OWA in DC

Posted on June 30, 2010 by admin

There may not be a better way toward diplomacy than with food. It’s not just men, the way to anyone’s heart is through the stomach, and it’s a lesson that’s widely practiced in Washington, DC. Although it may be too far a stretch to say that the reason there are so many elegant restaurants in town is for the cooling off of political differences, the restaurants certainly do help. They also serve to attract a large number of visitors, drawn by all the attractions here, including the Washington USA luxury hotels .

Taking a food tour of the city is never a bad idea. It is, however, an impossible one, because a stomach does not exist that could sample everything here, even in the space of a month. A place where many cultures meet, it’s also a place where the foods are in fine supply. There probably isn’t a culinary tradition that’s not represented somewhere in the area. For those who happen to have a severe case of longing for Latin American tastes, there’s lots to choose from.

One of the most spectacular events is put together by the Organization of Women of the Americas . It’s composed of women who are Ambassadors, or related to Ambassadors, and they do a lot of charitable work to sensitize people to issues concerning women and children all over Latin America. In late May, they also sponsor the America’s Annual Food Festival . This is as good as it gets for those who want to try food from Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and all over the Americas.

It’s free admission, and the tastes are quite reasonably-priced, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about this event is that it’s not a display of the tastes of local restaurants. It’s cooked by the members of the organization themselves, in their own kitchens. This is diplomacy at its best.

Great Artists of Florence

Posted on June 29, 2010 by admin

Florence has been designated as the top tourist destination in the world. And while that might sound pretty impressive to first time readers, it is definitely not surprising or even news to anyone who has visited this amazing Italian city. In addition to the incredible architecture that dominates the skyline and servers as the introduction to the almost overwhelming beauty of the city, there are numerous galleries, museums and various other arts spaces to further the experience. The performance arts venues are additional examples of the incredible beauty of this city, something that simply cannot be overstated.

The hotels and inns in Florence combine the historic atmosphere of the city with contemporary accommodations, which creates a unique experience for travelers. The city is frequently considered to be the art capital of the country and it has been argued that it is the only preserved city of the Renaissance. In addition to all of the people who are attracted to it as a vacation destination, the city has also been the chosen residence of many great artists and personalities through history. Dante, Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo, among many others, have all lived in Florence at one time.

Dante is one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages and is most remembered and known for his work The Divine Comedy . It is an epic poem that is broken into three different parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Leonardo Da Vinci has been described as the quintessential Renaissance man and was well skilled in almost all of the arts and sciences. The Mona Lisa and the Last Supper are his two most famous paintings. Botticelli demonstrated the linear grace of the early Renaissance in his works and the Birth of Venus is his most famous. Enough cannot be said about Michelangelo, nor does he need an introduction. Simply mention the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica and nothing else is needed. Of course you could also say David, and Michelangelo’s sculpture will come to mind.

Why Southwestern Won A Direct Selling Award

Posted on June 27, 2010 by admin

When a company has been around for a long time it is easy to feel like they have become stale and old, so it is nice to see a company that is well over one hundred fifty years old that is still fresh and adding to their industry. The understanding is that this is the reason why Southwestern Company won the award they received as the annual Direct Selling Association Meeting. There were not the only one, but they were the oldest winner. That may be a surprise to some people who grew up with the Avon lady. The difference is that it is easier to brand something like makeup than it is to brand something like books. While you have probably met at least one Southwestern salesperson every summer, they have a product that blends in so well with other products that you may have bought from a direct sales person.

If you have ever bought books to help your kids from someone selling door to door it was probably a Southwestern Company representative. Looking on your shelf you will probably be able to find them. The sales person probably had some kind of identification that showed they were associated with Southwestern. They were polite and cheerful and were certainly still in college. When you opened the door they said who there were right away and told you they were selling something, being as upfront with you as possible. This is why Southwestern got the award. They are still after all these years contributing to ways to keep both the neighborhoods safe as well as keep their sales people safe. They keep up on the laws and before sending anyone out into the field they give them all the same training in what they can and can’t do when knocking on doors. This helps keep a standard for all the sales people who are out there. After one hundred fifty years of doing it, no wonder the business is doing so well.

Stay Motivated For Work

Posted on June 23, 2010 by admin

All people working for someone, or working for themselves, will need to develop their own professional identity. As this happens it is very common for people to feel like they are missing some things. These are usually skills that would help them move further up the corporate ladder . What many people don’t realize is that one of the “skills” they may be missing is unwavering motivation. In order to get ahead in life, you need to be continuously motivated to keep going, keep growing, learn more and work harder. Staying motivated is hard, but it is necessary.

