What Would You Do If You Ran the World? By Shelly Rachanow

Sometimes a small book can prove to be more enriching than hefty volumes. What Would You Do If You Ran The World? By Shelly Rachanow is such a book. It inspires, encourages, and urges women to take action to do better by themselves, by their loved ones, by their community, and by the world. Encouraging people to get involved is a relentless task, but the creative way the author offers her ideas should motivate even the most apathetic people by starting them with working on themselves and gradually advancing their ambitions.

The book has four major sections: o What would you do...for yourself? o What would you do...for your loved ones? o What would you do...for your community? o What would you do...for the World?

Each section has examples of the achievements of women and encouraging witty quotes by very important people like Mother Theresa. In the first section, after Eleanor Roosevelt's quote of "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent," the author encourages women with: Take her advice and stop consenting to being overworked, used, abused, dumped on... Afterwards, a quote from Oprah Winfrey, which tells women to do something so daring even they can't believe they are doing it, leads to "awesome ideas in action" and a "My Opinion Rocks" pledge for women to print and sign.

Doing...for-loved-ones section starts with an inspiring ten-item list, followed by examples of what women did and could do in that category, including an "I accept your choices" promise, leading to love's brave, beautiful and brilliant inspiration, such as what Dana Reeve has done for Christopher Reeve.

The third section, too, has a ten-item list of doing things for the community and volunteering, followed by ideas, motivating stories, quotations, and a pact to make one's community a better place. Fourth section, too, follows the same pattern as the earlier three sections, and all sections include recommendations for noteworthy websites.

Although, at first reading, the ideas inside this book may feel highly idealistic, they are doable, and each experience story challenges and encourages the readers. The successes of women are uplifting and encouraging.

What Would You Do If You Ran The World? has a blue cover and 160 pages. It is published by the Conari Press in February 2009 with ISBN-10: 1573243582 and ISBN-13: 978-1573243582.

Shelly Rachanow is a graduate of George Washington University and Emory University School of Law. She lives in Los Angeles, California. The success of her first book If Women Ran the World... gave her the encouragement for this book. She has a blog in MySpace under the title ifawomanranthecountry. She is also in LinkedIn and Facebook.

The most significant concept in this book is the challenge for women to take charge in improving themselves and the world. Nothing else can be more important than that.

Early Stages of Deck Building: Three Tips on Building a Deck

Building a deck is an ambitious project. There are many things to take into consideration when planning and building your deck. Often times, the most overlooked parts of the project are those that must occur long before the surface of your deck is constructed! While you may receive many tips on building a deck, there are often tips and tricks that are over-looked. Here are three tips on building a deck that may help you organize and execute your plan more successfully.

Tip #1: Plan carefully

Although you may find tips on building a deck, perhaps one of the most overlooked areas is planning. Sure, you can plan your layout, draw out your ideas, and plan your budget accordingly, but don't forget to consult your city or county officials regarding your local building codes, laws, and even zoning restrictions. Standards and regulations vary from city to city, so careful attention must be paid to this area of planning.

Another aspect of planning to consider is the terrain and weather in your area. Consider how the weather might affect your deck, and how your terrain will dictate where you decide to build it. You may need to build a grade-level deck, for example, that is built just a few inches above the ground, or a raised deck built to rise up over any areas that may be tricky to build on. Always take into consideration the size of your deck, and really think about how many people (on average) will be using it. Make sure you leave enough space for furniture and the ability for your friends or family to move around freely.

Tip #2: Maintain your vision

Of all the tips on building a deck, this is quite possibly the most important. Although the structure of your deck is of key importance, maintaining your vision of the deck is necessary to get you through the difficult days. This challenging project will require patience and perseverance, and maintaining a vision of what the end result will be just might carry you through the roughest of days.

Tip #3: Digging and Pouring Pointers

Now onto some more practical tips on building a deck! It is important that your deck has solid, sturdy feet. Ideally, the footings of your deck should be bolted to concrete footings that are secured in the ground well below the frost line in your area; approximately six inches under the frost line is recommended.

