Greeneroo

At the Inspiration Lounge they know about many things, I love this blog post: 10 things You Should Never Buy Again but what really caught my fancy was that, at the end of the post, there is this

Green America offers up five more things to never buy again that include Rayon, Farmed Salmon, Cling Wrap, and high VOC paints. For the full list with alternatives,

Why do I love this…. because either you are paying attention or your aren’t. We need to do good things now, and 10 just isn’t enough. And even though it is a magical number that someone can read and relate to there are so many more than 10… so they snuck in 10 more. I bet if I look around this great site, I’ll find 300 more because they are INSPIRED. Keep blogging Misty, your blog …  My Inspiration Lounge http://www.myinspirationlounge.com/ is a great generator of good!

Temporary Summer Jobs for Oil Spill Clean-up

       
        Please note the following announcement from Shamrock Environmental
        Corporation.  Read carefully and respond as instructed.
     
      TEMPORARY WORKERS FOR GULF COAST   OIL SPILL NEEDED IMMEDIATELY
     
      Shamrock Environmental Corporation has been contracted to provide support
      personnel to assist with the oil spill clean-up throughout the Gulf Coast.
     
      Areas where work may be performed are Louisiana , Mississippi ,  Alabama and Florida .  All workers will require OSHA 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operator Training (WE WILL PROVIDE).  Successful completion of a physical and drug screen are also required.  Each applicant must be 18 years of age or older.  The hours will vary but expect LOTS of overtime.
     
        RATE OF PAY:  $13.00/hr. straight time
       $19.50/hr. overtime (after 40 hours/week)
       PER DIEM:  $26.00/day for meals
     LODGING:   Provided
           
        Work may include, but is not limited to manual labor associated with removing
        crude oil from impacted beaches, rocks, boom, or any other items that have
        come in contact with the oil.  Technicians may be required to operate
        pressure washers, mops, rakes, shovels or a variety of other hand tools or
        small pieces of equipment while wearing proper protective gear.  Work
        environment may include working on or near water, in marshland, beach and
        estuary locations in hot and humid conditions day or night.
     
Work is available IMMEDIATELY for safety conscious workers.  Transportation to the Gulf Coast will be provided.  The HR Group has been contracted to conduct  this recruitment. *Applications MUST be completed at:  http://www.shamrockenviro.com/docs/ShamrockEmpApp.pdf

Send resume to: recruiter@shamrockenviro.com

Calafia is a GREAT local place, located in the Town and Country Shopping Center, near Trader Joes. Don’t think for one single second this is a “mall restaurant” or fast food…. YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT. Calafia has healthy, tasty, innovative food with ambiance.

The menu includes the best ingredients and products around. Every effort is made to provide the freshest, tastiest food, Chef Charlie Ayers is committed to this.

I have had several meals at Calafia, they really make every effort to tell you how things are prepared and encourage questions. Of course, you can’t eat everything …. but each choice will be a good one. If it isn’t right, they want to know — so customer service is a big part of this restaurant.

Last time, I had the best Ahi Tuna I have ever eaten, tender, delicate flavor, light citrus sauce, fresh corn niblets, beautiful presentation. Many flavors in each bite, it was food to savor. I also wanted to try the pork (I don’t normally eat pork, but it is so popular, I need to find out for myself  since several pork dinners went past while I was eating.)

Next time, I’ll try:

Fiery Bottom BBQ Pork Bowl (GF) (DF)

Shredded pork shoulder, spicy BBQ sauce, sautéed spinach, yam sunnyside up quail egg, green onion, brown rice or quinoa pilaf: 12 

BEST OF PALO ALTO

the competition is stiff and Calafia really deserves this honor. Submit your ballot by July 11, 2010.

Location: El Camino / Embarcadero Rd, in Town and Country Shopping Center
855 El Camino Real # 130
Palo Alto, CA 94301-2335
(650) 322-9200

Cafe Hours:
On Weekdays: Lunch 11 am 4:30 pm M-F  |  Dinner 4:30 pm 9:00 pm M-F

On Weekends: Brunch 9:00 am 3:00 pm |  Dinner 3:00 pm 9:00 pm

Summer hours: Dinner extended to 9:30 pm fri & sat

Market Hours:
9 am – 8:30 pm 7 days a week

Filoli has so many events. The Twilight walks for members are wonderful and very relaxing. There is Spring Fling and events throughout the year…

COMING UP……

Saturday, July 24, 5:00 pm–8:00 pm
Tickets on Sale Now  You can also buy raffles tickets for great prizes.

