eloan mortgage rates: December 2008

Sunday, December 28, 2008

fiance k visa,Weekly Update -- Vox Populi's Members' Puzzles

This week's Weekly has my review of Vox Populi's December shows. Below is the copy with some pictures and added words. See Libby's post for more about the show.

Vox Populi's December members' show is a conceptual outing that—with the exception of Amy Adams’ sparse but evocative “Our Boat That Is Made of Flowers”—is totally puzzling.

The newly married Adams is the former executive director of Vox and now works as the director of Fleisher-Ollman Gallery. Her installation is about power, love, war and peace, triggered by her recent honeymoon to Europe where she saw many old paintings of battle scenes and power brokers. Adams’ installation has two parts: a video animation of ocean waves abstracted from a maritime battle painting, and two portraits comprised of words from emails between the artist and her then-fiance.

The animation extracts the ships, smoke, guns and combatants from the original scanned painting and leaves only the waves that she set in motion. Because her source material is a scanned book plate of a painted sea and lacks color, the waves feel unreal – more like a sea of oatmeal than water. But the undulations still invoke seasickness. The idea of a woman editing the Old Masters, grabbing power from the powerful, is irresistible.

Amy Adams, Our Boat That Is Made Of Flowers pair of portraits of the bride and groom. Photo by Libby.

Adams’ two word portraits, framed and leaning against the wall, are clearly the products of laborious attention to detail. The task of cutting and pasting the words from each email into a “his” and “hers” Word document then sorting the words alphabetically seems an almost crazy thing to do. You can’t boil down a conversation between two people in love to the sum of its parts and have it make sense, can you? Shockingly, the portraits do seem to work that way. The bubbly Adams' portrait is twice as long as her husband's and who's to say that's not capturing some kernel of truth.

While Adams’ pieces are very straightforward in their meaning, the rest of the show provides a challenge for casual viewers.

Corey Antis, Herman Street, 2008
Arylic, flashe on paper
18 x 24 inches

Corey Antis’ small works on paper circle the first room. The pieces look similar to sketches, plans or architectural drawings. Washy and with surprising colors—salmon and black in one piece—the series suggests ongoing research. Ultimately, the works are puzzles too personal to be compelling.

Anna Neighbor, Hold Me Like You Mean It, 2008
Archival inkjet print
33 x 50 inches

Anna Neighbor’s large photo-based works also allude to something more. One photo is almost entirely black. Former Voxers Justin Witte and Olivia Schreiner’s collaboration in the guest gallery is a disappointment compared to their past outings, and Rebekah Tolley’s slow-motion videos projected on objects are reminiscent of lava lamps. Meanwhile, Mark Lewis’ video North Circular in Screening has cinematic chops that create a sense of mystery, beauty, suspense and denouement. (View it at his website).

“Vox Populi December Members Show.”
Through Dec. 28.
Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St., third fl.
215.238.1236.

american family insurance company,MedPAC Seeks Rate Increase

Update for 2010

Staff Reporters

According to Modern Healthcare, December 5, 2008, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission [MedPAC] just drafted recommendations to increase payment rates for inpatient and outpatient services at the full rate of inflation in 2010, concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program.

A Non-Specific Market Basket

Although the draft didn’t provide a specific increase for hospitals, the projected market-basket update in 2010 for hospitals is 2.7 percent. MedPAC revisited a proposal it has been trying to get Congress to approve for the past several years: to reduce the indirect medical education (IME) adjustment by 1 percentage point to help finance the quality incentives program for hospitals.

Related Payment Issues

On other payment issues, the commission mulled over a draft recommendation to increase Medicare physician payments by 1.1 percent in 2010, the same increase doctors will receive in 2009, while commissioners also discussed options to make positive payment updates for ambulatory surgery centers contingent upon the submission of cost data to HHS.

Assessment

The draft recommendations will be voted on in January, 2009.

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated.

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA - Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post - is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm

Subscribe Now: Did you like this Medical Executive-Post, or find it helpful, interesting and informative? Want to get the latest E-Ps delivered to your email box each morning? Just subscribe using the link below. You can unsubscribe at any time. Security is assured.

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american family insurance company,Hospital Length-of-Stay Forecasting

An Often Inaccurate Medical Effectiveness Meter

Staff Reporters

According to Gregory O. Ginn; PhD, CPA, MBA, MS, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Administration from UNLV, substantial day-to-day variation in hospital occupancy may lead to increases in costs.

