Peruvian Nights and Inca Days, Macchu Picachu

My kids just got on the plane to head to Peru for their volunteer time at a medical clinic there. Seems like a fun place to visit, I only saw the inside of bars when I went to University. Actually, I saw the floor of a lot of bars when I went to University.

So I decided to leverage my investment in their trip and learn a litte about Peru:

1. The Nacza lines (outlines of animals in the desert hundreds of feet long) are in Peru
2. The guinea pig is a favored dish in restaurants along with ceviche
3. The population of Lima is about 7.5 million people
4. The domestic currency is the Sol - and $100 USD buys you 275 Sol - enough for 2 slave workers!
5. The Atacama desert is the driest in the world. Drier even than Harry Reid's soul.
6. Peru is south of the equator, almost straight due south from Miami
7. The potato is from Peru - but so is the Avocado! Lima Beans too, so 2 out of 3 is pretty good
8. There are 1701 species of birds recognized in Peru - the most in any country in the world
9. Peruvian coffee is now recognized as the best in the world. Period.
10. Oddly enough - the Peruvian national anthem is based on "Enter the Sandman" by Metallica

My grandfather always wanted to visit Peru, so the kids are taking the torch for him. Enjoy the guinea pig, I hear it tastes like chicken. With fur. Named "Snaps".

Amy Winehouse - 4 days sober!!!

Thanks to my sister for this one, I had to laugh about it. I read an article from the BBC that said that "some of the mourners at the Winehouse funeral appeared to be visibly upset......" Duh. Half were her family, half were her entourage of hangers on upset that the gravy train was over, and the other half were her dealers. I suppose there were a tear or two!

I also noted that even her family wasn't really shocked about her death - to them it was just a matter of "when" and not "if". Talk about dead man walking. Amy, we didn't set a place for you for Sunday dinner - we weren't sure you could make it!

Gotta Getta Guru!

Again - I'm not much of a product endorser, but I know what I like. If you haven't checked it out - http://www.guru.com/ has some pretty cool offerings on it. Freelance workers from all over the world bid on your projects and you get quality work, super fast turnaround, and low, low prices. I had a logo designed for a website of mine for $50. I posted online what I wanted, got 18 bids on the work within 5 hours ranging from $25 to $200 (you can establish the range you are willing to pay) and chose a fellow from England for $50. A couple of questions answered, some colors chosen, and 2 days later I had a fully developed logo, with web design colors and letterhead design thrown in for free.

There are people that will do any sort of admin task that you don't want to do, or don't find a productive use of your time. Right now, I'm paying somebody to go through all 3,000 of my contacts, clean them up, fix spelling, weed out the dupes and make one big CSV file I can populate all my devices with. 2 day turnaround. I've seem people get drawings/cartoons done, to creating a book with all their recipes in it, to a virtual assistant who will answer your phone, manage your appointments and plan your day with you.

Some of the freelancers are overseas, and some are in Europe and North America. Heck, they are all over the place. So if you want somebody to transcripe an audion recording or send out your Christmas card list or even manage your wedding invitations - check out http://www.guru.com/

I now return you to your regularly scheduled life......