Short Ribs and Long Legs

Since I go to Lindy Grundy at least once a week, I had had the pleasure of tasting their addictive sausages, delectable pork chops, tender steaks, and wonderful lamb (see my previous post here). Today I picked up a rabbit and I will be making it into a gumbo with some of their andouille sausage (using Emeril's recipe) and my friend Robin picked up some short ribs. For those of you who have only eaten short ribs but never cooked them, Lindy & Grundy is teaching a small group of 40 how to they butcher, how to make short ribs, and how to pair wine with them for only $40 (instead of $75) if you reserve in advance here. They will be at the Century City Westfield Mall this Monday, October 24 at 6:30pm in Bloomingdale's, so get your tickets and get some short ribs!

For those of you who have never seen the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, this Christmas might be the time to go with a 30% TravelZoo discount for the show. Just put code TZ001 into the promotion code box at this link and get your discount. The best prices are available Nov. 11-23 and Nov. 28-Dec. 2 with Orchestra and 1st Mezzanine seats going for $52.50 instead of $75 and an additional $13.75-$17.60 per ticket, please note that full-price tickets are subject to the same additional fees. With the Travelzoo deal you can print your tickets immediately for no extra charge with the "Ticketfast" option.

Dine LA Chef's Roundtable

Do you have a favorite chef? If you could ask them a question, what do you want to know? Now is your chance to ask and get answers!

If you know the names Wolfgang Puck, Josiah Citrin, Karen Hatfield, Mark Peel, Susan Feniger, or Joachim Splichal, then tune in TODAY for a FREE panel discussion with all six innovative chefs. The program will be moderated by Lisa Foxx of 104.3 MYfm. You can even submit your questions to them and watch the free webstream broadcast here from 7-8pm.

This is fun interactive live education at its best!

Dr Seuss & Catalina Zipline

Happy Earth Day!

Oceanhouse Media has a novel way to celebrate if you have an iPhone (it's also iPad compatible), just download the app Lorax Garden for $2.99 and you can plant (and design) you own plants and trees in a virtual world which you can then send as postcards, keeping it green from inception to reception. You can also download the book for $3.99 and use it either as a reading and teaching tool.

If you prefer your greenery to be actual rather than virtual, the first Zipline in Los Angeles or Orange County is now open on Catalina Island. You will be traveling at speeds of up to 45 miles an hour about 300 feet up in the air over nearly .75 of a mile through five connected platform stations that hover over various areas of Catalina. Each station will teach you something about the areas you are zipping through, so this is not only an exhilarating ride, it will be educational also. It takes about 2 hours and costs $92.50, but the experience will be priceless.

Three Free Ways to Help Others

Social Vibe helps feed people, fight cancer, preserve wildlife, educate, and provide clean drinking water, all you need to do is answer some questions that take about 5 minutes of your time for the cause of your choice.

The Extraordinairies allows you to "micro volunteer" to help change the world for the better, whether it is helping log photos from Haiti so people can locate lost loved ones, catalog animal abuse photos for an archive, or inspire children with a message of encouragement. All that is required to be extraordinary is your time.

Free Rice is a game that you play and when you answer correctly, the game sponsors donate rice to feed people, one right answer provides 10 free grains, five right answers is 50 grains. This is one game that you can play to win obsessively that will result in something good for everyone.

Free for Passover

"You were once wild here. Don't let them tame you."

~ Isadora Duncan

With Passover beginning today, it fitting that today's theme is about the freedom we all have to choose our education and our pleasures.

I am always eager to learn a new language, or even a few useful phrases when I travel so that I can communicate in the local language. Any traveler who at least attempts a few words like "Please" and "Thank-you" will have a much better experience in a foreign land. Now everyone can be a better traveler by using a free learning resource from Transparent Language that my friend Susie found online. Transparent Language allows you to either download software to learn a new language or get an email with a new word a day from the language of your choice. You can learn with others in their Facebook community, have common phrases sent to your iPhone, read their cultural and language blogs, and there is even a section with "flash cards" you can use to test yourself. Languages available include Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and even Esperanto!

Many artists perform for the sheer pleasure of it and now you can listen to their music free every Monday through Mashable's Free Music downloads. There are a variety of genres offered and all you need to do is click on the link to download your free (full) songs. It is a great way for unknown artists to get some exposure and a following, so this is a mutually beneficial exchange with their audience. If you are a musician you are welcome to submit your songs to be put on a Free Music Monday by emailing the contact address in this post.

