Iron Man Collectibles Are Getting Hot

Iron Man Collectibles are getting as hot as the summer heat as the movie continues to build momentum and gain a larger and larger audience. Many movie-goers have found themselves transported back to the days of their youth when characters like Iron Man, Spiderman and Batman ruled our free time.

I know many a dollar from my allowance was spent scarfing up the latest Iron Man comic book or the latest Batman comic books. These were two of my favorites then, so its not surprise that they are two of my favorites now. What a great time for a comic book fan with Iron Man already released, The Incredible Hulk on the horizon and The Dark Knight (Batman) movie right behind it.

Any time you have movies that are as wildly popular with movie-goers as these are going to be, then it is inevitable that a whole economy of collectibles and memorabilia products will spring into the forefront. It is no different with Iron Man. Iron Man Collectibles are big business right now as eager fans scarf up Iron Man Costumes, Iron Man masks, Iron Man action figures and a whole host of other Iron Man Collectibles.

I don't see Batman or the Incredible Hulk being any different. These movies have large fan bases that are now 30 and 40 something year olds who have a higher level of disposable income and a taste for some cool stuff. They can afford to drop 200 dollars on an Iron Man helmet for no other reason than the cool factor that it provides in your Den or Gameroom.

I have no doubt that the collectibles being produced today will only go up in value as time progresses. All you need to do is look at some of the prices on early Iron Man comic books to see what the potential might be. Anytime you mix childhood memories and a disposable income, you are bound to create a market and Iron Man and Batman have that enviable ability to transport you away from your 9 to 5 back to the days of riding your bike, penny candy and school vacations.

Those were the good old days for sure.

If Iron Man Collectibles or Batman Collectibles [http://www.thedarkknightcollectibles.com] are high on your list then make sure you act quickly because many of them are limited production to increase the collectors value. Have a great summer movie season!

Soldotna To Host Alaska's First Global Food Trades

Alaska will finally have a chance to show her wares to the world. She can especially show off her exceptional Last Frontier only cuisine. This summer Soldotna, Alaska is the strategically chosen host for the first Alaska food buyers' conference, The Global Food Alaska 2007 Conference and Tradeshow. Everyone even remotely involved in the Alaskan food industry will be there. Even Mom and Pop Operations, of which Alaska has many, will be among those showing off their various food products. Many in the industry have waited for this day.

Alaskans have always known that they have fantastic food. And the tourists that have had a chance to experience and taste the various food products have discovered it too. The problem is that aside from those who dare to venture a visit to Alaska, it still leaves many who live in the lower 48 states with that common misconception that Alaska and Alaska's products are out of their reach. Although nothing could be further from the truth, convincing others of that fact is quite another thing. Some myths, especially Alaskan myths are tough to change.

Granted, for a good many decades the idea of transporting any type of products to and from Alaska was pretty hopeless. The dangerous and often treacherous terrain was enough to keep visitors and freight both away. Even airlines and their pilots gave pause when considering Alaska as a travel destination for a good many years. The post office or at least some form of a postal service or pony express was probably the only savior for those trying to get goods even around Alaska itself much less the lower 48 states or the rest of the world.

Today it's no big deal to get mail in and out of Alaska. Alaska has you might say come out of the Stone Age; at least where mail is concerned. She's made some concessions. There are now U.S. post offices all over the state, which are quite efficient. Alaskans regularly receive mail and packages of all sorts and sizes from all over the world. They are no different in their buying habits from the rest of the world. And big business knows it even if others haven't caught on. Alaska isn't far enough to keep eBay, Amazon and other online businesses from delivering their products.

This summer a lot could change for the Alaska food industry. Usually those in the Alaska food industry are the ones who travel to the various food conferences, fairs and tradeshows around the world. This year those in the Alaska food business can stay home and just get ready for company because in June the world is coming to Alaska. The very first Global Food Alaska 2007 Conference and Tradeshow will be held in the Soldotna Sport Center on June 13th and 14th and will feature various food industry businesses. Meat and fish processors, farmers, gardeners and anyone at all associated with growing, preparing, harvesting, marketing or any other aspect of the food industry will be on hand to give buyers an earful and mouthful of Alaska's best cuisine. The hope is that some fortunate Alaska food businesses will make some new friends and a whole lot of new customers too.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Alaska

Couples Baby Shower

The first baby showers were women-only events. They were basically a way to give new moms some entertainment while they were in seclusion with their child in the first few months after delivery. Thankfully, that's no longer how our culture does things. Now couple baby shower have become more common. However, when you start blending the genders on your guest list that means you may need to make some party changes starting with your baby shower invitations.

