Charleston Chews

I officially started the new job yesterday, only to find myself traveling today and tomorrow in South Carolina.  I’m actually pretty excited about traveling – it is great to meet people in the industry and get my feet wet.  Even if I did make the mistake of talking about reimbursement benchmarks. We flew into Columbia, drove to Charleston, have a meeting in the morning and then we are off to Clemson and back to DC.

I’m in Charleston, South Carolina – it is the first time I ever been here and I’m looking forward to heading out to dinner with my boss (Uncle) in a little bit.  Being in Charleston made me think of one of my favorite candies!  I am not a big candy/dessert person but I used to love Charleston Chews, especially when my grandmother would let me sneak one out of the candy drawer.  Even better – stick a Charleston Chew in the freezer for a bit and then let it melt in your mouth.  Delicious.

Thank you to my friends for the dinner place recommendations – I’ll be sure to report back.

Finally a Final Friday!

Today is my last day at my current job.  I want to say that I am sad and I’m going to miss this place but I don’t think that I am.  I will miss some people but all in all – I am ready to move on and start something new and exciting.

The last 2.5 years have been fun and challenging.  I have been in and out of a relationship, experienced my grandfather’s passing and had to rebuild parts of my life.  I’ve even gained and then lost 20 pounds.  My relationship with my parents and brothers has never been stronger and I see things in a much bigger picture now.  So as I continue to start anew, I will celebrate the goods and learn from the bads of the last 2 years.

I hope that I can say that I have been successful with what I have done and I hope that my colleagues respect  me for who I am.  I wish them the very best of luck as they continue to develop professionally.

This Memorial Day weekend – I remember and celebrate and then I wake on Tuesday and start over.

Photographs and memories
Christmas cards you sent to me
All that I have are these
To remember you

Memories that come at night
Take me to another time
Back to a happier day
When I called you mine

But we sure had a good time
When we started way back when
Morning walks and bedroom talks
Oh how I loved you then

Summer skies and lullabies
Nights we couldnt say good-bye
And of all of the things that we knew
Not a dream survived

Photographs and memories
All the love you gave to me
Somehow it just cant be true
Thats all Ive left of you

But we sure had a good time
When we started way back when
Morning walks and bedroom talks
Oh how I loved you then

JIM CROCE

Wacky Wallpaper Wednesday!

It has been a long week of trying to close everything down in the old job so I can start the new job on Tuesday.  I am really looking forward to the long weekend and the exciting new position.

I noticed a really cool new invention on New Scientist Invention yesterday – Wallpaper speakers.  A materials scientist at Johns Hopkins has made a rubbery plastic that could potentially replace the more common expensive and brittle materials in microphones and speakers.

I am not normally a big fan of wallpaper -  but right now I am imagining a giant media room with movie theater seats, a disco ball and fat head wall graphics of your favorite movie characters acting as your surround sound speakers.

Who’s bringing the popcorn?

Finally Friday

It is another dark and wet Friday here in DC. Seems like every Friday has been this way recently. I am as always looking forward to the weekend. Unfortunately I had to cancel my trip to Nantucket for the Wine Festival this weekend due my new job situation – 5 more days! I was really looking forward to a nice weekend in my favorite place but I will just have to try and enjoy the weekend here. Rumor has it the sun is coming out for the rest of the weekend and it is supposed to be beautiful.

Now I never claim to be a wine or food expert. The one thing I do have expertise in is – I enjoy eating and I enjoy drinking. I enjoy eating and drinking with family and friends. I was enjoying some wine last night while reading and I couldn’t help but remember that my grandfather would drink his red wine cold. That’s right I said cold, right out of the refrigerator. Whether it was Chianti or Uncle Danny’s homemade wine, he would pull it out of the fridge and pour it into his glass. Oh and he very rarely used a regular stemmed wine glass – his wine glasses were more like juice glasses. I actually have the glasses now in my bar area.

