Solving My Personal Linguistic Dilemma

Posted: November 19th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: language | 2 Comments »

Since pretty much forever I’ve been learning French. Not full time or anything, but its been an ongoing subtle effort. Being Canadian means I got plenty of it in school. Plus I’ve taken classes and tried myriad online learning sites. I think it’s a lovely language, and I really like it a lot. How good am I at it though? Pretty damn sucky. So sucky that I don’t even know how to say, “pretty damn sucky” in French. Fast forward to October 2010, inside a burger joint in Oxford. My dining companion, who is a ridiculous super-genius, broaches the subject of which language she should learn next. You know, after having mastered 44* other ones or whatever. This is naturally a traumatizing conversation for those of us who don’t even feel like we’re good at our native language yet. Fast forward to this morning, I don’t know the date. You can look at your calendar though. I was considering this language dilemma, while murdering a bowl of Corn Pops, and started building this comparison in my wee mind. So the following is my logic on where I should focus the full glorious power of my futile linguistic learning cannon. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewing Travelgrove, A Travel Booking Site And Community

Posted: November 15th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: travel, web | No Comments »

These days, while the memories of travel agents are still warm, we now consider it normal to book all our own travel online. Consequently, there is a litany of travel booking websites out there competing for our attention. I estimate that I booked about 20 flights this year myself, and at least that many hotels. So when I get my hands on a new travel site I’m quick to run it through the paces and see if it has anything worthwhile to offer me. Today I’m test driving Travelgrove.com, a travel booking site with integrated community features and guides. Read the rest of this entry »

How All Hands Volunteers Spent 2010

Posted: October 16th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: altruism | 2 Comments »

This video is the annual report for the organization that I volunteered with for 5 months in Haiti earlier this year. Annual report sounds rather boring, but it’s a cool little roundup of the projects that All Hands Volunteers (formerly known as Hands On Disaster Response) worked on in 2010 and it’s really interesting. It’s a whopping 6 minutes of your life, but I think you’ll really be glad you watched it. To learn more about All Hands Volunteers please go to http://hands.org.

.
//shawn

10 Practical Tips For Visiting Reykjavik

Posted: October 12th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: travel | 10 Comments »

This sadly isn’t a tale of Icelandic adventure and romance. As cool as that would be. No, this is practical info that will be interesting for folks who have an upcoming trip to Reykjavik. Which, when you think about it, is necessary for making Icelandic tales of romance and adventure happen, right? Here are a few items that might be nice to know before you arrive in Reykjavik. And for kicks, I put a little album of photos from my recent visit to Iceland at the bottom. Ísland er dásamlegt land! Read the rest of this entry »

Story Time! Yuki-Onna

Posted: October 5th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: fiction | No Comments »

I’ve always enjoyed the various versions of the Japanese folk tales about Yuki-Onna. So I figured I would write up my own version. It’s just like a Hollywood remake of a classic, but without Will Ferrell. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.

—

In the remote wilds of Northern Japan, there was a small village. This is a retelling, passed down over time, of something that happened in this village quite some time ago. Specifically, about the family of the village lumberjack, and the unusual events that befell them. Read the rest of this entry »

A Freaking Great Proposal!

Posted: October 1st, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: blah blah blah | No Comments »

I know everyone has a one second attention span for spiels like this, so let me makes this as brief as possible. Seriously though, this is interesting! Kiva is 5 years old this month and they’re having a cool promotion.

• In short, Kiva works by you making interest free micro-loans. You loan a developing world entrepreneur $25, they pay it back, you loan it out again, and again, and again. All simply from that original $25!
• It takes about 20 seconds, or 4 clicks, to make a loan.
• The pay back rate on the 55 loans I have made is exactly 100%!
• Cambodia and Peru have received the majority of my loans. Where will you focus on?

I firmly believe that there’s infinitely more value in helping someone to help themselves than in giving them a free handout. Strong local economies in developing nations creates a trickle down effect of improved living conditions for everyone there.

Right now, Kiva is having a promotion where people who refer 5 new lenders get themselves $25 worth of lending credit. The $25 is a bonus, but I’m also just eager to introduce 5 new people to Kiva. Having been a member for 4 years now, I can say that I find it completely rewarding. So odds are you might too, yea? If you have any questions whatsoever please don’t hesitate to email me, or put them in the comments. Here is my Kiva profile page if you want to see more of how my Kiva experience has gone.

If you are interested in loaning $25 to a struggling entrepreneur in a developing nation then please send me your email address. I will send you a referral email from the Kiva website. You’ll never miss the $25, but the various people you loan it to will certainly notice it. Thank you!

.

//shawn