"Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience." Francis Bacon

Air Asia

Flights: FD 3524 and FD 3525

Fare Paid:  12,440 Thai Baht for four passengers (USD 385) for round trip, including taxes and fees.

I am not sure what makes the difference, but I fly on some no-frills airlines and I am perfectly happy.  I fly on others and I wind up feeling irritated.  For example, I have flown on Southwest a number of times and I have no complaints whatsoever.  Yet I feel irked when I hear about airlines like Spirit and Ryan Air (I have never flown on either of them).  The now shabby service on United’s aging fleet  is equally annoying.  I mourn the loss of British Airways as one of the few airlines that belonged to that elite group that people looked forward to flying on.

The difference is possibly one of attitude.  Southwest attendants are consistently jolly.  They seem to be very concerned about getting you to your destination on time in a way that is pleasant as possible.  And their executives refrain from making mean spirited statements to justify the very basic services and the extra charges.

In a recent statement aimed to justify charging passengers to bring on carry-on bags, the chief executive of Spirit Airlines said, “Nobody brings their package to FedEx or U.P.S. and expects them to ship it for free.”  What an attitude!  And how much kinder it would have sounded to say that the airline, faced with increased fuel prices and other pressures, was forced to seek ways of saving money.  ”We really don’t want to do this to you, but these fees are needed for us to keep flying.”  I might have sympathized.

Approaching Singapore on Air Asia Flight FD 3524

Enough of that!  Air Asia delighted all four of us on a recent trip from Phuket (HKT) to Singapore (SIN).  The Airbus 320 was new, spotlessly clean, and we were greeted by a smiling, friendly Thai crew.  And the fare was only about 12,440 Baht (about 385 USD including tax and airport fees) for the round trip for all four of us.

We had a small delay on FD 3525, the flight back from Singapore to Phuket, but otherwise things seemed perfect for this short flight.  We made absolutely sure that our bags were consistent with the limits for carry-on baggage so that we didn’t have to pay any extra for the bags.  I understand that Air Asia is really strict about baggage and they stick rigidly to the rules.

Check in was easy, simple, and courteous.  Like many other no-frills carriers, Air Asia charges extra if you want to pick your seat on line.  (So does British Airways!)  We didn’t bother with that and had no trouble finding pleasant (leather!) seats on the plane that was half empty.

Click here to see their prices for check-in baggage. (Note that it is much cheaper if you pay in advance rather than at the airport.)

Approaching Phuket on Air Asia FD 3525

Although they offered basic food for a fee, we didn’t have any.  They don’t serve alcohol.  Air Asia is another of the world’s dry airlines.

Air Asia won the Skytrax award for the second year running for being the world’s top low cost carrier.  After this very pleasant experience, I can understand why!

We bought the ticket directly from the Air Asia website.  Competitors included Tiger Air (comparable pricing), Silk Air, and Thai Airlines, which were a lot more expensive.

I have started using Google Voice, and I have been playing with it to find out everything it can do and also to find out its limitations.

Click here to read my previous posting on Google Voice.

I did say in my previous article that it has changed my life, and it really has! I keep on thinking that it’s so good that there has to be a catch.  Well, there really isn’t, but the service is still in its early stages, and there are bound to be a few irritations and limitations.  Here are two that I have come across in the last week:

• Occasionally it can be really slow if you want to initiate a call from the website.  Not a big deal.
• I often use a conference calling from www.freeconference.com.  This is another service that I like.  Basically the deal is that you can run a full featured conference call, but, unlike a lot of these services, there isn’t a per-minute charge.  The difference is that it is a toll call.  It works really well.  You sign up.  They give you a telephone number, a participant code, and a moderator code, and you can begin to use it to run telephone conferences.  You can access the number they give you from Skype, Vonage, or pretty much any phone system you have.  But you can’t access the number from Google Voice.  You just get the following message:  This number is not available for call return.  Good bye!

A pity!  But everything in life can’t be free.

The Cloisters Museum & Gardens

99 Margaret Corbin Drive
Fort Tryon Park
New York, New York 10040
212-923-3700

First, how to get there:
By Subway/Bus

Take the A train to 190th Street and exit the station by elevator. Walk north along Margaret Corbin Drive for approximately ten minutes or transfer to the M4 bus and ride north one stop. If you are coming from the Museum’s Main Building, you may also take the M4 bus directly from Madison Avenue/83rd Street to the last stop. (Please allow more time for this option.)

