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Coming to Nashville with big dreams that seem much too large to fit in a pocket, but they do, and they make sense in my pocket. It’s not hard to see how this could become a pattern, because I’ve already fallen into it so easily. Enjoying the few first moments here at a Nashville luxury hotels for the beginning, a treat for before the move into living here. It sounds so much harder than it actually is. There’s plenty of moments in front of me, and on nights like this, they seem so much greater than the moments behind me, and there’s time to breathe several sighs of relief, every one delicious.

The city opens up like a wall of mirrors, not like the ones in the funhouses where I grew up daydreaming about myself staring at myself in rivers. These mirrors are all true, and in the daytime they are only shadows, but at night they glow. This is the first place I’ve been where the song about Echo first starts to make sense, and this tells me I might have been onto something, and for a long time, too. This is enough to keep going for another week, and then after that there’s a strange faith that new inspirations are around the corner.

My favorite song, and the one no one will ever hear, is the one about Orpheus and Eurydice . That’s the one that brought me here, and it seems fitting now that there would have to be some loss before all of this that lies before me. Nashville is more of a mystery than I could have imagined, and my imagination is larger than the dreams in my pocket. The first part of any story is getting to know the main characters, so I am keeping my eyes open for who I might meet. But I understand from the myth that I won’t recognize the key players at first, they will only reveal themselves when time starts to unfold, beyond my control, and far beyond my dreams.

The Huntington Theatre in Boston is the city’s largest theatre company. And as is reported by them it is also the most popular theatre in the city and one of the country’s most respected. Those last two statements are pretty strong claims though there doesn’t seem to be much argument against them. The company was established in 1982 by Boston University and is well known for presenting seven great productions from the theatrical cannon as well as the latest hits every season. Many of the country’s top theatre performers, directors and designers are attracted to working with Huntington and come to Boston for this purpose. Meanwhile audience members from all across the country are attracted to being part of the audience for any one of their productions.

Many of the top places to stay in Boston will refer their guests to the Huntington theatre
when they ask for a great entertainment oriented evening out. Dinner and a show is a great idea when one has tickets to a hit production. In addition to a diverse selection of productions offered by the theatre, the plays are staged in more than one venue. Two world class stages are included in their production space and these are the Boston University Theatre, which is designed after the historic Broadway theatres and seats 890. The other main stage is the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Some of the theatre’s previous productions include Rock ‘n Roll by Tom Stoppard and Boleros for the Disenchanted by Jose Rivera from last season. The current season includes two productions that are currently running, Stick Fly by Linda Diamond, which is being performed at the Calderwood Pavilion and Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo, which just opened on the Boston University Theatre mainstage. Upcoming productions include, among others, Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas, Fences by August Wilson and All My Sons by Arthur Miller.

In Hawaii, it’s sometimes difficult to find things to be anxious about. At least that’s true for those who come for vacations, enjoying all the beauty and splendor of a place that’s been a major travel destination for generations. Although there have been many attempts to minimize the carbon footprint, there are still many reasons for visiting, and there’s more to see beyond the gorgeous sand and sea. Those are pretty good reasons for coming, however, along with a very lively culture, and some interesting philosophies of the world that make for a complex and endlessly fascinating vision of how things are, and where there might be going.

It makes sense to go for the full experience and stay in hotels like these , so that luxury and hospitality rule your days and nights. You might get to wondering about the culture here, and how the multiple cultures came to form the modern Honolulu. Where there are many complicated layers of social structure and human development here, it almost makes perfect sense that one of Honolulu’s most influential architects was a Russian. Vladimir Ossipoff was born in Vladivostok in 1908, and lived here from 1931 until his death in 1998.

He was recently remembered and honored in the exhibition Hawaii Modern , which the Honolulu Academy of Arts organized so that his contributions would be noted on a larger scale, and to put it in a proper context. Here, the proper context was in the realm of art, because although his notions were very functional, they were also rather beautiful. He’s one of the generation of artists to bring aesthetic appeal back to architecture, in fact, and there is an attempt to integrate the beauty of nature with structure. That’s no small task in a place that’s as overwhelmingly lovely as Honolulu. Public buildings, businesses, churches, houses, and the airport here all have his stamp on them, and there is a uniform sense of space in all of them. They are marked with an airiness that is absolutely refreshing, and even breathtaking, so that at times going from beach to interior is made into a seamless gesture, filled with graciousness.

Before I graduated from high school, my English teacher had each of us write a letter to ourselves describing where we would be five years in the future . With a bright future in front of us it was easy to fill up the page with our dreams of finishing college, getting a great job, and, for some, starting a family. However, when I received that letter in the mail five years later I realized I had strayed very far off of the path I had set for myself. Not that I am not happy with my life, I am, but I realized that without those goals in front of me it easy to let time and life carry them away. Without goals and something to work towards, it is easy to stay where we are and just let time slip away. So I would ask you, what goals do you have for yourself?
Sit down and write out where you see yourself five years from now. Do you want to start a new career? Perhaps you see yourself in management? Do you still want to be living in the same location? Or even the same state? Once you have it all written down, it’s time to make it happen. Break your five-year plan down into one year plans , and if you are super detailed, monthly plans. Determine what you have to do over the next five years to get you where you want to go. Think about whether you have all the leadership skills to get you to the next level at work and, if not, what you can do to enhance. If you want to be a leader and eventually work in management, find out if your company offers a management training program that can help you sharpen your skills.
Don’t think that just because you write down your goals you have to stick to them. Pull them out every once in awhile and reevaluate them. As you change, so will your goals. Goals are a good way to feel like you’ve accomplished something and keep you moving steadily into the future.

