Personal Injury Insurance Claim

Besides botching up your body (and sometimes your love life) what else does the injury mean to you? It means a ton of financial expense's, including repairing your motor vehicle, lost wages, a shock to your life style, a tremendous inconvenience and short or long periods of pain and discomfort - - all of it a direct result of your injuries. Plus, there's a long list of possible medical expenses. For example: Doctor/Chiropractor, Prescription Drug Bills, Ambulance, Emergency Room Care, Hospital or Clinic, Specialist and/or Dentist, Laboratory Fees and Services, Diagnostic Tests, X-Rays and (CT) Scan, Prosthetic Appliances or Surgical Apparatus (Canes & Crutches), Physical Therapy, Registered and/or Practical Nurse Fees, Gauze and Tape, Ace Bandages all of which the insurance company must pay whether they like it or not! Also, Creams, Lotions, Ointments, Balms and Salves, etc. (Should the lady in your life apply any of these to your aching body I'm sorry to tell you this but her labor is not an expense you can claim). YOU MUST BE COMPENSATED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE: It's true that a very small percentage of motor vehicle accidents cause big, serious injuries but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be paid big, serious bucks! EXAMINATION BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY DOCTOR: Claims Adjuster Henry Hard-Nose of Rock Solid Insurance will usually try to pull a fast one insisting he wants you to be examined by the physician of his choice, the local medical con-man of all time, Dr. Nuttin' Wrong. Beware of such a request. Doctors assigned by the insurance company are notorious for stating, in the report they're paid big bucks to execute, "There is no objective basis", for your complaints. You don't have to agree to be examined by Dr. Nuttin' Wrong. Rock Solid Insurance cannot insist that you submit to their doctor for an examination unless your claim actually becomes a formal court case. So, hold your ground until your attending physician, Ole "Doc" Comfort, has released you. After that it's okay to agree to be examined because by then it's too late! So much time will have passed it will be impossible for Dr. Wrong to minimize the pain, discomfort and suffering your injury has caused you. WHAT TO DO ABOUT YOUR MEDICAL BILLS IF YOU MAKE THE MISTAKE OF OBTAINING LEGAL HELP FROM ATTORNEY I. M. SHARP: Should yours be a case in which there's no question that you're not at fault, make it clear to the Legal Beagle you've hired, I. M. Sharp, Esquire, that you expect his Contingency Fee will not apply to that which he recovers for the damage to your car, your medical bills, and/or your payment for lost wages. You tell him these are damages you would have collected ANYWAY - - whether he was handling the case for you or if you settled it yourself. Don't you dare be foolish enough to hand him a huge percentage of that which you were going to be paid by the insurance company, whether Attorney Sharp handled the case or not. To do so is the height of financial stupidity! YOUR BODILY INJURIES: It's a proven fact that the vast majority of motor vehicle accidents cause minor injuries. While bodily injury pain can be specifically measured the limits of what you can endure cannot. Each of us has a different "pain threshold" - - that is, the point at which we begin to feel physical pain. The amount and quality of pain you feel is not strictly dependent on the bodily injury inflicted. It has a lot to do with your previous experience, how well you remember it, and your ability to understand what caused you that pain, and its consequences, the last time around. Stress and strain magnify physical pain plus personal anxiety will greatly increase it. There are also emotional reactions to the injury. A bodily injury is bound to cause some degree of mental distress. The duration and severity that depends on a number of factors: The type of individual you are, the ultimate consequences of the injury you sustained, and the life stresses or strengths you're experiencing at the time of your injury. (If you can't stand her and she takes a powder you'll handle your pain better if you really dig the chick and she dumped you for your best friend)! When it comes to muscle injuries one thing you must keep in mind is that when one part of the body demands rest (by sending out a pain signal) and - - without your even realizing it - - you help your body by placing a new burden on other muscles. It gets complicated because although those muscles may not have been directly injured in the accident, they can still get buggered up and produce a lot of pain because of their new role. DISCLAIMER: The only purpose of this claim tip is to help people understand the motor vehicle motor vehicle accident claim process. Neither Dan Baldyga nor (name the magazine/newsletter and/or web site) make any guarantee of any kind whatsoever; NOR do they purport to engage in rendering any professional or legal service, NOR to substitute for a lawyer, an insurance adjuster, or claims consultant, or the like. Where such professional help is desired it is the INDIVIDUAL'S RESPONSIBILITY to obtain said services. Dan Baldyga's latest book, AUTO ACCIDENT PERSONAL INJURY INSURANCE CLAIM (How To Evaluate And Settle Your Loss) can be found on the internet at http://www.autoaccidentclaims.com or visit your favorite bookstore. Copyright (c) 2002 by Daniel G. Baldyga. All Rights Reserved About The Author For 30 years Dan Baldyga was a claims adjuster, supervisor, manager and also a trial assistant. He is now retired and spends his time attempting to assist those involved in motor vehicle accident claims so they will not be taken advantage of. dbpaw@attbi.com Visit the insurance blog from A to Z at http://www.insurancecostfor17yearold.com/



A webmaster,computer network engineer and musician enjoying life to the fullest.

Visit the insurance blog from A to Z at

http://www.insurancecostfor17yearold.com/




How I Learned to Love My Buddha Belly

My journey of acceptance of my body, and my belly.

After years of struggle and angst while viewing fashion magazines, I can finally say with all honesty I love and totally accept my little Buddha belly. It's about as round now as when my son Justin was in it at three months.


I can hide it pretty well, if I must, with girdles and tight panty hose for business meetings, and holding my breath works well in case of emergency. But most of the time, my belly and I have reached a peaceful understanding. It wasn't always that way.


As a teen, the belly was simply not an issue. I was 6' tall by age 14, and had always been long-legged and very thin. I ate anything all through high school and I wore skinny bikinis on the then low-key surfer hangout of South Beach years before it became the โ€œUS Rivieraโ€.


Once in my twenties, in the college years, I had to diet only a little once in a while to stay size 10. I became obsessed with fashion magazines at that age, and loved all the attention I got from strangers asking me if I was a model. I was, after all, very tall, very slim, and chic-looking. I was young and naive, and believed that I needed to look exactly like those Glamour models from every angle if I was ever to attain a perfect life- a House Beautiful home and a GQ husband. I learned about what I thought was the meaning of life in the many pages of the many magazines I loved to read.


I even went so far as to check out a modeling career. I moved to New York after college at age 23, and discovered that I was too old, or I needed my chin made smaller, there was always some reason why I wasn't quite good enough. I wasn't too crushed, since a career in publishing and advertising had much more allure to me.


