...From the Treehouse with the Ocean View

a relaxed start

2012-01-01T13:04:00.001-08:00

boat graveyard

2011-12-24T12:14:00.001-08:00

Phil's Sign

2011-12-24T11:28:00.001-08:00

ready for the beach

2011-12-24T10:25:00.001-08:00

our neighbor billy

2011-12-20T10:39:00.001-08:00

The Internet Needs Your Help (SOPA)

2011-12-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

I posted a link to the White House Site (please go there and sign the petition) tonight on Facebook and Twitter. I, like many others, who spend so much time on-line are shocked at the implications of a bill to shoot now and aim later as it pertains to content on the Internet. The view of its necessity to me is summed up in some tweets by Jim Cramer: "We all kid ourselves about the web. It is just a way to destroy great media institutions and steal value from the good guys. We know that." and previously, "I wish people really knew how corrupt the web is. How it is all a game of search engine optimization and intellectual theft. Do you think the truth will ever come out about the web? People pretending to be others, Stealing from others. Gaming everything? I am simply saying that all of the papers i applied to or worked for are hurt or killed by the web."

Techmeme rips headlines and curates one of the most read site on-line. Jim's point it seems. He rightly points out: "I can be Seeking Alpha. All i have to do is report what Jim Cramer says and then misquote him, grade him, trash him, praise him."

I see it differently.

My friend Aaron Breden on Facebook said, "between the national defense authorization act and this (SOPA) and some of the other actions the government is taking it leads me to believe we are in deep shit."

I have a sense of the same thing from time to time.. then I think SOPA is nothing more than big business acting out of pure self interest. Knowing that there are principled leaders running companies with reasonable ideas about competition and success, not acting out of pure greed, is small comfort. This bill is a grab. The Internet still represents freedom. Yup.. it's so overly commercial and noisy. Trolls all over the place and individuals cowardly posting under assumed names etc..I asked a reporter (@acarvin) to stop with the non-stop tweets ("write a blog dude") tonight (he dominated a list of "journalists" which is very active-has 69 members). He YELLED at back at me and told me to "unfollow me" (spell check unnecessary).. then caught a troll who was posting under "URaDouchbag" with no avatar giving me the clear view of a pimpled 16 year old virgin on meth about how freedom is being able to say and do whatever you want. It's a graceless age. Maybe the Internet doesn't matter. But hidden in all the noise is a great deal of our collective intellect.. That's what I came here for. Not success measured by followers, users or readers but in the quality of the search (thanks Wikipedia, BING and Google). Google+ has it right. Publish under your own name or at least be visible.. this is no place to hide. I'll write my confession about how I got tossed out of chat rooms on the original aol in the late 80's.. maybe early 90's? It was dial up at 9600.. that was fast!

I was one of the first 100 guys with ISDN at dual 128. WooT!

Maybe we just need to learn some manners and reread the 10 commandments.

I helped build 10,000 route miles of the westcoast Internet backbone in the 90's. Between the Phone Companies with their greed and the trolls it's sometimes hard to feel good about that.

Now and then I hear a story of information saving a life or communicating vital information to better mankind.. just more of the same thing.. the yin with the yang..the ocean keeps wearing away the shore.. see below and keep breathing.

Moss Landing, CA Beach Pano

2011-12-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

Taken at Moss Landing with iPhone4S and the Pano app. Touched up with Picasa.

neighbors

2011-12-16T10:20:00.001-08:00

floating

2011-12-12T09:57:00.001-08:00

at the top of the hill. looking east.

2011-12-09T09:15:00.001-08:00

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116899029375914044550/albums/5680923598455113089

https://plus.google.com/u/0/116899029375914044550/posts

Google Evolves

2011-11-30T15:10:00.001-08:00

Looking East from the Top of the Hill

2011-11-21T09:47:00.001-08:00

Front Porch at the Treehouse

2011-11-19T10:25:00.001-08:00

View from the Treehouse.

2011-11-19T10:19:00.001-08:00

Goat at Dusk..

