Archive for June, 2010

June 30th

Great Theatre in Sacramento, California

Filed under Art | No Comments

In which city do you think you will find the best California hotel ? Well, that’s up for debate thought it’s definitely not going to be New York, Chicago or Phoenix. But of the major cities in California, where do you suppose the best accommodations exist? And does it actually have to be in one of the cities? A great deal of the geography of the state is incredibly appealing and suited for visitors and there are numerous coastal resort areas that have people continually coming back year after year. And then there is the city of Sacramento. It is the capitol of the state after all, though it’s frequently overlooked in a survey of the state’s great cities.

Sacramento is actually an incredible city and the reasons it’s typically overlooked as one can vary. It’s not located along the coast and then any city would have a difficult time standing out against cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, regardless of where they’re located. But Sacramento has its own cultural offerings and once again, it is the capital city after all. One of the cultural aspects of the city that makes it stand out is the theatre scene. Sacramento isn’t a large city, but the theatre there is high quality and there are numerous companies that present shows from a spectrum of genres and orientations.

Capital Stage and the B Street Theatre are two of the city’s professional theatre companies and they are both extremely respected companies with solid reputations. Capital Stage is located on the historic steamboat the Delta King, which provides an intimate setting for its productions. It is known for producing some of the more edgy and experimental shows and has started a new play series. B Street Theatre is one of the most popular companies and its productions tend to remain in the mainstream acceptance category. The company has two stages and produces original works in addition to standard hits from the theatrical canon. In addition the company offers classes and internship positions.

Read more of Great Theatre in Sacramento, California…

June 28th

Latin Food in Atlanta

Filed under Travel | No Comments

Atlanta is an amazing city with a very spectacular social scene. There’s a vibrant night life here that’s written in the rhythms of the cultural pulse. This makes for an eclectic story that’s still being told, and is something that’s always under construction. Visitors are drawn to be part of the scene, to witness it, and invariably find themselves involved in the writing of it. The draw is in the music and the food, but the comfort offered at an Atlanta, USA hotel certainly doesn’t hurt a bit.

Deep in the South, and in the center of urban activity, there are plenty of choices when it comes to a great night out. The clubs and pubs offer lively entertainments, and the restaurants have innovation and history at their disposal. There are a number of excellent soul food places, and there’s also a wide variety of Latin food available, too.

Places like Eclipse di Luna offer Latin entertainment and tapas in a very chic atmosphere. They have two locations in the city, and do tend to get busy as the evening wears on. It’s a great place for the very beginning of a night out, but it’s also a fantastic location for a snack later on. The entertainment is a wonderful and welcome reminder that the music doesn’t stop in Atlanta.

For Cuban specialties, Coco Loco is a more down-to-earth spot. The prices are very reasonable, and the quality is excellent, with food served up by chefs who know their Cuban cuisine. Black beans and rice are always a favorite here, and there are plenty of good reasons why. It’s also possible to have a full-on meal, with beef, chicken, and magnificent seafood offerings. In case it feels too much like home, that’s no problem. They have free wi-fi, too, for those who like to relax and hang out.

There’s plenty more, too, and the annual Degustar , Latin American food festival held every year in early May puts all the great restaurants on display.

Read more of Latin Food in Atlanta…

June 24th

Custom Maps For All

Filed under Travel | No Comments

There are a number of different reasons that you might need a map. While there are only a few of them that require you to use the full map. For example, when using a street map you are really only interested in the roads that get you to where you are going. When looking at a california map of the fault you may be only interested in looking at the areas that have to do with where the earthquake happened , or where you think it is most likely to happen next but the rest of the map is really useless space. This is why there are now a number of sites that offer custom maps. The problem with most of the free ones is that unless you are looking to recolor your maps and nothing else you will still end up with a large amount of un-used space. If you want to you can use this as a visual aid, but if it is worth the investment and will be something that you will need to be using for a long time, getting a nice custom map can be really nice.

There is another reason why people would want custom maps made that that is for business purposes. This tends to come in a few variations. One of them is a map of the business itself. Taking into account the buildings and the main areas that people may want to be able to find their way to. There are a number of companies that have had these maps made of their company such as the Biltmore in Phoenix . The maps are given to guests to help them find things like the pool and even their rooms. Another reason you might want a custom map for a company is to show all the locations in an area where the business is located and how to get to them. This allows customers to be able to find the nearest location to them and head over there. If you want a custom map of you own there are a few good places to look into getting one.

Read more of Custom Maps For All…

June 22nd

Fun and Educational Miami destinations

Filed under Art | 1 Comment

Most of us love travel but hate traveling with our families because of the hassle of deciding who gets to see which sights on their list of places they absolutely must go. Miami has a little something for everyone of any age. Plus many of the places you will want to see are likely located near some of the best Miami hotels .

