If you’re ever in the greater Cincinnati area, on the Kentucky side of the river in Fort Mitchell, you have to try the Grandview Tavern & Grille. Managed by Matthew Haws, the Grandview has recently acquired Executive Chef, Mike Nelsen. All I can say is, “Good job!” Mike has revamped the menu and brought new life and new flavors to the establishment.
On this particular evening I was there for dinner with some good friends. When we looked at the menu we saw the selections of salads, entrees, and desserts were creative and would satisfy the most discriminating palette.
The Food
I started with the Salmon Salad although the Warm Goat Cheese Salad did catch my eye also. The Salmon Salad included peaches, candied pecans, tomato, gorgonzola cheese, and Italian vinaigrette. The blend of flavors was very well balanced. Personally, I would have preferred a little more salmon but the melody of taste would have been unbalanced. Overall, a very good salad that I would recommend. Other salads to choose from are: Caesar, Nicoise, Cobb, and Black & Bleu.
Dinner entrees at the Grandview Tavern range from Tavern Meatloaf to Pasta Diavolo and for fish lovers from Pistachio Crusted Tilapia to Shrimp and Scallop Scampi. I had the Pasta Diavolo. It consisted of blackened shrimp and steamed mussels in a spicy tomato sauce over roasted red pepper papardelle pasta with spinach, and served with a parmesan toast point. At this point, I was slightly surprised. The dish was not as flavorful as I had expected. I expected the blackened shrimp to add a spicy “bite” to the dish. Instead it was all rather bland. Whereas with the salad I could taste the various ingredients, this pasta dish had no variety.
“What about the grille,” you may ask? For those of you craving meat from the grille, Grandview offers the standard fare: Ribeye, New York Strip, and Filet Mignon.
The Atmosphere
If you visit the Web site you will see that the interior of the Grandview is warm and inviting. The ambient lighting is just right. Believe me, I have been in some establishments where it seems the light is turned low because they do not want you to see what you’re eating.
During warmer seasons the Grandview sports a patio that they open to patrons. Recently refurbished, the patio is spacious and relatively quiet allowing you to enjoy the company you’re dining with.
Overall
In spite of some of my disappointments, I would still recommend the Grandview. With the many menu items you are bound to find a favorite that will keep you coming back for more. For those of you who like trying something new, the menu offers the variety you will crave. The pricing is about what you’d expect — salads around $11, entrees around $25, and grille items around $28. The service is friendly and timely and Matthew Haws will listen to your thoughts and comments regarding any of the dishes. With the new management and Chef, I feel the Grandview can only get better and better.
Tucked away in the 2nd floor corner of Buckhead’s Andrews Square Shopping Center is Stout Irish Sports Pub – a great little pub with a lot to offer.
I first learned of Stout while on Facebook. You see, I had been looking for more authentic pub-type establishments as a result of my regular work-related visits to Covington, KY. Lots of great establishments there (see Cock & Bull, The Pub, and Molly Malones) but nothing quite like it in the ATL, until now. The ad beckoned me to register for a FREE pint and lunch entrée. How could I resist? I called a business friend, told him about the offer, suggested he register too, and meet me there to talk about work opportunities.
The lunch crowd was pretty sparse on this particular day, yet that allowed me see the layout. Wooden floors, high-boy tables, and booths adorn much of Stout. The atmosphere calls, “come in, sit down, relax with some friends and have a pint!” Of course, the “sports” aspect is there as well with flat-screen monitors running the latest from ESPN and other sports channels.
Beers
The L-shaped bar has a good selection of Irish and English beers on draft, such as:
Guinness Stout
Beamish Irish Stout
Bass Pale Ale
Boddingtons Pub Ale
Harp Lager
Newcastle Brown Ale
Smithwicks Ale
Strongbow Cider
A large assortment of bottled beers will appease those with other fancies. Beers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico and more average $3-$5 a bottle. Also, if you’re willing to write a big check, you can join the Stout Beer Club. $120 gets you a personalized mug and a free beer for the entire year.