2011-11-08T17:18:00.001-08:00

Taken at The Gate

Practice Compassion - Narayan Krishnan, a companion to the forgotten

2011-10-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Bounty

2011-10-27T10:34:00.001-07:00

Haute Enchilada

2011-10-26T17:55:00.001-07:00

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

2011-10-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

First Awakenings, Salinas

2011-10-18T14:52:00.001-07:00

my only Steve Jobs memory

2011-10-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of years attempting to create the best sounding audio system for our living room. I bought most of my stuff at a place called the Audible Difference in Palo Alto across the street from Stanford. One Saturday afternoon I walked in and on the floor was Steve Jobs and John Doerr. They were looking at the first Sony Plasma TV and were ordering some B&W speakers. Discussing how to drive the TV, how great Alan Parson's new recording was and so forth. John was disturbed by the sound of the fans and said he would take "two if the fans were disconnected" and any warranty issues were somehow "taken care of". Steve would not allow a tape player of any kind in his house. They both bought a few things that added up to well over $200,000... Steve drove a large, older light blue Mercedes with no license plate that was parked haphazardly in two spaces right in front of the entrance to shop. Both were laughing and very friendly. When John's wife came to fetch him she asked what this little shopping trip cost. She was told not to "worry her pretty little head" about it. I was told during another visit that most of the "orders" were cancelled because their demands could not be met. "He doesn't get it", said the salesman about Steve. Right! The only way to drive the TV at that time was with a VCR. Yup. Steve Jobs died too young. He saw the future. His Life? He didn't waste it.

1955-2011

2011-10-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

Vines and Red Flowers

2011-08-25T19:28:00.001-07:00

King

2011-07-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

Just one question...

2011-07-02T09:08:00.001-07:00

Taken at Greenphoneservice.com

Google + ..notifications

2011-06-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Short and sweet.. I have my gmail web client open all the time ...love how there is a little box in the upper right hand corner of the page that "notifies" me when and how many "things" have happened (someone commented on a thread I'm in or added me to their circle etc..etc). Great feature. The offer remains.. email me with a request (pegoss@gmail.com-the same place to make a donation to the eco-charity currently raising money for water conservation and delivering clean water to places on earth where there is none). I realize many do not have access to G+ yet, but you're gonna love it! There are some improvements needed and they have been noted on various sites. There are a bunch of tech geeks on G+ providing great feedback to Google on the platform.

Wall Street seemed to like it (today).. Dow up 1.25% and GOOG up 1.77% to 506.38

Best of all, Google senior management/founders are active and accessible.. for now.. what a great way launch a product with everyone pushing.. hearing that next week Facebook with release something awesome... no kidding? There is a lot of buzz around G+.. one of my friends has received over 1900 emails asking for an invite... my buddies do not understand.. only a few have jumped on. This is how Mark Zuckerberg has responded:

"Things have changed."

Monday Notes: the "Walled Garden" is Apple's strength ..along with Apps

2011-06-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

I borrowed it. Sure.. been thinking about profits and distribution in tech. The Apple stores and the "walled garden" and now HP is introducing tablets with WebOS (it's Palm's right?)..

In October 2009 John Gruber wrote on his blog Daring Fireball:

"Operating systems aren’t mere components like RAM or CPUs; they’re the single most important part of the computing experience. Other than Apple, there’s not a single PC maker that controls the most important aspect of its computers. Imagine how much better the industry would be if there were more than one computer maker trying to move the state of the art forward."

@thorn_waite and I were chatting about the next iPhone on Twitter this AM noting how an analyst can create a lot of blog hits for various tech sites by claiming to know what's going on inside the apple ecosystem. Thorn believes "Apple will have 2 phones in September, but they will be the 4S and the 4. Those analysts are rarely right, but they generate very bloggable copy.... Apple's "walled garden" is a fair price to pay for a safe, easy app ecosystem." think the point is being made. We have Chromebooks made by Acer and Samsung. Not the same thing but man is there a transition going on. All about mobility and thin and light.

Steve said: "This is worth repeating. It's in Apple's DNA that technology is not enough. It's tech married with the liberal arts and the humanities. Nowhere is that more true than in the post-PC products. Our competitors are looking at this like it's the next PC market. That is not the right approach to this. These are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC, more intuitive."

Saw my good friend Pete Cochrane working on a beautiful pen and ink piece (pictured below) at Starbucks in Prunedale and I noticed he was watching a movie on his Mac Air.. looks like that's a device that will be another another home run with additional horsepower..we chatted about the ultimate mobile device.. any thoughts?

Slides?

2011-06-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

Taken at Greenphoneservice.com

Chandler

2011-06-23T19:30:00.001-07:00

Taken at The Treehouse

http://www.eamonlynch.com

Rory McIlroy

2011-06-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

So much written and said.. much of it gratuitous of course.. my thoughts from a tweet by Eamon Lynch who is the

Executive Editor at Golf Magazine. Born in Northern Ireland, lives in NYC. He tweets his own opinions, not those of his employer.

Eamon has been known to express an opinion or three over good scotch. He doesn't drink poor scotch and knows where to play his golf.. loves Bandon!

@eamonlynch Every compliment paid to McIlroy this weekend - gracious, humble, friendly - has a glaring subtext: that Tiger Woods is none of those things.

