Highrises, 4x4s, and the Wisdom Cafe

Well whoopie dang, here I am, a few days before Christmas, at the Wisdom cafe, sunlight making rainbows in my left eye corner, shining through my eyelashes from the side. It's been a wee huge (is there such a thing? Dunno, somehow it sounds right to my fingers) time since I've written in here. Why? Well shoot, life's been happening, and I've been feeling pretty driven to get the wheels turning on my consulting practice. Thanks to Terra and her revolving cast of advisors from the other side, who at this moment seem to have a business bent, plus Terra's own well seasoned advice, I've been getting many insights as to directions to go with it.

This includes contacting a web host/tech business services company based up in Chico, and offering a taster of my services to be bundled as part of new business packages. And also creating a Code of Conduct for myself, a How I Work document for clients, and a questionnaire for them to get the juices flowing and the thoughts clarifying before I meet them for the first time. This, and a spiffy new site (link here) despite my being in huge resistance/avoidance/fear about doing the site, has all happened in this past month. I'm really proud of how well the site came out, thanks to some great advice from another consultant, one of the architects behind Treehugger.com, and one of the people I connected with while doing the social media/blog campaign for Act2. And yes, I've managed to forge an alliance with that company in Chico. It's been a bit of a slow train, that alliance, but it's happening.

Twice, perhaps three times, I've reached the man behind it, when he "happened" to be free, in between clients. I had to smile, the timing's just being lined up in my favor. The Universe, it's on my side yo. This guy is also a limo driver on weekends, as well as running this company, and raising two children. In the past I might have felt lazy in comparison, but now I just see what he's doing, look at what I am doing, and know that they're both fine.

In many ways my life has been turning for the healthier. Like right now, another Terra recommendation, taking a whole day, once a week, for meandering, dreaming...and offroading, woot! Yep, it seems each week I do this (Friday is my day) I've ended up on muddy roads. Following my nose, intuition, angels on my shoulders, whatever it is, I go driving, and see where it leads. The first week I went down You Bet road. How could I not, with a name like that? So I'm going down it, beauty all around, big giant truck behind me, and I'm ably managing its curves, when JAMBAGOONGAAYiyiyiyiBumpetaBumpetarumblerumble, I'm suddenly on a dirt road.

What was once a civilized street with upscalish houses suddenly was...dirty. Muddy. Lovely. I come up to this opening in the trees, and there's a couple of guys standing there, checking the view. Bookmarked it to come back. Onward I go, slack jawed at the tire tracks going up and down the 20 foot high sides of the road. I was squealing with glee, I LOVE finding things like this, the unexpected bits, the places not commonly explored. At least by mere mortals like myself.

Fortunately our car is all wheel drive, so I'm fine. Where am I? No idea. Perfect. Continuing downdowndown it just gets more interesting. At one point, I spied a perhaps 60 foot high hillside, again with tire tracks somehow running up the entire height of it. I can just hear the phantom "YeeeeeeeeMutherfuckingHaaaaaaaa"s echoing there. I've stumbled upon where I'm guessing my neighbors across the way go. I always wondered, seeing these vehicles when in the Bay Area, and even here, where do they go? Is it all for looks? No. It's here. It's real. And it looks real fun. I found a good, deepish, mud puddle, and gunned it while going through there. Oh yes. Life is good.

And so it's gone these past several weeks, getting my exploring jones satiated, taking time to mentally meander here in the Wisdom Cafe. It's a blessing for sure.

Now if I can only find the right tool(s) to run my business. I've been using HighRise for the past month, which does a nice job with linking contacts with what I said, what I promised, with specific tasks. It has been a step forward to helping to manage the at times whirling chaos that is my brain. And yet, it's lacking in some ways that makes it not the whole enchilada. Just some stupidness, that the company's other online tools, tools of less sophistication, have. I think they do things like this on purpose, so when they do roll out changes, they get to be heros. Feh.

So onward I look, and it's been causing me (self induced) stress, getting anxious about finding the best tools for a business that I don't yet know what it's going to look like, who or if I'll be working with others. Does it matter if what I choose is platform specific? Is choosing something web based a vulnerability if the web isn't behaving? There are times, often, when I just have to chuckle, to step back, get way up high above it all, and see, this really doesn't matter in the whole scheme of things. I've managed to make it this far without the tools I seek.

And yet, there's this sense of laying foundation for what looks like, judging by the flood of strong connections and alliances I've been creating, that have just jumped in my lap, that it is really important to get all the ducks lined up, tails a-wagging, pistons all firing, and other such metaphors. 2008's going to be banner year. And so, I breath, and know, it will all happen, as it's meant to. In my search this week, I've gotten so much great advice, from both strangers and friends. Really generous. I'm so lucky. Hopefully I'll see the Daylite, soon. Or Copper out. Ok Paul, stop typing, time to pick Vanessa up!

Crazy fish, yellow Grandpa, and the naked tree..

Sounds like a Hunter S. Thompson book, eh? Nah, it's just a day in the life of Vanessa and I. Looking out my window here, our tree that but a week ago was full of firey red orange leaves, accelerated the dropping, and just as I wondered, sweaty from raking, where are all these leaves coming from, I don't see a noticeable reduction, it, overnight, goes WUMP! Now there's perhaps 5% of the leaves on there, and it's a peculiar sensation, not having this cover in the front of our house. I typically meditate while sitting in the front window, the trees providing privacy, while still allowing a nice view. Now...you can see to the street, and so can people walking by. Ah well, I still love that spot.

I am in a pretty good spot now, having had a super awesome day yesterday. It started with an email from the folks at Bright Green Talent, a green biz focused recruiting agency I found in London. I found them on the Sustainability Forum http://sustainabilityforum.com/ and was intrigued by their very positive, proactive feel. I enquired about whether they might have some telecommute jobs, or know of some interesting ones in the US. What followed was many emails ping ponged, and during that time I find out that they're going to be opening a US division, in San Diego (!?) where one of the owners lives part time. Yesterday morning I wake to find an email from them gushing about my resume, both the content and the design of it (thanks Apple!) and then proposing four options, including keeping an eye out for telecommute jobs and projects, jobs in the UK, jobs here when they've got things going stateside, and then the kicker - the possibility of helping in getting that stateside operation established! Wow, what a way to start the day!

