No Junk Mail, Please!
With no scheduled meetings or sites we have to see, we were free to explore Ponsonby Road and the California-like neighborhood where we are staying. There are many small bungalows and stately early 1900s era buildings, and cool cafes and shops along this main thoroughfare. Before we set out, Proprietor […]
Air New Zealand: A Luxurious Ride in the Sky
We took the long flight last night from LAX to Auckland. Air New Zealand did not disappoint, business class was just as much fun and as comfy as we had hoped for. My friend Johnny Jet told me on the phone before we left that he had one of the […]
Saturday on Venice Beach
Our day in Marina del Rey began with a walk. A marathon walk all around the marina, we basked in the bright sunlight that has eluded us so long in our New England home. We walked and walked, and talked about our idea to come out here in February and […]
The Crappy Van Should Have Tipped Us Off
We landed last night at LAX about 47 minutes ahead of schedule. That gave us time to call the hotel shuttle and wait about 30 minutes for the decrepid van festooned with signs about the LA Adventurer ‘All Suite’ hotel. Ugh. You can just tell what happened next. The beat-up […]
Even Though People are Talkin’ The Cafe Grows On
Last night as I was playing with little Nathan, I flipped the TV to the Deerfield channel. This is where you see people having televised meetings to govern the town. Imagine my surprise that just as I tuned in, they were talking about the cafe. Board member Steve, a familiar […]
Can Concrete Balls Stop a Volcano’s Mud Flow?
In last night’s Wall St. Journal a story was told about how a geophysicist in Indonesia is trying to stanch the flow of mud from an erupting volcano—by dropping concrete balls down into the crater. It’s a last ditch effort to keep the mud from destroying more houses, and factories […]
Al Gore is a Man You Can Tell Your Kids About
Richard Cohen writes a syndicated column for the Washington Post, and he wrote today about a true American hero: Al Gore. Like a billion others, I watched Al up there on the Oscar stage, and I agree with Cohen–Gore’s a winner, regardless of what happened back in 2000. “Now it […]
Podcasting from New Zealand
Plans are being laid for our upcoming trip: this includes recording podcasts and interviews, daily blogging on the Newzealand.com website, and picking and choosing which doodads and gizmos to bring on the trip. So far one little item, a flashlight called a Flaresafe, with a built-in smoke detector, has made […]
Eric and Bill Await in LA
Today was a fantastic day in the cafe, waves of people came in to admire the new space. I am working this afternoon but I still had time to make plans for our New Zealand adventure that begins on Friday. Cindy and I fly to LA and will meet up […]
Equity Firm Buyout Signals Climate Change Shift
Today’s NY Times and Business Wire included an inspiring story about the largest leveraged buyout ever–and one that will benefit the environment, since it involves one of the biggest utility companies in the US. TXU corporation has agreed to be purchased by a team of private equity firms and abandon […]
They Used To Grind the Coffee in Starbucks
Howard Schultz wrote a long memo last week that was described in a Wall Street Journal article about customer disenchantment with Starbucks. Schultz is the company’s chairman, and he warned fellow executives that all of the efficiencies brought on by their rapid growth has diluted the experience, and that they […]
Talk about Bad Karma!
The AP included a story today about a salesman has a pattern: he tells his bosses that his son has cancer or has died, and then goofs off for months. He’s done it three times, and this last episode landed him in court, he has to repay $50K. “Lancope Inc. […]
Looking Out from the Cafe
The Daily Hampshire Gazette interviewed me about the newly renovated cafe. But they didn’t send a photog and reporter Cris Carl told me she was only writing a short little piece, and didn’t shoot any photos. So here is what would be in the paper if they included a photo.
Stokin’ the Star Makin Machinery at the Cafe
Jacylyn Stevenson is one of our favorite writers who is writing a feature about blogging for Business West Magazine. I was happy to speak with her again, she wrote a detailed story about the GoNOMAD travel website when we moved into our first office in town in 2004. I told […]
Breathe….Plenty of Room to Breathe in the Cafe
The cafe expansion is expanding people’s minds as our physical space has grown. It feels like now you can come inside and stretch your hands out by your sides and not still not feel crowded. Space, it seems, is good. I visited with my friends, brothers Darren and Sean Pierce, […]
The Wows Have it in the Expanded Cafe
Even though I didn’t hit the pillow until about 2 am, it was up, up, up even before little early riser Nathan (but after his dad Francisco who plowed out of the driveway at 5:24 am)to return to the cafe. I was groggy but excited. I was excited the way […]
My God, it’s ALMOST time for Coffee Again
Here I sit, it’s 12:51 am, and we’re FINALLY finished (almost) renovating the cafe. Jim Taylor, my project manager, has gone home with Barry, his able-bodied assistant, Joe trundled off to bed after a long battle finally won reconnecting the internet…Liz finished her mopping and putting away around 12:15, and […]