Relieving Stress While At Work

With most of us juggling work and family, we know there is not much time on evening and weekends to undertake a major stress-relieving program. As a result, I looked on the Internet to get ideas on what can be done during working hours. Once I got through all these sites with people trying to sell books, tapes, and lectures, I found some things that could be initiated.

Portable Massage: There are various companies that will visit your workplace and give massages. They have portable massaage beds or chairs that can be easily set up in a quiet place. The massages can be booked for 15 minute and up to 1 hour sessions. The massages can help alleviate tense muscles in the neck, arms and legs. It's also an opportunity for some quiet time. If the massage service doesn't supply it, bring in a CD player for listening to relaxing music. Depending on the preference of the company, they may ask you to bring loose clothing or may provide a gown. I am currently undergoing massage therapy at a registered clinic where I go after work once a month and I feel relaxed and like a "wet noodle" afterwards.

Reference: http://www.handsonexpress.com/home2.html

Relaxation Room:If there is an available space, an employer can set up a room for relaxation. It is suggested to allow only one employee in at a time. The room should have a reclining chair or couch, a CD or tape player to play music or meditation exercises. One site I visited suggested a soaking tank for an epsom salt bath. Even 15 minutes of solitude could certainly allow a person to relax.

Reference: http://imt.net/~randolfi/WorkStress.html

Exercise Program:To exercise, you don't have to put on your spandex and sweat at the gym. You can bring a good pair of walking shoes to work and go for a stroll during lunch or coffee break. Your employer may decide to set up an exercise room with equipment. The program could be supervised at a specified time or self-directed. Years ago, a group of us would get together after work and do exercises in the lunch room using a video taped program. All you need is plenty of room to move around and a TV & VCR.

Reference: http://www.thrive.net/shape/work/work.fi...

Incentive Program:Your company could start a fitness incentive program. My employer used to have a program where you would earn points for participation in athletic activities (such as jogging, baseball and even snow shoveling). Each activity is assigned a score for the duration of participation. For instance, 1 hour of jogging would be 10 points but 3 hours of bowling would be 2 points. We were given record cards for tracking our activity. There was even a program for people with disabilities. When an employee reached various milestones, he/she would receive a cash reward. At the end of the year, the top 10 achievers were taken out for dinner

If you have an open-minded employer, perhaps some of these ideas could be initiated. Some of the activities, such as walking, can be initiated by you. Of course, some of the programs require a facility like a large room or an isolated room. It all depends on what is available at your workplace and how much money your employer wants to spend.

Although I have entered links to specific sites, it does not mean I endorse their specific program or have been paid to give them a plug. It is intended to give you an opportunity to obtain more information.

I hope I have raised your awareness on the possibilities of what can be achieved while you are at work.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/working_mothers/27886/2

Jazzanova - The Return

Why hasn't anyone heard of Jazzanova? I know, I know, this is my second column about them in almost as many months. But I just purchased The Remixes 1997-2000, and my CD player has not been able to part with it for weeks now. Maybe a review of it will serve as a kind of exorcism, and make way for another album in my boom box.

In case you don't know, (and you probably don't, unless you're from either Munich, Berlin, or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where the people seem to know everything about good music) Jazzanova are a DJ collective comprised of six men with entertaining names like Jurgen von Knoblauch and Roskoe Kretschmann. They began playing and remixing records together in 1995. They describe their music as a hybrid of jazz, bossanova, (hence the name) soul, disco, R&B, and a little bit of everything else. They radically reinvent other artists' tracks, giving them the unique Jazzanova sound.

If I have any complaint about this album, it's that the aforesaid sound can get a bit samey. As background music, it's peppered with standout moments where you lean in and listen, curious to hear exactly what's going on. If you're playing it on your Discman/Walkman/MP3 player, you might find yourself skipping some tracks.

The two-CD set starts off with 4 Hero's We Who Are Not As Others. Eerie synth chimes immediately give you the feeling that what you're about to listen to is going to kick ass. It does, but with a whisper, not a scream. Jazzanova turn the track into what sounds like a robot band playing fusion. It's calm, intricate, and undeniably electronic.

