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The Daytona 500, which is commonly referred to as the Super Bowl of NASCAR, is held each year in February. Drawing hundreds of thousands of fans each year, with even more watching at home on television, the Daytona 500 is racing’s most anticipated event. The sports news media agrees with large press attendance and pre-event weekend coverage. It serves as the season opener for the new racing season, but now it serves as so much more. While sports news continuously surrounds the annual Daytona 500, it is now focused on a new men’s fragrance of the same name.

Elizabeth Arden, which is the #2 American perfume creator, will begin offering the “Daytona 500″ men’s fragrance beginning in April 2006. In addition to being found at participating retailers, the Daytona 500 fragrance is expected to be readily available online. Elizabeth Arden believes that the scent “embodies the confidence, power and intensity of the men daring enough to race in the ultimate adrenaline rush.” And what a rush it is. The Daytona 500 is arguably the most exciting race of the year and is widely published in sports news publications, as well as sports news programs.

Jeff Gordon, four-time Cup champion and defending Daytona 500 victor, already promotes another product in the Elizabeth Arden fragrance line. “Halston,” which is also a men’s fragrance, is promoted by Jeff Gordon, who serves as product spokesman. When Gordon signed on as a representative in February 2005, Elizabeth Arden claimed that their sales increased by 30-40% from previous sales. It is this relationship that creates the preexisting association between Elizabeth Arden and NASCAR.

With the release of the “Daytona 500″ fragrance, sports news will once again be swirling around the sport. But, by April, with the Daytona 500 competition long since past, the new Daytona 500 sports news will come in the form of a men’s fragrance. With this being the first racing-related fragrance, it is only fitting that it would be named after the first regular NASCAR sanctioned event. During it’s earliest days, racing at the beach in Daytona quickly became the base for which the sanctioning body of NASCAR was born.

In the likely case that you haven’t quite grasped betting hall wagering, please continue to read.

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A description of a gaming hall is a building that focuses on gambling. Guests can enjoy themselves going for the slot-machines or another betting pastimes. Betting house games mainly include fully transparent percentages governing them that ensure the gambling organization keeps up the upper hand above the gambling enthusiasts. Numerous betting hall games can result in you becoming overly dependent very rapidly. You have the archetypal 1 armed bandit, a cash operated machine with 3 or more reels that swivel if a bar coupled to it is pushed. The machine generally recompenses with reference to a run of pictures observable on the panel of the contraption. Sadly, gaming establishment pastimes put forward the delusion of staying in control, thereby tricking the player — the participant is handed options, but actually these cannot hope to eliminate the customer’s statistical handicap. That is due to the gaming hall not paying up the full amount as expected. This structured policy is recurrently seen at work in famous casino games such as straight poker, craps, roulette or blackjack.

Texas hold’em is certainly an immensely trendy casino game. The players, studiously guarding their partially screened hands, must place bets into a principal pot which is finally given to the last participant holding the leading set of cards. (Of course, the bluffing hand may well prevail as well…) Quite like straight poker, blackjack is also an immensely fashionable casino pastime. A great deal of its popularity is due to its particular mix of chance and ingenuity and decision making, not to mention a procedure identified as Card Counting. It is a craft through which gamers will actually switch the probabilities of the card game in their favor both by betting and procedural actions according to the cards shown. Craps is the name of another well-known gambling hall pastime where you try to predict the throw of two dice. Patrons will make wagers on the score of one cycle, or on a string of cycles on two dice. Dissimilar to blackjack, there isn’t any easily available winner system punters can profit from to ramp up the odds. Roulette is an immensely popular game of chance; a croupier whirls a roulette wheel featuring exactly thirty-seven (French roulette) or, alternatively thirty-eight (American roulette) uniquely marked places in which a white pellet must come to lie, which decides on the final winning number Whenever our player bets on a particular number which is successful i.e. they’ve got a lucky hand, the promised ward is thirty five to one, the bet proper will be given back. Hence in total it’s multiplied by thirty six.

We recommend you try to be on guard for all that because such betting saloon betting games should be considered alarmingly addictive. Too many lives have probably been ruined due to gambling & even though it admittedly seems like fun, do please attempt to moderate your gaming.

