WerkaBlog

Who knew you could do audio tweets? Very cool.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/26/how-to-audio-twitter/

Hey werkers, how was your past weekend? Mine was spent in San Antonio, specifically SeaWorld!

I always have a dilemma whenever I go to zoos, SeaWorld, etc. because half of me really enjoys the animal shows they put on, but then the other half feels guilty that a killer whale has to perform a feat that includes splashing a crowd with water 4 times a day. And the problem is is that I don’t feel strongly enough about either way to do anything about it. Sigh.

But all in all, SeaWorld was a blast! I left completely sunburned because I forgot to put on sunscreen (I know — absolutely terrible of me!), but also completely satisfied because I hadn’t been back in like 7 years.

What places would you guys like to go back to if you had the chance? Any childhood memories you’d like to relive?

It’s Restaurant Week again!   Below is the list of restaurants. And this year they are doing $20 – 2 course lunches and 3 course dinners for $35

Diners will enjoy three or four course (depending on the restaurant) gourmet dinners for $35 per person (not including beverages, tax or gratuity). Participating restaurants pledge to donate $5 from each special dinner sold to the Houston Food Bank.

This is a wonderful opportunity for diners to try new restaurants or re-visit old favorites while helping to fight hunger in Houston. HRW is planned by volunteers so that 100% of funds raised are donated to the Houston Food Bank.

Starting Sunday, Aug 1 – Saturday Aug 21st

http://www.houstonrestaurantweek.com/Menus-2010.htm

*17
III Forks
51 Fifteen
Americas Post Oak “The Original”
Amerigo’s Grille
Arcodoro
Arturo’s Uptown Italiano
Au Petit Paris
Azuma
Azuma on the Lake
Azuma Sushi and Robata Bar
Backstreet Café
benjy’s in The Village
benjy’s on Washington
Bistro Catron
Bistro Don Camillo
Branch Water Tavern
Brasserie Max & Julie
Brennan’s of Houston
Brenner’s on the Bayou
Brenner’s Steakhouse
Cadillac Bar Houston
Café Moustache
The Capital Grille
Carmelo’s Ristorante Italiano
Cava Bistro
Cavatore Italian Restaurant
Ciao Bello
Cielo Mexican Bistro
Crapitto’s Cucina Italiana
Crave Sushi Boutique
Cullen’s Upscale American Grille
Damian’s Cucina Italiana
Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House
Downtown Aquarium
Eddie V’s Prime Seafood
Feast
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar – River Oaks
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar – Town & Country
Frank’s Chop House
Gigi’s Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar
Gravitas
Grotto Westheimer
Grotto Woodlands
The Grove
Haven, A Seasonal Kitchen
House of Blues Foundation Room
Hugo’s
Indika Restaurant
Julia’s Bistro
Kata Robata
Kiran’s
La Colombe d’Or
La Griglia
Le Mistral
Mark’s American Cuisine
Masraff’s
Max’s Wine Dive
McCormick & Schmick’s – Downtown
McCormick & Schmick’s -Town & Country
McCormick & Schmick’s – Uptown Park
The Melting Pot – Westheimer
Michelangelo’s
Mockingbird Bistro
Monarch Restaurant and Lounge
Morton’s The Steakhouse – Houston Downtown
Morton’s The Steakhouse – Houston Galleria
Mo’s…A Place for Steaks
Noe @ The Omni Houston Galleria Hotel
The Oceanaire Seafood Room
Ocean’s
Olivette at The Houstonian
Ouisie’s Table
Palm Restaurant
Pappas Bros. Steak House
Pappas Grill
Perry’s Italian Grille
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Champions
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Clear Lake
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Katy
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Memorial City
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Sugar Land
Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille – Woodlands
Pesce
Polo’s Signature
Post Oak Grill
Prego Restaurant
Quattro at Four Seasons Hotel Houston
Rainbow Lodge
Rattan Pan-Asian Bistro & Wine Bar
Ray’s Grill
RDG + Bar Annie
Ruggles Grill
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Sambuca Restaurant
Smith & Wollensky
Soma Sushi
Sorrento Ristorante
The St. Regis Houston – Remington Restaurant
Strata Restaurant & Bar
Sullivan’s Steakhouse
Sushi Raku
Tony’s
Truluck’s
Valentino Vin Bar
Vic & Anthony’s
VOICE Restaurant & Lounge at Hotel ICON
Willie G’s Seafood & Steaks
Yelapa Playa Mexicana
108

I know you’ve heard it from us before, but now you can hear it from someone else! Check out this article I saw posted on one of my LinkedIn Groups! Good news to many, because the article discusses how the employee of the future is the freelance/independent contractor… Freelancing is no longer a new trend, but rather the workforce norm!
I know we have some AMAZING freelancers and independent contractors on Werkadoo (why? because I’ve seen your profiles!) and I am really interested in hearing your stories!

What is your favorite “success” story as an independent ‘werker’?

Being back in the Werkadoo Office is such a pleasure, I just landed back in my desk-chair yesterday after two weeks in Barcelona and Paris romping around and having a blast on a much-needed vacation. As fun as Spain and France always are, there is such a lovely familiar feeling getting back into the company of your coworkers, as much as I love my friends and family, there is a special bond that everyone shares with the people they work with. Working towards a common goal and truly being teammates is something that you rarely get to share with your closest friends and family, but that you share every day with your coworkers.

