on your path, ski around them.

 

I might also be involved in ongoing patterns of procrastination. For example, I tell someone I will get back to you when I finish this book. Then I start another book and I say I’ll be ready to go when I finish this book.

 

One of the first concepts I need to grab a hold on is the concept that I am ready for this. Whatever I might be facing in the present, deep down I am looking into a prism that is saying, am I ready or do I need to delay to another time and place. What I can do is correlate my thinking to times and places where and when I was in fact ready, and go back to that feeling of readiness and somehow recapture that. As time goes by, we might not improve on the concept of finding ourselves able and ready and in fact, even with success in a given area, our overall pattern might deteriorate and fall into a position of feeling not ready in a good number of areas in our lives.

 

I might be caught in a big drift. Everybody is procrastinating and so am I. The whole town or whole city is waiting and I get caught up in this as well. I don’t want to press those buttons until everybody else does the same. Nobody is going to the beach now at this present moment because of the weather forecast. In the meantime, the sun is shining and the forecast might be wrong after all. But it is a small world after all and just about everybody heard the forecast for that big storm in an hour or two and nobody is steadying to shore and hitting the seas.

 

I might be halfway involved with what I am procrastinating on already. I am at seashore, with my surfboard in hand and I am looking at the inviting surf. Will I go all the way?

 

I might be letting prior failures and disappointments transfer themselves to the present, dictating from the past into my present meanderings.

 

I might be procrastinating because I don’t have the very thing I am procrastinating on. I am disappointed I am not dating so I hold off on dating. I am disappointed I haven’t been on the golf course and because of this I can’t get myself going and get to the golf course. I am in a bad mood cause I haven’t traveled any place in a while so I don’t feel like taking this trip.

 

I might be procrastinating on something so much and for so long that it has ultimately formed into a self-imposed exile. The present times become another vacant valley. I said I would run, date, travel later, but later became later and later and I eventually exiled myself from those plans. I kept saying tomorrow I’ll play baseball again but I never did, and I exiled myself from the sport. It becomes established tradition not to do anything.

 

I might be procrastinating over what amounts to a small fragment in the big picture. I am holding off on any summer activities until I lose 5 pounds. Well, many good times aren’t going to wait for your conditioning to improve. I have something going for me that I am bringing from the now territory into the no territory by my continued delay. At least consider the relative size and importance of the issue on which you are basing your delay. I am holding a ticket to see the whole world and I am holding off on using the ticket because a few small things have gone wrong,in the meantime the bigger picture remains intact. I refuse to break the code even though I might have enough to do so without all of the information.

 

I might be putting a real premium on the future based on assumptions, which could prove to be errant. At least begin to recognize where on the time line I am putting the premium so that I can make adjustments in my premium if I want to. But if I don’t realize that I am putting a premium on the future by approaches I take, then I can’t begin to readjust my thinking to a present day mode if wanted opportunities are in the present days without first recognizing that I am involved in premium thinking that might be knocking me out of today’s box and these chances.

 

Today included part of my allotment of time. For example, if I someone gives me a million dollars and one day to spend it, it might be less valuable than if they give me a million dollars with a hundred days to spend it. If I start now, I can have more time.

 

Then I may have lost my starting point, so I don’t start at all. I wanted to just drink water for this month, but I didn’t do this the first week of the month, so because I lost my starting point, I forget the whole idea. I wanted to have someone special in my life months ago, and that would have been my starting point, but since this didn’t happen, I forget the opportunities of the present because once my well thought out plans that had that starting point fell through, I am still thinking about the lost starting point rather than founding a new one.

 

I might be searching for a completeness that leaves me vacant towards real but partial opportunities in the present. I want the full piece of pie or nothing. An incomplete experience, or incomplete insight can work into something meaningful in the present. I want full-fledged only, when I can take some of the good in now, catch some rays of this sighting of sun. An incomplete road still might be in a search able realm, a stretch of coast that I can actual be present to, participate in, although it might not be the complete stretch of these coastlines, a partial view might be afforded and I could also just take what I get.

 

I might be waiting for the signs, but indeed maybe I have some signs already, I have some thunder for this, but I just don’t see this as a sign. Doing nothing or waiting could sometimes be the same or get you equivalent results. Try to tap into some of the good signals that are on your bright side. Everybody has their bright side and many situations also potentially have a bright side that can’t be found by procrastinating.

 

I might be working with more exclusive definitions of success when I could be including more from my own personal landscape as I seek not only to find success but to properly define it to what would be a success to me. Smaller dealing might be a success to me if I feel I have had limited positive experiences to springboard from. The people I’m comparing myself to have been advantaged by their successes which operate as a platform and if I don’t have that platform yet, maybe I shouldn’t compare and delay based on others having that platform. Instead of trying to emulate their achievements, I can find little building blocks that work for me and then decide from there.

 

I might begin to procrastinate by setting up high expectations that might seem difficult to meet at any time soon. I can’t seem to meet with these high expectations so it is just as easy to sit down on them and let them go away rather than reformulating more tempered expectations. I’ll conveniently put things off indefinitely because it never looks like I’ll be able to jump over the bar that I set for apparently to high for myself. Lower some of those bars to you can get a foothold on something.

 

I might end up like the prize fighter who didn’t anticipate the right cross and didn’t adjust to the movements and get into the better stance. So anticipation and the related adjustments can be important in relating to procrastination issues. If I’m anticipating that I am going to procrastinate, then I should made some adjustments towards undoing that stance.

 

I might feel I am compromising something by proceeding to the present, I am compromising my future by proceeding now. It might be that message got spread widely and I think every other thing I do will be compromising my future. I don’t distinguish on a case-by-case basis as to what might do this. If everything I’m going to undertake compromise my most idyllic visions of my future, I should also realize that the imperfect world I’m in also has an influence both now and in the future so I can’t be totally picky about when imperfections will arise from outside influences, over which I have little control.

 

I might go to the beach and one day a rogue wave comes that is tremendous is size, maybe 25 feet high from out of nowhere. Every time out from then on I expect another rogue wave although every wave if different and it might have been the first and last rogue wave I’ll ever experience.

 

I might have less room for error in some scenarios if I procrastinate too much. For example, in an academic setting, if I hold off on writing my paper till it is almost due, I might have less time for wanted changes, further research, possible corrections, or the accumulation of additional information. If I start studying for a test at the last moments, I might find that I do need additional time that just isn’t available to me now. If I had started earlier, I would have more room for error, more time to adjust the situation and more accumulative study time and preparation.

 

I might have points of feeling inferior or even an outright inferiority complex. I feel fundamentally different from others. I might want to review this in the specifics. I am hesitant to get on the basketball court. I begin to think why I am hesitant. Am I deficient on my shooting, passing, or my ability to see the court. In the total review, I find I am deficient in height, I am only 6’7 and everybody else is about 7 feet.

 

I might have things on delay for something that is in fact going to be a ongoing effort. I say I can’t socialize because I have to keep up with current events. My effort to keep up with current events is going to be ongoing if I want to do this. Many times, I might be procrastinating even though what I am procrastinating for doesn’t have an endpoint that I can distinguish. I say I’ll call you as soon as I see all the new movies. There are always new movies and my efforts to get to them is going to be ongoing. Look at everything you are involved with that is related and try and see what in fact is an ongoing matter that is going to be there whether I procrastinate or not. The sun is shining for me whether I take that advantage or not is up to me.

 

I might look at my goals. It is a tall order but I could rate my goals based on height. My tallest goal should take precedence over the shorter goals if the taller goal can be had. If I can reach those heights, there is no reason not to attach to the shorter goals that might be reachable but prioritize the tallest goals if you get the chance to achieve this goal now. The tallest goals are the ones that mean the most to you. What would be big for you now?

 

I might never get every particular piece to this particular puzzle and what then? But let’s look at this puzzle and what pieces or piece am I missing and what piece do I think I need that I am or think I am missing. A second look might show me that yes, I do have this piece, but I have been hiding it from myself to keep the excuse not to go ahead in place, because if I acknowledge that I really have that piece, I lose my excuse and then I am holding off without an acceptable excuse.

