Isadore Sharp, a Hotelier with a Heart

I often read book reviews...much more than the actual books. I like the way people can digest and tighten up a message that is as long and sometimes boring in a 400 page book, but works in a newspaper column or even as a little blog. One I read the other day was about Four Seasons, a new book about the founders of the iconic hotel chain. Isadore Sharp started the whole thing in 1961.

The takeaway in this hotelier's story to me is how he treated the members of the lowest rung of his staff...the housekeepers, cooks, bell staff, waiters and clerks were trusted, respected and motivated by their creedo that this was at the heart of the issue. They were the front line, so they were encouraged to solve service problems as they arose, and to remedy failures on the spot. "Make the people who work for you shine," was their advice to the managers.

The Four Seasons was named as a "100 Best Companies to Work For," for a 12th consecutive year. I think that their 'bottom up' way of treating employees may have a lot to do with that!

Traffic Declines Mean No Jams, But Not All Are Pleased

One maxim that's held true over the past one hundred years is that when you build more roads, the traffic quickly catches up and fills it up, proving that traffic congestion is not solved by more road building. Yet this year something has changed that's never happened before. For the first time since anyone began keeping records, Americans will actually drive less this year.

It's a staggering sea change that's solved one of the harshest problems of urban living. There are far fewer traffic jams all over the US because there's relatively little traffic--everywhere! A story in today's WSJ picks out startling declines; Colorado Springs, down 68%, Daytona Beach 70%, Tucson 57%. Taxi drivers are reporting fast 30-minutes zips from Chicago's city center to O'Hare. But one cabbie said his wages have fallen by one third due to fewer passenger fares.

Of course these empty highways and tollroads have their detractors. The Mass Pike, for example, is suffering an 8.5% drop in tolls, and according to the editor of Tollroads News, "that's all anyone is talking about in the industry." Subways and commuter trains that get their lifeblood from tolls are having to cut staff and raise fares. But these public conveyances have never been fuller, and to me, that's progress.

Shoot En Route, Before the Trip Even Begins

I made up the name of a contest that my friends at Airport Parking Reservations are holding. It's a chance to take out your camera even before the trip begins by being creative with shooting the parking lot, your parking driver, and the friendly people behind the counters. They're giving away cameras and a cool solar charger, and the glory of being a winner in what could be a, well, challenging topic. To a traveler who submits the most creative photo of the airport parking lot they reserved at. Entrants must include three photos, including the parking lot's sign.

But photographers can be clever, so we hope to be impressed with the entries. Here is the link on APR's Photography contest page. Contests are fun because you never know whose creative juices will be revved up and might shoot something very unexpected.

Mohammed Was The Original Pirate, in the Desert

It's a glorious day to sit on the back patio and what better to read than the weekend WSJ? Here I found out about the prophet Mohammed's career as a pirate, and how today's Somali pirates are carrying on a long Islamic tradition.

Stephen Prothero writes that when Mohammed and his followers left the commercial center of Mecca for the agricultural settlement of Medina in 622, they suddenly found themselves out of jobs. That's because they were used to trading and all of their customers and suppliers were back in Mecca. Lacking farming tools or knowledge, the Mohammed and his men turned to a longstanding Arabian practice called ghazu, or the bounty raid. Like the pirates we hear about who attack tankers off the Somali coast, Mohammed and his men attacked camel caravans and held them for ransom. The result was that soon caravans began changing their routes to avoid being taken hostage by the Great Prophet.

Strangely, ghazu wasn't considered a crime in Mohammed's day, as long as they didn't take anyone hostage during the pilgrimage to Mecca. The author says that if Western governments really want to stop the piracy scourge they have to enlist the Islamic world, and like many did after 9/11, they have to express their opinion that piracy is wrong, just as the attacks were wrong. Somali's current prime minister has denounced piracy as a crime against Islam, so that's a start.

It was the Bomb...the Love Bomb...at the Roadhouse

It was, as some people say, The Bomb! Love Bomb rocked out last night at the Route 63 Roadhouse, that funky music and dancing shack right next to State Highway 63 in Millers Falls. I didn't know if I'd have much gas left after a few Northampton Pale Ales at the Brewery, but rallied and joined Bill over at the dance joint.

This band plays hit after hit, the kinds of songs you just can't sit still for. Tuned up and ready for the adoring crowds at the Roadhouse, they were in fine form last night. Even the Red Sox vs the Yankees couldn't take any attention away from their exquisite funkiness.

Today we're setting temperature records outside the cafe, the warm sunshine streaming down and people coming into the cafe with a lift in their steps. I often think about how nice it is to really appreciate warm weather. Out in Cali, they have it so often they don't really care. But in New England, our cold weather hides revel and shine when the temps heat up, everybody is in a good mood and it's always good for business. Bring on the sun!

Frank Moro Sr: Never A Bad Day, Never

Frank Moro Sr. has left this green earth. I didn't know anything about his illness, I just remember his smiling face, whenever I'd come in with car problems. Frank was one of the first and friendliest people I met when I moved to town in 1990. He ran Fisher's Garage, the institution in the center of town where everybody buys their gas.

Frank was never, ever, anything less than delighted to have me as a customer. He took care of me through my series of Toyota wagons and other broken down vehicles, patiently explaining manifolds and catalytic converters, and giving me all of my options. I noticed that the garage where he worked for so many years was closed yesterday, and I didn't know why until I read it in the paper.

At age 66, Frank deserved a lot more living out of this life. It makes me think about how limited all of our time is here, and how wonderful it must be to leave a legacy of genuine friendliness and cordiality to all you've interacted with during your time. Frank sure did, and South Deerfield will miss that smiling face, thinking about Fort Myers.

This Is Progress: Computer Recycling in Holyoke

From local news from abc40, By Eric Fisher

HOLYOKE, Mass. (abc40) -- Technology is everywhere, but once you're done with it, what do you do? In Massachusetts, computers are not allowed in landfills due to their toxic components. But a Holyoke company is offering a way for people to recycle their PCs.

"We performed upgrades for people, but we didn't know what to do with the old computers," says owner of Reliable Computer Dan Deschanine. "Then Rich said hey let's start recycling and it's worked out great."

Dan opened Reliable Computer 15 years ago, but just last year started a new branch called D&R Recycling. Along with Rich Holtz, they've been recycling computers in the same building.

