Activities in Chennai

When one visits the Indian city of Chennai for the first time, it is easy to become overwhelmed so much by the beauty of the city, so much so that it may take your breath away.  From the serene and lush landscapes that surround the beaches to the ancient architecture of some of the most beautiful temples in the world.  The traveler with a penchant for photography will be taken away with the photo opportunities and the tourist with an eye for art and a mind for history will have galleries and museums.

There are other activities that are tourist friendly as well, such as great shopping and eating opportunities.  For shopping, the markets are filled with trinkets as well as historical and antique artifacts and furniture.  For those interested in fashion, there are special markets wherein the jewelry is fine, hand-carved and inlaid with precious gems and stones, but very inexpensive and the silk scarves are handmade from silk.

The market places such as the Burma Bazaar, will also offer much in the way of hand made arts and paintings each distinct and backed by years of traditional styles and techniques.  Stone and bronze sculptures are also just as varied and numerous.  And be it in a restaurant, a cafe or four star hotel, Chennai offer up the best of Indian cuisine when the day of sight seeing or shopping has left you famished.

Just as with the culture, and the arts, the food is just as varied, and the food of Chennai is also Indian but very distinctive due to the use of local recipes and ingredients.  Many of the traditional dishes are vegetarian, however there are dishes made with chicken, mutton or fish and many of them are a bit spicy but oh so flavorful.  And as traditional for this region, the food in the restaurants is most often times served on a banana leaf instead of a plate.  In all every aspect the exotic nature and the culture of the city is full of surprises.

read comments (0)

Remodeling in Fort Wayne

We have been remodeling the house this year and things just have not gone as planned to say the least. We had some contractors flake out on us during the job. Doing only part of the work and disappearing or just doing screwed up work that had to be redone. We seemed to be have a real run of bad luck and it was getting really frustrating. The bath room alone took an extra two months with the problems there.

The plumbers ran the pipes into the bathroom wrong so once that had to be redone and once that was OK. We had the fixtures delivered, on the day we unpacked them to install we discovered several pieces were wrong and to male things worse the fixtures they sent that were right were damaged. It was like there was a force working against us to get that bathroom put together. So that was at a stand still until the right or undamaged fixtures arrived. What a remodeling nightmare is has all been.

Although now I am seeing the bright side, as twisted as it may be. This December when my wife’s family descends on us for the holidays they won’t be able to stay with us. The living areas and the kitchen are all together and so is the master suite. The remaining issues are in the guest bathrooms. So what a break for me, the in laws are going to be staying at a hotel this year! I’ve already made the reservations for them at hotels Fort Wayne. Oh it does feel so good knowing I won’t have the in laws under foot all day and night this holiday with them in a hotel this year.

We will be able to get together here for dinner and Christmas day and that will be enough know they will be going home at night is a huge relief.

read comments (0)

Miami sun this winter

This winter we are going for a drive down the east coast to Miami, Fl. Winters here in the north east are just too long dark and cold for me any more. I get really tired of the extremely short days and the frequency of the overcast days only adds insult to the injury. Usually I use my vacation time in the summer, but with my seniority now increasing at my employer I am getting an additional 6 days of vacation this coming year and getting away in Feb. sounds like the best way to spend those extra 6 days.

We can leave here in Mass early one morning and drive for about 8 hours and get to my sister’s in Maryland. There we will stay 2 nights and get on the road before dawn and make it all the way to Miami on the second leg of the drive. It’ll make for a long day driving but will be worth it not having to pay for a hotel room on the way down to Florida.

We have our hotels Miami Florida rooms booked already, don’t want to miss out on going because we couldn’t get a room! So dates and times are getting set for departure and arrival at my sisters place in Maryland. This is going to be a lot of fun because I have not been to Florida since I was a child and have never been that far south in Florida before so I am excited to be going.

Other than a few lazy days on the beach soaking up sun and nights of fantastic parting I am wanting to take an Everglades tour. This area has always fascinated me the watery landscape with trees growing up from the water and the hanging Spanish moss make for a very mysterious and romantic setting. I am looking forward to seeing the wildlife all the different birds, alligators, reptiles etc.

read comments (0)

Stones Dig Udaipiur

This tropical paradise is one of India’s most attractive cities, and has even been named the best city in the world.  Udaipur is a lovely place, with fantastic attractions and scenery, and many fascinating things for guests of all ages. Traveling to Udaipur is always filled with great anticipation, thinking about the things you’ll see when you get here.  It is also a fantastic place to relax and enjoy yourself in an unusually magnificent setting.  This is a spectacular place for weddings, because of its sumptuous scenery and its magical atmosphere.  When booking a hotel in Udaipur, make sure that you are staying in the height of luxury.  You’ll want to enjoy all it has to offer in settings as lovely as the city.

Our hotels are selected to compliment the gorgeousness of the place, with a decor and style that combines old world charm with the best of new world amenities.  Having the opportunity to fall asleep and wake up in our magnificent accommodations, you’ll soon see why so many films are made here, and what has attracted royalty and celebrities to Udaipur for decades.  Recently, celebrities who have been seen in town for film shoots include Nicole Kidman, Adrian Brody, Michael Douglas, and Julia Roberts, among many others.  It’s also been a favorite stomping ground for Madonna, Guy Ritchie, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as Mick Jagger.

