In Theory, to play the piano, all you have to do is push the right keys to make a beautiful sound. No matter who plays an F on a piano, the sound is identical. A piano key is ¾ inch wide which is nive because even a five year old can learn to play. Therefore, piano has been the instrument of choice for a child. Physically the musical process is very easy- Also adults find is easy as well.

Adults and children alike, can understand and learn to play a simple two-note chord, consisting of any white key, skipping one, and playing the next. With minimal effort a people can plunk out a tune that they recognize, giving them at least a preview of what playing music is actually like. For example, Mary Had a Little Lamb, is a matter of a few moments for any child to learn in Piano by Number. Don’t get me wrong, the piano takes a lot of time and patience to master, but once you do, it is worth it. The piano is one of the most versatile instruments out there and one of the most beautiful sounding.

Playing the piano was always a dream of mine. My mother put me in piano lessons as a child and for some odd reason, I wanted nothing to do with it. I felt that my hands were too small and I couldn’t reach the keys. I also becoming increasingly obsessed with sports so do you think I honestly wanted to sit down at a piano? Not so much, but today I look back and I regret that decision. My mother still sits down to play this beautiful instrument and it makes me envy her talent and the joy she has as she sings along. I love the sounds that echo through my parents home when I am visiting. It brings back memories of when I was a child and my mother would practice choruses and hymns before Sunday Worship. I love my mother- and I love her Piano.

One of these days I will sit down at a piano and try once more for me; for my mother.

Has there ever been a better time to buy real estate? I believe that there hasn’t and property listings show that there are huge amounts of homes for sale.

The recent financial crisis, that has started in the subprime housing market, has caused major erruptions in the real estate market. A big amount of homeowners was forced to put their homes on the market and therefore the prices decreased significantly. This price decrease affected the low and mid price real estate market most, there has not been a significant fall in prices among high value real estates.

Now, you shouldn’t go out and blindly buy all the homes for sale, even though they might offer good value for the money.

There are a few things to consider:
Realestate Taxes : Many states tax real estate on living space or area of your property, so even though the property you bought might be a bargain, it could end up costing you a ton and make you wake up with a big and ugly hangover. Real estate agents often fail to mention this (not so) tiny little detail.
Neighborhood : In formerly nice living areas and decent neighborhoods (or neighbourhoods for our british friends) the real estate crisis has forced many home owners to sell, and lots of them will not have been able to sell their property. They have ended up in private brancrupcy, and their former home is now being neglected. There is no realestate management that takes care of those homes. It even happens that homless people move into those real estates and occupy them. That
causes whole neighbourhoods to decline and turn formerly nice neighborhoods into ones that you would definitely not want to live in. Owning a house there would also certainly not end up being profitable, because it will take decades for those neighborhoods to recover, if they recover at all.
Recent experience: The burst of the housing bubble has shown us, that the times where you could just buy any random house and be sure that it will rise in value are definitely over. The real estate market should now be seen like any other market. One where you need to make good descision to be able to make money. You need to know what you are doing and you need to be cautious. Don’t fall for cheap real estate websites or the first realestate sign you see.

Don’t fall for the same trap as many many others did.

Best regards

Have you ever hungered for weeks just to lose a few kilos? Only to realize that the kilos returned twice as fast as you lost them? Lose weight without hunger. All you need is just a little bit of discipline in your dietary choice, that’s it, I promise.

First of all I want to clarify my one and only point: If you want to lose weight it is best to avoid carbs.
That is really all that there is to losing weight. You do not need expensive pills, special books, extraordinary diets that demand extremely costly food. Just avoid carbs.
You do not believe me? You think that there has to be a trick?
The only “trick”, if you want to call it one, is finding out which foods contain high concentrations of carbs (a small amount of carbs every day is fine, like 40 grams or less) and avoiding them.
I will go ahead and name a few kinds of food that you should avoid if you want to eat better nutrition.
Flour and therefore bread and other products that contain a big amount of it. It contains an extremely high concentration of carbs and is therefore really bad. Not only for your weight, but for your health in general.
Potatoes The same thing really. Nutrition Weight Loss and potatoes have nothing to do with eatch other.
Rice Avoid it, it is not good for you. You will have a better nutrition with out it.
Sugar Food that contains big amounts of sugar should be avoided too. Watch out, that does also include fructose in drinks. No apple juice, no soft drinks.
Noodles Seriously, do not eat noodles if you plan on losing weight any time soon.

