Here is a special Urbach Mid-Month Newsletter.

I wanted to let you know about some great New York metro area events coming up over the next several weeks. There's something for (almost) everyone... whether you're a music lover, fitness enthusiast, or business maven, attending one of these events will be highly enjoyable and time well spent.
Concert for a Cure at Lincoln Center: Friday, March 27, 7:30 PMAs with chocolate and peanut butter, sometimes two things go better together. In my book, that goes for classical music and rock. Each alone is great, but a mix can taste even better. That's what you'll have in store for you the evening of March 27th, when Classical Meets Electric and world-class musicians take the stage at the brand-new Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Just reopened after a multi-year complete rebuilding, this spectacular hall is visually stunning and has incredible acoustics; you'll hear the proverbial pin drop on stage. Performers include wunderkind son Jourdan (2009 Artist Ascending) on both classical and electric violin, and Mark Wood, Emmy-Award winning lead electric violinist and original member of the multi-platinum-selling symphonic rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Jourdan and Mark will be joined by vocalist Laura Kaye, guitarist Jon Bivona, bassist Paul Ranieri, drummers Jeff Plate and Elijah Wood, and keyboardist Sean Meagher.

This is a perfect concert for the entire family: just the right mix to keep everybody happy. Best of all, due to a generous underwriting grant from the Frank & Helen Herman Foundation, every dollar raised from ticket sales will go directly to Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund. Call Center Charge at 212-721-6500 or order online.

Ticket prices range from $45 to $100, but here's a great tip: you can get the best seats in the house for only $25 each (if you act this week). A new block of prime seats has just been released. The first 200 will be sold at $25. After that first group is gone, they'll jump back up to $100. That's a hot deal and I don't think it'll last past the weekend. Better order 'em now!

Train Smarter Workshops: Thursday Nights 7:00 PM - 9:00 PMFor folks who are into cycling, running, and physical fitness, I'm sponsoring a 4-session series of evening workshops in Jericho, NY. There's no charge to attend. Each session is independent from the others; you can choose to attend any that are of interest. The first (introductory) session was held last Thursday evening at Vert Fitness and it was a terrific success. Over 50 people joined us for a fast-moving 2-hour educational workshop covering equipment, training techniques, and mental preparation. The next session is this Thursday, March 19th and will feature a "deep dive" into equipment selection and use, as well as a special presentation by Kerry Simmons of First Wave Tri on triathlon training and racing. More information and a registration link is here. I hope you can join us for one (or all) of the remaining 3 sessions.

Bright Ideas for Business – Seminar Series: Thursday, April 2, 7:30 AM - 9:30 AMChanging gears entirely, the next event is for a limited business audience. It is an executive seminar hosted by the Challenger Business Advisory Group. Part of our continuing "Bright Ideas for Business" seminar series, this session's topic is: Aggressive Cost Reduction Strategies in Challenging Times. It'll be held on Thursday, April 2nd from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM in Garden City, NY. Complete information is here (or call 516-247-3357). There is no charge to attend, however, please be aware that this is not a "networking event." Admittance is restricted to executives with management responsibilities in finance and/or human resources. If you don't hold an organizational finance or HR position, this event is NOT for you! (Please note: if you are an HR professional you will receive 1.5 SHRM credits. Also, if you're a CFO/accountant, you can receive CPE credits as well.)

Professional Roundtable and Metro Roundtable
Another restricted invitation (sorry). The Professional Roundtable on Long Island and the Metro Roundtable in NYC feature monthly breakfast events specifically for practicing attorneys and accountants who wish to gain business skills related to their professions and to socialize with collaboration and referral partners. If you're not already participating, and would like to be added to my invitation list, please email me with a request. Again, this is for attorneys and accountants in active practice and related professionals only. The next Professional Roundtable breakfast is on Friday, April 24th in Jericho, NY and the next Metro Roundtable breakfast is on Tuesday, April 28th at the Friars Club in NYC.

Victor Urbach is from The Optran Group & Altegent LLC · Omni Building, 7th Floor · 333 Earle Ovington Blvd · Mitchel Field, New York 11553-3689

www.optran.com

Concert For A Cure at Lincoln Center: March 27th

The perfect concert for your entire family: Come hear violin virtuoso Jourdan Urbach (2009 Artist Ascending winner) and Emmy Award winning electric violinist Mark Wood in their only blow-out performance together in New York for 2009 -- an extraordinary concert where classical meets electric on one stage at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.

