New York Traveler.net

The Road to Rome

I live about 35 miles from Rome. Rome, NEW YORK! Someday I’d like to see the REAL Rome- Rome, Italy. I’m a big history buff and Bible student, so a trip to Rome would be thrilling! Alack, I cannot go as yet. However, one of my favorite travel bloggers, A Singaporean in London, has visited as is writing about his visit. The posts are really great! He’s breaking up the trip throughout five posts and you won’t want to miss them. Part 1 here and Part 2 here. I’m looking forward to more.

What’s uncanny is that I just watched the DVD series by Dave Stotts called Drive Thru History, and in 3 of the DVDs (it’s a 12 DVD set), he goes to Rome. The DVDs are excellent (see here: Drive Thru History with Dave Stotts #1 - Rome if You Want To). Stotts is really hilarious and makes everything fun. I love learning about the ancient ruins, especially. In America, we don’t have any “real” ancient ruins. One of the grandest “ancient ruin” is the Utica Psychiatric Hospital of which I wrote, but that, like many of America’s old buildings, turned into a drug rehab and alcohol center before being converted to a mental health records archives. Anyway, if you love history and humor, you will love these DVDs. And if you can’t wait for the DVDs, check out Singaporean in London!

Rocket Science

My husband is a musician and therefore he listens to a ton of music. He’s had Napster for quite a while, but they just raised their prices. I have been hearing about a new downloadable music tool, MP3Rocket. Ever hear of it? It’s relatively new to the music marketplace. C|Net reviewed it and gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I decided to check it out!

I was wary at first. We are well aware of the recording industry’s tyrannical lawsuits against innocent victims, and have no intention of entering the fray. MP3Rocket has a page in their website devoted to the legalities of file sharing.

There are currently over 240 million users downloading and trading files legally on file-sharing networks. You can, for example, legally download music from over 850 bands, over 20,000 live concerts as well as have access to multiple software titles and games. File sharing is not illegal so long as you abide by all relevant copyright laws. Sharing copyrighted material without the permission to do so is illegal.

MP3 Rocket Inc does not condone piracy or breaking copyright laws. The MP3 sharing tools available on through our members area are powerful search tools & we recommend that you use your discretion when downloading music and movie files.

MP3Rocket encourages users to “stay legal.” It’s not a difficult task– never share any protected content (easily done by disabling the “sharing” choice in the software); only share public domain files (that’s an easy one for us, because the kids and I listen only to classical music or orchestral hymns), and never rename copyrighted music to make it appear as public domain music. It’s basically what Napster has been providing us, except that MP3Rocket is free!

MP3Rocket is most known for music sharing, but the software also enables you to access radio stations (200+!), games, and television. At almost 2 million downloads, it’s a very popular program. MP3Rocket is easy enough to download and install. It claims to have billions of music available. I did a quick search for Segovia and Beethoven, and found loads of choices. I am not terribly interested in downloading any music (I like my hard drive lean and mean), but I do like the radio station channels feature.

MP3Rocket is worth looking at if you are a heavy-duty music listener. It also has the TV channels (which I haven’t tried) and the radio stations features (which look good so far). Learn more about it here.

The Lost Boys

No, I didn’t get lost again!

This is about an incredible movie we recently saw, God Grew Tired of Us. It chronicles the heart-wrending, stomach-turning, mind-blowing journey of the Lost Boys of Sudan.

These boys were the last remnants of a mainly African Christian people, systematically being wiped out by African Muslims in a vicious African civil war. I remember reading a little about this in the late 1990’s.

(AgapePress) - Members of mainline Protestant denominations will be participating in a prayer vigil for the persecuted church in Sudan.

The Church Alliance for a New Sudan is a project designed to bring churches into leadership in the grassroots movement of advocacy for Sudan. From September 18-24, the Alliance will be holding what it is calling “Stand Firm: A Vigil for Sudan,” which will be held in a park across from the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

Alliance director Faith McDonnell says Sudan is the worst example of Christian persecution in the world, and she notes that 2.5 million people have died and five million more have been displaced from their homes.

“Their villages have been attacked and burned, and there are people who are either living in swamps or in refugee camps in different areas,” McDonnell says. “It’s a terrible war. The origin of the war is that the government of Sudan wants to impose Islamic law and make Sudan an Islamic Arab country.”

…”When Madelyn Albright was the Secretary of State, she made a remark to our Sudan coalition that Sudan was not marketable to the American people,” she says. “So we’re really having this vigil to prove that wrong … [and] to say yes, the American people care about Sudan, the churches in America care about Sudan, and we want to stand with our Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted.”

The movie does not delve into the political aspects behind the Lost Boys. It tells us the story of the Lost Boys themselves.

Orphaned by a tumultuous civil war and traveling barefoot across the sub-Saharan desert, John Bul Dau, Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Blor were among the 25,000 “Lost Boys” (ages 3 to 13) who fled villages, formed surrogate families and sought refuge from famine, disease, wild animals and attacks from rebel soldiers. Named by a journalist after Peter Pan’s posse of orphans who protected and provided for each other, the “Lost Boys” traveled together for five years and against all odds crossed into the UN’s refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. A journey’s end for some, it was only the beginning for John, Daniel and Panther, who along with 3800 other young survivors, were selected to re-settle in the United States.

