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Cerry Blossoms 2017

Tea Ceremony Koto in Kyoto

Tea Ceremony Koto in Kyoto

Taiken Japan Promotions

For centuries the art of performing a tea ceremony have been studied and performed in Japan. The art encompasses not just the actions or utensils used but also a spiritual exchange between the host and guests as well as the atmosphere surrounding it. For Japan the tea ceremony has become one of its most famous traditional activities and powdered green tea, or matcha in Japanese, remains the most popular drink today. To share in the experience of a tea ceremony I was invited to Tea Ceremony Koto which breaths a traditional atmosphere to complete one’s emersion into the ceremony.

Your host, Rie Kuranaka

Let me first introduce Tea Ceremony Koto’s delightful host and instructor miss Rie Kuranaka. With her long experience and training under tea ceremony masters at one of Japan’s most renowned schools, Urasenke in Kyoto where she is also a qualified lecturer, she still continues to devote herself to perfecting her art. The precious attention to the changing seasons is a lesson she holds dear and is reflected throughout her tea ceremony which makes a session at Tea Ceremony Koto a very unique experience in its own right.

A mesmerizing experience in the making

Upon entering you will immediately notice the other two arts Rie-san has mastered over the years, the wearing of a kimono and ikebana. A mannequin near the entrance displays a fine example of kimono worn by young girls and once you start admiring it Rie-san’s skill truly shines through the beautifully tied obi around its back. In the adjacent room your attention is instantly draw by the vibrant colors of the long-sleeved kimono worn by young girls in January.

Although we could admire the artifacts in the entrance for ages, let us not forget about the tea ceremony. At the start of the session Rie-san first introduces guests to the spirit of the tea ceremony as an art form as well as the various utensils used and how to properly drink from a bowl. Everything in the room is placed with great care and design to create an atmosphere that changes with the seasons. The fire pot with hot water, for example, is placed in the floor during winter where it is closest to the guests to warm themselves while in other seasons it is placed on top of a tray on the tatami floor.

As Rie-san performs her ceremony you feel drawn to the sheer elegance and care in which she undertakes every movement. It is this care that makes the Japanese tea ceremony unique as the taste of the tea is not only influenced by the type of tea used but also the temperature of the water, the quantity of tea powder and the manner in which it is whisked. Through her years of experience Rie-san presents you with an exquisite bowl of tea with such a refined taste and texture that it is not easily forgotten.

During the final part of the session it is time for the guests to try preparing matcha tea themselves. After witnessing Rie-san perform it herself just a moment ago this might seems daunting, but with her clear instructions and patience to guide you, you too are able to prepare a nice bowl of green tea yourself. To enhance the delightful tastes of your self-prepared matcha tea it is accompanied by traditional Japanese sweets from some of the most renowned shops in Kyoto. When you finish your tea, you will take a moment to admire the artwork on the bowl. Like the room itself, the bowls too change by the season to serve both an aesthetics and a practical functions in preserving the tea’s flavor and temperature. While visiting in a group you will notice every person has a different bowl spurring which spurs one’s curiosity to admire these as well. It can truly be said that the outmost care for details at Tea Ceremony Koto makes every piece present to be considered as a piece of art to touch and admire.

Experience your own tea ceremony at Koto

Tea Ceremony Koto is located just around the corner of the gates to Kyoto’s famous Kinkakuji-temple with its golden pavilion making it a perfect stop before or after visiting the temple. At Tea Ceremony Koto you have the choice of three different plans of 45 minutes sessions to suit you and your companions. The shared session for 7 people at most is ideal for couples or friends who wish to enjoy two kinds of matcha with dried traditional Japanese sweets. If you are coming to Kyoto for a special occasion, a birthday or honeymoon for example, a private session serving additional fresh sweets will certainly make your visit a cherished memory. Larger groups of over 5 people can also enjoy a private session serving the two kinds of matcha and fresh sweets. Please note that sessions should be booked a day in advance or in the morning by phone or e-mail. For more information please check here.

Rests to say that through Rie-san’s experience and sheer attention to detail accompanied by the traditional atmosphere the home breathes makes attending the tea ceremony at Koto one of the most mesmerizing experiences in Kyoto.

Tea Ceremony Koto
Website: http://teaceremony-kyoto.com/
Address: 〒603-8377 37 Nishi-Goshonouchi-cho Kinugasa Kita-ku Kyoto city
E-mail: teaceremonykoto@gmail.com

Writer:Bjorn Koolen


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Sunday, August 02, 2015

Meet a Challenge Head-On

When I met a big challenge over a year ago now, I read a lot about challenges. Most articles stated that it's best to meet a big challenge head-on.

Now I'm watching some that I honor meet challenge, and I'm hoping that they meet the challenge head-on.

What does that mean?

Meeting a challenge-head on includes the following steps:
  1. Revisit your values. What do you believe in? Who are you and who do you want to be?
  2. Analyze the challenge. What did you do well, and where did you go wrong? Were your wrong turns due to misconception, outdated understanding, poor behavior, lack of support, ignorance, lack of discipline, and/or malintent?
  3. Own your behavior, good and not so good, and fully understand why you did what you did. Be transparent--apologize for that which is wrong or ill intended.
  4. Listen to all parties. Be open to their perspectives, ideas, and thoughts. Listen to yourself too.
  5. Plan for change, if needed, and do right in the future. Ask questions and illustrate in words the facts and parts of the problem you don't understand, own, or believe to be true.
  6. Work with the other parties to make sense of the issue. Detangle the event step-by-step together since only when all parties fully and truthfully understand the events will positive progress be possible. Then craft a plan for better work, collaboration, and effort.
  7. Move forward. Revisit the issue here and there to make sure you and the others involved are moving in the positive direction planned. Seek help to reach goals as needed.
When we hide behind big problems and challenges, we never move forward. When we bring the challenges forward, big and small, we pave the way for better effort, community, and resolve.

I hope those that I know and honor will meet their challenges head-on. I hope the result will be betterment for all involved. I hope that the onlookers will support good action, learning, and positive change and growth.

As I think back to my own challenge, I followed my own advice in many ways. I owned my actions. I apologized where appropriate. I sought the wisdom of others. I practiced new think, action, and effort. Have I fully met the challenge? Not yet as it's a process. The next step involves the readiness of others to move forward as well. Some have done that with me, and with those individuals, there has been wonderful growth and change, and for others (and me), there's still work to do. But there's time and good will, so I know we'll get there.

How do you meet challenge head-on? How has that helped you, your friends, family members, and colleagues to live better, more productive, and beneficial lives? What gave you the courage to embrace the challenge with honesty, transparency, and positive action? And, how has that positively affected your life?

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Submission + - US Regulator to investigate Dreamliner (

Dupple writes: US regulators have ordered a review of the 787 Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents put a question mark over the safety of Boeing's flagship plane.

The review by the Federal Aviation Administration will look at the design and manufacture of the planes. It is not clear whether the planes in the air at the moment will be grounded.

An electrical fire, a brake problem, a fuel spill and cracks in the cockpit's windshield have affected Dreamliner flights in the past week.

"We are absolutely confident in the reliability and performance of the 787," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said. "We are working with the FAA and our customers to ensure we thoroughly understand any introductory issues that arise. "While we take each issue seriously, nothing we've seen in service causes us to doubt the capabilities of the airplane."

However, a spate of technical issues has hurt its image.

  Problems with the brakes

  A fire in boston

There is a longer list and some interesting analyses at the source

This discussion was created for logged-in users only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

US Regulator to investigate Dreamliner

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Tech Policy Poll

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Animoto Now Available For Commercial Use

Quick poll: If you could suggest one tech policy proposal for the Presidential candidates to adopt, what would it be?

Later today, I am speaking on a panel at the Personal Democracy Forum about national tech policy. In the poll below, I’ve listed some general policy proposals that are important to the tech community dealing with Net neutrality, patent reform, H1B Visas, copyright, renewable energy, open-source adoption, and appointments to the FCC.

What Tech Policy Would Have The Biggest Economic Impact?
( polls)

Please vote and let me know which one you care about the most.

I’ve already started asking some people in the tech community for their ideas, some of which are reflected in the poll. Marc Andreessen says:

I would advocate unlimited H1B’s for anyone college educated (“brain drain the world”) and eliminating software and business method patents.

