TeachStreet™

Even though I’d rate my technological savvy at “moderately above average”, I’m the first to admit that I’m not really in the same league as some of my colleagues here at TeachStreet (ahem). In fact, I may be one of the last folks of my generation to not even own my own ipod. (Gasp! Yes, it is indeed true.)

That said, I know a good thing when I see it. Or in this case, when I hear it.

Though I rarely listen to podcasts, and sometimes (sheepish full disclosure here>) I find them hard to play or download, one of my techie-hip work buddies clued me into the This American Life podcasts, and I have to say… I’m hooked.

Let’s start with the obvious: I’m a long-standing NPR fan — it’s gotten me through many a long morning commute. And don’t even get me started about the joys of listening to Garrison Keillor on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But I have to say that as far as public radio stars are concerned… Ira Glass is just about at the top of my list. And now, the public radio folks have gone and made many of their shows SUPER easy to download to your computer or MP3 player of choice. (Like, easy enough that even I can do it with about two clicks of my mouse.)

Radio’s very own Superman, Ira Glass

So tonight, when I heard this hysterical podcast on music lessons while cruising through some of the “favorite” episodes, I knew I had to share it with you. If you’re like me, this is an easy place to start learning how to download podcasts. But even better, this podcast will hold a special place in your heart if you happen to fall into any of the following categories:

• Any parent, grandparent or sibling who’s sat through long (and I mean LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG) middle school band concerts
• Anyone who understands the subtle but significant difference between the band kids and the orchestra kids
• Anyone who, while in said middle school band or orchestra, had their music teacher go just a little bit crazy
• Anyone who’s well-meaning parent placed them in private music lessons under the illusion that their children would become rich and famous piano (or guitar or flute or drum — insert your instrument of choice here) players
• Folks like me who secretly hold a dear love for the recorder, seeing that it (and the kazoo) might be the only instruments we’ll ever master
• Music lovers of all sorts
• And of course, music teachers!

In one way or another, learning an instrument or even just learning to appreciate music has touched all of our lives. This funny trio of true-to-life stories brightened my evening and got me wondering if I really could have “made it” if I’d only kept taking piano from Mrs. McCoy.

P.S. If you need another reason to listen to this podcast, David Sedaris has the opening monologue. His Billy Holiday impression is worth it!

Perhaps against our better judgment, 4 of my TeachStreet colleagues and I decided to enter the wonderful, weird (and hot!) world of Bikram yoga together last Friday night. Fred is a frequenter of the Sweatbox (loved by Yelpers everywhere), and he convinced us to tag along. I’m wondering if some (not me of course) came along just to leave work a few hours early.

Undertaking athletic endeavors with colleagues with can sometimes be awkward (like if you join the office softball team only to realize that your boss is the poorest sport on the planet, or that the guy from accounting actually swears like a sailor).

Additionally, Bikram yoga (also known as hot yoga) up’s the ante on the potential weirdness factor seeing that you’re in a room that’s heated to 105 degrees so you’re sweating like a pig AND the outfits of choice for Bikram yoga practitioners is the less the better (see below).

Here’s some bikram menswear found on the official Bikram site.
(I just had to show you.)

All that said, and even though I was often counting down the minutes left before I could go outside and breathe some cool fresh air, I actually had a great time.

Let’s dig a bit more into Bikram shall we? I think it’s time to find out a little more about this hot yoga craze.

Who is Bikram?

Bikram Choudhury was born in Calcutta, India in 1946 and became a student of Bishnu Gosh (younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda) at the age of four. By the time he was in his teens, Bikram has won the National India Yoga Championship four times.

Left: weight-lifter Bikram as a young man.
Right: Bikram now, in his trademark Speedo, at one of his many training conferences for yoga teachers.

After suffering a horrible knee injury due to weight-lifting at the age of 17 (from which the doc, said he’d never walk again) Bikram returned to his guru Mr. Gosh and continued his yoga training. He was back to perfect health in 6 months.

From then on, Bikram Choudhury began opening yoga schools and eventually became known for his own brand of “Bikram Yoga”, which he’s taught with his wife Rajashree Choudhury all over the world. He currently operates the Yoga College of India which is based in California, and has trained thousands of yogis and yoginis how to teach Bikram Yoga themselves.

A shot from one of Bikram’s training classes. Bet that room smells awesome.

What is Bikram Yoga?

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

• “Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class is a twenty-six asana series designed to scientifically warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons, in the order in which they should be stretched.”
• “Bikram Yoga’s twenty-six posture exercises systematically move fresh, oxygenated blood to one hundred percent of your body, to each organ and fiber, restoring all systems to healthy working order, just as Nature intended. Proper weight, muscle tone, vibrant good health, and a sense of well-being will automatically follow.”

The 26 poses and 2 breathing exercises are done in the exact same sequence every time, and are always done in a heated room, which is said to improve flexibility and circulation.

What’s this I hear about trademarks?