If you have children in their teens or younger it’s normally a challenge not to have them complaining of boredom at some point on the trip because most parents will want to take them on an educational tour or more. Thankfully, quite a few places in the Miami area are as fascinating as they are educational. Like Jungle Island where you can watch tiger shows and interact with some of the free flying macaws and other parrots on the island. Too childish for your teen? Maybe an air-boat ride through the everglades ; don’t forget to pack plenty of sunblock and bug spray. If they want to see the gators and snakes but you’d rather keep your feet on semi dry land maybe a visit to the Alligator farm is what you should contemplate. Though it’s used for commercial farming of alligator for it’s hide and meat they offer education talks and even have some rare reptiles like the North American crocodile which only 600 are believed to exist in the wild.

Most of those involve being outside and in Miami that’s bound to cause a sunburn if you aren’t careful. Maybe you feel you need to indulge in some indoor sight seeing; especially if it’s summer to escape the heat? If your kids are early teens or younger you’ll definitely have to visit the Miami Children’s Museum. With it’s interactive learning exhibits your children won’t realize it’s educational. For young adults you might want to consider the Miami Science Museum right now until early September there is an exhibit on mechanical theater that’s bound to fascinate them whether they’re interested in art or the science aspect. Ether way you look at it you don’t have to sacrifice fun for educational or vice versa.

Read more of Fun and Educational Miami destinations…

June 20th

How to Remove a Ball Joint

Filed under Automotive | No Comments

You are probably reading this because the information you were looking for was not in your automotive repair manuals . That being said, this blog is not responsible for any injuries or damages you incur while working on your car. Replacing your ball joint is sometimes a necessary part of car maintenance, but that does not make it any less dangerous. Anything that you do under the car is automatically dangerous so you will want to make sure that the car is appropriately propped up and will not move while you work on it. Since you will be working on the ground you will want to think about gravity. Many mechanics like to power hose down the area that they will be working in so as to clean off all the dirt and grease.

You will be working underneath the car and you will be loosening a lot of things that are likely to fall on you. It might be smart to take on this habit to keep yourself a little cleaner and safer. You may also want to use WD-40 or something like it to get the bolts loose. These can be a pain to try to take off without letting something like this soak in there. This is best done after washing things down. Although it will get some things dirty again it will soak into the threads better if there is nothing in the way.

Now, remove the four top bolts. It might seem like now you might be able to just remove the ball joint, but it is actually placed there in a special way and will need a special tool to get it off. Use the pickle fork to pry the top off the ball joint and then you will need to hammer out the bottom half. When you have both halves cleared out of the hole clean it out. Over the years gunk gets stuck in there and will start to rust the outside of the new one is left in there. Once you have cleaned out the hole you are now ready to install the new one. The easiest way to learn how to do this is to look in some service manual s.

Read more of How to Remove a Ball Joint…

June 18th

Tours for the Rest in New York

Filed under Travel | No Comments

New York is unusual and therefore it comes as no surprise that there are a number of tours that don’t fit the usual get in bus and drive around town model. Not that there aren’t plenty of bus tours as well, but New York has a number of interactive tours for people of all interests. The tour doesn’t have to be full of boring history to be considered a tour and these tours show that nicely.

If you find that you would rather be in a local pub getting drunk than taking a tour, why not do both . It is actually a fairly popular type of tour to pub crawl with a number of other people who are new to the city and would like to try all the beer they can. You can choose from exploring the pubs, or exploring the microbreweries in a specific area. For the most part these tours are always walking tours so that there is no risk that there will be any kind of drunk driving. If you like beer and history there is even a tour for that, where you can learn about the history of beer in New York, see what things were like when some pubs opened their doors and taste classic beer recipes.

New York is known for the food carts and there are a million different types of food in New York. Over the years New York has been a landing place for immigrants and many of them have stayed. In many places of the world street food is an average and normal part of life so it stands to reason that it would be here as well. Because of this it also stands to reason that someone who is feeling adventurous might want to take a walking tour of the food carts in an area around the luxury hotels. New York City has all kinds of restaurants and the food stalls are no different.

Read more of Tours for the Rest in New York…

June 15th

Philadelphia Fell

Filed under Entertainment | No Comments

If Dick Clark is the world’s oldest teenager, then Normal Fell has got to go down in the history books as the world’s perennial middle aged man. His looks could never really be characterized as good, or even ruggedly handsome, but he had a good look. A very good look. And he had the talent to know how to work it, giving some fuel to the notion that there’s no such thing as a bad destiny.