Now that I have told you what not to eat, i can tell you what you can eat, even in insane amounts if that is what you want. Fat and protein. Did i just say fat? Yes i did, eating big amounts of fat is absolutely no problem as long as you do not eat carbs with it. You won’t gain weight. That means you can eat meat and fish and all kinds of vegetables. Cheese is also great.

I know that this may sound tough at first, but be aware that you can eat as many of those as you like. Ever had a steak in the morning, for lunch, and in the evening? Well you can, and you will not gain weight, as long as you do not have potatoes with it.

If you cannot handle this, rather strict diet. Go ahead and eat loads of carbs one day a week, it might even help you lose weight even faster because it upregulates your thyroid activity (i cannot warrant that though) and it certainly help you to stay disciplined the rest of the week.

Best regards

What a cold winter we’ve had! It looks like we haven’t done enough for global warming yet. At least when you ask your cabriolet that is parked in your garage, crying its headlights out. Now what do we have to take care of for our car to be maintained after winter?
In winter your car gets stressed. The paint of your car had to suffer from rocks, salt and moisture. Road salt is dangerous! Resolved in water it is gnawing even the smallest piece of your car. Especially on your vehicle’s undercarriage this salt water is the main cause of rust.

Follow these steps to maintain your car:

The occasion of spring cleaning can be used in order to check your car after the winter. In the state of fluids such as oil, coolant and windscreen wash water should be checked. It is also important to check tires. The tire pressure should be reviewed on all wheels, including the spare wheel as well. Even intact tires slowly lose air. Have a look at the wear of the tires and make sure they still have more than 0.1563 inch (5/32″) profile. Similarly, you should check the tires for damage, such as one-sided abrasion, foreign bodies, cracks, dents or cuts.

After you’ve cleaned your car, make sure to repair any damage (such as defects in paint work) immediatly to avoid costly repairs in the future.

Pomades reached their all-time high in the early 20th century before today’s hairspray and gels took over. But established pomade producers such as Murray’s, Black & White and others are aiming to recapture possession.

Pomade often is linked with the old classic movies, where you mean no harm describing men’s hairstyle as slick. But even in the modern world stylists use pomade to prepare the hair of supermodels and actors, while you would not notice it due its use in a more modest way.

What is pomade?
The Pomade’s balance of natural oils to (bees)wax is the result wether a pomade is more light or heavy. The lighter mixtures consist of more oils, while there’s a higher proportion of wax in the heavier ones. Due to its ingredients pomade is not drying out like hairsprays or gels yet even modern hairwax, which results in a lasting and tamed look. It also is glamorizing your hair with a majestic shine no matter the amount you choose to put in your hair (it doesn’t look greasy!).

And it’s natural!
Pomades are not tested on animals, because they don’t have to. All its ingredients are natural, there are no chemicals involved at all. Unlike every other hair product that is released today.
The mixtures’ mineral oils are even meant to take care of your hair and protect it.

Because pomades are produced for such a long time you have a wide palette to choose from. Not only from different brands, but for different purposes and hair types. For example:

Murray’s Superior Hair Dressing Pomade
The world-leading pomade comes from Murray’s. Worldwide stylists praise this pomade’s versatility and ability to create any given style. It creates texture, shines and lifts while taming at the same time. For all hairtypes as well.

Royal Crown Hair Dressing
is told to be the favorite pomade of the king Elvis Presley himself. Having origin in Memphis, Tennessee this pomade is medium to heavy weight, giving an enormeous shine.

Black & White Lite Pomade
The most beautiful women swear by this versatile hair dressing pomade. It is giving a superior shine and texture all day. Labeled as a light pomade it really is managable for every hair type.

Mick Jagger (66) is supposed to have slept with Angelina Jolie (34) while he was engaged to Jerry Hall, which still was married to Johnny Lee Miller. Oh Hollywood, your lovestorys should not be this confusing!

There are new speculations about Angelina Jolie’s, let’s be polite, “love life” every day. Now it’s Jenny Paul, who is set to reveal delicate insight into Jolie’s bedtime stories in her new biography “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie: The True Story”.

First time both Jolie and Jagger are supposed to have met on the set of the Stones video “Anybody Seen My Baby”. Jolie caught a role in this production, the role to put her clothes off. She played a stripper who is being attacked by a band.

Now is Angelina the maneater the press is imputing her to?

There’s a rumor about her and Brad pitt (46) already had an affair while he was together with Jennifer Aniston. Both are denying this, but it was Angelina Jolie who disclosed that Brad and her was falling in love during the making of “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” in an interview. At that time he still was allied with Jen Aniston though.

It was after “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” was finished, when the Mick Jagger incident is supposed to have taken place.