The performance takes place on Friday night, March 27th at 7:30pm. Joining Urbach and Wood will be members of the band, The Mark Wood Experience, and host: WCBS-TV's Emmy Award Winning Medical Journalist, Dr. Max Gomez -- for a Night of Music that will ROCK THE HOUSE -- all to benefit Hope & Heroes: the Children's Cancer Fund of Columbia University Medical Center.

Tickets for the event are reasonably priced at: $100 (patron), $65, $45, & $25 for students. To order, buy tickets online or call Center Charge at: 212-721-6500 or Hope & Heroes at 212-305-1420.

Math of Fat - The Engineer's Diet

When studying for my mechanical engineering degree 30 years ago, I had to take four advanced thermodynamics courses. Pretty intense stuff. But one of the remarkable things about learning the physical laws of the universe (which is what you do in "thermo," study matter/energy conversion), is realizing those laws hold true everywhere. Even in places you might not initially think of… like the human body. Engineers look at everything as a system. We draw boundaries on our "system diagrams" and look at what crosses that line. Fuel in, energy out. So… here's the equation:

3,500 calories = 1 pound body fat



Here's how it works: If you're now eating an amount of food each day that keeps you at a static weight, you're at equilibrium. If you make no other changes, and consume an additional thirty-five hundred calories of food or drink, you're going to gain a pound of real weight (i.e. fat, not water). Fortunately, it also works the other way around. If you consume 500 calories less a day, with no other changes, you'll lose a pound of real weight a week. Seems too simple, right? What about all that hubbub with low-fat diets, high fat/high protein diets, grapefruit diets, etc? While it's true the type of food does matter to some extent, it really has more to do with how hungry you are – and how these foods affect your hunger pangs. Remember matter/energy conversion. All the other aspects, kind of food, time you eat it, metabolism level, and so on, are secondary factors. There is only one way to lose weight and keep it off: eat fewer calories and exercise more.

This was all validated in a study by Dr. Frank Sacks at the Harvard School of Public Health published in the February 26, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, which spawned hundreds of news reports last week. The study confirmed that it all comes down to how many calories you're putting in your mouth (and how much you're moving the rest of your body).

A rough guideline for number of "allowable" calories a day for an average person (somebody who works in an office, and doesn't visit the gym that much) is about 12 calories per pound of body weight. A 120 pound woman would therefore have an equilibrium level of about 1440 calories a day. A 180 pound man's level is 2160 calories a day. Most people eat more than this, and don't exercise. That's why most people are heavy and getting heavier. It sneaks up on you. An extra bag of potato chips a day (150 calories per ounce) = 15 pounds a year. The only way out is to reduce your calories below your equilibrium until you're at your target weight, then eat reasonably after that. It's called "lifestyle," not a diet. That new lifestyle starts by knowing what you're eating. Read labels. Consult a calorie counter book or web resource. If you can't imagine how you're going to cut out 500 calories a day, don't. Cut out 250 and get on the treadmill for half an hour. I lost 25 pounds this way (I'm back to nearly my college weight now), and have kept it off (mostly) since I wrote the first version of this article seven years ago.

That's all for now. More next month. In the meantime, please drop me a note with feedback, suggestions, or attaboys. I'm very reachable at victor@urbachletter.com.. I hope you liked this issue of The Urbach Letter. If you didn't, you can change your subscriber preference).

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform of the loss of our friend and client Marty McMillan, President and CEO of Intelli-Tec Security Services. Marty was not only one of my longest and loyalest customers, but also a friend and mentor. I learned many lessons about life loyalty and striving to be my best from Marty. As many of you who have visited me in my office know I always have the wedding picture of Marty and his beloved wife Nancy behind my desk as a reminder of our friendship and as testament to the power of friendship and business. You see, I believe from the bottom of my heart that friends and business do, in fact mix. When you deeply care about your clients and their best interest, you work that much harder for them.

Marty was an avid hunter and fisherman and had great love for his family and friends - of which I will always be proud that I was a part of. He had an incredible passion for technology and it was that passion, coupled with Marty's 'Security with a personal touch' philosophy that helped propel Intelli-Tec to be one of the leading security companies in the United States.

As quoted from ASIS, "In this busy time of year when all of us are busy with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, please take a minute to remember our friend Marty and his family in your prayers and take a minute to appreciate those loved ones around you."

