Kiat Memberi Kado

Berikut ini ada 10 pertanyaan yang perlu Anda ajukan pada diri sendiri sebelum memberi kado:

* Apa alasan saya memberi kado?
* Tuluskah saya memberinya?
* Apakah kado yang akan saya beri merefleksikan selera saya atau orang yang akan menerimanya?
* Apakah kado saya terlalu mewah?
* Apakah pemberian kado ini akan mengejutkan?
* Apakah tepat memberi kado permen atau cokelat bagi orang yang sedang diet?
* Pantaskah kado diberikan secara pribadi?
* Apakah kado harus selalu dibungkus dengan rapi dan cantik?
* Apakah saya merasa nyaman memberikannya?

Pertanyaan pertama yang harus Anda tanyakan adalah mengapa memberi kado. Biasanya kita memberi kado untuk menyatakan terima kasih atas kerja sama bisnis, kepada seseorang yang pernah mentraktir kita makan siang atau malam, kepada kekasih yang mengajak kita makan malam di rumahnya, atau kepada orang yang memberi informasi penting dalam berbisnis.

Anda pun bisa memberi kado sebagai ucapan selamat kepada seseorang atas keberhasilannya, kado perkawinan, ulang tahun, atau kelahiran bayi. Dan pada saat memilih kado, jangan lupa alasan Anda memberinya. Untungnya, kini semakin banyak cara untuk mencari, memilih, dan mengirimkan kado di berbagai kesempatan.Selain itu, perhatikan juga sejumlah hal di bawah ini sebelum Anda benar-benar memberikannya!

* Jika ingin membelikan kado mainan perang-perangan kepada anak kecil, tanyakan terlebih dulu kepada orangtuanya. Ada orangtua yang tak senang kado mainan seperti itu.
* Jangan pernah memberikan anak-anak kado berupa binatang peliharaan, kecuali Anda sudah mendapat ijin terlebih dahulu dari orangtuanya.
* Kado berupa sepaket barang yang dibutuhkan si penerima akan meninggalkan kesan lebih mendalam. Misalnya, sepaket rangakaian perawatan tubuh atau kosmetik dengan merek favorit si penerima.
* Nilai kado akan bertambah tinggi jika diterima pada saat yang tepat dan dikemas cantik.
* Kado sebaiknya disertai kartu ucapan selamat lalu tambahkan tulisan tangan Anda, walaupun pada kartu ucapan sudah tercetak kata-kata mutiara.
* Kado berupa uang akan lebih bermanfaat diberikan dalam bentuk cek. Uang tunai lebih tepat untuk anak-anak. Jika memberikan uang tunai, adakalanya baik juga mencantumkan jumlah untuk menghindari hilangnya uang atau salah menempatkannya, dan cara ini bisa membantu si penerima pada saat ia akan mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Anda. Di kartu ucapan, Anda pun dapat menuliskan, “Mudah-mudahan uang sejumlah Rp 100 ribu ini dapat bermanfaat.”
* Biasanya, uang sebagai kado diberikan dari orang yang lebih tua kepada yang lebih muda. Akan lebih baik bila Anda mengetahui apakah uang yang diberikan akan dibelikan sesuatu yang istimewa, dengan menyertakan kata-kata di kartu ucapan Anda yang mendekatkannya pada tujuannya. Selamat mencoba!

It was, It is, and It will be: “tak ada kata terlambat untuk berubah!!!”

It was, It is, and It will be: “tak ada kata terlambat untuk berubah!!!”

Banyak orang yang menganggap bahwa apa yang sudah kita miliki, baik itu sifat, kecerdasan, kepekaan terhadap lingkungan, keimanan, dan kebiasaan, semuanya itu bersifat sudah final. Emang saya adanya begini, diapa-apain ya kurang lebih akan begini juga. Saya pemarah, bodoh, malas, minder, miskin, penakut, dan banyak predikat lainnya yang sudah kita patenkan untuk kita. Awas ini bahaya!!!

Orang seperti itu mencampur adukkan antara masa lalu (it was), saat ini (it is), dan yang akan datang (it will be). Itu biasanya berlaku buat para penakut dan pengecut. Menganggap semua yang kita miliki sudah final itu juga “meremehkan TUHAN” karena Tuhan disini diposisikan sebagai “yang tidak bisa merubah”. Padahal Tuhan akan menjadikan apapun yang DIA mau.

Disini butuh pemahaman bahwa “the past is not equal with today” dan “the past is not equal with the future”. Karena kita tidak bisa merubah “the past” maka mari kita merubah “today and the future”.

Mari kita berani berubah, dan kemudian berdoa “Thanks God I’m changing to be better”

adopted from Praptapa, Agung (2008).

