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Perhaps it is the deep rich red and cream colors of stucco roofs and wall. Or maybe it is the wide, stretching desert skies that can attract your gaze for hours. For whatever reasons, Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico continually attract a wide range of people excited to find a home in the Southwest. Still, like all housing markets, buying an Albuquerque home can require a lot of time and effort in order to land a house perfect for you and your family.

That’s why Albuquerque Dream Homes is the ideal resource for anyone looking to buy a home in the Albuquerque area. With over 35 years living in this great New Mexican city, the real estate associates at Albuquerque Dream Homes are primed to help locate your ideal house and help you find the way to finance its purchase. Because they focus primarily on the Albuquerque area, they are intimately familiar with neighborhoods, protocols, financing programs available, and local lenders. Each associate also takes it upon himself or herself to offer the finest customer service, which is so essential in real estate.

Albuquerque Dream Homes also utilizes the latest technological tools to help make your home search that much more efficient. Even though buying a home is ultimately about the brick and mortar of the building, having access to their real estate online database can help you stay abreast of housing trends and see which homes have popped on the market. And because Albuquerque Dream Homes believe in a “no pressure” brokerage environment, there is no obligation attached with having access to their database.

So for anyone considering purchasing a home in New Mexico, Albuquerque Dream Homes can help make the process easier and far more enjoyable. Give them a call at (505) 450-4681 to learn more.

As gas prices continue to climb, the economy is stalled and our national consciousness is turning greener by the day. The only choice for a green initiative, gas saving car the last few years has been the hybrid, a combination of electricity and the gas engine. Hybrid cars can get up to 54 miles per gallon in the city and 48 miles per gallon on the highway, a phenomenal benchmark compared to gasoline engines. But now, there is an alternative that’s making a comeback: diesel engines.

This time around, the new clean burning engine, is not your mother’s diesel engine. There’s no plume of black, stinky smoke, no rattle like there are marbles in the gas tank and there is torque in the power. Volkswagen has introduced a new diesel to American motorists in the TDI engines of the Jetta sedan, SportWagen and Touareg SUV. The VW TDI engines burn clean and have a low carbon footprint without sacrificing driving dynamics. A diesel car typically can get 30 miles per gallon in the city and 40 plus miles per gallon on the highway.

Volkswagen reports a spike in sales on the east coast and across the nation since introducing the TDI engine models. A possible reason for a rise in sales is the decline in diesel fuel prices but a driving force is better fuel economy and better driving performance than a hybrid.

Now diesel and hybrid technologies direct the American consumer’s attention to fuel efficiency as well as environmental consciousness. Whether driving a diesel or a hybrid, consumers can drive with a clean conscience knowing that their choice is helping the environment. Check out Jettas at VW dealers NJ or your favorite VW dealer.

Believe it not, playing billiards and pool can cause injuries to the wrist and hand area. The injuries are known as Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMI), caused when the tendon becomes inflamed. Other names for this condition are, “Tendonitis” or “Bursitis”, when a bursa sac (a small pouch that lubricates the space between a tendon and bone) becomes inflamed. Full-blown tendonitis may become “tenosynovitis”, whereby the inflammation affects the tendon and the tendon sheath. Many athletes suffer from some form of tendonitis or tensynovitis from repeated stress or overuse by repeated straining of one area.

A form of tendonitis afflicts PC users who sit at a computer for long hours and use a mouse without a cushion or a form of elevation for the wrists. Working a mouse and typing at a keyboard from a fixed wrist position puts a strain on the wrist muscles, causing a condition known as, “carpel tunnel syndrome”.

Pool shooters can avoid strain on their wrist and hands by following these tips:

•  Hold the cue stick with a firm but relaxed grip. Gripping the cue stick tightly creates tension through the wrist and forearm.
•  Fasten an impact-dampening tool on the butt end of the cue. This softens the feel of the hit on the cue ball, improving the play and providing a health benefit. This is called a “limbsaver” or a “cue stabilizer”.

Check with a professional at your favorite Marin billiards, Napa billiards or Sonoma pool tables dealer for a limsaver or cue stabilizer and get a demo.