 

I might say how much of this do I have left. I might think of this in relation to money and I might expect this to run out. So I will save for the future. Even my money supply, even if well spent up now, might quickly replenish itself in the future but I don’t see it that way. Things do replenish and I just have to believe that. But I might apply this same mode of thinking to other things, like intelligence, looks, a sense of adventure. My sense of adventure if not applied now might not be with me in the very same way in the future. My intelligence will probably not suffer into the future from being used right now and I don’t need to save this for the future like I would save money for the future. Often, my supply of money would quickly replenish for the future even if I don’t win the lottery. My intelligence should not deplete its supply even if I use a lot of it today. Why would I want to save my good looks for the future unless I think I will get better looking every day which was in the title of Joe Namath’s book which was titled “I can’t wait till tomorrow because I getting better looking every day.”

 

I might think I need endurance to get to the future but I need endurance just to get myself into the present. I need those good qualities now.

 

I might want to accelerate on my interests in some area. For example, they had a go ape all day at the movies where you could see all 5 of the Planet of the Ape movies back to back. Or maybe you want to load up on the movies. So this acceleration might push me forward and onward into an interest that I have been previously hesitant to explore. I feel I can learn a new language but I didn’t know how far I could go with this until I accelerated my studies. At the same time, this acceleration could result in a stoppage of other interests. I am working every waking hour but then this could result in a deceleration of other interests. I might be interested in sailing but I am always in the office. My acceleration on my office work has resulted in a deceleration of my other interests, which might begin to wane for the lack of watering and interests that aren’t cultivated can begin to fade.

 

I might want to double check the word success and find out what exactly that means. It might be that I feel I have been a failure but I might have had mini successes or patches of success within the midst of failure. A second look might show that I did progress or I did go forward and complete something that I intended to complete, but those feelings of success didn’t great me at the finish line with the fanfare that is from others but I still need to identify the success I did have within the midst of all the chaos.

 

I might want to introduce a time element to my definition of success. I win the lottery but I have only an hour to spend the money? Suppose I win a trip to Rome but I have only 4 hours to see it and it will take that much time just to begin to find my way around. As I reduce on going forward, I may also be reducing the time I had for this, which may have had a much longer and wider frame, had I brought the picture into the present sooner.

 

I practice seeing lack when I could practice seeing abundance. Limitations are imposed now for the supposed sake of the future. But it isn’t always easy to lift off from those limitations later if because those are the confines you have established, the establishment starts to rule and rules become the law and the law tells me what to do and not to do. You probably need to let go of some limitations now if only for the reason that limitations are something that we tend to hold on to, and propel into the future. My lack of involvement in this becomes self limiting and I just continue with limits that hinder me if and when the winds of opportunity do change into a direction that I can ride with. Consider that you can go with fewer limitations from now into the future so bars from the past will not bother you as you go forward. Because there tends to be maintenance of the status quo it is often not easy to throw off those limitations I have established even when they no longer apply or have less applicability now, because the limitations I formed where based on what my experience was and if I had other experiences I may not have found myself so matched up with these limitations and I might have otherwise matched up with good chances and exploring talents better had I had different experiences which would have caused me to see what I could bring forward. I might have arrested my development right into the future by imposing too many limitations and deactivating early on some good pursuits.

 

I say I want a social life. I am working round the clock. Then years go by and I say, well, I didn’t have a social life. Should I have seen this coming sometime in the now? Right about then. Could I have put the brakes on this lifestyle a bit and tried to socialize a bit? It doesn’t have to be a full launch but you can dip your toes in the water. I thought if I was so good that I would be rewarded with a good social life, but didn’t that require some time to do that? Isn’t that found on some parts of the time line too? I could have managed some of my time for this into the present. The now I never got to or fell off that time line? I didn’t write in socializing on my lineup card, how did I expect it to get an at bat. Or does that come at the end of the movie? But I wanted to enjoy the whole movie.

 

I want to go to Rome. The reason is I want to see in person some of the historical monuments and structures including the Roman Coliseum. I have a reason and I need the time to support this reason. I need time to take the trip and support my good reasons. If I have reasons, what do these reasons support? My reasons are supportive of doing what? I hold off because I have to have a reason well you do have a reason. Another reason says not to, but the reason to do this is still a reason that might still be standing there and not going away. I can try to make that reason a standing shadow, but I can’t wish it all the way away.

 

I want to pay attention now because even if this is turning out to be my worst day, my worst year, you never know when your breath through point is coming.

 

I want to proceed now but without allowing for any mistakes. Of course I don’t want to make major mistakes but if I am not allowing for any mistakes that approach might land me far into the future, especially if I am looking for a mistake free present. I have got to consider that I will make mistakes, despite my great talents. Even school has a catch 22, the best students don’t make “mistakes” and they get perfect grades. This approach might be leading to less risk taking or exploration in the pursuit of knowledge. The key is too allow for mistakes while trying to avoid the more punishing mistakes. If I try and get everything I want on a mistake free basis, I am less likely to get everything I want. v

 

If I am anticipating things aren’t going to be that great, it is more than likely, I will follow the course of procrastination in even trying to outright get out of the situation. However, of course, what I am anticipating for may have a degree of error and must involve a lack of foresight because I don’t have a crystal ball and a lot of what I am involved with would have either a greater or lesser degree of predictability. That predictability can affect by my choices, but I can’t get full predictability not matter what I do so reliance on predictability has inherent limitations in that predictions don’t always follow into wanted outcomes. It could also be even worse than I expect. But let’s not be negative. One reason to go forward is to generate a new block of interest than can be referred to further down the road. For example, if you study an unfamiliar subject, from this point on you can refer to this and possibly discover and enhance a new found interest. I can bring in some momentum to something new by a relatively brief but intense focus that will help carry me into a new realm, that I now have a better backdrop and I can leave this subject and revisit it again with having had some experience that is partly knowledge and experience based.

 

If I am procrastinating in one area or on one thing, I am probably doing it in other areas. I am involved in several cycles of procrastination both large and small. What I need to do is look at each cycle and do something to break each cycle, even if it is small. Say I haven’t been in the ocean the whole season, I could go in the water for ten minutes and break that cycle. I haven’t read in the area of fiction in two years, I could read one short story and break that cycle. I haven’t golfed in 5 years I could play a round and break that cycle. Even if you don’t read fiction again or golf again for a while, you accomplished breaking a cycle.

 

In contemplating applicable resources, why save resources that can be applied into the present to some distant shores you may not even reach? If I can pour some of these potentially applicable resources into the present, it might it might be like pouring cement into a new road that I can travel on into the future and often times pouring out resources doesn’t mean I have less for tomorrow anyway. I can apply some of this to the present without saying I’m withdrawing from the future by doing this.

 

For example, I have the interest in traveling. Why not travel sometime in the nearer future, rather than years down the roadway. I can use this applied resource of interest in travel and apply it now without compromising this interest for the future. I can pour some water on this now and pour more water on this later.

 

If I go to the store, and buy something, say a computer for 1000 dollars, I feel I have depleted my some of my resources of money. Therefore, I might delay on buying a computer. But it might not be true that although I did indeed spend 1000 dollars, that I will have automatically depleted that particular resource. Maybe the computer and it’s availed information will save me much more than that. But this idea of depletion deals with assumptions as to available resources. My assumptions of depletion seem to carry over into many areas. I assume a given set of resources for my hoped for endeavor, which will be depleted with use. So I save these resources for a rainy day. But my assumptions might be incorrect to the matter at hand. An example would be social skills. They might become more polished with the use. There might be a restoration, implantation, and accentuation of those prior qualities. As I use it, I gain even more. I harvest more abundance by not delaying, but proceeding. Indeed, I might be correct that the depletion effect will take place, but I can’t be 100 percent sure of this and I need to monitor the situation as I proceed to see what forces are at work and how they are working. I might find myself at the opposite pole of depletion and find increasing yields as I go forward. I might find I do have game, like Mike has game and not only for one game. I might not have even begun to harvest my crop of ideas for this and the field is so plentiful that depletions are not an issue at all and I am widely mistaken about depletion. There is so much out there now, that the issue of depletion isn’t something I can get to even if I wanted. If I take the spot I’m in right now, and imagine how this place looked and was two hundred years ago, then I have felt some of the visages of the past, and maybe I can get a firmer realization of the present ground I am standing upon. Who if anybody was standing right here 200, 500, one thousand years ago, but your here now and do something about it.

