Teague Neal-His Life, Interests and Writing

2007-09-27T10:27:00.000-04:00

New York's Finest Hotel for Young'ns

Travel is one of my greatest passions and I believe all globetrotters or even occasional adventurers must venture to the Capitol of the World....the one and only New York City! The energy, the absolutely endless myriad of activities and world famous icons and landmarks that stand as a testament to the celebrity status of this beloved city. When you need a break from the electric energy of New York and when it's time to hit the bed, where to stay?

New York has numerous options though there are few that cater to young people and have great bang for the buck. This past Christmas & New Years 2007 when I headed down to see friends in Connecticut before attending the legendary New Years bash in Times Square with my brother. My parents wanted as most do to find a good deal, yet we wanted to be in midtown near to Times Square. This is the enduring question, some people answer this by staying further afield in more remote parts of the city or across the river in New Jersey coming in and out each day. The answer is The Pod Hotel. Below is my full review of the hotel inclusive of both stays both for New Years 2007 & in July 2007 as it appears on my Trip Advisor profile along with pictures.

I travelled with family to New York with visits to Connecticut last New Years & then again on my own while visiting surrounding states this summer. I have included below reviews from both stays for more information.

New Years:
Scanning around as we were late in the game of booking a room prior to New Years I was elated when I called up the Pick Wick Arms (Now the Pod Hotel) which had not only space but appeared to be a vibrant young and modern hotel with a great price tag. My family member whose first time it was in the city and my 2nd stayed there for our 2 nights/3 days in the city. Within walking distance of many landmarks, within a 25 minute walking radius of the hotel we visited:

* Central Park
* Rockefeller Center
* Nintendo World store
* NBA store
* Times Square
* The world's largest toy store- Toys'R Us Times Square
* 5th Avenue
* Avenue of the Americas

The rooms are very reasonably priced and actually amazing price tags when you think that this is in Midtown East, sporting some of the highest room rates on earth typically ranging anywhere from $400-600. The Pod Hotel for 2 nights including extravagantly popular night of December 31st was $179 for the double room with private bathroom. The room was very comfortable and modern with a spacious desk, flat screen LCD television, a marble shower & bathroom with nifty holders. A note on the public bathrooms for the single & bunk bed room guests, they are also pristine and even have music in the shower and plenty of shampoo & soap in dispensers. We actually used one of these bathrooms also in the morning so we could shower faster which I suggest as they are usually mostly empty. It saves time so you have more time to get out into this magnificent city!

Beautiful British bath products are provided in abundance by the maids whom are very friendly and clean the rooms spotlessly. We had a question about whether we could turn the television so went out into the hall and asked a maid there, she happily came in and showed us how. A small interesting note, they are in the traditional French maid outfits, not something you often see!

Summer 2007:
I returned to the Pod Hotel in July for a 2 night stay again and had an equally wonderful experience with them. Now that the renovations are complete with the hotel, there is a concierge desk that is staffed most of the day, a cozy lounging area with modern furniture and a rooftop garden, however I didn't get a chance to go up there, next time for sure. There is also a outdoor deck area which I did go out on and enjoyed. This time I had several requests of the front desk and each call or whenever I went up to the desk I was greeted with friendly staff who cater to you. I stayed in the double room again, and though the same as the summer I did notice that there are now two glass doors for the bathroom which makes it easier for privacy.

Also I read in an earlier review of The Pod Hotel that there was this beautiful quaint park down the street (East 51st Street) that the Pod Hotel is on. I found it just across the street down a 2 minute walk from the hotel. It's called Greenacre Park and was built by a wealthy New Yorker for the simple purpose of proving a paradise in the middle of bustling midtown Manhattan. Just a few blocks from Times Square as a New Yorker whom I sat beside said and yet such serenity. The park has a raised terrace covered eating area, a spacious stone patio with modern wire cafe style chairs & tables. A snack bar offers a wide variety of gourmet food not just snacks freshly prepared by the friendly Asian owner. I enjoyed a delicious croissant & fruit salad in front of the crowning feature a large waterfall at the back of the park! A visit to this park is a must!
To add to the list of nearby attractions and places this time from the hotel I walked to:

* Top of The Rock observation deck at the GE Building (also contains the NBC store & tour, Rainbow Room)
* Theater District
* Maddame Tussuad's
(also a ticket office for CitySightsNY Hop on Off buses & the start for their downtown tour)
* The world's largest toy store- Toys'R Us Times Square & other theme stores
* Grand Central Station & its shoppes

I readily recommend the Pod Hotel to friends and family and will surely be returning!

- Trip Advisor a dynamic interactive travel site, I am now a member on will get a full review in the next few days on here-

2007-09-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

Tarzan's Josh Strickland starring in Broadway Boys concert

Josh Strickland right as Tarzan alongside Jenn Gamabatese as Jane in Tarzan

Josh Strickland who played Tarzan in the stunning musical of the same name that I have been writing about that was on Broadway, now in The Netherlands and Germany in 2008 has a upcoming one day show! He will be at the Staples Center Highschool in Westport, Connecticut on October 1st. The Staples Center as part of the highschool is home to The Staples Players a dynamic drama and theatre group that teaches young aspiring actors bound for Broadway and other acting all there is to know about theatre in an intergrated program. The tickets are only $20 for children and $30 for adults. He will be joining other Broadway actors alongside the Broadway Boys whom impersonate and perform Broadway hit songs and skits. The ticket sales generated act as a fundraiser towards this worthwhile theatre program. Check out the article about the concert on Playbill.

2007-08-28T11:05:00.000-04:00

New Horizons for Tarzan Cast

The former Broadway cast who brought so much passion and joy to the Richard Rodgers Theater during the 14 month run of Tarzan are reprising their roles as the astounding actors and actresses they are. After the sudden close of Tarzan on July 8th, though the sadness was deep that Tarzan had ended as I found out from an agent of one of the actors I sat by the world does need to continue. They seemed extremely proud of their performances and what they brought to this astounding production, my favourite show I've ever seen, truly. Six of the major roles from Tarzan are now pursuing new roles and activities on Broadway and beyond. Tarzan is my favourite show or play I've ever seen!

Josh Strickland, of American Idol fame and from the national tour of RENT and everyone will remember as the older Tarzan with his stunning voice, amazing acrobatics and more is working on an upcoming CD titled Dreaming Wide Awake along with other Broadway stars including Shoshana Bean previously from Wicked, Jonathan Groff currently in Spring Awakening amongst others. Check out this exclusive sneak preview clip of renwoned Broadway actress Stephanie J. Block (Wicked, Pirate Queen) singing "Never Never Land" (Fly Away) from Peter Pan, check out this write up from Playbill.com (the official company that does Broadway programs - "playbills" and much more) at the bottom of the article. He has no current roles in shows, though it won't be long I'm sure before we see this skilled up and coming actor spring from the launch that Tarzan was for him.

This was Strickland's Broadway premiere in rent but he had previously garnered his stardom in American Idol, and he was then on the National Tour of RENT and in his time in Tarzan was on many renowned TV shows inclusive of The View, The Today Show and All my Children.

Kerchak (Shuler Hensley) and his wife Kala (Merle Dandridge) in Tarzan

Merle Dandridge who played the deeply moving mother of Tarzan Kala has returned to her previous Broadway role. For a limited engagement Dandridge will be reprised her role as Joanne in RENT, now in it's 11th year on Broadway at the David Nederlander Theater. She left RENT on September 1st. She expressed on her blog that it will be a limited engagement before she takes so more time off after Tarzan.

She is now working on a play at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California titled Most Wanted . Most Wanted. takes a look at the American obsession of celebrity, rich, fame and wealth in a unique and creative expression. The play is part of their EDGE festival supporting young and up and coming directors, this is quoted from the website of the La Jolla Playhouse as they describe the festival of plays:

"THE EDGE is the newest of the Playhouse's signature programs, designed to bring the freshest, most adventurous work to our stages. Supported through a generous grant from the Irvine Foundation, projects in THE EDGE are produced outside of the subscription season. THE EDGE encompasses bold new works being created in the theatre today by established artists, up-and-coming directors and playwrights, or theatre ensembles who are exploring new theatrical territory. Groundbreaking, innovative and completely different – welcome to THE EDGE."

Her past performances include on Broadway Jesus Christ Superstar, RENT, Disney's AIDA as well as NCIS on television amongst other credits.

Jane (Jenn Gambatese) and Tarzan (Josh Strickland) in Tarzan

Jenn Gambatese who played the snobby British explorer turned lover of Tarzan is preparing for a brand new Broadway show. Gambatese took some time off towards the end of Tarzan's run for her wedding!! She was Jane for more than a year previous and then did return early from her leave to do the final weekend of shows. She is getting ready to be a part of the intriguing new musical Is He Dead based on a play that was written more than 100 years ago and undiscovered until 2002, Mark Twain's piece has been crafted into a Broadway show. The producers of the show say this:

"In this newly discovered Mark Twain comedy, the original master of American humor dishes out a sly critique of the art world with acerbic wit and social commentary well ahead of his time. Is He Dead? is a fast-paced play about a struggling artist who stages his own death to drive up the price of his paintings. As the riotous scheme unfolds, Twain poses daring questions about fame, greed and the value of art, and pokes his signature, mischievous fun at everyone involved."

The previews of Is He Dead start November 8th at the Lyceum Theatre, regular performances start November 29th. The performance schedule and ticketing will be announced shortly, I will post more about her show and link to the official website when there's one. Her past performances include the original Broadway cast of Hairspray and All Shook Up.

Niki Scalera who played the Jane understudy and an ensemble performer (an ape!) and then played Jane for the last stretch except the final weekend of shows while Jenn Gambatese took time off for her wedding! She is actually the Jane I saw at my performance and she was spectacular. She is in the smash hit Hairspray now in its 6th year on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theater as Penny Pingleton, the main character Tracy Turnblad's best friend.

Her past performances include the Las Vegas production of the Queen musical We Will Rock You, Jake's Women on Broadway, All My Children on television amongst many other credits. She was also recently involved in the workshop for the up and coming Broadway musical of Catch me If You Can.

Kerchak (Shuler Hensley) taking a bow on opening night of Tarzan

Shuler Hensley who played Kerchak, Tarzan's father for 10 months from Tarzan's opening until March 2007 is now in previews for a shining new show bound for Broadway. Now doing its pre-Broadway run in Seattle Hensley plays The Monster in Young Frankenstein. The tale of the famed classic tale has now made its way to stage. Created by famed producer Mel Brooks, who also created the The Producers. Here's what the producers have to say on the official Young Frankenstein website. Hensley's past includes Oklahoma & the original Broadway Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera in Germany, Off Broadway: The Great American Trailer Park Musical and in movies Legend of Zoro in 2005 and Opa! at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival.

The Monster (Shuler Hensley) in Young Frankenstein

" IT’S ALIVE! From the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation The Producers comes this monster new musical comedy.

A wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks’ classic comedy masterpiece, the story follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronkensteen) as he attempts to complete his grandfather's masterwork and bring a corpse to life. Together with his oddly shaped and endearing helper Igor (that's Eye-gor), his curvaceous lab assistant Inga, and in spite of his incredibly self-involved madcap fiancé Elizabeth, Frankenstein succeeds in creating a monster -- but not without scary and quite often hilarious complications.

With such memorable tunes as "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Puttin' On The Ritz," The New MEL BROOKS Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is scientifically-proven, monstrously good entertainment…and the only place you'll witness a singing and dancing laboratory experiment in the largest tuxedo ever made."

The previews of Young Frankenstein begin October 11th at the Hilton Theater, regular performances start November 8th.

Tim Jerome

Tim Jerome who played Jane's father, Professor Porter, the visiting British explorer to the stunning African jungle that was the Tarzan set. He is going on tour with the
latest revival of My Fair Lady. The show that has played both on Broadway and in the West End. The original Broadway show was in 1954 and has since had several revivals. Jerome, who has played in many Broadway shows in the past prior to Tarzan inclusive of The Beauty and the Beast as Maurice, CATS and many others. He will be a member of the North American tour cast. Check out the press release about his role on Broadway World.

A scene from My Fair Lady

They will go across North America to 24 American and Canadian cities from September 2007-June 2008 , they started with a series of shows in Tampa, Florida on September 12th. For my Canadian readers, one of the shows I'd love to catch My Fair Lady will be in Toronto from May 8-31st at the Toronto Centre for the Arts for one of the longer runs! I will be sure to catch him in my hometown then, can't wait! Tickets are on sale now for certain legs of the tour, others will be on sale soon. I met him at the stage door after my performance of Tarzan on July 4th, congratulated him and told him it was my first Broadway show. He was very sweet and signed my playbill. I hope to catch some of my favourite cast in the new shows and undertakings!

Best of luck to all of them!

2007-08-10T22:36:00.000-04:00

Tribute to Tarzan

July 4th, 2007 will always remain engrained in my memory as one of the most memorable and meaningful days of my life. That morning I had flown into brash and beautiful New York City for my fourth visit to this beloved city of mine. Though in the past I certainly had walked amongst the famed theatres that scatter in and around Broadway. The Great White Way had inspired me from afar yet for some unknown reason I hadn't ventured in to see one of the world class shows.

This afternoon as I settled back into the electric energy and comfort and class of this city I love I took a yellow cab to the theatre from the UN. Stepping into the long snaking line in front of the historic circa 1924 Richard Rodgers Theatre garbed in bright shades of green on the marquee & box office. All with "Tarzan Broadway's High Flying Musical" ethched across. I had my premiere Broadway ticket in hand I had gotten for $45 less than the list price using a discount code, now a treasured souvenir forever. Once I set food in the door and made my way to the ticket taker, I had been formally introduced into a world I thought I would love, yet began far more special than I could ever have imagined.

I took my plush upholstered seat, one of the most comfortable I've ever sat as I was dressed up in some of my finest dress clothes. Surrounding me men in their tuxedos and various forms of dress shirts and suits mingled alongside women in glittering gowns and designer tops. I had always enjoyed the 1999 film and had seen press photos and clips of the show which appeared nothing less than "SENSATIONAL" as the marquee proudly announced in the words of a local high profile critic. The fact that I could get the 4th row seat with the discount code, something I had never done previously, been so close to the stage.

Tarzan held so much power and enchantment, the stunning scenes with the highly creative and never before seen arial moves of the gorrilas and Young and older Tarzan was such an enriching experience. I really felt the awe of it all sink in as I learned all about the deep feelings that accompany acceptance of others, differences and cultures. As well as how love can become so deep and fast, about close friendships and the power of family. The power of family both fictionally and in reality. A agent of one of the actors in Tarzan taught me and another man seated behind me all about Broadway and different thoughts on Tarzan. We heard about the closing, that had more than ticketing as Tarzan was playing the full houses. She said and I will never forget "45 of my beloved actors will be out of a job" "The stage hands, crew and actors won't know where to turn" she said.

Young Tarzan (Alex Rutherford) & Kala (Merle Dandridge)

Certain people wonder how they can put on the same show, nearly identical 7-8 times a week, and during at least 1 day twice in one day. How they can do that emotionally, despite the repetition they do have a different audience whom reacts different each show and they become a family, truly. They have rehearsals together, they almost live together even in their relatively small quarters backstage before, after and during the show in their dressing rooms and the various other spaces needed to put on a modern multimillion dollar stage production.

When you see them doing the curtain call and interacting with each other and fans at the stage door following the performance this really shows. They are not bored, they are elated to be in an astounding production and though there is repetition they especially in Tarzan get to be amongst stunning backdrops, special effects, costumes and get to sing majestic music night after night. Tarzan did close on Broadway suddenly on July 8, 2007 yet continues in the hearts and minds of many. The original Kerchak, Tarzan's father played by Shuler Hensley will be starring in the upcoming Young Frankenstein on Broadway beggining in November as Frankenstein's Monster. Best wishes to him and all of the cast with their future aspirations!

--I will be soon posting a post about the Netherlands Tarzan production that opened on April 15th, 2007---

--I will also soon be posting about the fun and warmth the cast showed at the stage door and about going to the stage door at Broadway shows--

2007-08-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

Step Between Reality and Fiction in NYC

The review of my memorable and eventful review of the New York TV & Movie Tour I took recently during my time in New York with my friend from Singapore & her cousin has now been posted on the On Locations review site . It can be found by filing through the arrows at the bottom of the webpage. I reccomend it for anyone but strongly for returning visitors to New York who appreciate events off the beaten path as you discover more about this unbelivable city. You can find my review on the site by filing through using the navigation arrows at the bottom of the webpage to file through to the July 6th 2007, 11:00am tour I was on.

This tour exceeded my expectations and quickly became one of the most memorable experiences I've had in New York City, this being my 3rd trip. The tour is multi faceted with each facet innovative and run smoothly. Meeting the tour guide at the meeting location was easy to find in the Theater District down the road from Times Square. Detailed directions and a map are included with your ticket. The former Broadway actress turned NYC tour guide was well organized with a list of all attendees, I simply said my name and presented my e-ticket (ordered from Zerve's website).

We embarked on a comfortable air conditioned coach that led us to 60 locations featured in famed movies & television shows from all eras. A side note the coach does have a spotless bathroom onboard.The tour guide was very approachable and informative sharing many notes on the movies including bloopers, little known facts and also production terminology as it relates to filming. In addition to the locations that the bus passes by there are a handful of stops where we got out to see locations on foot. This included two stops that were prolonged ones seeing a set of locations which provided a great break from the bus. At these stops the tour guide offers to take group photography, now that I've seen the pictures, they attest to fine photography skill.

With the additions of showing actual clips of the movies & TV shows on the monitors in the bus just prior or after visiting the location was a real treat. This made the bridge between reality and Hollywood all that more real. The onboard singing and contests rewarded by prizes and the fun of it all added yet another dimension. As the tour progressed throughout many Manhattan districts and neighbourhoods the guide informed the group of many aspects of New York's culture and how the movie industry affects these districts. At the conclusion of the tour I greatly thanked the guide and gave her a well deserving generous tip. Most importantly I had learned much more about movie, television and New York City as a whole. All this is a fun filled afternoon I strongly recommend.

Also a note the office staff are also equally friendly and informative as I had questions about certain parts of the tour for health reasons. On a future trip to NYC I plan to take their Central Park TV & Movie Tour enabling me to further explore the famed park with their knowledge and the filming slant. Improvements to the tour would be visiting the Seinfeld restaurant. It would also be great to see On Location expand to other boroughs of NYC or genre tours. Perhaps have a tour that includes lunch or dinner at one of the featured dining locations. I wish On Location Tours nothing but the best! Cheers from Ontario, Canada.

2007-08-08T01:01:00.000-04:00

Back Blogging with Fresh Takes
- have my posts emailed by entering your email in the subscribe me box to the right.

I apologize for my extended absence and periodic posting. I have been having many personal reasons that had prevented me from giving the blog the attention it deserves. I am excited and very much looking forward to posting again in the coming days and weeks, I have many new features and access to my new travel blog and major YouTube series coming. I will also be updating the links on the right-hand side of my screen to include additional travel websites. This will include new links relating to the wonderful world of Broadway & the West End which I will be covering regularly now. This coverage of the finest theatre districts in the English language world shall include information on upcoming shows, revivals and previews and tours. In addition to the best ways to get your tickets, as well as packages that include tickets to the esteemed shows.

As always I appreciate your comments. To subscribe simply type your email address in the box to the right-hand side "Subscribe Me" and your email address will be added to the list. You will soon also be able to send your email address via email to the new address that will soon be posted. This address will also be used for comments, ideas for new posts and anything else you may like to ask. The new posts start the evening of August 9th Eastern Standard Time. The transformations and new features and links will happen in the next several weeks. Thanks very much, good to be back with a vengance! Stay tuned!
Cheers

2007-01-16T02:03:00.000-05:00

My Birthday Horoscope for my 19th!

A pretty cool, creative and icing filled birthday cake to me!

Celebrating my 19th birthday online here with the almost sureally accurate horoscope I got. This is from Birthday Alarm site I use to organize and keep track of the world of birthdays I need to remember! It's an awesome way filled with many features to create an electronic database that emails reminders to you. It also gives you access to a wide selection of e-cards! Their present to me from them today was this:

Free Sample Personal Astrology Profile for Teague
Birth Date and Time..... January 16, 1988 4:30 PM
Birth Location............. Toronto, Canada
Sun Sign.................... Capricorn

�Section 1: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others
You appear gentle and soft, and you act rather reserved with others until you know them well and feel it is safe to be open with them. You have a strong need for emotional security and a sense of belonging, and are deeply attached to the past: your heritage, roots, family, cherished friends, familiar places, etc. Making radical changes or moves away from what is known and safe can be very painful and difficult for you. You tend to cling and hold on to people, memories, possessions of personal or sentimental significance. Having a home, a safe haven, is very important to you.

Section 2: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
Serious, disciplined, and quietly ambitious, you are driven to prove yourself and to achieve material accomplishments and success. Your work, your position in the world, and your contributions to society are very important to you. You will persevere through enormous hardship and frustration in order to reach a goal you have set for yourself, and you often sacrifice much in the area of personal relationships and home life in order to do so.

