Can't Contain The Excitement or Is That Contempt?

The wait looks to be over for the General Plan Committee (GPAC). Sitting on their hands for the last nine months has given birth to ta da....a draft of the "new" general plan...but wait that sounds like immaculate conception. I know the question on the tip of your tongue - wasn't the idea of a community committee with diverse view points appointed for this data review. Gather, sift thru and prepare the rough draft that leads to ahem...a final rough draft. Cut straight to the final draft! Magically, as if a magic wand was waved and Poof- no muss no fuss. This draft is available for review and public comment until March 19th when public comments will end.
Huh? My thinly veiled contempt for the process is still an angst to be worked out, so here again I subscribe to the RX dose of what's good for you. Information.
Except information isn't easily disseminated in this supposedly transparent process of collecting data, community member weighing in (where GPAC comes in, in theory of course.) Not to be secret squirrel but another bright, articulate community member shared her angst with me recently about the wasted opportunity and abilities of the community demographic that I like to call kids, furniture, and big mortgage (KFBM)

Wonders of all wonders- GPAC meets, not really, no teasing. They will review this "draft" of which they had very little if any contribution on Friday the 5th..Two days away!

For the community to move ahead, it can't remain the high school musical that best describes the social variety I have come to loath here. The breadth of knowledge that GPAC represents equates to a loss of opportunity. To really embrace change, and give a critical eye to things that need objective. Window dressing aside, GPAC should be allowed to take the reins on this uber important task of General Plan Update...The "draft" prepared by staff that will be discussed needs more that two weeks of public review.

Baa aah bah bah. Are we sheep? Seems like our town government sure thinks so. Let's not let them try to pull the wool over our eyes. Contempt should be a community value in this instance.

Please chime in on this important process.

Where's The Push Back?

For forty six years a hospital had served Los Gatos then in the blink of an eye it was gone. Surprisingly not much news or interest followed. Tenet Healthcare pulled the plug on our community last year without an exit strategy and laid off over 500. Locked the doors and left as a way of protecting it's own bottom line. So much for those "community" values Tenet talked up.
Close that chapter, and begin a new when El Camino Hospital of Mountain View administrators announced in December that they were in escrow with property owner Long Beach-based HCP Inc. a health-care real estate investment firm to buy the Los Gatos Hospital.
Now this potential safety net is in jeopardy.
A petition signed by 121 residents within the public hospital district, which includes Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, most of Sunnyvale, and a small portion of Cupertino is currently being circulated to stop the purchase. (Residents of the district elect the hospital board which approved the acquisition plan.)
During the Feb. 11 th Board of Directors of El Camino Hospital meeting petitioners were given three minutes to comment. Items discussed: concerns of bad timing to buy the $45 million hospital during an economic downturn, and that the facility will cost another $10 million to $20 million to bring it up to seismic standards, and more for start-up costs. Judy Twitchell, El Camino spokesperson is not sure of the cost of the earthquake upgrades, but said the upgrades could be spread out over several years. The hospital, she added, would not comment on initial start-up costs. The purchase would help El Camino meet its strategic plan by expanding services to residents outside its district. El Camino administrators said the hospital currently has $300 million in unrestricted funds generated from profit, and that taxpayer funds would not go toward the new acquisition. The hospital spends about $8 million collected in district taxes each year on community outreach and capital costs.
"El Camino Hospital has been very conservative and well managed over the last several years, and we really are in a good position to do this," Twitchell said. "In a tough economy, it is good to have a strong financial position."El Camino Hospital has the capacity and interest to help meet the health care needs of our neighboring community as administrators began negotiating last summer, but said they could release only limited information due to a strict disclosure agreement.
The closing of the Community Hospital affects property values, but more importantly services and outreach that benefit the entire community. This issue is worthy of your attention. Please consider attending the Wednesday, March 11, 2009 meeting at 5:30 p.m El Camino Hospital, 2500 Grant Road, Mountain View, California 94040

State your opinion for the record. Let's let the Board of Directors of El Camino Hospital know how important and welcome this transition will be. A little push back from our community is needed. Plus it would be nice to see if we have a pulse.

Fun With Ear Plugs

In a household where you can cut the testosterone with a knife (my husband and two man cubs) What to do with all that manliness? Take it to the Monster Truck Jam.

As a transplanted midwesterner, who rode motocross after giving up dressage the love of all things loud has not left me after years of Californication. Suffice to say I have a bit more testosterone than girls are normally supposed to posses. Remember those headlocks from third grade? Still fun especially when you add high heels but that's for another forum. Back to testosterone and the always intimidating Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. Our nosebleed seats= birds eye views of trucks that resembled radio controlled cars in a sandbox. The surprise of the evening, two of the monster trucks [The Monster Mutt Dalmatian and Jurassic Attack] were driven by gasp.... girls... low and behold they drove those big trucks better than the burly crowd.