Bikram Yoga has also been the source of some controversy. Bikram Choudhury first trademarked the poses for “Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class” in 1979. Since then, Mr. Choudhury has asserted that all teachers who want to teach Bikram yoga or any “substantially similar” forms must obtain a license from him. The same is true for studios who want to use the “Bikram” name to describe their yoga classes. Check out Salon or Wikipedia for more info on the intellectual property issues surrounding Bikram yoga. There’s also a new documentary by Bad Dog Tales that touches on the topic.

What are the benefits of Bikram?

Practitioners of Bikram describe all sorts of benefits from doing this type of yoga. Testimonials describe improved flexibility, weight loss, reduction of chronic pain, and even improvement in chronic illnesses like diabetes. In addition to the physical benefits, many people describe improved mental health, emotional calmness, and generally feeling more energetic in their lives.

Each of the poses (or asanas) in Bikram yoga prescribes specific benefits. This is the 8th pose in the set: Dandayamana – Bibhaktapada – Paschimotthanasana (which means “standing separate leg separate pose).

Its health benefits include the following: helps relieve depression, loss of memory, constipation, increases circulation to the brain and adrenal glands, stretches the spine and back of the leg.

Closing thoughts…

Bikram may not be for everyone. It’s certainly intense. And sweaty. Did I mention sweaty? However, what I will say is that I felt better over this weekend (more energized and “with it”) than I have in a while.

For those of you who might be up for something a little more low-key, I recommend this great article from Bindu Magazine called “Yoga Toolkit for Computer Users“. As someone who’s recently found herself logging a few extra hours at the computer lately and who wants to ward off a resurgence of carpel tunnel creeping back in, I’ve found these stretches super helpful. Give them a whirl.

That said, I’ve got my yoga mat and yoga block in my bag today and I’m going to give Bikram another whirl. As much as I’ve complained about the sweating… it’s actually sort of liberating.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Until then, I leave you with my favorite yoga pose, savasana, also known as “corpse pose”. Lovely eh? Well, once you try it, you’ll know how awesome it actually is.

Happy yoga-ing everyone!

p.s. If you’ve tried Bikram or are a fan of other types of yoga (like Hatha, Ashtanga or Kundalini), let’s hear about it! I know there are some die-hard fans out there…

Now that I more fully understanding some of the growing pains about learning to do the accounting for a small business, I wanted to talk to someone on the other side table; someone who teaches accounting and bookkeeping to folks like me.

Keith Gormenzano fit the bill perfectly.

Seattleite Keith Gormenzano has built his business around teaching small business owners how to use QuickBooks, Quicken, MS Money etc. His business’s objective is to take a personal approach to teaching owners how to manage their own financial records and to get their “accounting software to work for them instead of the other way around.”

Basically, he jump-starts small businesses so that they can be their own book-keepers. Keith is teaching businesses to fish by helping them become experts at easy-to-use software like QuickBooks. I spent about an hour chatting with Keith and during that time, I learned a few of his mantras that I thought other teachers (and perhaps other students as well) would find interesting and helpful.

Do what you love.
Keith’s background is diverse. Previously, he’s been a career temporary, a real estate agent, a VISTA volunteer, and a COO of an architecture firm. A few years ago, Keith wanted a change of pace from the 9-5 work life; he decided to strike out on his own as a small business adviser and bookkeeper. Keith soon learned that while he really loved working with businesses 1:1, he didn’t want to just be a roving accountant or bookkeeper.

When I asked him what helped him make the switch to teaching full time, he said that he tries to live by the motto of “focus on what you’re good at and enjoy.” Thus, becoming a full-time instructor and highlighting his talents with Quickbooks and teaching seemed like a no-brainer.

Know your market.
In addition, Keith seems to really understand his students. There are lots of Quickbooks classes out there (at private organizations or community-based schools), but Keith has made a name for himself in a relatively short period of time by understanding that small business owners are busy folks and potentially nervous about taking the reins of their own accounting.

He takes on clients anywhere within a 50 mile radius of his home office, and is more than willing to travel to work with his new “students”. His clients don’t want to spend all day in a classroom. They want to learn a new software at their own desks and on their own computers. Keith spends personalized time getting to know the teams, the office and the specific accounting background and concerns of each business that he trains. The one-to-one training he provides is, in his own words “intense and no-nonsense”, but he’s gotten feedback that people appreciate his cut-to-the-chase methods that are targeted specifically at their problems. In fact, many of his students have recommended that he call himself “Dr. QuickBooks.”

Specialize. Specialize. Specialize.
Keith’s words of wisdom to other instructors (or to other businesses in general) is “specializing is where it’s at!” After about a year of private instructing, Keith started marketing himself as QuickBooks instructor specializing in small business and start-up accounting and bookkeeping (since that was what his background was strongly rooted in).

In a city like Seattle, the start-up community is thriving, and also hungry for support. Thus, by targeting his skills at a market that needed him most, Keith saw his business really start to take off.

Build Your Credentials.
Around the same time, Keith became an officially certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor and also became an accredited business by the Better Business Bureau. These additional credentials were appealing to his clients, and also allowed him to raise his rates as an instructor.