There are fifteen Presidential Libraries in the United States, scattered from California to Maine.  The two in California are Nixon and Reagan; in Texas, you’ll find three, Lydon Baines Johnson, George Bush, and George W. Bush.  The rest of the states have one each: JFK in Maine, FDR in New York, Gerald Ford in Michigan, Herbert Hoover in Iowa, Harry S. Truman in Missouri, Dwight D. Eisenhower in Kansas, and William J. Clinton in Arkansas.  That’s fourteen listed.  If you want to find the library of the 39th President of the United States of America, then you’ll need to go to Atlanta, Georgia. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is one of the many sights you might see while staying in luxury at a number of hotels in Atlanta.

The museum and library are hosts to a number of interesting events.  If you’re looking for something different to do, then you might try out a President’s Library.  Recently, they held a performance by Gene Griessman who played the role of Abraham Lincoln.  In future events, Bill and Sue Wills will portray Lyndon & Lady Bird Johnson on February 27th, at two in the afternoon.  The show will focus on their lives together of “Lady Bird” and the “Master of the Senate.”  On March 4th, there will be a lecture and book signing of Betty Glad’s “An Outsider in the White House,” a book considered by some to make significant contributions to diplomatic history and presidential studies.  It’s not all lectures and plays at the library and museum, there’s photography, too: On March 17th, a photographic exhibition titled Life Through the Lens — Photographs by Senator Howard H. Baker will open, featuring a collection of fifty large-format photographs.

Many cities offer a variety of attractions to its guests, and Atlanta has more than most, from The World of Coca-Cola Museum to the Georgia Aquarium to Underground Atlanta.  Take time, too, to investigate a little Presidential history for Jimmy Carter.

The idea of New York is one that is radically open and flexible, and simultaneously it is extremely determined, an ultimate always already that refers to itself with an unusually vibrant, and sometimes aggressive dexterity.  It’s one of the most attractive things about the city, making it seductive and elusive.  Just when it seems that you’ve got the city figured out, it becomes something else altogether different.  From a distance, geographical or temporal, its faces are consistent and do reveal an order, although at the time it might seem all too random.

The business hotels in New York are great places from which to contemplate how this all fits together.  Even if there are no answers, which are probably misleading anyway, there is a sense that these ideas all collapse into each other and constantly expand to become something else.  Every point of view gets caught up in the fold, and if you were to see this visually represented, it might look something like Hypermusic/Ascension, the inner text of the site-specific monodrama presented at the Guggenheim in March.

This collaborative dream team, composed of Lisa Randall, Héctor Parra, and Michael Ritchie, has put together this new opera that utilizes an experimental score.  The attempt is to capture something of the 5th dimension, and this is a tall order.  As part of the museums Contemplating the Void exhibition, tall orders are very welcome here.  Interventions into the space have produced some fantastic experiments, with works by Cai Guo-Qiang, Matthew Barney, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer.  This is a good opportunity to participate as an observer, and to push the barriers of quantum theory until it begins to look like waking life.

In the past when you would sell your house, most of your homes value would come from the square footage and whether or not there was a pool. While those things are still important today, more and more value is being put on the improvements that the previous owners make to the home. Things like landscaping, updated appliances, new tile or carpeting, and new windows. Whether you are investing in your current home or have plans to sell, investing in new windows is a sure fire way to increase the value of your home. Dual, or double paned, windows are not cheap; however the advantages far outweigh the cost. Because dual pane windows are formed from two panes of glass with a small space in between that is often with a non-toxic gas such as argon, they are better at insulating. This will product items in your home from sun damage as well as severely limiting the amount of heat that comes in during the summer and out during the winter. As a result you will see a significant difference in your heating and cooling bill . Another, advantage to dual pane windows is noise reduction. This is particularly important to those who live on high traffic streets and who have to constantly live with sound of traffic. Dual pane windows are remarkably easy to clean and are available in various styles and designs.  With the outsides of your windows complete, you can then tackle the task of improving the insides with some custom wood blinds that can protect them from the inside. There are many things that you can do to dress up your new windows, such as blinds, shades and shutters. For more tips and ideas visit the Next Day Blinds website , there you will find a list of products, samples, and suggestions to finish off your new window look. Make the investment in your home and in your windows, there is no way to loose.

She was in New York because her cousin had told her that she knew some people who were looking for singers.  She wasn’t a singer, but had a feeling that she might like to be.  This was back in those days when it was easier to try things in public, and no one would remember your experiments, so it was possible to grow in outward directions.  New York has shifted in many ways since those days, but there are still great luxury hotels here where you can hole up and make some decisions about these kinds of life changes.  In those days, the only real improvement over today was in the freedom of choice in expression.
So she was in New York, living in the glory days of Nico, who became a certain kind of role model for her, and a stuttering dream for me.  Everything stuttered then, because we were always wide awake and getting wider as the day wore on.  My face was usually somewhere tattooed on the inside of her head, and she said she would focus on that, and sing to that.  She hadn’t started singing yet, but when she did start, that’s what she was going to do.  There weren’t very many of us in those days with our strange combination of genuine heart and deep suspicion.
Or perhaps it’s better to say that everyone in those days had that strange combination.  But people of our tribe didn’t talk to each other, because of the mistrust, and that can make it difficult for a tribe to ever get to know their own numbers.  For a few short moments, though, she had my number in her brain, and I had hers, and those numbers were the only numbers that would matter.  Nico would perform at the Knitting Factory, and when we would go, we would float, close to the bodies we’d been born with.