2007-01-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

Forging Foreign Friendships Spanning the Planet

In our ever changing global world where borders and boundaries mean less and less we have entered a almost complete global network of communications. Not only of communications but of friendship, love and relationships. The fact that for example the United Kingdom is seperated by the thousands of miles of the Atlantic means little now. For example my good friend in Wales who means so much typing in his instant messaging window perhaps 3,000 or 5,000 km away depending where I am in Canada means nothing. I get his message delivered instantaneously. If we want to exchange pictures of each other it is exchanged instantly. We can email and chat however much we want as long as we want at absolutely no charge. To be able to do this is exceptional, men has come so far, we have created what was once a massive globe that meant communication could not happen between borders at all to this. To where we stand now where you can email anyone on the planet with a Internet access and a email address. '

I have long been intensely interested in foreign affairs and international travel and tourism. I would pick up atlases, books and read and study countries, cities and far flung locales. To learn all about a nation, whether it had 1 billion or less than 1 million people it mattered not. Size doesn't matter in essence with countries, it's all about culture and their environment. The way people grow up is affected by their environment, their customs and beliefs. All of this is a direct result of their country, city, village where they grew up. Esentially the interpretation of our wide world is open to interpretation, it is a blank canvass that needs to be perceived by us, its citizens. When I travel which has now included 7 countries in Asia, North America and Europe I have not only climbed the Eiffel Tower, seen the ancient Japanese temples, gazed upon the Mexican rainforests I have experienced the people.

Experiencing people is one of the largest and most poignant messages that both international travel and foriegn friendship affects. Taken alone they each have an affect, taken together and you have someone who can truly look at and understand the world. The way the French, Japanese and Mexicans act and present themselves is as much as a treasure as it is to experience their country. You don't just remember the resort, the quaint shopping streets, the monuments you visited. You remember the people, we are now approximately 6.5 billion inhabitaing our earth, this is immense and grows every second. For us to be together, to understand accept one another we must have that mutual understanding.

Through the award winning teen newspaper The Tattoo that is based in Connecticut I have spoken to those in 19 nations in Asia,North America including the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Oceania. What does this mean? It means more than I know how the Welsh accent sounds, what the typical weather is in western Australia is or what festivals are celebrated and when in Calcutta, India. I have learned a treasure chest about their culture and countries. Most of all however I have learned their attitudes are affected by these events, places and celebrations. There is the barrier of not being face to face but we do have web cameras, email, instant messaging and much lower long distance calling rates than ever seen previously in the past.

To receive emails from USA, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Wales and Japan has broadned by mental reach imesurabely. If you just know your town, your corner of the world and do not reach out you are missing out on opportunities the size of the planet. The beauty, the absolute sheer magic of it all never ends. I have met some of the closest people who play a unbelievable role in my life not here, but from here with them from afar. I have met many and will be meeting more upcoming in the United Kingdom as well as a German girl in her native land for real. To finally give my Welsh friend, my American friends, my global friends that hug that bear hug is a thing of true beauty, it's a piece of my soul. I am not friends with Canadians, I am friends with the whole wide world! God bless you all!

2007-01-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

Returning from Comfy Connecticut

I have just returned from a highly sucessful and stunning trip to Connecticut, New York and New Jersey with my older brother. I did the coach bus journey again from Toronto via New York into Hartford, Connecticut. To see this quaint and quieter state of mind than I'm used to again brought back many memories over the past few years. Connecticut has developedinto more than a travel destination, it's a second home now.As soon as I step foot on Connecticut soil I feel like I have entered a third home (we have a farm) and not just a new destination.Connecticut praticularly Central Connecticutfeels just like a comfy third region to me. I have southern Ontario, northern Alberta in Canada and also Connecticut, USA. The trip was very sucessful which was meaningful to me since my still sucessful but not as smooth summer sojurn down there this past July.

Drove along the familiar road of Farmington Avenue in West Hartford/ Hartford where I have spent many weeks of my life now, seeing the old Victorian and Colonial style mansions back, the old restaurants I used to frequent and so much more. To be in the arms of my good friends, the editors of my newspaper. To be able to catch up in person on what has happened over the past few months and at our traditional Christmas party even past years with certain people. Their house holds so much and to be sitting there with so many great people just meant so much. The party had a large attendance this time around. Many old faces appeared for which I had not laid eyes on in seemingly eons. All the familiar faces that I yearn to see were there too.

My charades choice this time was absolutely insane with the one I had to act out with hands only being "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court". I looked at the slip of paper and thought to myself "holy lord the Yankees have done me in this time". I tried my very best to act out it sylable by sylable, people started guessing. People continued guessing. Frustration started to fly, people started getting antsy. I started getting even more antsy. People started really wondering what was going on, some casually questioning my lack of skill in the charades game. I will admit it's not my stronghold of talent you currently are reading one of those my writing. However these people know that as this is a newspaper that I contributed 22 articles too, several of them award winning. After a painful half hour those on my team in the living room that night got it. I felt a sudden sigh of relief. My lucky older brother on the other hand new to the Connecticut scene had Brokeback Mountain. Put two fingers up meaning two words. Pointed to his back and hunched over. His team called out the anwser, now only if it could be as easy as that!

Had a gourmet Italian dinner with one of my very good writer friends in Hartford. Enjoyed or at least tried to enjoy the food, they certainly had the Americana sized portions there! Yet tasty and a beautiful time to spend with him and have my brother meet him. My brother one on of the Connecticut days posed the question "Can we go to Yale". I responded "Why not". We went down to the station and bought tickets to New Haven, the home of the world famous university. The next day we went to New Haven down in southern Connecticut. I had previously been for a visit this past summer, however such a magical place doesn't lose its appeal. We took an hour or so coach bus drive to New Haven. Upon reaching saw the glitzy buildings that make up the British style downtown as you get towards Yale. Saw the New Haven Green, greens being a large expansive park in the middle of town. This is traditional with many New England towns, the majority of them all once having a green. A common gathering point for the town.

Unfortunately Yale University was on its official "recess period" that has the Visitor Center closed, clearly closed with a week's worth of newspapers piled up on their porch. However not to be saddened we continued onto the world famous campus. Having taken the official tour from a student who came from California I recalled many of her words, jokes and more. We made our way through the campus seeing the heart of Yale, the Old Campus. The Oxford like ivy covered stone and brick walls looming over us. The centre court park area in the middle, seeing the statue of the founder and simply gazing at the beauty of the buildings. My brother was especially interested to see that the oldest building in Connecticut-Connecticut Hall was the home of their physchcology department, snapping many shots in front of it. We saw Harkness Tower the massive sprialling tower. The covered courtyards with their heavy iron gates closing them in. We then continued down High Street, a street with all the atmosphere of a high class old university.

Checked into the Yale University Art Gallery and took the full tour with a gallery guide. His knowledge of the art brought it all to life. Many works of art Yale almunus have amassed over the years. Manet, Matisse, Degas and many others. A highly creative gallery we really enjoyed was the student sculptures. They created many different pieces of sculpture using almost everything. My favourite was one sitting on a refrigerator rack. Completely made of Vaseleine, this sculpture of a dumbell weight astounded me. We enjoyed New Haven pizza, a deep dish style with many toppings. A truly enjoyable time in my comfy Connecticut. We then boarded a coach bus to take us to New York City for New Years Eve!

-A post will soon follow about New Years in New York, check back-

2006-12-17T12:57:00.001-05:00

The Taste of Coffee

In the Food and Beverage class at my Western college The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, the world famous coffee company Starbucks decided to drop in to give us a new depth of knowledge on the globe of coffee, lead us through our premiere professional coffee tasting and so much more! A cluster of managers and assistant managers from across the city of Edmonton's locations came together in our student led restaurant. They had incredible passion for the subject, almost coffee beans themselves. These people have several mugs of coffee at dawn, work with the beans and related coffee products all day long. They then meet together and drink even further cups of coffee upon the end of their work day.

Hard core coffee tasters at work, this is esentially what we looked like!

These coffee fanatics from Starbucks that is now a major coffee chain across Canada, the USA and across the world. They began with a Power Point with great enthusiasm on their beloved product. They introduced to us some very fascinating facts that you would otherwise not know about coffee. I was very taken aback to learn that the world drinks so much coffee, that it's the second most consumed item on earth. It falls only second to oil!We learned the ways of the proffesional coffee taster. We were given a series of cups of specific liquids to compare with the coffees. We had an orange juice, Coke, Sprite and Apple juice as well as several different milks and creams. These were all to be compared with the appropriate coffees so as to understand what goes with them and what doesn't.

Normally if you are a coffee drinker (myself I go for tea and the occasional pop) you just guzzle down your morning wake-up or midnight oil drug, because indirectly that's what it is for our bodies. Not when you are doing a professional coffee tasting. You need to take it step by step starting with the shaking. Be sure to shake the coffee around in your cup for a few moments. This allows the coffee's aroma to infiltrate throughout your nose and the full flavour to come out. Then it's time to smell the nose. No don't be shy and pretend you are smelling a boquet of daisies, because no you're not doing that! You need to plant as much of your face as you can into the cup and let it waft through your sinuses. Once you've done this you are ready for the major drink. You take in a large amount of the steaming brown gold at once, if wanting to be truthful to the testing you let it go all over your tongue and spit it out. Spit it out into these silver narrow spitting pots. There are different flavours and appropriate pairings that you can do, say the full bodied chocolate tones of the Starbucks Kenya coffee is perfect with a hearty brownie or nanimo bar.

Coffee workers picking the coffee cherries from the bushes that are 4-6 feet in high at a coffee plantation in Uganda

The entire class did their best going through this often akward and intense yet intensely fun experience. We then headed over to the espresso machine. To do this you need to ensure you beat the milk just enough in the high speed blended of the espresso machine while ensuring you don't beat so much air into it that it will cause too much cream for the coffee. Adding the right amounts of flavouring syrups, the finest coffee and the right topping of cream is important in ensuring the perfect espresso. Seeing my fellow classmates working away with this loud crazy machine trying to get the right amount of cream was a riot. This really shows you how much goes into each and every sector of our world without us even knowing.

We learned all about how coffee is made and saw countless pictures of Starbucks coffee plantations in Brazil, Kenya and Costa Rica among other coffee growing nations of the world. To see the immense work and effort that goes into simply picking the product which in this case is the coffee bean really inserts a appreciation. These people will spend long hours picking, roasting, sorting and packaging cofee beans because it's what they know. It's there livelihood, it's their lifestyle and it's what gets food on the table for them. What I found both fascinating and inspiring is what these mangers had to say when questioned about the quality of their lives. Starbucks instead of giving them part price for their product, they are constantly monitoring the global market of coffee beans and how much the growers can get for them. Instead of simply furnishing these often destitute villages that are growing the coffee with cash, Starbucks does something to change their community and improve the local lives of the workers and their fellow friends and family.

My all time favourite coffee we had, Starbucks Kenya!

They have done such things as built a school in Kenya where their school was a shack with very little. They built a small hospital and furnished it with the proper modern equipment medical supplies in the rural coffee growing countryside of Brazil where they had been having to travel more than 50 miles to a underfunded hell of a hospital. For a company to literally be so compassionate and caring about their workers in countries with little structure and to be giving to them is something rare and beautiful in our globe today. Next time you drink your coffee think of these amazing people and what they are doing in our world. There is a woman who works mighty hard in the heat with four children getting the beans for that coffee cup of yours. For every 1 pound bag of Starbucks coffee there are approximately 20 equivalent bags picked! Coffee tasting and growing, a true adventure into the lesser known!

2006-10-02T18:16:00.000-04:00

Visitors Spanning the Planet & Update

Visitors spanning the planet have been clicking in to the blog over the course of the past six weeks. Readers from across 10 nations covering four of the six contients of the world. This time there are several new exoctic locales from whilst visitors have been clocking in from. Greeting to those in Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Belgium! Belgians, I greatly enjoyed your country this past March and very much hope to return! This continued astounding global readership means so much to me. The fact that you enter the blog and may of you come in time after time means the world.

Thanks so much for your patronage and patience during busy periods including this period as I settle into college life in Edmonton, Alberta in western Canada. Now that the initial dust is settling as my apartment, collegian life and other aspects in Edmonton get set up I have more time to post. Look for much more shortly, more updates to come . I will be posting tommorow and then shortly after. I am flying to Ontario in central Canada and spending Canadian Thanksgiving and my highschool graduation in Ontario at home! Will post on that monumentous occasion too! Coming too will be an all new second page to the blog with more intense travel sections, all new interactive online photo albums of my travels to seven nations around the world and much more.
Thanks very much, keep checking back.

North America

Canada

South America

Argentina

Europe

England
Scotland
Belgium
Sweden

Asia

Saudi Arabia
India

Oceania

Australia

2006-09-09T01:00:00.000-04:00

Live Life the Western Way

Throughout my first fortnight in Edmonton, Alberta I have noticed many different cultural changes in the way things are conducted in the West. The way the streetscapes are set up, pricing, and many aspects that one gets used to in their everyday lifestyle is far different when comparing "down East" as Albertans refer to Ontario & Quebec to Alberta. Following are a collection of these differences I have collected mentally whilst living out here.

- a very high customer service ethic in stores and other outlets

- cashiers, waiters and store representatives really take the time to give you the personalized undivided attention that one deserves
(detailed stories to be posted)

- interior tree lined boulevards that shelter businesses, my college and residential districts off from main throughfare streets by having the second street alongside the buildings and houses, between them and the main road, a brilliant idea that is both eye appealing and much safer

- crosswalks are often massive snaking contraptions, and the walk symbol that stays on very briefly, as one woman put it to my Mom and myself
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"That damn hand goes up as soon as you get halfway across the road, what the hell is that, I will be calling the City, won't be the first time they've heard from me"
--------

- The old fashioned apple juice can has perished from grocery stores, to be replaced exclusively with plastic paper Tetra cartons

- Cheez Whiz cheese spread has a $7.00 CAD price tag
(Ontario- $3.99)!

- streets are almost always numbered with only a handful of exceptions which even then also have numbers

- the city is less than half the size of Montreal & Toronto yet feels the strange requirement for five, even six digit adresss numbers, for example my college's address:

11762 106th St

- afternoon matineee movies cost only $3.50 and evening movies $7.00, incredibly lower than Onario's $9.00 matinees and $13.50 evening shows

- Edmonton Transit System, the city's outstanding public transit organization have mini brochures for each route available from racks on all buses, these mighty handy booklets outline all the timing, stops and locations of the route. They also have a fold-out map where you can follow along as the bus continues along the route to ensure you are getting where you want to

Myself holding one of the ETS route brochures

The route map showing how to get from downtown to the West End

2006-09-07T19:48:00.000-04:00

Making My Way on My Journey into the West

"Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking we will shortly be landing, please prepare the cabin for landing and on behalf of myself and today's crew we thank you very much for flying with us, the temperature in Edmonton is 25 degrees"

"Ladies and gentleman this is your purser speaking, we are now descending into Edmonton International, at this time we please ask you to put your seats in their upright positions, stow your tray tables and please get your garbage and any unwanted newspapers together as the flight attendants will now come round to collect those"

"On behalf of today's I would like to take the opportunity to be the first to welcome you to Edmonton, thank you very much for flying with us, it has been our pleasure to serve you, we wish you a pleasant stay in Edmonton or wherever your travels make take you"

Moments prior to the purser (head flight attendant) making this annoucement the airplane touched down in it's usual agressive way skidding to a stop and making the almost instaneous transformation into a more landlike vehicle and it made it's way through the runways to the gate, parking. Once the crowds filtered out to our row, my Mom and I grabbed our bags and bid adieu to the flight attendants and pilots making our way up the gangway into the airport. This was the ninth flight I've completed this year, the process similar each time, one that personally I cherish and enjoy, one of my aspirations to become a flight attendant for some time at least. This time however marked the advent of an entirely new experience that will launch all future employment in one of my ultimate passions that I want to make a career with. The globe's largest industry- Hospitality & Travel.

My beloved mother and I embarked on the single most shopping I have ever
done in my entire life. From my new 3 year old basement apartment on the North Side of Edmonton to the college, back, to downtown, back, to malls and back countless times! It's truly astonishing to my mind and both of ours how much stuff truly is needed to bring an apartment from a basic state to one that is fully functional with a cozy and homey atmosphere about it. This is even with partial basics in place. I was extremely lucky to not only find an ideal, big and beautiful apartment but it included a bed, desk, storage units, kitchen dishes and all appliances as well as cleaners, rugs and more. Nonetheless to bring it to that live in stage took much work, but exciting work. At 18 this is my first home outside of the family houses & family farm I have remembered and grown up with over the years. To finally have my own place secured, up and running is a pretty enchanting moment indeed!

My Mom came along with myself to meet all my Edmonton crew I had first shaken hands with back on my first week long visit to Edmonton this past Spring in April. This time securing things further and allowing my Mom and myself to ask further and finalizing questions. Took my Mom on a grand tour of the college campus to show her where all this time, money and efforts have been pouring into. Where I will be taking my classes, forming friendships, hopefully creating the grand finale to school, hopefully to add to my small cluster of intense lifetime experiences. Moving out 2700 km west from where I have resided is a base for my future plans to launch myself across the pond or Big pond in the near future and eventually permanently upon graduation in two years. This stage has been reached and is quite overwhelming at times yet a strong base for the future in store.

I have travelled extensively throughout seven nations across the globe in North America, Europe and Asia spending sometimes several weeks at some points across the globe. Edmonton is my first time to be on and off for nearly two years. I gave my Mom a glimpse as we settled into the surroundings. Passing rows and rows of spruce trees, noticing the lack thereof of maple and oak trees. Taking in the tree lined boulevards and massive parks and green spaces spread across the city. Made her jaw drop as we went all through the world's largest mall- West Edmonton Mall! We browsed some of the 850 stores, ate in one of the 100 restuarants and hit all the key attractions. The world's biggest indoor waterpark, indoor lake complete with the submarines, the massive authentic palm tree lined avenues and so much more. We both incredibly enjoyed the high customer service ethic Albertans have here, people truly going completely out of their way for us. Completely unlike what the most common arrogant service Ontario has on offer to its citizens. With that one of the most extensive adventures of my life began, my journey into the West was official!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A most bittersweet moment my adventure can be best related to is when Frodo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings gets a masssive farewells ensue and tears flow as he departs along with Elven accompaniments into the West via the ethereal port of Grey Havens. These departures are simply beyond words, they are a entire experience and feeling beyond anyone's belief that happen at very specific moments in life that can be never lived again. One must savour, let tears flow and arms wrap around those you love. For you will see those you love dear so soon yet they are so far, you will not remain unchanged.

Into the West
by Scot Annie Lennox
- Lord of the Rings- The Return of the King

Lay down your sweet and weary head,
Night is falling, you have come to journey's end.
Sleep now, and dream of the ones who came before,
They are calling from across a distant shore.
Why do you weep? What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see, all of your fears will pass away.
Sail for miles, you're only sleeping.

Chorus:

What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home.
And all will turn to silver glass,
A light on the water, all souls pass.

Hope fades into the world of night,
Through shadows falling out of memory and time.
Don't say, come.We have come now to the end.
White shores are calling, you and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms, just sleeping.

Chorus:

What can you see on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea a pale moon rises,
The ships have come to carry you home.
And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water, Grey Ships pass into the west.

2006-09-06T21:24:00.000-04:00

Blogging Update From Edmonton, Alberta!

Hello one and all my loyal global readership and welcome to those of you who have been logging in, I've noticed many new people and nations as of recently. I sincerely apologize for the lag in postings, all those promises in my last post before departing from Ontario I do plan to do. I am now settled in Edmonton in northern Alberta. Way out in western Canada, a 1 1/2 hour flight from Vancouver on the Pacific Coast! I am been extremely busy with my parent out here helping me move in and myself doing all sorts of activites. I haven't had time for my usual posting but expect much more in the coming days and weeks, please stay tuned! I will begin posting shortly! Thanks for your patients, enjoy my archives for the time being. I am hoping to post tommorow night Mountain Time. Thanks so much!

2006-08-17T09:37:00.000-04:00

Blogging Blurbs to Update

On the blog front I have planned many highly creative posts on the travel and tourism industry, with tools of the trade, destinations, planning and many other subjects related to travel. I will begin writing about more technical aspects of the computer world including web design programs of all kinds I am beggining to use.Also covered will be trends, programs and features by the major Internet giants and many more. Regular writing updates on my writing and The Tattoo Teen Newspaper will continue along with my writing and writing posts. On the blog front I have planned many highly creative posts on the travel and tourism industry, with tools of the trade, destinations, planning and many other subjects related to travel.

I will also be investigating the launch of a podcast with my thoughts and information on travel & computer subjects and debates. Coupled with this will be a dynamic and interactive photo album section, and global recipes on a paid subscription newsletter. A sample snippet will be offered online. I will be starting a forum as well with major questions posed to bring more interaction to the site. I have over the past couple weeks been working hard on site maitenence and keeping everything looking afresh. This work will continue which includes transfering the first batch of posts to proper hotlinking and fixing kinks in the system and visually on the site. I am also very eager to try to get a hold of the beta version of the newly refurbished Blogger which provides for a more advanced system behind the scenes, I can use to produce a better blog. I will be setting up a new email to enable you my loyal global audience to report techical issues. This may be a deadlink, a blank photo or something up in the system. Feel free to use this feature anytime, in the meantime email me at teague.neal@gmail.com anytime. See you on August 28th!