 

If some things or even one thing is going well now, why can’t these other areas go well now? For example, I have a good moment now when I enjoy the hike along the shore. I ‘m enjoying this movie right now I am enjoying reading this book right now or even this one page of this book right now. Why can’t I also enjoy something else I am interested in right now? Why am I trimming today’s list of the thinkable and obtainable goods and reducing my chances on the tree of possibility. If have enjoy a good run in the park now, then why can’t I enjoy traveling the world now, or why can’t I be rich now if that’s what I want. If even one thing is going well now, maybe all things can go well now as favor also has a way of spreading.

 

If something has that, much vibrancy for you then the phone is ringing for you now on this. I have to assert that now is important, whether I can get to the now in an advantageous fashion is often a matter of being assertive on my part. I can be assertive about so many things, why can’t I be assertive about now being important? Sometimes I am told otherwise, be patient, wait, this is for another time. What they are telling me might not be what’s best for me and right now, the present time might be my best bet, after all, everybody is only guessing as to what and when to bet on or what and when her best bet is going to be. If predictability isn’t going to be found in the future, why should I let the lack of it bother me in the present? I might bargain away the present for many different reasons but one of them is a lack of assertion along with being told by the so called experts that better times are around the bend if I just be patient, as if they have that view of what’s around the bend themselves.

 

If there is a reason for this, this exploration, this pursuit, this idea this wanted experience, then I should lend the supporting time to the reasons. If there is a reason then make the time on that basis. Make the time somewhere near the reason. I have a reason now, then make the time now.

 

If two people are in say a club in the Hampton’s and each is anticipating the other will take the initiative and approach to the other person, both might end up missing the conversation. Because both are anticipating the same thing, neither takes the initiative of the first move. Don’t just anticipate, also take action as you gather your resources because by anticipation only you are not using all of what you have. The fighter anticipates the punch, but also throws the punch.

 

If you are going to make some changes or do things differently, don’t apply the same standard to something you are starting out with as what you have already been doing for a while and maybe doing it well. For example, I have been a great farmer and I want to fly jets, do I expect to start out as an expert in flying jets. I want to leave some room at the starting line. I am a great doctor but I want to be the best selling novelist. I may get a running start on this but I still need to not apply the same standard of success at the start of this that I have for being a doctor.

 

In the present, I might be trying to marry some ideas and approaches that just aren’t very compatible. I can take in disparate views but are all the disparate approaches going to work for me now and I might want to find a more central thread and theme where I find more consistency within my overall approach. If I want to be more creative, I can apply this concept to just about anything I might endeavor upon. If I am going to be smart about this one area of concern, then why not be smart about most if not all areas of concern. I can stay sharp for the duration. I can keep my arrow sharp for every bird of prey.

 

In thinking about the now, what would I want to apply to my life on a daily or almost daily basis and is there something I had been doing that I think I’m still doing now. There is the rule of inclusion, I want to include this, therefore my rule is that I do include this. Now not only deals with what we might do in the future but what we once did and may not have brought in from the past into the now. Something we did do but left out in those already traveled seas of yesterday.

 

In thinking about the pieces that I don’t have, I should also review the pieces that I do have and I might also consider why I also haven’t moved on them as well. Because if I haven’t moved on the pieces I do have, what is the evidence available that I will move if and when I get the pieces I don’t have.

 

Increased awareness is one factor in getting us in the now. Becoming more fully aware of what can be now is helpful towards actualizing the present. I am aware of this having meaning and mattering to me now, maybe I can actually do something about it now.

 

Instead of just mumbling along, why not give yourself a chance for a big launch? I might be hiding out from bigger chances and opportunities in the routine, which I know I can follow, but the safest course isn’t always the widest course either. The big launch is something that might net me much more right now, if it does fly. For example, maybe I am a high school student and I want to be rich in a few years. Maybe I could write that popular novel which could be a bestseller now and would represent a big launch which is potentially obtainable in the now. Even as I high school student, I now have the same access to imagination and a typewriter that I will have later on, so I can try to manifest a best selling novel now, without the benefit of some sort of scholarly degree

 

I can take a situation and try to see as I begin to go through it whether it is a high potential, or might involve more medium or low potential according to the criteria that I have set up or that matters to me now. If I am going on a date and I am looking for good conversation, I can see at the beginning maybe if this situation can have high potential for good conversation. If I have a good written dialogue with someone, maybe I can predict high potential from that for good in person discussions. But I don’t want to automatically scratch medium potential options, in that I am choosing only for high potential options and I just don’t have to do that, it is not a requirement that everything I pursue has to have a high potential outcome. Because this outlook can start to get me into the trappings of procrastination, in that looking for high potential involves work, which I don’t always feel like doing, so I just avoid or procrastinate instead of just figuring on medium or even low potential and it doesn’t take as much work to figure that out. Then the high potential could be rather obvious, but I think it is such a rare bird that I get anxious and spill the cup that is handed right to me.

 

It is interesting that people read things with a bias and sometimes this might be an improper bias. I might want to mold my interpretation to the view I am already holding. Maybe I am reading the present with an improper or an inappropriate bias to the future, I am reading into the things with a bias that my time is unlimited, the opportunity is endless, and the building for “future” is what matters. I might feel this is a road I could take today or a road that I could take ten years from now. I can’t say for sure exactly what the tilt of my bias is and is going to be, but I need to realize that I might be bringing a real bias into my objective readings of the present and what it could mean to me right now. I then justify a pass based on a bias or prejudice towards the future that might be inappropriate to the paths I really do want to take now.

 

It might be better to have the concept of some things as working for me now. I am running or lifting weights in the gym, not only is this a seed for the future but also it is helping me right now. I am reading a good book or article and this is working for me right now and right now is central to me.

 

It might be that the change I make would be a better bet. What I am involved with right now is more of a long shot. That is the paradox, what I am doing now, what I am familiar with might be more of a long shot than something else I could do that is a better bet and much less of a long but would involve the dreaded change.

 

It might be that you are looking for all your rewards only at the finish line. I ran the New York Marathon and I was wearing a shirt with a picture of John Glenn an American Hero. Right at the beginning of the race in Brooklyn, a spectator yells out to me, hey John Glenn, hero. The way he looked as he said it was in such a humorous NY fashion that right then and right there it was worth the day at the very beginning of the race.. As I proceeded to run, I enjoyed the crowd watching, I enjoyed watching and trying to pace with the fellow runners, many of the female persuasion, and I enjoyed observing as a fellow runner some of the costumes and outfits and sayings that some of the runners were wearing. I also had some subsequent references to my shirt as the American Hero, which I thought were amusing. I felt good running through the last few miles of the race but I ran right through to the finish line. But I had my rewards including right at the beginning of the race. After the race, when I took the train home a women on the train said she saw me at the later part of the race in Central Park while she was handing out oranges to the runners and she said I was running well. Although I felt tired then, it was nice to hear that someone perceived me as running well at that point. This was a post race reward, an after the finish line treasure that was unexpected. So you never know where the rewards are coming from or what exactly they will be so don’t pout that Santa isn’t coming to town when he may well be coming your way if you just get in the race and start running.

 

It seems that tomorrow takes precedence. However, is the type of tomorrow I am hoping for a guarantee from where I stand today? I am going to wait my whole life for this type of day when all will land at my doorstep?

 

It terms of procrastination, I can think about what I am missing. This might not only be in broad terms but in specific segments of what I am missing. Not only might I be missing the summer, but I am also missing this particular summer day at the beach where I could have had fun before the light of this day left me.

