Boxing Training

What do you need to train as a boxer? It's a good question. Well how about fitness and knowing the technical side of boxing, the right punches, the right techniques.

Good boxers are fit. It goes without saying. You can't last 12 - 15 rounds of boxing unless you're fit. That's why you see boxers running, skipping, Shadow boxing, putting the hours in at the gym. Building strength and endurance. You name it and they're doing the hard work.

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Because they know it'll pay off in the end. Also they're in the ring sparring. Practicing punches, combinations specific punches. Developing lightening reflexes and hand eye co-ordination. So when the boxer is ready to fight he is at the peak of physical condition. Ready to go the distance. Yet this same boxer in all probability started out by joining a boxing club in the vicinity of their home town. And that's a great way for anyone to learn this noble art.

However once a boxer shows some promise and commitment, they have a ring savvy boxing coach. Someone who has been there - seen it - done it. Some one who can teach them the technical aspects of boxing.

Well whatever way a boxer trains, they train following a boxing program. One which teaches them how to fight, ring craft and how to become fitter at the same time. But what about the ordinary guy? Somebody who wants to know how to punch correctly (and become fitter from boxing). There's gotta' be an easier method surely.

Boxing Training

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Shopping in Maine

Some might think that because of Maine's vast green forests and undeveloped terrain that there aren't places to shop. They would be wrong. So if while visiting Maine you are dreaming of malls and smoking credit cards instead of the rugged beauty of ocean crashed shorelines there is hope for you. Maine is overwhelmed with places to spend your money from traditional malls to flea markets to shopping towns.

The traditional malls can be found in South Portland and Bangor. The mall in South Portland is actually called the Maine Mall. With 140 stores, 18 restaurants and anchor stores such as Sears, Macy's and J.C. Penneys you can have hours of shopping enjoyment. Because of its size, everyone in your family will find places to lose some green. Don't worry guys, there is a Best Buy, Electronics Boutique, and Fye to feed your electronic urges. Kids will find the Disney Store, Build-A-Bear and, if they're like my chocolate munching children, Godiva of special interest. The traditional mall in Bangor is appropriately called the Bangor Mall. Shocking, huh? It's about half the size of the Maine Mall with 79 stores but it has the same anchor stores. You can find hiking, fishing and outdoor gear at the Dick's Sporting Goods store. For those seeking to support Maine businesses I'd suggest stepping into Berg Sportswear and picking up your University of Maine Black Bear's t-shirt.

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If a traditional mall is too sterile, new or ordinary maybe a flea market is for you. It's difficult to tell what strange forgotten treasures you can find at a flea market. In Maine there are too many flea markets to review so I'll give you a list to explore.

Flea Market - City

Augusta Flea Market - Augusta

Bargain House - Lebanon

Cascade Flea Market - Saco

Evergreen Flea Market - Poland

Gloria's Flea Market - Topsham

Gorham Flea Market - Gorham

Granite Ridge Flea Market - Waterboro

Montsweag Flea Market - Woolwich

North Vassalboro Flea Market - North Vassalboro

Undercover Antique Mall - Oxford

Waterfront Flea Market - Brunswick

West Gardiner Flea Market - Gardiner

Another shopping experience can be found in towns that specialize in shopping. Yes, you heard me correctly, entire towns dedicated to fine art of shopping. Freeport Maine is such a town. A motivated shopper could spend days wandering through the streets of Freeport, it's an incredible place. From the whimsical fun of the Cool as a Moose store to the striking beauty of the pottery at Edgecomb Potters there is a store for you. Because of an unwritten law, I have to mention the massive L.L. Bean store or they will bar me from Freeport forever. After a tiring day of shopping go to Gritty McDuff's to unwind. They have a fenced yard with a swing set for the kids to play while you enjoy adult conversation on the deck. Those of you who have rug rats know how rare it is to eat and chat without interruption. Bar Harbor is another quaint town with plenty of shopping and other fun tourist activities. If you've ever been to Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium and savored some delectable treats you understand that being a tourist isn't a bad thing. Overall, Bar Harbor has a flare for local crafts and arts. It seems as though the entire town is comprised of artists and craftsmen. Long ago Bar Harbor was known as a place for the ultra wealthy but today everyone can feel comfortable here.

Please realize that these aren't even a fraction of the shops in Maine. There are tiny towns throughout Maine with wonderful shops and breathtaking views that offer additional shopping. Take a day or two to meander through harbor towns with small mom and pop shops to really understand Maine and its friendly people.

Shopping in Maine

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Things to Consider When Selecting an Ebook Reader

Handheld eBook Reader

One has to wonder if Amazon an an idea as to how popular the portable ebook reader was going to be when they first introduced the Kindle. At the present time, Kindle is the runaway leader in sales among the big three competitors. Sony cam first and their prime product is the Sony Touch Edition. Next and coming fast, is the Nook from Barnes & Noble. With all of the book resources and retail outlets, B&N has a lot going for them and right now they are closing the gap between themselves and the Kindle.

