Food Invades Social Networks

I tell everybody this - if you're thinking of starting a business and you're not sure what type of business to go into then start a food business. Food sells. They grew a whole network around it on TV. Celebrity cooks and chefs earn big bucks just by getting their cookbooks out in the market. And now the food industry is invading the social network scene.

Before Facebook or Twitter ever became popular - a simple form of social network was already online - the recipe swapping ones! I used to go to allrecipes.com and verybestbaking.com to find recipes for goodies I wanted to bake. The recipes are shared by users and I think we were already able to rate them then. But with the rise of the social networks came websites like Food Buzz that is a community of foodies or food lovers that just happened to share recipes and restaurant reviews.

One of my favorite food bloggers, Ree Drummond, just launched Tasty Kitchen, a community for swapping recipes on her ThePioneerWoman.com website and it has been steadily growing.

So it comes as no surprise to me that Bake Space - a community for people who are passionate about food - should be nominated for a 2009 Webby and continue to grow in traffic and revenue. It is a food business after all! And food sells!

Check out their story:

BakeSpace: An Unlikely Startup Success Story from Twiistup from ReadWriteWeb on Vimeo.

E-Commerce on Facebook

E-commerce has infiltrated Facebook! 1-800-FLOWERS.com now has an online store in the popular social network. To attract fans, they have a secret code that gives you a discount when you become a fan. I think this is a great enticement tool.

Wouldn't it be nice if it had been like the Send Gift application where you choose a bouquet, choose a friend to send it to, pay with points and send it off. Then go back to playing Farm Town, Restaurant City or Mafia Wars.

They have photos, videos, notes and even polls on their Official Page. They even have an ad that says you can order flowers from your iPhone.

I applaud 1-800-Flowers for adapting to technology the way they do. Your market is out there - you just have to become available to them - and 1-800-Flowers definitely knows how to do this.

Kindle Giveaway

One of my favorite blogs, Geeksugar is giving away 10 Kindles in 10 days. And all you have to do is answer a quiz on their site about books once a day. Of all the eBook Readers out in stores, the Kindle is still the most tempting to me - so I'm taking the daily quiz and crossing my fingers (I've only won a prize once online - and it was for writing, I don't really have the luck of the draw).

I went to the bookstore yesterday - an actual brick and mortar bookstore at the Block of Orange. I stared at all the books in display and tried to remember what books intrigued me the most. I knew it was in one of those emails they sent me so I browsed through the shelves and ran my fingers across the covers of new books.

The overstocked shelves gave me a headache! I found a couple of the books I was interested in, read the first few pages, put them back on the shelf. It was admittedly good exercise and I loved browsing.

Now imagine not needing to go to the bookstore to browse. Hmmm a very tempting notion indeed... Will I miss the printed books? Probably. Will that stop me from enjoying a Kindle if I won - I don't think so.

Making Scientific Journals Readable Online

Once upon a career, I dealt with scientific journals all day - and Elsevier was a publishing company I knew well. Back in 1999 a team made abstract for articles of interest and we indexed them so that people can search for them in the American Petroleum Institute's database - and they needed chemical engineering graduates for this because when the article says distillation, it may not actually mean distillation! Confusing, I know.

Elsevier recently released a prototype of the Article of the Future. So what is it really, it's a scientific journal article online, presented in a way so that it is easily navigable with links and rich in graphics to hold a reader's interest. It integrates audio and video. It contains different views of the results of the experimental procedures. And it has real-time reference analysis.

Bloggers are said to be saying that there is nothing new in the "Article of the Future," but I disagree. The scientific publishing community has found a new way to use online tools to make their content available online in a manner that's easy to go through. I think that alone deserves some kudos, because before today I cannot imagine reading a whole scientific journal article online.

Great work, Elsevier! Please continue developing the article of the future:) Happy reading, everyone!

Develop Your Business' Online Strategy

As more and more people go online, companies are paying more and more attention to their web presence. There are a lot of web developers out there that can produce great fashion web design, but having a great looking site is not the only requirement for a successful web presence.