In 1987 at age 28 I married and immediately became pregnant with my son Justin. I stayed pretty thin during the pregnancy naturally, and after he was born even got a little thinner from nursing him. Things never worked out with his GQ father, we had married after only knowing each other a short time. I knew he looked good to everyone, and eventually he acted on the all the female attention he received, leaving when I was pregnant and never returning. I am certain that my thinness after becoming and unexpected single mother then had some stress attached to it, not to mention my near poverty, which limited how much food we could buy.


Justin was a beautiful Gerber-perfect baby. Everywhere I went people gawked at him telling me how beautiful he was. He was my angel. The gods were merciful to me as a new single Mom, because Justin was such a good baby. He hardly cried, woke up smiling, and was the love and light of my life. While raising him alone was not easy, I would not have chosen any other life but one with Justin in it. I raised him with my maiden name, and tried my best to put the nightmare with his cheating, abusive father behind me.


In my late twenties and early thirties I moved up from a size 10 to a 12. Some 12's were big, and I liked the extra comfort with that. I was busy working on developing my career and raising Justin, and stayed pretty thin from sheer exhaustion from constant activity and a healthy living diet. Not long into my career, my gift of gab paid off and my career as a sales professional began. I had money, and could finally without worry buy lots of food, and even go out to eat, often if I wished. I could treat myself to Godiva chocolates, and I am to this day convinced they are better than sex and men. They never talk back and you never have to clean their pee off the toilet.


At age 34, after being alone for more than five years, I met another โ€œMr. Wonderfulโ€, as my father always called the few men in my life. I was happy and settled into domestic bliss with him in my House Beautiful home, and began cooking even more elaborate meals at home and entertaining friends. I felt so satisfied and complete when the house and meals looked Martha Stewart Living perfect. By age 35, my size 12 was bordering on a 14. My little round Buddha belly, now very tanned, was beginning to show so slightly, but I still thought I looked pretty good as I gardened on the patio each weekend in a bikini while Justin laughed and squirted me with the hose running back and forth from his little kiddy pool. I walked every morning around the island we lived on, getting a little sun and staying tone. I did it because it made me feel good, and Lido beach was a beautiful place to take a walk. The firmness was a side benefit.


My new man did not like the changes in my body, and made his feeling known loud and clear. He apparently needed me in a seriously dysfunctional way to look like a Sports Illustrated model again. If I had known he was like that, he would have never become my husband. He rudely announced that just because I was married to him did not mean I was allowed to become a fat housewife. He purchased a treadmill and placed in it the center of the family room, and asked me to please run on it daily. He announced he would be my trainer, and in addition to my duties of working for him, raising my son, and running the home, I was now going to be on the fitness track and that would be on my schedule each day. He called me from the office when I was working at home asking me so sweetly if I had run yet each day. I placated him verbally, but had made up my mind when the subject came up the very first time that I would never take orders from him, knowing there was nothing major wrong with my body, or the way I looked. The problem was clearly him, and I sadly but quickly realized this marriage was not going to last long.


Things disintegrated from that point, and as the inevitable divorce turned ugly, my weight went up to a solid 14. Living with that man had driven out any joy I had once found in exercising out of me for good, it seemed then. But it had increased my love of chocolate. In addition, he emptied my bank account, he had managed to swindle me out of my ownership and $87,000.00 equity in our home, and got away with stealing more than $30,000.00 worth of my personal property, my antiques, and even my personal papers and journals, which he took just to be mean. In spite of it all, and my new size, all things considered, I looked pretty good.


It took years to settle everything. By the time it finally went to trial, my ex-husband had drained all the cash equity out of my home and sold it, feigning bankruptcy. Meanwhile, he had opened a new company in the same industry in his new girlfriend's name, the one he dated while married to me, a three times divorced ex-daycare center worker now the president of an advertising agency-thanks to him.


It gave me great satisfaction to strut into court a tall, blonde, happy size 14 almost 16, with big boobs. My bra size had increased from a 36C to a 36D with my weight gain. I smiled to myself in court as I thought of his new girlfriend enjoying his โ€œpersonal trainingโ€.


My lawyer was awe-struck when my ex husband was legally allowed to get away with taking my money. I have struggled with grief and acceptance of the loss for years, while still trying to create some kind of happy life with my son. I still have occasional nightmares about the ordeal. Comfort became a big issue for me during that time, so I purchased my first pair of Liz Claiborne size 16 jeans, big and loose, heaven to wear.


I have been experiencing a growing, peaceful kind of self-love and acceptance since reaching age 40, and I am grateful for it. I lose weight from activity, not from a self-forced deprivation based on what the media with its fashion models, television actresses, and movie stars send me the message I should be if I want to be โ€œbeautifulโ€. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks they must eat a little lettuce, boiled chicken, and no carbs for lunch to be acceptable to the world. I ride my bike with my son because we like to, not for a cardio benefit. I canoe on the lake with my sweetheart for fun and a little adventure, not for my upper arms. I walk with my little friend, our Maltese dog because it is enjoyable, especially for him.


The woman I am today can flip through a fashion magazine and rather than feel the urge to hire a personal trainer, feels pity for women who think they need to. No one person can ever attain the perfection presented in those magazines without becoming anorexic, overly exhausted, or just plain miserable. Regular folks don't have cash for personal trainers, tons of plastic surgery, and daily facials and massages. I know I do my best to be my personal best, with the busy life I live. That's good enough for me. Gone forever is the unrealistic idea that my home, my man and my body should be as perfect as the ones in the media. Good riddance to that concept.


Today at 43 I am a happy size 16 and a DD cup, and I love my Buddha belly. I suds it up in the shower and lovingly moisturize it daily. I was lucky enough to meet and love a man with one of his own. I wouldn't trade kissing his soft furry belly for all the treadmills in Bally's. We have no desire to marry, and that works for us both. The dream of that perfect married life depicted in the magazines I built it on is over for me now, and I am at peace with the happiness I find in each day of my life, as it is, for real. He has never complained about my little Buddha belly, and neither of us is inclined to slow down our love for homemade brownies, marshmallow treats, and fat-free ice cream sandwiches. We both work hard, and enjoy our meals and downtime together. I am not gaining more weight, in fact when I get really busy my size 14 clothes fit again. Either way, I am feeling fine and looking good! My sweetheart collected a number of Buddha statues when he traveled to Thailand a few years ago. They are all over our house. I love having them around, because they are always smiling, like me, belly and all.






From Boring to Bliss: Refreshing Your Low-Carb Menu

September 10, 2004 -- Before there were low-carb specialty stores and low-carb convenience foods, there were low-carbers -- millions of them. And despite reported declines in low-carb convenience food sales, recent surveys by USA Today and the Natural Marketing Institute confirm that millions of Americans -- as many as 24 million, by some estimates -- are still low-carbing. Another estimated 70 million are consciously limiting their carb intake.



