Burger Menu – The Contenders

Burger Throwdown Competitors were announced yesterday!

I can’t reveal the entire event menu, well at least not YET…

But I’ll throw you a teaser of what burgers to expect and the creators behind the grill.

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!

COW-A-BUNGA

Amstel Light Burger by Chef George Montes

Bolio Popper Burger by Christina Ramsey

Blue Fueyo Burger by Kristi Fueyo

Roly Brioche Burger by Roly Masferrer

Southwestern Burger by Carlos Miller

Steak & Blu Burger by Ayman Mohamad

Can’t hardly wait to taste these babies   Don’t miss out. RSVP here

Congratulations and Best Luck to all!

p.s Anyone interested in helping me out at the event, message me to join the #MoreCowbell Team

Nessy

Burger Throwdown – It’s been Broughten

I received a call last month from a mysterious gentleman.

Said he knew me, and that I had seen him before. He began to tell me things. Truthful things about me.

“You are always on the go, keeping yourself occupied with events, one job, two jobs, blow jobs (hair dry – that is!) and spend series of hours on your MAC. You love the girly-girl things, yet awkwardly toss it to the bottom of your To Do List. You watch minimal TV, you’re a terrible movie critic, but can easily be addicted to TiVO. You think I’m a bit arrogant and nonetheless you call me Milk Boy for my pale complexion. I must say that, for a 5’2 brunette, my are you stubborn and can eat like a teenage boy. Don’t worry about how I retained all this info, be alarmed that I Know What You Did Last Summer. My name is Bobby Flay and I’m coming to your city for a Throwdown!”

Me: (Gulp) FTW!!!

HOMEMADE CHEFS

As much as I would of like Bobby Flay to be my intro and partake on our Burger Throwdown event, I have to say you just got punk’d! LOL…I had to stop because I was beginning to believe myself too. I’m not always this mean, I kid

On a happy note, you just found out many facts about me and that’s the truth and I’m sticking with it.

A friend of mine encouraged me to write about the making of Burger Throwdown. An event I’m hosting along with my brother Chef Jorge Montes on Memorial Day at Tree Tops Park in Davie.

To find out all the gushy details and RSVP, click here.

In the next few weeks I’ll be putting my blog to good use, if you haven’t noticed I’m a “blocrastinator” and seriously need to get better at posting more often.

Let’s begin!

A long, long time ago there lived a brother and sister who went to Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He pursued culinary arts, while she studied Interactive Media. After attaining their degrees and many years working in their field, they opened up a catering business in Broward – Chef George Catering. Having lived in Miami for over 15 yrs, they had to build a new network of friends and clientele in the northern hemisphere of South Florida. They took a chance and opened up a Meetup group called Homemade Chefs. The intentions of this group was to teach people how to cook for themselves, for their special someone and with others in a social fun environment. As well as to build relationships for business, friendship and pleasure (lol, J/k but we have seen dates come out of of this group ).

That was the short version of part of our lives…I’ll cut to the chase.

Homemade Chef members have challenged Chef Jorge on a Burger Throwndown! The dare has already been “brought’n” by Chef Jorge at Food Network Food & Wine “Amstel Light Burger Bash” back in March as he won second place.

Homemade Chefs, prepare yourselves! I’m cheering for you Bring It!

P.S Competitors will be announce later today!

- Nessy

WordCamp Tips & Peeps

WordCamp Miami 2010

As I was looking for a bank statement through the zoo-pile of papers on my desk, I discovered my notes from WordCamp Miami. I can’t believe I did not share these tip-bits sooner, and I can’t believe 8 weeks passed that fast since the event held on February 20, 2010 at University of Miami Campus. This year there were 3 different tracks: Beginner, Social Media and Developers track. It was hard to choose which to attend so I session-hooped to get a taste of all.

What’s Coming in WordPress 3.0 Speaker: Jane Wells

• NEW Default 2000 Theme
• Custom Post Types
• Better Menu Management (custom nav, mix pages, cat., exclude items, etc…)
• WordPress MU = Multiple sites in One (( WP + MU = WP ))
• Stay tuned May 1st

For more update news: wpdevel.wordpress.com | #wordpress-dev

Finding Your Blogging Voice Speaker: Jess Jurick | @JessJurick

• Find your voice, point of interest, what appeals to you most.
• Yes appearance is important! But should not wait until you have the perfect blog site to start blogging.
• Put a spin to it! Not just Copy Paste. No gimmicks.

