Help Children Enjoy Living a Simple, Happy Life

Childhood Pleasures

By: Julia Helsby

The children who enjoy life the most are the ones who have learnt to recognise the pleasure in the current situation. Those who are constantly striving for the next thing will never be satisfied. As parents we need to show our children how to enjoy life.

Take your time over things; don’t always talk about what is going to happen tomorrow or next week. Allow your child to explore the things around them, remember, the best things in life are free!

When you take your child out for walks or visits to the park in autumn, show them the leaves falling off the trees, and take the opportunity to explain why. Discuss the different types of trees, if you don’t know them – find out! Maybe it will help you to appreciate life more too!

Show an interest in what your child is doing and talk to them about what you are doing also, encourage them to ask questions, you might just be washing up, but use everything you do as a learning opportunity. Why are you washing up? Please resist the urge to say ‘Because no one else will’!

Help your child to develop their thinking and let them help you; they need to know that there are other people in the world besides themselves. A child who sees life as an adventure will not only enjoy life more but they will build up experiences that they can draw on in the future in all sorts of situations.

There are so many fun times that you can share with your child. For specific toy and play ideas see my fact sheet on ‘Playing with your pre-school child’. Remember also that there are a lot of items in your home that will keep your toddler happy safely. When l was busy at home in the kitchen and my toddlers used to seek my attention l would sometimes give them safe saucepans and wooden spoons, they would happily sit on the floor pretending to cook or using them as drums! Try to shut out the noise, it is the sound of your child experimenting and having fun! Surely it is better than the sound of crying.

On a hot day, put a small bowl of water outside (in the shade) give them spoons again and plastic bowls or beakers and watch them play for hours. Allow them to get wet, it really doesn’t matter. Please remember also to supervise children at all times when playing with or around water.

About the Author

Julia Helsby has been teaching children one way or another for over 20 years. As well as having as much fun as possible with her own children, having worked as a teaching assistant and a personal tutor for 8 years.

Julia believes that life is fascinating and fun. We should enjoy it as much as possible and encourage our children and those in our care to do the same. Julia has her own websites at http://www.julia-helsby.com The purpose of the website is to help you to enjoy yourself and your children. I can offer tips and advice but the important thing to remember is no one knows your child better than you.

(ArticlesBase SC #1830724)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Childhood Pleasures

Is Breakfast the Most Neglected Meal in Your Household?

Does Your Child Eat A Daily Nutritious Breakfast? Top 10 Healthy Benefits

By: Tammy Embrich

Does your child often forget to eat breakfast? Or maybe your household tends to get too busy in the mornings for a nutritious breakfast? Breakfast is often the most neglected meal of the day. Should we be concerned about this issue concerning our young children?

It would be an interesting discussion in classrooms if teachers asked their students, "How many of you eat breakfast on a daily basis?" I wonder what some of the answers would be, most importantly, the excuses given. Even more interesting ...what are some of the many benefits of eating a healthy breakfast, not only for children, but for adults as well?

You'll not get any arguments from me, I feel the benefits of eating breakfast every single morning. I try to eat the first meal of the day including plenty of fiber and at the same time, staying away from high fat foods.

Working out and then a nice healthy breakfast always gets me going in the morning. I feel more alert and ready to start my day. More energetic I think is the most rewarding benefit for me.

So, what about young students? What are the key benefits of children eating a healthy breakfast every morning?

Top 10 benefits for children consuming a healthy breakfast on a daily basis

* It gives them energy to start the day off right

* It helps them keep weight gain to a minimum. Skipping breakfast often results with over eating at lunch time.

* It increases their thinking ability for the school day thus resulting with higher scores on their studies.

