Tag Archives: arizona

More Sunday Travel Funnies

Here’s a travel dilemma for you. After years living on the East Coast you and your spouse are retiring and moving to Arizona, but you have adorable pet cats and wouldn’t dare have them travel cross country in an airliner cargo hold. How do you get to your new home? You could make the 2,400-mile journey by car… but, wait, as life long New Yorkers you don’t have a license. Now what? You do what every other New Yorker does to get around—hail a cab. It’s sounds like a joke, but for Bob and Betty Matas it’s the real deal. … Continue reading →

Valentine’s Day Travel Deals

What could be more romantic than spending Valentine’s Day in Paris with your sweet amore? Not that you need a reason to jet off to The City of Lights, but if visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and all the outdoor cafes is not enough to sway your loved one to make the trip, perhaps this bit of news might do the trick: Paris City Hall just announced it will operate a new free bicycle service in the capital. By doing so Paris joins other European cities such as Amsterdam in making thousands of bikes available for free to commuters, … Continue reading →

Lake Powell–More Than Just A Mecca For Houseboats

At its busiest you can barely see the water contained in Lake Powell. That’s because when tourist season starts the lake becomes a sea of houseboats and navigating its waters becomes a bit tricky. But, don’t let its popularity deter you from making the trip. Considered the second largest man-made lake in the United States, Lake Powell will take your breath away with its incredible scenery (yes, there are some houseboat-free areas). For those of you unfamiliar with Lake Powell, it straddles the Utah-Arizona border by the Glen Canyon Dam and is the jewel of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. … Continue reading →

Record Breaking Speeder

Have you ever been pulled over for speeding? Be honest. I have. But not nearly as often as an Arizona mortgage broker who has traveled at high speeds so frequently she recently made state history. Francesca Cisneros has racked up 70 speeding tickets in the last five months, that’s a new state record according to the Scottsdale Police Department. How is that possible? Apparently, it is easy when you have speeding cameras mounted in areas that Cisneros frequents. Those cameras documented the 32-year-old driver as she tore through Scottsdale streets in her Honda Civic dozens of times between March 2nd … Continue reading →

Homeschooling in Arizona

Homeschooling in Arizona *Before I begin this blog regarding homeschooling options for Alabama, I want to begin by stating that it is your responsibility to research the law for yourself. I am relaying the available and current information that is subject to change. I have provided many links that will enable you to view the current laws online and to help put you in touch with local area and organizational support groups. * The compulsory school age for the state of Arizona is between the ages of 6 and 16. There is also the option to delay home learning until … Continue reading →

Exposure (part one)

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In previous posts, I talked about lighting as it applies to the subject of your photos. Today, let’s take a step back and talk about how to properly record that light in the final picture, whether taken with a digital or traditional camera. A traditional SLR (single lens reflex) camera is similar to a SLR digital camera. You have settings for shutter speed, lens opening (or aperture) and a focusing ring (unless you have an auto-focus (AF) lens). In some cameras, you can set the auto- focus feature to manual. This is handy if you want creative control. SLR cameras … Continue reading →

Finding Kosher Products in Phoenix

Since we just moved from the New York City area where Kosher meat could be found nearly in every supermarket, if not the Jewish communities of Fair Lawn, Teaneck, Paramus, and Woodcliff Lake; Arizona is a special challenge! There are a few Kosher meat companies which can be found, but the challenge is how does the meat taste? Empire, Aaron’s, David’s, and Wise Organic; each person has their preference. For chicken, we have always bought Empire. Empire produces chicken, turkey, Cornish hens, chicken franks, turkey franks, and cold cut meats like turkey, chicken bologna, and turkey salami. Empire’s pricing for … Continue reading →

Arizona English Language Learners – Part II

As I touched on this subject back in February, more information and decisions have become available and since my new home is Arizona, I am now reading the local papers about the English Language Learners debate. Arizona is known for having many children and adults whose first language is not English. Many are of the Hispanic race and their first language is Spanish. Due to this, many students do not succeed in school and cannot go to college because of the language barrier they face. According to The Arizona Republic, 175,000 students are considered “at-risk.” This means they will never … Continue reading →

Arizona and English Learners

According to The Arizona Republic newspaper, the state is capable of getting fined up to $500,000 a day due to the Governor not agreeing with a court ordered ruling. In Arizona alone, there are 150,000 children who need help improving their English skills. Gov. Napolitano feels that federal court should not be involved with this decision and has been working on a plan to increase spending on English language learners to $180 million a year. Then the expense would become a grant program with no one knowing the exact cost as of yet. Many of the foreign learners speak Spanish … Continue reading →