Then it continued with a meeting with one of my GreenSmith clients. I was working like crazy on this project to do a positioning piece for here business overall, and the multiple parts, existing and yet to exist. I had the same feeling I've had while working on projects at Presidio: Can I do this? Am I making any sense? Is this going to be useful to her? Should I go look up in books from Presidio what to do? A lot of anxiousness to work through. But then, I found my groove, got confident in my own abilities and intuition, and got some good ideas flowing and some organization of my thoughts happening.

I go to meet her, and take her on a tour through what I've done. She looks at me and says, "This is such a relief." She, like many entrepreneurs, is great at what she does, but not so great at explaining it. She then went through the whole thing herself, and over and over was complementing how it hit the mark for what she was looking for. And then I asked if she'd like to continue working together. Absolutely, she said, and told me that she really liked my writing, felt I understood her business well, and wanted me to be the one helping write the material for the revamping of her website. She was heading out for a quick holiday, to the wonderful sounding Yosemite Bug, a relaxed, low key place near Yosemite, with cheap good eats, a spa, and both indoor and structured tent (ie safari tent) accomodations. Vanessa and I just make a jaunt there soon, it sounds great www.yosemitebug.com

Speaking of writing, a few days earlier marked my first post as a regular contributor to Triple Pundit, an integrative bottom line (aka sustainable/green business) blog. Nick Aster, the wizard behind the curtain, said, "This post is outstanding. Really a very good job, I think this is the best I've seen you write. Solid information, totally interesting, and clear link to business/industry." Check it out for yourself, at http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/the-30-year-laptop-battery-fac-002641.php Then yesterday, after a successful, thought provoking first call on the Strategic Sustainability Consultant Network meeting, I was inspired to write another article, which went from the Five Kingdoms model of design, into how those lovely juice pack containers, not typically recyclable, now have a chance, via creative use of natural resources. http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/a-juicy-issue-002662.php

Then Vanessa came home, and we headed out for what we'd planned to do, work out. Needed to get a few groceries, and decided to go for a walk around the area first. We soon discoverd this great trail, which led through this area with the reddest dirt we've yet seen around here. Then we ended up somewhere in the middle of Sierra College, and were walking towards a pond. There by the water was what looked like a quarter operated candy machine. Huh?! Sugar everywhere, geeez! But on closer inspection, it turned out to be Koi food. They seemed to be in on the game, as we soon had a flock of them approaching us. Vanessa got that little girl glint in her eye and asked if I had a quarter. Many, I had.

So we got some, and I took a few of the pellets, leaving the rest for her. Her gleeful enthusiasm got me going. It was amazing to watch in action, like a live video game. There was some huuuuge fish in there, and tiny, thumbnail sized ones too. In between were theses speedy, stealthy orange ones. And, king of them all, this one that Vanessa dubbed the yellow grandpa. He was slow, steady, and boy did he get a lot of the pellets! I felt a little bad for some fo the older, bigger ones, as they were so big, they had to arc their body out of the water to get their mouth at the level of the pellet. Often, the orange ones would zing in, snatching it right in front of the gaping mouth of the biggies, turning in a quick U shape to get out of there. It got me thinking about seeing myself, giving a business presentation, talking about these fish as a metaphor for businesses.

She and I just sat there, continuing to feed the fish, aiming to get them to particular ones, rooting for them, as the sun went down. We had no idea where we were, and how to get back to the market we were meant to go shopping at. But it didn't matter :-) We walked, and came upon a class full of an orchestra's worth of players, the teacher leaning on his desk, furiously conducting. Vanessa and I grinned at each other. Life in this town is sure nice...

Magic

Yesterday Vanessa and I were sitting at the dining table at lunch, and in mid sentence, Vanessa squealed in delight like a small child, jumping up and down and covering her mouth, looking out the window. "What? What's going on?" I said, a grin on my face, and curiosity in my mind. She began to tell me that a hummingbird had flown right up to the window, stayed there looking at her, and then...midsentence again it came by. I looked, but didn't see it. I was in a foul mood, so maybe it wasn't time. Animals appearing to you have meaning, and the Hummingbird, from what I recall, it was especially so.

I semi dismissed it, as I rationalized it was a bird bonking into a window it didn't see. But then, today, about 15 minutes ago, there was a hummingbird, deliberately flying up to the window, and hovering, at eye level to me. That was no mistake...

While looking for an image to include, there was a brief synopsis of their significance. It said: "Symbolizes Sweetness.
Messages and Meanings: infinity, creativity, promise, joyfulness"

Nice. Guess I was ready to see it, too...

PPS

Boy I'm going blog crazy today! I went to what turns out to be the Myspace page of just the lead singer of the Anderson Family Bluegrass Band. It has the song Sounds of Loneliness on it, the one I mentioned getting teary, hearing it Saturday. Wow, don't know what it is, but it just hits deep, is so haunting. Beautiful. http://www.myspace.com/paigeandersonbluegrass

PS

One other thing I want to mention before I forget it: We had the opposite of the punks dancing in the midst of a full on squaredance session that we witnessed at the county fair in August: At yesterday's happenings, they had a band called Mystafya. They were one of the best reggae bands I've long seen. They had a pair of singers up front, one was of a classic "lover's rock" silky smooth mold, in a track suite with a white headband, himself round and smooth, very warm and friendly. Vocal honey, indeed. The other guy was of the "chant down Babylon" mold, little dreads up top, looking like he's experienced it all, and has the fight in 'im, ya mon! :-9 Anyway, several of us were dancing, and over to our right, there was this older couple, both with cowboy hats, she with fanny pack, country dancing together. And they didn't just do it for one song, they were in it for the long haul. I love how things blend together here...

and one more thing - I just had a call with one of my clients, who is now talking about things into next year. Sounds like I'm a hit. A nice feeling indeed. All this, on a Monday, a day that's often been a slump/funk one for me. I had to smile as I was on this call, being very professional, making all these good points, feeling I was truly on his level and of valuable service...and halfway throught it Joe jumped up on my lap. I get to give my kittie love, do business, and work it together just fine. I'm digging this for sure :-)

I'm going to try and get better pictures of the trees, the cheapo digital camera we have seems to like to bleach out colors. Or you can just imagine it, about three times more vibrant then the picture in the post below...

be well my friends.

