New York, NY

Queens is usualy the place to be on the Fourth of July - with the fireworks up and down the East River, you could enjoy the festivites at Astoria Park or from your favorite Long Island City rooftop. However, this year is a little different.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing into New York harbour in 1609 (and the resulting establishment of New Amsterdam which became New York in 1664), the Macy's Firework Celebration will be held on the Hudson River. This means a short trek into the city for us folks in Queens - though it shouldn't be too bad seeing how half the population of the city is 'away' for the celebrations, as usual.

The half-hour show will feature some brand new effects as well as the standards - many of them shaped like a Tulip, the flower that pays homage to our city's Dutch heritage. To accompany the fire-in-the-sky, will be Rob Thomas, Jewel, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel and the New York Pops.

The festivities start at 9:20PM and will feature 40,000 fireworks - including the customary one-mile long shower of gold known as "Macy's Golden Mile" and (for the first time this year) will be followed with the "Silver Mile."

Best places along 11th Ave to see:

* 24th Street


* 26th Street through 30th Street


* 34th Street


* 40th through 44th Street


* 47th Street through 52nd Street


* 54th Street through 57th Street

A Feng Shui Consultant in New York: A Lesson on Intention AND Marketing

As a Feng Shui Consultant in New York, we are asked to look for and think about SIGNS. Some are apparent to us while some are much more subtle. We don't believe in Coincidences and NEVER believe in "Accidents." Things happen for a reason.

Feng Shui Consultants also work with Energy and believe very much in INTENTIONS they put out (what is also called ‘The Law of Attraction' to some). There are Reasons for everything and anything that come our way and we always need to remember to look into these things that come our way before turning them down.

It was a thrill to have the 2009 US Open here on Long Island, NY. I enjoyed showing you some of the pictures Laura was able to capture. It was also during that weekend that her site http://www.FengShuiManhattan.com went "live."

Laura had planned to go near the entrance to the US Open to try and sell some of her artwork. She'd created two pictures that she'd drawn and colored and had high-quality copies made. By the time the rains let up, it was Sunday and she was discouraged by some from trying.

People had already purchased Mercandise from the huge tent set up inside the grounds and more then that, they were wet, tired and muddy. The Final Game was delayed until Monday due to all the heavy rains.

Marti had emailed us the evening before to say her site would be live on Sunday. We took it as a sign to go; just that day we had been on a Feng Shui Consultation in Brooklyn and she'd been commissioned by our client to create a mural. It didn't seem she had much to lose.

She took a folding table, a new Art piece she was working on and the two pictures she'd done along with the copies. She set up and continued to work on the new piece of art. If you believe in Intention and Energy, what happened next won't surprise you. In the spirit of:"Build it and they will come" people started coming up to her, asking her questions and snapping up her art.

One person purchased the picture she was working on before it was even done and she was commissioned for two custom pieces. She called me before noon to tell me she'd sold out but one person she'd spoke to had said he'd be back, he said he had something he wanted to give her.

She was thrilled! But she also said she didn't know how long she should wait and wondered if that person would return and what he could possibly have to give her. She decided to wait another half hour and was just packing up to leave when the kind stranger returned.

He'd been impressed with her Artwork and had purchased both pieces. He said while most people were yelling to try to get attention to sell items, she'd just gone about her work. Sometimes, he said, a quieter approach to Marketing is the very thing that attracts others to you and handed her two tickets to the final day of the US Open on Monday, each ticket being valued at $100 each.

Needless to say, she was speechless! She was also able to attend a once in a life-time event and was there to see the new winner and feel the excitement in the crowd.

Energy-Intention-Marketing all go together I realized. We are ALL marketing, every day but how much ENERGY are we putting into it?

http://www.LongIslandFengShui.com

**Carole Provenzale and Laura Cerrano are Feng Shui Consultants in New York NY providing on site Feng Shui/Design Consultations on Long Island, New York City, Queens, Brooklyn and the Tri-State area.