* It wards off fatigue

* It jump starts their metabolism

* It helps build strong healthy muscles

* It helps lower blood cholesterol

* It helps with memory

* It helps with over-all nutrition

* It decreases tummy aches due to hunger pangs later in the morning

Don't let your child fill up on sugary cereals, donuts, and pastries. Smart choices for breakfast ideas would include:

High fiber grains such as breads and non sugar cereals

Fruits

Lowfat milk and yogurt

Whole wheat or whole grain pancakes or waffles

Hot oatmeal

Fruit smoothies

Even if you have to get your child up a half hour early in the morning to get them to eat a good breakfast, it is well worth the time. Making breakfast the most important meal in your household will help encourage better healthy eating habits.

 

 

About the Author

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

Tammy is the founder of Parenting Articles-Parent Zone, a free parenting resource website offering free parenting articles, tps, healthy recipes, and more.

(ArticlesBase SC #1831281)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Does Your Child Eat A Daily Nutritious Breakfast? Top 10 Healthy Benefits

Raising Financially-Literate Kids

How To Teach Children To Be Financially Literate

By: Vince Shorb

The importance and value of teaching financial literacy to our youth cannot be overstated.If this generation of young people cannot build their credit, manage a budget, or apply basic investment knowledge then we have produced an entire generation on their way to a lifetime of poverty and financial strife.

Recent studies show that over 70% of college graduates plan on moving back home with their parents after they graduate and many will stay there into their mid thirties simply because they lack financial literacy skills. Parents if you don't want to be embarrassed when you tell your friend that your 35 year old kid still lives with you, then pay close attention to this article.

By teaching financial literacy to children we give them the opportunity to consider their futures more carefully. When we preach the advancements made possible by going to college we often neglect to show them some specific examples or give them the other skills that will maximize their investment in a higher education. We often fail to show them how to take the extra money they earn with a college degree and get that working for them by establishing a savings and investment plan.

Here are 5 tips to ensuring you empower your children or students with practical money skills.

1) Help them understand the correlation between their desired lifestyle and their knowledge of money.

2) Start your children saving money when they are young.

3) Set financial goals as a family and involve your children in financial decisions.

4) Have them open their checking, savings and brokerage account immediately.

5) Sign your child up for a professional financial education course.

Ensuring that we teach financial literacy to children is actually the key to preventing future financial problems for our children and for the world. If we can teach the future generations how to manage money and how to make it appropriately we offer the entire world a better financial outlook. Each child will contribute to the financial ruin or the financial success of our world's future.

We can take the time now to teach financial literacy to children or we can end up teaching it to today's kids when they turn into tomorrow's adults. By then it can be too late. It is much easier to stay out of debt than to dig your way out of it; that is why we must teach financial literacy to our children before they leave home.

Unfortunately, our children will not be able to count on social security or Medicare. On top of that, due to our debt problem and the almost certainty of inflation, there will be an accelerated cost of living that is projected to be quite significant. Unfortunately, projected incomes for many of today's minimum wage jobs do not coincide evenly with poverty projections.

Those issues may be disheartening but by taking the time to teach financial literacy to your children you equip a child to move into adulthood with confidence and abilities that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

It's not easy to grow up in a financially unstable world. By making this mission a top priority we can count on the financial success of tomorrow.

About the Author

The National Youth Financial Educators Council is your financial education resources for financial educator training, curriculum, live events and financial education camps & workshops. Get your free video newsletter at http://www.FinancialEducatorsCouncil.org

(ArticlesBase SC #1831535)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - How To Teach Children To Be Financially Literate

Great Photography Tips on Using Lighting Successfully in Portraits

Photography Course Online - How Using Light Effectively Helps You Capture The Perfect Portrait!

By: Paul Summers

Want to capture the perfect portrait every time? Keep reading to learn some tips professionals use that you can adopt - even without a fancy camera or a studio of your own. Learn what you need to know about simple but effective lighting, flash photography, and more. You should also consider following a photography course online that would guide you step by step until you could take truly memorable portraits time and time again.