You know we're beyond the tipping point when...

It became clear to me that we are indeed past the tipping point in terms of things sustainable when, while having dinner with my parents, who are by no means progressive, and in fact can be downright regressive at times, my mother asked the waitress of the fish she was considering ordering, was it wild caught or farmed. When told it was farmed, she chose the chicken. I had to struggle to keep my jaw from dropping to the table, and/or high fiving my 70+ year old mom. Oops I mean 29. Sorry Mom. My dad, ever the joker, said hey, is that chicken free range? Your mom used to think that meant it didn't cost anything. The times they are a changin'...

We had one of those weekends that just confirmed strongly that we made a good decision being here. Well let me back up - Vanessa a few days earlier said she wanted us to spend time with each other in the evenings, not working, not boinging around the internet, not cleaning the house, just enjoying being with each other. So I've decided to be firmer about when/how I use the computer, do work etc, and it's been really nice. We don't always do things together, we may just be reading, but overall, it's been nice, and I'm glad to have a reason to give myself boundaries in terms of life/work balance.

The tree outside my window has gone from having red highlights to being a redhead with golden green highlights. She seems to be losing some hair though too. Too much dyeing? I'm going to go out and do some raking later today. Raking, I haven't done that since I lived at my parents, and my job was to rake the rotten oranges our from under our orange trees. What foul, nasty stuff that was, eeyuck! Now, I actually *want* to do raking, as I find this gardening thing meditative. It helps not to have bug infested rotting fruit flesh to sift through, ay carumba!



So back to this weekend: Saturday we went to the Loma Rica Ranch harvest festival, where Vanessa was working for her company, Healthy Now. She, in the past two weeks, has created a new position for herself there, and gotten a nice pay raise in the process. Her boss said, upon her presenting her ideas on this new position, said that he had high standards, ones that most people didn't meet, not even himself, and that she had actually far exceeded his. Go Vanessa!

While wandering the festival with Vanessa, we heard these great singers, and were surprised to find that they were children! It was the Anderson Family Bluegrass Band. It was a whole family, four children and the parents. The oldest daughter, 13, was up fron, with the two next youngest kids harmonizing with her. This was beyond novelty, they were truly talented! The boy just made me laugh, he would break out in a full face grin often, not able to help himself. He'd try to look serious, but it just couldn't be held back. The father just stood back, working the banjo, guitar, etc, eyes half lidded, just looking so serene and happy. The mother was all action, just moving it, on the stand up bass. I was blown away by their musical skills, each of the kids soloing frequently, very well. One song, the Sounds of Loneliness, had me getting a bit teary, it just hit a cord deep inside...

Something I've noticed repeatedly this weekend, is that people in general just seem to have/take more time with you, just being present. That includes people in stores, in restaurants, and friends in general. It's just so nice to experience this. And over and over, we've been welcomed by so many people. Makes a smile grow on my face...

So after the harvest fair, my parents showed up. And, surprise of all surprises, the night was totally pleasant. No drama, no bad taste in your mouth. Just two parents, happy to see us, and generally in good spirits themselves, and interested in what we were up to, and expressive about how cool they thought it all was. Wow, what a great change. It may have something to do with a big realization I had around my parents a few weeks ago, letting go of some long buried feelings, forgiving them. Not in person, but on an energetic level. But that's another story. I nearly cried when my mom gave me a different hug then she ever has, you could feel she really meant it, and wanted me to know it. Hard to explain, but perhaps you know what I mean...

Then there was yesterday, Sunday. We slept in, just enjoying each other's company, then instead of driving, we walked to the harvest fair happening at Briar Patch, our local version of Whole Foods, or rather, Rainbow Grocery, as it's a co-op market. They had all sorts of local organic farmers, food purveyors of different sorts, and the strangest piece of equipment I've long seen, this machine that jiggles you back and forth really quick, and standing at different angles isolates different muscles. It's like concentrated exercise apparently, only without the cardio part, which needs to happen real time of course, but the rest, sure, including endorphins release. Vanessa was laughing and laaaaughing, and said I WANT one of these! She looked like she was hula hooping on caffeine.

You know you're in a different place when you're talking with an organic rancher, complete with leathered face from a lifetime outside, telling us the finer points of buying a quarter of a cow. Yes, having a particular cow, with the parts you select, cut and wrapped, delivered to your door, 7 cubic feet worth. Oh my. Next to him was a local honey seller, who was teaching the kids about pollination and it's importance. We also met some people I have a feeling will soon be friends, the people behind Garden Fare who just felt like they were on the same page as us, being in their 30s, full of enthusiasm, having their stuff together, grounded, yet playful and curious like kids. Patrick was saying he was more interested in doing then complaining. Here here.

And I think here here is where I'm going to stop stop. Well except to say that after that event, we came home and Vanessa gave me a massage. Life is good...

I don't know if anybody's reading, but it was a pleasure sharing, and I hope you have a great week...

Adventures in living.

By the way, that was Vanessa again. Mommabelle is neato indeed, I'm glad to have a mother-in-law like her for sure. Like Vanessa, there's nobody quite like her! I'm going to tell you the amazing tale of our anniversary Monday, but I'm a-needing to get into the work groove at the moment. Soon enough. Yep, that's right, I'm working on my first client, creating some marketing magic, mmm...