"We recycle screws, the plastic, the metal, there's very little trash if you really work on it," says co-owner of D&R Rich Holtz.

Computers and many other electronics like cd players and VCRs contain traces of mercury, lead, and other poisonous metals and gasses. By recycling, they can minimize the toxic effects and keep them out of landfills.

"Each component has different types of things we can recycle in them," says Holtz.

Some chips and boards contain traces of gold and platinum. The plastic shell of a computer can be recycled. All the metal parts, bearings, and screws all get separated. Once put into their respective groups, Dan and Rich visit several scrap yards and trade them in.

An entire computer is only worth about $2-3, so they aim for large quantities. They do so by arranging contracts with larger businesses.

"If a business has 50 employees and they just upgraded to flat panels, they'll have to do something with those monitors," says Deschaine. "Usually their space is limited, so that's where we come in."

Individuals are also welcome to bring in their old PCs. D&R also accepts other forms of electronics, but charge for some of their services. The shop is located at 867 Main Street in Holyoke, and a price list can be found there.

As a business, computer recycling has only existed for about 5-7 years. Rich deconstructed an entire computer for abc40, and the only trash left was a plastic sticker. Every single other component can be recycled.

When the Bucks Trump the Audience, It's Time to Go

Hey DeWolf, don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Chris DeWolf was infamous, in my view, when he declared that he'd prefer a profit to 300 pageviews. He said he'd give up all of those eyeballs to just make a darn bit of money. And abandoning your users is website suicide. He took what was once the most visited young people's site on the web, Myspace, and made it the most important aspect of promoting music in the US. Now though, the site isn't in the limelight and is down to about 150,000

Now when people go to MySpace, they are bombarded by dancing cartoons and penguins, and if they go to Facebook they simply find their friends. Easy versus a pain. One symbol of Myspace that rings personally to me: I had to use a different password than the standard one I like because they specified a 5 digit password. So I had to shorten the one I always remember.

Now Johnathan Miller, Murdoch's top digital dog, has banished DeWolfe to China. He's being replaced by Owen Van Natta, naturally, from Facebook.

Mike Rigali's Hideaway Hookah Bar in Holyoke

We discovered a cozy hideaway when we attended a Holyoke Chamber function below the Waterfront on Main St. in the city's Springdale neighborhood last night. Both of us had been to the big bar upstairs before but never to their much cozier little bar called the Bungalow, located on a level below, right next to the river.

Mike pointed to two hookah pipes in the corner. "We rent those out with a full pouch of tobacco," he said, "It's so relaxing to sit by the fire and puff on those all night." Wow, did anyone know that Holyoke had a waterfront outdoor patio with a firepit and pipes? The place looks like a hidden speakeasy; the entrance is graced with an electric meter and it's right next to a giant furnace smokestack. But inside it's cozy and cool with a U-shaped bar, warmed by a gas fireplace.

Mike Rigali's place has been operating on weekends for four years, he told us. Inside the tiny little bar there's a big window that opens up to a patio with a firepit. Tiki torches light the perimeter and there's a nice view of the Connecticut River. It looks like a great place for us to repair to some warm summer evening when we want to get outside and have a drink.

Forget the schlepp up to Noho, hey, this is just as cool and it's right here in our city. Holyoke is slowly and steadily becoming better and better, with the new Dam Cafe and places like this that make it much more fun to be here.

A Smooth Rolling Drawer Makes Life Better

I'm on a roll with my chronicles of life's little joys. I've found another. For years, almost decades, I suppose, the top drawer in my kitchen cabinet has stuck. It was frustrating to open it, resisting and veering slightly off course, so you'd have to really grab it and it always made me uncomfortable. Then when it did open, it wasn't far enough to really see all of the silverware inside....in short, totally annoying and a hassle.

After we got the kitchen floors sanded to a gorgeous shine, it was time to tackle this perennial problem. So I went down to Restore, in Springfield, where they have a warehouse full of used cabinets, windows, doors, bathroom fixtures and the like. It's the place where contractors can donate these things instead of throwing them into the landfill. In just minutes I located a nice big cabinet with four big drawers that rolled out smoothly. To boot, it was already painted white, the color of the other cabinets. $30 later and we're off.

Now it is a joy to slide open that top drawer...and since it's wider than the other one, it fits more stuff. We're going back soon to find top cabinets so that the top of our fridge will no longer be a storage area. Oh life's little joys, they never disappoint, and I'm a better person for realizing them!

In Former Soviet States, Drunkenness Prevails

At the crack of dawn this morning Nathan crept into my room and woke me up. I don't mind; these early morning sessions where we go downstairs before Mommy and baby wake up are among my most cherished. Before I was made to play kid's games on the laptop, I recalled a book that I've been speeding through while at the gym.

It's Murderers in Mausoleums, by one of my favorite authors, Jeffrey Tayler, and it's set in his adopted home country, Russia. It's about a trip he took out of Moscow all the way across the former Soviet states to Beijing. It doesn't take long before the pervasive drunkenness and lawlessness begins to get to him. But his tolerance for difficult situations is legendary, like when he floated on a raft down the Congo River, and journeyed on a tiny motorboat all the way up the Lena River in Siberia to the Arctic.

Part of why I love Tayler's stories is this invincibility, that as a middle class white guy he endures with class. His secret weapon is his ability to speak both Arabic and Russian, startling the locals as the words come out of him. His drivers are drunk and smoking cigarettes nonstop, but the road is so dusty he can't open the windows. They pass and weave and scare the hell out of him as he closes his eyes and hopes for the best.

He has contacts far out in these hinterlands, who have arranged to host him, and thus, he's obligated to drink more than any Westerner would ever want. Just as the early morning light is coming from a night of ferocious vodka consumption, it's time for one more party--ugh--he can't take another drop. Then he endures Dagestan's infuriatingly obtuse train system, where it's amost impossible to buy a ticket yet he weedles his way through with a small bribe. In the compartment, for the next ten hours, he is joined by an old drunken Russian woman and there is no air conditioning in the sweltering summer heat. And the windows have been welded shut.

Tayler contemplates the many paradoxes in the countryside..."Stalin's various campaigns of violence almost wiped the Kazakhs of the map in the 1930s, yet Aliya had given her life to defend his regime. The obvious paradox left me dumbstruck. "We have many such heroes," explained his host.

