Anxiety high as super storm Sandy draws near East Coast

Bill Purnell in Ocean City, Md. prepares for the super storm that is expected to pummel the East Coast when Hurricane Sandy meets an Arctic weather system. (CBS News)

(CBS News) OCEAN CITY, Md. - It could be the sequel to the perfect storm.
This will be a very anxious weekend along the East Coast. There is not only a hurricane coming up from the Caribbean, but an Arctic weather system moving in from the west. They have started joining forces to create what forecasters fear will be a powerful super storm, not seen on the East Coast in decades.


Right now, Hurricane Sandy is centered about 400 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina and is moving northward. Tropical storm watches and warnings are up along the East Coast from Florida to North Carolina and moving northward. The surf is already up in South Florida.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall early next week, somewhere between Virginia and southern New England, potentially affecting 64 million people. More than 40 have been killed in the Caribbean.
States of emergency have been declared on Friday night in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania and Maryland. Last year Ocean City, Md. dodged Hurricane Irene, but it looks like they will not have the same luck with Sandy.
Tourists on the Ocean City boardwalk seemed unfazed by the approaching storm, but it was a darker mood among those who live here. Bill Purnell boarded-up his bike shop.
"On a 10 point scale, this is a nine," he said.
We are concerned about the intensity of the storm, the wind levels when it gets here and the effects of the storm like flooding in low lying areas of the town," Ocean City mayor Rick Meehan said.
Off Cape Cod, coast guard planes directed fishing boats back to port. On shore, 20,000 utility workers have been put on standby to repair outages along the Eastern seaboard.
Last year, Hurricane Irene caused a loss of power for more than 6 million households in this region. Some were in the dark for weeks.
"When you're facing 50 to 60 mile winds with all the leaves still on the trees and a soaking rain for a long period of time, we're going to see trees come over. We're going to see branches come down so it's going to have an impact on us. And, again patience and working together, I think were going to be able to get through this like we always do," Ralph Larossa, president of New Jersey's largest electric company, said.
Sandy could cause over a $1 billion in damage, threatening nearly 400,000 homes in the most vulnerable areas.
Also in the storm's path: five East refineries that produce 7 percent of the nation's gasoline. They are expected to suspend operations as early as Sunday.
The U.S. military has ordered 24 warships based in Norfolk out to sea to ride out the storm. Here in Ocean City, business are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the tourists before they have to board up and get out of town.

Environment

Environment  Environment is the third guiding principle of living CREATION Healthy. This article is your introduction to Environment. Environment is the external space outside of us but that which affects what happens within us. All of our senses -- sight, smell, sound, touch and taste -- can influence our mood as well as our health, either positively or negatively. Recent research demonstrates not only the importance of our larger environment (air and water quality) to our health, but also our immediate environment (light, sound, aroma and touch). Is Your Environment Making You Crazy? You've probably heard of Pavlov's work with dogs. After allowing them to smell meat while listening to a bell, he discovered that the bell alone soon induced salivation. The same thing can happen in your body. Just about anything in the environment can elicit an automatic response after an association has been established. Cancer patients, upon returning to the clinic where they received chemotherapy, will sometimes re-experience the side effects of the treatment despite no longer being in treatment. Instead, it was certain pictures in the room, the fragrance worn by a staff member, or even the background music that triggered this reaction. This research conducted at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York underscores why it is essential to pay attention to anything at home or work that might be affecting your health because although you might not make the connection, your body can. Your Clutter Can Zap Your Energy! Take a critical look at your personal environment. Is simplicity and order the rule or the exception? After a routine cleaning of your home, does it still feel cluttered? Stacks of old magazines scattered about? Closets stuffed with clothes you rarely or never wear? Are too many appliances crowding your kitchen counter space? Whether we realize it or not, the very sight of clutter saps our energy, drains our strength, and depletes our sense of peace. As curious as it may sound, many people have found that by uncluttering their environment they begin to free their thoughts, emotions, and even their priorities. A simple, clean environment helps to clear the mind and it creates a greater sense of peace. To establish a sense of visual warmth in your home, display objects that awaken good memories. Surround yourself with things that bring a feeling of peace, comfort, and joy. Perhaps your treasures are pictures of family and friends—or awards or honors that you’ve earned and received. Art may bring you energy: paintings full of color, or sculptures brimming with life. Display items that make your spirit dream and that draw you soul closer to God. Touch Someone and Live Longer! What was true at Creation is still so today—people need others to survive and thrive. We each require helpmates and heart mates to make it through life. One of the ways we can aid each other to flourish is through the wonderful gift of touch. The skin God created for each of us is the largest sense organ in our bodies and responds positively to every loving touch. Numerous studies document the fact that we must have touch to develop and grow. Research has shown that husbands who hug their wives regularly tend to live longer and have fewer heart problems. In his book Psychosocial Medicine: A Study of the Sick Society James L. Halliday writes that infants deprived of regular maternal body contact can develop profound depression with an accompanying lack of appetite and wasting so severe that it can lead to death.

