Geek Summit, Social Media Style

In a flurry of panels, one-on-one dialogues, product promos and surprise guests, the three day Web 2.0 Summit just held in San Francisco felt a bit like speed dating for tech companies:

"Hi, my name's HP and I'm eco-friendly. What's your sign?"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Google, and I can search your shared social media and make sure you're not too creepy."
"I'm MySpace. I'm a sensitive artist. Wanna come over and see my etchings?"

Bringing together Silicon Valley execs, media moguls, content producers and techie elite in one place wasn't an easy feat, but O'Reilly Media and TechWeb did a bang-up job, overflowing the ballroom at The Westin San Francisco Market Street.

Not afraid to bring out a little tension from high stakes competitors in the growing new media marketplace, John Battelle and Tim O'Reilly asked some sharp and intriguing questions of the speakers, enticing a Battle of the Bands style presentation as many presenters made major product announcements during the conference, including large screen demos and glossy booths. Wednesday's sponsoring headliner was Microsoft, introducing Bing's Twitter search, just before Google's encore performance announcing a Twitter deal and their upcoming Social Search.

The metropolitan crowd came laptops in-hand and left with plenty of exciting new ideas to take home and prepare for the next new new thing, but the waves rippling across the twitterverse will continue. Meanwhile, check out John Battelle's conference play list.

(Reposted from my column at SFGate.com.)

Blogging the Democratic National Convention This Week

Thanks to the MOMocrats for initiating this great project... I'm going to Denver today, covering the Democratic National Convention for several online publications (mostly blogs) including:

Sairy
BlogHer
MOMocrats
Obama HQ Blog
WomenCount Blog
FutureCampaigns Blog
Silicon Valley Moms Blog
Huffington Post - Off the Bus
The Political Voices of Women

I'll be spending time pretty much everywhere - at the convention itself, in the Big Tent, at the Unconventional Women event, the EMILY's List events, Youth delegation events, California events, New Democrats Network events, getting together with Emerge alumni, meeting people and of course partying. I'm particularly looking forward to the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash which looks to be a great way to kick back, and the Big Tent will be hopping I'm sure.

Follow the action via Twitter - sairy - and momocrats!

Sebelius is Ready for DC and Coming to SF

As I wrote at MOMocrats today, I'm a big fan and supporter of Kathleen Sebelius. I may have mentioned that on this blog before as well. Essentially she took on a tough job as governor of Kansas - she's a woman Democrat in a state traditionally governed by Republican white guys. Mostly anyway. Now she may be our next best hope for breaking the glass ceiling if Hillary Clinton can't get the nomination. Kathleen Sebelius is on Obama's short list for a VP running mate. And she's a seasoned executive leader with a great record. So I'm excited to meet her tomorrow night in SF for an event where she'll be speaking. I'll be writing about that in the next couple of days.

There's an interesting article by Ben Adler on Politico.com about the women who might be good VP options for Obama.

Election Day Tomorrow - Make a Difference!

Just a reminder, particularly to Californians and San Franciscans who read this blog - tomorrow is election day. You can vote for Mayor of San Francisco or Palo Alto City Council and School Board or Menlo Park Fire District or whatever fits your locale, but don't think this election doesn't matter - local politics are important and your vote will make a much greater difference in this smaller, local election where only several thousand people submit ballots. So find your polling place and even if you haven't remembered to change an address or whatever, submit a provisional ballot and get it done.

If You Want to Write a Novel, There's No Time Like November

National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, begins again this Thursday, November 1st. It's a month-long journey into the experience of speed fiction, and tens of thousands (perhaps more?) have participated to date. "The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30." Loads of people do it, and they love it. The idea is to focus on quantity, not quality, and to come to the end and say: "hey, I wrote a novel."

NaNoWriMo was founded by Chris Baty, who also came up with my nickname, Sairy. He's a friend from high school and he now runs the nonprofit, the Office of Letters and Light, which manages NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and more based in Oakland. Chris also authored No Plot? No Problem! the handbook and kit for writing novels quickly. Chris is a brilliant writer, and NaNoWriMo has enjoyed significant success to date.

In any case, if you've ever wanted to write a novel, this is a great environment - supportive, fun, and low key. Best wishes to everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo this year!

New Environmental Activism Social Network eRedux

This is in just-launched mode, but it's worth a look - eRedux - "neighborhood-level social networking about the environment." It doesn't necessarily offer any features we haven't seen before in other places, but it's all targeted to local and environmental concepts.

For example, the front page currently shows a cool carbon footprint map by state, illustrating how population drives pollution. The site is primarily zip code based, and it has links to air quality and emissions, local farmers' markets, political contributions, lowest gas prices and more cool "green web tools." It also lists a green events calendar and a local map that I'm assuming will have more features in the future. They should be allowing local submissions of environment-related articles soon as well.

As a former city-level environmental commissioner and a local eco-activist, I think this site could really be of use to local groups like we have working in Menlo Park and Atherton. It would be nice to have one online hub for activities.

Hillary in Hillsborough

How could she not open her speech by talking about the weather on a day like yesterday? I could see across the Bay from this amazing property in Hillsborough - Redwood trees, gazebo and terraced gardens overlooked a tented lawn and the most perfect pool setting I've seen outside of Italy. Hillary Clinton, hopeful first woman president of the U.S. (applause please, everyone always applauds when this is mentioned and she's in the room), came to speak to 200 people. She sparkled as she came out into the sun before entering the tent.

This was my second time to see Hillary Clinton in person - my first was in the spring at a much greater distance. This time she was 10 feet from me, close enough to see the expressions on her face and notice the details in her jewelry. As she spoke - about the economy, energy policy, healthcare, education, innovation and terrorism - I felt both humbled at the opportunity and awed by how one woman, her voice hoarse from speaking around the country, can persevere through so much to achieve this simple but incredible goal of leadership.

Although most people in the group I'd peg as moderate Democrats, we had a significant share of Republicans at the event, which made the discussions during and after the event a little different than when I saw Senator Clinton last in San Francisco. There was more talk about bipartisanship and incentives for businesses, more discussion about making college affordable for everyone, and encouraging innovation while simultaneously bringing down prices in the healthcare and energy sector.

Senator Clinton spoke at length about her top priorities both now as a senator and for the future as president. She emphasized the need for a new energy policy "for our security, our environment and our economy." She jabbed at George Bush - "you cannot be a leader if no one is following." She discussed how in order to make the sweeping changes that are necessary, we will have to "reform the government."

When asked about how she would proceed in the "war on terror," she had a 3 point plan beginning with regaining the "moral authority that we've lost." "We're now seeing the results ofthe deterioration in Pakistan," she said. She thinks it's the most dangerous place in the world right now, and she thinks they have nukes. "We've got to be vigilant - not fearful bit vigilant."

On the environment, she said "it's not going to be easy (major environmental progress) but we are making some positive changes," talking about the time we have before the election. She lauded former Vice President Gore for his Nobel prize and for his efforts, but she said "I think Al would be happier with a policy than a prize," knowing there is much work that needs to be done on her part in order to make the necessary changes.

About healthcare, Hillary brought out her vast knowledge of that area and cited several related statistics. "We can't continue to spend more than anyone else in the world and not cover everyone." She also advocated on behalf of electronic medical records, saying it would save us $44Billion/year. That figure I find staggering, but I've often wondered at the disorganized fashion of most medical records as a technologist. This could build and expand businesses too, from what I know of the industry. She talked about creating new jobs and coming to agreements with everyone in biotech, insurance, "big pharma" and the rest of us and how it's unlikely the first step will be much more than a lot of compromise for everyone, but she indicated that may be the only way we can get everyone covered.

Senator Clinton spoke at great length about the challenges we have in education. She wants to provide pre-Kindergarten in 50 states. Because there's a huge drop-out rate by the third grade. Third grade! It makes me sick to think about it. She thinks it's deplorable what's happening with the cost of college education. "A lot of people in mortgage crisis are there because they took out second mortgages to send their kids to college," she said. She told stories about some of the people she's met in that situation. She also said that the U.S. is declining in the percentage of people who are going to college now, compared to many other countries.