Also a huge government push to use free and open source software.

Dave Burstein, the editor of DSL Prime has a suggestion for the candidates:

Make sure some of your appointments to the FCC and other agencies have technical competence.

Not one of the 5 FCC Commissioners has a technical background, nor do most of their aides and bureau chiefs. Nearly every rumored candidate for these jobs is a lawyer. One of the best possible choices tells me he has no chance, because he “isn’t a politician.” Far too often decisions simply don’t make sense, possibly because no one senior realizes when the lobbyists are lying. Lawyers and history professors can also have a place, but some of the people at the top should also know the subject in depth

Suggest your own national tech policy proposal in comments. (This is quick and dirty, but we’ll be refining our thinking on this over time with your feedback. A good place to bone up on these and other tech policy issues, and where Barack Obama and John McCain stand on them is at our Tech Primaries site).

Update: Chris Sacca weighs in with these ideas:

Net neutraility: While I believe that uniform throttling when done transparently and equally for all applications, including the ISP’s own, can be justified in some cases, we are heading for a major conflict between the delivery of iTunes/Netflix/YT/Hulu content versus the licensed content of the MSOs and Telcos. This will come to a head in the next 18 months.

Spectrum – Three main issues here:

1) Ratification of the TV White Spaces use. Spectrum between broadcaster channels should be reserved for the public good. WiFi has been an amazing public benefit and there is no reason a similar commons cannot be created in the White Spaces (also now being called WiFi 2.0 by some). If the National Association of Broadcaster just decided to cooperate, all alleged interference problems would be easily solvable.

2) ATC (ancillary terrestrial component) spectrum. The FCC granted satellite guys ability to also use their spectrum on a terrestrial basis. However, there is some fogginess around the definitions and this has prevented major buildouts. A new administration could make very clear the utility of this spectrum and it would inspire competitive plays and thus consumers win big.

3) Restrict future spectrum auctions to new entrants. The D block auction failed for a number of reasons, but the rest of the 700MHz auction showed us that yet again the player with the most money will further consolidate spectrum ownership. The public is the big loser when all the airwaves are controlled by one or two players. The FCC should ban incumbents from the reauction of the D block and inspire some real competition for the benefit of all.

Censorship – We should impose sanctions on any nations that censor or otherwise interrupt the free flow of information on the Web. It is becoming downright ridiculous under certain regimes. At a minimum, we should forbid US hardware companies from supplying repressive governments with the tools necessary to filter and restrict access to content. This is no different than monitoring the sale of arms and related technology.

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Last minute Apple "Let's Rock" rumors

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Samsung producing Atom-powered netbook

With the Apple press conference mere hours away, the ‘ol rumor mill is work’n overtime. Quoting long time sources, AppleInsider claims that the iPod Shuffle is going to five color options and while the Classic is only going to be available in two. The real news is that the third-gen Nano is getting a whopping nine color palette and will sport accelerometers for orientation sensing. There are other tid-bits like the ‘shuffle’ is going to be true to its name and require the user to actually shake the player, but we will just have to wait ’till 1 p.m. EST to see what ‘ol Stevie has planned for us.

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BankSimple Deposits $3.1 Million From First Round, Ron Conway, And Roger Ehrenberg

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LUM-TEC B15 Chronograph Watch Being Given Away On aBlogtoRead

New York City startup BankSimple today disclosed that it raised its first venture funding in a round led by First Round Capital, Roger Ehrenberg’s IA Ventures, and Village Ventures, along with seed investors SV Angel (Ron Conway) and Nauiokas Park, and Jerry Neumann. But it did not disclose how much it raised. I’ve confirmed that the round was $2.9 million, with an additional $190,000 raised last year in convertible debt (which converted to shares with this round), for a total of $3.1 million raised. Not exactly “a big round,” but more than enough for what BankSimple is trying to do.

BankSimple has not yet launched. It is trying to develop a better interface for banking, working with financial institutions to actually hold the deposits. “Anything the customer sees is what we do,” says CEO Joshua Reich. BankSimple is creating a new front-end experience for bank customers both online and through mobile apps. The service will simplify their accounts into a single account and gives them a dashboard to see how much they are saving, how much they can spend, and how close they are to reaching financial goals.

The whole point is to simplify people’s financial lives by giving them a modern Web interface and realtime data linked to their accounts. So when you are about to reach an overdraft, you might get a notification on your phone. The first customers will be required to own a smartphone so they can download one of BankSimple’s mobile apps (iPhone and Android will probably be first). They will be able to deposit a check by taking a picture of one with their cell phone camera. Customers will also get a bank card tied to their account.

“The way banks work is they shove products down the throats of consumers,” says Reich. The more products you sign up for with your bank, the more fees they can charge. BankSimple will not make money from fees. Instead it will split the net interest margin with its partner banks (the net margin interest is the difference between the rate at which banks lend out money and the rate at which they pay depositors). It is looking to partner with wholesale banks to take care of the back end.

This strategy of focusing solely on the user experience contrasts with Betterment, a TechCrunch Disrupt finalist which also tries to simplify the online banking experience with a single, smarter account, but does hold deposits. Reich acknowledges that “we would certainly get more revenues if we did it ourselves,” but does not want to be distracted by regulatory compliance and managing large pools of money. Plenty of banks do that better than BankSimple could. Instead he wants to focus on what banks don’t do well: building a technology company and making the customer experience less harrowing.

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Barcamp Bangalore 6 to happen on 19th & 20th April

So the dates are finally out. Barcamp Bangalore 6 or BCB6 as its better known as shall be happening on 19th &20th April at IIM Bangalore.

Follow the links Important Links mentioned below for further information.

Please start adding your talks and talk ideas to the wiki.

Hoping to catch you all there.

Do stay tuned to Technofriends for more, one of the best ways of doing so is by subscribing to our feeds. You can subscribe to Technofriends feed by clicking here.

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Creating ELAR/SLAR Plans

Users can create their own ELAR or SLAR classroom plans using templates specific to balanced literacy instruction in K-5 and 6-12.

Site access: District Resources > Design Templates

Click on the District Resources tab and select Design Templates.

You will automatically land on the Design Templates: Manage My Plans page. Click on the Create New Plan button.

Enter a Title for your plan by manually typing the title or copy/paste from an existing document, select the appropriate grade level template option from the drop-down selection, then click the Continue button.

In this example, the Plan ELAR/SLAR K-5 template is selected because we are creating a Grade 4 ELAR plan.

When the Editing Plan screen appears, the Title field will be automatically populated – however, you may edit this field by manually typing OR performing a copy/paste from another document.

Select the appropriate Grade/Subject/(Course) from the lists provided.

NOTE: If a High School grade level and subject area is selected you must also select the specific course.

Enter a Unit #, Lesson #, and Suggested Duration for the lesson.

List any attachments that may be used during any part of the lesson. If you have documents saved to one of your My Favorites folders, you create a link to that document using the Add from My Favorites tool in the toolbar.

Scroll to the Performance Assessment(s) section and click the Manage Assessments button to align the appropriate Performance Assessments to your plan.

Use the filters provided to select the Performance Assessments aligned to your plan and click Save.

If you haven't already done so, click Save to confirm your selections and content entered thus far.

Next Steps...

To complete your plan, you will enter the preparation and instructional steps specific to the lesson(s) you will be teaching.

Click the link below to learn about completing the Lesson Preparation and  Instructional Routines sections of the ELAR/SLAR templates:

ELAR/SLAR Template: Lesson Preparation

ELAR/SLAR Template: Instructional Routines

You can download a PDF version of this page by clicking the link below:

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White Tree

The Birch

Size: ~1,500 Government: Seat of the Governor of Bonevale Militia: White-Tree Rangers

White Tree is a town of no little fame throughout Bonevale and the Vales in general. It stands at the fork of the two streams Clearwater and Redbank. Just outside of the little town is a stand of birch trees where the Dryad Millionleaves is rumored to live. Legend has it that during the Fourth Age, her kindred defended the Grove from the advances of Lumiä’s armies and that the bones of a giant are buried beneath it, feeding those trees. They are ancient, and they seem to almost radiate magic.