Advertising can be your friend.
Keith is (obviously) a rather technically savvy guy. As he’s spent time building his business, Keith has dedicated time and resources to advertising and marketing in ways that are measurable sources of new students for him.

Keith uses the standby advertising favorite Craigslist on a regular basis, updating his ads on a weekly basis. If you ever find one of Keith’s ads on Craigslist, you’ll notice they’re a bit lengthy. For Keith… his verbosity is strategic. Keith says that the more information that he can give potential clients, the more likely they’ll find a reason to do business with you. “It’s all about building relationships and trust. That’s why I also include my rates in my ads so that the issue of payment (which is sticky for some people) can be eliminated early.”

Craigslist may be bare bones, but in the past, it’s accounted for about 75% of his new students. His main complaint about Craigslist is that for folks who know a little html, you can create really nice ads. Keith also notes that many of the leads he gets on Craigslist are just folks looking for a deal rather than serious students.
Other websites like Biznik, LinkedIn and Kijiji also have helped Keith build a robust online presence. He’s also optimized his business website for Google Adwords so that he shows up higher in Google’s search results when people search for things like “Learn QuickBooks Seattle” or “Seattle QuickBooks Training.”

I asked Keith about the point raised by some teachers that online advertising or setting up profiles for online sites can mean semi-expensive fees and time spent on non client-facing activities.

To this, Keith replied, “There are lots of places where you can post a free profile to advertise your services, but sometimes, you’ve gotta spend money to make money.”

Keith notes that almost all of his new clients find him from his online presence and his business is growing faster than ever before. For Keith, doling out a few bucks per month (for things like a Biznik membership) to get qualified leads and a high page ranking on Google is more than worth it for his business.

—-

If you’re in Seattle and looking for someone to teach you to fish in the deep swirling waters of the River Quickbooks, give Keith a ring. Here’s his contact info:

Creative Commons Photo: Stephanie Costa

Keith Gormezano aka “Dr. QuickBooks”
“The best QuickBooks instructor, trainer, or tutor in Seattle for personalized one-on-one help”
A Better Temporary, Inc.
6561 Phinney Ave N. Suite #217
Seattle, WA 98103-5255
(206) 789-8328
a_better_temporary@hotmail.com

Like most other businesses in America, January is tax time for TeachStreeet. Though “tax time for TeachStreet” is an adorable (albeit annoying) alliteration, it also had the distinct possibility of being the bane of my existence for the past month.

Creative Commons Photo: chpoor

Thankfully however, we have an amazing accountant who’s helped us along. And Dave, man of many talents that he is, was a CPA in a previous life. Thus, working through our taxes and end of year accounting was much less tenuous than I’d originally imagined.

That said, I would like to spend just a quick moment singing the praises of my newfound love for Quickbooks. (I swear we’re not getting a kickback for the following overview. QB is just a helpful product, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I’ve enjoyed learning accounting — words I never thought I’d utter.)

Learning bookkeeping and accounting (especially small business accounting) is not an easy thing for most people. Even for folks who like math or who can keep their personal banking in tip-top shape, keeping tabs on all the financial comings and goings of an entire business has the potential to be a little overwhelming.

Accounting is a daunting task that can lead to businesses just stuffing receipts into random manila folders and hoping for the best. Not that we do that at TeachStreet, but I have to imagine that this receipt-stuffing is especially prevalent at small businesses where owners and employees are doubtlessly wearing a dozen hats and are always pressed for time. Doing the books often falls to the bottom of people’s To Do lists because it can be arduous, confusing and time consuming.

If you have receipt-stuffing tenancies, then I’d say you’re in luck. I’m a great example of how after just a few Quickbook lessons, this handy-dandy program can make the mind-boggling arts of double entry bookkeeping relatively straightforward. For all you small business owners out there, if you’re hurting for an easy-breezy accounting system… go get yourselves some Quickbooks!

An example of how the Quickbooks interface makes life a little bit simpler for those of us who aren’t CPA’s or CFO’s.

QB handles everything from banking accounts reconciliation, to payroll, to tracking inventory, to credit card processing, to check writing. The interface is awesome (very user friendly), and anyone who’s seen some of the other choices for banking software out there know this in itself is a true feat. However, my favorite part about Quickbooks (seeing that I’d still consider myself to be in the “steep learning curve” phase of my accounting understanding) is that if you make a mistake… no real harm done. There are easy double-checking features built in and you can fix entries from a multitude of places throughout the system. It’s intuitive in a way that most things in accounting aren’t. Oh… there are also pretty good discussion boards out there, a Quickbooks sponsored Community site as well as an amusing blog.

So, even if you’re still confused about the difference between debits and credits, fear not. Quickbooks is here to help.

Happy accounting folks. May your end-of-year tax time be quick and painless.

It takes a fairly self-confident woman to admit that “Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery” is one of her favorite movies. But I am, and it is. And the famous “judo chop!” line from the first movie made me quite excited to go see my first judo tournament a few weeks ago.