What these carb-counters are buying more of is whole foods: cheese, beef, poultry, eggs, produce -- the foods originally recommended by medical experts promoting the low-carb way of eating. In fact, AC Nielsen reports that, in 2003, sales of perishable goods rose significantly across the board. According to an August trend report from market research firm Information Research, Inc. (IRI), sales of products naturally low in carbs -- including eggs, bacon, light beers and others -- have, as a group, reached over $4 billion in sales during the past year -- up nearly 6% versus a year ago. Further, IRI reports that early players in low-carb -- like Atkins, Keto and CarboRite, just to name a few -- are still growing strong, with sales up over 181% versus a year ago.



Even with the wide variety of healthful items available at the typical grocery store, keeping the carb-controlled menu interesting can be a challenge "If you've gotten to the point where your meals seem repetitive or you feel like you've had enough steak to last a lifetime, you're really missing out," says Vanessa Sands, editor-in-chief of LowCarb Energy magazine. "Low-carbing is not about restriction and deprivation, but about enjoying the really delicious, really satisfying food options available. Those who get the whole carb-cutting thing enjoy food as it was meant to be enjoyed: whole, full of flavor and as close to its natural state as possible."



Sands goes on to say that low-carb does not mean no carb, but instead emphasizes removing refined and processed carbohydrates with little or no nutritive value from the diet in favor of "good carbs" -- whole grains, vegetables, nuts, some fruits high in nutrients and fiber. "Every bite we choose to take counts. Every food choice we make affects our health. Certainly, there's room for ready-made, low-carb treats -- but we need to understand the difference between โ€˜needs' and โ€˜wants.' And that means first eating what our bodies need."



Following such a health-focused eating regimen does not doom a person to culinary monotony, according to Sands. "Low-carbing is a lifestyle -- it works best for people not just when they get on the scale or get the results of their physicals -- but in day-to-day eating, in the everyday rituals and menus that become part of our lives," says Sands. "And one of LowCarb Energy's missions is to provide strategies for keeping that philosophy interesting to the palate. For example, we often nudge our readers toward using ingredients they haven't tried before โ€" maybe an exotic spice or creamy French cheese โ€" to really transform their meals. It's all about the food: how to plan menus, what to buy, where to find it, and how to prepare, present and savor good-for-you meals."



Providing accurate and timely information from health experts is another of LowCarb Energy's primary goals. By maintaining stringent editorial standards in all categories -- from nutrition features and wellness stories to weight loss advice and motivational articles -- the magazine strives to be the ultimate guide for women and men participating in one of the world's most popular and healthful lifestyles.



"We want to show our readers how they can make informed eating decisions, lose weight, get healthy and enjoy the process with tasty, nutritious low-carb meals," Sands says. "And the energy in our name spills over into our Website, when readers share what they've learned or come up with ideas of their own to share in our forums."



Providing the expertise and input behind that energy is a highly-qualified and diverse panel of medical and low-carb experts. Beginning with the magazine's holiday issue, on newsstands November 4, Atkins' medical director, Dr. Stuart Trager joins the expert advisory panel, along with Colette Heimowitz, who is the vice president of education and research for Atkins Health and Medical Information Services.



Below are the key members of LowCarb Energy's expert advisory panel and their qualifications:



-- Stuart Lawrence Trager, M.D., serves as the medical director for Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (ANI) and chairperson of the Atkins Physicians Council (APC). Dr. Trager also operates an active orthopedic practice at Pennsylvania Hospital and founded Elite Health & Wellness in Philadelphia, which provides comprehensive medical evaluations and treatment protocols to improve nutrition, heighten cardiovascular fitness and decrease lifestyle risk factors.



-- Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc. is vice president of education and research for Atkins Health & Medical Information Services and is a member of the Atkins Nutritionals New Product Development Committee.



-- Fred Pescatore, M.D., MPH is a traditionally trained physician and the author of four books on nutritional medicine and weight management, including the best-selling The Hamptons Diet. His New York City practice focuses on nutritional medicine. Dr. Pescatore served as associate medical director at the Atkins Center for five years.



-- Frederic J. Vagnini, M.D., co-author of The Carbohydrate Addict's Healthy Heart and author of Healthy Heart Plan, specializes in clinical nutrition, preventive medicine and cardiovascular disease. He is medical director of Dr. V's Pulse Anti-Aging Center and executive medical director for the Heart, Diabetes and Weight Loss Centers of New York (www.doctorV.net).



-- Debbie Judd, R.N. works with Drs. Michael R. and Mary Dan Eades, authors of Protein Power, the Protein Power LifePlan, the 30-Day Low Carb Diet Solution and the Low Carb Comfort Foods Cookbook.



-- Lee Labrada, a former Mr. Universe, owns Labrada Nutrition, through which he introduced his own line of sports nutrition products.



-- Philip L. Goglia, founder of Performance Fitness Concepts, is a champion bodybuilder and the author of Turn Up the Heat: Unlock the Fat Burning Power of Your Metabolism.



-- Casey and Lisa Kammel own Executive Fitness, a private training studio. A triathlete and former bodybuilder, Casey overcame serious injury and is now a motivational speaker and certified personal trainer. Lisa Kammel is a certified personal trainer and triathlete (www.executivefitness.com).



-- Chef Karen Barnaby, executive chef of the Fish House in Vancouver, British Columbia, is author of The Low-Carb Gourmet and the cookbooks Pacific Passions, Screamingly Good Food and The Passionate Cook.



-- Chef Evan Lewis is trained in nutrition, teaches at Laguna Culinary Arts, is a gourmet personal chef and owns Evan's Supper Club, an upscale cooking class.



-- Nancy Moshier, R.N. is LowCarb Energy's food editor, a registered nurse and author of Eat Yourself Thin Like I Did: Quick and Easy Low Carb Cookbook and Eat Yourself Thin With Fabulous Desserts.



-- Chef Gregory E. Pryor, CEC is a former associate and consulting executive chef for Dr. Robert Atkins. He is the author of A Complete Low Carb Lifestyle and will host The Low Carb Cafรฉ, a 30-minute cooking show, in 2005.



-- Regina Schumann, CEO of the Carbohydrate Awareness Council, is a business and information technology strategist.





ABOUT LOWCARB ENERGY MAGAZINE

LowCarb Energy, a 128-page magazine published by Coincide Publishing of Scottsdale, Arizona, features a minimum of 50 low-carb recipes in each issue, offering menu ideas for a variety of events, diets and budgets. The magazine is available nationwide at retailers Wal-Mart, Eckerd, Rite Aid, Walgreens and others; grocery store chains including Albertsons, Jewel, Kroger, Publix, Ralphs and Winn-Dixie; health food stores GNC, Vitamin World, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats; and bookstores such as Borders, Books-a-Million and Barnes & Noble. Drawing on advice from health professionals, fitness gurus, researchers, nutritionists, chefs and other experts, readers will find articles on everything from low-carbing while traveling to smart exercise ideas. Find out more online at www.LowCarbEnergy.com.