 

It’s a speculative society and some of this is evidenced for example by the popularity of the stock market. Of course I could speculate myself into the present. But often it works the other way. This speculation can be endless. With this, it’s more than easy to speculate the present right out of the picture. I can speculate myself right out of my lifetime as far as this goes. Right now, I have ten girls that might be willing to go on a date with me, but I speculate that there will be a hundred so there is no rush. Right now, I have 100,000 dollars in my pocket but I am thinking about the next million because I speculate I can get there so I delay on enjoying the 100,000 dollars in any way I feel fit. Today seems to have some opportunities but I speculate that tomorrow is going to be that much more interesting so I will wait until then. I speculate I can run a 4 minute mile if I train but I have to train over a number of weeks and for now I’ll just enjoy the thought rather than start the training now for that distant goal. If I have any trainability for this I could start the training sooner rather than later. I speculate I’m a great novelist in the making, I’ll look into it on my next vacation, which is scheduled for 2007, in the meantime I am a bit busy to write.

 

Jeff Bridges in the movie Squall afterwards said I should have seen it coming. He never saw the squall coming. Maybe we could excuse him for that lack of foresight towards the rogue sea. but what do you and I actually see coming right now that we can do something about as far as changing course a bit, or at least consider as to where it is leading us and what we can do about it now that gets us on a wanted course. And what else is coming that is going to represent an end to our hopes and pursuits in an area. If you do want to change course before “it’s too late” then keep an eye on the end of that road as well as the beginning. It’s almost like someone who wanted to travel some long road and see the country, maybe one road across the country, but then they get it on the last entrance. Okay, so I get to see that last section of scenery, but that’s not what I wanted, I wanted to see most if not all of it. Or if I am walking on a camel through the desert I can begin to realize this is not leading me to the beaches in the Pacific isles especially since the Pacific Isles is really what I wanted.

 

Maybe at the least, you have intelligence or an interest despite lacking the experience. You can go forward with that.

 

Maybe we can have more of an appreciation for the stretch of coast we are on now and what the opportunities are right here and now. This stretch of coast I am in now is beautiful, why can’t I see this in the present. I can bring more consideration towards what is present. I may need glasses in the future to see this coastline, now I can see her unaided. The next stretch of coast may or may not offer more, but this stretch can be good too.

 

Money deals with outer flow and it is not a matter of always reaching a static point. Many other criteria’s I might use for success also involve flow.

 

Most issues we deal with can be framed in a number of ways. A good amount of our issues can be framed as now or later, then or now. I might be postponing some things right out of my lifetime.

 

My backup plan could be the backup for several things. I might backup the activities of running, hiking, cycling, mountain climbing, playing tennis, all with swimming. I have one backup activity that applies to 5 other activities.

 

My goals stand before me like the Roman columns. Which goals stand tallest and if I get any chance on them now, I should take those chances. I keep thinking I am going to miss my targets and my goals that if I happen to find exactly what I want I still might pass it by because I simply just don’t believe it. It’s like catching that great fish and not believing your eyes. But if I find exactly what I want in 2003, why should I push off on it until 2010. Can I haul the fish in even if I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing?

 

My hold off point shouldn’t be contrary to my better plans. While I am holding out for my dream girl, I don’t want to hang with people that don’t further my personality and vice versa. I don’t want to be swimming in snake-infested waters if my better plan includes survival. I don’t want to be sitting on the couch all evening if my better plans include training for that marathon or socializing in person with new people. There are so many ways I can contravene my better plans by just going in the opposite direction instead of holding off closer to where I want to be. I can still do the sink and swim on my own rather that sink with somebody else’s bad boat.

 

My stocks crashed and my bank was robbed. Unbelievably, I am looking at financial distress. I brought a lottery ticket on my way home with my last dollar. Unbelievably it wins. Believe this, I am suddenly looking at a different financial scene right now and I might be looking at some trips around the world with my new funds. What I am looking at in terms of my future is very different based on one current event.

 

Not that those high expectations are always the wrong way to go. It might be that you can aim higher and you have the capacity to go for more. Maybe you are running an 8-minute mile and you would be capable of running a 4-minute plus mile. The key is you want to find the right ruder as per how you use expectations. You don’t want to be ruder less either as you want to maintain the ability to steer you way. However, you might have the gifts, but you want to hand the ruder to someone else, and let them steer your boat.

 

Now includes some of the remaining time left. It should be respected for its content, for what it holds in its hand.

 

Now is laced with so many intangibles that I just can’t totally quantify my way and in some fashion I would have to proceed to find out what those intangibles are going to be and how they going to operate. Those intangibles and how they will interact cannot be fully anticipated in advance of my interests. I cannot jump ahead of my interests because I have to see what the intangibles will be if or when I actually get there. And then I am so worried about the intangibles of everyone else and the situation and I don’t even know my own intangibles because I can’t totally see them until I get on the horse and see what rides.

 

Of course, I want to have the proper calculus as to what I could do. If I a waiting to swim, I might be wise in delaying my swim until the sharks swim by, if I want an uninterrupted swim. I also can have less room for error by rushing into a situation so there is a balancing act and there is no hard and fast rule as to what I should do but I should be aware that in some situations that delaying can cause an increase in the possibility of error and I have less room to make mistakes nor either have a cultivated an ability to deal with mistakes and make the quick adjustments.

 

Often what I am going to do is very affected by my current outlook. Things could possibly be great but I don’t see it that way and seeing is believing so I also don’t believe it that way and the way I see things, how things look to me has a real effect on whether I procrastinate from there. I can look back as to where and when I already procrastinated and ask myself, what did it get me?

 

On the one hand, we have more of an instant society where the consumer is served as quickly as possible. We have instant news and instant access on a number of levels. On the other hand, we have some procrastination and then eventually widespread procrastination in many important areas of people’s lives. There might be no clear and obvious punishment for procrastination so it’s easy just to continue with it. The punishment comes later on and its when you realize you fooled no one but yourself. I can get away with it but whom I am fooling if I am the one who is losing out. I get out of having all this fun, fulfillment, and finding the good times by procrastinating. I got away with it. There is a mixed message between meeting the consumer’s needs now and delaying those gratifications towards something that might be better later because they talk about a better future in those ads as well.

 

On the other hand, I go to the racetrack, and say I’ll bet three races and each is a tier. Then I say I only want the big race with the best horses. But if I just bet some money on the first race, I could win and I’ll have more to bet for the next tier, the next race, or the third tier, the big race. There can be opportunities on the first tier that can help us on the second tier, and then the next tier from there. The author of the Harry Potter series wrote her stories while on the dole. She took this first tier opportunity within the poverty and it actually created the second tier for her. She is now on the third tier, they estimate she could have a billion dollars in royalties from the movies and she retains the stories from the first tier, which created best selling books as her second tier and movie rights as her third tier. She had fun writing on the first tier, she enjoyed bestseller status on the second tier, and she can see her writings on the big screen in the third tier. She won some bets on each stage.

 

One manifestation of talent doesn’t tell you where you must go Those talents might also careen and cut across other fields and reach into new corners. If I am a talented pianist, that doesn’t mean I have to be at the piano all day.

 

One of the things that I have to deal with now is change. From now on, I will be involved in change. It might help to see the change what the change involves and try to see if you have already been involved in something similar that might be a familiar road and that you may have done successfully. What I am looking for is similarities that are good.

 

One thing that is helpful is too see what is currently going on separately. You can look at several areas of your life and what’s current or happening now as each having it’s own now aspect or current aspect. You might still be relating to the quiet person you were in high school but right now, you might be Ms. popular. I’m not keeping up with the newspapers right now, but I’m in great shape right now. You might not be as studious as you once were as another realm that you can look at to see what’s current, what is happing now. But the key is to not lump everything together and this can happen if one area isn’t going well now and you seem to let it affect other areas that are going well now, and then delay on all areas just because you are having trouble in just one or two areas. Don’t take money out of your pocketbook because your broke on some other matter.

