Fuzzy Bus

Tired of the trips to Paris and the hustle and bustle of New York and Japan? Other destinations have been deemed unsafe. It is time to reconnect with nature and visit somewhere outside the box.

Singapore may seem like a bustling busy metropolitan city, but do not be fooled! This city has much more than just city lights and skyscrapers! Behind the lights of the city, there are rainforests, night safaris, farms, organic bistros, orchid gardens and rustic towns to get you back in touch with nature. These hidden treasures make Singapore one of the top destination spots!

The amount of nature interaction that can be found here is perfect for the nature lover in you! Many vacation spots take you to fancy hotels and bustling city noise where you have to pay for added relaxation. Why not get back to nature and spend time connecting and re-balancing. Fresh air and open fields paired with organic farms. Healthy eating and healthy living will be sure to give you a renewed outlook and strength.

A top attraction that cannot be missed is The Singapore zoo . The Singapore zoo is set in the rainforest of Singapore. You can take a walk through the surrounding rainforest, view the animals by mote, or even have breakfast with friendly monkeys! It is a world in itself and must be on everyone’s list of things to do in their lifetime. A great experience for all ages.

Now, if you have had your fill of nature and want to get out for an authentic meal, Singapore is home to some of the most authentic indian restaurants . With cuisine from the spicy south and the delicately creamy north, you are sure to be pleased. Little India sits on the southern tip of Singapore. With the authentic setting and large Indian population, its like visiting two places in one!

These days most of know at least one person, maybe more, is who is out of work and looking for a job. Decent jobs are pretty scarce right now and, as a result, many people are working jobs and shifts they never before thought they would have to. For some that simple means adjusting to a new environment, but for others it is adjusting to a whole new schedule. working at night may not seem like a big deal but, for those who have done it, they know that it affects every aspect of your life.
One of the biggest areas that is affected is your sleep cycle. Humans are not nocturnal . We are not designed to be awake at night and sleep during the day. For many it is not enough to just cover the windows with a blanket. Too much sunlight is still allowed in and it is not very aesthetically pleasing. For some thick blinds or shades make it dark enough that they can get to sleep and stay asleep. However, if you are light sleeper or are having a particularly hard time adjusting to sleeping during the day, you might be in the market for some blackout curtains. Don’t worry, they are not as dreadful as they sound. They completely block out sunlight, making your room completely dark and allowing you to sleep, and they come in a variety of colors so you won’t loose any of your rooms decor in the process. For more ideas and suggestions, click here .
Night shifts are taxing both physically and mentally; especially if you desire to return to a normal schedule on your days off. However, do not get discouraged. Once you have an established routine and have adjusted to living the night life, it becomes much easier to switch between the two.

Where on this planet can you find a place that brings together two passions at once — art and shopping?  Singapore provides the answer to this question in the form of Vivocity in the Harbourfront Precinct.  Travelers in the hotels of Singapore will discover a building designed by world renowned architect Toyo Ito, in his first major project outside of Japan.  Vivocity’s design is meant to evoke the idea of sea waves, and its home to entertainment and shopping businesses, providing an excellent environment in which to relax.  As the largest retail center in Singapore, the shopping practically takes care of itself, but what about the art?  There are six major works by international artists at Vivocity for its patrons to enjoy.

On the Harbourfront boardwalk, you’ll find a twenty foot tall sphere of flowers by Korea’s Choi Jeong-Hwa.  Set among the Promenade’s trees, it brings a great deal of color to its setting.  The Flower Tree causes people to stop and almost literally smell the flowers.  From the Netherlands, Marc Ruygrok has created Gogo, a thirty-three foot tall rocket, colored a brilliant red, that greets patrons as they enter the parking area of Vivocity.  It resembles a rocketship one might find in a science fiction B-movie from the 1950s.  Then there’s an elongated Snowman, another tall work at forty-three feet, also on the Promenade, rising high above the second story terrace and looking into the third story Sky Park.  Inges Idee from Germany has provided Vivocity with gigantic Snowflakes, each about three feet wide, sitting atop the Sky Park.  Combining this art work with that of the Snowman, there’s a curious comment on nature, snowflakes and snowmen sitting in the tropics, the man-made version of these items lasting even in the warm 80 degree heat of Singapore.

If you’re of a more romantic frame of mind, you’ll discover Aphrodite’s Roses, a series of four giant rose blooms that serve as seating for the patrons, designed by Hiroshi Yoshimiza from Japan.  The sculpture, There, by Netherland’s Henk Visch, depicts a gymnast going through a work out on a horizontal bar some twenty feet above the water.   Finally, you have Vivo Punch, work created by Hong Kong’s Michael Cheung, also known as Punchman.  His human-like figures are playful and colorful and add an extra level of energy to the Sky Park.  For those engaged in the eternal struggle between art and commerce, they may find a merger of the two at Vivocity.

As the capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg enjoys a fine reputation as a very livable city, where there is plenty of industry as well as opportunities for tourists to sight-see and enjoy a splendid time in this city that verges on the east coast section of the U.S.  It has a long history of human presence, where the Native populations have settled here as much as 5,000 years ago, and perhaps more.  It’s been a valuable place for civilizations that have engagements in trade, and it continues to base part of its identity on the Susquehanna River, which it borders on the east.

Coming here is a cause for enjoyment, because the hotels are very capable of offering a splendid sense of hospitality, providing guests with first-class amenities with all the charms of a city that’s developed but not overpowering.  It has an identity that is still in flux, based on the remarkable creativity of the citizens here, who are able to draw on its very rich past.  There are many who cannot think of it without immediately thinking about the comedy routine by Abbott and Costello.  This duo performed and created works of genius that filled up the comedy canon so that the next generations would have a high bar to reckon with.