Mick Jagger has been rumored to be considering buying land here, because he was so impressed with the scenic beauty of the place.  This front man for the Rolling Stones has been on the road for many decades now, and is still rocking the world into his 60s.  The band formed in 1962 in London, and were the forerunners of the British Invasion, which took the world by storm.  The Rolling Stones are perhaps the world’s most famous band, and have seen their fair share of exciting places, so the idea that Udaipur could make a strong impression on someone so well traveled is a splendid recommendation for visitors.

read comments (0)

Ski trip to Salt Lake City

Now that it is fall and the winter is coming I am thinking and dreaming of skiing. The one and only good thing winter has to offer in my opinion is skiing, I am not a huge fan of the cold or short days.

Last winter my friends and I took a drive to Salt Lake City for a week of skiing. It turned out to be so much fun that we are already talking about making a return trip for some more fun and skiing.

Every thing was great last year. We drove up from Phoenix, AZ in one day, a long days drive but it can be done. The drive is long but easy and took us through some really nice scenery. From Phoenix the drive take you from low desert to high mountain forests back to low desert then into high chapperal. We passed the great sandy painted deserts of northern Arizona and into the red rock country of southern Utah. The changes in climate zones, elevation and scenery were pretty dramatic and to think we went through all those zones in one day.

When we got to Salt Lake City we checked into our hotels Salt Lake and kicked back after the long drive. We ordered in for some pizza and one of the guys ran across the way and got us some beers. We had a great evening kicking it and getting ready for the next day of skiing.

It was only an hour drive to the ski resort from our hotel. We headed out fairly early so as not to waste too much of the shortened winter day. The slopes were perfect. Powdered show and beautiful warm sun shine. It was a spectacular day of skiing, which we repeated the very next day. Well all in all it was so much fun we have hardly stopped talking about it all year and with another winter approaching we are hoping for more fun in Salt Lake City.

read comments (0)

Singapore Style

Singapore is a unique place that’s rich with traditions.  The city-state has strong influences from Malay, Indian, and Chinese culture, and each one has its own very formal traditions for weddings.  This is good to know, because even if your wedding doesn’t follow one of these traditions, but follows other traditions altogether, Singapore is certainly hip enough to accommodate.  As an old port with a long and fascinating history of contact with other cultures, it has come to specialize in the art of hospitality.  This will be very useful for your ceremony, as well as ensuring that your guests will be staying in an exquisite location, and with the best of comfort.  Your Singapore wedding will be a fantastically stunning event, and holding it in this exotic and very cosmopolitan place offers the best of many worlds.

One of the best things about Singapore is style.  It understands style.  Singapore is always a few steps ahead of the rest of the world in terms of setting trends in fashion and culture, and the people here know how adding a small touch of detail here and there can multiply its potential to dazzle and surprise.  Planning a wedding is never easy, but as the event of a lifetime, Singapore is a magnificent place to hold it.  If you’re working with wedding planners, they’ll be your close allies for making your vision of a perfect wedding into a reality.  They’ll be getting to know your tastes and ideas, and you might enjoy getting to know a little about Singapore style.  It just might open up some new possibilities.

Singapore is a fantastic place to look at style, because there’s so much of it.  The fashion sensibilities here run from the absolutely impeccable to the, um, let’s say daring.  The basic look for a casual day on the town, however, is based on contemporary Japanese trends, and mixed with some of the local floral and beach patterns, to give the postmodern sensibility another layer of complexity by adding local touches.  This suggests that mixing and combining elements is the heart of fashion here, and it’s a pleasure to start exploring.  Happy wedding!

read comments (0)

Corporate Team Building makes a Business Better

Building a reliable team in the business setting can be difficult.  It is a big buzz word in the work place, but few people know how to make it a reality. A good team does have an immense effect on people, increasing performance in every aspect because people feel like they a part of something bigger, and not just a loner in the office.  Community of any kind is very important.  We are social creatures from the time we are on the playground to the time we step into an office.

Part of the way to be successful with making a strong team is knowing the mission statement of the company.  Though this seems like an obvious thing, many companies actually need help with it, even in today’s globalized, and therefore more competitive, world.  If everyone on you team has a different understanding of the objectives of your business, it will influence how the team works.  When there is a clear understanding of the mission statement for your company, everyone will be working towards something.  Employees might be working on a specific part of a project, but with the idea that their efforts go into something larger that other people depend on them to do a good job, it increases their output and the quality of output tremendously.  Employers should fear putting too much responsibility on a worker, so much as too little.  It often leads to boredom and poor work.  For this reason, corporate team building can help out a company a great deal, even companies that have it together: the building can only improve things or reinforce the good that a company is already doing.

