The "Twitter" Phenomenon ! Are you in? 10 Reasons why you too will LOVE Twitter

According to Wikepedia..

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.

Did you know :

Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.

Did you know :

Twitter, created by Cornell student Jack Dorsey, has received extensive visibility and popularity worldwide. It is often described as the "SMS of Internet", in that the site provides the back-end functionality (via its APIs) to other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages, often obscuring the actual website itself.

Ok now that you get the picture I want to tell you why you too should join the phenomenon. I love twitter and am a twitterholic @Medini. I had to pause my twittering to write this post.

You too will LOVE twitter if :

1. You like to make friends
2. You like to see what someone else is doing
3. You like to say something you are passionate about
4. You like to network with like minded people
5. You like to keep a tab on how your industry twitters
6. You like to engage in conversations
7. You like to waste time - time that you could be working ! :)
8. You like having fun
9. You like to increase your friends circle beyond your zip code

and Lastly # 10 You are a voyeur !

Happy Twittering ! Say hello to me at @Medini

Pilates - What's all the fuss about? I asked a Fitness Guru and A Good Friend

Geeta Wagh - A very good friend of mine and fitness guru first introduced me to Pilates. I remember all she talked about was the "core". I patiently listened and asked her a few questions. Intrigued by the simple looking movements I participated in a beginners session with her. It was an amazing experience. After a few introductory mat exercises I felt longer and more flexible. I was hooked. I went home and ordered a home pilates reformer.

I asked her a few questions.....Here they are, for those of you who are curious about Pilates.

• What is Pilates? : Pilates[PIH-LAH-TEEZ] is a full body system of specific sequenced exercise, performed on the mat, and on spring driven machines more aptly called the apparatus. Pilates exercises are designed to Strengthen, Stretch and Stabilize.

• What are the benefits of Pilates? Benefits are innumerable and varied........it improves core strength, flexibility and stamina. More importantly it realigns the body thus improving posture and gets rid of hidden weaknesses. It is also great for rehabilitation and prevention of injuries.

• How many times a week do I need to do Pilates? Ideally,2-3 times a week for about 45mins -1 hr OR as little as 10 mins 3-4 times a week.

• Can a person lose weight by doing Pilates? Certainly, in 10 sessions you'll start feeling the difference, in 20 you'll see a difference and in 30 you'll have a totally new body. It's a Pilates promise.

• Who can use this method of exercise? Just about anyone from 12yrs and above.

• Will I develop big bulky muscles with Pilates? No.Only lean, toned muscles.

Model Fitness: Lorie Baker's Pilates Routine

Geeta Wagh is a Pilates instructor in NJ and comes from a fitness family in India. Her family has been instrumental in "reshaping" the young and the old alike at their state of the art gyms at Talwalkars.com.

Honeybell...a new generation of fruit

Making a debut in the fruit arena is a new hybrid...the HONEYBELL!

My mother in law decided to send me a case of “honeybells” for our anniversary....Opening the cardboard box was the easy part. There beneath the deep green wax paper lay 24 of the most perfectly bright orange honeybells I had seen. I did not want to disturb their comfortable abode. But I could not resist as any fruit is a weakness of mine, especially any fruit of the citrus or orange-yellow variety. 

Convinced that they were oranges I felt for one that was just right and started to peel it, but it resisted like an angry lover. The skin was smooth to touch and had no rough edges. It fit in my hand like a baseball would fit into a weathered glove. It was heavier than a regular orange and had a unique bell shape on the top. It looked plump and ready to eat. It did not have a very citrusy smell but had a quiet reassurance that said “open me up and I wont disappoint”. 

Seeing its resistance to peeling, I quickly read the card that it came with and was pleasantly surprised to learn that they were meant to be juiced. The card made promises of it being one of the sweetest and juiciest of citrus fruits. The card also said that the HoneyBells were an extraordinary hybrid of the Dancy tangerine and the Duncan grapefruit.  Having never tasted a sweet combination of fruit like that I ran excitedly to my drawer to get my hand juicer and cutting board. Down went the knife right in the middle of the honeybell giving way to an attractive and generous interior. The sections looked deep orange, succulent and ready to be juiced. Placing my juicer above a glass I twisted the half honeybell deliberately. The juice flowed down into the glass as if I was pouring it from a can.  This little half honeybell worked until it was limp in my hand and all the delicious juice was in my glass. I could not wait to take a sip but I patiently waited to juice the other half. After a quick and easy squeeze, I looked at my glass in astonishment....so much juice from this one honebell !!! 