The vaudeville routine about the Susquehanna Hat Company, Bagel Street, is still considered to be one of the landmarks in comedy history, and still has the power to entertain audiences of all ages.  The wide availability of their work, because of the internet, has given them another rise in popularity, and one which they richly deserve.  There’s something utterly relatable about the innocent man, asking for directions in a strange city, being caught up in an endless loop of confusion about a place that only the locals understand.  There’s also something terribly charming about watching them turn on him, as he sets off emotional triggers on the passers-by, and our guilty pleasure is watching his comic suffering at the hands of people who seem nice enough at the outset.

You may be coming to stay at one of the luxurious hotels in Jackson Wyoming www.hotelsjackson.com so you can visit Yellowstone National Park. This is a great place to stay because there many fun things to do in the town of Jackson on days you are not going to be in the park. The restaurants and saloons are really fun to spend time in and there are plenty of great shops and galleries to find treasures in. As you are heading out to Yellowstone you may see the National Elk Refuge which is also a great stop.

There are so many things to see in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was originally established as a park by Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. It is the first national park in the world and was created so that the wild life and natural features would be spared human development. The National Park Service was established a year after Yellowstone became a park. The U.S. Army were the first overseers of the park. Since then the park has researched in more than 1,000 different archaeological sites that span over 3,468 miles of lakes, canyons, mountain ranges and rivers.

Old Faithful Geyser is by far the most visited feature of the park. The name of the Geyser came from the men on the Washburn Langford Doane Expedition. They were Henry Washburn and Nethaniel P Langford with there army escort Lt. Gustavus C Doane. They kept record of the geyser and its frequency of eruption and named it old faithful because it erupted every hour. Some of the other beautiful sights in the area include Kepler Cascades and Firehole Falls. Old Faithful if the largest geyser but there are many smaller geysers in the area to see. Bring your hiking shoes and enjoy the view.

The dead of winter is full-on in Dayton, Ohio. My family was stuck in our hotel for a whole day, there was a blizzard blowing outside. But, that didn’t deter us the next day from the main reason we were here, to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force located just an hour’s drive west of Columbus, which is where we live. We weren’t planning on staying the night, but then we weren’t expecting to be in a blizzard either. We were lucky to make it off the interstate all in one piece and lucky to find a hotel in Dayton close to the museum.

My wife wasn’t too thrilled that I took the kids out in a snow storm, but we had Cabin fever real bad, we were all going batty and the kids had that wild eye look on their faces, a look that they were just about ready to tear our home apart! So, I did the only thing I knew how to do, get them and me out of the house.

The museum is free! The exhibits are organized chronologically, beginning with the Wright Brothers and continuing onward up to today: Air Power, Modern Flight, Cold War, Missiles and finally the Space Gallery. My kids thought I was crazy by taking them here, but once they got inside, I lost track of them (don’t tell my wife), they each had their own interest concerning what era of flight they were interested in.  My kid’s range from 4 years to 9 years, the younger ones really just enjoyed seeing something new, and didn’t hold their attention for long, and while running and screaming through the museum is discouraged, my kids where just glad to be out of the house, and out of our hotel room.

The layout of the museum is very easy to navigate, and there are guided tours, which are also free of charge. There’s even an Imax theater, a Morphis Movie Ride, a cafe and a gift shop. Actually, there was way too much for us to see in one day. But, at least the change of scenery was hopefully enough to tackle my children’s winter restlessness. The trip to the Air Force Museum in Dayton is the perfect solution for a case of cabin fever.

As though in retaliation against large banks and standard financial institutions, cash advance loan companies have been popping up all over the world as of late. They come in the way of websites and physical stores you can walk into, and the business is growing at an alarming rate. If it’s not in retaliation to the current financial situation in the United States, one has to wonder what makes this type of financial business so much better than any of the others that it is springing to life in an otherwise dead economy. The reason is because people need them. There have been various studies lately about the benefits of these loans, as well as articles explaining in plain English what these loans are and why we need them so badly. This of course means that with such a controversial and booming part of the economy someone will want to try to bash it in and say it’s not good for us, in this case it would be the exact institutions these smaller loans threaten to get rid of such as corrupt banks and the loan departments that threw American economy for such a loop anyway. These people, like any other, have agendas and are trying to scare people away from a product which is fundamentally better than their own.

If you don’t know what a cash advance loan is, now is the time to find out. Once you do know, the real trick is knowing who you want to go to if you are having money issues. These loans are not a way to solve long term money issues, and a responsible lender or broker will tell you this. Another thing you will want is options. Many sites will only let you choose from their one lender, when what you need to make sure you have is someone who is looking out for your best interests and is willing to give you the best loan to fit your circumstances. Also go over the requirements of each site, know that you are eligible before you try to get a loan. Doing all these things before you need the money will give you the ability to know exactly who you will want to contact if you ever have an emergency.

This was going to be about the trip to the vineyards in Modesto, and there were going to be a short series of amusing stories about how the grape made a beautiful vacation for everyone.  This was going to be a write-up of how the hotels in Modesto are some of the nicest in the world, and that there’s always something interesting happening in town.  Some of these things are true and did happen, such as The Hotel, and such as A Trip.  And Modesto was also very much in the picture.

The way it worked out, however, it did not feel like a vacation, and the grapes were the beginning of a much larger issue.  Any time a vacation has issues, you would have to assume that this means there is a bad relationship somewhere.  This much is true.  It’s important here, in order simply to defend myself and the other party involved, that it started out as a good relationship, and one that had been good for about four months.