The senator and former first lady spoke for over an hour and took Q&A for at least 30 minutes more before being whisked away to catch a flight to her next event. Hosted by Cynthia Shuman and Dan Banks and Chaired by former California State Senator Jackie Speier, the lunch event lasted longer than I expected. Jackie Speier, as always, was radiant in her introduction and shared personal stories that illustrate why she's supporting (and speaking on behalf of) Senator Clinton. There was some buzz as well about when Jackie will run for office next. Everyone in the room, of course, will be rooting for Jackie in her next race.

My mom, who happened to be in town this week, kindly sponsored my attendance to the event, since intimate political fundraisers (yes, 200 people is "intimate") tend to cost a pretty penny. She came along with me, and I was able to find one friend at short notice who came as well. She's one of the registered Republicans and she was impressed by Hillary's knowledge of the issues, but she's a tough sell (in this case because she knew one of the Republican candidates personally).

There's still a lot of talk among women and men about whether Hillary's electable - I thought that was past - but I guess not. The truth is we'll never know until it happens. Polling results say it's possible. I keep pointing-out to people that several of the first milestones in women's political history were in cases where women took offices their husbands previously occupied, so there's actually a strong precedent for this. People talk about her baggage, the smear campaigns against her, etc. and all I can say is it's sad how much of our tax money has been wasted to turn the American public against one woman - a smart, dedicated, driven, amazing person - who can and is making a monumental difference in the state of our world.

These are not simple problems Senator Hillary Clinton faces and they don't have simple solutions, nor is her list of adversaries small, but as I study her - through the debates, seeing her in person, reading what she writes, learning about her character from those who know her - I just can't help but feel that we would be in good hands if and when she becomes president. She's not sugar-coating what needs to be done and she's not making promises she can't keep. It's refreshing to me both to see a woman and someone who presents a realistic perspective on our situation as a nation, but who brings people together in a problem-solving fashion to address these issues in a proactive, insightful way. At one point during her speech, she rebuked Bush's choices as president and rhetorically asked, "how about appointing qualified people [to their posts in our government]?" Let's start by electing one.

...
Also posted on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Cybersalon Summary From Last Week - Politics 101, Web 2.0, and Democracy vs. Demagoguery

First mentioned at Cybersalon, a "round table" (round room) discussion that took place in Berkeley last weekend, was that Joan Blades of MoveOn and MomsRising couldn't attend due to the Senate's censure of MoveOn for the Petraeus-Betray Us ad. The group (40 or so people, mostly local) discussed whether MoveOn's decision to run costly print advertising like this was worth it. Most said yes, since they made $500,000 in one day as a result. One person noted that Hillary Clinton, on the talk show circuit, said the reason the Republicans were coming out against the ad was to change the subject. Some said there were better ways to make their money and gave suggestions. Not that this crowd was biased at all. (Please note sarcasm.)

The discussion moved to whether or not the Internet is really making a difference in politics, and many talked about how it depends on its use. I agreed with the quote Sylvia Paull, Cybersalon organizer, said about Esther Dyson noting that technology itself is neutral and how it can be used for either. (I'm paraphrasing.) My example: blogs. You can use them as dictatorial mechanisms with strict content and message control, no comments or massive comment censorship, or you can leave them totally open. One woman said she thought that due to all of the frustration about the 2000 and 2004 elections, it was nice to have a place to vent online. I also pointed-out that voter data seems to have spiked in direct relation to greater use of the Internet in campaigns.

Then the discussion moved toward military censorship of soldiers. One person seemed irate that this would happen; another said that's always happened. Either way, they made it sound as if soldiers' email and outside communications access is so limited, they can barely say more to their families than they are alive vs. actually giving their real opinions about the war.

Then the talk came to how people can make a difference on a local level. The site, Kitchen Democracy was mentioned along with the San Leandro Citizens Network. Someone from Progressive Punch introduced himself. Also MapLight was there. Everyone concurred that a great way to GOTV is through neighborhood weekly "Margarita Fridays" where you get your neighbors on the block to come over, drink margaritas and talk about local issues. Sounds good to me.

Rosebud Revisited - Peter Finch & Thunderbird Theatre Production in SF

What do H. G. Wells, Orson Welles, Huey Lewis and Tom Stoppard have in common? "Aaah! Rosebud," a new play by KFOG News Director, Peter Finch, directed by Dylan Russell and produced by the Thunderbird Theatre Company. A comedy of Evil Dead proportions, featuring an "evil sled" (often referred to as a "she-devil" by multiple characters in the play), the play takes us "Back in Time" to retell the story of Citizen Kane, where a collection of crafty champion curlers fight a killer cabal.

The theme of the play twists the tale on why Kane's final word was "Rosebud", taking it in a comedic direction vs. a serious one. Finch, a veteran actor for the Thunderbird Theatre Company, wrote the play with the theatre company and several of their regular actors in mind according to the Chronicle article. He acts splendidly in the two roles he plays. My husband, brought up in Michigan, was cracking up at his Canadian curler accent as Mack.

We signed up for the play to see our friend, Maria Ross as Esther, belting an off-key musical number and taking on some not so pretty new personality traits. (I could tell you, but I don't like spoilers.) She didn't disappoint; nor did any of the other actors including Max Bernstein, who, proving the world is always indeed a small place, was a former co-worker of mine at NDA. (I didn't know he was in the play before perusing the cast list in the program.) Other actors include (in alphabetical order) Faith Aeryn, Shay Casey, Dirk Echols, Emma Fassler, Matt Gunnison, Jason Harding, Rob Herrmann, Z'ev Jenerik, and Nathan Tucker. I was always annoyed when they told us in playwriting classes the rule was to never write more than 8 actors into a play (due to the cost of production); kudos to Finch for ignoring that.

There are some really silly moments in "Aaah! Rosebud". My favorites included the "Washington Lobbyist" cardboard cut-out's place in Xanadu, some great newspaper headlines, and a lot of jabs at the musical, "Cats". And the song adds a feel-good element to the ending. The only problem I had with the plot was when the curlers (ok, so one brief spoiler required for this) are standing over a pristine sheet of ice that is being soiled by a bloody corpse and their first action is to be sad over their friend's death rather than appalled by the soiling of their frictionless practice surface. I'm kidding, of course, but as a figure skater, I had to make one joke about it.

The play takes many fun twists and turns, breaks the fourth wall on occasion in a Ferris Bueller-esque way, and follows baguette-length tangents toward dramatic and comedic ends. (Trust me, this will mean more when you see the play, which I highly recommend if you're at all a fan of the stage or comedy.) An easy hop into SOMA for a fun night, don't forget to stop by Basil for dinner beforehand.

At intermission the night we attended, the company gave away raffle prizes as well as some prizes for a random drawing for getting on their mailing list. My husband won the drawing for 3rd prize and I won first prize which included a photo with the character of my choice. I chose Mack, played by Peter Finch. (See the blurry photo of a Polaroid below.) All in all, it was a good time.


"Aaah! Rosebud" is running August 23rd through September 8th at the New Langton Arts theatre at 1246 Folsom Street and September 21st-22nd at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts at 2640 College Ave. in Berkeley. Don't forget to support the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club.

Hillary Clinton in SF on August 12 - $250 for Young Professionals

I'll be out of town for this, but the Bay Area LGBT Community and The Young Professionals of San Francisco for Hillary invite you to a cocktail reception in support of the Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday, August 12, 2007 at Trader Vic’s, 555 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. VIP tickets are $2300 and the general reception begins at 5:30 and is $250 for young professionals. RSVP here.

John Edwards in Palo Alto Last Night and in SF Today

I've now had the opportunity to see Elizabeth Edwards twice including last week at BlogHer and last fall with the Silicon Valley Moms Blog in a small group, so I was eager to go as my husband's guest to see John Edwards speak last night at a gathering in Palo Alto. (Disclaimer: Chuck gets the contribution credit for anything for John Edwards; I get it for Hillary Clinton and it's likely we'll end up voting accordingly, but we both see things we like in both candidates and we will both work hard to get either one elected next November.)