Mommabelle

or momma b or ma or mom as I often call her.

I love my mom. I'm thinking about her today, and perhaps, three hours southwest of here, she will be reading this post after I'm done writing it.

Here's some reasons why I love my mom - she's funny, intelligent, wants to make a positive difference in the world, is following her passions in life, loves to give me money and gifts, is emotionally supportive, we have lots in common, and she gets me. Did I mention she really makes me laugh?

I'm also proud of her, for taking care of herself, for going to school in her late 50's, for being willing to transform and heal herself. Whether she realizes and acknowledges it or not, she is a good role model. Thank you mom.

Does she drive me a little nutty too? Sure. Do I have those moments where I think - oh my god, I'm my mom? Yes. But who doesn't pick up their parents behavior, consciously or not? We are all doing the best that we can at any given moment in our lives.

That's all. Just wanted to praise her.

Change is in the air

I'm sitting here looking out our broad front window, and there's not a sky in the clouds. It hit me last week, that I, for the first time in eons, live in a place that follows the seasons. By that I mean that when the calendar says summer, it's warm. Hot even. You know, summerlike. And when it's Fall, it's brisk, cool, shifting. Whereas in SF and Oakland, my two most recent homes, summer often means foggy mornings, and perhaps whole days, then September through October or so it's often warm, even balmy.

Here, like clockwork, it went from being in the 90s, no clouds, to shifting down 20+ degrees, clouds aplenty, a stiff wind musclling its way down the street. And I like it. I did however learn that here too we have an "Indian Summer," a bonus chunk of warm times, in October. Where does that term come from? Hmm...And then, for the first time ever in my life, I'm going to be in a place where there's actual snow. Snow! I know, East Coasters (or elsewhere that there's snow-ers), go ahead and roll your eyes, but I'm looking forward to it.

Against the trend of the seasons, I declared that this would be week of seeds that I've planted around in various places beginning to sprout, and now they have. I've been asked by Janaia, the woman behind Peak Moment TV to go in her place to the APPLE (Alliance for a Post Petroleum Economy) town hall meeting, this time focused on food and farming. And now I, manning a prominently placed table and offering videos on the subject, have a great excuse to talk to lots of people and get my face seen, being the stunt double for the woman who founded this organization. And she's said that she wants to know more about what I'm up to, have to offer, so that she can direct work my way, and perhaps collaborate together. Neato, eh?

As if that weren't enough, I also heard from a woman who got fwd'd the introduction about myself I wrote a month back on the local progressive people listserv, who has a nifty sounding service called Project Simplify. More on that later, when I have more to say. But I can say that things are definitely looking promising, ripe.

See what happens when you make your intentions clear?

Ok, back to working on my first client project. Go GreenSmith go!

Splling

Boy, my spelling skills were knocked akimbo (or some such other word for "sideways") last night. I just had to get down all that happened, before diving into the week. Ah well, you got the gist, I hope. Just helped a friend move their office, and now I'm a-setting down for some serious teeth to food action...

We slept for 11 hours last night...

...and damn was it nice. Oh and before I get into things, that was Vanessa who last wrote. Not that I don't think Tori is the bee's knees, but I want to make sure credit is given where it's deserved. And ok I'm vain, don't want my oh so masculine image to be tarnished being mistaken for a gushing Tori fan. We did, however see a great series of interviews with her tonight, while in the process of bouncing around Youtube watching videos that move Vanessa. She is quite a woman, I must say. And for me, not the musician part. She's a very intelligent woman, her, with some juicy morsels of thought to chew on.

So anyway, eh hem, where was I? Oh right, discussin' the merits of Budweiser, or some such manliness. Grrr and shit! :-9

Ok who am I fooling, I am Paul, a most kick ass individual, who is working on being the best person I can be. Yes.

This morning we woke up after having had the kind of day that you just can't plan for. One that makes me glad we moved here. One that happens when you take away all the busy-ness of the past few months, taking away all wedding, pre wedding, shower, seeing massage clients, princessing around the Bay Area, etc that between the two of us, resulted in our being away just about every weekend since we've moved here, making for this never quite settled, never quite really here state of being. Always some motion, always some to do, always transitioning back to being here.

And then...this weekend came along, and everything just aligned to this most beautiful exploration of this place we now call home. It started Friday with us going upupup the hills, around the deep into the trees and into the home of this couple who was hosting a presentation by Janaia Donaldson, this wonderful woman who I connected with before arriving here, who does a show called Peak Moment.

She had created this slide show, with video snippets interspersed, talking about all the ways that communities can "go local." As in their energy needs, economic, food, social and on. It so eloquently and inspiringly made the case for living in a more sustainable manner, without going into a big heap of "shoulds" or fingerwagging. Enough statistics and info to spark interest and awareness, but avoiding the bonk you over the head mode of operation that many environmentally oriented people/videos try to do.

Janaia was both on the screen and in person, narrating this, and the assembled group of people were so moved and inspired, they were asking questions and making suggestions in the middle of it, and some great conversations happened afterwards. I was so glad to come across such a thoughtful, engaged group of people here. Truth be told, I was feeling a lot discouraged, after my initial encounter with several groups of what felt like disjointed, ego driven or just plain not deep in it people. Here were some people that I could see connecting with, and even if I didn't, it was good to know they are out here. I did, in the end, connect with a good handful of great people.

Saturday was the day that I had signed Vanessa and I up to volunteer in the Great Yuba Cleanup. It was a morning with people cleaning up nature spots all over Nevada County, and as it turns out, all over the world, apparently the largest single simultaneous event of it's kind in the world. It was, I believe, my first time volunteering for something like this. Perhaps even my first time volunteering for anything of a public nature. Don't quote me on it, I can't say for sure. But I can say for sure that it felt great doing it. We were a group of six or so cleaning up Deer Creek, underneath the freeway in Nevada City.