Price: $1,049,000 FIZBER.com ID 11646302 Condo/Townhome/Co-op with 2 bed, 2.0 bath, in 328 E 83rd Street New york, NY, 10028 http://www.fizber.com/11646302/		328 E 83rd Street - For Sale By Owner Property Details: Type: Condo/Townhome/Co-op Address: 328 E 83rd Street, New york, NY, 10028 Sq footage: 1400.0 Floors: n/a Bathrooms: 2.0 Bedrooms: 2 Year built: 1930
View full property details and seller's contacts. View more New York homes for sale. Homes for Sale by Owner.
Description: 2 bedroom apartment with Study and Guest Room that could be 3rd BR. 1400 sq.ft. (130 sq. meters) Upper East Side walk-up Co-op with a very reasonable board. Take a tour We have been renting but it's time to sell. We have reduced our asking price over 20 percent to $750 per square foot. The price is a lot lower than current sales for 2+ bedrooms in the neighborhood with average 2 BR sales prices in StreetEasy and Miller Samuel of over $1,000/sq ft. Sales Prices (2 Bedroom Co-Op Apartments Price per Square Foot) This apartment Street Easy Yorkville Street Easy Upper East Side Miller Samuel Upper East Side $750 $800+ $1,242 $1,117 We combined apartments and lived here for years. Your kids and pets will love the extra rooms. Apartments with this space at this price disappeared from the market in the early 90’s. 2 BD / 2BA: Two bedrooms with direct sunlight and closets. 2 full bathrooms. Living Room & Eat in Kitchen. There is also space for a dining area between the spacious living room and the eat-in kitchen with its new appliances. 3 BD: Another room that could be a Study, Formal dining room or 3rd bedroom. We used it as a third bedroom. The tenants (lease expires Aug 2009) use it as a study. Bright light and Quiet: The bedrooms, LR and Study have two large south-facing windows each, making 8 windows with open views that overlook quiet midblock rooftops, trees and birds. No street noise! Storage and laundry: Full sized washer and dryer in a laundry closet next to bedrooms. Another walk-in closet. And basement storage, too. Yet another Play room/Guest room as big as the bedrooms but without an exterior window (it is on an airshaft). Basement storage and a live-in superintendant. You need to know: This is a fourth-floor walkup with a live-in superintendant but no doormen. It feels like a Parisian atelier. It keeps our 80 year old neighbors in shape, and will do the same for you. This building trades space and convenience for an elevator, and is a great place to live but it is not for everyone. More professionals have been moving into in the building (physicians, management consultants, marketing professionals) so an elevator is coming, but not in 2009. Available for occupancy Sept 1, 2009. The Upper East Side is a magnet for families, and we are zoned for PS 290 and Lower Lab elementary schools. Child- and pet-friendly neighbors and a relaxed co-op board make this building very comfortable. The Met Museum, Central Park, Carl Schurz Park and the East River Promenade make for great walks, bike rides and outings with family and friends. The subway is close and 2nd Ave Subway will be even closer. Maintenance is less than $1,800 (of which taxes are 46%% and interest is 21%%). Contact Tom at tom@customer-pov.com or 212-717-6348 if you have any questions. Please no seller’s brokers. Buyer’s brokers will receive 3%%. Shown below: (1) Living room and glass door to FDR/office/BR, (2) Bedroom, (3) Kitchen, (4) BR. Not shown: extra study/playroom/guest room, washer/dryer, great view out of windows. Take a tour to see more.
More Photos:

It started off as a pretty busy day.

I had some new business coming at me from a client in Cabo, Mexico who needed a 360 virtual tour kit. I just finished up some work for a vacation rental client in Aspen who happens to live in Norway and as I scanned my emails... I came across a link for a five minute survey with the promise that I'd be entered into a contest that might land me a shopping spree courtesy of American Express. The survey was offered by Vision Critical

The phones were quiet, I was enjoying my 2nd cup of coffee so I thought I'd take the survey as I had time to do this.

Five clicks into the Survey, it wanted to know about my feelings after looking at ads posted in Forbes and Wired magazine.

Unfortunately, I clicked and clicked on the graphics, thinking the ads would enlarge like an Acrobat PDF. No such luck.

Like 94% of all advertising agencies, we are MAC based. I just got the free upgrade to Safari 4 and I thought there might be some bugs, so i switched the survey over to Mac FireFox. Same thing. I clicked on the ads, but nothing wuld enlarge.

I then had to answer multiple choice questions on the survey if I felt more or less positive about the ad. More or Less informed, etc. I blasted them and said I could not feel this way or that way because I could not read the ads.

After 30 minutes of clicking, and saying the same thing over and over again I was compelled to know WHT and WHO was wasting my time and the time and money from Forbes and Wired magazines. Obviously the propeller heads at Vertical Response had no interest in TESTING their survey on Advertising Agency execs because we all use Mac.

