Issue Date: April 20, 2008
Whale watching
The easiest way to see Earth's largest mammals is on a whale-watching cruise. From May through December, the West Coast is a good place to find blue whales ÐÐ 80-foot-long behemoths that can weigh up to 200 tons. You also might spot humpback whales, which can grow to 50 feet and weigh upwards of 40 tons. Humpback, minke and fin whales also are found off New England's coast from May through October.
California: Monterey Bay is one of the prime feeding grounds for humpback and blue whales in the summer. Monterey Bay Whale Watch offers three- to four-hour afternoon trips for $34.
Washington: Island Adventures Whale Watching cruises the San Juan Islands searching for orcas, and it guarantees a whale sighting on each trip. Prices range from $59 to $79 for tours of four to six hours.
Massachusetts: Yankee Whale Watching sails from Gloucester to the Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge feeding grounds in search of humpback whales. Tickets for adults are $41 for the four-hour trip.
Maine: Bar Harbor Whale Watch departs from Bar Harbor on three- to 3 1/2-hour trips. Sightings range from the rare right whale and humpbacks to puffins and basking sharks. Tickets for adults are $53.
Travel writer Everett Potter's website is everettpotter.com.
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Wii workout for kids
The motion-sensitive "Wiimote" lets you swing the controller to hit a virtual home run.
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If you have kids, you've probably heard them plead for a Nintendo Wii -- and maybe you've even given in. A new study shows the Wii offers a step up from so-called sedentary games: All that jumping, swinging and dancing in front of the TV can have a positive effect on children's activity levels.
"Active, new-generation computer games, such as bowling, tennis and boxing on the Wii, significantly increased participants' energy expenditure," says Lee Graves, a researcher at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in England.
Still, active computer games require less energy to play than the actual sports. "The exercise was not intense enough to contribute toward the recommended amount of daily physical activity for children," Graves says. "Nevertheless, such active games can be a useful addition to the range of physical activity opportunities that are available to youngsters."
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Never pay late fees
Automatic bill-payment services are great for getting monthly bills paid on time. But if you don't have sufficient funds in your checking account, you'll end up with hefty late fees and other charges. Avoid this by signing up with your bank for e-mail alerts that warn when your account balance falls below a certain figure. (Then make a quick transfer from savings to checking.) Some banks, such as Citibank, will even send you a text message.
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SAT prep gets hip: Are you down with that oxymoron?
Now teens can rap their way to the SATs.
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Want to help sharpen your college-bound child's vocab and math skills for the dreaded SATs? These newer, teen-friendly materials may help:
Flocabulary For the kid with a brain full of rap lyrics, the hip-hop songs that are produced by Flocabulary (flocabulary.com) might just get stuck in his head -- which would be a good thing. The Flocabulary SAT Vocabulary package's lyrics are loaded with words commonly seen on the test. Example: "It's the confluence of two discrete things, like french fries and onion rings."
Kaplan SAT Prep 2008 is an interactive game for newer video iPods, complete with quizzes, reviews and tutorials (at kaptest.com/sat, click on SAT Games).
Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT, a book by the experts -- people who got really high scores -- offers standard learning tricks but with a little attitude.
The bottom line? "Be sure any SAT prep is challenging and accessible enough for your child's learning level and style," says Matt Butler, tutor and founder of The Butler Method college prep program.
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