Interpersonal Relationships

Interpersonal Relationships  Interpersonal Relationships is the sixth guiding principle of living CREATION Healthy. This article is your introduction to Interpersonal Relationships. At the end of this overview is a growing list of related wellness articles to keep you involved. In regard to your interpersonal relationships, what do we mean by "social connection" or "social connectedness?" In the broadest sense, it means interacting with other people, such as friends or relatives. These connections will not be the same in every respect for any two people, although ideally these connections should generate a similar sense of openness, generosity, and good will.  Although they take work, good relationships are one of our greatest blessings. Is there anyone who really cares for you, or feels close to you, or loves you, or wants to help you?  Is there someone you can confide in?  If so, then according to some studies, you may have three to five times lower risk of premature death and disease from all causes than those who don’t have these kinds of relationships. Perhaps the best known example of the link between social connectedness and health has been seen in Dr. Dean Ornish’s intervention for reversing heart disease.  When most people think of this program, they tend to think of low-fat diets, exercise, and meditation.  But if you ask Dr. Ornish about the most important part of his program, his answer might surprise you, because he identifies it as interpersonal relationships. Dr. Dean Ornish, in his book, Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis for the Healing Power of Intimacy writes, "I’m not aware of any other factor in medicine – not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery – that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness, and the premature death from all causes than does love and intimacy." Jeff Levin, epidemiologist, puts it this way, "…experts have singled out love as foremost among the human emotions capable of promoting and maintaining health and achieving healing." The Complete Guide to Your Emotions and Your Health, published by Prevention Magazine, says:  "It seems something deep inside our cells responds positively when we feel love.  Love appears capable of sparking healthy biological reactions in much the same way as good food and fitness." Dr. Bernie Siegel, Yale physician and author of the best-selling book, Love, Medicine and Miracles, affirms the power of love, "Unconditional love is the most powerful stimulant of the immune system.  The truth is love heals."  Dr. Siegel works with cancer patients to help them experience the blessings of love and other positive emotions.

God's Rest Option

God's Rest Option God’s healing rest is as close as the beating of your heart. In our stressed-out world, in which families are increasingly falling apart and thousands visit hospital emergency rooms each day because their stress has become a major health crisis, we desperately need the kind of rest that God offers.  Here is a paraphrase of the famous invitation made in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me all you who labor to exhaustion, and I will give you rest.” HeartMath is an organization begun by a group of scientists dedicated to teaching people how to gain maximum health through getting their circulatory, respiratory, and nervous systems back into sync.  Their approach is to teach simple activities you can do right now to bring your body back into balance. "A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music, that would be rest. – Eleanor Roosevelt" Take Power Breaks, HeartMath says.  As little as five minutes will make a tremendous difference in how you feel and how well your body works.  “Breathe deeply, relax your mind with peaceful thoughts, and pray.  Such breaks will have profound impact on your body and your performance.”  Research shows that “when we are in sync, blood pressure drops, stress hormones plummet, anti-aging hormones increase, clarity and calmness result.”  In short, you experience the benefits of rest.  This is especially important when you face a crisis. It will enable you to be your best.  Athletes call this being “in the zone”—the rest zone! God’s healing rest is as close as the beating of your heart.  He has placed the rhythm of rest within the very pulse of your own body by programming rest into each heartbeat, into each day, and into each week.  Why not step out of the fast lane and enjoy some sweet rest. Your body will bless you for it.

Growth Hormone, Rest and Massage

Growth Hormone, Rest and Massage Not all sleep is equal. Dr. Krueger, at the University of Kentucky, found that the immune system actually triggers the type of sleep best for healing.  Called “delta” or “slow wave” sleep,it is the deep, restful sleep you need to awaken feeling refreshed and energized. During this stage of sleep, the body releases growth hormone (GH).  As its name implies, growth hormone stimulates the growth and repair of damaged tissue.  It also stimulates the formation of lymphocytes (white blood cells), needed to fight disease-causing microbes (germs), an important step in healing that's triggered by the immune system. Consequently, it’s available at just the time you need it most—when fighting an illness.  Listen to your body.  When you start to feel tired it may be your immune system signaling the need for some healing sleep. For every action there has to be an opposite and equal reaction.  More than a law of physics, it’s a requirement for optimal health.  Stress is a part of daily living and unlikely to go away.  While you may have little influence over the circumstances that cause you anguish, you can insert periods of rest and recovery.  Stress is beneficial because it stimulates change and growth.  However, it is during periods of recovery that the growth actually occurs.  Successful athletes make recovery an essential part of their training, for without it, muscles can never achieve their full potential. In the same way, rest has to be your daily routine to protect you from illness. Rest and recovery balance out stress. Without this “R&R” you will never achieve optimal health. While sleep is our primary way of getting needed rest, there are other ways to rest apart from sleep.  One of these is a relaxing massage. This type of rest could be more than just a quiet interlude from the topsy-turvy world you might live in.  It can also be an essential ingredient for good health.  Dr. Tiffany Fields, at the University of Miami, demonstrated that premature infants who were gently massaged several times each day grew at a faster rate, developed reflexes more rapidly, and had cognitive advantages compared with those premature infants who were not touched. Your skin is the largest organ in the body and, when touched, can release pain-countering endorphins as well as produce immune system stimulating growth hormone. Those seeking healing, not just pampering, are incorporating restful massages into their weekly schedules. Couples, of course, can do this for each other. Moms can give backrubs or foot massages to children and teens. There are many good books that teach techniques, but it doesn’t take a pro to give a good massage.  Just use long strokes and some kneading movements; add a little warm lotion or oil, and the recipient will be thankful…and delighted.  It’s that simple.

