Birthday Cake Oreos

The Best Late-night Snack that ever Existed

If the title of this blog isn't a dead give away, I love to eat and I have a rather embarrassing weakness for sweet things. I can't say no to a cupcake, and I always save room for dessert. Last night, I was browsing the isles at my local grocery store when I came across these:

Yes, you're reading that correctly, those are birthday cake Oreo's. With out hesitation, I purchased them and proceeded to eat an entire box while catching up on a some of my favorite TV shows.

They are so good, it should be a crime to eat them.

There's also a little bit of history here. The Oreo is celebrating its 100th birthday on March 6th. Check out this blog post over at Serious Eats for some additional information on these cookies.

Lastly, the Oreo brand is proof that old age should not deter people from using Social Media. The Oreo is 100 years old and you can follow them on Twitter:

Images from:

http://emilyfarque-delish.blogspot.com/

http://sweets.seriouseats.com/

[ahn-truh-pruh-nur,-noor|

en·tre·pre·neur

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

Alex Cox is an operating partner and the General Manager of 22 Bistro in Squaw Valley, CA. He’s 31, works 12-16 hours a day, 6 days a week, and couldn’t be more pleased.

“I worked my way up from being a busser to a manager over a 3 year time span,” says Alex. “As a manager I was approached by investors, who saw potential in me. When the time was right, they offered a chance to buy out the original owner.”

Prior to being owning 22 Bistro, Alex has tried other smaller entrepreneurial ventures, one of them being a t-shirt business to make cash on the side while bartending, “That failed due to investors not coming through on their side of the deal, it happens.”

As with most things in life, Alex knows that being an entrepreneur comes with risks.

“I worry the most about the unpredictable things. Things happen with businesses and industries that are unpredictable and can throw you for a loop,” he says. “Hypothetically if it were never to snow again, I could be liable for some losses, but being in a desirable spot in terms of our location, Squaw [Valley] would be willing to buy us out.”

In order to buy out the original owner, Cox made had to make rather substantial financial and personal investment in the business. He sold a parcel of land that he inherited from his Grandfather, back in his home state of Indiana. He was nervous, but says that in the end he knew investing was the right thing to do.

“Two people that I respect a lot and looked up to told me the same story at separate points in my life,” says Alex. “The the advice they gave me was this: No matter what happens in life, you’re going to have a shot at a couple of big opportunities. Most people don’t recognize that there’s an opportunity present or capitalize on it on it when it’s there. The moral of the story is to be ready when opportunity knocks.”

When opportunity starting knocking, the banging on the door was loud. In addition to the owner being willing to sell to Alex, he also had the wealthy investors believing in him. The combination of the two made it hard for Alex to turn the offer down.

“To be an entrepreneur you need capital. Truthfully, it’s hard to be successful with out it," says Alex. “It’s difficult to be an entrepreneur in this day and age because no one is lending out money. So unless your business is really small or you already have money, it’s tough to find it.”

Most of his friends are out skiing all day and partying all night, so how does he keep his eye on the prize and focus on being a young business owner?

“That’s part of being invested. You know that if you’re out partying all night skiing all day that you’re not going to make money, and you’re not going to have anyone to blame but yourself. With that in my head it's easy to stay focused.”

The best part of it all?

“Being my own boss and having control of my own bottom line.”

*******

For more information on 22 Bistro, visit their Website: http://www.22bistro.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/22Bistro

or Follow them on Twitter

The Anti-Hacker

Note: This article was written after I watched an archived episode of the relatively unknown MTV show, Diary. The episode was predominantly about Facebook and it’s anti-corporate culture. However, Erin and the work that she does for Facebook played a small part in the show and I thought she was worth researching and writing about.

*****

So you want to work for Facebook but you’re not a coder, nerd or hacker? No problem. Some of the best jobs at the best companies aren’t necessarily in the departments you think to find them.

Erin Kanaley, the head of consumer marketing at Facebook, is one of those lucky few.

“I like to be at work more than being anywhere else,” says Erin.