Four months is the time when a baby begins to develop that very cute baby laugh.  It’s also the time when they start sleeping regularly.  In a relationship, that’s also the time that the couple learns to sleep regularly, and the poets and rock stars would all agree that this is the very beginning of the very end.  You can find your way into the heart of wine country, for example, enjoying the growing familiarity of each other’s rhythms, and you can also notice that these same rhythms are suddenly becoming annoying.

Before I go any further, and I won’t give details because they would make me look worse than I already do, I have no problem with familiarity, and commitment is not the problem.  It’s the place where the other person starts to feel comfortable with you enough that they will consider it good manners to ask you to drive a little slower, and to stay in the lane.  They may also say something about your breath, and how you look like you’re angry about something, and ask you to give them another reason why you care about them.  This might lead to a conversation, or a fight, in the car that lasts for 6 hours, and past the time the wine tour was leaving, and suddenly you might find yourself in Modesto with your own reflection.

Clothes for a Summer Hotel continues its short run at the Hudson Guild in New York. It’s a hot item and popular with many tourists, as well as residents, so guests staying in some of Manhattan’s best hotels should try and get their tickets as soon as possible. Also, remember that there are some great theatre packages available in New York for accommodations, dinners and a show so make sure and check out all of your available options. New York is known for having the best theatre, the best dining options and hotel accommodations, to there is no way to lose when making plans to visit the city and enjoy its diverse features.

Clothes for a Summer Hotel was written by Tennessee Williams who is well known for his great, and sometimes cryptic dialogue and well formed female characters. In fact he has created some of the most famous characters from women on the American Stage. This is the case with this play, though interestingly one of the main female characters is based on real life famous personality, Zelda Fitzgerald. The play is one of Williams’ ghost plays and deals with the restless spirits of another literary great F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. The two were known in real life for their extremely passionate and somewhat unconventional relationship and this continues in their afterlife.

The script takes strong liberties with concepts such as timelines, dates and chronological associations, which is frequently the case when created great drama from dramatic life contexts. In addition, the play deals with the ghosts of these characters so that is already extending the typical suspension of disbelieve which is a traditional theatrical convention. The past and present fuse into a stream of experiences and the story features an appearance from lively characters such as Ernest Hemingway. It is only schedule to run through the 21st of this month, so get your tickets fast.

Every great beach town has their own share of ghost stories.  The sea in many traditional cultures is considered a thing of great mystery, and a source of deep contemplation that connects you to many different levels of the beyond.  The sea is traditionally a place where people are buried, or often lost, and any kind of relationship with death means there will be stories of hauntings.  Sometimes, the stories come about as a way of justifying fears, and other times, they simply grow with time, having begun with stories about the lives of love ones that have passed over into other realms.  Ocean City, New Jersey is certainly no exception to any of these phenomena of ghosts.

That’s one of the most exciting things here, in fact.  This is good news for those who are hoping to find a gorgeous Ocean City hotel to stay in while they throw off the usual bonds of life and responsibilities and just enjoy some magnificent moments on the beach.  That’s certainly understandable, and probably highly recommended by anyone with any sense.  However, should you get tired of too much pleasure doing nothing, there are ghost tours here that are pretty fun.  You’ll get to hear all about the wreck of the Sindia.

This was a ship that split in two in a storm out here in 1901.  Attempts at the time to recover anything were abandoned, and the loss was estimated at half a million dollars.  Captain McKenzie and the crew of 33 men were all lost, and the ghost stores start right here.  There are tales of treasure and a curse, and all the things that children of all ages like to hear about.  If that’s not enough, there’s also a restaurant called Sindia, where the theme, of course, is nautical, and the offering is fresh seafood.

One of the most famous museums in the world today, began as a simple building to house a collection of porcelain items and pottery.  The University Art Museum of Princeton now has a Picasso sculpture adorning the entrance way, and is filled with more than sixty thousand pieces of rare and famous art works, artifacts and samples of history from around the world, through a range of all the different time periods from Classical, to pre-Colombian to modern art.

All media is represented as well, from drawings of the old masters, beautiful works in stained glass, bronze sculptures and photography.  The formation of the art department for Princeton University was begun in 1882, when the president of the university, James McCosh put two men in charge…General George McClellan and William C. Prime.  Both men had very strong convictions to developing a department which valued works of art throughout history.

At first the museum was referred to as the Museum of Historic Art and contained in the collection predominantly archaeological artifacts.  Slowly, paintings began to be included in the collection, which is most likely due to the addition to the staff, of Frank Jewett Mather, who was hired to teach courses on Renaissance Art.  It was during this time that an expansion to the original museum became necessary, for storage space and for exhibition wall space.

Now it is one of the most outstanding and impressive university museums where classes are held and where visitors can witness the changes through time, and the influence art has had on those changes for many societies of the world.  A walk through this museum is like a walk through many museums…a walk through the history of not only different societies, but through the minds of those people living in those societies through time.  To find a hotel conveniently located close to the museum, click here. Any visit to this region of New Jersey would not be complete without experiencing all that the Princeton University Art Museum has to offer, to the mind and to the soul, of what it means to be human and to create.

The coastal island of Hong Kong didn’t really get a recorded birthday until Imperial China came into play. When settlers of significant numbers began to make this area there home it was just a small fishing village that also produced salt and traded goods. It later became quite the military port and was strategically important. The name Hong Kong came with the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. Which was the end to the first Anglo-Chinese War over trading opium long the Asian islands and when the British took the land and established a crown colony.