Judo means “the gentle way”. However, to the untrained eye, one might think Judo actually means “the way of slamming your opponent’s face into the mat”. However, after recently attending a local judo tournament to watch a young family friend participate, I gained a greater appreciation for the fine art of Judo. Here’s what I learned:

Judo Founder, Jigoro Kano

Background: The founder and creator of Judo was the Japanese educator, Jigoro Kano (1860 - 1938). Kano started learning the martial art of jujutsu around the age of 17. Kano was a small young man and he wanted to be able to defend himself from the bullies who picked on him.

By 22 he’s already become a master instructor, but he saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks. Kano wanted judo to be different that most traditional Japanese martial arts, which had the sole purpose of killing one’s opponent.

A focus on finesse: “Jujutsu” refers to the “art” or the “science” of softness. In martial arts, the “soft method” relies on the basic idea of using finesse over brute force. More specifically, softness refers to the principle of using an opponent’s strength against him and adapting to changing circumstances. A good example would be stepping to the side of an attacking opponent and tripping them, rather than just blocking a punch.

As mentioned before, judo refers to the “way” (or the “road” or “path”) of softness. Kano wanted judo to become a way of governing the whole person: the physical, mental, emotional and the moral. He wanted judo to extend outside of the dojo and help it’s practitioners to have the “best use of energy” lead a life of “mutual prosperity“. When refining his judo methods, Kano threw out many jujutsu techniques that relied only on superior strength, and added skills that involved redirecting an opponents force, off-balancing an opponent and make use of leverage, timing, skill and efficient movement.

The moves: The sport of Judo involves pins, arm and joint locks, choking techniques and, of course, the spectacular throws. One of the ways to win a judo match is to hold an opponent on their back for 25 seconds.

Interesting side note: The rules in 1905 stated that it was only necessary to hold an opponent down for 2 seconds, which was about the amount of time needed for a samurai to draw their sword or knife and dispatch their opponent.

I was surprised to learn that there is no striking, punching or kicking in judo, since these cause certain injury. (Some of the highest level judo competitors learn striking or atemi waza in training, but it is never used in competition or outside the dojo.) I guess Austin Powers lied when he was “judo chopping” bad guys left and right. But… we forgive him, don’t we?

I was just getting the hang of understanding the pins, throws and arm locks, when I saw my first choke hold. I must say it took me by surprise to see 12 year old girls attempting to strangle one another. I had a momentary flash back to the World Wrestling Federation shows my brother used to be fond of.

However, after a little more research, judo surprised me once again with it’s focus on skill over brutish force.

More than you might want to know about choke holds and strangulation: Chokes occur by blocking the airway at the front of the neck, whereas strangulation is when one cuts off the bloodstream to the brain by compressing the sides of the neck. Both are referred to as “shime-waza” and can win a match if the opponent submits or becomes unconscious. What interested me most was that when done properly, shime-waza take only a few seconds to subdue an opponent, but rarely cause any injury.

(Supposedly… they don’t get hurt.)

My final observation: The last thing that impressed me about judo competition I saw was not just the skill and strength of the competitors, but also the degree of respect and ceremony that the sport maintains. Contrarily to most youth sporting events I’ve been to that have equal parts poor sportsmanship, foul play and angry parents in ample supply, there was none of that at the judo competition. Even though people were quite literally getting slammed into mats and pinned into clausterphobic little balls, it was obviously understood that to compete in judo meant that you’d also be well-behaved, under control and respectful to your opponents, the judges and the other participants.

Unlike the hundreds of soccer, basketball and football matches I’ve played in and attended, there was not one person who ever questioned a ref’s call. It was all quite refreshing.

After watching my first judo match, the seemingly brutal became graceful, the thuds on the mats looked skilled, disciplined and focused, and I started to understand the true meaning of “the gentle way”.

—

Want to learn judo?

Judo is a great sport for all ages but is particularly good for young people. Parents will love it because of the discipline it instills and because it has fewer injuries for youth than other more traditional contact sports (football, soccer etc.). Kids will love it because it’s so active. What kids doesn’t want to learn cool throwing and flipping moves? Judo is an Olympic sport for both men and women, both guys and gals are accepting in just about every dojo. And because judo is a sport of skill, strength, speed and agility, it’s great regardless of whether you’re small and wire-y or of a stockier build. Note: Some judo classes are specifically targeted at women because of the excellent self defense skills you can learn and use regardless of body size.

JudoInfo.com has a database of some of the judo dojos around the country and the world.

We might have missed Talk like a Pirate Day, but that doesn’t mean that we’re landlubbers here at TeachStreet.

Though I grew up about a mile from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I’d never sailed before last weekend. Thus I jumped at the chance when I was invited to fill an extra spot on my father’s boat for one of his sailing races.

We were racing with other boats from Sequim Bay Yacht Club. I joined the crew of the Sirius, skippered by Durkee Richards (below, left) and manned by Larry Hettick (second from left), long time family friend Jerry Cornell (at the helm) and my dad Ray Gruver (right).