My friend and co-blogger from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, Glennia Campbell, has a fabulous post about the event at her blog, The Silent I, so I don't feel the need to expound upon the event much more myself except to say that Edwards began by talking about the environment and he continued making references to it all throughout his talk and the Q&A. Given what I know about the crowd that attended, I think Edwards is really targeting the environmental vote, and he's smart to do so. His environmental policy isn't the most aggressive of all of the Democratic candidates, although he won the MoveOn poll - Richardson's is - but it's out in front with his passion about poverty issues.

I just heard from a friend who attended the Edwards event in San Francisco with 800 people and another small group event that both went well. For those who say he's falling behind in this or that poll, I wouldn't count Edwards out yet. We still have six months until the primaries. A lot can happen.

techPresident on Compete.com Data - Site Visits Mirror Recent Polls

I thought this post by Micah Sifry of techPresident was prescient - according to compete.com, site visit stats so far this year mirror polling data both nationally and in key states like Iowa and California. As of June, Clinton has a strong lead. Republican data isn't as strong as Democratic data in general - it's widely known they aren't campaigning as heavily online - but their rankings still line up fairly well.

Seeking Women to Run for Office!

The following is excerpted from something that was sent to me through Emerge America, a national women's Democratic political leadership training program):

"Can you think of a “PTA mom” who should run for school board? A community leader who should run for city council? A businesswoman who should run for the legislature? Introducing the She Should Run campaign, a brand new project of the Women's Campaign Forum, aimed at gathering the nominations of 1,000 pro-choice women to run for public office... "

Do you know a pro-choice woman who should run for office? Tell her that she should run:
http://www.sheshouldrun.org/EmergeAmerica

"Women don’t need to be career politicians to be qualified to hold political office. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was a small business owner before she ran for state representative. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was a teacher and school administrator before she ran for New York City Council. And Congresswoman Gwen Moore was a Milwaukee AmeriCorps *VISTA volunteer before running for state assembly. These women ran because they were leaders in their communities – and somebody encouraged them to reach even higher. We all know someone who should run for office. It could be your mother. Your sister. Your co-worker. Your neighbor. Your friend."

Local? Ask me questions about Emerge California as well. It's a great program.

FREE Debate Viewing & Party At New Hillary Clinton SF HQ on Monday

Everyone who visits this blog is invited to the grand opening of the Hillary Clinton for President Northern California Headquarters this Monday night, July 23rd at 1122 Howard Street, top floor in San Francisco. (That's South of Market, between 7th and 8th. Easy highway access.)

The fun will begin at 4pm with the debate viewing on CNN/YouTube. Then the party begins at 6pm. Meet Clinton supporters, local elected officials, volunteers and political friends. See a real campaign office in action. No charge.

It doesn't matter if you support Senator Clinton or not, and I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, Socialist, Communist, etc... if you're interested in watching the debate and you're willing to consider voting for her, you're welcome. It's not often you get invited to a political event like this. The energy involved in this campaign is really exciting. Be a part of the process and witness history in the making.

RSVP to mmartin(at)hillaryclinton(dot)com.

P.S. Check out my new blog, 1st Lady POTUS, at hillaryclinton.com. Sign up to volunteer and you can start one too!

Patagonia's Latest Grantee & New Palo Alto Store

Saturday, the new Patagonia store in Palo Alto held their Grand Opening. With hourly raffles, live music, and community organizations in-house, it was really fun. (Not to mention the shopping. I came out with an organic cotton/hemp blend jacket and an organic cotton cap.) The new space suits the store well. I was impressed with their new line of shoes and they have an entire section devoted to eco books. (This is not new from other stores, but it's right in front where it's easy to see.) I was also happy to see that since their opening, they've gotten a lot of pro-environment petitions signed. That's something I've always admired about Patagonia.

A pioneer in technical and eco clothing, Patagonia is now making jackets out of recycled polyester as well as expanding their organic product line. I was also impressed by their children's clothing since I'd never really looked at that before having a baby. Our daughter's been decked-out in Patagonia since birth, but it was all gifts - this was my first time in one of their stores since.

Patagonia gave away a $1000 gift certificate at 4pm to a local woman through a drawing, they had some fantastic ice cream, courtesy of Rick's Ice Cream ("Palo Alto's gourmet micro creamery"), great cookies, drinks, and the Save Nature organization provided some very cool bugs to pet - an African millipede, a pair of not-so-scary domesticated giant cockroaches, and a couple of exotic walking sticks. Hidden Villa and the Sierra Club also had tables present. A $5000 grant was presented to Ventana Wildlife Society. They had the most votes on the Patagonia site for their organization. It was well-deserved.

I'll be going back to Patagonia again once the crowd subsides to do more shopping - they have some great skirts, shirts, tunics, jackets, shorts and cropped pants to last through summer and early fall.

...

(Also posted at SFBayStyle.)

Report From Yesterday's "Ultimate Women's Power Lunch" in SF

Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity, thanks to Emerge America, to sit with a group of a few hundred women at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and celebrate Nancy Pelosi's 20 years of service in the U.S. Congress and her election as Speaker of the House. They called it the "Ultimate Women's Power Lunch". I don't know if I'd go that far, but it was fun to catch-up with friends and although I'd met Speaker Pelosi before, it had been a few years. They showed a wonderful tribute to her service, including when she invited her grandchildren and other children in the House on the day of her swearing-in up to the podium with her. I have to admit that image brought tears to my eyes.

Nita Whitaker sang the most spectacular version of "God Bless America" I've ever heard. I felt like the ballroom was about 10 square feet with her voice able to carry several football fields in distance. In a past life, I sang in musicals, choirs, ensembles and the like, so I've studied voice and I'm particularly critical of female vocalists, but she blew me away. I was breathless.

Anyway, back to politics. So the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), through yesterday's lunch raised $1.2 Million for their Women LEAD program. The speakers included Congresswoman Allison Schwartz, Chairwoman of Women LEAD, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (our gal from Silicon Valley), and of course Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who received a well-deserved standing ovation when she came up to speak.

There was a lot of talk about "breaking the marble ceiling" and Speaker Pelosi detailed the long history of how we've been chipping away at that ceiling for 200 years. Then she spoke about her goals as Speaker of the House and how she's started to "drain the swamp that is Washington, D.C." She spoke about how we need to rely on scientific data for making progress on the environment and other issues, and that science and faith "both reflect truth" and in essence can work together.

Be prepared for when Congress returns to Washington - Nancy Pelosi says getting us out of Iraq is 1st priority and she wants it completed by April 1st, 2008. She said we're spending $10 Billion a month there. I couldn't believe that figure. Imagine all we could do with that money... and she said that generals who are leaving the military are advising her to withdraw now. I've been taking a back seat on the Iraq issue because I really don't know much about the state of the Middle East and I figure people who do need to make those decisions. But when she said the generals say we should leave, that got my attention. And she also said that the strategy they are advising does not mean we won't have troops in Iraq to deal with terrorist cells - that's something different entirely.

Speaker Pelosi & Geraldine Ferraro Speaking July 9 in SF

This is an event that any Democratic woman interested in politics will want to attend: The first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the first woman Vice Presidential nominee, Geraldine Ferraro, at the "Ultimate Women's Power Lunch" celebrating Pelosi's 20 years of service in the House on July 9th at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Funds raised go to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). General tickets are $500 but there's also a "Young Professional" rate for $100. Sign up here. You'll find me there at the Emerge table.

