Jump to Content Area

Archive for December, 2010

Happy New Year From Across the Globe!

2010 Memories With DJ Der Guten Laune

I simply can’t let 2010 pass without a quick look back at the biggest (and most unlikely) You Tube celebrity from Germany this year. DJ Der Guten Laune (or has he is known in America on You Tube, “crazy old DJ”) became a star in 2010 thanks to his rather unique style. If you haven’t seen the old German in action, I suggest you watch the clip below. He’s now a minor club fixture in Europe and is DJing everywhere from Madrid to Austria. Here’s an interview with the exuberant master on how he suddenly started DJing and explaining his “technique.” Love this man.

My Top Ten iPhone Apps for 2010

Since everyone’s making their top ten lists of the year, I thought I’d make my own top ten iPhone Apps of 2010 list, so here goes: 1) Facebook – I couldn’t live without the Facebook application installed on my iPhone
2) Viber – the application which enables me to make free calls to other Viber users over 3G and WiFi with superior sound quality
3) Instagram – My favorite photo sharing app. The guy who built its interface is a genius
4) Foursquare - My favorite check-in app. Mind you that Facebook places isn’t yet accessible on the iPhone in Israel.
5) Dropbox – enables me to view documents we’re working on in the office while on the go
6) Waze – helps me find my way when going places. Thank goodness because my direction skills are horrible
7) Angry Birds – A great time procrastinator for me
8 ) Twitter – So I can tweet anything at anytime
9) Hashable – The app which enables me to easily make introductions between people
10) Shazam – So I can identify any song at any time. Good for bets as well! Happy new year everyone!

A Stunning Look: Our Top 10 Photos from 2010

Happy New Year, everyone! We thought it would be fun to take a look back at our top ten photos of 2010. Enjoy!

1. Berwang, Austria

This is by far our most popular photo and one of our favorite memories. We were driving around the Tyrol Alps in our little rental car and stopped on the side of the road to hike up the rolling hills to get this great shot. The grass was so wet from dew, and cows were grazing at the bottom of the hill.  A few minutes later, we heard a traveling brass band putting on a concert in the village of Berwang, about 200 yards away.

2. Balloons – Cappadocia, Turkey

Who doesn’t love a hot-air balloon photo? We had a great time on our early morning ride in Cappadocia. We got up early to take photos only, but we decided we just couldn’t pass up on this popular Cappadocian activity. The price is pretty high, but it was well worth it.  Definitely one of my…

Read more…

Chef’s Holidays in Yosemite National Park

Occasionally we all crave a road trip somewhere special to recharge, and this winter The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, announces the 2011 Chefs’ Holidays featuring 29 world-class chefs from across America. Truth be told, with all the wonderful winter activities offered at Yosemite such as skiing, hiking, and ice skating, you’ll need to spend a few extra days to enjoy this gem to its fullest. Chef’s Holidays is truly the way to savor the country’s best culinary talent in the wintertime majesty of Yosemite National Park. The Ahwahnee, a full-service, AAA Four-Diamond hotel located in Yosemite National Park, offers a spectacular lineup for the 26th annual Chefs’ Holidays event series where cooking couples can learn, sample, and celebrate the range of styles, personalities, and trends that characterize the American culinary scene.
Since 1985 The Ahwahnee and Yosemite has provided the perfect backdrop for an annual celebration of food, wine and culinary masters who innovate American cuisine from coast to coast. Guests meet the chef’s, enjoy fascinating and educational demonstrations with tastings, and experience a fascinating behind-the-scenes kitchen tour. As if that wasn’t enough, the grand finale includes a romantic five-course gala dinner…

Read more…

Making a New Year’s Resolution? Don’t!

This year, we’ll dance our fool hearts out to the great swing tunes of sixty years ago, and we’ll dance into the new year. New Year’s Day, we will do what we have done each of the New Year’s Days of our relationship: we’ll do one of our several favorite forms of exercise, probably bicycle, eat one of our (healthy) favorite foods, take a nap, and enjoy the pleasures of married life, not necessarily in that order. We used to take a dip in the cold ocean, but that doesn’t work too well here in Arizona. Our tradition is to start the New Year off together doing the things we look forward to doing all the coming year. It is for us, a long and honored tradition. It’s good to have traditions for the New Year, but not all traditions are positive. One I have done without for many years is to make a New Year’s resolution. Here’s why: You will break it. Sad to say, nearly all New Year’s resolutions are broken, probably within a few weeks to a couple of months of their making. Oh, the motivation is pure. Say,…

Read more…

From iPad to WikiLeaks: 2010 was a Disruptive Year for Technology

My first order of business looking back on 2010 is to admit that I was wrong about the iPad. In January, shortly after Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the device, I wrote that I was “underwhelmed” and argued that the new device was “not a game changer.” Boy was I wrong. The iPad has been an incredible success and a major game changer. For the record, once I got my hands on an iPad, my review was quite favorable. Wherever I go I see people using iPads where they might have otherwise been using a laptop, reading a Kindle or just staring off in space. And it’s not an important product just for Apple. It’s spawning an entirely new category of computing devices. So far, no one has been able to come up with anything close to an iPad killer, but a few companies — including Samsung — are trying. Google is poised to introduce a tablet version of its Android operating system that will attempt to give the iPad the serious competition that Android phones have inflicted on the iPhone. If the iPad was the big story for 2010, the second biggest was the success of smartphones running…

Read more…

New Beginnings and Renewed Selves

The (Gregorian) New Year has dawned, at least for those of us here in Korea, as I write this…and with this somewhat artificial ‘turning of the year’ comes a great sense of new beginnings. We all say goodbye to the cares and woes of the previous year, and vow and set out to make the upcoming one better in some way. The allure of a fresh start is universally appealing. So too for me. I am now fully relocated on Jeju Island, off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, and will begin a counseling practice here soon — in addition to my work as both writer and educator. I’m delighted with my new community…and this, my next new life. And I encourage each of you to make the most of this sense of newness, of renewal, and embrace the idea that we have a fresh start…each morning as we awake. This sense differs from culture to culture. But at its most basic, each day provides each of us with a new beginning. Happy and Healthy New Year to one and all. May 2011 bring peace to this lovely world of ours…at long last.

Next Page »