6

From Rolando in Cuba, Another Missive

I was pleased to hear from my new friend Rolando, a Cuban engineer who uses our "Send a Friend" to stay in touch with his brother in Virginia. I hope to visit him in Cuba soon.

My friend!

I happy that you can understand my reasons, since I has been repeatedly used your web to talk with my brother, who lives in Virginia, US.

I can't speak or write in english so beatiful or quickly as I wish, but I struggle...

I live in Camagüey city, around 530 km from Havana city (330 miles), to east. Maybe you prefer visit Havana... but I will be happy to personally know you and be your host if you decide visit our city. Camagüey is one of the older villages founded in Cuba, about 495 years ago. Please, let me know when you plan travel to Cuba and we are waiting for you.

With Obama reaching out to Cuba and Raul Castro making significantly more friendly gestures toward the US, (not just complaining about the embargo) there seems to be a new climate between the two countries. I hope that I can write a GoNOMAD story about meeting my Cuban penpal in 2009!

Egret in the Bayou, Orange Texas

This is one of thousands of egrets who live in the Adams Bayou
that we saw from behind the blind at the Shangri La Gardens
in Orange Texas yesterday.

A Fine Way To Spend Saturday Night in Texas

On my last night in Texas we did it up in style. I was picked up in an SUV by our lovely hosts Stephanie and Ashley who took us to an upscale Mexican joint called Pablanos. There we joined Stephanie's husband Sean and sat in a cozy circular table, where the CVB chief Dean had already ordered us fresh guacamole made at the tableside. After margaritas with Silver Patron, we settled into our meal, and eventually the chef came to say hello.

We talked about Tex Mex and he revealed that he'd learned how to make the perfect enchilada by listening to his Mexican sous chef...and he promptly brought out a sample to share with us. Our waitress was a jolly African American woman who got quite a chuckle out of the chef's propensity to give away free food. We looked at our watches...it was time for the show!

We'd scored a table at a chi-chi hospital benefit with a pretty cool headliner...The Blues Brothers. Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi were up on stage in their cheap black suits, sunglasses and fedoras, belting out classic old blues and R&B songs with gusto. It felt great to be there, mingling with the high class folks of Beaumont dressed in black tie and elegant dresses.

The band rocked hard, a seven piece ensemble that pumped out a delicious beat, and both Dan and Jim sang with the tight band and danced on stage. After a few numbers they brought a Tina Turner-esque singer in a short black dress with frills named Julie Del Gato. She sang "Natural Woman" with her powerful voice that was strong and clear, it was a rendition that really resonated with the audience. I sipped a Budweiser and grooved to the beat, and when the Brothers returned to the stage for a raucus encore, I thought wow, Texas is the place to be tonight!

Michael Hoke's Vigorous Love Teaching Nature

Michael W. Hoke makes nature, plants and his incredible garden come alive. He speaks with vigor and boundless enthusiasm for teaching children about nature and about the gifts that the Shangri La Botanical Gardens provide the entire Southeast Texas region.

In a pounding rain interspersed with thunder and lightning, we toured the 200-acre nature preserve and gardens with Michael showing us its many wondrous details. "See that bench over there?" he said, pointing across a pond. "I'd love to set up a program to let kids who've never fished do that right there!" Water was channeled into special pools filled with lillies and other plants to cleanse it before returning it to the bayou.

He showed us the front of the gardens, where 55 huge live oaks were felled during one of the hurricanes which have wreaked havoc on the park in the past few years. Now a gas station shows its ugliness where once there was once a verdant barricade. Michael was a science teacher for many years, and got into this job about seven years ago, after befriending the widow of the man who bequeathed it all to the foundation, Nelda C. Stark, the last wife of Lutcher Stark. Stark was a devoted environmentalist way before it became fashionable, and he had the millions to make it all a reality. He was passionate about not using pesticides and loved nature and this beautiful piece of the world, which he was determined to keep as natural as when it was made.

This park has river boats that bring visitors up the Adams bayou, blinds to view thousands of nesting egrets, and outdoor pavilions in the woods and is a restored culmination of Stark's vision. Recently they were given the highest honor of green-ness...a US Green Building Council rating putting it among the most earth-friendly buildings in the world, which means they really walk the walk when it comes to total reuse of resources, building with recycled materials and promoting a seriously small environmental impact.

While the grounds with their lovely plantings and the paths through the woods did impress, it was Michael who we remembered for his passion about his job and this place. He's endured three big hurricanes and still beams with enthusiasm for the programs they put on, like the star party where 390 people came to view the night sky on 17 telescopes, or the butterflies they release into a house in the woods filled with plants. "I want kids to get dirty, to get out there in nature and touch it all," he said.

We watched a short film describing Stark's vision and how this Shangri La came into being, taking its name from the famous novel and movie of a place that everyone wanted to come back to. At the film's end, a curtain rises and in place of the screen, we see the beautiful green woods that make up the park. It was Michael's idea...and sums up how well he understands how to reach out and grab people to feeling and experiencing nature's power.

The Perty Toes of Texas

"One thing you gotta have here are pretty toes," said Ashley, "because in this part of Texas you're going to be seeing them a lot!"

Ashley and Stephanie told us this as they showed off their carefully pedicured digits, just before we shoved off in our canoes to float down the river.

Both are southern girls, unfailingly polite, with that soft lilting accent that grew on me as I listened to them talk about this city and about their lives.

It's fun to meet people who are living exactly where they want to be, and don't harbor the ambitions you often find in young people to move away to a bigger city, or leave the state for new horizons. No, right here in Beaumont is where they both are happy, making a home for their young families and taking people like us around to show us the highlights. They have been a highlight of Beaumont to me.

Wanna Know What's Going on? Find out at Raos!

The name Rao's Bakery Cafe brings a smile to anyone's face who lives in Beaumont. There are four such establishments here in town and one in Houston. We met Jake Tortorice Jr, the owner of them all when we stopped by for a groaning plate of his goodies...kolache, spicy sausages in pastry, breakfast croissants filled with egg, czech pastries, breakfast burritos, blueberry bran muffins and the like.

I particularly admired the giant glass urns filled with ice tea sitting right next to the coffee urns. (note to self: buy these for our cafe!).

Everyone in town stops by here in the morning including the mayor, city counselors and people high and low. It's a jovial place where you can sit a spell and catch up with what's new in town. A coffee haven that our hosts are very, very fond of, and as result, a fixture of any press trip.