A few successful blogs to follow…get ideas and observe their niche:

• Silicon Beach
• Holy Crap My Hair Is On Fire
• Wine Library TV
• Blog SouthWest
• Tom’s Shoes

Top Tips for becoming a good blogger:

• Read a lot, Brainstorm often
• Write from different perspectives
• Go out and meet people, See the world
• Don’t be afraid to share your story

Jane Wells, Mark Jaquith, and John James Jacoby

Make Your Blog Social Speaker: Brian Breslin | Infinimedia, Inc. | @brianbreslin

To be Social = Integrative

Social Networks: Build Up or Build On

Put Social in your Media:

• Bookmarking Sites: Delicious, Digg, Reddit
• Social Browsing Sites: Stumble Upon

Turning Your Blog Viral:

• Make reading your blog infectious
• Turn your readers into promoters

Best Practices:

• Understand the culture of social networks
• Treat the community with respect
• Engage your community whenever they want to

Things to Avoid:

• Spamming seriously
• Diving IN without testing things OUT first

Simplifying Social = Plugins

Future of Social Blog:

• (OPEN ID) Identity Providers
• (DISO) Distributed Social Networks
• Activity HUBS (Activity Streams)

Attendees Sara & Brad from pixelscut.com

E-commerce & WordPress

Speakers: Shayne Sanderson | 9seeds | shaynesanderson.com | @shaynesanderson

Things to consider in your planning before building your e-commerce site and deciding which source to use:

• How many products you have, What type of product…
• Does your product have attributes (sizes, colors, etc…)
• What will be your Gateway (Need SSL_encrypt data HTTPS Secured Site)

E-commerce Plugins…

How do you decide what’s best for you or your client? Research! Take a look at these plugins, do some investigation on the features you #1 need, #2 want and #3 it be real-cool to have. Just remember that Need comes before Cool to Have.  Make your decision based of what will be effecient for the user and manageable for you.

• Quick Shop
• eShop
• PayPal Shortcodes
• Simple PayPal Shopping Cart
• Fat Free Cart (Shipping & Sales Tax)
• Ecwid Shopping Cart (iFrame & Real-time Ship Quotes)
• StorePress
• ShopperPress (Analytics)
• PHPurchase (Tax by State & Zipcode) – $49
• Shopp (Solid Plugin, 200 Template Tags “Short Codes”) – $55
• WP Ecommerce ( Theme engine) – FREE

I hope these notes and links help you on your WordPress endeavors. Be sure to check out this local user group South Florida WordPress Meetup, for monthly updates and info on WP.

Photography by Yours Truly -Vanessa Montes

I’m not a HIPPO just a gouda blogger

I decided today to get back on track with my #5 new year resolution. BLOG for cryin’ out loud! My #1 resolution – Stop using “Not enough Time” as an excuse to NOT fulfill the rest of this list! Lol, pretty funny how I give myself attitude with “!” points. Those little upside “i”s do catch my attention. As well as moments like this morning when for the Love of God I could not remember my username nor password to login to an account I’ve logged in for the past 1,825 days at Suncoast. Ofcourse, this young pup does not need to write things down because it’s all stored in my head-drive. Four hours later it came to me and by this time realization hit me across the face. Info overload, new data wiping out old data. Exactly what happened to my cell this weekend. Coincidence or Sign?

Anyhow, i like to cut to the chase. I made up my mind to make an effort and deposit my dancing sugar plums into this humbly abode some call a blog. It’s 5Am in the morning and I have yet to go to bed.  In a few hours my ass will be in the shower lamenting why I didn’t shut my eyes at a civil time with the rest of the Eastern timers. West side are you with me? I was commenting to a friend about a post I had seen and was interested to know if I would qualify for it. Just wondering, nothing series just a thought in head. His immediate response was you’re grammar and writing stinks! I’m no poet or eloquent speaker, I know my weakness. Out of all 10 skills required, I was out by one, a communications degree. I’m a total cheeseball, I could of told you that! Then he said that most employers would usually hire natives of the language to avoid people with poor grammar and composition. People like ME, latin? The conversation got worse than better. I’m a big baby and still thinking about it and now writing about it.  Bothered by the comment of someone who has good insight of me, my goals and dreams. I will rephrase that line, someone I thought knew me.  I don’t mind criticism, I mind the lack of etiquette to make it constructive not crushing. So I came to this country 20 years ago not knowing the language, took ESOL classes like forever, read encyclopedias to learn to write and speak cause that was our google back then….does that automatically make me an incompetent candidate?