Good lighting is key to any successful portrait. With on-camera flash, you encounter problems that detract from a quality picture. For example, flash brightly illuminates your subject in an unnatural, flat light. It can also cast harsh shadows behind your subject - especially if they are positioned near a wall, or some other object. This effect is not attractive. Additionally, flash frequently reflects light from the pupils in the eyes, causing the dreaded red eye effect - something you definitely want to avoid.

Portraits are actually much more interesting if there is some shadow on the portrait, but not harsh background shadows. It is good to work with directional lighting and then use a reflector or some fill lighting to lighten up features that might otherwise fall into deep shadows. You don't want to eliminate the shadows altogether, though. That can make for a portrait that lacks dimension.

Where possible, try ambient light, such as that through a large window, or outdoor light instead. If using supplemental lighting, place a bright, diffused light directly behind where you are standing with the camera. This illuminates the subject's face effectively. You can then add some softer light to one side of the subject to fill in some of the shadows on one side and emphasise the subtle shadows on the other. You could also "bounce" some light from a reflector onto the side of the face, instead of using direct light, so it is less intense.

This set-up creates a well-lit portrait - then you can start experimenting with adjusting the lights to see the effect you can achieve. If the light behind you is very bright, you may need to slightly reduce the exposure on your camera to compensate so the bright light does not overexpose the subject. A decent photography course online would explain in detail exactly how to create these desired lighting effects.

Another approach to try is to place the bright light to one side of the subject and then to place your fill light or a reflector on the opposite side. Your fill or reflected light should always be less intense than the main light. This will show the curves on the face and body more effectively. If you use extra lighting, take note of how it affects your digital image. You may need to adjust the white balance on your camera or set your camera for the kind of lights you are using to avoid yellow or blue colour casts on your photos. You can avoid this if you use natural outdoor light.

For a great outdoor portrait, an overcast but bright, cloudy day works well. The clouds diffuse the sun so the light isn't too strong, yet there is plenty of light to work with. Alternatively, you can photograph in an evenly shaded area. This will also eliminate hot spots or over-exposed highlights on the face in your portrait. Make sure you don't have any light filtering in between leaves and branches, though, as that can look odd when it shows up in your pictures. Avoid using the flash outdoors if you can help it, too.

One great way to add dimension to your portraits and flatter almost every face and body type is to turn the subject's body away from the light about 90 degrees. In other words, have the subject face the light and then turn their body one-quarter turn. This gives shape to the body as the light wraps around it. Now turn the subject's face so it is facing the light. This illuminates the face, which is the focal point of your image. It gives your subject somewhat of a glow, and should result in some catch lights in their eyes, which can really bring a portrait to life!

Using lighting effects successfully can be a little daunting at first, but practice makes perfect - experimentation is key. By following a reliable photography course online you could easily master these, and more, lighting techniques, learning when and how to apply each for optimum results.

About the Author

You can discover the secrets of taking stunning photographs, simply by following a photography course online. Please check out http://www.photographycourseonline.info for further information.

(ArticlesBase SC #1831979)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Photography Course Online - How Using Light Effectively Helps You Capture The Perfect Portrait!

Sustainable Development - Interesting Advice for Your Organization

Role Of Corporate Sector In Sustainable Development—Need Of The Hour

By: DR.R.SRINIVASAN

Introduction:

The earth is restricted and has only a certain inadequate capability.  Consequently, augmentation can only occur over a limited period, until that aptitude is improved.  This gives rise to the idea of sustainable development.

In short, sustainable development implies progress that meets the need of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Many cultures over the course of human history have recognized the need for harmony between environment, society and economy.  In 1983, the United Nations had set up an international commission to resolve the conflict between the interests of economic development and the interests of environment that has created problems round the world.

The commission’s report, “Our Common Future”, popularly known as “The Brundtland Report” (following the name of its chairperson Gro Harlem Brundtland) that coined the term sustainable development suggested that economic development cannot stop, but it must change course to fit within the earth’s ecological limits.  The report observed that unintended changes are occurring in the atmosphere, in soil, in water, among plants and animals. Nature is bountiful but it is also fragile and finely balanced.  There are thresholds that cannot be crossed without endangering the basic integrity of the system.  The commission alerted that today we are close to many of those thresholds.