Fashion Show Benefitting Leukemia & Lymphoma on Thursday

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are hosting their third annual fashion show, "Five Designers and a Poodle", Thursday (June 21) at Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street. The show features Colleen Quen, Rachel Roy, Bacca Da Silva, Simayof and "many more". VIP Reception begins at 6:30 and main event starts at 7:30, lasting until 1a.m.
General admission of $75 includes wine, food, fashion show, silent auction, and dancing. VIP reception tickets for $125/person include goody bags and more food options. Supposedly 100% of the proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (that's nearly unheard-of for nonprofit fundraising events.) To get tickets, call 415-989-0230 or email info[at]hathawaypr.com.
(Cross-posted at sfbaystyle.com.)

Silicon Valley & Bay Area Charitable Giving Pales in Comparison to Other Areas

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while... for anyone who didn't see the April San Francisco magazine, they reviewed philanthropic giving in Silicon Valley, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles. They got the numbers from the NewTithing Group. Unfortunately I couldn't find out how they differentiate between "Bay Area" and "Silicon Valley" but it's no shock to me that people farther south of San Francisco toward San Jose contribute less philanthropically. However, not that much less. L.A., on the other hand, gives twice as much per capita than the Bay Area.

Nationally, California is way below other states like Oklahoma and Nebraska, whereas Utah is highest on the list. (I don't know if this includes church giving - the LDS church urges most members to give at least 10% in tithing to the church so that could skew the numbers if so.) In any case, California is 22nd in philanthropic giving nationally according to the research done by that group.

While poking around, I found an interesting site for nonprofit benchmarking at The Center for What Works.

The Police - Arrested Development Turned at Last to Harmony

I've been doing the rounds of old timers concerts the past few years - Simon & Garfunkel, Yes, the Doobie Brothers, and I would've been to see Paul McCartney but I was 9 months pregnant and on bed rest and just didn't feel up to it, aside from the risk to my baby's ears in utero. Last night I was lucky (thanks to my husband's eBay gravitas) to see The Police at the Oakland Coliseum - only the third stadium tour I've seen (including the Jacksons, circa '85 and Billy Joel & Elton John, circa '95).

Getting there was a chore - traffic was some of the worst I've ever been in over my whole life. It was worth it, but if I had to do it again, I would've taken Caltrain to BART and brought some sandwiches. Finally entering the stadium, wafts of pot smoke filled the air as thousands of people pushed and shoved to get through lines of nearly 100 to get to the ATM, the bathroom, the beer. We were still on the concourse when the concert began, grabbing a late dinner after 2.5 hours in traffic and could see the entire stadium full of people. Just the audience itself was a sight to behold, but then seeing that trio of so many classic tunes together on stage after a 20 year hiatus was a breath to behold.

I wasn't an immediate fan of The Police as a kid. I didn't like Sting's voice at first because - and this took me a long time to figure-out - he tends to ride the low side of notes, lingering dangerously close to being flat. And the raspiness mixed with the style of some of their songs - the reggae elements, perhaps - was a little too mature for me as a pre-teen. Then one day I listened to the lyrics of "Every Breath You Take" while my dad was in the ICU of a hospital on a ventilator and it struck a chord deep inside me. The words can be interpreted different ways, of course, but for me as an 11 year-old, I stuck more with the literal connotations and I kept meaning to dedicate it through "American Top 40" during my dad's long recovery, but I was too chicken to try. As I grew older, I learned to appreciate the musicality and depth in the sound both in the music by The Police and Sting's solo stuff. I bought all of their albums and listened intently to the quality of their unique sound.

As we made our way last night to our seats in the 3rd row on the field, off to the right by the speakers, and the way it was setup, we were basically right next to the barrier of the stage area (but still about 100 feet from the band). We were close enough to see their body language from a distance, but not their faces. Still, with a jumbo jumbotron right next to us, we could see every nuance on their faces just fine through the camera's eye. Clearly, Andy Summers didn't want the camera on him and he spent the first few songs looking frustrated while Stewart Copeland had a serious look on his face, pounding away on his immense drum set, but Sting, veteran performer and one of the most beautiful men in the world, held the show together, using every ounce of his glorious charisma to get the 3 musicians to play to the same beat while calming the audience with his melodious voice.

I've learned from being a singer in ensembles that warming-up and rehearsing just before a concert is essential. I'm guessing they didn't do that. Acoustic guitar, wireless bass, a couple of drumsticks and a can - whatever... just to get the muscle memory working. It takes the body longer to warm-up as you get older, no matter how talented you are. It took them 4-5 songs to really gel. Physically that's to be expected, but when you pay a pretty penny to see legends play music, you expect a little more precision. After seeing Simon and Garfunkel though, these guys seemed polished. It took Art Garfunkel until almost the encore to warm-up his voice.

In their defense, it's incredibly difficult to play in an outdoor arena setting like that - the acoustics are tough to hear. For bands like Rush who've played together in every setting for over 30 years, it's no big deal, but there were moments in this concert where Sting had to start the song like a high school garage band: "1, 2, 1, 2, 3..." to get them all on tempo. Copeland, it's been noted, is one of the most incredible drummers ever, so half the reason I wanted to see this show was to see him. I've studied Neil Peart, Ray Cooper and others, I am always impressed by those drummers who can play both drums and percussion brilliantly - Copeland is one of them. And as we're all our own worst critics, he roasted their performance in Vancouver.

I think Oakland was probably better. The mistakes I noticed were really miniscule and since many people in the audience were drunk, stoned and/or tone deaf (I think one woman behind us was all three), I doubt most people noticed. By the end of the tour, they'll be in great shape. I think Sting surprised himself singing some of the high notes later in the set. Hey, if Elton can still do it after major rehab, Sting and his finely tuned instrument should be A-OK.

Some of the unique points in the show are worth noting, like Sting's ancient Fender bass - his original - warn and tattered - he probably gets splinters from it, but it looks great and sounds great on stage. Summers's guitar was held on his shoulder by a strap reading "Oh my God, he killed Kenny!" with a picture of the red coated South Park character. It added an element of comedy to the stoic look on the guitarist's face during most of the show. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" included not only amazing percussion but some nice visual effects with the candles from their old video. They showed moving video footage of children and soldiers in Iraq (I'm guessing here, but it was definitely the Middle East) during "Invisible Sun". I like it when musicians ask their audiences to think a little with that kind of message in concerts - U2 and Rush have shown footage like this.

Supposedly the band changed keys of a few songs (I noticed something different but couldn't pinpoint that until later) which may contribute to the slower pace - they weren't used to playing it that fast in another key... makes sense. I'm sure they have their reasons for doing that and it's a risk they can take with packed stadiums all over the world. They definitely altered the vocals to lower in several songs - and although it still sounded good, I missed the old melodies. I also missed the higher backup vocals. I could tell Summers and Copeland were singing backup vocals during the performance, but they weren't mixed in very well - I thought they could've been a little louder as to not be overshadowed by the guitars, but perhaps it was just where we were sitting that they sounded that way.

By the time the trio got to "Roxanne", they were playing perfectly. It was like being transformed back in time to see them live. Then they went on to "King of Pain" and "Every Breath You Take", both which were fantastic to see and hear. They performed 3 encores and at the end took a few bows holding hands together - all of them smiling. We were mesmerized. I don't know about the rest of the crowd, but they had me wrapped around their fingers.

InnVision and Downtown Streets Team Helping Palo Alto Homeless

Yesterday, "In Style Palo Alto", presented by Boutiques on Bryant Street, benefitting Downtown Streets Team presented a fashion show, silent auction and arts & crafts fair in downtown Palo Alto. The Streets Team and InnVision just launched a new campaign to raise funds to help homeless in Palo Alto by placing donation cups in downtown retailers and encouraging people to give there vs. directly to the homeless. This is a great idea as downtown Palo Alto sometimes has as many panhandlers as some neighborhoods in San Francisco.

Soviet Era Video Games Resurfacing

According to Wired, 32/70 of the world's only video games ever built or played in the Soviet Union have been unearthed and are now on display in an old bunker at Moscow State Technical University called the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines. Supposedly during their use (70's - 90's), most games cost 15 kopeks to play (like 15 cents, not including exchange rate). They had mechanical score counters like older pinball machines, but they didn't track high scores - it wouldn't have fit the Soviet model.