Marschmellows' Soulpower is pure pop-funk, complete with slap-bassline, hand-claps, and squelching synths. They even break it down and add whooshing Seventies sounds at the end. Jazzanova manage to replicate an entire decade's worth of music in one song, and still make it their own cool blend.

Truby Trio's Carajillo melds Afro-pop with drum-pad beats and a simple, jazzy house piano line. The singers' voices call and answer to each other. It's music you want to turn up full volume and clamp headphones over your ears, but it's also perfect as background.

High Priestess, by Karma, has a big-band-shuffle feel that swings even when it turns into a bongo-ridden ¾ voodoo beat. Lazy upright bass and blasts of brass punctuate this swampy mire till it sounds like there's a full-on tribal ritual going on somewhere in the bayou. Every so often the heat breaks, but it always comes back full force before long.

Azymuth's Amazon Adventure starts with a beat that sounds as if it came straight off a Casio pre-programmed selection. It's soon accented with more organic instruments; a high piano, another upright bass, live drumming. It's intelligent hold music.

Absolute Space, by Koop, is more of the same Casio-on-ecstasy spasmodic jazz drumming and chiming piano, this time with a fair Bjork impression over the top. Although the drumming occasionally breaks the monotony by leaning toward an exhilarating Brazilian beat, this isn't one of my favorites. The same formula's applied in Ian Pooley's What's Your Number, but now something other than nonchalance is in the mix, as a woman's voice declares emotionally that "things change". This is one of the only songs in a minor key on the two-disc set.

Visit Venus's Planet of Breaks takes the frenetic jazz pace down to a nice steady dub. The drums flow, every once in a while broken by a little eddy of beats and beeps. Toward the end, however, the drummer once again gets carried away with himself. He might try listening to some Metallica, change the mood a little.

I have both a gripe and a rave about this record, and they're one and the same. As I began to review this album, sometimes I would let a track play, begin to write about it, and turn to my CD player to find another track had started playing without my being aware the song had changed. This is disconcerting if you're trying to listen to the album as a collection of songs, which is how it's presented. I think it would sound fantastic as a continuous mix, without the usual two or three seconds of silent space separating songs. Chill-out music, which is what this is, sounds better without interruptions. I'd like to experience a Jazzanova live set to see if I'm right about this album sounding better as one huge song. Because if I view it that way, it's stellar.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/electronica/68643/1

Jessie Daniels Review

Midas Records’ first faith-based artist, the exciting Jessie Daniels, is a girl with a mission.

As you listen to her self-titled debut her intensity all but leaps out of the CD player and grabs you by the throat. Fortunately, I'm a girl who enjoys a good throat-grabbing. I'm a big fan of intensity, so Jessie Daniels is alright with me. More than alright, in fact.

She's been in the business more than half her life, since the tender age of 8, doing films, commercials, and even some off-Broadway theater, so she knows what she's doing. It shows on her 12 song CD, all of which she co-wrote, many with producer Scott Davis. She's from New York, and it has everything to do with her purpose and her style. "Because of how advanced and progressive things are in NY, you're not going to get through to people unless you're real, honest, and able to identify with them. That's how I intend to be about my faith through the music."

She's done her city proud. Jessie Daniels has put together an album that burns with a true New York intensity. Her music and her delivery are direct, aggressive, and as edgy as pop gets. It is an album that both those who know God and those who don't can enjoy, and that accomplishment in itself is impressive. Her strong vocals brim with energy and passion throughout, and I enjoyed the diversity of topics covered as well, such as relationship break-ups ("Letting Go" and the beautiful and wrenchingly honest "It's No Wonder"). Other standout tracks include rocker "Next to You," with its great changes and driving vocals that pound as hard as the tight rhythm section. Daniels sings with an aggressive insistency that pairs up perfectly with the recurring theme of God's pursuit, through pop ("The Noise" and "Everyday") and outstanding concept song "What I Hear." The blistering "Human Being" never lets up, even through the gorgeous bridge. Closer "Hold Me Now" ends the project perfectly, on a note of deep worship that rings as true as the breakup songs. Jessie Daniels is one to watch; I suspect her next album will make an even bigger splash.

http://christianmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/jessie_daniels_review

MP3 Player Basics

Every Business Traveler Needs Some Tunes

Why a business traveler needs a decent MP3 player.