The day I sailed with Sirius, there were seven other boats on the water for the Fall Saturday Series. The skipper’s set the race course (in blue below) at the 10am Skipper’s Meeting and then we buckled on our PFD’s (personal floatation devices) and made our way to the start line.

As a complete novice, I spent the first hour just trying not to get in the way. Fortunately for me, though sadly for the start of the race, the wind was not cooperating. It was barely blowing 1 knot (the equivalent of about 1.15 mph) when the starting gun went off. Thus, all eight boats merely drifted lazily in the water for another 20 minutes or so while I got to explore the Sirius (a J32 sailboat) and get my sea legs a bit.

One thing became glaringly obvious within the first 5 minutes of stepping aboard: Learning to sail means learning an entirely new vocabulary.

The crew started saying things like “Skirt the jib” (meaning “Tuck the front sail behind the wiring of the boat so it catches the wind better”), “Grab that sheet!” (meaning “Hold onto that rope”), and “We need to trim, we’re luffing” (meaning “The sail is pointed too close to the wind. We need to pull on this rope so that the sail will tighten up”).

Thus, I learned Lesson #1: Learn a few sailing terms before jumping on the boat. Start building your sailing lingo repertoire here, check out books like these, or try your hand at this sailing lingo quiz.

Fortunately, the Sirius crew was quite kind in explaining all these foreign phrases to me. So my first lesson, was quickly and appreciatively followed by Lesson #2: Find an understanding and experienced crew to learn from.

As the wind picked up and the race began in earnest, I put my newfound vocabulary to work. Larry and I were responsible for pulling in the sheets (the ropes connected to the sails) when we jibed and tacked.

Jibing and tacking are maneuvers that help you catch more wind and also help you change course. A sailboat can go straight when the wind is coming from behind, but (and here comes a record-breaking statement of the obvious…) it cannot sail directly into the wind. Therefore, you jibe and tack into order to move the boat in a zig-zag pattern, catching the wind as you go. The main difference between the two is that when jibing, you turn the the stern (back) of the boat, and when you tack, you turn the bow (the front).

When jibing (or tacking), up also swap the jib (the small sail on the front of the boat) from one side of the boat to the other. It happens quickly and involves a lot of rope pulling and flapping of sails and yelling. But, when you’ve got a ship-shape crew, which we did, it takes less than30 seconds to execute a good tack and it can earn you some much needed yardage in a race. It can also earn you a rope burn or two.

Lesson #3: Wear gloves.

This brings me to another quick safety tip: When the boat turns, the boom (the horizontal bar fastening down the main - see above for details) swings across the back of the boat with complete and reckless abandon. Though I managed to avoid getting hit, each of the other sailors on the boat had tales of hearing “Jibe ho!” and then waking up five minutes later with a large bruise reminding them of Lesson #4: Duck early, duck often!

The most exciting part of the race came as we rounded buoy #4. After executing a tight jibe, we quickly lowered the jib and hoisted the spinnaker. A spinnaker is the huge sail that flows off the bow of the boat and fills with air while going downwind. It’s almost always the only colored sail on a sailboat, and it’s made of a super light and flexible fabric comparable to that of a parachute.

Heading downwind with spinnaker hoisted

We were now in the cruising part of the race. No jibing or tacking necessary. Just smooth sailing. We finally were getting up to an acceptable speed (about 5 knots). Durkee broke out the sandwiches and I got to have a little chat with the fellas.

How the Sirius crew learned to sail:

Durkee and Larry both started sailing as teenagers, learning the ropes in much the same way I was that afternoon - by trial and error, and by stowing away on friend’s sailboat and finding experienced sailors patient enough to teach you. During his retirement, Larry and his wife built their own sailboat (impressive!). They sailed it from their home in the Bay Area across the Pacific to Hawaii (about a month-long trip) where they toured around for six months or so before sailing east back to the mainland and up the coast of Washington State to Sequim where they now make their home. Durkee and his wife are also both experienced sailors. Their most recent trip was a two month voyage up the inland passage to the Queen Charlotte Islands in none other than the Sirius herself.

Jerry and my dad both learned to sail in their late 20’s. In fact… they were sailing buddies years ago (well, decades ago, if we’re being honest) before either had kids. They’ve now teamed up again, and usually race on Jerry’s boat the Wizard. My dad took a multi-week sailing certification course a few years ago at Peninsula Community College in order to re-learn the basics, but believes that the “learning by doing” is still the best thing with sailing. Getting out on the water puts the classroom learning to practice, and helps one understand that sailing can be truly diverse depending on the time of day, the weather, the seasons, the boat and the crew.

Racing on Sequim Bay (no spinnakers)

Heading into harbor - We did two laps of the course, and in the end, came in 7th, but respectably we were only a few seconds behind boats 4, 5, and 6. After the race, Durkee let me take my turn at the helm. Larry was a few inches away to make sure that I didn’t crash into anything or tip the boat over, but we did manage to get up to the warp-like speed of 6.2 knots while I was steering. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, our fingers were a little frozen but we all had smiles plastered to our faces.

