I’ve been lucky, I’ve been well employed for most of my 21 years since college graduation. In that time, I have worked for many diverse individuals. Heaven knows, they have been a very unique group of people! Regardless of the boss’s personality and work style, one thing held true - I had to do what I could to make them look good. After all, they were signing my paycheck! Below are my five secrets to managing my boss, and therefore, keeping him or her happy.

First of all, understand that your boss will give you more autonomy the better you keep them informed. Update them regularly whether they ask for it or not. Understand that your boss has several projects at any time and people to manage and the easier you make that for them, the more they appreciate you. Even if the news is bad getting it out sooner rather than later is always best.

Remember that all businesses are organizations and that to get ahead you need to be organized too. And that organization needs to be obvious. When you meet with your boss, always know what you need to cover from most important to least. That way your boss will be impressed with your ability to prioritize and if you run out of time, there will never be any important issues that get left unresolved.

Be a pest, but only when it’s necessary. Most managers are juggling multiple deadlines and issues on any given day. This means it can be difficult to get his attention when you need to discuss a time-sensitive issue that has arisen. If you must, be a pest. I have been known to post myself outside my boss’s door until she is off the phone, or to ask her neighbor to give me a quick call when he sees her return from a meeting. Realize that being a pest can back-fire if you use it too often. Yes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but if grease doesn’t work and the wheel keeps squeaking it becomes an annoyance.

Make your boss look good and, if you can, make their peers look good also. If you constantly make your boss look good they will keep you with them as they rise. If you occasionally make their peers look good (and they realize it) you are positioning yourself to be seen as someone who’ll make anyone look good and thus become a coveted employee. If they end up with an opening that could be a promotion for you, you’ll be a shoe in if they already know and respect you.

Be grateful for the job and be respectful of the burdens your boss is carrying. All to often all we see is a person who’s making more money than us and, perhaps, we are a bit envious of them. We start expecting them to be more intelligent, more mature, and more subject to our needs. But think of the impact you will create when you let your boss know that you are happy to have your job and respect them as a person. I’m not advocating being some sort of overly optimistic happy Harry or to kiss up to your boss at every turn. No it’s a quiet gratitude and gentle respect I’m advocating.

I assure you that if you follow these five steps not only will you see greater success in the business world than do those who don’t, you’ll end up being happier as well. And that’s just goodness no matter how you look at it.

Did you know that green living can actually help you live longer? It might sound strange, but it’s really true - many of the same things that help the earth will help you, too. If you drive less, eat fresh organically grown foods and do many other ecologically friendly things, you’ll live a lot longer.

Happily, there are some simple steps you can take towards living a greener life. In most cities, there is curbside recycling; so all you need to do is to separate your recyclables and place them out on the curb along with your trash for pickup - the pickup service takes care of the rest, all you have to do is separate your recyclables and take them to the curb.

Driving less allows you to save fuel and cut down on traffic. You’ll feel less stressed when you aren’t dealing with inconsiderate drivers and traffic jams. When you can, take public transit or carpool - you’ll save money and the environment. Biking and walking are a great way to accomplish errands close to home, and they help you get your exercise. That means you’ll look great, feel great, and be in good health!

Composting your food scraps can save you money in garbage waste and provide you with great soil next season for your own garden. It also keeps a lot of good stuff out of the landfills. Just keep adding your fruit and vegetable wastes, egg shells, coffee grounds, and grains to the compost pile. You can add your raked leaves and lawn clippings as well. Don’t add meat or bones… they will attract insects like flies and will take longer to compost. Water the compost down once in awhile to get the enzymes activated. Come spring, you’ll have some nice compost soil to add to your own vegetable garden for more healthy eating.

You can also get rid of your existing yard lights and replace them with solar powered lights. These do just as good of a job of illuminating your outdoor spaces, but use no electrical power. You can find solar powered yard lights in a variety of pleasing designs and you can install theme yourself without the assistance of an electrician. Solar powered holiday lights are also available, letting you save money on your electric bill while dressing up your home for the holidays.

Recycling cans, bottles and packaging will also help you reduce your trash bills and your carbon footprint. Consider using cloth bags instead of paper or plastic - you’ll save resources and avoid that ever growing pile of bags in the kitchen. Some stores will give you a small discount for using your own bag. These things all reduce pollution, allowing us to live in a cleaner world.

Once you get started, you’ll wonder how you ever lived another way. Living greener allows you to feel better, be healthier, and be happy knowing that you’re living on a healthier planet. Try greening up your life a little and live a lot longer.

Depending on their different needs, some people would prefer a handheld GPS unit over a permanent one. A portable or a handheld unit allows users great freedom to move around even without a car. Sometimes though, the efficiency of units depends on how you pick and use them.

Pick the Right Size

Size always matters. If you want a portable GPS, it should necessarily be handy enough to tote around. You don’t want to have to carry a large screen that looks like a textbook or a laptop. Handheld devices should be small enough to fit your pockets.