Of course, because the movie was partly produced by National Geographic, the Christian persecution aspect is not made clear. I hope our memories are not too short to remember that churches in America wanted to help these Boys long before anyone else did. Because of the churches’ tireless work, the Lost Boys were finally “marketed” to us.

At the start, the movie mercilessly takes the viewer through the desolate deserts to the refugee camps where the Boys got food and clothing and built a small community. But they were aimless and hopeless and despaired for their lost families. After fifteen years in these camps, with no hope of finding their families nor of returning to Sudan, the United States finally rose her torch to these Boys:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The movie tells us of their journey to America and their shock-and-awe introduction into modern society. Some of it is very amusing, like when the Boys discover an electric light for the first time. Some of it is very convicting, when they wonder why Americans celebrate Santa Claus, and not Jesus Christ, for Christmas. Some of the Lost Boys were settled in Syracuse, New York, so it does have some local interest.

I especially like the parts where the young men tell of their prejudiced perceptions of America (guns and car crashes everywhere!) and then tell of their surprise to find that America is not as violent as Hollywood depicts us. I was both shamed and filled with empathy as I watched these bubbly, gregarious young men snubbed into lonely despondency by our steely cold, unfriendly culture. One group of businessmen had the local police forbid the men from walking together in groups, because the business owners were afraid of them. They were still lonely, they were still lost, and they longed to see their beloved Nile and their mothers again. The movie has a happy ending, but expect to shed a few tears along the way.

It is an excellent movie for American youths to see. Truly America is so very unique in this world. We are a very blessed people to have such abundance and freedom; it is sinfully easy to take it for granted. So very few people live as we do. God Grew Tired of Us opens our eyes to a world beyond Syracuse, beyond the United States, into a land and people of utter turmoil and unconditional community. It is a good lesson for heart and soul.

New York City Car Service

Doing a little traveling to or through the Big Apple? Don’t take your car! It is murderous, trying to navigate the narrow and congested Manhattan streets (not to mention horridly expensive due to high gasoline prices). Here’s a tip: use a car service. There are various car services available, but only a few have been around for over three decades. And few have such a memorable telephone number as 212-777-7777! It’s Dial 7 New York Car & Limousine Service, and they specialize in LaGuardia airport car service. They also serve the tri-state area plus Pennsylvania to and from JFK Airport and Newark Airport, too. Dial 7 currently has over four hundred new Cadillac Luxury Sedans, Mercedes Benz and Lincoln Town Cars, plus stretch limousines and SUVs. They’ve also got minivans and larger vans for shuttle service. Prices are very reasonable! New York Magazine called them “the best ride in town”! You can make online reservations; check out their website for more details here.

Wordless Wednesday: Whoa Woes

What an Xperience!

Oh man. This is an amazing thing. If you like wild and different things to do, you have got to check out this website, the Xperience Days. I think it’s amazing that you can actually do some of these things! You’ll have to see the website to soak everything in, but these things would make terrific and unqiue gifts for an adventuresome dad for Father’s Day, a crazy mom for Mother’s Day, or even for yourself! There’s a ton of stuff for the New York tri-state area, but there are locations all over the United States. Cool!

Basically, this company offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences. For example, take a helicopter ride over the Manhattan skyline (and affordable $110), be a virtual combat fighter pilot (more expensive at $1,900) complete with lessons and video of your exploits, or get a chef for a day in a wine and cheese tasting meal ($400). Those are the things that jumped out at me– there’s a ton more things! Surfing, hot air balloon rides, culinary classes, hang gliding, and culinary experiences are some other things available. Some things are rather pricey, but some things are very affordable! And if you’ve got a group of siblings all willing to pitch in for a Mom and Dad anniversary gift or something- WOW! It could be amazing.

Check out the website! It’s an amazing experience in of itself!

My Entrecards Update

I love Entrecards. WEven after they changed their entire pricing structure, I didn’t care. I’m appreciative of the traffic and I have loved meeting new bloggers and discovering new blogs. Some people have been posting about their top ten EC droppers as a way of thank you. I thought that is a pretty good idea, so that’s what I am doing. I appreciate you guys visiting my humble little blog. I hope you are learning new things about New York State.

Here are my top ten droppers:

Thanks for dropping your cards!

Discount Magazines

Looking for some cheap magazines? By “cheap” I don’t mean “inferior,” I mean “inexpensive.” Magazines prices have been climbing up while subscriptions have been going down. This is a good time to check for discounts on magazines. Companies are eager to please and you can get excellent prices! MagsForLess.com is one such discount magazine business. You can order right from their website. I noticed a couple of travel magazines for sale, but my favorites are the Family Handyman, Country Home, and Log Homes magazines. Mmmmm. The prices are very good for yearly subscriptions. Prices are affordable, and the company is a family-owned business out of New York. Check them out if you are in the market for some excellent deals on discount magazines!