Financial Tools Helpful?

Well, no, not really. I understood the instructions after working my way through them, but I could not open the tutorial for adding my spreadsheet. There were no new tools that I used in this project that I would use in the future.

Biggest Dreams?

I’m really not sure what they are! I’ve always thought that owning a small resort-style hotel would be neat, but that would cost around 30 million and is just way too unfeasible. I would also like to start a sea-turtle research center on a Caribbean island that does not already have one. I could get grants from the US government since it is dealing with protected species, and offer tours to tourists to raise more income. To do that I would need an actual office with an extra area for displays, educational activities, and a few rescued sea turtles. Also, I would need a boat with all sorts of different equipment. It wouldn’t be all that difficult, I suppose, funding would be difficult and vary greatly from island to island. I would need an island that is popular among cruise ships, to raise money via tours, but one that has a strong sea turtle population. St Martin would probably be the best choice. They have a marine education program but not a sea turtle specific program. Widecast.org provides the basic equipment to fledgling groups free of charge, and the Caribbean Conservation Fund also gives large grants to support research. I would use my personal knowledge from working with the St Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network to guide myself through the different research processes. It’s just difficult to tell if I could actually be self sufficient without winning a multi-million dollar lottery.

Below is a list of my current finances. My wife and I are both in school and neither of us are actually making money. We live off of student loans and credit cards and will continue doing so until she graduates in 2009.

ANNUAL EXPENSE REPORT

Description                                          Income                                    Expense

Food		13600
Clothing		250
Utilities		1440
Cell Phone		420
Entertainment		600
Miscellaneous		1200
Medical		1500
Rent		7800
Credit Cards		1800
Student Loans	25000
Totals:	25000	28610

Below is a list of probable incomes and expenses as a result of doing sea turtle research and ecotourism. A big part of the plan would be grants, which are difficult to correctly predict but after a few years of being involved in grant writing I am using my own experience as a basis for extablishing the monetary values of grant and tourism income.

Description	Minimal	Moderate	Top
Boat (1 time)	($15,000)	($29,000)	($250,000)
Office Space	($1,500/ month)	($3,000/ Month)	($5,000/ month)
Advertisement	($500/ Month)	($2,500/ Month)	($4,000/ month)
Transportation Expenses (car and boat, including gas and repairs)	($500/ month)	($600/ month)	($1,200/ month)
BASIC Laboratory Equipment and Supplies	($1,000 +50/month)	($2,000 +50/month)	($6,000 +50/month)
Educational Programs/Classes	($200)/month	($500)/month	($800)/month
TOTAL Expenses:	($16,000 + 2,750/month)	($31,000 + 6,650/month)	($256,000 + 11,050/month)
Grants (US Gov, French Gov, Widecast, CCC, SWOT)	$5,000	$30,000	$30,000
Tours of Nesting Beaches and Foraging Grounds	$4,000/month average	$6,000/month average	$9,000/month average
Donations	$500/month	$1,600/month	$3,000/month
TOTAL Income:	$5,000 start-up + $4,500/month	$30,000 start-up + $7,600/month	$30,000 start-up + $12,000/month
ALL TOTAL:	($11,000) but + $1,750/month	($1,000) but + $950/month	($226,000) but + $950/ month

 As you can see, buying the expensive boat model doesn’t actually make me much more money than a basic boat. That is because I would not need to travel overnight on the ocean, sleep, or shower on the boat. A basic model would be fine for 3-4 hour tours and research excursions. I would save on living expenses by staying at the office, and this would be an added security benefit. Laboratory expenses would be limited to a freezer, centrifuge, microscope, and basic blood drawing equipment. Advertisement would range from newspaper ads and hotel fliers to internet sites and cruise ship concierge arrangements. The only thing about doing this type of endeavor are the untangibles like political involvement, grant acceptance, number of volunteers, etc. It is always more difficult to organize something when you are not an actual citizen of the country you are in.

Teach-REPORT

My goodness, I think I did a lot more work than what was required. I really would rather have done the instructional module on Wiki-How, but I could not get the numbering system to start over in the middle of the page despite me painstakingly deleting them as I typed. Eventually, I did my project on WordPress and I am really starting to feel comfortable using WordPress. I learned how to type in blue and resize pictures down to 5kb. I tried using Flickr itself for the module, but that was only partially successful as you can see here. My Wiki-How page, or rather the lack of, can be seen here. I tried Myspace, but they required an uploading tool to be downloaded, and I am unable to download software because my personal computer is being repaired. I tried Expert Village, but they only wanted video modules. I did not create modules on Myspace or Expert Village. I think Expert Village is a neat web site, though.

Feel free to read my introduction, and the rest of the module as well. Please note that the entry titles  are on more than page and numbered in sequential order.

