1.  Promotional Gifts.

Particularly with the Christmas and holiday season coming up, what better way to promote your brand than to gift clients or potential clients with some small goodies that they themselves will be able to enjoy, or use as stocking fillers for friends and family?

Ideas could include chocolates with your company’s brand on it, a gift certificate towards services with another business you are aligned with, or even a mixed CD.

2.  Uniforms.

It might not be appropriate for all business ventures, but where you can, great staff in company uniforms can be a powerful advertisement – advertising not just your brand but the people you work with as well.

It can be as simple as a branded shirt, maybe for your company’s informal soccer team, or simply for your employees to use as gym gear, or it can be complete uniforms for your café and bar staff to wear at all times.

Even just choosing a colour you want your brand to be strongly aligned with, and requesting your staff to wear this colour whenever out in public and representing your company, will inspire interest and curiosity.

3.  Office Stationery.

You can never have too many pens or spare small notepads – and “accidentally” leaving these (especially pens which always come in handy) at cafes or convenience stores can be a sneaky way to get your business some publicity.

Taking the time to have an eye-catching company logo and promise, and designing your stationery creatively using quality products, will prevent them from being thrown out carelessly like so many others.

4.  Company Cars.

If you are going to provide your employees with company cars, why not make these really worthwhile and use them as company advertisements as well?

Be sure to include a contact number or website so that while your cars are parked or in slow traffic, curious passers-by or other drivers will be able to take down your details. Don’t make it difficult for them to find you!

5.  Water Bottles.

Selling or having re-useable water bottles with your branding is another way to use a highly popular product to help promote your business.

If you are in the food industry, rather than stocking a generic brand of mineral water, look sourcing your own bottles instead – it is an effective way to ensure your name moves beyond the immediate confines of the café and local area.

6.  Branded Bags.

A re-useable cloth bag, when designed sturdily and attractively, will get a lot of usage and therefore do a lot of work for you. Hand out the bags to everyone you meet and give them out to your staff: anyone who uses one will essentially become a subtle “walking billboard” for your business.

            On December 17th, 1944 an American battalion were caught by an SS force. The force captured 150 POWs. Roughly 80 of the men were shot and killed and their bodies were left behind. This became known as the Malmedy Massacre. Once news of the event spread the Allied forces ordered that all SS forces be killed on sight.

            American forces began their first counterattack on December 23, 1944. The counterattack included the targeting from both sides on aircraft. After 20 days of fighting the Americans lost 460 aircraft while the Germans lost 277. The Americans were able to come back from the loss; however it left the German forces weakened. On January 7th, 1945 Hitler decided to end all offensive operations. The Battle of the Bulge claimed 70,000 to 81,000 American casualties, 1,400 British, and 60,000 and 104,000 German. More than 100,000 soldiers were claimed by the battle (DigitalHistory, n.d.).

Source

DigitalHistory. “World War II, December-January 1944.” DigitalHistory. n.d. Web.    Retrieved from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1753.html.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

The Egyptian Army has taken over as a caretaker for the government of Egypt as it has been reported that President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down from office and left Cairo. Vice-President Omar Suleiman announced a little while ago that President Mubarak was stepping down from power. The Egyptian Army told the demonstrators that they would guarantee the rights of the people.

The largest rally since the demonstrations begin is taking place in Tahrir Square today. Reports are that people all over Egypt are celebrating their liberation. Eighteen days culimating in victory for the Egyptian people. U.S. officials report that the Egyptian military was furious when President Mubarak did not step down yesterday as had been reported and senior military officials threatened to take off their uniforms and join the protesters. At that point last night President Mubarak decided to step down and leave Cairo resulting in the jubilation and joyful sounds in Tahrir Square and throughout Egypt after thirty years of dictatorship.

This was a relatively peaceful transition, there were reportedly three-hundred people who were killed and thousands of people injured. When the people marched to the presidential palace today reportedly the military turned their tanks away from the demonstrators. The Egyptian people were determined to keep demonstrating until President Mubarak released his hold on power as president. This was the day that it took place. President Mubarak turned the rule of Egypt over to the Egyptian Army. Where Vice-President Suleiman fits into this has to be determined. The military will take charge along with the court as a caretaker of the government. Changes to the Egyptian Constitution are to take place with new political groups being given the opportunity to form. Emergency rule is to be lifted after thirty years of being in place in Egypt. Elections are supposed to take place in Egypt as soon as feasibly possible.