Corporate sector must make money; and staying in corporate sector and prospering is a fundamental value of any for-profit enterprise.  At the same time, corporate sector is required to take into account the interests of all stakeholders that include customers, employees, investors, vendors, government and the society.

The late 1990s and early 2000s were turbulent periods for the global investment community, with vast amount of shareholder wealth being created and destroyed.  Both the institutional and retail investors have learnt some painful lessons, re-examined their assumptions about what constitute tangible and intangible value, and broadened their scope to consider characteristics that could lead to long term financial success.

One area of corporate performance that has begun to capture the attention of investment professionals is sustainable development: a set of responsibilities that contributes directly to an organization’s risk management profile and is sometimes also linked with corporate responsibility.

There is considerable evidence that sustainable development contributes to shareholder value in a variety of ways-not only through tangible contribution such as risk reduction and profitability improvement, but also through intangible asset creation such as brand equity, human capital, etc.  Operating Corporate by pursuing the sustainable development path strengthens an organization’s intangible assets in a number of ways that in turn leads to tangible shareholder value creation.

It is now globally recognized that following sustainable development path makes good corporate sense.  This entails various approaches.  For example, eco-efficiency is based on a common sense proposition that reduces waste and inefficiency in production processes, saves money and protects the environment at the same time.  Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) offers a framework for understanding material flaws and potential impacts involved with providing services or products in a closed loop.  Sometimes referred to as ‘cradle to cradle’ or ‘cradle to grave’, LCA looks at an enterprise in terms of input, throughput and output.  This helps to identify inefficiencies that drain profit and produce waste including pollutants.

Many of these approaches: e.g. eco-efficiency, LCA, full cost accounting, industrial ecology, systems – based pollution prevention, etc. are new to the Corporate world.  Businesses keen to benefit from transition to sustainable development path therefore need to prepare themselves and have a longer time horizon and a broader set of goals than traditional companies.

Realization and recognition of the significance of sustainable development approach usually starts from the top management.  However, best intentions are meaningless if these are only lodged in the minds of a few individuals.  Values of sustainable development have to permeate throughout the organization.  Changing a company’s culture and outlook requires a contribution from everyone – starting from the chief executive officer and permeating through senior, middle, junior management and staff and all working as a team.

To make this change happen towards sustainable development approach, it is important to:

• Prepare a mission statement
  
• Form in-house waste reduction and pollution prevention teams
  
• Inform employees about economic, environmental and social trends
  
• Maintain regular communication lines
  
• Have commitment for community development efforts
  
• Be committed to honest and accessible public relations
  
• Measure and report on progress and performance
  
• Prepare annual sustainability report

Sustainability Reporting

As a result of global upsurge of interest in sustainable development, practice for sustainability reporting has emerged.  Sustainability reporting implies reporting on the economic, environmental and social aspects of organizational performance (also known as triple bottom line reporting).  The World Corporate Council for Sustainable Development defines sustainability report as “public reports by companies to provide internal and external stakeholders with a picture of corporate position on activities on economic, environmental and social dimensions.”

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a multi-stakeholder, international body with a mission to develop and disseminate globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines, has developed the framework for sustainability reporting for companies reporting on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of their activities, products and services.  The broad structure of sustainability report as developed by GRI contains:

• A statement of the chief executive officer describing the key elements of the report
  
• An overview of the reporting company and scope of the report
  
• An executive summary and key indicators
  
• Vision of the reporting company and how that integrates economic, environmental and social performance
  
• An overview of the governance structure and management systems that are in place to implement the vision
  
• Performance across social, economic and environmental areas of impact and activity

Sustainability reporting has the potential to provide critical information for corporate analysis.  This information facilitate financial reporting with forward-looking information that could enhance the report users’ understanding of such key value drivers as human capital formation in the company, corporate governance, management of environmental risks and the capacity to innovate.