L'Chaim - To Life.

Oprah, Randy & Alice

I found the entire Last Lecture (about 1 hour long) and was even more inspired after watching the complete version and learning about Alice. I've been playing with Alice, the FREE educational software program, ever since I watched the video. The program has one version for Middle School, and another for High School to University level students, and can be used on PC and MAC, even in shared environments (like classrooms). It starts with a tutorial that is so user friendly I was able to make two mini animated movies in the first two lessons! If I had this in school when I was younger I would probably be working for Pixar today, instead I am learning how to program just for the fun of it, which is exactly the legacy that Randy Pausch wanted to leave the world.

Now go be like Tigger and have some fun today!

Free Museums or $11,000 Flight

Have you been putting off going to museums because admission prices would put a dent in your budget? For two days, October 3 & 4th, twenty-two Los Angeles area museums are offering free entries! Every museum in the promotion, from the famous Getty and the California Science Center, to the lesser known Skirball Center and the Hammer at UCLA, is participating for at least one of the days (but you may still want to bring some cash for some exhibits that require entrance fees, and to pay for parking).

If you’ve got about $11,000 to spend, you and a friend can experience zero gravity flight, a 2 night stay at the Wynn in Las Vegas (with an upgrade to a Tower Suite room), and a spa treatment. The weightless flight is about 2 hours long aboard G FORCE ONE, ZERO-G’s specially modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft. Zero-G is the first and only company to offer FAA approved weightless commercial flights, so this could be considered the ultimate flight experience short of a rocket flight.

Experiences are the currency of life, spend yours wisely.

See a Free Movie, Make a Movie, See Some Stars

Los Angeles has great weather almost all year around and even though drive in movie theaters are all but extinct here, there are a few venues which still offer free movies on summer nights. The Century City Westfield Mall movie series is now over, but the W Hotel in Westwood still has free movie screenings every Sunday until September 27, 2009. The venue is small, so make sure you reserve a seat before heading over there. I had a wonderful lunch at the Backyard restaurant there not too long ago, so if you want dinner and a movie, just go earlier to grab a bite before the movie starts.

After watching a movie, you may want to make your own, so if you get that itch, and it needs scratching, the Showbiz Store & Cafe should be your next stop. It's a WiFi cafe with software and production supplies for the television, film, and commercial industries. If you want to learn about how to produce the best audio visual experience, they offer seminars and workshops to teach you about everything from budgeting and payrolls, to supplies like clapperboards and screenwriting software.

If you want some inspiration for your film, tonight is Santa Monica Pier's 100th anniversary and there will be fireworks over the Pier at 8:50pm.

Are you ready for your close-up?

College Money

Now that it's time for school again, it's also time to figure out how much college will cost. Too bad there isn't a high school course on how to calculate and pay for higher education. Two of my friends are sending their kids off this year and looking at both their empty nests and their empty checking accounts, trying to figure out where to go from here. Good thing that there are several websites designed to help you navigate the financial and academic roads.

Collegeboard has tools, calculators, and resources for students, parents, and educators. They even have links to registering for the SATs on their home page. If you want to research colleges, they have information on more than 3800 and you can search by major, by location, or cost. I like how the site has everything from planning to go to college, to the logistics of applying, to the options for financial aid, all in one place.

For those who want to put away money for college (meaning you child is not enrolled this year), check out collegesavings, which has information on the 529 plans for every state.

For those who want some help with financial options Finaid is the place to go; they have everything from how to apply for scholarships, grants, how to get loans, how much to save, and even military aid options. There is a handy calculator to help you figure out actual costs with interest right on the homepage.

With the government handing out money to so many, why not get in line for a student loan? Studentloans has all the information on federal student aid and it has the application (free) on the website. These loans are usually based on income with lower interest than other loans, so apply for a federal loan first to avoid paying more later.

An education is always a wise investment; investing in yourself or your children can yield some amazing returns.

Wanna Be An Actor?

Many people come to Los Angeles to act, and it always surprises me when I learn that they come expecting to be discovered without any idea of how to audition or how to work as an actor. Although I received a BA in Theater Arts at a UC, I never had any desire to work in the entertainment industry; instead, I used my education and skills in sales where I made money presenting my products to the marketplace.

If you don't want to spend four years and several thousand dollars getting a degree, there are great classes for people who would like some education and preparation for acting, like Acting Organics or The Groundlings School. Both offer professional teachers who actually work in the industry teaching the basics of how to prepare and succeed in a career here that is not based in the fantasy of being discovered simply by drinking a soda at a counter in Hollywood.

