1. Pay off high-interest debt
The longer you carry debt, the more money you’ll end up paying. Therefore, the first step in a successful financial timeline is paying off the money you owe. But not all debt is created equal, so it pays to pick and choose. The first thing that has to go is high-interest credit card debt. If you’ve been carrying a balance for a while, you could be paying 20% or more. Since you’ll probably never find an investment that provides you with more than that amount in interest, there’s no sense saving money until you’ve completely paid off this debt.

2. Pay off additional debts
Additional debts that should be paid off, but on a different timeline, include student loans and mortgages on first homes. Typically, these loans have two things in common. First, the interest on them is tax-deductible, so it can pay to have that deduction in April. Second, the interest, especially on student loans, tends to be lower than on credit cards. That means you have a choice to make. If you’re able to safely make more interest on a given investment than the amount of interest you’re being charged for your student loan, it could be wise to invest rather than pay off the debt. This way, the interest you generate will pay off the interest on the loan and eat away at the principal. And once you’ve paid off the entire loan, you’ll still have the principal from the investment to work with.

3. Set up savings
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how much you should save. If you’re like most Americans, you don’t save at all, and that’s not a good thing. If that’s the case, try to put aside 10% of your income. If you’re already saving 10%, try to squeeze a few more dollars in. But remember: The number isn’t as important as the circumstances. If you’re a single guy without a lot of responsibilities, you’ll probably want to save enough for three months of unemployment in case the worst should happen. On the other hand, if you’re a family man, you’ll need to put away a larger chunk because children and a spouse could mean many more unforeseen expenses.

4. Plan for retirement
This is the big one, and most guys don’t do it early enough. The fact is that you’re never too young to start thinking about your retirement. If your office doesn’t have a 401(k), go to your local bank and set one up. If your employer matches your contribution, put in the maximum and take advantage of the free money. If your employer doesn’t offer this, ask your tax adviser how much you should contribute; the money you sock away for the future won’t go into the hands of the IRS.

5. Build an investment portfolio
This is where you’ll want to put the rest of your money. In all likelihood, it’ll be your biggest sector for growth, because savings and retirement funds alone probably won’t cut it. Think of it this way: Your retirement money should give you enough to survive when you stop working, while your investment money is the extra that will allow you to really enjoy that time. And the bigger the pie, the faster you can stop working and start enjoying life.

To make the most of your portfolio, you’ll need to put money in stocks and bonds. If you’re young and you can afford it, your investment portfolio should be an aggressive mix of risky and safe bets because you can always build back your losses should things go south. If you’re older and you started late, however, concentrate on growth with as little risk as possible; that way, you won’t find yourself talking to the guys at work about getting your AARP card.

Link

Most Colleges and Universities organise job fairs round about graduation time to allow students to meet new employers - it’s a fairly common method of recruiting recent graduates.

Job seekers can use job fairs to find out a bit more information about employers, working life and general industry information. This is what most people use job fairs for.

However, the opportunity exists for job seekers to use the brief few minutes they have with employers to create a lasting impression (er, a “good” lasting impression!) and sell themselves, for job fairs are also an opportunity for the cream of the crop to rise to the top!

So who are those people hanging about the tables?

Employers and recruiters tend to send HR personnel along to job fairs to either weed out unsuitable candidates or pick out some young potentials from the crowd.

Unlike trade shows (which have basically the same format), job fairs aren’t “staffed” by marketing people - they aren’t trying to sell you anything. They are there to be sold by YOU! (the obvious exception is where you are such an attractive prospect, you get them chasing you, but let’s face it - if that was the case, then you wouldn’t be reading this!)

You are a salesman competing for business amongst hundreds of others. You could leave your CV with the recruiter. Would they remember you?

Dress for an interview!

Yes, job fairs are interviews and you should treat them as such.

Simply sauntering along in jeans and a t-shirt to see what’s going on isn’t going to get you anywhere, regardless of your skills and abilities. There are literally hundreds of other people there with the same aim as you - finding meaningful employment!

So, go along to job fairs and be prepared to make an impression!

Do your homework on the fly!