I wish Rory luck.. we need a new world order in golf.

Here's another good piece written by Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) who writes some great stuff, lives nearby and knows where the pirates buried the treasure at Spyglass Hill. His latest book is:
The Swinger.. with Michael Bamberger (amazon link)

With U.S. Open rout, Rory McIlroy feels like second coming of Tiger Woods - Tours & News - Golf.com

Nine Field

2011-06-14T14:41:00.001-07:00

Taken at Salinas Golf and Country Club

Peace of Mind: Hard to say... I say..

2011-05-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

What's new here? anything? Hard to say.. real hard to say.. markets go up and down. Hang on long enough and everything grows ..a little.
Somewhere out there (or is it in here?) waiting on a hunch there is an ocean of wisdom. Enlightenment. I muse and have caught glimpses for 40 years while meditating, running, singing, playing music. A sense of DejaVu (CSNY). At one with. We grasp for and reach out for and never seem to get it.. whatever it is. But every now and then there is this sense of peace. And I'm grateful I've experienced it so many times. It sure seems there are many who have no idea what I'm trying to say. Tell me what you know. Thanks!

Up the Hill to the 6th

2011-05-23T19:39:00.001-07:00

Seeds

2011-05-23T19:35:00.001-07:00

Taken at Home Sweet Home

Eco-Friendly Home and Long Distance Service

2011-05-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

We going to use it.. why not use it responsibly? A telephone system that runs on low-eco impact servers comprising a less than 30m2 footprint and a web-site that is 100% windpowered.
Green Phone Service is working hard toward the goal of a FULLY WIND-powered telephone network. Meanwhile, what little energy used is recovered by carbon offset credits and the significant donation of net proceeds to organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society. Customers already help counter the release of approximately 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to planting nearly 2,390 acres of trees or cutting 6.1 million miles of fossil fuel driving per year. All billing is similarly digital only, no paper; if paper is used, it is hemp or 100% post-consumer recycled printed with soy-based ink.
Worth a look! Click here for more info.

2nd green

2011-05-18T15:02:00.001-07:00

Taken at Salinas Golf and Country Club

What did I learn about running companies?

2011-05-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

On the other side of management for 10+ years I struggle to communicate the same things executive leaders, presidents and CEOs. Same issues: Understand basic principles of sales, finance, leadership, management and especially IT as it pertains to marketing. The disciplines that we don't know from our experience. Everyone nods their heads and goes off and does what's familiar and not what works. It's the human condition. It's what we do. I remember being interviewed as a SVP and Managing Director/President. As an SVP of Sales and Business Development, I knew these consultants were great at running meetings but really thought (and I told them so-carefully) that they had little understanding of the nuts and bolts of running a $500 million division of a Billion Dollar public company.. But I do. Now. I hear the same things: "I get it". "I agree". "We're gonna do that" .. and then back to business as usual. Death. The slide down to mediocrity.. It takes time. There is no time to make all the mistakes ("You'll learn from your errors" is the name of a horror movie). We need to read and learn from the mistakes of others and go fast. No choice. And I can keep up now...
Here's where we are: Link to LVI

Committed...

2011-05-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

That's it.. May 15th and I miss the issues and answers that made this blog grow. Been dormant too long. That is a warning to both us of. Express Yourself my friend. Tell us how you really feel and what you think. There is of course a difference. Remember there is such a thing as more than you can handle.. Stay as far away from that as you can.. Take good care of yourself and know that good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others. Sooner than later, but better than never.

ChromeOS

2011-05-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

there is a buzz in SF this morning and it comes from a tweet: @pgoss: Chrome OS: Everything can be saved to the web. That's crazy! I could throw this into a river, and I won't lose my stuff. No need for virus protection. No annoying updates. No patches. No patches for the patches. Man, serious blow at Microsoft. But it's true. -Engadget. More on this but check out the video and know that Businesses can get Chrome hardware AND software for $28/mo per seat. Education & Gov users $20/mo.
I have long been a "G" adapter (gmail, blogger, wave(!), android (which I think still should run on an iPhone) etc.). This is disruptive and will change everything.
Chromebook: built for the web. Good stuff! "The web is what you make of it."

Seve...

2011-05-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Much has been written by far better reporters and journalists than me. He was a legend to me and I have been thrilled (again) by the stories that have been told. Again the SI guys at Golf.com have contributed some good thoughts here.

Noticed Greame McDowell and Luke Donald changed their avatars in his honor on twitter.

Azinger noted that they went after each other on and off the course and when Paul got sick, Seve was the first to call. Class Guy.

Something is missing today!

Our Ocean.