Jejak Kecil

Jejak kecil yg kau tinggalkan,

Melemparkanku pada keajaiban penuh makna,

Dan dengan segala cinta yang kupunya,

Kubiarkan angan kita mengembara,

Jika kau kira dengan sebelah sayap aku akan terkoyak,

Maka camkanlah dengan sebelah sayap itu

Akan kujelajah gunung,

Ombak-ombak samudera,

Dan gemintang diangkasa,

Telah kutinggalkan cemburu di sudut kamar gelap,

telah kuhanyutkan duka pada sungai kecil yang mengalir dari mataku,

Telah kukabarkan lewat angin gerimis,

Tentang segala catatan hati

Yang terhampar ditiap jengkal sajadah

Dalam tahajud & sujud panjangku,

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Terimakasih ya Allah, Engkau telah merubahku menjadi lebih baik.

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Hamba adalah manusia yg lemah.

Hanya kepadaMU hamba berlindung dari segala perbuatan buruk hamba.

Hamba mengakui segala dosa yang telah hamba lakukan.

Hamba mengakui segala Nikmat yang telah Engkau curahkan.

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Lalu nikmat Tuhan mana lagi yang akan aku dustakan?

Music headphones can interfere with heart devices

NEW ORLEANS – Have a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator? Don’t keep your iPod earbuds in your shirt pocket or draped around your neck — even when they’re disconnected. A study finds that some headphones can interfere with heart devices if held very close to them.

They might even prevent a defibrillator from delivering a lifesaving shock, say doctors who tested them.

“Headphones contain magnets, and some of these magnets are powerful,” said the study’s leader, Dr. William Maisel, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a heart device consultant to the federal Food and Drug Administration.

“I certainly don’t think people should overreact to this information,” but it’s smart to keep small electronics at least a few inches from implanted medical devices, and not let someone wearing headphones lean against your chest if you have one, he said.

“The headphone interaction applies whether or not the headphones are plugged in to the music player and whether or not the music player is on or off,” he added.

Maisel’s research was presented Sunday at an American Heart Association conference.

Nearly 2 million people worldwide have pacemakers, defibrillators or other devices to help their hearts beat faster, slower or more regularly. Tests by the FDA earlier this year concluded that iPods or other music players posed no threat to these devices as long as they were used properly.

Maisel and other doctors wanted to know if the same was true of headphones. They tested eight models — earbuds and those that hook over the ear — in 60 people with heart devices.

When headphones were about an inch from the device, interference was detected nearly one-fourth of the time — in four of the 27 pacemaker patients and 10 of the 33 with defibrillators. A pacemaker reset itself in one patient.

Patients having such interference might not feel anything, or may have heart palpitations. But the interference could temporarily deactivate a defibrillator, keeping it from delivering a lifesaving shock if one were needed.

The magnet’s effect falls off rapidly with distance from the device, and heart device function returns to normal as soon as the headphone is out of range.

The study did not test larger or noise-canceling headphones. The size of the headphone doesn’t necessarily relate to magnetic strength; small, portable ones typically use neodymium, which is one of the most powerful and concentrated magnetic substances, Maisel said.

A separate study presented at the heart conference found no danger to heart devices from cell phones equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology.

Cell phones, anti-theft security devices and a host of other electronics have sparked fears in the past, but studies generally find no danger to heart devices with ordinary, prudent use, said Dr. Douglas Zipes, past president of the American College of Cardiology and professor of cardiology at Indiana University.

“Reassurance to the public is what’s warranted. I still get questions, what about my microwave?” he said.

Dr. Kenneth Ellenbogen, a heart device expert at Virginia Commonwealth University and a spokesman for the heart association, said the solution is simple: “Keep your headphones on your ears and when they’re not on your ears, you shouldn’t put them over your chest or your pacemaker.”

 

Health Tip: After Your Child is Born

(HealthDay News) – It’s important to properly care for your newborn’s umbilical cord to prevent infection and related complications.

 

Here are warning signs, courtesy of the University of Virginia Health System, that should prompt you to contact your doctor:

• The end of the umbilical cord (near the skin) is bleeding.
• What’s left of the cord is discharging yellow or white pus.
• Swelling or redness is surrounding the belly button.
• Your baby is providing signals that the belly button is sore or tender.

Studies: Vitamin pills don’t prevent heart disease

NEW ORLEANS – Vitamins C and E — pills taken by millions of Americans — do nothing to prevent heart disease in men, one of the largest and longest studies of these supplements has found.

Vitamin E even appeared to raise the risk of bleeding strokes, a danger seen in at least one earlier study.

Besides questioning whether vitamins help, “we have to worry about potential harm,” said Barbara Howard, a nutrition scientist at MedStar Research Institute of Hyattsville, Md.

She has no role in the research but reviewed and discussed it Sunday at an American Heart Association conference. Results also were published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

About 12 percent of Americans take supplements of C and E despite growing evidence that these antioxidants do not prevent heart disease and may even be harmful.

Male smokers taking vitamin E had a higher rate of bleeding strokes in a previous study, and several others found no benefit for heart health.

As for vitamin C, some research suggests it may aid cancer, not fight it. A previous study in women at high risk of heart problems found it did not prevent heart attacks.

Few long-term studies have been done. The new one is the Physicians Health Study, led by Drs. Howard Sesso and J. Michael Gaziano of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

It involved 14,641 male doctors, 50 or older, including 5 percent who had heart disease at the time the study started in 1997. They were put into four groups and given either vitamin E, vitamin C, both, or dummy pills. The dose of E was 400 international units every other day; C was 500 milligrams daily.