Apparently it's a place where homeless people hang out, but it was quite clean, given that. Living in the Bay Area, I have seen much much worse, believe you me! You have to keep track of every little piece of trash, literally ticking off the number of pieces and in what category. So we alternated who did the ticking and the picking. Apparently these statistics have been used for such things as San Francisco's banning of styrofoam containers.

After we finished, there was a big picnic in our honor (400+ people in all!) where they feed us, and then had a fashion show by the Haute Trash group. I've heard so many mentions of them, and now Vanessa and I got a chance to see for ourselves - They make clothes out of trash, in most amazing ways. For instance, the MC wore a dress that was made out of a popped raft, the edges draped nicely on the ground, and two of the perky inflation points positioned most saucilly right where nipples might otherwise be. I can't even recall all of them, but some I do were a pair of shorts with discarded cds broken and mosaiced on there. There was a "mermaid" dress made of hundreds of yogurt lids. And all sorts of other great creations, showing how you can repurpose what was once bound for the dump.

From there, we walked around downtown Nevada City where there was a sidewalk sale happening all over town. At one point, down the street and away from the main drag and all by itself was this shop, whose name I forget, but above it was the fading sign from it's goldrush past, saying it was an Assayer. We asked inside, and were told it was the place where gold miners in the 19th century would come to get it weighed, then get paid, kind of like the modern day recycling drop off spots that homeless frequent for that 10 cent deposit we all pay. Vanessa and the woman in the store got into all sorts of conversation, with the woman in the end offering to help us when we decide to shop for a house, telling us where the wells are good (yes people use on site wells for water here, in many cases), where the weather is not, etc. This, from a shop owner who we clearly weren't buying anything from at the time. Yes, we're not in Oakland anymore...

After this, we left in search of the Mountain Bounty Farm, where we had seen in a flier the previous day was having a Fall Harvest celebration. V didn't have the directions on her, and fortunately (we thought) someone looked them up at a cafe we were at earlier. But arrgh, curse you Mapquest, you led us astray, yet again! We ended up on this gravelly, bumpelly road that seemed to be leading us nowhere, quite well. Beautiful, yes, but also frustrating. We went back the main road, and continued on to Mother Truckers, this little health food store that acts as a big hub for the area.

They told Vanessa where to go, and it was, alas, much simpler (and completely elsewhere) then Mapquest directed us. It's Google Maps for us, always. So we make our way down, and just when it seems, uh oh, here we go again, down a dirt road, there is this bright and cheerful sign for the farm, pointing the way. We go there, and where once there was nothing but us, now there's cars, parked on either side for quite a while. We walk in, and in amongst the trees was this gorgeous farm, live music happening, and all manner of zesty folk mingling about. It was one of those look over at your wife, and grin moments, like wow, is this real? We live near this? Wowww!

They had the most amazing produce, of the hugest proportions. One flowering plant was, I kid you not, 10 or so feet tall, one with orange/gold flowers, the other maroonish. We were told they were called Moulin Rouge. How fitting, they were so outsized and dramatic. Down amongst the celebration they had about a dozen varieties of tomatoes from the farm to try. I'm no fan of tomatoes, but the Green Zebra ones got me. Literally green zebra striped things, they looked so cool. I still didn't eat, but Vanessa enjoyed like crazy for me. Thanks V ;-)

We also got to be salsa judges, as they were having a contest for that. Wow, such an amazing assortment, from across the spectrum. From supervivdly colored and flavored to muddy and cloudlike chocolatey ones, it was a treat indeed. A bluegrass band was on, and it was a treat to see 5 guys just working it so well together, voices, instruments, facial expressions. I could go on for days about all the sensations, people, and plants there, but just trust me on this one: It was a treat indeed, and inspiring to see such an amazing creation, nestled in the trees of the Sierra foothills, and from the looks of it, doing quite well.

Oh, and I almost forgot the link between that and the last part of our day: a $20 bill. Found among the rows of produce, just laying there on the ground, ripe for the picking. Vanessa got a big grin, and we ended up seeing the movie Shark vs. Eagle at the pocket sized Magic Theatre. It was, that night, a one woman operation. She ran the snack booth, took our ticket money, then closed the curtain and ran the projector. It even had an intermission, which, dang it, I think all movies should have, so you can fluff your butt and stretch. Civilized, it was. The movie was quite quirky, and I liked parts of it, but was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of the comedic talent that I knew the lead had, being one of the duo Flight of the Conchords.

Today, well today just rasseled our plans to work on our businesses and be productive to the ground. Literally. In the afternoon Vanessa and I decided to take out here banana leaf mat and a big long pillow, and have a good lay down session on our lawn. Wow, how refreshing, doing...nothing, in the middle of the day. A proper Sunday, indeed.

Well I must go now, Stella (my cat) is asleep in my lap, her head and paw laying on my forearm. Ah, what a life I have :-)

Oh and I've now officially gotten my first consulting client..stay tuned. It's been nice to be able to introduce myself as a Sustainable Business Consultant. Ha, that's right!!!

good night.

Falling in love again...

...with Tori Amos. Oh my good goddess, she is amazing. Tori has been a role model of mine from way back to 1992, and whether old or current, her songs have always helped me remember who I am. I feel so moved, touched, mischevious, alive, empowered, and grateful whenever I listen to her. Go to youtube and check out A Sorta Fairytale, dvd version or Butterfly, live. Ah, I can breathe again.

Must run off now...

Peep peep!

Have been meaning to write a thing or two for a time, but well, life's been happening. But you may notice that we've a spiffy new coat on for the Autumn. Although the colors are more Summery. No matter. Purty, ain't it? Haven't figured out the html enough to get rid of the designer's name upside down there. Ah well. Meanwhile have a look at the birdhouses that someone I know via the 1 Giant Leap bb makes, made from materials salvaged from the tsunami in Sri Lanka, to benefit the people there. It's a fashion show, straight outta the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley yo! :-9



You can investigate further about their multiple projects at www.p2prescue.org

ta

Ahhh del.icio.us!

woop woop, woop woop...

warning, warning, geek alert, geek alert!!!!