2006-08-17T09:20:00.000-04:00

Launching my Life after High School

Greetings to all those across the world from my post in Oakville, Ontario shifting shortly 2712 km (1685 miles) west and approximately 400 km (250) miles north to Edmonton, Alberta! My new chosen Canadian college city of Edmonton I will be setting myself up in my first abode on my own. Will be going for a week with my parent and then launch myself into Albertan life, with 8 days to settle in, adjust to my surroundings and wander around. My orientation will begin on September 6th, with unknown expecations, presumably not overly challenging. I then start classes which first term include a set of seven classes: Computer Applications, Food and Beverage Service,Introduction to Tourism, Food and Beverage Service Practical (working at the student restaurant), Rooms Divisions Theory (front desk & hotel security), Organizational Behaviour and Business English. I will cease posting on the blog from today until my premiere post from Edmonton on Monday August 28th. At this point I will be free of the massive organizational projects, packing (made more challenging by the precautions following the aborted terror attacks) and my final appointments and social visits with those near and dear to my heart.

The very green and rustic skyline of
Edmonton, Alberta

I absolutely and always truly wanted to take a gap year as they are now titled, and spend a year traveling. Also was highly interested in studying at a British college to live the European experience and begin where I want to end of living anyways. My ultimate goal is to live in Europe following my graduation, the fact that this seems so far flung I find very difficult to bear. Nonetheless I have been granted the green light and go ahead to spend the time between the two years abroad working, traveling and living the life of a local far, far away! This descision will take many months and the entire 8 months between now April when I can embark on this journey.

The main debate at the moment is between : Japan & England with New Zealand in the back of my mind. From Japan I would travel to connections in South Korea and possibly China. From England what's especially attractive is I could work in more than one country in the United Kingdom, travel the other U.K. countries and throughout Western Europe. From New Zealand I would visit Australia and the opposite island in New Zealand from the one I would gain employment and possibly Tasmania or Fiji. Other pars of the globe fascinate me but for the work term and long term living my debate remains as this. In the coming months I will be writing posts on the study abroad companies and experiences that are available, profiling these countries in further detail with an expatriate edge. I am looking into other travel over the next while which will come with photos and posts.

London, a truly world class city, strongly thinking
of doing my work term here,and want to live
here in the future,

The almost ethereal untouched landscape of
New Zealand, one of the possibilities
for my work term

The seas of shining Japanese neon lines light
up the neverending streets of Tokyo, Japan is
one of the strong contenders for my work term,
I would absolutely love to return after doing a
Japanese exchange there in 2004

The Golden Temple built in 1534 for
Shogun Ashilaga Yosmitsu,his retirement home
built in 1387 I saw while in Japan in Kyoto

2006-08-14T01:03:00.000-04:00

How my Blog Measures up in Currency!

Something pretty snazy my fellow friends across the globe have had on their blogs for some time now, I have gotten around to doing. This research represents a highly intriguing project that computer specialists Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey did.

In this brain boggling study the pair allocated money to web traffic on a long list of blogs, seach engines and websites on differentservers. Check out the long list of sites, search engines and blogs on the link that branches off the icon below. I am extremely excited to say that my blog is worth $3, 387. and change! I thank you for your patronage once again! The ultra cool concepts online is beyond anyone's sharpest imagination, good fun anytime!

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

2006-08-11T04:57:00.000-04:00

Subscription Back Online

I have spent the last several hours working away here in the brains of the blog. Amongst my many tasks that awaited me, I have reloaded the subscription box on the blog just below my pull down menu. This is the newly refurbished sign up, any questions just drop me an email at teague.neal@gmail.com as always. I will be more than happy to add you to the list myself.

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2006-08-09T13:50:00.000-04:00

Greyhound Recognizes Ridership
with Road Rewards

Greyhound Lines the largest coach bus operator in the United States has launched a brand new loyalty program to reward and recognize its regular ridership. Greyhound that up until now hasn't had a official loyalty program in place now has Road Rewards. The comprehensive program that gives travelers a slew of incentives as they earn their way through traveling by bus. Riders can travel to any of the 3100 destinations across the U.S. and each time depending on the destination rack up points that can be cashed in for different deals and prizes from the company. You can easily sign up of the Road Rewards section. of the Greyhound website . To start earning you simply fill out the electronic form, submit it and will automatically get 10% off the fare of your next trip with them.

After you travel six legs with Greyhound you get a free companion pass and 15% off a full fare ticket. Companion passes mean that you can bring a friend or family member along with you for the trip for free. At this level you also receive a series of 10% off certain food and beverages which you can use until the end of the year or 12 month period from when you singed up. This cycle then runs through until all incentives expire and then begins again. Following ten one way trips on Greyhound coaches you receive an additional companion pass and 20% off your next fare. The final level you can obtain is following sixteen legs on the buses you get a free ticket to anywhere in the U.S., take your pick of the 3100 destinations that Greyhound travels to. This is a real milestone for Greyhound whose business is back and booming praticularly following 9/11 which continues to descrease the load factors of airplanes across the nation.

Load factors being the capacity that an airplane is filled, a good load factor is debated amognst airlines but usually 75-80% is sufficient. Many American airlines have been far below that. Greyhound is a solid alternative to flying and offers a different style of trip that allows you to see cities much more than if you simply fly 39,000 feet above them. Road Rewards is thus far only offered in the U.S. with Greyhound Lines, the American division of Greyhound. Greyhound Canada does not offer these rewards but I see no reason for them not to follow suit in the near future.

2006-08-09T02:23:00.000-04:00

The Tattoo Hot on the Connecticut Political Race!

Across America and afar the political battle between senator hopefuls Joe Liberman & Ned Lamont that has been hitting the headlines and attracting attention. The Tattoo was right on the scene and Tattoo staff reporter Wesley Saxena of West Hartford, Connecticut. Saxena was got the official words and standpoints f the candidates and whilst taking a seat on Liberman's campaign bus and experiencing the life of political reporting on the road. Saxena also caught up with Lamont at a stop at the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol, Connecticut. The results from both politicians are in.

2006-08-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

The Tattoo Checks out Finest Films & Words

This summer The Tattoo has been reviewing the best and latest from the press and Hollywood. Tattoo staff writer & good friend Stefan Koski of Terryville, Connecticut, USA caught the words of wisdom of Will Leitch, the famed teen author describes the cycles of teenagehood from the standpoint of a fiction charachter in his new novel Catch, Koski tells all on how well this is accomplished in his full review.The Tattoo has been beating the heat by sitting back in theatres across the world, the finest film and flops have included; the flopsy final of the X-Men trio, by Tattoo staff Jonathan You, and the suave thriller Miami Vice and how it keeps it's cool by Dan Mecca of La Grange, New York State, and finally why the long awaited predlude to Pirates of the Caribbeanhas measured up to the long awaited arrival by Tattoo staff Samantha Perez of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2006-08-03T13:23:00.000-04:00

Review Posted on
Hostelling International!

Following a recent week long sojurn to Hartford, Connecticut, USA visiting friends and seeing the sights and sounds of the state. Here due to the state laws prohibiting young people under the age of 21 from staying solo in hotel rooms another alternative must be found. From previous research I had done on Hartford area lodging, I remembed that a hostel existed. The Mark Twain Hostel in Hartford was a perfect piece to the puzzle of where to stay. It fit perfectly with only minor mars. We booked a private room for added security benefits, walking in and staying in the hostel proved to be a whole new experience. Accustomed to staying in high end hotels, this experience certainly opened up a whole new world. To assist those under 21 or people travelling on a budget I posted a thorough review of it all on the Hostelling International website where the profile on the webpage of the The Mark Twain Hostel. Within hours the webmaster posted my review and now it's there for all to gain advice and knowledge! My alias is Canuck Globetrotter posted in July 2006.

Hostelling International formed by Richard Scchirrman, a German teacher in 1909. His belief for the world to have people who had less and limited money to rub together were still as eligible to travel the globe and experience the cities and countryside. This has since blossomed into over 4000 hostels across 80 countries across the world. The hostels can be a European castle, a converted house, a hotel style building or anything under the sun. These hostels give young people the ability to connect to cultures and countries through who they connect with. Young and old alike want to see our planet and a good number of them must do this with a lighter money bag in hand. During my stay I connected with the Taiwanese managers and a man from Austria spending time in Connecticut before making his way on to Virgina Beach. He had a fascinating history and gave me an in depth glimpse into his country, the transportation, money and demographics of Austria. He told me of the layout and places to be sure to include on your travels in Vienna and much more. Hostelling, a simpler way to stay with even more benefits than a hotel!

2006-07-23T00:10:00.000-04:00

Behind the Curtains....Opening up the World

The Hilton Hawaiian Village on the world famed Waikiki Beach

Another log during my COOP at a major hotel chain at the fourth month mark of the five months I spent at the hotel. This highlights my future plans to work in Europe & Asia, part of the weekly logs we had to do combined with assignments. Enjoy!

The world of flight attending, one I'm highly interested in with all its upsides and downsides

Acquiring and obtaining skills for life in an area that you really enjoy is what COOP is all about. Being able to see the areas where you want to work in and be able to contribute to the world is what it's all about. I have enjoyed getting to know more about the hotel and travel industry through being at a major modern hotel for now 4 months. Time overall has flown, I enjoy the different challenges of the industry and get very excited about new challenges in the different departments of the hotel that I have been in. Of these different departments my favorite by far has been the front desk. I originally thought that desk jobs are not for me, not enjoying the heavy routine and local careers that these jobs have. However I find the front desk to be the furthest thing from regular deskwork though it's at a desk. I find that having the set number of tasks, which includes a checklist of approximately 25 tasks and then the constant different problems that happen whilst completing these tasks.

The Ty Mawr Hotel in west Wales just like I'd like to do a study abroad program in and ultimately have one of my own living in the U.K upon graduation

The wide variety of people that you meet comes from all sybarites of society from across the province, the country and around the world. You walk into the hotel and go behind the desk and literally are ready for anything. Like a soldier going into battle you have absolutely no idea exactly what will happen. Whether a super sweet man will come up to you, someone who is unhappy, someone who is extremely unhappy and then the ones who cause serious problems and stress for the hotel or any area of the travel industry. I have come across many global guests who have been the gentlest most intriguing people you will meet and others who drive you up the wall. All the while the phones keep ringing and you need to continue your other tasks in the meantime. This job is something I think that takes a very certain type of person who can keep the smile of their face, not take conflicts personally and do their very best to keep on top of everything. It's not all glamorous by any means, there are late nights and early mornings and often-high stress but overall there is something special about it that I love. Being a front desk agent is a job I do admire not as a long-term career for life as there are jobs that I believe require a higher level of skill that I'm interested in. Though overall I would love to do it as a job spattered throughout my life whether it be at a resort on the coast of Wales, in Tokyo or in a Canadian Rockies resort it's something I would like to explore for sure. With my connections out west and my Uncle telling me about a connection he has with a luxury resort in the mountains of British Columbia on Canada's West Coast and with my interest in the resorts of Jasper, Banff, Lake Louise and the hotel and tourism industry of both Edmonton and Calgary there is so much to do while in college and in the future.

The Hotel de Vieux Sale in Paris, a European hotel just like I'd love to do a work term or permanently work in

2006-06-16T20:28:00.000-04:00

Behind the Curtains....Stress Beyond Belief

In my Wider World of Work...At School post all about the hands-on Cooperative Education (COOP) program I've been taking since February I mentioned all the amazing activities and awesome perks that you are given as a COOP student. Despite alternative learning programs being sensational there is still a paper component to all the programs. The world runs on paper, we must admit it. However paper in the world of alternative learning is far different than it's classroom cousin. In COOP as it was with The Bronte Creek Project there are reflection pages on the back of the log sheets documenting in dot jot the work and new learnings of that day. I do my best to keep these interesting and inspiring and have collected a group of them over the past few months. They look at different highlights and pitfalls of the hospitality & travel industry that I have learned at my major hotel chain over the course of the past 5 months. Often people are led to believe that this industry is all glamour and exoctic locations, while some of this remains it's far from the truth. This marks the first in a continuig series of 8 posts! Enjoy and please do leave your comments. Thanks!

Stress is a very important aspect of the hospitality and travel industry that I have been learning to address in different ways at the placement. This industry is incredibly fast paced and requires you to be able to focus and continue with your work while having 10 other things coming at you all at once. Many different jobs whether you be a front desk agent in a hotel, a hostess in a resort or a flight attendant on an airplane all these positions require stress of you. Front desk agents often have 5 people in line checking in or coming to the desk with questions or complaints, two people on the line with reservations and someone else who wants to know if you have weekend rates. If you're on an airplane you take off from Toronto bound for Lisbon, Portugal at midnight local time. Despite the fact that your body is telling you it's time to be wrapped in blankets in bed you need to keep going. After all before the plane touches down on Portuguese soil you have a safety demo, a dinner service, 3 beverage services and 2 snack services to complete. You must also collect the trash from 100 people, help to clean the galley, handle a myriad of requests and sometimes deal with minor or serious air rage, medical or safety issues. You have 6 hours to complete all this work, while encountering countless upset figures that are often tired, stressed and overworked.

Throughout all this madness on land or at 39,000 feet you need to maintain composure, politeness all the while following the rules and keeping a respectable image for your hotel or airline. You need to ensure that you address all the issues and do all your duties correctly while maintaining your focus and doing things correctly. You can't enter a rate that's off by $60 and you can't arm an airplane door wrong or the cabin may decompress. Though you need to ensure that you are also keeping everyone happy at the same time and addressing everything. The work in the industry really needs skilled workers who are able to balance all these juggling balls of countless colours, sizes and shapes. Some duties and problems are simple especially after you have done them for a longtime they become a job that can be done in your sleep. While guests and passengers regardless of your skill will come up and grab you unknowingly with something that you've never seen before. There are situations that arise that you have never seen before and most likely may never see again. Regardless of that point it's essential that you maintain an even keel during that very moment of madness. Mere months following September 11 th in December 2001 onboard American Airlines flight 63 from Paris- Miami the unbelievable happened. Flight attendants Cristina Jones and Hermis Moutardier had a man on the busy Christmas flight of 185 passengers who denied dinner. This is common but this man looked like he may be up to something. Two hours into the flight the attendants had just completed the dinner service, Jones was in the back galley cleaning up and Moutardier was picking up dirty meal trays. Passengers throughout the plane started reporting smelling smoke in the cabin.

A Canadian flight attendant doing a safety demonstration

A Air Transat flight attendant keeping the kids happy

Moutardier found the man and Richard Reid a middle-aged man was in the window seat lighting matches. Moutardier gave him a strong warning that smoking was not allowed on board. Moutardier ran back to Jones who was still in the galley and screamed at her to come to this man. The man now had his shoes between his legs with electrical wiring hanging out of them. He had another match lit and was trying to light him. Moutardier continued to try to tell the man to stop and tried to grab the matches from him. He went ahead and bit her arm, crunching upon her arm in his teeth. Jones got passengers to pass bottles of Evian up and poured it all over him. They put the restraint on him and put a seatbelt extension on him holding him in. The attendants got passengers to pass up seatbelts, headphones and other cords that they used to fasten Reid in even further. They safely stowed his shoes in the bomb disposal compartment and called a doctor to come forward. The doctor injected him with Valium, a sedating medication the attendants got from the flight kit. The plane was rerouted to Boston and Reid was cut out of the seat by the FBI and air marshals. He was arrested and a major investigation done and sentenced to a 110 year jail term. This an extreme example however it does show you in any part of the hospitality & travel industry that you need to stay on your toes and maintain composure, professionalism and focus. It's part of the often-insane world that is this line of work.

A busy front desk at a resort in California, USA

A Northwest flight attendant doing beverage service

2006-06-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

A Very Special Mention on Home Base Holidays!

Recently I posted about how you can immerse yourself in your international and domestic travel even further with home exchanges. Home exchanges are a truly unrivaled way to travel. My post on my blog here went over the demographics of home exchanges, how someone in Paris can swap houses with someone in Toronto, Canada and mentioned home exchange companies including Home Base Holidays. Canadian Lois Sealey now lives in London, England and has been running this prosperous home exchange website and company since 1985 in over 30 countries across the world. There are agents who are able to help you more locally in Canada, Australia, South Africa, France, Ireland and Malta as well as listed on her website in the About Us section of the site. I do hope to continue to do promotional activities for her company and meet her in London in the near future. Check out the article on the Home Base Holidays Blog Lois wrote about me. I do hope to continue in the travel industry and continue to immerse myself in the globe and the industry. Thanks very much Home Base Holidays, all the best Lois!

2006-06-01T19:40:00.000-04:00

Live Like a Local Far From Home
Taking travel that's two steps further that gives you the ability to live like a local is an in depth experience globe trotters from around the world have shared. Instead of staying in commercial hotels, lodges or bed and breakfasts there is a groundbreaking accomodation program sure to bring your family vivid memories for life. House exhanges began back in the late 1970's and have since greatly increased in popularity since then. The advent and advancement of the Internet has brought the world as one and streamlined the process. House exchanges comprimise a simple you live in my house while I live in yours concept. Someone say in Toronto, Canada wants to spend 3 weeks in and around Paris, Amsterdam of Rome in July. They take pictures of what their Toronto home looks like including an exterior shot of both the front and back and other highlights of the house such as a ping pong table or in-ground outdoor pool. They also write up a basic run down of the house and property that could look like this:

A seaside home on exchange in Melbourne, Australia with
Home Base Holidays

- 5 bedrooms + basement suite
- 4 bathrooms
- kitchen + breakfast room
- ping pong room
- two televisions
- computer with high speed Internet
- large back deck with patio furniture
- central air conditioning

A stunning Scottish manor on exchange with
Home Base Holidays just outside Edinburgh, Scotland

The view of Scotland's countryside from the manor

Many people do believe that international travel has to cost thousands upon thousands and this deters them. This fact keeps them local or at least relegated to domestic travel which just doesn't have that flair. There are 208 countries on earth and there is so much more to the world than your country. There are many paths to free travel and many deals especially with wholesalers. Wholesalers being suppliers that sell product to retail companies. For example a potato farm in Prince Edward Island selling potatoes to a massive company in Seattle who will make french fries with them. They sell the potatoes at a lower wholesale price, and then the retailer being the fry company sells the fries to the public for a higher retail price. In the travel industry you are always able to buy your trips wholesale from a wide variety of companies. This combined with house exchanges where your accomodation is free and in countless ways a far superior experience to really get you up close and personal with that country than a commercial hotel. Tours are often also free with major cities including New York, London and Beijing offering voulunteer tour groups. Their members are always happy to show you around their city and country complimentary.

A house on exchange with Home Base Holidays on Canada's West Coast in Victoria, British Columbia

This basic rundown is accompanied by a list of what other services and amenities the owner is opening up to the guest. This often includes vehicles and computers. Sometimes the guest will be called upon to take care of the pets giving them food and water and playing with them if possible. The owner also specifies which time period they are looking to travel. This would all be contained in a personal profile on one or two webpages. Each profile posted is categorized by country and continent. You then wait for the world. Once someone emails you back you can get all the information from them, get in touch and learn about their background. You may plan for some overlap time in one of the countries if you choose, giving you an opportunnity to meet one another. Often nighbours, friends and family of the traveller will come to visit, arrange outings or have dinner to meet people. You will get suggestions on the closest cities, places and sights of interest. You can shop where they get their groceries, drive their country's cars and truly live the life of a local.

This has become a lifetime love for many with people having done more than twenty across the globe. House exchanges are completely free, it's an international give and take that truly has a flair of its own. Large scale house exchange websites including Home Base Holidays owned by Canadian Lois Sealey which operates in over 30 countries across the world, HomeLink International with homes, villas and castles in over 30 countries and Intervac with many family homes among others in over 50 countries. A smaller house exchange company caters for singles in apartments and small houses is Home Exchange International. With Home Exchange International singles post and you swap your house with a single man or woman. The properties posted are for the most part apartments and smaller houses perfect for solo travellers. A excellent resource on home exchanging highlighting other house exchange agencies are on this blog all about house exchanging, check it out! Online all house exchange sites you can call or email the company and their staff are more than happy to help in any way. Bon voyage!

2006-05-26T22:38:00.000-04:00

Walking Japan!

Japan, a country with over 10,000 years of history has become my single most beloved country outside my home country of Canada. Japan is a truly enchanting country with an incredible amount of culture, unparelled kindness, generosity and flair that beams their influence across the planet. I had the opportunity to be part of a Japanese exchange that sent me to southern Japan including Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto and many other traditional and thriving towns. I spent 2 weeks in September 2004 and absolutely adored the country. I then hosted a Japanese girl when she visited Ontario & Quebec, Canada on my side of the globe. I want to return in not so long for an extended trip to Japan and in the future would like to spend at least a year living over there teaching English. Combining my passion of international travel, culture and how people relate and work together in life, I have long been a major fan of CBS's The Amazing Race hosted by the globe trotter Phil Keoghan. The series just came to a dramatic conclusion as 11 teams raced to 12 countries around the world with best friends BJ & Tyler MacNiven. The race took the teams across South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia with their final country abroad being in and around one of the world's largest cities, Tokyo. Here the teams had to do many activities from finding clues inside the trademark capsule hotel, finding clues in a giant amusement park alongside Mount Fuji, carrying a Japanese woman to a traditional tea house and much more. In the end Tyler MacNiven and his best friend BJ crossed the finish line first back where the race began one month earlier in Denver, USA. They won the million dollar prize and claimed victory. I was extremely proud of them as they had played hard througout the race, and have a good solid humour spirit.