It made me think – why do we feel like red wine should always be room temperature and white should always be cold? I actually enjoy a red wine that might be a little colder than normal, that is an every day red wine. To me some penne with broccoli rabe and nice chilled table red sounds good. Perhaps some hot peppers and hot dogs on fresh semolina rolls and some Tomato Pie with a chilled Chianti instead of a beer.

I’m not a big white wine drinker, however I do like a little bubbly here and there. So instead of a nice Pinot Grigio in the fridge maybe you’ll see a nice bottle of Pinot Noir next to the Rose. Sounds like I’m in need of a run to Pearson’s this weekend. But remember one thing:

Friends don’t let Friends drink White Zin!

‘Shrooms

As some you may know – I don’t like mushrooms. It has something to do with the “mushy” texture. Although I have been known to force one down here and there. I was watching an interesting video on TED Talks this morning from Paul Stamets. Paul discusses 6 ways that mushrooms can save the world.

Mushrooms or Fungi not only have tremendous gourmet applications but they also have medicinal uses as well. They produce antibiotics, we have the same pathogens that they do and the mycelium from a rotting mushroom can create spongey soil that can prevent erosion. Paul even discusses how the mycelium is like the internet and how mushrooms are so strong when they come to the surface that they can break asphalt. Paul is hoping that people will come to realize that fungi can:

• stimulate the immune system, helping the human body resist and fight viral diseases and cancers
• lower cholesterol levels
• represent a pesticide-free alternative to the traditional white button mushroom
• are instrumental in the recycling of wood and agricultural by-products
• can easily be grown by everyone—outdoors in your garden or yard (mycological landscaping)—or indoors within greenhouses, solaria, or controlled environments.

This is definitely worth checking out. Keep in mind that every time you have cream of mushroom soup or chicken marsala the fungi used to cook with could some day save the earth!

The Honey Bees

I just came back from getting my free scoop of Haagen Dazs Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream. And of course on my walk back to the office I kept saying, I’m going to be like the little kid who drops his cone cream side down on the sidewalk. What do you know – I make it almost all the way to the office in the elevator and of course drop my cone right before the door opens.

Honey Bees are extremely important to our ecosystem. About one-third of the crops in the US diet are insect pollinated, of that figure 80% are pollinated by Honey Bees. Even the cattle that we eat, need grain pollinated by Honey Bees. Most recently there has been a tremendous decline in the Honey Bee population and it seems to be a mystery why. Some are evening saying that Honey Bee extinction could lead to a diet of only bread and water.

A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food,” said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

So remember when you swat at a buzzing Honey Bee, you could be swatting at the only thing keeping that ripe, green Avocado for your guacamole on your table.

Come on now, give me some sugar
Give me some sugar, little honey bee
Dont be afraid, not gonna hurt you
I wouldnt hurt my little honey bee

Dont say a word, bout what were doin
Dont say nothin little honey bee
Dont tell your momma, dont tell your sister
Dont tell your boyfriend, little honey bee

She like to call me king bee
She like to buzz round my tree
I call her honey bee
Im a man in a trance
Im a boy in short pants
When I see my honey bee
And Ive got something to say

Look here now, peace in the valley
Peace in the valley with my honey bee
Dont say a word, bout what were doin
Dont say nothin little honey bee

She give me her monkey hand
And a rambler sedan
Im the king of milwaukee
Her juju beads are so nice
She kissed my third cousin twice
Im the king of pomona
And Ive got something to say

Tom Petter – Honey Bee

Family Time!

Happy Monday!  I had a great weekend with the family.  Although it was a bit cramped in my apartment, we had a good time.  Luckily for us, we had a great waiter on Friday and after several beer tastings – I think my Mom, Dad and I were all a bit corked.

I am the oldest cousin out of 15 (my Mom is the oldest of 9).  My youngest cousin, Spanks, is exactly 24 years younger than I am and then after my brothers, the next oldest is 21. Being the oldest and having several younger cousins, I am sometimes referred to as their “Uncle.”  Definitely makes me feel a little weird since I am the oldest in my immediate family and none of us have kids or are even married.  Nonetheless, I realized something this weekend – interacting with all of my younger cousins – I am practically their Uncle.