 

Or maybe I am going on a date. I feel inferior to the situation. In examining the situation, it isn’t my conversational abilities but more that I feel that my green eyes should really be either brown or blue and I feel deficient to the situation because of my eye color, which isn’t the best. If I can list what I feel inferior about, this helps me to see also whether there are some things that don’t make this list of feeling or having less, which I don’t feel inferior about.

 

Our own gifts in many ways have already been paid for up front. I already have these gifts why not take them on the roads I like today, the rides I like today. If you have this great gift, why not realize it for yourself, since you are the intended user of the gift.

 

Procrastination relates to anticipation. Procrastination in many ways equals the ways I am anticipating. One thing I might have never anticipated was that I am free.

 

I am delaying on going to the beach this afternoon because I anticipate heavy traffic and the sun being too bright. But I am not 100 percent sure that either scenario will be true. Because of what I might be anticipating, I will tend to delay at times. As I begin to delay, I can consider what I am anticipating and whether what I am anticipating is absolute in its certainty or contains in part some conjecture, which might be erroneous. Much of what involves delay in ways in which I might anticipate even in the moment.

 

Realistically anything we are going to want to do is on some sort of timeline. Not that we have to rush, but things might rush past us as Bob Dylan sang, the Times they are a changing. As we are speaking, things are moving and changing. We don’t want to disparage what we have for what we want. We may or may not get what we want as time goes on but what we already have is something we can continue to work with into the future. In seeking new things, I don’t want to denigrate what I already have going for me or lose the identification I already have for this or those good points that are already there for me as I seek even more or something else. It helps to keep an eye on my own good points as I try to ascertain my way into the unknown. You might have many good points that you do not need to lose sight of as you look yonder. I can keep a good base while I am looking for more.

 

So where is the sun up for you and me? It might be that something hasn’t gone well for you but the sun is up now in this area and I need to realize that this is happening to take advantage of what is happening now. Actually it is not sundown and the chance is really here.

 

Some of the errors of procrastination might be that I feel I will have more control over the outer events later. I’ll find my way I say assuming today’s paths will always remain. I feel this quality will rate more in some future time. I might feel I’ll get a better stride into this later when the race is on now. I’ll enjoy this more tomorrow and I can save this for tomorrow. I would rather just wish for now, forget actual fulfillment now, and wish fulfillment will leave me with nothing to wish for. I might use patience as an excuse not to act. And if I get to fulfillment, I might find something there in that fulfillment that I didn’t know even about myself, and I’ll get away from procrastinating and into fulfillment as I found something new that I wanted there.

 

Some procrastination will always be taking place, what I want to do is begin to find out what really matters to me and find some of those roads to travel sooner rather than later. However, some procrastination is unavoidable, I can’t do everything and be everywhere now.

 

Sometimes if we have a problem, we don’t want to feel like we are alone with the problem. But at times it might useful to have a vision yourself as being alone with the problem, as if you are the only one in the world with this problem. From this vision of being alone with the issue or problem, you can begin to move into a solution because at a base level, it’s you and only you who is walking alone with this problem. It is my problem therefore I am permitted to seek remedies. I can claim ownership to the problem and thereby it gives me the right as the owner of this problem to do something about it and you are not looking at someone else or a shadow, it is you with the problem, oh well. It isn’t diffused into the crowd and hidden from you anymore and it is present to the now. Maybe this view of the situation will finally get me the permission I need to move into a solution.

 

The categories I am applying to myself might be inaccurate and therefore I procrastinate based on inaccurate categories I carry around in my head. For example, I might read sophisticated materials, I might have the taste for a Yuppie lifestyle, but since I lost every cent in the stock market I don’t have the money to present towards this lifestyle. However, I might better evaluate myself as a Yuppie based on the preponderance of my interests, my overall style, and my approach despite my current lack of money. The great baseball player breaks an ankle, and so he can’t even play baseball. But isn’t he still accurate is viewing himself as a great baseball player, in that once his ankle heals and he gets back to the diamond he will demonstrate that again. But if he doesn’t think he is a great player any more, he will hesitate to get back on the field and begin to procrastinate even on his love of the game.

 

The girl says on Valentine’s Day, I guess it will be another lonely year for me and that’s what I am looking at today. She meets someone she likes the very next day, suddenly and surprisingly she is looking at a very different year ahead. Instead of being alone the whole year now, she might have a whole year ahead of her with good companionship. The judge has given her a different verdict and she is looking at something very different now from the same point in time. She has arrived at a very different vantage point and is looking at maybe a year ahead with good companionship and many of her plans will be significantly different than she had imagined just a day before, a whole new landscape has rolled in on her.

 

The happy medium between the past and the future might be sometime around now.

 

The negotiations for a baseball players contract will be more weighed towards what he has done in the last year or two in a number of separate categories such as batting average, home runs, plate appearances, fielding percentage and so on. His most current season in many cases is most emphasized in the negotiations. Yet we as individuals might be negotiating our way off the way we were ten years ago. It is often better also to see how we are doing currently, and how we are doing currently in each separate category. I negotiate with the present within each separate category or sphere. Also weigh how you are feeling most recently, rather than years ago, how have you felt about this in the last year?

 

The trick is too review what you think qualifies you and what adjustments you can make in your thinking as to what really qualifies you to do this. By mistake you might be focusing at one area of what you think should qualify you, and this is detrimental to a better view of your own qualifications to move into or forward. Make a longer list of your own qualifications and see where they seem to be coming from in your thinking. There are some reasons or reasoning’s that do qualify you, or it wouldn’t be on your mind so much. You have to have some of the qualifications if you are procrastinating. I’m not procrastinating on being a major league baseball player if I can’t hit a baseball. I’m not procrastinating on being traveling to the mountains if I don’t like the mountains either for scenery or hiking. I am not procrastinating on going to a movie if its a movie I would never want to see, even if you paid me. It only qualifies as procrastination if it is something I might really have wanted.

 

Then a chance is a chance if it is now or later. Why say that this is not my best chance just because it happens to be now. Chances have value both right now and later, not just later. If chances for happiness has value later, it has value now. Why if something was valuable in the past, or is going to be so valuable in the future, why can’t it also be again valuable right about now? Whatever it is, it could have value on a daily basis or an ongoing basis if indeed I have seen it as valuable and there is a degree of predictability that way, that I will continue to see it as valuable. Maybe I want a lot of money, but maybe by the time I get there I will not see it as valuable or as valuable as I thought I would have.

 

Then am I seeing something coming right now? I hate my job, I loathe going to it. Can I say I see nirvana coming? Even if you are a hard worker a little personal vision can be added to your work ethic to help you chart a better or if needed a different course. I want to position myself into something that gives me a nice view of the future now. If I can’t get that nice view of the future now, I can hope that something else will happen that will give me that feel good view about the future that I can enjoy now. I want things to look good around the corner not only for then but also for how I feel now. If I am making a turn now, I want the views to be good even within the turn and even before the road opens to the virtual landscape of what can yet be.

 

Then how much do I want to fix before I proceed. Do I have to fix the whole world before I go to the ballgame?

 

Then I could examine my points of change. What could happen or might happen that might convince me to change and what and where would these points of consideration be.

 

Then I could take a situation as is, and go with it. The change I’m involved with is actually going with it instead of sitting on the situation, I could begin to live it.

 

Then I did play baseball but I stopped after I had a bad game. To get back into it, it is best to remember either the good games or the games I most enjoyed. Even one spot that I enjoyed, I can bring to remembrance, recapturing that feeling and maybe going back on the field again this time.

 

Then I might be operating on a need to know basis. I base what I will consider only on what I can know. Say I want to go to a party and I will not go unless I can know who will be there. If I can’t get the information, I might miss the party. I might be missing a lot of the parties right now because of my need to know. I might have things on delay for information I am never going to get. I am delaying on this for temperature readings on the Martian landscape. I am not going to get this info and its relevance isn’t there either.

