Loricat's Blog

I'm into week 6 of a new job, coming right on the heels of a festival I was organizing…so I've not had much time to cozy up to Gusto and add more reviews, or read much of what's happening.

But, now, with a regular job, with regular hours, and work that I can leave at the office (sort of have to leave at the office, it being a government job!)—I'm hoping I have more time to mess around on my online communities!

I'm starting a new job on Monday, and this means it'll be ages before I can get some vacation time. Ah well, a change is as good as a rest…(I hope!)

Any trips planned for the summer, folks?

I live in Western Canada's vacation paradise, so my vacation will be having friends coming to stay to visit wineries, hang out at the beach, and just bake in the sun and eat fresh fruit.

Here's a video of a trip on a cyclo through Hanoi

One of the most memorable things I've ever done…and through the wonders of hand-held video cameras and YouTube, you too can experience the mood, the atmosphere, the mellow speed of an evening in Hanoi, Vietnam. 

I have a suggestion for the Gusto team - could we have more mouseover maps like the world one?

For example, if you browse over to North America, Canada, you get a long list of cities, with no information about where they are, in which Province, which side of the continent it's on. I know the main audience right now for Gusto is the USA - it's your home and all, but if you want to appeal to the global community of the Internet, you...

Truly realized today why I like the multi-dimensional profiles here.

I read one blog entry, went to the poster's profile, even though he's only got 5 blog entries, and hasn't put pictures up, or done any reviews, I could tell that he was a real person. 

Went to another blogger's profile, found nothing but 3 blog posts all pushing that person's resort. A spammer—a real person,, but writing advertising, not honest review.

Honey, your...

The flurry of bzzagent activity has passed…so now it's a little quieter. You came to like this little oasis of travel info & discussion, and you stop by periodically to see what's new—and maybe you miss the more active days.

Don't despair! Let's make it happen. Tell us a story. Review that terrible/fantastic restaurant you went to last night. Get your well-travelled buddy to write some reviews. This is a new site, we're in at the ground...

The beautiful weather is here, and it'll soon be time for all of us to start shopping locally - at nearby farms, or at markets.

Supporting your local food economy is an important part of keeping ourselves and our environment healthy  - and in the USA in particular, you folks have some great online resources for finding local food: for example, check out the

I was talking to my mom last night , and she was telling me her travel plans for the year. In a bit, she's off to California, to see her brother & sister-in-law (she goes every year!). Then she and her sister-in-law are going to visit Las Vegas for 3 days.

Then, when she gets home, she and my sister (they didn't invite me…not that I could go, I'm too busy) are going to the Ottawa area (in Ontario) to visit family.

Then, in November, she's off to...

Generally? 

My photos…I've got some of my black'n'whites of Paris on my wall. Some colour shots of Korea.

Books of museums and art galleries.

But the special things from each country: my genuine "reproduction antiques" from Korea; my mask from China, my frog percussion instrument from Vietnam…

What about you? 

Since I've been on gusto! (not that long really), I've seen some good changes. For example, the browse the world option was on the top bar, then gone, then on the very bottom where it was hard to see, and now that nifty mouseover map! Very good.

So, it seems like their techie people can do pretty much anything, so what do you want? 

I like the gusto link option—but with over 200 reviews, it takes ages to find the link I want if I'm...

On Saturday, I'll be picking up a group of students from Japan at the Kelowna Airport, and driving them down the Okanagan Lake to Penticton. I'm quite excited, because I'll see this lovely valley through their eyes, and it will be stupendous.

It's one thing I really miss about teaching English in Vancouver—the freshness of always seeing the city, the country, through the eyes of excited, adventure-filled 20-somethings. 

I found an interesting blog post (out there in the Internet ether) with some good travel tips: from Grad Money [Matters]. He writes about saving money over spring break, but there's also some links to where-to-buy online kind of stuff. 

I used to ask my students this all the time (I taught adult ESL)  I'd put them in groups, and say "okay, you've got 4 weeks, and all the money you need, where would you go? The only thing is, you all have to agree!" (and I'd define 'all the money you need' = enough for plane tickets, etc, but not enough to buy your own plane!)

So I pose the question to you: 4 weeks, all the money you need…what would you do...

...in no particular order.

I still remember the first time I ate food from Northeastern Brazil, in Salvador. Bahiano food is utterly delicious. Spicy, saucy fish on rice. I was 17, and it sticks in my mind.

I was out one night with the Serial Diners in Toronto (here's