Discover The Beauty Of La Villajoyosa

Situated on the original N332 between Alicante (32 kilometres) and Benidorm (5 kilometres), is a beautiful but diverse coastal town, with a population of about 23,500. It is a mixture of both old and new constructed areas, with in its centre you find the old part of town, with its narrow cobbled streets, a pastel shaded painted houses, old castle walls and flower bedecked cottages which overlook the Rio Amadorio and sea.

This is a quaint and relatively quite area of town, rarely visited by tourists, despite its charm and age old history, which is evident all around you.

On the flip side of the town, you have the new hotels, (still more apparently to be built) a new and fantastic sandy beach and currently in construction, Villajoyosa sea front and promenade. The sea front is due to be completed spring 2007, at the cost of several million euros, which, with the overall makeover of a lot of its original architecture makes this a great place to explore.

The charm of this coastal town is in its true diversity, with its originality shown by year long sight of its village women sitting outside their homes, knitting and crochet needles clicking away, the men folk fishing, boatbuilding (the traditional way) and the repairing and making of fishing nets.

The modern side of Villajoyosa is shown when visiting its famous chocolate factories and museums, the go kart racing track (on the eastern end of town), or just relaxing on the beautiful golden man made beach, and when the sun goes down, visit the fabulous casino with its mouth watering cuisine, musical entertainment and floor shows and of course, if you want to , have a little flutter.

THE BEST FIESTA (not to be missed) is the MOROS AND CHRISTIANOS (Moors and Christians) from July 24th to 31st, This is reportedly the best re-enactment of this historic event, and the best organised, with stunning laser light show and superb floodlighting to highlight the landing of the moors which took/takes place just before dawn breaks with the ensuing battle on the beach.

WHAT TO SEE

The old town and church areas, the chocolate museums and factories, the fishing port to watch the days catch arrive and the casino at night. Or just relax on the beach.

WHERE TO EAT OR DRINK

There are numerous restaurants along the sea front which serve every kind of cuisine your heart desires, be it Spanish, Italian, English, German or French, so maybe go on a gastronomic cruise, whilst staying in one place. There are also numerous chocolate café/bars for the chocoholics amongst us, where you feel that you have died and gone to heaven.

Copyright (c) 2007 Utopia Creative Solutions Ltd

Inspiration & Motivation - Similar But Different

One of my favorite movies of all time, Jerry Maguire, features Tom Cruise as an agent with a major sports management firm. He's enthusiastic, successful, a great negotiator and people like him. But it begins to dawn on Jerry that there's something wrong with what he's doing, and not long after a troubling encounter with the son of an injured athlete he represents, Jerry has a serious crisis of conscience.

In the midst of a sleepless night, Jerry is inspired to write a mission statement (which others refer to as a memo) calling on himself and his colleagues to think more about the long-term welfare of the clients they represent and less about immediate profits. He wants to motivate them to change their approach to doing business.

While everyone around him applauds the sentiment, Jerry's superiors think his ideas are bad for business; Jerry is fired, and, rather than standing in solidarity with him, his "friends" in the firm scramble like sharks to claim Jerry's clients.

At the end of his last day, the only people who are motivated to join Jerry as he strikes out on his own are staff accountant Dorothy (Renee Zellweger), a single mother secretly in love with him, and Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a football player whose pride and arrogance have gotten in the way of his reaching his potential, and getting a new contract. Jerry is able to inspire him to play with more heart, and he gets a new contract as a result. He in turn is able to inspire Jerry to lead his personal life with more heart, and he finds true love with Dorothy.

We often confuse inspiration with motivation. They are similar in nature, but originate in separate places.

Motivation is external and is born from circumstances. Jerry was personally touched, and thus inspired, to give more personal service after the troubling encounter with the son of the injured athlete he represented.

He became motivated to write a mission statement in hopes that it would motivate his co-workers to change their business philosophy. It failed because they were clearly more motivated by large commissions.

Most people are motivated to work because they have bills and must pay for the cost of living. This is external. But there are those who quit their jobs and pursue what they love because meaningless work costs them their happiness. This is internal.