By Car
Take Henry Hudson Parkway northbound to the first exit after George Washington Bridge (Fort Tryon Park–The Cloisters). This exit is only accessible from the northbound lane; if coming from the north, take Henry Hudson Parkway southbound to exit 14–15, make a U-turn, and travel north one mile to the exit marked Fort Tryon Park—The Cloisters.  Parking is free.

Admission for adults is $20.00.  It is considered a donation, and they will accept any donation that you can afford.  This is such a wonderful place that it seems only fair to be as generous as you can!  The admission button also admits you to the Met’s main building on Fifth Avenue.

The Cloisters -- A view of the main building

The cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,  is devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe.  It is set in a beautiful park at the northern tip of Manhattan close to the subway station at 190th Street.

Here is how I wound up spending the day here.

Most of my friends know the story, but I was born in Manhasset, New York.  My father was British Vice-Consul in New York, and he worked in the Empire State Building commuting from our house in Manhasset.  During this time, he got to know New York well.  He painted in Central Park in winter and visited all the museums in the city.  We left New York in 1956 when I was only two so I was not really at an age where these treasures meant much.  My father renewed his enthusiasm for New York and its museums when he was Consul in Havana in the late sixties.  Quite often, diplomatic service business would take him up to New York from Havana where he’d spend a week doing business and enjoying everything New York had to offer.

When I came to live in the United States in 1981, he’d often talk about The Cloisters and he’d rave about what a wonderful place it was.  I went last Friday (July 16, 2010), and understood exactly what he meant.  My joy in the beauty of this place was just slightly tarnished by a sense of shame.  How could I have been so stupid as to have lived in the United States for so long without paying a visit to this extraordinary museum?

Unfortunately another appointment in Manhattan meant that I couldn’t get here until after three in the afternoon.  Even though I knew the place would close at 5:15 PM, I determined not to rush it — I just wanted to absorb the beauty.  It was quite an emotional experience to be among these ancient treasures and I confess to shedding a tear or two as marveled at the collection and mourned the loss of both my father and mother who would never have allowed their enthusiasm for this collection to fade.  And I thought about Ben and Lydia, my dear brother and sister, who very probably saw this collection with my parents.

The first thing that struck me was the size.  When my father had talked about it, he described a reconstructed medieval cloister, which would have been worth seeing if this was the only thing there.  But this place is quite enormous with over 5,000 items on display!

Cuxa Cloister

I spent a long time in the largest quadrangle the Cuxa Cloister, the largest part of the museum.  This 12th century cloister is a reconstruction of a much larger cloister from a Benedictine monastery called Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa at the foot of Mount Canigou in the northeast Pyrenees.  It was lovely to sit here with my music (Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony), photograph the flowers, and look at the various doors, pillars, sculptures, and fonts that decorate the place.

After leaving the Cuxa Cloister, there really wasn’t all that much time left before the museum closed, but I did take a good look at the tapestries, some of the stained glass, and a few of the sculptures.  Two hours allowed me only enough time to know what the place is about and to discover what an amazing place it is.  But I need to come back to look at all the treasures exhibited here.

Here are just three of the pieces that caught my attention:

Stained glass depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence

The stained glass in the picture above depicts St. Lawrence.  You can see the fire beneath his feet, which is a departure from most portrayals of this saint, in which he is seen lying on the grill.  Legend has it that Lawrence was grilled to death and placed on a barbecue.  He was said to be so brave that half way through this torture he told his captors that they could turn him over as he was “done” on the side that being cooked.  This piece of stained glass was made in Canterbury (England) between 1175 and 1180.

Head

The sandstone head shown above was carved in the late thirteenth century and comes from Strasbourg.  It may have been from Strasbourg cathedral or possibly another church in the same city.  I was amazed by its perfect condition.

Enthroned Virgin

This enthroned virgin is from Tuscany and dates back to the first half of the fourteenth century.  Made of terracotta, it is probably a workshop model rather than a finished piece.  Possibly it was to be used by a goldsmith who was working on an altar piece.