2011-05-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Our Friend David Potigan at Gallery Sur sent these.

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

2011-05-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

@marwilliamson Tonight is a night for sober and mature reflection, not glee. Mindless celebration is both spiritually inappropriate and politically naive.

The end of the war on terror? We could only hope. Historic. Extraordinary.

From the New Yorker: Obama & Osama and some links to thoughtful articles about our apparent relief. You can feel it. And while our relief is real it might be remembered that Al Qaeda is much bigger than Bin Laden. The days ahead will reveal much about the dedication of his followers.

A Royal Wedding

2011-04-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

@joanwalsh The world is divided into people who see kitsch/romance/optimism in royal wedding, and Irish Catholic feminist curmudgeons, apparently.

There are tornadoes killing people and here's the answer for what ails us:

@TheBloggess So #royalwedding is just barely beating #shewantsthedick on twitter topics. Also trending? #whatsthepoint & #strawberrycheetos

Postscript: @DannyBrown The Royal Wedding Live 4am CST http://twrt.me/t9ty via @ChicagoDesign

Renewed Enthusiasm

2011-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

LagunitaVentures (our excellent business consulting service) provides developmental support for emerging companies. We have recently wrapped up an assignment with a company that will fail. It will fail because the owner is incapable of doing things differently. We refinanced his receivables, gave him step by step instructions on how to reorganize his business for success. He said to me one day at lunch (we are hands on usually), "you guys think I'm really slow, don't you?". My response was not YES! but that's what I thought. Instead I explained that while some of our vision had been accomplished it was not because he had shown courage and made the necessary cuts and changes. It was because he refused to address the issues and hid them in a corner or in some cases the employee went away (with customer lists and contacts and real bad feelings). He could not understand why they all want to "hurt" him. I learned a long time ago that some guys were a lot smarter than me and I'd be wise to surround myself with them and not hope for the easy way out.. How about you?

How are we doing? Let's start something!

2011-04-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Read the news today.. Oh Boy! Hotel rates have gone up in SF.. maybe LA but here in paradise we are still slipping. We are in a phase of dispersion.. we are selling ourselves short. Can't seem to get around the corner and a new poll says there is deep pessimism about the economy in the country and Obama is to blame.. It all seems to easy to me. We swing from self indulgence to self denial. Everyone seems nervous. We forget to tell ourselves the real truth. Time to start something. Do Something. That's my solution.. we have two start-ups going now. Looking for investors (again). That's my solution.. Start something. No complaints!

Fireworks

2011-03-25T15:22:00.001-07:00

Callaway razr tour irons

2011-03-21T17:40:00.001-07:00

Taken at Salinas Golf and Country Club

Scooter ...again!

2011-03-19T17:56:00.001-07:00

So you still think the internet is free...

So you still think the internet is free...

2011-02-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Bahrain violence out of control

2011-02-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

Another Moss Landing Sunset...

2011-02-15T23:32:00.001-08:00

Apple and the future of Apps vs Microsoft, the PC and Andriod

2011-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

In the past when I was silly enough to get pulled into the pc vs mac discussion (not always friendly-because guys and gals have to justify what they spend their money on) I had only one thought.. "there are programs I use that don't run on a mac". "Macs are cool and beautiful but I use quicken". Today I have an iPad (with mint) and some accessories to make it very functional (another post maybe). I could ditch my laptop if the Pad had flash without a workaround (I'm told it's possible)... but the iPhone has taught us a new way to look at things..

Software used to dictate my purchases of computers and apps will replace software in the future. When you measure the functionality of a blackberry, an android phone or an iPhone you can let a few different ideas color your analysis.. but for my money it's all about apps..and apple's app store has a few more (thousands) than anyone else.. and you've read Rob Scoble's latest comments about apps and Nokia and so forth right?

It's all about apps.. not just on our phones.. I'm thinking it will be about apps on our computers as well..

Developers hold the cards.. not one but thousands of them... many just shortcuts to web-sites. But that's where it is at. In the cloud. Ultimately developers will write for the platform that lets them have a chance at a decent living.. and that may be windows and iOS for our phones but it also will mean that apple will harness the apps and they will find their way to the desktop and give the mac the boost it needs. I see a future where bloated programs like Office will give way to nimble programs/apps and google docs.. a few years ago I started to open all attachments in Docs and it dramatically changed the way I manage my workflow. So I'm ready. I know I can buy a dell xps with specs that are much better than a loaded mac book pro for less dough but it will never be as cool looking and if you like the apps concept, the apps will be on the mac first.

The Fence

2011-02-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

...and The Quiet Whispers to the Not So Distant Thunder, "Let the Truth be Told".