I will always carry Marty in my heart and am grateful for the years I have had working and growing with him (more than a decade). I wish to send my condolences to his wife Nancy, his son Cody, his brother Matt his friends and partners, Carmine, Jeff and Russ as well as all of his fine staff.

I would like to take a moment to request on behalf of Marty's family that we all make a donation to his son, Cody's college fund.

Any donations may be mailed to:
The Cody McMillan College Scolarship Fund
C/O Intelli-tec Security Services
2000 Shames Drive
Westbury NY 11590

I would like to close by saying, thank you Marty for being in my life. I will always think on you with great love and will smile thinking that you are now fishing with God as your fishing partner...after all no one has a better beat on the best places that the big ones are biting than God except maybe Marty.

How to Take Great Photos (Part 2)

Nearly everyone enjoys taking pictures and viewing snaps of friends, family, and travel. However, most folks end up producing blah snapshots (at best). Face it, if there wasn't a recognizable person or place in your photo, nobody would have the slightest interest in it. Let's see if we can't kick that up a notch.

Picking up where we left off last month, here are the rest of my tips to help you take better pictures and get the most out of that nice new digital camera of yours.

13. Master the rule of thirds
Imagine a 3x3 grid (two vertical lines and two horizontal lines) superimposed on your image. The intersections of those lines at the third points are prime locations for your main subject. Also, if you're taking landscape or beach photos, the horizon line should be on the upper or lower horizontal, depending on whether you want to emphasize foreground or sky.

14. Keep things off center
Placing your main subject dead square in the middle of your photo is a perfect way to end up with a boring, static image. Use the rule of thirds if appropriate, or think of an alternative framing that'll bring some energy to your composition.

15. Frame it
The world is full of natural frames: doorways, arches, trees and limbs, etc. Try to find positions where foreground objects will frame and enhance your photos. This works especially well for landscape and scenic photos, where it adds a great sense of depth.

16. Watch your background
Most photo-snappers are only interested in capturing an image of their main subject. Unfortunately, an otherwise great photo can be ruined by a distracting background. You need to look past your subject and observe the environment. Don't let a tree grow out of someone's head! Reposition yourself to avoid including an unwanted fixed object or take the time to move movable stuff (clutter) out of the way.

17. Use focus as a tool
To the extent that your camera allows control of focus, use it to enhance your photos. Try throwing the background out of focus (your camera's "portrait" mode may help). Pro portraits almost always have the subject razor sharp against a blurred background.

18. Paint with light
Lighting will make or break your photo. Pay attention to your sources, whether manmade or natural. As a training exercise, rather than just looking for interesting subjects to snap, go out and shoot photographs specifically of light and shadow.

19. Bounce it
A piece of cheap white foam board makes an excellent reflector. Try taking a portrait, seating your subject by a window and positioning the reflector on the other side, bouncing some light back to partially fill in the shadows. You'll love the result.

20. Grab some candids

Posed pictures have their place, but the more memorable shots are often taken when your subjects aren't nervously trying to look their best. The key to good candids is time. Just start snapping pictures while people go about their business (turn off the fake shutter sound if your digicam has that). After a few minutes, people won't pay much attention to you anymore and you'll start to get the natural unposed look you're after.

21. Shoot during the "golden hour"
My favorite time to take photos is during the first hour of daylight or the last hour before sunset. The low sun angle and warm color during those times is perfect for portraits and the long shadows add drama to landscapes.

22. Upgrade!
I know this goes against the 10/90 rule I mentioned last month, but better equipment will enable you to take dramatically better pictures if you know how to use it properly. I have a little "take everywhere" Canon SD750 point-and-shoot and a big 40D SLR with a whole bag of lenses. The little guy is great but when I'm on a photo mission, I take out the big guns. The better camera will enable you to take pictures in lower light without flash, throw the background further into blur (the Japanese call that effect "bokeh" by the way), have more control over exposure, focus, and shutter speed, react more rapidly when you press the shutter release button, and more.

Wrap up...
One of the things I love about photography is that it's an interesting blend of science and art. It has rules… but they're meant to be broken (if you know you're breaking them, and why). Therefore, don't carve any of my twenty two quick tips in stone. Use 'em as a starting point and then experiment. There's always something new to learn, technically and artistically. Get out there and snap away. Have fun.

Writen By Victor Urbach