No matter how good a golfer may be, he or she will not be any good at all without golf balls. Granted, it is a no-brainer that golfers need to have golf balls in order to play. But, the question is, which golf balls are the best.

This is a sticky situation and depends almost entirely the individual golfer and his or her tastes, what he or she expects out of the ball, and, quite frankly, how much money he or she wants to spend.

There are golfers out there who will play with nothing but one brand of ball. No matter what else happens, they will only and always use this particular brand. What these balls cost is irrelevant to them. It is this ball or no golf. Yes, this going to the extremes, but, let’s face it, there are people in this world who prefer living life at the extreme edge of sanity.

Now, let’s get down to some common sense when it comes to the golf ball. We shall start with the beginning golfer. The beginner needs to forget what he or she may have heard about any brand or type of golf ball, what it does and how far it goes. Beginning golfers are going to lose a lot of golf balls. They need to think more about price than quality. The beginning golfer needs to purchase “been around” balls, which are balls sold in bulk (around 50 to a bag), that have been found on golf courses and recycled, for lack of a better word.

OK, these used golf balls are more often than not name brand balls, but this does not matter. The beginning golfer, in learning how to hit the ball straight, keep it in the fairway, out of the woods and water, will go through dozens, if not hundreds of golf balls. Therefore, the logical thing for the beginning golfer to do is buy in bulk.

As the golfer gets better, the best idea would be to move up to a better grade of ball. This, though, does not mean to rush out to the nearest golfing supply house and buy the most expensive ball on the shelves. Again, think about the price of the ball and the level of your skill.

If a player has a tendency to slice the ball, or tends to top the ball (this is where the club head hits the top of the ball. While it gives the ball a lot of top spin, the ball does not travel far, and tends to be gashed by the club), stick with cheap balls. This does not mean stay with the bulk recycled balls, but inexpensive new ones.

In theory, players get better the more they play. As the skill level increases, the golfer can experiment with different brands of golf balls, checking to see which ones he or she may like the best. And, a lot of thought should be given to the type of course the golfer will be using these balls on.

When you play online poker often enough, you end up seeing a lot of weirdly played hands. The sheer speed of online means you can play more hands per minute than in a casino, and it often seems like a three hour session is really a six hour one.

In the course of this blur of playing I see hands every so often where you just have to wonder what the person is thinking.

This is a typical example, three players in a hand, flop comes down 8-6-6 of hearts. First guy bets out, second guy folds, third guy calls.

The turn comes and it’s a four of hearts. Again, the same gut who bet does so once more, second guy calls.

Finally the flop comes out an 8, and the same bettor bets again, and either the caller calls and ends up losing or folds his hand.

Now, this is such horrible poker playing it makes me mad. Why does the person calling keep calling? If he doesn’t have any part of the board, the likelihood the gut betting has a boat, flush or even a pocket pair in that case is fairly decent.

And if you’re absolutely sure he doesn’t have that, if he’s bluffing, why not raise him? Why just keep calling. And the absolute worst is when the caller then just folds his hand on the river. What were you possibly looking for? In that situation, you had to have known if you were beat or not by the flop, so you’re really just giving poker chips away. Just fold or raise, and stop being a calling station.

Sports Memorabilia

There is a huge interest in sports memorabilia, and sports-related items include signed commemorative photos, baseballs, footballs, basketballs, pucks and jerseys. A Google search of companies hawking these items comes up with almost 5 million businesses!

Some of the items on offer cost thousands of dollars.

Where there are so many eager and gullible customers, fraud is sure to appear. A San Diego federal judge who recently sentenced several sports autograph forgers to prison said, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of the national pastime, has been undone”. The prosecution stemmed from an FBI investigation called Operation Bullpen, which closed down a professional criminal organization that forged and sold bogus autographs.

60 search warrants were served, more than 2 dozen people arrested, and a warehouse with 10 million dollars worth of forged merchandise was seized. The ring leaders received 3 years in prison and forfeiture or assets to the IRS. Both current and “vintage” items were involved. Any sports fan who has a signed souvenir may now want to question its authenticity.