Angler on the Village Creek

This man told us about the fishing, and how for three years there was nothing. He suggested we take this photo and blow it up big and use it to promote Southeast Texas in one of them bro-chures. He spoke with the thick accent of Louisiana and Texas.

People here are unfailingly polite, sometimes to a fault. One of the journalists who had gone to college here remarked to me in a whisper how frustrating this can be, since they just don't want to take no for an answer.

But they won't directly come out and say 'please do this or that' but more likely will continue to gently convince you to accept whatever favor or hospitality they want you to accept. You just can't turn them down.

It's a trait that's common here but to a dyed in the wool northerner like me, a new experience. Hell, when we want something no means no and that's that.

SE Texas Has Been Battered by Rita and Ike

In conversation after conversation here in Southeast Texas, the topic of hurricanes Rita and Ike comes up. So many lives were uprooted, and nature was changed in such profound ways, I learned.

We spent the morning today on the Village Creek, with water the color of weak tea and downed trees all along its route. A fisherman who was taking his bass boat out of the water told us that for a full three years after the 2005 calamity, there were no fish left alive in this waterway. The roiling of the currents and the deposits of so many dead leaves killed them all off. Just last year he said, he could cast out his line and catch a bass, which he promptly threw back in.

Stephanie, one of the tourism officials here in Beaumont, said her father-in-law's house was destroyed, and that the ritual of having to pack up and evacuate during big storms wears on you, and it happens with alarming regularity. The last time it was for a 10-day spell, they stayed at her grandma's. Up to 50% of the trees in the big forests here have been felled by the combination of Rita and Ike's wicked winds.

We paddled around an island called Baby Galvez, where our guide, David Martin said that during prohibition there was a speakeasy and a brothel here. Now it's a tangle of fallen trees and twisted brush. He got into guiding after an accident on an oil rig left his shoulder damaged. Now he and his wife operate Piney Woods outfitters, and take locals and tourists down this river in kayaks and canoes. "We love it on the river," he said.

From a Cuban Emailer, An Explanation

I interrupt this continual coverage of my trip to Southeast Texas for a poignant reminder that the world close to us is indeed not free. I just got an email from a man whose first name is Rolando, who lives in Cuba. I had noticed that someone was sending out many long messages in Spanish using our "Send this Page to a Friend" feature on GoNOMAD. This is a link at the bottom of all of our pages that allows people to share articles they like. I was frustrated seeing these continual messages that I thought were spam in Spanish.

So I sent the address a terse email saying 'stop using our send service to send email spam' and today got a reply from Cuba. It's reprinted below.

Mr. Max Hartshone: This is not a spam message. I'm using your service to establish comunication with my brother, since I can't use e-mail services. In my country (Cuba) I have not free access to internet e-mail service. This is prohibited. Then, he send e-mails to me trough another acount, which have not this privilege ...! Excuse me, please. May I continue the use of this page? Sincerely, Rolando M---

I wrote him back and expressed my solidarity with him, and sent him a wish that he didn't have to use this convoluted method to simply email his brother. I told him I hope that I can visit him in Cuba some day and that he can show me his country. I told him that I also hope that some day he has the same freedom as we do here in the US.

Texas Tales: Terry Thomas and the Bobcat

We beached our canoes and kayaks on a sandbar on Village Creek, a tributary of the Neches river here in Southeast Texas. It was time for lunch and stories. Our guide had plenty of both, we soon found out. The day was sunny and the paddling along this gorgeous stretch of river was as relaxing as can be.

Terry Thomas is a grizzled, slender man with a lot of experiences under his belt. He was once an ironworker, now he's a part time river guide and a budding sculptor. He said that after Hurricane Rita, he used to put food out for many neighborhood cats and dogs who had been displaced by the storm, and they used to come into his house through a small cat door.

One day a small bobcat followed a domestic cat into the house and into a small bathroom. Thomas walked in and was surprised to see this half-breed, about ten pounds and more muscular than a regular cat. He tried to shoo it out the door, saying, 'kitty, kitty,' and it suddenly sprang up, ran all of the way up his arm and began clawing his eyes and scratching his face wildly.

He dragged the bobcat off of him, and with blood pouring down his head, it ran right back up his arm again, perched akimbo right on his head. Enraged, he ran for the kitchen and picked up an iron frying pan, and beat it off him. He said the adrenaline was pounding and he beat the wild cat up, and afterwards, was "dazed, like he was a caveman who had just killed a sabre toothed
tiger. "

He took the bobcat's body and went outside, walking down a long dock planning to feed it to the alligators in the creek. But he got his foot stuck under the deck, and lurched forward, breaking his femur with a painful crack. The bobcat fell into the water, to be consumed by the waiting gators, and he was stranded there for a while until he was rescued by his son. At the hospital the asked him how he'd broken his leg so badly....and he told this story.

Passing Tapas at Easy's in Beaumont

Last night we got a chance to visit one of Beaumont's favorite restaurants, which is known for being easy. Wayne and Karen Ingwerson opened up Easy's six years ago on the main drag, Calder St. here in this oil city. "We wanted to attract an older crowd, and be a place where you'd want to spend time and hang out," Wayne told us. He liked the name because it reflects his attitude, laid back and fun.

So they created a menu of mostly tapas and martinis, two words which ensure that only us older folks will show up. Last night we sat on couches around a big round table and passed plate after plate of his delicious little concoctions. It was the first time I can remember eating like that on a press trip, usually we have to choose from a big menu and there is just too much food.

But the light bites kept coming; fried chicken livers (no, they really were good) and thai-inspired calamari, and little slices of tenderloin with pesto, and balls of goat cheese. Then we retired out to the patio where at 8:45 pm it was still balmy and pleasant. That's a big change from the temps back home where it's still freezing after dark.

A Mickie Dees Secret Told by an Angler

On the plane to Houston, I sat next to a contractor from Rindge, NH. He told me he was on his way to a fishing tournament sponsored by McDonalds. Ironically, most of the work he does is remodeling their restaurants so they can serve their new McCafe offerings, making the drive up wider to accommodate the more than 70% of their business that comes by car.

He said that more than 7000 other anglers would be fishing in the 100,000 acre lake, and that they would be giving away boats and cash to dozens of winners.