What does a Christian family look like?

– What does a Christian family look like? 
A Christian family always begins with a Christian man and a Christian woman.  If one of the spouses is not a real Christian (play Christian) then it is impossible to be a Christian family.  Families can pretend to be Christian, going to church, praying, and even reading the Bible, but if Christ is not central and lives are not surrendered, then they do not have a Christian family.  Having a Christian family is based off the spirituality of the parents, not the children. Christian parents will train up their children in the way they should go, teaching them to be loving, respectful, hard workers, good Bible students, and more, but every child must decide for themselves to follow God or not.
A healthy, Christian family will have a husband who loves God and is willing to follow Him always.  The husband is the head of the family and is responsible for setting a good example and guiding the family to Jesus every day (Eph. 5:23, 1 Tim. 3:4, 12).  A Christ-filled husband and father will be loving, kind, tender, firm, forgiving, fun, balanced, etc.

So men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. – Ephesians 5:28
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter against them. – Colossians 3:19
Let the husband give to the wife proper kindness, and likewise the wife also to the husband. – 1 Cor. 7:3
The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. – 1 Cor. 7:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. — Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they be discouraged. — Colossians 3:21

The Word of God clearly teaches that men are to be the head of the home as Christ is the head of the church.  And just because men are to be the leader within the home does not mean that they have the right to demand to be served.  Jesus, King of the universe, knelt down and washed His disciples feet, setting an example of what real leadership is all about.  Jesus-filled husbands and fathers will be the first to forgive, first to serve, first to do what is right, and first to seek God every day in worship.
This next part is difficult for many women to accept, but “It is written” and that needs to be good enough.  We need to trust and obey God even when we do not want to.  The Word of God says…

Likewise, husbands, live together according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, the female, as truly being co-heirs together of the grace of life, not cutting off your prayers. – 1 Peter 3:7

As much as we like to think men and women are exactly the same in every way possible, this is not true.  The Bible clearly teaches that men and women are wired in different ways.  Men are wired with analytical leadership skills and women are wired with an emotional element that helps balance out the leadership role of men.  Husbands and wives are called to become one flesh.  As this happens, the strengths of each are joined together to make a strong mission team that works for God in the harvest.
When the Bible says that, “the wife is the weaker vessel”, this is not only talking about physical strength… it is also talking about inner strength.  That is why God said, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Tim. 2:14).  Men are usually more thick-headed than women, allowing them to make tough decisions as leaders.
With that said, what does it mean to be a Christian wife and mother?

Let the husband give to the wife proper kindness, and likewise the wife also to the husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. – 1 Cor. 7:3, 4
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. – Eph. 5:22
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as is becoming in the Lord. – Col. 3:18
In the same way also, I desire that women adorn themselves in decent clothing, with modesty and sensibleness, not adorned with braiding, or gold, or pearls, or costly clothing, but with good works, which becomes women professing godliness. – 1 Tim. 2:9, 10
Wives are to be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. – 1 Tim. 3:11
Don’t quarrel and fight: The quarreling of a wife is a never-ending dripping. – Proverbs 19:13

These Bible verses give us a good idea of what it means to be a Christian woman.
Wouldn’t it be nice if husbands and wives were respectful, kind, loving, forgiving, and giving to each other at all times.  This is what God’s DEMANDS of Christian husbands and wives.  If we truly love God and are willing to go wherever He leads, we will surrender our selfish egos and pride at the foot of the cross and strive to be like Jesus all the time.
Christian families will be safe environments where family members can learn about God and grow in His amazing grace.  They will be places where people can make mistakes and not be condemned for doing so.  Christian families will look and sound peaceful and Christ-like.  There will be no selfish and angry fighting, yelling, belittling, name-calling, and abusing.  Through the power of Jesus, every family member will gain victory over self and God will be lifted up as King. Take care and have a blessed Sabbath day and great work week.

Eat Well to Sleep Well

Can't sleep? Try these tips for snoozing and catch up on your zzz's.

Adapted From: Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal, Reader's Digest Canada The quality of sleep you get has an enormous impact on your daily life. Poor or disordered sleep can affect your concentration and ability to interact with others.

If you don’t wake up feeling refreshed, here are some eating habits you should look into. They may be affecting your ability to get restful sleep.

Don’t...

• Eat too much or too little. A light snack at bedtime can promote sleep, but too much food can cause digestive discomfort that leads to wakefulness.
• Eat fat. If you consume a high-fat meal in the evening or eat foods that you have found cause you indigestion and heartburn, your sleep can be disturbed and restless.
• Eat late at night. Lying down with a full stomach puts you at a gravitational disadvantage, encouraging acids to flow up into the esophagus, causing uncomfortable heartburn that will make sleep challenging.
• Drink fluids too close to bedtime. Avoid fluids after dinner to reduce the need to go to the bathroom during the night.