If you are on the road much, you'll want one of these new MP3 music players. The players pack in a ton of music in a surprisingly small, portable and self-contained music package.

Having access to your own music on demand can take the sting out of long mass transit commutes, for flight times and while waiting for delayed flights, for quiet evenings in your hotel room, or for any times you'd like to carve a bit of personal space in your hectic working day. You can plug just about any player to the stereo in your car, too. I now wonder how I lived without one.

With an MP3 Player, you don't need to carry around CDs and their cases, nor even a CD player/walkman. There's nothing to scratch or break. You can download music for cheap or free from your computer, iTunes and from many music sites on the Internet.
Resistance is Futile

If you have a portable CD player, you'll probably want to keep using it, but I expect eventually you'll get sucked in by the allure of the MP3 tractor beam. If you have any stirrings of interest to change over to an MP3 player - or if for some reason you hate them - you'll want to read this discussion and perhaps add your two cents on the pros and cons of each.

All you have to deal with is a cell phone-sized handheld electronic device, and a set of decent earphones. And now some cellular phones even eliminate the need for a separate MP3 player, integrating phone and music in one electronic machine instead. You just toss your wireless phone/MP3 player combo in your carry-on and go.

I personally am waiting for these combo phone/MP3 players to evolve a little before I invest. The first iterations of convergence handheld electronics usually have some bugs to work out, and of course, the price will only drop for late adopters, anyway.

http://businesstravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/mp3players

Acura, Jeep and a GMC Sierra

2001 Acura MDX with a jammed CD player, a 1995 Jeep Cherokee with a crazy speedometer and a 1996 GMC Sierra 1500 fuel pump question.

2001 Acura MDX with a jammed CD player, a 1995 Jeep Cherokee with a crazy speedometer and a 1996 GMC Sierra 1500 fuel pump question.

Question: 2001 Acura MDX

Hi... We have some CDs stuck in the jammed CD player of our 2001 Acura MDX for a second time. We're going to look into getting an MP3 player aux port installed because it would be too expensive to keep repairing the factory CD player that just keeps jamming even after replacement.

In the meantime, we want to save the 5 CDs that are stuck in there. Could you possibly direct us to online instructions, perhaps, for opening up the radio/CD player in order to salvage CDs imprisoned therein?! I already know how to remove the facade panel.

Answer:

I don't know of any web site that would have that kind of information. Probably the best thing to do would be to remove the CD player and take it to a shop, maybe a Best Buy or Circuit City, and let them open it up and remove the CD's.

If saving the unit is of no concern, take it apart yourself.

It might not be a problem with the CD player. Acura audio units are built with some very tight clearances compared to aftermarket units. Audio discs with adhesive labels should never be played in these units. The label can curl up and jam the unit resulting in some expensive repairs.

If you burn your own audio discs for vehicle use, you should mark them using a permanent marker or a specialized CD printer such as the Casio Disc Title Printer or the Epson Stylus Photo (R200, R300, or R800). Adhesive labels should never be used, no matter what type.

Question: 1995 Jeep Cherokee

I have a 1995 Jeep Cherokee with automatic transmission. The speedometer and odometer periodically stop regardless of vehicle speed, then it starts working again. The cruise control always continues to function, the Vehicle Information Center displays changes in miles driven, mileage, etc. There are no codes on the diagnostic other than the usual 55 for end of stored codes. Am I correct in assuming the problem is in the speedometer display, not the Vehicle Speed Sensor??

Answer:

That is a fair assumption. The cruise control would also stop working, among other things, if you had a bad Vehicle Speed Sensor.

Question: 1996 GMC Sierra 1500

Hello Vince

1996 GMC Sierra 1500, 5.7 liter turbo V-8. I had my fuel pump replaced but not the sending unit. I was told it only sends info to the fuel guage. Now they say "if the sending unit quits working the fuel pump will stop working". Is this true?