The Empire of Japan gain control of Hong Kong in 1941 after the Battle of Hong Kong ended. Sadly, the local people suffered badly under the Japanese rule. There were food shortages and large inflation. Half of the population of Hong Kong was lost during this time and finally the British gained the area back when Japan surrendered in 1945. The population did quickly recover when many Chinese people came migrated in as they were getting away from the Chinese Civil War and possible persecution by the Communist Party. Even some large corporations moved from Shanghai and other larger cities to Hong Kong which lead to beginning of the large city we know of today.

There are many beautiful Hong Kong hotels click here that are waiting to accommodate you. The are wonderful starting places to the many adventures that can be had in Hong Kong and the surrounding area. You can check out the Heritage Museum and see all the history from dinosaurs up to today. Take a trip to Lantau Island preferably on the Ngong Ping 360 which is a cable car ride that takes you up to the big Buddha with the breath taking views of Lantau.

I have loved the country of Thailand for as long as I can remember.  My parents would take us every few weeks to the Thai restaurant in our neighborhood, and the delicate hands of the traditional dancers depicted in the paintings on the walls, and the small statues of the dancers throughout the restaurant intrigued my young, but ballet filled mind.  I could not take my eyes off of those hands.  It was many years later that I was able to take my first trip, and I landed on the Island of Phuket.  My traveling partner had booked us into a fine hotel he booked online.  Look here to find your perfect accommodations.

My friend had traveled throughout the country extensively and insisted we take a safari jeep tour.  I was really wanted to find a performance of the Thai dancers I remembered from my youth, and he promised that after seven days in the outdoors, he would take me to one of the most beautiful performances of my lifetime, so I agreed.  There are many breathtaking beaches along the coasts of the Island, and we started our journey at the Prai Waterfall. We had a bit of a swim, ate lunch and fell to a very deep sleep in the resort.  To be honest I was thrilled that we were to spend the night in a resort, as camping in tents just really makes me nervous.  From there we headed the next morning into the mountains and to the town of Surat Thani.

Again, I must say, that the hotel accommodations were incredible and I was holding my breath for the night we would be in tents.  We watched birds, we relaxed in the natural hot springs of Klong Thom and explored the regions that have not been touched by tourism nor commercialism.  Each night we stayed in cozy rooms, and each day was spent in Mangrove Swamps and learning the ways in which monkey communicate.  After the Safari, he did take me to the most amazing dance performance I had ever experienced, but to be honest…the days on the safari tour are what I will remember most.

When I think back on winter as a child, I recall carefree days of playing in the snow, sledding down the hills, and rejoicing over the too few days of cancelled school. Now as an adult I am aware of the challenges that winter presents. Broken heaters, frozen pipes, sick children and icy roads are just a few of the many inconveniences that winter presents. But while we are busy trying to keep the house standing and the family healthy, we do not want to forget about the real troopers–our cars. Driving the hazardous, snowy roads with the possibility of sliding off the road at any moment is not the only potential risk to our winter-worn vehicles.
It is important, before those dreaded winter months hit, to take your car in for a tune-up. Checking all the belts, hoses, and wires should ensure that everything is functioning properly. Also, don’t forget to have them check the brakes. Sliding down an icy hill would be a most unfortunate time to have your brakes go out. You can also have your fluids changed at this time as well. Change out your washer fluid and make sure your vehicle is set on antifreeze/ coolant. Not enough and your fluids will freeze and cause key elements in your engine to crack–a costly and time consuming repair. Your auto parts store will have a variety of different kinds; some made especially for those who particularly cold climates.
Once your inside is set it is time to move on to the outside. To protect your paint from the massive amounts of salt it will be driving through this winter, begin by giving it a good wash. When it is nice and clean you can put a special sealant on your car to protect it from all the salt build up. The key is to keep it clean all winter. It sounds daunting, but by hosing down the exterior, and especially the undercarriage, you can prevent rusting which could lead to severe damage and more costly repairs.
While your looking at the outside check out those custom wheels and tires. Look for any tread wear or balding that could lead to poor traction on the roadways and a potentially dangerous situation. It is also important that your tires are properly inflated. If you have 20 inch rims made of steel, you will want to replace them with 20″ rims stock rims to avoid rust.
The key to keeping your vehicle in tip-top shape during the winter is planning ahead. If you take the necessary steps early on you are that much closer to ensuring a fun, safe winter.

Singapore’s been on lots of different cultural maps lately, and it’s easy to see why.  There’s always plenty of things to do here, and many different varieties of entertainments available.  It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year you come to visit, because there’s always something interesting, and always something new.  There is also that strange but wonderful phenomenon that happens with urban centers that have been cool for awhile: there is a sudden interest in a new artist or movement, and after a bit we can start to see the predecessors, and realize that everything that happens here is based on what happened previously.  That is to say, it exists in time and history, like everything else.

It’s extraordinary when you can participate in the history in the making, and getting to Singapore, and getting around here is very easy.  There are some excellent hotes at this link here that cater to those with a taste for individual touches along with a gorgeous sense of hospitality.  It’s also easy to find excellent events in town from any of the hotels, and visitors might be lucky enough to come across the work of local artist Jimmy Ong.

It’s probably not correct to call him local, when he’s living in New York now, but Singaporeans like to continue to claim him as one of their own.  This artist is famous for his large-scale works, and he’s had quite a career here.  The past few years have seen him flourish as an artist that can stand in a local as well as a global context, which is to say, he’s either arrived, or is extremely close.  His works are as interesting as his themes.  Taking the local conception of the Hungry Ghost based in Buddhism, where those who die without offspring are left to roam the earth forever, and then attaching this idea to queer identity, there is a very potent combination.  It speaks to a very particular time and place, and when we walk in history, we enter into this realm, which is much more complex than anyone could have imagined.