If you have a hard time staying motivated there is probably a reason for it. Look at the reason. If it is something fixable, then fix it immediately. There are some basic needs that simply might not be being met, such as working so hard that you aren’t sleeping right, or you are feeling insecure in your job. There are other needs that are harder to fix though, such as feeling like you are not working toward an end, or like you are not being challenged enough. These sorts of issues might be something you need to bring up with a supervisor, or if you are working for yourself revise what you are doing so that it is more enjoyable.If you have taken a professional development seminar and have been working on the skills they teach, you may find your job is not as hard as it was before. It may turn out that things have changed much more rapidly for you as a professional. Development is not always something that supervisors are good at picking up on, or it may turn out that they are already looking for a way to solve this problem for you, but an opportunity has not yet opened up.

Once you have done this set up a rewards system for yourself. Set goals and as the goals are met find appropriate rewards for them. They can be small things. Finish this report and get a small piece of chocolate. Finish three more articles and then get a half hour break. These sorts of rewards are necessary for the body to feel like it is getting somewhere. It also makes you psychologically want to do more. Many employee training programs use this kind of system to keep the employees motivated as they go through the training.

Pittsburgh’s North Side is the North Side is the North Side

Posted on June 21, 2010 by admin

Gertrude Stein lived her life elsewhere, in a place there was no place there, not quite, not exactly a no place, but certainly not this place. She did come from the town that was then known as Allegheny, now Pittsburgh, part of Allegheny County, but never did learn to spell it correctly. It doesn’t matter entirely, because in her lifetime, the fans she had in the city she was born were keeping quiet. The town thought she seemed a bit too far out there to be able to claim her as their own, but it’s a bit different these days.

Guests to the downtown hotels Pittsburg can try to hunt for the place where she was born, and they will certainly find it, and they will also find a plaque that tells them, yes, this is the place. It’s on the North Side, and there are small tributes to her around the city, and also some activist group’s that take her name and so work to make life better in the city. It is a different place. Everyone in Pittsburgh will tell visitors that, and sometimes it’s a boast, other times it’s almost an apology. In her lifetime, her prose did not get the attention it deserved here, but it did get everyone in Paris to take notice. Living well is the best revenge.

She is the kind of literary celebrity that people notice, and remember, and her image is one that many people recognize around the world. Her personality was famously gregarious and bold. She was one of the few who could take on Hemingway,
and she could also write her way out of anything she wanted to, and thankfully she wanted to write out of many places.

An art collector, famously, and friends with all of the famous painters of her day, and Alice B. Toklas’ partner, and many things that made her one of the most interesting people who ever lived. The world may never see another one like her, but it’s more likely that it will, and this is very good news for everyone in Pittsburgh and beyond.

DUI In Arizona, Should You Take the Breathalyzer?

Posted on June 18, 2010 by admin

In Arizona if you are pulled over for drunk driving there are alternatives to having to take the breathalyzer test and therefore a breathalyzer test can be refused. You should know however that there is also the chance that if you refuse to take the breathalyzer test in the field, you will still be required to take one when you are arrested.

Although it may seem like there are benefits to taking the breathalyzer in the field there are a few things you may want to consider before you get a breathalyzer test. How much have you really had to drink ? Have you had food with your drink? It doesn’t actually matter if you are drunk. Drunk is a stage that is different for everyone, but the blood alcohol level is what is important and that is what the breathalyzer test will measure. Even if you don’t feel drunk at .08, you will still get your license suspended. If you don’t feel that you have drank enough alcohol and you can pass the field tests, refuse as much as you can to take the breathalyzer and as soon as possible call a professional dui attorney. Arizona has a number of field tests, some of which are not allowed as evidence in court in many other states, such as the horizontal gaze nystagmus test in which you are asked to follow a light with your eyes.

If you pass the field tests, do not take the breathalyzer. It will keep them from having probable cause for arresting you and will take away their strongest piece of evidence in court. This could result in the case being thrown out. If you are still convicted without either of these pieces of evidence it is likely you will not get as harsh of a sentence as you would have otherwise.

If you don’t think you can pass the field tests, then you most certainly will not pass the breathalyzer test and you may want to just let them do it since the punishment for not taking it will result in much of the same things.