My good friend Mike is visiting me this weekend from Sacramento, California and we have had a great time. Today we spent most of the day in Tempe. He has only been to Phoenix once before and that was actually only for a day. He’s not at all familiar with the Valley so I wanted to take him around and visit some of the standard popular areas. Of course one of these had to be Mill Avenue in Tempe, and it was a beautiful day to be down there. We actually started out with a stop at the Wild Flower Bread next to Changing Hands Bookstore because he wanted to find a book on gluten free cooking for his mom. It was nearing lunch so I had one of their salads and he had a chicken sandwich.

After he found the book he was looking for we headed down to the Mill Avenue area and parked close to Tempe Town Lake. There was some kind of an event happening at the beach park there was a live cover band playing though I don’t know the name of the band. There were quite a few people down there and we listened to the music and walked along the water’s edge. We also walked up Mill Avenue stopped in at some of the shops. There’s a place that sells bamboo based clothing and I bought a cool t-shirt there. Around the corner there was another small store where Mike bought a small ASU themed toy basketball and hoop for his sons.

Mike love’s hotel lounges and we were going to stop at one of the Tempe hotels but needed to get back into Phoenix because we had tickets for a show at Space 55 downtown. We spent quite a bit of time walking along through old town and thought about getting some food at Monti’s on our way back to the car, but like I said, time was short so we didn’t do that either. Mike’s leaving tomorrow and while we had a great time, it’s always kind of sad to have guests like this because the more fun you have the more emphasis it puts on the departure. Oh well, I’ll visit him this summer.

If you’ve come to Florida and its many beautiful beaches, why go to a water theme park?  Isn’t there enough water all around us, anyway?  Well, the oceans don’t have River Rapids or the Tree Top Drop, but Shipwreck Island Waterpark does.  This park has a little something for everyone: thrill rides, family rides, even toddler rides, for that matter.  There are size restrictions on some of these attractions (48 inches for the Tree Top Drop, for instance), so a visit to the theme park’s website may help to determine who in your family may ride which ride.  You’ll also find that this Panama Beach, Florida, water park sells its tickets according not to age, but to height!  For guests fifty inches or taller, it’s thirty-two dollars.  For guests between thirty-five and fifty inches, it’s only twenty-seven dollars.  Anyone under thirty-five inches, the park is free!  Apparently, there are some advantages to having a shorter stature!

Once inside the park, there’s a generous array of rides from which to choose, and they’re divided into categories based on the amount of excitement one might receive.  In the thrill ride category, you’ll find River Rapids, Tree Top Drop and the Pirates Plunge; the latter two look especially daring, considering the heights involved.  The family rides include everything from White Knuckle River to Lazy River, from the Ocean Motion Wave Pool to the the Great Shipwreck, Flume Zoom, and Skull Island.  The tadpole rides is presumably for those on the shorter end of the scale (or at least the very young),  with names such as Silly Sub, Pelican and Frog.

If you’re planning a trip to Panama City Beach, then you might want to find a room, grab your swimsuits, and head out to the water park!  Of course, you might actually like to go to the real beaches, too.  They’re not bad, either!

For many businesses, the tight economy has put them in extremely difficult situations. Many companies are experiencing cutbacks, layoffs, and downsizing, which for many is just the tip of the iceberg. While many of these cuts are necessary to keep the business running, one thing that should not be cut is employee training. It is an often under-appreciated aspect of the workplace that is too often cut to make way for other less important things. While it may seem justified at the time, there are several reasons, for both the employer’s and employee’s sake, why this should not be so.
One of the reasons that employee training seminar are often cut is that employers do not see the benefit for them and for the business. However, research has shown otherwise. Employees who receive in-depth, personal training are more likely to stay with a company. This is important in an age where people often bounce from job to job every few years. Also, employees who are properly trained, know what they are doing, and know what is expected of them are not only going to be more productive but they will also be more efficient. This will not only help improve the profit margins but will also make payroll dollars more effective.
While your business is getting a boost, employee training tells a hard working employee that a) they are valuable enough to train and b) they have some job security in a time when there is not much to hold on to. Building employee morale and knowledge are just a few of the ways that you can help build their loyalty to you and your company. When morale is low, productivity decreases.
Before you cut employee training out of your businesses budget, think about how much you are willing to risk not only with current employees but future employees as well.

For something different, when choosing hotels in New York City, the boutique variety may be the way to go.   It’s a unique way in which to experience one of the world’s great cities, and one of the best ways to relax after exploring all that Manhattan Island has to offer, from the neighborhoods of Soho and Tribeca, to Downtown Midtown and Upper Manhattan.  All of these places offer great places to stay, but also excellent places in which to experience the culture of the city, from cuisine to clubs, from theater to perhaps one of the most famous parks on the planet, Central Park.

Central Park started out when New York City was only a half million strong (as compared to today’s population of eight million plus) around 1844, one hundred and sixty-six years ago.  The editor of the Evening Post, William Cullen Bryant, wanted to establish a green, open space in the city; otherwise, the fast-growing town would eradicate the natural surroundings.  The land was purchased for five million dollars between Eighth and Fifth Avenues and from 106th to 59th Street.  In 1857, a competition was held in order to design the new park.

As the 19th Century continued, engineers and architects tried to figure out a way to turn the purchased land, which was muddy and swampy, into a place people actually wanted to visit.  The solution was to bring in topsoil from New Jersey, about five hundred thousand cubit feet of it.  Boulders were blown apart with gun-powder.  Bridges and arches, thirty-six in all, were constructed, as well as six bodies of water.