I was able to visit my good friend John last summer at his small studio apartment in San Francisco. The trip was absolutely amazing and it had been over five years since I had seen him. We were extremely close years ago when we were studying together in Flagstaff, Arizona. At the time we had the same group of friends and he and I even worked together at the same local café for two years. Much of our time there was spent by each other’s side and some people even considered us to be inseparable. Other’s thought we were destined to be together and were continually anticipating a wedding announcement. That could not have been any further from the mark however, as John and I, although opposite genders and extraordinarily close we were never more than platonic friends, which I’m more than certain is the way that both of us wanted it. In fact, I think I can safely say that neither of us ever had any romantic interest in the other.

So, the natural question is how did five years pass without two friends of such an allegedly close relationship making any effort to see each other. Ah, there’s the rub, there were efforts made and some initial plans were attempted, but as everyone should also know, life easily positions itself directly in the path of plans like that. And particularly after college, the freedom of youth vanishes into thin air.

Last summer though, the stars were perfectly aligned and John was free for a full week and I was able to make the flight. He invited me to stay with him in his studio, but I was going to be there for a full week and didn’t want to crowd him. I made reservations for a modest, yet comfortable room in one of San Francisco’s hotels. John and I had an amazing time the entire week. We took an two hour Bay cruise, which included a fabulous lunch and incredible views. We also saw a play at the Golden Gate Theatre and took a tour of the Berkeley campus, which had been the reason John moved there in the first place. He received his graduate degree from Berkeley and stayed there after he graduated. One thing is certain, well a few are, but whatever happens John and I will not wait five more years to see each other.

I always secretly wanted to be Biff.  Maybe it’s not all that secret.  When I was in high school, I was on the wrestling team every year, and I did not want to take drama, but I had to.  There was something about it being the only elective left, and there was one other except for drama and that was homemaking class.  So it was just drama that was open, and that’s what I decided to take but I didn’t want to.  But then I started to be in the class and it was interesting, and then I started doing a scene about the guy in sales, the guy who dies.  

That was a very different play and I liked it a lot because I got to play Biff, and everyone told me I nailed it.  I didn’t know you could nail it in a drama class, but I did, and that was good.  I don’t know what I did, but there was a moment when I was deciding to think about how I was mad at someone who took some cash from my wallet and I decided to think about that, and then I don’t remember the rest.  That was a few years ago, and now I’m sometimes going to check into these New York business hotels because that sounds like something Biff would do, and I wait to have meetings with a boss the next day.

But you know what?  Just like in the play, there’s no meeting.  I’m not there to meet anyone.  It’s sad.  I’m there not to meet anyone but just so I can say I did, because I don’t know why I do it.  There’s something about this Biff Loman that makes me feel like I’m reminded of someone who is me.  And I think if I were like the guy who wrote the play so he could marry Marilyn Monroe, that would be all right, too, but it would have to a be a younger one, because she’s got to be like way old by now.

After a great nights sleep in our hotel room, we went for breakfast in the hotels restaurant. We decided to check out the Bonneville Dam, which would take us most of the day to get there from Seattle. But, it was a part of our educational section of our trip. By the time we arrived, via rental car, we were just in time for a tour to begin. Our ranger was really nice and she gave us a wonderful tour and took us to see the Dam turbine room. She explained to us how all the fish get through the Dam via a series of ladders with which the fish can easily traverse when they need to go upstream for spawning purposes. But, going downstream, it’s a little treacherous, because they have to swim through the turbines, which the fish do get a little shredded by the actions of the turbines, but our ranger assured us that is was a very small percentage. Apparently, the downstream fish flow wasn’t considered or factored by the original Dam design. They have since built special tubes that the fish can use to bypass the turbines, which does increase their survival rate.

Our visit to the Dam was very beautiful, it’s set in the Columbia River, so we had a little bit of time before heading back to the best luxury hotels Seattle, where we are booked, and we took a small hike to Beacon Rock. It only took us 45 minutes to reach the top, and only 20 minutes to come back down! At the top, we had a brilliant view of the Columbia River and the Gorge itself. Washington State is on one side and Oregon State is on the other.

The drive back was slow going, apparently, it being a Sunday evening, everyone seemed to be heading back to Seattle. We did get back and we were famished. We found a nice place that actually served an excellent Gumbo, even better that the Gumbo we had in New Orleans! The drive wiped us out, so we just headed back to our hotel and stayed in for the night.

“…to the moon Alice!”  The famous comedian Jackie Gleason was always saying that to his wife in the old TV show “The Honeymooners”.  A show currently running at the New York Hayden Planetarium will take you not only to the moon, but to the stars as well.  The show “A Journey to the Stars“, opened late last summer and features images of telescopes that were captured from the ground and from deep space.

Some of these images had never been seen before, outside of research labs.  And the experience of catching glimpses of our world, and all that surrounds it are astonishing, and to be honest, pretty mind-blowing.  There is always something to witness at the Planetarium, and the American Museum of Natural History which sits just next door, which shows you where you fit in this world, and in this galaxy.  This is a theatrical performance as well as an educational one.

More than forty scientists from around the world, collaborated with those at NASA.  It was an international affair, just putting it all together.  Whoppi Goldberg is the narrator, and she adds this to her list of accomplishments, along with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, serving as an ambassador to the United Nations, and a Tony.