Here is the gallery of games. From pong-like to graphics more on the level of Donkey Kong, they resemble games we had in the U.S. mostly in the early 80's. One is called "Sniper-2" and still has a large rifle-like gun attached. Most of those shown in the gallery had a military angle, like "Dogfight".

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for video game emulators to take shape and multi-game boxes to develop with these games in them once students get a chance to take them apart and develop code emulators. Although as a kid who grew up with pinball machines and an Apple II in my house, playing an emulator game - even in an arcade type shell - still isn't quite the same as the original. The muscle memory just isn't there with different controls. The nostalgia still remains though.

I think when I return to Mockba (Moscow) one of these days, I may have to visit this little museum. For Bay Area locals who want to play old arcade games, check out the arcade at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.

Maplight.org Data Mashup & Clean Elections

I had an opportunity to tour the Maplight.org congressional search a couple of weeks ago. At their launch party in Palo Alto, they showed their new search and discussed how their data analysis relates to clean elections and why it's important to be able to combine this data to see the realities of what's happening in terms of campaign contributions and legislative voting records.

One example from their statewide program shows a bill where bottled water manufacturers gave a legislator money the day before he voted against a bill that would mandate stronger bottled water standards. It could be a coincidence, of course, and there's always a chicken-egg scenario in these cases but the combined data is fascinating regardless.

Maplight.org is a Berkeley-based nonprofit with a mission of "illuminating the connection" between money and politics. The congressional search and the California state search are both now up on their web site.

SF Opera Fete & SF Bay Style

I'm not publicizing this too much yet because it's still a work in progress (no top bar design, no metrics, no feeds as of yet) but a few friends and I are putting together a new web site - SF Bay Style - sfbaystyle.com - that will encompass all aspects of stylish living in the Bay Area. This means we'll write about topics like eco fashion, stylish events, fabulous interiors and luxury hotels but we'll also cover stylish but inexpensive places to dine, where to get great deals on clothes locally, how to put together great looks without much time, and anything else that the market defines. We're trying to have fun with it and we're still learning and deciding how to frame i, so we're open to ideas and feedback.

I've put up a few posts on the site that are republished from here and SVMoms just to get the flavor going, but the first post that's new is one I wrote about Tuesday's San Francisco Opera Designer Fete - a fashion show put together annually by the San Francisco Opera Guild. I also included a couple of fun photos from the event. Let me know what you think.

Save the Environment This Week & Wildlife Next Week

I didn't intend for my blog to turn into a chronicle of non profit events, but since that's one of the things I spend the most time on, I hear about a lot of wonderful opportunities to give to organizations in need so for now, until I move philanthropic activities to another site, here's another great event:

In Palo Alto, Wildlife Rescue, Inc. is having a "Wildlife Rescue Day" at Mitchell Park at 3800 Middlefield Rd. on May 5th from 11am-4pm. They'll take cash donations, gift cards (great idea), unscented paper towels and tp, cottonballs & q-tips, wheat germ, unopened jars of baby food, liquid hand soap, plastic garbage bags and pet carriers. Check out wildliferescue.ws - they will be receiving a lot of orphans as spring gets into full gear with all of the new baby animals. Non-locals can contribute too.

What I Learned Last Night From Bill Clinton

Last night in San Francisco was the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network Launch Reception - an event which intended to attract philanthropic leaders under 40 to get involved with the Clinton Foundation. The pre-event organization and mobilization effort online was impressive and it was a great opportunity to see Bill Clinton live locally, a great cause, and a fabulous group of people.

Let's start with the stats. The event raised $200,000. That means the Clinton Foundation now has $200,000 more to use in their efforts in saving lives around the world - particularly in their efforts working with those suffering with AIDS and from terrible poverty. It sounds like they have had some real success in places like Rwanda from what former President Clinton said in his short speech.

As to the event itself encompassed 1500 people standing room only in a mid-sized ballroom in SF. Before that, I was in a room for the host reception with about 75 people. Having heard how charismatic and impressive he can be in person, I expected to be wowed by being in the same room with him and I expected a grand entrance, but there was no fanfare - he just came in to take photographs and shake hands before going down and speaking to the main reception. In the main ballroom, people were waiting patiently for the speech - many of them who had never seen President Clinton (like me).

Once Clinton entered the main ballroom, he was greeted by an excited crowd and his speech included a lot of wonderful information about the work of the Clinton Foundation. Although I have worked in online fundraising and online marketing for campaigns for many non profits, I learned from Bill Clinton's speech. He said that online fundraising does make a difference and he cited examples as to how small donations with the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina made a huge impact. I hadn't heard that angle before. And the event itself proved that point very clearly. We all learned in 2004 how online fundraising can make an impact in elections, but this really showed the grassroots, ground level impact. More importantly, I was impressed that he was up there emphasizing this fact. Many politicians give it lip service, but when Clinton gives his stats, people listen.

I learned after the fact that the Clinton Foundation hopes to expand the Millennium Network to several cities around the country and get people under 40-45 involved globally. I know a lot of people who attended the event are looking forward to hearing more about how we can be active not just in fundraising but in ground level work, grassroots organizing, etc. so when I find out more about that, I will post about it and let people know. They will be holding more events - starting with New York City - soon and this is the beginning of a lasting effort to get a more active, young professional membership for the Foundation and to continue fighting big problems like AIDS, poverty, global warming and childhood obesity.

Silicon Valley Moms No Longer In Infancy

In addition to blogging here and a couple of other places, I contribute to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. The founders of the blog, Jill Asher, Pamela Hornik, Beth Blecherman & Tekla Nee started the blog April 4th, 2006, so yesterday they celebrated their anniversary with a plethora of posts. I wrote one as did many other contributors. (I've been writing for them since early last fall.)

Continuing on with the Silicon Valley theme, I posted another today about The Official Silicon Valley Guy Handbook that I read way back when... very funny book. Anyway, if you haven't yet checked out the Silicon Valley Moms Blog - even if you're not a parent but if you're curious about Silicon Valley life at all, check it out.

Help Save Berkeley Landmark Ice Rink!

If you're a figure skating fan, could you picture figure skating history without Kristi Yamaguchi, Brian Boitano, Rudy Galindo, and even Sonja Henie? Of course not, that's absurd! Well, the Berkeley Iceland (in Berkeley, CA) was home to all of these skaters at one time or another - some only on occasion but it has been around for 65 years. It's now closed - land to be sold to the highest bidder and demolished for whatever purposes they choose.

Berkeley Iceland is one of the largest, most beautiful rinks I've ever seen. Tucked in a hidden pocket close to campus, the rink spans Olympic size 200'x100' and includes grand stands for viewing hockey games and performances. The family who own it ran into financial troubles (rinks are expensive to maintain) after having some cooling equipment issues. So now a nonprofit group has banned together to Save Berkeley Iceland. Let's hope they can be as successful as saving Kepler's Bookstore here in Menlo Park has been so far.

Yes, there are rinks in Oakland, San Francisco and Dublin now that aren't too far away for skaters, but none of them is quite like this one. It truly is a historical building. This Thursday, a group meets in the City of Berkeley to determine whether the building can become an official landmark. Whether that has much bearing on its fate remains to be seen, but if you love figure skating, please consider helping Save Berkeley Iceland turn it into an environmentally sustainable rink that will last another 65+ years.

Eco-Fads in Magazines & Atherton Green Event

Green is the new black, gray, white, and everything in-between this month. With Earth Day around the corner, everyone is jumpimg on the eco-bandwagon. San Francisco led the publication frenzy, with Town & Country and 7x7 not far behind. Oddly enough, Town & Country was the only one to include a section printed on recycled paper. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of research put together by each of these magazines on sustainable and environmental design and lifestyle options. Definitely a step in the right direction.

