Adolf Horn 2015

Foodworking

Sometimes I have told you that networking is related with food and eating, and it is good to know that there are several ways you may have interactions, so in this post I give you some advice to do it with food as your main ingredient:

If you want to know about the calories a specific food have, its properties or if you want to evaluate some different ways of cooking you may want to review what the academic environments: There are many universities that create investigation groups among food, from scratch to the last consumption. This institutions have specific programs related to the investigation:

Duke University, Food Working Group

Indiana University, Working Group

University of Chicago, Environment, Agriculture and Food

Among different Internet sites, you may find Blogs, here you will find specific features to the different meals, deserts, entrances, so get into this communities and you will find networking spaces. There are a lot of food blogs, and the diversity of them is really big. I don't want to be too much specific so I can tell you that there is an annual prize that shares the best related food blogs on several categories. If you visit this blog you can have an idea on how many people wants to share their recipes by this mean and the huge amount of followers this sites get:.

Saveur.com: http://www.saveur.com/content/best-food-blog-awards-2014-winners

Also you may find specialized sites where discussion forums are created for you to interact with some peers. Meals in Social Media, for those people that don't want a blog compromise, but like to share their general ideas, some of the following sites on social media can give you a space to share you love for food: BakeSpace ; Foodbuzz ; FoodCandy ; Foodie ; Nibbledish

Some other strategies: If you are one of those that don't like the cooking but love to eat and do some type of networking, I share the following links where you could organize both things, great eating and meeting new people: Never Eat Alone Network ; Eatwith. Both sites organize meetings among strangers where the food is usually pretty good, I suggest you to visit this pages and so you learn about what the Internet community is proposing.

As you may see your options are many, it depends on you making contact one way or another. If you decide to have some fun and do one of this activities, tell me about your experience.

The Seawall Networking

“Some people dream about doing great things, while others are awake and actually do them”. Anonymous.

I'd like to thank my good friend Carlos to share with us this experience, he told me about the challenge it represents to him meeting new people and doing networking, now we have his testimony to share for us in this Blog:

Because of my job I have the opportunity to travel to a Country that I have only heard of on my geography classes, and in some international news channels; Guyana. This is a former British colony considered part of the Caribbean but its location is shared with some other Sudamerican Countries. People that lives there are black skinned. The Guyana trip its always a challenge and most of it to people from non Caribbean countries; in distance is closer to Brazil or Ecuador, but the trip could take more than 16 hours because of the travel itineraries.

Speaking about networking I can say that Guyana is not a complicated place to meet people and belong immediately to a social group; The Guyana People is so cordial and friendly that the difficult thing how to be isolated.

Georgetown is the country capital city, and has the typical European Architecture, with some wooden buildings with some green or red gable roofs; as in most cities, in Georgetown are places where the people go to spend some leisure time or making some adventure activities. One of this spots is The Seawall, this is a place that invites you to stay because of its relaxing sunset or its beach theme party. It is also a historic place that shares with you some of its history and events that happen to make this city rememorable.

I decided to take a walk on the seawall so I could share some of my knowledge of this place. When I can get there it was almost a lonely spot, at the most you could see some couples enjoying the sea breeze. When I arrive I started to think this is not a place to meet with people, you should bring someone with you if you want to make networking. Even though I keep walking to see if I could manage to meet somebody. I was thinking on getting back when a minivan full with young people between 16 and 18 years old arrived to this place. So I decided to stay and see the cultural development of this group.

I kept on a prudent distance for some minutes, and I could just confirm that the Guyana's are a particularly fun people, they enjoy life, and as soon as they came out the van they started dancing and running. A very contagious joyful way. Then I remembered my mission was to get some Guyana best memories and also to meet some people, so I approached the youngster group and I walked smiling and making eye contact. Immediately a couple of them greet me and I think by myself, this is easy.

I seize the moment and reach them and started a conversation. I'm relatively new on this networking, so my approximation techniques are really simple. I started by asking, How you doin? and my first challenge represented to understand and been understood. This process take some Excuse Me? but finally both parties made the proper adjustments and the conversation flow.

It was a school group of their 12th year K education, they were at the Seawall to achieve an extra academic credit, something that should be common at Georgetown. They asked me what I was doing over there and I told them about the new Marriott Hotel construction I was supervising, and the challenges that it compelled to do a job like this. They seemed very interesting on the subject and I was pretty amazed sharing with them my stories.

