Empty Voices

When visiting Phoenix, you may be asking yourself where you can take the kids to play and play and not be bored; especially if you’re visiting during the extremely hot summer months. The Arizona Science Center is a perfect solution. Located in downtown Phoenix at 600 E. Washington Street, the Science Center is an air-conditioned fun-filled environment.

Parents will have just as much fun as their children, and there’s always something new along with the old favorites if you’ve been to the center before. The Arizona Science Center museum features futuristic architecture by Antoine Predock that to turns learning into fun. Exhibits like ‘All About Me’ and ‘Fab Lab’ are interactive and are cleverly designed to not only entertain, but educate. The Dorrance Planetarium will let the entire family experience the night sky. The Irene P. Flinn Theater will let you experience a film on a 5-story high screen.

There’s enough to do to keep the children entertained for a whole afternoon such as the latest exhibit ‘ Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear’, which will make you face a tarantula, experience free fall, and then learn about the science behind the fear in this fun and educational exhibition. The ‘Forces of Nature’ exhibit is all about learning everything from the movement of the tectonic plates to the power of wind and sand erosion. If you’re children have high energy, they’ll really love the ‘Rock Wall’ where they can get a grip on science as they climb a 15 foot wall.

You’ll especially like the fact that the Science Center is located within walking distance to the best Phoenix hotels in the downtown area; that’s if you’re little ones have any energy left to walk.

For all of the reasons to come to Seattle, the fresh meat is usually low on the list. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of carnivores in town, and the restaurants are as world-class as a dining establishment can get. But the salt of the earth reputation of the Seattle population, which sometimes leads into a bit of a granola stereotype, is usually the inspiration behind young people looking at Seattle hotel rates for a great vacation in a pretty hip city.

However, out of the ashes of the mountain that is so rarely seen, there comes a new idea called Burning Beast . It happens at Smoke Farm , where 360 acres of farmland seem like the perfect place to do something interesting.

Inspired by Burning Man, the event is a gathering where people come together to meet each other, and share food. They share a lot of food, too, because the center of the event are challenges to cook a variety of animals. The chefs, some of them at the top of their restaurant careers, have to cook using simple materials, and simple ovens of wood, metal, and stone. It could be a meat-eaters delight, but it also has the Seattle stamp of approval, because the thrust of the event is to educate people about sustainable cooking and eating practices.

Anyone who’s spent a little time in Boston, taking in the rich cultural scene that characterizes the city today, may have seen some rather fetching masks in some of the live performance work. There are many local and national theater companies who pick up works from a company called Behind the Mask . It’s been featured in Opera and Dance works, as well as at the Cambridge River Fest. Some of the more detailed works have been displayed in places as illustrious as the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Children’s Museum , and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum .

These are works by a local mask maker named Eric Bornstein . He’s well-studied, having earned a master’s from Harvard in art history, and has been making masks since 1982. His innovative work is one of the things that inspires travelers to look into the hotel rates Boston offers, because it’s artists like this that make it such an interesting town.

His work is exceptionally illustrative of a local aesthetic, if there can be said to be such a thing, by tying the very personal to the international. Drawing on his own experience, and coupling that with training from mask centers of the world in Bali and Italy, the work becomes a reflection of many worlds, and all of them live simultaneously in this one city.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Taliesin West’ home is in Scottsdale, Arizona, located at 12621 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. ‘Taliesin West’ was built in the late 1930s and consists of a cluster of buildings, which are now a National Historic Landmark.

Taliesin was patterned after the feeling and flow of the desert surroundings and became Frank Lloyd Wright’s favorite building and his winter home. He used the building of Taliesin as a school for his architecture students; they learned by doing, which was FLW’s teaching style . Wright’s former office, including a Cabaret Theater and the Pavilion Theater are the highlights of the tour.

The tours are offered every day and last about an hour for the Panorama version. Taliesin is easy to get to from any of the five star hotels Scottsdale offers. There are longer tours that are jammed packed with great information and can last up to 90 minutes. You’ll learn how FLW bought the land with a down-payment from his ‘Falling Water’ house and how he had his students build it, and pay him for the experience! All the students received new experiences at Taliesin, learned new building techniques, new lighting and new acoustics. You’ll also learn how the students suffered in the harsh climate of the desert and how that affected some parts of the complex.

The tour of Taliesin will show you what materials were replaced and show you renovation plans that will be extremely costly. You’ll see an original lay-out and get to know how to connect the different buildings and their functionality. You’ll leave very inspired and in awe of just how innovative Frank Lloyd Wright was and how his techniques still influence many structures today.