Today you can enjoy over 843 acres of parkland, including woodlands and lawns (136 and 250 acres each ), as well as seven bodies of water (150 acres).  You may dine at the Tavern on the Green or visit the Belvedere Castle (created in 1872 — at one time you were able to go to the castle to view the Croton Reservoir, but this reservoir was filled in to become the Great Lawn decades ago.  The Park is one of the key features of the city, with about 9,000 benches and 58 miles of paths for pedestrians.  Check out the Carousel, as well as all the sculptures (51 in all).

Central Park is an excellent tonic for whenever the city’s concrete and skyscrapers become overwhelming, a fact for which you may thank William Cullen Bryant.

Spending any amount of time on the coast in Spain is bound to bring new ideas, and a very old and necessary sense of calm.  It’s one of the most romantic places in the world, no doubt, and although there are places where it seems as though time stood still, there are many more places that are thriving and buzzing with energy.  Malaga is one of the towns where there’s a generous combination of both.  That’s one of the reasons why it makes such a delightful destination, because there are so many choices for what you can do with a day, and how you might want to re-invent yourself this time around.

There’s also fantastic places to stay.  Check out this site here for some of the nicest accommodations.  It’s in the center of the action, as long as you’re looking for action that also includes experiencing a sense of time that is slower and much more luxurious than most of us are used to.  It’s a great place to enjoy the water as well as the city, and you might catch a glimpse of some local starts.  Antonio Banderas grew up here, and is often seen in these parts, and then there’s the famous actress Amparo Muñoz, whose life off camera is often as interesting as it is on camera.

Be that as it may, I’d rather let those skeletons in the closet rest, because they get dragged out all too often, and unfairly eclipse her extraordinary body of work.  She was the winner of Miss Universe in 1974 but was soon even more famous for renouncing the crown, and even throwing it out the window.  After that, she started to make films, and her presence on the screen has made for a very iconic life.  It’s difficult growing up in public, but she’s managed to pull it off with an exceptional grace.

I had many ideas, many myths, legends and stories going around my head when I would think of three words, the Hudson River.  I thought of black and white films depicting various late night epic tales of gangsters and mobsters, some wearing “cement boots” and others, the lucky ones, not.  My first trip to Manhattan was during the summer of 1996.  It was hot.  I grew up in Phoenix, but the August heat in New York was something to be reckoned with as the air was so thick I had to swim along the streets to my hotel.  I was lucky to find a great hotel with central air.  I mean, I knew I was lucky once I felt the heat outside and then felt the cool of the lobby.  I really had no idea that it would be so hard to breathe. 

My friend had suggested my hotel, as she had found it the year before by checking here.  And I was very appreciative of her suggestion.  The funny thing about traveling, is the small differences.  In Phoenix, once it’s hot for the summer…well, it’s hot for the summer, even at midnight.  But in places such as Chicago and Manhattan, the weather changes on a dime, sometimes catching you off guard but always providing unexpected relief.  This is what happened on my second night in NY.  My friend Robert grew up in the city, and he suggested we take a walk that second night, scheduled to begin at midnight with a cup of coffee in hand.  I said, “Cool”, he said, “Meet me in the lobby at 11:45″….I asked, “Where are we going?”…He replied, “Just wait and see.” 

With our cups of coffee in hand we headed west.  He wanted to take me down the walkway that runs parallel to the Hudson River.  I found that in the mist of that cooler evening the Jersey shores were in view.  I found that people were still out and about at midnight, something that in Phoenix really only happens in bars and night clubs.  I found that sometimes, the city of Manhattan is truly, quiet.  The one thing I didn’t find was evidence to support the myths, legends and the stories. He said to give it another hour, as those things tend to happen around 3am.  I would have believed him, had he not raised his eyebrow just before smiling and turning his head.

There is a little girl in my neighborhood who calls me her auntie even though I am not. Probably because I gave her some Keebler Elves cookies a couple of months ago. Cookies are a sure way to make friends fast. And her favorite kinds of cookies are any cookies. She is not picky. Her mother started to ask me for babysitting services since the little girl liked me so much. Of course I said yes because she called me auntie and loved cookies, any kind of cookie, as much as me.

Her name is Jaclynn. She wears her hair in thick dreads that are long and catch the sunlight in them even when there seems to be no sun. She started to call me auntie after she saw me in the street, walking home after a grueling ride on the bus and too tired to think of much of anything at all. She came running across the street after looking both ways with a plastic bag in her hand, calling auntie at me. I stopped in front of the mailbox of the ancient woman who lives next to me. She is ancient too because I never saw so many wrinkles and lines except in the cement outside my work, old from years of wear and tear. But Jaclynn gave me a bag of cookies, the Keebler Elf kind, and then ran away again to the other side of the street, looking both ways before she left me again.

When her mother asked me to baby sit her, I came over with some cookies. She asked me to tell her a story about the Keebler Elves and how they managed to continue to make such delicious cookies. I work doing leadership training not storytelling. It caught me off guard, especially since I knew it was a ploy to continue to stave away sleep. It turned out my lack of storytelling skills were perfect for the cause. I poured out all my secrets about business related topics, from team building program to quality control, and how the elves must use those things to make such great cookies. In just five minutes, she was out with only a few Keebler Elves left in the bag.

