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There are many things to consider when seeking to rent a Fayetteville NC apartment. The convenience of the location, how much you can afford to spend and, if you have children, the local school districts are all something you must consider. There are many different apartments for rent in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Prior to going apartment hunting, ask yourself how soon you wish to move in, how much you expect to pay and how long you wish to stay. Although most rentals require a one year lease, others have short term leasing available.

The Woodstream Apartments is an apartment complex located on Woodstream Trail in Fayetteville. Renters can lease the apartment for six months or one year and there is a $100 deposit required on new rentals. The Woodstream Apartments are close to Fort Bragg and Cape Fear Medical Center and many people who work in the medical center live here.

This Fayetteville NC apartment complex has a swimming pool and tennis court for the residents. Each unit includes a dishwasher, garbage disposal and refrigerator as well as air conditioning and ceiling fans. Prices are very reasonable for both one and two bedroom units. There are excellent laundry facilities in the building.

Another Fayetteville NC apartment complex that has one to three bedroom apartment is Tamarack on the Lake Apartments located on Pine Lake Drive. Tamarack on the Lake apartments offer a fireplace, vaulted ceilings, high speed Internet, air conditioning, ceiling fans, walk in closets, a dishwasher and garbage disposal as well as a microwave and refrigerator. One of the nicest things about this Fayetteville, NC apartment complex is that each unit has a washer and dryer hookup in the unit.

Tamarack on the Lake Apartments can be leased for short term leases starting at three months, making this the perfect Fayetteville NC apartment for those who are looking for a place to stay while shopping for a home in Fayetteville. You can even bring your dog and cat as this is a pet-friendly apartment complex. In addition to the many amenities, there is even a full tennis court, clubhouse and swimming pool for residents. You can even rent a fully furnished unit for a short term stay.

Crescent Commons is another Fayetteville, NC apartment complex that has many fine features. Crescent Commons apartments also offer short term leases and have one to three bedrooms. The spacious, air conditioned units have ceiling fans, high speed Internet, walk in closets, dishwashers, garbage disposals, microwaves, refrigerators, an in-unit laundry room and a private balcony. The Fayetteville, NC apartment complex also has a large swimming pool, club house, fitness center, playground and even a business center. Many people relocating to Fayetteville, NC make the Crescent Commons their temporary home.

The Crescent Commons apartments are pet friendly and the rent is very reasonable, especially when you consider the size of the units and all of the amenities that are included. They are an ideal place to live in this charming, southern city.

No matter what type of Fayetteville, NC apartment you seek, there is one to suit your needs. Whether you are looking to stay long term, or only a short while, Fayetteville has many different apartments available to rent. Fayetteville is a beautiful city and many people who relocate to the area stay in an apartment so they can spend time looking for the perfect home. Whether you plan to live in a house or rent an apartment, you will be glad to call Fayetteville, NC your home.

Southern Sun has been chosen as South Africa’s gold medal winning hotel group by industry peers! At this year’s Ipsos Markinor/Sunday Times Top Brands survey after racing ahead of Sun International and Protea Hotels, the Southern Sun Group clinched the gold in the Business-to-Business category.

The award comes eighteen months after Southern Sun embarked on a new behavioural change programme referred to as Siyakhanya, meaning “We Shine”, aimed at giving the hotel group a polished image amongst others in the hotel industry.

Neil Fraser, Director of Sales and Marketing at Southern Sun said, “We needed to ensure that our collective staff behaviour is aligned with our Southern Sun brand promise of true Southern Warmth. I believe this programme helped us to optimise the potential and capacity of every member of staff to deliver distinctive, consistent and compelling customer experiences. By engaging and involving staff in a purposeful change journey with measurable, achievable deliverables and clear accountabilities, we believe that we truly have a winning team on board.”

Fraser shared his delight after wining the award, thanking the individuals who make the hotel group a gold-medal winner, “Southern Sun deliberately focussed its entire brand strategy to ensure that we become the day-to-day, moment-of-truth, top-of-mind hotel brand in South Africa. This is a highly competitive category and this prestigious award goes to every single member of staff at Southern Sun. Together, they really made it happen, so this one’s for the team!”

Southern Sun is already recognised as the leading hotel group in South Africa offering the widest distribution of hotels in major urban centres and key leisure destinations, and will be the largest provider of accommodation during the FIFA World Cup events. “We are on a winning streak and this award reverberates internally and that we are ready to take on the world in 2010. Southern Warmth must shine through in everything we do and all we have to offer, all the time. If we keep getting this right, then that’s the lasting reward.”



About Southern Sun

Southern Sun is the leading hotel group in South Africa, providing world-class accommodation across all markets and offering the widest distribution of hotels in South Africa in major urban centres and key leisure destinations.

Southern Sun’s hotel portfolio comprises of various brands which have been segmented to meet all guests’ needs. The global collection of 81 hotels which sport 13 319 rooms and combine local favourites with some of the world’s most respected hotel brands: Southern Sun Hotels and Resorts, SunSquare, Garden Court, StayEasy by Southern Sun, Southern Sun Timeshare resorts, InterContinental Hotels and Formula 1.

The award has made Southern Sun the leading Southern African hotel group and the group is ranked amongst the top 36 hotel groups worldwide. With over 40 years of experience in servicing the local and international business and leisure traveller, Southern Sun is focused on building its portfolio of successful global brands and continues its expansion in Africa, the Indian Ocean Island and the Middle East.