We talked about McDonalds and he revealed a secret most people don't know. Those cast iron pipes that take wastewater away from the more than 30,000 Mickie Dees are rotting out because of all of sugary soda that gets poured down the drain. The coke eats away and in about five years those pipes are all decayed, spewing out leaks in the ground. He said that they could replace the iron with PVC pipe, but that plumbing code and strong unions have kept that from happening.

We talked about flying and he said that one of his life's dreams is to charter a Gulfstream G5 and fly with his pals to the Bahamas. It would cost about 60 grand, split between however many friends he can get...hey, the planes seat 12. I wished him good luck in the tournament, and departed to meet my group of writers in the lobby of the Marriott.

A Call from the Reader's Digest Fact Checker

I'm at the gate at Logan, having just consumed a delicious bowl of Starbucks instant oatmeal. They give you packets of nuts and fruits so it's all in all a lot better than a fatty croissant or an even fattier meat-filled breakfast sandie. I gotta hand it to the battered 'Bucks, it was good!

I left the house at an absurdly early hour--about 5:15 am. Then I got a voicemail with an employee calling out sick. Oh jeez, sorry can't help ya....on my way to the airport to fly to Beaumont Texas. With Donna and Ashley's help (I love my employees!) that problem was taken care of, and I sped along right into the jaw of MassPike traffic. I sweated it a bit, then I looked again at my ticket. Phew! I thought my flight was at 9 but I actually leave at 11...Sweet! So I had time to fiddle and diddle, and go on line and Tweet and read newspapers here at my seat, that just happens to have an electric plug right underneath it.

Before I left I had some interesting emails to answer. A fact-checker for Reader's Digest sent me an email that read like a 'Who's Who?' of travel. The writer had contacted about 30 other travel experts and they wanted to get my name and title right. Love that. But I hope my quotes survive since she got many opinions and quotes from other travel editors.

That is one thing that us web journalists need to remember. Despite how we laugh and sometimes mock print outlets, do you think the Huffington Post or Google news pays fact-checkers to comb through their stories the way RD, or Time, or Newsweek, or even Esquire does? I don't think so.

The Secret and Sad Lives of Adult Film Stars

I've been on a roll lately watching documentaries about the adult video business. It's surprisingly easy to shoot these docs, because all they consist of is interspersing 8-10 interviews with people in the business, and throwing in some scenes of them hard at work to make it more interesting.

The film 'Secrets of the Adult Stars' focused on several producers, as well as male and female porn stars. Each one was never shot in more than one setting, talking about their role in this lucrative business--some while outside smoking a butt, another sitting in a dressing room, another behind a desk.

I learned that men earn less than one third of what women porn stars make. And that men are made to feel more like objects than women, since they call themselves 'human dildos' and their only job is to get hard and stay that way until the director yells 'cut' or whatever he says when he wants the men to climax. Imagine trying to do it with a crew of 10 bored men looking on. One director said he can't imagine how these guys are able to manage any sex at all.

It's not a business that most of the men in the biz find easy or satisfying. "You've only got so many orgasms in you," said one director. "You've got to choose how many you're willing to do on film, and that makes your regular sex life difficult to keep up." In the film, two of the married subjects are later divorced.

The other reason the business is so tilted in favor of women is that they have so many more ways to monetize their adult stardom...like fan clubs, dancing nude in clubs, and chatting on webcams. Men miss out on all of this revenue. Only about 3 in 100 men can control their equipment well enough to do it on film, so despite how hard it is to find them, many, many bail out after just one or two attempted sex scenes.

No FastPass? Well, You're Gonna Wait, and Wait

Continuing my series on life's little joys, I get to a topic that is lighting up talk radio and the pages of the Boston Herald this week. It's about the Mass Pike and Fastlane passes. I've had one of these little white boxes just above my car mirror for many years and I've extolled its virtues to all of my passengers as we've glided through the fast pass lane, never going less than 20 mph, while others stop and dig change out of their gloveboxes.

On Easter weekend, many of the fine employees of the Massachusetts Turnpike decided to call in sick. So at the Allston/Brighton tollbooths, there was just a single lane for those unfortunate enough not to have Fastlane passes. The Pike's director, Alan LeBovidge, blamed the public yesterday for not buying enough passes. He said that the Pike is desperate and those employees are allowed to 'bang in sick' any day they want, even though it enraged motorists who had to wait in long lines. Even Fastlane holders got stuck, since so many non-fastpassers were clogging up the faster lane.

Managers at the Pike aren't allowed to call more toll takers in since overtime is a bad word at the Pike. A survey next to the Herald article showed that despite the obvious logic that drivers who don't want to wait should buy a Fastpass, most insist that the Pike should just rip out the tollbooths and make it all free. A mere five percent of survey respondents said yes, they'd be buying a pass, following the advice of the Pike director. Twenty-one percent say somewhat stubbornly that 'The Pike should flow no matter what.'

If you don't have a Fastpass, the message here is to stop complaining, because until you get one you'll be sitting steaming in line with everyone else on Memorial day.

Now It's "Green" to Say No to the Paper by the Door

Uh oh. Being green is starting to mean not reading that 'free' newspaper that's left at the door of every Marriot and Holiday Inn across the land. Reuters reports that they get a huge discount from publishers so it's not the money.

I remember meeting a woman at a conference who worked in circulation for USA Today, who said every single copy is paid for, and that hotel drops account for up to 50,000 of their daily circulation.

Marriot reports that in the interest of Mother Earth, they'll no longer add the charge for the newspaper on each customers' bill, since up to 25% of their guests don't read the print editions. Even though they pay for them.

It's a bad sign for newspapers when corporations are using the act of not passing the copies out as a green act of goodness. It makes environmentalists out of people who don't read newspapers.

Uh oh, this is not good.

That Post Dentist Lip Smacking Sure Feels Good

I wrote last week about some of those little things in life that delight and entertain me. I've got another to add to the list. That is the most satisfying feeling you get after you've just been to the dentist and your teeth have been newly stripped of tartar and buffed with the hygenist's tools. Being able to push your tongue and feel that inside of your front teeth....something about it is magic indeed.

The other little thrill I get comes actually when I watch other people doing something all of the time. And that is looking for their reading glasses. Last night Cindy was looking high and low for her pair of reading specs...cheap throwaways we all buy at CVS. While most people pack three or four pairs in bags, on shelves and in glove compartments, there was only one pair she was looking for. When she couldn't find it she was done reading a great book for the night.