Sustainability reporting has been steadily rising since 1993 and has considerably increased in the recent years.  The principal Corporate drivers for sustainability reporting are to:

• Have a good brand and reputation
  
• Be an employer of choice
  
• Maintain a strong market position
  
• Earn trust of the financial markets
  
• Be innovative in developing new products and services and creating new markets

Sustainability Assurance

Companies value the overall contribution that assurance makes to the sustainability reporting process.  Organizations in the forefront of sustainability reporting assurance also recognize the key role that they have in ensuring the credibility and usefulness of information flows within the organization, especially from non-traditional and non-commercial sources.

Currently, there are only two recognized professional standards for carrying out sustainability reporting assurance.  These are: AA 1000 – assurance standard developed by the Institute for Social and Ethical Accountability; and ISAE 3000 provided by the International Audit and Assurance Standard Board which is a part of the International Federation of Accountants.

Trends in Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability reporting has become a common practice in a number of countries like the USA, Europe, Japan and Australia. Sustainability reporting is yet at an emerging stage in Asia, Latin, America, Africa and Russia.

Though sustainability reporting is not mandatory in India, a small but a sizeable number of both subsidiaries of multinational and local companies are preparing sustainability reports mostly based on GRI guidelines.  However, majority of these companies are focused on community initiatives rather than governance risk and disclosure.

With globalization, Indian companies are increasingly realizing that they have much to lose by not following sustainability reporting norms.  Indian companies now see sustainability reporting as central to corporate social responsibility with “passive philanthropy” no longer a sufficient response to rising expectations.

Wrapping up:

The goal of sustainable development requires that the businesses take responsibility for their social, environmental and economic impacts.  Sustainable development can provide corporate sector with an opportunity to innovate and a means to grow at each level and step of business operation.  Making the right choices within a company, whether it is newly exposed to the concept of sustainable development or is already advancing its sustainability agenda, contributes to the company’s long term success. It is a matter of making the right choices and setting the right priorities.  This underlies the need for a positive mind set towards sustainable development.  Wider the spread of sustainability, greater the chances of its success.  In order to attain this, awareness must be created to the students  of present generation and  common public through education.

About the Author

Dr.R.SRINIVASAN is a Post graduate in commerce and corporate secretary ship . He received his doctoral degreein the Managementfaculty from Alagappa University in 1997. He is now Working as an ASSOCIATE PROFESSORin Post graduate and Research Department of Corporate Secretaryship at Bharathidasan Government College for Women (Autonomous), Pondicherry University, Puducherry.He currently teaches Accounting ,financial management and Research Methodology Subjects.

(ArticlesBase SC #1830600)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Role Of Corporate Sector In Sustainable Development—Need Of The Hour

Living Vicariously Through John Lusk - Part III: Croatian Hospitality

Croatian Hospitality by John Lusk, November 1, 2009

Read more on John's blog: http://www.johnlusk.net/

We’ve tried pretty hard to keep a pretty open schedule, and mind, during this trip. The only ‘planning’ we did was to make sure we had a place to stay in Rome, an assigned seat on a flight from Rome to Split, Croatia and a ticket from Istanbul back to Seattle. Everything else has been fly-by-night, so to speak. So when we realized that we forgot to book a hotel in Split on our way to the airport, we knew that the next few days might be a bit more spontaneous.

Great call! I can’t do the story justice, but will do my best to summarize. Somehow, with the help of his daughter, Russ was able to find a hotel for the night in Split (he somehow pulled this off mid-flight). Our plan was to grab dinner around 10pm in Split and figure out what our Croatia trip was going to look like. How long do we stay in Split? Do we rent a car? How far to Dubrovnik? Is it worthwhile to travel to the island to Hvar given the off-season? Lots of questions in which we had no answers and that we needed to answer relatively quickly. So we got some recos from the hotel staff dude and he sent us to the ‘happening’ part of town with the most nightlife (Bacvice). He also gave us ample fair-warning that the city shuts down on Thursday evenings around 9pm and not to expect a ton of food options.