I'm helping with Atherton's Earth Week celebration on April 21st, putting together some eco fashion for the event. If you live in the Bay Area, come join the event - it's open to everyone, not just members of the Atherton community. If you don't live here, check out the site anyway because it is a fabulous model of how to educate people about how to make an environmental impact locally. (More news to come as we complete the planning.)

Ballet San Jose Trades in Pointe for Blue Suede Shoes

Back after rave reviews for previous performances of this piece, the Ballet San Jose is currently performing "Blue Suede Shoes", a dance ensemble paying homage to Elvis and others during that era. Two weekends ago, the ballet hosted their annual gala, this year entitled the Blue Suede Shoes Gala, and it was one of the best parties I've attended in a long time and featured a few of the dancers from this week's performance. It closes on Sunday (I'll be at that one), so get your tickets while you can. Due to the new ownership of the Elvis brand and permission issues, this ballet may never be performed again. Last call!

Fashion Week Live, SF Luxe & Sergey's Story

Yesterday, I attended Fashion Week Live in San Francisco. The mother of all fashion shows, it took my breath away. See my detailed post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. SFluxe linked to my post and several other good ones as well. Great photos.

Just before the post above is one linking to a fantastic article about Sergey Brin (for those of you who have met him at my parties) that tells the story of his emigration from Russia which I found really interesting, having never felt comfortable asking about that myself. Even when you've heard the Google story a zillion times, this one is different - it reminds me of how scary the USSR was and how courageous those who fought to leave had to be. I've always admired Sergey for his tenacity, but this article, focusing largely on his Jewish roots, attempts to credit some of where it came from. And it cracked me up because my husband always runs into him at Costco.

Missing Cable Coop

I just moved, so I apologize for the lack of posts this week but it's been crazy. (See my "Stuck in Contractor Hell" post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog from a couple weeks ago.)

In any case, we're finally in the house and I am using CAT5 in the wall that works! Cable modem's hooked-up and running. I downloaded a 57MB file in 30 seconds yesterday. Whooee! But the process of getting Comcast here and getting everything working left a little to be desired... I miss the days of the Palo Alto Cable Coop. Not that I could get their service in Menlo Park anyway but still, it was nice to have a local provider. We haven't hooked-up Tivo yet; we'll see how that goes. I have to be able to get through the boxes to the jack first.

Fashion & Beauty Industry Taking Eco-Friendly Steps

I've been waiting for this to happen - finally Patagonia isn't the only major company paying attention to making decent eco-friendly products. Sure, there are oodles of organic small-time retailers you can find online but most of it looks like potato sacks with arms added. Then Bono, champion of the world, launched (along with his wife) Edun, a company that designs and produces organic clothing with strong worker safety and quality regulations (i.e. no sweatshops and fair labor practices) made in Peru. I bought a jacket from Saks made by Edun and I like it. It's progress.

Hybrid cars have been gaining in popularity for the past few years - particularly Hondas and Toyotas. Lexus came out with the first luxury hybrid SUV. That got attention. This year, Bono paired with Gap to create Project Red, a fashion-oriented project to raise money to help fight AIDS in Africa. It may not be directly related to eco-fashion, but it's showing how fashion and philanthropy have become more intertwined and Africa's plight is definitely tied to the environment, particularly in terms of agriculture.

Stella McCartney, PETA advocate and a natural leaning mom, just launched the first designer organic skincare line called "Care", sold at Sephora. And it's about time, because eco-friendly, anti-animal testing, organic make-up companies have been gaining ground. Look at Whole Foods or online natural skincare retailers - there are a lot of choices now. It's no longer just Aveda and Jurlique providing clean options to be beautiful.

Finally, after Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth transformed him from a losing presidential candidate (depending on who you ask, of course) into a winning pop culture ecologist icon, everybody's talking eco. Even Congress, which is always a late adopter. So one could only assume the fashion industry wouldn't be far behind.

Now it's everywhere. Events like the Global Green party in San Francisco have gained press tying fashion and the environment together. Style.com has a "50 ways to go green: earth-friendly guide to spring shopping" on their site.

Women's Wear Daily today published "Models Go Green" about how Isabella Rossellini's daughter, Elettra Rossellini Weidemann, new Lancome Spokesmodel, convinced Lancome to begin taking a more environmental role.

She reportedly requested a carbon neutral program to offset her travel as a spokesmodel. As a result, Lancome partnered with Carbonfund.org in "retrofitting [their] four freestanding Lancôme boutiques to reduce their carbon footprints" and they launched a tree-planting campaign in conjunction with the launch of their new Primordiale serum. "Lancôme will plant a tree for each of the first 10,000 bottles of the new Primordiale serum sold in the U.S."

Designers and models have been shrugging off fur for a while now, but I think recent trends over the past six months are showing the beginning of a new movement toward greater awareness in the entire fashion and beauty industry. At least I hope so.

Newest BalletSJ Board Member Enthusiastic About Organization and Nahat Nomination

I've blogged before about the Ballet San Jose. Tuesday night, I was elected to their Operating Board. ('Operating Board' is another way of sayiing 'Board of Trustees'.) Having wanted to be more involved in a performing arts organization for a long time, I was approached by a friend who also serves on the board to check it out and see if I might be interested. One thing led to another, and now I'm on board.

It's a wonderful group of people, led by John Fry, CEO OF Fry's Electronics. (So if you're an arts lover and you need electronics in the Bay Area, go to Fry's - some of the money will inevitably end up in a dancer's pocket.)

Rather than toot my own horn, you can read my friend, Sherri's post. It just reitterates my bio really but she also says some nice things. Thanks Sherri!

So now that I'm hooked, I'll be going to the remainder of the performances this year. If you want to learn more about them, check out the web site and drop me a line. The artistic director, Dennis Nahat, is incredibly talented. And he was just nominated for an Izzie award (he's a past recipient). That's the SF Bay Area dance equivalent of the Oscars (that unfortunately doesn't have a web site that's easy to find) for his production of Romeo and Juliet last year. Congratulations Dennis!

The next performance of the ballet is a Valentine Potpourri, including a four part mix of classic and modern dance. And here's the thing about this ballet vs. others in the area - San Francisco will always have an incredible ballet company that does exquisite traditional and inspiring performances. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Berkeley performing arts communities bring in groups like the Alvin Ailey dancers and Mikhail Barishnikov's White Oak Dance Project. These are amazing to see, but they are quite different from Ballet San Jose. I don't consider any of these troupes competitors - they each provoke their own emotional response through their art.

BSJ excels in a unique spot that I haven't quite figured-out how to best describe it yet, but it's an original blend of artistry, storytelling, and risk-taking choreographically. The audience tends to be more casual and it's a beautiful theatre, so you get this feeling like you have a private dance recital in your own home and the artistic director made it just for you. (At the Nutcracker, I wanted to snuggle up next to the fireplace they had on the stage.) Of course not all the dancers aren't as polished as some in other dance companies, but this organization is only twenty years old. And it has been restarted in a few different incarnations in order to come to its current position in the Bay Area community. That's part of its beauty coming from someone who's entrepreneurial-minded.

Anyway, words can only scratch the surface in describing performing arts, so you'll just have to come see for yourself.

Apple's On Fire - Latest & Greatest from Cupertino

I wish I had time to go into all that's happening with Apple this week, but here are the highlights: they're changing their name from Apple Computer just to Apple. Woz (Steve Wozniak) thinks it's a smart move, according to Bloomberg. Nobody but stockholders ever see the "Computer" part these days anyway.

The "Month of Apple Bugs" is rolling along... and people are tracking the security aspects and posting fixes as well.

Apple TV, the next new new thing in file sharing and TV has arrived. It's like the iPod on TV. Also Apple came to an agreement with Paramount Pictures to sell movies on iTunes, which sounds like a cool deal. That will be the vehicle to transfer files from online to the TV.

And finally, the long-awaited iPhone has surfaced and everybody wants one. Here's one comparison with other smart phones. Unfortunately for Apple, there was another iPhone in 1999, made by InfoGear and bought by Cisco. Supposedly Apple has been trying to get usage of the name for a long time although Cisco held the Trademark for 6 years. They're still negotiating but there is a lawsuit involved now as well. We'll see how it all comes out.