If you are expecting great grammar, please exit this blog ASAP. I write about my occurrences, ideals and hot cakes. I stay away from HYPOcrites, the ones who love you enough to dig you in a hole for an instant moment of self gratification. I’m no better than you, news flash, you’re not better than me either. The world is filled with colors and animals. If I were to pick one of each, I’d be a blue rhino. Skin so tough, hard to penetrate. Passive-aggressive like the blue oceanic seas.

Using Social Media in your Job Search

Back to the Future! I said I will post notes on this event that took place back in August. I’ve been so busy too busy to do what I say I would do. Who else has the same problem? PROCRASTINATION or PRIORITIZATION!!! Shame on me! Anywho…I found my notes the other day and thought I should take the time to post this but most important actually take the time to follow through my notes and DO IT!

Peter Leshaw, an Internet Marketing consultant was among the speakers on “Using Social Media in your Job Search” on August 25 @ PinkSlip Networking. He discussed many things you, (me), we should be doing using social media in your job search. I thought to myself…”Well I have a full time job, a small business, and do freelance -I’m not sure this topic is really for me”. I found his enthusiasm and message interesting, so I sticked around for more and I’m so glad I did. He said something that opened up my eyes..sort of like a neck breaker moment. Say that again!?! Intrigued yet?

Alright here are my notes from my epiphany…
Keep Your Resume CURRENT and online. Simple as that. Employers and agencies that are looking for candidates search online, why isn’t your resume online when you have free tools at your disposition? Now it gets better…Business owners, consultants, full time freelancers, self-employed people…DO YOU HAVE A RESUME POSTED ONLINE? What’s the point of that if you are the boss of you? Well my friend, if someone runs into your name or your skills, specialty, experience and offers you a position, obviously your not looking for a job but you are looking for business. Some companies may prefer the idea of doing business with you as; B2B, independent contractor or as a consultant. This is just another way to expand your opportunities, market your name and be the “word of mouth” on search engines.

Here are the steps to find your next job or business lead:

1) Write a well written Sales Letter/Cover Letter about you.
- Be sure you proofread and optimize it, in other words “don’t make it a recipe”. It’s an introduction like a movie trailer of you.

2) Keep your resume current and up to date.
- This is a must for online profiles and also WORD or PDF attached files.

3) Setup a profile on the following accounts…
- Google.com/profile or gmail account also allows you to do this
- LinkedIn: Gather professional titles/descriptions for your ideal job title as well as all past job titles. You can use Google’s free keyword tool to do some research. Basically, be specific in your title on what you specialize…e.g “Software Specialist”, this can be too broad specially if you don’t master all. Try using something like “Adobe Photoshop Specialist, Web Designer & Flash Expert”. It’s short, to the point and the reader can automatically identify what you’re all about.
- Facebook: If using for business, keep the dialog for business ONLY. No personal conversations, drunken pictures/videos, or political/religious opinion that can jeopardize you as a trusted individual for your business.
- Twitter: Tweet brilliant thoughts, quotes, educational or worth sharing news with the world!
- Delicious: Create this account and bookmark your Emurse profile here)
- Digg: (link your Google profile here)

4) Create an account on Emurse.com (This site allows you to create, store, and share your resume online. You can have more than 1 resume. Also a great way to track your resume and how are people finding you)

5) Blog: Start a blog about you, your services, products. Free blogs; WordPress, Blogger, plenty of free ones out there

6) Buy your domain name: www.YourNameYourLastName.com

Do all this and you will find yourself on the top searches @ zero cost. If you think I’m kidding, type the speaker’s name in google right now…Peter Leshaw…go on do it!  This guy is listed on the first 2 search pages of search engines. No problem finding him

Try it out! Let me know what results you got from these collaborative social media tools.

