Cooking: Attack of the Killer Zucchini

Duck and Cover! It's that time of year where everyone who has a garden is trying to get rid of all the Zucchini they grew. The problem with Zucchini is they start from small seeds. People underestimate how big the Zucchini will get from those seeds. If three seeds are good then the entire package...

Anyway, The My Recipes website has a huge list of recipes to do away with your Zucchini issues. From traditional soups and breads to cool new recipes like Quesadillas and Zucchini burgers you will find recipes to your liking.

Community Education doesn't have a Zucchini class, but, we do have Cooking in Season - Fresh from the Garden. This class takes you to Joe's Garden and returns to Sehome to cook your bounty.

So arm yourself and prepare for the Zucchini harvest!
Photo by Sooz on flickr.com

Music: The Soothing Sounds of David Lanz

When David Lanz first taught for Whatcom Community Education, I must confess I had not heard of him. However, many others had, and his "Evening with David Lanz" course was such a hit last spring that he will be returning to the Heiner Theatre stage on October 19th for an encore performance. In fact, when a couple arriving for another class saw that he was coming to Bellingham their enthusiasm reached Deadhead levels of fandom. Other students registering for his course have asked me about nearby hotels, as they are coming from far flung places up and down the I-5 corridor.

With this kind of response, I had to hear the man for myself. Luckily, David has an easy-to-navigate website complete with a listening room of his New Age hits. His soothing piano music deftly complements the gray morning we're having here in Bellingham. He also has lots of fun trivia on his website. I learned a new slang term: SNAG, which stands for Sensitive New Age Guy. And I learned that his family also started a licorice company. All of this information led to one conclusion: I can't wait for his next performance here in Bellingham.

To listen to the music of David Lanz, click here.

To register for "An Evening with David Lanz" on October 19th, click here.

The Ancient Art of Multi-tasking

In today’s fast-paced society convenience is everything. There’s laundromats with full service bars (who doesn’t need a drink between spin and rinse?), drive-thru espresso stands (is there an intersection in Northern Washington that DOESN’T have one?) and even in-home pet grooming services (Fido’s agoraphobia was officially diagnosed last week).

It seems the ability to multi-task has become paramount for our survival, but is it really helping us to be more balanced or simply serving to push us closer to the edge? I don’t know the answer, and frankly, I don’t have the time to find it. I’ve only got a few spare minutes and I’d rather use it to call the folks at Whatcom Community Education to sign up for the only multi-tasking that won’t cause premature hair-loss: Yoga and Knitting.

If you’ve been living in a cave maybe you don’t know that knitting is the new “Zen” thing to do, but if your cave happened to be in the Himalayas then you would naturally be aware of the benefits that yoga can offer the over-stressed, under-rested individual. WCC's fall class "Restoring Balance Through Yoga & Knitting: A Retreat" gives you the opportunity to experience both practices, all in the tranquility of the Chrysalis Inn & Spa.

So take a time-out and register for this innovative retreat. We guarantee you'll leave feeling like a new person, refreshed and ready for life's next challenge.

And the best part is it only takes one Sunday out of your schedule to get there.

http://www.whatcomcommunityed.com/schedule/fall07/fitness__wellbeing.htm

Business: Careers in Healthcare Are A Sure Thing

It isn't news that the health care sector is booming---just look in any paper at the number of job listings for nurses and RNs. However, this article from CareerJournal.com points out that these new careers aren't just for people fresh out of high school, but are also becoming the second careers for professionals from other disciplines. The article discusses the variety of jobs in healthcare, from the very public contact of being a practical nurse to the behind-the-scenes jobs for the more squeamish, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing a healthcare career in midlife.

Overall, though, those in the field say that if you're interested in a healthcare career, there will be a job waiting for you when you are done with your education. And the best place to receive this education, they say, is at a community college, where classes are small and costs are low.

Here at Whatcom, we are fortunate to have several programs under the umbrella of Allied Health that are top-notch, not to mention cost effective and convenient. In fact, in our latest catalog you can find a free information session called Pathways to Healthcare Careers, where you'll have a chance to ask questions about all of the programs offered through Whatcom and BTC.

To read the full article, click here.

To learn about the "Pathways To Healthcare Careers" info session, click here.

Computers: Graph Paper, Sodoku, and Calendars

PDF Pad is one of those websites that once you start using, you wonder how you ever lived without it. The cool feature of this site is the ability to print out various sizes of graph paper.