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The handheld eBook reader has rapidly come to be one of the hottest gadgets on the marketplace currently. They are trendy for good cause too. Having one of these in your traveling bag or at your home or workplace, you can have easy access to an almost endless availability of literature in a compact, handy and fashionable package.

Before you go and pick up the first eBook reader that you find, there are two or three important points you'll have to keep in mind. One of those is that not all readers qualify as a true portable e book reader. It's really a specific class or category of eBook readers that are as small, light-weight and portable as possible. Frequently, these will have display monitors of somewhere between 5 and 6 inches as compared to bigger models that can have displays of up to 10 inches.

If you travel a good deal, in that case you'll really want to reap the benefits of as long of a battery life as you can locate. Just about any handheld eBook reader today will make use of a rechargeable battery of some kind, but the battery lives can be very different. Some may last for almost a day and some could last for a week. Additionally, when you have capabilities such as wireless connectivity flipped on, your battery life will be drained quicker.

Storage space is commonly the next greatest factor, although the truth is that regardless of whether you have the memory space for 500 or 3,000 books, it should be satisfactory for your demands. Thus you need to also think about how many font and display measurements your handheld eBook reader has, the outlining or highlighting functions that it is sold with, whether it utilizes a touch screen or not and other characteristics that will make several models much more attractive than others.

You can do a lot more with a handheld eBook reader than just pour through straight text however. Many business people as an example prefer to use them to go over accounts, speeches and charts during their regular commute or as they travel to an key meeting. It's just another helpful tool that you can have on your side to make the most out of all of your time and to take full advantage of every chance that you possess.

The handheld eBook reader is only likely to get more standard, so why wait around only to cave in and buy in a few years?

Things to Consider When Selecting an Ebook Reader

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Let the Christmas 2011 E-Reader Retail Wars Begin!

Every Christmas season industries in the consumer sectors of our economy try to reinvent themselves. The retailers convince you that you must have some certain new item, one which they can make a high profit on, and sell you in bulk. As the competition gets fiercer, there really isn't as much profit as they presumed. Nevertheless, the pervasive Christmas spending goes on. If you'll recall in previous years; flat screen TVs where the big thing, last year it was the iPhone and iPad. This year it appears to be tablet computers and E-Readers

There have been some rather interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other national newspapers about all the new E-Readers coming out now for the holiday season, still to get the real skinny on who has what, who is selling which models, and what the implications are for the industry, one really has to read the online techie guru assessments.

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In fact, there was an interesting article on Read Write Web on November 8, 2011 titled; "Amazon Bulks Up Against the Nook, Kindles Come to 16,000 Retail Outlets", by Jon Mitchell - which was very telling indeed. I'd say this means a full-scale retail war for the future of the E-Reader, and it looks as if Amazon is pulling out all the stops and using Karl von Clausewitz's theory of "overwhelming force" to fight back against Barnes and Nobles response to Amazon's pre-emptive strike with Amazon Fire. The Read Write Web article stated:

"Barnes & Noble may have more control over its in-person retail experience than Amazon does, but Amazon is bigger in several key ways. Its Android app marketplace is broader, for one thing. But it's Amazon's massive cloud computing scale that gives it the real edge. Amazon is able to accelerate its Silk Web browser and stream Amazon Prime video to the Kindle Fire thanks to its scale. It can also offer high-bandwidth, digital-only services like a lending library for the Kindle."

Okay so, let's discuss this for a moment, but first a word from our sponsor, just kidding, but first I must declare that I personally have E-books on both Barnes and Noble and the Amazon Kindle websites in full-and-fair disclosure.

It appears that a full-scale war is growing into epic proportions for this Christmas season. How many E-Readers will be sold, and bought by Christmas givers during this holiday season? Can the likes of Amazon survive by actually selling their E-Readers at a loss in hopes that people getting these E-Readers will then go and buy E-books on their Kindle website? And what about Barnes & Noble who's stock price hasn't gone anywhere in nearly a decade? Will this Christmas season uplift Barnes & Noble so they don't go the same way as borders books which filed bankruptcy?

Only time will tell of course, but you can bet these E-book readers are the weapon of choice in the new retail battlespace this Christmas. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Let the Christmas 2011 E-Reader Retail Wars Begin!

BARNES AND NOBLE

Golf's Past Masters

The U.S. Masters Golf Tournament has been one of Golf's longest traditions. This tournament is one of the main four championships played in golf once a year. Every year The Masters is held at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta Georgia.

One of the traditions of the tournament is the legendary green jacket the winners play for. Since 1949 each Masters winner is awarded a green jacket. However the jacket is only kept for a year before being returned to the club house the following year.

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The tournament was started by both Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie back in 1931. The golf course officially opened two years later in 1933. The very first Masters tournament was held on March 22nd, in 1934. This was won by golfer Horton Smith who would become the first Golf Master. In 1935, Gene Sarazen who had won the tournament by a difficult five strokes with a hole in one shot all the way from the fairway on a par 5 for a double eagle. The tournament was skipped during 1943 and up to 1945 due to the Second World War.