Forecast Accuracy

Accordingly, hospitals may be able to improve their financial efficiency by preparing more accurate forecasts of stay length, and thus of their utilization of capacity. For instance, the accuracy of predicted length of stay can be improved by using multiple-regression. The patient’s characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, admission type, and admission source) and clinical indicators for their diagnosis-related groups [DRGs] are significant predictors of length-of- stay [LOS].

Assessment

The effectiveness of medical interventions is often measured by length-of-stay. However, this is a crude measure that is contaminated by the inclusion of all days in the hospital even if they were not preceded by some type of intervention.

More info: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Conclusion

Other experts suggest an approach that views only the slice of time after a medical intervention to measure the effect of the intervention on LOS. This may be a more precise method that can improve the accuracy of forecasting. What do you think?

As always, your thoughts and comments on this Executive-Post are appreciated.

Related Information Sources:

Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/prod.aspx?prod_id=23759

Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790

Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421

Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Health Administration Terms: www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA - Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post - is available for seminar or speaking

american family insurance company,The Rural Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types

By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA

According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], the parameters of rural hospitals are determined based on distance www.HealthcareFinancials.com

A Distance Definition

A rural hospital is defined as a hospital serving a geographic area ten or more miles from the nexus of a population center of 30,000 or more www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

More specifically, a rural hospital means an entity characterized by one of the following:

· Type A Rural Hospital — small and remote, has fewer than 50 beds, and is more than 30 miles from the nearest hospital.

· Type B Rural Hospital — small and rural, has fewer than 50 beds, and is 30 miles or less from the nearest hospital.

· Type C Rural Hospital — considered rural and has 50 or more beds.

Assessment

www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Conclusion

What do you think? Let us know with a post, opinion or comment on this topic; either as a doctor, patient, payer, employer, economic or financial advisor, politician or healthcare social engineer.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

american family insurance company,Introducing MyMedLab

Direct to Consumer [D2C] Laboratory Services

Staff Reporters

MyMedLab began as a regional lab provider in Missouri in 1993. The company was created to allow patient-consumers to make informed care choices. In 2004, the company aimed to partner with industry leading providers and the power of the Internet to take the company and its electronic interface national.

Health Information Innovation

According to their website www.MyMedLab.com, this new business model created an innovative approach that dramatically lowered costs and gave patient-consumers direct access to the same health information once only available to doctors. Leveraging more than 20 years of laboratory experience, MyMedLab was able to create one of the first “direct to consumer” [D2C] laboratory services in the country.

Mission

From inception, the mission of MyMedLab was to provide consumer-patients with an affordable and convenient way to privately learn about their health. When combined with an annual exam, their screenings create a foundation for health care of the future, one focused on prevention and early detection.

Smart Patient-Consumers

Smart patient-consumers receive this information privately, outside their permanent medical records, and then share results when it enhances their care. Knowing what is important and what questions to ask maximizes the time and money spent with personal physicians. The MyMedLab process combines transparent pricing with the services of a board certified physician in every state. This unique combination eliminates the cost and inconvenience of a doctor’s visit just to order routine testing. It provides essential physician oversight throughout the entire process while still guaranteeing complete privacy.

Purchased Testing

Testing can be purchased 24 hours a day. Tests are listed both individually and in groups called Wellness Profiles based on age, sex and family history. For patient-consumers with testing ordered by their doctor, MyMedLab provides an easy way to purchase the same testing at a cost 50%-80% less than in their doctor’s office or local hospital lab.

Electronic Medical Records

MyMedLab customers purchase testing online, or by phone, and then visit one of nearly 2,000 local Patient Service Centers (PSC) in their neighborhood. Once samples are drawn, results are securely uploaded to their private personal health record (PHR) within 24-48 Hours. A notification email is sent when results have been released and are ready for review. Patients then simply log into their PHR account at MyMedLab to view their results. Each result includes a brief explanation and a direct link to the National Library of Medicine [NLM] for more detailed result information.

Assessment

Everything done at MyMedLab is designed to put the patient-consumer back in control. Since “knowledge is power in health care”, their vision of the future is to continually introduce new technology and services, to enhance the consumer-patient experience, and to transform the way we all learn about our health.

Conclusion

As always, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Does this D2C laboratory model empower or denigrate the physician-doctor relationship in the era of Health 2.0?

Our Other Print Books and Related Information Sources:

Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/prod.aspx?prod_id=23759

Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790

Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421

Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Health Administration Terms: www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

american family insurance company,The Specialty Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types

By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA

According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], a specialty hospital is a type of healthcare organization with limited focus to provide treatment for only certain illnesses, such as cardiac care, orthopedic or plastic surgery, elder care, radiology/oncology services, neurological care, or pain management cases www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Physician-Investor Owned

These organizations are often owned by physicians who refer patients to them. In recent years, single-specialty hospitals have emerged in various locations in the United States. Instead of offering a full-range of inpatient services, these hospitals focus on providing services relating to a single medical specialty or cluster of specialties.

