| A Winner for Macau
When Pete Sampras invited Roger Federer to play at his Beverly Hills home early this year, they hit a couple of balls in the backyard, then played a few points and then some sets. It turned out, thankfully for Sampras, a pretty close match and he was so thrilled with his hissing slices that he came up with the idea of a tennis showdown. While the balding Yankee who once played like god has lost twice to the Swiss whose forehand is better than the Almighty, in Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, the most excited place is a tiny peninsula in South China Sea - Macau -- where the last match will take place on November 24. The clash of the titans will take place, appropriately, at a plush, air-conditioned, indoor stadium in the largest building in Asia - The Venetian Macao, a gleaming combo of resort, luxury hotel and casino spread across 10.5 million sq km.
Vicki Belo joins the green bandwagon
PERHAPS she was inspired by the many achievements of big names like Al Gore who recently won the Nobel Prize for his advocacy on global warming, but popular beauty doctor Vicki Belo says that caring for the environment is everyone�s business. Her Belo Medical Group recently launched the Belo Goes Green campaign and joins the growing list of companies and organizations worldwide that aim to preserve and protect the environment. �I am urging all my employees and requesting all my patients to make an effort to do their share in helping decrease the threat of climate change and to preserve the natural bounty of the environment,� she intones. Belo screened Gore�s celebrated and award-winning docu-feature An Inconvenient Truth in all its branches to keep her employees abreast of the seriousness of the issue.
Suggestions for the latest gadgets make holiday shopping a little easier
This holiday season, the high-tech gift options seem almost endless for gadgets large and small, on almost any budget. The suggestions we've made here are hardly meant to represent the only possibilities in each type -- more like little prods to get you thinking creatively. Price in most cases is extremely variable, so we've resorted to the phrase "less than" as a general guide. And today you're likely to find super bargains on the Web on what has become known as Cyber Monday, a post-Thanksgiving tradition of price-slashing. Happy clicking. .
House calls with goods, services coming back
As Houstonians lead busier lives, more companies are delivering everything from dry cleaning to dumplings, and every profession from dog groomers to doctors makes house calls. "There's too many things going on, and there's not enough hours in the day to get things done," said Daniel Steppe, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Houston. Consumers want convenience. And so did I. I called Aussie Pet Mobile when Sammy's hair accumulated in a corner of my bedroom faster than I could sweep it up. A few days later, groomer Lesa Hillman parked in front of my house and spent about an hour inside the equipped Aussie van bathing, shaving and blow-drying Sammy. For about $10 more than I normally pay for dog grooming services at a big-box retailer, Sammy got primped and gussied up just outside my house.
A bit of old-fashioned Fla.
ANNA MARIA, Fla. - We spread our beach towels between two abandoned sand castles - their turrets and battlements undercut by a tide that had long since receded - sipped wine, and waited for the sun to set over the Gulf of Mexico. Others gathered on the quiet, uncrowded beach in anticipation. Two paunchy men of retirement age stood in calf-deep water and cast fishing lines into the surf. A family sat at water's edge, wavelets nibbling at their toes, while one of their kids searched the band of tiny shells at the high-tide line for a perfect specimen. There were no jugglers, performing cats, or vendors hawking refreshments. As the sun slid toward the horizon, a cargo ship headed out to sea from the Port of Tampa, its silhouette gliding across a sky that was changing from pale blue to pale gold.
British beauty industry ignoring Asian women consumers
The strength of the 'brown pound' - the term referring to the purchasing power of British Asians - is growing exponentially. But the multi-billion pound British beauty industry largely ignores this important segment of consumers. Shop owners in areas with large minority of Indian origin such as Southall, Ealing, Harrow and Wembley in London, Leicester, Birmingham and Bradford continue to stock favour beauty products that are imported from the Indian sub-continent. Few prefer to buy mainstream British beauty products. Products imported from India are endorsed by film stars such as Aishwarya Rai and others and are popular among women with roots in the Indian subcontinent. Recently, a men's beauty product produced in India and endorsed by actor Shah Rukh Khan proved popular in Southall.
Cave Creek's Wild West Days start Thursday
There's a little something for everyone at this year's Cave Creek Wild West Days. Just make sure to bring your dancing boots and a cold drink. Hot sauce tasting, hoedowns and a beauty pageant are a part of the revelry Thursday through Sunday in downtown Cave Creek. .
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