Thank you,

Mike

Answer:

The fuel level sending unit and fuel pump are two entirely seperate circuits. The only thing they have in common are a grounding point. So if there is a problem with that grounding point both the fuel level sending unit and fuel pump would stop working. But if the fuel level sending unit itself went bad the fuel pump would continue to operate.

http://autotechrepair.suite101.com/article.cfm/acura__jeep_and_a_gmc_sierra

CD MP3 Player Combines Portability with Massive Playlists

The portable CD player ain't what it used to be. New formats enable a single disc to hold up to 675 songs. That's 45 hours of music on a CD mp3 player that fits in your pocket or purse.

Personal CD players can play pre-recorded CD's and HD (high-density) CD-R/RW discs burned in formats like mp3 and WMA. They'll hold 30+ hours of music. MiniDisc players using the ATRAC3Plus technology are smaller, with even larger capacities.

Sony developed a three inch CD in the early 1990's that can be played on MiniDisc Sony CD players. The player is only slightly larger than the disc and about an inch thick. Some allow audio CD duplication you rip directly from your CD collection without additional software.

New CD mp3 player portable devices can play high density discs with capacities comparable to a 4GB mp3 player. And some discount portable CD players are priced less than half the cost of 512MB mp3 players. Use RW discs and you can edit your playlist anytime you want.

Things to consider when selecting a portable CD player include:

1. Compatibility - Will it play both standard and HD CD's? Will it accommodate multiple formats (mp3, ATRAC, WMA, etc.)?

2. Storage Capacity - depending on the format, HD discs will hold up to 32 hours, and MiniDiscs up to 45 hours.

3. Lifestyle - anti-skip features vary, so if your player is subjected to shock or vibration you'll need the best. To listen to your songs without headphones, look at a portable CD player speaker accessory.

4. Size - personal CD players are compact, but MiniDisc players are much smaller and hold more music.

5. Features - there are many including: FM receiver, direct record, battery type and average life, AC/DC adapters, etc.

6. Price - starting around US $25, these players can exceed $400. Decide which of the above factors are most important to you, pick an appropriate price range and stick to it. You're sure to find what you want.

http://www.a-z-mp3-players.com/cd-mp3-player.htm

CD player versus MP3 player.

The CD was introduced with great fanfare in 1982 and soon supplanted the audio cassette due to its high quality digital sound. You could bring your portable cd player anywhere to listen to high quality audio music. The next revolution started with the acceptance of mp3 music. MP3 stands for Moving Pictures Expert Group 1 Audio Layer 3. This mp3 technology allows for the compression of normal CD audio file in WAV format and reduces the size of the file by a factor of 10 to 1. That means you can stored thousands of songs in a small portable audio player while previously a CD player could only hold a CD at a time.

Having a audio compression file format allows music to be easily distributed . Instead of having to go to the CD shop to buy your CD , you can now download from the internet the songs which you want. An MP3 player also offers skip free music while a CD player doesn't. Also, flash based memory mp3 players have no moving parts which enable longer lasting battery life not to mention less occurrence of break down or failure due to moving parts. Mp3 players also allow the ability to create play list of songs while cd players generally have limited capability in this arena. Finally, now there's no need to buy an entire music album. You can buy just one song instead of the whole album. It makes more sense since you may only like one particular song.

Does it mean that CD technology is a goner? Not necessarily, firstly although mp3 allows for huge numbers of songs to be stored in a portable flash memory or hard disk player the sound quality is compromised. Of course we can't tell the difference because mp3 audio compression technology removes information pertaining to frequencies which we are unable to hear. Remember the audio cassette technology which preceded the cd technology ?Well, it is still around. It still has uses and purposes.

CD player have advantages in that CD players are cheaper than mp3 players. There is no need to buy storage media which is expensive. Songs in mp3 format have different sound volume levels while in a CD you get consistent sound volume. Why bother with the hassle of encoding, transferring and managing files which is troublesome, time consuming and more demanding when you can just simply pop in a new CD and get instant gratification. Also, if you travel to a less developed country , a CD player proves to be more useful as access to broadband is hard to find for downloading of your internet music. In addition, CDs can last a life time and are virtually indestructible compared to mp3 hard drive or flash memory players which have a limited life span and could spoil.

Lastly, you don't have to face headache of incompatibility issue as some players can play only specific file format.

http://searchwarp.com/swa15280.htm