Archive for October, 2009

SARES REGIS Group Breaks Ground on Cabrillo Business Park, Goleta, Calif.

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
SARES REGIS Group Breaks Ground on Cabrillo Business Park, Goleta, Calif.

Market Wire, October, 2009

SARES REGIS Group broke ground today for
development of six buildings in the first phase of the planned 96-acre
Cabrillo Business Park in Goleta, Calif. Three office buildings, two
retail buildings and a self-storage facility are included in the 14-acre
phase.

“Demand for high-quality commercial facilities is greater in this market
than anywhere in California because virtually nothing has been built here
in the last 10 years. We fully expect the buildings to be leased up or
sold in short order,” said Steve Fedde, senior vice president for the
Ventura Region of SARES REGIS Group, which is headquartered in Irvine,
Calif.

The office buildings will total 175,000 square feet. The retail development
will total 17,500 square feet and the self-storage facility will total
72,000 square feet. Mark Mattingly and Greg Bartholomew of Pacifica
Commercial Realty’s Santa Barbara office are marketing the project, which
also can be viewed online at www.cabrillobusinesspark.com .

Mattingly said the vacancy rate for Class A office space is approximately 3
percent of a total 1.5 million-square-foot inventory of premium office and
R&D; space. The nearby University of California at Santa Barbara in Goleta,
which generates a steady stream of new technological and scientific
companies in the area, is responsible for creating much of the high demand
for commercial facilities, he said.

Company officials held a ground breaking ceremony that was attended by many
key city government and business officials. Cabrillo Business Park is at
Hollister Avenue and Los Carneros Road, adjacent to the Santa Barbara
Municipal Airport.

Kristen Amyx, president and chief executive officer of the Goleta Valley
Chamber of Commerce, said only one other office building had been developed
in Goleta “in recent memory” and that the ground breaking event “is more
than symbolic for the future of business in Goleta.”

“The Cabrillo Business Park plays a key role in sacramento homes the business community in
Goleta in terms of start-up companies from UCSB, the growth of our existing
clean technology companies and in development of our technology corridor
between L.A. and San Francisco,” she said.

The Goleta City Council approved the Cabrillo Business Park in 2007. It is
the largest commercial development ever proposed on the south coast. The
plan calls for development of 956,000 square feet of state-of-the-art
research-and-development facilities adjacent to the Santa Barbara Municipal
Airport.

Cabrillo Business Park is planned for 12 one- and two-story flex buildings
up to 80,000 square feet. Forty-six percent of the site will remain as
natural or landscaped open space. It will include 19 acres of restored and
expanded wetlands and grasslands with publicly accessible trails.

SARES REGIS Group, has had a central coast regional office for more than 20
years

Our Neighbors: It's a happy dog's life for Albany 'dogumentarian"

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Our Neighbors: It’s a happy dog’s life for Albany ‘dogumentarian”

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 30, 2009 | by Chris Treadway

Kendra Luck is a former photo journalist who left that profession eight years ago with the idea that “I want to do what makes me happy every day, and that’s black-and-white photography and dogs.”

The Albany resident and former San Francisco Chronicle photographer is photography art now self-employed and has two enterprises that allow her to indulge those passions. Luck runs SitStaySleep in Albany, offering “home away from home dog boarding.”

And rather than photojournalist, she describes herself as a “dogumentarian” these days, specializing in “professional portraits of dogs and their people” through her www.dogumentarian.com Web site.

That background earned her an assignment to provide images for the new book “Dog Lover’s Daily Companion: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Living a Rich Life with Your Dog.”

“I was hired to dog lifestyle images,” she said. “Nothing posed, just real dogs being dogs. It was good fun because they let me do what I wanted to do.”

The book has about 125 color images from Luck, one-third from her photo archive and two-thirds new photos shot for the book.