Addition: I forgot to mention, Stout now offers Yuengling. The Lager and Black & Tan are my favorites. Straight from America’s oldest brewery.
Pub Fare
The food is about what you’d expect from a pub. Sausages, potatoes, fish, and chips are easily available. Stout also offers a few other morsels like:
Irish Whiskey Wings
Stout Burger
Rueben sandwich
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Most everything on the menu is $6. Not a bad price at all.
I had the Bangers & Mash and a pint of Smithwicks. My friend had Bangers & Mash and a Guinness. Our hostess was accommodating and friendly. Overall, we had a great time!
So, bottom line, would I recommend Stout Irish Sports Pub? By all means yes. Good service, good food, even pricing, and fun atmosphere make return trips a must. Oh, and did I mention, $1 drafts always!
My only question: Is it an Irish Sports Pub or an Irish Sports Pub?
I just saw this on Dustbowl and thought, “Now that is cool!” Here’s a restaurant in Soho London that utilizes technology in a creative way. Visit Inamo to see and learn more.
After rumors surfaced on the Web a few months back that a new Kindle might be on the way, Amazon.com did its best to shoot them down, saying a new Kindle was not coming this year. Well, Boy Genius Report has gotten ahold of some photos that appear to be the Kindle 2, so we’re curious what Amazon has to say now.
What do you think of the Kindle? I like the Kindle A LOT from what I have seen and read, but it seems very pricey. Kindle owners speak up. Is it really worth the $360 price tag?
NOTE: This was posted on Communication Nation a little while back, but I loved the drawings and had to share.
By Dave Gray
The difference between local and global markets is like the difference between the fishbowl and the ocean. To understand and engage successfully requires a shift in perspective. Here are a few tips to help you get the most from your global communications efforts:
1. Get outside your fishbowl. To go global you’ve got to get out from behind your desk. Your culture surrounds you like the air you breathe, and you can’t understand it until you get outside it. Spend some time – an extended period, if possible – completely immersed in another culture. When you return, you’ll be surprised how many things you notice that were previously invisible.
2. Be authentic. Being global doesn’t mean losing your identity. If you’re a global company that was started in Germany and is headquartered in Germany, it’s perfectly ok to be German. It’s a multicultural world and you are a part of it too. The key is to be respectful of other cultures while being true to your own unique identity.
3. Remember that you are a guest. When you are visiting another country, or when you open an office there, you are a guest. The same rules apply that would apply if you were visiting a friend’s house. Be polite, respectful, and thoughtful in your communications.
4. Think visually. There’s a reason why TV is booming while newspapers are going out of business. People understand pictures faster and more easily than words. With pictures you can communicate complex ideas instantly, and virtually nothing is lost in translation. And words need to be translated, while pictures are a universal form of communication.
5. Ask for feedback. Share your ideas with global teams early, when they are in the napkin-sketch stage, and ask for feedback. When you ask people to participate in defining the message, you build trust. If you build your message globally, then deployment becomes much easier.
Are you on a virtual team? Are you amongst the next generation web workers of the world? Then Wiggio is for you!
From Wiggio’s About Page
As seniors at Cornell, we started wiggio out of our own frustrations with unnecessarily clogged inboxes, using five different websites for five different functions, and all the other hassles associated with working in groups. We were tired of sending eleven emails back and forth just to set a meeting time. We were tired of that guy who just never knows where and when to be there. We were tired of list-servs, contact lists, phone-chains and incompatibilities. We wanted everything to be in one place, and we wanted it simple. So we created wiggio.
Wiggio lets you use the following group tools, and it’s all for free!