Phil Halpren, the assistant U.S. attorney who worked to prosecute the forgers stated that fraud is so pervasive in the sports memorabilia market that unless you personally see an item being signed by the athlete, odds are greater than fifty percent that it is fake. The most athletes most well-known the the public are popular with forgers, too. Halpren said, “If you are looking at a Mark McGuire signature, it’s alost a guarantee, 99.9 percent it is a forgery.” Certificates of authenticity can be fabricated just as easily as the collectible item they supposedly validate, so this is no protection.

Vendors are fighting back in an effort to maintain the integrity of the market. Disney, which owns ESPN, will begin next year to auction signed sports memorabilia online. Disney says it will authenticate the signatures with holograms encrypted with the item’s identifying information and package seals, videotaping the entire process.

Sophisticated forgers can even produce holographic seals which appear, on casual inspection, to be real. However most forgers are amateurs, and the more sophisticated the anti-forgery system, the less likely criminals are to attempt to copy it.

Baseball and football are most popular in America, but a few famous hockey players such as Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr are popular targets for forgery as well.

With all the items available, both off and on the internet, fans can avoid a lot of fraud by using common sense. For example, a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth selling for $500 is obviously a fake, because such a price is unbelievably low, too low for real market conditons. Also, it pays to know a little bit about the development of baseballs and pens. If you see baseballs supposedly signed in the ’20s and ’30s with Sharpie pens, these are obviously fake, because these pens were not invented yet in that era. To quote Phil Halpren : “I have seen Babe Ruth balls signed on a Bobby Brown American League President ball. So, you know, he was president in the early ’80s. That’s impossible to have been done. But someone did it.”

So, while it’s enjoyable to own a piece of sports history, the motto to follow is : buyer beware. Unless you are a professional trader who knows how to authenticate merchandise, don’t buy an item strictly for its potential resale value, because you may be disappointed by what you eventually get for it. Buy an item you personally like and intend to keep, and don’t spend thousands of dollars. This ensures that you will be happy when you look at your purchase, without the lingering doubt that you have wasted a large sum of money on something of dubious value.

The prudent old Chinese sentiment has a powerful connotation; the motto explained the truth that we all believe an occasion loads more if it is viewed. Using video production or videography it’s viable to capture a series of occasions.

Today in a lot of corporate presentations, video is recurrently employed. By using video production it’s feasible to give the necessary communication to a lot of likely consumers to help convince them. Online Video production is at this moment employed for numerous different tasks; however, quite a lot of short format online video commercials and brand related presentations are usually produced in order to attain certain business objectives. Vidify offer unique video production and distribution solutions that help broadcast your business online to a global, regional or local audience.

Audio video productions are at present in style & thus are used in more or less any nature of corporate activity. Creative firms initially interact with a particular client or a company that are looking to create an online video commercial, a presentation or a collection of video clips. The whole job of video production is commonly carried out by a couple of freelancers; nevertheless there are a couple of good online video production agencies around at the moment.

Involvement of music composers, cameraman & script writers can also be very common when creating online video productions. Furthermore, marketing firms and PR agencies have only recently become involved with many aspects of video production and publishing.

I always see alot of questions similar in nature to “Will this setup work with my bike?”, “What parts should I buy?”, “How much will this increase my power?” from newbies entering the sport, so I have decided to make a list of what pocket bike performance parts are best for your bike.

This list is for people on a low budget and also applies to those that have a bit of money to spend aswell. It will be set out in the format “Budget Mods”, “Average Mods” and “Serious Tuner”. Be advised that all CAG engines are different and performance increases vary on each bike. This guide should help you spend your money more wisely on the right modifications to get your bike going at it’s full potential with the money you have to spend.

The pocket bike modifications listed are all available in Australia, but may need some looking around for. The prices listed next to each part is the general recommended retail price, please do not use this as a buying guide as prices will vary from different suppliers. Make sure to shop around for better prices, and also check with the supplier that these parts will fit your style of pocket bike.