You see those glossy brochures the recruiters have strewn all over their little tables? And the posters on the walls? And the conversation the recruiter is having with the other jobseeker next to you?

This is all valuable information! And you NEED to use it to make your impression!

Find out about the company. Find out about the jobs they are offering or their graduate programme. Listen to the questions the recruiter asks other people and the information he or she gives out.

If you wander on up and ask some vague question about health plan or holidays, the recruiter is simply going to answer you and will soon be distracted by someone else. There it was. That was your chance. It’s gone now.

You need to engage the recruiter - not simply hold a one sided conversation with them! At a job fair, a conversation is your best friend, because the longer you spend talking with the recruiter, the more likely they are to remember you.

At least….

The least you should leave a job fair is with some background about your industry (an idea of the types of jobs available), and some information about employers. At best you leave having made a positive impression on several employers and have a few job prospects to look forward to!

Good Luck!

Link

take the risk

No one hears about how much money one can make investing in real estate. That’s probably because it is a little well-kept secret. If everyone knew about it, everyone would be doing it, right?
Wrong. Much like starting your own business, investing in real estate requires entrepreneurial skills and a vision. Which is why not everyone is jumping on the real estate bandwagon.

Not everyone is willing to take the additional risk that real-estate investing entails. And these are the same people or renters that will make you rich. The little secret is that there are hundreds of individuals who choose to procrastinate for every one individual who has a vision and chooses to take the risk with investing in real-estate.

what lies ahead?

When I initially started investing in real estate, I really didn’t have a clear vision. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted financial freedom. Of course, achieving these goals did not come without a price, and only afterwards did I develop a plan and vision of where I was headed.
Investing in real estate requires a lot of time; you need to deal with a vast array of tenants — good ones as well as bad. Just like a business, you also have to deal with operating and fixed expenses — such as heating and electrical bills, as well as renovation costs.

On the other hand, I don’t have to wear a suit and tie all day, and run around doing someone else’s bidding. You see, to me, that’s big. My dress code consists of shorts and a shirt 6 months out of the year, unless I’m on vacation of course — then it’s 10 months out of the year.

If I want to go out of town for a few days, I go. I don’t have to ask for vacation time. While I’m out of town, my rents keep ticking away 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether I’m on the job or not. And those loans keep amortizing. The magic is happening just the same.

the benefits

Aside from being your own boss, having the freedom to travel while earning profits, increasing your net worth, and having a place of your own to call home, there are greater benefits of investing in real-estate:

1. Cash Flow
Cash is the difference between your income and your expenses on a piece of property. You can have a positive or negative cash flow. Obviously, you’ll feel a lot better if the cash flow is positive.

Some people prefer to reduce debt as quickly as possible and sacrifice a little, and keep a negative or zero cash flow. My advice on cash flow is this: Never use all of your positive cash flow with rapid debt reduction. You will be walking a thin line. By keeping a strong positive cash flow, you will have more options and space to maneuver.

2. Appreciation
Appreciation is the increase in value of a property. There are 2 kinds of appreciation. The first is from economic conditions beyond your control, such as inflation. But you wouldn’t gain much from this type of appreciation since the gain is offset by the higher cost of living.

The second kind of appreciation is market appreciation. This kind of appreciation, you can control . When you improve a property (through renovation), you are, in effect, forcing its value higher. You can purchase a piece of property in need of repairs and bring it back up to neighborhood standards or slightly higher. This will give you a property that is much higher in value.

3. Leverage
Leverage is the ability to borrow a percentage of the value of a piece of property. Real estate, in comparison to other investments, offers a very high degree of leverage. In some cases a couple buying a single-family home can obtain 95% financing. This allows individuals to purchase real estate with little, if any, of their own money. What other investments offer such a high degree of leverage?

4. Amortization
With leverage, or the use of other people’s money, comes a repayment schedule. Your outstanding balance is being reduced with every payment you make. Part of each payment goes to interest (applied first), and part of your payment goes to principal. The principal reduction is called amortization — reducing debt. Hence, amortization can make you wealthy — slowly and steadily.