Messages— send mass text messages, voice messages and emails from wiggio
Calendar— keep a shared group calendar that will send you text message reminders before all your meetings, practices, rehearsals, games and other events
Poll—survey your entire group and get their responses as they answer
Folder— dump all your groups’ files into one folder and never send another attachment
Meetings— never walk 15 minutes through the snow to get to a 10 minute meeting again… setup free conference calls and web chats on Wiggio
Kevin Kelly is one of those guys I could listen to for a time and then have to walk away and ponder on all the implications of the information I have just received. He is one of a handful of people I greatly admire. At the “5000 Day” mark, Kevin talks about the next 5000 days of the Worldwide Web and makes some interesting predictions. The clip is about 20 minutes long, but well worth the time. Sit back and listen to what Kevin has to say.
Are the days of Da Vinci dead? Is it possible to, at once, be a world-class painter, engineer, scientist, and more?
“No way. Those times are long gone. Nothing was discovered then. Now the best you can do is pick your field and master it.”
The devout specialist is fond of labeling the impetuous learner–Da Vinci and Ben Franklin being just two forgotten examples–”jack of all trades, master of none.” The chorus unites: In the modern world, it is he who specializes who survives and thrives. There is no place for Renaissance men or women. Starry-eyed amateurs.
Is it true? I don’t think so. Here are the top five reasons why being a “jack of all trades,” what I prefer to call a “generalist,” is making a comeback:
5) “Jack of all trades, master of none” is an artificial pairing.
It is entirely possible to be a jack of all trades, master of many. How? Specialists overestimate the time needed to “master” a skill and confuse “master” with “perfect”…
Generalists recognize that the 80/20 principle applies to skills: 20% of a language’s vocabulary will enable you to communicate and understand at least 80%, 20% of a dance like tango (lead and footwork) separates the novice from the pro, 20% of the moves in a sport account for 80% of the scoring, etc. Is this settling for mediocre?
Not at all. Generalists take the condensed study up to, but not beyond, the point of rapidly diminishing returns. There is perhaps a 5% comprehension difference between the focused generalist who studies Japanese systematically for 2 years vs. the specialist who studies Japanese for 10 with the lack of urgency typical of those who claim that something “takes a lifetime to learn.” Hogwash. Based on my experience and research, it is possible to become world-class in almost any skill within one year.
4) In a world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show.
Is the CEO a better accountant than the CPA? Is Steve Jobs a better programmer than the iTunes VP of Engineering? No, but he has a broad range of skills and sees the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.
3) Boredom is failure.
In a first-world economy where we have the physical necessities covered with even low-class income, Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs drives us to need more for any measure of comparative “success.” Lack of intellectual stimulation, not superlative material wealth, is what drives us to depression and emotional bankruptcy. Generalizing and experimenting prevents this, while over-specialization guarantees it.
Gmail’s system of organizing emails into conversations (a collection of all the messages in an exchange) makes it easy to keep track of the various messages in a discussion.
You can access Gmail from a cellphone or other mobile device. Just start up your phone’s browser and point it to http://gmail.com to sign in.
Although you can have periods in your Gmail address, Gmail doesn’t actually recognize periods—it treats the address exactly the same with or without the periods. So if your Gmail address is jesse.smith@gmail.com, emails sent to jessesmith@gmail.com or even j.e.s.s.e.s.m.i.t.h@gmail.com will reach you.
If you’re reading an email and want to set up a filter for this message and similar ones, click More Actions and select “Filter messages like these”. (You can also select messages in a mailbox, and then choose this option.) Gmail shows the filter options with the sender’s From address already filled in. From there, you can filter by sender and/or any of the other filtering criteria.
Gmail scans your emails, looks for keywords, and then pairs the email with advertising that relates to those keywords. Usually, one ad’s displayed above the message you’re reading and several others are on the right-hand side of the page (they’re easy to ignore). But Gmail tries to keep things tasteful, so if you receive an email about a tragedy, such as a death in the family, you won’t see any ads at all.
You can set up your Gmail account so that messages sent to your other email accounts arrive in your Gmail inbox. That way, you can check all your email accounts in one place. Even better, in Gmail, you can send emails so that they look like they come from your various email accounts.
