Aside from the fact that you’ll need 35 contact hours to sit for the exam, studying for the PMP exam itself is a project unto itself. Just like most certification exams, you have three basic ways of preparing for the exam: traditional classroom based training, online courses and self study. But don’t feel limited to just one. Many people who have passed the exam have used a combination of these.

Option 1: Classroom Based Training requires the least amount of self discipline and comes in a variety of flavors. Your local Project Management Institute (PMI) chapters and PMI “Registered Education Providers” (REPs) offer workshops, boot camps and classes specifically designed to teach not only what you must know, but how you will be asked to demonstrate it. Make sure your teacher is a PMP; taking the exam is an experience unto itself, and you want to know that your instructor has “been there/done that.” Classroom Based Training can account for all or part of your thirty-five (35) contact hours required to sit for the PMP exam.

Option 2: Online courses are great for people on the go and are usually less expensive than classroom based training because of the course provider’s lower overhead. They are usually much cheaper than instructor lead classroom courses. This option requires a medium amount of self discipline in that you have the flexibility of studying within your schedule. Online course usually offer a combination of webinars that you watch, web pages that you read, and documents that you download to study.

Some have deadlines, and some do not, so though you have the freedom to complete sections on your own you’ll need a medium amount of self discipline to insure that you finish within the time allowed by you or the requirements of the course itself. Like the Classroom Based Training, online courses can account for all or part of your thirty-five (35) contact hours required to sit for the PMP exam. If this is important in your plan, be sure to confirm before you sign on the dotted line.

Option 3: Self Study is the least expensive and therefore the most common way that people study for the PMP Exam and requires the most self discipline. The good things about this method are that you’ll save money and you to prepare on your own time. That also means you’ll need to be motivated.

The biggest road blocks you’ll face using this method is that you’ll have to create your own lesson plan and schedule, and you’ll have to evaluate and buy your own materials. If you’re dedicated and focused, this is a great way to prepare. Furthermore, self-study cannot be counted towards the 35 contact hour requirement. You must use classroom or online training for that.

Regardless of which method you choose, most successful people who pass the PMP exam supplement self-study preparation with at least a classroom and/or an online course. With the advent of portable media players such as the iPod, iPhone, Blackberry and Zune, many choose a combination of online training and self-study: Downloadable videocast and/or podcast courses allowing you to take the material with you and study anywhere and anytime. It’s a very powerful, cost effective and goal oriented solution.

About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 10,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com and he guides PMI credential holders on earning PDUs with The PDU Insider at http://www.pdu-insider.com.

Right, it almost seemed that the trailer was gonna go the entire distance, and in this age of blogging, the shorter the better, as the time we have is finite, and most of us feel crunched for it. Gmail has exploited the lack of time through its latest feature, Priority Inbox. Basically, their system evaluates the email that lands in my inbox as important or unimportant. The algorithm keeps track of my reading behavior and the emails that I open are considered important and the ones that I mass delete is considered unimportant. None of the emails are deleted or trashed in the process. Gmail displays priority emails on the top while the rest follow the bureaucrats.

If Gmail can exploit a common situation with a solution that can save us tons of time, and to utilize it on things that matter, so can we in our lives. We deal with hundreds of activities in a day, and we only have 24 hours. Between a third and half of the time goes towards chores such as sleep, bathing, pooping, eating and other things our bodies and minds are used to. We are left with around 12 hours which we need to utilize in working – full time takes away two thirds of it, and your productive time is left to a small fraction of the entire day. How do you utilize the most of it?

Prioritize the activities you have to do, and start performing the activities that are most essential and move down the ladder. This will ensure that things that matter to you get achieved, and this, according to me, gives you maximum satisfaction. Even Pareto agrees with me. 80% of our work gets done with the top 20% of the activities we are entrusted with. So, why not concentrate on the toppers rather than the losers on your list?

I have a system which I use to prioritize my activities on a weekly basis, and pro rate it on a daily basis. I maintain three lists; must dos, should dos and can dos. As the name suggests, must dos are most important to me, and accounts to around 20% of my total activities, and I derive most pleasure by doing it. Examples are learning, working out, writing and a couple other personal ones. Within the list, I give grades to each of my activities to further prioritize them on the order of completion. An example could be grade A for writing, grade B for working out, you get the idea right! Now, my first priority in a day is to write rather than work out. I will write first and then move towards working out followed by learning and the rest on the list.