ABOUT COINCIDE PUBLISHING

Coincide Publishing, LLC, is a dynamic publishing company specializing in the production of consumer magazines. Under the leadership of experienced management, Coincide draws upon the combined print, editorial, publishing and magazine circulation experience of more than 85 years. Their newest magazine, Cooking Smart, will be debuting in January 2005. Find out more about this title at http://CookingSmartMagazine.com .



CONTACT: Betsy Gartrell-Judd, Executive Editor

Coincide Publishing, LLC

15111 North Hayden Road, PMB 304

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Email: feedback@coincide.com

Phone: (920) 687-8614

http://CoincidePublishing.com

http://LowCarbEnergy.com






Traveling With a Baby on a Plane

On the plane

Babies under two years still travel free on the lap, though there are rumors that this perk may soon be coming to an end. Most airlines charge a hefty service fee ($100 on United) for overseas flights for the same privilege, of traveling with babies. Before you even consider buying that extra seat until they are over two, remember that the baby will probably be on your lap anyway during the entire flights. So, unless you need an expensive place to keep your unread newspaper and magazines, take advantage of this free ride for as long as possible, while traveling with your baby. Don't forget the sippee cup, bottle and binkey. If you do, the plane ride will be a descent into hell, because little ears often can not handle take-offs and landings without sucking on something. If mom is there and still nursing, you're in luck; you can read the paper in peace. If not, you'll be playing hot potato with the baby for at least a half hour up and a half hour down. We lost the sippee cup one time on the way to the airport and were able to get one at Travelers Aid at the last minute.

One gadget (and we love gadgets) you may want to consider sticking at the bottom of the diaper bag, while traveling with babies, is a water bottle adapter. This small piece of plastic allows you to use a soda or water bottle as a baby bottle and includes an extra nipple. At $.99 on eBay, its value to you, while traveling with babies, as an always prepared dad, would be immeasurable.

While often harried, I've always found airline service staff to be very good at warming bottles or fetching hot water for formula, when you're traveling with your baby. Don't expect them to wait on you, but they can be very helpful.

A word to the wise on diapers for the plane: carry many extras while traveling with babies. Planes get delayed or cancelled, and some end up sitting on the tarmac for hours. Don't become a horror story of a panicked parent down to the last diaper with a diarrhetic baby leaking all over you and your neighbors. We have asked strangers to borrow a diaper when really stuck, but wouldn't want to start bartering for one in a closed market environment where demand might really far exceed supply.

Dining out

We've eaten at dozens of great restaurants over the years, sometimes with a dozing child on our lap. However, the biggest caveat here is that kids will behave in a strange restaurant the same way they will behave at home. If you know your child will never sit through a dinner at home, don't do as we do. We've never been afraid to finish up a dinner quickly if the kids have really had enough, but we've also never shied away from having a full meal. Go to eat as early as possible, while the staff is fresh and accommodating. We've always found wait staff to be super-understanding and welcoming to our kids.

A day with baby

Finally, you're now traveling with a third person who has input into the activities of the day. Luckily, babies enjoy many things parents do: a walk through the park, a trip to a museum, or just people-watching from the luxury of their stroller. And, unlike us, they can just close their eyes and nod off whenever they get bored or tired. If you time it right, during those moments, you and your wife might even have a little bit of time to yourself to muse about life before children and all the freedom you had.





Paul Banas was looking for a business idea that would allow him the flexibility to spend time with his family. Paul Banas is a founder of http://www.greatdad.com - a leading source of experience, recommendations, inspiration and advice for dads - delivered from the male perspective.




Nurse Lazarus Runs a Neat Newsworthy Net Business

"Nurse Lazarus" Runs a Neat Newsworthy Net Business


by Nancy R. Fenn


The emphasis today is on working from home with an internet business. We're talking today with Margaret Loris, the Sunhealer. Margaret has an international healing practice based out of Chicago. She markets and promotes her business on the internet and has for years. A successful entrepreneur and gifted healer, Loris travels around the world presenting workshops with the latest healing techniques, explaining to people how they can change their basic DNA programming to bring more success and happiness into their lives.


Fenn: Margaret, in a day and age when so many people would like to have an international business that is successful on the internet, how did you get started?


Loris: I've been a healer from the day I was born. Ever since I was a child I would automatically know things that would help and heal people. When I reached six years of age, I loved God so much that I wanted to be a priest and give everyone Holy Communion.


Fenn: You didn't think about becoming a nun? You must have a clear relationship with your own power.


Loris: Yes, I'm a woman who's not afraid of power. I use my power to help others.


Fenn: Did you find support in your childhood environment for your healing gifts?


Loris: I could see auras and thought that everyone else could too. I never really paid much attention to it, so nobody else made a big deal of it either. Later when I began studying healing techniques, that's when everything finally started to fit together and I could use my inner talents more beneficially.


Fenn: How did you start your healing practice?


Loris: I didn't start it right away. I was a registered nurse specializing in transplants for about twenty one years. I worked in Florida at that time. The work was demanding and satisfying in a way, I mean sometimes we could save someone's life. But I couldn't help thinking, what if these people could have healed themselves? What if they didn't have to go to this extreme in the surgery room?


Fenn: You sound like a healer all right. Did the doctors and other nurses know your powers?


Loris: Yes, they certainly did. I remember as an operating room nurse in a trauma hospital, a neurosurgeon called me Nurse Lazarus, because he said I could bring back the dead. Others would comment on how easily their surgeries went and quickly their patients healed when I worked with them. This is when I knew for sure I was a healer. All my years as an operating nurse plus my healing studies have all given me a complete view of all types and methods of healing techniques. I saw an article this week about God and healing on a national magazine. The world is getting ready for breakthroughs in healing and we're ready, too!


Fenn: What other healing techniques and methods did you study?


Loris: I graduated from Barbara Brennan's four-year training program in 1995.


Fenn: For readers who don't know Barbara Brennan, can you tell us a little about that?


Loris: It's a school that teaches you how to clean, balance, repair, and center a person's energy field.


Fenn: I know that must have been a very fulfilling experience. What else did you train in?


Loris: I'm certified in the Australian Living Flower Essences Academy and am trained as a Rapid Eye Technician.


Fenn: Tell us more!


Loris: Rapid Eye Technology is a spiritual therapy that relieves emotional stress. Flower essences are natural health elixirs derived from flowers. Australia uses flower essences in their hospitals and write about their effects in the nursing journals.