2011-01-31T21:33:00.000-08:00

What? Inspired by It Might Get Loud and a sense that Jimmy Page can still rock with the best of 'em. Art is everywhere. Right Banksy? And after the storm (or was it enlightenment?) there's laundry to do. Have been watching Tunisia and Egypt and Stuxnet. So Egypt hits the kill switch and if you go to twitter.com/speak2tweet you can see what Google is doing about that:

"Like many people we’ve been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.

We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet."

Egypt and Tunisia. Egypt and Tunisia..and Julie Assange/WikiLeaks have been called Twitter revolutions ..of sorts (Twitter helped..but we're not that important you know).. and Assange is really less dangerous and influential than someone in the mainstream media said he was.. or was it Roberts Gates who said he was dangerous? The New York Times executive editor Bill Keller wrote about the Times dealings with Julian Assange in the Times Magazine on 1.30.11 and 60 minutes' Steve Croft (Laura's dad?..) did a job on the piece aired on the same day as the NYT article. Presentations preceded by Raffi Khatchadourian's No Secrets as reporter at large for the the New Yorker. And another excellent site by Dave Winer (@davewiner) has lots more: Wikiriver.org. And then a little mud slinging by FOX news(?): The New York Times' Sloppy Defense of WikiLeaks and Its Journalistic Standards. ("There is a laugh-out-loud moment. It comes when Keller writes that "it is our aim to be impartial in our presentation of the news.")

Maybe the traditional media is just taking out all their internet frustrations on WikiLeaks (via @holmser).

Davos is over and so is the Sundance.. just in time for the Super Bowl. It's Steelers vs Green Bay this year if you didn't know.. the venue may be the star. you might know who's gonna do the halftime show...more diversions to take our minds off of what's really going on but underlying all these sometimes dangerous human activities our fears drive us to what may be a solution to all the chaos. I heard a young man tell his story about that point where the voices in his head just wouldn't stop and all he'd done up to that point was aimed outside of himself. "It was time to pay attention to the one we all wake up with everyday. It is my brain after-all". Mas tarde que nunca. I'm just catching up..seems there is a lot to drain and disinfect. There is a purpose in Egypt and like so many incidents we forget easily what it's like to really have to take a stand. Money remains a great motivator. Freedom follows. There is Class Warfare in Egypt.. and in the USA. Eve knows! You'll really need to watch "Inside Job"... they could hit the kill switch here. Whoever they are. They are scared. The internet allows Truths to be told... It's a good album too. Don Henley's Inside Job.

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior - WSJ.com

2011-01-31T01:52:00.001-08:00

URL: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504...

perspective.. we are so soft...

See this Amp at http://on.wsj.com/hxxnJY

Julian Assange: The making of the 60 minutes interview

2011-01-31T00:49:00.001-08:00

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20029950-1039170...

If you believe in Freedom and If you believe in Justice

- this is the 60 mins Overtime story about doing the Julian Assange interview.. Assange may not be as important, great or dangerous as some may think, but to me what he represents matters a good deal.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/fBYSvD

cdixon.org – chris dixon's blog / Predicting the future of the Internet is easy: anything it hasn’t yet dramatically transformed, it will.

2011-01-27T11:05:00.001-08:00

URL: http://cdixon.org/2011/01/13/predicting-the-future-of-t...

the future of the internet? what's not transformed yet?

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/exqHS0

Watch Live Streaming Tennis Online - ESPN3

2011-01-22T17:11:00.001-08:00

URL: http://espn.go.com/espn3/index/_/sport/tennis

good quality sports streaming... been watching the Aus Open Tennis at my desk a bit this week...basketball, cricket..etc...

See this Amp at http://es.pn/gq2YHo

Shadows from the 9th

2011-01-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

from the 9th

John Friend : Anusara Yoga

2011-01-07T00:59:00.001-08:00

URL: http://vimeo.com/15470104

keep breathing.. yoga is good!

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gGR6Hi

Trees on the Hill

2011-01-06T18:03:00.001-08:00

Carmel Sunset

2011-01-06T18:01:00.001-08:00

http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2011/1/3/the-fforward-podcast-is-no...

Kevin Rose - blogg - The fforward podcast is now

2011-01-06T12:04:00.001-08:00

great interview with Jack D..

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gl9Jbm

Nugget dreams of surfing

2011-01-03T15:39:00.001-08:00

Pointleaf Drop

2011-01-03T15:32:00.001-08:00

http://battellemedia.com/archives/2010/12/signal_curation_disc...

Simple Christmas Greeting....