Do...

• Drink milk and honey. Milk contains an essential amino acid (tryptophan) that is a natural sedative. Carbohydrates facilitate the entry of tryptophan into the brain, so a spoonful of honey is the perfect solution with milk.
• Eat a turkey sandwich. This is another sleep-inducing combination of tryptophan and carbohydrates.
• Have a banana with milk. The banana’s vitamin B6 has a similar sleepy effects when mixed with tryptophan.

Olive trees of Gethsemane are among oldest in world, study says

Olive trees of Gethsemane are among oldest in world, study says

jerusalem gethsemane garden jesus christ olive trees

(Gethsemane olive trees,14 April 2009/Aiv Deror)

Olive trees in the Jerusalem garden revered by Christians as the place where Jesus Christ prayed before he was crucified have been dated to at least 900 years old, a study showed.
The results of tests on trees in the Garden of Gethsemane have not settled the question of whether the gnarled trees are the very same which sheltered Jesus, where the Bible says he prayed and was later betrayed by Judas, because olive trees can grow back from roots after being cut down, researchers said.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that there was an intervention to rejuvenate them when they stopped being productive or dried out,” Chief Researcher Professor Antonio Cimato said at a presentation of the results in Rome on Friday.
“But let me say: plants of greater age than our olives are not cited in the scientific literature. Our olives are among the oldest broad-leaved trees in the world,” Cimato said.
Carbon dating showed that samples taken from the oldest part of the trunks of three of the eight trees came from the years 1092, 1166 and 1198, according to the study by the National Research Council of Italy Trees and Timber Institute and academics from five Italian universities.
The other five trees at Gethsemane – which means “oil press” in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus – could not be tested as they are so gnarled that their trunks have become hollowed out, with only newer growth remaining.

Shot Pakistani girl recovering fast in UK: father

By Stephen Eisenhammer

BIRMINGHAM, England | Fri Oct 26, 2012 9:44am EDT

(Reuters) - The father of a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education said on Friday she would "rise again" to pursue her dreams after hospital treatment.
Malala Yousufzai, 15, was flown from Pakistan to Britain for specialist treatment after the October 9 attack, which drew widespread international condemnation.
The father Ziauddin Yousufzai and other family members arrived in Britain on Thursday to help her recovery.
"They wanted to kill her. But she fell temporarily. She will rise again. She will stand again," he told reporters, his voice breaking with emotion.
Malala has become a powerful symbol of resistance to the Taliban's efforts to deny women education. Public fury in Pakistan over her shooting has put pressure on the military to mount an offensive against the radical Islamist group.
"When she fell, Pakistan stood ... this is a turning point," her father said. "(In) Pakistan for the first time ... all political parties, the government, the children, the elders, they were crying and praying to God."
The Taliban have said they attacked her because she spoke out against the group and praised U.S. President Barack Obama.
A cheerful schoolgirl who wants to become a politician, Malala Yousufzai began speaking out against the Pakistani Taliban when she was 11, around the time when the government had effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley to the militants.
She has been in critical condition since gunmen shot her in the head and neck as she left school in Swat, northwest of Islamabad.
She could be at risk of further attack if she went back to Pakistan, where Taliban insurgents have issued more death threats against her and her father since she was shot.
"It's a miracle for us," her father said. "She was in a very bad condition ... She is improving with encouraging speed."
British doctors say Malala has every chance of making a good recovery at the special hospital unit, expert in dealing with complex trauma cases. It has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
Dave Rosser, the hospital's medical director, said she would be strong enough to travel back to Pakistan in a few months' time but it was unclear whether the family would choose to do so.
"She's certainly showing every intention of keeping up with her studies," Rosser added.
Malala's father said he and his family cried when they were finally reunited with her on Thursday.
"I love her and of course last night when we met her there were tears in our eyes and they were out of happiness," he said, adding that Malala had asked him to bring school textbooks from Pakistan so she could study.
"She told me on the phone, please bring me my books of Class 9 and I will attempt my examination," he said.
"We are very happy ... I pray for her."

How to Be a Millionaire

How to be a millionaire? You may be a bum wishing to have a million bucks, or you may be an aspiring young professional who wants to know if you are on the right path. Whatever the case may be, here are seven ways people become millionaires. Some are by pure luck but there’s no need to worry as others are based much less on chance and more on planning and wits. With some effort, you can have a big fat bank account one day too.