For folks who like fresh air, a little hard work, learning new things and the excuse to have a lovely glass of port at 3 o’clock in the afternoon after a nice adventure boating, let me tell you what I learned for Lesson #5: Go get out on the water, and start sailing! You’ll love it.

—

If you want to learn how to sail, check out sailnet.com, “the world’s largest online sailing community“. Also, US Sailing has a ton of videos as well as online courses that you can take to upgrade your sailing, cruising or seamanship skills. They’ve also got a pretty good list of places to go sailing near you and a list of regional sailing coordinators that can help you find the right class. Most coastal cities have sailing, boating and/or yacht clubs which are great places to look for lessons.

And if you’re in Seattle, let me recommend to you the Center for Wooden Boats, which has classes for adults, kids and anyone looking to “harness the wind and learn to sail.”

If you’re a sailor, novice or expert, tell us what you love about sailing, where you learned to sail and/or give some advice for folks looking to learn more about the sport.

Happy Halloween all!

While some folks spend Halloween baking sweet treats for the neighborhood kids or decorating their houses for haunted mischief-making, the TeachStreet gang couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate this holiday dedicated to trickery than learning how to lie (better).

Ok, so we didn’t really learn how to lie. Some of us are already pretty good at that. However, we DID learn how to become human lie detectors. Marcus Mann, an FBI-trained criminal justice specialist, stopped by our offices today to share some trade secrets that we’re already finding quite useful.

Like many of the teachers we’ve met, Marcus has both a full time job (he’s Director of Employee Development at Lease Crutcher Lewis) and he also teaches part time. In the past, Marcus has taught quarter-long classes on criminal investigation at the UW, Shoreline and Highline Community Colleges. Currently, he teaches a suite of unique 3-hour-long classes at DiscoverU with intruiging titles like: How to Become a Human Lie Detector, How to Become a Private I, Find Anything on Anyone. Marcus also spends a good bit of time doing private workshops with companies on similar topics, as well as training management how to react to stressful situations at work (like a fatality at a construction site). Marcus has been an instructor (both full time and part time) for the past 21 years, putting to good use the skills he learned while running the Washington State Police Academy, as a Hostage Negotiations Team leader and during his multi-decade career as public safety officer in Seattle.

Some of the TeachStreet team hangs out with Marcus Mann (back row, center) at our offices in Seattle, WA.

During our hour-long training session, Marcus gave us a crash course in how to determine if the folks around you are lying. You’ll have to take his class to get all the details, but won’t leave you hanging. In the spirit of learning new things, here are a few tidbits to whet your appetite.

Lies: Some of the different reasons that we lie are…

• Poor boundaries (You don’t want to disappoint someone, so you lie a little bit - “Yeah, I really love that shirt on you.”)
• Fear of rejection (”Sure boss, I’d love to join you for a round of golf. I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”)
• Control (”No Mom, that’s oregano… geeze!”)

Damn Lies: Some of the different types of lies we tell are…

• Lies of Omission (#1 type of lying!)
  • Lie of omission: “Sorry, I’m late honey. I stopped at the store on my way home.”
  • The full truth: “Sorry, I’m late honey. I stopped at the store on my way home, and then swung by the casino for a quick game of blackjack.”
• Fabrication
  • True story: In middle school, I had a friend who said she had a pool in her backyard and we should come over and go swimming. Jack pot! We arrived, swimsuits in hand and as it turns out, there was no pool. Um… awkward.
  • Additional fabrication: Ok, so this actually happened to my sister. But it’s a better story when told first person, no?
• Minimizing and Maximizing:
  • “When I heard about it, I was flabbergasted, shocked, overwhelmed…”

Statistics

• 90% of all statements we make are truthful.
  • While at first, we thought 90% sounded reassuring, after thinking about it, we realized that meant that in a ten minute conversation with your partner, friend or co-worker, usually there will be at least one minute of lying. Maybe it’s just a little fib, but nonetheless…
• Most people don’t lie directly; in fact lies of omission are the most common types of lies.
• Most people can’t lie without detectable responses. This could be anything from changing your patterns of speech to physical cues like sweating or evasive body language (shrugging).
  • The only folks who can consistently lie without detectable responses are pathological liars. We recommend you stay away from them.

As far as learning how to tell if people are lying, look for things like:

• Equivocation (”I think I sort of saw someone coming out of that building late last night”)
• Extraneous information (Q: “Did you rob that bank?” A: “You’d have to be crazy to try to pull something like that off”)
• or Non-normal physical actions (covering your face or mouth, rubbing hands together etc.). And this is just the tip of the iceberg…

For more info, we highly recommended taking a class with Marcus if you’re in the Seattle area. You can contact him at upattitute (at) msn (dot) com. He’s a hoot and someone who really gets a kick out of teaching. One quote from our session that summed up Marcus’s approach to teaching is, “I’m on true north when I teach.” Quite true, Marcus… quite true indeed.

