TeachStreet™

$4.50 a gallon? HELL NO! These days, paying for gas can cause a sharp and intense pain in the wallet vicinity. So why not switch to the kind of burn that guarantees some sexy legs instead? Many residents are taking on Seattle’s seven hills this summer with helmets on. It’s always been popular, but bicycling has become even more of a viable transportation option for commuters.

Washington’s expansive bike lanes and relatively friendly motorists make cycling to work both safe and easy. It’s trendy, too! A recent bicycling article in the fashion-forward daily The Seattle Times identified bike shops prospering despite the lousy state of the economy (look, dubya, I typed it), as people are buying shiny new bikes, used bikes with lots of “character,” or pulling the dusty old bikes out of storage for repair and upgrades (like bells and bicycle baskets - yes, you need some of these!).

Here at TeachStreet world headquarters, we have some dedicated and not so dedicated bicycle commuters, but in the beautiful weather of late, all of us long for weekend rides on the islands or mountain bike excursions in the picturesque sound region.

For commuters, the ride home can really make you wish that you already had those Lance Armstrong-esque thighs, but any bike commuter will assure you that being outside and active in the fresh morning and the peaceful dusk provides for quality time to reflect, enjoy the city, and get a bit of that groovy “OH YEAH” endorphin high that comes from honest exercise.

If you’re interested in getting started with bike commuting or expanding your bicycle knowledge and experiences, the TeachStreet blog is, as usual, the singular most informative resource for you on these subjects! For FREE bicycle maps, 24/7 bike storage downtown, and well priced bike repair, check out Bikestation Seattle in Pioneer Square.

Bikestation is a non-profit storefront sponsored by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington to promote ” travel trips that improve air quality, reduce traffic and parking congestion, and enhance the community’s livability.” It’s also super close to what I’ve heard are the best sandwiches in Seattle, and that is enough reason for many of the more “recreational” bike commuters at TeachStreet to go pick up those bike maps.

For those looking to learn bicycle repair and maintenance, check out some of our TeachStreet bicycle resources. There are a number of local Seattle bike repair classes for all levels of repair-(wo)man, which will ensure you have a dependable car-alternative for your commute. If you’re not in Seattle, or just looking for a quick DIY fix, try the BicycleTutor for handy videos and articles for repairing every part of your bike.

Safety is also important, especially when riding at night, so be sure to incorporate some of these safety features into your commute, as our strapping male model demonstrates:

Jay, a bike safety enthusiast.

So, dear friend, this beautiful summer, go on a gas diet, and feel the freedom and self-sufficency of the very open road. You’ll be saving money, saving baby seals, and improving your health. Really, you can do it! And, one of the best things about Seattle is that if you wimp out on the hills, city buses have built in bike racks. But remember, pain is weakness leaving the body. And that midday “summer” frappawhatnot was like, 5000 calories. So ride on Seattle, ride on!

If you’ve never used the technology before, Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, GPS receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, short-range (up to 30 feet) radio frequency bandwidth.

Picture: www.Bluetooth.com

After recent legislation (effective 7/1/08), Washington State law now makes it illegal to use your hands to talk on the phone while driving. The fine: $110. Money aside, there are also serious safety risks that go along with talking on the phone and driving.

So whether your impetus is abiding by the law, or being safe at the wheel, you’ll probably, if you aren’t already, soon be using a Bluetooth headset or dash unit. Here are a couple things to be aware of before you make your purchase.

Pairing

• Pairing is necessary because Bluetooth devices only communicate with each other after sharing a passkey (by user input). Since the Bluetooth address is permanent, a pairing is preserved, even if the Bluetooth name is changed. Pairs can be deleted at any time by either device.

• Some cell phones are not Bluetooth-enabled. So check your owner’s guide or contact your phone’s manufacturer to find other options for complying with the new law.

Phone Compatibility

• If you already have a phone you’re happy with, check your owner’s guide, call the manufacturer or check their web site to find out which headsets will be compatible.

• The array of headset styles is dizzying, so pick one that appeals to you. If possible, try it on before purchasing. Often the in-ear models work better for women and teens. The over-ear hook models will usually stay in place for those with larger ears.

Built-in Headset

• The easiest way to deal with hands free issues is to buy a phone with built-in headset.

• When you climb in the car, just pop off the headset and put it in your ear. When docked, the headset charges along with the phone and there are no compatibility issues – pairing them takes the push of a button.

• As always, check out all the features of any electronic device you are considering to make sure it’s best for you in every dimension prior to purchasing.

About Teacher Blogger Nancy Ferrell

Nancy has been teaching technology skills to those who didn’t grow up with computers since 1985. As Seattle’s Home Computing Coach, she empowers clients who use PCs, Macs and all kinds of hand held digital devices to reach new levels of confidence and competence.

I posted a link to the 10-minute King5 interview in the previous blog post, but I wanted to also post the individual segments (below), for your viewing pleasure (and, because my mom will be oh so proud ).