Surrounded by a sea of facially pierced parents with overweight kids sucking down sodas- what's not to love for a Saturday Night? Olympic gold medal people watching moment: brushed acrylic talons sporting day glow pink polish, gripping a huge hotdog in one beefy mitt and a domestic beer in the other.

Haven't had this much fun people watching since the hay days of Club Trocadero's Bondage- a go-go.

The sucker punch of the evening was the $25 parking fee. Overall evening fell into the opera box seat cost once you figured in the food, ticket price, and parking. Domestic beer still tastes like cold bathwater, but hey- when in Rome. The biggest distraction of the evening was a text message from a friend who was enjoying the Randy Weston show at Yoshi's.

Break with the day to day to embrace the unusual for an unusually great time. Just remember the demographic mix represents the same as the big time wrestling crowd.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

A major victory was scored this week helping freedom of the press become a bit more free.

This week President Obama ended the ban on news organizations photographing the flag-covered coffins of American soldiers killed in Iraq as they return to the United States through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. NPR has a great segment this week with families discussing the freedom of press issue and the grieving process

The last eight years ate away the true picture of war with the Pentagon keeping any photos of flag-draped coffins out of the media. Afraid the pictures would become a testament to the toll of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as of the sacrifice borne by those who serve in the military and their families. The ceremony known as the "dignified transfer of remains" performed nearly 5,000 times since the start of the Iraq is hidden from public view by the Pentagon. Air Force cargo jets land and taxi down the runway at Dover Air Force Base, Del., carrying the remains of fallen U.S. troops. After a chaplain says a simple prayer, an eight-member military honor guard removes the metal "transfer cases" from the planes and carries them to a mortuary van.

President George H.W. Bush's administration imposed the ban on media coverage of the arrival of fallen troops' remains at Dover Air Force Base during the Gulf War in February 1991.

This change will bring about the transparency missing from the reporting process. Nice to see the media given it's teeth back. As a photographer I hail this important policy change to bring a full story to the public.

A picture is worth a thousand words

My Name Is: Priti Manek

TGIF. Let's lighten things up a bit. As we wait for the markets to cease the back flips for stimulus monies forth coming a little levity might bee the mental Burt's bees (chap stick metaphor) we all need. The BBC had a really funny article about unfortunate names.

The case of the name was changed to protect the innocent did not seem to occur to any of the following People:
Sue Mee

Pearl Button

Jo King

Barry Cade

Carrie Oakey

Tim Burr
Justin Case
Barb Dwyer
Stan Still
Rose Bush.

It sounds like a bad joke, but a study has revealed that there really are unfortunate people with the above mentioned names in the UK. Yes, it's true...we can't take credit for all of the stupidity on the globe. Just a bit. Just imagine having to introduce yourself to a crowd as Doug Hole or HazelNutt. I would hope that a line item exsists in the parents' financial spread sheet to cover therapy as the teasing would never end.

The names were uncovered by researchers from parenting group based in the UK TheBabyWebsite.com after trawling through online telephone records. When the parents of some of those people mentioned named their children, many probably didn't even realise the implications at the time. Spare a thought for Anna Prentice, Annette Curtain and Bill Board the next time you sign your name. The brits don't hold the bag on this: a string of Americans also have very job-specific names, including Dr Leslie Doctor, Dr Thoulton Surgeon and Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Mary Christmas and Anna Sasin.

All of this nonsense is reminiscent of Sunday morning shtick Click and Clack. But the research is more upsetting because the researchers who uncovered these catchy names actually assume these oblivious parents will access a baby website? I suppose dental care might be high on the parents list too so we have the perfect referral : Dr. Les Plack - a dentist in San Francisco.

Act Now

The economy is bad when the pharmaceutical company's start sending sweet emails with rebate offers attached.

To augment my argument- Restylaneusa [parent company: medicis aesthetics] would like me to send off the box tops of this injectable spa product to collect 150 dollars. Typically the spa crowd isn't the same crowd clipping coupons or sending in rebates, but who knows..in trying times it's tough to say. It harks back to those nostalgic daze of collecting the cereal box tops for the prized piece o crap. Thinking back to the code decoder ring from Fruity Pebbles still pisses me off that it took a lifetime to finally ship..remember in child years 6 to 8 weeks was literally a big chunk of lifetime.

Not familiar with the product of which I describe? It's the backbone of the medspa crowd for filling in facial folds, wrinkles and most commonly lips. You really didn't think Angelina Jolie had a recessive gene did you? Should you seek out these enhancements, seek out Ms. Lynn Bartels. She trains the best and brightest in the use of these products and has an artistic eye unparalleled in the biz. How do I know? Suffice to say it's on a need to know basis.

So if you see me sporting the pole dancer (hey I resemble that statement) big pouty lip look you will know that I have succumbed to the sweet song of the pharma marketing dept.

Is it wrong? No, I suppose a little local stimulus helps my own "stimulus."

Y Drive The Yukon XL?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.