Laredo Texas is a booming border town where the main industry is trading and shipping goods between Mexico and the United States. The first town of Laredo was founded in 1755 by Don Tomas Sanchez when it was still a colony of New Spain. In the first hundred years that area with stood many wars for its control. It was the capitol of the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840. Then it became a host town for the Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War in 1846. The U.S. military set up Fort McIntosh to help manage the area in 1847. This town is one of the largest border crossing areas between the U.S.A. and Mexico.  

There are a few historical sites to see that are markers of these historical events. The old Diocese of Laredo called San Agustin Plaza and Church and the old Republic of Rio Grande building which is now a museum where visitors can learn more details, see photos and artifacts about the development of the town. This is also the place to catch some tours of the city. They have some walking tours and trolley tours that will take people around town and talk about the notable events and places this old historical town has.  

The city has created a wonderful historical neighborhood call the Villa Antigua where the locals and visitors can be educated on the local history and entertained with a hub of shops and restaurants. This is were one can catch a show at the Plaza Theatre . Speaking of theatre’s, you may like a more live entertainment experience and you can see what the local talent is up to at the Laredo Little Theatre.  

Get out and enjoy the local history of this old border town. You can find out more information from any of the hotels laredo has through out the city. There are plenty of places to hang out with the locals and enjoy a cocktail. Lots of wonderful restaurants to have a great meal.

It’s not necessary to live in the past, but in Chicago, it’s an interesting place for sure. While one is distracted by all the pleasant attractions of the present, the past is still very much here. The old neighborhoods have roots to other places and earlier times, and it sometimes makes for interesting juxtapositions.

The theatre in town these days is as remarkable as the live music, and all the art forms have had a pretty lively history in the city. It doesn’t take very long, however, before any discussion of history in Chicago turns toward a very infamous cow. The cow in question was named either Madeline or Gwendolyn, or maybe even Daisy, depending on the version of the story that one hears. This is the cow that kicked over the lantern, that in turn sparked the hay that had been recently stored for winter, on October 8, 1871.

In the ensuing tragedy that engulfed the city of Chicago in flames, 300 people perished, and 100,000 lost their homes. It’s a story so large, and so common in the North American vernacular, that there’s even a children’s song about it.

The connecting thread in all of the stories is one particular figure, a certain Mrs. O’Leary , who was milking the cow when it all went so terribly wrong. At least, that’s how the story goes. But visitors to Chicago these days, from the four star hotels Chicago offers, to the pubs where people gather and discuss the gossip of the day, might discover that the truth might be more complex than it seems.

It’s entirely possible that she was not, in fact, guilty at all, and possibly not even partially responsible. According to her own testimony, she was in bed when the fire broke out. There has also been a lurking suspicion about her neighbor, Daniel “Pegleg” Sullivan , whose testimony has lots of inconsistencies.

He claims that he was at her house, walked across the street, past his own house, turned and saw the fire, then ran back and saved a lot of the animals. The actions he describes are not only a little illogical, but also impossible. He simply didn’t have time. The firemen, likewise, have a complicated story that reveals a lot of dropped balls, and a number of opportunities not taken. This all suggests that she really might be just a scapegoat, a name that’s become a source for bad luck, in order to explain the things that are beyond everyone’s control.

The follow up might be one of the most important steps that you are missing in your sales. For most people it is not that they don’t know to do the follow up, it is that they don’t know what to do with the follow up. Some of them would say that they don’t even know where to begin. This is because a lot of people talk about sales techniques and don’t talk about what to do later except as a footnote. If there is one thing you learn at an internship in sales like those at Southwestern Company it is that the type of sales doesn’t matter. Follow up is always a great touch and way to get repeat business.

Some people when they are going in for the follow up find themselves wondering if they are being a bother, contacting the person unnecessarily. There is a very easy way to get around this worry however. You know you are going to do the follow up, so don’t leave the conversation without finding out when will be good for them. Ask them when in the next week or so you can get a hold of them to talk about this further. Make an appointment not just with yourself, but with them as well. This way they know you plan on talking to them again. If they are in a place where they don’t know what their schedule is for the next week, tell them that you will be calling them back to check in the next week. That way you aren’t bothering them as much because they know you are going to do it.

If you are very busy and you are working hard all the time, schedule time to take out and use your social media to make some follow ups. Most people these days have some sort of social media and if you are in the habit of collecting their information, this is one way you can do that. It is also less intrusive as it fits into the course of their normal day and will give them a little reminder that you are there. Of course this might not work as well for door to door sales like those of a Southwestern Company intern, but even they can use social media to push their products.