 

Then I might feel threatened by the storms. All this bad news is right around me. I read about someone who failed in what they were trying to do and I think this will be me to. Improper identification takes place all over the place. I have formed a negative relationship with the news and in may in fact have had nothing to do with identification of my chances and me. I let someone else’s storms rain on my plans. I have had an infestation of negativity and I can’t seem to distinguish what if any of it has to do with me and by error I take on and take in a lot of it. There is an absorption factor for anyone, no matter how brilliant you are, you will be affected by informational intakes. You don’t even know why someone else got tangled up but just hearing it is a downer that gets you off the shining path for you. Therefore, I delay setting my sails, as I can’t see the sunny skies that might be there for me.

 

Then I might need to realize that I am always going to be in the middle of something and I can always use being in the middle as an excuse. In a sense, I am in the middle of living. I can’t always wait until I finish this or that, because no matter what I finish, I am still going to find myself in the middle in a number of areas. I need to think about being in the middle and operating on what I want to do from that particular standpoint. Yes, I am in the middle, but I can still do this despite finding myself in the middle. No matter what finish lines I do hit, I can’t get in on all the finish lines in many possible endeavors and or even the starting lines and I will have to jump in somewhere in the middle if I ever want to jump in.

 

Then I might think that everything is broken. I want to go to the beach today, I find my car is out of service, my friend who could normally give me a ride also has the same problem and the trains and buses are out of service, and I say everything is broken. Then I see my two bicycles are still in working order and I realize I can take a bike to the beach although it will be hard pedaling out there in the steamy weather. I was wrong however, in thinking everything was broken. I grant that some things are broken but everything isn’t broken and on that basis I can  proceed with what is still working fine.

 

Iowa’s Largest Health System Launches First-in-the-Nation Statewide Electronic Prescribing

Iowa’s largest integrated health care system and the nation’s largest provider of electronic prescribing software announced the launch of an initiative to convert a majority of the state’s physicians from paper prescriptions – known to be the cause of costly medical errors – to electronic prescribing.

The new partnership between Iowa Health System and Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX), called ePrescribe Iowa, will offer a free Web-based e-prescribing solution to physicians throughout Iowa. Less than three percent of all prescriptions written in Iowa in 2008 – the last year for which statistics are available – were produced using e-prescribing software, according to Surescripts, a company that connects prescribers in all 50 states to pharmacies and the nation’s leading payers.

ePrescribe Iowa also is a component of HealthNet connect, Iowa Health System’s 3,200-mile fiber-optic network that stretches from Denver to Chicago. It is a first step toward a larger goal of implementing connected Electronic Health Records (EHR), the technology at the center of President Obama’s effort to improve health care quality and reduce costs.

ePrescribe Iowa automates the process of writing prescriptions and transmitting them to pharmacies while alerting physicians to potentially dangerous drug-to-drug interactions, drug allergies, dosage errors and other problems that can occur when writing prescriptions on paper. The stand-alone solution provided by Iowa Health System and Allscripts also provides physicians a simple way to transition from paper medical records to a full Electronic Health Record, software that automates everyday clinical tasks such as ePrescribing and connects physician practices with other key health care stakeholders including insurance companies, laboratories and hospitals.

Iowa Senator Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, a leader in state health care reform, voiced his support for the initiative at a news conference announcing the program at Iowa Health System offices in Des Moines.

“By combining the information sharing capabilities of HealthNet connect with free e-prescribing to enhance patient care and safety, Iowa Health System and Allscripts are taking an important step toward realizing President Obama’s vision of an interconnected health care system,” Sen. Hatch said.

“Physicians understand that the electronic health revolution is upon us and we must change our old habits of practicing medicine on paper,” said Joel Waymire, M.D., Walnut Creek Pediatrics. “Electronic prescribing is an easy fix for our current system of handwritten prescriptions that are hand-delivered to the pharmacy, and a relatively easy first step to adopting a full electronic health record.”

Bill Leaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iowa Health System, added: “Writing prescriptions electronically is a key means of enhancing the quality and safety of patient care, and Iowa Health System is proud to offer the first program to provide this life-saving technology to every Iowa physician at no cost, along with the connectivity needed to make it work in the most remote rural facilities.”

“By adding significant new capabilities to HealthNet connect, this offering will help accelerate Iowa Health System’s efforts to connect urban and rural health care facilities and enable better care – the core mission of Iowa Health System,” Leaver said. “Additionally, this statewide e-prescribing will help physicians take an important first step toward the adoption of fully connected electronic health records.”

Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, the country’s leading provider of Electronic Health Records, called this statewide e-prescribing offering “the first statewide program to provide physicians with the information and connectivity they need, free of charge, to begin the journey toward safe, efficient 21st century electronic care. Iowa Health System has created a model for the entire nation to help physicians quickly and easily transition from paper-based care to electronic health records and in so doing take advantage of federal incentives for their adoption.”

National Incentives for EHR and ePrescribing
Federal law empowers the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to pay physicians between $44,000 and $64,000 over five years, beginning in 2011, for deploying and using a certified Electronic Health Record to care for patients. ePrescribe Iowa plans to serve as an on-ramp for physicians to a full Electronic Health Record. In addition, federal law already provides approximately $3,500 in annual financial incentives for doctors who e-prescribe now and will impose penalties on those who do not e-prescribe beginning in 2012.

Currently, fewer than one-in-four U.S. physicians write prescriptions electronically, according to Surescripts. This Iowa Health System plan will aim to get physicians on board by providing Allscripts Web-based electronic prescribing free of charge to any Iowa physician and offering personalized outreach and one-on-one training by “electronic health care ambassadors” to help physicians make the transition.

“We expect the combination of HealthNet connect, Allscripts, onsite training, and new Medicare incentives will eliminate the obstacles and provide an on-ramp to electronic healthcare highway and encourage Iowa physicians to embrace electronic prescriptions,” Tullman said. “This initiative has the potential to transform the entire state into one in which all prescriptions can be electronically transmitted to the pharmacy, delivering a simple yet comprehensive solution to a key public safety issue.”

1.5 Million Medication Errors per Year
According to an Institute of Medicine study, 1.5 million Americans are injured each year and 7,000 die from preventable medication errors. The authors of the 2006 study recommended that all U.S. physicians adopt electronic prescribing by 2010. They cited benefits of e-prescribing that include eliminating errors due to illegible handwriting, creating electronic records to ensure prescription information is not lost, checking for allergies and potentially dangerous drug interactions, and reducing costs by improving efficiency and identifying less-expensive drug options.

Innovative, Software as a Service Solution
The electronic prescribing solution provided by Allscripts is a Web-based solution that requires no download, or new hardware and less than 30 minutes of training before first use. The product, currently used by prescribers nationwide to write millions of prescriptions annually, can quickly generate secure electronic prescriptions and deliver them to the patient’s pharmacy of choice.

The statewide e-prescribing program is the latest in a series of partnerships between Iowa Health System and Allscripts. Iowa Health System currently has 559 physicians in 117 clinics using Allscripts as their Electronic Health Record (EHR). The health system also has deployed Allscripts Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) in 11 of its hospitals and urgent care clinics to automate emergency room operations. The EDIS solution also enables ER physicians to view critical patient information stored in their physicians’ Electronic Health Record, making it easier for them to deliver emergency care.

HealthNet connect
HealthNet connect, one of the first networks of its kind in the nation to receive funding from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Health Care Pilot Program, enables secure information connectivity between hospitals, patient clinics and a variety of other health care entities. The fiber optic network provides a resource to share health information between participants throughout Iowa and western Illinois, particularly in remote rural areas. Currently 28 hospitals have been connected in phase one of the program. HealthNet connect also is available to private clinics, physicians, pharmacies, medical laboratories, insurance providers and other organizations in the health care delivery cycle.

