Dear Drunk G

I decided to take a short trip to Newark, New Jersey. Not because of anything really, but I was really curious about the Newark Museum, the largest museum in that city. As I really like anything about Tibetan culture and art, the much vaunted Tibetan collection of that museum drew me like a fly to a spider’s web. When I got there, I was not disappointed to say the least. I went alone, and I literally got lost in the museum, got lost amongst the incredible displays from the Tibetan collection to the science galleries, the planetarium and all the other exhibits.

I travelled to Newark from Philadelphia by taking the SEPTA train from the airport. I then transferred to the R& line at 30th Street Station. This I took all the way to Trenton and it only cost me around $10. From there, I took the NJ transit train which took me directly to Newark (Liberty) Airport. Then I took the monorail to the terminal. This cost me another $10.
The New Jersey Transit trains are frequent and timed to allow for easy transfers from SEPTA.

As I needed to stay overnight, I decided to just stay in one of the numerous hotels in the city. There were pretty cheap ones but I had a choice of three hotels that were near the airport. The location near the airport was a just in case decision for me because I just wanted to relax and if I was tired, I could just take the plane rather than the train that I came in with.

Of the three choices, I decided to go to Days Hotel Newark Airport. The prices were right and it was easy to get a ride to and from the hotel to any destination I wanted. I liked it because it had internet access and they had this flight information display at the lobby which made my decision making easier. I was still not certain if I really wanted to stay one more day or just go home.

There were so many sites that I wanted to see in Newark, but I knew I could not see all of them if I just stayed overnight. Aside from the museum, I also went to the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. I found out that I had to go to other cities to visit the other sites that I wanted to go to. One of that is the Thomas Alva Edison in the suburbs of New Orange.

As I finally decided to just go home after an overnight stay, I decided to get a list of Gateway Region attractions which had all the list of “must see” sites in New Jersey. I am now making plans for another weekend away from home, maybe this time I’ll bring along a friend.

I asked someone once on which company they were using to outsource their tasks and I was given actually two answers: one, go online and find a freelancer site and two, use Offshore Ally. I asked the second question, “where are they based?” and the answer was India.Okay, so I am sceptical. I mean, how can an Indian company actually work for me, particularly as I had heard a lot of things about language barriers and things like that. Basically, I was making judgements before I had even really gotten to know the company.

Anyway, I decided to take the advice and test out the company for some of my tasks. I actually needed three things done: article writing, customer support and email support. I went online, looked up Offshore Ally and contacted them via live chat. They can actually be contacted by phone, email or live chat and as I was not about to spend a lot of money on long distance call costs, and I wanted instant access and answers, I decided a live chat was the best option. After chatting with whoever was online, I signed up for a free trial. Simple as that, the signing up lasted a few seconds actually.

They have this 7 day free trial which I decided to try out. But I was a little hesitant about giving out my personal information, however, I was assured that whatever information was received, it was secured. Their people actually had confidentiality clauses to sign, their office was secured 24/7 and even the computer was secured. They are protected by KasperSky firewall and antivirus software, 2010’s top antivirus and internet protection software.

So, I got convinced and for the 7 day trial, I simply asked them to assign me someone who could write some 30 articles of about 300 words each. I thought, I will test the impossible, ask them to submit within 24 hours. My scepticism was based on the ability of their people to write articles in English, grammar and spelling perfect and well researched. The price was low, super low, and much lower than the ones onshore would ask for. I was warned by a friend, if I paid low, the quality would not be great, and it would be dreadful.

Surprise, surprise, not only were the 30 articles submitted way before the deadline, they were perfect. I just kept piling on the article writing and I never got disappointed. I realized that these people knew what they were doing, they knew how to do it, and they kept to their word.When I decided to pay for the articles, I was told that I didn’t need to, but I did. I was very happy with the work and I thought the guys deserved the pay. I then signed on for the rest of the month and I asked for two more tasks to be completed: the email support and the customer support.

I was assigned the people to do the tasks and I noticed that my customers were very satisfied with the people who answered their calls. Customers who emailed would get their answers fast, and if the virtual assistant did not know how to answer a question, they were not hesitant to ask me for the answers. This I was very happy about. They never took things for granted; they did not even think to second guess me. They needed answers from me and got the answers from me.

The article writing went on, is still going on. The time is tracked very well and every time I asked for the records to support their invoices, it coincided with my own. I found that it was quite easy to pay them, all I needed was to set up a PayPal account and they sent their invoices there and I paid them from there. Of course, this is much different from other payment schemes where the pay can be divided weekly or bimonthly. I paid once a month and once a month only.

How satisfied am I about their services? Take it this way, I don’t have to look back and check every single day about the tasks assigned them, I no longer have to spend hours and days on the weekend away from my family because I still needed to do a lot of stuff that I could not get done.With Offshore Ally, I gained an ally at work and I got the service that I was looking for, for less than the cost that I would normally pay if I paid regular employees.