The Guest List for the Baby Couples Shower

Obviously, one of the main changes when you decide on a co-ed shower is who is going to receive the baby shower invitation to the couple baby shower. When it was mainly an event for moms, the guest list consisted primarily of female family members and friends of the mom-to-be. Now the guest list can be broadened to include friends and family of both sexes. Be aware that the change might result in a bigger shower than you might have been prepared to manage. On the bright side, the couple will probably score a lot more great gifts.

Baby Couples Shower Activities

With such a diverse array of people coming to the babyshower party, one might wonder what other changes should made. For starters, the entire event can now be planned by either a female or a male friend or relative. Although you may not find many guys who are willing to tackle the task of sending out couples shower invitations, it's now a possibility. That's nice for couples who have more men than women as friends and family members.

Even more important than who might get to be the lucky host of the event is what types of activities to choose that will appeal to the varied guests at a baby showers couples party. You don't want to make the men feel as if they are just along for the ride but you also don't want to totally dilute the entire idea of the shower. For starters, you may want to have a man and a woman work on planning some couples baby shower games together. That way you'll have input from both sexes and that should generate some activities that make everyone happy. Trivia contests about the couples are a great choice. You could also break the group into male and female pairs for activities, such as diapering contests or baby food tasting events.

If you're looking for couple baby shower plans, just remember you don't want to divide the genders. When you are hosting couples baby showers, you want both sexes to participate together. That doesn't mean having a television playing ESPN in one room while all of the women exchange child birth horror stories in the other part of the house. Remember those couple baby shower invitations are going to both genders so plan accordingly.

Of course, if you're having trouble planning your couple baby shower go to the expecting parents for advice. Not only do they know their friends and family members better than anyone else but it's there party for better or for worse.

About the Authors: Sarah Porter and Patti Paz have written several articles about Personalized Baby Shower Invitations, About Couples Baby Showers, Fun Baby Shower Party, Creative Baby Shower Games, Diaper Cakes for Baby Showers, Types of Baby Shower Invitations, All About Hosting Baby Shower, Hosting Surprise Baby Shower, Free Shower Invitations, Baby Invitations for Baby Shower and many more for CardsShoppe and Express-Invitations.

Sharepoint - My Favorite Feature

Okay, so anybody who has read any of my previous articles knows that I am a man that is all about neat organization. I like to know the who, what, when, and where of my schedule at all times. My personal belief is that if you have a well organized schedule, your life will flow a million times smoother.

I often watch people that work in companies where tidy scheduling does not take precedence. It is quite a show. These people often run about like chickens that have just had their heads chopped off. They seem to be under a constant and steady flow of stress, worry, and irritability. I don't know about you, but that does not sound like a great quality of work life.

So where am I going with this? As I am sure you can imagine, my absolute favorite feature within Sharepoint is the calendar. The calendar feature has been the most used portion of Sharepoint in my office.

How is it used?

There are a number of different ways in which I will list and discuss here.

o Appointment Setting

Like any business environment, my office is full of appointment setting. We set appointments to meet with clients, potential clients, investors, you name it. SP allows us to have a public calendar that shows who is coming in the office at what time and who they are meeting with. So long as my team stays current on checking the calendar, everyone knows what is going on.

o Out of Office Notifications

This is perhaps my favorite part of the calendar. How many times has a member of your team left for vacation, or left the office for a Dr.'s Appt. or anything of the like and you have been left in the dark about there absence. It always happens that you need them for something when they are out of the office also! Well, say goodbye to this kind of hassle! I have my team mark the public calendar to notify all times and dates that they will be out of the office!

There is not much more to say about this. The Sharepoint calendar is amazing and I do not know what I would do without it!

