The View From Home

Working from home can be a wonderful experience. If you think you have what it takes to work from home you might stand a chance at landing the notoriously difficult to find work from home job.

The jobs are out there, but are rarely listed. Most companies avoid listing these positions due to the sheer quantity of unqualified applicants they receive. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean they aren’t interested, just that they are may not know how to acquire the right talent.

One place to start out is to see if your current employer would be willing to let you work from home on a full time or even part time basis.

If you don’t think your current employer will go for a work from home situation or if your current job just won’t convert well, consider taking your external search to sites like about.com and dice.com. Your chances of landing a telecommuting job go way up if you are in a technical computer based industry. Many companies don’t allow telecommuting immediately. This is usually to ensure that you are familiar with company protocol and to ensure that you can do the work while being managed.

As a side note, watch out for scams. Transcription jobs do exist, but are a popular scam area. Never take a job that makes you send them money or that send you a check that you get to keep part of after sending the rest on.

2work-at-home.com/telecommute.shtml offers a list of telecommuting friendly companies. You may also want to check out gilgordon.com as it is a great resource for telecommuting research.

In the end, remember to treat the job search seriously, putting in the same type of effort that you would for a traditional job. Anything less and you may be left day dreaming.

iMatchSkills is the job search tool of choice by Oregonians. During these times of declining economics, the ability to find and stay employed is more important then ever. What this means is that knowing your options is important.

The Oregon Department of Employment is a valuable tool in aiding you find your next position. Of course if you don’t go, you will they can’t help you. I definitely suggest dropping in. Their staff is friendly and available to help your job search. It is a well known fact that job seekers have walked in the door and on occasion walk out with a job.

Employers, like Edward Jones, a neighborhood-based investment firm have had so much success with iMatchSkills that they are increasing their use of the program statewide. The efficiencies and no-cost nature of iMatchSkills makes it the place to go for companies such as AppleBees when they are opening a new resturant.

It is no wonder why employees all over the state rely on iMatchSkills. Whether you are seeking work in a blue or white collar industry, the tools that iMatchSkills provides will help match you up with an employer who needs someone with your background.They are so successful at this because iMatchSkills uses a skill based approach to job placement.

iMatchSkills: https://empportal.emp.state.or.us/imp_imscod_dad/!pkg_startup.proc_home

Welcome to Dare To Dream Sport Horses where our goal is to help create communication, education, happiness and harmony between horse and rider. We have found using a classical Dressage foundation and approach to all types of riding helps create a balanced and true basis for both you and your horse.

Specializing in Dressage, we also cover Hunter/Jumper and Combined Training. We offer Lessons, Show-Coaching, Training, Playdays, Leases, Transportation, Sales, Clinics, Purchase Evaluations and more.

Here at DTDS we embrace the beliefe that you never stop learning – leaving us striving to offer continuing education for all skill levels of riders. We have a wonderful selection of school horses available, trained and shown in Dressage, Jumping and Combined Training. We also offer a few select sport horse foals for sale each year.

Cafe Yumm! is a small chain of restaurants located in the great northwest. Their simple been and rice bowls are amazing and full of great organic produce. The trouble though is that they aren’t available anywhere else.

I have some friends who are teaching English in China and have begged and pleaded that someone find a recipe on how to make Yumm Sauce. After doing some research, I came across a couple recipes. Each one had a few substitutes and variations. After sending the recipe to Katie, who is one of my friends in China, she tried it out with additional modifications from the recipe below as ingredients are often hard to come by when abroad.

Cafe Yumm Sauce

Although this is not the official recipe, I believe it comes very close.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup canola oil (preferably cold pressed)
• 1/2 cup almonds (for a creamier sauce, use almond flour)
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast (available at Whole Foods grocery stores)
• 1/2 cup chickpeas or garbanzo beans, cooked
• 1/4 cup soybeans, cooked (not green edamame beans)
• 1/2 cup filtered water (important for flavor)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)
• 1-2 garlic cloves (small to medium size)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor blend almonds beans and oil.
2. Add all other ingredients and puree until creamy smooth.
3. Cover and let stand in the refrigerator for one hour.
4. Don’t cover too tight, remember the yeast.