5. Tax Advantages
Owning real estate with the goal of making profit allows you to deduct interest payments and other expenses come tax time. But, don’t be fooled into buying real estate for the tax advantages; buy real estate because it makes economic sense to do so.

Owning a real-estate business is a great way to achieve your financial freedom. What could be more worthwhile than taking up real estate as either a full-time business or even a hobby? The benefits are definitely there.

Link

Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym. Don’t believe everything you hear when it comes to exercise and weight gain, do the research yourself.

Lets take a look at some of the most common weight gain myths:

High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle.

Progressive overload is needed to make muscles bigger. Meaning that you need to perform more reps than you did for your last workout for that particular exercise. If you perform the same amount of reps at each workout nothing will change on you, also “if the weight doesn’t changes on the bar nothing will change on you” You need to become stronger

Definition has two characteristics, muscle size and a low incidence of body fat. To reduce body fat you will have to reduce your calories; the high repetition exercise will burn some calories, but wouldn’t it be better to fast walk to burn these off? Better still; use the low reps to build muscle, which will elevate your metabolism and burn more calories (less fat).

Vegetarians can’t build muscle.

Yes they can! Strength training with supplementation of soy Protein Isolate has shown to increase solid bodyweight. Studies have shown that athletic performance is not impaired by following a meat free diet, and people strength training and consuming only soy protein isolate as a protein source were able to gain lean muscle mass.

Strength Training will make you look masculine.

If it is not you’re intention to bulk up from strength training you won’t. Putting on muscle is a long hard slow process. Your strength-training regime coupled with quality food will determine how much you will bulk up. To bulk up you also require more food. Women don’t produce enough testosterone to allow for muscular growth as large as men.

By working out you can eat what ever you want to.

Of course you can eat whatever you want, if you don’t care how you want to look. Working out does not give you an open license to consume as many calories as you want. Although you will burn more calories if you workout than someone who doesn’t, you still need to balance your energy intake with you energy expenditure.

If you take a week off you will lose most of your gains.

Taking one or two weeks off occasionally will not harm your training. By taking this time off every eight to ten weeks in between strength training cycles it has the habit of refreshing you and to heal those small niggling injuries. By having longer layoffs you do not actually lose muscle fibres, just volume through not training; any size loss will be quickly re-gained.

By eating more protein I can build bigger muscles.

Building muscle mass involves two things, progressive overload to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and eating more calories than you can burn off. With all the hype about high protein diets lately and because muscle is made largely of protein, it’s easy to believe that protein is the best fuel for building muscle. However muscles work on calories that should predominately be derived from carbohydrates.

If I’m not sore after a workout, I didn’t work out hard enough.

Post workout soreness is not an indication of how good the exercise or strength-training session was for you. The fitter you are at a certain activity, the less soreness you will experience after. As soon as you change an exercise, use a heavier weight or do a few more reps you place extra stress on that body part and this will cause soreness.

Resistance training doesn’t burn fat.

Nothing could not be further from the truth. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue and has a role in increasing the metabolism. The faster metabolism we have the quicker we can burn fat. Cardio exercise enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but does little else for fat loss afterwards.

Weight training enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but also helps us to burn calories whilst at rest. Weight training encourages muscle growth and the more lean muscle mass we possess, the more fat we burn though an increased and elevated metabolism.

No pain no gain.

This is one myth that hangs on and on. Pain is your body signaling that something is wrong. If you feel real pain during a workout, stop your workout and rest. To develop muscle and increase endurance you may need to have a slight level of discomfort, but that’s not actual pain.

Taking steroids will make me huge.

Not true, strength training and correct nutrition will grow muscle. Taking steroids without training will not make you muscular. Most steroids allow faster muscle growth through greater recovery, while others help increase strength which allows for greater stress to be put onto a muscle. Without food to build the muscle or training to stimulate it nothing will happen. Most of the weight gain seen with the use of some steroids is due to water retention and is not actual muscle.

Strength training won’t work your heart.

Wrong! Strength training with short rest periods will increase your heartbeat well over a hundred beats per minute. For example, performing a set of breathing squats and you can be guaranteed that your heart will be working overtime and that your entire cardiovascular system will be given a great overall body workout.