A civilian government must be put in place, who will be in charge is yet to play out. This is not the end but the beginning of a new phase in the streets of Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has been involved but have not been overt, there was a report which was that the Muslim Brotherhood did not want to be in a leadership role. We will have to see as the changes in Egypt take place. Israel is concerned about the continuity of the peace treaty that is in place, which could be threatened if the Muslim Brotherhood were to have a say in the new Egyptian government.

History is being played out in Egypt, other places are joining in the celebration, in Gaza and Lebanon and all over where people are thrilled at what has taken place in Egypt. There are highly educated young people who now will possibly have an opportunity of obtaining decent jobs in their own country. Older people are hopeful that their lives will be changed as a result of what has transpired. It should be noted that by coincidence this is the day twenty-seven years ago, Nelson Mandela was released from prison, another historic time.

New reporting that Switzerland has frozen the assets of President Mubarak as a result of the situation. Some analysts state that it would be wonderful if the assets could be funneled back down to the Egyptian people. There is a long way to go from the Military Governing Council to a civilian government in Egypt. From here to there will take patience on the part of many people.

GENERAL ORDER 2 – To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.

GENERAL ORDER 3 – To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.

GENERAL ORDER 4 – To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guardhouse than my own.

GENERAL ORDER 5 – To quit my post only when properly relieved.

GENERAL ORDER 6 – To receive, obey and pass on to the sentry who relieves me all orders from the commanding officer, officer of the day, and officers and noncommissioned officers of the guard only.

GENERAL ORDER 7 – To talk to no one except in the line of duty.

GENERAL ORDER 8 - To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.

GENERAL ORDER 9 – To call the corporal of the guard in any case not covered by instruction.

GENERAL ORDER 10 – To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.

GENERAL ORDER 11 – To be especially watchful at night and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post, and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.

WHEN LADIES WORE APRONS

…And so did some men…

According to the dictionary an apron is: “An outer protective garment that covers primarily the front of the body. It may be worn for hygienic and safety reasons as well as in order to protect clothes from soil, wear and tear; a decorative garment worn by women.”   Remember the apron, the one your grandmother or your mother wore and maybe you wore one too.  Well, maybe you don’t but there was a time when women and girls all wore aprons.  It was the style.  It was fashionable and aprons were serviceable and often very pretty.  I don’t imagine many of our young people today even know what an apron is but there is a lot of fascinating history behind the apron.  Aprons are a protective over-garment and though not as popular today are still very much in use.  Men were actually the first to wear aprons.  Women got to wear them a little later in history and it was women that made the apron fashionable.

 The English word “apron” is derived from the French word “naperon” meaning a napkin or small cloth that is used for a covering on the body or of a particular object like a table cloth or a bib for example.

Men in most of the early cultures had for thousands of years worn an apron or short skirt-like garment to protect the groin area even in the earliest of ancient times.  These aprons were commonly made from animal hides or leather or woven grasses and vine and were often decorated with beads and other ornamentation as a display of wealth and honor as well as clan or the tribal community you were from.  Aprons were used not only for protection and hygienic reasons as a form of identity.

By the early 12th century the apron became part of a uniform dress code for the man and were commonly made of a heavy weave material or mail (mail is a woven metal made of small chain links interwoven together) and fastened around the waist.   The apron was part of the dress code for knights and other men of battle.  By the early 13th century women also began to wear aprons while attending their domestic duties to protect their clothing and children were dressed in aprons to help them to stay clean while at play or eating.  Children can be very messy.  Aprons for women and children were made of cloth, usually cotton or linen and by the mid 15th century both men and women wore aprons as part of their common daily attire.  Somewhere around the beginning of the 16th century the apron began to be worn to designate a person’s trade, for example, the butcher might wear a green apron, the potter a blue apron and the mason a brown apron or whatever the fashion of the day was.  The local barber usually wore a print apron, commonly checks or maybe stripes.  Household, domestic help commonly wore white or gray aprons depending on your station.  It depended on where you were from what the style and color might be but the apron was definitely part of proper attire.