We wanted to give a special thanks to Tim Robinson of King5/Kong6/16 — he was fantastic to work with on the segment, and he and his team did a fantastic job — we couldn’t be happier!

Segment #1






Segment #2






Segment #3






Of course, it also reminds me that I’d love to learn how to make digital videos and improve my interviewing skills!

Used to be, the only celebrity who could claim to be “green” was Kermit the Frog.  Nowadays you can’t pick up a paper (or in my case, your wife’s People magazine) without reading about how everyone in Hollywood is sporting the green life.  But let’s face it, we can’t all be like Leo or Cameron.  I like Mother Earth too, but what’s a common dude to do?

After a quick browse on TeachStreet, I learned there’s no excuse: I can go green today.  For starters, there’s a landscaping course that teaches how to be ‘energy wise.’  I could learn how to make my own Biodiesel — and the class is walking distance from my house (two green thumbs up!)  There’s even a class on Solar Home Design — I’m curious to learn how they can make that work in Seattle (if you’ve taken that class, post a comment and let us in on the secret!!)

Maybe it’s not so hard to be green after all.  Here’s a sampling of what’s out there:

• Energy Wise Landscaping
• Make Your Own Biodiesel
• Solar Home Design
• Master Composting/Soil Builder Trainer
• Think Green!
• Basics of Commuting

Yelp. eBay. Avvo. Servicemagic. Amazon. Each of these sites has at least one major thing in common: user generated reviews. And though Yelp has gotten some heat of late over their deletion of user reviews, I’ll borrow from their tagline to say that each has the benefit of providing real reviews from real people.

Just as each of the above sites is in the business of connecting some variation of merchant and consumer, TeachStreet is in the business of connecting some variation of teacher and student. So in this respect, though we pride ourselves on being a teacher resource, TeachStreet is really a place to empower and inform students.

Creative Commons: goa_entranced | Thumbs-Up

In the spirit of real student reviews, I wanted to make mention of a something that happened over the weekend. A teacher received a one star rating. As it wasn’t the review she was hoping for, she was upset.

However, rather than writing a rebuttal where prospective students could read a defensive, angry response, she took a different approach. She emailed former students and asked them to come to her TeachStreet profile page and write reviews, which they did to the tune of several four and five star ratings.

So even though no teacher likes to get negative reviews, to me, this story exemplifies the collaborative, honest way in which reviews should be created. Call it the wisdom of the crowds, the law of averages, or whatever else, but no matter what you call it, this is one of the most intriguing things I’ve seen on TeachStreet. After all, much like seller pages on eBay with lots of buyer feedback, teacher pages on TeachStreet with student feedback, positive or negative, provide the most helpful information: real reviews from real students.

Some Superstar Teachers with Five Star Reviews:

• “Hatha Yoga Class” taught by Maude Pauletto
• “French Lessons” taught by AA Montagnac Linguist
• “Jewelry Classes” taught by Marlo M

When I was 15 I learned to drive by going to school with my Grandma in her ‘95 Taurus, an experience that validated one universal truth: women love guys who drive white Ford station wagons.

Well, perhaps there is no actual truth to that statement. In fact, so much so that I think my own Mom would’ve given me a swirlie if she could’ve. And this is exactly why I was unable to turn down the offer when my friend Scott (on the other side of his sweet sixteen at the time, with a real license) asked me if I wanted to drive his Dad’s BMW.

Once I got behind the wheel, what followed was two of the most exhilarating minutes I’d ever had. I drove with a reckless abandon that I can only hope my own kids will not when they get behind the wheel sans chaperone for the first time. Nothing could’ve gotten me to slow down. Except, of course, for what did: the hill on which I bottomed out on with a loud, speedometer deflating bang.

Picture: driving the bus, again | dcornelius

I mention this story because the combination of unbridled excitement and complete mystification is exactly what Seattle-ites went through last Sunday with the 90 degree weather.

For me, I realized the sun was out, liked that the sun was out, but that was about as far as I got. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. So what I ended up doing was make two egregious mistakes, both of which were sunny day equivalents to crashing my friend’s Dad’s BMW.

• Sunburn - If you make Conan O’Brien look well bronzed (which sadly I do), you should not fall asleep in the sun without sunscreen. It was a painful lesson and one that has been reinforced with every shower I have taken in the last 48 hours.

• Mojitos - When making a mojito, mortar and pestle are key elements, not optional ones. Logical as it may be to finely chop the mint before adding it, I would not recommend this approach. I tried it and I was two leaves away from having to execute the heimlick (again, really sorry about that one, Andrea. Margaritas next time, I promise).

Even though I might have to fend for myself on the sunscreen part, thankfully, with respect to my lack mojito making skills, there’s hope for me yet. There are some folks here in Seattle, with great classes on TeachStreet, who know a thing or two behind the bar.

