Southern New Jersey Overlook

The presence of any one of the pests listed in the title is enough to generate an "Oh My!" from most of us. They, and a host of other pests, are engaged in an ongoing battle for access, use (habitation and/or destruction) and control of your property.

To effectively battle against the infestation armies that nature is constantly pitting against us, property owners need to be equipped with the proper knowledge and training. They also need to develop strategies and corresponding plans to establish effective defenses against the continued probing and advancements of the pests and to maintain an arsenal of weapons able to divert, repel and even destroy when necessary an offensive onslaught.

Protecting your property against pests makes good economic sense.  Maintaining the condition of the property allows longer useful property lifespans, requires less costly repairs and insures maximum value when sold.

Here are some resources to educate and inform, to help establish better defenses and control management; and to prepare for direct battles that will yield decisive victories for you:

Pestworld- National Pest Management Association (NPMA) web site - contains Information for Consumers, including Pest prevention tips, with a special informational and fun section for Teachers and Kids (Pestworld for Kids).

Pest Control at "How To Get Rid of Stuff" - covers ants, bats, chiggers, rodents, flies, cockroaches, hornets, mice, moles, raccoons, rats, silverfish, snakes, spiders, ticks, wasps and more.

Pest Management - main pest management page for the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia - good resource for pest information, especially for governmental properties, but also useful for businesses. They have an extensive links page that is useful for anyone.

FireAnts.com- - basic information (incorporating products/services the company provides). See also the UDSA's "Combating Fire Ants" article.

PestTracker - extensive pest database, news and resource links (national and state). [PestTracker is the public access web site of the National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS), the agricultural pest tracking database of the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS).]

PestControl.com - articles about all aspects of pest control.

EPA: Best Control Management Resources - links to pest management, tips, safety and use of pesticide information on the Internet -- such as, a link to the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), a link to a Citizen's Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety and a link to Integrated Pest Management.

Pest Problem Solver - provided by Planet Natural - Click on the listed categories for pictures, descriptions and a complete list of earth-friendly remedies.

BugInfo.com- information about bugs and pests (related to PestWeb.com).

PestWeb.com - pest and weed identification, product information, news and articles. Geared for the service provider.
 
 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
  
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).   
 
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

For those that may need to find legal information or representation in another area of the country, here is a list of state bar associations for your convenience:

Alabama
334-269-1515
http://www.alabar.org/
Alaska
907-272-7469
http://www.alaskabar.org/
Arizona
602-252-4804
http://www.azbar.org/
Arkansas
501-375-4605
http://www.arkbar.com/
California
415-538-2000
http://www.calbar.org/
Colorado
303-860-1115
http://www.cobar.org/
Connecticut
860-223-4400
http://www.ctbar.org/
Delaware
302-658-5279
http://www.dsba.org/
District of Columbia
202-223-6600
http://www.badc.org/
Florida
850-561-5600
http://www.flabar.org/
Georgia
404- 527-8700
http://www.gabar.org/
Hawaii
808-537-1868
http://wwwhsba.org/
Idaho
208-334-4500
http://www.state.id.us/isb
Illinois
217-525-1760
http://illinoisbar.org/
Indiana
317-639-5465
http://www.inbar.org/
Iowa
515-243-3179
http://www.iowabar.org/
Kansas
785-234-5696
http://www.ksbar.org/
Kentucky
502-564-3795
http://www.kybar.org/
Louisiana
504-566-1600
http://www.lsba.org/
Maine
207-622-7523
http://www.mainebar.org/
Maryland
410-685-7878
http://www.msba.org/
Massachusetts
Boston 617-338-0500, Springfield 413-731-5134
http://www.massbar.org/
Michigan
517-346-6300
http://www.michbar.org/
Minnesota
612-333-1183
http://www.mnbar.org/
Mississippi
601-948-4471
http://www.msbar.org/
Missouri
573-635-4128
http://www.mobar.org/
Montana
406-442-7660
http://www.montanabar.org/
Nebraska
402-475-7091
http://www.nebar.com/
Nevada
702-382-2200
http://www.nvbar.org/
New Hampshire
603-224-6942
http://www.nhbar.org/
New Jersey
732-249-5000
http://www.njsba.com/
New Mexico
505-797-6058
http://www.nmbar.org/
New York
518-463-3200
http://www.nysba.org/
North Carolina
919-677-0561
http://www.ncbar.com/
North Dakota
701-255-1404
http://www.sband.org/
Ohio
614-487-2050
http://ohiobar.org/
Oklahoma
405-416-7000
http://okbar.org/
Oregon
503-620-0222
http://osbar.org/
Pennsylvania
717-238-6715
http://pa-bar.org/
Puerto Rico
787-721-3358
 --------------
Rhode Island
401-421-5740
http://www.ribar.com/
South Carolina
803-799-6653
http://www.scbar.org/
South Dakota
605-224-7554
http://sdbar.org/
Tennessee
615-383-7421
http://tba.org/
Texas
512-463-1463
http://texasbar.com/
Utah
801-531-9077
http://utahbar.org/
Vermont
802-223-2020
http://www.vtbar.org/
Virginia
804-775-0500
http://www.vsb.org/
Washington
206-443-9722
http://wsba.org/
West Virginia
304-558-2456
http://www.wvbar.org/
Wisconsin
800-728-7788
http://wisbar.org/
Wyoming
307-632-9061
http://wyomingbar.org/



Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
   
and visit BestProperties-NJ.com to learn more about our commercial services and resources.   
  
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

The Federal Reserve recently published their latest issue of the Beige Book.  It is available online.

The following is a brief list of it's overall (national) summary findings (using data as of February 26th):

1. Economic activity continued to expand at a modest growth with several districts noting some slowing, since the last report.  Philadelphia reported improvements in economic conditions.

2. Steady growth in retail sales was reported, while vehicles sales remained sluggish. 

3. Tourism was generally positive.
 
4. Activity in the service sector continued to expand in most districts, with strong increases in health care, accounting, legal, and technology services.
 
5. Manufacturing was steady or expanding, despite continued weaknesses in production related to construction and the auto industry.
  
6. Commercial markets continued to firm or remain solid
 
7. The housing market remained weak, but several districts showed signs of stabilizing. 
   
8. Financial institutions reported remained unchanged with commercial and industrial lending up and offsetting residential mortgage lending.  
 
9. Agricultural conditions generally improved.  Activity in the energy and exploration remain at high levels, with some districts reporting a slowdown from previous survey.
 
10. Most districts noted expansion in labor market, with tight supply of skilled and professional workers putting pressure on increasing wages, although most districts experiencing only moderate increases. 
 
11. Prices changed little in most districts.  Energy and construction-related materials prices have fallen, but food prices have increased in several districts.
 
  
Note: This represents the national summary for ALL districts combined.  The report also provides more detail on each item summarized nationally, as well as reporting by each district on all items.
 
 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
   
and visit BestProperties-NJ.com to learn more about our commercial services and resources.   
  
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

For those that "grew" up during the DOS era, we still have fond memories of our favorite DOS games and applications that often do not have an equivalent in Windows, Mac or Linux.   Some later-DOS programs, that were developed to run effectively under Windows (98 and later), will still run in Windows's Command Prompt without any problems.  However, many of the earlier DOS software titles, especially the games, were no longer working... until now...with the help of DOSBox.

"DOSBox is a DOS-emulator that uses the SDL-library which makes DOSBox very easy to port to different platforms. DOSBox has already been ported to many different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X...

DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS, Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card for excellent sound compatibility with older games...

You can "re-live" the good old days with the help of DOSBox, it can run plenty of the old classics that don't run on your new computer!"   (Source: DOSBox)

And best of all, it's free!

My "kids" (now young adults) actually forced me to search for a solution so they could replay some of their favorite DOS games -- ones with intriguing story lines and interesting challenges that still hold up very well today, despite their technology limits. These include favorite classics, such as "Under A Killing Moon", "The 7th Guest", "Myst" and "Day of the Tentacle"; plus puzzles, sports, action and war games at all age levels. 

