Everything you need to know.

A team building event is not so easy to organize.  Not only must it be a nice day out, it must also be suitable for the majority of your employees. There are some things you should think about carefully.

Team building: take everyone into account

First and foremost you should think carefully about the purpose of the team building event.

Do you have something to celebrate like an anniversary or record performance? In that case you need the entire staff and maybe many more people such as customers or suppliers. That is not the ideal situation for a team building event. It is important to keep the goal of the event in mind and adapt to it.

How much will it cost?

The cost for a corporate event can be very diverse, and the budget can easily get out of control if you do not keep a close eye on it! Ultimately it all depends on whether you want the whole enchilada with bells on. A full dinner with a party afterwards is quite different in terms of budget than a game of paintball.

What do your employees think?

Never lose sight of the preferences of your employees. For a team building event to succeed, you must ensure that you can meet everyone's expectations.

If there is only one activity in which everyone must participate, half of your employees might not like it. If you combine two things (add a dinner party, or a combination of different team building activities), your employees will be happier.

You can also hire an external service to organize everything from A to Z . Of course, even that doesn't guarantee your event will be successful

Do you go to a diamond store or do you shop online? Is it so easy to buy diamonds in a responsible way?
Historically, buying diamonds is actually not that difficult. If you wanted to get a diamond engagement ring or a pair of diamond earrings or a bracelet, you would just go to your favorite local diamond store and pick something out quietly.

Diamond shopping?

In the past 30 years, however, there has been much evolution in the diamond business, so now you can take that scenario with a grain of salt. Today it is up to you, the diamond jewelry shopper, to play a much more active role in this procurement process.

You had better do your homework before proceeding to make a purchase...

The 4 basic elements that determine the price of diamonds are fairly simple to understand. But as so often happens, once you go beyond the basics, there is an information overload and it all becomes much more complicated.

Diamonds: the basics

The 4 components of the price of a diamond formats are Clarity, Carat, Color and Cut.

In your search for the perfect diamond or diamond jewelry it's always better to not allow yourself to be distracted by the vague promise of lower prices.
In general, the following rule applies: you get what you pay for. Your local jeweler uses mostly higher diamond prices (sometimes even mutually agreed between various stores or chains!).

it's always best to ask for an estimation performed by an independent expert before buying anything. Sometimes you can even get a free independent valuation carried out - at the expense of the jeweler. You can also ask whether they offer free check-ups or cleaning of the jewelry, and whether there is a lifetime warranty for damage or loss. Some stores even offer free measure adjustments.

Online diamond retailers can sometimes be an attractive alternative to traditional jewelers. They usually offer quality diamonds at affordable prices, along with the ability to place the diamond in a basic setting.
It requires more research work on the part of the buyer. It's always risky to buy a product that you haven't seen in person, you have to be very careful about this kind of thing!

Do you think you have enough knowledge about diamonds? Do you trust the company that sells them? It's certainly an acceptable alternative. You can find some more information here: diamant kopen

Well, ok, in my case a ‘ship’ is saying a lot... I have a small boat in need of some repairs, but while researching the best way to do it I stumbled upon underwater ship repair and it caught my attention. So maybe with any luck it will capture your attenion as well!

So, there are companies out there that offer underwater ship repair services.

As you can probably well imagine, for the people involved in this it’s actually one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, right up there with working on a drilling platform.

So you can understand that only extremely specialized organizations perform this kind of service. I read up on it and found that these kinds of operations perform the following operations:

Repairs to the hull: these guys execute hull repairs while the ship is in the water, even repairs the waterline.
Underwater welding: they call these “wet welds”, this method can guarantee the structural integrety of the welded plates even when it’s done below the waterline!
Propeller polishing: apparently a poorly maintained propeller can increase fuel savings. So have your propeller polished guys (bad pun unintended).
Underwater inspections: certified divers take can survey the state of repair your ship is in while they are in the water.
Salvage: Salvage operations (wreck removal or recovery of sunken vessels) are by necessity an underwater occupation, that much is obvious
Propeller repairs: they can also repair or replace your propeller while onderwater

Well, I hope that that was as instructive to you as it was to me!

Did you ever get stuck at an airport waiting for a taxi? Maybe you ended up taking a non-licensed taxi who made you pay five times what the trip was worth?

As this should be avoided at all costs, we're reviewing a number of taxi services from Brussels which can get you from and to Zaventem airport. Today we're taking a look at Taxi Verts.

This taxi company is currently the market leader in Brussels, and they have existed for over a hundred years. With a pool of just about 450 taxis there is usually one at work right in your neighborhood, so you never have to wait long for them. Most of the time you can have one at your door within five to fifteen minutes. So there is no need to call and book in advance, but if you want to you can even book a full week in advance!

Ever got stuck in traffic while going to the airport, just to find that upon arrival it's impossible to find a parking space? Get a cab, you'll simply be dropped off at the door thus saving precious time.

It's also worth mentioning that you can get a 'return trip' discount if you book a return trip with Taxi Verts. Just tell them when they have to pick you up upon returning from your trip, what could be easier, right? Or just call them 10 minutes before you arrive, alternatively. Upon your return the driver will be waiting at the arrival gate with a sign with your name on it.

The taxi service is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Apart from the 450 regular taxis there are also 70 cars for the disabled in circulation, with room for a wheelchair and three additional people. There is no extra fee charged for these cars!

Looking for a taxi to drive you to or from the airport in Zaventem? For the residents of Brussels or tourists visiting Brussels Taxi Verts is definitely the cheapest and fastest way to get there!

