Death by Power Point

Today is website Monday.  In keeping with that it is worth the five minutes it will take to watch a great presentation on Death By Power Point.  Perhaps show these in a facutly-staff meeting and see who gets defensive.  Or just look and see if you are a good presenter or perhaps not so good.  So check out some of these:

Humorous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ5dbUCu2Ug&feature=related
Serious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFfFQ9XU7Jw
Comedian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tGq3tH4qSw&feature=related

Dishwasher -- One Great Read

I am home with the flu bug courtesy of my children.  They spread their bugs everywhere and sooner or later one of them takes me down.  Oh well, perhaps time to read the Christmas present my oldest daughter gave me (who doubles as the leading suspect for making me sick).  The book she bought me was written by Pete Jordan entitled,  Dishwasher:  One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States.

I must confess that it is very well written and an interesting story to boot.  It provides insights to all of us who teach or are managing foodservice operations today from the perspective of the dishwasher.  One of my favorite passages early on is when Jordan cites commentary from a master dishwasher who states, "Dishwashers are the least-respected restaurant workers...yet the most important."  And according to the master dishwasher, "...cooking was too much responsibility.  But as employees with massive egos, cooks needed constant flattery.  Anytime a cook offered him something to eat or taste, Jeff always gave the food the highest of marks -- regardless of what he really thought.  A rave review boosted the egos and kept the eats coming."

There are more gems throughout but the author and his book are an authentic depiction of life lived in the dishroom.  Right down to when the author is told at one restaurant that "You gotta love your baby...You gotta keep her shiny and happy...Ya gotta caress Baby and give her a kiss."  And then he was asked to "Go on, kiss Baby."  Of course, the author thought his new boss and trainer were nuts for asking him to love the Hobart.  That was until the Hobart went down during lunch and backed him up on dishes for hours.  Soon thereafter he had a newfound respect for Baby and kept her shiny and clean!  I am sure that any of you reading this work back of the house you can relate.

I cannot recommend this book higher than those before it for students to read and discuss at school.  It is a refreshing perspective and a great read as I indicated earlier.  Check it out for yourself; if you are a true foodie you will find it difficult to stop turning the pages.  Check out a YouTube video of the author's hilarious interview on the Letterman Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1O-GH4-4A

Website Monday -- Kahn Academy

My friend, George Glazer, at the Education Institute of AHLA shared a great resource with me at the end of last week.  It is the Kahn Academy and all materials are online and open to anyone to review.  As their website says, "The Kahn Academy is a not-for-profit with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere.  To see the plethora of classes that are online visit

http://www.khanacademy.org/

The cool thing about the website is that all the lessons are posted on YouTube.  All you need to do is click on a lesson and it will pop up for you to review.  It uses a technology that appears as a blackboard that has information posted to it -- depending on the lesson  -- and you can hear Kahn's voice as he talks and writes on the blackboard.  Pretty cool stuff so check it out.  You can also check them out on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/khanacademy?v=photos

I can only imagine how cool a resource such as this would be to teach culinary arts to students.  Imagine if your lectures could be put online for students to review BEFORE they got to class and the work that could be done applying the information using such pedagogies as cooperative or case based learning and working with the materials to make the kids better chefs and/or foodservice ops managers.

Call for Papers, Hosteur Webzine+

HOSTEUR Webzine, Vol.20 No.1; Spring Summer 2011

The next issue is dedicated to "Competencies in the Hospitality & Tourism Industry."  The Editors encourage especially submissions of student authored papers about this topic. Papers with other topics are also considered.

For those who do not know, HOSTEUR™ is the only internationally distributed career and self-development magazine for future hospitality and tourism professionals. It aims to prepare the more than 60,000 students enrolled in hospitality and tourism education programs at International CHRIE member schools for careers in the industry. The objective of HOSTEUR™ is to ease student transition from undergraduate education to graduate- or study-abroad programs, professional life with restaurants and foodservice management, hotels and lodging; travel-related businesses; food & beverage suppliers; equipment manufacturers; trade and professional associations; and commodity groups.  Learn more by visiting: http://www.chrie.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3391

To answer this call, please send your mansucript by March 15, 2011 to either:
Dr. Ali Cetinkaya -- alisukru@selcuk.edu.tr or
Dr. Michael Vieregge -- michael_vieregge@hotmail.com

Great Quote

I have a day calendar on my desk that has a Green theme.  You know the kind, you tear off each day to get to the next news or information tidbit.  And yes, I am using the back of each day as a note pad to recycle my Green day calendar :)

There was a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt for yesterday, 1/18.  She said, "What you don't do can be a destructive force."  When I first read it I thought that it was nice.  And then I noodled it for time to let it marinate in my brain.  Then it really started to take its affect/effect.  I wondered what I do not yet know about the best ways to educate the students that are before me at the moment in all my classes and what I am not doing to adequately prepare them for the future.

In effect, I am in the soul searching mode to think through my approach to teaching to see what I may be missing that is doing a disservice to my students when they are out there in the trenches as hospitality professionals.  Happy soul searching to you today, too, perhaps.

For all you boomers out there, take a trip down memory lane and listen to McGuire's Eve of Destruction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLsElbW9Xo (recent video made from song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwYNWYaS3bI (remember when he sang it on Hullabaloo?)