White Tree proper subsists through riverine trade and adventurers going to the Grove to petition Millionleaves for magical aid. The town appears at first blow to be larger than Eastwick as it is spread in a fairly wide cleared area on a mede in the wood. The largest building in town is The Portage, an inn and porting house for moving boats between the two rivers or from Clearwater to Lake Tychon (or vice-versa). It’s existence provides access to the sea all along almost every waterway in the area.

The Governor’s Mansion is located in the center of town, a large Teralian-style villa. The current governor of Bonevale is Garios Honorius, a descendant of a ruined Bonevale noble house. Indeed, there are a few small noble houses still left in Bonevale from the days of Teral.

Return to Bone Vale, the Vales or the Main Page.

White Tree

Abridged History of the 10th Age Idabrius


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Final Fantasy XIII cut-scene comparisons

demo versus retail

A YouTube user has done 2 comparisons between footage from the demo versus and the finalized version that was released last week. The footage doesn’t contain any spoilers if you already played/view the April 2009 demo version. You can notice some subtle differences like more detailed hair textures and improved lightning effects (lightning, not Lightning, okay?)

You can view them, as usual in HD, below:

Don’t YouTube too much for FFXIII videos because some people are stupid enough to put spoilers in the titles or descriptions.

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Tag Archives: racism

Ace Community Issues Linkspam

A short linkspam of linkspams (and some individual posts) on ace intersections, including intracommunity issues and problems faced outside the community.  I’m still not all there in the head but, hey, wanted to do a thing, still.

Note in case of tumblrwarp: please visit the original wordpress post in case of future edits/updates.

Gender (Identity and Alignment) – Carnival of Aces November 2011: Gender and Carnival of Aces March 2016: Gender Norms and Asexuality feature posts on being trans, being female, and being nonbinary.

Race and Ethnicity – Vesper’s APoC Resources page has tons of links to content on/by/for asexual people of color, including articles and videos on racism inside and outside of the community, such as The Large Space That White Supremacy Occupies In Conversations About Sexuality.

You can also find some posts on being Jewish in the roundup for Carnival of Aces October 2014.

Gay, Bi, and Queer – On this subject, I’d highlight Living gay (and ace), On “no romo”, and Being asexual, “of the bi-ish persuasion,” and afraid, as well as this post on guilt over desire for representation. For further reading, see Queenie’s so-called teeny tiny linkspam on asexuality and queerness.

Illness and Disability – Carnival of Aces June 2015: Mental Health  and Carnival of Aces October 2013: Disability and Asexuality feature posts on being mentally ill, being disabled, and choices on the part of the ace community, disability activists, and health care providers.

Sexual Violence – Queenie’s Ace Survivors as Rhetorical Devices series explains how to avoid damaging rhetoric about survivors of sexual violence.

The RFAS (Resources for Ace Survivors) Recommended Reading page covers a broader range of topics under the same umbrella of asexuality and sexual violence.

Miscellaneous – Examples of Bad Ace Advice and Hezza’s Asexual identity prescriptivism linkspam address identity-policing and other issues.

compassionate leave

Okay there are a lot of other things I should be doing right now instead of posting here but I was thinking again today about how my company offers “compassionate leave” as a category of time off from work and how my coworker had to use her PTO hours (a different category) when she took time off to go to her uncle’s funeral, because she didn’t get compassionate leave for that, because her uncle isn’t considered “immediate family.”

The nuclear family is an economic unit.

abuse spans all

Okay yeah and branching off that last post, how about this wild idea: Abusers… are… unreasonable.  They do unreasonable things.  They have unreasonable expectations.  They are unreasonable.  So I’ve got no clue what some people are on about whenever they say something like “imagine a parent getting mad at their kid for X, that doesn’t happen because that’s just ridiculous.”  Hey, real fun fact: “it’s ridiculous” has never been enough to stop humanity from doing cruel and violent things.  Holding that expectation at all is ridiculous.  And more importantly here, it begs the question: Why are you expecting abusive behavior to be reasonable?  Why are you talking like there exists any abuse where you’d look at it and say, “oh, yeah that makes sense”?

Do me a favor and pay attention to that.  If someone’s position is that real abuse is “reasonable,” that’s the kind of thing that calls a person’s entire politics into question.

white ace stuff again

So, uh, remember this conversation?  And this part?  From when I said “White aces need to talk to each other about this”?  Yeah.  So.  I came across this post and that’s immediately what I thought about, ’cause…

I wish every white person at one of these protests would commit to doing one-on-one relational work with other whites to deal with their racism

This frustrates me because I’m in a very “liberal” academic space and my white classmates are always having lil breakout groups to discuss allyship, meetings to talk about how they can support black and brown efforts and organizing

But they seem to have zero idea how to actually talk about racism to other white people who don’t already agree with them

And from there another person reblog-commented with a story about trying to talk to another White person about a racial issue & it going better than expected, followed by some general tips for the same kind of general situation.  They seem like mostly decent ideas, and the one I want to highlight is this one:

1) Have people re-examine their own thinking. Don’t tell them how to think or how you think. Ask them questions that have them explore their thought process.

…And, um.  It depends on what kind of mess you’re dealing with, but I think that’s a set of tactics worth keeping in mind, and it’s this kind of thing that has helped me… manage some vile conversations, without getting as deep in worst case scenario as it could’ve, I suppose.

And if White aces want to do something about White aces making the ace community alienating and unsafe, I think working on productive confrontation techniques is a necessary step.

When you see an Indian person who used to identify as ace (and doesn’t anymore due to community issues) remarking upon white supremacists in the history & present of the ace community, it seems to me the prudent thing to do would not include scolding them for talking about it.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

(edit: context)

(edit again: uh I didn’t realize the unicode character I previously used as the “title” for this post would display as an union jack, what the heck.)

a rhetorical invoice

Every once in a while, the copilot sends me an article on M/S to see what I think, and pretty much every time, I can’t get through it.  Since she’s requested my thoughts, here’s a catalog of recurring problems and unanswered questions, for future reference.

Continue reading

on theology & public execution

[tw: description of racist violence]

The lynching tree — so strikingly similar to the cross on Golgotha — should have a prominent place in American images of Jesus’ death.  But it does not.  In fact, the lynching tree has no place in American theological reflections about Jesus’ cross or in the proclamation of Christian churches about his Passion.  The conspicuous absence of the lynching tree in American theological discourse and preaching is profoundly revealing, especially since the crucifixion was clearly a first-century lynching.  In the “lyinching era,” between 1880 to 1940, white Christians lynched nearly five thousand black men and women in a manner with obvious echoes of the Roman crucifixion of Jesus.  Yet these “Christians” did not see the irony or contradiction in their actions.

As Jesus was an innocent victim of mob hysteria and Roman imperial violence, many African Americans were innocent victims of white mobs, thirsting for blood in the name of God of the Anglo-Saxon race.  Both the cross and the lynching tree were symbols of terror, instruments of torture and execution, reserved primarily for slaves, criminals, and insurrectionists — the lowest of the low in society.  Both Jesus and blacks were publicly humiliated, subjected to the utmost indignity and cruelty.  They were stripped, in order to be deprived of dignity, then paraded, mocked and whipped, pierced, derided and spat upon, tortured for hours in the presence of jeering crowds for popular entertainment.  In both cases, the purpose was to strike terror in the subject community.  It was to let people know that the same thing would happen to them if they did not stay in their place.

–James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, p. 30-31

this is just to say

I don’t have high hopes for the input of a White dude who practices M/s, wrote a book on it without even acknowledging the certain specters invoked by the word “slavery,” and who freaking calls himself a “shaman,” as if that term isn’t racially-coded as hell.

totorolight (the indignant sub with poor reading comprehension) is back in my comment section again, and I can’t tell if she’s blocked me or what, because she’s been ignoring my comments completely while hassling poor Cor.

Nonconsensual submission

When I think about D/s things that creep me out, it’s easy to conjure up scenarios of nonconsensual (and “consensual”) domination — and so it occurred to me to wonder, is the reverse, nonconsensual submission, something conceivable?  Isn’t that… kind of impossible?  Is that a thing?  Does that happen?

And then I realized that it’s kind of, sort of… already happened to me.