He was right. We wandered aimlessly for half an hour trying to find a place with not only food, but also a few people as well. Our only option was some Italian joint on the water near a discotheque type of place playing really old glam rock (right up my alley, btw). Fortunately, there was a table of women at the restaurant, so we figured that we might be able to get some info from them with regards to our time in Croatia. we couldn’t ask for anything better and would save our going out strength for Friday night. We enjoyed a great Italian meal, drank some decent local wine and tried to figure out what we were going to do the next day.

Then things changed…for the better. We ask one of the girls sitting at the table next to us if she spoke English and she said ‘of course.’ We ask her what to do in Split and that leads to numerous conversations with the other women. Turns out that they’re all in the tourism industry in Croatia and had plenty of insights and advice. We end up hanging out with these women for a couple of hours and the restaurant owner begins shutting the place down. (He turned off every light except the one above our table…I’m convinced the only reason he didn’t ask us to leave was b/c we kept ordering wine). After another hour, one of the women mentions that she has a couple of apartments that she rents out in old town Split (where you want to stay if you ever visit) and suggests that we stay in her rentals. We graciously accept and she offers to pick us up at our hotel the next morning to show us not only the apartments, but also Split.

We really didn’t think that she would show up the next morning, but sure enough, Ivana pulled up right at 10am. She spent her entire day playing tour guide and then took us to our new temporary homes. Not only are these places in the middle of old town (kind of like living in a medieval city), but she insists that we stay there free of charge. We graciously take her up on the offer, settle into our new digs and realize that we’ve also got free wi-fi. Unreal. If the hospitality in friendliness of the people we’ve met thus far are any indication of the rest of the country, we’re definitely spending more time in Croatia.

Here’s to serendipity…

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Feel free to comment at http://www.johnlusk.net/. And check out all the pics.

John

P.S. If you ever plan to travel to Split, let me know and I’ll connect you with Ivana. Her rental apartments are AWESOME and you absolutely cannot beat the location.

Living Vicariously through John Lusk - Part II: When in Rome and Rome in 3 Days

My own "When in Rome" story included flying there from London for a quick overnight jaunt, making friends with a couple of British girls at the Trevi Fountain, then meeting some off-duty Italian policeman on the Spanish Steps who invited us to a party a couple of hours outside of Rome where we danced until dawn barefooted on the beach. All in all, a pretty fun night! But that was in my younger, crazier days. This week, I'm just living vicariously through John. I think he's on his way from Croatia to Turkey now but here's a quick recap of his Rome trip.

When in Rome
by John Lusk on October 29, 2009 (read more at http://www.johnlusk.net/)

22 days ago I left my job. Today, I just about killed myself weaving in and of rush hour traffic on a scooter…in Rome! My, how quickly environments can change.

Here’s the situation. I’m bound and determined to make the most of the next 2-3 months. I have a mini-bucket list of sorts, and a some of that list involves travel.

14 days ago I was cycling with my friend Russ and we decided that doing an Italy, Croatia, Turkey adventure would be a great way to spend a few weeks. Told my friend Jason about it that following evening and he’d never been to Croatia or Turkey before, so why not? 14 days ago we purchased tickets to Rome and are now holed up in an apartment near the Vatican that we found through some dude on ‘A Small World‘ (yet another social networking site).

If actually booking the trip and making it happen within 14 days wasn’t spontaneous enough, Russ convinced Jason and me to rent scooters during our time here. Says it's the best way to see the city and not deal with all of the traffic issues. I have to say he’s right…, but damn, driving in this stuff is ridiculous. It seems like most of the ‘rules’ are merely suggestions and that the more aggressive you drive, the easier it is to actually survive. Our dinner hosts last night, Roberto and Paula, just about freaked when we told them of our intention to rent scooters. (Note: Roberto is an Italian friend of Jason’s whom he went to school with at U. of Washington). After spending a day on those things, I think we are absolutely nuts for making the call…but they're fun and it makes us look somewhat local.