The show begins each half hour Monday through Friday, running from 10:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, and from 10;30-5 on the weekend.  This is an incredible journey through the life of the stars, including our most precious star, the sun.  The Planetarium and the Natural Museum are located close to some of your favorite hotels of New York, making this a convenient trip out any day of the week.  It is an educational experience as well as a theatrical performance, one which will leave you with not only a better understanding of our solar system and our place in it, but with a sense of wonder and amazement.

Phoenix has not been thought of in the past, as one of the US cities with a large art community.  This is just simply not the case, as throughout the greater Phoenix area of Gilbert, Glendale, Chandler, Tempe and Scottsdale, festivals, music concerts, art openings and theatre and performance art is continuously happening.  Do you need to look a little harder for it?  In some cases, but in the downtown area, many of the coffee shops, the best Phoenix hotels, restaurants and boutiques are always hanging art on the walls and supporting the arts and the shows at the Herberger Theatre, or Grady Gammage in Tempe.  Many lesser known artists participate each month, in the downtown First Friday Art Walk.

More well known and international artists can be found on Thursday night, at the Scottsdale Galleries art walk.  Local musicians fill the streets, and art is everywhere, in fact—a little known fact, is that the city of Scottsdale sells more art each year than the art capital of the United States, New York City.  Running through the month of May, people visiting the city will have the opportunity to view the work of one of the most famous artists of this city, Allan Houser.  This is part of a collaboration, between the Phoenix Botanical Gardens located at the foot of the Papago Mountain Range , and the Heard Museum, located directly downtown.

This showing is entitled, “Tradition to Abstraction”, and will feature many of Houser’s paintings, as well as eighteen bronze sculptures, sketches and drawings.  The show opened in November of 2009 and will continue through the next five months.  Houser’s work has gained worldwide recognition through his intimate depictions of life, and his evocative use of shadows and light.  Houser was born in Arizona in 1914, and was one of the children of the survivors of Fall Sill, and the Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache Tribe. His sculptures are modern, much in the style of Francisco Zu and Henry Moore, but he has become in his own right, known as the father of Native American Indian Sculpture.  Throughout his life, up until his death in 1994, Houser was dedicated to creating bold figures in bronze and stone.  His work will forever be remembered and cherished, long after the show closes in May.

Mic was a strong willed, independent and ambitious young athlete. Since he was two years old his parents noticed a definite stubborn streak in their child and watched as he instantly climbed furniture, counters and other miscellaneous dangers items before he was one year old. They both ended up getting into better shape than they imagined they would simply by chasing him around. They were also terrified of what would happen when he hit his terrible twos. Oddly, Mic sailed through them with ease. He never seemed to want to rebel but simply follow his own path, which was always in motion. Of course it isn’t called rebellion in two year olds, usually, it’s a time of early identity development and a period of time when babies are figuring out they are separate from other people, animals and objects. However, with Mic it really seemed to his parents that he was born with a self knowledge and conflict only occurred when it got in the way of his movement.

It may be obvious at this point that Mic’s interests veered more toward running than other sports, which is true and he certainly loved track. However, he also enjoyed applying his speed and agility to the football field and frequently played in the position of running back during his Pop Warner days. Throughout high school he had an equal passion for track running and football, though he was noticeably small for a football player. For this reason one of his coaches and also his parents recommended he apply for track and field scholarships.

Mic thought about this for some time but finally decided he would apply to three schools, though he absolutely wanted to go to University of Washington. By this time his true ambitions had solidified and he had every intention of someday playing for the Seattle Seahawks. It was natural to him he would want to stay in his hometown and play for the Huskies prior to his professional career. Mic thought about all of the hotels Seattle that would be full of football fans and wondered how many of them would be there to watch him play. That was the single fantasy of glory he indulged in. At all other times he was genuinely passionate about the sport and his favorite team.

When I lived in Los Angeles I was in a very fortunate position.  My dear friend is a screenwriter and as such is a member of the Screenwriters’ Guild.  One of the perks of being in the Union is that he got into movies for free, and so did his guest.  It was during that time that I became familiar not only with the various movie theaters in the greater Los Angeles, but as he was “in the business” he would take me not to mall cinema or the multiplex theaters, but to the theaters around town that had a history.  A history of Hollywood and of movie-making, for many buildings in the city hold a history, be it the grand and wonderful Chinese Theater or a best Los Angeles hotel or a great beach-side restaurant in Malibu, the history of the great age of glamour and story telling is evident and all encompassing.

The Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax was a regular haunt for us, a place where there is still a live person accompanying the movies, and before the feature, short films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin still bring laughter from the audience.  The Rialto Theater in Pasadena does show currently released films.  But the experience of the movies here is intensified as sculptures and velvet curtains line the walls, and the balcony that is now not open to the public due to structural damage from earthquakes over the years, still looms behind as a reminder of the days when movie stars such as Mary Pickford, Clark Cable and Fred Astaire would sit up in those seats while attending their movie premieres.

The Nuart Theatre is on the West Side of LA, right on Santa Monica Boulevard.  This is a theater which still has the ticket taker booth out front.  Movies vary here, and back then we saw everything from “The Third Man” to the “Blair Witch Project”.  This theater has the most eclectic movie showings in town.  The Egyptian Theater, the El Capitan and of course Grauman’s Chinese Theatre line Hollywood Blvd. and have all been in business for almost one hundred years.  Now that I no longer live in Los Angeles, going to the movies is just not the same.  The seats may be more comfortable, the vibe is missing and for some reason the popcorn just does not taste as good.

