| Quebec hotel/tour, $1,890
The Real Deal: Seven nights' accommodations, guided sightseeing tours, hiking, and kayaking from $1,890 per person—including taxes and fees. When: Depart June 8, July 6, Aug. 17, Sept. 14, 28, Oct. 12, 2008. The fine print: The $1,890 price reflects a local payment of $195 (Can. $200) to be paid to your tour leader in cash on the day of your arrival. Hotel taxes and service charges, breakfast daily, one lunch and one dinner, transportation by minibus, and the services of tour guides are included. Guided walking city tours, nature hikes, and kayaking are also part of the package. Prices are per person, and there is no single supplement; solo travelers will be matched with a roommate. Adventure Center also recommends that you have access to an additional $200 for emergencies. Travel insurance is mandatory and can be purchased from USI Travel Insurance Services through Adventure Center for $6 per day.
Top designers, warm service attracts the world to Royal Jewelry
For nearly 60 years, Royal Jewelers has offered quality jewelry and warm service to the Merrimack Valley, New Hampshire and beyond.
Their elegant store at 58 Main Street, Andover is known for having the largest selection of designer jewelry in New England, a source of pride for owners, Steven and Paula Leed. The Leeds are also proud of maintaining a loyal customer base attracted by quality jewelry at all price ranges.
"We sell the gamut, from $9.95 silver charms to a million dollar necklace," said Paula. "We cater to everybody. Every customer gets the same attention, the same wrapping, the same bag. We cater to whole families, to each generation."
Her brother, Steven, points out that Royal's competent, well-trained staff does not work on commission, so are never pressured to make a sale.
Demand for krill spurs environmental concerns
On Jan. 23 a U.S. panel ruled that Neptune's oil, already sold as health oil in capsules, was also safe as an ingredient in food, paving the way for its wider commercialization in the United States. Neptune signed research deals in 2007 with Nestle and with the Yoplait unit of General Mills over the use of krill in food. "Krill is not overfished oceanwide. We can still create a sustainable fishery," said Jerry Leape, director of the Antarctic Krill Conservation Project at the Pew Environment Group in the United States. "But much of the fishery concentrates in areas where krill swarms are most convenient. And that is where many natural predators also depend on krill," he said, adding that trawlers should be forced to spread catches around the continent.
Riddles of the rat race
To run a company perfectly you would need to have information about who is talented, who is honest and who is hard-working, and to pay them accordingly. But much of this vital information is inherently hard to uncover or act on. So it is hard to pay people as much or as little as they truly deserve. Many of the absurdities of office life follow logically from attempts to get around that problem: sensible pay schemes have unwelcome side effects that range from encouraging treachery to overpaying the boss. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean they can be improved: a rational world isn't necessarily a perfect world, and nowhere is that more true than in the office. An accountant or an auditor, for example, is hard to keep tabs on. To know whether an auditor did a good job, you need to get a second auditor to audit the first auditor: not cheap, and what about the third auditor to audit the second auditor? Even when performance can be sort of measured and targets set, it is often all too easy to manipulate those targets.
MId-Valley briefs
MId-Valley briefs from Wednesday's paper. Olivehurst Son allegedly abused mother An Olivehurst man was arrested after allegedly abusing his 82-year-old mother physically and financially, a Yuba County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said Tuesday. George Wayne Kilgo, 47, is also suspected of threatening the mother by phone from Yuba County Jail after being arrested Monday. Yuba County Judge James Curry increased Kilgo’s bail to $100,000 because of the threats, according to jail records. Investigators found bruises on the mother. Kilgo controlled her finances and did not allow her access to her money, said spokeswoman Melanie Oakes. Kilgo, who was acting as his mother’s caregiver at their home in the 4300 block of Elton Avenue, is also facing a charge of false imprisonment because he "restricted her movements," said Oakes.
He Shops, She Shops
This season, my colleague Alan Murray and I set out to find luxury gifts for the opposite sex -- for less. One strategy: Buying from a high-end designer's lower-priced line. You can also try bargain hunting at the outlet mall, on the Web or at big-box discounters, where the wrapping may not be as nice but the price is right. Here are some ideas: Patterned Ties. As much as I love power ties from Hermès and Salvatore Ferragamo, at about $140 to $150 a pop, they seem steep this year. You can get similar designs featuring whimsical figures from Vineyard Vines, a company based in Martha's Vineyard that specializes in the preppy look. Though some look a little goofy, I found nice-looking ties with a rope-and-starfish and an orca-whale pattern. $65 from vineyardvines.com. Alan responds: Off to a good start.
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