For me, this is a great feature. I have had numerous occasions where I needed a couple pieces of graph paper and there was none available in the office. I can zip over to PDF Pad and just print some out.

Besides graph paper, they have calendars and, like we can't find enough already pages of Sudoku to print. Enjoy!
Picture by babbagecabbage on Flikr.com

Business: Gen Ys Want to Work on the Beach

On the blog Web Worker Daily, guest blogger Ryan Healy lists what Generation Y---those born between 1980 and 1990---wants from their work life. According to Ryan, who is a member of this generation, Gen-Y wants a trusting relationship between employee and employer and a culture of entrepreneurship that encourages independence and innovation, and they don't want to be defined by what they do.

This doesn't sound too radical, and I think that most Gen Xers and Baby Boomers desire these same things. However, in the litany of comments left after the blog entry, the most controversial topic concerned paying someone for productivity instead of time. In the entry, Ryan asserted that his best work was done on the beach, not in a "cube farm," and believes that this will be the trend. (Coincidentally, I was just reading our professional organization's monthly magazine that said that a "virtual office" was the office of the future, which supports Ryan's claim.) Several respondents countered that an actual office was the key to productivity, because a) face-to-face meetings and impromptu conversations encouraged creativity and b) Gen Yers were naive young whippersnappers that didn't know what real work was like.

During the dog days of summer, I'm sure many of us wish that we could work on our laptops from Boulevard Park, but is this the most effective way to work? Also, is Generation Y speaking as a generation, or as youth? Is what they're saying really so much different than what Generation X thought as they moshed in their flannel shirts, or what the Baby Boomers thought as they roared down the highway in their VW buses?

Regardless, the idea of a "virtual office" may be a viable trend. In the meantime, I'm leaving my cube to go on vacation!

To read the full entry, click here.

Business: Washington is 5th Best Business State

According to Forbes, Washington ranks 5th in the list of the best states for business. The survey calculated several factors to determine an overall ranking. Washington fared well in growth prospects, labor, and regulatory environment, and it was news to me that this state has an office specially designed to help businesses with government red tape called The Office of Regulatory Assistance. The article also remarked on the state's culture of creativity and innovation that made Boeing, Starbucks, and Amazon household names. The state did not do as well in quality of life or business costs, but better luck next year!

By the way, the top state this year and last year is Virginia, with Utah, North Carolina, and Texas rounding out the top 5.

To read the full article and see how all of the states ranked, click here.

Kids’ College: The Cat’s Meow

This summer’s Kids’ College brought over a hundred young people to the Whatcom campus for two weeks of fun college experiences. Some of the most popular classes brought students into the Community Education computer lab for hands-on exploration of digital media, including digital Manga, animation, and video editing. The 7-11 year olds who took “Digital Flipbook Animation” first drew a stack of drawings which, when quickly flipped through, created an animated cartoon. Then they learned to scan their drawings and bring them into Photoshop Elements for editing. Finally they brought the separate image files into the Premiere Elements video editing program, where they compiled them into a finished animated video.

We have collected a few of the animations (including the cat’s meow) for you to look at. If this is what kids can create after only six hours—mostly spent learning the programs and the process—who knows what they will do at home with a little practice? Click here to watch the videos.

Cooking: Starchy Silverware Will Debut at Fall Cooking Classes

As you may know, Whatcom's Issue of the Year is about sustainability, and Community Education is getting on board by making our practices more "green." One project we have been working on is using more earth-friendly utensils for our popular cooking classes. Enlisting Judy, our helpful and knowledgeable campus caterer, we have found "green" forks, knives, and spoons.

What makes them "green", you may ask? First of all, they are made of potato starch. Second, this potato starch is made into a polymer that can be produced into a utensil without using petroleum. Third, this polymer is compostable, and will disappear in 60-180 days. Even if it is put in a landfill, it will eventually biodegrade.

When the silverware came, we opened the boxes like it was Christmas morning to check out what it looked like. In fact, biodegradable utensils look a lot like any other plastic fork you may find at a fast food place, except that they are more sheer, and have vein-like lines running across them.

However, the true tests will be a)how they hold up in cooking classes and b) if we bury a fork in the ground outside of our office today, will we be able to find it next summer?

For more information on the green utensils we're using, click here.

Look for all new cooking classes for Fall---on the web August 17th!