Recreation & Leisure Articles

1. Bird Watching Journals – Preserve Your Bird Watching Experiences

By Rick Chapo Bird Watching is a great way to escape the rat race and be one with nature. Alas, your bird watching experiences can fade with time. The best way to prevent this is to keep a bird watching journal for your sightings and trips. Bird Watching Journals Take a minute to give some consideration to your most recent bird watching experience. What sticks out in your mind? Now think about the first ... read more

2. Budapest – Health Resort Spas

By Rick Chapo Budapest is an amazing city with so many attractions that it is hard to know where to start. The health resort spas seem as good a place as any. Budapest Spas Budapest sits on a tectonic plate fault line in Eastern Europe. While earthquakes seem inevitable, one advantage to the location is the proliferation of mineral water spas in the city. Here are a few highlights. The Gellert Spa Hote... read more

3. Pedro, Beltran, and the Mets As Seen By One True Yankee Fan:

By Aron Wallad - Cheryl Wallad Pedro, Beltran, and the Mets As Seen By One True Yankee Fan: Dear,[FIRSTNAME] It’s the middle of the NFL playoffs, and what has grabbed the interest of many sports fans has been the off-season maneuvering and acquisitions of the Mets and Yankees. In the past, the sports media has hyped baseball trades, the big money contracts, and the long time rivalries which make the off-season so interes... read more

4. Siberia, Russia – The Slow Train - Part 8

By Rick Chapo After deciding to move to Siberia for a year to teach at the Chita State Technical University, I embarked on a travel odyssey unlike any other. In this entry, we pick up the trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Horror As my new Russian friend walked down the hall, I reflected on the information he had provided me with a grimace. The train ride from Khabarovsk to my destination, Chita, wa... read more

5. Fly Fishing Journals – Keep Track of Your Trips

By Rick Chapo Fly fishing is addictive. Once you start, you'll never stop. Whether you are going to the local water hole or to Alaska, you should use a fly fishing journal to keep track of your sessions. Fly Fishing Journals Fly fishing is more than just fishing, it’s a peaceful, surreal activity. For many, there is almost a meditative quality to casting. For avid fly fisherman, fly fishing trips to loc... read more

6. Pitching Prowess

By Aron Wallad, This article was written after teh 2004 season. Come and See Those Interesting Baseball Stats For some people this is Baseball Fantasy For some people this is Baseball Memorabilia For me it is joy and amazement. I love perusing the baseball stats. This article was written after the 2004 Baseball Season Walter Johnson - One of the first to enter the Hall of Fame in 1936 From 1912 to 19... read more

7. Budapest, Hungary – The Castle District

By Rick Chapo Towering a couple hundred feet above the Danube River, the Castle District in Budapest is a special place. Surrounded by gothic churches with stain glass, a visit to the Castle District is like stepping back into the renaissance. Castle District Situated in the Buda section of Budapest, the Castle District sits on the eastern side of the Danube. Positioned a couple hundred feet above the Dan... read more

8. A Day at the Summer Palace of Peter the Great

By Rick Chapo For elegance and old world feel, St. Petersburg is by far the best Russian city. If you go, a visit to Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great is a must. Peterhof As Tanya and I left St. Petersburg for Peterhof, I was in a foul mood. A pickpocket had cut through the bottom of my backpack and swiped my camera. The ferry taking us was packed and the adorable child on my right had just ... read more

9. THE PASSION OF BASEBALL

By Aron Wallad THE PASSION OF BASEBALL  What is something you are passionate about? Passion is contagious and feed off this positive energy. Have you ever seen two people who truly love the game of baseball talk about baseball? I had a friend’s wife tell me once that we can remember every play in a game we watched or played in but why is it that we can not remember a simple grocery list that is given to us. ... read more

10. Flying Machine

By Peter Jay The invention of the flying machine changed humanity. It changed the way and the speed at which we travel. It made the world seem a little smaller as people and places in distant lands suddenly seemed much nearer by the lessened time it would take to reach them. It increased our communication between people and nations as they could travel across oceans and meet in person rather than communicat... read more

11. Dynamic Duo - The Bashin Braves

By Aron Wallad Dynamic Duo - The Bashin Braves Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews Spanning the years 1952 thru 1976 Aaron and Mathews played 13 years as a tandem. Here are their stats while playing together as a duo. Games - 1964 ........ At Bats - 14625 Runs - 2668 ........ Hits - 4282 Doubles - 698 ......... Triples - 139 HRs - 863 ......... Bat Avg - .293... read more

12. Playing Chess in Russia – The Agony of Victory

By Rick Chapo Russians have a thing for chess and, frankly, are very good at it. Being from San Diego, I thought chess was something you put photo albums in. Playing Chess Playing chess requires thinking ten or twelve steps ahead. If I wanted to understand the Russian mind, I had to learn to play chess. If nothing else, it would be a good way to pass the time. This I was told by Robert, an American livin... read more