Tyler's 2000 mile trek across Japan

During the race including when The Amazing Race was in Japan it was mentioned that Tyler walked the entire length of Japan in honour of his newly found girlfriend. The pair met while the Japanese woman was on a trip visiting the San Francisco, USA in 2002. Over time the couple fell deeply in love and Tyler visited her in Japan in 2002, he fell in love with the country so much so that he made a return trip in 2004. A return trip with flair and zest, in 2004 Tyler walked from the tip to the bottom of the main four islands of Japan over 5 months concluding in July 2004. Taking in this massive adventure that led the then newly graduated Stanford student through the multifaceted exoctic world that is Japan and the Japanese culture and their lifestyle. Tyler got the entire adventure captured on celluloid as he makes his way literally step by step through the culture of his girlfriend's native land. Capturing truly spectacular scenery with beauty just beyond comparison or words the movie gives you a fantastic view into this vibrant Asian nation. The way the people interact, the hub bub on the Japanese news stations his walk caused and the entire cultural experience this young American immersed himself into is captured. There is a crystal clear difference between a tourist and a traveller, this is travelling! You can visit the "Hippies" profile as Tyler and BJ were nicknamed in The Amazing Race 7 here. Tyler's website on "Kintario Walks Japan", his documentary masterpiece on his journey. You can join the more than 500 people around the world who watch this film for inspiration, enjoyment and appreciation of the world and admiration. A fascinating journal Tyler has online is a great introduction to his trip. Admiration of a young man doing good for a troubled world. Check out the hour or so long experience "Kintario Walks Japan" here on Google Video complimentary of Tyler. Sayonara!

2006-05-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

School the Self Reliant Way

Want to learn on your own schedule? Tired of hearing teachers tell you off for wanting to go to the bathroom in the middle of class? Do you just want the flexibility to fit the puzzle piece of going to school into your daily puzzle as you see fit? This is a reality in the Halton district just outside of Toronto, Canada. This groundbreaking alternative program really engages students to complete credits or school time in a more inviting atmosphere. Operated by Burlington, Ontario based Gary Allan High School that runs a wide number of alternative programs in the area. Five sites across the Halton district run simultaneously from morning till night. Open from roughly 8am-8pm the sites are to be found in Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Georgetown and Halton Hills, Ontario. Each site has several classroom spaces and computer lab space. The teachers are on a rotating schedule but each teacher will be there almost all the time or someone else with similar skills will be happy to help you. Your Self Reliant day starts whenever you like as you go in and sign in the time on a calendar sheet in a sign in book that each teacher has. You complete your work and write down the sign out time in the box for that day as well. As long as you have a minimum of 6 hours a week you are perfect, if you have a day job or a night job you can customize your schedule accordingly. I do go in each weekday to ensure I will go through to graduation as I'm almost closing the curtain on high school, but you can arrange this however you wish.

The courses follow the same guidelines as the rest of the Ontario secondary school curriculum with some adjustments that's up to the teacher. There's a wide variety of courses from Travel & Tourism, computers, digital photography to Social sciences, History, English and an assortment of other courses. Each time you arrive your assignments will be given to you in packages by the teacher. Computer courses have their courses online on the Gary Allan website via a portal which you can access from anywhere at anytime with your student login. Computer assistants mill about the computer lab answering all your technical queries just as teachers do about the classroom answering your questions about the assignments. You progress your way through the packages which tend to be larger than the usual smaller assignments you would get in a traditional classroom setting, as you are in the room longer for the most part doing your work. You choose when you leave, whether you make up extra time on a certain evening and when you take breaks. As with all alternative learning which Canada particularly the province of Ontario is on the cutting edge with you have a number of liberties that are part of your education experience. With this does come responsibility and as with the namesake of the program you must be self reliant.

This meaning that you monitor how frequently you rise from your chair for a break, how long you spend on your lunch hour and how long you spend on bathroom breaks. I don't find this difficult and just make these breaks just as long as I used to have in traditional classroom school. You just need to tell yourself that breaking is perfectly okay but you can't abuse these privileges. Abuse of this could lead to far too much distraction and you won't complete your courses on time. This program also brings an interaction with your teachers that's much more personal than traditional school. Instead of having upwards of twenty or thirty students in a class it may be at most a handful of that teacher's students in the rooms at a time. At most you will be in line with a student or two to pose your question. The demographics of the courses allow you to really befriend and get to know people from all walks of life. Self Reliant attracts seniors, middle aged adults and teenagers alike. They are all working together in this sensational school towards their own personal goals. The teenagers are either students who have dropped out of high school and are looking at the program as a fresh way to complete their credits. Many principals and teachers in regular school will even kick students out for a host of reasons, all these reasons eventually string back to the fact that that type of education is simply not for them. It has been said that 3/4 of students do not learn well in a traditional setting, it's completely true. I much prefer the easy going ways of this program and the ability to work through work at my own pace, also a cornerstone of the program. Seniors and adults come to the program to expand their horizons and learn new sets of skills. I truly enjoy being able to be with these different sectors of society as everyone melds peacefully.

I for one have no interest in abusing alcohol, hearing sex stories or the like that no not always but most often comes with teenage group. Teenagers don't like to admit it but it has been proven time and time again that they are one of the most conservative groups on the planet. If you think about it it's truly not hard to believe, they all want to do as the other one does. They all talk about being drunk, going to drinking parties. For some strange reason they all love the same bands, movies, shows and have the same often very poor values. You are appreciated and part of the club if you swear incessantly. I for one see through this plastic mask as flimsy and thin and artificial as plastic itself. Not having this nonsense and spending time with more mature teens and adults I absolutely adore and wouldn't take back for a minute. There are no deadlines on any of the packages or assignments at anytime aside from exams and tests. Even then within a certain period of time these dates are arranged through the teacher and yourself. I have seen countless students who I remember from my regular high school who have no immersed themselves in Self Reliant. I believe that it's very important for students to have this option of being able to plan their own schedule and have all the concrete rules of the traditional system crumble away while being able to obtain their credits and learn. Don't take it from me take it from others and read this article written by a teenager age student recently published in The Oakville Beaver all about Self Reliant Learning. A truly worthy option for many of all ages with a different flair, far different than that of the traditional confines of a high school classroom.

2006-05-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Chosen Canadian College City

Myself in front of the skyline of Edmonton on my recent visit in April

-Following 11 months of decision and deliberation at 3 large scale Canadian cities in addition to several smaller scale ones that began in February 2005. Towards the end of January 2006 my chosen Canadian college city was chosen. Edmonton, Alberta the major metropolis and Canada's fifth largest city Edmonton, Alberta. -

The downtown core with the pyramids of Muttart Consevatory in front, each with its own tropical biome a sight to behold.

Edmonton is a highly dynamic city and area with a true flavor of it's own that cannot be compared to the rest of Canada or the world. The individual flair that Edmonton maintains is its own only. Situated in northern Alberta Edmonton has a booming economic centre for commerce both finance at home, with the US and abroad, a major arts, recreation and tourism side attracting people from across the world. Cutting edge education, research and environmental strategies are also major strengths of Edmonton. The provincial parliament of Alberta resides in Edmonton where Alberta affairs are managed and decided upon. Alberta has so much extra money that each citizen has gotten 2 sets of $400 cheques for each Alberta citizen over the age of 14. People spend huge amounts of money at restaurants, stores and a huge portion of the city has season tickets for sports and arts.

The first settlers lived in the area now Edmonton approximately 10,000 B.C. as the ice caps moved away from the area. The natural abundance of lumber, water and animals made this a prime spot to settle. In 1794 the Hudsons Bay Company began opening posts in the present Fort Saskatchewan and the downtown core of Edmonton. Around 1898 it was a major stop off point and began home for many gold seekers who headed to the Klondike region of the Yukon during the gold rush. From then on forth following the discovery of oil in 1905 in Leduc just south of the city, Edmonton has continued to expand.

A aerial view of the University of Alberta's main campus on the south side of the city

Edmonton's diverse population of 675,000 in the city with a total of 1.1 million in the Greater Edmonton Region continues to grow and expand. My chosen college The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology or NAIT with 7000 students in the city campuses and 135,000 in appreticships it's a chosen college of many. Its focus is on technical trades a major need in the world. Grant Macewan College with 6000 students is a large scale community college with a wide range of programs. University of Alberta is Canada’s 3rd largest university after University of Toronto and University of British Columbia. A massive research centre and educational nucleus with upwards of 137,000 students U of A has a bright past, present and future. More than 2000 acres of Edmonton is U of A property educating students from 121 nations. A collection of smaller colleges compliments Edmonton's educational enterprise.

The new ulta modern HP Centre on the main campus of NAIT, with one of the countless glass bridges in Edmonton sheltering you from the sometimes bitter cold

Another section of NAIT towers to the sky

Alberta is booming beyond belief, and it just doesn't stop. With the world's second largest oil reserve, only smaller than Saudi Arabia the bundles of cash emitted from the oil and gas industry if unfathomable. More than 7 billion dollars in 2005 of this went into the Edmonton economy. Banks, major companies make their home here including countless call centres. A 120 million dollar research park houses 35 medical and research companies immensely involved in the emerging field of nanotechnology. Other research areas across the city research state of the art medicine, computers, processing, petroleum and gas.

The site of the the first discovery of oil in Alberta, which has nome become the world's second largest deposit of oil on earth in Leduc,Alberta just south of Edmonton

A common scene in the Alberta countryside with thousands of oil rigs pumping out the province's black gold

The world's largest indoor waterpark in West Edmonton Mall with 14 massive slides including the planet's biggest indoor one, and the biggest wave pool, a true water fantasy!

The Olympic size rink in the Ice Palace at West Edmonton

Europa Boulevard, one of several themed streets in the Mall including a New Orelans one aptly called Bourbon Street, a Chinatown, amongst others

Edmonton has a huge tourism market from across Canada and around the world. Americans flock to the city like nothing else. Over 2000 restaurants of all world cultures are to be found in Edmonton. The world's largest mall West Edmonton Mall in the west end with 850 stories, 110 restaurants is a truly sensational entertainment centre. Visiting this year I was completely in awe at the diversity and depth of the mall. In addition you can play hard in the arcades, casino and the world's largest indoor waterpark. With 14 towering slides including the biggest indoor slide and wave pool you will never be bored. Feeling like a tropical resort there's a pagoda serving tropical drinks and you can wear summer clothes in the 35 degree weather equivalent to that of Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It's such a blast, with just so much to do. An Olympic sized skating rink, 2 mini golf courses, a lake with a pirate ship, bumper boats and a submarine it truly has it all. To have it all truly stayed on the western, artic, Hollywood or truck driver floor of the Mall's Fantasyland Hotel attached to the mall. Each floor and most of the rooms have a theme with the walls, elevators and even the beds joining in for example an igloo bed in the Artic rooms. Spanning 46 city blocks the mall has more than you could ever want. Exclusive European, Asian and American stores are in the mall not found elsewhere in Canada or North America.

The historic Alberta Legistature Building, home of Alberta's provincial parliament

One of many funky restaurants lining the one of a kind Whyte Avenue

A whimsical retro car dealership on Whyte

Fun restaurants and shoppes line this famed street, a major gathering place for Edmontonians and tourists alike

Other shopping abounds with unique international stores along the Avenue of Nations with stores spotlighting the wares of more than 15 nations. Two China towns are in the city, the original smaller one and one near Avenue of Nations. Whyte Avenue or 82nd Ave has an amazing array of shops of all sorts. Some I went in included Scottish shops which could be a fine store in Dublin, a store with all clothes for dogs and cats and many others varies stores and the funniest restaurants. Whyte is where the city gathers during and after games. Edmonton is home to the National Hockey League Team the Edmonton Oilers who play at their Rexall Centre. They are hugely popular with Edmonton having a major hockey culture, a outdoor store owner saying Edmonton is mental about hockey. It's very true. They have won four Stanley Cups including 3 in a row when Wayne Gretzkey was playing for them. Also home to the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos who won the Grey Cup the top honor for Canadian football in 2005. They play at the mammoth Commonwealth Stadium, built for when Edmonton hosted the Commonwealth Games back in 1978.

Commonwealth Stadium opened in 1978 as the main stadium for when Edmonton hosted the Commonwealth Games, now the home of the CFL team the Edmonton Eskimos winners of the 2005 Grey Cup

Edmonton is a major green hotspot with a strong understanding and acknowledgement of the environment. The people of Edmonton greatly enjoy and appreciate the environment. They certainly have countless ways to do this. The city has a series of parks alongside the banks of the North Saskatchewan River that divide the city roughly in half. The north side has the city centre airport, the colleges, West Edmonton Mall and the downtown core. The south side the smaller of the two has the University of Alberta, the funky artsy Whyte Avenue, the international airport, the research park and many residential areas. The river valley is one of Edmonton's very best features. The large downtown and commercial core of the city is just in front of the massive River Valley area. More than 2000 acres of parks, green space and a new Chinese garden celebrating the sister city relationship with Harbin, China. This area is filled with natural beauty and has many walking paths, parks of varying sizes in an area 12 times the size of New York's Central Park. Volunteers run clean ups of the River Valley throughout the year.

Sections of the more than 2000 acres of River Parks around the downtown core

The city also runs a program where volunteers sign up to keep a block clean called "adopt a block". The volunteer is given a kit with bags, gloves and the like and keeps this area meticulous throughout the year. It works when I visited the city I noticed overall it's an extremely clean city. The waste that Edmonton produces is reduced by 60% due to their environmental practices. Edmonton has North America's largest composting facility spanning the area of 8 football fields. Even the landfill though it still needs it, the city has adjustments to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. A thick layer of clay prevents the garbage from leaching into the soil below. In addition a gas collection station in the landfill collects the gas that rises and otherwise pollutes the earth and produces electricity from it. They use this electricity to power 4,400 of the city's houses. Once the landfill is filled to capacity, a comprehensive regeneration program will start to improve the area of the landfill. This is largest plan of this kind for a landfill in the world.

Edmonton is a sea of sparkling light come nightfall on a cold winter's night

-Having spent a week in Edmonton & Jasper towards the end of April setting things up, seeing around and experiencing the city I'm excited. Extremely excited because I have selected the perfect place I want to spend tour years studying and pursuing my career of dreams one in the world's largest industry; travel and hospitality. I cannot wait for my return to Edmonton, Alberta in August. Ensure you spend solid time deciding if you do go out of province or state. It's an experience and you will gain so much more than just living in the same culture and place, you have done all your life. Life is not a job, it's something special and spectacular. -

2006-05-06T15:04:00.000-04:00

Chosen Canadian College...

After 12 months of deciding and deliberation on over 30 colleges spanning 8 of Canada's 10 provinces from coast to coast I have made my official decision. The lifelong decision that will lead me down many paths, I have been accepted and chosen to accept my place at The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology or NAIT as it's most commonly called in Edmonton, Alberta. In western Canada I will be enrolled in their sensational 2 year Hospitality Management program. The courses covering all subjects spanning the ever expanding world of hospitality and international tourism including hotel management, restauarant management, banquet and event logistics, international tourism patterns, hospitality law and much more. The program is extremely hands-on with many options to become part of the program that are available to its students. The small size nature of NAIT allows the creative college to devote a solid amount of attention to each student, giving them the time and to experience education.

Main Campus Tower at NAIT

One of NAIT's high tech lecture halls that comes complete with all the latest in technology and acoustics

Founded in 1963 NAIT has become one of Canada's most innovative and cutting edge Canadian colleges. NAIT offers over 200 programs encapsulating all areas of the trades, food, tourism, medical practice and technology. NAIT offers top notch programming laced with experience and igenuity NAIT offers a sesnational something for all interested in these vital fields. Over 7000 full time students attend NAIT with over 14, 000 further students engaged in NAIT's award winning and widely prized apprenticship programs. NAIT has: 3 campuses in each corner of the city in Edmonton and the northern Alberta communities of High Level, Peace River and St. Albert in the centre of Canada's oilfields and expanding energy might. NAIT is investing over 50 million dollars into the future constructing a campus adding to its presence in northern Alberta in Grand Prarie with further technological based courses. A brand new centre focusing on steel and steel technologies will hold it's grand opening this coming summer 2006, new business centre offering diplomas in business in Edmonton, a newly refreshed building also on Main Campus in Edmonton to accomodate a new Building and Environmental Systems Technology program. Fuelled by Alberta's powerful and thriving economy NAIT contines to construct a rapid pace that will allow the college to train over 200,000 further students to enter the workforce across Alberta, Canada and the world by 2010.

NAIT serves its students with a wide variety of hands on based programming, that allows them to see and do as they learn. Not simply learning by the book by any means, NAIT students have a literal world of ways to learn available to them. As part of the Hospitality Management program I will have classes in their reservation and hotel systems lab. Employing the latest and most widely used systems that hotels and travel agents around the world use I will learn the latest and practice making flight and hotel bookings. In addition one of the most important facilities that attracted me to NAIT is there highly extensive hospitality campus called the Hokanson Centre for Culinary Arts that has just undergone a massive 3.25 million dollar refurbishment and redo. John and Susan Hokanson gave 1 million dollars, the single biggest donation the college has ever received, with the belief that it will create a bright future for the hundreds of students who go throught NAIT's culinary, baking and hospitality courses annually. They include state of the art cooking and baking kitchens complete with computerised ovens and digital teaching tools. The crown jewel and most important for my two years at NAIT is there 4 1/2 star student led restaurant ERNESTS

The formal restaurant allows hospitality students to work in conjunction with Culinary Arts & Baking students to successfully manage and operate the service side of things. Whether it be manning the reservations desk taking phone and email reservations to waiting on and bussing tables and managing food and beverage service to becoming part of a special event, there is so much to learn! The restaurant frequently will host special events of up to 120 guests which hospitality students play an intergral role in. This becomes part of the curiculum where we will show what we have learned about the operations, logistics, set up and service of large scale events from company parties to birthday bashs. ERNESTS has become an award winning highly rated downtown Edmonton restaurant that has received rave reviews from locals and tourists alike. There's more than just this spectacular restaurant if that's even possible! Hospitality students also help to run The Club Five Star.

The HP Computer Commons, NAIT's public student computer lab open 24/7 with 110 computers with all nessecary software

A social hotspot for both first and second year Hospitality students is another place that allows students to practice and hone their skills. In addition to a hangout, the Club also hosts events for NAIT teams, groups and meetings as well as community and coroporate events. Students can give back to those in need and the community at large supporting social service agencies in Edmonton by being part of the Club Culinaire. Over the past several years this group has supported and worked with the Edmonton's Women's Shelter, The Edmonton Food Bank and many other community organizations. This unique and dynamic group has taken trips to learn all about the wider world of culinary and hospitality skills beyond Edmonton. In 2004 they took a tour of the Napa Valley and Sonoma Country, major wine and food producing areas of California in the U.S. NAIT offers varying other opportunities for students to take part and other courses to add to their learning and widen their search for what they want to do with their diploma once they graduate. This year NAIT students will be travelling to Tuscany, Italy to tour the wineries that have made Italian wine such an important commodity, visit local restaurants to taste and enjoy authentic Italian cuisine. They will be enjoying and learning all about regional cuisine in that area of Italy and Italy as a whole.A day trip to a traditional Mediterranean market Italian history and architecture will also be studied and appreciated.

The rolling hills of Tuscany, Italy
Cooking courses including Indian can be taken through NAIT's part time learning department as nightschool courses. COOP placements are part of the program and can be done locally in Edmonton, nearby major ski and environmental tourism destination Jasper and further south closer to Calgary Banff, Lake Louise, Canmore and Rocky Mountain House. NAIT suggests services and companies and leads you to making the right choices if study abroad is the choice you want to make. For my personal interests I can choose to work at the student led restaurant/hang out for NAIT students called The Nest if I choose. I can also join the Curling team, write for the campus newspaper, and utilize the swimming pool,exercise facilities and more. NAIT also has student led trips including cruises within North America and abroad. I'm extremely excited to potentially visit Edmonton and see NAIT in person this coming Spring and to spend 2 years at this one of a kind college. I am confident NAIT will prepare me immensely and show me the right direction through experience, hands-on learning and lectures! I will register in August and start working towards my diploma in September 2006!

The breathtaking scenery of nearby Jasper, Alberta that draws millions of tourists from across the globe annually

2006-05-04T20:45:00.000-04:00

The Art of Creative Conversation...Googled!