Southern Sun is wholly owned by Tsogo Sun Holdings, one of South Africa’s most successful entertainment and hospitality groups. Tsogo Sun Holdings comprises Southern Sun Hotels and Tsogo Sun Gaming.

Netflix subscribers, if you’ve got an Xbox 360 and a Windows Vista PC, you don’t have to shell out $99 for Roku’s Netflix Player box to get your Watch Instantly library on your TV screen—you already have everything you need. Using the free Windows Media Center plug-in, vmcNetflix, you can turn your Xbox 360 into a Netflix Watch Instantly box.

With vmcNetflix, you can watch, browse, and queue movies to your Netflix Watch Instantly queue all from your Xbox 360 or Vista Media Center. A highlight of the list of growing features listed on the vmcNetflix site include:

* Stream WatchNow movies directly to the Media Center player.

* Download WatchNow movies to a “Watch Later” gallery.

* Support for Vista Extenders on both x86 and x64 platforms.

* Support for Netflix Instant Queue.

* Support for Episode listings.

* Search for movies by keyword.

* Browse DVD and WatchNow movies by genres.

* Sort Gallery by Title, Year, or Star Rating.

* View your queue, history, and recommendations.

* Add, remove, move movies in your queue.

* Supports DVD/Movie Parental Controls

What You’ll Need

Now that you’ve got an idea of the end product, let’s take a look at the short list of things you’ll need to turn your Xbox 360 into a Netflix player.

1. An Xbox 360

2. Windows Vista with Vista Media Center (it’s included by default in Vista Home Premium and Ultimate)

3. A Netflix subscription

4. The freeware vmcNetflix plug-in

Step 1: Set Up Your Xbox as a Media Center Extender

If you’ve already set up your Xbox 360 as a Media Center extender, you can skip this step. Unless you’re already using your Windows PC as a Media Center powerhouse and have a tuner card installed on your Windows machine, chances are you haven’t had much reason to set up your Xbox as an extender. With vmcNetflix, you’ve got a great reason.

Microsoft already provides detailed instructions for setting up your 360 as a Media Center extender, so here’s the nutshell version. Start up your Xbox 360, head to the Media blade, and select Media Center. Since you haven’t already set up an extender, your Xbox will walk you through the setup process between your Xbox and your PC. The Xbox will generate an eight-digit code to authenticate the connection between the two. Then you need to fire up Media Center on your PC, go to Tasks -> Add Extender, and fill in the blanks in the setup wizard with your eight-digit code when prompted.

Step 2: Install the vmcNetflix Plug-in

Now that your Xbox is set up as a bona fide Vista Media Center extender, you’re ready to download and install the vmcNetflix plug-in. There’s nothing to it, so just download the latest plug-in from the link and go through the installer.

Step 3: Set Up Watch Instantly on Your PC

Before you can stream Watch Instantly videos to your 360 extender, you need to make sure your PC is Watch Instantly-ready first. If you’ve already watched videos on this computer using Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature, you can skip this step. If not, forge ahead.

Your PC needs to install a plug-in or two from Netflix to help deal with the DRM and such used to stream videos. Installing them is as simple as logging into your Netflix account using Internet Explorer, clicking the Watch Instantly tab, and then playing anything. You don’t have to finish it, so just click Play on the first video you stumble across.

Netflix will prompt you to install their plug-in before the video starts, so just accept their prompts and install. When you’re finished with the simple installation, you should be watching the video you just chose. Once you’re there, you can stop the playback. Soon you’ll be watching that through your Xbox, on your TV, from the comfort of your living room.

Step 4: Set Up vmcNetflix on Your Xbox 360

vmcnetflix-installed.pngNow you need to run your Xbox 360 in Media Center extender mode. To do so, turn it on, head to your Xbox dashboard, and fire up Media Center from the list where you set it up originally. Your Xbox will find your computer and start up in Media Center mode.

Once there, scroll down to the Online Media section and then move left to select the program library. You should see an entry for vmcNetflix. Fire it up.

watch-now-login.pngSince this is the first time you’ve run vmcNetflix on your extender, you’ll need to set it up with your Netflix account. Doing so is as simple as providing the plug-in with your Netflix username and password. Do that, and you’re ready to start watching movies.

Step 5: Enjoy!

That’s all there is to it. You can now stream any Netflix Watch Instantly video directly to the TV in your living room using the Xbox 360 that’s already there. No $99 out of your pocket, no extra piece of equipment to add to your entertainment center. vmcNetflix handles everything nearly perfectly, from separate episode listings for television shows to managing and accessing your Netflix Watch Instantly queue.

The vmcNetflix plug-in has been in steady development for a few months now, but as the video above points out, the vmcNetflix plug-in can be a little slow and sometimes buggy. I hardly notice the sluggishness, though thinking about it, it does feel a little slower than normal Media Center extender operation. If you run into bugs, the vmcNetflix homepage offers tips for troubleshooting. I’ve found that restarting my 360 and or Media Center PC remedies any problems. Be sure to check back in with the vmcNetflix homepage from time to time and keep an eye on updates, since the developer is fixing problems and adding features at an impressive pace.

Also Netflix can download Watch Instantly videos and save them on your computer. This comes in very handy because saving videos means you don’t have to worry about downloads buffering, and video playback, fast-forwarding, and rewinding all work better. The downside is that saving videos is not part of the Watch Instantly terms of service.

ProVFX Visual Effects and Editing School has been written by Pranay Rupani who is a Freelance Writer