Visitors to the city of Fort Collins are usually struck silent by the incredible life that seems to be taken almost for granted here. It’s a very high standard of living, aside from the apparent wealth of some of the local residents. There is some of the best views, and cleanest air, in the country. The very happening college scene also brings in a great selection in entertainment, and young kids having fun does have a tendency to lively up a place.

But for those first-time guests seeing the city from the vantage point of a local hotel, Fort Collins ‘s past is not always visible. If someone’s coming to town with the intentions of disguising themselves as a local, one way to build certain street cred is to mention how much the Bullhorn is missed.

This was a local, alternative and award-winning weekly that brought news to the people, the way they wanted their local stories to be told. As these ventures usually go, it was started by a group of 20-somethings with their fingers on the pulse of the scene. It was a humble beginning, but one that would prove to be very successful. From 2000 to 2003, it ran as a monthly , and as the readership grew, so did demand for more current information. Pulses do tend to fluctuate rapidly, especially when it’s concerning the rhythms of youth. There is also the musician factor, where bands might produce the mightiest sound on both sides of the rockies, but are not entirely reliable when it comes to organizations.

Bookings come in at the last possible moment, so it became a weekly until it closed in 2006. Apparently it closed after a possible merger fell through, and since then, the editorial staff has moved on in new directions. Some go into politics, and some go to other cities to report on new music and culture in different environments, but the scene in Fort Collins is unique. It’s hard not to imagine that they miss the city as much as the city misses them.

Women’s professional tennis is something that has gained enormous attention and continued interest around the world due to the extent of talent, determination and skill of the players. Currently at the top of the game are sisters Venus and Serena Williams who dominate the court, while some of the past greats continue to remain icons of the sport. Players like Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graff remain archetypes of the game and are permanently embedded in the collective tennis greats consciousness. Too bad these greats won’t be in the Wimbledon 2010 championship.

Billie Jean King is a retired American player who was one of the first great women players to gain popular recognition in the 1970s. After an extensive and extremely successful career she retired in 1983. During her professional career she won 12 Majors singles titles, 16 doubles titles and 11 mixed doubles. She was an early advocate for equality in the sport and fought against sexist views. In addition to her great career achievements she has started the Women’s Tennis Association, Women’s Sports Foundation, and together with her former husband Lawrence King founded the World Team Tennis.

Martina Navratilova , a Czech American, is frequently regarded as the best women’s tennis player of all time. Billie Jean King regarded her as the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player that ever lived. She has won an impressive 18 Grand Slam singles titles and record 31 doubles titles. She won the singles at Wimbledon tennis a record total of nine times. Steffi Graff is a retired German player who now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a former World No. 1 player and holds the record for most consecutive weeks on the list, at 377 total weeks. She also holds the distinction of being the only player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in a single year.

For many people window blinds are necessary if for no other reason than privacy, but many other people are worried about things such as heat escaping or getting in, light getting in when a movie is on, or a number of other things. The greatest thing about blinds is that a good set of blinds can cover your needs and make the house look even better. They can be pulled out of the way when you want light to get in or when you want them out of your way. When they are down they can give a different color to the house, block light and heat from getting in, and keep the air on the inside from changing temperature. The real trick to finding the right set of blinds is knowing what you want.

What hole will the blinds fill.
Not literally, hopefully you already know the window they will cover and not a hole. What you want to know is what is missing from your room that the blinds can produce. In a small room bright blinds from a custom store like Next Day Blinds might give the room a bigger brighter feel, and will give the room a center point to distract people from the size of the room.

Does it fit your theme.
If you have a theme in your house of earthy tones, all the walls are a brown, the furniture is the color of sand, you don’t want the curtains to clash. If you have a theme of all black furniture and white walls, you might want to make the curtains black as well to make them fit the theme. On the other hand, if you do decide that you want to break the theme, consult an expert like those that work at Next Day Blinds . There are a number of ways to break up a theme tastefully, but only do so with purpose to avoid letting it look tacky.

An example of both of these would be in a kids room . You may need blinds that fit in with a fun free form but that won’t break easily and which can’t choke the kid. In a case like this you want to make sure that you customize the blinds so that they are light and silly, fitting in with the theme of the room but that they don’t have any strings or that they have strings that will break off when too much pressure is applied.

Now take those and find a type of window blind that fits both of your needs.