Ultimate Guitars

The Giuseppe Verdi Club of Rockford, IL has quite a bit of interesting historical background. 27 Italian-born Rockford men met above a North lst Street grocery store to form a social club for the purpose of continuing their friendship and companionship. The 27 men named the newly formed organization the Giuseppe Verdi society. They chose the four rooms above the grocery store at 758 North 1st Street as their clubrooms.

The organization was officially founded on September 9, 1918 under the title of the “Giuseppe Verdi Society.” The club was established in order to provide two main objectives.

l. To provide and maintain a lodge for the pleasure and recreation of its members.

2. To increase the spirit of brotherhood and good fellowship among its members.

The club has changed its clubhouse location over the course of the century. They left the grocery store location about five months after the club was chartered in 1918. They moved to their current North Madison Street location. The club had also purchased a frame house also on Madison Street. In 1930, they constructed the first part of what is now their modern spacious hall.

The present building, which includes the 1930 structure, has a total of 16,200 square feet on two floors. Besides a lounge, the building features a large banquet hall for private parties, modern kitchen facilities, a basement barroom, and outdoor recreational equipment. For more information on renting this Rockford banquet hall, please visit http://www.RockfordVerdiClub.com.

The present building has lighted grounds overlooking the Rock River and has playground equipment for children, picnic tables, an outdoor summer pavilion, basketball courts, and boat docks.

The 90 year old Verdi Club Society has upheld the high standards set forth by their founding members to this day. Besides being a sponsor for local events such as the Festa Italiana held each year at Boylan High School, the club board committee continually keeps current members active with club picnics, golf playdays, steak dinners, bond dinners, and formal dances. It is one of the elite social clubs in Rockford today and will be for many generations in the future.

In Victorian times, unpaid debts all too often led straight to the debtor’s prison. These days, people in debt can turn to debt advisers – and a surprisingly wide range of professional debt solutions.

There’s no universal solution to debt; different circumstances demand different approaches, so the path that’s right for one person may be wrong for another. Level of debt, type of debt, income, assets, financial commitments… these are just some of the factors which must be taken into account before the right approach can be identified.

Take a look at the ‘Top 5’ debt solutions in the UK today: debt management, debt consolidation, IVAs (Individual Voluntary Arrangements), Trust Deeds and bankruptcy.

Debt Management
Talking to creditors isn’t always easy. The more creditors someone has, the harder it can get, particularly when they can’t keep up with their payments and need to ask for some leeway.

Whatever people may think about creditors, the vast majority won’t try to ‘get blood from a stone’. Rather than pursue a borrower through legal channels, they’d prefer to compromise: lowering payments, freezing interest and / or waiving charges in return for a fair and regular payment.

Borrowers can always negotiate on their own, but many ask debt management professionals to do it for them, on the grounds that they:

• Have more experience,
• Understand ‘how the system works’,
• Know how specific creditors tend to react, and
• Aren’t emotionally involved.

However, debt management isn’t simply a way of reducing monthly expenses. Creditors aren’t likely to grant any concessions unless they’re convinced the borrower can’t keep up with payments as originally agreed. Plus, making lower monthly payments will mean a debt takes longer to pay back and – unless creditors agree to freeze interest – cost more.

Debt consolidation
Rather than paying multiple creditors, many borrowers consolidate their debts by taking out a loan (or mortgage) big enough to pay all / most of them off. This can bring three particularly significant benefits.

First, it can lower their monthly expenditure, if they arrange to pay the money back more slowly. 

Second, it can simplify their finances. They’ll have one monthly payment to make, instead of juggling various payments to different creditors at different times. Making payments late – or not at all – can cost a lot in charges, lead to legal trouble and damage their credit rating, so this is a major benefit.

Third, it can lower the interest rate they’re paying, especially if they use their consolidation loan to pay off high-interest debts like credit cards, store cards and overdrafts.

However, repaying money more slowly will mean they’ll stay in debt for longer and can end up costing them more. Plus, ‘freeing up’ credit lines like overdrafts can be dangerous – it’s easy to run up fresh debts and end up in a worse situation than before, as they’ll have to repay their new debts and the consolidation loan at the same time. 

IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement)
An IVA, like bankruptcy, is a form of insolvency. It’s a legally binding agreement between an individual and their unsecured creditors:

• The individual agrees to make a fixed payment every month for (normally) 5 years.
• The creditors agree to freeze interest, not to take (further) legal action and to write off any outstanding debt once the IVA has been successfully completed.

Why would creditors agree to write off a portion of the debt? Often, it’s simply the best way for the individual to repay a significant portion. Since IVAs are normally only available to people whose unsecured debts total at least £15,000, creditors know that refusing to agree to an IVA might force the borrower to look into bankruptcy or unrealistic debt management plans, which could mean lower returns for them.

However, although it’s a way to avoid bankruptcy and its consequences, an IVA is no light matter – it’s a 5-year commitment which often requires homeowners to release equity so they can pay their creditors as much as possible.

Trust Deed
A Trust Deed is an alternative to bankruptcy which is only available to residents of Scotland.

It’s similar to an IVA, with two major differences. First, most Trust Deeds run for 3 years (rather than 5). Second, Trust Deeds are normally available to people with unsecured debts of £10,000 or more (not £15,000).

Bankruptcy
When someone is declared bankrupt, their assets are handed over to an Official Receiver, then sold so the money can be divided up among their creditors. When they’re discharged from bankruptcy (usually after 12 months), any debt they can’t afford to repay is written off.

The word ‘assets’ doesn’t include standard household objects, but does include valuable items such as the bankrupt’s home and (unless it’s both inexpensive and essential for work) their car.

Any creditor who is owed more than £750 can apply for the borrower to be made bankrupt (this is known as involuntary bankruptcy), but there’s also voluntary bankruptcy. Anyone can apply to be made bankrupt, and in some cases it really is the best way forward – if:

• Their debts are high
• Their income is low
• They don’t own property or other valuable assets
• Their financial situation isn’t likely to improve.

Even then, they should only look into bankruptcy if they’ve spoken to a debt adviser and discovered that none of the other debt solutions is the answer to their debt problems. Even The Insolvency Service says that “Bankruptcy should always be the last resort”.

What’s the right solution?
As mentioned earlier, there’s no single ‘silver bullet’ for debt problems. Before anyone makes up their mind about the best way of tackling their debt, it’s essential to discuss their situation with a debt expert and go through all their options in detail.

It can be a headache trying to think of a present for a close friend . The last resort gifts like chocolate or alcohol or perfume , might be ok for distant friends or relatives, but if you love the person well enough to know that they are in to music composition , then you feel a certain need to assist them to compose their own music .

The UK Channel 5 TV series the Gadget Show, with the delightful Suzi Perry, did a musical technology round-up this month . They featured several things , but the judges picked the Korg Kaoscillator as their overall winner.

Great you think. They probably won’t have one if these weird little things already! But then you find Korg have no stock, possibly for 3 months. A bit of a late present that one.

But fear not because the Internet has a virtual alternative. I found out about the Chaos Wave Synth by accident as a video on the Web Video Widget network. It isn’t a emulation of, but an inspiration based upon the Korg. None the less, it is still yellow, hmm that will remind them of you every day, and it certainly seems to make the same sort of “noises”. It’s called the Chaos Wave Synth and you can watch the video at their website. If you have enough laptops, you could even form the first chaos orchestra.

I say noises, but actually, with a little practice in the right hands and it seems to be quite a stonking musical instrument, with a wide range of tones and playing possibilities.

If you’re as old as I am, the XY pad (a sort of touch pad) seems a little reminiscent of the Dubrek Stylophone, infamised by Rolf De Harris, or the theremin, that wand like instrument featured heavily in 1950’s sci-fi B movies and in the Beach Boys record.

It certainly seems capable of producing those sort of tones as well, but have a sneaking feeling it will be the drum beats and bas lines that those young generation will get absorbed in to.

Being software it does need a computer, but that can be a laptop. Either way, there should be a way of getting headphones on it, to prevent aunt Mildred from being sucked up in to the poptastic songs at the gathering.