Continue reading


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The word “portal,” at least to me, conjures up images of casual game havens like Big Fish or Reflexive, or sites full of the same flash games that are on every other site, like Kongregate or Armor Games. The idea of a game portal site really didn’t appeal to me until I spent some time on Game Jolt.

Game Jolt accepts nearly any kind of free game, be it downloadable or web-based. At first glance, it may appear to be just another site, with not much to offer, and I have seen several people complaining about how the layout looks too much like Kongregate’s, and I will admit that both the layout and business model bear some resemblance. However, after poking around the site a bit, it becomes obvious that Game Jolt is more than just another portal and may just be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Game Jolt has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that give it a large amount of potential. My favorite is the revenue sharing system. Although it is in closed beta right now, the program promises to offer developers a relatively easy way to monetize freeware games. The current split is 50/50, but will probably change as the program matures. The good news is that any developers that sign up now can reserve this rate for life, even if they are not chosen for the closed beta.

Another feature I think adds to the site’s potential is the Quick Play system. One of the main hassles of downloadable games is the fact that they usually need to be installed or unzipped. Very rarely do we download a straight .exe file and run it. Game Jolt solves this with a system that does the work for you. The developer simply uploads a .zip file, and the Quick Play system takes care of the rest. I think the removal of this extra step is a very important part in improving the accessibility of downloadable games.

I could go on about Game Jolt’s other qualities, like the active and friendly community, or the contests, but then people might start to get suspicious. The point is that Game Jolt is creating a site that could open up the freeware games sector to an audience that it hasn’t really had before, and they are doing so in a developer-centric sort of way. I’ve registered and uploaded some of my games to the site, and I sincerely wish the site success in the future as both a developer and user.


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We Need YOU!

My favorite thing (and one of the reasons I keep my blog going after nearly 10 years) is participating in the Cybils. It’s a lot of work, yes, but it’s a fantastic thing to be a part of something larger than oneself. You find new favorite books (and yes, lots of duds as well), and you get to talk books with other people who are just as passionate about them as you.

And, on top of that, you’re helping create a list of  books that are both terrific but also kid-friendly. I’ve recommended the Cybils finalist lists to people as a resource for great books for years.

But, this award doesn’t give itself. We need judges (in all categories). And that’s where YOU come in. Go here, and fill out an application. (It’s easy. Promise.) And be a part of the fun!

2 thoughts on “We Need YOU!

  1. I loved being able to talk about books with people just as passionate (even more passionate, perhaps!) as I am. And to create something good & useful at the same time? #perfect

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Coming out of hibernation

The Buttercup Yard

This week of warm sunshine has left us all feeling glorious. We’re so lucky to work in a beautiful Sussex town and most importantly in a cafe where we get to be outside (well, when we’re not busy creating fresh delights in our kitchen). We have lots of tables for customers outside in our yard. Like 99% of the population this weather has made us start thinking about our flowers, plants and gardening plans for the summer. So this post is a collection of ideas we rather like.

beautiful strawberry pots as featured on

1) Strawberry pots – as featured on the lovely Country Living blog this week.

2) Alys Fowler‘s collection of articles in The Guardian are brilliant and very useful – covering everything from growing peas to marigolds.

Wiggly Wiggler's British grown flower posy

2) Wiggly Wigglers – we love their beautiful British grown flower posies in jam jars.

3) Leadbetter & Good – we couldn’t resist buying some of their latest bunting. Brilliant bold colours and fabrics for summer. Their shop is new to Cliffe High Street in Lewes.

4) Fennel & Fern – The most stylish gardening blog.

5) Garden Organic – The national charity for organic growing have great information on edible flowers. And as any of our regular customers will know, we love using edible flowers in The Buttercup kitchen.

2 thoughts on “Coming out of hibernation

  1. Thank you for mentioning our Country Living blog – I love the look of your café! It would be great to hear more about it. Do you grow your own produce as well? All best, Louise

  2. Hi Louise, Thanks for visiting our blog and your lovely message. We don’t grow our produce but we do source it from local growers, farms and Sussex suppliers (via the brilliant Fin & Farm). We use our local town butchers and fishmongers and all our cakes are made by home bakers in Lewes. We keep it as local as we can! Best wishes, Claire

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N.J. Expands Use of Cops in Youth and Family Services Division

Assigning Human Services police officers to the Newark and Camden offices of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services last year proved so beneficial that the state has expanded the police presence to 22 DYFS offices, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. By July, 30 more officers and sergeants will join the 40 already assigned to the child welfare agency, Human Services Commissioner James Davy announced.

“Oftentimes, our caseworkers go into dangerous neighborhoods, fearing for their own safety,” Davy said. He added that the “public backlash against DYFS increased” after the state admitted making mistakes in a case involving 7-year-old Faheem Williams, who was found dead in a Newark basement on Jan. 5, 2003. The Human Services police have helped locate 1,600 parents and 1,500 children, made 4,000 contacts with local police departments, escorted workers to 2,000 site visits and assisted caseworkers 330 times removing children from dangerous homes, Davy said.

Link: http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1095915165218891.xml

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Just a quick note on RyanCare’s failure

No, I am not going to delve into the debate over whether those who were not going to vote on this bill were right or wrong strategically. Overall, I thought the bill was simply a, how should I put this nicely, a big sack of camel dung. Sure, it was preferable to the gargantuan sack of camel dung that ObamaCare is. But, the bill, the manner in which it was put together, and its content was basically a failure.

No, I am not going to throw up my hands and say we Congress cannot still repeal ObamaCare. I am not going to say they cannot replace it. I am going to say that they MUST do these two things. Unless they want to start losing elections of course. They are fully capable of getting it done, IF they are willing to overcome two major issues. First they must focus on American principles. Yes, principles. Three of our principles as a nation individualism, individual liberties, and individual responsibility. One of those responsibilities is to provide for ourselves. That clearly should include health insurance. One of the biggest mistakes America ever made was to paint health insurance as any type of collective right, or, in fact, a “right” at all. Once we did that, a Pandora’s Box of problems was opened. And, I doubt that box can ever be fully closed again.

So, if we cannot close that box, then what? Well, the biggest goal must be to get the government out of the business of health insurance. If the goal is to insure more Americans, and decrease costs, then government can do very little except to get the heck out-of-the-way. In fact that would be their very best aim.

In short, there ought to be no federal law deciding what must be covered, that is an individual choice. There must be no mandate requiring health insurance. In fact, I can think of nothing better than allowing Americans to buy insurance without any government interference at all.

As far as subsidies, or tax credits go, I doubt either helps lower costs, and both create an entitlement. And, as Dennis Prager said recently, nothing is as addictive as “free”. Once you think you are getting something for “free”, well, you do the math. Sure subsidies/tax credits would allow some who have not had insurance to get it. Some people under ObamaCare were able to afford insurance. The flip side of that coin? Many lost insurance, or had their premiums and deductibles skyrocket. And many, like me was forced to choose between the penalty for not having insurance and paying huge premiums for insurance that I would likely never get to use because of the massive deductibles.

So, what should Congress do? Or more to the point, what should Republicans do? Well, first off they must please both the Conservative and  Moderate wings of the party. Yeah, how did that just work out? Let us face a stark reality. The Republican Party is much less unified by ideology than is the Democratic Party. We are the party of Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Louie Gohmert sure. But we are also the party of John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Olympia Snowe. We are also the party of Rand Paul. I know the media paints the Democratic Party as a “big tent party” but the GOP  is far more ideologically diverse, so we will never get a consensus on a bill that cuts out government involvement completely.

So, all we can do is to get the best bill possible, take our time, and allow the people to have time to view the bill BEFORE a vote. Do not give us excuses about time. Congress has time. Let the Democrats grandstand on Russiaphobia, and fake scandals. Republicans have the majority in both houses, so ignore the braying asses like Pelosi and Schummer and write a better bill! Once such a bill has been written, and the people have seen it, THEN vote on it. THEN pass it. THEN President Trump can sign it. THEN we can start actually seeing positive results.

Finally, we, the people, have to understand that there will be measures of compromise in this bill. We also must realize that it will have faluts, but it will be better than ObamaCare. Also undestand that repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with a bill more in line with American principles will move us several steps in the right direction. And that beats the heck out of standing in place or backing up.