I highly recommend The Cloisters to any visitor to New York.  It is wonderful to escape from the pace of the city and contemplate in peace.

After my visit, I took the M4 bus to the main building of the Met on Fifth Avenue.  The bus was probably a mistake as there was a long wait and the ride took a really long time.  I should have taken the subway.

The Iron Bridge Wine Company
10435 State Route 108
Columbia, Maryland 21044

410-997-3456 (Phone)
410-997-3807 (Fax)

For a Google map, click here.

Last night we had dinner at the Iron Bridge Wine Company after a long absence.  The absence, incidentally, was not accidental — we’d had a couple of disappointing meals and stayed away for a couple of years.

Last night’s experience didn’t disappoint.  First we noticed that they offer (on Sundays and Wednesdays) a very good deal — $33 for a three course meal.  You pick what you like from the starters, the main courses, and desserts.

We all started with foie gras with three of us opting for the pan seared foie gras, which was served on a piece of toasted brioche with a plum and mango relish.  It was nicely done — a gently cooked and very tasty piece of liver.  One of us opted for Foie Gras Chips & Dip.  This dish consisted of  Yukon Gold Potato Chips and  a White Truffle Foie Gras Mousse.  Although I would not have chosen this for myself, I tasted it and thought it was very good indeed.  The dip definitely tasted of foie gras although my fear was that it wouldn’t!

Washoo, a fish from Hawaii

Three of us chose Wahoo, a firm white-fleshed fish from Hawaii.  It was covered with an artichoke-based sauce, and I found that mine was cooked to perfection with firm meat and a nice juicy texture.  (One person in our party found hers to be a little dry).

One of us chose the 8 oz. Grilled Flat Iron served with Sweet Potato Fries, Roasted Cippolini Onions and  House Made Worcestershire Sauce).  She felt that the steak was adequate but only adequate, and lamented that there was a lack of available choices on a menu.  When I countered that a short menu is usually a good thing, she argued that she was yearning for a rack of lamb that she had eaten in this restaurant before.  Besides, she said, how can any restaurant have a menu that offers no chicken, no lamb, and no pork on its list of main courses? I had to agree with her.

Lemon custard with rice pudding

We also had excellent desserts.  The most notable was a sort of mousse made with mocha and raspberries.  One of us had a very nice and tart lemon custard served with a small portion of rice pudding that we all thought was too sweet.

Raspberry and Mocha Moussel

I am going to start coming to the Iron Bridge again.  The people are friendly, and it was nicely served.  Besides, it is so nice to go to a restaurant with original cooking that is not part of a chain.  I also appreciate the $10 corkage charge for wine (waived on Thursdays!).

All in all, a nice evening!  And a very fair bill — $171 for four people, including tax (but not the tip) for four three-course dinners and a good bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir, a good compromise between the fish-eaters and the person who chose the steak.

Ringo Starr's gold drum

I had a quick but delightful visit today to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,

I decided to take a look at the section with musical instruments — partly because my interest in instruments had been stimulated by my recent very enjoyable visit to the Musical Museum in London.

Click here to see an account my trip to London’s Musical Museum.

They had a number of instruments owned by famous people, including a clarinet owned by Benny Goodman, but today’s special attraction was a drum that belongs to Ringo Starr.  This gold-plated snare drum was a gift from Ludwig because Ringo’s insistence on Ludwig’s logo being prominently displayed on his drums did wonders for this American drum company.  They had to work round the clock to keep up with demand after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show!

The drum came on display on July 7th, Ringo’s 70th birthday, and will stay at the Met until December.

When I travel, I like to be highly organized about my plans.  My schedule, confirmation numbers, the exact departure times, and so on have to be at my finger tips.  I almost never use travel agents as I usually have a very clear idea of what I want to do and how much I want to pay.  Having these details  can be very important with hotel reservations so that you can make sure that the rate you reserved is the one that you actually pay.

This is where Tripit.com comes in. TripIt is an online service that manages all these things and creates a clear and easy-to-read itinerary for you. Before TripIt came along, I used carry a whole wad of printouts, and it could be confusing when a trip was long and complicated.  If you’ve ever arrived at an airport wondering whether you need to go to the Hertz or Budget counter to pick up your rental car, you’ll probably find this service helpful.