The debate between renting and buying has been going on for as long as people could rent or buy property. Even though they have both been around for a long time, our view of them has changed somewhat. Whether you are considering residential or commercial property, there are many advantages, and disadvantages, to both. With the slumping housing market, many are second guessing the decision to buy and are instead turning to rentals.
Transglobe Property Management is just one company that provides rental properties for both residential and commercial use. By renting you have the option of relocating your business, or family, if the area turns out to be not quite what you were expecting. Renting also frees you from the burden of a mortgage. Instead of being trapped into 30 years of payments, you instead have a year or two depending on the terms of your lease. For many renting frees them from some of the responsibility. If something breaks, the landlord comes to fix it. If they change their mind on the property, they can move when the lease is up. If you are new to an area Transglobe property management can help you get to know different areas until you find the one that is right for you. The disadvantages to renting are that you will never own the property. And there are often limitations on what you can do to the building like painting. Buying gives you the flexibility to do whatever you want to your space. With that comes the responsibility to fix things like the water heater or air conditioner if it breaks. If you decide later that you do not like the area or the property, it is too late. You are stuck with it.
As with any big decision it is important to weigh the pros and cons thoroughly before making your decision. The choice that you make will affect the future more than you probably realize.

Las Vegas Law is not just about gavels. It is not just about court rooms, warrants, and suits. Although the kind of law I’m talking about here does involve suits. The suit of hearts, the suit of clubs, the suit of spades, and the suit of diamonds, which is what everyone hopes to buy with their winnings, but the law of Lady Luck might have something else in mind for them. Though there are the kind of people who do seem to just make it no matter what game they play or what machine they put their money into. It could be one of those glass and metal machine with the big nasty claw and the joystick to drive it with a million little stuffed trinkets at the bottom to choose from. Justine was one of those kind of people. She was Lady Luck it would seem.

I met her when I was working the tables at a big time casino in the eighties. I love that era because for several nostalgic reasons. Keifer Sutherland’s hair in The Lost Boys. Sean Astin’s asthma in The Goonies. The leg warmers that always kept falling down my legs and caught on things, like my coffee table with the three cup stains that formed a strange kind of trinity on the pine wood that was stained red. I also miss mood rings and old school Madonna. I miss a lot of things because I was so busy working the tables, I never had a chance to really enjoy them. I think that’s why people are missing so much these days, and I’m not just talking about leg warmers, though maybe a little.

Justine taught me about the kinds of things she missed. She missed out paying the mortgage on her home and then missed out on her home. And since home is where the heart is, she had to get her heart back through playing a suit of them, and the three others two, though the suit of hearts is her absolute favorite. She didn’t win her old home back, but did win her back through the games she played at my table. I won something too from the times she came and threw down some cards with the others who come and go through Vegas : I won the ability to stop missing out on the things that matter, the small things like stories from strangers sitting across a table from you.

I woke up quite late today, well maybe that was because I got into my room around 2am! That’s not late, that’s early! I got dressed for the cold weather, and went stepped outside of one of the New York top hotels in the city. I went for a walk along Broadway, and even with this cold weather, there were tons of people out on the streets and in the shops, it was pretty manic if you ask me. I bought a ticket for the City Sights Tour Bus and rode the upper open deck, it was freezing, but how else could I get a true feel for the city?

The bus tour was terrific, we went around Times Square, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown and then back to Times Square. I found it interesting how all of Broadway was filled with food vendors, which I thought was pretty cool market stalls. I had a corn-fritter and a delicious chocolate crepe, both were very tasty. I then went shopping for the usual souvenir gift to bring home to all my friends and family, like an ‘I LUV NY’ t-shirt, small Statue’s of Liberty, a Yankee’s and a Met’s baseball cap and other great New York trinkets.

I went back to my hotel and dumped off my shopping bags, and headed back out to Central Park. I was cold, but again, that didn’t stop anyone from being at the park; it was full of people. I sat and people watched, and then walked to a ice-skating rink and watched people enjoying themselves in this wonderfully cool weather. It was beginning to get too cold for me, so I found a bar not far from the park and warmed up with a nice shot of bourbon. This did the trick, several times. I had a very nice conversation with an Australian, who just flew in today. She was staying at a hotel not too far from me, she asked if I’d be interested in meeting her tomorrow to go see a Broadway show. I said sure, I’m not much of a Broadway kind of person, but she was really fun to be with and I really didn’t have any set plans. Even though she’s not a New Yorker, I can’t help but think just how friendly everyone is in the vast city.

There are many claims around the country of places being haunted and Huntsville Alabama also makes that claim. One of the stories told from Huntsville seems to be an imaginary friend turned real. This story really captured my attention. Apparently, there was a couple who had a year old son who was a normal infant. When this boy was one his mother noticed that when she put him down for naps or bed she would often hear him laughing and giggling as if someone was playing with him. At one point, she put the baby down to sleep and then listened through the door until he began to laugh and giggle. Then she would open the door and catch the boy laughing, reaching and interacting with the wall. It didn’t make sense. She told her husband and he just passed it off. Over the years, the giggling turned into talking with some imaginary friend. The mother was trying to get the boy to let her in on his friend. Who was this friend. The boy was very protective and secretive. The mother got professional help but the doctor said the boy was fine.

When the boy was about four he was able to speak better about things so she asked him again. Turns out it is a man who visits him each day and this has lead to him being distant with his father. The mother would peek in on him and catch him having full on conversations as if there were someone in the room. She got more frightened and began to press the issue even more. She threatened to move away from this home and the boy got upset and blurted out that he didn’t want to leave daddy. Now the boy thinks this “friend” is his daddy. So they separated him from the room but the boy would sneak back in. At one point the mother was looking through some old photos and the boy came in. She got tears in her eyes as she looked at one of the photos and the boy asked her why. She showed the picture to the boy and he said that that was the man from his room. That was his real father. She was shocked to learn that the boy knew how he died. The new husband had killed his father to get the mother and the dead daddy was now visiting the boy. Wow.

There are other ghost stories to learn about while getting out of your room from one of the fine hotels located in Huntsville.  See if you can sneak around the park where the ghost children giggle, sing, swing and play. You could get yourself ready for the spook by reading some great ghost books written by authors like Kathryn Tucker Windham and Margaret Gillis Figh. They wrote 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey together. Or watch a spooky movie like Amityville Horror before you visit.

