Getting a Great Table

OK, You are not dating a super model, and Forbes magazine isn’t tracking your personal wealth. No matter. A special occasion is coming up and you’re looking for a great restaurant to take your friends or loved one to celebrate that special day.

Finding a great restaurant is not a problem, but getting a great table may be a bit more challenging. Any maitre d’ will tell you that a little confidence and old-fashioned manners are the fastest route to prime seating at any hot dining spot.

The first rule is not to ask for the best table. Instead, be personable and let them know the occasion. Celebrating an anniversary? That highly sought after corner table with a view of the ocean will be yours. Celebrating a promotion? You may want a table at the center of the room where you can soak up the attention.

When you arrive for your reservation, always introduce yourself to the maitre d’ and shake hands. Don’t be shy, chat with him, never be arrogant or pushy. Request the wine list, ask if the sommelier is available, this will hint that they will be getting a decent check average from you and give you some preference.

As for the old greasing of the Palm, it doesn’t work everywhere. But more often than not, I’ve found that at some places, it can work magic. Your goal is to get a table fit for a celebrity, it’s your special occasion. You want the best food and with a little charm you’ll get the best view as well.

Reporters Find New Outlet, and Concerns, in Web Logs

The NY Times has this Article

Some journalists have already run into trouble with their employers over the contents of their personal sites, with one — a reporter for The Houston Chronicle — having been fired for his efforts. And news media companies may be opening themselves to questions of liability when they set up Web logs on their sites.

"You start getting into the question of, is this part of the paper or not?" said Jane E. Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota. "If I'm a lawyer advising a news organization, the idea of a Web log like this would just make me break out in hives."

Once a news media company edits a Web log, not only does it possibly damage the spontaneity, it also becomes responsible for the content, Professor Kirtley said. "It's the kind of situation," she added, "where the editorial side and the lawyers are going to have a clash."

Web logs sprouted in earnest in the late 1990's as new software made it relatively simple for anyone to become a publisher, creating and updating a site as often as was pleased. Do-it-yourself journalists are able to link to and dissect freshly published articles, adding many voices to the national debate. Blogs have been promoted by some commentators as a potential challenge to traditional news media companies.

But the format also appeals to professional journalists, and many publish Web logs as a creative outlet, as a way to raise their visibility or, increasingly, as part of their jobs."I can't imagine a nicer way to make a living," said Mr. Alterman, who is paid by MSNBC to write about politics, the media and culture in his Web log. "It's therapeutic, and you get things off your chest. I can write whatever I want."

A Journey of Discovery

When I began maintaining a weblog at Xanga in early 2001, It was simply a way for me to express my thoughts and exercise my writing skills. As time went on, it also became a way of exploring ideas and acquiring information.

Certainly, this is an exciting time in terms of our ability to acquire and manipulate information. One day’s issue of the NY Times contains more information than a citizen of the renaissance would encounter in his entire lifetime.

This medium allows me to communicate, think, discover and learn while expressing my individuality. Writing, I believe, is an activity that is as crucial today as it was in ancient times when early writers hunched over their illuminated manuscripts or labored over their papyrus.

Shakespeare, through the character Hamlet once said "Words, Words, Words". Words on a page can help unlock the universe or they can simply be a momentary diversion. On occasion, they can be both. Life itself is the ultimate form of self-expression. But in many ways, I believe it must be interpreted and expressed in order to clarify and give meaning to the mundane.

I must admit that at times, I have a love/hate relationship with my webblog. But, then again each of my passions has a downside. I love strawberry ice cream, luxury vacations and video games. The downsides: Ice cream is fattening, vacations are expensive and video games are chewing gum for the brain. Blogging has a downside also, after a few hours on the Internet, my brain and butt hurt.

Still, I blog. The blogosphere I think, has become a legitimate social environment, a great interactive medium that takes hold of people and mesmerizes them. A relentless projection of information, a mosaic of tiny dots of light, an array of motion and sound that guarantees a worthwhile experience as I continue on my journey of discovery.

