It came to our attention at about 4pm yesterday that our “Contact Us” form hadn’t been working properly since we launched in the Bay Area on 11/19.

Picture: Sorry | by Half Chinese

That means that if you were one of the ~200 folks in the last eight days to send us great feedback, welcome constructive criticism, site bugs, and questions about how to use TeachStreet, you probably felt like you’d sent an e-mail into The Great Void.

1. First, our apologies. We’re moving fast in the wake of our biggest launch yet, but our customers and members come first. Please know that we think you’re fabulous — we’re not ignoring you!
2. Second, we’re back up and running. This bug was fixed within about 2 hours of finding it.
3. Third, we’re working like mad to get back to all of you who wrote us notes and sent us questions. Our normal response time is 24 hours (one biz day). Due to the volume of catch-up we need to do, we hope to have all of our responses out by Monday (Dec 1).

For the record, here’s how you can get in touch with TeachStreet if you’ve got questions, feedback or if you have a problem with the site.

• Call us: (206) 381-0652 or toll free at (877) 832-2470
• E-mail us directly at customer-service@teachstreet.com
• Use our (now fully functioning) Contact Us form on the site

And fear not! You’ll be hearing back from us soon.

By Kristen Moffett, personal trainer in Seattle and owner of LIFT Personal Training Studio, home of the intensive conditioning bootcamp, Moffett Personal Training

The holidays are fast approaching and with the season come a multitude of social engagements- the office party, the ornament exchange, the holiday open house, just to name a few.  Some clients are even planning trips to warmer locales like Hawaii or Mexico and so it happens, the panicked phone calls and emails from clients with places to go, people to see and pounds to lose!

Kristen Moffett showing how to do the proper lunge

Last week we talked about firming up the upper torso and offered a few key exercises to get you moving in the right direction.  This week we will focus on abs, legs and glutes.  These three areas are top priority among male and female clients and drive a big part of my business.  Thanks to industrial strength Lycra and longer hemlines, many women will try to avoid showing off these areas if at all possible.  On the beach, it is a little harder to pull off.  The following three exercises require little or no equipment and produce quick and effective results.

1. The Lunge
This is my favorite exercise for sculpting a rock hard tush.  The example I have listed is for a stationary lunge, but if you are feeling adventurous, find a nice steep hill near your home or office and lunge right on up, resting only when you cross the street.  I like to call this the “can crusher” for obvious reasons.  You will curse like a sailor the following morning, but your back side will soon be the envy of all your girlfriends, trust me.

1. Start off in a stance that is slightly wider than your shoulders and take a big step back with your left leg.
2. Place your hands at your sides or on your hips for balance and once you feel comfortable, bend your left leg and lower it to the floor.
3. When your right leg forms a 90-degree angle, push up through the heel to return to a standing position.
4. Repeat your set number of repetitions before switching legs.

2. The Crunch
Every person, male or female, wants a nice tight mid-section.  The crunch is a favorite standby and can be performed anywhere.  Many people lift with their head instead of their abs which puts unnecessary strain on your neck.

1. Begin with your fingertips loosely behind your ears, elbows wide and out to the side for added resistance, knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
2. Contract your abs and fix your gaze on the ceiling as you squeeze up and elevate your shoulders.
3. Keep your elbows out to the sides as you return to the starting position.
4. Always keep your chin tilted toward the ceiling to alleviate neck strain.

3. The Squat
Squats are crucial to superior leg development and should be a part of everyone’s resistance program.  Squats engage the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves.  They also require core stabilization during execution and for this reason involve all 3 of today’s target areas.

1. To perform, stand tall in a wide stance and look forward.
2. Bend your knees, keep your chest tall and slowly squat down so that your upper legs are parallel to the floor.
3. As you lower your body, think about pushing your hips down and back.  This will ensure that your knees don’t go past your toes.
4. At the bottom of the exercise, your ankles, knees and shoulders should be in line.
5. Return to the starting position by pushing through your heels.

I would perform the above exercises for 3 sets of 15 repetitions, or as many as you can do comfortably.  As they become easier, you may choose to challenge yourself with more repetitions or added resistance.  Rest for about 30 seconds to a minute in between sets, drink plenty of water and push yourself without over-doing it.

When combined with last weeks upper body exercises, this workout will have you looking fabulous in no time while leaving your stash of cash where it belongs – in your wallet!