Fenn: I can see that gives you a variety of healing methods to work with.


Loris: I wanted to have a full range of abilities, so I also received a Master's Degree in the Science of Esoteric Psychology.


Fenn: What's that?


Loris: It's healing through contact with your soul and becoming soul infused.


Fenn: Wow. And did you say you are ordained in Kabalah course?


Loris: Yes, I'm very proud of my ordination with the third degree of Karin Kabalah. I was ordained at Saint Thomas Christian Church in Atlanta. This gives me the ability to give Kabalistic healings and anoint the dying. I can enter hospitals now as a healing minister and perform healings there as well.


Fenn: It sounds like you've been all over the world. Many readers would like to build a healing practice like this and have the independence to work for themselves. Who are some of your mentors, people you admire in the healing arts?


Loris: Vianna Stibal, of course! I spend most of my time now teaching people Vianna's DNA healing techniques. As I was saying, I hoped one day to see people heal themselves before they have serious surgeries. Vianna cured herself of cancer using the methods I now teach others.


Fenn: Why is it called DNA?


Loris: Because this technique permits us to go to the original genetic blueprint, our DNA, and reconstruct it. We remove negative energies and patterning. We replace it with positive healing energy.


Fenn: Can anyone learn this?


Loris: Oh, yes. I teach everyone from advanced healers to ordinary people who are ready to take that next step. I think that's what the Aquarian Age is all about โ€ฆ we have the power to heal ourselves and the time is right now! It is also something someone could use to start their own healing practice, just like I have. In no time, you'll be travelling all over the world, too!


Fenn: You built up a practice that is worldwide. Can you tell us a little about that?


Loris: Yes, I'd be glad to. When you have a program that really works, word gets around. Most of my workshops now are by referral but there was a time when I need a good deal of marketing on the internet. I was one of the first to have my own website and I've always enjoyed keeping in touch with people that way.


Fenn: In a time when many people are hesitant to travel, it doesn't bother you to go the distance, as they say?


Loris: I feel very much in the light when I'm doing my work and I do not feel that I would be in danger of anything negative happening.


Fenn: I notice you also call yourself the Crystal Lady. What's that all about?


Loris: I'm a person who uses all the kingdoms for healing. Crystals are really great to use on the physical body. It seems that my healings are stronger and more powerful when I use them.


Fenn: And who's that I see sitting next to you as we're talking?


Loris: That's Fritzl, my power animal. Fritzl is my pet dachshund. Fritzl has inspired me to offer a whole line of natural health and healing products for pets. I also publish a monthly newsletter full of tips and techniques to keep your pet healthy, the natural way. We call it the Fritzl Flash for Fur People and it's very popular.


Fenn: Fritzl certainly looks healthy to me! I'd like to thank you both for being here today and having the interview. When's your next workshop?


Loris: I'm giving a workshop next month in Holland.


Fenn: How can our readers find out more?


Loris: Contact me at margaret@sunhealer.com or visit my website www.sunhealer.com


Nancy R. Fenn is an intuitive counselor whose mission in life is to raise consciousness about the healing arts.






Nurse Lazarus Raises the Dead and Runs a Neat Newsworthy Net Business

"Nurse Lazarus" Runs a Neat Newsworthy Net Business


by Nancy R. Fenn


The emphasis today is on working from home with an internet business. We're talking today with Margaret Loris, the Sunhealer. Margaret has an international healing practice based out of Chicago. She markets and promotes her business on the internet and has for years. A successful entrepreneur and gifted healer, Loris travels around the world presenting workshops with the latest healing techniques, explaining to people how they can change their basic DNA programming to bring more success and happiness into their lives.


Fenn: Margaret, in a day and age when so many people would like to have an international business that is successful on the internet, how did you get started?


Loris: I've been a healer from the day I was born. Ever since I was a child I would automatically know things that would help and heal people. When I reached six years of age, I loved God so much that I wanted to be a priest and give everyone Holy Communion.


Fenn: You didn't think about becoming a nun? You must have a clear relationship with your own power.


Loris: Yes, I'm a woman who's not afraid of power. I use my power to help others.


Fenn: Did you find support in your childhood environment for your healing gifts?


Loris: I could see auras and thought that everyone else could too. I never really paid much attention to it, so nobody else made a big deal of it either. Later when I began studying healing techniques, that's when everything finally started to fit together and I could use my inner talents more beneficially.


Fenn: How did you start your healing practice?


Loris: I didn't start it right away. I was a registered nurse specializing in transplants for about twenty one years. I worked in Florida at that time. The work was demanding and satisfying in a way, I mean sometimes we could save someone's life. But I couldn't help thinking, what if these people could have healed themselves? What if they didn't have to go to this extreme in the surgery room?


Fenn: You sound like a healer all right. Did the doctors and other nurses know your powers?


Loris: Yes, they certainly did. I remember as an operating room nurse in a trauma hospital, a neurosurgeon called me Nurse Lazarus, because he said I could bring back the dead. Others would comment on how easily their surgeries went and quickly their patients healed when I worked with them. This is when I knew for sure I was a healer. All my years as an operating nurse plus my healing studies have all given me a complete view of all types and methods of healing techniques. I saw an article this week about God and healing on a national magazine. The world is getting ready for breakthroughs in healing and we're ready, too!


Fenn: What other healing techniques and methods did you study?


Loris: I graduated from Barbara Brennan's four-year training program in 1995.


Fenn: For readers who don't know Barbara Brennan, can you tell us a little about that?


Loris: It's a school that teaches you how to clean, balance, repair, and center a person's energy field.


Fenn: I know that must have been a very fulfilling experience. What else did you train in?


Loris: I'm certified in the Australian Living Flower Essences Academy and am trained as a Rapid Eye Technician.


Fenn: Tell us more!


Loris: Rapid Eye Technology is a spiritual therapy that relieves emotional stress. Flower essences are natural health elixirs derived from flowers. Australia uses flower essences in their hospitals and write about their effects in the nursing journals.


Fenn: I can see that gives you a variety of healing methods to work with.


Loris: I wanted to have a full range of abilities, so I also received a Master's Degree in the Science of Esoteric Psychology.


Fenn: What's that?


Loris: It's healing through contact with your soul and becoming soul infused.


Fenn: Wow. And did you say you are ordained in Kabalah course?


Loris: Yes, I'm very proud of my ordination with the third degree of Karin Kabalah. I was ordained at Saint Thomas Christian Church in Atlanta. This gives me the ability to give Kabalistic healings and anoint the dying. I can enter hospitals now as a healing minister and perform healings there as well.


Fenn: It sounds like you've been all over the world. Many readers would like to build a healing practice like this and have the independence to work for themselves. Who are some of your mentors, people you admire in the healing arts?