2010-12-25T21:21:00.001-08:00

Signal, Curation, Discovery - John Battelle's Searchblog

2010-12-20T22:33:00.001-08:00

the future of the internet..hwta we want. what we'll need..

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/idsv

Pt Lobos Woods

2010-12-19T13:56:00.001-08:00

..off the front deck at the Treehouse this evening

2010-11-08T21:01:00.001-08:00

This Evening..

2010-11-02T22:36:00.001-07:00

Pt Lobos at Noon Today

2010-10-25T12:44:00.001-07:00

What is Easy to forget about Water

2010-10-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

All part of "BlogDay" (see the ad on the right please) from the great folks at Change.org... go there and let's work together for a kinder, healthier Planet. If not us, who?.. if not now, when?

One basic fact:
Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us. Charity:Water

From The Healthy Adventures Blog/SF Love

2010-10-11T22:24:00.001-07:00

Carmel Mission

2010-10-11T21:03:00.001-07:00

What is Hands Across The Sand?

In Praise of Andriod and some Mobile Thoughts

2010-09-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

Have been dabbling.. Love iPhone 4 (see previous post if you dare) and had a Blackberry Torch for 3 weeks... but this is about Android and what I find to be a clear winner. If you use gMail (and why wouldn't you?) there are some obvious winners (like CloudMagic) but setting up an Android phone is as simple as your gMail address and password.. everything is done... sync'd. Instantly in business.. Address book and more. Apps are amazing (for the most part).. I have downloaded over 60.. I use them all ..from wi-fi manager to bar-code scanner. Voice Search and Goggles are especially facinating. And there is a wonderfully helpful crew of users that have made it very simple to Google a problem and get an answer. Blackberry might consider going to Android. At least on a couple of devices. Or make it an option.

While I'm at it, it appears that the best "deal" for mobile is with Sprint here in the USA. I posted a bunch of tweets over the last few weeks to see what people are thinking about mobile and of course the iPhone wins all races... but so does Sprint... They have some great phones. We are still trying to sort out their service here and have brought an Airade in to use Voip technology for mobile via what is commonly refered to as femtocell technology. The rap on it is that you are paying for the call twice as they send your voice call down your broadband line that you are paying for and then they charge you for the call out of your call minutes. You might as well just use GoogleVoice and Skype when you are at home. Google voice integrated with gMail is certainly the way to fly these days.. you do have a Google Voice number right? Even if you only use your computer and a Mobile Phone to make calls. The best reason to have a Google Voice number is that then you have a number for folks to call you back on that you can program to work with your computer (through Google Talk) and your Phone.. not to mention any other phones you might have.... the evolution continues.

ATT and Apple-how to really piss off a customer...