If you’d like to contact me about personal training in Seattle or questions about other frugal ways to exercise, send me a message through my website at Moffet Personal Training. Happy Holidays and Happy New You!

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by Julian via Seattle Free School (Offering free classes in Seattle)

I began developing this class studying Improv at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York City. In my dual careers as a professional actor and a Technical Recruiter, I find myself constantly using the skills I have learned through the study and practice of improvisation. In teaching this class, I hope to pass along these benefits to you, and more importantly, I hope to show you how fun it can be!

Whose Line is it Anyways? | Photo Courtesy of Anirudh Koul

Have you ever been to Theatre Sports by Unexpected Productions at the Pike Place Market Theatre or watched ‘Who’s Line Is It Anyway?’ and wondered how they do it? Maybe you’ve never even seen live improv, but you’re looking for a chance to step out of your comfort zone and do something new. Whatever your background, you don’t have to be Robin Williams or Chris Farley to improvise. In fact, anybody (yes, even you) can do it! This class is for the curious, the daring, or those who just want to have fun playing games that will sharpen your ear, mind & body and build on your ability to work & play as a team.

Whether you are a seasoned performer or have never been in front of a group of people in your life, improv is not only fun, but the skills you gain will improve your ability to listen to and communicate with others and express your ideas on a personal & professional level. This class will be a series of three, 2-hour classes in which we will be playing games, creating scenes, and having more fun than should be legal.

Class:
Improv Class

Facilitators:
Julian

When:
12/01, 12/04, and 12/08 – 7:00-9:00pm

Where:
Cascade People’s Center
309 Pontius Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

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By Erica Pederson of Independent Excellence Tutoring, professional tutoring in Seattle for all school subjects between K-12. They’ve also helped adults improve their English with ESL classes in Seattle.

If you are a non-native speaker with a heavy accent, you may wonder whether or not you can truly improve your speech.  My students have come from many different backgrounds.  Frequently, they have had speaking difficulties in their native language also.  Others speak English in a way that is understandable to most people, but they only want to polish it and sound as American as possible for business reasons.  Some students are over forty, some under, which also makes quite a difference.  Here are some examples of student difficulties and methods I have used to help them.  Read on to decide for yourself if private lessons or the class I will be offering in the winter could be a good fit for you.

Photo Courtesy of krcla

What do you do if you had difficulties in your native language also?  I have had students from both Russia and Japan who complained of having problems since their childhood or teenage years.  Here’s the good news: most of these problems are simply mechanics.  My students who struggle with the “r” are typically holding their tongue in an incorrect position (by American standards).  The same is true for “l.”  Though it takes work and ongoing practice at home, these changes are as simple to make as building your bicep muscles.  It’s all about practice and getting qualified feedback as the sound develops.  Sometimes students need to persevere with lessons for considerable time, perhaps a year, and even longer.  Often students come back to me for tune-ups too!

For those who already speak English well, it is only a matter of learning the American accent rules.   Did you know that “t” becomes a “d” sound when it is surrounded by vowels?  Did you notice that everyone says “Seadl” not “Seattle” with a strong “t”? There are many very specific rules that can change your speech.  Students who have an easier time with language often breeze through one rule after another, and before they know it, their friends are asking what happened to their accent.

Middle-aged and older students often believe that improving their speech will be impossible at this point.  Having had a heavy accent for many years, they believe they will not be able to break the old patterns.  It is true that it is much harder for older people, yet at the least, learning rules of the accent can greatly improve a person’s listening skills.  For instance, knowing the “t” rule above could help a person hear the word “data” (dada) when it’s spoken quickly.   Another example is the reduced “h.”  Many times Americans drop the “h” in small words like “her” and “he.”  Maybe an older person is used to hearing “What’s’iz name,” but could be confused when someone says “Didee do it?”  The practical and specific rules that are available now can make a tremendous difference.  And though the process may take longer for an older person, improving listening skills paves the way for improved speech.  What you hear is, eventually, what you will do.

“Reduce Your Accent” Class helps students improve phonetically

So yes, it is very possible to make significant changes in your speech if you are a non-native speaker.  I will be giving a 3 hour workshop through the UW Experimental college on December 7th called Reduce Your Accent.  Try it out if any of the above sounds interesting.  It’s an inexpensive way to see what this accent stuff is all about.  I will be having an 8 week class in the winter, and I always do private lessons from my home in Northgate for those with more personal speaking difficulties.  I also often cover advanced grammar (especially the small words like a, an, the and in, on, about) while working with speech.