I have no need for such glasses. I can read as well as a youngster, because I shelled out big bucks and got lasik monovision. My treatment went smoothly with the suave Dr John Frangie manning the controls last summer. Since then I only need good light to read, no searching for CVS glasses or tossing a book down in frustration for me. See, it's the little things that really add up.

The King of Cotton Didn't Care If You Wrote About Him

When James G. Boswell became an adult, he was given 50,000 acres of cotton fields in California's San Joaquin Valley. He lived until he turned 86, and turned the 50,000 acres into 200,000. His obituary ran in the NY Times on Friday, but he wouldn't have cared much, say his biographers.

The owner of JG Boswell Company told two men who wrote a book about him to go away. "You don't seem to understand, he said. It won't bother me in the least if I die and this story never told." But he had a big life, starting out working for that generous uncle, and buying up 60,000 acres in the outback of Australia to grow cotton. In Arizona, when the land he bought there no longer yielded cotton, he sold it to Del Webb development company and they built the retirement haven called Sun City.

He changed the landscape, the obit read, and not always for the better. Tulare Lake was once four times as big as Tahoe, and fed by four rivers. Boswell and other farmers engineered dams and diversions and eventually the lakebed became more cotton fields. The JG Boswell company sells cotton to mills all over the world, and grossed $150 million last year.

He had five grandchildren, golfed with Arnold Palmer, and was on the boards of many big companies, but he didn't like to talk about himself. I read this obit again and again, wondering what JG Boswell liked to do, and what busied him in the years since he retired in 1984.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Bring Me A Husband

It's nice when a Netflix recommendation turns into a great afternoon of moviewatching. On a cold and blustery Easter on Green Lane we watched "Arranged," a film about two women, one Muslim and one Orthodox Jew, who follow the same path to love and marriage.

They meet at the school where they both teach, run by a busybody principal who seems hell-bent on changing their centuries old traditions including using matchmakers to find love. She chides the two young women who remain surprisingly pleasant in spite of the old bat's incredible insensitivity.

We watch a parade of characters brought in by the Jewish family's hired matchmaker. Self-absorbed blowhards or uncomfortably shy nerds; none of them are even close to what Rochel wants. Nasira has to endure entreaties from old men with bad teeth with her whole family sitting around the dinner table, choices of her father's that she very definitely doesn't agree with.

The Syrian family has Nasira to marry off. But they come across much better than the Jews, when Rochel comes to their house she's welcomed and they don't share the horror the other family expresses when Nasira comes hajib-clad into their Brooklyn apartment. They ask her to leave 'before your father gets home.'

But through sleuthing and serendipity, a charming, non-self-absorbed Orthodox Jewish man comes into Rochel's life...and a handsome and well-toothed engineer becomes the love of Nasira's life. We see the two of them, friends still, sitting in the park with their strollers at the film's close. It's nice to see how Muslims and Jews have plenty in common, in the movies and in real life.

If I Ever Have a Bar, It Will Be Like the 'Voo

I think that if I ever owned a bar, it would have to be a lot like the Rendezvous in Turners Falls. Once again I joined my pals Joe and Bill and we headed up to Avenue A to Third St. to the friendly confines of this wonderful Friday night place.

It was full, too full, a table in the back of about 15 very boisterous folks was so loud we had to move up front. But after we did I ran into an old friend, Suzanne Love, who most of us hadn't seen in many years. She's doing great, studying nursing at GCC, and it was fun to catch up with her. She told us about wild ramps that grow in Leyden, and how we could find some and cook them up. Ramps are a New England tradition, sort of a cross between garlic and scallions.

The Rendezvous has a menu that's eclectic and generally delicious. They have a guy who wears a cowboy hat who is the bouncer, last night they were getting ready for the band Night Train to play. Their roasted veg salad with beets, goat cheese and greens was a perfect light bite. If I ever do open my own bar, you bet I am going to do some of the same things that these people do, they've got it just right.

The Cuteness Meter Has Been Broken

Help Wanted at the Cafe

Today I got a chance to visit the new cafe in Holyoke, the Dam Cafe, and got a chance to see how things were shaping up. Like many of the locals who are dying for an alternative to Dunkin'
Donuts and his new cafe has a cozy couch, a flat TV, and a big menu full of sandwiches. I advised him to adjust his prices so that they'll come out evenly after tax, and encouraged him to price it at $2.25 so that customers will be given back quarters to throw into the tip jar.

I got another email from my Reader's Digest writer friend Cathie Gandel for details...so I gave her what we used to call in school, 'the silver platter' with a lively and quotable quote about the best mountain biking place in the Eastern US, and some prose about how great it is to tube down the Deerfield River, or join an organized rafting trip that puts in at Charlemont.

We're hiring at the cafe....a new manager will be in place in May. We're scouring all avenues and looking for that high energy, enthusiastic food loving person who can lead our crew to culinary greatness in South Deerfield.

If You're Traveling Down South, Check Out Travmed.com

I just finished a meeting with an unassuming guy whose work impresses me. He's doctor Stuart Rose MD, who runs a site called travmed.com. On the site Rose dispenses information for travelers that runs the gamut from mosquito protection to how prevalent malaria is in certain Southeast Asian countries. Jackie Stevenson wrote about him on GoNOMAD a while back.
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He hired us to consult with him and improve the site's workings....to tinker with the copy and help him with emails and other ways of promoting the site. The part of this that's fun is that he's been really successful and the site is gaining lots of momentum and traffic. Íf you type 'travel medicine' into Google, you'll see that Stuart kicks ass, he's right up there and this results in lots of business. People order bug spray, and mosquito nets, and other items they need if they're traveling to Africa or Asia or anywhere 'down south' that might require such things.

He's launching an affiliate program so that travel clinics and tour operators can refer people to his site when they're planning a trip to the tropics. GoNOMAD will be among these sites, since this all makes a lot of sense, hey, if you're going you are gonna needs lots of bug spray and other stuff, so we might as well monetize it all.

Watching the Clean Slice of the Logs Brings Me Joy

Once I took a 'course' in voluntary simplicity. It wasn't really a course, more like a bunch of people who met once a week to talk about how to make life simpler and less stressful. At one point during a session, we all went around and talked about little things that give us joy, and are free. I cited the sheer joy I get when I remove the lint from the dryer, how it comes up in one big piece and how it feels so good to take it out. Or the way it feels when you turn on a vacuum cleaner with a new bag inside it. That super duper sucking is somehow satisfying.