Many savvy shoppers are now going online to make their purchases instead of going to actual stores and this is a target demographic your business does not want to alienate. An ecommerce solution is often part of a business' online strategy.

And a successful website often entails a great strategy and intense planning that often involves consulting with an interactive agency like ECommerce Partners.NET.

Whether you are a well-known brand like Perry Ellis or a startup - you need to have a web presence. It is the most cost efficient way of getting your products or services out to the world without spending millions in advertising dollars. But before you build, plan well and develop a strategy so that your customers can find you.

Good luck, entrepreneurs! Our economy needs more people like you to get through this temporary slump.

Planned Dating: Our Scrip Program

Last weekend my husband and I had our weekly relaxed and no-stress weekly date at California Pizza Kitchen in Pasadena after finishing errands for his mom. We pick a restaurant we want and depending on what is the best time for the unhurried bonding time - we have breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. We love the pizza here, their Asian-inspired appetizers and yes, even the drinks at times.

We went to CPK because I had bought gift cards for the place to support our Scrip Program at church. Basically, we buy gift cards as a group and depending on the business they give us a percentage of the amount of the gift card as a donation. Although you still are able to spend the full amount you bought.

My husband and I are used to spontaneous dates - we have a craving then that's where we dine out. With this Scrip program, we have to plan our craving now - or wait a week or so to satisfy it. But it's for a good cause so I'm not complaining!

If you need gift cards for birthdays or you just want to help us out, leave me your contact information/email in the comments field and we'll arrange something for you.

Facebook Quizzes

Have you ever taken a Facebook Quiz? Some say they are quite addicting and I must admit to having indulged in a couple of them - not all results of which being pleasant. This morning I saw this, "What girl are you from which girly movie?" quiz and thought it would be amusing to find out the answer. I captured my result using print screen.

Andie from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The girl who plotted to write about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days for her magazine so that she may be given more serious articles to write about. She just didn't count on meeting the one for her while writing her article. I found this movie incredibly funny and entertaining!

The lesson from the movie and the advice on the quiz was to be who you are. There should be no pretense when it comes to love and relationships. One should not wear masks when dealing with people, one should be genuine and honest. A great quiz and a great movie!

Have a fun and spontaneous day, everyone!

DaVinci Virtual: Affordable Representation For Your Business

When we produce an event, one of our biggest challenges is where to meet prospective sponsors. Since we run our small business from home, we are not equipped with a high end conference room or support services we need to project professionalism. This afternoon I stumbled upon the concept of a Virtual Office.

My sponsor, DaVinci Virtual, provides small and startup businesses fully equipped conference rooms and business communication services without the big price tags. Even if you already have a thriving business here in the US, but want to expand to Europe before you invest on millions of dollars of real estate, acquiring a Virtual Office in your target city offers you good representation to potential investors with no waiting time and a minimum amount of risk.

Aside from the Virtual Office DaVinci Virtual also provides Live Receptionist Services, which are especially helpful to startup businesses like ours where we are constantly traveling to get sponsors and promote the event. When our sponsors call to set up meetings or follow up on advertising contracts we don’t want them to keep ending up with our voicemail message and feel unimportant. We want a live receptionist to answer their call and be as helpful as possible. And we want to get their message as soon as possible to be able to get back to our sponsors immediately.

These business solutions are heaven sent to small and startup business owners. Thank you, DaVinci Virtual! May you help many more entrepreneurs jumpstart their businesses during these difficult times.

Christian Social Networking: MyFaithDaily.com

I read this article in the Mass High Tech Business News entitled MyFaithDaily.com provides Christian social networking. This enterprise social network targets the 2.5 billion Christians in the world. It aims to provide media and social software like blogs and contact management applications among other things. The company is said to be seeking $2 million in capitalization.

I went to the website and found their affiliate leadership kit, which I assume would be targeted to church leaders to encourage their members to be a part of the MyFaithDaily.com community. They claim that churches have been social networking for hundreds of years, they just haven't been doing it online - which is a sweeping generalization because there are churches with great social components in their websites out there especially those with TV ministries or those who have utilized video to reach more people. I know because I had to do research on those churches to build our company's web 2.0 applications.