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by Christine Hibbard, Seattle dog trainer and owner of Companion Animal Solutions, which offers animal behavior training

In my previous post about choosing an animal behavior specialist, we discussed the important things to consider and questions to ask of any animal behavior consultant you might be considering hiring. Now that we’ve discussed what you should look for in an animal behavior consultant, let’s try to make some sense out of the alphabet soup of qualifications and credentials.

Photo Courtesy of Warchild

Veterinary Behaviorist
Board certified Veterinary Behaviorists are required to have a veterinary degree and complete two additional years of coursework. They are also required to complete a hands-on internship with an existing board-certified veterinary behaviorist.  There are about 40-45 ACVB certified vets in the United States right now. If you’d like to find one, check out the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists:

Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist
The second form of qualification is certification by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS).  ABS provides for two levels of certification: Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (ACAAB) which requires a Master’s degree in an appropriate field, several years of practical internship experience, and evidence of professional activity (research or instruction), and full Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB), which is similar but requires a PhD in an appropriate field (generally Biology or Zoology).  There are also about 40-45 certified applied animal behaviorists in the US and Canada at this time. Dr. Jim Ha at Companion Animal Solutions is a full Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. If you’d like to find a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist outside of the Seattle, Washington area, you can search the ABS Directory.

Certified Training Counselor
A relatively new program through the San Francisco SPCA is producing some very well-trained and qualified specialists, individuals who are not at the ACVB and CAAB level but who are well-prepared if one of these experts are not available.  This is a six-week program on-site in San Francisco, which leads to a Certificate in Training and Counseling (CTC) certification: one well-known behaviorist has referred to this program as the “Harvard University” of dog trainer programs. The graduates of this program are “the next best thing” to ACVB and CAAB-certified professionals. Christine Hibbard at Companion Animal Solutions has earned this certification with honors. If you’d like to search for a dog trainer with a CTC certification outside of the Seattle, Washington area, try the SF SPCA Academy Referral Database: http://www.sfspca.org/academy/referral.shtml.

Animal Behavior Consultants
The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants issues the Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) credential.  Greta Kaplan at Companion Animal Solutions in Portland, Oregon has earned this credential. The IAABC also certifies cat (CCBC), horse (CHBC) and parrot (CPBC) consultants; individuals with multiple species certifications are Certified Animal Behavior Consultants (CABC).  To earn this credential, consultants must demonstrate a substantial amount of hands-on behavior consulting practice as well as learning in five core competencies.  Counseling of owners as well as animal behavior and learning is emphasized. To find a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant outside of the Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon area, visit:

Certified Pet Dog Trainer
Finally, there is a certification program for dog trainers to become a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT).  This is a less rigorous program that emphasizes qualifications for basic dog training but does not require extensive knowledge, training or experience in dealing with specific behavior issues.  A CPDT qualified trainer can help you with basic obedience issues, or to help provide stimulation through training like fly-ball or agility training.

Hopefully, this review of credentials helps you to choose a qualified professional to help you solve a serious behavior issue with your companion animal, whether it is a dog, a cat, a parrot, or something even more exotic. If you have questions or would like to speak with someone directly, contact me at info@companionanimalsolutions.com or give us a call at 206-953-0703. In future posts, I’ll be discussing how to pick an appropriate dog for your family, tips for training your dog, cat, or bird, and what to look for when choosing a dog training class.

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Our updated search page.

Late last night we shipped a new version of TeachStreet.com with some significant changes to our search capabilities. I spoke to Fred, our CTO, about it. His response was a mixture of geek speak and technical terms rarely seen outside of a Trekkie convention (no offense, Fred. Live long and prosper, bro). After a half hour of diagrams, wrinkled foreheads, and me asking, “Okay, so what does that mean in English?”, I was finally beginning to understand our search mechanism. That was until Fred mentioned that our old search was limited by “constrained polygons.”

Yeah, I know. I was confused, too, which promptly led to this exchange:

Me: What the heck is a constrained polygon?
Fred: You don’t know what a polygon is?
Me: Of course I know what a polygon is, but what would it have to be constrained about?

Apparently, “constrained polygons” refers to the areas on a map that we can search. Let’s say you’re looking for a yoga class in a specific zip code of Seattle. Before, our search mechanism would divide the city into huge shapes (polygons) to reflect those zip codes and return results to you from within those shapes. The problem was, those polygons didn’t always cover all of a city – but we were constrained by them. As much as we wanted, there was no information available for the parts of the region not covered by the polygons. Ergo, search was limited by constrained polygons.