You can set up your own Sharepoint Hosting account by visiting Sharepoint Services, visit http://www.Alentus.com

Web Hosting Woes for Beginners

Every individual when it starts surfing the net for choosing its hosting partner get confused by variety of offers. Most of the beginners usually fall into trap of free hosting, cheaper hosting and other stuff that lead them to land in no man's land later on. All there efforts and time goes in vein and he has a nightmare to restart working on things again. There is no doubt that every one out there on internet look for cheap or free hosting, it is very much important to make decisions thinking of long term prospects. Here are some reasons why:

1. Free sites or free hosting does not have any guarantee; there is a chance to be removed tomorrow. The most important reason I like to highlight that, it leads your site permanently removed from search engines too. There are billions of sites are coming up day by day. The popularity of site is much depend up the maturity of it and it place in search engines natural ways, once you get your site deleted from there it is very hard to bring back the new things again as the vacuum was immediately filled by others.

2. Free hosting or free sites are usually supported by advertisements and other stuffs. You have created a free site in sub domain and also find good free hosting. You have done offline and online promotions to your customer's friends and other people who are known to you. Here you are falling in a trap, by promoting the ads and other stuffs of free hosting provider. Also the persons who have book marked your site will not find it again once it is removed by the host.

3. There are hell and heaven difference between a top level domain and a free sub domain. Domains are unique and represent the status of you. No other competitor of yours can steal your name and in matter of time your clients will memories the name. Where as any one can have any amount of free sub-domains, imagine your fate when your competitor starts doing that.

4. Imagine a good client found you on web and become interested it your product and services. Before hiring your services he definitely like know more about you or he will do a research first whether he should consider to contact you. If you hold a free hosting site the first impact of your will go in his mind that you are not a serious seller. To prevent this you should consider a personalized top level domain and consistent hosting services.

5. When you find a hosting company offers services extremely low price, consider twice before choosing. Do a small research to find out why it is so cheap, even below the industry standards. I always follow the principle that "Quality Never Comes Low." When it comes to provide support or services it involve some cost in manpower and other stuffs which a company need to meet day today. Don't fall in trap of fly by night operators, always begin with established and trusted providers in industry.

6. Other mistake usually most of the beginners do is, not keeping there backups at there own, but rely on hosting service providers. Imagine the host's server went down or free host removed the site, you are all stuck and have no option to start again from scratch, which is extremely painful.

7. The most common mistake comes to my knowledge is, beginners are not clear about there requirements. It is obvious that no one knows what is required in future, but if your requirements are clearly documented it will be easier to analyze choosing the hosting services that suites your needs. Always consider that there may be a possibility of shifting from static site to a dynamic one or you may require using certain scripts. It is an ongoing process and if documented properly can help you a lot in near future.

Oops! Seems enough negative thoughts? Don't get the wrong idea - consider following points also before taking the decisions:

1. Not all free hosts are bad or decisive, there may be an excellent host which is up-coming and can provide wonderful services. They may offer free hosting to promote there services so that they can have customers in there portfolio. But remember those are limited time offers and will be closed soon when they get there desired portfolio filled.

2. Cheap and affordable web hosting may turn to be a great deal, if you carefully compare some of the affordable type plans with some of the more expensive ones, you may discover that there are lots in common between them in reality. Here you always try select which host can have better server; updated software's and provide you quality support in practical terms.

3. Not all the free websites are going to be removed without notice or provide a bad reputation for your company. There are services from giants like Google's Blogger or Yahoo's Geocities will help you to increase your link popularity if used effectively.

4. Also consider reading my previous article (a novice one) "choosing the right hosting solution" here at http://www.arun.info/choosing-hosting-services and also do a net search i.e. example search term "how to choose the right hosting" which will give you an opportunity to read other articles written by experts in the industry.

Finally, when you choose a host - always think that it is the best friend of your site. When you make a friend in real life you always consider lot of things before choosing and also overlook minor mistakes to keep a long term relation. A web host is a real friend for you as it provides your business keep running online 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

Cheers !!

Arun Tibrewal is an online marketing promotions specialist since 1998 and owner of http://www.i-wayhost.net and its network sites.

Permission is granted to reprint this article as long as the resource box should keep intact.