I could not wait any longer, to delve into the  incredible medley of flavors as promised by the card – tangerine and grape fruit One sip and I was in heaven. The cold crisp flavor of the tangerines was layered with a slight lemony flavor of the grapefruit. Unlike a regular orange juice it had a delicate flavor yet was robust and filling. It held its sophistication of being a honeybell. Ok I am glad there are 23 honeybells still in the case! 

Unique Thanksgiving Invitaions...

Make your event a little more bountiful and fulfilling! There are several ways to invite your gang for Thanksgiving !

Ok lets see :

• A traditional mail in invite is very formal and for those who get together with people on a formal basis. Real Simple has some already printed cards. 
  
• Of course phone calls to your friends and family is fun as you can plan the menu and plan on who is getting what.
  
• Nowadays with Facebook being so the way to keep in touch -plan your Thanksgiving day on Facebook.
  
• Of course, Evites and other online party planning sites are popular too.
  

But have you heard of this one :  from Thanksgivinghistory.net : Another great idea for top quality Thanksgiving invitations is to write them on the side of a turkey and send your prospective guests the whole bird. Tree bark is another media on which to write the perfect Thanksgiving invitation. Most people don't know that you can put a stamp and an address on just about anything and the post office will deliver it. In fact, the more Bohemian you can make the Thanksgiving invitations, the better.

So, Thanksgiving was traditionally a time to give thanks for bountiful harvests. Today, it is a time to gather with family and friends and to give thanks for our many blessings.

5 Great bbooks for Thanksgiving

1. 10 Fat Turkeys
2. Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America's Favorite Holiday with America's Thanksgiving Expert
3. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
4. How to Cook a Turkey: And All the Other Trimmings
5. Mary's First Thanksgiving: An Inspirational Story of Gratefulness

Here is a Thanksgiving joke ! 

Why do you eat a turkey rather than keep it as a pet? 

Because otherwise it will use fowl language on you.

The Ugg Boot Craze..sheepskin ugg boots from down under!

The shopping season has just started and whether you are in the hottest part of the planet or in the coldest UGG Boots are everywhere ! 

The term ugg boots is derived from “ugly boots” !  Aussies love to abbreviate every common term used everyday. They were considered ugly because they were different, bulky and plain...but there is no denying that these Aussie ugg boots are great for comfort and warmth.

Uggs, or Ughs!, as some fashion critics call them, really took off in the spring of 2003, after Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson were photographed in them and demand soared. Today they are still just as popular and you see everyone from Oprah to Victoria Beckham sporting them.

So if you want fashion and comfort....get a pair  for yourself !

8 Ways to REUSE Plastic and Paper Bags

Living Green is easy when you stretch your mind to use regular everyday items for unusual things. Here are 8 ways you never thought you could use plastic and paper bags.

According to the Sierra Club reusing a bag meant for just one use has a big impact. A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags. When 1 ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.

Paper or Plastic?

The energy and other environmental impacts embodied in a plastic grocery bag is somewhat less than in a paper grocery bag. But paper is easier to recycle, being accepted in most recycling programs. The recycling rate for plastic bags is very low.

So, which is better for the environment? Neither! The fact is that the difference between paper and plastic RECYCLING is small compared with the REUSING bags.


Plastic Grocery bags

1. Cover your car’s side mirrors and windshield wipers plastic grocery bags, if you park outside in winter and you won’t have to scrape ice off in the a.m.

2. To protect small outdoor plants from frost at night, cover them with plastic grocery bags and tie the handles tightly around the pots. Be sure to take the bags off in the morning.

3. Don't buy fancy bags for travelling...When packing a suitcase, use the plastic grocery bags to keep shoes from soiling clothes and dirty things from clean ones.

4.Wrap drinking glasses and other fragile items when you’re moving. A layer of three or four plastic grocery bags around each piece provides enough protection and won’t leave nasty newspaper ink or annoying pieces of Styrofoam all over everything.

Paper Bags

1. Place unripe peaches, plums, or green tomatoes in a bag. The closed bag traps ethylene, the natural gas released by the ripening fruit (while still allowing a little ventilation), which helps it ripen faster.

2. To add an extra layer of weed deterrence to your garden, place plain bags, with no dye, on the soil around plants before adding mulch.


3. Save paper bags from the grocery store and use them to wrap parcel packages. That brown paper costs a lot more when you buy it in a roll.

4. Instead of throwing away your brown paper bags, reuse them. Cut them into squares about the size of paper towels. When you need to drain fried foods, line a plate with one or two of the squares. Top the squares with a paper towel to prevent the food from coming in direct contact with the paper bag. The paper bag squares will absorb an amazing amount of grease, and the toweling will last incredibly long.