Assessment

www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Conclusion

What do you think? Let us know with a post, opinion or comment on this topic; either as a doctor, patient, payer, employer, economic or financial advisor, politician or healthcare social engineer.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

american family insurance company,The Next Financial Crisis?

Your Opinion Counts

Staff Reporters

The effects of the current financial meltdown are well-known to all citizenry. And, the next economic crisis is still wholly unforeseen. However, research conducted by the Institute of Medical Business Advisors Inc, suggests it may come from one, or more, of the following sectors:

Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation

Home/Commercial Real-Estate Mortgages

Medicare and Medicaid

Hedge Fund Collapse

Social Security Administration

Autos, Airlines, Manufacturing, etc

Global Financial Catastrophe

Terrorist Attack

Something else?

Assessment

For more info: www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com

Conclusion

What do you think? Let us know what’s on your mind with a post, opinion or comment.

Our Other Print Books and Related Information Sources:

Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/prod.aspx?prod_id=23759

Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790

Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421

Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Health Administration Terms: www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

american family insurance company,The Acute Care Inpatient Hospital

Understanding Hospital Types

By Calvin W. Wiese; MBA, CPA

According to Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], an acute care inpatient hospital is a healthcare organization or “anchor hospital” in which a patient is treated for an acute (immediate and severe) episode of illness or the subsequent treatment of injuries related to an accident or trauma, or during recovery from surgery www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Complex and Sophisticated

Specialized personnel using complex and sophisticated technical equipment and materials usually render acute professional care in a hospital setting. Unlike chronic care, acute care is often necessary for only a short time. Measures of acute healthcare utilization are represented by three separate rates:

· rate of admissions per 1,000 patients;

· average length of stay per admission; and

· total days of care per 1,000 patients.

Assessment

www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Conclusion

What do you think? Let us know with a post, opinion or comment on this topic; either as a doctor, patient, payer, employer, economic or financial advisor, politician or healthcare social engineer.

Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos

american family insurance company,Amazon To Sell Wine Online

As reported by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, Amazon.com will begin to sell wine in a just few weeks here in the U.S. The announcement came from The Napa Valley Vintners association and not directly from Amazon. Also reported was that New Vine Logisitics will be Amazon’s shipping partner when they go live.

Rumors have been circulating for some time that Amazon would enter the market but most observers thought they would concentrate on high volume brands. But the Amazon head wine buyer was on the floor checking out wines at the recent Family Winemakers of California and I have spoken with several smaller wineries who have been in discussions with them.

As I posted back in March, I think his is the most signifiant development in wine distribution since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. And Amazon’s actions in the past 6 months have validated my hypothesis that medium to small wineries are their target. Their decision to work with regional wine associations is a good one from an industry relations, recruitment and PR point of view. I don’t think it was an accident the announcement came from the Napa Valley Vintners and think we’ll see announcements from other winery associations before Amazon formally launches their wine business later this month or in early October.

This is a great development for both wineries looking for online distribution and for consumers looking for small production, artisan wines. I expect the shipping fees to be reasonable like Amazon does for all their other products but their Prime service will be a must for serious wine lovers. For $79 a year, you get free shipping on all purchases with second day delivery. No word on if that speed will be honored for wine but if it’s just free ground shipping for wine, that will be huge for sales. With increasing fuel costs, shipping is becoming a real problem for wineries as it adds significantly to their customer price. If this is a non-issue, then wineries stand to benefit greatly from what Amazon if offering.

This is not good news for other online wine retailers who do not have the deep pockets to cover the significant shipping costs or the economies of scale that Amazon has. But I still think there will be a place for niche e-tailers like domaine547 and wine marketing sites like woot and The Wine Spies.

I think this is the biggest wine story of the year and will be blogging about what this means for wine marketing over at my company blog.

Cheers to Amazon and welcome to the wine business.

Amazon.com to uncork wine sales

american family insurance company,La Sirena, Moscato Azul 2007

One of my surprise finds at the recent Family Winemakers of California tasting in San Francisco was the wines of La Sirena. I began my two days of tasting focusing on just white wines and this was one of my first stops when I noticed winemaker Heidi Barrett was pouring. Heidi is a winemaking super star with a track record for making blockbuster Cabernets at places like Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Rubicon and Grace Family. Today she is consulting winemaker at eight wineries including Amuse Bouche, Paradigm, Revana, Barbour, Lamborn, and Fantesca. But La Sirena is her personal project with husband and Napa Valley legend Bo Barrett, co-founder & winemaker of Chateau Montelena.