Picture: Margarita | Drunken Monkey

Bartending Class - Taught @ North Seattle Community College

Homebrew Class - Taught by West Seattle Homebrewers

Wine Appreciation Classes - Taught by Dieter Schafer

As the folks at the Fremont Solstice reminded us last weekend, the days may be getting shorter, but thankfully, the weather is perking up and with July and August being as nice as they are here in Seattle, the best of Summer is definitely in front of us.

Picture: BlossomingYogis.com

One way to enjoy the Summer is by finding great classes to sign your kids up for so you can get out and enjoy the sunshine. Or, perhaps checking a class out with your young one. Either way, here are some kid friendly classes on TeachStreet that might be of interest this Summer.

Classes for your Kids…

Language Classes
Sponge has language classes for kids ranging from newborn to seven years old. They have classes in Spanish, Mandarin, French, Japanese, as well as classes about learning other cultures (i.e. traditions, customs, etc.)

Child Development
Nancy Moe, building off of 20 years of experience, offers several classes, including “Baby Signs” for parents and kids up to three years old to improve cognitive and social child development. I had never heard of using signs to accelerate child development, but it’s an interesting idea and the research is pretty compelling.

Yoga For Kids
Yoga for tots. What a great idea! Perhaps not plank, but Anna over at Blossoming Yogis will get your toddler doing downward dog in no time. Really though, the above picture says it all. Awesome, Anna!

Reading Programs
What happens when you mix dog training and a passion for kids with a passion for education? Answer: Reading with Rover. Becky Bishop, dog trainer extraordinaire at Puppy Manners, uses her dogs in the reading classes she offers through “Reading with Rover.”

Great Music Lessons
When she’s not conducting for the Seattle Girls Choir, or directing at Ancora (a women’s choir here in the Seattle area), Miss Tess teaches a plethora of music classes. Miss Tess has lots of musical experience, has gotten great reviews and is eager share her knowledge with aspiring musicians!

We spend so much time talking about all-things TeachStreet that we sometimes forget there are other “little engines that could” striving to make the world a better place — one of them, Trusera, just officially went live last night, and we couldn’t be happier for them.

Trusera.com, which allows consumers to find and share real-world health experiences with others who’ve been there, is a new online health network founded by a good friend, Keith Schorsch (and fellow ex-Amazon.com alumni). The company vision was based on Keith’s own struggle with Lyme disease and the difficulty in finding credible health insights from others. After meeting with 11 doctors, it was one phone call from a friend that finally led to his diagnosis and saved his life.

During his diagnosis and recovery, Keith realized that there’s actually too much health information on the Internet today. Many people find it overwhelming to navigate and hard to trust. He found the most useful information came from people with similar health experiences and their own personal health stories. He founded Trusera to inspire people to learn from each other to inform important health decisions.

Click here for a free membership to Trusera, the online health network

Last week, we decided that it was time to bust out of the office and find ourselves — we’d had enough of feature prioritization, scrum/sprint planning and meetings! So, we packed up and headed to Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats — if you haven’t been there before, you should definitely check it out. Not only are they a TeachStreet teacher/school with tons of great boatbuilding classes, but they have a fantastic facility for offsites (we rented the upstairs library for a discussion of TeachStreet Values, Philosophy, and more).

Afterward, they also arranged a 2 hour sail on Lake Union — while it was a little overcast, we had a great day and also got to experience some of the rowing skills (video below) of team members Fred, Sam and Scott — not sure why rowing should have been necessary, but sometimes that’s what it takes to get back to solid ground!

Video:

Photos:

Regardless of whether or not you’ve ever been to an event, you’ve probably heard of Meetup.com. If not, the idea is simple. Find a local community group with a common interest, meet up, and do whatever it is you enjoy doing. And though sometimes one person is a teacher, frequently it’s just two two people who are interested in something.

At TeachStreet there are a number of resources for folks with teaching businesses, but what about those who know a lot about literature and want to talk books, or the aspiring harmonica player who may not be an expert, but still has something to teach?

It has been cool to see the idea that anyone can be a teacher begin to emerge on TeachStreet. Folks who don’t necessarily define themselves as teachers, with day jobs and no teaching background, have begun coming to the site and registering classes. And just as the a-ha moment happened for millions of buyers on eBay, who came to realize they could sell, too, the a-ha moment is happening for students who realize they too have something to teach.

Perhaps you’re good at chess, but never really thought about the fact that you could try your hand at being a chess teacher?”

But regardless or whether or not your aspiration to teach is there, you can always learn. One great Meetup group here in Seattle is the Craft Sellers Meetup. And they are putting on an event at the NW Senior Center over in Ballard on Saturday June 28th, if you want to check out their craft show.

Or, if you can’t make it to the Senior Center on the 28th, there are quite a few jewelry making classes on TeachStreet. In particular, both Marlo M and Julie Charles are two great crafts-women who teach some pretty awesome classes. And it doesn’t take more many clicks around their profiles or Google searches to see that I’m not alone with that opinion.