Loris: Vianna Stibal, of course! I spend most of my time now teaching people Vianna's DNA healing techniques. As I was saying, I hoped one day to see people heal themselves before they have serious surgeries. Vianna cured herself of cancer using the methods I now teach others.


Fenn: Why is it called DNA?


Loris: Because this technique permits us to go to the original genetic blueprint, our DNA, and reconstruct it. We remove negative energies and patterning. We replace it with positive healing energy.


Fenn: Can anyone learn this?


Loris: Oh, yes. I teach everyone from advanced healers to ordinary people who are ready to take that next step. I think that's what the Aquarian Age is all about โ€ฆ we have the power to heal ourselves and the time is right now! It is also something someone could use to start their own healing practice, just like I have. In no time, you'll be travelling all over the world, too!


Fenn: You built up a practice that is worldwide. Can you tell us a little about that?


Loris: Yes, I'd be glad to. When you have a program that really works, word gets around. Most of my workshops now are by referral but there was a time when I need a good deal of marketing on the internet. I was one of the first to have my own website and I've always enjoyed keeping in touch with people that way.


Fenn: In a time when many people are hesitant to travel, it doesn't bother you to go the distance, as they say?


Loris: I feel very much in the light when I'm doing my work and I do not feel that I would be in danger of anything negative happening.


Fenn: I notice you also call yourself the Crystal Lady. What's that all about?


Loris: I'm a person who uses all the kingdoms for healing. Crystals are really great to use on the physical body. It seems that my healings are stronger and more powerful when I use them.


Fenn: And who's that I see sitting next to you as we're talking?


Loris: That's Fritzl, my power animal. Fritzl is my pet dachshund. Fritzl has inspired me to offer a whole line of natural health and healing products for pets. I also publish a monthly newsletter full of tips and techniques to keep your pet healthy, the natural way. We call it the Fritzl Flash for Fur People and it's very popular.


Fenn: Fritzl certainly looks healthy to me! I'd like to thank you both for being here today and having the interview. When's your next workshop?


Loris: I'm giving a workshop next month in Holland.


Fenn: How can our readers find out more?


Loris: Contact me at margaret@sunhealer.com or visit my website www.sunhealer.com


Nancy R. Fenn is an intuitive counselor in San Diego whose mission in life is to raise consciousness about the healing arts.






Magazine Subscriptions Make Great Holiday Gifts

A Magazine Subscription is one of the most appreciated gifts that you can give for any Holiday or special occasion, no matter what your budget. There are great magazines for all ages and genres, from toddlers to the elderly. There is a magazine subscription gift for everyone on your list.

Toddlers can enjoy a subscription to Wild Animal Baby Magazine, this publication is in a sturdy board format, to be shared with the parents that reach for Parents Magazine for guidance and new ideas.

Children of all ages have so many choices, from Disney Magazines, Kids Discover, Action Comics Superman and Disney Adventures Magazine and so many more. The new kid on the block is bound to be a hit, Mad Kids brings you Spy vs. Spy, lots of jokes, plenty of laughs, puzzles, really dumb interviews, video games, cartoons and a whole lot more.

Teen magazines offer so much, like Guidepost, Boys Life Magazine and American Cheerleader which is packed with stunts, routines and competition tips.

College students and new graduates are so appreciative to receive a magazine related to their profession. The wonderful nurse or nursing student who receives their gift of American Journal of Nursing, Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, Nursing 2007 Critical Care, will know this is a thoughtful gift. Remember your men in nursing, Men in Nursing Magazine is peer-reviewed in four areas: clinical, technological, career and personal with special attention to numerous key areas.

Physicians, hospitals, nursing home administrators and health insurance companies rely on medical coding alert magazines to cut through the coding confusion in their challenging specialties to insure that they get paid what they rightfully deserve.

Hobbyist and the crafting enthusiast love magazines that offer them information and new ideas related to their craft, there are hundreds of publications from Trains to Jewelry Crafts, American Woodworker and Astronomy. Give the gift that collectors adore and appreciate, whether they deal in antiques or make jewelry that they sell on ebay.

Women and men love fashion, cooking, gardening, sports and travel magazines. Imagine yourself, the avid golfer, receiving your first subscription to Golf Illustrated in your mailbox as a gift, every month that you pull that magazine out of your mailbox, you will smile and remember who gave you that fantastic magazine subscription.








Paul Scott And The Raj Quartet

Paul Mark Scott was not widely known as a writer until almost the end of his life. Staying On received the Booker Prize in 1977; then a TV adaptation of The Raj Quartet in 1984 ensured the author's posthumous fame.

Scott was stationed in India and Malaya from 1943 to 1946, which is roughly the period covered by The Jewel in the Crown (1966), The Day of the Scorpion (1968), The Towers of Silence (1971), and A Division of the Spoils (1975). The sequence of novels ends with Indian independence in July 1947 when most of the surviving British characters return to England: though, Staying On (1977) concerns an ageing British couple who have lived all their lives in India and have no other home and nowhere else to go.

Paul Scott was born in Palmers Green, London, where his father worked at home, drawing adverts for clothes magazines, and his mother was a shop assistant. The family was always hard up and Paul left school at 16 to get a job and bring some money home. While articled to a bookkeeper he met Gerald Armstrong, an estate agent, and became his lover. Armstrong introduced him to the works of Oscar Wilde, which remained a memorable influence, and encouraged him to write poetry. E. M. Forster was also on his reading list.

Scot joined the army as a private soldier soon after the start of World War II and became a supply clerk, serving in India and Malaya and travelling through Burma. Before going abroad, he married Penny Avery, a nurse, who had literary aspirations and for whom he wrote poems. Shortly after arrival in India he contracted a persistent form of dysentery which was to dog him for twenty years. His irritable and moody behaviour has been attributed to this complaint, though drink was a contributory factor. His best writing was completed only after the disease was finally diagnosed and cured in 1964, though he continued to drink.

Scott tried his hand at writing plays in London and won a prize in a Jewish playwriting competition. After demobilisation he worked as an accounts clerk for a printing firm then moved to a literary agency where he combined the editing of others' prose works with the writing of his own. His first novel Johnnie Sahib did not find a publisher until 1952 but it gained the Eyre & Spottiswoode Literary Fellowship Prize shortly afterwards. From 1960 he was a full-time writer - often shutting himself away for days while working on a draft.

'This is a story of a rape, of the events that led up to it and followed it and of the place in which it happened.' [from The Jewel in the Crown]. From the opening of The Raj Quartet, we understand that the subject is rape; but not in the manner of Forster's A Passage To India. The subject is pillage and despoliation and colonial angst. Salman Rushdie complained that The Raj Quartet is a portrayal and perpetuation of colonial myth. Paul Scott would have countered by saying that he tried to show the viewpoint of people living at that time.