If you write emails in more than one language, Gmail tries to guess the language of the email you’re working on and uses the appropriate dictionary. (If Gmail’s wrong, next to the Check Spelling link, click the arrow, and, from the list that appears, select the language you want.)
You can chat with your AOL Instant Messenger buddies through Gmail’s version of Google Talk. In Gmail’s left-hand Chat section, click the Options link and select “Sign into AIM”, then follow the directions.
To help protect you from viruses and other Internet threats, Gmail neither sends nor receives executable files—they typically have the file extension .exe—which can launch programs and wreak havoc on your computer.
Instead of folders to file your messages in, Gmail uses labels to organize messages. You can assign more than one label to a message, so you have several ways of finding it and don’t have to remember which folder you put it in.
If you install Google Gears, you can edit Docs word-processing documents offline, and Docs automatically syncs them with the online version the next time you sign in online.
If you make other folks collaborators on Docs documents and spreadsheets, everyone can work on the files simultaneously. To invite collaborators, head to the upper-right Share button (for documents) or Share tab (for spreadsheets).
It’s a snap to publish documents created in Docs as blog posts—just select “Publish as web page” from the Share menu, and then click the “Post to blog” button.
If you want to embed a Docs presentation in a Web site, just go to the Publish tab, click “Publish document”, and then copy the HTML that appears in the Mini Presentation Module box. Paste the code into your site’s HTML, upload the revised version of the site, and voilà!
Google gives you a whole slew of functions to help make working with spreadsheets more efficient. (The GoogleLookup function is particularly nifty.)
If your Docs list is getting cluttered, you can hide files (documents, spreadsheets, or presentations) to keep your list clean. Just turn on the checkbox next to any file you want to hide (you can select more than one), and then click the Hide button. To make a hidden file reappear, find All Items in the left-hand menu and, if necessary, click its + sign to expand it. Then click Hidden to see your hidden files; select the one(s) you want to see in your Docs list, and then click Unhide.
You can easily turn spreadsheet data into all kinds of charts: column, bar, pie, line, area, or scatter. To create a chart, open your spreadsheet to the Edit tab, select the range of cells you want to convert into a chart, and then click the “Add chart” button. In the Create Chart box that appears, tell Docs what kind of chart you want to create and fill in the other info it needs, and then click “Save chart.”
If you create a chart based on a Docs spreadsheet, you can save it as an image and insert it into a Docs document. After you create your chart, click its upper-left Chart link and select “Save image”. Save it to your computer, and then open the document you want to put it in. Click Insert and select Image, then tell Docs where to find the file on your computer.
If you don’t like a change that you (or someone else) made to one of your Docs files, no problem. Just head to that file’s revision history (click File and then choose “Revision history”) and pick a previous version that you like better.
If you’re working on a computer that doesn’t have Adobe Reader and you need to print a document, click Share and select “View as web page (Preview)” to open the formatted document as a Web page. You can then print it from your Web browser. The formatting isn’t quite as good as if you print from a PDF—and you’ll probably have the browser’s header and footer—but all the content is there.
If you’ve published a Docs document as a Web page, you can make the Web page update automatically whenever you edit the document. Just click Share and select “Publish as web page”; then turn on the “Automatically republish when changes are made” checkbox.
To see how your Docs document will look to folks you share it with, click the Share This Document page’s “Preview document as a viewer” link. If the preview doesn’t look quite right, then go back and edit the document before you share it.
You can add YouTube videos to your Docs presentations. In the blue bar above the edit pane, click “Insert video”. Google opens a box where you can search YouTube videos by keyword. Find the one you want and click it to select it. Then click the Insert Video button to put the video on your slide. Once it’s there, you can move, resize, or delete it, just like any image or shape. During a slideshow, viewers can play the video by clicking the Play button on its slide.