Acting is work, and if you want to work as an actor, you must be willing to study, present yourself, and persevere in both your education and in the face of rejection. Classes are a safe and fun place to hone your craft as your prepare for that one part that may change your life. Education is always necessary, no matter what your career or your age, so you might as well do it by choosing to study something you want to do with your life. If you want to be an actor, you will be a better actor if you study the art of acting.

If you only want to to be famous, then just apply to be on a reality show.

Money Lessons

Most of us learn about money from our experiences, good or bad, and we take our lessons with us to the next test of what to do when we make or get more money. Without a strategy or an understanding of how to use our money to work for us we are left making poor choices that may well end with us in the poorhouse.

Education is the key to nearly every success in life, and that includes money. The more that you learn about money, the better your decisions. As with any other education, the earlier you start, the better, so why not take advantage of the free lessons available from Schwab Money Wise? They are appropriate for every child old enough to count, to teenagers getting their first job and saving for a car, and on to college students figuring out how to budget their expenses away from home for the first time. They even have a section for teachers to give them ideas of how to introduce lessons in money for their students. It's a great resource for new investors who want to know what a mutual fund is, how to calculate the cost of a loan, a home, or a saving account with compounded interest. If you don't know where to start your money education, this is a good place to start.

If you know something about money but want to learn more about business and are planning to apply to a business school, then check out Veritas Prep to help you prepare for the GMAT admissions test. Of all the test preparation services, Veritas offers 50% more class time than their competitors for the price ($1500 for 42 hours), and instructors who are so highly qualified that they only pick one of every eight candidates who apply to be instructors. They are working on developing both law school and medical school online admissions courses; and Veritas realizes that their services are expensive, so they give away 24 full scholarships and 25 half scholarships to those who can not afford the fees.

Education being a good value is a no brainer.

Scarleteen Education for Teenagers

If you or your teenager needs to get information about anything sexual, where do you go? If you do a search online, you will probably end up at a porn site which wants to sell you a membership or a product.

Heather Corinna founded Scarleteen, and with the help of a few volunteers, is now serving about 25,000 young teens and adults worldwide in their quest for straightforward information about their bodies, their relationships, and their sexuality. Scarleteen and its' content has been lauded by such organizations as UNICEF, Planned Parenthood, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Family Health International, the International Association for Adolescent Health, and the Boston Women's Health Collective.

The truly remarkable fact about Scarleteen is that they don't have a big organization behind them or any public funding, nor have they ever run any advertising anywhere, although they do have a place on their site where they will accept funding from the public to continue their work if you would like to contribute.

If you got your sexual education through your friends, you know how distorted their information can be (like the old game of telephone, the message is never the same at the end as it was in the beginning). If you got your lessons from adults who did not shame or chastise you for asking, you were very lucky; please pass on your luck to others by using Scarleteen or donating to it.

An Apple Berry Better World

It is the middle of the holiday party season, the time to put on the sparkly clothes, high heels, and festive smiles. What outfit would be complete without a classic red lipstick? What if you could buy a lipstick (for only $13) which donated 100% (yes, ALL) of its' profits from the sale to change the lives of women and girls around the world? You can help create a brighter safer world by putting your money where your mouth is and sending a kiss of support to someone who needs it.

Mary Kay is already famous as a company founded by a woman to help women become financially independent, but it is also a company committed to ending domestic violence. All the profits from the sale of their Apple Berry Creme Lipstick will go towards funding educational programs and providing Break The Cycle DVDs to teach teens and young adults how to build better and healthier relationships for themselves and within their communities.

The world can be made just a little bit better, one Apple Berry at a time.

Signing Time

If you thought that you could never learn how to use sign language, then watch Signing Time or buy their DVDs. You can do it; the stars of the DVDs range between 3 and 5 years old, and even younger children begin signing after just a few minutes.

Signing Time is both a show on PBS and a series of DVDs which teach American Sign Language. The show was created by the Colemans because their daughter Leah (now one of the stars of the show) was born deaf. They started teaching Leah how to sign as soon as they learned, and at 18 months, Leah's communication skills surpassed those of her peers. They made a DVD for their friends and family to teach them sign language so that they could communicate with Leah, and the rest as they say, is history.

Small children find it easier to communicate with signs than language; it improves and enhances their verbal skills. Maybe if we all learn how to sign, we can all learn how to communicate better.