I decided to hire a virtual assistant to do some of tasks for my site. I hired them from an outsourcing site where I had to go over and interview and test the applicants. It took quite a while to filter out the good from the bad, but I was able to finally narrow it down. I assigned each of the three some simple tasks first because I wanted to find out if they were really doing their jobs on their own, or they had some other guys do it for them.

I asked them set up communications with me using a messenger apparatus, Yahoo messenger. But I also decided to track my virtual assistants using tracking software which I needed for billing purposes. There are some sites like oDesk which has their own tracking software which they make their freelancers download for free, however, as I sometimes do not use that site, I had to use something else.

I found that there are actually good tracking software online that anyone can download for free. I chose only one of course, but for the sake of information, here are the top five choices: Klok, Manic Time, Slim Timer, Rescue Time and Project Hamster.

Klok built with an Adobe AIR, is very light on the memory of any system. It is can make you create a series of projects which you can adjust according to the order of importance. There is a task-management sidebar which can track the time of each.

Manic Time from Windows actively tracks what is being done on the computer. You can track the activity whether the computer is off or on, the open applications and the personal annotations or tags of the work flow.

The Web-based tracker, Slim Timer, is a free account which has requires a free sign-up. Once registered, anyone can track the tasks that you assign it to track. The user can flag the time they spend on the little pop-out time manager seen in a screenshot. It is good because one could actually just export the data or email it into a back up.

Rescue Time is compatible with Windows and Mac systems. The VA could log into it like they would a journal while it also monitors the web sites and the applications being used. The VA could even program how much time they want to work on a certain task or how much time they can dedicate their time on a longer or larger project. The software includes analysis of whether or not the adjustment made by the user was reached at the end of the project.

For those using the Linux systems, the Hamster is the simple answer. All the VA needs to do is to enter the tasks as they are working on their projects and then they can categorize and sort them too. Once they are done with their work, they can instruct the software to stop the tracking. It can also be programmed to remind the user of the tracking every few minutes. One difference which makes the Hamster nice to use is that it operates on the number of hours, not the time of the day. So if the VA like working from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m., their time is logged on to the day, not two days.



This image is taken from theyoungestcandidate.com

I know there is such a thing as Twitter and I know that the Hollywood actors use it as a tool to communicate with one another. What I don’t know is what the hype is all about. I mean, sure, text messaging each other is cool, a lot of people use and abuse it, but what difference does Twitter have that ordinary text or SMS messaging doesn’t have?

Well here are some things that I found about Twitter: first off, it’s totally free. With cell phone accounts, you need providers and monthly bills just like any other phone. With twitter, the instant messaging is absolutely free, unless you access it through a phone service provider. Then, the bills can sky rocket, so careful, careful.

Second, if I need an answer quickly and I don’t have time to browse or Google it, all I need to do is just ask my fellow Twitters and voila! The answers that I am looking for, including the ones I am not, appear. It is a state of the art technology made fairly simple.

Third, I love the idea of networking! Everyone can find out about your business and talk about it. Free! No wonder, actors who love to talk about themselves and are not scared of being hounded by paparazzi love Twitter. They get free press here. And so can my business!

Fourth, but not the least, is the instant news! I am a Twilight fan and I love everything Twilight! Now, I don’t have to go online to the site just to get my addiction satisfied. Also, I love the way things are so instant. I get to know what is going on around me, and not just the cool stuff, but the political and marketing stuff as well. It is way cool!

Last, I prefer using Twitter when I cannot answer the cell or reply to a text message. Sometimes, my work is just overwhelming and I find that taking time out to pick up the cell and try to answer per letter is killing my work time. Answering through Twitter is instant and I don’t have to get off the computer when I am working.

Article Contributed By: Learn Spanish Review

Having to learn Spanish is very easy, once you set your mind to it, just like I had to. It is a fairly basic language really; the pronunciations can be difficult if you don’t have the proper training for it. One thing to remember, unlike the English language which is full of loops and tails in its words, the Spanish words are very simple. If you know your vowels, say them the way they should be said. Spelt as they are pronounced, Spanish is one of the simplest, if not basic languages around.

Having to learn to speak Spanish software, like the Rocket Spanish, is an advantage as the interactive menu helps you along. The only problem is, I get confused with all the interaction and I had to learn how to use the thing first before I finally got the hang of it.Okay, I apologize: I did not read the instructions before using it, so it wasn’t the software’s fault. I have this problem, you see: if nothing else works, that’s the time I read the instructions. But I am digressing here. So let’s go back to Spanish.

Spanish always starts with simple verbs that are conjugated with several syllables to make the whole meaning change. Memorizing what those add ons are is what usually confuses the beginner, but once get familiar with them, they become easy as 1, 2, and 3. Application then becomes rote. Once you start saying the words, try to think in Spanish as well. Nothing sounds more ridiculous than the English language getting translated verbatim into Spanish. Not only are the question marks found on both ends of the sentences, but the words are also arranged differently. So think Spanish, not just speak it.

It is also best to make sure that you are learning modern Spanish, and not the old school book text type of Spanish. People in Spain would be able to understand you but will probably find it quaint that you learned how to speak the classic tongue of El Cid and speak it in the streets of Madrid.

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