Notes:

• One recipe said to use 1/2 cup silken tofu as well as soy beans. Another suggests that the two can be interchangeable, while the most likely recipe only mentions the soy beans
• One recipe suggests nutritional yeast, while another suggests brewers yeast and fast acting yeast as an alternative.
• Another source suggests to double the amount of garlic.

What Katie had to say after trying this recipe:

YEA for YUMM!

We tried to make it this afternoon. The garbanzo beans are harder to
get ’round here, but I found a can at the import store The lemons
are tricky too, but I know a place downtown that usually carries them.
It ended up being pretty darn good.  I wish I had a can of the real
thing to compare, but from my memory it was close.

Here’s what I did differently:

• We decided that the soybeans were going to be too much trouble to soak and cook on our limited time schedule, so we bought soft (not silken) tofu and it worked just fine. You could probably add more than the 3/4 cup I used as the sauce was still pretty potent.
• added 2x the garlic and will scale back next time.
• used fresh cilantro instead of dried
• had to use a packet of regular fast acting yeast. 4 hours later, I think it is still active even in the fridge! I would cut that back to 1/2 packet at most-I could really taste the yeasty flavor. After letting it rest in the refrigerator for an hour I blended it again. It helped get the rest of the almonds smooth and made it look more edible. It got kinda foamy.

Mom brought over some brown rice when they came to visit, so Josh and I tried to recreate the whole thing (minus avocados and olives). I even made sour cream. Josh said that ours were better because we ate them with authentic chopsticks.

A couple of weeks ago we made hummus. Again, tricky to get the garbanzo beans, but who knew it was so easy!

–
Katie

WASHINGTON STATE:
Conveniently located just 2-hours north of Seattle, and 1.5-hours south of Vancouver, B.C., Mt. Baker Lodging is your source for private, self-catered, fully equipped Mt. Baker area cabins, cottages, condos, chalets, and executive vacation home rental accommodations, located in the mountain villages of Glacier and Maple Falls, at the magnificent gateway to the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, and the adjacent Mount Baker Ski Area!

MENTION AD # 1081 AT THE TIME OF RESERVATION, AND RECEIVE A SPECIAL GIFT AT CHECK-IN!

The Mount Baker Recreation Area is a year-round playground!  SUMMER Guests enjoy great hiking, mountain biking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, backpacking, freshwater fishing (lake and river), small game hunting, whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, nature viewing, tennis, and golf.  WINTER Guests enjoy spectacular downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and sledding.  Don’t forget your camera…the photography is unsurpassed year-round!

RATES:
Rates range from $109.00 to $509.00 per night, and from $654.00 to $3563.00 per week USD + tax.

RESERVATIONS:
Reservations are subject to a 2-night minimum stay during regular periods, and a 3-night minimum stay during holiday and special event periods.

An Advance Reservation Payment equal to the cost of 1-night’s stay, including tax, is required to reserve a vacation property.  The remaining balance is considered due-in-full 14-days prior to our Guest’s scheduled date of arrival, and is automatically debited to our Guest’s credit card on the scheduled due-date.

PAYMENTS:
We gladly accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover/Novus, and American Express as forms of payment. Sorry, NO personal checks.

If you have a specialty skill, the world of freelancing can be a great place to pick up some extra work or even make a professional career. If you are a solo artist or part of a full blown team, making a business online is a very real option.

My hope with this page is to provide resources that will help individuals expand their entrepreneurial ventures into freelancing and contract work.