 

I stayed with them approximately 30 minutes, in this time I also learned about the idea of investing in countries like Guyana, that are not representative of some industries, like the tourist one, but I learned that at the end the market is the people that buys and not the natural resources and the cultural legacy. They could think about what an International Enterprise like Marriott could give to them in job offer, infrastructural development, and the community approach.

I do my farewell really tired maybe because my lack of experience at networking and because I feel I couldn't manage it in a natural way, like me having to do a lot of effort and thinking about each word I say, something that I enjoy each time I do it.

Petworking

Have you made some type of networking related to your pets? Its really interesting what things you can share with some other pet enthusiasts.

Before anything I just want to clarify that even though I have pets I can't consider my self a pet enthusiast, I just like them but I admire the people that love that much the animals. You can feel the love and tender some owners give to their pets!

Whatever, if you are a Dog, Cat, Fish, Bird or as my friend Alfredo, happen to have a Zoo, I share with you some social media that allow you to do petworking related to your animal hobbies.

Some general sites that bring out information on different pets are:

Care.com: https://www.care.com/pet-care-articles

PetPop.com: http://www.petpop.com/

ZooToo: http://www.zootoo.com/

This sites gave some feedback on different pets, care, tips and open different forums for different type of animals, like reptiles or some other pets that need special assistance.

The dogs and cats have a lot more followers, so if your pet is a dog, I recommend that you visit this Internet sites:

Dogster.com: http://www.dogster.com/

UnitedDogs.com: http://uniteddogs.com/en/welcome

There are some other dog communities at facebook, but some of them are dedicated to urban dog wear, like: urbandogwear o hotel, spa and special care services like: Urbanhounds

For Cat lovers are some different sites too:

Catster.com: http://www.catster.com/

UnitedCats.com: http://unitedcats.com/en/welcome

UrbanCat Relief: http://www.ucrcats.com/contact/

UrbanCat League: http://www.urbancatleague.org/

Now, not every thing are dogs and cats, if your pet is inside an aquarium you can review this different communities, depending on your reptile or fish love:

Aquaria: http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/

Turtles and Tortoises: http://www.tortoise.com/

If you prefer the open spaces, you can find some information on birds on the following site:

BirdBoard: http://birdboards.com/forum/index.php

Now if you are just like me, just an animal follower, visit a Zoo and learn something about different animals that live among us in this planet:

https://www.facebook.com/zooreynosa

Birthday Blog

This month it's 1 year from me starting this Blog. I'm happy for a lot of different things but the most important one is that some of you happen to be following this adventure for a year. Thanks a lot.

I want to seize the opportunity to invite you to do a networking activity. The past week a friend of mine had his birthday and I congratulate him via Facebook, this is a tip for some of you that are inside this social network. Birthday's appear in a specific section on the front page, so if you look for it, you will find who's birthday is and then send this person a congratulation note. It's been pleasure to receive this type of messages once a year. Something small but the people usually thank the detail and then you may follow up with this friend.

As I explain,  my friend had his birthday and told me that we will be out for the week, so I challenged him to do the next activity. Because of the distance, been out your birthday may lead you to be by yourself, but this shouldn't be a problem, do some activities that may help you to have a very fun birthday.

Activity 1.- If your are out, probably you are at a hotel, so interact with the people that work in this place. Share with them that is your birthday, they may have a pleasant surprise for you. Tell the receptionist, the manager, the maitre, concierge or valet, for sure they can share with you some suggestions on what to do on your birthday.

Activity 2.- If you have a one day trip, or if you are not going to stay at a hotel, tell the taxi driver, or the clerk at the office, if you do not have this type of opportunity, tell the air attendant, the check in girl, maybe you receive a special treatment on your trip.

Activity 3.- If you are those that want a hug, then your challenge will be more fun. Write down on a piece of paper "I'm the Birthday Girl" and hang it around your neck. Probably more than one person will hug you and send their best wishes.

Activity 4.- If you are a people person, you may auto merchandise your birthday in different ways, you may crown yourself, carry some birthday balloons, buy a birthday cake and share it. Each of this activities will get you closer to the hugging activity.

Some things that I have done, on my first assignment as a teacher, I told my students that my birthday was coming, I don't know how they made it, but they organized me a "twinky wonder" party. On other time, I was traveling by plane on my birthday and my travel partner told the flight attendant, I get 3 free drinks to celebrate. I always tell people when my birthday is because I love the hugs I get, it's kind of a battery recharge to me.

Today is my blog's birthday and a lot of people is out on vacation. Can you be kind enough and send me a virtual hug?