T N.

This one's for all the ladies out there who go through hundreds of facial products looking for the one that makes you look japanese. Ahhh, the japanese part got you, right?

Japanese women are known for their beautiful pearl cream skin, and it's no wonder - they seem to use good products. Komenuka bijin is one of those lines that i love. The great thing about the website is that shipping is free if you order over $80 worth of products, and that's not hard to do since products range from $30ish and up, and all are worth getting, from skincare to haircare to bodycare.

Unfortunately i can't seem to obtain shiseido japan products for a reasonable price, and shu uemura is pretty good but not so spectacular. And even if shiseido japan were easily available (the only place i've found them was at the porter square food court in cambridge, in 2003), i think i'd still be loyal to komenuka bijin. Definitely plan on making my whole repertoire that when i return. Komenuka, i've made the mistake of leaving you before, out of parsimony, but never again.

GOOD is what Very Short List should be - news and snippets about interesting things happening in the world, from business to education to design and the environment. And not just interesting things, but the idea is that stories center around things that matter, GOOD things. Sometimes they lose their minds a bit and cover subjects like Lady Gaga's meat dress, but most of the time the stories are short, sweet and to-the-point.

I learned about this tool from Alexis Madrigal's column in the Atlantic. As part of my job, I go between typing in English and Spanish. And even though my Spanish is pretty poor, considering 4 years living in Latin America, I still know where accents go, based on the way words sound. Rather than going back and forth between my Spanish/English keyboard menu, which is kind of a pain, copypastecharacter is a super easy way for me to get those tildes in place without sweating it. Truly awesome tip.

I remember being addicted to this online puzzle years ago: http://shygypsy.com/farm/p.cgi. It's hard for me to explain, but essentially you're trying to create a word map, starting with one phrase / clue: "on the farm". You guess words that are related to that phrase, and uncover more and more of the word map. Words connect to each other, moving further from the original phrase / clue, things get complicated, interesting and frustrating all at once, and you just have to try it to see what I'm talking about...

I just read about this on the New York Times and decided to give it a go. I'm still figuring it out, but it seems like a pretty promising way to go about learning languages - by interacting with native speakers and getting feedback from them through written and oral submissions (that are provided as practice through free or fairly cheap courses) or simply by chatting. On the flipside, you can also act as a teacher by reviewing submissions by those wanting to learn your language. All interactions result in Mochapoints, and I believe even a chosen few who have earned enough points can be employed by Mocha as online teachers.

The only concern I have about this is that some folks may be thinking of it as a singles / dating site. Of course you can submit your photo, age, relationship status, etc. So just look out for those without the real intention of learning / teaching.

The site is somewhat tricky to navigate at first, but with a few minutes, you get the hang of it. I submitted some feedback this morning and found it quite easy. As well, it seems that the community in general is there for the right reasons.

Scienceblogs is full of friends I want to have: witty, smart people who make science comprehensible to me. My friend Jeremy gave me the idea that maybe one day, when I'm rich, I might be able to hire someone to compile interesting information, the best written articles, the most compelling blogs, and put it all in a weekly book for me to read. Until I can make that moment happen (I'm guessing it will be never), there are my weekly Scienceblog updates.

Something weird is happening. All of a sudden the educator and psychologist in me wants to be in marketing, business, advertising, etc. instead. Why? Because of Harvard Business Review. HBR is supposedly for serious business folk, but I find, as a non-business person, most of the articles accessible, engaging and insightful. Not all articles can be read in full online, but enough of them can. At a whopping $89 for a subscription, and even more to subscribe while living abroad, the website is a great substitute.

Car Talk is more than just talk about cars. The title in no way captures the warm hilarity that is the nature of this show, which has been airing for many years now. On Car Talk, Tom and Ray, brothers from Boston, talk about cars, turning what is, to me, an uninteresting topic to something absolutely delightful. It makes no difference if you're into cars or not: Car Talk will make you listen to cars in a way you never have.

I don't actually even subscribe to Scientific American but I will when I return to the states. For now, I receive weekly email updates in my inbox and I love it. Scientific American packs up science for me into nice, bite-size, pop culture-y chunks. I need information and I need it fast - that's when SA comes in handy.

NPR music's first listen series consistently features new music that I am bound to be interested in or to love. NPR not only produces great news features and stories but the music staff seems to have an impeccably sophisticated sense of what's fresh, hip, well-written and well-produced.

I used Spyguys math lessons with one of my boys with Asperger Syndrome. Spyguys is a product of learnalberta.ca and was perfect for that particular student as the lessons are very specific, providing a comprehensive lesson and an adequate amount of practice exercises. For some students, you may consider padding the lesson with more practice. http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mesg/html/math6web/math6shell.html

Oh how I love Into The Book, a project of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. The website provides resources (lesson plans, videos, interactive series of activities) on the 8 researched strategies for reading comprehension. The website can be accessed for free by students and by educators and the ideas for each strategy can be applied to reading comprehension and content areas.

Our school raised funds to donate to the Haiti Children's Relief Fund, and I accidentally made the payment to the Global Fund. Folks told me it was not a big deal, but I wanted the money to go where our students thought it would be directed so I called Save the Children. They fully understood my concern and redirected the funds the next day. As well as that, they sent me an email asking for the school's mailing address to send a certificate of gratitude (which arrived in the mail this week) to our 23 students for the $300 donation. Though it wasn't a large amount, in comparison to other organizations and individuals, Save the Children still made the time to make our students feel special for their contribution.

Your friends live far away, as in another continent. You want to do a little happy dance for them, or a sad dance, or a robot dance, depending on your mood and their desires. You don't want to get on to skype because you really don't want to TALK to each other, you just want to show your friend the dance. nimbb.com solves your problem. Make your robot dance using your webcam, press record, check it, save it and send your friend the link. So easy. Thanks, nimbb, for helping me maintain my friendships cross-continent.

If you are a hipster who doesn't take yourself seriously, you may find this website mildly amusing. Unhappyhipsters provides clever captions to photos of modern people existing in their post-modern spaces. I think all of these photos come from Dwell magazine, and most are so funny that even my architect friends find humor in them.

Readwritethink.org is an educator's friend. It has great lessons for teachers and activities for students. My favorite parts are interactive tools such as the interactive Venn diagram, http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/venn/, which makes it easier to help students organize their ideas and to practice their computer skills.

Find out where to recycle just about anything from paper to plastics to metal clothes hangers. I could even find out where to recycle polysterene (#6 plastic) at a location less than 4 miles from my house.

I couldn't bring myself to trust or buy from another online therapy store. The Therapy Shoppe came recommended to me by a friend/colleague. The materials are as affordable as you can find them anywhere else, online or in store. (And if you find them anywhere else for cheaper, chances are they won't last you for very long). The 10 things I purchased were shipped within 2 days of my purchase, and they arrived on time and as promised.

I was a Newegg virgin up until a week ago when I placed an order for four cameras for my school. Of course I'd heard that Newegg was unbeatable in terms of its selection of new and refurbished goods as well as in its service. So it was no surprise that I also had an easy shopping experience. The cameras came in tip top condition.

Everytime I remember to visit this website, whether it's to get my fill of Will Arnett, to see what happens when Matthew McConaughey can't get his shirt off, or to watch James Franco (underratedly funny) impersonate Justin Bobby from the Hills, I end up completely worshipping it. Most things here are hits rather than misses.