Archive for October, 2010

10 19th, 2010

Many college students seriously consider taking an internship at some point in their studies. Besides being a way to get college credit while earning money, there are other internship benefits that can tip the scale in favor of this pursuit.

Internships help students begin to develop a professional network . Getting to know people in a potential career field can be invaluable when it comes time to find that first job after graduation. Interns can also use their fledgling networks to determine if the career is right for them, not just whether a specific company is a good fit.

Internships can be a great place to find mentors. Students may be assigned a mentor as part of their internship or may simply be exposed to a wealth of potential mentors both in their workplace and in their growing business network. Savvy interns will keep a watch for established, successful individuals that can provide insight and share experiences that will be invaluable during the current internship and continue throughout their college years and future career.

Interns develop work skills such as teamwork, time management, and general business procedures. These are in addition to job specific skills. These skills, and the overall work experience will look good to prospective employers once the student enters the job market, degree in hand.

Some internships actually turn into business opportunities. Organizations like Southwestern Company encompass a variety of individual companies in different fields. Successful completion of their internship program can lead to at least an interview at one or more of the member companies. Some companies regularly hire from their intern pool, which is an important fact to research before choosing an internship.

Whether or not an internship leads directly to employment after graduation, there is no question that a successful internship program, or series of internships throughout college, can greatly impact the life of most students.



10 16th, 2010

Online communities offer businesses and other professionals the opportunity to network and advertise as well as otherwise promote their products and services. This is just one of the great benefits of virtual communities and there are a number of other services and features that are offered by the best sites. If you or your company is considering a possible virtual community partnership, it is highly recommended that you investigate the site before investing your time and possibly money and resources into it. The best professional communities will offer online demo software that will let you sample and see first hand the services and various features they offer.

Some of the top communities will combine actual business services such as IT storage, including updates, modifications and maintenance of the system, in addition to standard community benefits such as networking and client communication. Virtual training labs are becoming more common and it seems like it won’t be long before professionals are networking over a virtual lunch or cup of coffee . At this point, the obvious benefit here is that a virtual hamburger only has virtual calories. And while this is a fun fantasy exercise it actually demonstrates the limitless possibilities that exist with the Internet and its business capacities. Becoming partners win an online professional community might be the best thing you can do for the future and progress of your business.



10 10th, 2010

November brings the 7th Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival. A 5-day celebration of all things gourmet, the Festival brings together 70 of the area’s top chefs and 170 winemakers to present their creations to an audience of over 9000 food and wine enthusiasts. Also on hand will be celebrity chefs, authors, gourmet food producers and media personalities. Expect rooms in San Diego luxury hotels to be scarce during the event, which runs from November 17th – 21st.

The Festival will include cooking and wine tasting classes, a big bottle auction, continuous wine and food tastings and plenty of parties. The VIP Kickoff Party is November 15th and the San Diego Wine Rave is November 17th. There will be Wine Dinners, Tastemakers Dinners, an Industry Insider’s Party and a Champagne Brunch Cruise. The Chef of the Fest Competition takes place on Saturday, the 20th and the Festival closes with the Celebrity Chef Luncheon and Live Auction on Sunday the 21st.

Cooking classes include the oddly named Gourmet From a Can? Absolutely! and Savor the Flavor with Reality Chef Superstars featuring contestants from TV’s Top Chef. Some of the celebrity chefs on hand for the event include Billy Strynkowski of Cooking Light Magazine, Sam Zien, Kenny Gilbert, Roy Yamaguchi, Brian Malarkey, Daniel Joly, and Paul McCabe.



10 4th, 2010

Sin City isn’t just casinos and fancy Vegas hotel ‘s. This November the city’s largest literature event will celebrate the written, spoken, and illustrated word. The Vegas Valley Book Festival is scheduled for November 3-7 in downtown Las Vegas. Organizers plan to feature 100 authors and 100 events bringing together book lovers with those who create books. Attendance at the free event is projected to be 10,000.

This 9th edition of the Book Festival will feature keynote speakers T.C. Boyle , opening the Festival on Thursday, and Dennis Lehane , closing the Festival Saturday evening. Other authors will appear at book signing, workshops, panel discussions and readings throughout the event. There will be a Comics Festival and Children’s Literature Festival as part of the main event. The festival will also mark the debut of Feasting on Words – A Celebration of Food and Literature. Numerous other special programs and exhibitions will delight bibliophiles, including spoken work performances and poetry readings.

Workshops will cover subjects such as writing for young adults, memoir writing, pitching stories, and dealing with agents. Panel discussions will address themes such as poetry and conflict, women writers of the American west, and local science fiction writing.



10 1st, 2010

If you’re going to go to San Diego you are probably going to want to spend some time on the beach. And while there are some standard recommendations and safety precautions, such as wearing sun screen and never venturing too far into the water, rip tide safety information, etcetera, there are also some essential pieces of information that will ensure you have the best time possible during your trip.

The best Sandiego hotels have all the secrets to how to have a great time on the beach, and while it’s true that you can simply get in your swimsuit , grab a towel, a friend and lay out in the sun, there is a great deal more that you can do to make this the trip of a lifetime and maybe even develop some new life passions.

One of the great aspects of visiting San Diego is the fact that you don’t have to buy surfboards, bikes, paddleboards or dune buggy equipment in order to have a great time. There are plenty of places, and some of them are right along the beach, to rent these items and other equipment and this is the perfect set up for most people. There are also schools and lesson plans to help you learn to surf for the first time or advance your skills while you’re there at the beach.