Local Pet Photo Blog

The San Jose Mercury News has this adorable pet photo blog that features pets and wildlife submitted from readers. It's filled with photos and videos mostly of cats and dogs, and allows comments as well.

Tag Team Cocktails

Thanks to Beth Blecherman for tagging me in the Virtual Cocktail Party along with other SV Moms. (This is cross-posted.)

Five things about me that no readers, let alone most of my friends, would know...

- In a former life (aka college), I taught courses on etiquette and modeling. Yes, it was a far cry from the t-shirt and jeans wardrobe I adopted a few years later as a post-grad sysadmin in Silicon Valley, but I learned some valuable skills that come in handy at cocktail parties!
- Chick lit is my literary weakness. I gulp it down like water in a desert - cheezy, shallow characters and all. Some day I hope to publish my own chick lit novel.
- I was offered a part as an extra in Robert Altman's film, "Kansas City", which I turned down because they wanted me to cut my hair to a period cut and I was getting married the following month. The marriage was almost as short-lived as the film, but I'm still bummed I missed out on that opportunity being a Kansas City girl who loves jazz. (At the time I didn't know the movie was "Kansas City"; I figured that out later.)
- My favorite view is of a starlit night.
- Instead of attending my high school prom, I went to a Queensryche concert with 11 of my best guy friends. We had floor seats and my view of Geoff Tate's gorgeous physique in leather pants was much better than what I would've had of my then-boyfriend in a cheap rent-a-tux.

From those not yet tagged (to my knowledge), I choose five people who have helped me out either with my blog or another area of my life in the past year: Maria Piccininni Ross, who incited me to get off my butt and launch my own blog, Cory Doctorow, who gave me some sage blogging advice when I first started it, Ed Vielmetti, who wrote some nice things about my blog and helped promote it to his friends, Alix Mayer, who provided me with resources to turn things around after several challenging months, and Elizabeth Edwards, who inspired me in numerous ways through her book and our meeting with her.

Now for a tequila shot...

Merger Mania

Chuck pointed out something absurd to me the other day - the local newspaper jobs page is now the (I kid you not) "San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com Yahoo! hotjobs Career Section".

Yeah, that's right. They merged 4 companies into one and everybody got top billing. Of course this is just down the street from the SBC PacBell park Giants Stadium in South Beach/Mission Bay by SOMA.

What happened to good, old fashioned monopolizers like AT&T gobbling up other companies and dropping their names the next day?

Fighting Global Warming Online Through End of Year Contributions

I recently received e-mail on the Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents' Club list asking for recommendations of organizations that fight global warming as potential places to send end of year contributions. I can't go into detail about what each of them do, but I recommend checking out their web sites.

Here is the list that was compiled, along with a few of my own additions:
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Instituto Terra
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- World Wildlife Fund
- Stop Global Warming
- Acterra
- California League of Conservation Voters
- E2: Environmental Entrepreneurs
- The Regeneration project/Interfaith Power and Light
- Grid Alternatives
- Global Green
- Sierra Club

Then if you want to get involved with Al Gore's efforts with his "An Inconvenient Truth" film and book, go to climatecrisis.net and stopglobalwarming.org.

SOMA Twins To Tower Over San Francisco

Paul Boutin reported Friday that two buildings to meet the #3 in height in the US were proposed to the City of San Francisco. The Sears Tower and Empire State building would be the two taller structures. It's actually 5 buildings in total - "... two 1,200-foot towers, two 900-foot structures and a 600-foot companion."

Here's the Chronicle article about it. According to SFGate, the two towers will be 350 ft. taller than the Transamerica building. They are to be built at the corner of First and Mission. From my real estate research in the area, that's about as seismically stable as you can get in San Francisco - right at the base of Rincon Hill - solid rock as opposed to the sandfill you find a few blocks away in South Beach.

New House

We'll be moving sometime in the next month to the Allied Arts area of Menlo Park, for Bay Area and more specifically Peninsula locals who know neighborhoods. We found a great house that suits our needs well and are looking forward to being there. But that's why I haven't blogged in the past week much - we closed on the house and I've been in meetings nonstop with contractors on top of the usual holiday-related chaos. I look forward to a little bit of a lull as Christmas approaches. I'll write more soon.

...



There is no doubt that finding a home these days is getting a little bit easier since with homes like modular homes are cheaper to attain. Modular homes are perfect for first home buyers and manufactured homes are also great if you want a new designed home. If you're interesed, you can find modular home plans on the web.

All-Star Event in SF for Eco-Conscious December 12

Global Green is having a party in San Francisco in a few weeks that will raise money for their programs. It's a great organization, founded by Mikhail Gorbechev. Gary Hart was on the board for a long time, and current board members include Edward Norton and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others.

The invitation shows a long list of hosts, some of whom I know well. I highly recommend the event if you have the time and money and are inclined to give to environmental causes.

Highlights include... "Celebrity Hosts, William McDonough on Cradle To Cradle, Eco-Couture Fashion Show, Ecofabulous Green Design Showcase, Organic Cocktail Party, VIP Rooms, Organic Spa Treatments, Best of Green Silent Auction, Eco-Chic VIP Gift Bags, Event design by Sillapere, Clean Car Showcase, Carbon neutral by MMA Renewable Ventures, Target zero trash, Vintage furniture & reincarnated materials."

"Global Green's mission is to create a global value shift toward a more sustainable future by working to solve global warming, eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and ensure access to clean water. Global Green is the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, Mikhail Gorbachev's environmental organization. Global Green hosts the Red Carpet, Green Cars Campaign at the Oscars, and they just led the Sustainable Design Competition to help green-rebuild New Orleans with Brad Pitt."

Ballet San Jose - Giselle, the Nutcracker & Blue Suede Shoes

The Ballet San Jose, revamped in 2000, is beginning its new season tonight with "Giselle", a well-known ballet. I can't make it, unfortunately, but wanted to pass along the info to performing arts lovers in the Bay Area.

They are also hosting a Nutcracker Black Tie Ball on December 14 at the San Jose Museum of Art, with a performance to follow at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. I plan to be there. It should be a lot of fun.

In the spring, their major annual fundraiser, this year the Blue Suede Shoes Gala, based on their "Blue Suede Shoes" ballet, a "classic rock in a one-act ballet danced to 36 master recordings of Elvis Presley's greatest hits", will be held at the Fairmont.

Latest Posts on Silicon Valley & Parenting

In splitting my blogging time between topics and blogs, here are a few of my latest posts on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. As you can probably guess from the blog title, most of my posts on that site are related to Silicon Valley and/or parenting.

"Sometimes It's Hard Not to Laugh"
"New vs. Old Toys"
"What Happened to House Calls?"
"Pre-emptive Eating"
"In A Rich Man's World"

Sir Elton, Captain & Knight

Last night's Elton John concert at the San Jose Arena (aka HP Pavilion), complete with a video backdrop and band, was a reminder of why people become musicians. These guys aren't out to prove anything - they just play because they love music and they love to perform. Sir Elton, who I believe was knighted as much for his philanthropy as for his career success, always has a genuine smile for his crowd and holds up his energy as well as can be expected from behind a piano keyboard.

I've been checking off older artists on my concert attendance list the past few years - groups I'd always wanted to see but the timing was never right, like Yes, Simple Minds and the Doobie Brothers and the rare masters like Simon & Garfunkel. I haven't seen Rush in a while but they all have this same sense to them when they play - their ease from playing together a long time permeates throughout the entire performance, showing that age has as its advantage the ability to be comfortable in their skins.

I missed Ray Cooper, Elton's sometimes percussionist, who I believe is up there with Neal Peart as two of the best percussionists ever. He had this crispness to his performance - a perfection not to be easily emulated, and he is just amazing to watch within his castle of instruments. I saw Elton & Ray perform together (just the two of them) in Ann Arbor back in 1993. I sat in the next to the last row in the way back of Chrysler arena and still was floored by them.