Please make sure you have checked for power lines or any potentially dangerous pipelines before digging your holes. If you have any confusion or insecurity when it comes to checking for these things, consult a professional. Fill the first few inches of your holes with gravel or crushed rock, top with an 8-inch-diameter fiberboard and proceed with leveling and plumb the form. Fill with concrete, level, and while wet, insert your post anchor. Level again, and allow the concrete to set for two days before continuing construction. It is important to remain patient and use common sense when constructing your deck. Good work takes time!

Life Is Drama

"It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is." - Jack Lemmon

To most people, the life of a stay-at-home mom is severely lacking in drama. Even I tend to consider it fairly mundane. However, lately I've noticed a great deal of drama, and I'd like to discuss it while somehow working in my introduction.

A quick background check on Nola Redd will find that I am a stay-at-home mom of three kids (ages five, three, and one and a half). I graduated from college in Atlanta, Georgia with a Bachelor's in both Creative Writing and Astrophysics. Like many other freelancer writers, writing has always been a lifelong dream of mine.

While many folks here share some similarities, no two lives are alike. What makes us different, even those in similar situations, are the daily dramas we go through. Those same moments can be easily incorporated into our writing.

Look around you. What has happened to you today, or this week, that could be the basis of a story? How many small things can you build to one large, cumulative point?

For me, it was a shower. After an eight hour drive (with three kids, remember) to a family reunion where I didn't feel welcome, all I wanted one night was a nice, hot shower. So many little things went wrong over the course of the day that a broken showerhead was the "kicker"; the moment where I made my dramatic stand, so to speak. Though the struggle may not become an epic tale, it can still make for an interesting story.

I've noticed this happening in various books I've been reading lately. One book* had a protagonist who found out, after a ten hour flight from Taiwan (hence severe jet lag), that her previous landlord had filed charges against her because the moving company she hired stole not only all the protagonist's belongings, but also the appliances in the apartment she was renting. As she wandered around in a daze, a police officer mistook her jet lag for drunkeness and reached out to help her. She wound up slugging him with handbag and going to jail for assualting an officer. In another book**, the protagonist sums it up nicely when she says, "It all seemed so innocent: a trip to the soda fountain, a chance talk with Amy. And then it all turned around and bit her." In short, three simple things turned into one complex mess.

So it is with our writing. Rather than just slamming the reader in the face with one large problem, consider breaking it down into "mini-dramas" and build the tension gradually. Of course, this is more difficult in a short story than a novel; we don't want our readers to think "get it over with, already." So make sure the tension is realistic, and try to use only one or two instances to build up, rather than three or four.

In the meantime, think about those little problems in your life and how they seem to grow. Add one or two to your writing to increase the stress the main character is under. No matter how mundane your life is, somewhere in your daily grind is drama.

* What a Girl Wants by Kristin Billerbeck

** Time Will Tell by Robin Jones Gunn

Orange Perennials For Your Garden

Perennials are wonderful because, they bloom year after year. Sometimes, I forget that I even have them planted and then they spring up to my surprise and delight! I like to add some zip to my garden with flowers that are orange in color. They add a vibrant touch and the brilliant colors attract birds and insects.

Here's some of my favorite orange perennials:

Butterfly Weed - This flowers in summer and can get as high as three feet. It has compact clusters of flowers and as the name implies, it does attract butterflies!

Day Lily - I see this beautiful flower growing wild all over the place here in New Hampshire. It blooms in summer and sits on 30" tall stalks. These perennials are virtually care free and will grow in most locations. Since 1 stalk can have over forty flowers, you can have a bed of these that blooms for a month or more in the summer.

Gaillardia - This comes in a regular size that has 4" daisy like flowers and a dwarf size. The plant is short growing to about 2 feet and blooms in summer. These like to be planted in the full sun but are quite hardy and you can extend the bloom time if you cut off the fading flowers. And the best thing is that they also attract butterflies!

Helianthemum - Blooms This is a good ground cover that blooms in summer It is easy to grow on rocky slopes and creates a border of color. If you are lucky it will bloom twice, once in early summer and then again in late summer.

