Fresh Ideas

Archive for September, 2008

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kilo beef, cut into cubes (select a cut good for stewing)
• 1 small head of a cabbage quartered
• 1/4 kilo Chinese cabbage (pechay)
• 2 medium sized potatoes quartered
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 5 Saging Saba peeled and sliced in the middle
• 1 big can of pork and beans
• 2 cups water
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 small onion sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Start by frying the saging saba. Just let them fry until slightly golden brown. Take off the oil and set aside.
2. Saute the garlic and onions. Then add in the beef. Saute until it changes color. Season with some salt and pepper.
3. Next add in the tomato paste and water.
4. Mix and let it boil. Cover and simmer over low medium heat until beef is tender.
5. Once the beef is tender, add in the potatoes. Let it simmer some more until the potatoes are cooked.
6. At this point you can add in the rest of the ingredients. The veggies, pork and beans and plantains. I usually just pile them in and cover for a few minutes allowing the veggies to wilt a bit.
7. Afterwards, gently mix them into the sauce.

Top news centers reported Hurricane Gustav hits the Gulf Coast this Monday, September 1 and flooded New Orleans, Louisiana. Violent winds delivered powerful blows in Mississippi and then moved to the west of New Orleans. Officials reported that Gustav flooded U.S. Highway 90.

Forecasters once feared a storm that chased nearly 2 million from the coast would arrive as a devastating Category 4 with much more powerful winds.

In Biloxi, Gulf waters pushed to about 100 yards from the normal coastline into the highway.

Levees seems to hold

The Industrial Canal’s floodwall was pounded by wind-driven water but still holds even after being partially repaired after hurricane Katrina devastated it.

In the Upper Ninth ward, half of the street closest to the canal were flooded with knee-deep water.

Gustav is not that strong compared to Katrina

Katrina was much stronger when it hit Mississippi coast in August 2005 as a Category 3 storm. Gustav passed around the coastline but not passed through the entire state.

Nearly 2 million people evacuated under the mandatory evacuation order issued by the mayor of New Orleans.

At 2 p.m. CT, Gustav weakened to a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 90 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Gustav made landfall in Monday near Cocodrie, a low-lying community in Louisiana’s Cajun country about 72 miles southwest of New Orleans.

While Louisiana was being bombarded by heavy rains and howling winds, reported news that Tropical Storm Hanna will become a hurricane and will hit in a couple of days in Miami and North Carolina.

The hurricane is expected to move into Texas by Thursday. Gustav was the seventh storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season. The eight was Tropical Storm Hanna, which is strengthening and moving towards Miami and North Carolina later this week.

Promotion in work is what most employees aspire for, and being the best at performing specific tasks is a sure way in getting at managerial level.

However, not all employees are made to succeed in this level of position.

Mistakes are always committed, and if not viewed on the brighter side, these can really spell disaster on any rookie managers or supervisors.

Here are some common mistakes performed by newly promoted managers:

Unable to cope up with the transition

Handling new sets of responsibilities for newly promoted supervisors or managers is not an easy shift. Before, your only task is to look after your own duties and responsibilities, but now you look after the team’s performance and how they reach their assigned goals.

Not setting goals with fellow employees

An organization with no set of objectives is like a person who has no future plans for himself. A normal employee should have the drive to achieve and excel on his own line of work. It is the responsibility of the manager to remind the team of its objective and ideal result should be achieve so that company’s growth can be attain together with the company’s vision and mission.

Lack of communication with your staff

Open communication is one of the secrets of a well-managed company. One mistake of managers is that he or she is the only one holding the information. Trust should be given to fellow staff for them to make a sound decision so that they don’t tend to be closely monitored and minimal supervision can be applied.

Being a one-man team

A good manager should know how to delegate workloads between his or her staff. Some managers prefer to do all the tasks by himself, thus he is unable to maximize his time and efficiently drive the group of its set goals.

Neglecting time for your workers

A well-trained manager should always find time in answering his or her workers inquiries on career matters. The manager is the one who is always being looked up to and he or she should never fail in giving commendations to good and hardworking employees because the term manager is all about managing, and particularly managing people. Be sure to emphasize the achievement of the workers for a job well done and definitely you will win their hearts and loyalty.