But now, thanks to Fred’s team of programmers (and his own devious search algorithms), we’re free of those pesky constrained polygons. We can show you all the search results in an area without being limited by shapes. City boundaries aren’t a problem, either. We can show classes that are near you, even if that means that they’re technically not part of your town or region (imagine if you live on the outskirts of town, or if you are on the border between two neighborhoods. Something might be 2 blocks away, but in another part of town).

So, phew. I understood our search algorithm! … Until, of course, Fred told me that searches in a particular area are inversely proportional to the area you’re looking at.

I know, I know, I might as well be speaking Greek. Or Romulan. Basically, that means that in addition to our geographic search area not being constrained by polygons, it also generously captures regions just outside of the area you are looking in.

The other big advancement we made to search is that you can now search for teachers by name in addition to the old ways of looking up things by class title or topic.

In short, it’s now super easy to find the classes you want in your area. Whether you understand the entire process behind it (like Fred) or think that it’s the cause of little tiny men who live in your computer (like me), you’ll probably like our new search capabilities. So check them out, and, as always, let us know what you think.

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At the end of a long week fueled by lattes and cuties (aka California clementines), it’s official. TeachStreet is now live in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 65,000 new classes, instructors, teachers, tutors, and coaches. Woo-hooo!!

Here at TeachStreet World Headquarters, the team has been handling the stress and the late nights in stride. I’m sure it’s in part due to the “healthy” array of snacks I keep feeding them (granola is good for you, right? Even if it’s caramel flavored?). And, of course, random dance breaks (who doesn’t appreciate a little “Gimme More” by Britney or Footloose flashbacks with “Let’s Hear it for the Boys”?)  No one’s started dancing just yet, but one of these nights they’ll crack, and when they do, I’ll be waiting with my iPhone.

In preparation for this launch, we’ve brainstormed, designed, developed, and tested every new thing that’s now on the site.

The entire team, in my dining room, a week ago kicking off bug bashing.

So, yeah, things have been a little hectic. But, when we look at this amazing thing we’ve created, it’s worth it. I know, I might be biased, but I am really proud of what we’ve done in a short amount of time. We’ve completely revamped the TeachStreet User Experience (that’s industry talk for “the look and feel of a site”), along with our search capabilities. We’ve added a simplified class editor, and some other neat features. Our next few blog posts will go into much more detail, so keep an eye out for those.

On a personal note, this launch is special to me. I’m a TeachStreet newbie (having been here for a mere 6 weeks) and it’s my first launch, and we’re launching in my hometown! It has been a crazy and wonderful experience. One that has been made immeasurably better by the awesome TeachStreet Team.

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Wow. What an outpouring of excited teachers and students it has been in the Bay Area. From San Francisco to San Jose, the response has has not only been positive from TeachStreeters, but also from bloggers, journalists, and other media folks.

And even though we’ve seen rapid growth since launching Seattle in April of 2008, we still have a long way to go. So thank you to everyone on the below list. Every mention makes a huge difference for us. Also, please note, that the below list is in random order. From top to bottom, we are equally grateful to everyone.

• TeachStreet Expands to San Francisco: Find That Perfect Cooking Class. Or whatever by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch
• ABC News (KGO-TV) – by KGO-TV
• TeachStreet Heads to San Francisco, Doubling its Reach by Brier Dudley
• TeachStreet Expands to Bay Area by Eric Engleman at TechFlash
• Find an Instructor at TeachStreet by Jason Fitzpatrick at LifeHacker
• Bezos-backed TeachStreet on a roll, sets up shop in Bay Area by Mary Kathleen Flynn at the Deal / Tech Confidential
  
• TeachStreet Expands to Bay Area by Greg Huang at Xconomy blog
• TeachStreet Expands to San Francisco by Benjamin Kuo at Northwest Innovation
• TeachStreet Launches in Bay Area by Greg Sterling (Screenwerk blog)
• Website of the Day: Teachstreet by GeekSugar
• The Growing Ex-Amazon Club and Why it’s a Good Thing by Om Malik at Gigaom
• Congrats to TeachStreet on Bay Area Launch by Alex Garcia at Alex in Seattle
• TeachStreet Comes to the Bay Area by Sardar Mohkim Khan at Startup Meme

*NOTE: If you’ve covered TeachStreet and I haven’t included you on the list, please let me know by calling me at (206) 381-0652 and letting me know.