Oriental Poppy - Beautiful orange flowers that bloom in spring and grow to 24". These beautiful perennials like a sunny spot with well drained soil.

Torch lily - This interesting perennial blooms in summer and produces spikes of orange cone shaped flowers that can grow to 6 feet. It likes to be planted in a sunny location and is great for zones 5 - 10. This plant attracts hummingbirds!

Trumpet Creeper - I had one of these beautiful vines growing wild up my chimney. It blooms in mid to late summer and has trumpet shaped flowers that hang from it's lush vines. It will cling to anything and can grow up to 30 feet. It can also grow as a shrub when it has nothing to cling to. It grows quickly and also attracts hummingbirds.

Replacement Birth Certificates - How to Get a Copy of Your Lost, Stolen or Misplaced Birth Records

The US Census Bureau reports that they regularly get requests for birth certificate from citizens who do not know that getting their birth records can be a lot closer to home, such as their own state, or even their own community.

However, there is no centralized federal repository of birth records in the United States. Instead, each state maintains its own records either at the state Health Department or Bureau of Vital Statistics (often a division of the Health Department).

Occasionally the county or town where you were born might have a copy of your birth certificate, but not all do. However, if you are in your mid-70s or older, you might find that's the only place they do exist as a number of state records go back only until the early 1900s.

This can be a Catch-22 for the elderly, particularly those from rural areas. Local records have been lost due to fires, floods, and other natural disasters. Sometimes the only record is a listing in a family Bible. (However, such family records have been accepted in some cases where the loss of official records is documented.)

Occasionally people think that a copy of their birth certificate is kept at the hospital where they were born and they can get a replacement copy there. That is not accurate. While the hospital records may include a record of your birth (and if you're middle-aged, the less likely this is, or at least the less likely it is that anyone could find the record), hospitals cannot issue you a replacement birth certificate.

Issuing a replacement birth certificate needs to be done by the state record center responsible for maintaining birth records in the state where you were born (unless, for previously mentioned reasons, that's impossible. Talk to your state record center about what to do in that situation.)

Requesting a copy of your birth certificate requires that you submit a request in writing with your full birth name, birth date, place of date and, when possible, your parents' first and last names (including your mother's maiden name). You also need to say that the birth certificate is for you, as birth certificates will only be issued to the person, their spouse, parents, grandparents, siblings, and/or legal guardians.

Official birth certificate replacement forms may require additional information, but a letter explaining what you want and providing the information generally is sufficient. You also need to include the appropriate fee.

Common Job Interview Questions and Answers For Students

When students are first starting their careers they do not have much relevant real life experience for the industry that they are usually interviewing in. Employers realize that and often ask different types of questions to these job candidates then they would an experienced professional. Here are some great questions and answers for students.

What are you long term goals?

This is a very common one. When I first started my career I thought this was one of the dumbest questions ever. I didn't know what I was going to be doing next week let alone in a year or five years. The interviewer doesn't really care what your plan is they just want to see if you have one and if it has been thought out. They are trying to see how focused you are. A good answer to this question would be "For the immediate future I am trying to get a position with a software company to gain some real experience. Even though I have many options I am always assessing my long term goals as a gain that experience."

Why did you choose this industry/profession?

Feel free to be completely honest with this question unless you are just looking for a paycheck. The major thing to remember when answering a question like this is to show a lot of enthusiasm for the industry/profession and that you are highly motivated to do well. "I made a decision to go into a career that I really enjoy. With my passion for software development it really allows me to go above and beyond."

What where the subjects that you enjoyed the most and which ones did you not enjoy?

This is a question you really need to be careful with when answering. What the interviewer is trying to do when asking you this question is identify your strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to relate your favorite subject with the profession/industry you are interviewing for. For your least favorite subject try to choose something that has no bearing on the job you are interviewing for. Try an answer like this "As an accounting major I really enjoyed the math classes that where offered. My least favorite class was Italian. I really had to work hard to carry an A-minus grade.

As a recently graduated student you do have challenges of lacking real work experience. By positioning your course work and passions around skills that are needed for the profession you are looking to get into you will get your career started right.