The biggest part of building an effective team is communication.  Some building has actually started to change the way people give feedback within the work environment, making it a more democratic effort that is continuous rather than a yearly report that often only focuses on the poorer aspects of the work a person has done.   Training seminars that use this method help to build better relationships among employees and employers.  The line of communication is opened up more, and both sides have a chance to offer better criticism—constructive criticism.

read comments (0)

Two Proposals in Manhattan

We visited Ground Zero today, which is just a big building site and we really couldn’t see anything, but we figure it’s about the most famous building site in the world. We found out that they are building a new ‘tallest’ skyscraper that will be named the Freedom Tower. It will most likely take about another 8 years to start.

Ground Zero wasn’t too far from our luxury Manhattan hotel , so we headed back for a quick shower and change of close. Then we headed off the Wall Street. It’s the oldest district in New York. It’s where the Dutch settlers lived. George Washington’s church, the place where he worshipped and the pub where he drank are also in this area. Our next stop was the the Bodies Exhibition not too far from Wall Street. I thought it was gruesome, but my friend found the exhibition absolutely astonishing. I really didn’t like how they split the bodies down the middle or the fetuses in jars at different stages of growth. I wanted to leave, but my friend made me go through the whole exhibit. I’m kind of glad I did, because there were some cool bits, like when they had pumped plastic into the circulatory system of a corpse and let it harden to reveal a complete set of arteries and veins.

My friend felt bad that I really didn’t enjoy the Bodies Exhibition, so he took me to watch an Arsenal game, the first one in North America. That was really great. To top off our day, we went to a Knicks game! I didn’t realize they do a lot of stopping to do random give-aways and competitions during the game, but one thing I enjoyed, besides the game, was at half-time were there were two marriage proposals shown on the big screen. The first proposal, the girl cried and said yes, but the second proposal, she turned to him and went all red and you could see her scream no at him and then she stomped off and left him there all embarrassed. I really felt sorry for the guy.

read comments (0)

Anti-Corruption Efforts in Bolivia

One of the things that is known about the country of Bolivia, one of the things that has been detrimental to the societies in the country, as well as in societies throughout the world has been the cocaine production and trafficking.  The drug made from the coca leaf, is used throughout the country for medicinal purposes and religious ceremonies.  But the drug has been a favorite for recreational users through time and over history.  This has caused problems.  But the country seems to be steeped in a tradition of corruption, which is evident in other instances, from the public to the private sector.  Anti-corruption agencies from the United States and around the world have been attempting to curtail this for some time.

One of the most corrupted institutions is the health care system, the Caja Nacional de Salud or, CNS.  An audit of insurance agencies was carried out, and it is reported that in almost have of the regions that are covered by the policies of the CNS, in cities such as Santa Cruz,Tarija, Cochabamba, and La Paz, there have been three hundred and eighty three cases of corruption in the form of nepotism and preferential treatment.   In La Paz alone, the capital city of Bolivia, there are more than two hundred cases of irregularities and nepotism.

The families of the employees are getting treated before any others in the community and/or are being given jobs with the company, and the cases involve members at the highest levels of the management.  The president of the company himself, Jose Carreon has 2 brothers who are employed at the agency.  Nepotism in the work place has always been an issue.  And it may be difficult to deal with as the ideas and social mores differ from country to country.  Just as some countries see various forms of bribery as simply doing favors, so do some see taking care of one’s own as a natural and ethical way of life, and way to conduct business.  When it occurs at the expense of other people’s livelihood, that is when it moves past the simple giving and receiving of ‘favors’ and into the realm of corruption.

read comments (0)

All a Blur in Ibiza

I’m back in Santa Maria, Spain after spending 3 nights and 4 days in Ibiza and wow! I feel so partied out; I did way too much partying. Ibiza is a slam of an island and it most definitely lives up to its clubbing reputation. Every night, after crashing in my room at one of the best hotels Ibiza has, I’d go nuts at one of the main clubs, one doesn’t open until 1am! Some of the better clubs are out of town, so I had to get a bus from the city, which is a ride unto itself, because of how they were driven, like I was on a rollercoaster. The lines outside the clubs are very long and it can take hours to get in. Once at the door, they searched me for cameras, they won’t let you in if you have one, I hid my camera phone in my underwear, but by the time I got inside, my cell was gone. Must have slipped out and I didn’t notice.

The most difficult time I had in Ibiza was to decided which club to go to each night. There are way too many excellent clubs. I decided to go to Privilege my first night, which is tauted as the biggest club in the world, and I can confirm that. I brought a dozen bottles of spirits with me from Santa Maria, I put them in a big ice bucket and put that in the hotels tub. It’s cheaper to drink before going into the clubs. One drink at any of these fantastic clubs can cost up to 15 Euros. That’s on top of the 50 Euros paid to just get inside. So, I drank before I when clubbing and after I got back to my hotel.

I’m pretty sure I made it to the beach at least once, I think on my first day, but all my other time was either sleeping it off in my hotel room or at the clubs, or on my hotel balcony pumping up the music and being a nuisance to my hotel neighbors. Oh, I do remember that I went out to a record shop to find some new music. I checked out several shops and almost all the tunes were on the top ten list. I already had those on my MP3. It’s amazing how much of Ibiza’s a blur and how much fun I had. I’m most definitely be back.

read comments (0)