When I asked her about this wine, Heidi said she wanted to do something fun and different from what she has done elsewhere. She was certainly influenced by the style of wines made from Moscato Bianco in Italy’s Trentino but Moscato Azul seems to be a fresh New World interpretation of this variety which almost always is made in an off-dry or sweet style in California. The grapes come from a vineyard in Calistoga near where La Sirena is made and the Barrett’s have their own vineyard. Besides the wine, the striking blue bottle and matching synthetic cork also make an impression.

La Sirena, “Moscato Azul” Muscat Canelli, Napa Valley 2007 ($30) - Very light straw color in the glass with an explosively floral nose of mango, pineapple, orange blossoms and lychee. Light and clean on the palate with tropical fruit and citrus flavors finishing bone dry with good acidity. A truly unique white worth seeking out that would be an excellent match with brunch fare.

13.5% ABV

Synthetic cork closure

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Buy this wine online

Note: Since this wine was tasted at a trade event I’m only using my 5 star rating system.

labor law poster,JOAN! JOAN! JOAN! Also, RYAN!

Darlings, we've had a tough time keeping this one under wraps but in the latest issue of Metrosource magazine, we got the chance to interview our current girl crush, Christina Hendricks, the fabulous Joan Holloway of Mad Men.

See, the theme of the issue is "People We Love" and our editor (We love saying "our editor." It sounds so Lois Lane-y.) asked us if we had any ideas for interview subjects. We were all "People We Love? JOAN HOLLOWAY, bitch!" and he was all "I'm on it!" and then we were all "Score!"

She was a pleasure to interview and she's absolutely nothing like Joan. She's giggly and funny and sweet. She doesn't even sound like Joan when she talks. Some bits:

You’ve become quite the poster child for curvaceous women. It seems every article about you has to mention your body.
I guess I’m surprised because this is how I’ve always looked. I’ve had lots of people come up to me on the street — women and men — and tell me how refreshing it is to see someone like me on TV. That feels really good. I’ve always felt like a woman, and I’ve always had curves and felt beautiful.

Well, clearly the women and straight men love you for it, but we’re here to tell you the gays LOVE Joan Holloway.
(Laughs) That’s fabulous!

We must have seen at least a half-dozen Joan Holloway drag queens on Halloween!
That’s so funny, because Matt Weiner [the show’s creator] said after the first couple of episodes, “I know we’re a success if I see Joan Holloways on Halloween."

But don't take our word for it, go read it.

In the same issue, we sat down and interviewed Ryan Brown, the cute one from Flipping Out. Also an incredibly charming and down to earth guy.

How did you meet Jeff Lewis?
He and I met through a mutual friend of ours who was an interior designer as well. He introduced us years ago. I had heard some stories about Jeff, and a lot of my friends were completely in love with him.
We didn’t work together when we were dating. We broke up, and there was a period of six months to a year where we talked about doing some projects together. We bought our first house together and started working on that. It was certainly a rocky road at first. I don’t recommend it to anybody — working with your ex right away — but it seemed to work with Jeff and me, for some reason. I think what it came down to was that he’s one of the people in my life that I absolutely trust.
To this day, we get along great. We fight, we scream and yell — you know, everything that’s shown on the show — but at the end of the day we are a family, and we realize that.

How did Flipping Out come about?
It was basically the brainchild of Jeff’s assistant, Jenni Pulos. She had an idea for a show [featuring] her and her husband called The Wannabes. They were trying to be actors, and they came up with what I thought was a great concept: [The show would follow] their everyday life, going to auditions and trying to become actors while at the same time working for Jeff. But when they got Jeff on camera and saw what a big personality he was, Bravo ended up really liking that concept, so the show revolved more around Jeff than Jenni. Jenni is amazing. Honestly, [she’s] one of the best people I know.

Again, go read the whole thing. Metrosource cycles the links on their web page, so we don't know how long these will stay up. We've got a bunch of new interviews scheduled (they'll have to remain a surprise for now) for their next issue, so if you can't find Metrosource in your neck of the woods and you want to keep up with the T Lo experience, you can always subscribe.

labor law poster,MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well it's about time I pushed down my last incredibly depressing post, hey? Things have been super weird lately, I'm not gonna lie. But I think I'm making some headway in the 'turning over a new leaf' area of my life. I've been all kindsa busy with my list lately! I crossed the following five tasks off of my list!