2010-09-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

I'm over this just enough to have a little perspective.. ATT really Sucks and Apple really Rocks.. I should have taken a picture, but suffice to say I smashed my iPhone. I was Wazing around Salinas Golf and Country Club this afternoon working on getting my index above 10 for the Senior Championships later this month ( I got a chance folks ;)).. and I used to be a 3 so this is upsetting and I am not getting any younger..but... Back to story... I'm pretending to be road munching (blazing the new trail for Wazers) when all I'm doing is driving all over the golf course.. cart signs? common this is a very private club. So up I go over the curb on 4 and the iPhone of our dreams slips through the cup holder and onto the concrete and hits said curb and has a nice big crack across the back and two snowflakes on the front.. I whine and finish the 9 holes and think that ATT will take care of this no problem. I do a lot of business with them (unlimited domestic calling, DirecTV, Internet/DSL, two blackberries and an iPhone for $350 a month plus any International roaming I might do now and then) and have been a very loyal customer for over 20 years and I've got insurance..BUT: they very politely (too, Too, TOO f'ing politely) explain I have no insurance because I didn't buy something they never told me about called "mobileprotect". They keep calling me Sir and this nice looking young lady keeps nodding her head as this Puke of a sales rep does absolutely nothing to try to help me except explain the brutal facts and about how little he could care about "my problem" and then at about the point I'm ready to hit him and spit in his face, he offers up that maybe apple could help.. Have had an iPhone for nearly 3 years (maybe?.. there are some posts back a bit about my first iPhone 3G) and this is the third time some jerk from ATT has told me the same thing.. Maybe they could help if I were willing to drive to Monterey in rush hour traffic (not too bad here really) and ask them (someone else who might give a ship), but he couldn't have cared less and ATT really hires jerks and trains them to be worse.. didn't used to be this way friends.. they were better.. I think.. So I email my Good Buddie RR who is an Apple Expert in one of their sweet stores and ask when they close and explain el problemo. 2 minutes later I know I have enough time and am on my way. I roll into Del Monte mall and head to the store. I just happen to have to walk by the ATT hole in the wall and get to see some fake concern by another ATT employee while their customer shakes his head in disbelief.. I might mention I have a Buddie who loves Blackberries and would have a Torch were it not for the fact that you can "only get one from those F%$ks at ATT"... "never again for those 'holes" ..so in I go to a nicely lighted, good vibe of a store and am greeted. Can we help? I show the patient. Genuine sadness. I can get you together with someone who can explain your options to you in 10 minutes. OK..I'll amuse myself with iPads and MacBook Pros. I walked out of there 20 minutes later with a brand new iPhone. ..a one time good guy we love you and hope you love us please come back Bro 32GB iPhone.. set-up with my gMail account and my sync'd contacts just waiting for me to sync it up with the master playlist on iTunes when I get home. The guy was tired and distracted by a very good looking 20 something on her way to a concert who had spilled nail polish on her keyboard and we hoped she took a lot of time to explain the problem to us, but he was gonna take care of me.. Next time It'll set me back $200. But this time, it's a Bro deal.. I will buy an Apple laptop the next time I need a laptop. No doubt.. and questions remain unanswered, but I hate ATT with a passion. They are corporate pukes... and apple are corporate pukes too, but they have the good sense to keep most of their CPs (I know you guys ...remember? ..we used to be friends.. we may still be) in Cupertino kissing the feet of Steve ..who really could change the world someday. I've heard the rumors...(spying?) OK. But I don't care. A Great Big Thanks. I have been down the road with Apple before and know all there is not perfect.. but compared to ATT , Sony and Dell? Wow.. It's not so much the lesser of evils. It's that at this moment of truth when I had made a mistake, these guys were willing to feel my pain and help me out...we could use more empathy in business these days. Today I found it. ATT got the first shot and missed by a mile.. then Apple hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer for the Championship.
I'm typing this on a custom PC made by a guy named Evan.. no one will ever approach his level of service and I'm not female, good looking or a gamer.. just a guy who really wants to do business with "friends"... partners to patronize.. I found some today. Thanks Apple!

BTW: all apple stores are not equal.. it's not 5th Ave or SF, and whoever runs the Monterey store gets my vote for Exec of the year.. it's the unsung hero who takes the time to build a great team that has the right attitude when it counts.. Go see them the next time your here.. easy to find. Worth the trip!

Net Neutrality? Really Now...

2010-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

As the issue begins to surface again, I'm taken back to my days building the internet (putting the fiber in the ground, switching it and setting up access points for the internet etc..). Let's be realistic.. When Earth-link came to us and said, "we'll take all the bandwidth you can give us from LA to SF and as many local lines as you have anywhere you have them" you don't exactly treat them like the garage down on the corner with 4 lines and no dedicated data links... this is silly. Google and other great users are going to get treated different... the internet is not a "project" anymore. Some great stories in the New York Times and on GigaOm. My have we ever grown up. If you are feeling like you want to tell Google to stop being evil, here's the link to Credo: Click It.

In Search of Courage in Politics In California..and In Basketball.

2010-07-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

Headline in today's NYT: Governors Voice Grave Concerns on Immigration. And I have one thought.. Our Governors are concerned that the wrong choice(s) will be made and re-election will be hampered ("...worrying that it could cost a vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.").. Can we go on a search for a wealthy politician who doesn't care if he or she gets re-elected? Let's for once admit that most of the people are too ill-informed to develop a reasonable opinion about anything.. we need some leaders but our education system and corporations are determined to keep people dumb. Please watch TV and get you brains sucked out...Where is the next John Kennedy?

We have a roomful of Republicans who just bitch about everything as if none of it is their fault with no plan to fix anything..Are they part of? IWill a canoe sink in one end. Let's get the straight. We are in this together. All for one and one for all.. Brotherhood and Love is the only answer. California two ex-ceo's (who did terrible jobs turning great companies into impersonal awful and fear filled organizations) are talking about how the unemployment in California is all the Democrats fault.. One of them purged jobs in their last job faster than anyone could remember while she used company money to spy on the bosses who hired her. She attempted to run off some of the finest philanthropic individuals of her board. The heir of their once great companies' founder.

In a meaningful practice we learn to do the next right thing, not consider all the likely personal implications of our selfish motives... and then there was LeBron... I hope the Celtics whip you butt.. and if they don't, Orlando does.

Hands Across The Sands.. Join us at a Beach Near You on June 26th

2010-06-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hands Across the Sand is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about protection of our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, and fishing industry. Let us share our knowledge, energies and passion for protecting all of the above from the devastating effects of oil drilling.

