SELF IMPROVEMENT

The leisure time enjoyed by modern executive males is greatly improved from that available to businessmen of the past. As a result, they make sure that they have enough free time to be able to enjoy themselves. For some men this means spending quality time with their children, whilst for a growing percentage it means enjoying spending their hard earned disposable income. The freedoms afforded to modern men has led many people to see a clear distinction between working conditions now and in the past. The men themselves are unconcerned with such analysis, and are only interested in the old clich© of working hard in order to play hard.

It could be argued that men in the past were not as conscious of their image as today's men are. There is a stereotypical image of women being the ones to enjoy shopping, however men are now just as likely to be found in clothing stores doing their shopping. There is much more attention paid to men's fashion in the media now than ever before. As a result men are much more knowledgeable about dressing professionally, and will often have their suits tailor made. They will also be aware of the latests designs for casual wear. The focus is not solely on clothing, however, and the modern man will look after every aspect of his appearance. This will mean keeping themselves well groomed in addition to wearing fashionable clothes. This gives them the confidence to be able to present themselves in the best possible way at work and in social encounters.

Appearance is also an important factor to men when socialising. There are many examples where goodbusiness contactscan be made in social situations. This will be vital to an individual being able to progress in the business world. Many men will take every opportunity they can to network. Business is often discussed on the golf course, for example. Sports in general are a good way to socialise while working, both in terms of playing and watching. Conducting business out of office hours like this has been occurring for many years, however sometimes men will participate in activities purely to relax and enjoy themselves. The leisure industry has expanded to such an extent than men are now spoiled for choice when it comes to filling their free time.

It is important for the modern professional male to keep in contact with his colleagues even while enjoying his leisure time. As networking is so important to them both personally and professionally they will often purchase the latest technological gadgets for communication. These luxuries are not resticted to personal gadgets as they often include cars, boats, computers and manyelectrical merchandise. The new generation of mobile phones allow communication through calling, video calling, email, and text messaging. Some of these ways include the providing of continual status updates on social networking sites. Applications can also be downloaded to tablet computers, which are becoming very useful to people in business. Apps for these device can assist in business in a variety of different ways, and can include spreadsheets and word processors. Many modern professional males will use this new technology in their continual battle to balance work and leisure time.

cartoons About Small Business, Self-Employment by Randy Glasbergen.
I’ve been self-employed for many years, working at home on the third floor of my creaky old house, with no coworkers or meetings to distract me. I get an occasional studio visit from one of the cats, but I still haven’t figured out how to claim them as a “consultants” on my taxes. On my website, you’ll find many cartoons about small business, self-employment and working at home.
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For thousands of tourists in the barrier islands off North Carolina, the threat of Hurricane Irene has just cut their vacations short.
On Thursday, state officials ordered tourists to pack up the sand toys and abandon the beach rentals. Residents have been asked to find a safe spot farther inland as well.
Local news reports pegged the number of evacuees -- tourists as well as residents -- at 200,000, although Ernie Seneca, a spokesman for North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, said he was unable to confirm it. It did not surprise him, however.  “We’re at the height of tourist season,” he said.
Evacuations had already begun for visitors to some of the state’s fragile barrier islands, including Ocracoke Island.
The governor's office said that, beginning Thursday morning, all Hyde County residents and all visitors to Dare County would be evacuated.
Jo Ann Smith, director of emergency services in North Carolina's Carteret County, said visitors and residents were eager for information about the hurricane. “The phones are ringing off the hook,” she said.
Evacuations were mandatory for visitors and non-residents in low-lying areas, but seasoned residents were being given a little more flexibility. Starting at 6 a.m. Friday, a voluntary evacuation will go into effect for those who live in trailer homes or in low-lying areas, as well as for the sick or elderly. Smith said she did not anticipate any resistance. Visitors do not seem eager to find themselves facing down a hurricane, and “residents are used to it,” she said.
The barrier islands, known as the Outer Banks, stretch for 100 miles along the coast of North Carolina and are a popular tourist destination, with broad sandy beaches and a dynamic landscape that generally make for great vacationing, except in the middle of a hurricane. And the latest hurricane center advisory projects that Hurricane Irene will make landfall late Saturday afternoon near Ocracoke, which is in the middle of the island stretch.
It's unclear just how intense Irene will be when it hits North Carolina. It is currently classified as Category 3, with winds that could exceed 110 mph, but it might swell to Category 4.
More than 200 National Guard troops and highway patrol officers are being activated and placed on stand-by in areas most likely to be affected along the coastline.
“Hurricane Irene poses a significant threat to our state,” North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue said in a statement issued by her office, “and we need to take appropriate action to ensure the safety of our residents and visitors, along with property and infrastructure along our coast.” 