The should do list is the biggest of ‘em all. Mathematically, it accounts between top 30 and 80% of my total list of activities. They are important but if I don’t do it during that particular period, nobody is going to hang me for it. A should do activity might elevate in rank to must do in the succeeding cycles, and that is dependent on expected outcome of the activity. Examples could be investing in stocks, shopping for books and paying bills. Further, this list is ordered and grades are drawn to determine which ones get done first.

The final list is the bottom 30% of my activities and I call it can dos. It is a nice-to-do list and the outcome rarely accounts to any form of physical or mental satisfaction. Examples in my life include cleaning my car, having salad for dinner or balancing my financial statements. Rarely, very rarely, the activities here move up to the must do list, and most of them move into the should do list. I look at my can do list only on the weekends, and that too, if my should do bin is empty.

Prioritizing my activities has helped me immensely in completing my goals, and I am sure you can leverage on it too to move towards your dream. Who can dare say dreams are a mere figment of imagination?

I want to introduce two new words : abase and abate. They are rhyming and four of the five characters are the same. They refer to the same action, but they are worlds apart. I am not trying to be philosophical here, cutting to the chase!

Abase means degrade or belittle the subject at hand. Abate indicates reduction or something that is lessening or subsiding.

Huh! It has probably crossed your mind that both are the same, and am I nuts! So why not say abase = abate?

I am an IT professional and a geek at heart. I will get a little technical here and give you the fine dust between the two words. When we use the word abase, we are referring to a reduction in quality while abate is all about quantity. So, any referral to quality degradation, the word we need to use is abase while quantity reduction brings in its twin, abate.

What a coincidence? Quality and quantity differ by a single character. Does it remind you of something?

I can probably live with an abatement in the frequency of articles I post on my blog, but can never imagine abasing it for the heck of quantity.

1. China

Population: 1330.1 million ( 1.3 billion)
Internet users: 420 million

China is anybody’s guess. With the highest population, and an intellectual population, they were bound to ride atop on any given day. No wonder, Google and other majors bow down before the great wall of china and adhere to all their intimidation policies.

2. United States

Population: 307.2 million
Internet users: 234.4 million

Right on the money again! These are the people who invented most things in our modern lives and why the heck are they in second place. Oh yeah! They don’t reproduce like pigs.

3. Japan

Population: 126.8 million
Internet users: 99.1 million

Surprise! Surprise!

4. India

Population: 1173.1 million (1.2 billion)
Internet users: 81 million

India was my no.3, but nevertheless, they are behind a minute nation. India’s ranking will change in the next three years. My bet is on no.3, and give another decade, US will follow India. But, I do not believe that India will be able to cross the great wall of China.

5. Brazil

Population: 198.7 million
Internet users: 72 million

Most users follow soccer fans alone.

6. Germany

Population: 152.2 million
Internet users: 44 million

Now I know why there are so many email scams originating from this poor African nation. The art of making money is a gift endowed upon them and they pay taxes too.

11. South Korea

Population: 89.6 million
Internet users: 24.3 million

To surmise, Patrick Lanigan is a partner at a law firm handling a case aimed to defraud the US government worth millions. Other partners in the firm keep him out of it and plan to unceremoniously kick him out of the partnership.

Patrick gets the hint, and clandestinely tapes discussions around the case. He mocks his death, steals one of the partner’s identities and wires the money to his overseas bank account. He changes his facial features, gets a new name and a Brazilian passport and makes Ponta Porã his new home.

Private investigators hired by those who lost the money find Patrick and torture him for the money trail. The entire sum of stolen money is handled by his girlfriend cum Brazilian lawyer Eva. He spills the beans but in the meantime, FBI steps in and gets him deported to the US.

The rest of the story revolves around how Patrick manages to free himself legally without spending a single day in prison. Oh! I forgot to mention that he was booked for capital murder as well.

I like the story, the development and the characters. John has a knack for keeping readers on their toes and his descriptions of the environment and thoughts amazes me and I badly want to imitate him in my writing adventures. I will think about it when I hold the pen.

John has a weakness. He likes to end stories with a twist, an unwanted one at that. And, this final twist is good for the twisted minds. I did not like the climax in this story and I share the feeling with The Appeal as well. I wish he writes keeping his audience in mind and not aim to throw sad endings for the sake of surprises.