When you’ve got several collaborators editing the same document all at once, have each person choose a different color for his text to help sort out who made what changes. (The simplest thing is to have each person use the same text and highlight color.) Then, when you finalize the document, simply select the whole thing and click the “Text color” button to change the rainbow of text colors to basic black.
In today’s competitive job market, those who know what you know can help you generate a competitive advantage. Over 70% of executive jobs are never advertised; most new opportunities are filled through recommendations and referrals. If you’re like most $100K+ executives, you are usually too busy getting things done to spend time cultivating new connections and maintaining your existing professional network.
So when the time comes to look for a new career challenge, chances are you understand the importance of contacts, but you don’t have a network of insider contacts to support your search. By strategically focusing on connections that help to access leads, you can network purposefully and make faster progress towards a great offer. Here’s how to jumpstart your campaign and build your network starting now.
Cold calling is a very effective method for initiating contact with hiring decision makers at target companies. Choose an individual who can appreciate your background and needs experienced help. Show them that you can deliver solutions and won’t be a drain on their resources. Commanding attention requires research into industry and company-specific challenges. Persevere until you finally get the chance to present your interest and demonstrate your strengths. If you don’t persist, another savvy prospective employee will get the job that you want. Communicating the right message to the right person at the right time is key to attracting attention and engaging the employer in a meaningful dialogue about hiring you for their team. Once you meet, keep in touch. It is a lot more difficult to connect the first time than to maintain a connection.
Increasing your visibility to hiring authorities will attract employers to you. You can orchestrate a place for yourself on decision makers’ radar screens by impressing them with your initiative, achievements, and extraordinary ability to deliver results. If you want employers to find you, first they need to know what you can do for their bottom line. One of the best ways to display your talents is to be involved in producing, not just attending, industry events. Volunteer to chair a section or organize a dinner. You can do this online by participating in forums and e-lists where your contributions are evidence of your expertise and knowledge. Get more mileage out of your publications and presentations by sharing citations and hand-outs with your connections. Don’t be afraid to give an interview (or seek one out).
Reaching out to industry leaders purposefully expands your network. By initiating contact and introducing yourself to authors, speakers, bloggers, academics and other key leaders in your field, your circle begins to grow. Then stay in touch via exchanges where you provide help as well as seek their assistance. Look for opportunities to meet others in your field, such as sending them a compliment, asking for their advice or sharing information and encouraging a conversation on a topic of mutual interest. Networking is not a transaction-oriented process but a series of mutually gratifying relationships that grow over time through shared experiences and common interests. Continually nourish, update and maintain your connections whether you are looking for a new job or happy where you are. Introduce your contacts that don’t already know each other – be the network’s spark.
Much of the hiring process is governed by referral relationships. Your network can plug you into unadvertised positions and deliver a competitive advantage in today’s job market. By keeping your contacts fresh and maintaining good relationships, it is more likely that new opportunities will find you even when you are not actively seeking a new challenge.
If you decide to launch a new job search, your network can produce the advice and leads you need to access a new challenge. Similarly, you can return the favor by providing assistance and offering recommendations to those you know. When everyone is contributing, everyone benefits. Be a pro-active connector who networks, keeps contacts and is sought out by others for inside information about new job leads.
Debra Feldman, an executive talent agent. Executives Network Purposefully™ establishing inside leads to unadvertised opportunities. Forbes praised her matchmaking talents as part sleuth, part networker.
As a reader of WeirdGuy blog I’d like to humbly ask you to help me. I have a short 10 question survey running from August 28 – September 7, 2008 on Zoomerang. The survey should take 2-3 minutes to run through. Your thoughtful responses will aid me in future developments for this blog.
I realize I am asking you to volunteer your time, but I value your opinion. Please follow the link provided today — the survey is only available for 10 days.
And, if the survey takes longer than 2-3 minutes then you can feel free to spam me with your hate mail.
Thank you for your patronage…can I say “patronage”?…whatever, you know what I mean.
