Post about "entertainment"

Lifestyles – Creating Your Best Fit

We all want an incredible life and a large part of that is identifying and creating a lifestyle that suits us – finding our “best fit”. When embarking on this quest, we start out gung ho, excited about the possibilities for what we want our lives to look and feel like. We create a plan and begin taking action toward the creation of that lifestyle. Everything comes together smoothly and before we know it, we are more fully experiencing life.

Does this sound like fiction or reality to you?

True lifestyle change IS possible when you focus on creating or finding one that fits you instead of trying to fit yourself into one that you think you “should”. In September of 2007 I joined a gym – something I vowed I would never do since I thought it was not a “good fit” for me. Well much to my surprise, a gym environment was now a perfect fit for the new lifestyle I had created when I became a business owner. You see, it offers me just the right environment of energy and activity that I was needing since I work from home. It became my home away from home – that place to go for much more than exercise. For me, the gym is a perfect fit because it gives me strength, vitality, variety, energy, connections with others and it fit my schedule perfectly! It was easy to incorporate it into my lifestyle, and it has become such an integral part of it that I would not think of missing a day. This is a true lifestyle change – a true “best fit”

What are some of your “best fit” lifestyle changes?

On the other hand, reality is that sometimes life creeps in and gets in the way of our great plans, disrupting the momentum we have built. Occasionally this happens without us even realizing it until one day we wake up and ask “what happened to my plans?” “How did I get so far off track?” “What happened to the new healthy habits I was engaging in?” Then suddenly you are back to your old comfortable habits that no longer benefit you. To stay with the health example, my lifestyle change with food has not been as easy or effortless as my exercise routine. Sure I started out with a “bang” by joining The Balance Program – an online program of diet and lifestyle assessment, e-coaching sessions with my own dietitian, and an online workbook – a great fit for me since it allowed me to go at my own pace, learn about my body, nutrition, and what kinds of changes are right for me personally. I loved it – yet slowly life got in the way (well rather ice cream, cake, cookies, parties etc got in front of me) and my thoughts went to “well, since I am going to the gym, I could surely eat more of this or that” Then, before I knew it, the scale began creeping up again and I felt that I had lost my way.

When have you gotten off track from your goals and plans?

What I failed to remember though, is that I have made some lasting lifestyle changes with food (protein at each meal to feel fuller, more fruit, whole grains, healthier snacking) and I also have learned what takes me off track (that buffet or party with a variety of selections that compel me try one of everything). When we get off track, away from our “best fit” lifestyle, it can be easy to get back. What’s the solution? Awareness to know when you have steered away from your intended path, understanding of your preferred lifestyle to know if this practice is a “best fit”, and most importantly, support in either coming back to your path or forging a new one. The Balance Program is a “best fit” for me since it has all of these solutions built in. You have a relationship with you own personal Registered Dietitian through regular e-coaching sessions, she reminds you of the lasting lifestyle changes you have made, helps you see where you veered off your path and shows you how to find your way back.

What is your “best fit”, the personal lifestyle you want to create?

A Brief History of Home Entertainment

The concept of home entertainment and indoor recreational activities changed when home electronics invaded our lives. One can say that access to numerous electronic products at home has revolutionized the idea of what constitutes a complete home entertainment. Nowadays, anyone can have immediate access to every kind of electronic entertainment via different media within the comforts of their homes. They can have their choice of entertainment which may range from the latest DVD players, radios to the wireless internet connection which offers them the convenience of mobility. Advancement in technology has gifted us with loads of home entertainment options ranging from radio, television, CD, DVD players, home theatre system, games consoles and so on.Music has always been one of the most preferred leisure activities. It found its way into our home through the long playing discs and the gramophone. Of course with the coming of radio a decade later made music a more widespread home entertainment. Before the advent of the CD or DVD player, the radio was the most popular home entertainment system available. Though there were some juke boxes available in the local pubs or salons where one could listen to a song of their choice at home there was only the radio. With radio, the choice of listening was however quite limited as people had to listen to the songs that the radio channels would play, even though some of the stations would at times play the selected numbers based on listeners’ requests. But there were no complaints as there wasn’t anything better for decades to come.Initially, when television had not yet become an everyday part of our lives, the visual entertainment strictly meant those theatres which had large screens to view a movie. Things changed dramatically with the invention of the television in the initial phase of the 1950s. The television was a complete wonder in the days when it was discovered. People did not have to restrict themselves anymore to music as their only entertainment at home. They could actually watch a full length movie in the comfort of their own home.Not only movies, this small wonder box started entertaining people with more and more new ideas, programs and techniques. Television has been considered as one of the pioneers in the history of home visual entertainment. Of course it provided more than just entertainment. With news and special documentaries, TV soon became the most important source of amusement. The long playing discs were also a part of home entertainment which was an early discovery. While radios, LPs and television made a permanent place in everyone’s home, the quality of sound in those times essentially required tremendous development.Good sound systems and speakers stared to develop in the mid 1970s. Various technologies were discovered to enhance the quality of sound. And with the music genres like rock, pop and discos coming into being, there was a specific and urgent requirement for good quality sound systems. Thus the electronic giants did not stop producing recorders and put more emphasis on amplifying and equalizing the sound to give it a new dimension.Good quality sound systems were specially designed and created for homes which produced outstanding music. Woofers and subwoofers along with various amplifiers equalizers and multi channel audio were being used to produce crisp stereophonic sounds.However, this concept took a back seat when CD and DVD players came into existence. During the end of the ’70s and early ’80s some of the electronic giants worked in collaboration to develop the world’s first Compact Disc system. Experts proved that this CD player was quite compact and lightweight with its unique durability. For music lovers it was truly a boon. At the same time this CD system opened a new window in the audio equipment industry.Compact discs were more durable than any other long playing discs or tapes. Thus the CDs removed all other music disc and tapes from the market and held prominent position. The 80s and early 90s saw a vast improvement in the technology of compact disc systems. It became very popular with people because of the crystal clear sound it produced and was affordable. These CDs not only stored music, it was versatile enough to store movies, data, pictures or even software.Along with CDs a much improved device which actually revolutionized and changed the entire system of home entertainment is the DVD or digital versatile discs. These discs are powerful and large enough to hold two movies in one. It stores data digitally and is more durable. The scratch proof technology of the DVD players also makes the DVDs last a long time. Both music and movie buffs felt delighted when the DVD player came into the market. Recent survey statistics reveal that the DVD player is the most successful product of home entertainment. It was introduced in the year 1997 and has reached great heights of success ever since.Nowadays, people can have the same effect of a movie theatre in their homes. With the latest DVD players, LCD screens and the sound systems with woofers, sub woofers and multi channel audio systems, anyone can have a fantastic home entertainment system with high quality sound and spectacular visual effects. The plasma and LCD screens are high resolution televisions which started to develop in the latter half of the 1990s and these sleek televisions enabled the viewers to experience digital sound and vision with fantastic picture quality and various advanced features.With the invention of DVDs and a major development in the visual media such as Plasma and Liquid Crystal Display or LCD in the late 90s gave home entertainment its latest technical dimension. With it, the meaning of home entertainment changed significantly with more and more people installing the home theatre systems with newest gadgets and technologies.