#34 - Nutcracker
First of all, this was truly a red letter moment in my holiday season. I hadn't been doing too well emotionally, but literally within the first ten seconds of this performance, I was in heaven. All I could repeat in my mind was something along the lines of "I'm absolutely ecstatic that life exists so I can see this magical experience!" The set, the costumes, the performers, the story, the gorgeous dancing, and of course the most perfect holiday music. To make things even MORE perfect, there were two girls sitting behind Mandsi and I, seeing the Nutcracker with their grandparents. They were perhaps 5 and 8 or so? At intermission the littlest one exclaimed: "This is best night ever! This is better than Disney World!! You know why? Because I'm with my grandpa!" Totally adorable.

#60 - addresses
This is the final Christmas of my 1001 Days, which means it is the last year I send out home Christmas cards. JUST KIDDING! I'll never stop this insane tradition, but I have a feeling my final tally will increase exponentially every year. I believe this year the total was 47. And every card was different. Nuts. Meanwhile I've been trying to collect addresses...had most of the ones I needed from last Christmas, but I gathered the rest and put them into my journal so I feel comfy finally crossing this task off my list.

#65 - train to Chicago!
Well, the train wasn't AS romantic as I had hoped. It might have been the lack of drink/snack cart in the morning when I was starving and needed caffeine desperately OR perhaps the fact that the train got stuck in train traffic at the end of an exhausting day...but it was still kinda fun! And of course I didn't have to worry about gas or expressway traffic or parking downtown! I'd take it again!

#71 - Salvation Army Bell Ringer
THIS was seriously a crazy ton of fun!!! Like I mentioned, this was my last Christmas of the 1001 Days, so the bell ringing turned out to be a little last minute...especially on the 23rd of December! But wow...what a gleeful experience...GLEEFUL, that's the perfect word to describe it! My shift was from about 5:40 to 8:00, in the "Town Square" center area of Bayshore Mall right by the GINORMOUS Christmas tree. Well it turns out that every 20 minutes there's this crazy light show all over the tree and the surrounding little trees. It's "announced" by that slightly annoying children's choir "Merry ChristMAS! Merry ChristMAS!" song that I actually ended up liking by the end haha! This was followed by a Christmas classic which played during the show...like a song from the Nutcracker, "Sleigh Ride", and the Charlie Brown Christmas theme. Anyway, as if this wasn't festive enough, the people walking by were SO kind and happy!! They told me to stay warm, and one guy even offered to go get me some hot chocolate! The kids were particularly adorable...parents in the background giving them coins or dollars, and then the kids would run up to the kettle with this HUGE smile while stuffing the money in the little slot. It was a little chilly, mostly my toes and fingers were cold, but within the first 20 minute chunk I was getting really into it, and kinda dancing around to the music, shaking the bell all enthusiastically ;) That kept me warmer! You'd be surprised at how cramped your hand gets though from that bell! Towards the end of the two hours, I had to switch hands like every couple minutes haha! I counted an average of about 17 people per 20 minutes, so I probably got about 115 people...perhaps something like $200-250 total? That's impressive!! I believe they've raised something like $1.6million? Anyway, I'm SO going to make this my Christmas tradition because it's totally a blast and makes you feel pretty darn Christmassy!

#13 - Decoupage!
FINALLY! This was my big SUPER secret Christmas project!!! Awhile back, maybe this past summer, I decided I was going to decoupage some kind of cabinet with Hitchcock posters for Mandsi for Christmas! I officially got started in October when I purchased the cabinet from Michael's (thanks to my friend Drew's suggestion!), and won the first batch of posters from eBay. Like ALL of my super secret Christmas projects, I hit a few snags. One of the eBay stores sent me the wrong poster and it took forever to get it all worked out. I also didn't have enough posters, and had to win more last minute. PLUS I had to keep it secret, and make up some stories about "shopping" when, in reality, worked on the project in my parents' dining room! Of course the piece isn't without flaws...for one, there are tons of air bubbles and unfinished edges...but for being a decoupage virgin, I do believe I did a great job! Here's a shot of the front, I wanted to do the door in all Psycho posters as that's Z's fave :)

And a couple other shots:

My mom made her own contribution by making the classic Hitchcock silhouette door knob out of polyclay! Sweetness.