More recently, I saw Elton John play for the Star Ball, a benefit for the Nick Traina Foundation in San Francisco at the Ritz last April. Clearly this was a different crowd and venue than last night's show, but we sat about the same distance from the piano in each case. The difference was that in a smaller group, the knight was able to show his softer side and the kindness that makes him such a steady force on the benefit circuit. This is a man who deeply cares about causes and who uses his life experience and financial success to help gain attention for others. In the case of the Star Ball, the cause was manic depression and related mental illnesses, particularly cases pertaining to musicians. Danielle Steel hosted the event as she founded the organization for her late son, Nick Traina.

Having seen Elton John now by himself, with only a percussionist, with Billy Joel, in a ballroom, in indoor arenas and outdoor stadiums, from in front on the floor and in back near the rafters, I will say it really doesn't matter where he plays or where I sat, even turning 60, he still is an incredible performer, worthy of the name "Captain Fantastic". His new album, "The Captain and the Kid" debuts on Tuesday. He played seven songs from the album and I liked them - a little off the track from his recent albums.

Of course, it must be said that the house lit up when the classics were performed - as always - "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)", "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", "Levon", "Daniel", "Funeral For A Friend" and "Your Song" delighted the audience.

Artists Ball Online Auction Open

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, located South of Market in San Francisco, is a unique arts space for both visual and performing arts. I used to go to their events (modern dance, film, photography) regularly when I lived a few blocks away in the city, but now it's more of an occasional thing. For the next month, anyone can support their organization through their online auction.

The auction includes some interesting art - modern and some classic photography, participation in a modern dance practice, a wacky shirt, a paper and paint model of a Kate Spade shoe and shoebox, and ink drawings. The biennial Artists Ball Six: Stanlee's Brain, featuring San Francisco event producer Stanlee Gatti, will be held on October 13. Anything that doesn't sell online by October 11 will go into silent auction the night of the ball.

Security Analysis Post 9/11

I have written a lot about security over the past several years. I don't call myself a security expert because I know a lot of real security experts, but having worked in the field a long time, I am quite knowledgeable on the subject so I thought I should weigh in on how we're doing since 9/11/2001.

National Security - Better & Worse
It's better because we now have funds being directed towards infrastructure costs that were needed such as securing water treatment facilities and mail protection. Unfortunately, there are also places that are inherently week and must remain so in order to be productive. Can you imagine searching every truck that went over the Bay Bridge to make sure it did not contain explosives? Traffic would be impossible.

National Security is worse because most of our military is elsewhere. If we were attacked at home again, depending on how we were attacked, we would not necessarily be able to respond rapidly. Also the Department of Homeland Security has become a major bureaucracy without much real accountability and that accounts for some of the lack of speed.

Air Travel Security - Better
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has become another huge entity. The government has poured tons of money into it, but in the end, it's still a guessing game as to what tactics the terrorists will try to use next and whether it will even involve transportation at all. Rules keep changing to meet with current estimates of threats, including banning liquids. However, there are always holes in that system. For example, powdered infant formula is still allowed from what I've read. It is possible to make bombs out of infant formula, for example.

Air travel security is better because people are paying more attention to what's at stake, TSA employees generally do a good job (although they tend to relax when the terror alert is low, which isn't necessarily the right thing to do) and they tend to pay more attention to social engineering. A few basic changes that were made soon after 9/11 like locking the cockpit made planes much more secure. There are still issues with securing the airports themselves. Unfortunately, requiring biometric identification for passports isn't necessarily the right direction either due to inherent flaws in most of the biometric systmes.

Computer Security - The Same
With computer and network security, the problem is decentralized. And it rests on the shoulders on every company and server administrator to keep the Internet secure. A nasty virus could be released from anywhere to cripple systems across the globe. But computer security always gets put on the back burner when money is tight because it doesn't directly make companies money (although it does save them money usually in the long run).

The Cybersecurity arm of the Department of Homeland Security still needs to gain its footing. It has changed leadership numerous times since its inception and the only places I've heard of that really sounds like the government is taking any action are in securing government labs more tightly and creating an FBI hacker army of sorts - a computer crime squad. The NSA (National Security Agency) was doing wiretaps on international calls for a while but now that has been determined to be unconstitutional. I wouldn't really call that security anyway - it was more of an investigatory method.

Local Response - Better
I think this area improved more from the failures in New Orleans than due to 9/11. Much was promised for local response, but again it's an issue of money. Security and training is expensive, so with a tough economy, local responders are the last rung on the ladder to get paid. But since we had another (natural this time) disaster, it brought attention to the weaknesses in this process. The City of Menlo Park and San Mateo County have both sent out mailers on Emergency Preparedness and I have noticed more information sessions available to residents over the past few years.

Overall - Better
It would be sad to think that all of the money, time and effort going into security was not yielding some results after five years. I think overall, security is better (but don't let that fool you - there's still a lot that needs to be done and I still think the administration has been weak in this area). Awareness has increased and that is the first and most vital step in improving security. Unfortunately, we need occasional reminders that there are still terrorists out there waiting to strike and that not every nation is friendly to us in order to stay on alert. It's a delicate balance that must be struck between security and productivity, but that is the challenge we continue to face today.

Slate Politics

For some "non-partisan" races in California like the city council where I live, a phenomenon called "slate politics" is often employed. It's basically the same thing as partisan politics with the exception of the primary process. So a group of community (vs. official party) leaders get together and choose who they want to run as a slate in the general election. It's a different process because it seems to require more pandering than the usual party process but from my perspective, it looks like the same thing.

In Menlo Park, the city where I live, there are three seats open for this upcoming election. Two of the three incumbents have announced they will run for re-election and then their slate will add a new person who will run for the "open" seat. Then the opposing slate will put up three other people who have been active in city politics for the past few to several years. It's easy for communities to band together like this in campaigns because they can save money on printing, save volunteer time by distributing multiple flyers, etc. And they have a better chance of getting someone elected who fits within their comfort zone on certain issue platforms.

This process is tough on the candidates because it becomes increasingly difficult for them to make names for themselves as individuals. And it's tough for voters because they are left essentially with only two options - one slate or the other. It is challenging to discern how one candidate might vote and it is hard to find moderate candidates. Also, candidates often hide their party affiliations so as to not offend potential voters. I often end up abstaining or writing in names on one or more slot if I'm not comfortable with all three, for instance.

It's no different in the sense than what happens in the typical general election after parties have selected their candidates except that I am not a participant in the primary process. Frankly, I would prefer a party system on the local level where voters can participate equally through a legitimate primary process and have full disclosure on candidate affiliations. I had a few friends considering running in the Menlo Park City Council race who were basically told not to run and for them it's disheartening. I would've liked to have seen them try.

Silicon Valley Moms in PA Weekly

The Silicon Valley Moms Blog is featured in yesterday's Palo Alto Weekly -
"Living in a bloggers' world". It's a good article about some of the local bloggers - mostly VentureBlog. I'm in the group photo but I'm not mentioned in the article, and the photo wasn't printed in the print version. It's a long story - literally - which is why I guess they didn't print the photo there.

I now have my own column on the SV Moms Blog - My SV Life: Sarah. Latest posts include: "This is Not Wisteria Lane", "Tales from Voicemail Hell", "Dumb Smart Homes" and "The Politics of Parenting". Check it out and let me know what you think.

Skillet Lickers

It cracks me up every time I hear of bands that give themselves long, convoluted names, like everything else has been done so they have to come up with something raunchy with multiple meanings to get attention. That said, some of them are pretty good.

For those of you not hooked into the San Francisco jazz scene, you probably haven't heard of Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers. But if you're around here and like the idea of edgy, "provocative" big band, go to Union Square tomorrow night, August 10th, from 6-7:30. For more information, check out the San Francisco Jazz Festival - Union Square Series.

To learn about the band, go to lavaysmith.com. To hear some of their music, go to myspace.com/lavaysmith.