Monthly Archives: May 2010

The Queen is Coming to Wimbledon!

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England’s Queen Elizabeth II, will make an appearance during the grand slam Wimbledon Championship in London this year. It’s been 33 years since her last visit back in 1977. Her very first visit was way back in 1957 and then again in 1962. The All England Lawn Tennis Club confirmed that indeed Queen Elizabeth II will grace the Championships on June 24th; Wimbledon officially begins June 21st through July 4th. Wimbledon is completely humbled and honored that the Queen will be in attendance during The Championships and are making extra preparation to welcoming Her Majesty back.

Tennis and Wimbledon itself has changed since last she visited, such as faster serves and the new roof on Center Court. But, what the Queen will notice what hasn’t changed, is how the quintessential character of Wimbledon is steadfast; most notably the passion of the spectators and the players alike who understand that they are participating in one of the most prestigious and exhilarating sporting events in the entire world. It’s guaranteed to be thrilling not only for the Queen, but for everyone there.

The Lawn Tennis Association, on June 7th, will sponsor the wild card play-offs at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, check with the Wimbledon schedule when the wild cards will be announced. Also, the qualifying events will be held June 14th, once again check with the Wimbledon schedule when the seedings will be announced. The Wimbledon Draw in the meantime, will take place on June 18th.

This years line-up, including Roger Federer , Serena Williams, Venus William, Andy Roddick, Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova and many others is most likely the reason why the Queen is making an appearance. These players are the cream-of-the-crop when it comes to tennis; the Queen knows a when a good tennis match is about and this year’s Wimbledon will not disappoint her.

The Castle at the University of Mannheim

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Nearly a thousand years ago, Mannheim, Germany, was mentioned in a legal transaction in 766 A.D. as “Mannenheim.” It was the first written record of the village, which is contained in a document known as the Codex Laureshamensis from Lorsch Abbey .

Mannheim stayed a village until the fortress of Friedrichsburg and the city’s grid-like core were constructed in the beginning of the 17th Century, in 1606. The small village today has grown into a metropolitan area with a population numbering 2.4 million people. Here, you will find a city brimming with history and architecture, from the amazing symmetry of Mannheim’s streets with 142 identical blocks in the downtown region to the intricately designed Water Tower, to Mannheim Residenzschloss, the largest Baroque castle in Germany.

The castle and palace took over forty years to build, beginning in 1720. Prince Elector Carl Phillip wanted to relocate his home from Heidelberg to Mannheim over differences in religion with the Protestants. He died in 1742, the same year in which the castle’s foundation stone was laid; his successor, Carl Theodor, who lived from 1742 to 1799, oversaw the completion of the castle.

Damaged during World War Two, the castle was entirely rebuilt in the 1950s. Its most noted features include the ornamental knights’ hall and the former palace library. It’s possible to still walk through the old castle gardens that grows between the castle and the Rhine; inside the castle church, you’ll also find the crypt containing a highly decorated coffin of Carl Phillip.

In the 21st Century, the castle is still in use; the University of Mannheim uses over 400 of the castle’s rooms, containing over 1,400 windows, for educational purposes, internationally renowned for its business school. While the palace is a great place to visit, if you want to stay overnight in the city, try one of the many Mannheim hotels nearby.

Basic Work Etiquette

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When you have just entered the corporate culture and have never been to a corporate training it can be understandable that you might not know office etiquette, however there are a number of experienced workers who do not follow etiquette or who simply never learned it. Here are two of the most often broken rules that you should be expected to know before anyone will look at moving you up the corporate ladder.

When someone said that time is money , they meant it. When you are five minutes late it can hurt the company a lot. If you work at a place that starts at eight, has break at 10:30, returns at 10:45, Lunch is 12-1, another break from 3-3:15 and you finally get off at five, if you are five minutes late getting to work, and take off for break five minutes early, and return five minutes late, same for lunch and the other break, and even leave work five minutes early, that is forty minutes a day you are not at work when you are supposed to be. (If you don’t have those two extra paid break times, it is still 20 minutes a day, or an hour a week) If you are paid ten dollars an hour that is $6 a day. If every employee did that you can probably see how that would add up very quickly. Respect your employer’s time by showing up for work early, and only spending the amount of time you are allowed on breaks and at lunch.

The internet should be used only when it is absolutely needed. Many people get fired either for things that are posted to social networking sites like Facebook , or because they are on the internet for non-business related things. There are some companies where you will need to be on the internet all the time, and will often need to be on social networking sites, blog sites and many other types of sites. With the exception of the time that you are at lunch, your usage of the internet should only be for things that are work related.

These two things might not get you noticed for a leadership position, but you will never get sent to leadership development training if you are not following these basic rules.

Christmas in New South Wales

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Australia stands very high as an unspoken contributor to world culture, and any visit here reveals there is more than ever met the eye. There is a spectacular history in art, music, literature that is deep in the soil. It has various roots that come together in a very fascinating and complex cultural experiment. The indigenous cultures here have been on the land for 40,000 years or more, and the various tribes and traditions play a very large part in the works of artists who are paying attention. Then there is a tremendous European influence, that has a great influence from the U.K., but is brought in from all over, and there is also a constant flow of information between neighboring cultures, and the Asian influence is also deep.

It’s difficult to tell where one thing ends and another begins, as the years add up and the roots become very much entwined with each other. Puzzling over the various strands, in the privacy of a perfect hotel , one wonders why visiting here took so long, when life is short, and there is so much to see and know.

For all the contributions, however, there are some that are more deeply ingrained than others, and for anyone who ever felt nostalgia about Woolworth’s , it might be surprising to discover that this, too, has an Australian counterpart. Or at least it was borrowed by a Kiama resident, one Harold Percival Christmas . He opened his first store in the early part of the 20th century, a couple decades after it was well underway in the U.S., and it’s success here parallels theirs. There were many ups and downs, and finally, there were some very big ups. The irony of his name was never lost to anyone in his lifetime, and his legacy survives. What doesn’t survive, though, was his practice of having a phrenologist measure the heads of prospective employees. Some elements of nostalgia are best left in the past.

How to Restart Your Savings Account

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Restarting your savings account is a goal many people have these days. Some because they are still in debt, some because they are getting out of debt and need to start to get some money saved up for a rainy day. The truth is that with the recent market crash , many people are now seeing the importance of not living paycheck to paycheck , but trying to live a life with a little more money in the bank in case something bad happens. For many people this was their New Years resolution, and as much as it has been made fun of on television, it is true that New Years resolutions are usually broken and thrown to the side. Some people fall off the wagon in February, or March, but for most people it is as we enter into May that they will start to lose the stingent control they had over their finances.

There are a few things you will want to do if you plan on continuing to build your bank account and haven’t given up all hope yet. If you haven’t at this point yet, now is a good time to make a budget. Write down your income and your expenditures and decide what will be the best way to balance them. This is especially important if you are living in debt, or if you frequently have to take out loans to make ends meet. If you have recently had to take out a small loan because of an emergency this is not something too big to worry about, but you will want to think about how to keep that from happening again. Once you have balanced the budget, take some more things out of your expenses. There is probably still something you can cut out, rent movies instead of seeing them in theaters, cook dinner instead of eating out, etc. This will give you a little extra money to stick in your bank account so that you can save it for a rainy day.