Any intensive weightlifting routine that lasts for 20 minutes or more is a great workout for your heart and the muscles involved.

I can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Wrong. Only a few gifted people with superb genetics and on steroids can increase muscle size while not putting on body fat. But for the average hard gainer, they have to increase their muscle mass to its maximum potential and then cut down their body fat percentage to achieve the desired shape.

In conclusion, simple basic principles that apply to all weight and muscle gain such as progressive overload, variable frequency of reps and high intensity workouts are the way to go.

Jimmy Wales, the man who created Wikipedia, is planning to enter into search engine market with the financial help from the biggest online retailer, Amazon.com. Wales’ project, called Wikiasari, will use same user-based technology he perfected for Wikipedia.

The commercial version of the search engine will be developed through San Mateo, Calif.-based Wikia Inc., with a provisional launch planned for the first quarter of 2007, he said in an interview for The Times of London.

Wales believes that the human judgement is better than any computer search algorithm. “Essentially, if you consider one of the basic tasks of a search engine, it is to make a decision: ‘this page is good, this page sucks’,” Mr Wales said. “Computers are notoriously bad at making such judgments, so algorithmic search has to go about it in a roundabout way.

“But we have a really great method for doing that ourselves,” he added. “We just look at the page. It usually only takes a second to figure out if the page is good, so the key here is building a community of trust that can do that.”

The commercial version of the search engine will be developed through San Mateo, Calif.-based Wikia Inc., with a provisional launch planned for the first quarter of 2007, he said.

Finding different ways to improve the search techniques business was a hot topic during 2006. In November in their effort to better index the web sites Google, Yahoo and Microsoft decided to team up and use the same tool, called Sitemaps.

The tool, initially developed by Google, is a easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site. Sitemaps are especially important if a site uses Macromedia Flash or JavaScript menus that do not include HTML links.

As for the user generated search engines, Google launched in October Google Custom Search Engine, which allows users to have control over what shows up in their search index.

The Google Custom Search Engine enables users to restrict searches to specific pages and websites, offering them the possibility to customize searches to their hearts’ desire. They can choose which pages will be included in their search index, how the pages are arranged in order of priority and what the final page will look like. They can even decide if other users can contribute to the index. The user has total control over the search process. The big idea is to sift the relevant information from the irrelevant, in contrast to generic search engines that make no discriminations.

So, as you can see it won’t be a easy life for Wikiasari, but let’s see what Wales will unveil in 2007.

Nothing could be more perfect than a light dusting of snow falling on Christmas Eve to bring on the holiday spirit. Even if you’re not going to have a white Christmas, there are many things you can do to set the holiday mood.

Create a Holiday Environment
Enhance a cozy atmosphere with Christmas music and light some candles to welcome your guests. If you have a scrooge in your family, bribe him with some good food and shower him with love. He’ll be sure to lighten up. Whatever your traditions are, embrace them. They are part of your heritage!

Worship
Church services are are often attended, particularly Midnight Mass. A meaningful sermon this quiet time of the night brings the true meaning of Christmas — and why we are celebrating it. Seize this opportunity to take comfort in Jesus and the special gift he has given to all mankind.

Prepare Christmas Eve Dinner
Many Christmas Eve meals in America traditionally are ham or fowl. Because of the big meal planned for the holiday, some families like to keep the meal light and serve soup and crackers. By and large, most have the good ole sausage and cheese on hand for tasty snacks and appetizers.

Deck the Halls
With the commercialization of Christmas, this tradition is probably not near as popular these days because most families have trimmed their tree and put up decorations long before the holiday. For those running behind schedule or want to keep the tradition, this is a perfect time to add the finishing touches.

Deliver Christmas Gifts
Many people use this day to deliver gifts to friends and leave presents for service providers such as mail carriers and newspaper delivery personnel. With all of the activities planned for the holidays, some families choose Christmas Eve night to exchange their gifts. A visit from Santa will please the children and hopefully wear them out so they sleep well — with, of course, visions of sugarplums…

Donate Time to Charities
Many people find that going down to the local homeless shelter or soup kitchen and helping out brings a warm feeling like no other. There is a satisfaction to giving to the needy and it reminds us to be thankful for the life we have and not to take it for granted.

