How to Effectively Park a Car

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A skilled driver is able to park his vehicle with ease in any parking space. Depending on the type of space provided, there are two techniques that can be used: parallel parking and angle parking. Here are the steps in parking your vehicle parallel to the curb.

Parallel Parking

1. Approach the parking space with your car situated about one to two feet to the left of the parked cars on your right.
2. Check traffic and give the proper signal for stopping.
3. Stop your vehicle beside the car in front of the space you will be using. Be sure your car is one to two feet from this vehicle, and have your rear bumper in line with the rear bumper of the other car.
4. After shifting to reverse, check oncoming traffic, and look over your right shoulder. Back slowly, turning your steering wheel rapidly to your right until you are at a 45 degree angle to the curb. Straighten your wheels and continue backing.
5. Continue this path (45 degrees) until the front bumper of your car is opposite the rear bumper of the car you are parking behind.
6. Turn your wheel sharply to the left while continuing to back slowly into the parking space.
7. Be sure you are watching the gap between your car and the vehicle behind you.
8. Move the car slowly forward, straightening the wheels as you go. Stop when your car is equally-spaced between the car in front and the car behind. There should be no more than nine inches between your right door and the curb.
9. Set the parking brake. Place the car in Park. Remove the key and lock the doors.

Once you have parked your car, the next procedure you must know is how to move your car out of the parking space and into the driving lane.

1. Keep your wheels straight, and back up until your rear bumper is almost touching the car behind.
2. Stop. Shift the car to Drive.
3. Check for oncoming traffic.
4. Signal for a left turn. In a line of parked cars, use your left arm for the signal to make sure you will be seen.
5. When the way is clear, start moving slowly forward, turning the steering wheel rapidly to the left.
6. When the front half of your car is in the right-hand traffic lane, begin turning the steering wheel to your right.

Check repeatedly to see that the right side of your car bumper does not strike the car in front of the parking space.

Many young drivers are worried by the above maneuver. Be sure you understand the above steps, and practice until you are competent in parallel parking.

Angle Parking

Angle Parking is another skill which all drivers must know. Knowing exactly at what point to turn the wheel is crucial, so follow the steps below carefully.

1. Check traffic and give the proper signal.
2. Approach the parking space with your car about five feet from the parked cars on your right.
3. When the front bumper is in line with the parking-space entrance, begin steering to your right.
4. Move slowly and steer carefully to be sure that the left edge of your front bumper does not strike the car to the left of the space, and the right side of your car does not strike the car to the left of the space, and the right side of your car does not strike the car on your right.
5. Watch the front end of your car, and be sure that your bumper is close to any barrier but not touching it. If there is a curb, ease your wheels close to it.
6. Set the parking brake.
7. Put the gear shift into the park position.

Leaving an angle parking-space is perhaps more hazardous than entering, because of the blind areas created by the cars to your right. Here is the recommended procedure to follow:

1. Shift to reverse. Check for traffic and pedestrians. Check blind spots.
2. Moving slowly and cautiously, inch the car backwards until you can be absolutely sure that the traffic is clear. Stop if a car is approaching.
3. When traffic permits, proceed straight back. As your front bumper passes the rear bumper of the car on your left, steer sharply to your right.
4. When your car is parallel to the edge of the street or road, stop, shift into drive, and proceed.

Parking on a Hill

Have you ever watched a car roll downhill with no driver? Your first instinct might be to laugh, but the realization of how dangerous it is soon follows. To avoid such a situation for your car, follow the next three rules carefully.

1. When you are parking uphill on a street with a curb, the front wheels should be pointed to the left. Put the car in park, and set the parking brake.
2. When you are parking downhill on a street with a curb, the front wheels should be pointed to the right. Put the gear selector in park, and set the parking brake.
3. When you are parking uphill or downhill on a road which does not have a curb, the front wheels should be pointed to the right. Put the car in park, and set the parking brake.

How to Deal With an Employee With an Attitude

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It doesn't take long for a manager to bump into an employee with an "attitude." Evaluating an employee as having an "attitude" also depends on what bothers a manager, as the same behavior may be just fine with another manager. Yet, there are certain behaviors that indicate that the employee is exhibiting behaviors that affect the working environment. So how do you, the manager handle this behavior in the most effective way?

==>Challenging Behaviors

--The employee is constantly socializing

--He/She is rude or inconsiderate to others

--If you ask them to handle something additional to their normal responsibilities, they are resistant or upset.

--Complains about the company or the job

--Sloppy performance

--Rolls their eyes or sighs when you or another person is speaking in your group.

--Chronic lateness

--Annoyed with the customers

--Knows it all...is not open to input by you.

--Is defensive

==>Create Clarity around the Issue

First, ask yourself how the behavior affects the business. For example, even if the employee is performing, chronic complaining affects you, co-workers and potentially customers. What you need to do is list the behavior, when the employee engages in it, and how it affects the business.