So is this faith-based enterprise worth the $2 million investment? We shall have to wait and see.

Good luck, MyFaithDaily.com!

The Kitchen Gadget for a Hot Summer

We had one when I was young. This strange-looking yellow machine that was supposed to make ice cream. I was too young to play with it at that time, I don't remember if we ever got any treats from it - but I think my mom had fun using it for a little while.

The summer heat is steadily hitting us in California - and most days ice cream or iced anything is your only relief. It does wonders on your waistline though. I find that substituting ice cream with yogurt works well for me - so it's a good thing these machines can make frozen yogurt too! I particularly miss the fruit flavored ice cream in the Philippines and would like to make healthy fruit-flavored frozen yogurt for my family - something that would be good for diabetics would be nice.

The ugly yellow contraption has had a makeover as well. There are stainless steel, brushed nickel, wooden and different color models available in the market today. You can buy one that matches your other kitchen electrics. Isn't that cool? I know, I know - kitchen gadgets are my kind of gadgets. I think it's a love I inherited from my mom.

I'm torn between buying a whole new small appliance or buying the ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer. The attachments I have don't really work as well as I would like and I'm not sure if the ice cream maker is satisfactory for what I want to make. Do you have the stand mixer attachment - is it a good buy? Share your thoughts by leaving me a comment.

The Sixth Harry Potter Movie

I love this scene from Harry Potter, I remember when I was in high school lounging in some comfortable part of our campus with friends talking about problems with our latest stage play, reviewing for an upcoming exam or talking about our relationships. The Harry Potter movies transport me back to those carefree days of transitioning to adulthood. I look back at those days fondly, which probably influences my love of this movie series.

In the sixth installment of the series, you can not help but notice how grown up everybody is now. Hermione Granger is as lovely as ever - exhibiting the temper tantrums, roller coaster emotions of young love and the insecurities of being outdone. Ron goes through the raging hormones stage of teenage life. And Harry, the chosen one, still on a quest to stop Voldemort while experiencing romance with his best friend's sister and the loss of his great teacher.

The movie is fast paced - at times it jumps to scenes with no explanation. There were several parts of the movie that had me asking - how did we get here? The revelation of who the Half Blood Prince is seemed anticlimactic - what does it mean? Professor Snape remains to be a big question mark to me - where does his loyalty lie? I, for one, don't think it was resolved in this movie. (Sorry, I prefer to watch the movie first then read the book hence all this confusion.) And the ending just left me hanging for the last puzzle piece to be revealed - the final part of the series. I guess I will have to wait another year or so for the next installment.

Happy movie night, Harry Potter fans!

Job Security is a Myth

Just when you thought being in the medical industry was enough to have job security - 159 workers at three Orange County hospitals will be laid off by September 14. All levels of staff at the hospitals and the corporate office are said to be affected. The only employees who are safe from the planned workforce reduction are the doctors and the nurses. So if you're studying for a medical industry career because you lost your old job in another field - you may consider a nursing course or medicine instead of other areas of study.

The recession is here whether we like it or not - all we can do is work hard, do our very best at what we do and pray. We're all in this together, we just have to find a way to persevere during the tough times.

For the full story on the Orange County hospital layoffs, please go to OC Metro.

Decadent Pecan Rolls at Panera

My father got me into cinammon rolls, he liked them so I bought them for him when I can - and acquired the taste because I ate them with him. One morning as my husband and I strolled in to Panera for breakfast, I was looking at the unappetizing cinammon rolls and these shiny pecan rolls caught my eye.

They were absolutely delicious! So delicious that I went back and bought more pastries to take home with me after breakfast. I know it is very fattening - and don't try it if you're diabetic because it is terribly sweet.

But if you're a cinammon-roll-fan like me and my dad, you may want to expand your horizon and try this delectable treat from Panera. It's perfect with a cold smoothie or frozen coffee.

