Shooting Film over the Holidays

I took some pictures with my Diana camera while I was home, here are a few of the family.

Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

I was moved by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's "special comment" on television last night, asking why people would support Prop 8.



"I keep hearing this term 're-defining' marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967."

Full transcript of the video is here.

Election Day!

Here's some last minute inspiration. Now go out and vote!



And apologies for the lack of posts around here. I've been busy on twitter!

Papa's New Digs

Casts Off!

What's a man to do?

As I rode the bus home from UC Berkeley today couldn't help but overhear the man sitting 2 rows in front of me's cell phone conversation. He was a strong, good looking, clean cut man with obvious scars on his knuckles and elbows.

He explained to his friend that he had just gotten back from serving in Iraq 2 weeks ago and just got notice that he had to return in 2 weeks for 3 more years of service. He explained that he hadn't the heart to tell his wife and didn't know what to do. He kept saying how he couldn't kill another man again, and as his voice cracked he said, "we can't just keep doing this shit to these people." He talked about how horrible it was and how he wondered if he should go AWOL, and wished he could just join the circus instead of going back to kill more people. Then as he began to cry he said he had no one to blame but himself because he had signed up for the service willingly. He just had no idea what he was getting into when he signed up.

As I listened a frog formed in my throat. I realized that while I know we are at war, and am passionately against it, I have not been personally touched by a love one having to go war. It must be awful.

I do not support unjust wars, but appreciate the sacrifices people have made to fight a war that even they sometimes do not support.

What a mess. I wanted to say, "I'm sorry." But I didn't.

Twitter!

You've noticed that Nico and I haven't been posting here recently. It's been a busy summer -- my company launched an Olympics service for NBC and Nico made his way back to California from Paris.

I know that personally, I just haven't had the time to sit down and type out a decent blog post.

But I have been posting daily mini updates to Twitter about what I'm doing. Sometimes, it seems, life happens between blog posts and emails. Here's my page:

http://www.twitter.com/andresala

What's Twitter, you ask?

Check out this great video titled "Twitter in Plain English:"



Start an account and follow me and Nico by clicking the follow button under our pictures.

http://www.twitter.com/andresala
http://www.twitter.com/neekz

Once setup you can just visit your personalized Twitter homepage to see all your friend's updates, or you can have Twitter send a text message with your friend's tweets as they go out. You can also use RSS or a great little iphone app called Twitterific to stay in touch. You can also have Twitter send your tweets to Facebook as your status updates (I do).

Happy tweeting! Be sure to let us know what your Twitter names are so that we can follow you back!

Happy 30th Birthday Stephanie

Holy smokes, time flies. Stephanie, we love you. Happy birthday.

Love,

André and the other monkeys.

P.S. I really meant it when I said I was sorry about pushing you off the bear.

If you love Rendez-Vous...

If you love Rendez-Vous give them a great review on one of the many sites out there! Here are some more pictures from the other night, they were packed, there was a line waiting for tables!!!

www.Zagat.com
www.urbanspoon.com
www.yelp.com
www.openlist.com
reviews.judysbook.com
www.kango.com
www.insiderpages.com
local.yahoo.com
www.mytravelguide.com
www.restaurantica.com/restaurants
eastbay.citysearch.com
dineview.com

I know there are many more, but here's few and if everyone does one it can only help get the word out about this awesome restaurant with the best wall murals I have ever seen!

A Visual Journey Through French Culture

Edit this post and add your best pictures!

And the winner is...

You decide! Cast your votes now in the comments section of this posting!

While in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico we celebrated the closing ceremonies for the moustache games. All card carrying members of the US chapter of the Paris Moustache Club are included in this photo. After it was taken the entire stock of razor blades at the local supermarket, "Rizo," was depleted and the entire population of Puerto Vallarta was forced into growing facial hair while the Gringos pictured above had faces as soft as "la nalga de un bebe."

The old man gets my vote for displaying a well groomed bigote with out one hair going astray. A sign of an experienced moustache bearer...