Giving musical instruments as presents, is always a bit of an issue in my book. Give a 5 year old a drum kit, and he will play (bang) it all day, much to everyone elses shragrala. So as this can be on headphones, it’s a much safer bet in my book.

It’s available as a download, so there’s no queuing at the shops to get it either and it should still be open, even on the day itself. So if the thought of traipsing around the shops gets too mind numbing for you, you may want to buy yourself a copy too. Even without any musical skill, it can be pretty entertaining.

Aah the gift of presents. It just fills you, doesn’t it? But I’m buying one for myself too. Don’t see why the youngsters should have all the fun
Happy days.

Sabrina

With the escalating price of food and the apparent downturn in the economy, many smart shoppers are turning to coupons to save money on the things that they buy most.  You can achieve significant savings on groceries, cleaning products, beauty products and more with just a little bit of time and a few useful strategies. 

First off, consider where you will get your coupons.  The fact is that you can get them everywhere and you should.  The Sunday paper often has a good selection of coupons along with the weekly fliers that show up in your mail midweek.  But the best place to find grocery coupons on the things that you really use is to use the Internet.  There are various sites such as coupons.com available that require only a zip code to get the coupons that are available in your area.

There are other sites that may ask for an email address.  Check them all out as the selection is different on every site. Also make sure and bookmark your favorite sites as the selection changes and updates regularly. Another way to find some really great coupons is to visit manufacturers sites.  Occasionally the manufacturer will offer a valuable coupon that they only make available on their own site.  And don’t forget to check out your local grocery store fliers, advertisements and websites.  Combining store coupons with manufacturers coupons is an excellent way to double up on your savings. 

The next best tip that I can offer here is to plan and organize.  Plan and organize your shopping trips.  The best thing you can do is plan a menu for the week, make a strict shopping list that only includes the things that you need and use and most important of all, stick to it!  Of course, as you make your shopping list you will need to check the sales at the stores and the coupons that you have to maximize your savings.

If you can combine coupons, get double coupons or add your coupons to the sales price you will be able to save that much more.  Shopping is a strategic sport!  Maximize your savings by planning your meals around sales and coupons. You have to eat anyway you might as well save as much money as possible.

As you peruse the sales advertisements, take into consideration the items that are on sale at the different stores in your area.  It may be worthwhile to visit a couple of store to take advantage of the sales for the week. If you do that, though, make sure that you take into consideration the time it will take to visit more than one store and of course the price of gas.  When gas was hovering around $4.00 a gallon it may not have been worth it to travel to separate stores, however, when gas is priced as it is now, it may be worth the trip.

Overall, the goal is to save money.  If you can buy a generic or store brand for a lesser price than you can get it by using the coupon by all means buy the generic.  Unless, of course, you know that the quality is not what you want. 

Saving money on groceries is the goal so take advantage of these tips and techniques and remember, it all adds up!

If you know anything at all about marketing online then you will no doubt have heard about article directories.

There are hundreds of these all over the internet, but that doesn’t mean it is worth submitting to all of them. If you get to know what the best article submission sites are and you submit your articles to them regularly, you can expect to get a lot of exposure and a potentially huge number of people reading your articles and clicking on your link to visit your website too.

So which sites should you be going to? Here are the top three:

Ezine Articles
This is a huge article directory and it is easily known as being the best one of the lot. At the time of writing it has over one hundred and twenty thousand authors who have realized its benefits, and that number is set to keep rising.

There are plenty of reasons why you should submit your articles to this site, but the main one is definitely that Google loves it with a passion. If you look up almost any subject on that search engine, the chances are very high that you will find at least one article from Ezine Articles ranking somewhere on the first page.

There are also plenty of good categories to post your articles in, and you will find the member’s dashboard is full of information and very easy to use as well.

Buzzle
Despite the rather strange name this site is a definite hit with anyone wanting to increase the traffic to their website.

It looks a lot more polished than a lot of article directories, and each author gets their own profile page which they can fill out with some information about themselves. This page also contains an author widget which should encourage some of your ardent readers to tell everyone about you on their web page!