As time went on and the 1960s came around The Masters Tournament was dominated by what would become three major names in the golfing sport. Arnold Palmer would become winner three times as his rival Jack Nicklaus would take home the jacket on five separate occasions, even back to back years in both 195 and 1966. Jack Nicklaus is one name next to Arnold Palmer to become infamous in the game of Golf. Gary Player had become the first person to win the title of the Masters in 1961 who was not American, when he beat out Arnold Palmer who was the 1960 defending champion. Player was beaten the following year by Nicklaus and he would not win another tournament until 1978.

In 1968, Robert DeVicenzo caused a stir that would go down in golfing history as a stupid mistake as he signed his scorecard with listed the wrong amount of strokes by one. This cost him the advancement to the eighteenth hole and led to Bob Goalby winning the jacket that year.

Between 1980 and 1990 the Masters Tournament was being won by a majority of Non-Americans who over all collected eleven victories. In 1986, Jack Nicklaus who won again had officially become the oldest player to ever win the tournament. In 1997, Tiger Woods would be the youngest man to win the green jacket at the age of 21 and by twelve shots. Tiger Woods would also go on to win the tournament three consecutive years in a row. The current owner of the green jacket is Charl Schwartzel from South Africa.

Golf's Past Masters

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Savannah River Site - A History of Progress

The Savannah River Site is spread across three counties - Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale. To its southwest lies the river Savannah which separates the states of South Carolina and Georgia. The river site was constructed primarily to produce tritium and plutonium-239 which are the basic materials used in the fabrication of nuclear weapons. Apart from the reactors, the site also houses support facilities including two chemical separations plants, a water extraction plant, a nuclear fuel and target fabrication facility. It also houses various waste management facilities. The river site covers 310 square miles and employs over 10,000 people.

Savannah River Site - Its History and Significance

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The river site has moved away from its image of a "Bomb Plant" ever since the cold war ended. In fact the site's history could be a biography of its dedicated employees who have toiled over the years or even a guide which details the various processes which were performed. Currently the river site is owned by the US department of Energy. It is being managed by the Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC. Today the site aims to transform the past liabilities in the form of the river site set up to serve the nation in various ways including reducing dependence on imported oil and even enhancing national security.

Public Tours to the Site

Anyone is welcome to tour the site as long as they are U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old. Anyone visiting the site will be a part of a bus trip by the five reactors on the site which are L, P, C, R, and K and also the two canyons F and H. You will also get a Personal radiation dose chart apart from a map of the site, fact sheet and stationary. After arranging the tour four-six weeks in advance, your group would be expected to provide names, home addresses and Social Security numbers of each visitor in advance. Apart from that each visitor must bring two forms of identification - one must be a current and valid photo ID (i.e., driver's license, military ID, school ID, Passport). Whenever possible the site accommodates special requests for dates and times however no tours can be given evenings, weekends or holidays. The site is located 20 miles south of Aiken, South Carolina or 20 miles southeast of Augusta, South Carolina so you can get there from either of the places. You can even register online for a tour of the river site.

The City of Aiken is a beautiful and historic travel destination for a number of things and you are sure to enjoy a vacation even if it is a quick getaway or an extended holiday.

Savannah River Site - A History of Progress

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How To Get Your Favorite Magazine in Large Print

Barnes and Noble NOOKcolor

barnes and noble nook ereader

Barnes and Noble NOOKcolor is opening up a new and beautiful opportunity to read and look at magazines with full color pictures...in large print. The new Barnes and Noble NOOKcolor offers a full color screen, unlike the Kindle readers which only uses black and white e-ink. There is also a fantastic availability of diverse magazines for men and women - magazines like House Beautiful, Woman's Day, or Country Living for women and Cycle World and Popular Science for men.

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Monthly subscriptions cost around $.90 - .99/month and a single issues around .99.- .99. Magazines are provided with a 14 day free trial period, so if you find that you don't like the magazine you can cancel it without being charged. The Nook offers five font sizes- extra small to extra large.

Kindle readers also offer magazines that can be downloaded - more than 80 of them. However, they are not the magazines that I'd be interested in - magazines like Science News and Bloomberg Business Week. And the magazines are missing color pictures. What's a magazine without the pictures?

Apple iPad

In my opinion the Apple iPad is the best e book reader for magazines. The screen size of 9.7" is much larger than the Barnes and Noble Nook six inch screen. Right now magazines are available through the Zinio app. The selection is better than any book store - for men and women. Magazines like Good Housekeeping, Home and Garden, or food magazines like Eating Light or Food Network. If you find a recipe that you like in the magazine - just take your iPad to the kitchen, bookmark the page, zoom the text to enlarge the print and now you can read the recipe. Unlike the Nook which has five font sizes, the iPad has a zoom text feature that allows one to enlarge the text to almost any size.

See a picture that you like? Zoom the picture so that it is bigger and easier to see. Oh, and some magazines offer interactive videos - like National Geographic and Popular Science.

How To Get Your Favorite Magazine in Large Print

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