Investors abandoned Hewlett-Packard Co. after its plan to get out of the personal-computer business left serious questions about the technology company's strategy.
H-P shares plunged 20% Friday to $23.60, erasing about $12 billion in market value, and leaving the stock near six-year lows.

It capped a tumultuous week for the tech industry, which began with Google Inc.'s surprise $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola's cellphone business, as Silicon Valley giants react to the shift away from computers toward smaller mobile devices.
H-P shocked investors Thursday when it said it is looking to sell or spin off its PC business, the world's largest. It also agreed to pay more than $10 billion for British software maker Autonomy Corp.
H-P's moves in large part reverse a controversial $25 billion deal it sealed nearly a decade ago to acquire PC rival Compaq Computer Corp. At the time, H-P ran into significant opposition from investors and even some objection from its own board.
Much has changed at the company since then—it has switched CEOs two times, and the current board is loyal to new chief Leo Apotheker—but it must again tame rebellious investors.
"They're damaging the business they're trying to sell," said Pat Becker Jr., a fund manager at Becker Capital Management in Portland, Ore., which held about 1.2 million H-P shares as of June. He thinks H-P may have bungled its chance of getting a good price for its PC unit by disclosing its new strategy too early.
Mr. Becker said he's concerned H-P plans to let the PC division operate as a lame-duck arm for a year or more while it completes a spin off. H-P felt it had to announce the plan as soon as the board approved it to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules, according to two people briefed on the matter.
H-P will decide on a course of action soon, but completing a spinout could take as long as 12 months, people familiar with the matter said. The new company, dubbed "Spin Co." within H-P, would need to assemble a board of directors and the tax implications of a separate entity would need to be worked out. In an interview Thursday, Mr. Apotheker said a spinoff could have tax benefits.
PC growth and profit margins were below all of H-P's other businesses, and getting rid of that business will let H-P focus on high-margin software and services, said Basu Mullick, a managing director at Neuberger Berman LLC, H-P's 25th largest shareholder. But he questioned the abrupt way Mr. Apotheker announced the new strategy. "Their communication definitely is not right, the way that they're handling it," he said. "Obviously don't talk about it before you do it."
Another worry driving the sell-off: the Autonomy deal's price tag. H-P is paying an 80% premium for the British firm. It is paying more than $10 billion for a company with only about $1 billion in annual revenue.
Mr. Mullick, who said he was speaking personally and not for his firm, said he supports the plan to get out of PCs, but dislikes the Autonomy acquisition. "It seems to me a destruction of shareholder value," he said. "Leo has not delivered yet and he wants us to trust him with making an expensive acquisition."
Mr. Apotheker spent much of Friday talking to investors about the decision, as did finance chief Cathie Lesjak. Other executives have been explaining the move to customers, employees and retailers. Mr. Apotheker plans to travel to New York Monday to meet investors in person, and will hold meetings in London on Wednesday, said Bill Wohl, H-P's head of communications.
H-P is getting out of the PC business because it can't afford to invest in the consumer devices the unit made while also building out its portfolio of products for businesses, Mr. Apotheker said Thursday.
One problem the company faces is that splitting the PC arm away from the rest of H-P will likely make the PC division a less attractive business than when it was attached to H-P, said analysts, investors and tech-industry executives.
Many of the PCs H-P sold went to corporate customers who bought the computers as part of big bundles that included tech services and server systems, said Rob Cihra, an analyst with Caris & Co. On the consumer side, Mr. Cihra said, H-P got favorable deals with retailers because it also sells printers and ink through them. Without those ties, he said, the separate PC company may have a tougher time competing with low-cost vendors like Taiwan's Acer Inc.
Another difficulty has to do with component pricing: H-P gets bulk discounts on microchips and other items because of the scale afforded by its combined server and PC purchases. Without being tied to a larger company, the new company "may face higher component prices," said Bijan Dastmalchi, whose company, Symphony Consulting, advises tech companies on their supply chains and purchasing. As a result, he said, the PC division may be most attractive to a buyer already in the computer industry.
An H-P spokeswoman said the company may consider options to allow the spun-off PC maker to continue bulk purchases and collaborative marketing with H-P.
H-P's overhaul plan crystallized in recent days, said people familiar with the matter. The company had long discussed getting out of the PC business, but only started discussing it in earnest in the spring of this year, these people said, when it hired advisors to review the company's businesses.
In recent months, said a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Apotheker and other board members have been concerned that H-P shares "traded at a discount." They attributed this in part to confusion by investors about H-P's identity: Was it a consumer-focused PC maker or a vendor of corporate software?
Still, as recently as early spring, Mr. Apotheker was inclined to keep the PC business, said people familiar with the matter. But PC price declines and the newfound popularity of tablet PCs—an area where H-P failed to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad—made it clear that staying in the PC business would push H-P "in a commodity direction," said a person involved in the discussions.
The board decided to get out of the PC industry, and members felt a spinoff would be "the easy move" to make, said a person familiar with the matter. The company could also sell the PC unit to a private equity firm or another tech company. The challenge, said two people briefed on the matter, is that H-P executives felt they had to announce the decision right away to comply with SEC rules, even though the announcement may make it harder to sell the unit.
In addition to being concerned about what a potential spinoff could mean for their jobs, some employees Friday criticized Mr. Apotheker's decision to kill H-P's tablet effort, which was based on software called webOS acquired last year when H-P bought Palm Inc. H-P introduced its first webOS tablet less than two months ago. "It takes the wind out of your sails when you throw in the towel after only 49 days," one H-P employee said.