For hundreds of years the apron was an over-garment that covered the lower half of the body and was fastened at the waist and then by the late 17th century or early 18th century the bib and pinafore apron came into fashion covering the front of the body at the top as well and the designs became more feminine for women and girls often being made of crocheted or knitted lace, having ruffles and beautiful embroidery on them while men still wore the more basic straight cut apron and it wasn’t until the mid to late 20th century that the apron made its departure from the fashion community as other than a garment for utilitarian purposes.

I always liked aprons and there are lots of wonderful and treasured memories connected to them.  When I was a young girl and even into my early twenties the printed half-apron or handkerchief apron was very much in fashion.  My grandmother still preferred her full bib apron and we had bib aprons too but I liked the half apron best with its pretty prints, ruffle and sash to be tied in a bow at the back of the waist and by the 1960’s someone had come up with the idea of attaching a small hand or finger towel to the waistband.  What a great idea that was, no having to run for a napkin or towel to wipe your hands or fingers, it was already attached and with you.  Maybe they should become fashionable again.  There was something about those fancy aprons that made you feel all girl and a lot less tomboy.  Of course our lives as women are a lot different today than they were when aprons for women were fashionable but there was something special about an apron beyond the utilitarian purposes it was used for.  We still wore aprons when I was growing up, at least my grandmother did and so did my mother most of the time.  I was required to wear one from time to time. 

Waiters, waitresses, kitchen staff and some domestic staff still wear aprons.  It is part of the uniform.  People who work in the food industry, in canneries, many still require that the employees wear aprons or aprons of a sort. People who work in labs and around chemicals wear aprons, aprons usually made of rubber or plastic.  X-ray technicians wear aprons to protect them from excessive exposure to x-ray.  People who work around forges wear aprons, leather or aprons of a heavy flame proof material to protect them and their clothing from sparks.  People who do pottery and ceramics often wear aprons.  And of course today there is still the ever popular barbecue apron worn by the head chef at the grill for those backyard cookouts we all love so much.  The apron still has a bit of popularity even in this 21st century.  Having lasted this long, there must be something very good about the apron.   

The apron has been around for thousands of years.  They were still considered a practical, useful and fashionable thing and back when I was growing up and I’m not that old, just getting there. If you were a proper lady and did your own cooking, laundry and housecleaning, worked in the garden, helped tend to the animals, you wore an apron to help keep your clothes clean and free from stains.  Doing laundry back then wasn’t as easy as it is today; no automatic washers and dryers, no stain resistant materials, no stain removers other than elbow grease and lye soap.  Aprons have for centuries been an important part of our everyday attire.  An apron has saved more than a few favorite skirts from total ruin.

Back when my grandmother, my mother and even I were a kid, aprons were used for just about everything, everything from carrying eggs from the chicken coop to kindling wood from the shed.  We carried vegetables in from the garden in our apron, and apples, enough to make a couple fresh baked pies, from the orchard in our apron and when the pie was done the apron could be used as a pot holder to take the hot pie from the oven.  It was used to quickly wipe up a spill on the pantry counter and to get a better grip for opening up stubborn lids on canning jars.  Aprons were a wonderful thing.  Grandma’s hid cookie and candy treats in their apron pockets and children knew where to find them.  There were at least 101 good reasons for wearing an apron and nothing has ever been invented that has been able to replace it.  The apron could wipe away tears from sad eyes or sweat from the brow or a mud smudge from the face of a child and very quickly dust of the Bible and the stands before the preacher could make it from the driveway to the doorway when he made a surprise visit to your house or your mother-in-law showed up unexpectedly and with a “yoo-hoo” and a wave call you in from the field or from play when dinner was on the table.  I think it was a gentler time when ladies wore aprons and I think there was something about the apron that men appreciated.  It said something good and appealing about the woman behind it.

Aprons are still a good and useful utilitarian garment but there has been something lost in the way of charm now that the apron has disappeared from the ladies world of fashion.  The apron said something special about women when women wore aprons.       

I ask you, are we really free in our dress now? As you walk through the shopping centre or down the street, look around you. What do you see? I see a world of safe fabrics in safe colours. Everyone is in jeans, sweats, similar footwear and outerwear. When half the world is wearing jeans – they aren’t making a statement of non-conformity or rebellion anymore. They are not making a statement of youth anymore.

I think humans have a need to conform and belong. Even those who profess extreme individualism like being a Goth, hip-hop or nudist are expressing a need to belong to a group. They want to stand out in society at large but not among their own. So when wearing eco-friendly cotton is promoted as the norm by advertisers and manufacturers, most people follow suit, thinking they are choosing the look of their own free will. Then things like silk, satin and fur fall away. The need to be accepted is too strong. Are we any different to those who live in other countries or those who lived in the past?