The team at Google who masterminded the Internet giant's fresh new take on instant messaging programs runs a blog about the program. The Google Talk Blog is updated regularly with tips, hints, new features and much more. Google Talk came out several months ago and its popularity has exploded across the Internet around the world. All these aspects are put into this extremely easy to use program that can be downloaded for free from the main Google Talk site To launch this simply click on your desktop or a the envelope symbol of Google Talk will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of your desktop. Gmail users have all the names from their email, everyone they have ever emailed with automatically loaded onto the clean white list that makes up the Google Talk box. As the majority of users will have a small sea of names, to zero in on specific people swimming around, you use a search box. Just the same as in Gmail, you type in keywords or the first few letters of the person's first name and their name instantly migrates to the top of the list. For those who have microphones attatched to their PC, a green call button will display on the right-hand side of the talk window. Flip your speakers on and click this. The sound of a phone ringing will resound, just as with anwsering a phone the user on the other end picks up by clicking on a red button that is fired at them to accept the call. They can then talk to you for as long as you wish for free, and if you both have mikes then it's made that much more enjoyable. The add pazazz to your account, just added you can know tint the colour of your talk boxes, main box and import online pictures or digital files from your computer.

Though other instant message programs such as AOL and MSN have features to save and store conversations, Google as always does it differently and is one step ahead of the rest. All conversations are automatically saved in your Gmail account. A new link called Chat can be found on the top left-hand side of your inbox. Clicking on this pulls up all the conversations that you have ever had, their length listed and who it was listed along the bar, just as if it was a traditional email. Google Talk is an excellent program that I have greatly enjoyed talking to those across North America and across the globe on over the past couple months. Google Talk is still in beta, and as such Google is taking suggestions to make the program better and better for all. After brainstorming different ways and what was working and what was not over in California the software egineers and product designers came up with a suggestion site .On it you can click through different boxes, highlighting what your comment is. You can them use a email form at the bottom to send your inquiry.On the Google Talk site recently I came across a cool post the editor of the blog posted. A funky story on how Google Talk let her realize her dream of going to Fiji! Her South Pacific vacation was nearly cancelled. Check it out!

Walking the Talk

Did you know that some airlines still issue paper tickets? Well, they do, and I received some in the mail about two months ago after I planned a trip to Fiji. Now, fast-forward to this morning, one day before departing, when I realized my ticket was nowhere to be found... Thinking this was no big deal, I dialed the airline and smiled to myself when the operator answered the phone with a cheerful "Bula!" I politely explained my situation, and was horrified to hear that, because my flight was set to depart less than three days from today, the minimum fee to replace the ticket would be over $1000 USD. Wait, I thought the man said, 'Bula,' not 'Moola! I then called the booking agency since I have (or had!) a multi-carrier ticket, and was given more bad news:

Travel Agent: "Ms. Lane, we're sorry, but you'll have to buy a whole new ticket."

Me: not worth repeating :o)

Travel Agent: "Yes, we understand that you have a confirmation number and itinerary, but..."

Try telling someone that works for a tech company that a new ticket is necessary, when the whole transaction took place online! How could this be? And then the tears came. Lots of them. Spending an additional $1K+ is a big price to pay for such a little mistake. I held the phone line, blotting mascara from my eyes with a Kleenex, and waiting for the travel agent to return so we could book another ticket. I signed in to Google Talk to see if anyone was online to help me curse the travel gods! And then my other line began to ring. I wasn't able to answer since I was still on hold. Then it rang again. Finally, my computer started ringing – it was my mom on Google Talk. My mom! She'd found my tickets, and couldn't get through on the phone to tell me!!! Thank goodness for Google Talk without it, I might not have had two seats to Fiji !

Heather Lane
Editor

2006-05-03T20:00:00.000-04:00

Race Reporting Now Online

The constant globetrotter and host of The Amazing Race Phil Keoghan maintains a new feature of the homepage of The Amazing Race 9. Whilst in each of the twelve countries on six continents across the world Phil Keoghan provides an engaging post on his own personal blog, that will now be part of each race homepage. In these posts he provides perspective into what it is like to run the race behind the scenes, what he thinks of the sights, sounds, tastes and traditions of the cities and country's they are landing in. As well as most importantly what his own thoughts are concerning the politics of the players and the antics of the relations of the racers.

He also goes into significant detail in the glamourous and not so glamourous parts of his highly unique job. He captures the foreign flavours in captivating posts and each Thursday I simply can't wait to see Phil's blog updated. You will hear about his extreme lack of sleep, his adventure and so much more check it out! Here's his post from the sixth country that took them to one of my most favourite countries they have ever been to, incredibly enchanting! I promise myself I will go there, an absolutely enriching experience. Make a sensational trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates & head into Oman. Located in the Middle East just south of Iran and east of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The swirling sands of the Omani desert

The colourful minarets of the Grande Mosque in Muscat, Oman's capital

Missed our flight out as I had to get two shows from season 8 voiced and FedExed back to LA. Very excited about our next location, never been to Oman. Very old country, civilization going back 5,000 years, oil rich and I understand very clean. Hot of course being in that part of the world. Our connection is through Dubai. What an airport. If you've never been just imagine a huge shopping mall with planes coming and going 24 hours bring your credit card. It's a very popularly plastic transaction place. Forgot to mention how tough it was for BJ & Tyler last night having to wait out the penalty I dished out when they checked in. Those guys have consistently finished near the front and watching them sweat it out was interesting. They are passionate about staying in this race, as illustrated by their decision to kiss me when they found out they were still in with a chance. Try and imagine what they smell like at this point, OK. There are lots of kids around. There is a huge sand dune right next to us and the kids are climbing to the top and then screaming all the way to the bottom. This time we are really ahead of things. A this point nothing has been set up, so we're going to have to wait before we shoot. There really is nowhere to get away from the heat, so I'm going to climb the hill with the kids. I can't believe how fit these kids are I'm exhausted. The view at the top was awesome. Of course, now I am drenched with sweat. I don't think they are used to seeing an adult behaving like me. I'm not sure if they were laughing with me or at me! We had fun though and I got a great work out.

The people are great here. One of the locals just offered for us to use some power at his house so we can steam my shirt. When we got over to his place he offered us tea. Very nice gesture, but I have to say drinking something hot is the last thing on my mind right now. The dates he brought out, however, are spectacular. Really good. I've never been a big date fan, but these are awesome. Three hours later. I just about cooked in the car waiting for everything to arrive so we can set things up and shoot. A lot of effort for a few seconds of television, but it was worth it. We have a long drive ahead, so we're rushing to get the Detour shot before dark. The Roadblock was really tough for the teams. After catching up, BJ & Tyler are going through a Lena & Kristy experience. BJ is exhausted in the heat; luck is just not going their way right now. Good thing is they are apparently keeping a sense of humor through it all. Great finish today. Loved being able to hand out a prize to Fran & Barry, who have worked so hard to stay in this Race.

2006-04-15T00:06:00.000-04:00

The Wider World of Work....In School!

Are you looking for a break from pushing papers around on your desk? Don't love working from 8-3? Cooperative Education or COOP for short opens up a wide world of work for students. Helping them discover whether it's for life or not at all. COOP has been offered in the Halton region of Ontario just outside of Toronto for more than 20 years. This vibrant program puts students behind the scenes in all kinds of industries whether it be my chosen one of hospitality and tourism or cosmotology, mechanics and much more. Students simply submit an application the the teacher who you don't see all that often in person, yet they coordinate all affairs COOP. You then express two fields you are interested in submerging yourself in for 5 months. You can choose to work all day long for students looking for a full alternative experience with no regular classes. They then apply for a 4 credit program that has them arrive at their placement in the morning and work through to the end of the afternoon. Alternatively a 2 credit program gives you 3 hours of work each day giving you a 2 credit program.

Once the teacher looks at your industries of interest they search in your city and surrounding area for a perfect placement. My placement was at a 150 room hotel part of a global chain in Oakville, Ontario just west of Toronto. I walk in to report for work for a 3 hour stint at rotating times in the morning, afternoon or evening in different uniforms depending on the department I'm working in that day. I have shifted throughout the hotel from the office to the kitchen, catering, laundry, bell service and front desk. In each department different duties are laid out for me, with the employees in that department teaching me all about their job and showing me new skills and jobs.

turn down

In the office I learned about how hotels do direct billing for members of their loyalty program, filing and various office duties. In the kitchen I helped with cleaning duties, preparation, moving things around the kitchen and lent a hand to the dishwashers. Catering brought putting together wedding and promotional packages. Laundry had me helping to pull dirty guest laundry the maids throw down the laundry chute. I helped the laundry attendant fold sheets, pillow cases and put away other items such as bath robes and mats. Bell service had me knocking on doors doing turn down service, deliveries and delivering complimentary brownies to guests who are part of the hotel's loyalty program.

One of my favorite departments has been working the front desk. The flexibility and ever changing tasks I find to be interesting work. They keep extremely busy with a set number of tasks including posting movie and restaurant charges, pre-authorizing credit cards, assigning rooms to guests on the computer system called blocking and much more. In addition the phone is ringing all the time with all kinds of requests, people need to be checked in and out. Room 405 calls and doesn't know how to order a movie and room 223 doesn't know how to work their voicemail. Room 112 needs extra towels and room 560 has a broken bar fridge. A man walks up to the desk and needs the closest gas station, another wants a formal Japanese restaurant while someone else needs you to call another hotel to find out when their Easter brunch is.

The front desk of the Riu Caribe in Cancun, Mexico

The front desk agents as they are titled need to call around 15 hotels in the surrounding areas to get their room rates and occupancy, in case they run out of rooms. The agents are always calling maintenance and bell service on their radio as well as housekeeping to follow up on different requests. Courtesy calls are made one hour after check-in to the rooms, key booklets are made up for the next day with coupons and checks of the files all need to be done in a day's work. The multitude of regular duties keeps you busy and gives you a wide variety of designated tasks. Never knowing what someone is going to call or come to the desk about also keeps you on your toes.

As with all alternative programs though not regular school you do need to show documentation of what you're doing and learning. A daily log is kept with the number of hours you accumulated that day along with what you did, learned and the questions you posed in point form. On the back of each log is one of two assignments. Either you will have a journal or a creative activity. For the journal you have to write up a page focusing in further detail on something you learned that week, or about something you did the right way or wrong and the lessons you learned from that.
Off and on creative assignments await on the back. These include having to interview an employee at your placement and asking them a series of questions to provide you with added insight into the industry of your choice. Evaluations are done letting the teacher know how you are enjoying the placement and the quality of your experience. Twice during the 5 months, once halfway through the placement and again at the conclusion of your placement. These evaluations rate your performance and how hard you're working, how often you take challenges and what you are learning. How well you cooperate with other staff and clients. This is the crowning glory of the feedback your supervisor gives you.

When not in the field there's a in class session lasting for approximately 3 hours each month. During this session you learn a wide variety of job related background information. Prior to placing you out in the field, you go through first aid training, go over the work codes and regulations that govern your area among other subjects. Each month the "good, bad and ugly" is brought up by each member of the group of 20 students who are placed in a diverse number of locations in the city from shoe repair shops to auto shops to day cares and horse stables. Other students are in restaurants, grocery stores, hair salons, x-ray clinics and daycare centres. Through this diverse hands-on experience that gives you a real and true view into the world of work, COOP has indescribable rewards. This vibrant alternative learning program will get you well on the path to work and teach you incredible amounts to get you on the way there.

2006-04-12T11:04:00.000-04:00

The Top 12

The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan and Bertram van Munster who along who co-produces the show with his wife Elise Doganieri share some words of wisdom on globe trotting. These two travel savvy men who have travelled the globe over many times have some travel tips, advice, warnings and much more in their top 12 travel tips. Everything from what type of backpack you should have slung over your backpack, to when it's okay to get mad when transportation isn't arriving on time, and when you just should just relax.

These tips though I don't fully agree with all of them or the global outlook on Americans are well worth your time reading. The parts I especially enjoy is the solid advice on appreciating the world and melding with their culture. In the case of this article they are saying there is so much more to the world than the U.S. but for me it's Canada or you your country. Not to be afraid for foreign traveling you are fine as long as you carry common sense in your pocket and don't land in the most dangerous of countries. The host Phil Keoghan has spent time in over a hundred countries and Bertram van Munster countless as well. Him and his wife Elise Doganieri travel the race twice and sometimes thrice over to set everything up for the contestants. Safe travels!

12 Travel Tips From The Amazing Race
By Phil Keoghan

1. Face your fear. At 19, Keoghan nearly died when he was trapped inside a shipwreck off the coast of New Zealand during a deepwater dive. Once rescued, he wrote out a "life list" of adventures he wanted to have before he really did cross over and then got paid to do many of them as the go-anywhere, try-anything host of TV magazines Phil Keoghan's Adventure Crazy and Keoghan's Heroes (Keoghan rhymes with Hogan). "A recurring theme when people make their lists," he says, "is that they almost always put down things they've been afraid to try." Keoghan encourages everyone to make these a priority. "I can't tell you the number of times someone has done something they feared and then found themselves able to make other major life decisions," he says. It's corny, he admits, but it works. (For the record, Keoghan is claustrophobic, but he adds, "I've managed to push the fear back. It doesn't inhibit me." His therapy? Diving to one of the world's longest known underwater tunnels, Nohoch Nah Chich, under the Yucatan jungle.)

2. Don't panic. "When you're trying something you've never done before, most people find themselves really hyper about being in a situation that's out of control," says Joyce, who watched the show prior to appearing on it. "We learned not to get so excited about everything because there are going to be a lot of new things coming at you all the time."

3. Pack for one week. "Whether I'm going out for a week or several months, I only ever pack for a week," says Keoghan. "Because you don't want to be weighed down, and you can always wash up."

4. Have a plan before you clear customs. If you aren't sure where you're going, ask for information in the airport before you pass through security into the public waiting areas. And get the map.

5. Stick to backpacks, not messenger bags. "If you're going for anything longer than a weekend, make sure your bag has two shoulder straps," says Keoghan. "I find the [single-strap] shoulder bags just bugger your back."

6. Avoid checking bags. Or, if you can't get yourself down to one carry-on, keep your total number of bags to an absolute minimum. The more items you have, the more you have to keep track of, and the more you stand to lose. "It''s in the belly of the plane that things can start to go bad," van Munster warns.

7. Never share a taxi with a stranger (especially at the airport). In all his travels, van Munster has only been abducted once, in Calcutta, India, when, against his own better judgment, he got in a cab with a driver and "the owner" of the cab, who refused to surrender the backseat when asked. Turns out, "the owner" had told the driver that he was with van Munster''s crew and moments later hijacked the ride. Fortunately, a journalist friend had been looking out the back of his taxi, which was ahead of van Munster''s, and he noticed when the trailing cab disappeared. Van Munster was found by his team in a Calcutta slum two hours later, stripped to his briefs, but otherwise fine. (Corollary to #7: Don't have someone meet you at the airport with a sign bearing your name, van Munster says. You''ll be a target for hustlers.)

8. There is no simple, over-the-counter solution for jet lag. 9. Never wear shorts. At least, not if you're male and not if you leave the grounds of a resort, the trail, or the beach. "I recommend lightweight long pants," says van Munster. "They're protection against mosquitoes, fleas, dog bites, snakebites.... Many people take malaria drugs, but I don't. I just keep covered, and I blend in, because in most places adult men wear long pants." Also, avoid matching outfits. This verily screams "tourist."

10. Schedules are subject to interpretation."Go with the flow. In Zermatt, Switzerland, your train will depart at exactly 8:42 a.m. as noted, but in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, an 8 a.m. bus might, or might not, leave anytime before dinner. Adjust your outlook accordingly.

11. If you must, panhandle from fellow travelers. "Being far from home, [other travelers] can commiserate," says Joyce, who, along with Uchenna, was stranded without a dollar in Montego Bay, Jamaica, as a consequence of losing a leg of the race. The departures terminal or lounge may be your best bet: "If they\'re coming in to the country," Uchenna says, "they'll have a little more money, but they're more apt to hold on because it's got to last their whole trip. If they're on their way home, chances are they'll be a bit looser with it because they know they're not going to need it as much."

12. Always act the guest. If you're respectful of your foreign hosts and try to see things through their eyes, you'll most likely find that you'll be treated hospitably. "People may not like our foreign policy, but people everywhere like Americans," says van Munster. "There really is something of an American spirit, and people are drawn to it. You've got to have confidence in that, and, above all, know that the world is really a very safe place."

2006-04-04T08:14:00.000-04:00

The Tattoo Captures Breaking News in El Salvador & Reviews the Latest

The Tattoo captured a national criminal case investigation in El Salvador as Central American Tattoo staffer Oscar Ramirez visited a children's shelter to capture an already captivating story of their outlook on life and how they live. The woman Oscar saw then went on the run after a baby was found dead at the shelter. Be sure to check out this exceptional ongoing news story. Also be sure to check out my good friend & Tattoo staffer Stefan Koski of Connecticut, USA. He reviews a preview of Neil Vizzini's teen writer who becomes more prolific in his latest book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" about his time in a physchiatric hospital profiling teen suicide and depression among other important teen topics. Also be sure to check out New York State's Tattoo staffer Dan Mecca on the screenplay Junebug enjoyed by critics at Sundance and last but not least his review on Inside Man, the latest thriller starring Jodie Foster and other accomplished actors. Check out The Tattoo now. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2006-04-03T19:56:00.000-04:00

Testing Can Be Fun, See?

Scanning around the Internet I came across an awesome test site called OK Cupid. This place you can spend valuable testing time actually in a fun environment and enjoy it. You will learn that testing isn't all bad once you start clicking around this website. It was begun and is run by the masterminds of the ever popular Sparks Notes. Their begginings rooted in simplifying studying and making that test so much easier to nifty and accurate online tests, this a website to bookmark without question. Scan through their listing of over 10,000 online tests you can take all complete with humourous captions and surprisingly dead on results. They also act as a matchmaker site but you can still use the test side of the site without touching the lovey dovey unless that is your passion. How many of you have enjoyed those boxed chocolates from the likes of Laura Secord in Canada, Hershey in the US and Canada and worldwide Swiss Lindor and Belgian Godiva? Having just returned from Belgium one of the world's leaders in the most silky smooth chocolate you ever will taste I realize this importance even more! To anwser this question go ahead and take their Which Chocolate Are You test. In anwsering a series of creative questions they will determine what chocolate cube you most resemble! I was chosen to be sweet, optimistic and happy taking the role as a coconut truffle!
Now which chocolate are you?

Coconut truffle You scored 48% Dark, 59% Crunch, and 69% Chewy!

You are a smooth coconut truffle: Creamy coconut filling accented with coconut flakes, in a milk chocolate shell. Soft and irresistably sweet. I would label you as an introvert though....you prefer to keep more to yourself or small groups than to be at a wild party. But you're a lovely person and friend, someone that others can truly count on. And you see the world through rose-colored glasses, which is getting harder these days, so hold onto that optimism :)
My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 41% on Dark

You scored higher than 54% on Crunchy

You scored higher than 74% on Chewy

Other fun ones include the Where You Should Travel Test. This one leads you through questions analyzing the crazy often less though about ways of your travelling habits. They will ask you what you would do in a strange situation whilst globe trotting, how far your tastebuds will take you, how embracing you are of other countries and cultures and much more. Based on this it will decide where you should best. Mine was riding the rails across Europe, something I truly am looking forward to doing at some point on the timeless continent.

A Eurail TGV high speed train in France

Train through Europe You scored 77% culture, 34% social, 40% activity, and 41% adventure!

A train trip through Europe is a fantastic way to enrich yourself with many different cultures within a relatively short distance. The train service in Europe is out of this world and almost always on time. It doesn't lump you together with a group since you prefer to be independent, yet it takes the scariness out of navigating around a new country in a rental car, trying to make sense of the map. The train system brings you from downtown to downtown and there are often hotels within a short walk of the station. You could decide which countries interest you the most and if you are eligible, buy a rail pass in advance to save a bundle of money. Arriving at a European train station is an architectureally beautiul way to introduce yourself to a new city and it sets the perfect scene for your new experience. If you had fun dreaming about where you might go, don't forget to rate my test. Thanks!

2006-03-30T01:10:00.000-05:00

Don't Forget the Emails from your Car

A brand new feature of the safety and security division of GM comes a new service of diagnostics. As featured in the humourous new television ads OnStar where the man is checking his email and comes across email from his car! That's right in the often crazy world that we live in the 21st century ours cars can now drop us emails. The new service OnStar is offering on most Canadian and American GM vehicles that are 2004 or newer does just that. Their diagnostics program installed in the car automatically checks a series of hotspots throughout the vehicle on a monthly basis. These hotspots include your airbags, engines, transmission, your OnStar system as well as your oil and mileage. These results are put into a email report and emailed.

Each sector has a section on the email report that lets you know whether there is a small malfunction that the system could cure. If there is a more serious problem it will inform you as to what's wrong and suggest you visit your local GM dealer if that's the case. If there is something serious you can call a GM advisor who can conduct their own diagnostic tests. The advisor will then email you the results of the diagnostic and you will have much more information when you go to see your GM dealer or your auto shop. These tests can be run by the advisor at anytime if you feel there is a need prior to the monthly check-up. This service is offered at no additonal cost to all current OnStar subscribers. This I believe is some true cutting edge technology that is bringing what shows and movies have shown us is now coming to life. Check out the OnStar to see what it's all about.

2006-03-29T18:19:00.000-05:00

Blogger Comments Enabled...Comment Away

After sorting out some issues and getting the comment code perfectly in place, I have changed my mind and now the traditional Blogger comment system is online now. Feel free to use the comment system, I have it set so that it's open to the whole world literally. Anyone not just Blogger members can comment away, I look forward to hearing from you. This should be much easier and less daunting for those of you who aren't as familiar with tagboards which I have on the blog up until now. The tagboard will remain on the right-hand side if you wish to use it. Simply enter your comment in the message box, a name and hit go. Select from the smiles menu to add entertaining emoticons if you wish.