There are some beautiful hotels nestled around Fort Collins Colorado to stay in while you visit the area. It’s not far from Denver and is mainly a college town filled with some great microbreweries and pubs. So you know what you will be up to at night based on that information. If you like micro brew beers you are in the right place. In fact, there are tours of the breweries that beer enthusiasts can take part in. They will show you around the breweries and you will have a chance to taste some of the different styles of beer made by the different companies. New Belgium Brewing Company has a nice tasting room and guided and self guided tours offered Monday-Saturday.  Coppersmith’s Pub and Brewing also offers tastes and tours as well as a nice place to play a game or two of pool.

If you want to learn more about the area there are a couple museums that can be visited. The Museum of Contemporary Art and the Fort Collins Museum. The contemporary art museum is filled with wonderful modern art ranging from a few of the classics to some new emerging artist. They do change their exhibits through out the year and sometime they are closed for the changes so check ahead to see what they have going on while your there. When the Fort Collins Museum started it was a Pioneer Museum built in 1941. It was moved in the mid seventies and is now inside the old Carnegie Library building. It has matured in its information on the history and culture of the area as time has pasted. In its decent collection of artifacts from the surrounding areas you will learn many things about the people who came before you. In the late 1980s they added the Discovery Science Center which has become a great feature in exciting people of all ages around science and stars.

There are many reasons to visit the New York neighborhood of Little Italy.  From the history of the neighborhood and the historical points of interest, to the plethora of authentic Italian restaurants, bistros and cafes.  This has long been a favorite spot in a city with so many different neighborhoods to choose from.  One of the best times to find a small, NY boutique hotel in this neighborhood and to make plans to stay for at least ten days, is during the month of September and the 10 day festival, The Feast of San Gennaro.  This is not only the longest festival in the entire city of Manhattan, but the most long running and famous of them as well.  2010 will mark the 83rd Annual Festival, and will donate all of the proceeds, as they have done for the last 13 years, to the Children of San Gennaro, which is a non-profit organization that benefits the well being and the education of the children of Little Italy.

San Gennaro is the patron saint of the Italian city of Naples, and the newly arriving immigrants continued on with this traditional feast upon their arrival to the city beginning in the 1920’s.  Originally, this was a one day celebration, but now has become ten days of celebration, religious ceremonies, feast and parades that wind through the neighborhood, along Mulberry and Mott, between Houston and Canal.  Once the parade has commenced, everyone attends Mass at the Most Precious Blood Church, which houses the national shrine in honor of San Gennaro.  The atmosphere is that of a large party, but it is imbued with the religious traditions of the early immigrants and ancestors.

This is a time when the more than forty of the most famous restaurants in Little Italy literally roll out the red carpet, for those in the neighborhood as well as the many visitors who travel here to celebrate.  Along with the fine meals to be found in the restaurants, the streets are filled with food stalls, all set in the decorative banners and colorful flowers, offering food, merchandise and goods.  It seems odd to say that this is one of the best times to visit the city, as many times throughout the year can be considered “the best time to visit” the city, however it is a truly wonderful time to experience the traditions and the flavor of the neighborhood of Little Italy.

Carrie had worked hard all last year. She was twenty-three and a recent college graduate who was eager to make her mark in the world and establish herself as case worker in the social service system. She always had a strong belief in the power of social change and the services provided to individuals who were in crisis and desperate need of life transition assistance. Throughout the past year she realized that her work was actually a lot more emotionally and personally demanding than she had imagined it would be. Carrie spent much of the last year learning how to cope with the stress of her job and maintain a balance between self-care and client support. It was difficult for her to care about her work without becoming so emotionally involved that it was unhealthy.

She began working right out of college and last July marked her one-year anniversary with her first agency. To celebrate this she decided to take a full week long vacation and visit her good friend Joyce in Florida. They had gone to school together and were roommates their senior year. They hadn’t seen each other since graduation and Carrie couldn’t wait for the trip. Joyce was excitedly waiting for her as she landed at the Miami International Airport and the two of them talked non stop on their way back to Joyce’s apartment. The next day they took the Metromover downtown and Carrie was impressed with the free transportation service. She also thought it provided a nice tour of part of the city. They visited the Miami Art Museum while they were downtown and Carrie enjoyed touring the recent acquisitions exhibit and was totally enthralled by the NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith.

The next day the two of them planned to take a trip along the coast and spend the night in one of the Florida beach hotels. It was a beautiful day and they enjoyed a great lunch at one of the outdoor patio cafes. Later they relaxed on a blanket out on the beach and Carrie thought about the three dimensional work titled Storm at Sea, which was part of the exhibit from the day before. This was a great trip and was definitely what she needed after her year of challenging hard work. The two friends made a pack to take turns visiting each other at least once every year.

Tennis balls were originally made of wood, but as the game progressed and so did the way it was played, it required changes be made to the equipment as well.  Soon enough, people started to make them from leather, and perhaps more disgustingly, hair as well.  But since people didn’t bathe much back in the renaissance era of England, when these changes started to take place, nobody probably noticed much.

There were certain things tennis balls could not be filled with it.  At least according to the French King, Louis XI.  Dirt, chalk, and sand were considered poor materials to make tennis balls out of, and as the game was considered a royal game, it was quite popular among the royals, what the king said went.  Various materials have been employed to create tennis balls throughout the years.  Often they were au natural, and not the technological influenced synthetics of today designed to improve tennis scores.  Sheep intestines, fur from various animals, and wood have all been used to try and create the perfect tennis ball.  But for these kinds of balls, they could only really be played indoors since that’s what the designers were working for; tennis was originally only an indoor game played off of walls.