About Iowa Health System
Iowa Health System is a community-based organization of physicians, hospitals, civic leaders and local volunteers who share a vision of affordable, accessible health care. Created in 1995, Iowa Health System is the state’s first and largest integrated health care system. Iowa Health System operates facilities in seven large Iowa communities and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, supports a system of rural hospitals in 14 Iowa communities and partners with physicians and clinics in more than 80 communities in Iowa and western Illinois. Iowa Health System includes the group practices of Iowa Health Physicians, Partners in Health, Children’s Hospital Physicians, St. Luke’s Clinic Network, Trimark Physicians Group and Trinity Physicians Group. Approximately 450 physicians and allied providers serve patients across Iowa and western Illinois through these clinics.

About Allscripts
Allscripts uses innovation technology to bring health to health care. More than 160,000 physicians, 800 hospitals and nearly 8,000 post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health of their patients and their bottom line. The company’s award-winning solutions include electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue cycle management, practice management, document management, hospital care management, emergency department information systems and homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc

Amendments to Highway Act

Trucking transport firms and owner operator trucking on the transportation network of Manitoba, Canada can sleep better knowing that the Manitoba Department of Transportation is at work doing repairs and upgrades to the transportation routes of Manitoba. The department of transportation plans to make another record investment in the transportation infrastructure of Manitoba in 2010. The cost of keeping the roadways of Manitoba in shape for 2010 will rise to $370 million in the beginning phases, but the ministry expects the total spent will rise throughout the year, but hasn’t given a firm number on how much they expect to spend during the 2010 road construction period. They did announce that road construction would be heavy in 2010 ahead of time, which does give the road construction industry time to prepare.
The timing of the beginning the Manitoba Highway Renewal Plan couldn’t have been better as it coincided with the just before the start of the current world wide economic crisis that has affected all industries. The money earmarked for the plan has worked beautifully with federal stimulus initiatives to keep the ball rolling since 2007. This investment by both the provincial and federal governments in the infrastructure of Manitoba has put as many as 11,000 Canadians to work.
The federal government has also pledged billions of dollars for improving and enhancing the infrastructure of Manitoba in the next decade. This combined with the Manitoba Highway Renewal Plan should be able to keep the transportation roadways of Manitoba in shape for the future and help to make them as safe as possible.

Transport trucking drivers operating on the transportation roadways of Manitoba will need to apply the brakes and wait patiently for a safe chance to pass tow trucks and roadside assistance once amendments to the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act introduced by Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton come into law. The new amendments would also require owner operator trucking to treat all government enforcement officers with the red lights on there vehicle flashing, like conservation officers and transport enforcement officers, the same when they’re trying to pass them on the highway.

There haven’t been any reports of problems with vehicles on the roads of Manitoba not respecting emergency vehicles trying to get from point A to point B. The reasons for the changes are therefore difficult to figure, but there must be a reason why they would make amendments like this.

The message of the changes does seem to be that motorists carrying trucking loads need to error on the side of caution when behind an emergency vehicle and respect the lives of people trying to do important jobs. The job of emergency workers is difficult enough without them becoming one of the people they’re trying to save due to the aggressive driving behavior of someone traveling on the roads.

The amendments to the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act also mean that on highways with more than one lane drivers are required to keep one lane between them and emergency vehicles with flashing lights, whenever possible.
Motorists caught ignoring the new amendments will be fined $278 for their transgressions.

Why Jonathan can’t be ‘Acting President’, by court

INCREASING calls by political and civil rights groups for Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to become the country’s Acting President in the absence of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were rejected yesterday as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja Justice Daniel Abutu ruled otherwise.

But in the same breath, the Chief Judge held that Jonathan can go ahead to exercise the powers of the ailing President Yar’Adua pending the latter’s recovery and return to office. Justice Abutu, delivering his ruling on a suit filed by Amobi Nzelu on behalf of another lawyer, Christopher Onwuekwe, said the failure of Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the National Assembly, informing it of his medical trip to Saudi Arabia and his desire for Jonathan to perform his duties until his return had made it impossible for the latter to emerge as acting President.

Yet, he held that although the Vice President cannot become the Acting President, “he can only carry out the functions of the president in his absence” in line with section 5(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

The Judge held that even before the suit “the Vice President has been carrying out the duties of the president as allowed by the constitution in Section 5 (1) of the 1999 constitution”. But the wide-held view after this judgement yesterday was that more questions than answers have arisen. Not a few wrong abound the speed with which the case has been determined while others wonder if it was not an escape route for those seeking to vacate the current impasse.

On the issue of locus standi raised by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa (SAN) against hearing of the suit, the court held that it was deemed to have been abandoned since he did not argue it in his defendants’ written address in response to the plaintiff’s originating summons dated the 7th day of January, 2010.

The defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Executive Council of the Federation (FEC).

Speaking with reporters after the Judgment, the AGF said by the court’s pronouncement, no other person other than the President can question the Vice President for performing the functions of the president.

Aondoakaa said the court has now cleared the way for the Vice President to sign any bill or any papers which require the president’s attention.

Aondoakaa, in his defendants’ written address in response to the plaintiff’s originating summons dated the 7th day of January, 2010 said that it is mischievous for the plaintiff to claim that President Yar’Adua is temporarily incapable of performing the functions of his office since, according to him, the plaintiff lacked the constitutional capacity and competence to do so.

According to him, “We submit that the only body which may pronounce on the capacity of the president to discharge his functions is the federal executive council as set up in section 144 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

Similarly, the AGF said the “plaintiff’s affidavit discloses no specific allegation or any infringement or anticipated infringement on his right or a personal injury emanating from the defendant’s action.” But in the plaintiff’s brief of argument filed by Nzelu, he had submitted that in the present circumstances where the president has not written any letter to the Senate and the House of Representatives informing them that his deputy should oversee the affairs of the state pending his return, a convenient way out of the woods would be for the court to make an order empowering Goodluck Jonathan to exercise the powers of Yar’Adua pending his return to office.

In the originating summons, the Plaintiff, Barrister Christopher Onwuekwe had asked the court before the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Daniel Abutu to declare that in the absence of the president following his ill-health and in view of Sections 5 (1) and 148 (1), of the 1999 Constitution, the Vice President can exercise the powers vested in the president in his (president) absence.

The suit which has a 13 paragraph affidavit sworn to by the plaintiff himself, noted that “President Yar’Adua has travelled to Saudi Arabia since the 23rd day of November, 2009 for medical treatment and has not retuned since then.

Against this backdrop, the plaintiff through his lawyer, Barrister Amobi Nzelu specifically asked the court for the following reliefs:

“A declaration that by the combined provisions of sections 5 (1) and 148 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the Vice President can exercise the powers vested in the president in the absence of the president having regard to the circumstances of this suit.

“A declaration that the Vice-President can lawfully discharge any or all the functions of the president in the absence of the president in the interest of peace, order and good governance of the federation pending when the president resumes and takes over”.

The plaintiff stated that the present scenario is an indication that there is no Head of government and such a situation “has led to major crisis capable of threatening the corporate existence and stability of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

Following this the plaintiff stated that the Vice President has refused/neglected/failed to exercise any or all the executive powers vested in the president for the president on his absence.

Also, apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday asked the National Assembly to confer the status of Acting President on Jonathan to avoid creating a state of anarchy in the polity.

It further noted that the National Assembly and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were setting a bad precedence by their docility since Yar’Adua took ill, insisting that the paramount interest of Nigeria was greater than that of an individual.

Describing the country as a nation on “stand-still”, the organisation noted that the Yar’Adua issue had gone beyond ill-health as the constitution had been roundly breached, and therefore urged the National Assembly to immediately save the nation by invoking the relevant sections of the constitution and the Public Service Rules.

Speaking with reporters in Enugu, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, Chief Nduka Eya expressed worry over the situation in the country, which he described as “very terrible”, accusing the people he described as “hawks within the corridors of power” of being the masterminds of the current state of uncertainty in the country.

He said: “We claim to be following the footsteps of the United States where we inherited this constitution and democracy, but unfortunately, we do terrible things. When President Bill Clinton went for minor surgery, the nation was informed of everything that transpired. Though, nobody is happy, that Yar’Adua is ill, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know his state of health. Why do we have the running mate in an election…what’s the idea of having a vice…so there will be no vacuum in the absence of the President.