2006-03-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

Making my return to Canada!

I have crossed back over the pond to my home country of Canada. Following a sensational European experience getting a glimpse of Holland and spending time in both Belgium and France. My premiere time in Europe was one that was truly memorable each day bringing new sights, sounds, smells and yes surprises. I flew across the Atlantic spending 10 days in Western Europe as part of a Canadian battlefield tour. We saw all the D-Day beaches including our Juno, Vimy Ridge, Dieppe the Bayeux tapestry, the Mona Lisa, Versailles and ate gourmet food and so many wonderful experiences. The trip began in Brussels and came to a close in Paris, both enchanting cities in their own right. Over the next several weeks I will be continuing to update my blog which will include posts on Mexico where I was in February and Belgium and France. Also different types of travel websites, new funky technology and much more, keep checking back.

2006-02-27T01:51:00.000-05:00

Checking in on Canada Following Hot Weeks

Moon Palace in the Mayan Riviera of Mexico, part of the Spanish Palace Resorts chain in Mexico, Spain and Portugal

Hello one and all, you undoubtedly have noticed that I have not been updating the blog with fresh posts regularly as regularly is the case. I just flew back to Toronto from 2 sensational weeks in the Mayan Riviera of Mexico at the five star Moon Palace resort and taking travels to Cancun, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen and a host of other places. I had the absolute time of my life and had a array of acitivities both relaxing related and exploring the culture of Mexico and the Mayan people. I will be putting up posts all about Mexico and the absolutely wonderful warm people of Mexico, so you can look forward to that. I am back in Canada for a mere 10 days as my exciting travels continue. In 10 days I will be flying across the pond for my premiere European experience to get a glimpse of Holland as I connect in Amsterdam on to 10 days in Belgium & France on a Canadian Battlefields Tour including Brussels and Paris. Focusing on the sites and scenes of Canada's rich history and heroic contributions in both WW1 & WW2 as well as European history with the Napoleonic Battle of Waterloo.

I am incredibly looking forward to this absolutely wonderful opportunity and excited to learn more about my country's role in the war firsthand, seeing the world class cities of Brussels and Paris and so much more. There will a stream of posts during these days and then another break, until I return. My travelling continues following that as always but more spaced out in the months ahead. I am also wanting to give you a better way of leaving your commentary as this blog currently doesn't support the traditional blogger comment links. I would love to hear what you think would work well, please email suggestions to me at teague.neal@gmail.com . I will be writing about new technologies, travel, the Canadian Olympic Team and how they fared in Torino, Italy over the past several weeks and more. Keep checking back and thanks for continuing to visit!

2006-02-27T01:27:00.000-05:00

The Tattoo Goes to Hot and Historic Hotspots on Two Continents

The scenic rugged beaches of Gozo

The Tattoo heads off to heat in the middle of the winter in the U.S. and Canada to share stories, advice and much more on two super special destinations. Tattoo staff writer Sean Soltys of Bristol, Connecticut, USA shares all about his experiences to the Hawaiian island of Maui and staff writer Kathryn Middleton from New Jersey, USA who tells all about her long haul flight to Hawaii. Also staff writer Maressa Zahra of Malta writes about her travels to the northern island of Malta Gozo. Sit back in your chaise, apply the sunscreen and enjoy! Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

The silky sand and scenery of Maui, Hawaii

2006-02-25T23:45:00.000-05:00

Latest Global Visitors

Fascinated folk from across the world hailing from across four of the globe's seven continents taking in all the beauty of my blog. The regulars are ever increasing within Canada and the USA from a wider expanse of the countries, logging on from more and more provinces and states from the Atlantic all across to the Pacific. Visitors for the very first time have begun flowing in from South America which in my mind is extremely exciting. Canadians are beggining to have a larger and larger presence in South America with Canada's airlines sending more and more travellers to the continent as of late. Those from South America I thank you for logging in and will start sharing insight into Canada's presence across South America, so please do keep checking back. Expanision in Europe has happened with new countries coming on and across Asia from a wider array of areas.
Here they all are by continent:

North America:

Canada, USA

South America:

Chile, Uruguay

Europe:

England, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Malta

Asia:

Japan, Phillipines, Thailand, Singapore

Major world centres across the world have included:

Vancouver, Canada
Edmonton, Canada
Toronto, Canada
Montreal, Canada
New York City, USA
Boston, USA
Chicago, USA
San Francisco, USA
Santiago, Chile
Tokyo, Japan
Manila, Phillipines

My fellow Canadians have been checking in from 5 Canadian provinces from sea to shining sea including:

Nova Scotia
including Halifax

Quebec
including Montreal

Ontario
including Toronto

Alberta
including Calgary & Edmonton

British Columbia
including Vancouver

My southern neighbours have been coming in from across the U.S from 15 states coast to coast including:
New York, Michigan, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, California and Washington

Americans residing in major city centres are from:
Chicago,New York City, Boston, Charlotte, Washington, San Francisco, Omaha,Dallas and New Orleans

2006-02-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

Our Ever Shrinking Globe

This common expression that rings with more truth each passing year takes on new meaning in a whole new way. The short report below that has been being emailed across the world breaks the world down, saying that if modern society in 2006 was broken down to include solely 100 people. From this hundred, how many hail from each continent, culture, sexual preference, social class and much more. It's a fascinating way to look at the world in fresh eyes. Now that the globe has become more and more global and within 19 hours or less you can literally fly anywhere across the world, it has made the world more accessible and more connected. All the time I email those in 15 countries across Asia, Europe and my home continent of North America. I talk to my brother on Canada's East Coast and soon will be communicating from Canada's West Coast in college. As the world becomes so incredibly global we can enjoy the travel, tourism, friendship, family and business but we hold responsabilities within the palm of our hand. We must ensure and work towards allowing global eqaulity, ensuring that each of the world's 208 countries on all seven continents have accessibility to what they need most and what they deserve most of all.

The World in Miniature!
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, there would be:

* 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from North and South America and 8 Africans.

* 52 would be female: 48 would be male.

* 70 would be people of color: 30 would be white.

* 70 would be non-Christian: 30 would be Christian.

* 89 would be heterosexual: 11 would be homosexual.

* 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

* 80 would live in substandard housing: 70 would be unable to read and 50 would suffer from malnutrition.

* One would be near death and one would be near birth.

* One (yes, only one) would have a college education and only one would own a computer

* When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly evident.

* 80 would live in substandard housing: 70 would be unable to read: 50 would suffer from malnutrition.

* One would be near death and one would be near birth. One (yes, only one) would have a college education and only one would own a computer

* When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly evident.

2006-02-06T20:15:00.000-05:00

New Tattoo Page Launched into the World!

A new page for The Tattoo has been launched into the world now in print in The Bristol Press in Connecticut, USA and online! In our first edition in 2006, The Tattoo. Bristol, Connecticut Tattoo staff writer Molly Horan reports on the British musical group coming across the pond to perform from the earliest Bristol, England in the American Bristol, staff writer Watertown, CT staff writer Elizabeth Walle writes on what is was like to be rejected by her most beloved chosen college, Bristol, CT staff writer Rachel Goglowski shares the hype leading to the teen band bash in West Hartford, CT most uniquely which will include a prom dress switch for the young ladies! Be sure not to miss Niamh Ni Mahaoileoin cool creative shots of teen bands rocking it out in Dublin, Ireland last week! Also another Justin Skaradosky cartoon! Feel free to email your comments to
The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2006-02-03T00:54:00.000-05:00

Catching Up on all the
Latest at The Tattoo!

Catch up on all the recent additions to The Tattoo Teen Newspaper that includes a quartet of movie reviews have been added on the website in recent weeks throughout January. Tattoo writers on two continents on either sides of the pond have been watching all the major blockbusters in theatres as of late. Read up on: the magic of Hogwarts in new Bristol, Connecticut, USA writer Rachel Glogowski , the not amazing but not bad Japanese Memories of a Geisha by Michigan, USA writer Liane Harder, my latest article for The Tattoo on the good but not great King Kong, New Jersey, USA staffer Yaffa Frederick on Steven Spielburg's take on the historic massacre at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany Munich and finally the gay romance western based on the short story by Prolux Brokeback Mountain by New York, USA writer Dan Mecca. Get out there and watch one of these and avoid the turkeys!

2006-02-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

Update from my Canadian Desk

Hello one and all across the more than 15 countries from France to Australia to Singapore who log into my blog to enjoy all that it has to offer. From the travel to the technology as well as the opinion columns, journals and much more. This has slowed recently due to the extreme business with setting up my future college life to begin in the summer in August with a trip most likely to happen in May and the end of my incredible alternative school program The Bronte Creek Project and setting up other parts of my life. Tonight and tommorow I am working on several exciting posts in addition to updating you on the recent additions to The Tattoo Teen Newspaper, further travel posts, further Days at the Creek posts highlighting what it is I did over my five months at The Bronte Creek Project and much more! Keep checking back, thank you for your devoted support!

2006-01-14T03:40:00.000-05:00

Days at the Creek...Winter Adventure Trip to Temagami!

The main lodge of Smoothwater Outfitters in Temagami, Ontario

As part of the program at The Bronte Creek Project we are embarking upon on the experience of a lifetime that our skills throughout the sensational semester have built towards. A week from now I will be setting foot on a bus that will drive us 5 hours north of the Toronto area to the world famous outdoor wilderness and eco lodge camping central town of Temagami, Ontario. Here we will be spending five days snow shoeing through the old growth forest of Temagami with trees dating back more than 350 years ago. We'll sleep in quinzees a variation of the more traditional and commonly known igloo that Canadian Inuit use in Northwest Territories and Nunavut as hunting lodges and accommodation for a night or a few. Throughout the past several months at Bronte we have been learning the ways of the wild in our geography sessions covering subjects from camping lightly to outdoor cooking skills to the skill of snowshoeing. We will be spending two nights at Smoothwater Eco-Lodge a beautiful eco-tourism lodge that has rustic and cozy accommodations where you we will be spending the first and final nights. Gourmet organic meals will be cooked and served to us with our assistance lending a hand to their chef. They host a wide variety of programs pleasing my fellow Ontarians, North American and European travelers visiting Canada alike. A number of snowshoeing and skiing packages are available when the snow is falling. When the sun is shining there's canoe trips from the lodge accompanied with different themed packages. It's a great place to get outdoors and escape the city air whether it's Toronto, New York or Paris!

Smoothwater Outfitters can be found 5 hours north of Toronto and 6 hours west of Ottawa in Ontario

The two most memorable workshops that the highly creative staff of Bronte came up with were teaching us what to do if someone was to fall into serious hypothermia. We had all the necessary layers to warm someone supposedly suffering from extreme cold conditions. Wrapping him in fresh clothes and creating a diaper out of a garbage bag in case of accidents in which you wouldn't want to have to unwrap the victim. We then wrapped him in multiple layers of sleeping bags and warm blankets and other materials. We loaded all of this onto a sled and our mock victim was set to head to safety and our brains now knew what to do to deal with this serious medical problem in harsh winter weather. On another day with the help of a visiting camping leader we were divided into two groups. One waited in the huge hall nicknamed the Great Hall, the others waited in the hall including myself completely unaware as to what was next. The camping leader then came out into the hall and informed us individually of our newly found fates. Some of us had lost the use of one hand, the loss of limbs or the loss of our speech among other impairments. We each were instructed to wander into the Great Hall into a completely unknown scene and role-play based on our injuries and impairments.

Snowshoeing a popular and perfect way to enjoy winter at Smoothwater

We walked into a scene of pandemonium in the Great Hall where there were wailing bodies everywhere, people who had lost limbs and the ability to walk on their own two feet. Using sleds, intuition and swift problem solving we had to transport ourselves across the Great Hall, into the hall, up the steps and into the Fishbowl our classroom, the chosen safe spot. My older brother was visiting that day and he had no use of his right arm and I couldn't grasp anything due to an oncoming semi serious condition of frostbite. Due to the fact I couldn't assist in lifting of any sort I took part in providing moral and verbal support to a delusional victim who was so far gone that she was having extremely emotional fits over her husband Larry's death, that never even happened not even fictionally. People ran around wrapping the cold in blankets and sleeping bags, and laying them snugly in sleds and toboggans. They then slid everyone who couldn't walk himself or herself up to the Fishbowl. Those who could semi manage huddled together and got there. We managed to get to the top safety zone with success and then sat in a circle and grabbed one of the camping woman's kids toys. Based on the colour of the toy we chose we discussed different types of risks and situations that we ran into in the Great Hall. Whether this be helping a blinded man walk and find his way to safely sliding those into sleds and to safety or getting your impairment known. This translated into risk management and how far we were putting ourselves out to help others along, how to best maintain calm and control whilst still taking the situation seriously and how to do it all quickly and safely in a short period of pandemonium.

Showing the parts of both traditional recreational showshoes above the more modern variety of the hardier hiking snowshoe below

We headed outside one day and slid in snowshoes learning how to walk in them. The best way being to take huge steps not in unison, as we are so accustomed to with traditional walking in our daily lives. We lay in the toboggans that will be carrying our gear, packs and food barrels up in Temagami to simulate the weight. This lead to incredibly fun times especially when suddenly the toboggan went backwards and would fly into your legs suddenly taking you by full surprise. We also wrapped another cocoon around someone else in the Dining Hall back a bit to learn how to best keep yourself snug in your sleeping bag in winter. Learned all the different layers including; long underwear, long sleeved shirts, fleece sweaters, wool socks, food nearby a pee bottle if desired and filled out a fun diagram based on this. We have gone over waterproofing our stuff by double bagging with garbage bags within a stuff sack. Learned how to mix the two water purification chemicals to clean the lake water and have been given lists of all the necessary materials including the ever-important materials being wool or the more modern gortex to keep warm. Over the Christmas Holidays headed into several of Toronto's top of the line outdoor supply stores including the well respected Mountain Equipment COOP. That is a fun place membership only mind you but registration forms are easily available, it has a towering rock climbing wall in the centre, which I must try someday! It was a great experience to be there especially with my grandfather who has a wealth of knowledge from his extensive outdoor travel across the globe whether it be the Canadian territory of Nunavut, Russia or the Chinese countryside.

Someone building a quinzee in the Canadian Prarie province of Saskatchewan

A quinzee being built at YMCA Wanakita in the immensely popular cottage hotspot Haliburton, Ontario north of Toronto. It's a camp my Dad's organization works with, see my Reach for the Rainbow post

Next week to continue the preparation we will be baking a host of goodies for which I will do along with my partner, each person is paired with someone compatible. We gave in different suggestions to satisfy our taste buds and our selections are below. We are going to get together outside Bronte and have a bakeoff and at home I'm going to make a batch of gourmet gorp! Also as leader of the day we have different creative games planned that relate to our version of the nightly debrief that takes in both the technical aspects on any issues and successes that came up and the memorable moments for fun. Other leader of the day duties include waking up our fellow classmates creatively which we are going to be doing with the use of chocolate, a classic and broad pleaser, ways to fill in free gaps and games.

Our snacks deliver a nutritious energy boost as we hike throughout the woods in and around Temagami including homemade granola bars, trail mix and the satisfying classics chocolate chip cookies and popcorn.

The food I'll be making during my leader of the day with my partner includes...

Pita Sandwiches

Mac & Cheese

In addition to our leader of the day roles each person or sometimes as a trip group, one half on our regular Bronte group taking on the role of and I quote from Bronte:

Food Coordinators:
Job Description: responsible for coordinating the food planning, writing out the shopping list, and facilitating the food packing (with lots of help!) --my job along with my partner

Gear Coordinators:
Job Description: responsible for organizing and managing the group gear

Water Coordinator:
Job Description: encourage people in your group to keep hydrated, and ensure enough water is melted, purified & water bottles are filled. Carry and be responsible for water purification stuff (two small bottles to be kept warm in jacket).

Warmth Coordinator:
Job Description: A warmth expert who knows lots of tips on staying warm, had lots of games to play to keep us warm, encourages us to eat and makes sure the Trip Journal has lots of good warm ideas.

Memories Coordinator:
Job Description: someone who is responsible for recording the trip both with pictures and a trip journal! For pictures you must make sure that lots of fun and creative pictures are taken and then given to BCP staff on CD to record the trip and you get to create and maintain a trip journal for the group.

I am really pumped to see what this trip is like and ready for a fresh take on outdoor camping. Being able to go with Bronte that truly has changed who I am and with a big group of friends who really are family will be wonderful. As the semester comes to a close and the sense of sadness mixed with pride and accomplishment rises higher and higher it is an absolutely enchanting way to finish the semester with the flair and creativity that this program has taught me so much beyond belief. More than I have ever learned in traditional paper and desk school.

- Up next in Days at the Creek.... The Enviro Book Adventure, Temagami pictures, two sets of journal entries on Bronte as its end draws near and an entry on life after Bronte and how alternative programs never really end and more! Check back.

2006-01-08T02:24:00.000-05:00

Snapshots of the World

The shimmering sea of lights in Toronto, Canada as seen from the CN Tower,the world's tallest building

The Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt

Check in on the shimmering seas of lights of Toronto, Canada or perhaps Paris, head to Hong Kong. For that matter see Sydney, visit Venice or peer into some of the most treasured and unusual places across the globe anytime. On Dashboard of Best Webcams on Net there's an array of over 700 web cams in the city centre of Hamburg, Germany , New York City and much much more! You can literally travel the world with your mouse as you shift the shots towards the right-hand side. Scanning through the shots you can see an incredible variety peering into the world and the lives of many. Some notable ones I have seen aside from the major monuments including the world's tallest building the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada close to my city and the Eiffel Tower in Paris include; a Aussie pub, a Paris radio station where you can actually dee the French announcers at their computer terminals broadcasting and the desks inside Llyod's of London in London's financial heart and the pyramids in Egypt. Take some time and check out this incredible site and travel the world with your fingertips!

Lloyds of London, in the heart of London's financial core

The heart of London, England' business might

The Eiffel Tower's beacon awash over darkened Paris

2006-01-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

Asia and Europe have Tagged Me!

One of my Asian friends Geri Soon hailing from the island nation Singapore and one of my European friends Maressa Zahra hailing from the island nation Malta both tagged moi consecutively. Due to the Christmas craze and a host of other personal reasons it has taken me some time to respond, but respond with vigour I have in this merriment. As both lovely ladies tagged me almost in sync with each other, I have played the game once and over. Enjoy!

RULES OF GAME:
1. Post 5 weird/random stuffs about yourself2. At the end of the quiz list the names of 5 people who you want next to do this and leave a comment "you are tagged" in their blog and tell them to read your blog for rules.

1) My book's beginings originated from a grade 7 English short story that becomes the central climax and began the book.

2) I became a baker and made 500 + chocolate chip cookies for a 50th birthday bash held at our family farm in Elora, Ontario, Canada (1 1/2 hours north-west of Toronto)

3) I have spent above and beyond 100 hours in airplanes on commercial flights thus far and hope for many many more!

4) Favourite foriegn foods; eel and Aloe Vera health juice I had at my Japanese style picnic in Osaka, Japan

5) Only stuck in school for 2 1/2 (of 6) hours second semester beggining in February after The Bronte Creek Project as I'll be loving COOP along with two courses and then ready to receive my diploma

1) Longest time I've spent non-stop on the phone; 6 1/2 hours in 2002

2) Bananas are best a bright shade of green in my mind

3) Hats have been most often atop me since I'd use them to cover my jungle of hair after jumping out of my school swimming session (to obtain my solo gym credit for highschool)

4) My hair is composed of a trio of professionally dyed colours; blonde, dark red and mauve

5) I have zero interest in cellphones or digital cameras, except for the inventor's original intention and need; car emergencies and as far as digital I can rhyme reasons but we'll save that for a future post, for now two words: film forever!

I'm tagging Geri Soon, Maressa Zahra, my Good American friend Stefan Koski of Connecticut, American friend Alkahansa el-Bedawi of Arizona and Canadian friend Crystal Kell.

2005-12-28T12:18:00.000-05:00

Latest Global Visitors

Readers from around the world have been paying my blog a visit to check out all the latest words. These words have recently included; the continuing weekly series of "Days at the Creek" documenting in detail the highlights of my outdoor alternative leadership program I'm doing as a creative form of school called The Bronte Creek Project which continues , the fair trade store that imports crafts, food and goods from across the world into store locations across Canada and the USA, Da Vinci Code tours in Europe, the latest Christmas and Hurricane Journals from The Tattoo Teen Newspaper (see link on right-hand side) and much more.

Looking over the next month until early February I will be posting about ; The Tattoo as always and different gadjets that the Japanese have on the other side of the world that are ultra cool and when we hope to have some of them in North America and Europe, the wide array of programs and exchanges that run between Australia and Canada, Japan and Canada and France and Canada and different international awareness contests. Upcoming will be many posts on Mexico, Belgium, France and New England in the U.S. I will be looking at diffferent up and coming tools of the trade of the Internet and different technologies that are making their debut and the best movies to watch for and so much more! You can always feel free to email your comments to me at teague.neal@gmail.com, don't hesistate.