Vulcanized rubber and outdoor matches changed that all in the late seventies.  Several other changes occurred in tennis around this time as well, such a reordering and organizing of the rules by which players should play.

Today, tennis balls still have a kind of strict guide for which they must be made, though no king is making the rules about it.  They must be between 2.575-2.700 inches and weigh between 1.975-2.095 ounces—very precise measurements.  However, tennis is all about precision for the players.  It takes an analytical mind to play tennis, to plan for moves and countermoves and to watch the ball with an eagle’s eye.  Standardizing the tennis ball only helps to make doing all that easier for a player.  For the upcoming Australian Open, though players might not realize it, the changes made to the tennis ball are helping them to make history.

Nestled in the southeast area of the San Francisco Bay lies Fremont California. This area has some interesting history and is thriving with life today. Join many business travelers and tourists and stay in one of the hotels Fremont California has waiting for you and come see what this area has to offer. John Charles Fremont is who the city is named after. It consists of five communities each with their own distinction. Warm Springs, Mission San Jose, Irvington, Niles and Centerville.

Centerville is the largest community of the city. The cemetery houses the remains of the founding pioneers. It is become a large Afghan community. It is called Little Kabul in some circles. It is so rich with this culture that some of the movie The Kite Runner was filmed in the area. You can see the biggest representation of the culture at 99 Ranch Market. This area started when George Lloyd refreshed the stage coach passengers with cold beer from his tent in 1850.

Niles has been able to hang on to its small town feel. The old town area even has a silent movie theater. You can take a walk around town and see the post office and library. Step into a craft or antique store and snoop around. The town got its name from Addison Niles who was a railroad attorney. Some if the towns claim to fame is that it was an early motion picture companies. Some of the most famous silent movies by Charlie Chaplin were filmed here. Broncho Billy Anderson also created some films here. Visitors can see more about this industry at the Niles Essanay Film Museum.

Irvington is small and rather rural but there are some shops and restaurants that where established around the 1800s. The town was named after a railroad executives birth place, Irvington New Jersey. The Mission San Jose is centered around one of the oldest Spanish missions in all of California. This is of course where it gets its name. Part of the mission houses a museum. Asian Americans have made quite a community out of the area. Warm Springs has been able to get some of the bustle from Silicon Valley because it is very close to that area. Here is were you may share a hotel with a traveling computer whiz.

In today’s market finding and retaining customers is more difficult than it has been in previous economic circumstances . And while this has always been an essential need for any business, the difficulty or relative ease in doing so has been somewhat dependent on the amount of competition the business is forced to deal with and also their location in relationship to their target consumer. Quality of product and or service is also a fundamental aspect of business survival. There are other important elements in retaining a solid customer or client base and in ensuring the success of any business, however these are a few of the most important and are the most difficult to survive without a proper understanding of and a strong ability to deal with and possibly overcome.

Both live and Internet based businesses deal with obstacles of competition and quality of service or product on a relatively equal level. Ensuring a top quality level of product search engine optimization reduces most of Internet exposure concerns. Real life businesses can use the Internet to reduce both competition issues and location problems.

Maintaining a visible and easily recognized presence on the Internet is essential for any company that wishes to conduct either all or part of their business online. Various reputation management resources are available to assist businesses in generating more web page traffic and random search visibility. To understand how the algorithms of search engines produce their results is not necessary though understanding the importance of appearing at the top of return lists is essential for most businesses and consulting with professionals is almost always their best option.

It’s nice to see that things that are tried and true always come back.  At least, this is how it is with things that are legitimately useful.  Time marches on, and often brings all sorts of changes, and each generation has enormous contributions to make toward our systems of doing things, and thinking about things.  The rate of change sometimes exceeds our common sense, however, and it’s necessary to go back and figure out what worked before, and conceive of ways of bringing these back into the present where they belong.  There are some things that are always true, and it’s interesting how we sometimes forget these.  Perhaps because they are the most essential, and the things of common sense are often the ones that get overlooked.

There’s no doubt that misery loves company, but the same is said for all of its opposites.  Like attracts like, and in sales, this is especially true. It’s also one of the truisms that we seem to forget, and have to go back and get reminded.  Sales process improvement begins with the assumptions that worked so well for other generations.  Sales breed more sales, and in part this is because a customer knows a good thing, but it’s also got something very essential to do with the salesperson. That essential thing, of course, is confidence, and the best way to build confidence is to give people the tools to make success possible.

It also has a lot to do with developing the persona that people like, and are naturally attracted to.  In employee training, team members can learn the elemental characteristics of what kinds of people have a winning edge, and how to develop those traits and habits.  These are all elemental things that haven’t changed over time.  Success might have subtle differences from a generation ago, but the basic rules are still very much the same.  Following the basic laws of attraction can help to develop a very powerful and magnetic sensibility, for individuals as well as for organizations.  In a world as busy as ours, it’s necessary, and often indeed a pleasure, to go back to the basics of common sense, and then learn how to develop it.

With equal parts mystery and pop culture, Singapore is a fascinating place.  Like many urban centers, it is constantly in motion, and constantly in the act of defining itself.  In terms of exciting urban culture, the moments of definition in Singapore seem to be much more spectacular than anywhere else.  This is undoubtedly due to the very creative and innovative minds of the people who live here, who seem to be just a bit on the edge of culture at all times, and also a little bit nostalgic about real and imaginary pasts.  It makes for a terrific mix, and anyone who is fortunate to spend time in Singapore hotels understands the pleasures inherent in such a combination.