When you get a confirmation from a vendor by email, you simply forward it to plans@tripit.com, and TripIt recognizes you based on your e-mail address.  It parses the confirmation and extracts all the essential details.  The result is an organized plan that you can access on line or print out.  There are versions for mobile devices, including both iPhones and Blackberries.

TripIt comes in two versions, the free version and TripIt Pro, which costs $49.00 a year.  I got the Pro version last year, but I am beginning to question its value.  The main difference is that it monitors your travel and sends you alerts if your plane is canceled or delayed, a service that duplicates what most airlines do for free anyway.  It also monitors alternate flights, which can be quite helpful if you are trying to make plans after a cancellation.  Another feature in the Pro version is PointTracker, which puts all your airline points into a single place.  This is handy, but I don’t find it works all that well.

Despite a few quirks, I do find TripIt to be useful.  There seem to be few vendors whose confirmations that Trip can’t interpret.  I have used it with quite a few, including Budget, Hertz, Metropolitan Opera, Megabus, British Airways, United, US Airways, Royal Caribbean, Expedia, Orbitz, Lufthansa, Air Asia, Hilton Hotels, and Hotwire.  That is quite impressive, and I like the way it can add your opera seats into your travel plans.

For the most part, TripIt reports your trip and adds it to the schedule flawlessly although there are a few weird things:

• When you travel across time zones, it is not entirely intuitive whether you should enter local time or the time that you usually use.  Sometimes, I find that TripIt is trying to be too clever and manipulates the time of an appointment.
• I have written about this before, but it doesn’t work well at all with Megabus.  For example, if you book five Megabus round trips, TripIt interprets this as one long trip, and it is quite bothersome to separate them into discrete trips.  Even more annoying, the mobile version of TripIt doesn’t display the one piece of information that you really need: the confirmation number that you have to show to the driver!
• TripIt also seems to create random times for your hotel departures.  For example, let’s say I am leaving a Hilton in Orlando to catch a plane from Orlando to Baltimore at 5:00 in the afternoon.  TripIt might place my hotel departure after my flight departs throwing my schedule out of sequence.  With most hotels requiring you to leave by 11:00 or 12:00, I don’t know why this isn’t a default checkout time it TripIt!

TripIt is conceived as a social network, and, by default, reports all your movements to everybody in your network.  There are also connections to other social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook.  It is probably a matter of taste and a question of manipulating my privacy settings in TripIt, but I have no interest in announcing my movements to everyone in my network!

I am going to continue to use TripIt for the moment, and I have a few trips that are coming up over the next six months, but I am going to cancel my subscription to TripIt Pro.  I’ll look at other competitive products as I do find the quirks a little annoying, and may come back if they fix them.

Another trip on Megabus today!  Baltimore (White Marsh) to New York.

Everything was flawless, and I noticed that the power and the wi-fi worked all the time both on the trip to NY and all the way back!  Quite often at least one seems to die in the middle of the journey.

But I noticed that YouTube was blocked. If that is what it takes to keep the wi-fi up and running for the whole journey, it seems like a pretty good idea!

My fare?  Eight dollars one way and one dollar for the way back.  I’m happy!

(Written and posted from the bus)

399 High Street
Brentford
Middlesex
TW8 0DU
ENGLAND
Telephone:- +44 (0)20 8560 8108

Fax:- +44 (0) 20 8847 9383

http://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/

Our plans for the day went a little wrong because of the weather.  We wanted to spend the day around the river Thames with a possible visit to Kew Gardens, but it was a cold, windy, and rainy day.

We wound up at The Musical Museum not quite knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be a fascinating day.

Gallery at the Musical Museum

This photograph was provided by The Musical Museum.  The Musical Museum reserves all rights to these photographs including the copyright.  They may not be copied or reproduced without express permission in writing from the museum.

First there was a live exhibit with people demonstrating war-time jitterbug dancing.  Excellent!  They called on the audience to join in, but I politely declined as I rarely dance for humanitarian reasons.  (The museum’s website is advertising free ballroom dancing lessons in July!)

The next part of the visit was a tour of the museum’s fascinating collection of automatic instruments.  Our guide was knowledgeable and infectiously enthusiastic as he showed us around collection, which is one of the world’s foremost collections of music machines.