“Conferring the status of the Acting President on Jonathan will not take anything away from Yar’Adua; unfortunately, there are hawks in the polity who are toying with the fate of Nigerians. We were further insulted when a frail voice told us on BBC that he would soon be back without addressing the issue of the Acting President. What Yar’Adua has succeeded in doing is that the rest of the 140 million Nigerians should wait until he comes back before anything happens. We should wait indefinitely until his doctors’ discharge him. What a shame.”

Decrying the continued quietness of members of the Federal Executive Council on the matter, Eya said that time had come for all well-meaning Nigerians to take a stand against the goings-on in the country. He also berated some members of the FEC, especially the Attorney General and Minister of Justice who had consistently deceived Nigerians on the state of the health of the President.

“These people are simply beneficiaries of a failing system and there is no way they will come out to be fighting against the same system. But what they have failed to know is that when this country finally collapses, God forbid, it will collapse on their heads and there will be no place to hide for them. Some of them will boldly tell us that there is nothing wrong in the president being sick, that he rules from anywhere; that he stay away for eternity, what a shame,” he stated.

The Ohanaeze scribe said that President Yar’Adua originally had good intentions for the country upon assumption of office, stressing however, that his ill health had rubbed off on his performance even as he, described his administration as a monumental failure.

Besides, former Head of State, General Mohammadu Buhari, immediate past Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other prominent members of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) were in the Senate yesterday to demand the setting up of a team to be sent to Saud Arabia to ascertain Yar’Adua’s state of health.

In a letter titled, “State of the Nation,” and submitted personally by Buhari and Atiku to the Senate President David Mark, the group proposed that Government should constitute a team of 15 credible persons as goodwill ambassadors from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia.

According to them, “The team shall comprise of a retired justice of the supreme court as team leader, a member of the Federal Executive Council, the President’s personal phyisician and other highly respected and independent medical practitioners no,minated by the Nigeria Medical Association”

Other members of the team according to the NDM leaders should include the Majority and Minority Leaders of both chambers of the National Assembly, a r3epresentative each from the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)”

The group went on: “The team should travel to Saudi Arabia to verify his exact location; meet the President to express the commiseration of Nigerians and their goodwill to him and his family; Advise the President to comply with the provisions of section 144 of the Nigerian Constitution; Meet with his Doctors to obtain clear and detailed information on the exact nature of his illness and the prospects of recovery as is ethically possible as will be politically necessary to satisfy Nigerians.

“At the end of the team’s visit, it should compile and submit a report, including recommendations on the implications of the President’s condition for the administration and political stability of the nation to the Vice President who should table same as a memorandum for consideration at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council.

“The Vice President should then address the nation on their decision which should include the way out”.

The Movement further asked Mark to act swiftly and activate the provisions of sections 144 and 145 to avoid the situation from degenerating.

Responding, Mark said that the National Assembly would be guided by the 1999 constitution in trying to find solution to the situation pointing out that “the Assembly would neither compromise nor subvert the application of the 1999 constitution in the attempt to resolve any political logjamin the country.”

He added: “I believe your intent and purpose here is for the interest of Nigerians. We as Legislators are also concerned about the interest of the people. We operate within the ambit of the Constitution and we cannot do anything outside the Constitution.”

Others in attendance during the visit to the Senate President’s office included the former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, Senator Ben Obi, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, Titi Ajanaku, Dapo Sarumi, Funke Adedoyin and Sule Haruna.

Add NOI Polls, Nigeria’s premier survey and research agency, has revealed from recent polls conducted that Nigerians are increasingly demanding a decisive resolution to the perceived leadership vacuum that has been created with the absence of Yar’ Adua.

According to NOI Polls, which partners the world renowned Gallup Polls USA, 74 per cent of respondents feel that the President’s absence will have various dire effects on Nigeria. Out of this group of respondents, 29 per cent of feel that the economy will suffer the most, while 26 per cent believe that Mr. President’s absence will cripple public administration, as well as affect national security, implementation of Niger Delta amnesty deal and achievement of the Seven-point agenda. The has now been absent from the country on the grounds of ill health for over 50 days. While the initial public response of goodwill towards the ill President remains, there have been increasing demands for decisive resolution to the perceived leadership vacuum created by his absence.

The reactions of Nigerians may not be unconnected with the slow pace of government activities arising from Yar’Adua’s absence and his failure to hand over the reins of government to his duly elected deputy, the Vice President.__In the last couple of days, several groups and the local media have been very vocal in calls for a handover of power to the vice president while the president recuperates.

The Financial Times in an editorial titled “Nigerian Vacum: Yar’Adua Needs to Avert a Constitutional Crisis,” stated that “When Umar Abdulmutallab, a well to do Nigerian gone astray, attempted to blow up an airliner over Detroit, Barack Obama, the US President, had no counterpart to engage with. Even before Mr. Yar’Adua was in hospital, the country had been poorly represented on the world stage.”_

Ndubuisi Anyanwu CEO of NOI Polls, stated that the research firm “has a survey method that seeks respondents for the snap poll randomly from a database of phone-owning Nigerians aged 15 and above. Several hundreds took part in the telephone interviews. For a sample of this size, we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3.6 percentage points. The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.” _

Meanwhile, the PDP yesterday accused Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and other activists who took part in a demonstration against the absence of Yarçdua last Tuesday of insensitivity just as the party said that the opposition cannot set agenda for its government.

Addressing a press conference at the PDP’s secretariat in Abuja, its national chairman, Eze Vincent Ogbulafor, said: “It is in this light that we find yesterday’s Tuesday’s road show by some politicians and some members of the civil society unnecessary, shameful and completely out of tune with the national mood. It is clearly an insensitive display of lack of respect for institutions, our leaders and a debasement of our common humanity. “We are indeed alarmed at the level of desperation manifested by some people in their desire to truncate the nation’s democracy. We are at a loss as to why some people for whatever reason would want to contrive an atmosphere of instability and confusion when what is required is a sober reflection and a firm commitment to the national cause.

“As we join hands to serve Nigeria better this year, there is the need to for an extra vigilance on the part of all Nigerians in the face of the onerous challenges that the emerging national circumstances have imposed on us.”

According to him, the health condition of the president has been blown out of proportion hence the rumour of his death. Ogbulafor added that the recent interview granted by the president to the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Hausa Service put paid to all the rumours.

He also defended the choice of BBC for the interview saying that it was the medium that approached him for the interview. He commended the National Assembly for not succumbing to the pressure to get an acting president noting that they lawmakers had demonstrated that they are representing the interest of the people who elected them. Ogbulafor who confirmed that he contacted the president’s aides in Saudi Arabia said all that was required at this level was unmitigated patriotism, maturity and restraint. He also said that the aides confirmed that the president was improving and would soon be home.

Ogbulafor said Yar’Adua did not hand over to the vice president because he did not know that his condition would take this dimension.

He said Jonathan ”has been doing well and we have been expressing joy over his performance and there has been no gap because the VP has been filling it. He has proved that he is competent. We believe and pray that the president will return soon.”

He said the opposition cannot set agenda for the PDP government and called on Nigerians to ”ignore their antics.”

Ogbulafor also defended the swearing in of new Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, saying that it was in line with rule of law policy of the federal government.

Why do I frequently get DNS error message?

I have a problem with regards to the Internet. I frequently get an DNS error message or simply “The page cannot be displayed” for IE8 and “Server Not Found” for Mozilla Firefox. I was very annoyed because I have a good internet signal. Two of the popular websites that can’t be opened due to this error are Microsoft website, Yahoo!, also even yahoo messenger. I can’t even use my windows update because it’s having an error. My desktop widgets that uses internet connection flashes on and off its content. And the most annoying, I downloaded Office 2010 beta (around 650Mb) at the Microsoft website but when it’s already 99%, then it says fatal error and the file downloaded disappeared.

I can still access these websites (that frequently says an error) for sometime that’s why I was able to download office 2010 beta but with several trials.

Can you help me deal with this? Can this be fixed or dependent on the service provider?
Thanks.