I finally complete the survey and at the END I enter in my name, mailing address and email. I click submit and the FORM will not submit. It keeps telling me i have to use a VALID "@" symbol and a period. I'm not an idiot. I entered in my email correctly. Not knowing if this was a SCAM or not, or just a pure blunder on the software engineer's part... I sent an email to several Chairman and principals of Vision Critical detailing my unhappiness.

I copied in MSNBC, CNN and I sent a personal letter to Forbes and CEO telling them they should get their money back. The firm they hired was a complete flop with my experience. It was obviously never thoroughly tested before the firm launched the survey. If it wasted my time, it certainly wasted a lot of people's time, too. Ergo -- Wired and Forbes should get their money back.

This morning, I get this apologetic letter from Vision Critical. There is nothing of any substance here, just back tracking.

When Forbes and Wired gets my letters, I am thinking they will scream and demand their money back from this firm.

What do you think?

-- bartman

My name is Shane Singh and I work with Vision Critical. Your email below was forwarded to me so I wanted to reach out to let you know that we’re taking your situation very seriously. We happen to be the software vendor who supplies the underlying technology to companies in order for them to deploy these types of surveys. Naturally, we’re very concerned anytime we hear of stories such as your experience. At this point we’re not certain whether this is a defect in our software or whether this particular survey may have been constructed with a potential flaw in its workflow. As the software vendor, we often have little to no control over how surveys are programmed and deployed from our tool since we license the software to many end clients for them to conduct research with. That said though, we really are sensitive to anything which may indicate a fault in our software, and more importantly, cause frustration for people such as yourself.

I can assure you that the survey you were asked to participate in is fully legitimate. As an organization we go to great lengths to ensure that our tool is not being used in a malicious manner. I’m going to follow up on your issue to uncover the reasons behind why you weren’t able to complete the survey. I will be sure to let you know what we’ve found.

On behalf of our organization I would like to apologize for the experience you’ve had Mr. Wilson. I’m fully cognizant of your frustration and I sincerely hope that we can take the necessary action to rectify the situation.

Sincerely,

Shane

Dubai is well-known for the development in the sector of real estate in UAE. The ground-breaking technologies and concepts applied for the development of the city is remarkable. Therefore Investment in Dubai real estate is believed to be safer and most profitable way to double your money even at this moment of economic  problems hovering all over the world.

Reason behind the expansion in Dubai property sector is the changes in laws and provision of flexibility for foreign investors provided by the government, which permits foreigners to buy, rent and sell properties in Dubai. Many real estate development organizations are offering resident visa for those who buy real estate from them. Several multinational organizations are currently establishing their offices in Dubai, which made Dubai a first-rate work market for professionals and skilled workers around the globe. More professionals are fascinated towards Dubai for the reason that the city provides attractive high salary. This phenomenon has created enormous demand for accommodation and office spaces. Especially Dubai apartments are very famous among the young and lively professionals and villas in Dubai are the hot choice of relatively affluent class.  Laws in Dubai related to property are very understandable and formalities are minimum as compared to other countries.

With the continuous and rapid surge in Dubai’s population, a substantial proportion of which consists of expats and temporary residents living in Dubai for employment reasons, the question of buying or renting a residential property in Dubai is the talk of the day. Both the potential tenants and home buyers may be troubled by the question. But still reports on Dubai real estate say that the changing picture of global financial markets shouldn’t deter the locals from buying Dubai property if their plan is to stay there over the couple of years. As for those who plan to stay in Dubai for more than five years, buying a property can prove to be the wisest decision they ever made given the prices of Dubai property climbing higher and higher with each passing year.
Dubai has also emerged as shopper’s ecstasy due to its open port policy with little import duties and superb logistic facilities. Dubai has a world class facility for conferences and exhibitions; it hosts many international conferences and exhibitions. The Real estate sector in Dubai is experiencing immense activity in the form of investments from public and private organizations which include worlds, largest amusement park, tallest building and largest man made islands etc. Dubai real estate sector is expanding day-by-day to the ground breaking levels by introducing more modern and ground breaking projects.

Property investment in UAE, especially Dubai, is sure to yield heavy returns for the investors. Seeing the current property trend, in which limited supplies fail to fully meet the burgeoning demand, it’s easy to deduce that the time is ripe for the foreigners to invest in the UAE. If you choose to buy a freehold property in Dubai, you’ll enjoy many advantages as a foreign investor. You’ll have the power to sell or rent your property as per your desire. Due to a huge influx of expatriate and temporary residents in Dubai, the demand for short-term rentals is continually shooting higher offering yields around ten percent. The good news for the lenders is that no taxes on income, including that acquired from renting property, are levied in Dubai.