So that's all I've got for now!! I am all crazy stoked about trying to make 2009 a lot better than this year was. Not that this was a horrible year by any means...it was my learning/limbo year...I'd just like some cool things to happen next year. I have faith! I really do :)

asp hosting server sql web,Total Training for Website Design: Extreme Website Makeover

Total Training for Website Design:
Extreme Website Makeover

Hosted by John Ulliman
Platform: Windows & MAC OS
Format: 2 DVD-ROMs
Level: Beginner to Advanced

----------------------------------
Disc 1 - Part 1

Lesson 1: Intoduction & Project Background (10:08 min)
1. Project File Overview
2. Identifying Ways to Improve a Website
3. Previewing the Finished Website

Lesson 2: Creating a Company Logo with IllustratorÂ® (24:52 min)
1. Live Trace & the Tracing Options Dialog Box
2. Adjusting Tracing Presets, Mode & Threshold
3. Adjusting the Trace Settings
4. Converting a Tracing Object into Paths
5. Tracing Strokes & Changing the View
6. Using Live Paint to Fill an Area with Color

Lesson 3: Website Layout using PhotoshopÂ® (48:56 min)
1. Preparing a Web Page Mock-up in Photoshop
2. Creating Mock-up Navigation Buttons
3. Managing Assets & Working with Layer Groups
4. Working with Rasterized Illustrator Files
5. Importing & Working with Smart Objects
6. Working with Text
7. Adding Buttons to the Layout
8. Using Blend Modes to Add Graphic Highlights
9. Tidying Up Photoshop & Saving Your Project

Lesson 4: Making Slices with FireworksÂ® (46:50 min)
1. Altering Some Design Issues in Photoshop
2. Opening a Photoshop File in Fireworks
3. Using the Slice Tool
4. Making Slices with the Selection Tool
5. Exporting from Fireworks into Dreamweaver
6. Adding More Slices to the Web Page
7. Renaming the Slices
8. Setting Up the HTML File for Export
9. Looking at the Images & Deleting Unused Files
10. Optimizing Images with the Optimize Palette
11. Doing a Final Clean-up Pass

Lesson 5: Creating a DreamweaverÂ® Site (32:00 min)
1. Setting Up the Site De.nition
2. New Document & Preview in Browser Preferences
3. Creating a Tracing Image
4. Editing a Layout in Fireworks
5. Choosing Background Color & Alignment
6. Creating Multiple Pages Using a Template
7. Adding Content to the Pages
8. Modifying a Template in Expanded Mode
9. Linking Buttons to Pages
10. Saving & Updating Template-Based Files

Lesson 6: Cascading Style Sheets (46:19
1. Introducing CSS Styles
2. Creating & Applying a New Class Style
3. Creating & Applying New Tag Styles
4. Removing, Finding & Replacing Styles
5. Duplicating, Moving & Modifying Styles
6. Viewing Applied Styles & Updating Changes
7. Creating an Advanced CSS Rule for Links
8. De.ning Group & Combination Tag Selectors
9. Creating a Class Style for Text Color
10. Creating a Horizontal Rule to Divide Text

Lesson 7: Main Navigation Systems (47:19 min)
1. Setting Up Rollover Button Images in Fireworks
2. Copying & Sharing Graphics across Frames
3. Setting Up the Rollover Behavior in Fireworks
4. Setting Up Pages for a Pop-up Menu
5. Creating a Pop-up Menu in Fireworks
6. Using Correct Paths, Button Styles & Special Characters
7. Adding Rollover Button Images to a Page
8. Exporting Images from Fireworks to Dreamweaver
9. Creating a Rollover Button in Dreamweaver
10. Creating an Animated GIF in Fireworks

Lesson 8: DHTML Layers, Interactivity & Forms (51:42 min)
1. Designing Layers with CSS
2. Determining Table Position with CSS Rules
3. Integrating CSS Styles & DHTML Layers
4. Setting Up a Form on the Stu. Page
5. Adding Buttons & Checkboxes to a Form
6. Enabling the Form to Submit Order Data
7. Creating Remote Rollovers
8. Using the Show-Hide Layers Function
9. Using Tags & Behaviors to Control HTML Text
10. Final Comments & Credits

-------------------------------------
Disc 2 - Part 2

Lesson 1: ADVANCED GALLERY PAGES (67:58 min)
1. Looking at Web Page Layers in Fireworks
2. Creating Slices for the Crew Images
3. Setting Slice Types & Optimization
4. Copying Images to Another Frame for Rollovers
5. Setting Behaviors for the Navigation Bar
6. Adding Simple Rollovers to the Main Menu
7. Exporting HTML, Images & Slices from Fireworks
8. Linking Slices & Putting Images on Separate Layers
9. Editing HTML & Attaching a Style Sheet
10. Building the Individual Crew Pages
11. Linking the Crew Pages to the Main Page
12. Creating a Photoshop® Web Photo Gallery
13. Setting Up a Page Template for the Gallery
14. Incorporating the Gallery into the Website
15. Finishing Up the Gallery Pages in Dreamweaver