There are some people, it’s very true, who can really brighten up a room.  Sometimes it depends on the people, however, and sometimes it depends on the room.  There are moments when these bright spots can come from unexpected places, like the co-worker who’d been written off as boring, suddenly making the right smart-aleck comment at the just the right time.  It can lift the atmosphere of a place, and make even a dreadful board meeting suddenly interesting again. There are those, too, who have that elusive star power, who seem to attract all the best things in the world to themselves, and seem to have a hidden talent for creating beautiful, romantic, or terribly funny moments out of thin air.

But even superstars have their dull days, and even if you’re a superstar, sometimes the best way to brighten up a room is by actually brightening it. That’s where Next Day Blinds comes in, because that’s a splendid way to help change the light in your surroundings.  You can control the flow of light any time of day, and the gorgeous blinds, made from some stunningly beautiful materials, are a beautiful touch. They add a certain instant elegance, and they can go with any decor.  It’s also flexible enough to be able to create vibrant effects, a sense of luxury, or a touch of casual beauty to any situation.

Perhaps best of all, the way your surroundings look and feel can absolutely affect your own inner state, and perceptions of how things are.  When you are surrounded by beauty, it’s much easier to resonate beauty from within, and your own star power can really come out.  Not everyone wants to shine in this way, of course, and sometimes it sounds a little exhausting.  But with Next Day Blinds, there is the possibility to shine and glow in unexpected ways, and you don’t even have to make an effort, because the light does all the work for you.

Carrie and Joe thought they had finally made it when they moved into their newly renovated beach home in Malibu, California. The city had been a dream move for the young couple that met while they were both attending UCLA. Joe was a history major though he would quickly open his own computer distribution business after college and Carrie was an English major. Her dream was to open a small used bookstore in Malibu that would also serve coffee and pastries and sometimes host informal performances such as poetry readings.

They moved into their new home in June last summer and immediately invited some of their friends form Los Angeles up for a visit as well as various family members from across the country. They took their guests to Zuma Beach where the spent a beautiful day in the sun and sand. Joe was an avid surfer though Carrie had never tried anything more than a boogey board though she really enjoyed those.

Since Joe and Carrie had just moved in neither one of them had been able to fully explore the sights and cultural features of Malibu before they began inviting guests to visit. In fact, they hadn’t even fully unpacked, but their old college friends didn’t mind and the four of them had a great time. Joe offered to pay for a room for them in one of the Malibu hotels but his guests wouldn’t hear of it. They went to the Montgomery Art House for Music and Architecture, which Carey had heard was interesting and hosted some quality performances. They passed by it on their way back from the beach and thought it looked intriguing. A local band was playing there when they visited and they were interested to learn that it was designed by Eric Lloyd Wright, who is the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright. They had a great time but promised their friends they would be completely settled in before their next visit. Maybe Carrie would even have her bookstore open.

Many people today are becoming concerned with a ‘greener way of living”.  Now, modern comforts are something that many people rely on those comforts such as electricity and our cars, but many things can now be done to ensure that all of our products of comfort, running more efficiently, with less damage to the environment.  This is true for fireplaces as well.  Choosing to heat your home with a wood burning fireplace or stove, will save on the electricity bill, but some people may be concerned about the smoke from the chimney, and the effects that it may have on the environment.  During the 1990’s, the Environmental Protection Agency became concerned with this as well.

Many of the wood burning stoves are now EPA certified, these are models that through technological advances are not only more efficient, but they burn cleaner as well.  One way you can make certain that yours is most efficient is by the installation of a fireplace insert. What this is is simply the installation of a stove, into your pre-existing fireplace.  They are constructed using cast iron or steel, and many are fitted with glass doors.  The cast iron will hold the heat, just as in the free standing gas stoves of old, and will continue to heat your house long after your fire has gone out.

There are many design options for inserts, some of them will extend out onto the hearth, which is not only interesting in looks, but will further increase the efficiency and the heating capabilities of your fireplace.  A fan blower can be mounted on the top or on the side, which will force the heat further throughout the house.  Many of the blowers are fitted with a thermostat, giving you more control over the temperature of your home.  Not only is this a great way to utilize your fireplace to the fullest, it will serve to lower your heating and electric bills throughout the winter months.

Wood pellet stoves are the recyclers of the wood burning fireplaces and stoves and is does this efficiently. So taking another look at the wood pellet stove it offers some added benefits to other heat sources. The recycling part is not only burning the wood but also burning the recycled chips of other wood projects. The wood chips that are burned in these stoves comes from scrap wood of saw mills. This idea started centuries ago. Make sense when wood was the big commodity of survival in early human history.

The Presto Log was invented finally in 1930 from the use of sawdust that came from the Potlatch pine mill in Idaho. This encouraged the development of the miniature pellet stove in 1980. The way it burns is the same. The pellets are put into a hopper, which is a storage container, and then slowly put into the burn area. The automation of this helps create a constant flame so it doesn’t need the constant stoking or adjusting. That is were the efficiency comes to play.

These great stoves have evolved from the old boxy style to now many styles to fit the decor of different homes. There are so many home designs out on the market today and people are taking advantage of the many stoves designs that are out there too. Even though the pellet stoves have been around for a long time, they began their popularity when consumers where looking for alternative forms of heating during the 1973 oil crisis. With in the past ten years the pellet stove has become even more popular. The consumer is encouraged to burn even more than wood. Now the pellets have a mixture of other biomass ingredients. Left over farming scraps are blended in like wheat, cherry pits, sunflower seeds and the ever popular corn.

Singapore is an incredible metropolis that is full of diverse cultural elements and unique performance events. In addition to these great cultural aspects, Singapore has excellent dining opportunities and offers great cuisine from around the world. With this in mind, the sushi Singapore is still one of the favorite choices for both locals and the numerous tourists who visit the city every year. There are also a nice variety of restaurants and food venue establishments that cater to every sushi taste and dining atmospheric preference.