Web Hosting, Online Marketing Guide

Hosting the Perfect Fundraiser Event in New York

New York is a major center for World Trade and Commerce and an important tourist destination with thousands of visitors coming to the city every year. It is an important venue for business meeting, international conferences, fashion shows, product launches and fundraising events. New York has millions of people belonging to diverse culture and religion living together. Several fundraising events are being organized throughout the New York City every year. These fundraising events are very important to draw money for the working of several charity and people welfare organizations. The amount of funds raised depends to a larger extend on the success of the event.

Innovative and inventive ideas are required in order to host a successful fundraising event in New York and thereby meet the expected target. The traditional and boring fundraisers do not hold for the present generation. The society needs a bit of glamour and glitz to be part of some event. People would be excited about some fundraiser event only if it offers something different and fun.

Extensive publicity is very important to guarantee the success of fundraisers in New York. Until people are excited to be a part of it, the success of the event is very bleak. The funds collected at the event depend largely on the number of people attending it. Press releases are the best way to create interest among people regarding the event. The venue of the event also decides the fate of the event. Popular venues create as much curiosity among people as the event being planned for the night.

New York has several hotels and restaurants offering event space for fundraisers. Some of the popular event venues for Fundraisers in New York include: Cipriani, Gotham Hall, Altman Room, Broad Street Ballroom and Capitale.

Broad Street Ballroom: The event space is used to host events such as fundraisers, fashion shows, concerts, weddings, screenings, and theatrical performances. It provides a superb event space and decorated with a 30 foot mosaic pillar and a 225 foot hand decorated fresco wrappings about the wall.

Gotham Hall: Located at the Midtown building, the Gotham Hall consists of a 120 foot ceiling in the main hall, and several smaller event spaces consisting of a lounge, a mezzanine level, main halls and a private entry hall. The main ballroom has the capacity to accommodate 1,200 guests for cocktails, 550 with dancing and 650 for the seated dinner.

Cipriani: This ultra stylish event space is a popular party destination for international social elite, celebrities, and news makers. The guests are sure to be blemished by the perfection, excellence, luxury and beauty that defines Cipriani's name.

For more information about event space New York City, please visit our website.

Short Men - Did You Know You Can Get Taller by 4 Inches Naturally?

It is a common fact that short men have less chances for success than taller men. In the dating game, a short man has less of a chance getting the girl than the taller man. While obviously other factors play a role, being taller gives you a head start because a tall man is naturally perceived as stronger. We all know that size has nothing to do with bite, but to women it subconsciously suggests otherwise.

Because of this, many men feel conscious about their height and wish that they could be just a little bit taller. That said, there are many options for a short man to increase his height by up to 4 inches.

Some of your options include growth surgery, physical products like shoe lifts, and the method I prefer, stretching and exercising.

The best way to get taller safely.

When people ask me how to get taller, I always suggest to them the most safe and natural way to increasing your height. The best way, in my opinion, is through specific stretching and exercising. With a strong desire to grow taller and ample work and effort put into these exercises, a person can gain up to 4 inches in height. While 4 inches is definitely rare to happen, 1-3 inches of height increase is an average result you can expect.

Why I don't suggest height increasing surgery

Limb lengthening surgery should be reserved for people who are serious about increasing your height. The surgery is extremely painful. They saw your limbs in half and insert rods that increase in length by 1mm each day. Your body fills in the space through bone growth...similar to how when you break a bone it becomes longer and stronger when it heals. There is a risk that your bones can become twisted or malformed during this process so this surgery can leave you crippled in rare cases. Because of these reasons, I usually suggest people to start out with the stretching exercises for a moderate increase in height.

Take a look at Chase Turlington's free guide that has examples of stretches and exercises that will increase your height over time.

Choosing Gifts For Your Best Man

Whether your best man is your best friend since childhood, your little brother or the big brother you always fought with, you'll want to give him something for your wedding day that he'll always treasure. You have to show appreciation and thanks to him for standing by you and giving you support on your big day, and what better way to show appreciation than to give him a well thought out gift!