After an average of eight years, no difference was seen in the rates of heart attack, stroke or heart-related deaths among the groups.

However, 39 men taking E suffered bleeding strokes versus only 23 of the others, which works out to a 74 percent greater risk for vitamin-takers.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and several vitamin makers. Results were so clear that they would be unlikely to change if the study were done in women, minorities, or with different formulations of the vitamins, Howard said.

“In these hard economic times, maybe we can save some money by not buying these supplements,” she said.

A second study found that vitamins B-12 and B-9 (folic acid) did not prevent heart disease either, supporting the results of previous trials. That study involved more than 12,000 heart attack survivors and was led by Dr. Jane Armitage of the University of Oxford in England.

___

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org/

Heart meeting: http://www.americanheart.org

How to Find Out the Reason You Didn’t Get the Job

Wed, 11/05/2008 – 9:30am by SavvySugar

292 Views – 5 comments

 

Networking to find work is an invaluable tool, but after you’ve networked your way in to an interview you’re often on your own. A few unanswered emails and replies that the company has decided to go in another direction is enough to put a job seeker into a state of frustration, but your network could come in to play once again after you’ve been brushed off by a potential employer. Find out how when you read more.

Networking specialist Diane Darling recommends asking your network of friends, family, and professional contacts to anonymously assess your strengths and weaknesses by using the online polling tool SurveyMonkey.com. Diane tried the survey herself and ended up buying a new wardrobe — the poll answers suggested that her attire wasn’t appropriate for the types of jobs she was after. She offers four questions to consider asking your network to answer anonymously.

• What three words come to mind when you think of my strengths? What three words come to mind when you think about areas where I could improve?
• Is there one aspect of my hunt where I am making a big mistake but appear unaware? If yes, what is my mistake?
• What jobs do you think I might be good at that I haven’t considered?
• What type of jobs have I looked down on that might pay well?

How to Fix 9 Fashion Emergencies With Just One Tool

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Topstick

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REAL SIMPLE. REAL LIFE. style expert Sam Saboura swears by clear double-sided Topstick Fashion-Fix tape. He keeps a pack at home, a pack in his car, and a pack in his styling kit. Here are a few of his tape tricks.

• Prevent the buttons on a shirt from pulling and gaping. Peel off the backing of a skinny piece of Topstick Fashion-Fix tape. Stick the tape onto the placket of the shirt between the two offending buttons. Peel off the remaining backing, making sure not to touch the tape, since the natural oils on your hands will reduce the stickiness. Button your shirt as usual and press the tape into place.
• Keep a collar in place. Peel the back off a piece of Topstick Fashion-Fix tape, flip up your collar and place the tape in a diagonal line from the point of the collar down to the neckline. Peel off the remaining backing and fold your collar down. Give it a little press and your collar will stay put all day long.
• Seal a broken zipper down into place by sticking the zipper seam to the fabric.
• Attach your bra strap to your tank top to keep it from playing peek-a-boo.
• Turn a hem under on a pair of too-long jeans or slacks.
• Stick peeling wallpaper back onto a wall.
• Cover cleavage when you’re showing too much skin by adjusting the fabric of your garment and sticking it into place.
• Secure pesky clothing tags that have a habit of popping out.
• Tape down those looped strings on the interior shoulders of garments that are used for hanging. (No need to cut them out anymore!)

Savings Plan Checklist

Save money on your dinner bill

• by Real Simple, on Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:01pm PDT
• Read More from This Author »

• 1244 Comments
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Monica Buck

Dining out can get expensive — especially when you have five mouths to feed. But a family’s got to eat! Financial expert Farnoosh Torabi shares her advice for cutting that restaurant check in half.BYOB: bring your own beverage. Pick up a bottle of wine at a liquor store before heading to dinner and you could save up to 100 percent of the restaurant’s price on the bottle. Restaurants often mark up wine by over 100 percent. (Note: Some establishments may charge a “corkage fee,” usually around $10-$15, for allowing you to bring in your own vino — but in most cases, you’ll still save.) Find the Perfect Bottle of Wine with these tips from Real Simple.

Order an appetizer. Even if appetizer portions of entrees aren’t listed on the menu, restaurants may prepare them for customers. The bonus: These portions are sometimes nearly as large as the entrée plate, but a fraction of the price.

Make your meal last. Get two dinners for one price. When ordering, ask your server to pack half your plate in a doggy bag before serving you the other half. You’ll have a meal to eat at home tomorrow — and you won’t be tempted to overeat today. Learn how to Transform Leftovers into Party-Perfect Cuisine.

Pay in cash. Having a drink at the bar before your meal? Bartender friends have confided to Farnoosh that credit card users often overspend by an estimated 20 percent. One reason: Throwing down a dollar in cash as a tip for each cocktail you order tends to add up to less than the average 15 to 20 percent tip on a credit card tab.

Make friends with the bartender. Freebies go to those who are friendly.