Sushi Tei in Singapore is one of the city’s main institutions for great sushi. It is a standard favorite for many and is almost the default option for hungry sushi diners that just want great food and don’t want to have to search for it or take a chance. The establishment offers both in house dining and also a great take out menu. Both areas of this restaurant are consistently busy with sushi enthusiasts. Some of the popular items from the take out menu include fabulous party packs that serve multiple people. These are great for business meetings and house parties such as birthdays, anniversaries and other celebration events.

There are also great appetizer options available on the take out menu and the individual combinations include an assortment of sushi and are affordably priced. Some of the favorite take out combination meals include a plate full of salmon sushi, kappa maki, tako sushi, ebi sushi, maguro sushi and more. This is just one example of the extensive variety plates that are available. And simply based on their descriptions alone, they seem almost like a party platter themselves, so it is obvious that those platters must be even more inclusive and incredible. Whatever your sushi desires and or needs include, Sushi Tei has the menu to satisfy them.

Not properly maintaining your hot tub will lead to unnecessary expense and shorten the life of the unit. Your hot tub was made durable, tough and can withstand the heat and the cold, but if neglected, these features can’t last forever. Even portable hot tubs needs to regularly maintained. You hot tub comes with a maintenance guide from the manufacturer; read it before you use your hot tub and any other manual if provided. Familiarize yourself with every detail of your new hot tub system. Hot tubs all have the same use, but they don’t all have the same functions.  Get to know what the water pump, control box, thermostat, heater, timer and filter look like. Learn what exactly their function is and how they work and how the sound when turned on. If something goes wrong, you will immediately hear the difference and you will be able to do something about it.

The filtration system is the component that keeps the water clean. If you frequently use your hot tub, you need to regularly clean the filter; twice a week is considered good maintenance. Don’t be fooled by a new filtration system that does a good job of making sure your water is good, because the filter will degrade, over time, even with regular cleaning. Replace the filter after a year. As for your pump and heater, you should inspect them regularly to ensure they are working efficiently. If the water temperature becomes too hot or too cold, or if the water isn’t draining properly, then it is due to deficiencies in performance. It’s easier to fix an issue early on rather than wait until it completely breaks down. If you do not no how to fix the component, call the manufacturer, or call your hot tub service as soon as possible.  Maintaining a balanced pH level is a good safety measure. Inappropriate pH levels will affect the skin and corrodes the heater coil. If the water isn’t heating properly, check for corrosion on the heat coil. Levels should be tested once a week and depending on how much you use your hot tub, the water should be changed every 3 months.

Like most people, I’ve lived around fireplaces all my life — living in the Northwest, it’s practically a necessity, but I’ve never given much thought to the actual parts of a fireplace or its construction.  I’d never even considered how a wood insert might transform a drafty fireplace into a really energy efficient heater for the home.   As the winter months are fast upon us, and because I have a fairly drafty fireplace that doesn’t get much use now, I took a look around at what was available:

Wood inserts fit around or in the fireplace, have a glass front, and a fan that you can adjust to stream the heated air into the room through vents.  I could see immediately how this would improve the heating efficiency of any fireplace.  Heating efficiency is another term I had to learn: It means BTUs or British Thermal Units, and there’s a recommended amount for the square footage in a fireplace; that amount would be about 25 to 30 BTUs for every square foot of space.   So, let’s say, I install an insert for a wood burning stove, that’s going to mean that I’ll have about 75 per cent efficiency as opposed to the 25 per cent efficiency one gets with an open fireplace.  Obviously, if you jump up 50 per cent in efficiency, inserts are going to save you a great deal of time and money (time it takes to heat the room; money it takes to purchase the wood, etcetera).

I’m also learning that there are different types of inserts, such as a pellet stove, which burn compact pellets.  The pellets are made the byproducts of wood waste, things like hulls of wheat and other “biomass.”  Whatever it does, it’s supposed to be really friendly for the environment.  The more I investigate the wood inserts, the more I’m convinced I’m going to get one…  some come with a cooking top, and I really like the kind of primeval idea of cooking a meal in a fireplace.

Those who have traveled with a small child knows that it is a daunting task. The difficulty and the extra time required to do anything at all with a toddler or an infant in arms and the thought of planning a flight with a small child is overwhelming. Plus, an additional worry has been thrown in the mix for parents of toddlers. For example: many parents were quite shocked to read a news story of a family being kicked off an Air Tran flight, all because of their 3 year old daughter was having some kind of meltdown as soon as they boarded the plane. The child refused to sit in her seat, although the parents most likely wouldn’t gotten their daughter under control given a few minutes, they were asked to leave the plane!

When using the services of a charter jet, a squirming toddler is no issue. Plus, you can drive onto the tarmac and board immediately. No lines or carrying strollers through security screenings, no convoluted rules for carry-on bags. Your stroller will be with you, so you don’t need to worry if it arrives to your destination with you. You can even take longer flights, because your toddlers favorite meal or snack was prepared a head of time. Kid’s can squirm, stomp, sing in the cabin without disturbing anyone. An extra bonus for you, is there’s plenty of room for your babysitter too.

All the necessities are arranged for your children, and as parents, you can relax and indulge right along with your children. You too can have your favorite foods, snacks and drinks. Enjoy stretching out in the extra space. Ask the charter jet company to arrange ground transportation to meet you at you destination. No more hassles at arrival and none at departure. You’ll arrive stress-free, rested and ready to spend that vacation together like you planned all along.