13. The Meanings Behind the Colors of Roses

By Colin Smith Roses are a sign of love and friendship and by giving someone a rose you are telling them how truly special they are. There are a number of colors of roses available and each one represents a different meaning to the receiver. If you are looking to purchase roses for that special someone, but aren’t quite sure which color would best suit your relationship, keep reading to find out what each color ... read more

14. Online Poker Bots - Threat or Not?

By Harrison Elliott Introduction Online games from chess and backgammon to 1st person shooters are rife with people who use computer assisted play or computer robots - even when there is no money at stake. With the appropriate program any player is able to play at a world championship level ruining the game for honest players. What makes online poker different, given that there are huge amounts of money at stake? ... read more

15. Feet of Clay?

By Cheryl Wallad Hi [FNAME] “Do our baseball heroes have feet of clay?” Ok, we have suspected the sudden rash of home run hitters and stupendous long balls were the result of something fishy. We wanted to believe the home run magic’s time had come. We had a lot of rationalizations to choose from: perhaps it was because major league baseball restructured the baseball, or maybe we blamed poor pitching on the ... read more

16. Fly Fishing in Russia

By Rick Chapo A few years back, I spent a year living in Siberia and had a chance to head out to a town called Tinda. Much to my surprise, a couple of the locals had fly fishing on the menu. The Siberian Surprise Mention the word “Siberia” and most people think of bleak, frozen tundra stretching for hundreds of miles. Well, this is more or less true in the winter. In the summer, however, much of Siberia ... read more

17. SMS Daycare.

By Robert Lett SMS Daycare. By Robert Lett. 11/04 Find out more of what it's all about: www.robertlett.com/whatisit5.htm Using the Physical World as a Game Board. This is not Kinky Day Care! SMS stands for Short Message Service. If your children carry cell phones, or if you have an extra family phone you can let them borrow for the day. This is a good way to get a break and run t... read more

18. Traveling With Scuba Dive Gear and Equipment

By Clint Leung With today’s state of air travel and airport security, scuba divers often have to decide how to travel with all their dive gear. For those scuba divers who plan to rent all their equipment at their destination, this isn’t an issue. However, the trend in diving has always been that as divers become more experienced with more dives logged after initial open water certifications, they tend to want ... read more

19. Buying your child a digital camera- what you need to know

By Kevin Rockwell Purchasing any gift item for your child is a mind-numbing task. You can never be sure whether they will like what you buy for them or not. So, when you want to buy a digital camera for your little kids, then there are lots of things, which you must know, which will help you (hopefully!) to get the right camera for your child. One of the most important things for children is that the digital ca... read more

20. Fly Fishing On The Green River - Paradise Lost

By Rick Chapo Fly fishing is all about finding a great location, preferably in the middle of a hatch. The Green River in Utah was one such place, but is it still? The Secret Is Out No less than five years ago, it seemed like you head to the Green River and see few others along your little stretch of paradise. These days, it seems like a freeway. The Green River starts at Flaming Gorge in the far North... read more

21. Riviera Maya, Mexico – Paradise Defined

By Rick Chapo The Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast was a secret getaway to paradise for many years. No longer. Now it is considered one of the finest beach areas in the world. Riviera Maya Located on the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo, the Riviera Maya is jaw dropping beautiful. Although the area was only known to a select few for years, the last 10 years has seen a boom in tourism an... read more

22. My Top Ten Favorite Baseball Movies

By Aron Wallad My Top Ten Favorite Baseball Movies My top ten baseball movies consist of five movies on the list. There have been many movies with a baseball theme that I have liked, but there are only five I have loved. I will get to them soon. Some of the ones I have liked are “Bull Durham” with Kevin Costner, a light hearted tale about a minor league season in North Carolina and the characters on and a... read more

23. Cambodia – The Blind Masseuses

By Rick Chapo Cambodia has seen far more than its fair share of tragedy and misery. The blind masseuses offer a glimpse of the true Cambodian heart and will to carry on. Seeing Hands Massage With the onset of the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia took a serious turn for the worse from the late 1970s through the early eighties. When the Khmer Rouge were finished killing or starving as much as tw... read more

24. Thailand – The Land of Smiles and Cheap Travel

By Rick Chapo Thailand is known as the land of smiles, which is amazing considering the traffic jams in Bangkok. For budget travelers, Thailand simply can’t beat on price alone. Thailand Thailand is an odd mix of contrasts. It can be extremely stressful while trying to get around in Bangkok and gloriously relaxing while laying on practically any of the beaches that populate the coast of the country. Rega... read more