The Roses are Blooming Now, the garden is filled with fragrance and color.

Contact Information:  There are garden tours and classes too!

Filoli Center
86 Cañada Road
Woodside, California 94062
www.filoli.org
Phone: (650) 364-8300
Fax: (650) 366-7836
Email: friends@filoli.org

Visitor Services

Phone: (650) 364-8300 extension 507
Fax: (650) 367-0724
Email: tours@filoli.org

Oakland Zoo is a gem! I had not been for years and it is a startling discovery to see what I have been missing. First, I stayed overnight, that was awesome, just like an kid’s sleep-over! They have dozens of ways to learn more about the animals, the Zoo puts on special events that are fantastic and the people that work at the Zoo are dedicated, insightful and thrilled to be there.
Walk in the Wild is a benefit for the Zoo, I attended on Saturday June 26. As soon as I arrived (it was an easy drive from the Peninsula) I heard the buzz of happy people and wonderful music. I was greeted like I was a Rock Star (no, I’m not) and really felt so happy to be there. I wasn’t the only one, so many people were coming for their first time, and loved this event too.

The animals seemed to sense the fun and were out in fine form. The tigers were prowling the sun bears were sun bathing and smiling, and calls from birds, hyenas, chimps were filling the air.

So many local vendors were there, here is a small list:

• Miragia – cateringandmore.com
• Speak Easy Ales
• Red Boy Pizza
• Spengers
• Fentons
• Steven Kent Winery
• New Belgium
• Sierra Nevada Brewing
• Triple Rock
• Pacific Coast Brewing Company
• Williams Brewing
• Concannon Vineyard
• Not to be outdone, the team that prepares food at the Zoo was there serving up KNOCK OUT veggie Chili. Wow!

More than 90 restaurants, caterers, bakeries, wineries and breweries.  This adult-only event supports the Oakland Zoo’s conservation, education, and animal enrichment programs.

Plan a visit to the zoo, here is general information.

The next great event is the Grand Opening Of Wild Australia Exhibit.  Opening Saturday July 3.

For this summer, I’m too old for ZOO CAMP, but it sure looks fun. Ages 4 to high school.

Keeping up with all the ZOO FUN, here is their CALENDAR.

Contact Information for the Oakland Zoo:

9777 Golf Links Road
Oakland, CA.94605
Phone: (510) 632-9525 x181
Fax: (510) 635-5719

The checkered Flags are waving and Forest Nelson finishes first in the final stage for Stanford! [the crowd cheers wildly!] Stanford Solar Car Project team took fourth place overall Sunday in the American Solar Challenge, a 1,100-mile, week-long race from Oklahoma to Illinois. Despite parts breaking down and repairs made on the fly, Stanford’s Apogee race car, which resembles a giant Pop-Tart or a stingray on wheels, crossed the finish line first in the final stage. It can cruise at highway speeds and — listen up, proud Prius owners — is 11 times more efficient than the popular Toyota hybrid. Now that’s sun power.

Follow their blog, it is full of pictures of the car, the work, the drive, the team!

• Bikes are everywhere! You’ll enjoy these links, I’m always glad to gather them up to share with YOU!
  For a great local Bike trails map, check out the Santa Clara Valley BIKEWAYS map, it is published by the Santa Clara VTA and are available at most biking events. VTA also has bike lockers. To contact VTA: email customer.service@vta.org  The 24 hour phone number is 408-321-2300.
• Bike Share, the VTA has a bike share program in three South Bay Cal Train stations: San Jose Diridon, Mountain View Castro Street and Palo Alto University Avenue. Train riders can borrow a bike for the day! CalTrain information is www.caltrain.com or 800-660-4287.
• Velib is the name of the Bike Share program in France. Each bike is ridden about six times per day, that totals to about 120,000 daily rides – what a great program. More information on Velib and Paris.
• Pedals for Progress, has donated more that 120,000 used bikes and $10.8 million in spare parts to 32 developing countries. To learn more go to P4P.org  They have stopped collecting for the summer but will start back up in September.
• Employers are able to give their Bike Commuters $20 /month as a benefit, the employers may write it off as a business expense. This program was started in 2009.
• From 2005 to 2008 the City of San Jose reported a 206% increase in the number of Bike Commuters  (reported by EucalyptusMagazine.com )