As I was growing up, I never really wanted to have anything to do with my younger cousins.  I was teenager and they were 1 and 2.  I went to college, they went to elementary school.  Now things have changed.  I want to interact with them.  I want them to respect me and look up to me just like I look up to my Uncles.  Granted their lives are much different than mine was when I was their age, I want to learn about the things they are doing and want to give them as much attention as I can.  One of my younger cousins just got her own cell phone and of course is enamored with it.  I wanted her to have my number and I wanted to have fun exchanging text messages with her.  To be honest she got just as much of a kick out of it as I did – there she was using text lingo with her 28 year old cousin.

After the passing of my Grandfather, I appreciate my family so much more.  I cannot even type that without my eyes getting watery.  As I get older, think about my future and what my plans are, I hope that what I do helps to guide my cousins as they get older.  I only hope that their memories of me as a family member are as great as my memories with my Grandfather and my Family.  A tuo famiglia.

Finally Friday

It is finally Friday and it is raining again. On a much brighter note – my parents are coming to town today for my cousin’s first communion. Actually there will be a lot of family members in town this weekend including my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My grandfather and my littlest cousin and I all have the same birthday. I call us the Holy Trinity but that may be a little blasphemous. Regardless we are definitely kindred spirits.

I really enjoy having my parents in town despite the fact that I have to sleep on the couch for 2 nights. My Mom grew up in the area and my Dad got his Ph.D. at Catholic University so they know the area. In fact my parents had their first apartment in Glover Park just a few blocks from my place. But considering that they live in Northeastern Pennsylvania they do not always get the opportunity to do more city-like things. They do go into New York city a lot but to me walking around Georgetown (where I live) is different. We actually even have a bit of a routine when they come.

They usually arrive Friday afternoon. We then go to dinner somewhere fun. On Saturday we get up have some coffee, maybe walk to Einstein and get a bagel and Dad goes for his run. About mid-morning we head out and walk around and hit up our favorite shops. This visit we will definitely be visiting Pearson’s so my parents can load up on wine and of course we will go into Sherman Pickey to check out the deals (which my dad and I always seem to get when we’re there). We’ll probably stop by Cafe Bonaparte for a latte and a crepe. After all this we Veg out waiting to get ready to go the First Communion.

On Sunday this year we’ll be doing a brunch somewhere because it is Mother’s day. I prefer to cook up brunch for my parents on Sundays but this year with my grandmother in town we’ll be doing a big family thing. Although we won’t do it this Sunday, we also usually like to walk around the Georgetown Flee Market – it is temporarily in Arlington due to the construction at the Hardy Middle School.

So in a nut shell, a much needed fun relaxing weekend. My Mom likes staying at my place, she thinks that it is cozy. My dad just likes hanging out in Georgetown.  I can’t wait to get out of work and enjoy family time!

Hazy Shade of Summer

Well I made it over the hump that was Wednesday. I am in a bit of a haze from last night’s fun festivities with friends. It is a definitely a good feeling since I got to spend with some of the best people I know. However Cosmo Castorini from Moonstruck explains the way I’m feeling right now best: “I don’t know Rose. I don’t know where I’ve been, and I don’t know where I’m going.”

Here’s to a fun Summer in the City!

My Podcast

So my company finally released my Podcast regarding Brand Management, Brand Value and Social Networking. Below is a link. It is really weird to hear my own voice but I hope you enjoy.

Here is inspiring quote as well!

“Social networking tools are not just for teenagers and college students anymore. Companies are now using these sites as an alternative to the traditional CRM software packages, creating an environment where customers, employees and stakeholders can access information from ‘a person like me.’ The focus has shifted from data management to relationship management.”

– Luke Diorio, 360jmg Group Director

http://www.360jmg.com/podcasts/index.html