People have been hitting into my blog from 16 countries spanning 3 continents to read up.The number of countries continues to expand and I have regular visitors from different parts of the U.K and ever increasing in Malaysia. New readers have been hailing in from Vietnam and China and further visitors from Japan have been clicking in. These countries in order of continent have included:

Canada, United States, Mexico

England, Wales, Ireland

Pakistan, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan

Australia

Major city centres spanning the planet have included:
- Calgary, Canada
- Toronto, Canada
- Montreal, Canada
- New York City, USA
- San Francisco, USA
- Los Angeles, USA
- Cardiff, Wales
- Calcutta, India
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Hong Kong, China
- Tokyo, Japan

Canadians have been clocking in to read the blog from across 5 Canadian provinces including:
Alberta
- including Calgary (seperate visitors)

Saskatchewan
- including Saskatoon

Ontario
- including Toronto

Quebec
- including Montreal

Nova Scotia
- including Halifax

Yankees have been logging in from all around the United States from 9 states including:
New York, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut,Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Florida
including the major American cities:
New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tuscon, Ft. Worth, Pasadena, Houston and Austin

Recent visitors include the following, this is a selection as there were web statistic problems from December 4th- 19th:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Singapore
Colchester, Connecticut, United States
New York City, New York, United States
San Francisco, California, United States
Toronto, Ontario,. Canada
Tuscon, Arizona, United States
Malaysia
Queretaro, Mexico
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tuscon, Arizona , United States
Pasadena, Texas, United States
Urbana, Illinois, United States
Queretaro, Mexico
Malayasia
Queretaro, Mexico
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tuscon, Arizona, United States
Pasadena, Texas,United States
Urbana, Illinois,United States
Queretaro, Mexico
Singapore
Farmington Hills, Michigan,United States
Butler, Penselvaynia, United States
New York City, New York, United States
Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States
Queretaro, Mexico
Singapore
Colchester, Connecticut, United States
India
Singapore
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Michigan, United States
Michigan, United States (different visitor)
Michigan, United States
Michigan, United States (different visitor)
Avon, Connecticut, United States
Ronoake, Virginia, United States
Newcastle, England
Peshawar, Pakistan
Ft. Worth, Texas, United States
Portugal
San Mateo, California, United States
Wichita, Kansas, United States
Colchester, Connecticut, United States
Malta
Singapore
Monterey, California, United States
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Danbury, Connecticut, United States
Bristol, Connecticut, United States
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Calcutta, India
Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Vietnam
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Houston, Texas, United States
Austin, Texas, United States
Queensbury, New York, United States
Carson, California, United States
Hauppage, New York, United States
Cardiff, Wales
Hong Kong, China
Tokyo, Japan
New York City, New York, United States
Pune, India
Dublin, Ireland
Aylesbury, England

2005-12-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

Ever Expanding Blogging Googled

The ever expanding world of blogging that in 2005 has becoming increasingly popular for writers and the online public alike across the globe. Internet giant Google has created a fresh new service based on blogging. Using the same search architecture that has become the world's most beloved and heavily used search engine they have reformed their technology onto two new sites Google Blog Search. Using the same service but on Blogger their blogging site and one of the most commonly used sites for bloggers around the world. Using similar searching and indexing technology Google Blog Search crawls the Internet and obtains listings of the most relevant blogs publishes in more than 10 lanugages including English, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and many more. Simply by opening up the "Advanced Blog Search" window on the right-hand side you can specify which language you want your words to appear in. Here you can select a group of 35 languages spoken on all six continents.

The main site of brand new Google Blog Search

The main page of Google's newly launched service to search the world of blogging. Also in the advanced search window you can search for your results by telling the engine which exact phrases and titles you want in blogs and posts. This will pull up categorical results on practicular examples of results you want not unlike traditional Internet search engines including Google. Other options here allow you to scan blogs by the date and time they were published to the Internet as well as using the URL if you are in the know of that from a blog you frequently check up on. If a certain super special blog captures your interest you can subscribe at the bottom of each result page for either a RSS or Atom feed. Have no idea what a feed is, simply it's a complimentary subscription service complimentary subscription service that is a simplified version that collects and is updated regularly with all that blog's posts. Learn more about it here. This can be viewed on a webpage or be emailed to you directly. Email any questions to the Google Blog Search team at
blogsearch-support@google.com .

Screenshot showing the result webpage of Blog Search

2005-12-23T14:58:00.000-05:00

Katrina's Shattering Effects Take a Toll

Pay The Tattoo a visit and sit back to the tales of woe and wonder documenting the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Tattoo staff writer Samantha Perez of St. Bernard Parish outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. In her latest quintet of entries Perez tells all about a reunion with her friends and how her family and her was planning to cope with Christmas and make it as happy as can be. Perez also reports on the tragic and wrongful acts against displaced Hurricane Katrina victims in their newly adopted schools in Louisiana and much more. Also included are new cartoons based on Katrina from Tattoo staff cartoonist Michel Lee of California, U.S. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com . Also be sure to read the review of Irish writer Niamh Ni Maholien on the new cinematic version of the magical and marvelous world of Narnia. She gives her take on the new Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

St. Bernard houses and roads following the wrath of Hurricane Katrina

2005-12-17T03:46:00.000-05:00

Take a Walk Da Vinci Style in Europe

Worldwide bestseller American authour's Da Vinci Code has spawned a global passion for his 2003 masterpiece. Tourists from across the world have wanted to take what they have retrieved from his prolific pages and have these prolific places in Paris, across France as well as locations in London and all around England. Tour companies both British and French have taken this creative cue and created a highly unique series of tours, some are a couple hours in length, some a couple days. Other ones make Da Vinci Code the main focus for the seasoned traveller who has seen the major sights and sounds in Paris and London. It's a way to re-visit the timeless cities with fresh eyes and in a way that brings creative flair to Paris and London. For first timers, it's a wonderful way to wonder. Wonder about the background of the Rose Line, want to see Saint Sulpice and the multitude of loccations and locales in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. Check out Fodors to set out solo enveloping Paris as you discover firsthand the sites of Da Vinci for yourself.

The Rose Line inside Saint Sulpice in Paris as mentioned in the Da Vinci Code

The world renowned Louvre as described in divine detail in the book

Jaunt through the City of Lights and see the path through Paris that the storyline of Da Vinci takes. Several tour operators in Paris offer an array of packages to offer. Classic Walks a well established Parisian walking tour company has a enriching walk daily beggining at the ultra luxurious Ritz Paris. From the majestic hotel where Robert Langdon receives that phone call that started it all you will travel to differerent parts of Paris exploring what and where it is that many of the events unfolded in the book. Prior to setting off on foot through Paris your tour guide will discuss in detail the history and meaning behind Langdon and Nerveux's time in the Louvre in the Grand Gallery and into the home of Mona Lisa.

The tour includes a ticket to the Louvre you can use on your own time during your Parisian stay. They give you a guide to inform you as to the most important sights to set your eyes upon within the Grand Gallery and the other musts of the Louvre. You then move on to Saint Sulpice the site of the famed Rose Line and the spot of several scenes in the novel. The tour comes to a conclusion as you take a walk through the Left Bank to the church of St. Germain de Pres. There are over a dozen other tours in Paris that have sprung up since the publication of Da Vinci in 2003. Be sure to scan the Internet and seek out what tour suits you best. Another alternative is to make Da Vinci your full trip to England and France. Offered by AETN Travel the travel agency that runs trips across the globe in conjunction with the The History Channel . These trips truly offer an extensive version of similar sights but encapsulate the cities and countries in addition offering a full package.

St. Germain des Pres church in Paris

Arc De Triomphe on Champs Elysses , where Brown's charachters begin their flee in the story

See where Dan Brown leads his characters Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Nerveux check out this movie that leads you through what British Tours Limited will show you on their treks on location in London. This tour can be taken privately or as a larger group of Da Vinci fans for between 3-7 hours taking you throughout the city and in the footsteps of the amazing adventure that the book takes you through on its British leg. The 3 hour tour is for those wanting to just see London through the eyes of Dan Brown. This one takes in the circa 1185 Temple Church, a drive along Fleet Street, walk through Westminster Abbey and through St. James Park among other sights to behold.

St. Johns Gate in London

The longer one also includes the major sightseeing traditions of tourists that they must see before leaving England including the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, The Tower of London, St. Pauls Cathedreal and much more. It also includes the additions of The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great where you can peek into the Priory's vault of extensive history dating back hundreds upon hundreds of years as well as the Priory of the Knights Hospitallers, Smithfield Market, St John's Gate and St Bart's Hospital. Book this extrodinairy experience on your first or hundredth visit to London, England.

London's Fleet Street

2005-12-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

Make it New York this Christmas & Keep an Eye Out in Limerick, Ireland with The Tattoo

The Tattoo has flipped a new page off the press this week taking stands on New York City at this festive time of the year on this side of the pond and Limerick across the Atlantic. Myself one of the Canadian Tattoo staff writers wrote all about what it's like to take it to the top literally. What it's like to take to the top of the world famed Empire State Building in the centre of New York City, and what makes it that much more special to do it in December. Staff writer of Nebraska, U.S. Zach Brokenrope reports on sitting on Santa in New York's Macys and beholding the beauty of the city at Christmastime. From across the pond sure to read staff writer Limerick, Ireland's Marese Heffernan' article on the dangers and no-nos of her home city. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

The Empire State Building glowing in blue and green light for Christmas

2005-12-11T10:58:00.000-05:00

Days at the Creek....Choose your own Adventure!

Did you ever read the choose your own adventure books when you were a younger one? Did you enjoy feeling the sudden surge of excitment run through your developing mind? For those of you whose childhoods did not contain these books of bountiful brain food that though not the highest quality writing was a harmless doese of good fun, they are a off spring of a traditional novel. Choose your own adventure books begin with words that form a traditional story up until a certain point and page. Once your fingers and eyes reach that point and page you are given a trio or quartet of often omnious options. These options could result in you, a family member or friend dying a gory death, you winning masses of cash, morphing to new lands, attaining goodness of some sort among a bounty of selections. Alongside each selection there are page numbers, you simply turn to this page and read that section. As you continue to plunge deeper into the depths of your adventure you flip from page to page choosing scenes, the climax and ultimately the grand finale of your fortune or misfortune. Whatever it may be, whatever you choose, whenever you choose. In our extremely computerised world there are also online Choose your own Adventure stories to check out. These lead you through a shorter yet still stimulating story on your monitor as you click through questions that are posed of you.

This is the same stream of thinking that The Bronte Creek Project took this week. The day before the hall wall was plastered with a number of activities to satisfy any number of interests. These all touched on various components of the curriculum that is maintained at Bronte. Workshop ideas included:
- outdoor games (Ultimate Frisbee down and dirty in the snow)
- learning how to both knit and sew
- a yoga meditation tutorial session
- painting and studying local trees
- sushi making California roll style

California style sushi , the American vegetarian offspring from traditional Japanese and Chinese sushi

My two selections was a round of Ultimate Frisbee in the snow just outside the lodge style building that Bronte uses for the program. Two teams were formed and sometimes pandamonium would ensue, despite the fact that overall there were only a couple confrontational moments! Trudging through a couple inches of fluffy white does make it much more challenging as you will suddenly fall flat on the face or buckle at your knees. It was a good time had by all and eccentuates what it is that's emphasised at Bronte, that includes learning and mastering new skills. Whether it be our ISU where I'm learning the skill of skateboarding and others are picking up guitair, medieval sword fighting, home decorating, shooting among other creative skills. Following the hardy game of frisbee, I headed back into the lodge and right into the kitchen. Here one of the teachers had a bunch of bamboo mats laid out across the kitchen island along with big bowls of water, sushi rice flavoured with rice wine vinegar, to make it taste just right. Our teacher took us through a training session in the art of hand rolling savoury sushi rolls in the Califoornia roll style.

Once all the seafood, crab or vegetables are atop the bed of sushi rice, rolling begins! Visit personal webpage of Katerina and Andrei of Moscow, Russia. They have developed a sesnational site on all things sushi and sushi making. Below is a list of all the must haves to run a sucessful sushi session from one of three webpages they have on the subject of sushi.

1. Japanese-style rice (any short grain rice is also suitable)

2. Rice Vinegar , 4.1 % acidity (cider or red wine vinegar diluted with a little water make adequate substitutes)

3.Dry seaweed sheets (nori)

4. Bamboo rolling mat (makisu), rice paddle and fish knife

5. Soy sauce plates

6. Japanese horseradish (wasabi) Buy it as a powder or as a paste in tubes. From powder wasabi make a stiff paste by mixing 1 tsp wasabi powder with 1 tsp water. Leave to stand for 5-10 min before using to allow the flavors to develop.

7. Soy sauce

8. Pickled ginger (gari)

9. Vegetables, raw fish or crab meat, cut into pencil-thin strips.

Also here are some additional ingridients that can be added to make your sushi even more enjoyable from their site:
Japanese rice wine (sake)Sweet rice wine (mirin)Dried shitake mushrooms Perilla leavesToasted sesame seeds
Be sure to check out the other webpages of these sushi afficandos for other tips, recipes and the full history of how sushi got it's start. The group that gathered for this sesssion including myself had an absolute blast as we learned the steps of sushi. Here are the following steps as taught to us by our own in house expert at in the kitchen of The Bronte Creek Project in Milton, Ontario:

1) Lay out a sheet of seaweed (nori)

2) Spread across the seaweed enough sushi rice to cover 2/3 of the sheet

3) In the centre of the seaweed atop the sushi rice lay out all your ingridients that you have chopped ahead of time, traditional toppings include crab, shrimp, salmon or other fish, roe or caviar (fish eggs) ,chopped carrot, green onions (scallions in the U.S) snow peas and much more. Also if you are up to a mouth full or spice and tang to surge through your nose add a dab or two of wasabi, a Japanese green horseradish.

4) Roll one huge roll or a "tidal wave" as our teacher described it enclosing the first part of the sushi roll

5) Continue two or three rolls ensuring each time that you keep the bamboo mat from rolling into the sushi

6) Once rolled up wet your fingers with a little bit of water to seal the seaweed

7) Serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, soya sauce and anything else youur little heart desires and enjoy!

This wonderful day of workshops truly highlights the world beyond the classroom and text books that is available out there such as here in Ontario. These programs are spanning further across the world even though they are unfortunately not available to the globe more evenly, they are coming and becoming more numerous. Though as each program of this nature is run within a school board district these programs need do not currently have the ability to expand so far. Though people have visited The Bronte Creek Project in the recent past to find out all they can about the program including a group of 35 Japanese business men who flew from Japan to learn all about the workings of Bronte over the course of their 2 week visit. It's a much more hands-on based way of learning about the world that takes the approach and belief that learning as during this workshop day can promote and teach its participants so much, with little classroom time. Even the classroom time is much more interactive as you will see in next week's entry to this continuing series: Days at the Creek...Sustainable Housing Construction!

Some of the selections...

Learning all about how to sew & knit

Yoga tutorial & meditation session

Painting local Ontario trees

Learning how to self defend yourself

Ultimate Frisbee in the snow!

2005-12-07T23:58:00.000-05:00

Remodelling and Reconstruction Update!

Hello to all of you across the globe, I would like to give all of you an update on what it is I've been doing behind the scenes of my beautiful blog here. There is continued blogging goodness on its way and in the works, do not fear. I have been putting time into the reconstruction of this blog which will continue over the next several weeks. You may have noticed the cool new bar links on the blog taking you to places of interest as well as a list of travel & tourism related links in a similar fashion further down the webpage. These are the beggining of a whole new travel area that will include links to online photo albums you will be able to click into from my blog showing pictures of my Canadian travels including Halifax, Montreal and my native city of Toronto Canada's biggest and most popoulous city. In addition there will be a series of snapshots of my recent travels to the New England region of the United States including the quintessential world famed peneusuila that is Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Connecticut. This will be added to over the course of the next several months to include views of Mexico, Belgium and France abroad as well as further vistas of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Also groupings of my journey to Japan that I made last year as part of my city's sister city relationship where I spent time in and around Osaka. Emerging will be a much more modern and cleaner interface with more flair and features for your eyes and minds to enjoy. Also I'm working on building a fantastic flash website fresh off the press! This will be online within the next couple days . For those who will want to enjoy the flash site I will provide a direct link from this webpage. This will contain three webpages including a devoted travel section and a international food column among other new innovations. If you are fluent with this blogging and website lingo, wonderful. If not not to worry enjoy this blog and I will soon have a link to the website and will keep you informed in my posts. Look for a new entry to The Days at the Creek tommorow evening Toronto time as well as a bunch more. Email your comments, feedback or words of innovative ideas to me at teague.neal@gmail.com

2005-12-05T23:31:00.000-05:00

Fun and Games Comes to a Celebratory Close!

The fourth and final package of The Tattoo's close look at creations of all things game related is now online. This unique and unrepated series started back over a year ago with our staff writers in six states in the United States and myself in Canada just outside Toronto, Ontario playing games for hours on end to bring our devoted readers the best quality games. Also to pluck the turkeys from the game shelves so those won't end up on your shelf! Nebraska, USA Tattoo staff writer Zach Brokenrope also interviewed several game creators, designers and draftsmen who told all about working in the highly competitive industry of gaming. In today's issue be sure to read through the finale articles including; my review for the handheld excellent electronic game Catch Phrase, good friend and staff writer of Terryville, Connecticut, U.S. Stefan Koski on the mind boggling world of word play in MyWord, the strangely serious Scattegories by Bristol, Connecticut staff writer Molly Horan and last by not least a overview of all that terrific Taboo has to offer the world by Plymouth, Connecticut staff writer Heather Moher. Also don't miss the creative flair that staff photographer of Dixon, Illinois, USA Wesley David Fane's photo illustration has brought to the page. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2005-12-02T01:34:00.000-05:00

Giving to Ten Thousand Villages Across the World

Opening its doors to the world both theoretically and literally in 1946 Ten Thousand Villages in conjunction with the Mennonite Central committee who operate in churches across North America in Canada and the United States. Mennonite Central committee provides aid, encouragement and incentive for people in desperate seek of need and attention across the globe. They ship in foreign aid supplies, food and medical equipment to countries following or during war time, civil unrest or natural disasters that devastate the people. They work with and provide direct services including canned meat and medical kits. In addition MCC provides a wide variety of kits that contain valuable products to help support the citizens and provide for those in need. School, health, sewing and newborn kits are flown around the world to children and adults who literally have nothing but their bodies. Mennonite Central committee provides the backbone of support for Ten Thousand Villages.

Ten Thousand Villages has a network of hundreds upon hundreds of stores across Canada and the USA that provides a safe and supportive haven for young and old artist alike paying them deservingly for their fine work. Unlike mega conglomerates in the western world who most often pay meager money to those who toil together their products, Ten Thousand Villages happily gives full price that allows the artisans to live on a bed of money that they can actually use and enjoy their life with. Not simply the measly amount that corporations knowingly hand out to people in developing and desolate nations that have more than enough trouble striking up business let alone being handed pay cheeses that pay next to nothing at all. Government organizations based in Canada and the U.S. ensure that the products hand crafted are of high caliber in a safe promoting working environment. Under that the monitoring bodies ensure they maintain peaceful and promotional relations with each country, each individual and each village. They strongly are against all forms of abuse, work exploitation and work abuse.

Instead of simply sending masses of materials Ten Thousand Villages promotes sustainable aid, by giving and continuing to give over the long term for many years. As the businesses and production gets all arranged, the relationship between the offices in North America strengthens not dwindles as the majority of foreign aid programs do. In addition there is a relationship between the consumer and the producer. The consumer learns about the man, woman or children who crafted their purchase and they learn all about their way of life and how Ten Thousand Villages is positively contributing to their life. The organization is one of many branches that's part of the global tree that operates across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America International Fair Trade Association . IFAT runs over 270 Fair Trade Organizations across the planet in over 270 countries worldwide. Each of these individual programs fostering a friendly web of support in the world. One that looks beyond boundaries both physical and poverty and realizes the true spirit in all these special people. Canadians and Americans can participate in exchanges with countries involved in Ten Thousand Villages and their parent companies. Check their websites for more details or arrange your own work abroad program with another company and see how shopping at this creative and crafty store truly is making a difference and not just dropping more millions into a Shanghai businessmen pocket who runs a Chinese sweat shop dropping a couple pennies a day into his underage and underfed employee's pockets.