Yours truly,

Vanessa Montes

I SHALL RETURN…

Oh my! It’s been a while since I blogged. I have abandomed my poor little wordpress. No worries, it’s been a very exciting summer. I will update you on all my events and great connection of resources I’ve gathered. I shall return strong

Stay tune my fans, lol

Vanessa

Can You Make Money with Social Media? Here are some helpful links…

Do you ever stop to wonder how much time does the average person spends on social networking? 

I know I have a hard time updating it on a daily basis but if I add my time on a weekly basis, it’s a whole lot! Cheez, I should of spend that time freelancing, eh! Anyhow, I have my battles if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that we spend so much time following people online, looking at pictures, joining more networks, posting comments rather than doing something more productive with our times. Then, again look at me sitting here posting my thoughts and links @ midnight to take some of your productive time. LOL, I’m a wreck! 

Well that was just my intro…a little confusing but I’m sure there is at least someone here who have thought about it too!

I attended a discussion by Sheryl Cattell about Making Money with Social Media. She gave out a list of helpful sites and tips to stay on top of social networks and using them to promote your business and your name. If we are spending so much online, why not spend it making money while you are at it. Best practices, use your social accounts to post brilliant things about you, your services, products and company. Get your name/company out to the world! Word of mouth is powerful..So is social networking. Ask your friends and family to add your web site links to their sites, facebook, myspace pages. Little things like that can get you an opportunity, job, clients, Etc…Just flinging some ideas @ you. Check out these sites and links! Information, courtesy of Sheryl Cattell, twitter: @allmaya

Follow the Conversation
- Google Alerts – your name, your hashtag
- www.tweetdeck.com
- www.seesmic.com
- http://search.twitter…
- http://twemes.com…
- http://hashtags.org…
- www.tweetscan.com

Start a Conversation
- Twhirl (used for virtual intranets, desktop client)
- Twitpic (post pics from your phone)
- Ping.fm (post once distributes many – blog, twitter facebook)
- Tweetlater – schedules posts while you are away, autoresponds to followers
- Twitterlocal – get local info from locals (great for traveling)
- Tweetseeker – search and rank tweet keywords

Mobile Twitter
- Twitterberry
- Twitter Mobile
- PocketTwit – Windows Mobile
- iTweet
- Tweetie for iPhone
- Hahlo – iPhone/iPod

Getting the Word Out
- Twellow
- We Follow

Other Twists of Interest
- Tweetmyjobs – subscribe by city and discipline
- Microtweet
- #socialmedia
- #sfima
- Twitter Karma (who is following who)
- Twitter Sheep (analyze bio words and presents a tag cloud)
- TinyURL (bit.ly or is.gd)

Check Out these sites to get ideas how others are using social media to create fan base:
- Facebook Fan Pages: cocacola, nutella, pizza, mrbean, pringles
- Facebook Groups: Contiki Holidays, Socialmobile
- LinkedIn Companies: Dell, Home Depot
- LinkedIn Groups: eMarketing Association Network (100K), SFIMA (1K)
- Twitter: @ Delloutlet

After Freelance Camp Miami…

This is exactly how I felt driving back home on I-95, drunk of pure sleep. I was nodding by head just like that. I’m such a baby!

VM: I pulled in my driveway and passed out for 20 minutes, then walked in and passed out on my bed for 15 hrs. Real story.

Water Report (Did You Know?)

• More than 1/2 of all water use inside a house takes place in the bathroom.
• Up to 75% of a home’s total water use during the growing season is for outdoor purposes.
• Nearly 14% of the water a typical homeowner pays for is never even used. It leaks down the drain!
• Running a full load of dishes in a dishwasher saves water over washing the same dishes by hand.
• Fixing a toilet that silently leaks 200 gallons of water per day might save nearly $1,000 per year. (WOW)

Special Report for the Leaky Toilet: 
To detect leaks in toilet, add food coloring to the tank water. If the colored water appears in the bowl, the toilet is leaking. Now go get it fix.

VM: What does this have to do with design? Absolutely nothing! Just trying to save you some bucks people!!