The publication of the guide by Quarry Books will be celebrated at a book party from 4 to 7 p.m

On the House: Polishing up old light fixtures

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
On the House: Polishing up old light fixtures

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 30, 2009 | by James

On the House

THE VALUE of a home is enhanced when it appears well maintained. Unfortunately, few prospective buyers look below the floor into the crawl space. And although the crawl space is just as important to properly maintain, the areas that are most thoroughly scrutinized are those that are readily visible during a quick walk-through.

The list of what to do to improve value is infinite, but refinishing a light fixture is one of the single most cost effective home improvements you can do, and believe it or not, you can expect as much as a 1,000 percent return on your investment.

One of our readers recently reported that her two large entry light fixtures looked as though they were ready for light-fixture heaven and that replacement would cost a little more than $800. She took our advice, and within four evenings (a few hours each sitting) and an investment of $35 in materials floor furnace and equipment, she made her old fixtures look brand new

Charity Christmas cards that give just 6% to good causes

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Charity Christmas cards that give just 6% to good causes

0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Oct 22, 2009

Byline: Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor

AS little as 6 per cent of the price paid for charity Christmas cards actually reaches good causes, it is claimed today.

Many shoppers keen to help those in need will be disappointed to learn how much of their cash is swallowed up by manufacturers and retailers.

On average, charities earn just 13 per cent of the cost of cards sold by High Street retailers, according to a survey by consumer group Which? Next and House of Fraser sell packs that donate as little as 6 per cent to charity, although both chains also sell cards that give more.

Which? found that just 25p from a [pounds sterling]4 pack of Next charity card went to charity.

Top of the donations league is WH Smith, which gives 100 per cent of the sale price of one set of cards to Children in Need, and donates at least 20 per cent of other packs.

Asda came in second with its pledge of 50 per cent of the purchase price of its charity cards to the Children in Need appeal.

The Greeting Card Association said Christmas card sales are worth [pounds sterling]324million a year, and account for 43 per cent of all cards bought.

This means some [pounds sterling]50million a year for charities, however it could be substantially higher if retailers gave them a greater share.

More than half of UK consumers bought charity Christmas cards on the High Street last year, but just a third checked how much money went to the good cause, according to the Which? survey of 1,052 adults.

Which? said the best way to make sure more of the money paid goes to the charity is to buy the cards direct from a charity’s shop or website.

Which? magazine editor Martyn Hocking said: ‘It’s great that charities earn so much money from High Street Christmas cards, but some donations are more generous than others.

‘Check the back of the card to see how much of your money is actually going to charity.’ The company Cards for Good Causes, which markets cards for a range of charities, insisted they raise useful income.

A spokesman said: ‘High street cards offer charities a no-risk income they wouldn’t get otherwise. The charities don’t have to pay any of the costs of production.’ A surveys for cash spokesman for Next said: ‘We pride ourselves on the fact that our entire card range is made up of charity cards. We do not have a smaller specific charity range like other retailers. ‘Due to this we believe our charity contribution to be one of the highest on the High Street.’ House of Fraser said it is the card supplier, rather than the retailer, who decides how much is donated from the sale price

Online backup services.

Friday, October 30th, 2009
Online backup services.

Macworld, November, 2009 by Fleishman, Glenn

REVIEWED: 7 Web services that let you back up files and restore them from anywhere

Backups guy gets girl work best when you have multiple copies, at least one of which is both current and off-site. OS X’s Time Machine feature, plus the availability of high-capacity, low-cost hard drives, make it possible for you to back up regularly and rotate drives through backup sets, storing a full backup safely away from the source data.

But what about when the worst happens? When fire strikes, a lightning bolt fries your computers and backup drives, or a burglar makes off with the goods? A drive stored off-site helps–but the files stored on it are out of date the second you unplug it and haul it away. An online backup service can be the…

Interactive Intelligence and RightNow to Release Integrated Software Solution for Improved Customer Interaction Management

Friday, October 30th, 2009
Interactive Intelligence and RightNow to Release Integrated Software Solution for Improved Customer Interaction Management

Business Wire, Oct 28, 2009

Integrated Solution to Help Enterprises and Contact Centers
Increase Productivity and Improve Customer Service

INDIANAPOLIS — Interactive Intelligence (Nasdaq: ININ) and RightNow
Technologies (Nasdaq: RNOW) are introducing an integrated software
solution for improved customer interaction management.