Recognition came slowly. In his last years he lived in Hampstead and travelled to Oklahoma where he was visiting writer for two semesters at the University of Tulsa.

His wife left him after one of his drunken rages and sought refuge in a Women's Shelter. By the date of the Booker Award he was dying of cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.

Read more on English Literature at literature-study-online.com








Melcher Media to publish "MICHAEL GRAVES DESIGNS: The Art of the Everyday Object," the first book in an ambitious new illustrated book publishing program

New York, NY April 9, 2004 -- In recent years, thanks to the commercial success of his landmark collaboration with Target Storesโ€"a partnership that recently marked its five-year anniversaryโ€"Michael Graves has become a household name, equivalent in the public eye with the very concept of โ€œgood design.โ€ In this new book he states, โ€œIn designing everyday objects, I want to encourage the impression of familiarity and also allow those objects to be seen in a slightly different way.โ€ In four original essaysโ€"Figurative Design, Domesticity, Color, Scaleโ€"Graves describes the thinking and themes behind his work, illuminating his unparalleled ability to create eye-catching, witty, and formally beautiful products with popular appeal.



Generously illustrated with more than 200 color images, MICHAEL GRAVES DESIGNS surveys a fascinating career in design and retail. Featured are instantly recognizable projects with the Walt Disney Company and the Italian tableware manufacturer Alessi, maker of Graves' playful and sophisticated chrome โ€œSinging Birdโ€ teakettle. Since 1985, a staggering amount of two million of these teakettles has been sold worldwide. Also seen are projects with Sunar, Steuben, Belvedere Studio, and Dansk, among others.



And of course, this book documents the Graves-Target phenomenon. Presented are toasters, jewelry, clocks, watches, packaging, telephones, frames, fans, games, a wireless computer mouse, and even a prefabricated modular home. Also included are examples of Target's whimsical advertising campaigns and Graves' architectural renderings of store displays. As Paul Goldberger recently wrote in Metropolis, โ€œGraves' work for Target may be his most enduring legacyโ€ฆthanks to mass merchandising, a tiny piece of an architect's oeuvre is within the reach of everyone. There is also a look, a feel, to the products that is consistent, which comes largely from Graves' own aesthetic. His objects have a playfulness and warmth to them. And almost all of them do something that is wonderful for any object to do, which is make you smile.โ€



Graves' relationship with Target began when the company contributed to the Graves-designed scaffolding that enveloped the Washington Monument during its historic restoration in 1998. Both structural and stunning, the scaffolding provided the proper support and gravitas for this important project, which is also featured in this new book.



MICHAEL GRAVES DESIGNS is bound in a special high-tech rubberlike blue material, called Shadow and manufactured by Fibermark. When Graves determined the color scheme for the Target kitchen appliancesโ€"blue for touch and yellow accents for dialsโ€"the โ€œGraves blueโ€ not only corresponded to the products' cool and comfortable handles and knobs, but also became a signature color familiar to millions of shoppers.



Among the book's illustrations are technical drawings, product models and prototypes, rare examples of personal sketches, and specially commissioned photographs that give a behind-the-scenes look at Graves' Princeton, New Jersey offices. All of these elements, and the book's affordable price, make MICHAEL GRAVES DESIGNS a must-have for the professional, student, and general consumer alike.



MORE ABOUT MICHAEL GRAVES

Born in Indiana in 1934, Graves' father was a cattle dealer and his mother was a nurse. When a young Graves told his mother that he wanted to be an artist, she said, โ€œIf you are not as good as Picasso, you will starve,โ€ and suggested that he become an architect or engineer. When he learned what an engineer did, he said he'd become an architect and started making sketches of the houses in the neighborhood.



Graves graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati in1958. He then went on to the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which had become a center for modernist thinking in the United States under the leadership of Walter Gropius, the former director of the Bauhaus. After receiving his masters degree, he worked in the office of designer George Nelson, famed for his tables and sofas for Herman Miller and his playful Atomic and Ball clocks. In 1960, Graves won the coveted Prix de Rome, which brought him to the American Academy of Rome for two years.



Upon returning to America, he became a professor of architecture at Princeton Universityโ€"where he taught from 1962 to 2001, and where currently he is professor emeritusโ€"and set up his own architectural practice. Since 1964, Michael Graves & Associates has undertaken a wide variety of architectural projects worldwide, including multi-use urban developments, corporate headquarters, hotels, libraries, theaters, museums, academic buildings, healthcare facilities, sports and recreational facilities, and housing and private residences. Located in two former houses across the street from one another, the architectural practice takes place in one and the product design division, established in 1991, in the other. In 1994, he opened his own store to display and sell his products. In 2003, the Michael Graves Design Group became an independent company within the larger practice.



Graves' first major public commission was the Portland Office Building in 1982. This was followed by the Humana Building in Louisville, Kentucky (1982), the Team Disney Building in Burbank, California (1986), the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan Hotels in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (1987), and the Denver Central Library (1991).



Recent honors include the National Medal of Arts, presented by President Clinton in 1999, and the A.I.A. (American Institute of Architects) Gold Medal in 2001. About the A.I.A. award, Robert Ivy, Editor in Chief of Architectural Record, wrote, โ€œFor Michael Graves, an architect, teacher, and industrial designer, selection as the Gold Medallist brought peer recognition to a man who has elevated the visibility of architecture and architects around the world. His wildly successful foray into product design has proved that design intelligence can breed value for the larger culture.โ€



Graves' award-winning work for Target was showcased in the exhibit US Design 1975-2000 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York in 2003.



ABOUT PHIL PATTON

Phil Patton is the author of BUG: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile, DREAMLAND: Travels Inside Roswell and Area 51, MADE IN USA: The Secret Histories of the Things that Made America, OPEN ROAD: A Celebration of the American Highway, and the recently reissued VOYAGER, the official story of the world's first around-the-world un-refueled airplane flight.



He writes regularly for the โ€œDesign Notebook,โ€ โ€œPublic Eye,โ€ and automotive columns of The New York Times and is a contributing editor of ID magazine, Wired, and Esquire, for which he writes on design and automobiles. He also has written for The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, Artforum, Vogue, and many other publications.



He has contributed to catalogs and developed exhibitions at museums around the United States, notably Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century, the landmark 1999 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art for which he was curatorial consultant, and On The Job: Design and the American Office at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. He has served as a commentator for CBS News, the History Channel, and several public television series.



He has taught and lectured at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York, Montclair State University in New Jersey, California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. He has spoken at the Aspen Design Conference, the IDSA (Industrial Design Society of America) national conference, American Center for Design's โ€œLiving Surfacesโ€ conference, the Design Institute at the University of Minnesota, the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and other venues.