Be Innovative – Most people believe that the easy inventions are already out in the marketplace but yet, new gadgets come out every day. Ideas are everywhere, so put on your thinking caps. If you aren’t the thinking type, you can always…
Learn from Madoff – You will also be on the front page of every newspaper and be in jail for 150 years but at least your wife can enjoy a good life with money you stole from other people.
If you take this path by the way, let me know so I can report you.
Corporate Slave – Okay, this is the first way to be a millionaire while avoiding the headlines. Many high paid professionals end up with significant wealth built up. Of course, they get beaten up at work daily as they climb the corporate ladder and then pay obscene amounts of government taxes afterward, but hey, nothing is going to stop you from becoming a millionaire right?
Forget Millions, I Was Born a Billionaire – Having rich parents aint’ a crime right? Even if you aren’t born that way, you might get a second chance by being adopted. Of course, no money is ever safe if you don’t know how to use it.
Save Your Ass Off Millionaire – You can keep trying, but this is exactly how most of us will become a millionaire. It’s not glamorous like winning the nobel prize but no one will bother you (that’s a good thing when you are wealthy) because no one will ever know you are rich either.
Since this is actually the most probable way of becoming a millionaire, I’ve outlined a few steps you can take.
1. Generate Some Income
All the rubbish about a penny saved equal two pennies earned is true because pondering about that all day will save you exactly two pennies. If you ever want to save enough money to make your family proud, start earning some to begin with. This includes:

• Stop watching TV. But everyone watches TV. Yes, couch potato the third, that’s why so few ever become millionaires. While you are watching TV, your competition, the more successful and the people you envy are all making money. Stop watching TV. In fact, cancel it if you always give in.
• Working smarter and harder at work – If you have to choose between the two, please err on the side of being smart. Be friendly and helpful to coworkers, know when you should work hard and when to say no to distractions.
• Get a side job – If you are earning less than $40,000 and trying to feed a family of four, you could probably write a book on money saving advice. Stop reading up on frugal living and write about it instead. Start your own business and earn more money 

2. Save Some of It
Alright, what I said in step one was misleading (it wouldn’t be the first time so stop complaining). After you have decent income coming in every month, you need to save at least some of it. How much? It all depends on how fast you want to become a millionaire. There’s no right or wrong answer. No pain, no gain my friend.
Alternatively, you can also save more by reducing your current expenses.
3. Investing It in Diversified Index Funds
I keep telling everyone that I’m becoming an index fund convert. No, I’m not those that liked index funds from the get go or someone who lost a bunch of money in the stock market betting on individual securities. In fact, I made a small fortune in the stock market. But it was risky, tiring, frustrating and stressful. I wanted a life. If you really want to be a millionaire, stick with index funds.

7 Reasons Why We Need to Start Budget Tracking Now

Sandy knows she is growing her savings by having a surplus each month and putting it in high yielding online banks. When she was puzzled about budgeting, she wrote in and said:

I have $100,000 saved up in bank accounts by following good frugal practices that you and others outline. I however don’t budget and never keep track of my expenses. I know I’m saving money because my account grows every month. Why should I budget …

There are many reasons to make a budget and keep track of all expenses apart from growing a surplus. I admit that it is actually very difficult to keep an expense tracking system up-to-date because not bothering to update it doesn’t have an immediate effect on us. However, maintaining a budget is like maintaining a bridge. There may not be problems even if neglect maintenance for a long time, but consequences can be disastrous when an accident finally occurs. Below are some more reasons why you want to maintain the bridge:

Builds Discipline and Organization
Having a budget really helps you stay disciplined to organize your finances, which is the first step of knowing your overall financial health. Without easy to read data, there is no way of knowing what is going on.
Forces You to Think About Money
This is a side benefit of having a budget but it is an important one. The more time you spend thinking about your money, the more focus you are in building your wealth. Once you start thinking about money often, you will find that you are able to find more ways to save and more ways to generate income.
Crisis Prevention
Looking through your finances at regular intervals will allow you to spot trends and see areas that can be improved way before it becomes a problem. By preventing crisis from starting, you are way ahead of everyone else who can only react.
Great Tool to Start Family Discussions
Money is always a hard subject to discuss. If the whole family is involved in budget making and expense tracking, it makes discussions much easier. It is always a good idea to just lay out the facts when talking about money matters and the expense tracker is the perfect tool to aid in this regard.
Quantifiable Way of Measuring Progress
In theory, we all want to reduce our spending and make more money but it is impossible to know how we are doing without actually keeping track of your progress. Budget tracking to measure progress is not just a benefit but a requirement.
Without a budget, how do we know that we are meeting our goals?
Knowledge is Power
By keeping track of your budgets, you will know exactly how much money you actually need on a monthly basis. Equipped with this knowledge, you are able to plan and build an emergency fund that you know has sufficient cash. You can also easily figure out how unexpected issues like losing a job or having a child will affect your financial health.
Stress Reliever
Knowing your exact financial situation lifts a tremendous amount of stress off your shoulders because you don’t have to worry about the unknown. Even if your financial situation is shaky, you will be spending time fixing the problem and not trying to find out what the issue is.
Let’s get back to thinking of the bridge. Keep up your maintenance schedule and you won’t be sorry. Become lazy and be ready to suffer the consequences.

7 Habits of Highly Frugal People

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Email

The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold over 15 million copies since it was first published in 1989, teaching people all over the world how to live a happier, more successful and more satisfying life. One of the prevailing themes of the book is the fact that to change your life you need to change your attitude because no one else is responsible for what happens to you but you, so you can either complain about the things you don’t like in your life or you can set about changing them. Not surprisingly, this directly relates to the state of your finances. This post is a parody to the concepts presented in the book.
If you are tired of living paycheck to paycheck, of having your phone regularly cut off or having to make excuses to skip dinners with your friends if the money has run out before the end of the month then you can use the seven habits of highly effective people to take control of your money situation and live a more frugal lifestyle, and a happier one.