Four years ago Erin graduated from the University of Colorado where she had studied marketing. She got a job in the advertising industry and they were about to block Facebook from the servers at her job, “so that we would all stay off it and continue to do our jobs.” Says Erin

“The day before they blocked it, I clicked on the ‘jobs’ link on the bottom right hand corner of my Facebook page. Two weeks later I was up in Palo Alto with a new job.”

Erin spends her days working at her desk, which is situated on the vast and open floor Facebook’s famous offices.

Erin and Randi Zuckerburg

Image: (Berger/Bloomberg)

“I work on the consumer marketing team, says Erin, “We work with public figures to help them build a presence on Facebook and interact with their audience in a unique way that you can’t do anywhere else. It’s unbelievable to be a part of it.”

According to Erin, Facebook prides itself "on having a real 'hacker culture' where ideas can come from anywhere. They don't have to come from the top down. They come from any employee. I'm pretty proud that our marketing team embodies that hacker culture also, it's not just engineers."

Facebook is a very unique place to work since it, “Touches every single industry and every other person. It also feels like a small company. “

Marketing, according to Erin, is just as important as coding. “It’s important for the engineers to see how the things that they build each day really effect peoples lives.”

What about those all night hack-a-thons, made famous my the film The Social Network, and stilly very much so a integral part of the Facebook culture? “Well, for those of us that can’t code, we’ve brought in some really classes like baking, juggling, painting. It’s a testament to show how important it is in our culture to keep learning and growing and trying new things.”

Facebook employees hard at working during a Hackathon

While most people might not antiquate Facebook with pretty blonde girls from advertising agencies, Erin and the other members of her Consumer Marketing team consider themselves to be the lucky ones.

“Facebook is all about creativity,” says Erin, “Sometimes the best way to succeed both personally and professionally is to turn off your working brain for a while and try something new.”

The Way to my Heart

I'm not particularly fond of Valenties Day. I think it's a Halmark holiday, and that, "If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion, love actually is all around." (Name that movie)

But in all seriousness, the one true way to my heart has and always will be food. This my friends, is why last night was quite possibly the best Valenties Day I've ever had.

Behold, the Chocolate Burger:

(Image: RGJ.com)

This is what my lovely valentine and I had for dessert last night. It was a close as I've even been to heaven, and also much better than any box of chocolates I've ever come across.

Bun: Two powdered doughnuts

Fries: Mangos

Ketchup: Strawberry puree

Shot: Whipped cream and root-beer

Pickles: Kiwi's

Tomatos: Strawberries

Burger Patty: Fudge brownie

Mustard: White chocolate sauce

Belize

In the cold winter months, I often find myself longing for white sandy beaches, tropical islands and pina coladas. Last year, I finally caved, the devil on my shoulder got the best of me, and I went to Belize!

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken during the trip:

Alex and I on the plane to Belize (looking pretty chipper considering the redeye flights we had just taken).

First of many fresh Lobster Dinners

View from our Cabana at the Maya Beach Hotel in Placencia

Lazy Lizzard Beach/Bar on Caye Caulker.

I'll call this one, "my happy place"

Blast(s) from the Past

Once upon a time, I lived in San Francisco. About 3 months after moving to "The City," I started blogging for the first time. Now that I am on blog #2, I've decided to dig through the archives and re-post some of my favorites from my first attempt at being a blogger (it's my version of watching old home movies).

Archived Blog #1: "Tourists"

Originally posted on June 2, 2009

I have a very torrid love/ hate relationship with tourists. On the one hand, I long to be one--some of my fondest memories consist of my girlfriends and I roaming the streets of Milan and Vienna with our maps and cameras, soaking up the culture and dreaming of the days we could afford to NOT stay in youth hostels. On the other hand, I currently live in on of the most visited cities in the world, on a street where the cable car, jammed packed with tourists, goes by every eight minutes from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

side note: did you know that tourists spent $8.5 billion in San Francisco last year?!? I wonder how much of that went towards their overpriced five dollar Cable Car ride? Suckers.

So I'm at an impasse, every night I want to scream out my window, "the Cable Car is not a roller coaster! You do not have to yell 'weeeeeee' every time the car goes up a steep hill!" But I have to wonder, is my loathing of the tourists in my neighborhood a direct result of my secret desire to be one of them?