As a man, you have to admit, you most probably have never been good at shopping, or even liked shopping for that matter. Now that you're going to be married, you'll find that choosing gifts for your best man have become part of your to-do list. It's a challenging task, but if you know where to look, you'll be able to find the perfect gift in no time.

It's always been a tradition to give the best man a gift. After all, he's there to provide you, the groom, moral support. Gifts are a nice way to say thank you and he will surely appreciate the gesture. It's a fact that most men appreciate tangible gifts that they could use. So remember to give him something that will appeal to his masculinity and is useful (guys love usefulness more than sentimentality).

Common and more conservative best man gift ideas include flasks, cuff links, pocket watches. If you are more of the practical and traditional type, then these are the best gift ideas for you. On the other hand, if traditional isn't your style, and you want to opt for something unique, you can add a personal touch to your gift.

You can give him a personalized Velour Comfort Robe, which is perfect for lounging around on a Sunday morning, mulling over the newspaper with a hot cup of coffee. You can also give him a unique desk accessory, like a crystal swivel globe and clock. He can use it as a nice decorative piece in his office (if he has one). Kits are perfect to give too, like grooming kits, travel kits, etc. You can also give him a unique backpack if he's a travel buff, or a computer portfolio if he's a computer geek. If he's a music lover, you can get him a music related gift, like CDs, or an mp3 player. If he's a sports enthusiast, you can give him tickets to his favorite sport, or subscribe him to a sports magazine or a sports channel.

The list goes on and on, there are lots of ideas that you can get out there if you know where to look. Use your creativity, you don't have to buy the most expensive gift. The trick is just to know what your best man will love, and then go and get it for him.

The author is an independent writer and has written articles about gifts for best man. She believes that giving out cooler chairs is a great way to thank groomsmen for their presence and support.

Book Club Dinner Idea - Host a Mystery Dinner For a Mystery Novel

My fellow book club members really get into the mood of each novel for our meetings. Each host creates a dinner that derives in some way from the book. When it was my turn to host the month when we read One For the Money by Janet Evanovich, I knew right away that I wanted to host a mystery dinner to keep my book club friends in suspense.

It's no mystery why a mystery dinner is a fun idea for a special group event. People love surprises, unusual events, and things that make them laugh. You can create a mystery dinner for your book club. This article explains what a mystery dinner is and how to create one successfully.

A mystery dinner is a multi-course dinner that is served according to the selections each guest makes for each course. Each item-the entrée, other food items, silverware, and a napkin--are given different names that do not reveal their identity. Each guest selects from a menu a certain number of items for each "course" of the meal. The fun comes in when each course is served. Some of the combinations are hilarious.

For my Evanovich dinner I served the following: plums, celery & carrot sticks, salad with artichokes, bread, a fork, a spoon, water, stuffed pasta shells, meatballs, a napkin, cannoli for dessert, and a toothpick. I made a "menu" ahead of time on the computer with story-related names for each item. Each woman received a menu list and was asked to write a 1, 2, or 3 in front of each item, having four of each number for each course. It's important to make sure each guest writes her name at the top of her menu.

To give you an idea of how to name items on the menu related to a book, for this book, the names of the items were as follows: Plum Delightful, Handcuffs in the Shower, Nova (Not Lox), Spandex Stretcher, Smith and Wesson, FAA (Fugitive Apprehension Agent), Grandma Mazur's Madness, Ranger's Rover, Ziggy's Zag, Morelli's Mix, Benito's Busted, and New Jersey Special. I took pity on my guests and let them have wine from the start and not as a menu item.

Two of us working in the kitchen had the master list that showed what item matched each name. Plates were assembled for each person for each course. Howls of laughter and sighs of despair erupted as really odd combinations were presented such as saucy stuffed pasta shells with no utensils, no napkin, and just carrot and celery sticks-which presumably could be used to eat the pasta. Another sorry combination might be a cannoli, a toothpick, and water before getting the entree. Lucky was the woman who actually got a fork with her pasta and salad!

A mystery dinner is very fun, not just during the event, but for years to come as it is fondly recalled. Our members still remember and talk about this mystery dinner event.

When hosting your book club, why not match the genre with the activities and food of your gathering? The next time you read a mystery or other suspense novel, host a mystery dinner and treat your friends to a fun surprise.