Venezuelan officials confirmed Wednesday that they are looking to repatriate billions in gold reserves held abroad to "diversify" their portfolio in light of debt problems plaguing the U.S. and other advanced economies around the world.

In a televised press conference, Finance Minister Jorge Giordani and Central Bank President Nelson Merentes defended the plans, calling them a move to "safeguard national interests."

President Hugo Chavez, who spoke via telephone during the conference, urged Merentes to expedite the process of transferring nearly $11 billion in gold from the U.S. and Europe back to the vaults of the Central Bank in Caracas.

"How much longer are we the countries of South [America] going to finance the development of the countries of the north?" Chavez said.

The news comes one day after documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed that the Venezuelan government is looking to bring back home billions of dollars in cash reserves held abroad to banks in Russia, China and Brazil and tons of gold from European banks. According to the documents, the South American country aims to move 211 tons of gold it keeps abroad and values at $11 billion to the Central Bank in Caracas, where the government keeps its remaining 154 tons of bullion.

Analysts said the move would make little sense financially and seems more likely to be driven by geopolitical reasons as Venezuela tries to strengthen ties with allies and away from ideological foes like the U.S.

In addition, "moving liquid assets to less stringent jurisdictions is likely to diminish the transparency of Venezuela's reserve position in the future," said Nomura strategist Boris Segura.

The Venezuelan Central Bank held nearly $18 billion in gold as of the end of the first half of the year, making up nearly 63% of its total reserves. As of the end of June, Venezuela had the largest gold holdings in all of Latin America, according to the World Gold Council.

During his comments Wednesday, Chavez went commented on how strongly the Chinese and Russian economies are advancing while Venezuela's reserves were unjustifiably being kept in "sinking economies" like the U.S. and Europe, where they also receiving low interest rates.

Earlier in the day, the leftist leader announced that he will soon pass a decree to nationalize the gold sector--including exploration and extraction of the precious metal--in a bid to combat smuggling and ramp up the country's international reserves.

Rodrigo Cabezas, a former finance minister under the Chavez government, said during a separate conference on state television that authorities have for some time been looking to bring gold holdings back home.

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday criticized the "secretive" nature of the potential transfer of funds but Cabezas defended the plan saying "that it's not necessary to be informing and saying every month where reserves are being allocated."