2 thoughts on “Just a quick note on RyanCare’s failure

  1. Your sidebar with the twitter pics may get someone fired at work for the soft porn.

    Otherwise, good post. I want to strangle every Republican that says “let Obamacare fail and the Dems will own it” so I’m glad you didn’t go down that route. The Republicans have control of all three branches of government (one is tied 4-4 at the moment). Any rate hikes, any pullouts of insurance carriers from the markets belong to the Republicans because they are in charge. Time to get to work or go home.

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Tag Archives: genuine transformation

“God tempts no one.”

The above phase is taken from Emanuel Swedenborg’s Apocalypse Explained (246). Yet elsewhere, Swedenborg insists that God’s truths cannot be instilled (acquired) into one’s inner life without temptations. So what gives here? According to Swedenborg, the Lord God uses every … Continue reading

Posted in god, Inner growth, psychology, Reality, religion, spirituality, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments


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Hannah’s Big Weekend

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated a rather big birthday for my sister, and what an amazing time we had! A group of us hired a holiday home in Chichester near the sea for the weekend. We celebrated by eating a LOT, playing games and quizzes about Hannah’s life, catching up with old friends, enjoying walks on the beach, and snoozing by the fire. It was such a good weekend filled with such lovely people. If only we all lived closer to each other!

Below is our “grand designs” house:

hannahs we12

hannahs we16

The parents of little children having a rather early breakfast:

hannahs we8

The little men at the bar:

hannahs we7

A group of us went to Mass on the Saturday and wow was it the quietest most peaceful Mass I have experienced in a very long time! Benedict fell asleep in the car, and then remained asleep on Dom’s shoulder for the duration of the whole Mass… Incredibly thankful for this gift. Although, I think Dom’s arm was pretty dead by the end!

hannahs we14

hannahs we15

Back at the house, a very intense game of chess:

hannahs we3

hannahs we2

hannahs we9

Yes, I was the embarrassing sister who brought along the baby photos:

hannahs we17

Snoozing by the fire:

hannahs we4

hannahs we13

Hannah birthday dinner:

 hannahs bday dinner

hannahs bday cake

I love these next two photos! Joseph really wants to play but Benedict just has other things on his mind:

hannahs we6 hannahs we5

B chasing after Sebastian:

hannahs we boys

One of our walks by the beach:

hannahs we20 hannahs we19


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Monthly Archives: December 2009

I may have spoken too soon…

Last night my husband and I were sitting down after dinner and I was chatting away about a few things and mentioned how pleased I was that I hadn’t had any side effects from the Provera and Clomid. H gave me a sideways glance and asked what the SEs are. I mumbled something vague about mood swings etc etc, and noticed H trying to hide a smile.

“Why are you laughing?! Do you think I’m having MOOD SWINGS?!!!”

Ah , oops. I really wasn’t intending on yelling at him. I guess there’s my answer.

After H recovered from his fits of laughter he was able to convey that yes, perhaps my mood has seemed a little labile of late. I don’t know if it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, but a couple of times at work today I had to fight back tears. Things are pretty stressful there at the moment because my colleague is away on leave and because of the holidays I’m trying to cram 5 days of work into 3 days. On top of that I’m distracted by all my personal medical shenanigans. We don’t get mobile phone reception at work so I have to run around the corridors in my spare moments or wait until there’s no one around to make medical appointments and get results. And unfortunately my boss – who’s lovely – just hasn’t been very effectual this week. He works much better at a slow pace than a fast one! I pushed and pushed this morning to get some important tasks done, but somehow we still ended up spending our time on tasks that to me seem much less urgent. And I know what that means… tomorrow will be even worse than today.

This situation just reminded me so much of this time last year. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas 2008 that my pituitary tumour and PCOS were diagnosed, and I was upset and stressed trying to organise all my medical reviews and scans, all the while dealing with a very disorganised and unsympathetic senior staff member. I was working a particularly stressful job at that time and unfortunately my off-sider was off on extended compassionate leave. Luckily my seniors’  manager was fabulous and when I confided in him he really helped facilitate things for me. There certainly were some tears at work last year though, so feeling teary today just brought all those feelings flooding back.

Okay, my whinge is over! Now it’s time to hunker down to some Indian takeaway with H. It’s a particular treat that we love to indulge in from time-to-time (ie frequently), and although a 38 C day doesn’t seem like the best timing to eat hot Indian food, neither of us wanted to cook!

Filed under Clomid, Infertility, PCOS, Pituitary Adenoma, Provera

An Apology, a Holiday, and an Update

First, an apology

I signed up to ICLW for the first time this month. I had the best intentions but H and I have been away for the last 2 days and I haven’t commented at all during that time. I didn’t even log in! However I did manage to make my quota on the other days, and I ‘met’ some nice new bloggers, so I’m really pleased I took part.

Second, I thought I’d give you a quick run down on our little holiday

H had to work Christmas this year but when we found out that we were both off work for the following three days we decided to make the most of such a rare occurrence and head out of the city for some R&R. I was able to find a B&B with a vacancy in a seaside town we have previously visited on a day trip. The town Sorrento is located on a peninsula so we were literally surrounded by beaches.

The B&B was a beautiful quaint cottage from the 1800s and it had been beautifully restored. Check out the photos – particularly the huge bath tub!

It would have been a great place for some serious baby-making but the timing meant we had to find other ways to occupy our time. Not difficult!

On Day One we relaxed, had a beer at the local pub, ate dinner outside in the lovely garden, and fell asleep before the sun went down!

Day Two consisted of a visit to the rough beaches on the eastern side, a coffee with the view of the ocean (well, chai latte for me since I’m avoiding caffeine), and a short walk up to an observation point. Then we headed down the road to the next town where we had been told there was an amazing pub. We found the pub, and sat in the fabulous back garden with a view of the ocean. I read my book and H did the crossword with the help of a beer. The rest of the day consisted of some quality time with my towel and my book at the inner beach followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

I had a little ‘IF moment’ while lying on the beach. There were lots of families on the beach, and there was one particular family nearby with two aborable toddlers. I was watching them play in the sea, and I was struck (as I often am) by how much genuine enjoyment children get out of life. These kids were ecstatically happy splashing in the water while mum and dad looked on. And I so badly wanted to see our kids doing that. I wanted to be like all those other families at the beach. I got a bit teary and H noticed and without having to ask he knew why I was upset. He quickly got me smiling and some time later – stating he’d had too much sun for one day – he took himself off for a walk in town. Later that day when we were back in our room, H presented me with a white box. I opened it to find the most adorable little baby shirt. He’s bought it on his walk so that I had something tangible to remind me that we will have a child.

On Day Three we headed checked out of the B&B at about 10am, and toured around the peninsula for the day. We stopped at a boutique brewery so H could try the beer (are you sensing a theme here?) and then had a picnic lunch before heading back to the city.

The highlights? The croissants at the B&B – as good as any I’ve had in France; and the Pizza at the local restaurant – better than any I’ve ever had in Italy!

Third, a TTC update

I’m thinking about my ovaries. In fact, I think about them quite a lot. I wonder if, after so many months – perhaps years – of sitting dormant, they will know what to do in response to the Clomid. Can old ovaries learn new tricks? Or is it a case of ‘once a dumb ovary, always a dumb ovary’? Hm, I can just picture my lumpy little ovary sitting sullenly in the corner of my pelvis wearing a dunce cap on his lumpy little head. (I’m not sure why I picture my ovaries as male, it seems counter-intuitive. Maybe because I think a well-raised female ovary would have the good manners to ovulate on time, as scheduled).

Today is CD5 and so far my body hasn’t dared to utter the slightest complaint about the 50mg of Clomid I have been consuming every night. Maybe my body hasn’t even noticed. Long may it continue, I say, just as long as I actually ovulate.

In good news, the long and frustrating 8 day wait for CD1 after stopping Provera has actually worked out quite nicely, thank you. It means that my MRI scan is scheduled for CD11, and even if  my body turns into an overachiever and I manage to both ovulate and fertilise by CD11, there’s no way in hell that the little blastocyst will have implanted. This means I can get my shot of MRI contrast without fretting about giving birth to a two-headed baby with a voice like Fran Drescher. Thank God, because I really wasn’t looking forward to those nightmares.