Although there is some zingy funness embedded down below, so don't skip, lest you miss it...

I just love del.icio.us the social bookmarking site, both for my being able to agilely bookmark online, accessible anywhere (rather then just your computer) and actually make use of later the nearly 2000 bookmarks I have. They're now searchable by tag, viewable as simply a list or as a tag cloud (tags are different sizes depending on how many sites you tagged with that, well, tag) and I was able to import all the bookmarks I already had on my browser, and del.icio.us autotagged those, going by what they'd been tagged by others already, and by the title of the folder you had them in in your browser's bookmarks. But going to the del.icio.us site itself (You can use www.delicious.com just fine) you can see what's currently popular with other people. Or search for sites by tags, arguably a more robust, current, accurate reflection of what you're looking for versus the algorithm driven Google. Thus the "social" part in social bookmarking.

It was while tiptoeing through the popular sites of today that I came across an intriguingly titled one that said Hip Hop Violin. It's a Youtube video, and for the first minute, I was impressed. An obviously talented violinist, with a dj behind him mixing. Perfectly in sync, it was all so...smooth. Overdone. Began feeling more "look at me" then interesting to listen to. Then...I noticed to the side in the related videos, another hip hop violin video. I clicked it, and up pops this pixieish woman. She proceeds to jam along to a Black Eyed Peas song. Musically interesting for sure, but then she adds these most unique dance moves. A potpourri of the recognizable (a bit of ballet in there) and...I don't know what. Great, really fun to watch, and she's clearly having a great time to. Check it out here.

Mmm, delicious!

}}} If you're wondering where that music is coming from, scroll down, it's a player of recent discovery of mine. Feel free to let it roll, or stop it until you've read what I've got to say, below. {{{

Today, I decided that we should break the mold of how we've been operating, and rather then Vanessa coming home from work, tired (she works at 7:30am) I met her at the gym associated with her work, and we got in some exercise. Then we headed out to the South Yuba river, but not before going to Fudenjuice, a wee juice, and you guessed it, food place, that, in our first trip today, made a mouth puckering Lemon Lime Apple juice slushy ( there seems to be a fondness for healthy slushies here, rightly so in this hothot place!) and a most delicious, monstrous wrap thingee, with eggs, spinach, rice, and um I forget, I didn't order it, I was just a sampler of it. Oh and it had some zesty green dipping sauce. Ah, nice!

We then moseyed through the lushly tree lined windy little road to the South Yuba River. My second visit, Vanessa's first. You could see her spirits brighten, her eyes too, as we got down to the water. She pointed out some lovely fair sized fishies swimming in the water. They were green, and unafraid of humans, except those of the young and wiley variety, who would try to catch them with their hands.

We both made our way in, and eventually found both of us floating on our tummies, sandal clad feet floating behind us. Vanessa looked not unlike a flying superhero of some sort. She enthusiastically said she'd like to make this a regular occurrence. I'm so glad, she was feeling like all she was doing was working, and not enjoying our new environs. No longer. :-)

And now I find myself home, and yet again, Amie Street scores with a selection of music I can't do without. This time it's Vieux Farka Toure, who is the son of world famous Ali Farka Toure, the Malian musician. Apparently he'd wanted his son to be a soldier, but it couldn't be helped, Vieux had talent, which he's developed nicely. Here he remixes next generation Malian music, with electronic aspects, to great effect. I bought a heap of tunes, and liked them so much, I've added the music player here for you to check VFT out for yourself. My favorite tracks are 3, 5, 7 and 9, but please check them all out, as interests you...

Enjoy!

Grrrr!

I heard Vanessa chuckling and typing away on the computer last night, and now I know why...she's busted, big time! For the record, I have been a big consumer of Goddess dressing in the past, but have since learned to be more moderate (I can see Vanessa giving me the mm hmm, surrrre look now. Arrrgh! :-9)

I think what she meant to write was, "Paul, oh he's my dream, last week he brought me this beautiful rose from our garden. I just melted. He's such a sweet, thoughtful man." Or something like that.




And in case you're wondering how Stella and Joe, our dynamic cat duo, are doing, well here's an example of the rough life they lead.



This is atop the kitchen cabinets, on which they spend a substantial amount of time. Stella especially likes to lean her head against this one particularly point part of the cabinet, while sleeping. To each their own, I suppose...

Am I right, or am I right?

Ladies, is it not the man's job to take care of the spiders?

I'm all for each person embodying both male and female qualities. In fact, Paul's empathy and listening skills have saved me on many an occasion. Yet, when it comes to spider clearing, that's a man only job.

He only protests slightly. I think to give me a hard time more than anything else. Then, he'll take care of business, as needed. No killing of course. Just finding a way to get the scary looking ones outside.

He's a good guy. I'm glad I married him. Most of the time he racks up the good husband points. Except of course, when he monopolizes the goddess dressing.

OK, this time I am going to bed.

It's my turn

I figured it was about time to make a cameo appearance on our aptly named joint blog. Paul has been the literary maestro up until this point. Mwah ha ha, and now, it's time for the take over! 

I just noticed that blogger does an automatic save on my drafts. Damn, I wish yahoo did that. I can't tell you how many times I've lost a well thought out post to my unsuspecting trigger finger that accidentally presses god only knows what button, or of course, yahoo just being wacked out at the moment. 

So here we are, Paul, Stella, Joe, & I, chillin' in our new place. It still feels new to me, yet more like a home than any other place we've been in before. It's 10:06 pm, and Paul is munching on cereal. That man can eat cereal at any time in the day. I try not to judge him for it, but sometimes I still do. I really do have to practice turning off the nutrition critic in my head. I think, should I tell him that thoroughly chewing his food really will help him digest it? Or what about mentioning that having peanut butter on top of almond cheese probably isn't the best combination? Or that emptying out 1/3 of a bottle of goddess dressing on whatever I've just cooked has more calories and fat than he needs for the whole day? Granted, I need to learn how to spice up the food fare a bit more. It's just so nutty, to chop up a whole load of garlic or ginger, and add sesame oil, or some other flavorful spice and still have my dishes taste blah. WTF is up with that?