Budget Mods:

Timing Key – Increases your engines timing by 10 degrees, cheap and VERY effective part, But please note this increases performance on some engines, but can also decrease performance in others, it depends what your timing is set at in the factory. (RRP $20)

Fibreglass Reeds – Replace your stock metal reed with a high performance Fibreglass one. Fibreglass reeds allow more and faster fuel into the carb, this resulting in a faster burning of fuel, which increases low, mid and top end power. (RRP $20-$30)

Performance Air Filter and V Stack – If your bike came with a black air cleaner instead of an air filter, its loosing potential power, by adding a high performance air filter and vstack your allowing more and faster air into your engine, which will increase performance and engine life. (RRP $30-$40)

Hi Flow Fuel Filter – This is not a performance mod but it is one of the most important things that should be considered when buying modifications, If your fuel line does not have a fuel filter, there is a very good chance that dirt or foreign objects have got inside your fuel and are now blocking your carb. By installing this cheap modification it protects your engine from harm by dirt, plastic, etc. It is a must for every bike . (RRP $7-$15)

HP Clutch Springs – All CAGS come with 3 shoe clutches, the major let down with these clucthes are the springs. A good set of HP clutch springs will make your acceleration alot better over stock and coming out of coners etc, you will have alot more power. A good cheap investment. (RRP $15-$25)

These mods are a very good starting point to modifying, these parts can be fitted if you have general engine knoweldge or instructions. The flywheel, clutch and carb must all be removed to install these mods, if in doubt you can take your bike to a pocket bike repair shop and they would gladly install them for a cheap fee.

Average Mods:

Fatboy Exhaust and Tank – This exhaust system is an awesome upgrade over the stock exhaust, many winning pocket bike racers around the world use this exhaust and swear by it. It’s a very cheap upgrade and will really open up your engine, the Fatboy Exhaust is that big, it comes with a smaller fuel tank so the pipe can fit. (RRP $90-$160)

High Performance Carb – The stock CAG carb is only 12.88mm by upgrading to a larger carb etc. 14/14 or WT-603 which are the most popular choices in carbs when it comes to racing you increase your engines performance all round by allowing more fuel and air to get burnt and this will increase your low, mid and top end power. (RRP $90-$160)

Heavy Duty 2 Shoe Clutch – A 2 shoe clutch is better for light people, once it gets going its awesome alot better than a 3 shoe clutch with springs, the only down side to this modification is you must adjust the springs perfect for when the clutch engages. (RRP $40-$70)

High Performance Piston Rings – HP Piston Rings Offer more compression and are a good cheap investment, will give a small increase in power. (RRP $10-$20)

Lightened Piston – A lightened piston is alot better than the stock piston and is alot better quality, will give a small increase in power. (RRP $30-$50)

Ported Cylinder – Getting a cylinder ported to your engine is one of the most important mods that can be done, a cylinder with boost ports, larger exhaust ports and the correct squish set, will give an insane power increase, Very good for the money. (RRP $80-$90)

These mods are for the more experienced racer that can handle alot more power over stock, these parts will be best installed by a shop rather than risk doing it your self. You will be amazed at the power increase.

Serious Tuner:

2 Peice High Compression Headkit – A headkit consists of a cylinder, piston, extra cooling plate, a high quality spark plug and some even with a changeable compression dome, This is where your engine gets insane power, by increasing it to a 49cc not a 40cc like most CAG’s. A head kit tuned to the rest of the engine correctly is the best value for money product. (RRP $100-$400)

Full Circle Stroker Crank – A full circle stroker is best suited to an engine wit a headkit. Installing a full circle stroker crank (FCSC) will make your bike a 52cc but to get this going perfect the crank must be balanced to your piston. This is done by experienced pocket bike shops, once you install the FCSC you will never want to ride a bike with a half circle crank again. (RRP $110-$130)

4 Petal Reed Cage – Allows alot more and faster fuel into your engine with 2 dual reed sections allowing for 4 reeds, this gives you improved fuel flow and power throughout low, mid and top end. You will not be dissapointed: (RRP $120-$200)

Zocchi CAG Race Pipe – Hand made italian race exhaust, cannot go wrong here will run absolutley awesome with a headkit and a good carb. Awesome power increase from low, mid and top end. (RRP $160-$200)

The real art to serious performance upgardes is getting your engine made to run perfect with the modifications. This is achieved with the correct porting and tuning. If the above modifications are ran with all of the average mods and a timing key, you will have an insaneley powerful machine. They will easily add 20 km/h to your top end with stock gearing. Also be advised while adding these mods a final gear change will be needed to get the most out of the modifications. If your engine is tuned and ported correctly you will be keeping up easily with stock watercooled pocket bikes, if not beating them. With all of these mods, they are not made just to be fitted onto your bike. The best thing you could do is to take it to your local pocket bike repair or performance shop and get them to fit everything correctly and tune the engine to the modifications, and then it’s just a matter of holding on

Most golfers, regardless of their ability level, are guilty of wasting their practice time. How many times have you been at a driving range and witnessed stall after stall filled with tired looking golfers endlessly beating balls. Most have selected the large bucket and think only of launching all those little pellets with the big stick.