A foreclosure occurs when a property owner cannot make the interest payment and cannot make the principal payment on the loan. When this happens, the property will be seized by the lien holder, the bank and sold in order to recoup some of the loan monies.

Foreclosures vary from state to state but in general, the following is a brief outline of the process:

• In many cases, the bank will give a grace period to make payments current. Once the payments are three months behind, the bank usually files a “Notice of Default” (NOD) to officially put the homeowner on notice that foreclosure proceedings are beginning.
• If the default is not corrected, the bank will service a Notice of Sale to the homeowner and the property will go to real estate auction.
• The opening bid is usually equal to the outstanding loan balance, interest accrued and all fees including attorney fees. If the bids do not satisfy the lender, the home stays with the bank as a real estate owned (REO) property.
• REO properties can be purchased from the bank with a clean title at a low cost.

If a buyer is looking for pre-foreclosures, foreclosures or REOs, wading through the paper work can be daunting because each state has its own set of rules. Now, there is a service that eliminates the research for a real estate auction for buyers. The company is Realty Note Bid, everything is done for the buyer. All you do is choose and state and check the list. Check it out for yourself.

I live in a two-bedroom apartment. My husband and I bought our own washer and dryer when we moved in and our landlords had already provided us with a fridge and oven/range. The only thing missing was a dish washer and there just wasn’t any room for that. With only two of us, we should be able to get along just fine washing dishes. We couldn’t go through that many. We joked saying that my husband would have to act like the dishwasher until we moved to a new apartment and had room for one. That joke is now over. We are both tired of washing dishes by hand until our skin feels so dry and tight that if we try to bend our fingers, our knuckles will actually crack. There just isn’t space in the place we’re in and our landlords aren’t in the mood to do any remodeling just so we can get a dishwasher. So we would both like to get into something a little bigger.

Even if we have to buy all new appliances in the new place, it will be worth it. I just wouldn’t want to do a lot of remodeling when we first get it. It would be perfect if the place was designed to have a dishwasher. Plus, these days, new appliances are being designed to be more energy efficient. One of the ways the new appliances are able to do this is that they help reduce the amount of water we use. We hope to get into a place that will give us space to get the kind of new appliances we would like to get. Online at www.countrywideappliance.com, you can shop though many different varieties of appliances. With something that you use almost every day, it is best to get something that works the way you want it to.

The sword dates back to 2000 BC and over time, the sword’s symbol from protection and weapon has developed into various meanings in different cultures and traditions. The sword also symbolized honor and justice.

All of the elements are used in making a sword: earth, fire, air, and water. The final product, the sword represents totality and unification of all resources forged into a focused beam of energy and force. The sword also brings other words to mind as symbols of power, defense, solidarity, clarity.

The Buddhists see the sword as a metaphor for cutting through ignorance as in “cut to the chase” or “cut the crap” and get to the point. In Japan the sword is a symbol of courage and strength and honor. The Knights Templars swore not to draw their swords unless for a just cause and never to sheathe it until their enemies were subdued. In Tarot cards, the sword was a symbol of forboding and challenges.

The duality of the sword is universal:
• Destructive for purposes of killing, taking life
• Positive for defending justice, upholding moral codes and laws

Another duality of the sword is fire, heat and the other side of it is cold, hard steel. The represent the masculine through its active force and the sheath represents women, the passive force. Freud saw the sword as phallic and the Mayans saw the sword as a source of life.

Even today, the sword represents so many meanings in cultures and civilizations. The sword as a symbol of truth and honesty cuts to the heart of all realities: no matter what, don’t mess with the sword.

The history of Tai Chi and Taoism are shrouded in mystery but there is a similarity of the two moving through time on parallel paths: movement and exercise coupled with a philosophy that compliments the body, mind and spirit.

The Tai Chi Sword is one of the most popular weapons in the Tai Chi Chuan System and shares many common concepts and principles. To use the Tai Chi Sword means years of learning Tai Chi and attaining a sense of balance and flexibility so one can move in unison with the other. This is the first basic principle. The second principle is to move with speed and accuracy. The third principle is to have spirit and natural breathing in each movement for smooth execution.