This lecture and demonstration opened up a world that I knew nothing about.  I was particularly interested to see that some of the pianos reproduce precise recordings of music as played by famous pianists and composers, including Gershwin and Rachmaninoff.

An altogether fascinating afternoon and well worth the admission fee (8 GBP with concessions for senior citizens).

There is a cafeteria where you can get sandwiches, beer, and wine.  The museum is also well adapted for people with disabilities — a member of our party is a wheelchair rider.

With Kew Green, Strand-on-the-Green, and Kew Gardens nearby, I find this to be a delightful area of London.  The Musical Museum is one more reason to visit!

Strand-on-the-Green

For visitors from abroad, an excursion to this areas reveals a beautiful part of London that is a little different from where tourists usually venture.  This is an especially nice excursion for anyone who is waiting around for a plane at Heathrow Airport, you can easily get here by taking the Heathrow Connect train from Heathrow to Ealing Broadway.  At Ealing Broadway, take the 65 bus, which stops at the door of the museum.  After your visit to the museum, take a walk down Strand-on-the-Green, a five minute walk from the museum, stopping at one of the pubs for a drink and a snack.  (Ask carefully, but you’d probably need a layover of six to eight hours to get here, enjoy the museum, visit Strand-on-the-Green, and get back in time for your next flight.)

Click here for directions to The Musical Museum from other parts of London.

Picture of Lytton Springs Vineyard

This was an evening when we had a small dinner party — just one couple — of people who really pay attention to wine, and I wanted to pull out some of my best.  The first two wines, a Pomerol (Chateau de Sales, 2003) and Demoiselle de Sociando Mallet (2000) seemed to create a slight sense of disappointment in the two women in the group.  Knowing that my wife prefers a good Californian Zin over anything Bordeaux has to offer, I decided to pull from the cellar a bottle of the Ridge Lytton Springs (80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Syrah).

What a good idea this was!  Everybody at the table absolutely loved this wine.  This (2000) was a year in which yields were especially low, but these low yields did not prevent the grapes from being fully ripened by the middle of September.  A lot of care was put into making sure that the wine was not over-oaked.

We worried that we were about to drink a wine towards the end of its life span, but it was simply perfect.  The deep berry tastes (raspberry, blueberry, and possibly some plums) showed through with just a little hint of sweetness.  The tannins were soft and pleasant with no harshness whatsoever.  While this wine is very distinctly Californian, the wine make seems to deftly avoid the kinds of faults that are sometimes associated with California particularly as it was neither over-oaked nor over-alcoholic.

I just love this wine, and it was even better than the first time I had this wine.  Click here to see my earlier comments on the Ridge Lytton Springs 2000.

I signed up for Google Voice quite some time ago, but I have been playing with it only for the last week or so.  During these few days, I have begun to appreciate how cool and useful it is.  It used to be by invitation only, but Google has recently opened the service up to anyone in the US.  (Sorry, the rest of the world has to wait.)

Click here to go to the Google voice website.

First, what is Google Voice?

Google Voice is a comprehensive virtual phone system.  It enhances your existing telephone system in a variety of ways, including providing you with a phone number that can be forwarded to any of your phones.  Many readers are probably like me — you might have several phones and the best phone to reach you depends on the time of day and what you are doing.  Your friends and colleagues might try your office first.  If they get no answer, they’ll try your mobile phone.  Google Voice takes this all away.  When someone calls your Google Voice number, the call goes to any or all of your phones, and the first one to answer takes the call.  So, a single number to handles all your calls directing them to wherever you want them to land.  That in itself is pretty slick, but there are loads of other features too.

Think of it this way.  In the telephone world, each device or telephone has a number.  That is why you have a number for every phone you own.  Google Voice changes that idea.  The number is attached to a person rather than to the device.  In this respect, it’s like e-mail.  If you needed a new e-mail address for every computer you used, that would obviously be stupid.  With Google Voice, you have your personal number and you decide which phone you are going to use with that number — just as you do with e-mail!