Flickr Account (11)- To Learn More…

To learn more about the different Flickr options:

1. Go to your main page and click on “Explore” from the top of the page.
2. Choose from a wide variety of options to explore, including: calendars, world maps, camera finders, most popular, most recent, doing more with your photos, and exploring more Flickr services.
3. Enjoy your account!

Flickr Account (10)- How to Join a Group

 How to join a group.

1. Now that you have opened your account, uploaded pictures, and invited friends, you might want to join a group.
2. Joining a group allows people with similar interests to share pictures. To join a group, first go to your main page.
3. Click on “Groups” at the main page and then “Search Groups” from the drop down menu.
4. Type in the kind of group you would like to join and click “Search”
5. Browse through the listings until you find one that you like. Click on the title of the group to open their page.
6. From the group’s home page, click “Join This Group?” and you will be joined to that group!
7. It’s that easy! Flickr is very user friendly!

Flickr Account (9)- How to Invite Your Friends

How to invite your friends.

1. You have uploaded pictures and now you may want to invite your friends. First, make sure you are at your main page.
2. Click on “Contacts” at the top of the page. This opens a drop down menu.
3. From the drop down menu, click “Invite Your Friends”.
4. Enter the email address and the name of the person you are inviting.
5. Select the privacy rating for the person as either “friend”, “family”, or you may select both.
6. This sends an email to the person and invites them to join you on Flickr at no charge. The person must sign up for a Flickr account in order to join you.
7. Invite as many as you want! To check the status of your invites, just click “Contacts” at the top of the page and then “Invite History”.

Flickr Account (8)- How to Upgrade to a Flickr Pro Account

How to upgrade to a Flickr Pro account.

1. Now that you have learned the basics of Flickr, you may want to upgrade tons of cool pictures! Unfortunately, you can only upload the first 100mb free of charge. To make your account have unlimited storage space, you will need to pay an annual fee of $24.95.
2. From your main page, click on “You” to open the drop down menu.
3. Choose “Your Account” from the drop down menu.
4. Click on “Upgrade”
5. Click on “Buy Now”
6. You have the option of choosing a two year account for $47.95. Make your choice and click “OK! I’m Ready to Pay”
7. You can pay by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express
8. Confirm your ID and type in your password.
9. Type in your billing information, click “Continue”
10. Confirm your purchase by clicking “Place Order” and then “OK”
11. You now have unlimited storage!

Flickr Account (7)- How to geo-tag your photos

How to geo-tag your photo

1. From your main page, click “Organize” to open a drop down menu.
2. From this drop down menu, either click “all of your pictures” or “recently uploaded pictures” to be more specific.
3. A new web page will open up, click “Map” at the top of the screen.
4. You will need to set your privacy rating. The recommended setting is “public”. This does not make your picture public, just the location of the picture is made public. Click “Set Permission” and then “OK”
5. On the right hand side of the screen, you can see a control bar that enables you to zoom in or out of any region. Zoom in to where you want your picture location to be.
6. Place the cursor over the desired picture, click once and hold. The picture will now “drag” wherever you want to place it.
7. Move the picture over the desired location and release the mouse button. The picture is now “mapped” or “geo-tagged”.

Flickr Account (6)- Uploading Photos

Uploading a photo

1. Go to Flickr.com and sign in.
2. Click “You” and a drop down menu will appear.
3. Click “Upload Photos” from this drop down menu.
4. Click “Choose Photos”. There is a 10mb limit per photo.
5. Find the pictures you want to submit and click on them. If you would like to upload more than one at a time, click “Add More” for each additional photo.
6. When done choosing pictures, select the privacy rating as either public, private only you can see them, private only friends can see them, private only family can see them, or private only friends and family can see them.
7. Click “Upload Photos”
8. Flickr allows an incredibly high range of formats to download from. As long as your picture is in some sort of image format other than mac, and is not more than 10mb per image, Flickr will download it! I have never found an image that Flickr wouldn’t download.
9. Your photo(s) are now uploaded! You now want to describe your new photo(s)!
10. Click “Describe Your Photo(s)”
11. Type in a title for your photo(s) and then a description.
12. If desired, you can add a “tag”. A tag is a one word description used to help people find your photos. For example, a picture of a car may have the tags: red, car, automobile, fast, junk, cheap, metal, etc.
13. Click “Save This Batch” when done!
14. You’re all finished describing your photos! Great job!

Flickr Account (5)- Opening an Account

Steps to follow!

Opening an Account

1. Open a Flickr photo account. This is accomplished by going to www.flickr.com.
2. Once there, you will need to click on “Create Your Account”.
3. Either type in your Yahoo ID and password, or click “sign up” to get one. After typing in your ID and password, click “sign in”.
4. Either use your Yahoo ID as your Flickr screen name or type in a new screen name, then click “Create a New Account”
5. That’s all there is to it! You now have a Flickr photo account!