Happy eating, everyone!

Photo Source: Yummy in the Tummy Blog.

Outsourcing From the Other End

My boss is great with comparison shopping - she helped me choose my mobile phone provider, which kept us on the same network. I chose the Sprint Network because they have the cheapest plans - and give me the most bang for my buck.

Apparently one way of keeping their plans low cost is to outsource their network operations to Ericsson. This means that starting in the third quarter of this year 6000 Sprint employees will become Ericsson service employees. Outsourcing is not a very popular term in recession-ridden America. Outsourcing means that jobs are taken from local employees and sent abroad where labor is cheaper. Although Sprint is converting 6000 of their own employees to work for Ericsson, it says that it will be counting on Ericsson's team of trained experts to operate their CDMA and iDen networks.

I was on the receiving end of outsourcing projects in the Philippines once - our trainer who was a petroleum engineer confessed candidly that he didn't expect us to learn what he did so quickly. When he saw our almost all-new-graduates team, he thought they sent him babies - but our capacity to learn amazed him. The quality of education in our country is exceptional, first world countries outsource to us because labor may be cheap but the quality of work is world class!

Now that I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I understand the sadness our trainers had as they passed the torch to us then. What they taught us was their livelihood - it's their career, it's what they enjoyed doing for so long - and because of budget cuts they have to give it up. An uncertain future for local employees so that companies can stay afloat. It is indeed a sad prospect.

Hopefully, the Sprint employees who will be affected by the outsourcing are moving on to better things. Good luck and stay positive - we will recover from this tough economy and we will come out stronger afterwards!

Web 2.0 Encouraging Class Participation

I found this great article on CNET about educators using social networking tools creatively to encourage participation in their classrooms as presented in the 30th annual National Education Computing Conference (NECC).

I was a very shy kid at school during my gradeschool years. I did not enjoy recitation at all and actually tried to hide from my teacher just so I wouldn't be called to stand up and talk with all my classmates watching me.

I eventually grew out of it, initially because I prepared for every recitation extra hard and then I just got used to interacting in class. I must admit when I took my graduate courses, most of my professors knew me because I asked questions during the lectures and contributed when I could. It was the time in my life when I learned the most because I was taking advantage of my professors' vast experience and wealth of knowledge.

Web 2.0 tools are ubiquitous and so are the use of computers in the classrooms - so it is only logical to try and use these tools to benefit the students in some way. I applaud these creative educators who are not afraid of technology - I am constantly in awe of their resourcefulness and support their goals of helping students learn and grow in their fields of study. The online classroom tools are customized for education, but limiting yourself to these tools is limiting your potential to explore other technologies that may be more effective with your students.

Good job, educators - you are truly innovators in your own right!

Volunteer Today: Give a Day, Get a Night

Remember my post with US First Lady, Michelle Obama, encouraging Americans to volunteer and help the community?

Sage Hospitality, a hotel management company, shows their support by rewarding volunteers to 50% discount on hotel rooms or a complimentary night stay. Their program is called, "Give a Day, Get a Night." Give 8 hours of your time doing community service and they'll give you a free night stay or a big discount on a hotel room. Planning on going on vacation? Check out their list of hotels by state. This offer is valid until December 20, 2009.

Now isn't that a great incentive to go out and help your community? Thank you, Sage Hospitality!

Happy volunteering, everyone:)

Make Home Safe Again With ADT Home Security

When I lived in my parents’ house, we had to deal with several break ins and it was a very scary and unsettling experience. Home is where you supposedly feel safe. It is the place where you don’t need to worry about your possessions getting stolen. Having our home broken into shattered this false sense of security in my mind.

My husband will tell you how adamant I am on checking the locks before we go to bed or before we leave our home. It’s my home; it’s my responsibility to keep it safe. It’s my responsibility to protect the things I worked so hard for – especially since I keep business records at home. My client’s information is also my responsibility because they entrusted it to me.