ABOUT PENTAGRAM

Pentagram is an award-winning multi-disciplinary design firm with offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Austin, and Berlin. One of the world's most respected and prestigious firms, Pentagram's range of clients includes multi-national corporations and museums, book and magazine publishers, restaurants, and airlines, among others. They work on design graphics, exhibitions, products, packaging, environments, buildings, and communications programs.



ABOUT MELCHER MEDIA

Founded in 1994 by Charles Melcher and based in New York, Melcher Media is a content producer and packager with more than 40 titles and 4.5 million books in print. With a reputation for extending the craft of bookmaking and pushing the genres of traditional publishing, Melcher Media combines innovative ideas with exceptional design.



Melcher Media has created successful books for a variety of companies and institutions, such as HBO, MTV, Comedy Central, VH-1, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Lexus, and Nike for a range of publishers, including Broadway Books, Crown, HarperCollins, Penguin Putnam, Pocket Books, St. Martin's Press, Virgin Publishing, Miramax Books, William-Morrow & Company, Alfred A. Knopf, and Chronicle.



In 2003, Melcher Media produced two hugely popular books, in collaboration with two of today's most successful and favorite magazines: SECRETS OF STYLE: InStyle's Complete Guide to Dressing Your Best Every Day and THE LUCKY SHOPPING MANUAL: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece, which appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. Another recent top seller was 100 YEARS OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON, part of a larger publishing program Melcher Media developed exclusively for the iconic motor company. And the most playfully perverse genre-bending titles to date, THE POP-UP BOOK OF PHOBIAS and THE POP-UP BOOK OF NIGHTMARES, have become cult classics.



MICHAEL GRAVES DESIGNS: The Art of the Everyday Object is the first book to be published solely under the Melcher Media imprint. In fall 2004, the company will launch a new list of original titles.






Musician and Cancer Survivor Matthew Zachary to Appear on The Group Room!

New York, NY. December 2, 2003 โ€" Matthew Zachary has inspired thousands of people worldwide with his music, performances, and with his triumphant battle with brain cancer. Now Matthew will reach even more listeners, with an appearance on the acclaimed and nationally syndicated radio show โ€œThe Group Roomโ€ (http://www.vitaloptions.org/grouproom.html) on Sunday, December 21, 2003 (from 4 to 6 p.m.).



A performer, composer, and cancer survivor who is also a popular and passionate speaker, Matthew Zachary's story has inspired thousands. Now, in his appearance on The Group Room's inspiring and award-winning weekly syndicated cancer talk show (aired on over 50 stations nationwide as well as XM Satellite and the world wide web), Matthew will discuss his popular Jazz/New Age albums of piano compositions, his own courageous battle with cancer, and his goals in improving patient care, empowerment, and patient-doctor communication. His message is simple: To live life to the fullest, no matter what we face โ€" to be authentic.



At 29 years of age, Zachary has already beaten the odds, surviving the rare pediatric brain cancer which nearly ended his burgeoning career as a concert pianist, as well as overcoming the physical hurdles posed by both illness and recovery. Eight years later, he has retrained himself to play the piano and has taken his place both at the forefront of the independent Jazz/New Age music scene, and also speaks to audiences nationwide on an ongoing basis as a passionate and articulate spokesperson for cancer survivorship.



Those songs became part of Matthew's two hit albums, "Scribblings" and "Every Step of the Way." With tens of thousands of copies distributed to date, Matthew's music has continued to grow in prominence on the Jazz/New Age scene. His beautiful, melodic, and relaxing piano compositions have entertained and inspired fans all over the world, reaching new listeners every day.



About The Group Room (Vital Options)

The Group Room radio show is a weekly syndicated cancer talk show from Vital Options which airs on more than 50 stations nationwide, and is also simulcast on the world wide web and over 100 stations via XM Satellite. This innovative cancer talk radio program dissolves the barriers of time and distance โ€" allowing people from throughout the world to meet, talk, exchange information, support one another and speak in a unified voice about the cancer experience. The Group Room airs on Sundays from 4-6 p.m. EST, 3-5 p.m. Central, or 1-3 p.m. Pacific. Please visit http://www.vitaloptions.org/grouproom.html to check for The Group Room Radio Station broadcasting in your local area.



For more information on Vital Options or The Group Room, please contact Michelle E. Rand, MPH, at (818) 788-5225 or mrand@vitaloptions.org.



About Matthew Zachary

A rising star in the Jazz/New Age and Adult Contemporary genres, Matthew has released two popular albums and continues to meet with unprecedented success as an independent recording artist. A passionate and dedicated public speaker on patients' rights and cancer recovery, Matthew has quickly become one of the country's most popular and inspirational guests and entertainers, traveling the country and working to inspire hope in others battling catastrophic illness. His unique combination of music and message means that Matthew's appearances are consistently memorable, highly original and always compelling.



With endorsement and accreditation from The American Cancer Society, The National Cancer Institute, The American Society of Clinical Oncology, The Oncology Nursing Society, The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, OncoLink and Cancer & You magazine, over 80,000 copies of Matthew's albums have been distributed since 2002.



Matthew Zachary recently achieved a milestone in his career with distribution and presence of his music at over 1000 Hospitals, Hospices, Wellness Clinics and Cancer Treatment Centers in the United States and Canada! His acclaimed solo album Scribblings is used as both therapy and as an emotional support tool by caregivers at these institutions to help bring comfort and hope to patients both young and old, as well as their families. He is also clinically-endorsed by leading physicians, surgeons, health organizations and music therapists, including such distinguished experts as bestselling author Dr. Bernie Siegel (Love, Medicine & Miracles) and many others. His audiences have ranged from the general public to the corporate boardroom, as well as physicians, oncologists, nurses, therapists, practitioners, hospital administrators, pharmaceutical marketing and sales divisions, and pediatric and adult cancer patients and their families.



In addition to The American Cancer Society, Bristol-Myers Squibb and The National Cancer Institute, Matthew's corporate clients and sponsors also include Apple Computer, Lucent Technologies, Merck, Schering-Plough, Novartis, Pharmacia, Roche, The Mayo Clinic, The American Society of Clinical Oncology, The Oncology Nursing Society, The Mayo Clinic, and many more. His albums, conveniently priced at just $10 each, are available for easy and secure preview and purchase online, exclusively at www.MatthewZachary.com.



Don't miss this opportunity to hear a real-life inspiration to millions! For further information, or for review copies of Every Step of the Way or Scribblings, please call publicist Angela Mitchell at (954) 983-5877 or e-mail Paramitch@aol.com. To speak with Matthew Zachary directly, please call (917) 696-5656 or e-mail MZ@MatthewZachary.com.