Most of these people would have been better off if they had just stayed home and mowed the lawn. Why? They are practicing without a purpose.

PLAN YOUR GOLF PRACTICE

The first step in improving your golf is learning more about the swing. If you do not want to take lessons, there is a wealth of information available in books, magazines and on the web. Find some information related to a part of your game you are struggling with. You’ll likely find many articles related to any and every golf sin you could possibly commit. Focus on the cause and effect. Try to understand not only what you need to do to improve, but the causes of your problem. There are likely to be multiple possible causes and solutions.

HIT THE DRIVING RANGE? NOT YET

Instead of running to hit that next large bucket, take those golf tips you learned and apply them in front of a full-length mirror. This is especially effective if you are working on your stance or setup. You can easily compare your body position with those of the pros in the magazines. Take your backswing in slow motion, stopping at various points to again compare your position with the pro. This exercise will help you picture and feel a good golf swing.

SMALL BUCKET PLEASE

When you finally get to the range, your mind is no doubt full of energy and excitement as you prepare to apply your new thoughts. That is good. But, remember that it is quality golf practice, not quantity, which counts. Get the small bucket and take your time. Rest between shots. Resolve in your mind to think about what you are working on before each shot. Apply one swing thought before each practice shot. Too many thoughts will result in “paralysis of analysis”. After each shot, reflect on not only the result, but how the swing felt. What did you do wrong? What did you do right?

PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND

You can triple the effectiveness of your golf practice if you bring a friend with you. Buy one large bucket and share a stall. Take turns hitting a few shots each. Tell your friend what you are working on and ask him to describe how it looks. Watch one another from the side and behind to get different angles. Ask your partner to focus on different elements of the swing: the grip, setup, plane, top of back swing, lower body position, shoulder turn, etc.

IMPROVEMENT TAKES TIME

Remember to keep focused on improving your weaknesses. It makes little sense to spend 75% of your golf practice time working on your strong points. Don’t get impatient. Realize that improvement takes time! Nobody goes from a twenty-handicap down to a single-digit overnight. However, if you apply these tips, you’ll be building your knowledge of the game as you practice. This can only help improve your game in the long run.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) March 19, 2004 — A PROFILE OF THE ONLINE GAMBLER By Robert Jay – Online gambling on sports in America has surpassed the total handle of Las Vegas casino-based sports books. A December, 2002 Congressional Report by the US General Accounting Office stated that online gaming reached new heights in 2002 as worldwide revenues topped $4 billion. Of that amount, over $2 billion was wagered by US residents. Bear Stearns backed up these findings by estimating the worldwide market would have been in excess of $5 billion had many American credit card providers not discontinued offering transfers to offshore sports books. Meanwhile, the Nevada handle on sports books was less than $2 billion in 2002; this is the first time in a decade that the Nevada handle dropped below $2 billion.

Certainly, part of the decline in the Nevada handle can be blamed on less Americans traveling and an overall downturn in the economy. Perhaps an even bigger factor, however, is the proliferation of slot machines in Nevada casinos. Slots now represent 70% of the profits of Nevada casinos and offer a 6% hold while sports books have an average 3% hold. Thus, it is not surprising that sports books are losing square footage overall in casinos while slots are gaining in space allocated to them.

According to Debbie Silverman of Gone Gambling, an industry portal site, another big growth area for offshore sports books is that many local bookmakers are referring business to the offshore books for safety. Large players are also moving to the internet due to more attractive odds available from the offshore books than are available in Las Vegas. In addition, many offshore sports books attract players with bonuses that you won’t find on The Strip. Anthony Wayne, spokesperson for licensed Curacao-based sports book EWINNER.com (http://www.ewinner.com/), said that his company offers a 15% initial deposit bonus to new depositors. “With all of the new competitors out there,” said Wayne, “you almost have to do something special to try to attract new players.”