Here are a few tips and tricks and descriptions of some of the features:

• Your choice of area code When you sign up, you get to choose the area code where you want your number.  So, if you live in the Napa Valley, but would prefer people to think you live in Piscataway, NJ, you can get a number with a Piscataway (I just love that name!) area code.  This might sound frivolous, but it could be useful if you have friends and relatives in a particular place and you want them to be able to get hold of you with a local call.  Think about the number you want carefully when you sign up.  You can change your number later, but it will cost $10 to do so.
• Vanity Numbers If you’d like a number that contains your name or your business, you can type in the word and Google Voice will offer you a variety of choices.  I managed to snag a very distinctive number with a Washington, DC area code.   DC isn’t just a cool place, but both of my adorable children live there and can reach me as a local call.
• Low International Rates Calls to the United States and Canada are free.  Calls to other countries are at very competitive rates.  For example, it costs 2 cents a minutes to call many countries, including England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong.  Be careful when calling mobile phones, though.  These calls usually cost considerably more especially in Europe.
• Web Interface for calling I usually have the Google Voice web interface up all the time.  When I want to make a call, I  select the name of the person I want to call and the phone I want to call from.  First Google voice rings my selected phone and as soon as I pick up, it connects me to the person I want to talk to.  No long distance charges take place except for the modest charge if you make an international call.  This is a terrific feature that lets you make a long distance call without triggering a charge to the owner of the phone line, such as your employer.  In fact, I am beginning to use this for any call made from my office whether the call is personal or work related.
• Enhancement for your existing cell phone service With Google Voice, you can effectively turn your mobile phone plan into an unlimited calling plan.  Most cell phone companies allow you to call a select group of people (family and friends) without burning through your minutes.  With Google Voice, you can put your Google voice number on that list.  Then you can make calls by dialing your Google Voice number.  As soon as Google Voice answers, enter your PIN and then 2.  Then you are prompted to enter the number you want to reach and Google Voice connects you to that number.  As far as your mobile carrier is concerned, you have simply dialed your Google Voice number, which is on your list of favorites.
• Forwarding Schedules  You can establish schedules so that the right phone rings.  For example, my mobile phone rings on any call; my office phone rings on weekdays between 8:00 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening; and my home number rings on evenings and weekends.
• Voice mail transcription Many of my friends know how much I hate voice mail.  I won’t do that diatribe here, but I love the fact that your voice mail comes in as a text message or email,  So when some moron calls you, as so often happens, to tell you the time (I have a watch), their name (I have a contact list), and their phone number (I have caller ID), at least you can quickly glance at the text rather than waste time accessing your messages and listening to him/her droning on.  You can even use this feature as a dictation machine — call your number and leave a message while you are driving to work, and you get the message typed up for you when you arrive at the office.
• Smart Phone Applications There are applications for most smart phones that allow you to make your calls via Google Voice.  On my Blackberry, it adds this option to the menu associated with contact list.  It makes sense to use these applications when you call internationally or if you have defined the Google number as one of your favorite numbers and you’re trying to expand your minutes.
• Text Messages If you don’t have a plan that allows you to send unlimited text messages on your mobile phone, you can send them from the comfort of your computer at no charge.  Unfortunately, you cannot send international text messages any more.
• Support for people without phones Let’s say you don’t own a phone at all.  With Google Voice, you can still send and receive texts from your computer; you can pick up voicemail as a transcription or you can listen to it as it comes as an attachment to your email.  And if you stay with someone who has a phone, you can forward your calls to that number.  Also, you have somthing to write when a phone number is a mandatory field on an online form.
• Do not disturb Google Voice has a mode that will leave you in peace if you don’t want to take any calls.
• Call Screening Google Voice allows you to screen a call before opting to take it.  I don’t use that feature as almost every call I receive is identifiable because it is in my contact list.
• Elimination of long Distance Charges It seems that few people pay them now, but some people like to have a land line in the house.  With Google Voice, you can ask your phone company for the most basic plan with no long special long distance deal.  Then you can use Google Voice every time you make a call.  And if you use your computer to initiate the call, it counts as an incoming call so you could even consider eliminating a plan that offers a deal for local calls.

There seem to be very few drawbacks.  The only annoying limitation I have found so far is that Google Voice doesn’t allow you to send international texts any more.

So far, I love it!  Another way in which Google has changed my life!