It’s a fantastic place to visit for the very first time, and it’s also a fairly unusual place that bears up very well to multiple visits.  There is so much to see here, and so many different layers of culture and society, that it’s difficult to prepare for a visit, except in preparation to be quite amazed at the splendid offerings.  In the art world, it is very much in step with the global art scene, being home to a stunning number of extremely creative and talented artists.  In technology, there is an equally magnificent scene, with designers and technicians developing and making use of some exciting new methods of creating worlds.  These two, art and technology, sometimes come together in films, such as Legend of the Sea.

This 2007 release might be a great introduction to Singapore for many different reasons.  Seeing how art and technology come together is certainly enough to make it worth a watch, and there is no doubt that the younger viewers will find a lot to like in this little tale.  But it also features the vocal talents of local superstar Lin Jun Jie, and this brings a rather delightful film into the realm of pop culture.  There are multiple levels to any film, and this one might seem to hold less surprises than others, but a closer look will reveal many complexities, and this is really what lies at the heart of Singapore.

I’m on my way to Siena from Florence and I’m in a kind of a stupor. I don’t quite have a hangover, but I’m really very tired. I have one more week of checking out all the bars and pubs and then I’ll sleep for a week!

When I arrived to Siena, I took a little power nap on a park bench in an attempt to gain some much needed vitality. I only slept for 15 minutes, but that was enough for me to feel all refreshed. Sienna is really very pretty, I enjoyed strolling around the narrow streets and grabbing a quick lunch at an outdoor cafe. Then checking out Piazza del Campo, which has been described as the most beautiful main square on the continent. I wouldn’t go that far with my description, but it is pretty stunning. I saw more Cathedrals, Italy must have the best Cathedrals in the world. The is one here in Sienna in which Wagner, when he first caught a glimpse, began to cry, it’s the Siena Cathedral, that’s just how beautiful it is.

The Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi is located right next to the bus station and weirdly, you can just walk around it for free. I imagined seeing AC Milan playing here, and got all kinds of goose-bumps. Siena was really worth the visit and I would’ve liked to have spent the night there, but I decided to drive back my Florence hotel. When I got back to Florence, I purchased a train ticket to France. I managed to find a regional route that would save my 20 pounds. I would have to change a few times, go via Bolongna and it will take 90 minutes longer, but it feel saving 20 pounds is worth it.

I then spent the 20 pounds I just saved, plus another 10 on a v-neck blue jumper. It’s getting quite nippy at night, and I didn’t pack any warm clothes. France in late November will be a blast. But, for now, my agenda for the night is to stay awake long enough for me to swim and give a Turkish bath a try, but even before I do that, I’m going to grab a salami and pepper pizza at this canteen just down the street from my Florence hotel. I really like Florence, but with all the day trips I’ve been taking, I actually haven’t seen much of it. But, all this does is give me a good reason to come back to Tuscany again.

No matter how much ground I’ve covered, there always seemed to be more to explore in San Francisco. I for some reason, always thought of the Golden Gate Park to be San Francisco’s largest park, it’s definitely large, just besting New York’s Central Park in overall area and bison, but the Presidio is larger and while it’s not a park in the traditional sense, it does have miles of hiking trails, a log cabin, historical buildings, George Lucas and a pet cemetery. Oh, and some pretty breathtaking views in the entire state.

I just had to explore the unfamiliar parts of the Presidio, but that dang Golden Gate Bridge emerging from the fog made me take a detour to take some photos. I don’t think it’s possible to tire of the Golden Gate Bridge and I doubt I’m the only one thinking that all the fog surrounding it only increases its beauty. As I walked out along the ridge-line to get a better view, I found that I was right above Fort Point. Fort Point is one of my favorite places in the Presidio. I said good-bye to the Golden Gate bridge and went for a long overdue visit to one of my very favorite spots in the entire world. Fort Point is located directly on the south side of the Golden Gate and it overlooks the narrow strait from the Pacific Ocean to the San Francisco bay. By-the-way, Golden Gate refers to the land on either side of the strait and not the strait itself.

Since the gold rush made San Francisco wealthy and populous, Fort Point was developed by the US Army around 1850 to be the key defense point along the Pacific coast just in-case invaders materialized, which they never did. As I headed back to one of the best hotels San Francisco has to offer, I remembered that Fort Point was the setting for the Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Vertigo‘ starring Jimmy Stewart. I wonder if I can order that movie in my hotel room?

The town of Lindau Germany is a beautiful little island in the  eastern area of Lake Constance of Bavaria. It has a lot of holy history and some landmarks to prove it. It was first named a monk St. Gallen by way of a document written in 882. He thought that there was a nunnery found on the island. The very first inhabitants were of the early Roman Empire based on the ruins that were found. The island got its first church with Saint Stephan’s in 1180. Then the Franciscans founded a monastery on the island in 1224. Visitors can see a few old churches still standing on the island like the Protestant parish Saint Stephen and the Minster of Our Lady.

After driving over one of the two bridges visitors can check into one of a few Lindau hotels and then get out for a walk. There is a museum that is housed inside the Zum Cavazzen mansion. It is set right along the shore of the Lake and is one of the most beautiful homes in the area. The  New lighthouse is also a great place to go for more history of the city as well as the best views. It was built in the 19th century and is a splendid hello to the visitors who are coming and going from the harbor. It can be found right along the promenade at the harbors entrance. There is also the old light house which can be found a long the promenade. They call it Mang Tower and it was built in the 13th century. It also offers some great views of the area.

It is also fun to the the Bavarian Lion in the harbor. A great piece of advertising for the Lowenbrau beer. It has been standing in the harbor watching over things for over 130 years.