Today I got some exercise that provided me with a similiarly joyous feeling. I helped Cindy and our friend Robbie cut up a huge stack of giant logs using a hydraulic wood splitter. We'd balance the tw0-foot wide round pieces on the machine and watch a blade push through them like butter. Time after time, that slicing never failed to entertain me, and even when the machine would fight against a knot, it would always prevail. It took us less than an hour to generate a monster pile of freshly sliced logs, ready to be stored like valuable nuts in the garage to warm the house all next winter.

I've said it before---but it's worth repeating--appreciating and loving life's simple joys is what makes this life worth living.

Will Anyone Under 25 Miss the Boston Globe?

Last night was highlighted by a successful dinner party where for the first time in ages I cooked using recipes and the results were delicious. I even had to punt, skipping some unobtainable ingredients, but it was fun seeing those stuffed baby eggplants and scallops sitting on the plates.

I've been following the grim news out of Boston. The NY Times has thrown down the gauntlet and told their smaller sister paper the Globe that their unions have to either accept $20 million in cuts or they'll shut the paper down. Wow! I dug into a few articles about it and found that the comments are as interesting as the sad story.

One of the biggest 'challenges' the Globe faces are very tough talking unions. There are some employees of the Globe who have jobs guaranteed for life. In this day and age, that's a tough nut to swallow if you're the NY Times and looking at losses of $50 million this year and projected $85 million next year. And the union chiefs in Boston had this to say when they were asked about their reaction to the ultimatum: "We've already made enough concessions and cut enough staff, now it's time for the executives to lay off more staff and cut costs."

The saddest thing though, is what most people under 25 think about the print edition. They don't. One Arlington electrician said that he gets his news from the TV, and that the Globe is too heavy, too much reading for him. The heft, again and again in our streamlined go-go world, is just too much of a time suck and most of the young prefer to read it on the fly on line. A bad omen for future newsprint-based media in general.

An Evening of Music in a Cafe then a Cool Studio

A lovely evening of music began at a cafe that's even smaller than the GoNOMAD Cafe tonight called the Blue House Cafe in Haydenville. We had been invited by our friend Chris Cappello, who was playing the drums for the Fran Ciccarcarelli Quartet. In the tiny space, a big bass, full drum kit, guitar and a lanky sultry namesake singer were there to entertain the packed house.

Over homemade lasagna and salad, we sipped red wine and the players ran through an eclectic set list, including "Cruella da Ville," Nancy Griffith's "Five and Dime" and Kathy Matea's "18 wheels and a dozen roses," each lead by the flexible, sunny singer up front, gyrating and putting her own unique spin on each song and getting the lyrics just right. It was funny having the band so close to the audience, almost like they were in a living room.

After the gig, we were invited back to the studio where a piano restorer, Sean, and an electrical engineeer, Steve, share a space. The 14-foot ceilings and cool lighting made me envious that they got to work here every day. A repast was set before us...a keg of Berkshire Ale, slices of hot pizza, and bottles of wine and whisky. They set up for more music, and soon we were listening to a married couple who sang in the perfect harmony of the very familiar. Our friend Joe commented on how much he liked their duet, and how well their voices blended together on a Richard Thompson song.

Then after more singing with sultry Fran coming back to the mike, were were charmed by an old classic. "A Surry With a Fringe On Top," was another choice. The grand piano was played by Sean and later a guitarist played bossa nova solo. The scene was pleasant...sophisticated music played by people our age in a classy studio with plenty of refreshments. We looked over and saw Cindy beginning to nod, soon it was time to depart. We could have stayed a lot longer because it was clear there was a whole lot of music left to come.

Describing Long Beach Island and the Cape to a Newcomer

A GoNOMAD Reader named Ginnie Terhunez emailed me, asking for advice about which part of the East Coast to visit. She asked me about the Cape, and about other areas. I replied saying that Long Beach Island and Cape Cod were two great places to visit. Here are the details.

The Cape is classic New England and has things like dunes, the summer minor league baseball in Truro, and the gay wildness of Provincetown. Long Beach Island, or LBI, is a 26 mile long strip lined with beach houses and the amenities like shops, cafes and restaurants to serve them.

The beach waves are better in NJ and the temps are great. In the Cape, beaches are scenic but generally thinner, not affording LBI's great expanse of beach. In LBI, you go out to beachy clubs, visit Beach Haven with its honky tonks and cheap yet appealing entertainment. In the Cape you enjoy the blueest of the blue states, Massachusetts, complete with it's classic architecture, town commons and that je ne sais quais of a real 'There There.'

LBI is beach of a different sort. Both excellent choices to taste the East at its best.
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A Loud Bang! But We Fly On to Bradley

I'm just back from Atlanta, and just barely made my connecting flight on Delta from Detroit to Hartford. For some reason I thought Detroit was central time...D'OH! So I ran like a greyhound and found the door closed. A sullen gate worker opened up the door and I ran down the jetway, sloshing coffee all over the place.

As we got airborne over Atlanta through thick white clouds, we hit turbulence and the plane shook. Then a sudden BANG! that I heard even through my ipod music. Whoa! The pilot came on and said we'd been struck by lightning. "But don't worry, the plane is in good shape and that happens all the time...still, he said he had radioed back and we might have to turn around. Uh oh. But he was calm and reassuring, the way you want a pilot to be.

But we didn't have to, thank God, and we landed safely at my favorite airport, Bradley. This photo is just part of why I love this airport...Southwest installed not only nice metal desks, but regular and USB plugs to charge laptops and phones. I also like all of the peeps at Executive Valet Parking, who are always friendly and by now, recognize the GoNOMAD Cafe truck. While traveling through Hartford is always a breeze, it's nice to be home for a few weeks until I head out April 14 for Beaumont, Texas.

Advertisers During Recessions Do Better After

In the Omni hotel, I'm packing up and getting ready to take the train to the plane. At the final session of Travelcom, I learned some interesting things about how successful companies can do better in recessions. We heard from Kevin Kowalski, a VP at Intercontinental Hotels, owners of the Holiday Inn chain. He spoke about how bad an idea it is to cut advertising and sales expenses during a recession, and how his company increased these budgets and are now seeing 5-6% gains at this budget chain of hotels. They convinced the franchisees that 'refreshing' the properties with a bright green new H logo, new bedding, better landscaping and a cleaner front desk was a worthwhile investment.