By the way, I’ll reveal the findings here on WeirdGuy when the survey is up, so if you want your response to count, now is the time to act…now! If you do not care, then what are you doing here at WeirdGuy blog to begin with?
NOTE- Whenever I eat at an establishment I look at the following factors: quality of service, quality of food, price of meal, portion sizes, and the restaurant ambiance.
I just got back this evening from a networking event at Eclipse di Luna, the Tapas Bar in the Dunwoody area of Atlanta. I must say I am definitely a fan of the food.
Tapas are snacks, canapés or finger foods. Tapas can be anything from a chunk of tuna, cocktail onion, and an olive skewered on a long toothpick to meat with sauce served piping hot. They are served day in and day out in every bar and café in Spain. So much a part of the culture and social scene that the Spanish people invented the verb “tapear” which means, “to go and eat tapas!” (From spanishfood.about.com)
The service at Eclipse was good for the type of event I attended. The wait staff was accommodating and quick to assist with any needs. The side room we gathered in was spacious and would suit any large group or event of 20-30 people.
But is it the variety of foods that was most enjoyable. I personally like having numerous items to choose from and then having the ability to come back for the dishes I like or have not tried. The portions are a little larger than bite-size so you will not fill up quickly.
Most everything on the menu is in the $3-5 price range. The prices are low enough to allow you and a friend or spouse to buy three or four items. I recommend: Pan Catalan
Toasted Ciabatta Bread Toppedwith Tomato, Garlic, & Thyme Purée Costillas Espanolas
Spanish-style Ribs in Aged Balsamic Vinegar Pollo con
Spicy Pressed Chicken Thighs with Almond Gazpacho Queso Frito con Miel
Fried Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions & Honey Menestra
Mixed Roasted Vegtables with Olives & Spinach
As for the wine list – you will not be disappointed. Eclipse di Luna has a decent offering of wines that go well with the variety of tapas.
My only disappointment was the design of the restaurant. The high ceiling and tile floor make Eclipse di Luna extremely noisy. It was very hard to have a conversation without screaming. Also, the fact that music was blaring only hindered any decent attempts at meaningful communication. There was a patio outside that buffered the noisy inside, but most people retreated out there to smoke.
Overall, if you’re interested in relaxing to music and having a variety of foods to nibble on, Eclipse di Luna Tapas Bar in Dunwoody is for you.
Celebrate with me one of the most creative and influential mediums of our time – animation!
One hundred years ago today, the first animated film of all time was released to the public. Fantasmagorie was created over the course of four months by French caricature artist Émile Cohl, who became known as “The Father of the Animated Cartoon”.
(From /film) Read more…
Saw this the other day and had to share. I have to give them an “A” for originality and creativity. So, what does this have to do with WeirdGuy and learning? Well, it certainly fits the creativity bill and, as for learning, the guy should have spent more time learning Spanish if he wanted to woo his Señorita properly.
I’ve been writing a lot of reviews over on Yelp.com about the restaurants I have visited. One of my favorite foods is sushi. When I think of sushi, I think of all the friends I have exposed to this Japanese tradition. Some love it while some hate it. Regardless, you can’t help but think, “How would the Japanese describe this to westerners?” Enter YouTube! A friend from Japan first told me about this hilarious movie, made by Nihon-jin (japanese people) for all of us Gaijin (foreigners). Enjoy!
…all play and intertwine in the composition of great photos.
They draw the viewer in and beg the questions,
“Who is this?”
“What is happening?”
“What has happened?”
“Where is this?”
“Why?”
And, in so doing draw us into introspection…
I’ll be taking a week off to focus on closing out a project (July 28-August 1). More to come from the lessons learned during this engagement. It’s a really cool online course with custom hooks into a client app. The back-end was designed as “plug and play” so content can quickly and easily be swapped out while still being applicable to the course testing and grading scenarios.
By E. Brown
Posted by ebrown 
By E. Brown
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