Rendez Vous Cafe Bistro = Open!

After months of hard work, Memo, Laurent and co. have finally opened their new restaurant on Solano avenue, Rendez-Vous Café Bistro. Grand Opening was Wednesday, May 7th, and I hear they've been packed!

My father, Memo and Laurent are pictured above in the beautiful space designed by the former of the three. Nico also contributed in the design of the big wall murals. I've been in the space many times, and can't wait to finally take a seat for dinner service next time I'm in town from NYC.

I've been listening to the web for any reviews, and so far people are responding well.

As that first post on chowhound mentions, Memo's Beef Daube is one of the signature dishes (it's awesome). They also make an incredible soup au pistou that's bound to be popular. Next time I'm in town I hope to take lots of photographs of their plates for food-porn on flickr.

Speaking of flickr, click here for more photos from the grand opening!

Aaaaah...Vinegar!

When Grandpa died I got a cleaning bug. It was sort of like breaking up with a boyfriend or having a long time employee quit or finishing finals week in college; all of the sudden I had the urge to clean everything.

As those who were close to him know very well Grandpa had very particular tastes in food and vinegar was one of his favorites!

At about the same time I learned of the amazing power of cleaning with vinegar. A little diluted vinegar in a spray bottle will kill mold, bacteria, and mildew, and makes any surface shine and sparkle like no other substance can. It is a deodorizer and a great pre-rinse in the dishwasher, it also will take away that nasty musty smell when you have left your clothes in the washer for a few too many days before transferring them to the dryer. It makes your windows so clean you'll have birds crashing into them. AND, (this is what would get grandpa really excited) it's cheap! Much cheaper than any store bought cleaning supplies you can find. AND, (this is what gets me really excited) it's environmentally friendly and non-toxic!

You should try it some time! And think of grandpa while you're doing it!

A WORD OF CAUTION:
I do not recommend using non-diluted vinegar during the rainy season for cleaning the interior of your car, especially to clean carpet stains. I made this mistake when I was trying to see my Audi. It was hard to sell smelling like vinegar and all fogged up. I guess you could say I went a little overboard. BUT the clean windows did get lots of compliments!

Taj takes the lead

(in the mustache competition)

It's On: Mustache Games Mexico 2008

As many of you know, my brother Nico has been living in Paris, France. He's taken to the lifestyle, eating camenbert daily and avoids deodorant.



He's also gotten involved in the Paris Mustache Club, and has challenged me to a mustache-grow-off. Judging to be held in April at a private location in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Nico supplied the above photograph as proof of "the potency of French mustaches," claiming it represents only one day of growth.

I'm taking this challenge seriously and have been researching various mustache potions, elixirs and tonics. Please share any advice for serious facial hair growth in the comments. (hint hint Uncle Francis.)

Should I aim for a basic Burt Reynolds' mustache, or something more fancy along the lines of a handlebar, fu-manchu, salvador dali or take a chance with freestyle?

Who will win out with the nicest nose neighbor? I'm guaranteeing photos from the competition.

There is no way McCain will win the General Election.

Watch this video from Veracifier:



There is just no way he's got a chance in the General Election against Hillary or Obama. Absolutely zero chance.

Toy Fair 2008

This week I am in New York for Toy Fair, the toy industry's annual trade show. It is where new toys are launched and provides me with an opportunity to find new vendors, see new products, look for trends, and network. It is long tiring work, I make a point to see every booth.

During a typical day at toy fair I will take the subway to Penn Station, then hop on a shuttle bus to the Javitz Center. When I arrive my buyer's badge is scanned as I get on the escalator. I'll start at one end of the building and snake my way up and down aisles systematically looking at the toys in the booths as I go. If something sparks my interest I will ask for a catalog or ask for the sales people to give me their schpeel. I ask questions about best sellers, how much I have to order, prices, where the companies ship from, what materials the toys are made out of and if they are offering any show specials. It is always helpful to hear from the companies' best sales people what makes their product great because it gives me tols for me to use in my own store seling the saem things to my customers. I continue walking my way through the Javitz trying to sift through the junk and find quality toys with reasonable prices that will fit in with the mix of toys I carry in my store. There are toys to ride, rockets to fly, balls to throw, books to read, teddy bears to hug, puzzles to solve, and games to play. By the end of the day I am exhausted from sensory overload from the bright lights, flashy colors, sounds and flying objects whizzing through the air.