Who knows, but in retrospect, I'm a lucky gal either way. I've been to some pretty amazing places and I also happen to live in a beautiful city that attracts people from all over the world--did I mention I can see the Golden Gate Bridge from my roof?

Side note #2: the picture above of the cable car found on allposters.com-uk was actually taken in front of my building. Creepy.

Senna

There are few things in life I love more than a good documentary film. I'm actually borderline obsessed with them. I hardly ever go to the movies, maybe three or four times year. But according to Netflix/ iTunes, I watch an average of 6 documentaries a month. Last night, I watched Senna:

I knew nothing about Forumla One racing prior to watching this film, which is both fascinating and heartbreaking. Many think it was snubbed by the Academy when it was not shortlisted for Best Documentary film, and I have to agree.

Jobs: Just a Click Away

Once upon a time, job seekers from near and far would open the newspaper on Sunday morning, red pencil in hand, and circle potential future endeavors. This my friends, is no longer the case.

According to a Congressional study, classified advertising in daily papers declined 38% in 2010. Classified advertising accounted for about 50% of ad revenues for many papers in 2008. Now many of those ads have migrated from print to specialized real estate, and help wanted Websites.

As newspaper readers and jobseekers alike make the move from the newspaper to the Internet, one Website has become the clear frontrunner for those looking to for work: Craigslist.

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified ads with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, services, and discussion forums. The fee for posting a job is $25. This fee pays for one job in one category. There is no cost to submit a resume.

On any given day, you can check Craigslist to get the pulse of who’s hiring in the area and what they are looking for. Of over 25,000 jobs found listed on Reno Craigslist in Spring 2011, the following were in the highest demand:

1. Physical Therapists

2. Salespeople - retail

3. Occupational Therapists

4. Physicians in Family Practice

5. Customer Service Representatives

6. Physicians in Internal Medicine

7. Sales Representatives

8. Account Executives

9. Sales Managers

10. Store Managers

11. Physical Therapy Assistants

12. Registered Nurses

Yes, the national economic downturn hurt Reno’s lifeblood of tourism and gambling, but opportunities still do exist. Prior to the recession, the city enjoyed 30% employment growth in the decade from 1998 – 2008, more than most cities in the United States. In time, the tide will turn and employers will be seeking employees once again.

As is the case with many Websites, Craigslist has also been known to play host to scams from time to time. So, when seeking your next economic opportunity via Craigslist, be sure to do your due diligence, and make sure that you are applying for a legitimate job.

Funemployed

When Elizabeth Webster graduated from the University of California at Davis in 2007, she had confidence and a degree from a highly accredited university on her side. The financial and job markets had yet to collapse and for the most part, things seemed to be looking up. In July of 2007 she accepted a position with Mervyns, a discount retail department store based out of Hayward, CA. She began work that August in the marketing department and figured that she was on her way to making it as a career girl.

“It felt good. I felt like I was taking all the right steps,” said Elizabeth. “Go to college, get a job, move to the city, it all just seemed like a very natural progression.”

With her first big job, came her first big pay check, health benefits and her own apartment in San Francisco. Then, 13 months after Elizabeth was hired, on July 29, 2008, Mervyns succumbed to the harsh retail environment and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Then on October, Elizabeth became one of 2.8 million American’s to loose their jobs during 2008.

In what felt like a devastating blow, Elizabeth filed for unemployment benefits as soon as possible. Immediately, her monthly income was cut in half. She had been making roughly $45,000 per year working at Mervyns, which equaled about $1,200, every two weeks. Now, she was receiving $600 every two weeks from the federal government.

“I was terrified,” said Elizabeth. “I had just signed a lease on an apartment that I could no longer afford and I was uninsured. And worst of all, there were no jobs.”

But Elizabeth was not alone. Within three months, all four of her roommates had been laid off from their jobs, and went on unemployment as well. They began using the phrase, “fun-employment,” and patiently began to wait out what would eventually become a global financial crisis that some economist say could end up being the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

Four years later, Elizabeth is now working full time at an accounting firm, and things are back on track. She looks back on her time as an unemployed twenty-something with fond memories. “It was a learning experience,” she says, “I think it helped my friends and I appreciate the opportunities we have been given since then.”