Being able to travel around this summer I had some amazing experiences. I spent a week working on an organic farm in the Catalonian countryside surrounded by grapevines and olive trees. I watched Spain clinch The World Cup in Plaza España in the middle of Barcelona with 300,000 other rabid Furia Roja fans. I was able to spend Bastille Day cruising around Paris watching proud Parisians wave their tri-colors. In short it was an amazing trip and I was able to do it because I am a flexible professional living the Werkadoo way.

Hopefully I’ll get to share some of my experiences in more detail on the Werkadoo Blog, but if there’s one thing that my recent travels reinforced for me, it’s that I love being a freelance professional and I think you will too. It doesn’t matter if I’m halfway around the world or in Austin, or Houston. My teammates and I are focused on the same goal and on the same page no matter where we are. It’s 2010 the world is truly interconnected and at our fingertips, we just have to take the plunge and go out there and enjoy it!

- Teddy B.

Cruising the streets of Barca

Wooooaaaahhhhh.

Woooaaahhhh.

I have never felt so amazed before in my life. As I was looking through this post on Inc.com (http://bit.ly/bR0d5t), not only did I recognize a girl I knew in middle school, but I also saw some Penn alumni on here too! I’m 20 years old, and I am nowhere where these young’ins were when they were my age!

Doesn’t that just inspire you and make you want to be in the small business / technology world too? It’s crazy that less than two decades ago the computer was a foreign object to us, and now all of us are not only using it to communicate internationally, but as a means of making a living too.

Reading the bios about these entrepreneurs has trullyyyyy inspired me — so that begs the question, what inspires you all? What makes you motivated in the morning to do the best that you can, and to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself?

‘A cup of Joe,’ as a reference to a cup of coffee, first appeared as popular slang in the 1930s and 40s. Opinions differ on where this phrase originates from, but presented here are a few different theories.

In 1914, the secretary of the US Navy, Admiral Josephus ‘Joe’ Daniels abolished the officers’ wine mess. From that time on the strongest (and apparently therefore the drink of choice) on board navy ships was coffee. It was dubbed ‘a cup of Joe’ after the secretary.

‘A cup of Joe’ also refers to the GIs’ favourite drink. During World War II the US defence workers were supplied with as much coffee as they wanted. Coffee was a source of warmth and comfort for battle-weary troups.
The slang was popular enough to be included in the Reserve Officer’s Manual of 1931.
A variation on this theme has it that Joe refers to the average Joe, thus making ‘a cup of Joe’ the average drink of the average man.

There was a New York company named Martinson’s Coffee (Andy Warhol liked to paint the cans) owned by a man named Joe Martinson. The neighbourhood of the company would be saturated by the aroma of roasting coffee, and coffee therefore became known as ‘a cup of Joe’.
It sounds lovely, the thought of waking every morning to the smell of newly-roasted coffee beans, but actually it’s not. Take a trip through a town with a company that roasts coffee – for example Karlstad in Sweden – and you’ll understand. If the neighbourhood said anything they likely said ‘a smell of Joe’ and meant it in a negative way.

‘Joe’ is a derivation of ‘Java’. Java itself became a popular American nickname for coffee in the 19th Century when the island of Java in Indonesia was a major source of the world’s coffee.

Yet another theory connects ‘a cup of Joe’ to the song ‘Old Black Joe’, written by Stephen Collins Foster (author of ‘Oh! Susannah’ and ‘Camptown Races’) in 1860. Of course, if you read the lyrics you’ll find they have nothing to do with coffee:

Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away,
Gone from the earth to a better land I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

I’m coming, I’m coming, for my head is bending low,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.
Why do I weep, when my heart should feel no pain,
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again?
Grieving for forms now departed long ago.
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has longed to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe.

So Which Is Correct?

The most prevalent theory of the origin of ‘a cup of Joe’ is the one that concerns Josephus Daniels. It’s the one you’ll hear on the History Channel (if you’re in North America) and is the one you’ll find in columns exploring the origins of words and phrases. It’s widely repeated on the Internet (often word by word as if people were copying and pasting).

Have you guys seen the new trailer to the film “The Social Network?” The film looks pretty cool. Check it out: http://mashable.com/2010/07/15/social-network-trailer-full/

One of my favorite local blogs, www.iheartyoublog.com, posted this picture of a sign she saw on the way to work today!

And I have to say, it’s inspiring. Three little words, but three words that mean so much! In an environment where werk is hard to find, and where individuals have to fight tooth and nail to get positions, all of us should adopt the mantra of “Don’t Stop Believin’!”

I’m a firm believer in how attitudes truly shape a person, and the more optimistic you are, the higher the chances you are of getting hired! When I look at my friend circle, I’ve realized that I love surrounding myself with happy and content individuals who try to always look at the good things in life! This isn’t to say that we don’t have our moments where we get a bout of depression, but it’s the way that we try to find the good in life that differentiate us from others.

So no matter what you guys do, start off this weekend with the saying Don’t Stop Believin’!!!!!!!!

Hello all!

So these past few days the Werkadoo team has been going on Craigslist and emailing users who have great resumes to tell them about Werkadoo! As I went through the hundreds of postings, it’s become apparent that some users do not know how to sell themselves.

When you’re going online and wanting companies to hire you, the first sentence should never be “I really need a job. Right now.” Really? That tells companies nothing about the skills that you have, nor does it tell them anything about your hardworking nature and determination to get the job done. When I see posts like that, I automatically move onto the next resume because that person’s personality is not one that I care to have matched to companies that are hiring individuals. Personality is everything in this business, and in this world, and without the right mindset, werkers will not get hired.