I have been aware of the following for some time, but was reminded about the last three by Clark Howard during one of his radio shows [see article]

• eLance.com
• oDesk.com
• Guru.com
• crowdSPRING.com

A lot of equipment goes into brewing a good batch of beer. The following page, lists many of the brewing supplies that are needed in the home brewing process. Sanitation is very important and should always be considered when brewing. Home brew can be ruined by a wild strain of yeast, so unless you wish to gamble, be sure to pick up some sanitation devices.

The Airlock

The airlock comes in several forms and is also known as a fermentation lock, bubbler, air valve, or water trap. Airlocks are designed to let gas out while not allowing contaminants in. Two common types are the Three-Piece airlock and the classic S shape. Although the three-piece is easier to clean, the classic S shaped airlock has less parts and is also vary easy to move.

Stopper

Stoppers come in several different materials and may have a hole in the center for the airlock. The stopper presses into the top of a carboy and can be either solid of “hollow”

Siphon Hose Tubing

Siphon hose tubing comes in several diameters, including, 3/8ths, 5/16ths, 1/2 and 1 inch diameters. The tubing is uses to move your home brew from one container to another and will be used with various siphoning devices such as auto siphons and racking cases

GetMeSomeFlowers.com is the florist directory of choice by thousands.

This florist directory assists offers multiple ways to locate florists close to you or your distant loved one. Weather you are seeking to work with local vendors or if you desire to work directly with an online FTD retailer, GetMeSomeFlowers.com will help make it happen.

GetMeSomeFlowers.com: Florist Directory

There are several different forms of Vanilla to choose from and most are not readily available in the super market. Whether you are looking for Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Sugar, or simply Vanilla Beans, it is important to consider the growing region as that affects the flavor. Professional chefs and foodies prefer to buy Vanilla beans because it gives you full control of the flavor profile you are cooking with.

I don’t recommend using cheap vanilla extract as it is often an imitation, using chemicals to replicate the real thing. Real vanilla extract is expensive, however is quite simple to make. simply cut 3 vanilla beans in in half, scrape out the seeds and put all of it into a quart of vodka. Place that in the shade and shake occasionally. After about 3 months, you have your own extract and it is much less expensive then buying vanilla extract.

Where do I buy vanilla beans? Well, you have several options. You can go to a specialty spice store, just make sure they do a lot of business and have fresh product. Nothing is worse then stale herbs and spices. You could always go to Walmart, or your local grocery store, but you won’t likely know what growing region the beans come from. Tahitian and Mexican vanilla beans taste very different. The other option is to shop online and to look for specialty stores. I definitely recommend this option as you will probably find the best prices and best quality vanilla beans to buy if you shop around.

Knowing where to buy vanilla beans, or buy vanilla extract makes a huge impact on your expertise as a cook. Nothing says experienced foodie as seeds from the vanilla bean mixed into homemade vanilla ice cream.

When you lose your job, find yourself out of work, are fired or laid off it is important to know your resources. It is important to be on top of things and to file for benefits quickly. The state of Oregon offers several services and resources to help get you back on your feet quickly.

How do I file for Unemployment Benefits?

Here are three ways to file for unemployment benefits which include going to your local unemployment office in person, calling them over the phone, or online.

Submitting your application online is by far the easiest method. Calling direct is great if you don’t mind really long hold times. I don’t imagine this applies to all offices, however my local office was extremely busy and their policy is to work with one client at a time. Which means that you get their undivided attention once you get a hold of them.

The Online Claims System is your starting point for everything related to filing for unemployment benefits. Before you file your first claim, you must first establish your account.

Be sure to have everything you need to start your claim before you actually enter the system. If you take longer then 30 minutes to complete your registration you will have to start over. Once your have the prerequisite data, you can file a new claim.Upon completing this you will need to go to the imatchskills.com website to set up an account to help you find new employment.

The very next Sunday and every Sunday following a week of unemployment you will need to return to the Online Claims System to claim a week. You won’t get paid for your first week, as it is your waiting week, but don’t delay on it.