Moving on.

It's getting close to bedtime for me. I am now in the third week of a job, that I like (I know, go figure that I'd like to do anything but my business, my business, my business- sorry y'all, I get a little obsessed with my business sometimes, it's just passion really). Anyway, this job is requiring me to not only be up early in the morning, but to be functional with my little name tag on at 730am. Anyone that knows me, knows this is a feat in and of itself. Needless to say, I'm still getting used to the schedule. Which means, it's beddy bye for ness ness. 

Stay tuned for more about the job...

Peace.

Woah....

It's interesting how quickly you can get acclimated to a new situation. A day or two ago, I was pining for the more vibrant Bay Area, more people around, etc etc. Now, having driven down with Vanessa to do a few cameo massage appearances/catching up with my Presidio classmates, I found myself a little, ok a lot overwhelmed, being in Whole Foods. From the busy, competitive parking lot, to the obstacle course of people and objects inside, it all felt like too much. Heh, I was now missing the mellow, friendly ease of Briar Patch, our sweet, green built co-op market we shop at these days. 

An example of how it is there: We rarely, if ever, need to park past the 2nd row of parking. Last night I went in there, sent on a mission by Vanessa to get a key missing ingredient for a peach pie she was making for a potluck we were going to at Blue Bird farm, an organic farm 20 minutes from us. I go in there, and ask a staff member if they had it. It being, um, gara gara, or some such repeated word, a form of seaweed that serves as a gelatin substitute, apparently. The guy takes me to where it is, takes it off the hook. 

He gets a wrinkled brow, and says, "Hmm, this is *way* overpriced...hang on, I think I know someone who will have another suggestion for you." He comes back with a friend, who suggests two alternatives, but one wasn't organic in this store (Yet. It's a new store from 3 months ago. Well new to this location, they keep on expanding over the decades...) and we all walk over to where they can be found. She tells me of all these different things that old school corn starch can be used for. How sweet, eh?

It turns out that that was for thickening, already covered by what Vanessa had. Ah well. The pie? Not one for the record books, but a nice effort, despite doing it, it turns out, totally out of order. We're not the world's best cooks. She's much more then I'll ever be, though, that I can say.

 I can also say that I came across a chef who was asking to trade weekly massage in exchange for making meals. Ooh, a whole foods focused, diversely abled, really cool sounding guy, making us food every week? Now, though I'm officially mostly retired from massage, that's a client I'd be happy to see every week. Though I do miss many of my clients from back in the Bay Area. Tried to see them this and next weekend, when I'm coming down with Vanessa. No dice, for the most part. Ah well, I'm meant to do other things with that time, perhaps? Ironic, it is, that I got an email today from someone asking for their boss, who wants to give his wife a massage a week for a year. Down here. Hmm, let's see if I can make it happen, with someone other then me doing it...Oh and the chef? Graham Hayes, the Gleaned Gourmet

This cafe (somewhere in I think Walnut Creek) is quite busy. A bit too. Ha, learn to be at peace and with wherever you are, Paul. Enjoy it as it is, not as you wish it were...

Our house, pt. 1

Some of you were asking for pictures of our new home, to "place us" in this new location in your mind. Well here you go...at least the outside. The inside isn't all purtied up enough to take pictures, yet, so that will have to wait. Meanwhile drop be here to check it out. 

Just do it

I was going to write about Powerpalooza from this weekend, but some roses got in the way. Some really beautiful ones, out in my front yard, to be precise. I decided to chop the "deadheads" off, pretty far down the stem, per our landlord's advice. I thought it would be a more cathartic experience, but as I began making my way through them all, I really felt a sense of affection, care for them. I was so happy to see that my efforts to keep them well moisturized were paying off, all this new growth. I seem to be getting the gardening bug. 

Dang, our old place, we had some potted plants (still do, keeping us company inside) But now, we have roses, peach and plum tree (two distinct trees, but wouldn't that be neat to have two in one?) three proudly flowery trees, poppies, grass, and "weeds" with flowers that open and close with the sun. Plus lots of other things, including several beeg trees. And dirt. Red, red dirt. They say it's because of the presence of iron in the soil. The walkway around the back side of the house is colored that way, I'm not sure if by nature or by choice. Either way, it's very pleasing to the eye, soul, to have non gray pavement.

I'm listening to music that seems to go well with this. And heck, many other situations. They are Jed & Lucia, whose music is a nifty mix of acoustic, with electronic atmospherics, and the two of them singing, creating this evocative music, that goes well with long road trips, ends of days, and just whenever you want to decompress, dream. One song in particular, Tree Song, is ideal for meditating, looped. Perpetuate the Cycle is particularly delicious too. You can have a listen here. 

BTW, Amie Street is my absolute favorite place to buy music these days. They give a good chunk to the artists, and you, the public, decide the pricing, by the number of purchases and recommendations a song gets. And you can play stock market with your recommendations as they increase in value, the more the song goes up in value after you do it. Will it plateau here? Will it go up? Hmmm...Amie Street just did a nice retooling of the site, making it even more useful. Mosey on over there here

As for Powerpalooza, well let's just say it was very encouraging to see so many people out to support, learn about sustainable living. Much of it was familiar territory to me, but it was good to get my face seen by the locals, and I had an especially good takeaway: It started with a conversation with Annika of Smart About Carbon, who spoke of how SAC, with nearly no promotion, and none outside the area, has been written up in a Japanese blog, and written up in another with extensive analysis about it. 

This reminded me of how Chad Upham of my cohort at Presidio spoke of hearing from people in New York about his just born endeavor, Covive. It also had had no PR to that point. This would lead me to believe that there is a certain magnetic pull around sustainability focused businesses. A desire to seek them out. 