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Bonus Round: Marcus is also a popular author with two books under his belt (”I had to drive, I was too drunk to walk” and “Anti-Terrorism Risk Assesments“) and a third coming out in January (we’ll let you know when it hits the shelves).

His newest book is based around his experiences as a police officer and things people say to get out of tickets. (He’ll soon be offering courses on the same topic.) We got a sneak peek into Marcus’s suggestions, and as it turns out… sometimes being honest (”Sorry Officer. You’re right, I WAS speeding) actually works! (Let us know how it goes if you have the opportunity to try that one out.) After meeting such a great teacher, we’re all really excited to get back to building a site that works for people like Marcus! (Truth or lie? You decide… )

That’s all for now folks. I leave you with a Halloween-oriented video that might tempt some of you to learn more about composting.

I have this theory that many of us harbor a secret illusion that maybe we really could be the next Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell or Ali Farka Toure (check out the 8,922+ folks who want to do this on 43 Things). Maybe that’s what makes the guitar the most popular instrument in America to learn? And I’m almost certain that that’s why Guitar Hero is an even bigger craze than DDR.

Entrepreneur, musician and guitar teacher John Paul Shields of Seattle, WA was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with us about his experiences teaching guitar to the next generation of Jimi’s and Joni’s.

(Lest you be confused, this is Jimi Hendrix, not John Paul Shields)

TeachStreet: What made you decide to become a professional guitar instructor?

John Paul Shields: I’ve have always enjoyed teaching in various degrees, whether it was helping my sister with math (which used to be my favorite subject, her least), organizing a soccer team of novices, or showing friends how to ski. It’s just fun to share something I love to do.

But it took awhile to realize my career in music. After a couple years of studying engineering, I realized I was miserable. I decided to switch gears and transferred to the University of Washington, where I enrolled in the music program. One of the courses I took was guitar pedagogy where we had students to teach and work with. I was absolutely enthralled. And that, as they say, was that!

This is John Paul Shields - happy to be playing guitar.

TS: What do you love about teaching?

JPS: I love sharing my passion for the subject. But I also enjoy the opportunities for learning teaching provides. Not only do I learn more about the subject by seeing how other people approach it, but I also get to learn about the students themselves. I have met so many wonderful people and personalities through teaching. I feel really quite lucky.

TS: What types of students do you teach? How do most people find you?

JPS: I work with all styles of guitar—from classical, to rock, to jazz, to various folk music, etc.—so I get all kinds of students. I’ve worked with aspiring professional guitarists, to adults looking for something fun to do in their spare time, to teenagers, to adolescents, to even kids as young as four years old. I love the diversity of students that teaching guitar privately offers, and I see it as my job as their teacher to help make their goals (whatever they might be) become a reality.

TS: How do most people find you?

JPS: I’ve been teaching full time for more than 6 years now, so a lot of my students are repeat students or come from referrals. The only advertising I really do is on craigslist, outside of my website. My website is helpful in letting folks know that I’m a serious instructor, not just a kid teaching a few chords out of their parent’s basement or something.

TS: As a full time teacher, you’re running your own small business. Tell us a little bit about some of the challenges you face.

JPS: The biggest challenge for a small business owner is getting your name out, which I think is true for any business, but it is especially true for an independent guitar studio that isn’t affiliated with a music store. The internet is a mixed blessing for advertising, in that there are lots of chances to get exposure, but there is so much for people to sort through that it can be overwhelming.

Once you start to get the exposure you need to maintain a clientele, you then have to be prepared to administer your business and the appropriate licenses, taxes, scheduling, etc. It can be a daunting task some days to sort through all the emails, but that is what has to be done.

Of course there is also the challenge of implementing business policy. People are busy, and often the first things for them to put aside in times of stress are activities of leisure, which new guitar lessons can fall under. The challenge for me is to maintain a “no show” policy that allows for a mistake or two once in a while, yet still protects my time as a business owner trying to make a living. People tend to forget that someone else would readily use the lesson time they are skipping.

TS: Do you think these challenges are common to music teachers or even all types of teachers starting their own business?

JPS: Absolutely. Especially when the teacher is forming a private studio. It’s hard to strike your own path, though the rewards of freedom and individuality are worth it.

TS: You teach most of your classes from your home studio? What are the pros and cons for this as a teacher and for your students?

JPS: The cons, as mentioned before, are dealing with the challenges of running your own business. But the benefits are having a studio where you can control lesson times and lengths, fees, curriculum, as well as recommendations for instruments and music. I have no conflicts of interest, in turn allowing me to give lessons and information that is tailor to the student, and that makes me happy.

TS: Any favorite or funny moments from class?

JPS: There are too many to count, really, but I guess my favorite thing is watching someone truly acquire a piece of information. It’s so exciting to watch people’s eyes light up as they “get it.”

TS: You have a great website that talks about your teaching services and performances. What do you love about the internet in general? What limitations do you think it has?