Vaseline has recently launched a fairness cream for men in India and this app will certainly bring them the moolah. More than anything else, the technique and strategy employed in this regard should be applauded and it makes the product worth a buy.

The app does more. It has a social networking feature — after you create a new, fairer avatar of yourself, you can share it with friends and create a gallery with a variety of images to be displayed on your Facebook profile page. What this means is obvious: Vaseline wants to remove whatever taboo is left in the usage of these creams.

The fairness obsessed country is digging hard into the app and 600+ fans have thronged it since its launch.

So, the next time you see a pic on facebook, especially from India, imagine him or her to be two to three shades darker, and the situation can be quite embarrassing for the person who has gone through trial by app, and the whole saga is an open secret of sorts.

India is not a racist country, everybody here emerges from the same race. But, the race to white-dom will see the fairer skins will achieve lot more in industries where skin color does matter.

via technology blog

Just do what you do. The easiest way to earn PDUs is to leverage what you currently do. Here is the short list of PDU eligible activities that might already be part of your professional life:

1. Your day job (PDU Category 2H)

If you work as a Project Manager this is probably the easiest way to tick off up to 25% of the PDUs you’ll need at the end of the recertification cycle. If you are a practitioner of project management services for at least 1,500 hours each calendar year, you can claim up to 5 PDUs per year for a maximum total of 15 PDUs per three year period. (See http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf#page=38)

2. Take a quiz! (PDU Category 3)

Did you know you can earn up to one third of your PDUs by taking the PMI publication quizzes? The member price is only $15 per quiz. Score a 70% or higher and you will earn from 1 to 2 PDUs depending on the individual quiz and the CCR requirement you are trying to fulfill. (See http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/PMI-Publication-Quizzes.aspx)

3. PDUs that go wherever you go (PDU Category 3)

The PDU Podcast™ delivers a variety of topics by a variety of presenters to your personal media player; whenever and wherever you want them. As a PMI Registered Education Provider (REP’s), there is no limit to how many PDU Podcast™ Category 3 PDUs you can earn. This subscription keeps you on track with fresh content delivered consistently and reliably month in and month out. (See www.pducast.com)

4. Free PDUs (PDU Category 2)

The Project Management Podcast™ is a free subscription that delivers a new podcast every so often to its subscribers. Like the PDU Podcast™, The Project Management Podcast™ has a variety of topics presented but it may take a couple of episodes to equal one PDU if the programs are shorter than the 1 hour needed per PDU. It’s important to remember also that Category 2-SDL PDUs has a limit of 15 PDUs maximum per 36 month period. (See http://www.project-management-podcast.com/pdu)

5. Watch a Movie

“Project Movie: A Practical Application of the PMBOK® Guide—Fourth Edition” delivers 15 PDUs in the form of a movie via the internet to your home. It’s available on the PMI.org at a cost of $500 to PMI members. Well, I didn’t say it was cheap. I just said it was easy. (See http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Web-Based-Self-Study.aspx)

6. Formal Academic Training (PDU Category 1)

Formal Academic educational courses related to Project Management can earn you 10 to 15 PDUs per semester. It’s probably the easiest of all the categories, so long as you are not financially challenged. Even if you are, there may well be project management related courses being offered at the community college that are more economical than the state and private collegiate institutions. The transcript or grade report is required for confirmation. (See http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf#page=37)

7. Turning CEU’s into PDUs (PDU Category1)

Like Formal Academic Training, Continuing Education (CE) can be submitted for PDUs. Unlike Formal Academic Training, CE’s are courses that comply with IACET standards. CEU’s (Continuing Education Units) can be converted to PDUs; generally at a ratio of 1 CEU to 10 PDUs. Your best bet is to confirm with the provider that the course you are interested in complies with the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard. (See http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf#page=36)

8. Volunteer Service to Professional or Community Organizations (PDU Category 5)

If you already attend your PMI chapter’s monthly meeting, you’re earning up to 1 PDU for the presentation. Did you know you could be earning additional PDUs for attending that same meeting by joining the registration, finance, internal marketing and/or meeting committees? Contact your local Chapter’s for more details. A maximum of 20 PDUs may be earned through professional service or by providing non-compensated professional PM Service to non-employer or non-client customer groups.