Do remember however, that GPS devices are supposed to display maps and instructions. Devices that are too small may have displays that are either too confusing or too small to decipher. Get a device with a size that you are most at ease with.

Always Charge Fully

Battery Packs - The greatest limitation of portable GPS devices are their battery packs. You cannot expect handheld units to last for the entire day. At the most, they can only give you enough power for a few hours covering less than half a day. This may be a problem for you especially if you end up getting lost after a long nature walk.

To maximize the use of your unit, always use it fully charged. If you are traveling in your car or headed for another person’s home, always consider bringing your handheld GPS battery charger.

Keep Unit Updated

Internal Maps - GPS devices have internal maps. These maps however are limited to specific areas and continents. Some units also do not automatically update their maps when new places are added. You therefore have to periodically update your device yourself. Some brands have their own websites where you can download maps or data to update your old GPS maps.

Think of Driving

Do you plan to drive and use your handheld device at the same time? Do remember that these units are small and are not always user friendly. Using one while driving may divert your attention. Make sure you keep yourself safe by making yourself familiar with your unit first before using it in a car. Your GPS device should also have such features as voice capabilities and pre programming of destinations. This will be more convenient and safer for you as you drive.

Nothing is more convenient than a handheld GPS. If you pick and use your unit properly, you can only really gain greater convenience.

There are many people who dream of having a successful acting career. It’s rewarding work, but it’s also one of the most difficult parts of the film industry to get into.

If film and TV are your dream job, there are plenty of other areas you can get into. You could consider directing, producing or even writing scripts, and choosing the right film school is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.

The first step towards getting into the film industry is choosing the type of career you want. Almost any job in the industry pays pretty well, so be prepared for lots of competition. You also need to keep in mind that you’ll probably be starting from the bottom, commonly as a production assistant (PA) - answering phones, fetching coffee, etc.

Keep in mind that you will also likely need to move to where the work is available. In the film industry, that can mean working on location for weeks or months at a time.

Choose the Film School that Meets your Criteria

If you’re passionate about becoming an actor, don’t choose a film school that specializes in directing. Of course, you need to be familiar with all aspects of the business but you should choose a school that is strong in the area you most want to work.

Find a school that will let you choose courses that best suit your goals rather than handing you a set class list that you must follow.

With the way the film industry has been growing in recent years, you’ll find film schools popping up all over the place. Make sure you do some thorough research before choosing one so you don’t wind up paying a lot of money for a diploma that won’t benefit you.

Find out how long the school has been around and double-check their credentials. Many large universities are now starting to offer film degrees, many of which are very highly regarded in the industry, so that is another possible alternative.

By using a reverse cell phone search you can find out someone’s full name, address and background information by having only their phone number. This can come handy in many different situations - let’s have a look to see how it is done.

You usually have to pay for this type of service, but there is a free way to find out the same information. Let’s cut right to the chase and find out how this is done.

When you have the phone number you want to look into, head over to Google and punch in the phone number in the following format: “555-555-5555″ (make sure to use quotation marks). Hit the search button and wait for the results to come up.

In this case we are hoping that this phone number has found it’s way on the world wide web at some point in time. People will leave their phone number on webpages for different reasons - this is needed for filling out a classified ad or even filling out some types of ‘profile’ pages. If this number has ever been published online, Google is your best bet to find it.

Take a look at your search results and see if you were left with an exact match. If so, open up the page and see what information is available about the number. Obviously we are hoping to see at least the name of who owns the phone - if we can find out even more detailed information than even better.

This free reverse cell phone search technique will often work. Even though the paid services aren’t expensive, you may as well give this a shot to see if you can save a couple of bucks. If it doesn’t you can always go to a paid service afterwards.

Since most phone numbers these days aren’t published in any phone book (unlisted and cell numbers), these phone records aren’t available in any “public domain”. Instead, companies have to pay money to have access to these records and then build databases that detective agencies, law enforcement and now the general public can search through.

It’s not expensive and you can do it all online. All you do is type in the phone number and then the owner’s name, address, location details and background information is instantly displayed on the computer screen.

If you want to try a free sample search use the link at the bottom of this article. This will give you an idea of how this service works. It’s interesting to see how much you can find out about a person with just their phone number.

If you do choose to use this type of service, it is recommended to find a company that only charges a ‘one-time’ fee for unlimited searches. This way you are only billed the one time and can conduct as many searches as you want, whenever you want.

A reverse cell phone search can come in handy any time you need to “investigate” a certain phone number. Thanks to technology it only takes a couple of minutes and can all be done safely and privately just by logging on to the internet. All the best!

Due to the horrible state of the current economy, many people are finding themselves out of work and looking for USA jobs. Manufacturing and real estate used to be reliable industries for finding work, but those jobs are no longer easy to find. When the economy becomes this difficult, many people need to get second jobs so they can earn extra income to pay their bills. Read the rest of this entry »