Filed under Blogging, Clomid, Infertility, Non-IF Stuff, Photos

Merry Christmas, Blogosphere

Today is great for two reasons.

One: it is Christmas. I love Christmas, and any other celebration for that matter.

Two: tonight I take my very first Clomid.

Filed under Clomid, Non-IF Stuff, Photos

Popping my Cherry

This week is my very first ICLW. Yes, I know it’s a bit brave to do my first one during a week which is (a) interrupted by Christmas and (b) ridiculously busy at work, but I just couldn’t help myself. I OPTIMISTICALLY figure I’ll be able to do it, and I IMPATIENTLY couldn’t wait until next month.

So welcome! Come pop my ICLW cherry!

Filed under Blogging, Photos

Get the Party Started

I had my last Provera on Wednesday night, and I’m waiting for CD1.

I escaped without any real side effects, although on Friday and Saturday I had shocking headaches which I think was due to stopping the Provera. I used to get similar headaches during the days before my period when I was on the pill.

Aside from that, and perhaps a slightly achey, bloated tummy (which is truthfully probably due to the multitude of Christmas functions over the past two weeks) I have spotted no sign of a pending CD1 yet though… and I’m SOOO impatient for it to arrive so I can take my Clomid and get this party started!

Filed under Infertility, Photos, Provera

Idle Hands

 I’m stuck at work tonight until 8pm, and for a change there’s not really much to do.

I’ve noticed that whenever my mind is unoccupied I slip right back into thinking about infertility, and to be honest I feel like I’m becoming a bit obsessed. In some ways I feel much calmer now than I did before I started this blog, during the interminable wait for my FS appointment. I’m more optimistic, and on a good day… a little less impatient!

But my husband pointed out last night that recently we spend much less time actually together when we are both home. I happen to think part of the blame for that lies firmly with H’s new Playstation 3. That said, I can’t deny that I spend more of my evenings at home in front of the computer either writing in this blog or reading many of the others that I follow.

So tonight, I find myself at work, with idle hands. Here is a list of things I have done before caving in and logging into IF Land.

  1. Completed some dreaded paperwork (in actual fact, I was so bored that even though my paperwork is all up-to-date I have actually started preparing paperwork in advance).
  2. I ate dinner. Slowly.
  3. I spent 45 minutes perusing Explore/Interestingness/Last 7 Days on Flikr
  4. I compared my pathetic photos to some of the amazing photos taken by talented people on Flikr, and got depressed.
  5. Ate a chocolate muffin to cure my depression.
  6. Answered a work-related phone call. Made frantic conversation with the person on the other end as they were trying desperately to hang up.
  7. Sat staring at the wall.

What’s the moral of the story, you ask? Buggered if I know, but at least I just killed another 30 minutes.

Comments Off on Idle Hands

Filed under Blogging, Infertility, Photos

The Art of Lying

A couple of weeks ago I decided to tell my husband about this blog.

OK, that’s a lie. He knew that I was reading some IF blogs and one evening when I mentioned something about one he said to me “but you’re not writing anything on the internet, are you?”. I paused for a moment, and quickly decided I couldn’t outright lie to him. (Well, not about this. I can usually manage to scrounge up a white lie about how much that new pair of high heels cost). Not only am I a terrible liar, but not telling the truth about something so important just wasn’t something I was comfortable with.

It might seem strange that I didn’t tell him right from the start but – to be brutally honest – I knew that he probably wouldn’t approve and I knew that if he voiced that to me I would feel like I couldn’t blog without betraying him in some way. So I started this blog all on my own, as my private piece of therapy, and chose not to mention it.

There are a couple of reasons why I suspected H would not be impressed with the idea of a blog. Firstly he is simply quite a private person. He just doesn’t like the idea of people knowing his business without making a conscious choice about what information he is willing to share. Secondly, although he is incredibly loving and supportive, he is not an emotional person in the same way I am. He is thoroughly pragmatic, and I knew he just wouldn’t understand why I needed this outlet.

So when I admitted to the blog, it seemed there might be a fight brewing. And then something amazing happened. For probably the first time ever, I managed to explain myself, without getting upset, in a way that H instantly understood.

I explained to H that I have all these thoughts about IF running though my head and if I didn’t have some way of getting them off my chest I’d come home every night and unload verbal diarrhoea all over him, and he would rapidly lose his mind. I told him how much support I get from fellow bloggers out there. I explained that the purpose of this blog was not to embarrass him, or share unneccessary information with complete strangers, but to help me cope. The bottom line was that this blog helps to save him from some of my lunacy.

His reply?

 “That is the most intelligent thing you’ve ever said to me.”

So the moral of the story is… the blog continues, with H’s blessing, on the proviso that it remains anonymous, and I don’t discuss the intimate details of our sex life or our arguments. Which is just fine with me. And I imagine it’s just fine with you too, because who the hell wants to hear that stuff anyway?

Filed under Blogging, Infertility


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-How are u? -Popular!

It’s us, the generation of ”Like”, the individuals that are their own promoters for the ultimate goal of being popular. Success is measured in number of followers, achievement is given by the number of posts and glory is gained by the numbers of likes. We are all stars in our published on walls life, we all have our 15 minutes of fame, surrounded by the envy, appreciation, adulation of our fans-friends that use us as a standard for their personal success or happiness. The wish of ”Like” makes us invent ourselves, living 50% in our wall reality, with the absolute goal of doing more to publish more. And while you’re on the phone with your best friend telling you ”I have to go, someone just liked me on Facebook”, I ask u: how are u today? Popular, of course 🙂

DSC06736 DSC06739 DSC06742 DSC06744 DSC06745 DSC06746 DSC06754 DSC06755 DSC06759 DSC06761 DSC06765 DSC06767 DSC06775 DSC06777 DSC06787 DSC06791 DSC06802 DSC06805 DSC06814 DSC06816 DSC06818 DSC06820

I was wearing:

U.S. Polo Assn shirt

Zara sweater

New Yorker skirt

Nike sneakers

Tommy Hilfiger watch

2 thoughts on “-How are u? -Popular!

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Married People: Who’s F**king?

iStock_000005058065LargeWhen I was single I always used to wonder about my married friends’ sex lives: how often do they do it? Is it good? Does it stay good? Does being married make sex better? I always wondered, but never asked – maybe because I didn’t want to pry, or maybe because I didn’t want to know if it the news was bad.

I worried. What if married sex WAS bad? What if it’s different? Or boring? What happens if it can’t be sustained, or the excitement wanes?

Is it normal for sex to change once you’re married? What IS normal anyway?

Well, now that I’ve been married for a few months, here’s what I can tell you: even though Robby and I are newlyweds, we’re in our 50s, so we’re really oldie-weds, which means we’re totally different people now than we would have been if we were in our 20s and just starting out. Don’t get me wrong, things are just as hot – I’m just getting it in flashes these days. Continue reading


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Pardon My French

My first honest-to-goodness lavish eating experience was in France when I was sixteen. I had never been overseas before, and it was one of those chaperoned jobbies where I spent a week on a bus with a bunch of American teenagers and then we all separated to spend three weeks with a host family. I hit the jackpot with my placement; a lovely upper middle class family in Toulon on the Mediterranean with a pool and a sailboat. They were so quintessentially Southern France I thought they would kick me out of their house as soon as they saw how fast I sunburned. They oozed glamour out of their pores. They took me on sailing trips and gave me French Champagne on my seventeenth birthday. Everyone smoked and looked like movie stars when they did it. The older sister, Delphine was nineteen and generally wanted nothing to do with me, but sometimes she’d drive me around in her jeep so she could practice her English. She looked like Brigitte Bardot and I was in love with her. Not in a sexually confused way, more like a I-want-to-be-you-so-bad-I-could-die sort of way. The parents, Guy and Martine, let me and my other host sister Charlotte have pool parties when they went to work. They’d leave the liquor cabinet open and a bunch of Charlotte’s pals would come over. Everyone was tanned and beautiful and would greet each other with kisses on the cheeks then go topless while I sat poolside in my Northern Reflections t-shirt and burned with Catholic shame.