Lesson 2: FLASHÂ® ELEMENTS & FLASH VIDEO (26:32 min)
1. Inserting Flash Text into Dreamweaver
2. Using Flash Buttons
3. Preparing Video in the Flash 8 Video Encoder
4. Advanced Flash Video Encoding Settings
5. Using the Insert Flash Video Dialog Box
6. Viewing the Inserted Flash Video in a Browser

Lesson 3: MAKING FLASHÂ® SLIDESHOWS (59:35 min)
1. Starting a New Slideshow
2. Importing Still Image Files
3. Adding Text to the Slideshow
4. Creating Navigation Button Graphics
5. Converting Button Graphics to Symbols
6. Understanding Keyframe Properties
7. Adding Behaviors to Buttons
8. Loading the Slideshow into a Website
9. Using a Flash Movie as a Template
10. Looking at Publish Settings

Lesson 4: CREATING A FLASHÂ® BANNER AD (49:38 min)
1. Setting Up to Create a Banner Ad
2. Designing the Banner
3. Adding Motion to the Banner
4. Adding Text Elements to the Banner
5. Creating & Animating Text
6. Animating with Motion & Shape Tweens
7. Adjusting the Animation for Timing
8. Linking the Animated Banner to the Site
9. Generating a Size Report & Publishing

Lesson 5: MAKING A MINI FLASHÂ® SITE (73:36 min)
1. Reviewing the Site in Fireworks
2. Importing & Organizing Assets
3. Adjusting Values & Settings in an Imported Document
4. Converting the Layout to a Flash Movie
5. Creating a Flash Animation with Slides
6. Making More Animations Using Guides & Slides
7. Testing Your Flash Movie & Fixing Errors
8. Converting Graphics into Buttons
9. Applying a Behavior to a Button
10. Importing Video
11. Animating the Video
12. Controlling the Video with Behaviors
13. Adding Behaviors to Buttons
14. Setting up a Loader
15. Adding a Progress Bar
16. Placing the Mini Site into the Website

Lesson 6: SITE TESTING & PUBLISHING (36:32 min)
1. Testing a Website for Potential Problems
2. Adding Keywords & Description Meta Tags
3. Viewing the Site Map & Modifying Page Titles
4. Verifying Links with Check Links Sitewide Feature
5. Checking Source Code for Errors
6. Setting Up a Remote Server for Your Website
7. Cloaking Certain File Types to Prevent Publishing
8. Making Changes to a Published Website

Lesson 7: WORKGROUP INTEGRATION USING CONTRIBUTE™ (20:47 min)
1. Setting Up a Website for Multiple Users
2. Communicating through Design Notes
3. Creating a Connection with Contribute
4. Editing a Web Page in Contribute
5. Administering a Website

Lesson 8: INCORPORATING PRINT MATERIALS (30:07 min)
1. Creating a Business Card Using Web Page Graphics
2. Creating a Brochure Using Web Page Graphics
3. Adding Background & Text Colors to the Brochure
4. Saving the Brochure as a PDF for Printing Purposes
5. Saving the Brochure as a PDF for the Web
6. Linking the Brochure PDF to the Website
7. Final Comments & Credits

DVD 1:

CODE

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A3UJ7UV7
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RC2H2VMZ
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=12QJ1N53
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0AUA05RB
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ILSFYKVY
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B4WC3ZVM
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JDQEZ723
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6TFZ674M
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http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2FFLYFHM
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AMO5YIP0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NS8S75T2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GJO4DARZ
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3T8ZQ2N0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9DOH0Y4W

DVD 2:

CODE

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8NNK75IX
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9Z44WJGP
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P01M66QD
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2GEHLV5W
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FNJ3K92J
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=09687ROS
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FCDGHKX2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D1IWQUUQ
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QDE0GIU1
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OWUOIQLH
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BL0WK43E
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EVWJKGB9
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z2E81AER
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XS7KD8SX
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4DHPTBQ0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JSLYU5Q2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D07IDCW4
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6WFYSAIU
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6QZ3JKD6
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MCEYXEUX
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9JFLU8HO

RS.COM LINKS:

CODE

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arizona ui lawyer,Why Are Students Taking Health Ed In College (continued)

About two months ago I wrote a post called Why Are Students Taking Health Ed In College because I wondered why college students felt a course on basic health was necessary when, let’s face it, most of them knew the basics to healthful living. Regardless of their motivations, my main objective was to discover methods of making student learning experiences about health & fitness be more meaningful. I wanted to know how I could extend this class beyond the textbook of “eat your veggies and exercise.”

After many discussions with Shelley Rodrigo and leaning from the classroom experiences of Alisa Cooper, who have both inspired me to continue thinking outside the box in my teaching, I have come up with a new class project for this semester’s online fitness & wellness course.