After seeing Jerry Maguire I was motivated to tell others about what a good movie it was, but I was inspired by Jerry's conviction in his altruistic beliefs and commitment to personal service. The film motivated some people I know to pursue careers as sports agents. It also inspired some people I know to write mission statements of their own.

Motivation is concerned with the achievement of an end result. Inspiration is concerned with emotionally sparking a process that leads to an end result. They often work in tandem: inspiration as the key which turns the ignition and starts the engine of motivation.

Many people are "inspired" to do great things but often lack the motivation to capitalize on that inspiration. In Jerry Maguire, Jerry's dismissal motivated him to start his own firm where he was forced to put his mission statement into action.

We often hear the expression "self-motivated" without giving much thought to what it really means. People who are self-motivated are adept at finding motivation to get things done. Some focus on rewards of getting things done. Some focus on the repercussions of not getting things done. Either way, self-motivation requires the ability to be self-directed in putting forth actions that bring about a desired end result.

I prefer the term "inspirational speaker" to "motivational speaker." I find more satisfaction in my speaking engagements when someone says they were inspired by one of my talks. It means I connected with them emotionally. I don't believe that any speaker can motivate anyone to do anything, but an effective speaker provides food for thought and inspires people to become self-motivated.

I've found that reasonably intelligent people can get motivated by data and facts alone, but everyone - regardless of intelligence or academic background - is susceptible to inspiration. When you want to be inspired, you can find inspiration just about anywhere. All it requires is that you be receptive to it and use it to motivate you. Doing so may just change your circumstances, if not your life, the way that it did for Jerry Maguire.

Ladies of the Dawn

Caribbean Christmas Cruise Norwegian Dawn 2008

Norwegian Dawn 2005 #2

Topside Saturday afternoon June 2005

What About Predators?

Alright, you've chosen a chicken house plan, and your about to start building. One of the things you need to be concerned about is predators. You may like fresh fired chicken and free range eggs, but so do some of your local critters. You may not see them, but they are out there waiting for an easy meal.

Hawks

One of the primary chicken predators is the hawk. They cruise around day and night looking for a tasty meal. And they love chicken! Their eye sight is incredible too. They can see a mouse from a mile away.

A hawk can strike quickly and without warning. They hit their prey with razor sharp talons and use their sharp hooked beak to rip into the animals flesh. They will typically eat their fill and abandon the rest. If they have young to feed they may take the carcass to them if not too large.

There are many different hawks. They can be found virtually in every state, in Canada and even in parts of Alaska. If at all possible, the chicken pen should be completely enclosed.

Fox

Another typical predator is the fox. Whether red or gray, they are a menace to farmers throughout the states. Foxes are skillful hunters and will feed on a wide variety of animal, including your beloved chickens. Foxes have an uncanny way of finding their way into enclosures. Hence the expression "clever as a fox"

Foxes are generally nocturnal and tend to prefer hunting a couple of hours after dusk and a couple of hours before dawn, although they sometimes are seen during the day. When they make a kill, they will take their prey quite a distance from the kill zone, sometimes even miles, before sitting down for a nice meal. (Alright, they don't really sit!) Should they have leftovers, so to speak, they will frequently bury the carcass and return at a later time to finish it off.

Foxes are a scourge to chicken owners. They are well known for raiding chicken coops time and again. This can occur most often in the spring, when they need extra food to feed their litter.

Raccoons

Still another common predator is the raccoon. They can be found thoughout North and south America. These cute little guys seem sweet and innocent, but they are actually skillful little bandits. In fact that is why God put that little bandit mask on their faces! OK, maybe that is not the reason, but it sounds good to little children.

Raccoons are also generally nocturnal. They are not as organized as other predators. They tend to be almost gluttons. They may kill one chicken and partially devour it, but move on to another bird, and maybe even another, eating only part of each one. This multiple kill zone and mutilation is one of the signatures of a raccoon hit.

Well, there are other predators and I will address them in another article. The ones above are some of the most expected predators to chickens.

Rachael Yamagata "Sunday Afternon" 02.23.10

with Claire Indie and Mai Bloomfield on Cello. Cayamo Cruise on board the Norwegian Dawn in the Spinnaker Lounge somewhere in the middle of the ocean. I was pretty far back and the boat was a rockin' more than one way. So it's just like you were there ;)