Habit One: Be Proactive

The first habit of highly effective people is to take responsibility for their own lives; if they fail, they have no one to blame but themselves. Regardless of how you were raised or how you were treated at school you are able to choose your behavior now. Being proactive means understanding that you are in control of the direction your life takes and in control of your day to day interactions. Whereas a reactive person is often affected by their environment and will find external sources to blame for their behavior, for example if the weather is good they are in a good mood but if the weather is bad it affects their attitude and so the weather is to blame for their bad mood.
Here are 6 Action Steps to Take When You Feel Financially Vulnerable
However what most people forget is that between the stimulus and your response is your freedom to choose your response, and one of the most important things you choose are your words. The language you use is an effective indication of how you see yourself and if you use proactive language such as ‘I can’ or ‘I will’ you are starting with a more positive attitude than a reactive person who uses language like ‘I can’t’ or ‘I have to’ or ‘if only…’
How to be proactive for effective frugality:

• Take the first step. You cannot take control of your finances until you make the commitment to do so because the more you ignore the situation the worse it will get. Instead take a long hard look at your finances and your budget, your debts, income and expenses and understand where your money is going and where you can budget better. (To help you out, here are 25 ways to pay off your debt more easily.)
• Tell people. Using proactive language to vocalize your goal of being more frugal and more financially responsible not only helps you crystallize your goal but can also help you avoid the peer pressure which can make budgeting and frugality hard. If you explain to your friends and family how you are trying to live a more frugal lifestyle then they are less likely to pressure you into one more round of drinks at the pub or dinner out, again.
• Listen. Listen to yourself and listen to the reasons you give each time you make a purchase outside of your budget or decide not to put those spare funds into your savings account. Taking the time to stop and listen to the reasons you give yourself for spending more than you earn will give you the opportunity to hear just how shallow many of those reasons are, and can stop you from making purchases which can impede your goal of effective frugality.

Habit Two: Begin with the End in Mind

Those who are effective in achieving their goals are able to envisage their end result despite the obstacles. Highly effective people adhere to this habit based on the principle that all things are created twice, there is the first mental creation and then the second physical creation, and the physical creation follows the mental creation in the same way as the building follows its blueprints.
If you don’t visualize what you want out of life then you are at risk of other people and external circumstances influencing your life because you are not influencing it yourself. Instead begin every day and every task with a clear vision of where you want to go and how you’re going to get there and make that vision a reality with your proactive skills from habit one.
How to visualize effective frugality:

• Define your goal. There are many ways to live a frugal lifestyle and you need to decide on how frugal you want to be. Do you want to be debt free, do you want to build a savings account balance of a certain value or do you want to be able to live on one income in a two income household?
• Decide how you’re going to get there. This will again draw on your budget, but you also need to be aware of the obstacles which are standing in your way. These may be literal obstacles such as credit card debts, or they may be obstacles you have identified in your behavior; for example are you spending $10 every day on junk food on your way home from work because you’re starving when you could be packing a two dollar muesli bar or a low GI lunch to keep you going until dinner. Or do you find that when you go shopping with your sister she always helps you justify a frivolous purchase when you could leave your credit card at home?

Make sure your goals are SMART! Here’s what I mean by that.

Habit Three: Put First Things First

Knowing why you are doing something is an effective motivator in helping you take the mental creation and transform that into an actual physical creation of your goal. Therefore ask yourself which are the things you find most valuable and worthy to you. When you put these things first you will be organizing and managing your time around your personal priorities to make them a reality.
However for many people it is hard to say no but this is exactly the skill you have to learn to be able to keep your goals as your first priority. While we have all of these time-saving devices and we are told we can have it all if we just achieve that elusive work-life balance, in reality having it all is really about prioritizing which it is most important to you to have, and then doing that properly.
How to put effective frugality first:

• Recognize the effects of your finances. You may not dedicate as much time as you should to managing your finances and practicing frugal principles because you feel there is always something more important to be doing, whether it is work, taking the kids to soccer practice or getting ready for dinner with the girls. However, if your finances are not under control and you are regularly spending more than you earn, then this is having a negative impact on every other aspect of your life from your work to your family to your friends. Therefore you need to recognize that being frugal is your first priority.
• Just say no. It is easy to spend more than your budgeted amount each month when you are worried about missing out on a dinner with friends, feel as though you have to cater a birthday party for your son and 50 of his closest friends or you can’t possibly wear the same suit you wore last year to a work conference. However if you recognize that you don’t have to take on everything and that it is all right to say no then you will find you are more in control of your spending and your budget.

