When I was in Los Angeles for the very first time, I was already 25 years old, and the only reason I never set foot there is because it hadn’t occurred to me that I might be missing something. The lure of beautiful hotels was something that my rich and pretty friends would chase after, but I couldn’t think about these things. I was a dedicated installation artist, and the world was my canvas, and film of any kind was a spit in the face of all that was good in the world. Installation was everything, it was my definition of the world, and my definition was everything. I didn’t know that was a Hollywood sentiment until it was too late to be pure.

For a long time, though, that’s how I saw it. It was something I’d decided before I could really think it through, and I said it enough so that I felt tied to it. Even though I was working in some circles where friends were making movies, I would always condescend to them and tolerate their company. They might think film wasn’t dead, I would think, and someday they’ll understand. Eventually, drawn by the idea of making something I could save for when I turned forty, and didn’t want to do this anymore, I went to Hollywood to give in. Of course, the giving was one-sided, they didn’t really care about the gift.

But I did get to see some people I’d always thought about. John Cusack was interesting enough, and could probably be convinced to be in one of my installations, or might donate money from his charity. Or there was also Miranda July , whose films crossed over from the gallery/performance art realm into indie cinema. These were people I would hang out with in L.A., I thought, and for me, seeing someone at a video store or in a car driving by counts as hanging out. Being able to stretch your definitions to fit your reality is very important in this town.

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In today’s world, social media is king. In this day and age you don’t need to be looking for celebrities to endorse your product, just the celebrities of small social groups. Commercials are less necessary than humanizing the corporation and making it feel like it is something that can be handled, seen and felt by everyone. There is no better way to do this than to use social media sites as a means to reach out to your consumer and show them what you are about, who you are and give them a link into the corporate life, even if that is only through being able to get on Facebook, Youtube or something else and see your product in front of them all the time.

What you need to remember is that more and more people are getting their news from social media sites. This doesn’t mean that they are just getting information about their friends or their co-workers, but they also take in product information based on what their friends enjoy, and news articles based on things their friends have shared with the rest of the world. There are even news sites that are using social media, and many people have used fan pages, or have subscribed to them on Twitter to as a means of data collection and as a news RSS. This means that the best way to get information about your company out to your consumers is not to just add contact info on sites like Twitter but make regular updates. This keeps people informed and makes sure they keep paying attention. Make sure you announce all of your sales, your promotions, and even daily business on your social media sites and make it interesting. The more people who connect to you, the more their friends will see information about you, so make sure you connect to your personal profile to your company profile and retweet and share as many of the updates as you can. This will give you a broader range of people you can reach, and it doesn’t take a lot of time.

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If you catch a train and get to the Grand Central Station in London you are one step closer to one of the many loops of sights you can take in this dense city. For the first time visitor of London this is a good place to start because it gets you to see the Westminster Abby, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben along with Buckingham Palace along with a few other popular sights along the way. This loop can be done in an afternoon while suffering from jet lag in need be. Take it from someone who as done it before. What can be seen in London in only one day. We pulled this off and caught a show in the theatre district.

Anyway, Buckingham Palace is as impressive in person as it is on Television. It is one of the most visited places in the city with thousands of travelers, from all over the world, surrounding it most of the time. The beautiful gardens that lead up to the palace gates is also a nice place to relax. There is a heart warming dedication to Princes Diana on the ground outside the gates. For those who lost her from afar, seeing her memorial will touch your heart all over again. There are certain parts of the palace that can be visited by travelers, just check the schedule before you go.

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben are a must see. How many movies have we seen those landmarks in? The latest one would be the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. This is the home of the House of Lords and the House of Commons right along the Thames river. They have held meetings on these grounds since the 13th Century. It has fallen a few times with fire and bombings but the buildings that stand today have been there since the 1870s with some interior changes. It was actually a palace before being used for important government use only. The Palace of Westminster was the center of it all during the reign of early Kings. The history of the building is long and interesting so read up on it before you go. It will make seeing it up close even more interesting.

Across from the Parliament you will find the Westminster Abby which stands in all of its grandeur. If your going to be in this area you may just find a London hotel near by. This will make your trip more enjoyable not having to travel to far to see these and many other historical sights.