So today, I am wearing that royal blue velvet blazer, chiffon print skirt, fuchsia silk top and silver satin heels. I intend to stand out in the crowd.

See also: http://quazen.com/arts/colour-conformity-and-connotations/

The truth is that when kids are in school they should only be focused on their schoolwork. Instead, for most kids now they spend their time looking at everyone else to discover how they don’t compare. Because kids come from so many different walks of life, it is crippling to a childs ego for them to feel in any way that they don’t compare to others for whatever reason. Honestly, if kids are going to become close it should be because they have common interests and get along, not because they bond over what they’re wearing. In my opinion that’s very superficial and I don’t want to teach my children that its ok.

A child’s individuality is not centered in what they’re wearing, rather it is an extension of it. Think about babies. As parents, we dress them, feed them and make all the decisions, but they still develop their own personalities because that is called free-will. Ultimately, no one has control over someone elses mind. They will be whoever they want to be. Now apply that theory to school. I can only imagine that I probably missed out on alot of meaningful relationships I could have had because instead of being seen for the person I was on the inside I was judged about my exterior. That’s not to say that I didn’t have friends, but the friends I had were people who felt like outsiders just like me and we connected only on that level.

There is a continuing debate about uniforms because of the fact that people believe it is not a good thing to create a similarity. This debate is likely to continue for years to come until someone decides that its not worth the argument. Kids need to know that no matter what they are wearing they are worth something.

I must indeed confessed, private scholl is every expensive.

The school requirements is very strict, and the rules  is not easy on the studens , somehow I feels the rules

is harsh also on a parent.

For example..My daughter had a weekend detention.

on a Saturday, I had to dropped her off to school on a Saturday morning

just like a regular school day. for detention, somehow i felt like I was being punish also.

Do not get me wrong, I want the best for my children, however, Private school  rules is so close to

boot camp.

Uniforms… The school uniforms at some privates school establishes that student identity as a member of the Academics Community, when ever students are on the school grounds, they must be properly uniformed.

Just like Army Brigade, students who is not in uniforme is not allowed to participated in recess for the day.(such punishment is harsh in my opinion)

Here is a listed I recently obtained from my daughter school.

Girls flannel skirt, price, $16:99 and up

Gray flannel pants price $25:99 and up

That also included the white embroidered short sleeve polo shirts, and skirts, a pants, summer and fall prices,

higher than ever.

Black uniforms shoes, must have the rubber soles.

and each student must dress with pride.

Uniforms are checked daily, before entering the building.. students who;s not properly dress end up getting a demerit, which put pressure on the children before entering the building and before the first period.

Those children are send to the office, and must checked out uniform items in the office, and a note is send home to to the parents.

Two uniform demerits in one week will results in after school detention, or Saturday morning detention.

Rules are made to be broken, however, disobeying the rules will results in a two days suspension from school

Well I guess any concern parent will have to abides by the rules, or have another problem on hand

for the two days out of school suspension.

It’s no win win, here at those private school.

Here is some tips for taking care of those white uniforms tops.

Soak the white tops overnight in half cup of bleach

with Tide detergent of your favourite detergent

pay special attention to the stains obtained during the week, do not allowed those stain to become permanently soaked into the material of the white blouses.

For those parents who do not like to hand wash, used the gentle cycle on the washing machine. however it’s  better to hand wash those white , to avoided the lints on the white material.

Never, soak the white blouse in Clorox bleach for more than twelve hours, Clorox sometimes causes the material to turned yellow, over a period of time,,and remember to use expensive fabric softeners, to rebuild the material fibers.

I also suggest that white uniforms tops should always hung up to air dry.

they way they last longer, especially the cotton and polyester material

and most of the time it maintains that new and fresh looks

Take time and iron the uniforms tops

just a friendly reminder

think of all the money that they cost you.

US college fees have rose considerably over the decades and it is becoming more difficult for families to save money for college education. Higher education means that parents either have to loan money or settle for moderate options when it comes to paying school and college fees.

Many people prefer saving money for the fees, schools and colleges demand nowadays. However, with the raising prices of college education, pressure is being put on state governments to find measures to ensure higher education without hefty school and college fees.