Spoiled Sports Stars

Well, with the Super Bowl coming up (February 5th!!!), the media has turned its gaze on the sports stars again (not that ever looked away, it's just been less intense). One of the great tragedies of sports, I think, is the undeserved attention we give it. Seriously. I mean, sports are great, and I like watching the Super Bowl, but our culture has elevated sports players to gods. This isn't terribly unusual-- ancient Rome did the same with gladiators.

Some of the sports stars think they can get away with ANYTHING, too. Holy cow, and maybe they can. These folks are in and out of detox centers, counselors, even jail! I think there is too much pressure and way too much idolization of them. What do you think?

Wouldn't it be great to just WATCH a simple game without the media and sports bookies pressuring us to elevate these players to the level of Zeus and Hera? It's JUST a GAME.

Anyway, rant over. Now back to our regular programming.

Good NY Travel Apps

I have a feeling that I have probably only scratched the surface for New York travel apps. I have looked at some, downloaded them, kept some, uninstalled others. I thought I'd share a few of the really superior ones. Please leave any of your own suggestions in the comments, I would just love to discover more.

NYC Mate
This is a great app, perfect for the city traveler. It's a map of the subway routes for Manhattan. It's the same map that you see posted in the subway train stations. I love this app!

Farmshed
This is a great app, whether you travel or not. It's a database of farms, farmer's markets, wineries, orchards, buying clubs, u-pick farms, restaurants, and loads more for Upstate New York. WOW.

Trails
This is distributed by Demand Studios. It's a beautiful app and PERFECT for the hiker and nature lover. The app will locate trails near you, or you can search all trails in New York State or other regions. You can also rate the trails, get instant local weather, a description of trails, the length and number and average duration of walking the trails, and more.

Cheap Gas
This app isn't exactly unique to New York; you an use it anywhere. It's a simple app that detects your location and spits out the gas prices where you are. You click the station on the list to get a map of the location. WOW, gas is pricey in New York State!

Yelp
OK, everybody probably has Yelp. But I mention them because this is a cool app. I haven't had a lot of travel time to use it, but it's very handy when yu are out of town and want to find a local restaurant or something.

Goby
This is a new one that I just downloaded. Goby is an app that finds things to do where you are. First, Goby detects your location. Then you plug what you are interested in (for example, what to do today). The selections are pretty narrow-- you really have to have a good idea of what you want to do (say, historical museums), and Goby will display results of historical museums in your location.

Of course, some apps may be free, some may charge. All the ones that I mention here are free. A few have advertisements and such. I don't care if they do, I can ignore the AT&T ads and diet pills that work ads easily enough, especially if the app is fabulous. :D

However, the apps lists are, for me, a little difficult to locate sometimes. I wish there was one place that listed them all, by categories. The iTunes site doesn't seem to list them all (not that I can find), and the Apps app in the iPhone seems limited. SO it's very hit and miss.

Please leave a comment if you have a terrific gem of an app that you want to share. I am always looking for more!

My Februrary Itinerary

Good news for me! I've booked a getaway for next month. I am STOKED. I haven't had a getaway in... oh my goodness... it must be half a year now. This is going to be the year we travel again. :) We'll be getting a more reliable vehicle, and I'm taking a break from renovating the home this year. Although... I JUST may attempt converting the garage into living space. It will not disrupt the rest of the house, so I can go at my own pace with that. We'll see. With four almost-grown kids in the house, it's getting a tad crowded. Some of the kids need their own space, now.

Anyway, the travel plans-- I plan on going out to the Finger Lakes for a few days. A very sweet bed and breakfast establishment is going to host my stay (It's the Three Tree Inn in Geneva, NY, an absolutely gorgeous inn), and we hope to see the Montezuma Winery. I don't know what else I will be doing. I'd like to see the Seneca Falls Women's Hall of Fame, or perhaps enjoy the lake and listen for the Seneca Drums or something, hee hee.

I'm so happy that the inn is helping to sponsor my stay. I'll be giving them a review on my websites. I hope they get some great visibility from it. You know, I should start printing my own GOPromos promotional items or promotional pens or something. I've considered making a car door magnet, to advertise my travel blog a bit. While I certainly prefer going "incognito" when I travel, sometimes it is very helpful to let the tourist establishment know that I will be blogging about them. Some places are very nice when I inform them of our visit and hand over my business card. They make offer a free hot dog, or a promotional pencil or what have you. Others look at me as if to say, "What's a 'blog'?"

Oh well. I'm finding that more and more businesses are going on Twitter, which is very helpful because I am able to make contacts. I'm really looking forward to my stay in Geneva.

You know, many bed & breakfasts are not much more expensive than the hotel chains. And with the growing problems of bed bugs and other sordid hotel problems, it's much cleaner to stay at a B&B, and many B&B's are more conscious of taking care of the local community, like using green cleaning supplies and promoting local businesses. The B&Bs are also friendlier-- the hosts are very hospitable and really go out of their way to make you feel welcome. You can also discover some local history and local attractions off the beaten path (which is my kind of travel).

I just can't wait to go! I'll have plenty of photos for you. :D

Brooklyn Music Camp for Girls

Parents, got a girl between the ages of 8 and 18 interested in music? Do you live in the Brooklyn, NY, area? There's a stellar program that you won't want to miss: it's the Willie Mae Rock Camp Music Lab.

Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girl's Music Lab is a local non-profit music & mentoring center. The camp offers girls ages 8 to 18 the opportunity to learn to play keyboard, drums, and electric guitar! It's a 14-week course, and it starts January 31st. The good news is that this is something any girl can do-- tuition is determined on a "need-based" scale. So it's very affordable. The music classes are suited for all levels of music achievement: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. So even if your young lady is already cooking up riffs on the axe, she can learn new skills and develop her talents.



This is a TERRIFIC opportunity for girls. I wish they had such a camp in my area!

You can learn more at the Willie Mae Music Lab website. The camp will be held at the Co-op School, Clinton Hill, in Brooklyn. The website has the schedule, times, location directions, and registration information. Or you can call 347-599-0716 for more details and to sign up for the camp.

More Great New York State Travel Apps

I've got more gems in the world of smartphone apps.... you can read the first post that showcased some very good apps for the New York State traveler.

New York State Ski Conditions
I don't ski, so I haven't used this app. But this looks like a beautiful app. The maps alone are lovely. With this app, you can instantly check the weather and trail conditions of your favorite ski mountain. A great app for those who like to "ski on the run" so to speak. ;)

NYCWay
This app is huge, a virtual encyclopedia of everything New York City. Besides the usual directories for restaurants, theatres, hotels, webcams, and transit, NYCWay also features available restrooms, banks, pharmacies, airports, Broadway shows, karaoke shows, parking, and LOADS more. If you're visiting The Big Apple, definitely grab this app. If you live there, get the app-- you may discovers some fascinating new places!


New Yawk Tawk: The Unofficial New York Dictionary
This is a cute app, but let me make one thing VERY CLEAR: There's a whole lotta New Yorkers living UPSTATE, north of the city, too! And we don't talk like this! SO if you get this app to learn New York-ese or are trying to translate the lingo, just remember that it's a New York CITY app. :D

Webcams!
There are a number of webcams available for the smartphones. Albany has their 2008 version of Northway traffic cams for I-87, and an updated 2009 version, too. My511NY also has traffic cams- more on that next. Panoramic Images 360 has some nice pictures.

My511NY
This is an app from the NYS Department of Transportation. It offers updates of traffic and commute information via your phone (or computer). You have to sign up at the MY511NY website in order to use the app. You have to sign up for the service, and give out your name, email, and cell phone number. I don't like that, why can't they just offer the traffic information for a route you select? But the app is not available until you sign up. It's a very useful app especially for cities, but the gathering of personal information puts a damper on the fun. Also, I snickered a little that NYS would come up with a cell phone app when they are such sticklers about using your phone while you drive. Ha!

I'll keep my eyes peeled for more good apps. If you know of any, please leave a comment!

Ready For Spring Break Yet?

I am. :D

I never really got any Christmas or New Year's vacation. I am such a bad mother-- I have been promising the kids that we REALLY will go on a vacation (and not just *any* average day trip) very soon. We had plans to do so on Christmas vacation, but I got clobbered with work, and two of the kids were sick with the flu. :( Talk about disappointing.

I have plans to take my girls to New York City sometime, and everyone will be going to Virginia this year, Lord willing. The problem is finding nice hotels in New York (we already have Virginia accommodations). After some browsing, I have found the perfect website! It's Octopus Travel, based in the UK. I read the FAQs and am pretty impressed with their "NO hidden costs" guarantee and their commitment to customer satisfaction. The database of hotels is huge, too. Penn Hotel, Ritz Carlton, Carter Hotel, etc, cheap and luxury hotels all at your fingertips. You can search by star rating, hotel brand, location, amenities, etc. It's a great website.



Octopus Hotel hosts TripAdvisor reviews, too. They recommend that, after staying at your hotel, you add to the reviews so the good hotels stand out (and the bad ones are avoided). All very consumer-friendly, I like it.

So if you are planning on taking a REAL break this spring break (or any time), take a peek at what Octopus Travel has to offer. I'm very impressed!

Note: Please be aware that while I am compensated for reviewing this website, all opinions are completely mine and are truthful to the best of my ability. Thanks for reading!

Fresh Snow

After the hoo-hah about the Blizzard of '11 (that pooped out after hitting Chicago and barely affected us in Upstate New York), things were cold but somewhat quiet, weather wise. It's been a very odd year for weather. Some old-timers at the barber shop were saying it's an old-fashioned winter. That is, a lot of piddly, little snow storms. We haven't REALLY had any major snow events this season, but lots of snow, because it falls down just about every day. It's tough on the small towns. Their low-budget highway departments are having to go out every day, to salt and sand and plow an inch here, and inch there. I guess it really IS an old-fashioned winter if the highway departments aren't prepared for such unusual constant streams of snow.

Anyway, we got a few fresh inches overnight. I ventured out into the 15-degree weather to snap a few photos.

Doesn't he look so cute with his bright orange hoodie? :D :D I love that thing. It practically glows in the dark!

It's a lot of snow, to be sure, especially a lot of snow that has fallen in such scanty increments. Lots of people here are eager for spring, but I'm not. Spring to me means mud and flooding. My property sits at the bottom of two perpendicular hills. While the flooding isn't as severe as the summer of 2006 and 2007, I think I have a phobia now. :(

ANYWAY. I'm looking forward to summer-- bone dry yards! Sunshine! Sitting under the ceiling fans and working on the laptop! And here's hoping the humidity is low this year. :D

Are you looking forward to the season change?