And you can of course also link through to your website, to get that much needed traffic you are after. You can do this from your profile and also from the end of each article you write.

As with Ezine Articles there are plenty of categories to post your content to, and the process is made as easy as possible. This should definitely be on your ‘to do’ list to join if you are not already a member.

Search Warp
This site promotes itself as a writer’s community, and it certainly is. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that you won’t get plenty of exposure and traffic from posting your articles here.

The author’s dashboard is a great place to start, with lots of data and information on all the articles you submit. Not only can you see how much traffic each article is getting, you will also see whether each piece is getting search engine referrals. You can also generate a fan club at Search Warp, so if people like what you are writing about, you could benefit in more than one way.

Area219.com
This site calls itself a content directory, and takes article submissions on almost any topic. One of the advantages of using Area219.com is that they allow you to insert your Adsense publisher ID into your profile and then shares the ad impressions on your article pages with you 50/50.

The site is fairly new but will undoubtedly grow exponentially once people start seeing the benefit of sharing the Adsense revenue with the directory.

These are some the top article directories online today, so make sure you are a part of all of them.

Well, the New Year has rolled in, and with it millions of people have made a new year’s resolution to loose weight. Some are discouraged right from the start, others will go a couple of weeks on the latest fad diet, and some of us take things so seriously that we start looking for help as fast as we can. For some that help comes in the form of institutions like the Jenny Craig System.

Granted the cost of the Jenny Craig diet can be a little high, but the guidance and help you get may be worth it for you. When you visit a Jenny Craig office, you get weighed and you meet with a consultant. He or she tells you what to expect and how the program takes place, and how much you can expect to lose. This consultation usually runs between $30 to $50.

But this isn’t the only price you will have to pay, you will also need to buy all your food for the week there, and all at once, and this is where the cost can go up. This is where you will spend the bulk of your money on the Jenny Craig program. You could spend between $120 to $150 a week. Depending on the number of weeks you need to be on the program, then this diet could become very expensive.  But if you look at the alternative, being overweight for any length of time can be even more expensive, but even worse, could compromise your health.

There is some magic in the puppy that never fails to make it most attractive and charming. Even those who do not like dogs will not be able to reject a puppy. Your feeling of love for a cute puppy deepens as you realize it needs you just as much as an infant does. Inculcating habits in a puppy is easier done than had it been an adult dog.

You can educate your children on how to be gentle to the puppy. It will be part of your children’s memories, and remain with them through their entire lifetime. You now have the opportunity to train the puppy. Chewing toys instead of designer shoes is always preferable along with other typical behavior that drives owners to the brink of insanity.

Yes, they are precious, but also very needy and you will spend far more time with them in the early months that you would with an older dog. The shelters are crowded with dogs - many just a few months out of puppy phase. Different breeds of puppies have different characteristics and prefer different environments to get easily adjusted to so take note of this and act accordingly. Buying a puppy that will grow into a big dog that cannot fit your living space would pose a lot of problems. Get all the facts right before deciding to buy a puppy.

Checking on its mom or dad would give you an idea of how the puppy will look like when fully grown up. You need not worry whether a puppy or a dog is able to adjust to your home. Both puppies and older dogs have their own particular needs.

Find some great dogs for sale at DogSearcher.com and other dog classified site like it, but be sure to consider what has been said in this article.

You need to know all there is to know about the puppy or dog you intend to purchase. You might also find an older dog who doesn’t enjoy being around children any more. Depending on your reasons for getting a new dog, you may be able to provide a loving home to a shelter dog that’s a bit older than paying a lot of money for a young pure-bred dog. For breeding purposes, get a puppy or dog with papers.

This is a tricky question that nobody can really answer for you, but how badly do you need to know who owns that number?

If you have been receiving nuisance calls then you can just report them to your local police station and they will take it from there. If you trust them to pursue it then that should be the matter resolved. Of course if you really want to make sure the appropriate action is taken then you need to get in contact with their service provider. The service provider will be interested that one of their customers is behaving like that and it could lead to the individual making the calls being disconnected.