Now Syndicating With RSS

I've been learning a bit about RSS (Rich Summary Format). This a lightweight XML subset designed for syndicating headlines and other content. I've taken the time to figure out how to publish my weblog content in the (RSS) format. Blogger Pro makes it simple to publish RSS, even though it's still in the development stages. The concept is explained here.

Once you get the process started Blogger automatically generates and dynamically updates a page similar to this with XML instructions a syndication engine can understand to parse headlines and summaries of postings with links back to my site. From there, my page should get picked up automatically to a certain extent by RSS search spiders, as well as by RSS syndicators who happen to see it.

WebReference.com has a good introduction to RSS syndication.

____________

Several years ago, I read Stephen Covey's The seven habits of highly effective people . The one habit that impressed me the most was "seek first to understand". Most people typically seek first to be understood rather than to uderstand. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. We are either speaking or preparing to speak. We filter what we hear or see through the lenses of our own perspective, As a result, when we have a problem with someone, the first thing we say is "that person just doesn't understand".

Food For Thought

"We now see that the major shift in human evolution is from behaving like an animal struggling to survive to behaving like an animal choosing to evolve. In fact, in order to survive, man HAS to evolve. And to evolve, we need a new kind of thinking and a new kind of behavior, a new ethic and a new morality. It will be that of the evolution of everyone rather than the survival of the fittest. . . . If we can be courageous one more time than we are fearful, trusting one more time than we are anxious, cooperative one more time than we are competitive, forgiving one more time than we are vindictive, loving one more time than we are hateful, we will have moved closer to the next breakthrough in our evolution." - Jonas Salk

Reaching New Heights

Where No African Americans Have Gone Before

Elliott Boston III , pictured here, and his climbing partner Stephen K. Shobe have embarked on a challenging quest to climb the seven tallest mountains on earth. Their ultimate goal is to stand triumphant at the summit of Mount Everest; standing at the top of the world as no African Americans before them ever have.

Kudos to a group of big name sponsors underwriting their globe hopping odyssey. Boston, 32, is an investment banker, and Shobe, a union shop steward by trade. Yes others have climbed the "Seven Summits" but never Black climbers. This fearless duo has already summitted Elbrus in Russia and Aconcagua in Argentina. Next on the list is Mount McKinley in Alaska. If they can keep to their ambitious schedule they'll be ready for their final climb The Big One, Everest in less than a year.

There is an interesting article and more on the subject Here

Mud Slinging

(here we go again)

NY Newsday has this article

With polls showing the race tightening, NY Gov. George Pataki yesterday began airing the first round of negative television advertisements against his Democratic opponent, State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, in an attempt to stunt McCall's popularity in the downstate suburbs and upstate regions responsible for electing Pataki eight years ago.

The suburban ad seeks to undermine McCall's effort to capitalize on a fiscally conservative reputation from his nine-year tenure as state comptroller. Digging back into McCall's voting record in the state Senate three decades ago, the ad charges that "every time Carl McCall could vote to raise state taxes, he did vote to raise state taxes." The ad does not mention that the most recent such vote occurred in 1979.

Although Pataki has a wide lead over McCall in the suburbs, the polls show the two candidates about equal in New York City. Most political experts predict McCall will ultimately win in the city overwhelmingly because of black support for his candidacy.

Elsewhere in the world

Mexico's New Growth Industry Rampant crime, weak legal system spawns rise in abductions

Mexico remains a nation largely lacking rule of law. President Vicente Fox took office almost two years ago, promising to tackle the legacy of corruption that developed during seven decades of authoritarian, one-party rule. But as he struggles against these deeply entrenched forces, Mexico still is a place where criminals know they're beyond the law.

"Criminals do risk analysis," said Jorge Septien, a security specialist. "They know that less than 1 percent of criminals end up in jail because there's so much corruption and impunity. The government is giving the message to criminals that crime is a good business."
Fifteen years ago, kidnapping barely existed in Mexico. Crime began increasing in the 1980s, though, and an economic crash in 1994-95 seemed to make fundamental changes, turning kidnapping - and crime generally - into a growth industry.

Planning on visiting NYC anytime soon? Here's a nice interactive map to lower manhattan.

Mike, you'll like this one, you city slicker.