So I didn’t quite learn to loosen up that summer, but I did have a lot of formative food experiences. I was shocked to learn how good ripe peaches were, and that the juice did in fact run down your arm when you bit into one. I ate more fresh fruit and vegetables in those three weeks than I ate in one year back home in Labrador. One night Martine and Guy had a fancy dinner party and my job was to peel the avocados. I had never seen one in my life and couldn’t believe no one had ever told me there was an oily vegetable (fruit?) that you could put a knife through like butter. Besides the one day it rained, we ate supper outside every single evening.

Everyone has thought of running off to France to live at one point or another and I’m no exception. It comes up often when I play the “When I Win an Obnoxious Amount of Money” game. I’ll have a big beautiful house on the Mediterranean with a yard full of cypress trees and all the fresh peaches I can eat. In reality, the last time I was in France I was backpacking and booked a bunk at the “Aloha Hostel” (that should have been my first warning) in Paris. I didn’t see a pillow on my bed and when I went to the front desk to inquire I was yelled at with an emphatic “WEE DUN’T ‘AVE PEELOWS”. It’s a good thing there were fresh baguettes and stupidly good coffee for breakfast, otherwise I might have walked away with a bad impression of Parisians.

The whole embarrassing point to this story (more embarrassing than the Northern Reflections t-shirt…it was fuchsia) is that Newfoundland is so close to France it’s almost silly. So close all these years and I only made it to St. Pierre this past summer while I was on tour. Our day off happened to be in Fortune and we were a short drive from the ferry terminal. Let me tell you, this little trip to France was a well-needed mini vacation after a hellish couple of days on the road. My birthday had been two days earlier and the celebrations included a five hour drive from Grand Falls to the Burin Peninsula, getting drunk by myself at a dinner theatre, and staying at a moldy B&B being run by a couple more suited to running a prison camp. They hated each other, they hated us, and they were drunk. Well so was I when I got locked out in the cold that night, but it was my birthday and I was allowed. Hi Nan.

A cold and grey day on the ferry, but not so bad. I was just glad to be out of the moldy house where people yelled at us. The minute we docked the fog cleared, the sun came out, and it was like some little French cheruby angels flew a banner across the sky that read, “Welcome! We’re sorry about your shitty birthday. We will make it today, non?” Oui! Bonne Fête to moi! I was functioning on three hours sleep but I kicked it into high gear. Dumped my bag at the Hotel Robert, grabbed my camera and took to the streets. Three months on the road in rural Newfoundland and all I wanted was a coffee that didn’t come from a gas station. Two espressos, one ham and cheese baguette and a chocolate croissant later and I started walking. Glad to be in the sun, out of the country, and full of the best food I’d eaten in months. I hung out by the lighthouse for a while and then backtracked to poke around in town a bit. I even found my own little red poulet…

I made myself a promise when I went through customs that I wouldn’t be afraid to use my French. Turns out I’m pretty fearless when it comes to ordering food and even a language barrier won’t get in my way. I’d probably haul Mandarin out of my ass if I had to. A lot of folks speak English at the tourist spots, but I always tried to beat them to the punch and start in French, telling myself it might be a while before I could practice again. I managed to order a tarte au citron and a café noisette at Les Délices de Joséphine without passing out. And what the what, café noisette? How have I never known about you? Kids probably get one on their first day of Kindergarten in France and I had never tried one? I have a food blog? Jesus. Sometimes I embarrass myself. I definitely embarrassed myself by pretending to read a French Elle magazine and only looking at the pictures.

A belated birthday supper that night at Saveur des Isles with Didi and Darryl. Course after decadent course of what I can only explain as the exact polar opposite of every hot turkey sandwich I had eaten on tour. A prosciutto and melon salad with fried chèvre to start, lamb with pommes frites and two mousses for dessert. Or would it be two mousse for dessert, like two moose? I argued with Darryl about whether the frites were done in duck fat and if they were, I mean how hard would it be to get duck fat in Newfoundland? Why did St. Pierre and Miquelon get to have all this great food and I had to wait until Thursdays in Cow Head to buy a banana? I’ll tell you why. Because the French don’t eff around, that’s why. If they wouldn’t let Marie Antoinette have her cake and eat it too, they’re not going to let living on a tiny island 3800 kilometres from the Motherland change the way they eat.

I think giving five year olds café noisettes might just be a step in the right direction.

5 thoughts on “Pardon My French

  1. Yum. I love that St. Pierre is so close yet was pleasantly surprised that not many people speak english at all, and the culture is so different yet the landscape is that of Newfoundland. Great beer, deadly cheese, loved getting up early to go to the boulangerie to grab bread before it was all gone. Swoon.

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Your smartphone is so smart it takes 14 gadgets and $1,200 to match it

Your smartphone is so smart it takes 14 gadgets and $1,200 to match it

Ever wondered how much it would cost you to replicate the functionality of today’s smartphones with a collection of standalone gadgets? I picked out the main functions and apps of my iPhone 4S and tried to find approximate replacements for each of them on Amazon. The total bill came to $1,228.11, and the devices collectively weighed more than eight pounds.

Today’s smartphone, be it an iPhone, Android or Windows Phone, is arguably the most versatile and functional tool we’ve ever used. The “There’s an app for that” slogan has become a reality. Meanwhile, most of my other devices are left collecting dust, as I’m usually content just going out with a phone, keys and a wallet.

You should know this is a completely un-scientific process, but it’s meant to be a rough approximation of how an average consumer would shop if looking for each of these gadgets. Of course, some functionalities will be duplicated across multiple devices, but that’s kind of the point here.

iPhone – free
Samsung A107– $34.95, 2.6 ounces

What’s a smartphone without its phone functionality? “AT&T circa 2009”. I kid, I kid. Anyway, I picked out a no-fuss Samsung flip-phone, though it does get bonus points for coming with a color display, SMS and Organizer.

iPhone – free
16GB iPod nano – $139, 1 ounce

Sure, you could go with the shuffle, but the controls are infuriating, so I chose the iPod nano. It’s $149 if you buy it from Apple, but you can save $10 over at Amazon.

iPhone – free (8mp, 1080p video)
Canon PowerShot ELPH 510 HS – $162.92, 7 ounces

This Canon point-and-shoot actually has 12.1 megapixels, and I’m told that it would perform better in low-light, but this is a close match. My phone’s camera is now my main camera, though I will switch to a DLSR if I’m shooting for print or in tricky lighting. The fact that I always have my phone on me is one reason for the switch, the other is that I can email off shots right away. If you want Wi-Fi on your standalone camera, you could buy the 10.1-megapixel Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS, but it’ll set you back $266.

iPhone – free, Maps
Garmin nüvi 1350LMT – $115.68, 1 pound

This matchup isn’t completely fair since Garmin offers its GPS service, but you have to pull down Maps info over Wi-Fi and cellular data.

iPhone – free, Clock
Advance Time Technology LED 6-Inch Alarm Clock – $9.49, 6.4 ounces

Technically, Apple’s built-in Clock app also has a stopwatch, but I use the alarm feature everyday.

iPhone – free, Flashlight Ⓞ by Handysoft
3 Watt LED Flashlight – $6.75, 3 ounces

I actually use this Flashlight app quite frequently. I also take comfort in the SOS feature which will flash the morse code emergency signal. You never know when that might be of use.

Calculator / Spreadsheets

iPhone – $9.99, Numbers
Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus Graphing Calculator – $108.25, 13 ounces

This feature was tough to match up. Apple’s Numbers app still needs some work, but it’s quite advanced, so I decided to pair it up against this graphing calculator.

iPhone – $20, assorted
Nintendo DSi – $124 (+ cost of games), 7.5 ounces

App-based gaming has developed enough that I leave my Nintendo DS and PSP at home. There are enough free games out there to keep you occupied, but I estimate that a $20 investment in some of the best paid games is enough to compete with dedicated gaming devices. Of course, you’ll still want the latest handhelds if you’re a heavy gamer, since you still can’t get some of the most popular franchises on smartphones. You’ll definitely be paying a premium for it though.

iPhone – free, iBooks or Kindle for iPhone
Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers – $79, 6 ounces

I’m not trying to weigh in here on the e-ink debate, I just chose the cheapest Kindle device. People who do a lot of traveling, reading outside, or just read a lot will probably prefer having a separate e-reader, or a book, but I’m happy just reading on my iPhone most of the time.

iPhone – $9.99, Guitar Toolkit
Korg CA-40 Chromatic Tuner – $17.82, 3 ounces

This is kind of specialized, since not all of you play guitar. I had to mention this, though, because always having a guitar tuner on hand is very convenient.