A letter or certificate from the organization acknowledging the participation is required for confirmation. (To find your local PMI chapter, go to http://www.pmi.org/GetInvolved/Pages/PMI-Chapters.aspx)

9. Knowledge Sharing (PDU Category 2)

Authoring or co-authoring an article which is published in a ‘refereed’ journal, earns you 30 PDUs for author and 20 PDUs for co-author. If published in a ‘non-refereed’ journal, you can earn 15 PDUs for author and 10 for co-author. (See http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf#page=38)

10. Self-Study (PDU Category 2-SDL)

Discussions or coaching sessions with colleagues or clients that put to use informational materials such as CD-ROMs, articles, books, videos or instructional manuals can earn up to 15 PDUs per three year period through self directed learning. This includes personally conducting project management research or a study, coaching sessions with people in your professional network (colleagues, clients, coworkers, etc). Reading applicable studies, books, blogs, and listening to audio books would all fall under this category. Copies of publications, sample education material or program agendas are required for confirmation. (See http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf#page=38)

So there you have it….

No matter what your budget or your learning media preference, these 10 Easy ways are waiting to help you amass the 60 PDUs for your recertification. Whichever route you take, keep consistent and remember to have some fun with it.

About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 10,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast at http://www.pm-prepcast.com and he guides PMI credential holders on earning PDUs with The PDU Insider at http://www.pdu-insider.com.

If you are putting in money to purchase land, or into stocks, gold or anything else that has the potential of growing the money invested in, can be considered an asset.

If you are to grow financially, assets are your means. Any amount of money you invest will start to sweat, and work towards increasing its value, and raising the $$$ component. Well, it depends on your choice of investment and some asset options are risky and during the process of trying to appreciate the value, the tide could very well turn against you. Equities are most certainly risky while other form of investments such as government bonds are safe as a bank. But, the appreciation (or depreciation) value of your assets are higher if risks are higher and vice versa.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have liabilities. Expenditures such as purchasing commodities like cars and clothing, dining out and charity take the money out of your pockets forever. It definitely does not grow your money, the best it can do is to depreciate the value. Most liabilities annul the $$$ that leave your pocket.

The secret to growing your finances is to increase your assets and to keep the liabilities to a bare minimum. Liabilities are needed but smartly choosing them is the secret to success. Assets grow your money value. Try to accumulate as much as you can. It can never be too much. At the same time, ensure that you smartly choose the kind of assets you want to invest in.

The flying car is christened Terrafugia Transition and will see the light of day sometime during the last quarter of 2011. It is expected to cost $195,500 and the company is asking for $10,000 deposit up front. When the car is airborne, the speed of the vehicle is estimated at 115 mph. The car is powered by 100 hp Rotax 912S engine with a payload of around 430 lbs.

The technology and production are in place, and the only other deterrent seems to have paved way as well. US Federal Air Authority have provided a special weight exemption for the Terrafugia Transition. This is an important thing to note because it is usually difficult to obtain a street-legal car manufacturing license in the US due to higher safety measures, and the Terrafugia Transition seems to have managed to get it.

via Tech Pedia

To adumbrate the story, Teddy is an US marshal and is investigating a missing patient in a mental hospital on an island off of Boston. He is accompanied by his new found partner, Chuck. They start to investigate, and all clues point at Dr.Cawley as the culprit. He is the head doctor and his account of the patient and his actions are dubious. The rest of the story goes about how Teddy investigates.

If you plan on reading the novel or watching the movie, do not read any further.

Right, as the investigation carries on, Teddy starts to lose his confidence and finally, his partner. He finally finds the patient Rachel Solando who advises him to escape and tells him that she was a doctor here , and when she resisted the practices conducted here, Dr.Cawley drugged her and declared that she was medically insane, and dangerous. She further adds that Teddy is probably getting drugged too and will meet the same fate as her.

Teddy confronts the doctor, and tries to kill him. After the melee, Chuck walks in and announces himself to be another doctor in this institution. Dr.Cawley reveals that Teddy has been here for the past two years and is a patient having killed his wife. The staff here decided to play a part in his insanity hoping that he would turn around back to his true senses.

I could not not-think about anything else until I finished the last chapter in the book. It kept me engrossed and while I was in the midst, I started to imagine the possible endings and the one in the book is not what I envisioned. I like it. It’s a must read, and there’s a graphic novel available as well.