We’ll see if we survive the day tomorrow. In addition to renting the scooters, we’re trying to score tickets to a Lazio game. Again, Roberto and Paula think we’re freackin’ crazy for going to a soccer game in which the fans are known for beating each other up when their team isn’t doing so well. Lazio is currently one of the worst teams in the Itialian Serie A. Hang on…

Rome in Three Days
by John Lusk on October 30, 2009

We landed in Croatia last night and there’s no way I can summarize our entire Rome trip in one post. So in the spirit of brevity I’ll try to touch on the highlights…of which there are certainly a few:

Highlight #1: Scooter drag racing. Ok, we didn’t really drag-race, but given that we couldn’t sleep due to jetlag, Jason’s an amateur photographer and I was in dire need of scooter practice, we went on a 3-hour cruise of Rome from 1-4 in the morning. What an absolutely amazing experience. First, there’s literally nobody on the street. You can seriously haul (about as fast as 125cc’s can take you) through the streets and not worry about getting jacked by a crazy Smart Car driver. Second, you can cruise around to all of the big-time tourists attractions and visit when absolutely nobody is there. Seriously! We hit the Vatican at 2am, the Spanish steps at 1:30am, the Trevi Fountain at 3am, and the Coliseum at 4am. And not a soul was there but us. If you’ve been to any of these places you know that standing room only crowds are the norm, all the time. Other than a couple of polizei guarding the areas it was just the three of us. Jason brought his tripod so we’ve got very cool shots of these places….with no people. And last, there’s something cool about cruising around Rome, on a bike/scooter, when nobody else is on the streets. An awesome feeling of freedom and excitement, especially when you’re cruising amongst some way old stuff. I highly recommend trying to pull it off if you ever get a chance to visit the city. (You have to check out Jason’s picture of Rome at night!)

Highlight #2: A guided tour of the city. As an ex-Expedia exec, my friend Russ knows how to travel right. He’s been to a ton of places and when it came to Rome, he was absolutely insistent that we rent scooters. He was also insistent that we hire a guide to take us around on the scooters during one of our days here. Great call. Maria, our cute Italian guide, took us to a number of different places and gave an insiders perspective of the different historical places. We found ourselves back at the the Vatican and the Coliseum, but this time, we were able to add some historical perspective. We were also following her on the scooters, were able to truly experience what it’s like to weave in an out of traffic, go the wrong way on one way streets, turn left from the right lane and pretty much do everything like the Roman Scooter riders do. I am proud to say that I’m no longer a scooter novice.

Highlight #3: An Italian Serie A match. There’s no hiding the fact that I’m a huge soccer fan (futbol). Our stay in Rome was primarily based around going to either a Lazio or AS Roma match during our visit. Not only did we have an opportunity to go to a Lazio game (and btw, most Romans either love AS Roma or they love Lazio…and there is no love lost between the two sets of fans), but our friend Roberto set us up with corporate seats from his company. I’m pretty sure he made this happen for our own safety, as we entered through some VIP entrance and then took ourselves to a hospitality suite of sorts where we were fed and given unlimited alcohol. And thankfully, our seat section were protected by plexiglass and guards on both sides, so no fear on our part. The actual match wasn’t particularly impressive, but the crowd was incredible. Lazio lost the match to Cagliariand their fans boo’d, hissed and whistled the entire game…I actually thought the fans might attack their own players at one point. Have to give the Italians kudos for their passion…it truly is unique.

I could have used another week in Rome. We did as much as we possibly could over a 3 day period, but there’s still so much to do and see. Took the flight to Croatia last night and the last 18 hours have already provided enough fodder for the next post!