Support Local Business – With Facebook

The recent chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from the Coliseum Enteratinment Megaplex in Camp Hill was certainly disappointing news for me, and after giving it a quick thought I figured the least I could do to help the place rebound (besides increasing the number of $2 pints I consume there) was to create a fan page on facebook. Pages on facebook are pretty similar to facebook groups, just with better features and capabilities. And thanks to the help of HarrisburgNightlife.com, I was quickly able to throw together a decent page where people can freely join and show their support of the place – click here to check it out for yourself.

Now if you have never been a fan of the Coliseum’s $2 selection of 24 beers on tap, the 80 some plasma screens, million dollar plus arcade, 2 restaurants, Maggie Moos Creamery, or bowling lanes then feel no need to support the place. That’s not to say however, that there aren’t a number of other local business pages on facebook that you might be fond of. For instance, I’ve created pages for Troegs, Appalachian Brewing Company, Isaac’s Restaurant, Maggies Italian Ice and a number of others.

It’s easy to do, so if you’d like to see your favorite hangout gain popularity on facebook then just create a page (as long as it isn’t already in existence of course) and invite your friends to join. I’m kind of amazed at how quickly people can connect on common interests over facebook and the like, and I’m hoping with a few clicks of the mouse that we’ll be able to help out some of our favorite local businesses.

Harrisburg Young Professionals Open Registrations for Coed Flag Football

You can now sign yourself or a team of 12 up for HYP’s first ever Coed Flag Football League. Games are scheduled for Tuesday evenings at 6:30 or 7:30 and will take place at Twin Ponds off Union Deposit Road. $20 will get you into the league or $240 to register a team of 12. There is one caveat however, each team must have at least 5 ladies on it.  More details to follow, but games will begin Tuesday, September 30th, so don’t delay- grab a couple of friends or 12 if you have that many and get signed up for some serious good times. You can register on the Harrisburg Young Professionals website.

The flag football league is following HYP’s first ever kickball league, a huge success and well participated as there were 14 teams in total. You can check out pictures and final standings at the HYP Kickball League website.

(FYI the HYP flag football league will most likely resemble something similar to these fun loving youngsters minus the guy with the pony tail.)

Advanced Technology- Your Niche is Now Global

Technology continues to shrink our planet, especially since the advent and explosion of online social networking tools. Recreational sites like MySpace and the Facebook have inspired a new generation of sites designed specifically for business networking such as LinkedIn and Xing. Perhaps at one time you could assume that there were 6 degrees of separation between you and any other person in the world, but anymore it seems almost everyone is within 3.

As the world community gets smaller, the opportunity for collaborative ventures and quality interaction between professionals of extremely specific disciplines or industries is growing exponentially. One site in particular that has just recently been launched is becoming increasingly successful at providing a powerful platform for high technology and life science professionals to interact, learn, and collaborate. KnowledgeMesh, launched by the Hershey Center for Applied Research is a cutting edge social networking website designed to advance the global research and development community by connecting faculty, the private sector, investors, government agencies, and the high technology workforce.

KnowledgeMesh is an organically grown system that has very quickly swelled to well over 1,000 members of varying industries and backgrounds from all over the world. Advanced features continue to be developed to enhance the site’s user friendliness and effectiveness, including RSS, blogs, file sharing, communities, and more.

Here’s a screen shot of my own profile to give you a glimpse of what the system looks like from the inside:

You can see that the interface is clean and extremely user friendly, with different functions neatly tabbed and easy to find. Like most social networking sites online currently, there is no charge to utilize the service, all functionality of the site is available to every user. You can view a complete overview of the system and it’s capacities on YouTube. Simon Revell, Manager of Enterprise 2.0 Technology Development at Pfizer was the speaker at the KnowledgeMesh Official Launch on May 18th, 2008 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Pfizer is just one example of a company that is utilizing social networking tools to their full potential.

As social networking platforms continue to grow in popularity and functionality, there is no doubt that the possibilities for successful interactions and collaboration are endless. Thanks to sites like KnowledgeMesh, people involved with extremely specific research and business ventures can easily reach out to others around the world working in the same space. You may be surprised to find your niche is shared by someone half way around the globe. Small world indeed.