A home security system is definitely a great investment. When considering a system, I would look at the company’s reputation and customer feedback – I would ask my friends and neighbors about their home security system and how it works for them. I would definitely ask the company’s clients about how reliable the alarm system was and how fast help got to them when they needed it. Was the home security company helpful? How did they attend to any reports or complaints you made? This is a service and therefore customer satisfaction is my number one consideration. And though we want to secure our home at all cost – we must be realistic with budget especially during this tough economy.

One of the companies I would definitely consider is a d t. They have been in the home security business for 131 years and secure 90% of Fortune 500 companies so they are definitely trustworthy. They handle more than 19 million calls daily to their customers’ satisfaction and they are affordable. So what’s not to like?

Secure your home – invest in a home security system that will truly protect you and your loved ones.

Grow Your Business With Business VOIP

When my husband and I produced our first beauty pageant together in 2005 – we started out as a two-man team, but we never let on. We tried to be as professional as possible with printed materials like business cards, flyers and marketing presentations. Several big companies agreed to sponsor our little venture because we presented an established front. We even had an 800 number so that even if we ran our business from home at first when we eventually move into an office, we don't need to change our contact information.

I know a lot of small businesses that have difficulty getting clients because of their size and the age of their business. People are wary of new companies because they are unsure of how reliable or how long they will last. That is understandable of course, but it makes the market for new businesses even more challenging than it already is.

One of the dead giveaways of the size of your company is your telephone system. Big companies often have expensive office phone systems and installing a system like this for a small company can be a huge expense. My sponsor, Vocality, offers the Business Voip solution – a hosted PBX that is easy to implement, cheaper than an on-premise solution and reduces phone bills up to 80%. Vocality offers enterprise level features without the price.

That will definitely help small businesses get ahead and grow while keeping overhead costs low. Times are tough, but with a little help from companies like these and a little research on low cost solutions for our business' challenges – we can still start and grow our own business in this economy.

Good luck, entrepreneurs! You may just be one of our country’s new brand of heroes.

DIY Water Feature Resource

Every other Friday when I meet my friends at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Los Angeles, I pass by Echo Park. One of the most eye catching attractions in this park is it’s floating pond fountain. Those streams of water that shoot straight up into the air are effectively aerating the water and giving oxygen to the fish and other animals that make the lake their home.

I love water features like ponds, waterfalls and fountains. I often think about installing one in our place. I love the soothing sound of water everything just seems much more refreshing around a water feature.

My aunt in Los Banos built her own pond with her family. They made it a weekend project and now enjoy a pond full of coy fishes all year long. She said it was not hard to make, she downloaded instructions of the internet and bought the materials they needed. Then they figured it all out and built it.

In water features, the most important thing you will need is your pump or aeration mechanism. Living Water Aeration has every water aeration product you can imagine; they even have kits that run on solar and wind power! They have commercial and residential grade products available for sale on their website and convenient methods of payment. If you’re thinking of building a water feature for your backyard and do not know where to start looking for materials, try Living Water Aeration; it is definitely a great resource for water feature building!

Youth Ministry Concert + Great Printing Deals

Our church's Youth Ministry is organizing a concert for one of our young members who passed away so suddenly. I promised to help out by referring them to printing companies where they can get great deals on what they needed for the concert. I think they should print thermal transfer labels for ticket and souvenir program bar codes. Nationwide Print Solutions offers great deals on a large variety of commercial print products including brochures, envelopes and labels. Their website is easy to navigate and provides an easy way to order printed materials in the comfort of your own home. And their prices are very affordable, I'm sure they'll be able to get a good deal on printing.

Our honoree's birthday is on September 11th, which is their target date for the event, but they had to move it to September 12th to make it a Saturday so more people can attend. I think it is a worthy cause and will truly show their love for the girl who touched their lives with her smile and the short life she had offered to helping God reach those who are hurting and in need of His love. She had spent her life volunteering in mission classes, fundraising activities and attending spiritual activities inspiring her friends to do the same.

They want to buy an In Memoriam Plaque for her on the church's Culture and Arts Center wall so that she may be remembered by all who go there.