SEATTLE, WA – November 19, 2008 – TeachStreet (http://www.teachstreet.com), the first free website dedicated to helping local teachers and students connect with one another at the neighborhood level, today expanded to the Bay Area. Residents from San Francisco to San Jose are now one click away from discovering more than 65,000 coaches, experts and classes available on TeachStreet. Whether one wants to learn Spanish, yoga, knitting, golf, or Photoshop, TeachStreet offers detailed information on classes and instructors across more than 500 subject areas.

“Two years ago, when I wanted to find a motorcycle safety class, I called local stores and scoured bulletin boards trying to find the best course. It was a painful process and I couldn’t believe the search wasn’t easier,” said Dave Schappell, founder and CEO of TeachStreet. “From this experience came the idea behind TeachStreet, to bridge the gap between great teachers and those looking to learn new things.”

From the common to the eclectic, there is truly a class for every Bay Area resident:

• Feeling crafty? Try one of 442 painting classes, 174 knitting classes, and 168 sewing workshops.
• Need to find your Zen? Explore 625 yoga classes, 504 meditation classes, and 122 aikido classes.
• Lessons for the kids? Check out 669 dance classes, 204 singing classes, and 567 piano lessons.

Students can search for classes across hundreds of categories and select results according to map-based location, ratings from other students, teacher availability, pricing, and more. As Bay Area resident Asawari RaoRane Agrawal said, “The breadth and depth of learning opportunities on TeachStreet is amazing. It’s like Google, only specifically focused on learning activities in my neighborhood.”

TeachStreet also provides a simple yet powerful way for teachers and instructors to market their businesses online and find more local students. As Seattle tennis coach Chris Lewis said, “TeachStreet drives my business. Last week 12 new students e-mailed me asking if I could teach them lessons. I don’t even do anything else to advertise my business anymore, yet my schedule is always full. TeachStreet is my one-stop shop for finding students.”

About TeachStreet
Founded in June 2007, TeachStreet is dedicated to helping students find great local teachers, and empowering teachers with robust online tools to manage their teaching businesses.  Featuring more than 120,000 classes and instructors in Seattle, Portland, and the Bay Area, the free site provides the information that students need to make informed decisions about their learning experiences, including student reviews, teacher recommendations, pricing information, location, teacher training, and more. TeachStreet is headquartered in Seattle, WA and backed by Madrona Venture Group. For more information, visit www.TeachStreet.com.

It was great to meet some of our teachers in the Portland area and help them get their profiles looking perfect. Katie and I hosted two morning events while down in Portland last week. On Friday we had a great meet-up at Stumptown Coffee and on Saturday we met at Cafe Umbria.

It was our goal to accomplish the following:

• Bring local teachers together to network
• Provide information about TeachStreet (where we came from and where we’re going)
• Show teachers how to promote their profiles
• Get feedback from our teachers about things they like, and more importantly, things they don’t

We got a lot of great feedback from everyone about the things we could do to improve TeachStreet.  We started a new feedback forum to capture all your great ideas and have the community vote on the top feature requests we should consider building. Please check it out and vote for your top features!

We went over the top things you can do to get more students from TeachStreet. Here’s a recap:

1. Get yourself on the TeachStreet homepage by adding photos to your profile and classes
2. Add more classes so that students can find you on TeachStreet
3. Boost your profile by requesting reviews from students (the link is right on your profile)
4. Utilize the free Craigslist ad tool to create awesome looking ads that give students everything they need to pick YOU as their teacher
5. Become a Guest Blogger on TeachStreet and get extra publicity that shows off the fact that you’re an expert

Here are a few pictures from the meet-ups on Friday and Saturday:

From left to right: Guitar instructor Kevin Anderson, Baby sign language and Spanish teacher Christina Webb Schabow, and Parenting coach Janet Allison

From left to right: Tango teachers Jake and Danarae, Snowboard instructor Salar, Story telling and Speaking teacher Anne-Louise Sterry, Meditation teacher Robert Beatty, Japanese teacher Brian Bost, Bass Guitar teacher David Kahl, and Photography guru Dwon Guvenir

By the way… We met with several teachers that mentioned they had space available for other teachers to rent or use for their classes or events.  If you are someone who falls into this category, please email Salar with more details.

Looking forward to the great events to come!

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