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Restaurant Review: Mangia Qui, 272 North St., Harrisburg

A word of advice if you’ve never been to Mangia Qui – rearrange your to do list. This place is well worth the visit! The downstairs is a very nice, quaint Italian restaurant and the upstairs is a gorgeous tapas bar called Suba complete with a high wooden beamed ceiling, colorful artwork, and detailed spanish decor.

I chose to stop in on a Sunday for brunch and eat at a table outside on North Street. The service was good and the atmosphere very relaxed, but it was the food that most impressed me. The menu had quite a few great options on it which made the decision difficult but in the end I ordered the Italian breakfast – pecan raisin sweet bread dipped in egg, sauteed, topped with mascarpone and powdered sugar served with bacon. Was I ever impressed! The Italian style french toast was outstanding and the bacon was cooked perfectly, crispy and heavily peppered. My girlfriend ordered the Mozzarella en carrozza, a delicious grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. The soup turned out to be more of a dipping sauce but the two together were good to the last bite. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a bite left after all was said and done. The restaurant is known for using local produce and while the prices are a little higher, the quality of the food is well worth it. I’ve already put trying the tapas bar upstairs at the top of my to do list.

Restaurant Review: Anastacia’s Restaurant/Bar, 1535 N. 6th Street, Harrisburg

Who said Harrisburg doesn’t have culture? Anastacia’s Restaurant/Bar is a brand new establishment that serves up authentic Puerto Rican cuisine at its finest! I had on a number of occasions passed by their location on 6th Street as they were renovating the building and decided the place certainly wasn’t appealing enough to check out upon completion. However, after a quick glance through some of their pictures on myspace I was surprised to see how nice of an establishment it really was, not what I expected at all!

I had to see/taste the place for myself, so I decided to drop in for lunch. Now don’t be fooled into thinking that since the restaurant is on 6th Street it clearly must be a dive like I had mistakenly done, the place is quite nice. The inside is colorful and neat, with a decent size bar and dining area complete with 4 flat panel TVs and a large chandelier. Everything is brand new, but the menu is seriously authentic – they even serve up Patitas de Cerdo, pigs feet! I wish I could say I’m that adventurous, but I stuck with the stewed chicken and rice ‘n beans  which was absolutely delicious. Service was great, and I’ll be going back, maybe this time to try something a little more out of the ordinary. The menu is different depending on the day, but the prices are all quite modest.

Check it out for yourself, the owners are hard working people and have done an excellent job renovating the entire place. It’s hard working small business owners such as these that really do enormous good for the city, so show your support by enjoying some delicias latin cuisine!

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Restaurant Review: Jamines With Papine, 306 Riley Street, Harrisburg

As mentioned in a previous post, I made sure to visit this Jamaican/American restaurant to see what the place was all about. The restaurant is next door to Garden Vietnamese Restaurant, a block over from the new Harrisburg Area Community College Midtown Campus – in my opinion an excellent location to open up shop. At any rate, the place just opened a week ago, and is modest looking on the outside as well as inside. Downstairs there are a few tables, a billiards table and an electric jukebox, I’m foreseeing this place as a pretty nice little student lounge for HACC students. Up the small stairway there is a counter immediately on the left where you can place an order and a number of little tables that fill the room. Again, pretty modest inside but what is most important to me is what’s really most important (that’s the food of course). You can see the menu in my previous post, but you can see that the place is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I tried the curry chicken with steamed cabbage and rice ‘n beans. Absolutely delicious. I was a little doubtful of the authenticity of the food until I had a taste, then there was nothing except planning a return visit to try something else. The food really did it for me, and the authenticity of the place was confirmed when I met Kenny the owner, or as everyone calls him “pops.” From the 5 minutes we chatted, Kenny seems to me a pretty stand up guy. He’s got an obvious Jamaican accent and has tried his hand at making a successful Jamaican restaurant a number of times before. I’m optimistic that this place will stick for him though as the food and location are both great.

By the way, for anyone curious pops explained to me that “Jameans With Papine” is a combination of American and Jamaican names, synonymous with the type of food served from the kitchen at 306 Riley Street in Harrisburg.

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