If you decide to go down that route and call their phone provider then you need to use a reverse phone number website as without them there is no way of knowing who they are with (unless you phone their voicemail and they haven’t changed their message then sometimes you can tell from that). So even though there is a small charge then the best option is to just use it and dig up the service provider and the name and address of the person.

Now you are better equipped when you want to go to the police and report them as you can give their name and address, then also go to the service provider and report them there too.

That is a double-whammy that ensures the person gets into trouble. That doesn’t necessarily mean the person will stop, they can get a new phone to call you from etc - but if you know the name of the person you at least have the upperhand and if you let them know you are aware it is them then most people should get the picture and it will not seem so ‘fun’ when you know who it is.

Buying a heartworm preventative is one of the loving things you can do for your cat’s

health. But…if you’re like many pet owners, you likely have some inquiries.

Below are some answers to help you narrow down your search.

Q: What does Heartgard do?

A: Heartgard is a veterinary prescription made for the prevention of heartworm disease in cats and dogs.

Q: How does Heartgard work?

A: Invermectin is the chief component. Invermectin comes in contact with the parasite’s nerveous

system, paralyzing and killing the young heartworms (larvae).

Q: How frequently should I administer this medicine to my cat or dog?

A: Once every 30 days.

Note: you should try to feed your dog or cat his Heartgard medicine on the same day, each month. The heart

stickers, that come with the package, will help you remember.

Q: What if I forget a dose?

A: If the time between medications is more than 30 days, Invermectin’s effectiveness

could be lessened.

(Remember, Invermectin kills immature heartworms. And forgettign doses could

allow the heartworms to develop to a point where the medicine is not as effective.)

That said, professionals recommend testing your dog or cat for heartworms 61/2 months after the missed dosage.

Q: What about sensitive breeds like Collies, is this dewormer safe for them?

A: Collies and other related breeds have shown sensitivity to Invermectin. Fortunately, the amount of Invermectin in Heartgard is nominal. And the maker, Murial, says that the does should be safe if given as

directed.

Q: How soon should I start my pet on Heartgard?

A: Heartgard destroys the larvae your pet was exposed to within the last thirty days. So, if

you are going to give your dog or cat a seasonal preventative, feed it to him 30 days after the 1st mosquito makes an appearance.

Q: What about puppies?

A: You can begin your puppy on the preclusive when he’s a minimum six weeks old.

Q: What if I desire to protect my pet against intestinal worms?

A: Consider looking into Heartgard Plus. In addition to Invermectin, it employs Pyrantel, which destroys hookworms and roundworms as well as heartworms.

Q: oes my pet need to be tested before giving her Heartgard?

A: Yes. Administering a heartworm preclusive to a dog or cat that already has heartworms may cause a severe reaction that may be harmful or even fatal to your cat or dog.

That said you will also have to have a veterinarian’s prescription to purchase Heartgard.

You may also consider using a generic Heartgard.

This posting is based on information freely available in the popular press and medical journals that deal with [medical subject]. Nothing herein is intended to be or

should be construed to be any sort of medical advice. For medical advice the reader should consult with his or her physician or other m edical specialist.

If you’re like people I’ve talked to, you’ve always dreamed about what it would be like to go for a ride in a balloon. Going for a balloon flight may even be on your own personal list of things you want to do before you retire.

I found a great website for ballooning that tells you everything about balloons. It has sections on hot air balloon rides, balloon events, used balloon equipment for sale, and even a book that tells you what you need to know to start a balloon ride business.

Check out HotAirBallooning.com to find out everything you’ve always wondered about ballooning. Find a company to ride with or find an instructor - either way you can be in the air soon!

If you want to see balloons close up, you’re sure to enjoy this site. When you visit, check out the section about balloon races. It lists a whole bunch of events around the world so you can see balloons up close and personal.

Be sure to check out the balloon ride guide which features only approved balloon ride companies that have the HotAirBallooning.com Seal of Approval. You’ll find safe balloon rides operated by experienced, fully licensed companies there.