The assignment is called HEALTH SLIDES. Every week students create 3 PowerPoint slides around and assigned topic. I, then, compile these slides into one large presentation and post them on the class blog (which is slowly growing into a repository of student produced health media). I realized that while their individual messages were informative, when combined, their messages are more powerful.

Here are two presentations that were compiled by the collaborative efforts of 13 to 15 online students whose independent efforts aligned into educational messages.

Meth… Not Even Once

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: drugs arizona)

At the end of every week, students watch these presentations and learn from each other’s slides. At the same time, the online community can also learn from these messages, as well.

As I continue to pursue the question of WHY students take health education courses in college when they already know the basics (or more importantly, what my role as an educator is besides going beyond the basics), I realize that I am also in charge of educating them on how to educate others about health. It’s when students share their work and what they’ve learned with others, that matters, too. It’s when a student can say to a friend or family member, “Hey, check out this presentation that we did in my health class last semester” where you can see student learning extend beyond the classroom.

creit car consoliation loans,Five Things: Go Away in 2009!

There are a few things I’d like to completely disappear or go away for good, but they won’t. These things are bothersome year after year, but I can only wish…

1. Stupidity

For the past few eight years, we have lived through an incredibly stupid era. It was definitely exemplified by George W Bu$h and his rhetoric, but it’s been expressed through some of his constituents (see Religious Right). American stupidity reigned supreme and any American abroad were ashamed and pretended to be Canadian instead. It’s difficult to believe that Americans are stuck in provincialism, bizarre religious concepts, and good old-fashioned bigotry. However, there seems to be an evolutionary imperative for the human race, especially the American subspecies, to remain stupid as the idiots keep having litters of children while smart people have few or no children at all.

2. The Religious Right

I’ve got to hand it to these people. They’ve been taking hit after hit in the past few years and they keep going. My admiration for them, however, ends there. They have engaged in a culture war against a great deal of the American population including women, racial minorities, gays and lesbians (major target), intellectuals, liberals, and common sense. While helping themselves to the freedom of speech and religion, they have sought to limit rights for women, gays, and minorities. Also, they have sought to reduce the quality of an American education and impose their religion upon non-Christian school children in the form of Creationist “science” or “Intelligent Design.” If they had their way, everyone would have to follow Old Testament type laws while they are free to wear mixted textiles and eat lobster.

One would think that a closeted, nelly queen of a mega-church pastor or several allied politicians such as a certain senator from Idaho being exposed for engaging in acts they sought to criminalize would send the Religious Right into shame and hiding. If that wasn’t enough, what about the numerous sexual and financial sins of some prominent clergy that has surfaced over the years. No matter, the faithful are either in denial or migrate to another bigot who mirror their views.

Religious right leaders, candy coating your tired, hateful rhetoric for a new generation doesn’t work. We can see right through it.

3. Financially Irresponsible Corporations

Why do the banks get a bailout package from the government? Why can’t I and every other citizen get the bailout instead of some insulting economic stimulus package? The money would have been better spent paying off all the student loans out there, putting some money back to banks at the banks at the same time. I’d say let the banks suffer, but this wasn’t put up for a popular vote.

Banks, you got our tax money, you better clean up your act. If it is put on the ballot, you can count on me to vote on nationalizing you.

4. Post-adolescent Celebrity Trainwrecks

Britney and sis, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan: All your drama in 2007 and 2008 has gotten old and tiresome. Get some dignity, please.

5. Homophobia

This should be number one on my list, but see Stupidity and Religious Right. This one affects me and a lot of other people on a very personal level. First of all, prejudice of any kind is never right. Many people still harbor bigotry towards minorities, but it is easy to tell them they’re wrong. If they persist, especially in making racist comments, they’re assholes. If they commit hate crimes, they should be thrown in jail. We should hold people to the same kind of standard when it comes to homophobia, but it then becomes someone’s personal belief, a differing of opinion, religious convictions, a moral issue, etc. However, racism, misogyny, and even religious intolerance are dealt with through social and even legal sanctions.

While there is some social and legal protection against homophobia, it’s pretty thin. Plus, the religious right and other homophobes won’t stop until gays and lesbians lose those rights. Also, preventing sexual minorities from gaining any more equal rights is high on their agenda.

Eventually homophobia will be as archaic as bloodletting. I only hope it happens sooner, not later.

These are the things I wish would go away in 2009. As for items 1, 2, and 5, we all have to keep fighting the good fight.

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arizona ui lawyer,Why Are Students Taking Health Ed In College (continued)

creit car consoliation loans,Five Things: Go Away in 2009!

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