Kowalski made his point by showing how before the depression, Ford Motor Co. was the indisputed leader by 10-1 in car sales. But newly formed Chevrolet was up and coming and advertised a lot more in the early 1930s, while Ford cut back. The result was a decades long lead that GM kept over Ford because they didn't pull back.

The other speaker was from Comscore, the internet measuring company. They said that the brands that maintained display advertising presence on the web overall did much better than those who simply relied on search marketing. That it's like an iceberg, though the direct results are more obvious up top, down below, over the long term, people are influenced by the hotel brands they see in display ads...like the ones that run on GoNOMAD.com!

Now it's time to pack up and dash...On my way out of the exhibit floor I was asked by my friends at TravelScream to tape a video. I told the audience on the Travelcom blog that I was here to evangelize about adding airport parking to travel websites, and that this piece of revenue was too often left on the table. I hope to add some new affiliates to the program soon.

The Whale Sharks Are Almost As Big as Vegas' Debt

I wrapped up my day of Travelcom at an awards dinner held by Travelzoo, giving out 23 awards in all sorts of travel categories. It was held at the Georgia Aquarium, and that gave me a chance first to see white Beluga whales gliding by, bumping their noses on the glass, and then the gigantic whale sharks. The female of this species are even bigger than the males, as long as 30' and when one passes by it's like seeing a long bus go by.

I enjoyed a long conversation after dinner with a man named Steve who works for Homeaway, the big vacation rentals site. We talked about NYC real estate and the staggering reset that has sent prices tumbling back down to about 2005 levels. He said his kids 3-hour-a-day kindergarten costs $14K a year, and that a 3-bedroom apartment is now selling for 2007's 1-bedroom price. It's a fine time to be buying real estate in the Big Apple.

In an early presentation this morning a venture capitalist talked about debt, and how in the travel business there will soon be a seismic shift, which will turn the biggest four on-line travel agencies into just two or three. The man's doom and gloom included some facts about Las Vegas' casino debt, and the trouble it will cause for them when it comes due. That's again and again the fact of cold business reality...those with big debt face a sword of Damocles. Homeaway, by virtue of a $200 million venture capital infusion, isn't worried about debt. It must be nice.

Rob Torres: It All Comes Down to Text Ads

Rob Torres is a man who easily wears a smile. As head of Google's travel advertising sector, he handles the lion's share of the world's search marketing funds and yet to him it's still simply text ads, not algorithms and gobbletigook.

We spoke about the business and his background at Expedia and other travel sites. "When I worked there there was a strict rule, no links to anywhere else. I kept asking about it, but was told no." Today Expedia is earning close to $250 million a year by selling text ads, and is Google's closest rival in this space. It just goes to show, you can put text ads on any website and it doesn't weaken your overall ability to sell your core products, he said.

Torres sees great potential despite the incredible saturation of Google text ads on almost every site out there. Airline websites, for example, offer a great big wide open space to place text ads. Many other large travel sites are so far devoid of text ads...that may change.

I asked him about iphones and the idea that this is the next big frontier for Google ads. "It's still a tiny piece but it does have a lot of growth potential," he said.

What about Craig's List? How come they don't run any Google ads? He said he had his own CL story, and it was a bummer. He and his family tried to rent a Hawaii vacation home that turned out to be a total fraud. They paid by Paypal and had a contract...but it turned out that the house wasn't actually for rent, and they had been ripped off by a CL listing.

I asked him what the biggest advertisers spent on Google per month. "There are a bunch who spend more than $1 million, he said. "And there are millions of advertisers, from all over the world."

Southwest's Kelleher: Value Added is Better than "It Ain't Free Anymore"

Herb Kelleher is the beloved chairman of Southwest Airlines. He has as many fans here at Travelcom as his great airline does. He accepted an award named for aviation pioneer Steve Fosset, but gave more credit to his people than he took for himself.

His talk was preceded by a CNN tape of a flight attendant named David Holmes, who cracked up a planeful of passengers with his rapping version of the inflight safety instructions. "I've never listened to all of the instructions before," said many passengers. Holmes now raps on every flight.

Herb was asked about what's made Southwest so successful. His answer was varied but all came back to a culture of accepting playfulness, and allowing people to be great on their own.

For instance Southwest doesn't impose any of the despised fees for baggage, schedule changes or calling the airline on the phone. Instead, they offer business first service that lets you pay extra for things like guaranteed seating and other amenities. It's a big difference charging for things like checking bags, which were once free, and allowing people to pay extra for little comforts. One panelist showed a slide from Forrester that said 38% of travelers would pay $10 to avoid being seated near a crying baby, and 25% would pay for guaranteed overhead bin space.

Kelleher said he fears the effects of the cap and trade system being proposed for airplane emissions. "At $34 a ton, that's a huge, huge cost." He also decried how airlines alone are asked to foot the huge security and facility fees. He said he hopes that the USTA can rectify the situation and get more people to realize how important travel and tourism is to the US economy. "There are so many jobs in our industry, you'd think we'd get more respect."

MARTA Wisked Me from Airport to Downtown

Last night I took the MARTA subway/light rail all the way from Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport to my hotel at CNN Center downtown. The total cost was just $2.25. We passed by factories and graffiti-scared warehouses, and nearly everyone on the train was black.

I wondered though, why the hosts of this show didn't mention MARTA as an option...they instead pointed me to a $28 airport shuttle service. I didn't have to walk that far and the whole trip was pretty nice.

I ventured down to the big cocktail party and scoped out my surroundings. It's always a little unnerving walking into a big swarm of people with nametags and not having your own, since registration had closed. But I met up with a Travel Ad Network executive, and then a guy who worked for a travel insurance company, and then listened in a conversation about Facebook and Twitter and jumped in...I told him how much I've gotten out of the latter.

Later we all walked down Marietta Street to a very slick bar with a rooftop deck that had two gas fire pits. It was Google's party, and a jazz quartet made good music while I chatted with a woman who sold Google ads. "Why don't you guys bring the Ad sense people, who work with publishers?" I asked. She said they aren't organized into categories like travel, so it's not as easy as rounding up the sales force. Then I met Roger Dow who told me about chatting up Obama.

On the way back to my hotel, I was approached by a seedy looking black guy, who wanted to get a donation. I stepped up my pace and made it to the safety of the Omni with the other blazer-wearing party goers ahead of me.