Voice recorder

iPhone – $4.99, Garage Band
Olympus VN-702PC– $41.27, 2.6 ounces

The free Voice Memo feature on the iPhone is handy enough as is, but I also use GarageBand for quick song ideas or noodling around.

iPhone, free (or $14.99 for optical character recognition), Pleco
AM103 English Chinese Dictionary Translator – $129.99, 4 ounces

Electronic dictionaries are in danger of being rendered obsolete by our phones. When I need help reading Chinese while out in the real world, Pleco’s $14.99 optical character recognition add-on is a lifesaver. The dictionaries on the free version work for most of my needs, though diligent language students might want to spring for a bundle.

iPhone – free, Remote
Apple Remote– $19.00, 2 ounces

Can’t say that I use the Remote app a lot, but it’s a nifty feature to have on hand.

VOIP / Video calls

iPhone – free, Skype and FaceTime
VoSKY Touch Videophone – $239.99, 4 pounds

The VoSKY videophone supports Skype calls. It’s a bit overkill here, since it has a 7-inch screen and weighs 4 pounds, but it was one of the few devices I could find on Amazon that had Skype and video integration.

Images via Flickr / chippycheeky, Amazon, Apple

Further reading:

8 Things Your Phone Will (Probably) Replace

The Best Mobile Accessories of 2012 So Far

Read next: Eclectic Method: On copyright, codecs and video mixing performances on iPads

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How to turn stalking into a business tool

How to turn stalking into a business tool

When I was 25, my friends set me up on a date with a girl that sounded perfect. Before meeting her I thought “Wow! This could really be something special.”

Keep in mind, this was before the advent of Facebook (yes, there was a time without social media) so I had to patiently wait.

Unfortunately, I arrived to discover that the girl was nothing at all as she was described. What little knowledge I had of her was enhanced and I was visibly disappointed. If I’d only been able to check out her Facebook beforehand, I’d have known what to expect.

I’m not advocating for stalking in the super creepy sense, but I was brutally reminded that day that there really is only one chance to make a first impression. Whether in your personal life or for business, the opinion you leave on someone can make or break the relationship. In the business sense, you can really take advantage of the tools and networks at your disposal in order to benefit your company.

When it comes to meeting with clients, much can be gained from stalking them beforehand in order to impress them.

Social stalking

Facebook really changed the perception of stalking.

Beyond its helpfulness when preparing for a date, Facebook stalking can also lead you to a wealth of information about your client. From familial relationships and pictures of recent travels to what they share and groups followed, you’ll be amazed at what you can find on Facebook.

Do you have the same interests? Find a way to casually mention it when meeting the client. Have a mutual connection? Use this to your advantage and learn more about the client.

facebook stalking
Does this person have a public profile or a private one? If you see a client is more closed off, you can gauge where to push the limits of familiarity – they most likely won’t want you to know everything about them. However, if everything is posted for the world to see, they might enjoy discussing your trip to Spain if they’ve recently returned from there.

Is a prospective client on other social platforms? Twitter? Lists are a great way to observe people without actually following them. Instagram? Then you know what kind of visually stimulating content they like.

Knowing how someone uses social media gives you the knowledge on how to approach them.

LinkedIn is another great tool for stalking and shouldn’t be written off. Besides, as its own mission statement declares, LinkedIn wants to connect the world’s professionals, so using it to directly contact a potential client isn’t creepy.

Don’t stop digging – a staggering 92 percent of job candidates are found via social media. This means that what your client posts online has potential to be highly relevant to the job that they do.

You never know what you’ll find on their pages that can help you impress them. Even something small, such as casually mentioning an account that the client follows will make them relate to you as a person and will strengthen their loyalty to you.

No email fail

With the help of social media, you can find out a large amount of information from someone solely based on their social media posts.

Duh, right?

Well how about combining social media stalking with your email?

Rapportive shows you, based on the email address, the recipient’s image, LinkedIn profile and groups, Skype name, Twitter handle and more – all from a side panel in your Gmail.  You can learn a ton about a client without leaving your inbox.

email meme
Aside from the details, how someone uses and responds to email can tell you a lot about a person. Correspondence style, rate of response, even their email signature can offer insight into your clients and how they conduct themselves at work.

If you have a client that is always on top of emails, responding at all hours of the night, it’s clear they are very serious about their job and will likely have the same expectations of you. To impress this client, be sure to keep an eye out for and be extra responsive to their emails. When meeting, be sure to be organized and early.

A great tool at your disposal is Yesware as it tracks if and when your email has been opened. You can use this data to gather data on how your client operates – do they return to the email multiple times? Open it right away? Respond immediately or take some time before replying? These are all valuable insights, and it involves very little effort as Yesware takes care of everything for you.

Another trick is to take a look at the client’s email signature – is it fun? Professional? Quirky? Standard?

The way that an email is signed is a direct representation of the personality of the client and the company they work for. A quirky signature might indicate a client would be more open to an “out of the box” approach and that you could get creative in working with him.

When in doubt, Google

There’s a reason that sites like Let Me Google That For You exist.

Everything that can be found will be on Google, so don’t forget about this when researching your client.

Not only can you see if the client has any noteworthy accomplishments, you can also see any articles they’ve written or blogs they have. With this, you’ll be better able to judge what’s important to them.

Get blogged

If you’ve found a personal blog or contributions to an online platform, do not underestimate what this can tell you.

What tone does their writing take? From fun and relaxed to to-the-point, you can learn a lot. Is the writing informal or more on the serious side? You should be prepared to adopt a similar approach with the client.

Likewise, the voice can also give you a deeper understanding of how the client operates. A strong and persuasive voice should let you know to prepare for a somewhat bold client who knows what they want. They will not likely ask you for your opinion on the small things and may be overly confident in their ideas.

On the flip side, a more laid back tone indicating that the blog reader should come to his own conclusion could indicate that the author (your client) is open to hearing many different perspectives – and could be quite keen to get yours.

If you find a personal blog, compare the content – is it at all related to their industry? Is the blog simply a hobby and offers a different goal?

If the blog supplements the business, it shows a certain level of dedication while an unrelated blog shows that he enjoys writing and has a unique perspective to express. Looking into these topics can be relevant in your meetings or a good conversation starter.

Welcome to 2016, where our thoughts are posted publicly, our images shared widely and our personality is available online for casual viewing. In order to make the best first impression possible, it is wise to research.

There are a plethora of outlets to obtain information about a potential client and dazzle them from the first pitch. What comes after that is up to you.

Read next: 5 ways to investigate your competitors like Sherlock Holmes

Read next: Twitter is now turning on its new algorithmic timeline for everyone

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Teens get in on The Secret

Oh dear.

Simon Pulse is publishing a teen edition of Rhonda Byrne’s self-help bestseller The Secret this fall.  According to the publisher, the new book, called The Secret to Teen Power, will show “how teens can transform their own lives and live their dreams, by understanding and using the power they have in their hands.”

I wonder if the teen edition will be just as popular as the original. Will teens even take a book like this seriously?  It sounds to me like a book a desperate parent might try to foist on their troubled adolescent.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the power of positive thinking, but I get the feeling this kind of “self-help” has little basis in reality. I probably wouldn’t be comfortable recommending this to a teen…unless, perhaps, they were genuinely curious about what  The Secret is all about.

Needless to say, there’s been some interesting reactions to this news posted in the blogosphere.  I really like the fbomb‘s take on the matter.

Posted on August 11, 2009, in by Erin and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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Arthur Ashe: A Positive Attitude In Spite of Great Difficulty & Adversity!

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player from USA was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: “Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease”?  To this Arthur Ashe replied: “The world over – 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD “Why me?” And today in pain I should not be asking GOD “Why me?”

Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Sorrows keep you Human, Failure keeps you humble, Success keeps you glowing, but only Faith & Attitude Keep you going.

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