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In an attempt to build team spirit and change the corporate atmosphere from cold and stale to warm and friendly, ice breaker games have become a big hit. Managers are trying to find ways to tap into to an employee’s peak potential and capitalize on being able to work together and share ideas. When employees are able to work together and feel comfortable around each other, the outcome is higher quality of work. Even if the education level and potential of the individual employees of another company is higher, that company will be less efficient. For this reason, company morale and employee camaraderie is essential.

Dinners on the company card may not test comfort zones, but certainly bring the team together. Try Indian cuisine for your next Corporate Dinner . If testing boundries and trying something new is a priority, switch it up and try a restaurant that offers a truly authentic experience. In authentic Indian custom, meals are eaten with your hands.

In Singapore, JP Morgan Chase, has an annual corporate challenge . This challenge is a 5.6 kilometer race. All entrants must belong to a corporate team. The proceeds for this year’s challenge will go to “Teaming up for a Greener Tomorrow”. This is another example of companies getting their employee’s together to unite under a similar cause. It is a chance to become comrades outside of the office doors and connect on a deeper level.

Forest Adventure is comfort zone stretching at its best! This place is awesome for building trust among team members. Test your limits by swinging through the trees high above the forest. As emotions are high and vulnerability is exposed, trust is inevitable. It is important in cases like this that no one is pushed to far. Healthy boundaries can be tested, but breaking down with force will yield opposite results.

Team building can be an especially fun time. Many companies can use their team building activities to lure new prospective employees.

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If you are going to Dallas this April there are tons of events not to miss for both adults and children.

For families looking for something to do as a unit you shouldn’t miss Discovery Days 2010 it will be hosted on Saturday, Apr 10 from 10 A.M. to 5P.M. at the Museum of Nature and Science; there’s sure to be fun and hands on activities for the whole family at this festival. The first ever World Balloon Convention happening April 15-18 featuring a showcase of giant balloon sculptures, classes on making your own and an opening night costume party; even thought this is mostly geared at individuals in the business of party decor I could see this becoming an annual fun for the whole family event. Richland College ‘s Carnival of Steel will be held April 17th featuring steel bands and percussion ensembles from around the United States performing all styles of music from Caribbean and Latin to classical and rock, best of all it’s free and an all ages show.

Now that I’ve covered the family friendly events, here is something for the rest of us. If you’re into body art and rock music, Apr. 9 – 11 is the Musink Tattoo convention and music festival’s first year in Dallas, perfect for supporting up an coming artists of all stripes. Thursday, April 15 is the Single Malt & Scotch Whiskey Extravaganza with malts and whiskeys from around the globe to sample. The evening event will feature a sampling of over 100 of Scotland’s most prestigious single malt & Scotch whiskeys along side award winners from Ireland and Japan.

There is so much going on that I’d have to stay the whole month to see it all and I’ve heard Plano, Garland, and Allendale hotels are affordable and not far from all the points of interest. I may just have to stop in.

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This was the moment we were waiting for, the one that was threatening to pass us by before we had the chance to take it. Sometimes there are things that we have to make up as we go along, and sometimes we recognize that things are falling to pieces and so we just grab whatever we can hold. There will be time later on to decipher whether or not these were the important things or not. It’s a short time between this patch of ground and the next, and if you happen to love adventure, so be it, and if you happen to love dogs, well, then there might be something more interesting to talk about.

These are the given circumstances, all the necessary preconditions that had to be put into place before we could wake up in our own New York City hotel room where time was ours for just a little while longer. It wasn’t that there were a handful of pre-determined things ahead of us, just one large one, a race that might last for a century in the memory of the locals if we planned it right. It could make history for the whole dog racing community , both in New York and the rest of the world.

We had things tied up and tied together and our timing was more right than ever, and this was the golden opportunity of a lifetime. We had the plan for the racing dogs , never really understanding the depth of their sacrifice. Our dog had been specially trained to run on hind legs, and also liked to ding the bell on the bicycle all by itself. This was going to be the best triathlon in history, and all we had to do was hold our breath. It was going to be a long night.

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We left Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona after watching several San Diego Padres ballgames. We were only planning to stay for 2 nights, but my husbands dad had to have emergency surgery (every thing is fine now), so we instead stayed 4 days. But, has we are retired, our schedule is very flexible. While we were in Mesa, we decided to pick up our daughter and our 2 granddaughters; one age 4 and the other is 5 years old. They’ll be traveling with us for a month or less depending how it goes.