Mary Lou Johnson is co-owner of Biggies, Inc., a Colorado company. Decorate BIG with impressive printed wall decor products for home, office, and school that you will find at http://www.getBiggies.com Mary Lou also helps parents help their young children learn to talk better with her book that is available at http://www.HelpYourChildSpeak.com Mary Lou takes the mystery out of why some children are slower to learn to talk as well as how to help them.

How to Prepare for Your First Date (Man to Man)

Aah...the first date. Nothing will bring more angst than the first time you are preparing to take out your potential dream girl. It's easy to get caught up in the mood and forget all the little things you wanted to say and/or do. Relax! I have a step by step guide to help you on this important evening. If you follow my steps correctly, your first date may be the first in a lifetime of dates.

Planning
The first thing you want to do is plan a date that would be mutually enjoyable for you and your date. I'm assuming you read my article on 'How to have a mini date.' If you did you would already know through the mini dates what your date likes and dislikes. If you haven't read that article, shame on you! Go read it! ;)

Seriously, you should know the basics of the woman you're taking out. Her favorite food, color, flower(s), scent, places to go, topics of interest, movie(s), and extracurricular activities to name a few. Take into account her likes/dislikes when planning the evening.

A first date requires planning. You should try to plan your first date 2-3 days in advance, and if possible, set the date for a weekend. Check the 7 day forecast in your area to make sure that adverse weather won't affect your evening. A good first date day and time depends on your date, the plans for the evening, and your geographical location. A suitable start time can be anywhere from 7:00-9:00pm. If a weekend is not mutually agreeable, plan it for a day when time won't be an issue for either party.

Plan your dinner at a restaurant that you're familiar with, but try to avoid your favorite restaurant. Make reservations where you know the food and service is good, but the staff and management doesn't know you. It can make for an awkward evening if you go to you and your ex's favorite place.

When planning your first date you want to implement things she likes, things she would like to try, and things you like, in that order. Be open to try something new, as long it's related to either you or your dates interest. Remember that women like a man who can take charge and be in control, as long as they don't try to control them.

Confirmation
Now that you've already planned your evening, it's a good thing to confirm all of the plans the day of the date. First confirm the date with your date, preferably in the late morning to early afternoon. The early afternoon represents a time that is late enough to not disturb your dates beauty rest or previous nights' activities, yet early enough before they get into their afternoon activities. Between 11 am-1pm is a good time to call.

After confirming the time and meeting place (preferably her house) with your date, take the opportunity to inform her thoroughly of the plans for the evening. Tell her the name and type (cuisine) of restaurant you're going, the atmosphere (intimate, friendly, loud), the location (city, suburbs, or beach) and what you're planning on wearing for the date.

Among the most important things to do is tell her what you're going to wear. This is important because you'll want to see if her style and sense of fashion coordinates with yours, as well as do you (both) look 'good' as a 'couple.' Don't leave anything to 'surprise!' Surprises are only good for Birthdays and Anniversaries; they're not appropriate for first dates. The best surprise you can give your date is your preparedness for an evening of fun and enjoyment. Of course, little things like flowers and candy wouldn't hurt.

Confirm with the restaurant the time and type of reservation you requested making sure the host(ess) reads back your reservation and any special request (private table, flowers, and/or chilled wine, ocean view, etc) you might have given them.

Lastly confirm any extra activities you had planned for after dinner whether it is movies, a sporting event, or the theatre. Confirming (checking) the weather forecast for the evening is also a smart thing to do. If the forecast calls for rain, bring an umbrella.

Grooming
The first date is your best opportunity to make your best 'first' impression and you should take every advantage of that opportunity. Essential grooming is must! The morning of the date a visit to the barber or stylist is in order for a first date. Get a nice haircut and shave. The six o'clock shadow only looks good in movies. In reality woman like to see that the man they're with is well groomed. Grooming doesn't make you a metrosexual or ubersexual as they like to call it. Well groomed just simply means you take pride in your appearance, especially in public on a first date. In addition, there's something refreshing, even empowering, in the way you feel after you're had a nice haircut and shave.

