The Burnham Tavern is located in Machias, Maine and is one of the many historical sites located in any of the towns and cities of the state.  This tavern was built during 1770, and was the meeting point for the local and regional patriots during the times of the American Revolution.  Today there aer exhibits that illustrate the history of the region during the 1700′s through the 1800′s.  The furniture is the furniture of a time when the United States was in its infancy as a nation, and the design is a great example of the technology and style of the time period.  And just as the tavern does on the whole, many of the individual pieces have their own unique stories and histories.

Many great hotels in the town reflect this same sensibility and give one the feeling that they may be stepping back in time.  The time of the Tavern’s early days, marked a time when the people of the country were put into difficult situations, often times forced to sell goods and services to the British troops, of which the American soldiers were at war.  If they did comply with this, they faced the wrath of the British commander, Lieutenant Moore and faced a live of poverty and starvation.  However if they did comply they were seen as traitors.

Originally called the Tap Room, the tavern was owned by Job Burnham.  This is where the American settlers would gather to have discussions and debates, over the actions that should be taken against the British troops and against Commander.  This establishment is now on the list of the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Historic Site.  It is open to the public, to the history buffs who are not only interested in the history of Machias, but in the history of the birth and the development of the entire country of the United States.

When celebrity endorsements work, they work. Companies take a huge risk when choosing the right person for the job of representing what the company does or the services they provide, or the products they sell. A public figure in a television or an online commercial becomes the representation of what that company means, becomes how the entire company is perceived. The current news today regarding Tiger Woods, has the companies he has endorsed in a bit of a quandary. This is something that extends to all kinds of business.  Take football for example…no matter how talented Michael Vick was charged with the crimes that he committed, influenced the way his entire team was perceived. A headline in the news this morning listed off the names of Vick and of Tiger Woods and why now their names mean nothing. Celebrities and well known figures have been endorsing products and services for years, and those with the reputation to back themselves up, such as Lance Armstrong, Montel Williams , and many other well respected public figures, will be the ones whose endorsements carry weight with the general public.  Public perception is influenced by a variety of media these days. What once could only be read in the morning paper, is now not only on the television and the radio, but the various social sites on line, and the many ways in which to find information through videos and sources from all over the world. The beauty of online advertising is that it reaches the world in a matter of seconds. Just as the positive reaches the public this quickly, so too does the negative. This means that advertising departments must take risks on public figures, as when such risks are taken, they can move the company into success and will guarantee that a prosperous future is ahead.

Advice to consumers has always been to check out the company you are thinking of dealing with, before you deal with them, before you purchase their products and before you enlist their services. Now days, that is becoming much easier to do as you can basically find out anything you need to know online. All taken with a grain of salt of course, but it is easy now to compare and contrast the reputation of a company and what it is that they have to offer, by reading through the customer testimonials and reviews that you can find online.

This is important in all industries, and is very important when considering properties to rent, be they for residential purposes or for business purposes. The people who go into the career of property management, must not only take care of the property owners, but they must also look after those who rent those properties. When considering where to rent in Canada, many people have found out quite a bit of information about TransGlobe Property Management by checking out their reputation online.

These are some of the paraphrased testimonials…the maintenance crew should be the standard for which all other companies are compared. When other property management companies in Canada realize what they are competing with, when it comes to TransGlobe…they run in the other direction. Quick and friendly service. TransGlobe hired a security guard, it made us feel safe. The TransGlobe team is awesome!

This is the kind of advertising that cannot be bought and paid for. It is the truth of the public, not well designed commercials written by people who went to art and film school but the simple words of the customer. This is what people must look for when doing business, the real comments made by people who have come before. The people who have spent time with a company, and who have their own experiences to share. It is the kind of service, care and reputation that just can’t be topped.

In Los Angeles, there’s a home above Hollywood built in the early 20th Century that’s a private club for magicians.  It’s known as the Magic Castle, and features five unique performances a night of magic and comedy.  It’s a place all magicians revere, and a place the public loves to come — if they can find a magician to give them a ticket to get into the exclusive club.  If you don’t have a coupon from a magician, or are at least accompanied by a magician, you don’t go inside.  However, on the other side of the country, in Miami, Florida, you’ll find magic and comedy available just by going on line and purchasing a ticket.  Known as one of the best shows in Miami, it’s Kevin & Caruso’s Magic and Comedy Show.

Augustine “Gus” Caruso and Kevin Jeffrey met each other in school and began doing street performances, later giving way to the Magic and Comedy Show.  Caruso is known for his choreography and constantly changing costumes that he constructs from scratch.  He maintains over 100 costumes and headdresses, all meticulous in detail.  Kevin has worked in magic for over fifteen years and has performed all over the globe his mix of comedy and magic.  Most magicians, by the way, also work in comedy, as its one of the best ways to disarm your audience, relaxing them enough to make the illusion seem perfect.  Raised in Reno, Nevada, his gravitation to show business seems almost an instinctive thing to happen.  He’s constantly putting together new shows.  Like any artist, he considers his work not quite finished, everything a work in progress.