We headed north to San Francisco with a stopover in Palmdale. We made reservations at the hotel Palmdale and had lunch at a restaurant located on a golf course called Cascades . Our granddaughters really enjoyed themselves when we let them chase the ducks around the pond. We had dinner served in our hotel room, where the kids got enjoyed a hot dog.

The next morning, we headed out and made a quick stop at Morgan Hill, which is about 60 miles south of San Francisco, because it was so beautiful with rolling green hills. We let our granddaughters get out of the car and run off some energy by running up and down the hills. They had so much fun rolling down these small hills, they giggled all the way down. It was so wonderful to travel with our daughter and granddaughters. Our daughter is a very loving, compassionate woman, our granddaughters are so fortunate to have her as a mother, too bad their dad wants nothing to do with them.

We made it to San Francisco and we were all stunned with it’s beauty. Before we parted ways with our daughter and granddaughters, we took a drive down the most crookedest street in the world, Lombard Street. Our daughter had made arrangements to stay with her ex-in laws so that they too can enjoy there grandchildren.

We said our goodbyes, it was so hard for me to do that, I wish they could be with us on our journey across America, but at least I think our granddaughters will have found memories of us.

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Last summer Carl suggested that we take the boys on a historic discovery tour and vacation. Generally we make our summer plans based on theme park and adventure journey contexts and to be honest most of our vacations are based on those kind of thrilling experiences that are pure commercial spectacle and entertainment. Of course we’ve also done things that are more educational or outlook enhancing such as going to Sea World in San Diego. It’s not all just outdoor sports thrill and adventure, though our boys do have a lot of energy and it’s always nice for them to get to spend it in this way. That would generally guarantee that Carl and I could have a little quiet time in the evening, which was also an important part of our own vacation. So, after a bit of deliberation we decided that the boys were definitely old enough to appreciate some of American history and we decided that booking a room in one of the Philadelphia hotels would be a great place to start.

One of our first destinations was the Academy of Natural Sciences. We decided to begin with the dinosaur exhibit because we felt like this would be a good introduction to the appreciation of history. The boys love dinosaurs and the life size Tyrannosaurus Rex was almost as thrilling for us as it was for them. We wandered through the dinosaur hall and the boys were completely intrigued the entire trip. After we finished with the dinosaurs we walked over to the live animal center which also seemed like it would hold some intriguing creatures, though of course these were live. And sure enough we and the boys had a great time there too. We compared some of the reptiles to the various dinosaur we had just scene and felt like we were getting a bit of evolutionary understanding out of it. The boys, however, seemed to be more thrilled with the idea that these were actual living dinosaurs than with noticing similarities and differences from the past. At any rate the next stop was the George Washington Carver temporary exhibit. This also turned out to be interesting to the boys and they were particularly attracted to the life size reproduction of the Jesup Wagon. Ultimately we knew our stop at the Academy of Natural Sciences was going to pave the way for a great rest of our trip.

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New York gets more interesting when you are chasing something.  It’s possible to chase someone, looking for an elusive love that keeps slipping out of your grasp, but it’s better that the someone remain nameless, because people often get away, or they can be caught and you might end up finding yourself married to the mysterious entity.  Worse things happen here, and worse things can befall a person than falling in love.  But it seems as though the city is really just built for the chase, and part of the challenge here is to know what you’re looking for.

Lots of young artists come here every year, checking into a cool hotel to have a look at the city while deciding whether or not to move here.  It’s a good idea to make several trips first, because it can be difficult to gauge with just a couple visits.  The city can behave rather flirtatiously with anyone that’s considering getting close, and there are moments when it feels like this is the place where everything is possible and everything can happen.  But just like a relationship that seems so nice on the dance floor, it becomes a very different thing when it’s in the kitchen and there are dishes to be done.

Part of the allure of the city is that it does have an ability to be flexible in providing the answers to dreams for so many different kinds of dreams.  But it also rewards those who have an idea of what they are looking for, and the ones who wander are often the first to be lost.  Unlike other places, where there is some degree of aimlessness that’s appropriate and encouraged, New York embraces the sharp wits who are looking in one direction, and with great focus.  These are the ones who push the rest of the human race into changing their way of thinking about things, so that other worlds are possible.

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