He made a career out of looking like the kind of guy who would know how to swindle people on the streets, go a little mad somewhere on the road, or poke a broom on the ceiling when the kids upstairs got loud. The movies and television are filled with these kinds of characters, and he was able to fill the roles with what will one day be recognized as a consummate actor’s ability.

He’s the kind of guy that one would expect to see on the street outside the hotel. Philadelphia has lots of characters like this, and so it’s no wonder that this is also his birthplace. As time is showing, it’s also a great place to grow up, where it’s tough enough to build calluses for the world, and also cultured enough to hone talent to the point where the world might become an oyster. It might one day even build a church on you.

One of his great talents, of course, was his amazing ability to make us believe. That’s because he believed, too, in what he was doing, in the characters he was making. He had a technique that was solid enough that it would earn him the respect of the Rat Pack, and even membership in that problematic organization. It was also enough to make everyone a little bit annoyed whenever Mr. Roper walked in the room. Growing up on the idea of the Ropers upstairs, no one would have ever guessed that years later, we would ever miss Mr. Roper. But we sure miss Norman Fell.

Read more of Philadelphia Fell…

June 9th

Ford Theatre Season in Washington DC

Filed under Travel | No Comments

A short distance from the Mall in Washington D.C., travelers will come across the Ford Theatre , the nation’s most famous theater, famous largely for infamous reasons dating back to 1865, which operates to this day as a theater and museum to the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. While this is the site where John Wilkes Booth shot a president, it remains an active theater, and is a fascinating place to visit not only for those who love history, but also theater. Designated a national historic site, the theater continues to produce plays each year and tickets for its 2010-2011 season will be available for purchase in August, 2010. The upcoming season consists of four plays:

Sabrina Fair, written by Samuel A. Taylor, will be performed from October 1st to the 24th. This play features a twist on the Cinderella story, focusing on the daughter of the Larrabees’ chauffeur. She returns from Paris and enchants the Larrabee brothers; originally ignored as a child, Sabrina now discovers suitors all around her, including a handsome playboy named David, a person she has always liked. The play explores the question, in essence, about whether or not this Prince Charming is actually right for her.

Another treatment of a classic is presented from November 20th to January 2nd, when the Ford Theatre presents Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with an adaptation by Michael Wilson. This familiar tale of Scrooge and ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future stars Edward Gero, who has received past acclaim for Scrooge in a production that the Washington Post called “musically high-spirited” and “infectiously jolly.”

Horton Foote’s The Carpetbagger’s Children makes an appearance from January 21st to February 13th in 2011. The play is a series of vignettes that explores family secrets and small town life set during the South during the time of Post-Reconstruction following the Civil War. Foote is a playwright who has also won the Academy Award, as well as the 2002 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics New Play Award for this particular play.

Rounding out the season is Liberty Smith, with music by Michael Weiner and lyrics by Adam Abraham. This is a musical about the American Revolution where Liberty Smith, a childhood friend of George Washington and an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, weaves his way through American history, not too unlike the title character in the film, Forrest Gump.

If you’re visiting over the course of next year, whether it’s with friends or one of the city’s four star hotels, Washington DC provides excellent entertainment, including the Ford Theatre, which may be visited both as a functioning theater and/or as a museum to one of the most transformative moments in the nation’s history.

Read more of Ford Theatre Season in Washington DC…

June 7th

VisArts at Rockville

Filed under Art | No Comments

Rockville, Maryland is a rather lovely place by any standards, and has one of the highest quality of life index ratings in the area. It’s the kind of incorporated city that should have places in it with names like Daley’s Tavern, Hungerford’s Tavern, and Owen’s Ordinary. But those were actually names of the city at one time or another, while it was on its way to finding its identity as Rockville. Today, there is a lively population here, and a wide selection of things to do for the whole family. There is also a great selection of Rockville hotels and local restaurants that have something to suit your tastes any day of the week.

If anyone’s artistically inclined, or is inclined toward appreciating art, then a visit to VisArts is definitely in order. It’s a 30,000 square-foot space that has amazing views of the Town Square, and can be rented out for special events. The views are spectacular, and the space is delightful on the eyes, but the real appeal of VisArt is the visual art. It houses 8 artist studios with 11 artists working here full-time, and there are lots of exhibitions here related to the local work of artists in Bethesda .

It also happens to be one of the more community-embedded arts organizations around. They have an event room that holds 200 people, and they also have classes all year round. The classes can be in glass, ceramics, painting, drawing, photography , and a number of other fabulous selections. They also have a specialty for attracting kids to their facilities to take courses and start nudging the muses early on. Also included are courses for at-risk youth and other community outreach programs. This is basic art with some amazing artistic flourishes and a very local touch, and it’s enormously charming, not to mention inspiring.

Read more of VisArts at Rockville…