Habit Four: Think Win-Win

Most of us are taught to base our self-worth on comparisons to others and competition against our peers. We think we can only succeed if someone else has failed and if you win, then that must mean I lost. We are also taught that there is only so much pie to go around and if you get a big piece then I’m going to be missing out. When you think like this you are always going to feel like you’re missing out on something and nothing is ever fair. As a result many of us retaliate and take the pie before someone else can take it from us.
Thinking in a win-win mindset allows you to see mutual benefits from all of your interactions and as a result, you will see that when you share the pie it tastes even better. If you are able to approach conflicts and problems with a win-win attitude by showing integrity and standing up for your true feelings and values, it allows you to express your ideas and feelings with courage while having consideration for the feelings and ideas of others. When you focus on an abundance mentality, you are able to see that there is enough for everyone and you can see that balancing your confidence with empathy can help you achieve your goals while helping others achieve theirs.
How to create frugal win-win situations:

• Recognize that you don’t always know the full story. As you aim to implement frugal principles and stick to a budget, you may often find yourself thinking ‘it’s not fair’. It’s not fair that they get to go out to dinner. It’s not fair that they get a new car, and it’s not fair that they get to go on holiday and I don’t. However, take the time to realize that you are only seeing a small part of the finances of your friends and family who seem to ‘have it all’. And even though your best friend is taking that dream European holiday of yours or your brother is buying a sports car before you are, you will get there too if you manage your finances frugally and there will still be plenty of holiday destinations and plenty of fast cars when you can afford the expense.
• Understand the difference between possessions and net worth. While your friends and family may seem to have a fuller lifestyle because their house is bigger or their car is newer, you need to consider that it could just be a facade to cover their mountains of debt. True wealth is not measured in possessions but in assets and when the value of your assets is greater than the amount you owe in mortgages, car loans and credit card debts, then you have a strong net worth and are truly wealthy. And in aiming to live a more effectively frugal lifestyle you will be able to achieve true wealth rather than just a life full of stuff.

When building wealth, remember to look at the big picture too.

Habit Five: Communication

Communication is often the desire to be heard and understood and most people will listen with the intention to reply to what you’re saying rather than to understand what you have said. However, to effectively communicate you need to first understand and then be understood because if you communicate with the sole intention of being understood you can find that you ignore what others are saying and miss their meaning entirely.
How listening can help you be effectively frugal:

• You are not the only person in your life. Chances are you are married, in a relationship, have children or all of the above. As a result, you are not the only person being affected by your decision to live a more frugal lifestyle. To be effective in your goal of frugality, you need to be able to listen to and understand the goals and behaviors of the other people in your life too. Consider how effective your frugality would be if you were taking packed lunches to work and avoiding the afternoon coffee run with your partner going on shopping sprees during their lunch break. Instead of living a more frugal lifestyle, you are really saving on one end and spending it on the other.
• Understand the goals and needs of others. While it is important to explain your desire to live more frugal lifestyle, it is also important that you understand the goals and needs of your family so that you can find a way to be more frugal without them having to give up all of the things which are most important to them. You can’t know what those things are unless you listen.

Habit Six: Synergize

Interactions and teamwork are some of the most important ways you can learn new skills and more effective behaviors. To synergize is the habit of creative cooperation where you work as a team to find new solutions to existing problems. Synergy is not something which just happens but is a process where you need to bring all of your personal experiences and expertise to the table to enable more effective results than you would have been able to achieve individually – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
When you have genuine interactions with people you are able to gain new insights and see new approaches to your problems which you would not have otherwise thought of.
How to synergize for effective frugality:

• Look for new ways. In a society which has become so good at consumerism you have probably already realized that you need to find new ways of doing just about everything to be frugal. It is easy to buy your lunch every day but it is more frugal to take a packed lunch. It is easy to drive to work but it is more frugal to catch the train. It is easy to buy a new cocktail dress but it is more frugal to make one.
• Surround yourself with other frugal people. To be successful surround yourself with people who are where you want to be and whether you join online forums on frugal living websites or strike up a friendship with the woman who runs the local shop you will be able to share ideas and learn from others to be successful.

Learn to embrace the positive influence of saving money here as well.

Habit Seven: Sharpen the Saw

You are the greatest asset you have on your journey to achieving the lifestyle you want and so you need to look after yourself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. When you take time to renew yourself in all four areas of your life you are creating growth and change which allow you to continue with the previous six habits you have mastered, which still need to be maintained to achieve success.
How to frugally renew yourself:

• Physically. By eating better you will feel better and if you start your own vegetable patch for example you will be able to save at the supermarket and will be eating better at the same time. Exercising keeps you fit and healthy and it doesn’t cost you anything to go for a walk or bike ride or even skip rope in the backyard. To rest your body you don’t need to go to a day spa you can simply slide into the tub at home and relax.
• Emotionally. Interacting socially with others allows you to make meaningful connections and this can come back to a conversation with the woman at the op shop or even scheduling in coffee and a chat with your mum once a week.
• Mentally. Exercising and expanding your mind through learning, reading, writing and teaching can be done frugally at your local library or even by volunteering at a school or retirement home to teach others a skill you may be taking for granted.
• Spiritually. Spending time close to nature to expand your spiritual self through meditation, music, art or prayer can be done frugally by taking a quiet moment to center yourself and empty your mind before you go to bed or going for a bush walk and being grateful for the beauty of nature surrounding you.