The big trend this year seems to be green toys. Many booths had "green" or "eco-friendly" signs in their booth somewhere and many offered a segment of their line as being "green." It was very interesting looking at this trend, asking questions, and listening to the vendor's responses. Some it seem throw in the green word as an afterthought. They decide that for one reason or another their product is green and use it as a marketing gimmick to sell toys. On the other end of the spectrum there are a few companies who are really committed to it and understand why many toys on the market today have a negative impact on the earth.

The way I see it here are some of the major ways the toy industry traditionally has had a negative impact on the environment:
1) Most toys are not made with renewable resources
2) Plastic toys are not biodegradable
3) There is a huge emphasis on packaging selling the toy it contains. Lots of this packaging is made from plastic.
4) Most electronic toys use batteries to power them
5) Toys made over seas must be shipped to us to sell in our store. Transportation is a huge source of pollution.
6) Toys made over seas are in many cases not as strictly regulated as they are in other parts of the world.
7) Cheap toys that break end up in landfills

Some of the companies I encountered are really committed to fixing the problems I have listed above. Some are committed but haven't created a realistic business model and are out of touch with the market. Others have been extremely innovative technologically, but lack in design or functionality or the price point is way too high. The toy industry has always been driven by innovation. It has been a joy to see how the green revolution has added an additional layer to the challenge of designing great cutting edge toys.

Here are some of the things green toy companies are doing that excited me:
1) I particularly liked Tea Sets made from recycled plastic milk bottles collected curbside in Northern California
2) One booth thought it through completely: their lights were all LEDs, their products were made in the USA, they used corrugated cardboard for their pictures, all of their printed matter used soy based inks on recycled paper including their packaging
3) One planted 2 trees for every 1 they cut down
4) Lots of vendors are using organic cotton, rubber wood trees, farmed wood,
5) A few used friction to power lights and sounds on the toys instead of batteries
6) There's a new technology that uses recycled sawdust and processes it in a way that makes it a mush that can be injected into molds and dries hard like plastic but is safe, biodegradable, and uses recycled materials

I was struck by the irony of what these companies claiming to be green do in practice:
1) In an effort to market that they were green companies produce of brochures and flyers. Tons of them printed glossy non-recycled paper.
2) A company eliminated batteries by using friction to power their toys. The toys were made from newly made plastic.
3) Another launching a green segment of their line handed me a bag filled with catalogs and price lists. The bag was plastic.
4) A plush company showed me a stuffed polar bear whose fur was made from soy, the insides were stuffed with a flower harvested from rain forests. Too bad the eyes and tags were non-biodegradable plastic.


I am left seeing a void in the toy industry which will hopefully soon be filled. We need to have some sort of certification process to becoming green. At this point while for some it is a passion and devotion, for others it is meerly a marketing gimmick like the word "extreme" was a few years back. What does it mean to be a green toy? How much smaller must they make their carbon footprint to qualify as green? Who will regulate it? Is eliminating one source of the problems I have listed above while not addressing the others enough to really be considered green?

As a business owner myself I am faced with decisions all of the time and am constantly weighing how making changes to the way I do business will affect its profitability. Some things like recycling and saving energy save money. Others such as using paper bags made with at least 50% post-consumer recycled material cost us a lot. Do we stop gift wrapping gifts because it is a waste of paper or continue to offer the service because it gives us a competitive edge? Do we stop selling plastic toys entirely or give customers green alternatives and let them decide?

Overall I see this years trend as a good thing. Even if vendors are not 100% green at least the seed has been planted and they have taken one step in the right direction and are thinking about it. Being green is not an all or nothing thing. There's a huge learning curve and we have a long road ahead of us. Every bit counts. Something is better than nothing. At least we are headed in the right direction.