Dust off your bike, and get pedaling. Call a friend help them get started in the wonderful world of biking. It has important health benefits as well as a positive environmental impact and cost savings.

I try not to have inanimate objects as best friends, but… my GPS helps me out of binds, gets me where I am going and tells me when I’ll arrive. It makes my life better. Now there are more functions, there is an ECO mode – helping you find the most gas saving route (Garmin) and there are GPS that will help you with a walking route. This is a great plus in a new city, for bike riders, and hike leaders and more.

I love to go hiking, and often head towards new parks, and used to get lost all the time. My GPS routes me there easily, using the actual address, intersection or GPS coordinates (thanks Google Maps for this technology.)
What does it cost? Costco has dropped the price significantly on GPS devices and is offering rebates as well: Magellan 1440 costs 109.99 and has a $30 instant rebate, GARMIN 265WT is now $149 with a $20 rebate.. it was $249 in March ‘09, and even at the higher price it has been worth every penny. Costco also backs the products they sell, which is a major PLUS when using a GPS or any techy gadget.

Having the “Go Home” feature is also an important safety feature, if you don’t know where you are, but need to get moving now(maybe you’re in a spooky parking lot, have accidentally driven into “gangland” , on a dangerous part of highway, or boxed in by construction and stuck – I have done all these!) you can always press Go Home.  The GPS will route you quickly towards your home, and soon enough things will start to look familar because if you are close, you’ll be headed toward an area you know and if you are far away from home, you’ll be routed onto a major road. All good, and a great way to move to a safer locale.
You can even play games with your GPS…. encounter traffic, turn off the set route and let it figure out where you are and how to get home, or switch the language to French or Spanish for a brain workout.

A little hint: this technology is spectacular, but a paper map is an important back-up, because some areas (notably Grass Valley, San Carlos hills and more) do not have signals or service and you’ll be “dropped off”.  Even then, you can use the GPS compass and street map to figure out where to go or what direction to head.

Hats off to GPS… every bit as important as the toaster, cordless phone, microwave, radial tires, thumb drives and social media.

These unwelcome pests are familiar sights in kitchen sinks and countertops and during a big rain–Argentine ants. Berkeley researchers Ellen van Wilgenburg, Miriam Brandt, and Neil Tsutsui, and two chemists from UC Irvine, isolated specific chemicals that enable ants to identify their enemies which they attack or part of their colony. This finding will help in regulating the Argentine ant population. For more details on this research go to the California Magazine online article.

These ants can be found all over the world, forming giant supercolonies that can extend thousands of miles.  In their native South America these colonies are relatively small and chemically distinct.  In their new habitat, the ants concentrate on colony growth rather than defending thier territory – they think they are one big family here in California. Without a differnt chemical marker their colony grows enormously and will out-competes other species of ants.

Branch is a great online store focused on… as their motto states: “sustainable design for living”.  I found them  at the Sunset Open House (every June in Menlo Park) and they have an array of great items using inspired design. They have shades, pillows, lamps, linens, woolly felted bags and containers, and so much more in an array of prices.

Since it is summer I think you’ll like these Garden / FUN! / Picinic items:

• Biodegradable Party Kit (serves 50) starting at $48
• Felted Sports Balls, made in Nepal, $12
• Ceramic Bird Feeder with Leather thong hanger $98
• Pure Cork Chaise Lounge, beautifully designed, luxurious curves $4800

They do have a San Francisco Warehouse, so shipping of some items may be local, or availabe for warehouse pickup.
Enjoy their attention to quality and eco-design ~~ Branch

245 South Van Ness Ave., Suite 304
San Francisco, CA 94103
tel 415-626-1012
info@branchhome.com