The two performers work out of the Collins Avenue Theater, an intimate venue of only 220 seats and a entrance way that’s hidden.  The little theater has been used for stars of the past who wanted to perform privately for VIPs and officials of the city.  There’s rumors that this place was once a movie house, once a strip club, and who knows what else in-between.  Today, though, it’s the proud home of magic, mystery, and comedy.  All you need do is come to Miami and its fine hotels and reserve a ticket for, as the site proclaims, one of the best shows in Miami.

One of the great things about Rome is its history and significance throughout the centuries. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and certainly ranks among the oldest in the Western world. There are various aspects of the city and society that are reflected in this though it is extremely easy to see in the architecture and art, which represents the greatest artists and architects in world through various time periods. Another historical aspect of Rome that is often extremely enticing to tourists is the dramatic and theatrical history that is associated with it. Seeing one of the ancient Roman plays live and in the city is a great experience for many of the guests in hotels in Rome. And while the ancient works of the Greek and Roman playwrights are often confused and combined into one period and genre, they are in fact two distinct periods of culture and drama, though it is true that Rome borrowed many of the stories and plays from the Greeks, this is a fundamental aspect of all societies throughout history. And there is now denying that the Romans made the theatre and mythology of the time all their own, regardless of where some of the stories may have originated.

One of the signifying differences between Greek and Roman tragedy is the fact that the Greeks did not display major violence on the stage and the Romans loved it. The gruesome details of some of the gory events in Greek plays would occur offstage while the Romans would bring it on in full force. This is a sensational difference that may intrigue some of the audience members at a contemporary performance. And while productions can and will do whatever they want, you can be relatively sure you’ll see more gore from a Roman play than from a Greek. Seneca and Plautus are the two most well known of the Roman playwrights though they were working and living centuries apart. Plautus is well known for his comedies and is believed to have lived between 254 and 184 BC while Seneca is know more for his tragedies and was working much later and in a different social and political environment in the first century AD.

I have been planning this backpacking trip to Europe for some time. I was even given a wonderful map of Europe as a birthday gift by my mom when I first told her of my plans. I had a long list of places I was going to go, but I was absolutely going to start out by traveling to England first. London to be exact. I wanted to see all the tourist attractions, and maybe catch a glimpse of Bob Dylan’s first painting. Next I was going to Cambridge before a stop in Salisbury with Stonehenge. I know it sounds like a whirlwind now, but I’m planning on a more leisurely pace, and finding thing I had never expected as I walk down the streets and through the markets. From there it is France, where as much as I love Paris, I would really rather wander into some of the small towns, and really explore the countryside.

I am most excited about having decided to add some extra time for some of the eastern European countries including Hungary and Romania. Both of these places were inhabited by the Romans, and have some of the most exquisite bath houses you have ever seen. Because many of these places don’t get visited except by the locals, the prices stay really cheap and you can have a whole day of water fun jumping between heated pools, and ice cold ones. The water is always natural and many of them use the same technique to draw it out of the ground as the Romans did when they built the bath houses, even though they have been renovated and given more modern conveniences.

I will be ending my journey in Italy, where I would explore Vatican City, and the great history of artwork that is housed around there. In Rome I will probably explore the Jewish ghettos and There was only one problem with this trip so far, and that was leaving for it. On my drive down to Los Angeles, I began to realize, I really need a map of California. I got lost three times in my one hour drive.

I once heard that there is always something to do in Fort Lauderdale. I think I must have been about twelve when I first heard it. A few of my cousins were over for Thanksgiving, well and other relatives too, and they were all older than I was. I remember one of them talking about his recent trip to Florida and staying in a really cool hotel in Fort Lauderdale. He was a student at the time and went with a few friends for a summer trip between sessions, my cousin always had to catch up some hours over the summer. That was my cousin Bob. I remember I always looked up to Bob and he always seemed to look out for me. He’s married now with three kids and working as a shop foreman back east I think.

Meanwhile, I’m now the college student who continually has to make up hours over the summer and am currently trying to figure out where I can go during my one week off from class this summer. I have two friends, Carl and Terry who want to take a trip too but they’re both talking about going to places like Greece and Spain. Not only can I not afford that but I also don’t have the time. Needless to say neither of them is taking any summer classes. So, I was trying to come up with an agreeable place that they would be happy going to and somewhere that I could actually swing. Suddenly yesterday afternoon my cousin Bob came to mind and I remembered what he said about Fort Lauderdale. Oh yeah, the only thing he said you couldn’t do in Fort Lauderdale was sleep. Gotta love Bob.