The integration, with general availability in Q4 2009, combines the
self-service and agent-assisted service capabilities of the RightNow CX
customer experience suite, with the contact center automation and
enterprise IP telephony functionality of the Interactive Intelligence
all-in-one IP communications software suite, Customer Interaction Center
(CIC).

The new integration brings the following to the RightNow agent desktop
for increased productivity and improved customer service: embedded call
controls, screen-pop, multichannel queuing and routing, click-to-dial,
and unified reporting.

By having a unified desktop for agents and business users to manage
interactions and data, companies can decrease call processing time,
increase call resolution rates, and improve overall customer
satisfaction, said RightNows chief solution officer, David Vap.
Interactive Intelligences single-platform architecture further adds
operational value by simplifying installation, administration, and
customization.

In addition to streamlining the agent-assisted customer experience,
this joint solution helps IT teams reduce deployment time for faster ROI
by eliminating the need for custom integration, said Interactive
Intelligence vice president of business development, Bill Gildea. With
our respective engagement teams aligned, joint clients are assured
theyre receiving solid customer experience solutions backed by
dedicated experts.

The integration includes the following functionality:

  • Embedded call controls: From the RightNow agent desktop, users
    can quickly access full Interactive Intelligence client functionality
    for call and e-mail management (record, hold, transfer, mute, etc.),
    as well as presence management, company directory look-up, and more.
  • Screen-pop: Adds the ability to screen-pop a pre-filled record,
    or if the number is not already stored, pop a blank screen for quick
    manifesting abundance data-entry; includes customization tool for automated, multi-step
    screen-pop tasks.
  • Multichannel queuing and routing: Enables calls and e-mails to
    be routed via a universal queue and managed from within a single
    screen.
  • Click-to-dial: Easy mouse-click dialing eliminates the need
    to manually copy and paste numbers into a computer-based softphone, or
    dial from a desk phone.
  • Unified Reporting: Call and e-mail interactions tracked by the
    Interactive Intelligence reporting feature are now stored in the
    RightNow database so users get a unified view of interactions directly
    from the RightNow media bar.

For more information about the Interactive Intelligence and RightNow
integration, visit http://www.inin.com/ProductSolutions/Pages/Integrations-CRM-applications.aspx.

About RightNow Technologies

RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer
interaction at a time, seven million times a day. RightNow CX, the
customer experience suite, helps organizations deliver exceptional
customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact
centers, all delivered via the cloud. With more than eight billion
customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience
fabric for nearly 2,000 organizations around the globe. To learn more
about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com.

About Interactive Intelligence

Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) is a global provider of
unified business communications solutions for contact center automation,
enterprise IP telephony, and business process automation

An interview with Suzanne Somers

Friday, October 30th, 2009
An interview with Suzanne Somers

Townsend Letter, Nov, 2009 by Richard A. Jaffe

Suzanne Somers, Hollywood’s mega-mogul and Oprah’s go-to girl for all things female, is about to do for alternative cancer treatment what she did for hormone replacement therapy: hemroids cure blast it into a wild ride full of media slugfests, controversy, and instant awareness. Her newest book, Knockout, will change the way America looks at cancer treatment and prevention, much as her other books changed the way women look at menopause.