Iniana Jones made out of Lego



R2D2 and 3CPO made out of Lego



Giant Ugly Dolls walking around

I tried getting a picture of the guy doing a back flip on a pogo stick, but my timing was off

My Green Toy Store

I try and live my life in a green way. I also try and encourage others to minimize their carbon footprint as well. Yes, I drive a hybrid. Yes, I recycle. Yes, I bring my own re-useable bags to the grocery store. Yes, I clean with environmentally friendly products. Yes, I use energy efficient light bulbs. Yes, I try walk to work. Yes, I avoid buying product with excessive plastic packaging. Yes, I'll put on a sweater before turning on my heater.

I own the Bay Area's first and so far only green certified toy store. We went through an extensive certification process, and got signed off by a handful of utility companies and agencies who verified that we are in fact green. We qualified based on simple things we did already, but we also were given ideas and resources that allowed us to easily become even more green.

Here is a list of 20 things we do at my store to be green:
1) Recycle!
2) Reuse boxes and shipping material
3) Bring lunch in re-useable tupperware instead of plastic baggies
4) Ask if customers need a bag rather than assume
5) Offer quality toys that last a long time so they can be passed on and won't end up in landfill
6) Avoid products with excessive packaging
7) Install low-flow water fixtures
8) Offer a green bag discount program for customers
9) Use both sides of paper before recycling it
10) Encourage staff to walk, take public transit, or bike to work
11) Carry products made from renewable resources, recycled materials, and organic cloth
12) Use energy star rated equipment
13) Use paper scraps and paper clips instead of post-its
14) Run several errands at once when driving
15) Use dry-erase boards and emails for employee memos instead of paper
16) Donate damaged toys to organizations who fix them and reuse them
17) Use airflow from open windows and doors for cooling
18) Purchase supplies made from recycled materials
19) Support local, green businesses
20) Walk to do errands

My list above is by no means complete. The most important thing I do to be green is encourage others to be green.


Some of the most important parts of going green is making it convenient, being realistic about it, and forming good habits. If going green becomes a burden or requires life style changes that have a net negative effect on one's life they are not likely to commit or follow through. Every bit helps, if everyone chips in just a little we can make a big impact on our world.

Hybrid Zen

I finally did it! I sold my Audi A3 and bought a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. While I absolutely loved my Audi it was just too small for me and what I do schlepping boxes, kids, dogs, bikes, groceries, etc. all the time. The Highlander is roomy, and can seat up to 7! And it is much better for the environment than a traditional gas guzzling SUV or Mini Van.

Admittedly it has taken some adjusting to. For one there's no key, just a door unlocker. The car is so smart it uses bluetooth technology to sense that the unlocker is in my purse and when I approach and grab the door handle it unlocks the door for me. To start the engine I push an "on" button. My favorite part is that it has a rear view camera that turns on every time I put the car in reverse. I can see if there are any kids or dogs or bumpers I am about to hit!

The biggest change though is what I call "Hybrid Zen." The car runs on an electric engine when I am driving below 30 MPH, then kicks in to regular mode and charges the electric battery when I brake. The electric engine is very quiet, no purring like a kitten here!

Let's face it I am always busy racing from here to there, trying to fit every thing i to my too short day. And to keep me moving all day I drink lots of strong coffee, but this can give me anxiety and make me a little impatient. Now that I have a hybrid it has been like a little game to see how high I can get my MPGs so I try and run as much as possible on the electric engine. There's a moment when the car shuts off the gas motor and suddenly all is silent around me. I am not in such a hurry because I actually enjoy being below 30MPH and I breathe deeply and enjoy life for that one calm moment. Ahhhhh, Hybrid Zen, I love it!

Toaster obsession continues

The recent flood broke our shiny red toaster, which means I'm back on the prowl.

Although I'll probably replace it with a toaster oven (as opposed to the current spring-mounted-two-slice design), this video makes me drool: