Chinatown bus lines are a budget traveler s dream

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A Guide to the Chinatown Bus

The word is out—the cheapest way to get from one major U. S. city to another is on the “Chinatown bus”. In recent years this has become transportation option of choice for budget travelers in New York, Washington DC, and Boston, and more recently on the West Coast. Students, backpackers, and an array of other savvy travelers have long loved the rock bottom prices that these bus companies offer. Despite the popularity of these bus lines it can still be difficult to find information on Chinatown bus service.
What exactly is a “Chinatown Bus”? Read on and you will have the inside track on this great budget travel option.

Chinatown Bus history

The Chinatown bus phenomenon began in the late 1990s when an entrepreneur in New York’s Chinatown started running daily bus service from Chinatown in New York to Chinatown in Boston. The service was aimed at Asian immigrants who wanted to shop or visit relatives in either city and needed cheap and convenient transportation. The service was bare bones—no advertising, customer service, or bus stations. Customers simply went to the bus stop, waited for the bus (or van), and paid the driver upon boarding. For those willing to do without frills, they offered virtually the same service as traditional bus companies at a substantially lower price. Before long, the word spread and all kinds of people started using the service. It became especially popular with students, budget travelers, or people for whom the service was simply more convenient.

Soon more bus companies duplicated this model and started offering service in other cities. Now you can find this type of bus service in Philadelphia, Virginia, Baltimore Washington DC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco. At this point the term “Chinatown bus” is used more loosely to describe this sort of low-cost/low-frills service. Many, if not most, of the companies do not have Chinatown as their main location and may not cater to the immigrant population at all. These operators are also sometimes referred to as “curbside” operators.

How can tickets be so cheap?

$15 between New York to Boston? $25 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles? It seems hard to fathom. Chinatown bus companies are able to keep prices low because they operate in a fundamentally different way from traditional carriers. Foremost, the service is very basic. There is little in the way of customer service or amenities. Most of these operators do not have formal stations, picking up passengers at bus stops instead. They eschew traditional advertising in favor of word of mouth. Further, many of the operators play a very hands-on role in the operation—you will not see idle executives at a small independent bus company. Finally, these operators make sure they fill their buses. That is why Chinatown bus operators usually only operate on heavily trafficked routes. Indeed some companies only run buses at peak times.

Are they safe?

When these companies first started operating, concerns were raised about safety standards. There is still controversy within the bus industry about whether these newcomers are complying with the same regulations as the traditional companies. However, a task force set up by the Federal government to look at safety issues found that Chinatown bus companies did not perform better or worse than other types of bus companies (ie. charter, tour buses). All bus companies operating in the U. S. must undergo the same inspection standards and must comply with the same rules. Realistically there is probably a range of quality among Chinatown bus carriers. Some are fly-by-night operators trying to make a fast buck, while others are legitimate entrepreneurs who plan to grow and operate a long term business.

What you should expect

• No frills service—the driver may be the ticket collector; there will not be a lot of customer service.


• Comfortable buses. Despite the low fares buses are usually quite nice. Most buses are comparable to Greyhound and many are actually more deluxe.


• Communication challenges. Drivers are legally required to speak enough English to help passengers in the case of emergency. In reality this is often adhered to rather loosely. At the very least, expect your driver to have an accent.


• Possible delays. Many of these bus routes are on highly congested roads. When the roads are busy, expect delays.


• Rest stops. Buses will have a lavatory on board but there is usually a 10 or 15 minute bathroom break on trips over 4 hours. Don’t be late returning to the bus, the driver will not count heads before leaving at the appointed time.


• Full buses. Buses definitely sell out at peak times (weekends and evenings). Book ahead or get there early if you want secure a seat.


• Plastic Bags. An odd little quirk on Chinatown buses is that every aisle seat usually has a plastic grocery bag tied to the arm. I guess they find this is the best way to keep the buses clean.

How do I find the Chinatown Bus?

Again, “Chinatown bus” is a term used to describe a type of operator and not an individual bus company. Many unrelated bus companies fall into this category. Since most Chinatown buses do not spend money on advertising it can be difficult to find out details about schedules and bus stop locations. Many of the carriers are becoming savvier about the Internet and quite a few have websites with information. Usually an Internet search will yield links to bus service to your destination. There are also several directories, such as chinatown-bus. org that include links for most Chinatown bus companies and the author’s employer, GotoBus. com, is a centralized booking site that has schedules and sells tickets online for most Chinatown bus companies.

The Chinatown bus is not for everyone. If you want an orderly system with American style customer service, you should probably stick to traditional carriers. However, if you know what to expect and come prepared with a sense of adventure and humor, you should enjoy the trip just fine. You will also enjoy the money you save!

An adjustable rate mortgage can be the best option

An adjustable rate mortgage, ARM, is a mortgage that has a varying interest rate on the note.

For a lot of people this can be a very attractive option.

The interest rate on the mortgage periodically adjusts based on an index.

Because of the varying interest rate, borrowers may notice their payments changing over time.

Adjustable rate mortgages are sometimes confused with graduated payment mortgages. With a graduated payment mortgage the interest rate remains fixed while the payment amounts change.

With adjustable rate mortgages much of the interest rate risk is transferred from the lender to the borrower. Borrowers benefit when interest rates on the mortgage fall. On the other hand, borrowers lose out when interest rates rise. Usually the loans are available when fixed rate mortgages are more difficult to obtain.

Key Terminology

Index - the guide used by lenders to measure changes in the interest. Each adjustable rate mortgage is linked to an index.

Margin - the part of the interest rate from which the lenders profits. The margin plus the index rate is the total interest rate. While the index will change throughout the duration of the adjustable rate mortgage, the margin will not.

Adjustment period - the period between interest rate adjustments, usually denoted in the format of 1-1. The first number is the initial period of the loan for which the interest rate will remain the same. The second number is the adjustment period. It shows denotes the frequency at which the interest rate can be adjusted.

Loan Choosing Tips

The index is one of the most important considerations in choosing an adjustable rate mortgage. Even though you don't have control over the specific index that is used by a particular lender, you can choose a loan and lender according to the index that will apply to the particular loan in which you are interested.

A lender you are considering can give you an indication of the performance of the loan in the past. The ideal loan is one that has an index that has historically remained stable. As you consider loans and lenders, make sure you also consider the margin rate that the lender offers.

Many borrowers wonder about the benefits of an adjustable rate mortgage since the payments can increase over time. In most cases, the benefit of an adjustable rate mortgage comes into play when the interest rate of the ARM is lower than the fixed rate mortgage. The possibility of a payment increase is sometimes inconsequential. This is true if you do not plan to occupy the house for an extended period or if you expect your income to increase over the life of the loan.

Avoid Negative Amortization

Negative amortization is a key watch-out when you are choosing an adjustable rate mortgage. This can occur when a particular loan as a cap on payments that keeps them from covering the amount of interest on the mortgage. As a result, unpaid interest is added to the loan, causing the amount of the loan to increase, even though you are making payments.

You can start out with a positive amortization on your adjustable rate mortgage but end up with a negative one due to interest rate increases. The best way to avoid negative amortization is to avoid adjustable rate mortgages that have a payment cap.

Swiss medica aims for success 2 with pms escape

PMS Escape Formulation Might Be Good For Stressed-Out Men, Too! When Swiss Medica goes shopping, don’t expect them to pay retail for the consumer health products they purchase. Since acquiring the O24/Sport product from insolvent German-based General Cosmetics, Swiss Medica (OTC BB: SWME) roared onto the radar screens of U. S. and Canadian pharmacy chains. Part two of their corporate strategy was the necessity of an encore product to avoid being called a “single product company.” Obtaining the North American licensing rights to PMS Escape overcame that hurdle. Internutria, which marketed PMS Escape in the mid to late 1990’s, sold more than $3.6 million of the product in about 25,000 stores, for the short time after it was launched in 1996.

However, a setback for Internurtria’s parent company, Interneuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPIC), specifically a recall of Redux, forced the company to abort the launch of PMS Escape. In the same way Swiss Medica successfully revived the O24 product, lightning could strike twice in the form of PMS Escape' reintroduction. Interviews with two key PMS Escape spokeswomen helped clarify which direction Swiss Medica might run with their newly acquired product.

Perhaps a PMS Escape makeover is in progress, in the same way O24/Sport morphed into the O24™ Essential Oil Pain Neutralizer? Sure, the packaging says PMS Escape and the website ( pmsescape. net/) present the product as “a dietary supplement developed for women with normal PMS-related disturbances in mood and appetite.” However, the PMS formula could delve into new territory: Not Just For Women. In other words, stressed-out men might someday soon be customers for a variation of the PMS Escape formula. One such hint came during a recent interview with Dr. Judith Wurtman, the inventor of PMS Escape (see brief bio below). She told StockInterview. com a revealing anecdote:

“There is one gentleman who has been taking this for years. He has a very stressful job. He read about PMS Escape in his daughter’s magazine. He called me and asked if he could use this. I told him, ‘Sure, it’s made up of a specially formulated group of natural carbohydrates.’ He had his daughters buying it for him, and he started taking it. He would take it only once a day when he left work. By the time he got home from work, he felt fine. It (PMS Escape) has a cute name, but it’s not restricted to women. Men can certainly be just as stressed as women. It’s just not macho to do something about it.”

Wendy Kramer, Vice President of Swiss Medica who will be re-introducing PMS Escape to pharmacy and supermarket chains, said during a recent interview, “PMS Escape has been shown to be effective in reducing stress, irritability, food cravings and improving concentration.” But, she looked beyond the immediate game plan, suggesting multiple products, “There is reason to believe that a similar formula will lend it self to a stress product, a weight loss product, or a product for feeling anxious or irritable, or a product for concentrating better.” Kramer frequently emphasized throughout the interview, “These are all avenues we are going to pursue clinically with this formulation for PMS Escape.” Kramer referred to Dr. Wurtman’s current use of a modified formulation of the PMS Escape product as a weight loss product, “She’s had quite a bit of success with it.”

Numerous serotonin deficiency experiments were done at MIT, and elsewhere, which previously identified broader uses for the PMS Escape formula. For example, Dr. Wurtman explained, “If you find people who are going through smoking withdrawal, and they are overeating carbohydrates, which they tend to do, it probably would help if you gave them the carbohydrates in a drink form.” Wurtman underscored, “Serotonin is absolutely involved in the mood changes that occur when nicotine is withdrawn.” Expansion beyond the current boundaries of the PMS Escape formula may already be past Swiss Medica’s blueprint stage, although no details were offered.

Serotonin Levels are the Key to PMS

It was a logical choice to pursue pre-menstrual “mood and appetite” disturbances during a series of serotonin deficiency experiments at MIT. Dr. Wurtman explained the background behind her development of the PMS Escape formulation, “We did a series of experiments, first with a drug that increased serotonin. When serotonin was being increased by this drug, they (women) became less anxious, irritable, angry, craved fewer carbohydrates and could concentrate again, in other words, they felt like themselves again.” Her work, in conjunction with her husband Dr. Richard Wurtman, led to the development of the use of Prozac®, which MIT patented for very severe PMS, and has since been sold under the brand-name, Sarafem®. “At the same time, we decided to just look and see whether carbohydrates themselves would have any positive impact on mild (not the raging kind of) PMS,” Wurtman pointed out. “We found that women really did report an improvement in their mood and their cravings. That was really the beginning of a series of experiments that led to the development of PMS Escape.”

Why women? Dr. Wurtman revealed what many men have been dying to hear, “Women are more likely to experience mood changes than men, because women’s brains have less serotonin to begin with, than men’s brains.” Hence, PMS Escape, which is made especially for women. But, serotonin bears further discussion to better understand why Swiss Medica might expand the PMS Escape formula into other vital “emotional pain” areas. Such problems are now addressed with mood-altering prescription drugs, which rake in $19 billion annually.

Serotonin is one of many different neurotransmitters in the brain. Each one of these ”brain chemicals” has an important role. As the neurotransmitter most frequently related to depression, serotonin controls several critical physical and emotional functions, including the regulation of hunger, thirst, mood, breathing, sleep, confidence, attitudes and many other things. Says Dr. Wurtman, who also authored The Serotonin Solution:

“When you have enough serotonin in your brain, you have a stable emotional feeling. When you don’t have enough serotonin, or it’s being used up too quickly, your mood can change so you feel depressed, angry, confused, or you have difficulty focusing. You have difficulty being attentive. You feel easily distracted. You become very irritable. Sometimes, your mood goes up and down very quickly. You can also feel very anxious. In addition, you feel tire – a sort of tiredness you might feel, like it’s been many days without sunlight in the winter time. It’s where you can feel incredibly fatigued all over. That comes from too little serotonin. It is also involved in regulating the appetite, in not making you hungry to eat, but in turning off the appetite when you’ve had enough to eat. It is also involved in other physiological behaviors in the body like chronic fatigue where there might be enough serotonin so people might feel aches or their joints hurt.”

Serotonin Deficiency Creates Volatile Emotions

Thirty years of human and animal studies demonstrate that serotonin nerve circuits encourage positive feelings, such as calmness, relaxation, increased confidence and better concentration. Serotonin neural circuits are said to help offset the emotions caused by brain dopamine and noradrenalin circuits, which promote negative emotions such as fear, anger, tension, aggression, anxiety and erratic sleep. Serotonin deficiency syndrome can manifest in many emotional and behavioral problems, including PMS, depression, insomnia, compulsive behavior and addictions. A chronic deficit of serotonin in the nerves using it as a transmitter is what leads to the deficiency syndrome. This deficit in turn derives from various problems relating to the nutritional biochemistry of tryptophan.

Wendy Kramer explains the action of PMS Escape in the context of tryptophan and increasing serotonin levels:

“Tryptophan is an amino acid that is commonly found in food. When we eat certain proteins, it breaks down during digestion to give us tryptophan. Tryptophan is then converted to 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) in the brain. It is this substance that in turn is converted to Serotonin. What PMS Escape does has little to do with any of the three. It causes an insulin response, which in turn plucks other amino acids out of the blood. Insulin does not attach to tryptophan, therefore allowing more tryptophan to cross the blood brain barrier and convert to 5-HTP and then into serotonin. In normal conditions, tryptophan is not only a small amino acid, but exists in the body in small amounts. So it has lots of competition when it comes to crossing into the brain.

The Problem with Tryptophan

A devastating crisis swept through the natural foods sector in the late 1980s. L-Tryptophan had emerged as the amino acid of choice because it was a health food supplement many were taking as a sleep aid. In early 1990, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of over the counter L-tryptophan dietary supplements because it was linked to an incurable, debilitating muscle illness, Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome (EMS). Over 1500 were permanently disabled and 37 people died from contaminated batches of L-Tryptophan. A division of the Japanese petrochemical company, Showa Denko KK, had reportedly been experimenting with its purification process by genetically modifying bacteria to reduce their manufacturing costs. Later research identified the impurity, since labeled “peak E” or “strain V,” which reportedly led to those tragedies.

While not available as a dietary supplement, the brain requires tryptophan for “peace of mind” and better sleep. Tryptophan has a tough time crossing the blood brain barrier so it can help produce serotonin. However, a high intake of carbohydrates induces an insulin response, which then goes into the blood. The insulin response clears out the five other competing amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine and tyrosine), but not tryptophan. In layman’s terms, Wurtman said, “What insulin also does at that moment is re-arrange the pattern of amino acids in your blood so that one of those amino acids, tryptophan, gets into your brain.

This also helps explain why a high-protein diet can make someone cranky. Dr. Wurtman shed light on this, “A woman who goes on one of those high protein diets may find within a couple of days a feeling that she is less calm and less content and less able to control her emotions than she was before she started the diet.” The dieter might say, “I’m not hungry on the diet, but I can’t stay on it anymore because I have to have carbs!” Insufficient tryptophan is making its way past the blood brain barrier, provoking a serotonin deficiency.

PMS Escape Fills the Void

In its simplicity, PMS Escape starts the process that results in higher serotonin levels. “The nice thing about PMS Escape is that it works faster than food,” said Dr. Wurtman. “You don’t have to prepare and it works faster than food. We picked the carbohydrates for their digestibility.”

Why not just eat a couple of bowls of steamed rice or pasta? Dr. Wurtman explained, “One of the characteristics of women with PMS is impulsiveness. One of the problems is women probably won’t steam the rice, and then wait to eat it. While they’re steaming the rice, they might have chocolate bars. They are going to throw food in their mouths until they feel better.”

Basically, PMS Escape puts a leash on the impulsiveness. “People don’t have to worry about controlling the amounts they are eating,” said Wurtman. “They’ll take one packet, and it’s enough.” PMS Escape tastes pretty much like a packet of Crystal Light®, according to Wendy Kramer. “They’ll never say, ‘This tastes wonderful and I’ll have six of them,’” Dr. Wurtman laughed, then advising, “Whereas if you tell people to even have breakfast cereal, they might eat the whole box.” On a more serious note, Wurtman concluded, “What we do is tell people to have the PMS Escape, and then you’ll be calmer, you’ll be in control. You’re impulsiveness will be under wraps. Then, you’ll be able to pick and choose the other foods you’re eating with the appropriate amounts.”

“It is important that brain serotonin be kept at an adequate level during that period of the menstrual cycle when women experience PMS,” reported Dr. Wurtman and her team in a 1995 article published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She wrote then, before developing the PMS Escape formulation, “To help maintain optimum brain serotonin levels without the use of SSRIs, which can have a variety of unwanted side effects, special dietary nutrients have been investigated and shown to be effective.”

From her research at MIT came PMS Escape. According to Wendy Kramer, “It (PMS Escape) should be in retail pharmacies this summer.” More importantly, when will men be able to enjoy the same heightened serotonin benefits women have with this formulation?

Dr. Judith Wurtman, Ph. D.

Judith Wurtman, Ph. D. is a research scientist at MIT (Massachussetts Institute of Technology), and the founder and director of Harvard University's TRIAD Weight Management Centre. She received her Ph. D. in cell biology from MIT and took additional training as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in nutrition and obesity. Dr Wurtman has written 5 books including "The Serotonin Solution" and "Managing Your Mind through Food". Her scientific research has been published in over 40 peer-reviewed journals. She is married to Richard Wurtman, M. D, a professor in MIT's Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences. He has written or co-authored 950 articles in peer-reviewed journals, edited or written 17 books, and been the inventor in 49 United States Patents.

Much of the initial research on serotonin was conducted at MIT by Judith and Richard Wurtman, described in the Encyclopaedia of Natural Medicine as "pioneers in brain chemistry that have made many valuable contributions that further our understanding of how amino acids affect mood and behaviour."

Texas holdem 4 betting structures explained

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Even though the United States have made it illegal to gamble online, poker keeps on gaining popularity through the different tournaments that are shown on television such as the World Series of Poker by ESPN. This created a problematic situation: while players claim that poker is not a game of chance, the US government decided that it is.

For a few weeks, panic erupted in the poker world as rumors spread like bushfires that this ban would stop all tournaments. But this proved to be untrue. In fact, because of the online gambling ban, the popularity of tournaments only increased. And in most of these tournaments, the favored game is Texas Holdem.

This article focuses on those planning to take what was once their online casino pastime to a poker tournament close by. You will need to follow some basic betting structures, and we describe these for you. Even if they seem difficult to follow, don't worry. Just practice these at home with friends and you will soon learn the flow of these wagering structures.

Note: Remember that all the games rely on a basic maximum and minimum wager, and all the betting structures should be understood accordingly. Keep in mind that each game has a set limit that is fixed before the game commences. Once begun, the limit remains unchanged until the end. Note also that the tournament organizers or the casinos are those that decide these limits.

1) Structured Wagering Limit:
This means that there are two limits you play to. During the first two rounds, you place wagers according to the lower sum, and then you start betting according to the higher amount set. When you find a game called according to two amounts such as 4/8 dollar limit, then, it means that this game will be played according to the structured wager. Another thing to remember when entering such poker games is that you can only place four wagers each round and not one more.

2) Spread Limit Wager:
Here, you are free to place wagers in a pre-set range and you don't have to place fixed bets. When you find that the limit is within a range then it means that you have found a game that will be played according to the spread limit. Examples are games which can be played between a range of twenty to a hundred dollars. Note that such games do turn out to be expensive because some might bet according to the high limit. Another variation of the spread limit bet is to have a range of four wagers. What this means is that there is a certain amount you can bet for the round before the flop, for the round on the flop, and on the round after the flop and a certain amount for the river.

3) Basic Pot Limit Bet:
In such Texas Holdem games labeled as being played according to the basic pot limit, what it means is that you can place wagers anywhere between the amount that is the big blind and the total size of the game pot. Here too, take note that games such as these can result in high cash pots.

4) No Limit Betting:
This is the one version that pulls in the high rollers from all over. Here, there is not limit at all one how much you wager or raise. Note that unless you are a high-roller or unless you have a tremendous amount of experience playing Texas Holdem at tournaments, stay clear of such games.

Should i consolidate my credit card debts

Unlike general debt where the answer to problems is rarely to consolidate, the consolidation of credit card debt is often worhtwhile. Credit card debt consolidation is regarded by many ias being the first step toward card debt elimination. But, before you taking the initial step towards consolidating your credit card debt, you need to understand that consolidating credit card debt (or using balance transfers) is an action that is being taken to eliminate your credit card debt. Consolidation of your credit card debt is not simply a mechanism for putting the problem away for a while.

Credit card debt consolidation is a good option for more than one reason; not only do you get relief from the increase in the amount of your credit card debt, but you may also get other benefits. Many card issuers make offers to new users who transfer in ther existing balances that can be very attractive indeed.

Almost all offers for consolidating credit card debt/transferring balances have an initial period with a low APR often as low as 0%. This is, in fact, one of the main reasons why consolidating your credit card debt is an attractive option.

As well as low APR, offers for balance transfer often include benefits such as 0% interest on any purchases made during first few months after the balance transfer. This is another thing reduces the rate at which your credit card debt increases. Of course if the purpose is reduction or elimination of debt then new purchases are not the highest priority! These are the two most significant benefits that credit card issuers offer to attract new clients into consolidating their credit card debt with them.

After these main benefits there are other benefits such as additional reward points on the issuer's reward. These reward points can be redeemed for other attractive goods/rebates/rewards etc, but thioer purpose is to encourage you to spend more money and increase, not decrease your debt!

Sometimes, the new credit card might be one that caters better to your current spending needs both in terms of credit limit and the way that you might use your new card. For example, the new credit card might be co-branded by an airline that you frequently use. The credit card you are consolidating to might open up discount offers to you. But usually these offers all encourage additional spending.

The most important thing to remember when consolidating your credit card debts is the reason for doing it. If the purpose was to reduce debt and manage payments then you can and must ignore any offers that will increase your indebtedness. Balance transfers are not offered by card issuers to make it easy for clients reduce their debt - the opposite is true! As a credit card user you must use the tools offered by card issuers to YOUR benefit, not the bank's!

Good luck reducing your debt through disciplined credit card consolidation and balance transfer.

Dog training - house training your new puppy

House training is the first thing your new puppy must learn. The toileting process a puppy learns in the first few months as a member of your household will last a lifetime so it’s important to do it right the first time. House training issues are the number one reason why dogs are taken to animal shelters so let’s begin.

It’s important to understand that your puppy probably won’t be completely trained until he’s about 6 months old. That’s because young puppies lack the bladder and bowel control that they need to be reliably left alone for long periods of time.

It is also important for you to be available to supervise your new puppy but we all know that life happens. If you can’t be available for a period of time, confine your puppy to a small puppy-proof room. The entire floor should be covered with newspaper or some absorbent, disposable material. At first, your puppy will go everywhere in the room. As he gets older he will favor one area. Slowly reduce the area covered in papers until the puppy eventually goes only on the toilet papers. The floor in the puppy-proof room should not resemble other floor areas in the house like carpet or hardwood. Once your puppy is used to eliminating on a particular surface, he will want to eliminate on that type of surface.

If you want to train your puppy to use only papers, your task is complete. Most owners prefer for their dogs to eliminate outside so the puppy-proof room should only be used when you aren’t home to supervise. If your puppy spends time in a crate, which he should at first, you can place papers in one area in the crate for your puppy to use. Dogs are naturally very clean animals and they will do their best no to soil their bed area. This really helps your puppy develop self control.

For puppies who are to be outdoor trained, take the puppy to his designated toilet area every 45 minutes. When your puppy does his business in his designated area, lavish praise on him. Don’t be afraid to look like a fool when providing this praise. He is learning the most important lesson in living in your household so go overboard with praise.

Put your puppy on a consistent feeding schedule so you can anticipate his needs. While he does need free access to clean, fresh drinking water, don’t give him unrestricted access to food. Likewise, until he is fully trained, do not give him the run of the house. One thing that will greatly aid in this process is putting a collar and long lead on your puppy and tying the other end of the lead around your waist. Your puppy will like being close to you and he won’t have the opportunity to make many mistakes.

That doesn’t mean that mistakes won’t happen. When they do, don’t punish or reprimand him. He won’t understand the reason for the punishment and he might become nervous or agitated. He might even think he is being punished for eliminating at all. This could set your training back rather than moving it forward.

The main thing you need for house training your puppy is patience and a good sense of humor. Be calm and relaxed while being consistent in your schedule and your puppy will be relaxed and calm while learning what he needs to learn to become a well adjusted member of the family.

While you and your puppy are bonding during this training time, you can start to introduce other commands like sit, come, stay, down. See my other articles on these individual commands and be sure to join me on the web at:

dogsrule. hickorypublishing. com.

Correspondence from the irs yikes

It’s a moment every person dreads. You pick up the mail and there is an envelope from the IRS. It’s not a refund check. What do you do?

Don’t Panic

Each year, the IRS sends out millions of “correspondence audits” to taxpayers to request payment of taxes, notify them of a change to their account or request additional information. These audits normally cover a very specific issue, often notifying you of additional small amounts of income for which you owe tax. Each letter and notice provides specific instructions explaining what you should do if action is necessary to satisfy the inquiry.

Most correspondence can be handled without calling or visiting the IRS. You simply follow the instructions in the letter and the matter is put to rest. Alternatively, you can contact the IRS to contest the matter. Simply call the telephone number indicated on the letter or write an explanation as to why you disagree. Make sure to include copies of any supporting documentation you want considered by the IRS. Typically, it will take the IRS between one and two months to respond. During the first quarter of the year, it can take two to three months.

Sometimes, the IRS sends a second letter or notice requesting additional information or providing additional information to you. Be sure to keep copies of any correspondence with your records. The IRS has been known to lose track of actions involving a taxpayer’s account.

Worse Case Scenario

Everybody has a few really bad days in his or her life. You know, the car breaks down, you spill coffee on your shirt while driving to work…you get notice of a full blown audit from the IRS. The first step you take should not be drinking to excess or driving for the border. You have rights when the IRS comes calling and one of them is particularly important.

Representation

You have the right to be represented by an accountant or attorney at your audit. Under no conditions should you even consider going to an audit by yourself. Doing so would be like throwing red meat to a lion. Instead, spend the money to get representation and let them handle the audit. In most cases, you won’t even have to go to the audit.

Nightmarish tax audits are generally a thing of the past. A letter from the IRS should not cause you to faint. Usually, the news isn’t that bad. If it is, hire representation and let them handle it.