JPS: My website is great for helping potential students learn a little more about me and my teaching philosophy. It also allows potential students a chance to hear samples of what I have worked on, as well as see when I—or my students—are performing. It’s amazing the things that you can do with websites these days. It’s a great way for people to gather information and stay in touch. I think most of us would be lost without email.

Of course, as I mentioned before, there is so much information on the web that it can be overwhelming to the looker, which is why sites such as TeachStreet can be such a help.

TS: Any advice for TeachStreet?

JPS: I’d love to expand my teaching business, especially to do more work with younger school-aged students. That said, the idea of mass marketing myself and my business is a little daunting, so keeping things easy and cost-efficient is going to be a priority for teachers like me. I’d challenge TeachStreet to think of ways to reach out to parents in a way that a) markets teachers, and b) helps parents feel really good about where they’re sending their kids. A typical classified ad in a newspaper or online doesn’t give people enough information to really make a good decision. This is something that I’d love to see improved.

Also, a lot of young folks look at craigslist, which is great. However, parents are the ones who are usually paying for lessons, so TS will need to find places and ways to reach out to parents as well as potential young students.

Lastly, it would be useful to help arrange for payment by credit card, if that’s what parents preferred.

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John Paul Shields has taught guitar through the Renton H.O.M.E. program, the Boys and Girls Club in Kirkland, and as a substitute guitar teacher at the University of Washington. He currently teaches out of his private studio, click here to listen to his music samples. JP resides in Seattle, where he continues to perform and teach guitar, play recreational soccer, and work seasonally as a ski instructor. If you’re interested in taking lessons with JP, contact him at
.

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A few questions to the peanut gallery…

• If you’ve taken a class with the John Paul, leave a comment and let us know what you loved.
• If you’ve always thought about starting music lessons, what would give you the extra push to start now? Extra time in your schedule? Knowing the right teacher? A friend taking classes with you? A promotional first class?

A bad joke to get us started: If you speak three languages, you’re tri-lingual. Speaking two languages makes you bilingual. But if you only speak one language, then you’re an American.

While I never thought of foreign language learning as a controversial topic, it became one while listening to a podcast on the topic of American’s becoming bilingual on KUOW’s “The Conversation” last night.

Here are some interesting news tidbits that I dug up:

• “Nearly 2/3 of Americans wish they’d taken more foreign language.” Scripps Howard News Service
• “Enrollment for Chinese classes has soared from 5,000 primary and secondary students in 2000 to more than 50,000 today.” Christian Science Monitor.
• A different article by CS Monitor also discusses how after 9/11, Arabic became the new “must have” language and Americans began to take note of the important role that language can play in globalization. Students began flocking to Arabic classes in droves. (One teacher even compared them to the “Sputnik students” of the 60’s, noting the similar surge in students wanting to learn Russian after the infamous satellite launch in 1957.) See similar feedback from our conversation with Seattle Arabic teacher Bill Farhat.
• However, many Americans are more than a little daunted by the 4-5 years it takes to learn Arabic. In fact, it takes almost three times longer to learn basic Arabic than it does to learn French. One plucky foreign affairs writer shares his personal struggle with learning to love such a difficult language in his Slate article “I’m Trying to Learn Arabic.”
• “Being fluent in two languages may help keep the brain sharper for longer.” Multiple studies on health and aging have shown that dancing, reading and playing musical instruments later in life can help ward off dementia. A study reported on by the BBC notes a similar benefit from learning a foreign language. (As an interesting side note, a different BBC article also notes that it make take more brain power to speak Chinese than English.)

(Big brains from language learning? Maybe so!)

Some groups such as U.S. English and English First are spear-heading legislation that, among other things, would virtually ban all use of languages other than English by federal, state and local governments. While this may seem to be a fringe movement, some opinion polls show as many as 85% believe English should become the official language of the United States. Other arguments I’ve heard against foreign language learning are:

• School-aged students need to focus on other “core” areas like math/reading/science
• English is the “world’s language” anyway so why learn anything else?
• It’s hard for students to gain fluency without complete immersion
• My future job won’t need it.

A few organizations that represent the other side of the coin are the ACLU, the Linguistic Society of America, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Education Association and the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. In addition, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages recently noted a slew of positive correlations between bilingualism and intelligence, memory skills, problem solving abilities and attention controls (and goodness knows we all need better attention spans) just to name a few. The recent upsurge in bilingual education for infants and toddlers is indeed another indication that individuals (parents in particular) see a long term benefit in foreign language learning.

So, to come back around to our original question: Is bilingualism necessary for Americans? Ok… so maybe it’s not necessary, as in vital-for-life-to-exist necessary.

But it is becoming bilingual a great thing? It is important? Is it an unbeatable opportunity for personal growth, academic improvement, increased job opportunities, greater global and cultural perspective and a more thorough understanding of our complex and ever-changing world (not to mention ease while traveling abroad)? Those of us at TeachStreet are answering that question with a resounding “You bet!”