Holding the sword correctly is one of the most important aspects in practicing the Tai Chi Sword. In general, the grip should not be too tight, but should be held loosely so that the sword is held lightly with firmness. A flexible wrist for easy rotation and bend is required. The speed of the Tai Chi Sword should be faster than the actual Tai Chi Chuan’s solo form. The bottom line to master Tai Chi Sword is through control without stress to allow for flexibility.

The ultimate goal is to bring mind and body into harmony so that the sword becomes an extension of the body. It is essential to extend the mind through the tip of the sword for a smooth flow of power that moves through the blade, not the arm. Using the Tai Chi Sword can be a mystical experience.

Sword safety is serious business and caution when handling

swords

cannot be stressed enough.
Here are a few stories that reinforce the need to think safely while showing, using or demonstrating a sword, which in the wrong hands, can prove to be lethal.

At the 26th Annual Diamond Nationals World Karate Championships held in St. Paul Minneapolis, MN, October 3rd or 4th, 2003 … a demonstrator threw a live-blade katana up in the air, spinning it 360 degrees, hoping to catch it at the hilt. He caught the sword half on the hilt, half on the edge and cut his fingers open. He cut himself earlier that year trying to spin the sword around his neck, which didn’t work so well either…but he survived. He’s a Darwin Award candidate.

A grand master from Korea demonstrated his prowess with the sword by having his assistant place two turnips on the either side of his head and a cucumber placed across the top of his head. The blindfolded grand master clipped the two turnips on the sides of the assistant’s head, then aimed for the cuke and hit it but also split the assistant’s head open. The assistant survived and the grand master fled the scene and the States as he overstayed his visa and was considered an illegal alien.

In Kashima, Japan during a demonstration, the “mekugi” (retaining pin) fell out of the demonstrator’s sword. As he swung the sword down, the blade flew into the audience and stuck a 6th grader in the left side of the chest, killing him. Always check equipment before a demonstration.

Kendo is a form of Japanese Martial Arts that is essentially a style of fencing derived from the Samurai in Japan. From the looks of it, Kendo appears forbidding as two people are dressed head to toe with armor. The black “hakama’ are wide pants. The “bogu”, body armor protects the torso, shoulders and part of the head. The “men” is a helmet with a metal grilled mask so there is a lot of protection in kendo. The last item is the sword, which is made of bamboo and called “shinai” or “boken”, meaning wooden swords.

Kendo dates back to the late 1100’s in ancient Japan as a method for training swordsmanship and evolved into a form of discipline, personal balance and agility through the influence of Zen Buddhism. In 1895, the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai was established to solidify and standarize martial disciplines and systems in Japan. The term, “Kendo” meaning the way of the sword became official in 1920. However, in 1946 after Japan lost World War II, all martial arts were banned by the United States. When U.S. occupation ended in 1952, the ban was lifted and the All Japan Kendo Federation was established and by 1957, Kendo was re-introduced as a part of the middle school curriculum. In 1970, AJKF became the International Kendo Federation that oversees the world wide sports competitions.

The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through the principles of the Samurai and katana. The essence of Kendo is to attain mental, spiritual and physical calmness with balance and harnessed physical prowess.

My wife and I recently saw the movie with Liam Neeson called Taken. My wife did not like it very much, but I loved it. It is a story about a father whose teenage daughter gets kidnapped in Europe and sold into a prostitution ring. He uses the skills he developed as a spy to locate and rescue his daughter, and in the process, kicks the crap out of and kills a whole lot of bad guys.

The reason I loved it, is it portrayed the kidnappers as an extremely organized society that had infiltrated the French and other governments, and was the epitome of evil. Then a good guy, focused on the rescue of his daughter, takes on the bad guys, and wins. I came out of the theater with the macho attitude that I would do the same for my daughter.

I do not own a guy, yet I have often day dreamed about intruders in my home and how I would take care of them. Sometimes, I pin them face down on the floor with my knee, use one of my hands to wrap them up with duct tape, while using my other hand to dial 911 on my cell phone. In another, I have visualized grabbing one of the swords on display in my office, and using it to make sure dude will not ever think of disturbing my family again.

The reality is, I would not know what the heck I was doing, but you better believe I would put up a fight.