I must acknowledge that I have not taken a motorcycle ride in ages.
My worst memory, you could even have called it 'Scary Movie' was a late evening ride in the Montagne Noire near St Pons in Southern France.
The road was narrow and we got caught in a violent storm and could barely see ahead of us except when lightning showed us the way.
In any case, I don't think that any navigation systems existed at the time.
Fast forward to 2007 and help is on the way with Sunday Morning Rides.

This community site allows riders to plan their outings, discover new ones and also share their suggested trips with others.
To start check the List by Regions. They are still adding to it since Sunday Morning Rides launched only earlier this month.

I wish them bonne chance on their venture.

Thanks to Webware for bringing Sunday Morning Rides to my attention.

Other Travel Planning & Map Efforts I mentioned: Week-end outings: Use Google Maps to find Wineries and   What's Up has the news literally popping up all over the world map

What do you get when Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and Chuck E Cheese, decides to marry Technology and Eateries. You get uWink, a bistro without waiters. Touch screens replace them. The food still gets delivered by humans. What in restaurant parlance is called a food runner.
They must have known that most people like me associate Chuck E Cheese with high noise level so they are quick to reassure us on that point. uWink will be lively without cacophony.
Their 'pilot' location opened in October of 2006 at the Westfield Promenade in Woodland Hills (California).
You can browse the internet from your seat, play video games with guests at other tables or preview movie trailers.

One of the rooms can accommodate larger groups for quiz shows and  even business presentations.

The menu goes from finger foods to salads, sandwiches and also regular main dishes.
I noticed a few interesting items such as a southwestern caesar, a Vietnamese shrimp salad, a barbecue tofu sandwich, a purple haze pizza (Jimi Hendrix is everywhere these days) and a Korean Skirt Steak.

How they all taste, I cannot tell since I only read about it.
If you already visited the place let me know.
The wine selection if limited is decent and fairly priced.

Interesting concept, one thing I suggest they do though is improve the sluggish 'performance' of their website.

In January, they hosted a party for the new season of '24'.

I scooped uWink on Springwise.

Also on restaurants: Dancing on tables in Restaurants plus Cyrus versus French Laundry and Noise Annoys, loud restaurants   

I have been toying with the Idea of adding a Job Board to 'Serge the Concierge' for a month or so but failed to act upon it.
Reading about Job Coin today, one of the services that allow you to create such a Job Board and add it to your Site, I decided to give it a shot.
It took me only minutes to go through the whole process and then add it to 'Serge the Concierge' under the headline of guess what 'Job Board'.
In order to create your Board, you need first to create an account/ profile. You also need a PayPal account.
I settled for a minimum of $15 per Job offered. Job Coin keeps one third of the amount, you get the rest.

My readership, you,  is a rich mix, worldly and might be just the kind of talent some companies want to hire.
Let's see what happens.

I first read about Job Coin on Webware.

Other Tryouts related posts: Start me up...Best and Worst

Start me up. In life and work, we experiment, succeed, fail and most of us learn from the experience.
What matters is not repeating the same mistakes.
Serial entrepreneur Mark Fletcher just opened the doors of Startupping to help those of us who hitch to turn ideas into businesses.
He asked a number of people including John Battelle to offer some words of wisdom in Best and Worst Decisions.

Let's not forget that we do not know what works unless we give it a try!
So risk might be not taking any?

More ideas (of many stripes) can be found in this Small Entrepreneurship Directory.

Other Biz (business not bizarre) stories: On the Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Success The Magazine: Real People Successful in Business

In Bring Wine, Pay Double, Helena Echlin of Chow explores the question of corkage fees in restaurants.

People might not appreciate to have to pay a $20 corkage fee for a wine they bought for around $10 or $15 in a wine store.
I think the fee should stay in the $20 region (per bottle).
I suggest people call the restaurant prior to bringing their own wine so they will know what the policy is.
The wine brought should be something special.
Profits made on wines and spirits help many restaurants balance the high costs of producing high quality foods.

For both sides, it all comes down to good manners.
Would anyone dream of bringing their own steak and ask the kitchen to grill it for them?
I also find it rude when people eat out and bring along and put in full display their water or soda bottle, cappuccino. Some not wanting to pay for tea, bring along their own tea bag and ask for hot water.
Others ask for a lot of sugar and lemons and make their own lemonade.

To conclude restaurants should charge a reasonable corkage fee and stingy customers should mind their manners and not make a fool of themselves.