Angie’s Wine Tour in Florence

Posted on June 15, 2010 by admin

If you or your parents were fans of Merchant Ivory films in the 1980s, it’s possible you (or they) may have stirred up a passion for all things Italian by watching “A Room with a View,” starring Maggie Smith, Daniel Day Lewis, and Helena Bonham Carter, where a young woman travels to Florence, Italy, in the early 1900s. Her adventures there follow her back to England and transform her life forever — allowing her to free herself from a stuffy fiance and finally embrace her true love who she met in that Italian city. If you also choose to go to Italy and stay overnight in a hotel, Florence may or may not transform your life, but you’ll never know unless you give it a try. While waiting for true love to arrive, why not take in a tour of the wine territory with Angie’s Wine Tours ?

A licensed wine tour guide, Angela Saltafuori offers private and shared tours through Tuscany’s wine country, ideal for a day trip out of Florence. For instance, the Chianti Castles and Wine Tours special will take you to the core of the wine territory between Florence and Sienna. In no time at all, you’ll be wine tasting with a personal sommelier, discover how chianti Classico wine is made, take walks through the vineyard, and learn about the sangiovese, the main Tuscan grape, as well as about the rich soil of the area.

The tour includes trips to castle wineries, where you’ll take a look at ancient castles and medieval cellars, and enjoy red wine tasting with choices of Tuscan ham, salami, cheeses, and the local olive oil. At this vineyard, you’ll hear a talk about wines and olive oil, and then have lunch, either in a restaurant or inside the castle itself.

In the afternoon, the tour will take you either to Montefioralle , a village that’s been around since the 11th Century. Before the tour is complete, there’s one more visit to a winery in a 14th Century villa in the Classico area.

Tours begin at ten in the morning and end around five or six in the evening, plenty of time to return to Florence for dinner and then return to the hotel to see if true love has actually arrived.

Eyes Set for Mexico City

Posted on June 4, 2010 by admin

This is the story of a Limerick band who set out for Mexico City to make good. When The Cranberries play in D.F. in early fall, it’s a comeback concert for the group in general, but it’s also something of a homecoming for them in this vast city. They’ve always enjoyed a pretty wide reputation in the world, and some cities have kept them as secret favorites more than others. Although the Mexico City hotels will have hosts of their fans for the show, the locals have the most open hearts for the Irish group’s return here.

It has been a pretty successful run so far, and they’ve gotten better with age, as well as a little time off. Some reviews of their shows have been better than others, but the criticisms seem to come from a place that doesn’t enter into the correct vocabulary with which to fully understand the Cranberries. Part of it has to do with the reasons why they are popular in Mexico. While they do play a kind of lovely and melodic alt-rock, and sing to a kind of longing that accompanies the smell of Boone’s Farm Tickled Pink and Cloves, there’s something under the surface.

This something is also deeply rooted in the ground here on the North American continent, and Mexico has a particular geography that holds ancestors who remember. In D.F., this is never beneath the surface, but very visible if one takes the time to see it. It has to do with a particular kind of longing that accompanies history, where the ghosts continue to speak in poetry and metaphor. It’s a peculiarly local thing, but it can also rightfully be described as particularly Irish, and the two nations have a shared sensibility as much as they do a wildly varied culture.

Global Bellydance in Miami Beach

Posted on June 2, 2010 by admin

When cultural awareness reaches a certain high water mark, old artistic forms can start to become recognized by a global community. It takes time for people to learn how to read the forms the cultural expressions take, and it takes some time to get exposure to different levels of performance before audiences decide they can like something. It’s a bit of a strange phenomenon, but it repeats itself year after year with different entertainment forms. It’s especially true in traditional music from any culture, and the rough forms that are closer to the sounds in the streets sometimes get lost to the versions that have the help of the studios to make them more poppy.

Artists like Natacha Atlas have the fortune to engage with the best of the studio professionals. In her case her artistry is strong enough that the roots of the music some through, and it can come to be seen as a natural evolution and a product of time, rather than slickness. She’s bringing her extraordinary talents to Miami Beach at the end of July to the Colony Theater, and this is a very exciting chance to hear her own fusion of traditional Middle Eastern music with pop electronica.

Natacha Atlas has a world reputation that’s strong enough to pull people from all over to the Miami Beach hotels just to hear her play live, and the locals have a great possibility to see what the sounds are all about. She considers herself a kind of hybrid of European and Middle Eastern identities, growing up in a Moroccan neighborhood in Belgium, to parents of Moroccan, Egyptian, Palestinian, and English ancestry. Her music is a hybrid fusion of these traditions, and the results are stunningly seductive. She’s been performing since the 90s, and has a very solid reputation in the world music scene. Hiphop meets bellydance, and it will be lovely to see how the crowds start to move when they realize what they’re in for.

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Monthly Archives: June 2010