Holiday Travel
For those who plan on traveling for the holidays, this is often the day they begin their trip. Airports and highways are crowded with people trying to get to their destination so they can spend Christmas with their family or friends. If you’re one of those, check out our travel tips page to make your trip easier.

Traditions for Children
Besides a visit from Santa, stockings are hung by the fireplace to collect all of the goodies. It is customary to read children some Christmas stories to complete their evening. The classic “The Night Before Christmas” is by far, the most popular short story of all. Reading stories in front of the fireplace with some hot chocolate will get the kids settled down and ready for bed.

Make New Traditions
Old family customs are nostalgic but sometimes not practical in this day and age. Try mixing some old traditions with new ones. If you want to be out and about on Christmas Eve, going out to see a holiday movie or play will serve that purpose and add some holiday cheer. Check in with the personnel at a local nursing home to get an idea of what residents will not have family in town. Pay them a visit and give them a small, useful gift, all in the spirit of Christmas.

I have found this kickass link that lets you track any cell phone you want in the world!!! It is a free service and you can spy on whoever you want. Last night my wife went out for a few hours with her friends, and was horrified when I told her exactly where she went, heh. I wish I would’ve kept this secret for a little while longer Oh well. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Check it out here -www.phonetrace.org

IF YOU ARE UNDER 18, DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE! In Fact, Do Not Click. [nsfw]

• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 quarts milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ground nutmeg

In heavy 4-quart saucepan, with wire whisk, beat eggs, sugar, and salt until blended. Gradually stir in 1 quart milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon well, about 25 minutes (mixture should be about 170 F to 175 F. but do not boil or it will curdle).Pour custard into large bowl; stir in vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and remaining milk. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.
To serve, in small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy or whipping cream until soft peaks form. with wire whisk, gently fold whipped cream into custard mixture.

Pour eggnog into chilled 5-quart punch bowl; sprinkle with ground nutmeg.

Serving Size: 16.

Be sure to avoid the high street or stuff that she is likely to see on the Net. There’s nothing worse for a girl than finding out just how much you’re worth, from the price tag of a gift you spot at a local store. It’s not so bad if it’s reassuringly expensive, but spotting a cheap gift you just received, ends up making you feel equally cheap!

Less cash, more effort
The thing is, with a little effort and imagination, that needn’t happen — it’s more down to laziness than a lack of cash. Your cheap gift needn’t look cheap if you shop around for something unusual and put an extra effort into how you wrap it.

Here’s our checklist of how to make the best of a low gift budget…

1. Stay off the beaten track when looking for an inexpensive gift
Like I said already, you don’t want her to find out the price that easily! Also, it shows more effort than if you wandered down the local high street with your cash. In my opinion, you’re better off looking on the Net — you would be surprised how far you can make just £15 stretch.

Handmade jewellery is surprisingly good value these days. Silver is remarkably cheap and you can buy designs on the Net that she’ll never come across on the High Street. See our handpicked selection of jewellery gifts for some examples.

Little Treats — you know those little nik naks that you don’t really need, which you would never buy yourself — make good inexpensive gifts. We’ve dozens of them listed in our gift selection. They start from under ten pounds.

Gadgets and gizmos. Be careful here because you are buying a gift for her and not for you. In amongst all the boyish stuff there are some girly gifts and they are not necessarily all expensive. Check out our Trend-setters section for handpicked trendy gifts suitable for girls. Also try this retailer iwantoneofthose.com, which is one of the most popular stores listed on our site.

2. Put an extra effort into finding a gift for HER
No matter how much you’re spending, a gift that shows you really know her is going to delight her. You can spend a fortune on something totally inappropriate and not score any favours. Conversely, you can spend very little on an inexpensive gift that is just so right for her that she adores it and you!

The secret is to think about her for twice as long as you would spend browsing endless shops for gifts! What’s she into? what are her ambitions, aspirations, etc? Then scale the ultimate gift down to something cheap that fits within your budget.