2005-12-01T00:38:00.000-05:00

Mental Recup and Seeking Hapiness After Hurricane Katrina

Check up at The Tattoo to capture the latest offerings. Tattoo staff writer Samantha Perez of St. Bernard Parish just outside the borders of New Orleans, USA who was badly beaten and completely flooded following the August 23rd, 2005 Hurricane Katrina. The category 5 storm has wreaked havoc physically on her house and community. This is in the process of getting back in order. Nonetheless the mental recupperation will take much longer. This is what Perez is in the process of trudging through as she tells the globe while the rest of the media of the world has stopped reporting on Katrina. From the homepage click on the "Hurricane Journal" icon on the left-hand side of our homepage and read her two latest entries. Also don't miss one of our trio of Irish writers brand new concert review. Marese Heffernan tells all about new hot Irish singer Damien Rice. Click on his picture on the right-hand side of our homepage or under her name in the Writers Index also on the right-hand side in purple text. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2005-11-29T00:27:00.000-05:00

Global Visitors

People are seperated by continental boundaries, vast expanses of the ocean blue and borders between countries. Borders and boundaries aside, the populace of the planet wherever they hail from have much in common at heart This includes visiting my blog to catch the latest on my writing, The Tattoo Teen Newspaper, travel tools and pieces, the latest of Canadian and affairs abroad, emotional and social sides of life and much much more! Over the course of the next 4 months I will be jetting and riding the rails to four countries on two continents as well as going on a winter trip snoeshowing amongst the woods of Temagami, Ontario a well established widely popular outdoor recreation hotspot here in Canada with my alternate school, the 5 month outdoor leadership program I'm posting regulary on The Bronte Creek Project . I will have journals, humour political and photography covering the countries of Mexico, Belgium including Brussels , France including Paris and New York State, Connecticut and Massachusetts in that order in the USA. Over the past 5 weeks here's a the majority of where all of you have been clicking your way into my blog from. Now with the dawn of a new Canadian Prime Minister and my first opportunity to make my premiere electoral vote I will provide weekly coverage on all things Canadian election. As always travel, foreign affairs and interelationships, and the social sectors of society will be covered with creative flair.
Enjoy and keep checking back, I always love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me any comments, questions or queries to me at teague.neal@gmail.com or enter your name and post on my comment board on the right-hand side of my blog. Enjoy!

A selection people have been visiting from across the world:

Japan
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, United States
Queensland, Townsville, Australia
New York, Queensbury, United States
Singapore
Arizona, Tucson, United States
Cumming, Georgia, United States
Canyon Country, California, United States
Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Riverside, California , United States
Ontario, Ottawa, Canada
Allentown, Pennsylvania , United States
Atlanta, Georgia , United States
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan , Canada
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Elmwood Park, Illinois, United States
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Pakistan
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Aurora, Nebraska, United States
India
Colchester, Connecticut, United States
United Kingdom
Spain
Herdon, Virginia, United States
Alcalá De Henares, Spain
Waco, Texas, United States
Spain
Iceland
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Malta
Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States
Everett, Washington, United States

as well as yesterday's vistors all on November 28th:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Singapore
Colchester, Connecticut, United States
New York City, New York, United States
San Francisco, California, United States
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tuscon, Arizona, United States
Malaysia
Queretaro, Mexico
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tuscon, Arizona , United States
Pasadena, Texas, United States
Urbana, Illinois, United States
Queretaro, Mexico

My fans have been hailing from 13 countries spanning the globe from:

Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, India

United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain

Canada, United States, Mexico

Australia, Iceland

My fellow Canadians have been visiting from across Canada coast to coast from 4 provinces and major Canadian cities including:

Alberta
including Calgary

Saskatchewan
including Saskatoon

Ontario
including Ottawa & Toronto

Nova Scotia
including Halifax

Americans have been hopping on my blog from across the United States from 13 states including:
New York , Connecticut, Penselvaynia, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Illinois, Wyoming, Nebraska,Oklohoma Tennessee, California, Georgia, Arizona and Texas

including the major American cities:
New York City, San Francisco, Pasedena, Tuscon, Nashville, Atlanta and Oklohoma City

2005-11-28T23:45:00.000-05:00

Analyzing Attraction

Do you wonder where the sometime secret, perfect potion of love comes from. Where is that mysterious mixture concoted from? Where does the beautiful balance that pulls the weights evenly the majority of the time like a perfectly balanced scale come from? Why is is that these teams of two love yet hate, maintain peace yet inflict internal war upon themselves? Why is that the pod containing the peas bursts? Why does the window of oppurtunity, of lusty love crack and shatter? Where is human attraction for that beloved boyfriend or gorgeous girlfriend obtained from? Let's take it down to the basics and take a peek at the chemistry. Courtesy of my Indian friend from Calcutta, India:

Chemistry of Love

Symbol : ILU

Atomic No. : 2

Atomic Weight : Varies from couple to couple

Position on Periodic Table : Close to Heart

Occurance :
Occurs in highly reactive state in college compounds, cinema halls, parks and bus stops.

Method of Preparation :
By action of beauty upon heart, an exothermic reaction resulting in higher rate of blood circulation and faster heart beat.

By combination of two complex compounds commonly known as a boy and a girl or two of the same.

Catalysts Used : Friends, cousins, movies, restaurants and a highly active imagination.

Reducing Agents : Parents, neighbours, teachers and society.

Girl + Parents , Explosion resulting in loss of saline water from tear glands.
Boy + Reducing Agents , Rebellions

Physical Properties:
Physical State :
Gas at human temperature.

Colour :
Varying shades of pink.

Odour : Strong enough to sweep one off one's feet.

Chemical Properties :
Action on Scientists : Love + Scientist
Philosopher

Action on Teenagers : Love + Teenager
Poet
Reacts vigourously with suppression.

Cannot be dissociated by use of "Scold" and "Beat" energy.

Uses :
Helps in food economy, as one who is in love forgets to eat and drink.

Small and subtle dosage is necessary, as it is good for the body and the mind

Raw material for movie theme.

Non-conventional source of energy.

Physical Properties :-
Physical State : Gas at human temperature.
Colour : Varying shades of pink.
Odour : Strong enough to sweep one off one's feet.

Chemical Properties :-
Action on Scientists : Love + Scientist equates
Philosopher

Action on Teenagers : Love + Teenagers equates
Poet

Reacts vigourously with suppression.
Cannot be dissociated by use of "Scold" and "Beat" energy.

Uses :
Helps in food economy, as one who is in love forgets to eat and drink.
Small and subtle dosage is necessary, as it is good for the body and the mind.
Raw material for movie theme.
Non-conventional source of energy.

Inference :
Though chemistry and I tried to define love, it still remains undefined!!!

2005-11-28T01:36:00.000-05:00

The Tattoo Continues Game Play!

The Tattoo continues game play this week with the third of four editions we are taking to print and the Internet. Visit The Tattoo now to read all the reviews that were part of a extensive playing period where writers across the United States and myself in Canada outside Toronto tested and tried an assortment of games. Now out just at the brink of the Christmas shopping spree is the continued series of these reviews and news pieces of all things game. This week includes my latest article for The Tattoo: a review on the nifty and novel fast paced card game Zigity co-written with staff writer & cartoonist Joe Keo of Bristol, Connecticut, USA. Today's page also includes: Bristol, CT staff writers Katie Jordan's review on the downer game Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul The Game any why it didn't pass the test, Katie Haire's review on the visual artsy game Squint and review of challenging trial like trivia game Whad ya know and a look at the 20th anniversary edition of trivia classic Trivial Pursuit and what it's like now by staff writer Zach Brokenrope of Nebraska, USA. Last but not least check the cartoon, the newest piece by our California cartoonist Michel Lee taking a jab at Monopoly and its many versions. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2005-11-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

Days at the Creek...Bartering Blowout!

In commeration of the Canadian and American International Buy Nothing Day today November 25th at The Bronte Creek Project we held a bartering blowout in the dining hall. All laid out their goods up for trading at tables filling the room. Some selections included books, toys, clothing of all sorts that was no longer wanted by their owner. There was a ton of goodies out on display including skateboard & band hooded sweaters, gift cards for music stores, DVD's, Nintendo GameCube games, chunks of fudge, pieces of chocolate cake and much more. Everyone perused the tables carrying armfuls of some truly super stuff up for trading. People debated back and forth what they were willing to trade and for what. One of the Bronte teachers suggested that people write what they could make for other people in case their mind blanked or they couldn't scrounge up any selling materials. The idea caught on and fast, even people with masses of materials up for sale started writing out everything under the sun on slips of paper. This included a beautiful paid date out, food from McDonalds, cups of coffee, and promises of a batch or two of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies among other goodies!

Over the past couple weeks my family scanned corners of our house for a bunch of items and in the end came up with a wide variety to vend. I laid out all my goods in a section of tabletop and many people had their interest captured by my items. My grouping of goods included : a bottle of high quality scented hand lotion, a stuffed animal of a baby chick, a new toothbrush, a leather belt, notepads with different designs imprinted, handmade beaded bracelets I've made and a pair of pink shades! Entering this novel brainstorm of a bazaar I really was completely open minded and very naive and not at all sure what was to come forth. In keeping with the usual attitude at Bronte people were extremely friendly and even more open for different deals and ways to go about making the deal successful. You would either rest at your post in your personal mini market where your stuff was and barter there. Bartering also happened on the fly where you would simply grab a bunch of what you thought to be suitable objects and carry them over to your desired stuff of someone else's. While the exchange was open for trading, I would do a combination of these methods and it was highly successful. Many delightful products were attained through several successful trades. I got a copy of The Bourne Identity which I have been mentally meaning to buy for a longtime and now it's mine. In exchange for simply a single package of the dipping candy similar to FunDip.

BEST BARTER:

FOR

Mark Ciesluk a student writer penned an opinion piece on Buy Nothing Day from the student newspaper of Brock University in Canada's capital Ottawa, Ontario among many believe that it's just a superficial hoax of a day that does nothing for people's mindsets, opinions and the world of people's purchasing powers globally. He believes that the fact that we are so entrenched in material culture that it is far too late and there is little point in even trying to turn back now. You may as well sit back and enjoy it. That life is not fair, the world is not filled with equality and you may as well face it. An Estonian man by the name of Kalle Lasn brought about the beginnings of International Buy Nothing Day after he moved across the pond to the USA. His concept on creating this day set aside from what was modeled at Bronte, spending a day trading goods back and forth amognst family, friends and an assortment of traders. This is to show the world of consumerism that we do believe in the essence of life and we don't absolutely need to have the latest multi purpose printer, the latest model of ipod, the best of the best and we can spend 24 hours without putting money down at stores across our own countries and around the world. Promoting a world and lifestyle where we don't need to be completely obsessed and self reliant of the masses of material stuff that we crave and collect. The day is honored by anti-consumerist shoppers across the planet in Canada & the USA on the same day as well as on different days across Asia, Europe and in Oceania in New Zealand compromising 22 countries on four continents. This day really opens eyes and makes people ponder, ponder a life of simpler means with less impact.

MY OTHER TRADING SUCCESSES:

FOR

A colourful purse similar to the one I bartered for!

FOR

The Travel Lite Brite I bartered for, a great deal!

AND

FOR

FOR

FROM

FOR

A box of the beloved bubbly Chinese tea creation!

FOR

In return I was handed a handbook on all things writer similar to this one after I grabbed I saw it sticking out of a bag, the beggining of this trade!

2005-11-24T19:34:00.000-05:00

A Unique Take on the Thanksgiving Table

Log onto The Tattoo and read a unique take on the Thanksgiving table that is taken during American Thanksgiving that was officially celebrated today across the United States. Michel Lee of Turlock, California outside San Francisco writes all about the most innovative approach her and her family takes for Thanksgiving. Her whole family minus her father is vegetarian and they enjoy celebrating their native Korean culture. See how it's all done in her latest articleBetween Plymouth Rock and a hard place detailing how it's done. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2005-11-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

The Tattoo watched the Film Version of Family Guy, Check it Out!

The Family Guy movie recently came out to impress and awe fans, check what The Tattoo thinks! Good friend and Terryville, Connecticut, USA writer Stefan Koski has watched the movie then watched it again and once more for good measure. He tells all about what his observations are and gives his views. Why it's a star rated movie and the sides of the story that deserve a turkey. Don't miss it, check out his piece called Family Guy movie delivers laughs online now. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com or Stefan himself on his blog

2005-11-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

"Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away,on my way to where the air is sweet...Can you tell me how to get ,how to get to Sesame Street"

Scanning through my Singapore friend Geri Soon's blog tonight I came across this very cool personality quiz she took which I just finished taking myself. It peers into your persona posing pertinent questions. Tabulating the results it creates a character for you that best resembles you on Sesame Street! Check it out and take the test. In my younger days I used to be a major fan and constant watcher of Sesame Street, I loved every moment of it. To this day we still have many Sesame Street videos lining our shelves. In fact it's nearly time to pull out probably the oldest we own yet my all time favourite. It's a Christmas special that has tons of carol singing, humourous Christmas parties and much more. The classic moment of the movie though is when Bert, Ernie and Oscar the grouch (the grump who is permanently planted in the garbage can if you can't recall) are spinning super fast around the skating rink. Oscar then goes flying through the glass shattering it and crashes down several sets of staircases landing badly banged at the feet of my favourite character Big Bird! How I adore Big Bird but Snuffleupagus is interesting no doubt, never thought of myself as a brown elephant like creature, though I do love elephants. Enjoy and have fun with the test!

Snuffleupagus
You scored 41% Organization, 58% abstract, and 64% extroverted!
This test measured 3 variables:
First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.
Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.
Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.
You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.
I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why.
You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized.

You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute.

You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.
The other possible characters are
Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
Ernie
Elmo
Kermit the Frog
Grover
The Count
Guy Smiley
Bert
If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

2005-11-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

Fun and Games rolls on with The Tattoo

The Fun and Games series continues rolling along with The Tattoo with a collection of further game reviews done our staff writers who tried, tested and think through over many months. The countless game sessions have come together forming a four part collection of pages showing these reviews and articles that provide insight into how the behind the scenes production, marketing, selection and invention of board games happen nowadays. This week's issue includes: my good friend & Terryvillce, Connecticut, U.S. Tattoo staff writer Stefan Koski's game review of Face 2 Face's aggressive and ardent Boomtown, review of Scrabble like word game BuyWord by Bristol, Connecticut staff writer Katie Jordan, review of Hoopla an activity based game by Bristol, CTstaff writer Josh Blacker- his Tattoo debut! Also part of today's package includes review of Out of the Box's word expression game Apples to Apples by Bristol, CT staff writers Katie Haire & Justin Skaradosky. Nebraska, U.S. staff writer Zach Brokenrope looks at the jobs of those who design and develop board games for their living. Don't miss the cartoons by award winning Bristol, CT Tattoo cartoonist Joe Keo & the cartoons by staff writer & cartoonist of California Michel Lee. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com

2005-11-19T16:15:00.000-05:00

Days at the Creek...
Global Trading and Perspective

Both groups headed to the huge space that reminds me of what British authour and mastermind of Harry Potter J.K Rowling pens, The Bronte Creek Project's Great Hall. It's a vast space with huge beams lining the vaulted celings where a wide variety of events and activities are held. We came in off the bus and were sent into groups of several citizens of countries, seven to be exact. Tables were set up around the dining hall each representing one of the countries belonging to the World Trade Organization mimicing life in the reality. We partook in a global trading activity that started with stencils at our table. These stencils must be cut out, by hand in undeveloped nations including Niger, Nigeria & Hati, using protractors and rulers in developing nations including Brazil, Cuba & India and using scissors in the developed nation of Japan. These shapes once cut out must be fabricated constantly using the stack of construction paper on the table. Just as in real life depending on the quality of the product (the shapes) the workers at the Desk would reject or accept the shapes based on a number of factors. These factors being whether the shapes were cut correctly, well formed as well as whether or not they filled the If not then the price was lowered, this especially took a toll on the undeveloped nations such as my country of Nigeria.

United Nations meetings were also held periodically with certain trade treaties being formed and agreed upon simulating reality and other disputes settled. A variety of natural resources were also on the table represented by stickers including fish, parrots and other wildlife that could be sold to the World Trade Organization Desk. This game continued on for an hour or so as countries suceeded and struggled. Certain countries rain into deficit as much as 1.5 million for Niger which is much the same as you would have in real life. Wealthy and powerful countries including Japan did extremely well whisking up the money and countries. Very quickly a major alliance formed taking in Cuba almost instaneously along with India, Hati and others. Following the trading a break was taken and all leaders took a repose. We then broke away from our country groups and were led back up again by the COOP students once again, this time with them acting as security guards. They led us into the completely transformed dining hall to one of three eating areas.

Two students were sent to sit on the fireplace with nothing, absolutely nothing but a couple costume pieces. These people represented the more than 1.2 billion beggars on the streets across the globe scrambling for morsels of food and a couple coins. This represents over 1/6th of the world's population. Many people living in wealthy countries including Canada, the United States, Eastern Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand live their life in extreme comfort and the bulk of the population would not see or fully comprehend this serious lack of justice, balance and even basics. These two students simply had to go around and beg for everything including a cup, cutlery, water and food.

A desperate beggar in India trying to rub off a few coins or a piece of food where the distance between the haves and have nots is one of the highest in the world

The next level up from the beggars were the poverty stricken who sat cross legged on a tarp. They represent the more than 2/3 of the globe who live with barely anything. They have very little money from their meagrely paid jobs from picking peaches in Canada & the U.S. to sewing shirts in China or making beds at a Spanish run resort in the Caribbean. They do eat and drink but never or rarely enough and not quality food that is causing them serious malnutrition issues across Africa and across the world. This group of students simply had washed but not cut carrot and celery stalks. Along with bowls of plain white rice and pitchers of water to drink. They were very boerd of eating such a simple meal and got a lot of deliveries of food from the rich and middle class tables. This does occur in the real world though sadly much less than what was occuring at The Bronte Creek Project. These students represented the poor people of the earth.

Another group who made up the middle class of society one that makes up the majority of society in many countries around the world. This as in the article above can be classified into categories of all sorts. This is very much dependant upon those who are doing so. However generally speaking this group does not lap in luxury with palaces, multiple Mercedes or groups of golden gauntlets. These people live a extremely privelaged life even though they don't have every fragment that could have. Depending on what part of this populace you are a part of you can live very comfortably with lots of flexibility. You donate to a series of charities as I do, you are able to partake in quite a bit of travel and own several cars and have the technology and comforts such as air conditioning, heat and space, space in a house where you do not feel cramped up to the person next to you. This group also is made up of those who do have a fair amount but do need to keep an eye on their budjet and spending habits as they have less yet still much more than those in other less fortunate countries. These students sat at the regular painted wooden table used in the dining hall, with cutlery and pitchers of juice. We had toasted pita triangles to begin our meal followed by a bean and vegetable stew. This group that I was personally part of also donated to the poor and beggars as they wished.

The wealthy of the planet have many definitions according to many including in this article in the Global Policy Forum. The wealthy are those who don't have to worry about money, unless they are wasting vast amounts of it or deciding what cause it needs to go to. The line between upper middle class and rich is a dotted line but does have a difference. That difference is simply the level of living is that much higher with the extra creature comforts such as exquisite imported vehicles, lavish trips or vast sums of money that are sent forth to charities such as World Vision Canada. Many are generous and spread this wealth, some take it all for themselves.

This collection of cash can be gathered through inheritance through family lines, owning a large corporation or through wise investment and living. For the lunch these select students sat at a linen lined table topped with lit Chinese lanterns, candles and a host of condiments including everything from two types of hot sauce to two types of mustard and all the additions you would ever want. They began their meal with a series of extensive fruit and cheese trays piled high. This continued with a healthy portion of pasta salad. They then feasted on vegetarian burgers with their array of fixings. Following fondue was next up on their table, they dunked large chunks of fruit into the silky smooth chocolate as it simmered over a flame. They were then served coffee tableside from shining stainless steel pitchers. This represented the upper scale of society.

This activity was a real eye opener in a way to truly experience for a meal what some of the sentiments are living in these different sectors of society and the world. This meal truly sheds some light on what occurs in the world and the extreme distance between those that have seat massagers and those that can't even have a successful pregnancy or have a clean glass of water that won't give them malaria if they haven't contracted the disease already. The teachers showed us the now infamous champagne description of the distribution of the worlds wealth.

This shows in essence that the top portion of the glass being the majority of the globe's money reserve. Though this is the majority of money used across the planet, it's only used by 20% of the world though its 80% of the cash. The other 20% live or tragically often die off of this remaining corner of currency being the stem of the champagne glass. This truly along spotlights the extreme inequality that we have in our modern day world in 2005. One that we need to continue to crush not create. One that has us giving World Vision a call and not just flipping stations when their commercial comes up on our telelvisions. This lunch truly gave a glimpse into this delicate world we live in together. Living together in my and millions of minds should be one that is shared and enjoyed by all, not just a majority. Each and every one of the 6 billion people walking Earth deserves a chance. A chance to take in life for all it's worth, a chance to see the world for all its worth and a chance live their life for all its worth and then some more.

2005-11-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

Further words from lashed Louisiana

American Tattoo staffer Samantha Perez of St. Bernard, Louisiana just outside New Orleans is still penning words of emotion and excitement. She's a survivor of the August 23rd , 2005 Hurricane Katrina that washed through the Gulf Coast of the southern U.S. killing many and completely devastating the region. Perez has been garnering lots of attention across media and the Internet. Many readers pulled their resources and money together in response to The Tattoo's call from the cause of giving Perez a new laptop as her former home computer was completely submerged in the unforgiving waters of Katrina that plunged her house and town in deep depths destroying and devastating. Today Perez's two further journals documenting her life in a trailer in another part of lashed Louisiana along the Gulf Coast and much more about the state of affairs in her, friend, family and state's of affairs. Be sure to check them out by going to The Tattoo and clicking on the Hurricane Journal icon on the left-hand side of our homepage. Her latest entries including the latest issue as printed in The Bristol Press in Connecticut, USA. Feel free to email your comments to The Tattoo at thetattoo@gmail.com