Have you gotten taken yet? April Fools Day 2008

2008 April Fools Jokes

Google does it again !
The Dotcom is at it again with "Gmail Custom Time" and (which purports to let users send e-mails into the past and consequently never miss important deadlines again) and "Virgle", a faux collaboration on an "open-source" Mars expedition between Google and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

No Chair Fare
The Herald Sun, an Australian tabloid, published an advertisement by Virgin Blue advertising the 'No Chair Fare' offering standing room for half the price of the regular fare and free calf massages for flights longer than two hours. Visiting Virgin's website reveals the offers to be an April fools joke. Still hundreds tried to purchase standing tickets by contacting Virgin by phone.

Celebrating the 29th of February - Leap Year 2008

Were you born in a Leap year? I am sure you don't know. The Leap Year Calculator is a great place to find out whether you were born in a Leap year. It is so much fun. Here is what you can do to remember this special day. Write to an old friend then bring it to the post office and ask them to hand stamp it with the date.

The Leap Day - 29th of February !
The 29th of February, or the Leap Day has been associated with age-old traditions, superstitions and folklore. It occurs every four years in years evenly divisible by four except for centenary years not divisible by 400. A leap day is more likely to occur on Mondays or Wednesdays. Leap Day and the events because of Leap Day, are often mistaken for Sadie Hawkins Day, but that is in November. The only similarity is in the fact that the woman has the opportunity to do the asking. February 29 is NOT Sadie Hawkins Day. It is Leap Year Day, or simply, Leap Day.

Leap into the depths of your brain with a Leap Year Quiz

1. When did the idea of Leap Year begin?
2. What’s the Leap Year capital of the world?
3. When was the last Leap Year?
4. February 29th is also called Sadie Hawkins Day—True or False?
5. People born on Leap Day are called _______________?
6. When do these people celebrate their birthdays each year?
7. What are the chances of actually being born on Leap Year Day?
8. People with leap year birthdays are what percent of the population?

Answers:

1. 45 BC
2. Anthony, Texas
3. 2004
4. False
5. Leapers
6. Either February 28th or March 1st, it’s their choice
7. The odds are 1 in 1,461 8. Less than one percent

So what ARE you going to do with this EXTRA day ? How do people celebrate the Leap Day?
Here are some Leap year traditions.......

Wedding Proposals
It's an old Irish tradition for women to ask men to marry them on Leap Day. In Scotland, if a man refused a lady's proposal, he had to either give her a kiss, a pair of gloves or a silk dress. As the story goes, the tradition of women romantically pursuing men in leap years began in 5th century Ireland, when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about the fair sex having to wait for men to propose. Patrick finally relented and set February 29 aside as the day set aside allowing women the right to ask for a man's hand in marriage.

Leap Day Cocktail
This one was created at London's Savoy Hotel for a Leap Day party in 1928.

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce
fresh lemon juice
1 lemon twist, for garnish

Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish.

Leap Day Smoothie

1 scoop of vanilla ice cream or plain yogurt
1 banana
1 tablespoon of
peanut butter
1 cup of ice

Blend till frothy. Enjoy !

Where's the coldest spot in the universe?

Where's the coldest spot in the universe? By Tom Shachtman
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/12359501.html
Smithsonian magazine, January 2008

This week it felt like Chicago was the COLDEST SPOT in the universe ! But Physicists in Massachusetts come to grips with the lowest possible temperature: absolute zero

Where's the coldest spot in the universe? Not on the moon, where the temperature plunges to a mere minus 378 Fahrenheit. Not even in deepest outer space, which has an estimated background temperature of about minus 455°F. As far as scientists can tell, the lowest temperatures ever attained were recently observed right here on earth.

The record-breaking lows were among the latest feats of ultracold physics, the laboratory study of matter at temperatures so mind-bogglingly frigid that atoms and even light itself behave in highly unusual ways. Electrical resistance in some elements disappears below about minus 440°F, a phenomenon called superconductivity. At even lower temperatures, some liquefied gases become "superfluids" capable of oozing through walls solid enough to hold any other sort of liquid; they even seem to defy gravity as they creep up, over and out of their containers.

.......for more go here

A good read !

Hope ! Dream & Change !

Someone once said, There is not telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream ! Dream you should.... dream big and dream the impossible! Did you know that dreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day. Dreams are what makes life worthwhile. Without dreams we would have no hope. And without hope there would be no reason for waking up in the mornings !

I think of all these things as I hear the candidates give us hope for a better future, a hope that they will bring about change. Arent you intrigued? Intangible words like hope, dream and change can inspire us and make the most sense. These words somehow give us direction and purpose.

Coupled with the tangible things that we do these intangible words can actually make the most difference in our lives.

Just a thought !