If you’re strapped for cash short-term you can always allude to something better in the future. For example, buy her the soundtrack and hint at taking her to the musical, or get the travel guide and slip in an IOU for next spring. Creativity and a bit of romance will really help you out of a financial tight spot around her birthday or your anniversary.

3. Wrap the gift well
Whatever you give her — from a book, to an experience voucher, to a teddy bear — make sure you wrap the thing properly and give it graciously.

• Make a good job or wrapping your gift. Use plenty of bows and ribbon and decent wrapping paper.
• Give it properly. Don’t apologise first. Don’t mention the gift’s cost or be overly apologetic about it and don’t say that the woman in the shop thought you would like it!
• Leave her in no doubt that you chose it and are giving it because you love her.

Apart from the obvious toxic effects, you should realise you’re suffering the effects of a mild overdose of a depressant drug and your nerves are reacting accordingly, and you have also flushed a signifnicant quantity of vitamins and nutrients from your system causing a degree of metabolic shock that your body is struggling to compensate against. This is why hangover symptoms often include disorientation and “the jitters”.

Some drinks give you worse hangovers than others due to the actions of impurities called Congeners. While it’s the ethyl alcohol (ethanol) that gets you drunk, amyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol is also found in most drinks to varying degrees, and the concentration of these Congeners will go a long way to determining the severity of the hangover.

Vodka and gin (clear liquors) are generally lower in congeners than whisky, rum and bourbon, due to the filtering process involved, and hence usually give a less intense hangover. Unfortunately the congeners also give flavor, smell and appearance to alcohol.

Another contributor to the hangover is the “freshness” of the alcohol since the natural oxidation product of ethanol is also acetaldehyde. Finishing off an already open bottle of red, or drinking beer that’s been in the boot of your car for a week, will provide you with a ready made supply of acetaldehyde so you don’t have to wait for your liver to make it in order to have a really good hangover.

Most hangover “remedies” simply attend to one or more of the symptoms and don’t really provide a cure as such. The hangover won’t stop until the alcohol is out of your system:

• Berocca - Puts the vitamin B back in, as well as the big glass of water it’s mixed with. It’s probably best to do this before you go out.
• Coke - Fizz for the nausea, liquid for the dehydration, and a caffeine and sugar hit to make you feel a bit more lively.
• Coffee - Same as Coke but without the bubbles to help ease the nausea. Try it with honey instead of sugar since the fructose is absorbed quicker than the sucrose in normal sugar, and it’s better for you.
• Ginseng - It’s been noted that since caffeine is a diuretic like alcohol, it can actually make the dehydration worse, so try the herbal equivalent instead.
• Vegemite On Toast - Something in your stomach is good, and salty is even better. Plus you get a Vitamin B top up. The same reasons also make peanut butter a good choice, but the oily nature might make some sensitive stomachs feel a bit yucky. If you do try try this one, skip the butter and just have dry toast.
• Cold Pizza - Who knows, but it seems to work.
  Asprin - Simply attends to the headache and does nothing for the level of alcohol in your system. Don’t take them before you go to bed.
• Bananas - Sugar in the form of fructose, and potassium, which is one of the things you lose lots of when you drink. Bananas are also a natural antacid to help with the nausea, and are high in magnesium which can help relax those pounding blood vessels causing that hangover headache. For a variety of reasons try a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich on white bread.
• Vitamin C - Another thing the alcohol takes out that you’re advised to put back in as soon as possible. Orange juice, tomato, a 600mg Vitamin C tablet - doesn’t matter, just do it.
• A Hot Bath - The heat will sweat out the toxins that are causing all the problems. You’ll feel a bit woozy at first but go with it and you’ll feel better afterwards.
• Chocolate Milk - This one was sent in by Michael and sounds like it’s worth a try - “Regarding your hangover remedies, I would like to suggest chocolate milk. The store bought kind seems to work best, due to ease of attainment (unless you blew all your money at the bar hoping to get lucky), quietness (no loud banging of the teaspoon trying to mix the homemade stuff), and ease of use (the opening is the perfect fit when you have the jitters and no messy clean up). The suggested minimum dosage is the pint ( 1/2 litre) size, though the new quart (litre) can be used for extreme episodes. Other than the rehydration factor, I find that chocolate milk offers the tummy a soothing coating for the nausea. It also repletes some of the vitamins your body is now woefully lacking. The sugars (lactose & sucrose) and salt seem to be the perfect balance of the carb/salt fix. Many women can attest to the beneficial, relatively inexpensive, and legal effects of chocolate against depression, whether physiological or psychological. Last, the flavor seems to do wonders for that ghastly “did I try to mop the floor with my tongue?” taste in your mouth. So, on your way home, stop by your convenient convenience store, head on over to the cooler, grab one more “cold one” (chocolate milk, that is), and bring it home for the morning. Your mother shall compliment you on at least one healthy drinking habit.”