Jenny Paul is reporting in her biography about Brangelina, that the Rockstar Jagger and Angelina are reputed to have had met even six years after their first romance, 2003 in Bangkok. Obviously Mick Jagger had a girlfriend back then already: L’Wren Scott, who still is with him.

The bio allegedly reveils even more affairs of Jolie. It’s said that she actually was getting close to Colin Farrell (33) during their shooting of “Alexander”, which was highly speculated through the press.

The end. You think so? The show must go on:

When Angelina and Brad finally got together in 2004, she is supposed to have maintained two sexual relationships with the Actor Ralph Fiennes as well es her ex husband Johnny Lee Miller.
Sigh. Come on Jenny Paul, this sounds crazy. Paul defends those storys as facts as she was researching those for over 6 years, talking to Jolies companions.

By the way, Jolie is shooting a new movie these days named “The Tourist” playing alongside nobody else but Johnny Depp. Be strong Vanessa Paradis!

Nowadays people often suffer joint injuries due to bad shoes, sports or one sided strain. Bauerfeind Braces can help you make them less painful or even prevent then.

In my last Blog Entry about running shoes, i have mentioned, that wearing the wrong shoes, specifically shoes with ecessive cushioning or high heels can, and most likely will in the long run result in pain or injuries of ankles or your knees. Those shoes will lead to degenerated muscles in your legs (more correct ankles or knees) and make you more prone to injury.
While, you should wear proper shoes to prevent such injuries in the long run, the company Bauerfeind offers great braces to help making those injuries less painful. They do the job that your, now degenerated or strained, muslces should normally do. They support your joints and give you the ability to do sports, even though you are injured, or to overcome your daily routine without experiencing pain.
From my past as a runner who was using improper shoes i can tell you that i had various injuries. Ankle, knee and even elbow (that one was from playing Tennis though). And the things that have always helped me most were not ointments or painkillers. Braces were by far the most helpful thing during that time. You wear them when you need them and take them off when you don’t.
I have tried various differend kinds and brands of braces and i have wasted a lot, and i really mean a lot money on relatively cheap, but abolutely useless braces. No matter which body part was hurt, i always ended up with a Bauerfeind brace. They are of superb quality, have good design (nearly all of them are available in different colors and even different shapes) and are very durable and robust. You can even throw them into the washing washing machine, even though the packaging tells you not to (i am doing this for years now and it has neither loosened or shown any other signs of wear and tear).
Last but not least i want to add that they offer comfort that cannot be matched by any other manufacturer of braces. They might feel a little tight in the first place but after a few minutes of wearing them, and following your usual routine you will not even realize that they are on your knee, ankle, elbow, whatever.
Yes, Bauerfeind products have their price, but if you think about it, and consider the amount of joy that they can bring back to your favorite activities, they are really cheap, you might even call them a special offer.
I know that i might sound like Bauerfeind employee, but i just haven’t found a downside of those amazing products.

Best regards

“Gosh, what am i going to wear tonight?!” You propably have heard this sentence quiet often or use to say it yourself. They say that fine feathers make fine birds, that clothes would make the man. Is this really true? And do we have to worry about what to wear more than what we do?

There is a novel on this topic from the swiss poet Gottfried Keller. In his Telling “Clothes make people” the tailor Strapinski is dressing well despite his poverty. He arrives in a foreign city and is regarded to be a polish count by his appearance. Once out of shyness, he has failed to explain the confusion and tried to flee. But as a young lady, daughter of a prominent citizen is introduced. The two fall in love, which makes Strapinski continue to play the role of a count that has been forced upon him. A despised rival ensures that the supposed imposter is exposed. The engagement party ends in an inescapable desaster for Strapinski, who got unmasked not to be what he pretended to. He flees, but his bride finds him, saves him from freezing to death and takes him to task. When she had convinced herself that his love is genuine, she confesses to him and enforces the marriage. The tailor founded a studio with her property and brings it to prosperity and prestige, thus the saying “Clothes make the man” proved its worth?

Now what is it, that is so pleasing about him?

The story implicates that everybody is the same, but it’s fortune that seperates people. In the end it was Strapinskis naked love that has appealed to her and his clothing just got her in the situation to fall for him.

In the novel we’ve talked about a character said: “I’m not exactly the man i seem to be“. and i’m worried.. why? Mark Twain knows the answer when he says: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.“.

Where does the bad smack comes from?

Clothes, as the visual indicator of wealth, mock peoples equality. Everybody is worth the same, but not everybody is worth the same amount of fortune? That doesn’t sound right, but fortune is not equally shared. I’m going to skip this topic.