Amanda Gold offered a 'fair and balanced' review of the same topic in Taming of the Screw for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Also on restaurants, manners and corkage fees: Has the restaurant become the new hotel bedroom, plus Restaurants, Wine and Wikis and Tis' the season for Elements of Etiquette

I had to pay a visit to Becks & Posh and stumbled upon the fact that today is Pancake Day. The British call it Shrove Tuesday.
To celebrate, Sam decided to go for Wine Crepes. I have never tried that.

In my early years in Brittany, along with my grandparents, parents and brothers and sisters  we paid a weekly visit to the Creperie right around the corner.
We actually ate mostly Galettes de Ble Noir, a larger version of crepes made with a close cousin of buckwheat.
The meal usually started with a plain one dipped in a bowl of lait caille (curdled milk), then un couple (2 galettes with eggs, ham, cheese or a combination of these in between them).
Apple Cider would be the drink of choice.

Since living in the US, I often make Crepes for Breakfast, usually on weekends when the pace is unhurried.

Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini gave her take on Galettes de Sarrazin as they are also called back in February 2004.

Funny enough Joel Robuchon uses Lait Caille  for La Mandarine, one of the desserts he offers at his Las Vegas outpost.

Related Stories: 5 Things to eat before you die

Stefan Stern shakes the coconut tree in Wanted: more emotion and less rationality about strategy his Tuesday (Financial Times) column (full text requires registration, free trial available).

Stefan Stern highlights the fact that many companies deliver platitudes or come up with 'new new things' just to appease their investors.

He quotes Henri Mintzberg who laments that many execs lack the skill, knowledge or vision to come up with any ideas worth exploring. Instead they spout lame ideas and come up with lengthy mission statements.

Others practice what I would call management by remote control. Handing down decisions from far away places and failing to include people on the ground in the decision process and get them inspired, a recipe for failure.

Maybe they do not like the idea of debating the merits of their plans.

Personally I practice what my friend Steve Shapiro calls 'meandering with a purpose'.

Soundtrack for this could be Show Some Emotion by Joan Armatrading

Other Life at Work musings: About Toxic Coworkers also Leisure is Vital, Work and Play in Scandinavia and The Four day work week Challenge

Some people on a personal level tend to drive you nuts? Well others in a professional setting do the same, no 'shiny happy people' here.

Amazon offers us a few ditties on the topic including 'Since strangling isn't an option'.
The Monster Blog after getting a lot of feedback regarding Toxic Bosses decided to ask What about Toxic Coworkers to add to the discussion.

They also highlight a study by Wharton professor Nancy Rothbard that tells us 'The mood you come to work with sets the mood for your workday' in pieces such as 'Waking up on the wrong side of the desk'. ...What you would call 'Mood Swings' or 'Songs that Swing for the Fences' I guess...

Does it contribute to global warming?

Should our level of Toxic Emissions be regulated?

I will let you be the judge.

I had a short conversation yesterday with a lady who immigrated recently to the US and told me she was Turkish. I actually found out she was a Turk from Macedonia. That chat brought back to mind a documentary on Istanbul.

The movie in question, Crossing the Bridge is actually a guide to the local music scene.

I don't think any of the performers are known to our western ears but they range from traditional to hip-hop, singers, mix masters, jazz improvisation and many shades in between.

It was directed by Fatih Akin and our guide throughout the movie is German musician Alexander Hacke.

Besides the music, you also get to enjoy splendid views of Istanbul, including boat rides on the Bosphorus.

Some of the sounds reminded me of a concert I attended in July 2003 at Central Park Summerstage with Natasha Atlas and DuOud .

If you are dreaming of a vacation, I hope this gives you some inspiration. It's a big world out there.

Also on Music and Travel: Find the Sounds of Bahia and Rio in the Bay Area and Making plans for Thursday Eve, Visit the St Kilda Beach Night Market

Reading Excuse my French, but pleasure before business? by Peggy Hollinger (in the Financial Times February Edition of Global Traveler, full piece requires registration) brought back a discussion Valeria of Conversation Agent, myself and many others had back in May 2001.

A lady related meeting someone in Aspen (Colorado) and being asked over and over what she did. The person asking that question was perplexed by the fact that her answers did not relate to work but rather to things she was interested in.

One person wanted to know how the other made money, the other one tried to share who she was.

So we should remember to show some manners and let our personality shine through before we get down to the nitti gritty of business.

More on Etiquette: Tis' the season for Elements of Etiquette, Going  Abroad