So, tomorrow I’m supposed to meet Terry and Carl at the library and I’m going to suggest we go to Fort Lauderdale. I found out the beaches are incredible and we should have a great time even if we did nothing else. And I also noticed that Las Olas Boulevard seems to be the main entertainment hub. We have to visit the Elbo Room. I found it in my searches and now I think I can remember Bob talking about it. The more I look into Fort Lauderdale the more excited I become about going there. Maybe I can make it a college tradition in my family and pass on the great stories to the next generation. Meanwhile I can’t wait to tell Bob that I’m going.

It’s Saturday afternoon in Colorado. After a boys night out, we had to get up very early because Cameran and his guest had to fly back. After a delicious German breakfast, boiled eggs, fruit, bread, jam and coffee we all left our wonderful guest home, thanks Cameran for letting us stay the night. Rene and I had packed our car once again and headed onward north.

A little bit after Denver, which gave us a beautiful view of the Great Plains to our right and to our left the Rocky Mountains, we stopped at Fort Collins where the Colorado State University is located. We stopped here for the night, because this college was Rene’s parents Alma-mater and where they married back in 1970. We walked around campus and we’re pretty sure we found the apartment complex where they first lived after they got married.

We found a coffee shop called the Alley Cat Cafe, which is open 24 hours and we decided to book us a room for the night, so we took advantage of the free wi-fi offered by the coffee shop and found this wonder site: hotel fort collins, and managed to find a great hotel not far from where we were and at a great rate.

Tomorrow, we plan to drive on to Yellowstone National Park, but we knew there’s no way we’d make it there by today. After we spent some more time at the coffee shop, we walked around a bit more. Fort Collins is really a great college town. It was great to see where Rene’s parents met and married. Now that her parents have passed-on, I could tell this little side trip to Fort Collins made Rene feel reflective and oddly enough at peace. I think it will be a great time for me to propose to Rene tomorrow morning, before we leave.

If you are an outdoor sport enthusiast than you would think that David Edward Jackson was famous. He is one of the trappers that originally found a good hunt in the Grand Teton Mountain area called Jackson Hole. There are some fabulous hotels in Jackson click here to rest up for some amazing outdoor adventures. The area is famous for its hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, skiing and any other outdoor sport for any season you can think of. The old down town is famous for its deer antler archways and old western town restaurants and saloons.

It all made me think of famous people that have put there mark on the world named Jackson. In the early years you have names like Stone Wall Jackson who was a Confederate General in the American Civil War. He was born Thomas Jonathan Jackson and got is Stonewall name after his performance in the First Battle of Bull Run. Andrew Jackson is another famous American who was of course the seventh President of the United States. Another political character in modern times is the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He is a Baptist minister that has been a loud voice for civil rights.

You can’t talk about famous Jackson’s without mentioning the entertainers that have this last name. There are some actors such as Kate Jackson who played the character Sabrina Duncan on the popular 70s show Charlie’s Angels.  Samuel L Jackson is an actor that has been seen in over a 100 films with blockbuster names like Die Hard with a Vengeance and Jackie Brown. Then you have musicians such as Joe Jackson and Jackson Brown. The Jackson five were a brother band of singers that had an extra bright star Michael Jackson. Then there was their little sister Janet Jackson who made a name for herself a pop diva.

A few years ago, my East Coast grandmother visited from Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  My sister and I picked her up at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, and when she stepped into our view we knew we were in for one crazy week with grandma.  She was dressed in full “cowgirl” regalia, a bright red shirt with fringe, a red cowboy had, white polyester bell-bottomed pants, and red cowboy boots.  We love our grandmother, but at that moment we were both very pleased to know that she would be staying in one of the best Phoenix hotels, and not with either of us, as grandma in small doses was good, but grandma 24 hours a day would be a bit much.

She seemed to be caught in time long past when she thought about Phoenix.  She had never been to the city before and was seriously expecting Cowboys and Indians to be riding their horses along next to our car as we sped down I10.  She made it perfectly clear that she wanted to do “Western” things during her visit, so that night my sister and I planned out a bit of our itinerary with grandma.  We went the first day to the Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle monuments.  We hiked a bit, but for the most part wandered through the museums at both locations.  The next day we gave her a bit of a thrill by taking a drive along the Apache Trail, a winding road that takes you past the Tonto National Monument, Saguaro Lake and the Gold Field Ghost Town.

The next two days we spent in town, taking a tour of the Heard Museum, and then walking through the galleries of Scottsdale during the Thursday night Art Walk.  We also looked into a Scottsdale fasting retreat.  Our last night with her, we spent at a place called Rawhide.  This is a replica of an old time western town, with stage coaches and staged gun fights in the street.  The real life cowboys were everywhere, and she was overwhelmed by it all.  As we took her to the airport the next day she claimed how she thought that the my sister and I were real live cowgirls, which made both of us smile on the drive home.