Add to this the experience of attending a workshop by Michelle Long of the very inspirational Sustainable Connections, who basically said just start. Start even if you don't have it all mapped out. Start even if you have $0 (they did) And look for the roses, not the deadheads (I'm transposing from her talk to my life there ;-) 

So I'm going to. Even though I'm not a staff of 50 around the world, don't have 20 years experience in the field, haven't been one before, I'm going to start my own green business consultancy. 

Tomorrow I'll take pictures around the house, of all the nifty details I mentioned. Including the now very lush looking rose bushes. What a difference a whacking can make :-)

Biking, mmm...

So I don't know if it's a Grass Valley thing, or a biker thing, but tonight, on my inaugural ride of my new bike, this person who was riding on the other side of the street rode over and starts chatting with me, about my bike, and about his. I asked him where he'd recommend buying a helmet, and he says we could stop and he'd show me. I thought he meant going back to the store a a few blocks back, but no, he meant literally, we could stop and he could show me his cool helmet. How nice! He said proudly he got it at Kmart, they're $15! I decided to hold my tongue about the effects of buying big box vs. local, as I didn't want to alienate my young biking friend. But wow, how neat, eh? I don't have a comparison to the Bay Area, having not ridden a bike there since a few months after living there ('94) and getting it stolen...from my flat's storage. :-/ I've experienced it more then once now, complete strangers just deciding to talk to you. And not psychotic ones either, woot! I could get used to this...

In Mekka...

...you can get things like an Italian Slush. It is a slightly more refined, and to my mind much tastier verion of what one can get at the Mecca of all things convenient, 7 Eleven. In this case, it's blackberry flavored. 

Speaking of, when Vanessa and I were preparing to move, and she needed to look into switching carriers, I spent a little time toodling with various "smart" phones. Boy howdy is that an oxymoron! They were all so anti-intuitive, ridiculously overcomplicated, and just a plain drag to use. Especially the Blackberries. But bear in mind, this was after having given iPhones a spin, and becoming a semi-pro in 20 minutes. Is it that I'm stupid, or that there is a more well thought out user interface at play here? Hmm...

So anyway, I am at a fine little cafe in the town neighboring mine, Nevada City, called Mekka. Looking around, it's a perfect metaphor of this area: they have what looks like remnants of the previous incarnation here, looking possibly from the 1800s (when this town, and many surrounding it, were founded, during the gold rush era.) On the walls, the wallpaper is partially removed, exposing brick. They cut out the majority of the ornate ceiling, leaving these big slice of toasted sandwich bread with a pattern looking sections around these ornate light fixtures. There's a guy across the way talking to this woman, with this slow, countryish drawl...and yet, he has a tufty blond mohawk,  and is wearing a fine shiny, slightly old fashioned looking purple shirt. This is an area of many great contrasts, and I'm definitely liking it. 

I've been meaning to add to our (well my, so far) blog about life up here, but I've been, well, living it. Slowly. Settlingly. Meltingly. Emotionally. Exasperatingly. Beautifully. Serenely. Happilly. Is that enough ly's? :)

I've been feeling like I want to write it all down, all the things we've been experiencing, so I, with my in some ways fragile memory, won't lose these first tastes of being in our new home. But I realized it's impossible...well not impossible, but not desireable, to try and document it all. It's like being on holiday, but spending the majority of time behind the lens, rather then being there for it. 

So let me just say, we, after a whole heap of moving (three roundrtrips to Oakland) and much cleaning (two days past midnight) and a big nudge to finish up from the universe in the form of surprise visitors last weekend, are now happily in our new home. They say animals are a barometer of the environment around them, and I think it's true here too. Our cats, Stella and Joe, are so relaxed here. When before, at our old place in Oakland, they'd go running for the door any time we were leaving, here, they for the most part casually watch us as we approach, and stay put when we enter. Having the ability  to open most of the windows wide I'm sure makes a difference. Having trees, flowers, and sun all around you I'm sure helps too.

And yet, our house is above what the locals call "Burger Basin," a place that not too long ago, was a lake. It was drained. Now it has all manner of fast food places, and the trappings of suburbia. But at the same time, here we are, surrounded by trees, with a beautiful broad deck to eat, relax, create, and do yoga on. Ah, contrasts. Our neighbors across the street have all manner of large, rumbly vehicles, including big Fords, GMCs, and  a monstrous (but oh so fun looking) offroad creature of some sort. It's complete with multiple vehicles with weeds growing around them, chopped tree trunks, and unidentified metal objects. Just when you think you've got them nailed, up comes one of them, bobbing his head to hip hop as he pulls in. Nice.

I've got lots more to say, but I want to get back to looking around me, soaking it in. And reading the newest issue of Ode www.odemagazine.com Ooh, there's some juicy gossip going on around me, a woman who's got a new boyfriend from her living in Africa, but is afraid to tell her still current, psycho boyfriend about it. Ah, life...Tonight is the Nevada City Film Festival www.nevadacityfilmfestival.com and this weekend I'm going to, pardon the pun in advance, plug in to the sustainable community here, at Powerpalooza  www.powerup-nc.org

More to tell...stay tuned.

Just putting our picture up, so we can grab it to be on our profile image. Ahh, ain't we cuuute? (see, there's that cute stuff I was mentioning before) Hmm, anything insgihtful? Nope, just cute. This was shot at a small meal with Mommabelle (Vanessa and my mom) at Lettüs, a nifty sustainably built eatery near my alma mater, Presidio School of Management www.presidiomba.org Ok, pack city for me!

Paul

Ooooh ahhhh!

We're sitting on our back porch, house full of boxes and cats mighty confused, and I had the idea to start a blog. Something to keep track of the interesting bits along our journey. Don't know quite yet what we'll put in there, but hopefully it will be interesting. Or insightful. Or at least cute.

Ok, off to more moving prep, weee!

Paul