You can click on the following link for more information: taxi Zaventem.

Ever been to a bacheror party when your best friend got married? Or have you ever participated in organizing a bachelor party?

For the most part, entire-day bachelor parties consist of two parts. The day or afternoon is often spent with different games, chores or challenges organized especially for the guest of honor. In the evening the party generally moves on to a bar of sorts, albeit with or without the participation of some 'female performers' (wink wink).

When you put it like that, it all sounds amazingly simple. But make no mistake, organizing a bachelor party that occupies a full day day or an afternoon is NOT as simple as it seems.
The entire process must be carefully plannedafter all, several activitieshave to be booked and organized, and of course some basic ground rules need to be decided on.

In reality, more often than not these bachelor parties are at best poorly organized event which leave the participants slightly disappointed afterwards, or even occasionally plunge headlong into disaster! It comes down to the fact that not everyone was born to be a party planner...

And then there was Lamosca, an inventor of GPS-based city games. Their basic idea is quite simple, but it's a nice one: they plan city games you can do using the GPS on your mobile phone or smartphone.

They basically created a fun and interactive way to spend a bachelor party without having to go through the trouble of inventing one for yourself!

"The Target" is one of their most popular citygames. During this game, the bachelor plays the part of a dangerous escaped gangster, while his friends play the role of police officers who are hunting the bachelor down. Fun is guaranteed when an exciting cat-and-mouse game pursuit ensues.

For those who are interested, all necessary information about the Lamosca citygames for bachelors can be found here: enterrement de vie de garcon.

Relationship problems: we've all been there in our past our current relationships.  How can we avoid them? Here are 3 quick tips that can help.

1) Accept your partner for who he/she is

When we first fall in love, we don't see the little negative traits of character that might frustrate us later on. We are blinded by love, and have our heads up the clouds. When we get to know our partners better, after months or even years, we realize that there are certain things we just don't want...So we try to change them. We can have arguments about habits our partners have, political vieuws, or even just plain taste in furniture...

2) Accept advice from others : therapy or councelling

Sometimes, it helps to have a third person open your eyes to things you just aren't doing right. After all, nobody taught you how to have a relationship. So why not accept help from a professional? Places that offer training and personal sessions on how to have succesful relationships exist. A great resource for relatietherapie can often be found closer than you think.

The important thing to realize is that the negative and positive things make up the character of the person we love as a whole. It is hence very important that we keep an open attitude, and accept our partners for the person they are, without trying to change them.

3) We are dishonest about physical needs, or don't talk about hem.

It can happen after a while that the initial, fiery love-making full of passion subsides. This can happen when having small children, having busy careers, and so on. The important thing to do here is to talk to your partner when this happens...Do you feel like there could be more passion in the relationship? Do you miss it? Talk to your partner in an honest, open way. Take it as an opportunity to perhaps book a romantic weekend! It is highly likely that your partner feels the same way. Rather than be frustrated and not say anything because we think we might hurt out partners, we actively talk and come to a solution...

Bachelor parties usually consist of heavy drinking and getting the bachelor to do all sorts of stupid stuff, preferably while taking masses of pictures.  Planning all the stupid stuff they have to do however, can be quite a hassle. That's why a a company in Belgium has come up with adventure style GPS based games, just for what they call a vrijgezellenfeest. These games are perfect to have lots of fun stuff to do with your bachelor.

The US has know this product for a while - hair mascara to cover roots of grey hair.  Like a normal mascara, the product consists of a small brush you can use to touch up to whiskers.

The hair mascara is especially popular with women why color their hair - which is kind of obvious. These are the ones most likely to get grey hairs. Now it seems this product is being imported into Europe also, through the website espacenanas.be  - meaning "space for chicks.be".  The product will first be imported into Belgium, as this is where it is being shipped from and distribution costs need to stay low at first in the testing. So basically, the french belgian will have a way of hiding their "cheveux blancs " (french for white hair) pretty soon now also!

We're quite curious to see how the product will take off. Some people say it's kind of fry, which isn't a good thing off course...We'll see! Maybe it will take off!

If you've been watching the telly every now and then, you'll no doubt realize that Brussels and europe are highly related.  Most summits, big meetings and conferences happen in Brussels, that tiny little capital of Belgium that doesn't have a government since a year and a half. This also means that most eu offices are based in brussels, around the socalled european quarter.

being based in brussels also, and working in the digital media sector, I can see the rising demand for digital presence and social media awareness across eu institutions and businesses. It seems everyone is getting interns to tweet, put things on facebook and basically pretend to be social.  A lot of work is still to be done though - there are only a few companies who have really embraced the digital possibilties of today. One of those companies is viEUws - a company providing a platform for debate on EU affairs by interviewing politicians and commissioners and putting these on their website.

With demand rising, I believe platforms like this will become more and more popular across the EU political landscape. A lot of expertise is still missing though, making the Brussels EU region a prime locations for businesses active in digital marketing.

Buying a new laptop isn't easy. What do we have to watch out for?

First of all, you need to think about the use of the thing. Are you a gamer or are you going to use it for working? Next, you need to find out if there is warranty on the product. Will it be quickly fixed if your kid vomits all over it? Is the warranty included on the battery? Do you have to send it for repair yourself?

Also important is knowing whether the product has a decent windows licence, and what accessories come with it.  You see, buying laptops ai'nt easy.  More on the topic of buying laptops can be found on laptop kopen , if you speak dutch, that is.