I stumbled across DOSBox while searching for help on the Internet for ways to allow these programs to run properly in Windows XP.  After downloading and quickly installing DOSBox, then making a few changes to the "dosbox.conf" configuration text file, I was up and running. 

When you start up an interactive DOS program that has graphics and sound, most require you to go through a configuation step to define the sound drivers and settings (DOSBox has built in SoundBlaster driver emulation, as SoundBlaster devices were usually one of the standard configuation choices in DOS programs), and some allow you to adjust display size and other features.  After that step, the program performs as it did in regular DOS.

I thought that our DOS software investment would be lost, but it looks like we can continue get a lot more use and enjoyment out of our classic favorites.

Click here for the DOSBox home page


For some help in using DOSBox to run legacy DOS game programs in Windows XP: Steve's XP Games Corner

BTW, according to DOSBox's forum, "Windows 3.1, 3.11 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 run ok in Dosbox when running from a mounted folder".

And here's some CP/M (Z80) Emulator resources for you prioneers:
Emulator: http://www.cpm.z80.de/index.html
Emulator: http://www.z80.info/z80emu.htm
Emulator: http://www.viara.cn/en/j80.htm
Emulator: http://www.retroarchive.org/cpm/archive/unofficial/zrpm.html
Docs: http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm


See also my previous blog article: Printing From DOS Legacy Programs In Windows



Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
  
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).   
 
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

• Important upcoming tax dates
• What's new for small businesses on the IRS website
• Reminders and tips to assist small businesses with tax compliance
• IRS News Releases and special IRS announcements.

www.irs.gov/businesses/small/content/0,,id=154826,00.html


e-file for Business and Self-Employed Taxpayers
The IRS offers several electronic filing options designed specifically for the business filer. There are several ways you may choose to participate in the IRS e-file for Business programs. www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118520,00.html
 
 
Electronic Federal Tax Payments (EFTPS)
Businesses and individuals can use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System to pay all their federal taxes electronically, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, via the phone, personal computer (PC) software or the Internet. Visit the EFTPS web site for all the latest information! Or visit the Department of Treasury's Financial Management Services web page on EFTPS.
www.eftps.gov/


Sourced: NJAR
 
 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
   
and visit BestProperties-NJ.com to learn more about our commercial services and resources.   
  
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

I have a legacy financial package that was designed to run in DOS.  It has unique features which I have yet to see duplicated in a software program designed for Windows.  I can run the legacy software in Windows XP's command prompt for the most part with no problems. However, since the finanical software expects to print directly to a printer attached directly to the LPT1 parallel port, the reports were not printing to a USB-attached or networked printer. 

Fortunately, there is a FREE utility that you can download and install to get around this problem, called DOSPrint.    It will allow you to easily print from DOS-based software to any printer available to Windows (actually NT/2000 and later, not Windows 98 or previous).
 
Here are some of it's main features (obtained from the DOSPrint web site):
DOSPrint is software which captures LPT ports to any print queue.
DOSPrint can capture LPT1-LPT9 to any local or network print queue.
Local print queues do not need to be shared.
Capture directly to NDPS printers without requiring a legacy NetWare print queue.
Capture directly to local LPT, USB, or TCP/IP printers without requiring sharing.
Runs in the system tray for easy access.
 
Click here for the DOSPrint download page
 
 
See also: DOSBox: Run Your Favorite DOS Legacy (Game) Programs 
 
 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
  
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).   
 
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

As most of us are aware by now, Daylight Saving Time has been lengthened four weeks so that it starts three weeks earlier and ends one week later each year starting in 2007.  This Sunday, March 11th, we will "spring forward" by turning our clocks one hour later (forward).

However, what are we suppose to do about our computer systems, especially if they are legacy systems?  Do we have to install any updates? 

If you are running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.3 and have kept current with all the latest updates, then you should not have to worry.    Otherwise, you can access the following links at Microsoft and Apple to determine if you need to do anything and instructions on what to do...

Microsoft:  Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center - "Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.