Clothing
Nothing will set the tone more for your first date than what you choose to wear. While many women like to go and buy new outfits for their first date, I strongly discourage men from doing it. Your first date is all about you being relaxed and in control. It's hard to do that if you keep fidgeting around because your pants are uncomfortable, shoes are too tight, and/or your jacket doesn't fit.

On the first date it's good to resort to clothes you're familiar and comfortable in. The clothes you wear and style you have may be different than the next man; however some universal truism apply. You should have a nice pair of pressed dress slacks, long sleeve cotton shirt, sport jacket, and nicely shined shoes.

Lay all of your clothes out on your bed or valet if you have one. Lay the slacks, shirt, belt, and jacket on the bed to make sure everything coordinates in both fashion sense and color. Then add the two most important accessories; the shoes and the watch.

A watch is to a man, what a purse is to a woman. It's that quintessential accessory that defines your character and sense of style. A bad timepiece can mean a short evening and more future evenings alone. A nice timepiece shows that you have the sense of fashion and style to go the distance.

The shoes make the outfit. Period. A great pair of shoes can save a bad outfit; however no designer in the world can save you if you have a bad pair of shoes. Every man should have no less than 3 pair of quality dress shoes in his closet. Two of which should be black.

Personal Hygiene
It doesn't matter what you wear, how you look, or even how nice your shoes are if you have body odor (BO) and/or bad breathe. Nothing will end the date faster than poor personal hygiene. BO is an offense that can be both controlled and prevented.

Before you put on any clothes you should wash thoroughly. Try using a layered approach to hygiene.

Take a shower and use soap initially, but finish off with a nice body wash and loofah. Use a nice fragrance shampoo and rinse completely. After lightly drying it's good to use a body spray all over your body. After the body spray use a nice under arm anti-perspirant and deodorant, preferably gel, although powder is certainly acceptable. Aerosol spray should be your last option.

For oral hygiene use a prewash oral rinse, followed by a thorough cleaning of your teeth, gums, and tongue. Lastly use a good mouthwash to lock in that fresh breathe. It's also good to carry a pack of sugarless gum with you throughout the date to ensure your breath is fresh at every stage of the date, and to be able to offer your date a piece to ensure that her breathe is fresh as well.

Last is the cologne. A little dab will do you is the universally accepted and appreciated amount. There's no need to spray bath in cologne after you already showered. Lightly spray some on your jacket and/or shirt, and run your wrist against the sprayed on section and that will be sufficient.

Mental Preparedness
The average person's cause of dating anxiety is self inflicted. Dating is like anything else in life. The people that do it the best, and are the most successful at it, are the ones that are best prepared, and able to adapt to changes as they happen.

If you already followed the steps outlined above, you are already ahead of most daters. Now all you need to do is visualize the date. You've planned, cleaned, and dressed and now you have to see the benefits of your labor BEFORE the date begins. Sit down in your nice comfortable chair and putt on some jazz, classical, or mood music to soothe and relax you.

Mentally walk yourself through each aspect of the date from the moment you pick her up, to the conversations that you'll have, to the time spent at the restaurant, and so on and so forth. See every part of the date going exactly as you planned it, knowing that you planned the evening flawlessly. Once you visualized the whole date, now it's time to do literally what you've done virtually.

Be Flexible
As great as it is to plan things, sometimes you have to be able to let go and allow the 'flow' of the evening to take its own course. You may have planned for dinner and the theatre, but maybe dinner and the hot tub is what the date dictated; or maybe you planned an evening of fun, but your date is willing to turn it into a weekend of enjoyment. It can happen! The main thing is to be in control enough to have the date planned, but be loose enough to adopt if your date wants to change.

These are things to do to prepare for a first date. If you follow these same steps, you will have the confidence in knowing that even if you're not with the girl of your dreams, your date will still go smoothly.

About the author: Obi aka The Relationship Guy, provides insightful, common sense, witty, and some times sarcastic articles on love, dating, and relationships. His forthcoming book, ‘The Blueprint of Love’ goes into detail about the game of love. You can read more articles and get more information about the book by going to: [http://www.theblueprintoflove.com] You can also read his blog on married life called: Marriage 101: Lessons Learned in the First Year of Marriage