We had fun at the 2006 Cherry Blossom Festival, as you’ll see from the photos. There were more people that year — they grew from year to year, as I pointed out before. Ligia and I took our time walking around and I got some interesting photos as a result. I think when you compare these photos with the ones I got in previous years, like in 2003, you can see a clear difference. I could see it too, and I was happy because of it.
Today is International Women’s Day, so I’d like to wish all the women reading this a wonderful year in which their dreams come true.
Where would we (men) be without you? The answers to that question are frightening. I certainly wouldn’t be here without one particular woman (my mom) and I wouldn’t be the man I am without another particular woman (my lovely wife). Thank you both! 🙂
It’s a safe bet that all of you got flowers by now, right? Well, I’m going to top those gifts! I’m going to give you lots of flowers from all seasons and various geographic areas. They may be virtual, but they’re uploaded in high res, so you can download them and enjoy them in full screen. (An added plus is they won’t wilt.)
For those of you who want to keep up with the YouTube Next Chef and Next Trainer programs, YouTube publishes weekly wrap-up episodes, where they highlight what we’re learning and producing.
This week’s Next Chef video features Thanksgiving recipes and we’re thrilled to see that Ligia’s recipe was chosen as the video thumbnail and as the first recipe presented in the video. Austin and the rest of the friendly gang at YouTube, thank you! I know that next week, a different recipe and participant will be shown first, but it’s really nice to see they chose us this week. We worked hard on this particular episode, harder than on previous ones, and I’m glad our efforts were noticed.
Enjoy the video and in case I don’t get to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving again, let me do it right now:
A little while ago, we heard about a contest Google had announced, called the YouTube Next Chef Program. We immediately thought about Ligia’s cooking show, Ligia’s Kitchen, and what a great fit that would be for the contest. Ligia applied, but didn’t think she’d win, particularly because the field of applicants was global, and the program promised to be exceptionally good in terms of the training and rewards offered. I had a gut feeling about it, I knew we’d put in the hard work needed to produce a quality show and felt we had a really good chance.
The contest winners would receive a 12-week training course in improving the quality and content of their videos, in marketing and promoting their videos and shows, and would also receive a package worth about $15,000 in exposure across YouTube and in new video equipment.
Time passed quickly and last week, we found out to our amazement that she’d been chosen as one of the 16 winners! I couldn’t believe it! For her, it was nothing short of a miracle. For me it was a confirmation of our efforts.
We got in touch with the folks at YouTube to find out the details, and were advised to be ready to receive inquiries from the American media. Sure enough, on Tuesday night around 1 am our time, we were talking with a journalist from the Sun Sentinel, the biggest paper in South Florida, who then wrote about Ligia on his blog. From what we understand, Ligia will also be mentioned or featured in the printed version of the newspaper within a few days.
We couldn’t say anything until yesterday, when the official announcement was made on the YouTube blog. We can’t thank Google enough, and Ligia can’t wait for the courses to begin! I’ll join in on the courses as well and look forward to learning new things.
You can watch all the episodes of our show, Ligia’s Kitchen, here. And if you’re not yet subscribed to Ligia’s channel or her website, let me invite you now to do so.
The cast of “The Princess Bride“, one of my all-time favorite movies, reunited recently for a photoshoot featured in Entertainment Weekly, and they gave a couple of interviews afterwards.
What a great movie, and what a great cast! I’m so glad the movie is still well-liked today!
Raoul Pop 