So, “Gosh, what am i going to wear tonight?!”.

One thing we haven’t talked about yet is, Strapinski was a tailor. You can say that he was able to wear his abilities. Even though he was poor, his tailoring skills made him look like “one of them”. One of those whos abilities already made them become wealthy. You know what had happend in the end.
Tell me which ability is valued most in today’s society. Let me give you a hint: Regression is not godgiven.

“Johnny (Cash) always wear black, because he identified with the poor”

Madrid, Spain is great city for a weekend trip, but it’s hard finding a good hotel, after all most of the reviews are in Spanish.

If you have ever been to Spain you know what I am talking about. Nearly noone speaks English, not even young people. If you find a Hotel, want to call them upfront, and make a reservation, they might not even be able to talk to you in English at all. Simply relying on online booking sites is often a risky undertaking. The pictures do often not match reality, the hotels might be far away from the city center, and there is no easy way of telling, because you know virtually nothing about the city.
In my experience, it is best to consult a travel guide. There are various different companies that offer travel guides which offer information that can be trusted, but one company stands out most. The said company is “Lonely Planet”. They offer reliable and regularly updated Guides. Among the information that they offer are often inside tips (they are not exactly inside tips any more after being printed in a lonely planet guide). And they offer tips for all kinds tourists, high budget or low, even couchsurfers will get their fair share of useful tips. In the meantime the guides have become so pupular that they are even translated into various different languages (But watch out, some translations are offered only for releases of the guides that are quite old and therefore might contain outdated information.)
Some hotels i can recommend are:
The Ritz: awesome location (right beside the world famous Prado Museum (100% worth a visit, even if you are not into arts)), the staff is great (most importantly, they speak English), but it has it’s price
Best Western Atlantico: Now this is a great hotel, great staff, great service, center location, it has everything you need (although a little bit less than the Ritz) and is, if you find a good offer, a bargain
Last but not least i want to add a Hostel for budget travellers
Hostal Barrera: great location aswell, near the Atocha station (you can easily just walk from the old town and all the important sights), GREAT value for the money (if you didn’t know that it’s a hostel you might think that you are in a hotel), rooms are very clean, wifi is included (with your own laptop), well decorated rooms, i can warmly recommend it, (most of the) staff speaks english too
I hope that i helped you a bit with this review, because it can at times be really hard to get information about hotels and cities in Spain (if you do not speak Spanish).

Best regards

The discussion about, let’s say it, feeding children with drugs has cooled down in the public. I wonder why? Still millions of children are fed with Ritalin.

Do you know somebody that has a prescription for Ritalin? I bet you do.

Wikipedia says that “ADHD(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is the most commonly studied and diagnosed psychiatric disorder in children, affecting about 3 to 5% of children globally with symptoms starting before seven years of age.”
It is well studied. That is why they feed children with drugs. I guess it is common sense, that drugs are necessary when you’re not as they wish. It’s sad. I am not aiming at telling you to leave these kids alone! What we want to talk about is where does ADHD come from? It’s not a retardation. We want to talk about that, because the mentality around the globe is alarming.
We want to keep living as we used to and if our body or mind fails to adjust to that, we use drugs? sounds great! not really.

So let’s hear what others say, that are not opening their medicine cabinet too fast. I’ve found Professor J. Egger, pediatric neurologist, that tells you to give your children “foods that are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and high-quality protein and fat-soluble vitamins and trace elements.”
He recommends a different diet and he continues “The important thing here is the inclusion in natural form.”

N..atural form? Let’s see what that means, i dont know..

Oxford English Dictionary: “food that needs little or no processing; (in later use also) a food which contains no additives, a health food.”
Merriam Webster: “food that has undergone minimal processing and contains no preservatives or artificial additives.”
Encarta: “unprocessed food: food that has undergone no or minimal processing and contains no additives such as preservatives or artificial coloring.”
Answers.com: “A term widely used but with little meaning and sometimes misleading since all foods come from natural sources. No legal definition seems possible but guidelines suggest the term should be applied only to single foods that have been subjected only to mild processing, i.e. largely by physical methods such as heating, concentrating, freezing, etc., but not chemically or ‘severely’ processed.”

I believe, if you found this article, you already have read about what is supposed to be healthy nutrition these days, and if not, do it now. it is a complex topic in the beginning, but once you get used to the structures, you will be able to adjust quickly to the new information we gain every day.

Do you know natural bread or pasta?

You won’t hurt your child, if you’d just give healthy nutrition a try.