Frugality does not mean having to give up all the luxuries and things which make you happy because if you go through developing habits 1 to 6 without spending the time to renew yourself this is how you burn out, and frugality is something you want to develop and maintain for the long-term and with these seven habits you can be a highly frugal person.

NASA Radar Penetrates Thick, Thin of Gulf Oil Spill 10.25.12 NASA UAVSAR image of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

NASA UAVSAR image of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, collected June 23, 2010. The oil appears much darker than the surrounding seawater in the greyscale image. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

PASADENA, Calif. - Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have developed a method to use a specialized NASA 3-D imaging radar to characterize the oil in oil spills, such as the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The research can be used to improve response operations during future marine oil spills.
Caltech graduate student Brent Minchew and JPL researchers Cathleen Jones and Ben Holt analyzed NASA radar imagery collected over the main slick of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on June 22 and June 23, 2010. The data were acquired by the JPL-developed Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) during the first of its three deployments over the spill area between June 2010 and July 2012. The UAVSAR was carried in a pod mounted beneath a NASA C-20A piloted aircraft, a version of the Gulfstream III business jet, based at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. The researchers demonstrated, for the first time, that a radar system like UAVSAR can be used to characterize the oil within a slick, distinguishing very thin films like oil sheen from more damaging thick oil emulsions.
"Our research demonstrates the tremendous potential of UAVSAR to automate the classification of oil in a slick and mitigate the effects of future oil spill tragedies," said Jones. "Such information can help spill incidence response commanders direct cleanup operations, such as the mechanical recovery of oil, to the areas of thick oil that would have the most damaging environmental impacts."
Current visual oil classification techniques are qualitative, and depend upon the skill of the people doing the assessment and the availability of skilled observers during an emergency. Remote sensing allows larger areas to be covered in a consistent manner in a shorter amount of time. Radar can be used at night or in other low-light or poor weather conditions when visual surveys can't be conducted.
Radar had previously been used to detect the extent of oil slicks, but not to characterize the oil within them. It had generally been assumed that radar had little to no use for this purpose. The team demonstrated that UAVSAR could be used to identify areas where thick oil had mixed with the surface seawater to form emulsions, which are mixtures of oil and seawater.
Identifying the type of oil in a spill is vital for assessing its potential harm and targeting response efforts. For example, thin oil consists of sheens that measure from less than 0.0002 inches (0.005 millimeters) to about 0.002 inches (0.05 millimeters) thick. Sheens generally form when little oil is released, as in the initial stages of a spill, or from lightweight, volatile components of spill material. Because sheens contain little oil volume, they weather and evaporate quickly, and are of minor concern from an environmental standpoint. Oil emulsions, on the other hand, are 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) thick, contain more oil, and persist on the ocean surface for much longer, thereby potentially having a greater environmental impact in the open sea and along the shoreline.
"Knowing the type of oil tells us a lot about the thickness of the oil in that area," said Jones.
The researchers acquired data in June 2010 along more than 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) of flight lines over an area of more than 46,330 square miles (120,000 square kilometers), primarily along the Gulf Coast. They found that at the time the slick was imaged by UAVSAR, much of the surface layer of the Deepwater Horizon spill's main slick consisted of thick oil emulsions.
UAVSAR characterizes an oil spill by detecting variations in the roughness of its surface and, for thick slicks, changes in the electrical conductivity of its surface layer. Just as an airport runway looks smooth compared to surrounding fields, UAVSAR "sees" an oil spill at sea as a smoother (radar-dark) area against the rougher (radar-bright) ocean surface because most of the radar energy that hits the smoother surface is deflected away from the radar antenna. UAVSAR's high sensitivity and other capabilities enabled the team to separate thick and thin oil for the first time using a radar system.
"We knew we were going to detect the extent of the spill," said Holt. "But we had this great new instrument, so we wanted to see how it would work in this extreme situation, and it turned out to be really unique and valuable, beyond all previous radar results for spills."
"We studied an unprecedented event using data collected by a sophisticated instrument and were able to show that there was a lot more information contained in the data than was apparent when we began," said Minchew. "This is a good example of how the tools of science could be used to help mitigate disasters in real time."
UAVSAR is returning to the Gulf of Mexico area this month and will image the area around the Deepwater Horizon site to look for leaks. In the future, UAVSAR data may be combined with imaging spectroscopic data from JPL's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) instrument to further improve the ability to characterize oil spills under a broader range of environmental conditions.
In addition to characterizing the oil slick, UAVSAR imaged most of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastline, extending from the Florida Keys to Corpus Christi, Texas, with extensive inland coverage of the southern Louisiana wetlands around Barataria Bay, the terrestrial ecosystem that ultimately sustained the greatest oiling from the massive spill. Researchers tracked the movement of the oil into coastal waterways and marshlands, monitored impact and recovery of oil-affected wetlands, and assessed how UAVSAR can support emergency responders in future disasters.
UAVSAR is also used to detect detailed Earth movements related to earthquakes, volcanoes and glaciers, as well as for soil moisture and forestry biomass studies.
Results of this study are published this month in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.