Apple: About Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007 - "Apple is providing software updates for Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4 and later based on worldwide time zone information available as of January 8, 2007. To make sure that your clock maintains the proper time, simply install the updates that are shown for your computer in Software Update. You should install these updates even if your computer is used in a time zone that is not affected."
 
 
Click here for prior blog resources artice: Daylight Saving Time Changes Starting In 2007
 

NOTE: If you have a legacy system for which there are no updates available, you are long overdue in seriously considering upgrading your system as you are exposing yourself, and those with whom you come in contact through your computer, to security risks and other problems that are no longer being addressed by updates and support.


 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
  
and visit Besthomes-NJ.com to shop for the latest New Jersey Real Estate property listings (Residential, Commercial, Multi-Family, Farm, Land).   
 
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  

This is the fourth in a series of reviews for real estate professionals of available online services for the listing and searching of commercial properties (and businesses)...
 
COMMREX, which stands for "Commercial Real Estate Exchange" is an commercial information exchange (CIE) property listing service. 
 
To list property you must become a member.  Generally that means going through a registration, payment (currently $79/year) and profile entry process, after which you then are able to add/modify listings.  Listings can be for sale or for lease, as CIMLS has separate search engines for each type of sale.  CIMLS also provides an option for "Special Purpose" listings, which includes Business Opportunities.   The standard member option allows you to place basic information about the property, up to 6 photos and two external links (one to a property web page and one to a virtual tour).
 
There is also another way to become a member, which I strongly recommend, is by becoming a member of the Real Estate Cyberspace Society (RECS).  Once you are a member of RECS, you can log in to the recyber.com site which will then give you direct links to a COMMREX page, allowing you to add/update your profile and real estate listings.  Any listings you add to COMMREX will show up in your RECS personal web page at recyber.com.
 
COMMREX allows you to post your property needs; attach a Virtual Tour to your property; upload photos (6 photos allowed for each property you post); have maps are freely pulled from MapQuest; obtain demographics pulled by Zipcode from the US Census Bureau and more.

There are also services offered for additional fees, including Featured Property and Banner Ad programs.

Feel free to share your own experiences and insight using this reviewed service.


Previous Review: CIMLS



Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
   
and visit BestProperties-NJ.com to learn more about our commercial services and resources.   
  
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

This is the third in a series of reviews for real estate professionals of available online services for the listing and searching of commercial properties (and businesses)...

CIMLS, which stands for "Commercial Investment Multiple Listing Service" is an open commercial real estate listing service that has a free (Basic) and a paid (Gold) member component.  (Click here for comparison of CIMLS membership features.)

After going through a registration and profile entry process, you then are able to add/modify listings.  Listings can be for sale or for lease, as CIMLS has separate search engines for each type of sale.  CIMLS also provides an option for listing just businesses.  The Basic member option allows you to place basic information about the property and one photo.

If you want to include additional photos and have the ability for priority placement of listing, lead tracking, view web activity statistics, receive 3 general leads per month, automatic alerts of properties matching your criteria, attach marketing "packages" (in the form of .pdf, .doc, or .xls  files) as well as property flyers, performa and other related information to your property -- you will need to become a paid Gold Member (currently running about $20/month).  Besides the standard Gold Member plan, there are also options to purchase additional leads, feature properties and obtain custom marketing services.

CIMLS has a lot of potential to grow, especially with it's low monthly fee and wide variety of types of sales it can handle.   There is no cost to search the full database of "For Sale" and "For Lease" listings. However, in comparison to LoopNet, it has a smaller subscriber and property listing database -- although it is growing.    CIMLS is currently not the first place most people think of looking, though it is one of the places you should access as there are commercial agents, depending on their market, who only list properties in CIMLS or use it as their primary listing service.
 
Feel free to share your own experiences and insight using this reviewed service.
 
 
Next Review: COMMREX
Previous Review: LoopNet
 
 
 
Visit my web site for additional services and support: LawrenceYerkes.com
   
and visit BestProperties-NJ.com to learn more about our commercial services and resources.   
  
Copyright 2007 by Timon, Inc. All Rights Reserved.