Foreign Words or Just Photos

It is inspiring to learn that people around the world all have common bonds, whether through spoken, written, emotional, or visual links. Because I write my blog in English, many of my French speaking friends can't understand my posts, so today's post offers both a multilingual international news source and a photo blog.

Seeing the vision of the world through the other people's eyes is always educational, so here is the link to a multilingual international news site France 24, which features stories about people and places around the globe (when was the last time you saw or read anything from an American news source about anyone or anyplace outside the U.S.?), and a link to a photo blog where there is no need to read (the captions are in French). Reading or looking at the perspectives of people who live a continent away only shows us how we are all citizens of the same world, just living in different neighborhoods.

Let's find more links that bring us together.

Languages with Class

People always ask me how I learned to speak French; I always respond that I took lessons for years in school, but it was not until I traveled to French speaking countries that I actually learned to converse in French. (Imagine someone arriving in the US after only reading and speaking from books that taught phrase like "See Jane. See Spot. See Jane and Spot run.") Every language has its' own rhythm, slang, and references that are completely ignored in formalized lessons. After many trips to France, Martinique, St. Bart, Quebec (another kind of French entirely), and of course, Tahiti, I can now say I truly do speak French.

For those who wish to learn sur place, there are courses in Sancerre, France which include some fun vacation outings and treats along with language lessons. Coeur de France Ecole de Langues offers wine and cheese appreciation along with language courses. Imagine taking your courses in a 400 year old mansion in central France's famous wine region, where you can sample locally made cheeses at the farmer's market. You don't have to make a year long commitment; they offer courses from 1-12 weeks long and you can learn as a group, with your family, or as a couple sharing an educational vacation. Prices are very reasonable and you get discounts for the longer you stay and the more people you enroll.

Gather your friends or family together for a fun way to pick up an educational souvenir that will serve you for future trips.

Below Water

Many many moons ago I learned how to scuba dive in Moorea, French Polynesia, so I was spoiled by clear visibility of about 80 feet, warm water with no need for a bodysuit, and a scuba instructor (whom I dated) who allowed me to dive even though I did not know how to swim (I have learned how to swim since then).

If you are not already certified, then maybe you would like to learn. If you are certified, maybe you need to renew your PADI certification. Maybe you would like to help clean up the area by the Santa Monica Pier. Maybe you would like the latest underwater equipment, books, or toys. The best way to satisfy any of those needs or desires is to head over to Eco Divers. They are the best scuba shop in the Los Angeles area and provide knowledgeable service and education; the fact that the huge chain Sports Chalet refers divers to Eco Divers for specialty equipment is one of the best testaments to their expertise.

Learn to dive so you can see our oceans while there is still live coral (you can experience what Nemo did outside his fish tank); better yet, learn how to dive so you can help clean up our underwater world so there will be fish and coral for our future life above water.

What is Love?

Chuck Spezzano's says "If It Hurts, It Isn't Love" Elizabeth Gilbert had to "Eat, Pray, Love", Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks recommend a commitment to "Conscious Loving", and Piero Ferrucci postulates that "The Power of Kindness" is one of the most loving powers humans can share.

I believe that like great art, you know great love when you feel it.

Love someone today and everyday.

Love Foundation

Leo Buscaglia is an author perhaps best known for his book "Love" which is based on the course he taught at USC on the subject. His books range from insights gleaned from disabled persons and their families, to a cookbook, and a photo essay on love seen through the eyes of a four year old.

His Foundation is based on the principal of giving and sharing with others so that they may in turn give and share for the betterment of all.

He says it best, "Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means."

Educational Kid Stuff

Sometimes the kid in all of us wants to play, and having a kid in tow makes these places even more fun because discovering new things can be both entertaining and educational.

If you love to see what the cars of the future will look like, then head over to the Petersen Auto Museum. You don't have to wait for the annual auto show to see concept cars. They are all here, along with old hand crank cars in beautiful vintage condition.

There are always interesting exhibits at the California Science Center. The current attraction that is drawing kids and adults alike is the Human Body exhibit which has skinless bodies on display for a slightly morbid and fascinating look "inside" human (and animal) bodies. There are also other exhibits that are scientific without being creepy if you don't want to have nightmares after you leave.

If stars and planets are fascinating to you, then the Griffith Observatory's new renovation will enthrall you. With newly updated exhibits and a face-lifted building, this is the place to dream of traveling through the stars to planets beyond.

The best way to learn is to be entertained; go entertain yourself with educational kid stuff!