A Message To The World

Hands Across the Sand is now international. Any person in any country may plan events on this website. This is a peaceful gathering of the people of the world. Planning an event is as simple as this:

Go to your beach on June 26 at 11 AM in your time zone.
Form lines in the sand and at 12:00, join hands.

The image is powerful, the message is simple. NO to Offshore Oil Drilling, YES to Clean Energy.

The Movement Started In Florida

In Florida on Saturday, February 13, 2010, a statewide gathering against offshore oil drilling occurred. Thousands of Floridians representing 60 towns and cities and over 90 beaches joined hands to protest the efforts by the Florida Legislature and the US Congress to lift the ban on oil drilling in the near and off shores of Florida. Florida’s Hands Across The Sand event was the largest gathering in the history of Florida united against oil drilling. Thousands joined hands from Jacksonville to Miami Beach and Key West to Pensacola Beach, each against oil drilling in Florida’s waters.

Mission Statement

To organize a national movement to oppose offshore oil drilling and champion clean energy and renewables. These gatherings will bring thousands of American citizens to our beaches and cities and will draw metaphorical and actual lines in the sand; human lines in the sand against the threat oil drilling poses to America’s coastal economies and marine environment.
To convince our State Legislators, Governors, Congress and President Obama to stop the expansion of offshore oil drilling and to adopt policies encouraging clean and renewable energy sources. America needs legislation that creates tax incentives and subsidies to encourage the growth of clean energy and renewable industries for America’s future.

An Opportunity of National Importance

Now is the time for America and our leaders to join hands and steer our country’s energy policy away from our dependence on fossil fuels and into the light of clean energy and renewables.

Join hands with us and draw a line in the sand against offshore oil drilling.

...have we named our favorite neighbor yet?

2010-06-08T23:44:00.001-07:00

.. the tree that guards the 8th..

2010-05-22T00:58:00.001-07:00

BPs haste lays waste to Gulf Waters.. Maddow Reports.

2010-05-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Salinas Golf and Country Club 9th Hole

2010-05-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

..at the bottom of the hill, close to the treehouse..

2010-04-26T16:17:00.001-07:00

The Prince of Wales speaks at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

2010-04-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Please see the Prince's Rainforests Project and do what you can to help...

Sunset Tonight at the Treehouse

2010-04-01T19:42:00.001-07:00

Tiger at Augusta..this has nothing to do with Buddhism

2010-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have to write this for my own sanity. Too many emails and so forth.. I understand recovery. I started the journey almost 30 years ago.. seen 'em come and go and I have no idea what Tiger should or should not do..BUT I do know this. When I was free of the things that brought me to my knees I was not free of the things that troubled me and I had to find peace. The easiest way to do that was to be decent in all my affairs.

I met an old man.. Near 80 at the time who had been sober for nearly 40 years. He was willing to spend time with me. A lot of time with me.. and he showed me by his actions how to find the comfortable way of living that seems to elude so many who come in for a break in the action.. So if Tiger asked for my help, I'd know what to do with him... the same thing that kind old man (well there were times he was not so kind) did with me.. and as he used to say, "if you stop doing what you were doing, 85-90% of your troubles will go away in time. The steps will fix another 5% of your troubles and the rest you are going to have to learn to live with and be a man about it.".

But there's another Problem. Brad Faxon wrote on Golf.com that he was "much more concerned about Tiger's being treated by the Toronto doctor, Anthony Galea, who was arrested in Canada last October on drug charges, a doctor who admits to using human growth hormone.". Tiger needs to square up and be a man about everything.. He needs to fire Stevie and his management team and hire decent human beings with good manners. As we say, "if you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it, you only need to change one thing.. and that's everything." Good for Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer for explaining their thinking about Tiger.. He's needs to take the questions and start to humbly act like a gentleman.. no more F-bombs on the course.. We've heard enough.. what a talent he is.. time to grow up.

Amazing to see the newcomers. Some say they are the most important people in recovery. That's not true. They do not know how to be yet and they all get very spiritual very quickly.. this all takes time and Tiger can't do it by himself. Elin is in need of a lot of help as well..the whole team needs help. That's how it works. and then as Brad says.. he needs to be a player among players.. that will sound very familiar to those who know.

The Masters will soon be here... Two weeks ago we were soaked. Yesterday it was spring.

2010-03-24T19:38:00.001-07:00

Pictures of the Coast near Big Sur and Pebble Beach

2010-03-17T22:04:00.001-07:00

..more Big Sur and Cypress Point Pics

2010-03-17T19:27:00.001-07:00

maybe if I post their pics I'll stay out of them...at Cypress Point

2010-03-17T18:49:00.001-07:00