When managing your employees, you have to provide specific information to the employee, otherwise, they don't understand their behavior and how it affects the business.

How comfortable are you with perceived confrontation. Some managers are not willing to address the issue because they fear the discussion will demotivate the employee, don't know how to approach the subject or the employee will leave and the manager is left with unfinished work.

If you are a manager that feels uncomfortable with speaking to your employees about their behavior, take the time to find a solution to this issue.

Note: If the behavior elicited by the employee is new, then you need to handle this differently. Usually new behavior indicates a change in the employee's life or a change in the work environment. This is different then an employee who has a habit of negative behavior. Though in both cases, your goal is to understand and orchestrate the change in behavior.

==>Handling the Problem Behavior

--Create a list of situations where you have noticed inappropriate behavior by the employee. This is so you can understand better how to deal with the situation.

--If the employee has several behaviors that need to change, I would be selective and choose the most important issue. If you present several issues at once, it is too overwhelming and the likelihood is nothing will change.

--You need to be specific about the actual behavior because stating to the employee he/she has to change their "attitude" accomplishes nothing...they don't have tangible examples in order to change.

--Present the issue as this is a problem for me and I need your support in creating a solution. It's a different way to approach the situation, one that elicits the employee's help in the solution.

--If the employee becomes defensive, simply restate the issue. Here is where you need to exhibit calmness and clarity. If the employee continues to be defensive, then clearly state that this behavior has to change and you are willing to work with the employee to help them find a solution.

--Find a way to allow the employee to take responsibility for the solution. If they don't, it is likely that this issue will not be resolved. Brainstorm on how they can change the behavior, but always keep the desired behavior as the goal.

--If this is the first time you are discussing the issue with the employee, create notes for your files. If the behavior persists, then you will need to create a behavior improvement plan and formalize the process.

--Always schedule a follow up meeting within a short period (no more than a few weeks). If the employee has altered their behavior, I suggest you have one more meeting to insure that they are consistent. If their behavior has not changed, then you need to put in place a formal improvement plan.

==>Final Note

Most employees want to perform well and behave in appropriate ways. In managing employees, your focus is to set the standards and support them in meeting those standards. Their job is to meet or exceed the standards.

How to Configure a Windows 2003 Time Server

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All PC's have internal Real Time Clocks (RTC) that maintain time and date information. PC real time clocks are battery backed so that they can maintain time even when the PC is powered off. The PC Real Time Clock provides time and date information to operating system processes and user applications. Often this is adequate, however, for many applications PC time may need to be synchronised with other PC's on the network.

For transaction processing in a networked environment or for scheduling purposes, the system time and date may need to be synchronised with every other PC on the local network. Microsoft Windows 2003 has an integrated time service that provides synchronisation between PC's in a domain.

This article describes how the Windows 2003 Time Service synchronises time and date information on servers to a domain controller. It also describes how the Windows Time Service utilises the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to achieve network time synchronisation of servers in a domain.

In networked environments, a completely automated time synchronisation service is required to automatically set the clocks on each client to that of a master reference clock. The Windows 2003 Time Service provides such functionality. The service is installed by default on any Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 machine.

On power-up, the Windows 2003 time service starts automatically and attempts to synchronise time and date information with a domain controller using the NTP protocol. NTP is an Internet protocol developed for the transfer of accurate time. The protocol provides time offset information along with round-trip delay information in order to accurately synchronise time.

A domain controller can be configured as either a trusted or an un-trusted time reference. A Windows Time Client will always attempt to synchronise time periodically with a trusted domain controller. In this manner networked Windows 2003 servers maintain synchronisation with a domain controller and each other.

The global Windows 2003 time service configuration settings are set using group policy. The settings are obtained from registry entries, which are located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Time. Below is a description of some of the more useful configuration settings.

The 'AnnounceFlags' registry entry indicates whether the server is a trusted time reference. Set the 'AnnounceFlags' registry entry to 5 indicating a reliable time reference. The 'Type' registry entry specifies which network peers to accept synchronisation. Set the 'Type' registry entry to 'NTP' to specify synchronization to a NTP time server.

The 'SpecialPollInterval' entry defines the period in seconds that the Windows 2003 operating system should poll the time server. A recommended value is 900, which equates to a polling period of every 15 minutes. The 'NtpServer' parameter is used to provide domain names or IP addresses of NTP time servers that the operating system can synchronize to. Each domain name or IP address should be separated by a space.

Dave Evans is a technical author with a background in Microsoft Windows time server solutions, reference clocks and telecommunications. Dave provides a technical authoring service to NTP server manufacturers. Dave has also provided a configuration, installation and repair service for time synchronisation systems. Click here fo find out more about Windows 2003 time server solutions.