I’ve been defending alternative practitioners for the past 25 years–starting with Emanuel Revici, through Stanislaw Burzynski, down to small-town chiropractors and naturopaths–so I know something about the field. Suzanne called me after reading my book Galileo’s Lawyer for advice and to act as a resource for her book. How do you turn down one of the world’s most successful health advocacy authors? Especially one who was shrewd enough to parlay her television fame as a giggly blonde into a mega-million-dollar health and food empire that she started with what was originally a punch line: the ThighMaster, of which she sold 10 million. No one’s making a joke about her impact and her economic reach now. She sells everything from Somersize Veggie Chips ($11.95 for six bags) to the FaceMaster Platinum ($228.95). Her books camp out on the New York Times best-seller list for months, and Ernst & Young has her speak at its Entrepreneur Awards ceremonies.

I think that you’ll enjoy getting to know her as much as I have, so I suggested to Townsend Letter publisher Jonathan Collin that I interview her for this issue and run it with Marcus Cohen’s piece about Knockout in his monthly column. Jonathan agreed, and so here we are.

Suzanne is now best known in our field for her advocacy of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). Before 2004, most menopausal women never heard of bioidentical hormones. But then came Suzanne’s book The Sexy Years, in which she interviewed doctors who were using BHRT to successfully treat women with symptoms of menopause, and it changed the national discussion of hormones. Two years later, she published Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones, yet another NY Times best-seller, in which she continued advocating the use of BHRT. She also had the audacity to claim that women could look, feel, and be as vibrant and sexy in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond as they were in their earlier lives. In 2008, she published her third book on the subject, Breakthrough, and it too hit the best-seller list.

Clearly there was an audience for her message, and she began to take it to the airwaves with repeat appearances on Larry King, Oprah, Hannity, and Ellen

Middle age isn't too late to lose

Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Middle age isn’t too late to lose

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2009 | by Nanci Hellmich

WASHINGTON — buy phentermine no prescription Middle-aged female dieters, take heart. It’s not too late to lose a significant amount of weight if you make the right changes and stick with them, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.

Women who are committed to make changes can lose 20 pounds, says Karen Foster-Schubert of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

They need to write down what they eat, prepare food at home instead of eating out and make weight loss a priority, says lead investigator Anne McTiernan, director of the Prevention Center at Fred Hutchinson.

Researchers recruited 439 overweight or obese postmenopausal sedentary women, average age 57, average weight 185. They were assigned to one of four groups: diet only,…

The CLNC® mentors held the key to my first case and to my CLNC® success

Thursday, October 29th, 2009
The CLNC mentors held the key to my first case and to my CLNC success

Legal Nurse Consulting Ezine, Nov 11, 2009 by Mimi Tambellini

Thank you, Vickie, for medical answering services your CLNC[R] Mentoring Program. When I decided to become a Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantCM through Vickie Milazzo Institute, I pondered the value of the Institute’s VIP CLNC[R] Business System. One thing convinced me to enroll as a VIP–the free unlimited CLNC[R] Mentoring. I can now say that this one investment has returned huge dividends.

I just learned that my very first case as a Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantCM settled. The Institute’s mentoring made all the difference. Without the input of the CLNC[R] Mentor I wouldn’t have found the right avenue to positively impact the outcome of my attorney-client’s case. The case involved a 79-year-young woman who was recovering from knee replacement surgery and was using a cane

BULLIED FOR BEING A NATURIST; Paramedic tells tribunal: I was mocked over private life

Thursday, October 29th, 2009
BULLIED FOR BEING A NATURIST; Paramedic tells tribunal: I was mocked weight loss programs over private life

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), Oct 28, 2009

Byline: NEIL ATKINSON

PARAMEDIC Angela Armitage is hoping to return to work – despite theft allegations made by her colleagues.

The 57-year-old, fighting to save her career at Honley Ambulance Station, said she was “bullied” by some colleagues and taunted by others about her private life as a naturist, which had made work difficult.

The revelations came out as a tribunal, hearing allegations that she stole from patients, was adjourned.

Mrs Armitage, who has denied the accusations, told the Health Professions Council: “I was ver y upset and aggrieved and intimidated by it. It wasn’t every member of staff that did this, it was a minority of people”.

. Full story – Page 2

CAPTION(S):

* TAUNTED: Angela Armitage fights for career