The bonus situation is not any different in the other popular areas of online gambling, notably bingo and lottery services. Bingo House (http://www.bingohouse.com) offers a 100% initial bonus, according to Bonnie Edwards, director of marketing. Edwards’ other site, Lucky Lotto (http://www.luckylotto.com) offers a free $7 bet. The demographics, however, are quite different. “Our players are predominantly females 40-50 years old,” said Edwards.

The Congressional Report goes on to state that one million Americans gamble online every day. One of the reasons for the large amount of online sports bettors is the similarity between the typical sports gambler and the typical heavy internet user, according to David Lee, of Mandalay Bay casino. Lee stated that 77% of online sports gamblers are men. They tend to be single, 25-34 years old, college educated, and with incomes between $40,000 and $80,000 per year. A survey of 2900 internet users by online gaming industry research company, The River City Group, backs up Lee’s findings. The 2001 study indicated 74% of online gamblers are male and that they are among the youngest, highest income, highest education group on the internet. They are also technologically advanced, early adopters, and heavy wireless users.

Jay Davis, president of Triumph Marketing, a marketing agency that has clients in the online gaming industry, tends to agree with the conclusion of the studies. “A typical customer for an online sports book is a male 25-40 with an average income of $70,000 per year. They are typically college educated and avid sports fans.”

Future growth of the online gaming industry will come more rapidly on a worldwide basis than in the United States, says the Congressional Report. Americans, which now represent half of the online gaming revenues, are projected to be only 24% of the $14.5 billion worldwide market anticipated in 2006. Japan is of extreme interest to the industry because its household internet penetration of greater than 80% is the largest in the world and it is a country nearly as obsessed with sports as America is. Countries with even more long-term promise for the industry are China and Malaysia where already two times more people have gambled on the internet than have purchased a product online.

“Without question, the largest areas for growth are South America and the Far East due to increased internet usage and cultures immersed with a long history of gambling,” added Davis. “These markets have only a small percentage of the saturation levels of North America and western Europe and offer operators markets where the cost of acquisition (of new customers) is remarkably lower.”

While international markets clearly offer an opportunity for expansion, the offshore industry can continue to attract more new players to the industry in all countries if it satisfies new player concerns. According to the River City Group, the primary concerns of potential new players include: a hassle free experience; quick payments; easy instructions; attractive web sites; easy registration; secure credit card transactions; certificates from consumer protection agencies; better odds; ability to play for free; 24/7 customer service.

Since the first internet gaming sites began appearing in 1995, 73 governments have approved some form of internet gambling. The industry has grown from 900 to 1400 sites in the last two years, according to The Internet Gambling Report. In recent months, however, most industry analysts believe the amount of sites has actually declined. The number of customers is not growing at the same pace as the number of sites and “consolidation among operators is the most logical transgression within the industry,” said Davis.

Today, only two states, Utah and Hawaii, have no forms of gambling permitted. Although the United States has clearly not endorsed internet sports gaming, it is interesting to note that more than 80% of horse racing bets are now made away from the track at off track betting locations and through other media like interactive television.

One other conclusion of the Congressional Report is that most online players would prefer to play with a “name brand” casino rather than those virtual unknown offshore books available on the internet. With market share at the Las Vegas casinos continuing to decline to the offshore sports books, casino operators can only hope that they will soon be endorsed to operate online again.

robjay@hotmail.com

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Waiting for someone to arrive can make you so antsy and want to go crazy. It is so important that you are on time so that you don’t have the person on the other side waiting for you. In different cultures being on time may or may not be important. Some individuals think that it is very selfish to be late because it is a statement being made to the other person that you are more important than them. This may or may not be the case, but a great rule to follow is to be on time. If you are in a relationship and your husband is at home and you say you will be there at a certain time, make sure you get there. He might be walking back and forth wearing out the floor and losing hair while worrying about what might have happened to you. My first experience with this was with my parents, and when I was late for the first time in high school, they let me know in great detail of how wrong it was. I thank them now for that because my relationships with people have been great because I always respect others time. If ever you are running late to a meeting or an event, the least you could do is pick up the phone and let them know that you will be there as soon as you can and give them a reason as to why you will be late.