So if you're not doing anything on September 12th and you’re in the southern California area please check out this concert. Email me for more information if you are interested in going. Thank you!

Concert in the Sky: An Excerpt

I just wanted to share with you an excerpt of the fireworks show we went to last July 4th at the Disneyland Resort. This is a video posted on CastTV.com of the July 2nd show, which was a shorter version of the July 4th Concert in the Sky.

I decided not to bring my camera into the park that night because I wanted to enjoy the fireworks display and the music without looking through my viewfinder for a change. We just stood there and marveled at the amazing sights and sounds. It was beautiful! It was worth the wait, the crowds and the foot traffic we had to muddle through.

Thank you, Disney, for such a magical fourth of July!

Buzzirk: VOIP Wireless

Of all the smart phones available in the market, one of my favorites is the iPhone by Apple - especially the 3Gs model that just came out. So why do you ask have I not gotten one, it's exclusively available on the AT&T network that's why. We used to have AT&T as our landline provider and they charged us so many fees - it was completely ridiculous to stay with them. So you understand my reservations on signing up for a two-year contract with the new iPhone's provider. I'm actually very happy with my cell phone service provider - Sprint - but the only great phone on their line up is beyond my budget, the $299 Palm Pre.

The news of another mobile company, Buzzirk, which is at its pre-launch stage is exciting to me. Buzzirk Mobile will allow users to signup for unlimited voice and data plans for as low as $79.95 - which is significantly lower than the $99.99 simply everything plan by my very cost-effective provider. Plus Buzzirk Wireless does not require you to sign a two-year agreement. I can switch my old phone number to their network for convenience and I can add lines for $10/month/line. Now, that's a great deal!

Why is their service so inexpensive? They will be routing their services through the internet instead of an actual physical network. I've never tried using voice over IP services, but for this value, I may just try the service for a few months and see if I am satisfied with it. In these hard times, any income saved can help a lot in the long run.

Stay connected, everyone!

Back Up Drivers

Last year my DVD drive just suddenly became inaccessible and unusable. I couldn't see the drive when I pulled up the My Computer window and therefore I could not use it. At first it only affected the DVD player drive, but before long even my DVD writer was not working. I must admit for the first few weeks I tried to work around it because I did not have the time or energy to bring my computer to the shop. But every time I needed to install software, I needed my DVD drive and I needed my DVD writer to burn my pictures into DVDs for sharing with my offline friends - in short, I needed to have my DVD drives functional as soon as possible.

I searched for solutions online and found that I needed my drivers software updated. So I eventually figured out the type of computer drivers I needed - which wasn't easy considering it's name sounded more like a serial number than anything coherent. Considering how important drivers are, I decided to make copies of the drivers I needed to keep my computer working from then on. So always remember to make a back up copy of all the things you may need to restore your computer to the way you need it to be and make sure to bookmark website resources that make restoring your computer easier for you.

Have you had a similar experience? How did you go about fixing your problem? Did you find any helpful websites that made solving your computer problems easier? Share them by leaving me a comment.

Movie Night: New in Town

I must admit I thought the premise of this movie was funny that was why I convinced my husband to rent it. After watching it, I thought it was a movie filled with cliches and sweeping generalizations. The characters saw each other as stereotypes of the city girl/corporate honcho; the beer-drinking, truck-driving country man; rural America's women who gathered together to scrapbook, talked about Jesus and thinks everyone should get married and start a family. In the beginning of the movie they were so wary of each other that they took each other at face value - without looking inside and getting to know each other.

But human nature won out in the end - the characters connected and enjoyed the fellowship they found in their small community. They worked together to keep their livelihood and the city girl ended up coming home to Minnesota to stay. The end.

My husband thought it was quite cheesy and I must admit it lost me in some of the scenes, but it was funny. The story line was predictable but adequate. It's a nice romantic comedy for a rainy day at home - it does have a happy ending and the guy does get the girl. I give it 3 out of 5 stars personally. What do you think? Share your thoughts by leaving me a comment.