Here’s a few tried and proven ideas for hangover prevention:

• Don’t drink. (doh!)
• Take a Berocca before you start drinking. This gets a reserve of Vitamin B into you.
  Alternate fruit juice or water in amongst your drinks to avoid dehydration later on. Avoid fizzy or sugary stuff. The purists reckon that about 200ml of water is needed to effectively counteract each 30ml of alcohol.
• The alcohol in carbonated drinks is absorbed more quickly than in non-carbonated drinks.
  Reduce the amount of sugar you consume with your alcohol. The forced metabolism of sugar AND alcohol by your body will accelerate the depletion of B vitamins and make the hangover worse.
• The 2am pig-out. Pizza or pasta is usually best since cheese and carbohydrates are a good source of amino acids. Actually food is a good idea all round - before, during and immediately after drinking. Food doesn’t absorb alcohol, but it does increase metabolism, activates alcohol absorption, and increases the speed with which the body processes alcohol.

And here are a few remedy cocktails. At least they won’t make you feel any worse:

Poor Man’s Bloody Mary
5oz Tomato Juice
3oz Light Beer
Salt
Pepper
Lots and lots of lime juice
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Mix and scull.

Bloody Mary
1.5 oz vodka
Dash of lemon (or lime) juice
Worcestershire sauce
2 or 3 drops Tabasco sauce
Pepper, salt and celery salt
5 oz tomato juice
Over ice in a tall glass add spices, then vodka.
Fill with tomato juice and stir.
Garnish with celery stick and lime wedge.

Fruit And Stuff
1 banana
1 small can V-8
6 large strawberries
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup orange juice
1-2 cups milk (or soy milk), to desired consistency
¼ tsp. salt
dash of nutmeg
Mix together in a blender and drink.

Bloody Mary Variations
Use gold tequila instead - Deadly Mary
Use tequila instead - Bloody Maria
Use gin instead - Red Snapper
Add chilli pepper and beef stock - Bloody Bull
Use V8 juice instead of tomato juice - Vege Mary
No Alcohol - Virgin Mary

Aunt Emma’s Hangover Cocktail
1 large can of tomato juice
3 Tablespoons vinegar
1 lemon
4 slices of onion
3 Tablespoons of sugar
4 stalks of celery
2 teaspoons of Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Mix ingredients in a container, let stand overnight.
Strain and serve.

Prairie Oyster
Olive oil
Tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper
Tabasco
Worcestershire sauce
Vinegar or lemon juice
Rinse a cocktail glass with the olive oil and discard oil.
Mix all ingredients except egg yolk.
Place the egg yolk in carefully.
Serve with a small spoon and a glass of ice water.

Banana Cow
1 crushed ripe banana
2 level tablespoons powdered sugar
3 oz milk
1 1/2 oz rum
Plenty of cracked ice
Mix together in a blender and drink.

Van Diemen
2 cups of Ovaltine
Chocolate topping
2 cups of castor sugar
3 tblsp of golden syrup
1 pkt of pineapple jelly crystals
2 cups of hot water
2-3 cups of milk (full-cream)
Combine Ovaltine, sugar, topping, 3/4 milk, hot water and golden syrup.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes, adding rest of milk and stirring after 1 minute
Add 1/2 of jelly crystals and microwave on high for 30 secs
Add rest of jelly and a bit more hot water. Microwave for 1 minute.
Pour into cups. Refigerate. Serve with custard.