Ugh

Feeling just a bit overwhelmed right now...I tend to in general anyway, just trying to keep straight all the "stuff" in our lives: work and various obligations and deadlines there, the store and the various demands it places on us, kids and their various needs, and all the peripheral stuff like bills to pay, chores and yardwork around the house, etc.   But right now, something very specific is making me panic.

I got this harebrained idea that for EcoReno's first anniversary/grand opening party, I would do a workshop on building your own solar oven.  I've always wanted to, didn't seem too hard, and seemed like a good little "event" to have at the shop.  And now, after weeks of trying to secure the perfect sized boxes, accumulating other required items, and scrutinizing various plans, I've reached the conclusion that I'm totally screwed.  It's way too complicated, I don't have the right size pieces of cardboard, and I'm in over my head.  I really don't want to be a quitter on this, but I just don't see how I can do it.  I have no idea if anyone will even show up, if it'll be just one person or a dozen, or what.  Failure.

As long as I'm here, a brief update on the assorted other stuff in our lives.  Sid is recuperating well from his little surgery recently.  Details a bit too personal to go into here, but all seems well in his recovery.  Lola's down to two days per week at Noah's Ark, and her time at EcoReno with Morgan seems to be good for all involved.  I was lucky enough to have pizza lunch with her at school yesterday!  And then dinner at the Santa Fe for Paige's birthday.  Overall, everyone is doing OK, a bit of a common cold making the rounds at our house, Nana coming to visit next week, and, as always, lots of being busy all the time.

Someday, I will get some new pictures loaded here.  Really.

Publicity

Life has been so busy.  That is probably very obvious by how little we get to blog. But when funny, irritating, or weird stuff happens, I feel it necessary to update you all.

EcoReno is awesome. I love doing it and I love making a difference. I have also become very receptive to free publicity. You want a news story on green cleaners? You got it!  Anything to get the word out.

I got a call from KOLO a few weeks ago wanting to do a story on green cleaning products.  A very nice reporter called and asked if she could shoot footage and then come back to shoot live for their morning show. Yep, the morning show that airs from 5am to 7am. What time should I be here Monday? 4:15am. Again, free publicity.

We shot the some footage on Friday morning - a reasonable time of 10am. We confirmed for Monday morning at 4:15. (Let me remind you that even though there is a Starbucks across the lot, they don't even open that early!) She said the only thing that would keep them is breaking news. I think she said something about WWIII.

I had been having problems with the cell phone, but never gave it a second thought. I drug my butt out of bed at 3:45 after a restless night. I kept thinking that I would over sleep. I got dressed, made myself presentable, and took off into the dark morning. There weren't many people out, a few early morning people heading to work and passed a few guys probably heading home from a bar. Oh, and I got a full moon. Who does that? Okay, besides Kelly Ricciardi?  Seriously, a big, white ugly butt thrown in my face. Ewwwwww!  Got into the store, locking myself in quickly, and disabled the alarm.

BEEP.  BEEP. Ah, a message on the phone. BREAKING NEWS!!  Not WWIII, but a body found near Caughlin Ranch. No live shoot for me. There had a been a message left on my cell phone and she hoped that I had gotten it before I left the house. NOPE, because my cell phone is acting up and I didn't do anything to try and fix it. It was a simple fix too - turn off and back on. I headed back home to bed. When I got into the bedroom, Marc asked if I had even left, that is how little time had passed.

The story did air. They used the previously shot footage and I am also happy to say that it aired again during the evening news. I heard it while cooking dinner. So, worth it, but I can tell you that I will be sure that cell phone is working before I head out for a 4:15am shoot!

Other updates: Dad was just here and we had a great visit including the Sacramento Zoo.  The kids are great - both getting so big! Sid's sitter, Michelle, is telling us that he is very interested in the potty. Trained before his second birthday? You never know.

Back to it

Sheesh, over two weeks since last I wrote here. Between holidays and the usual busy-ness of life with two kids and running a business, blogging has taken a back seat, clearly.

We had a nice Christmas, snow and all, and a visit from Aunt Patty to round things out. Lola has hardly had any time on her trampoline that Santa brought, between cold, snow, and punishment for some pretty bad naughty times we've seen in recent weeks, she hasn't had more than a dozen bounces on it, poor thing.  We're all enjoying the Wii Fit we got, and myself, I've used my Skeletool and new headlamp multiple times, but hardly touched the two books I got that I'm very excited about.  I was truly rewarded with some great stuff.

Weather-wise, irony abounds - our friend in Portland barely made it out of there they had so much snow last month, and today, 2nd week of January, it was almost 60 degrees here. I saw a guy in shorts and short-sleeve shirt outside today! (Oh, and reports from southern France, normally balmy on the Mediterranean coast, are of COLD nasty weather there too!) Weird winter, to say the least.

At EcoReno, business was pretty good leading up to the holidays, but has certainly slowed now.  That's not unexpected in retail, particularly in the economic climate we find ourselves in.  We're starting our monthly EcoChats, little environmental lectures/seminars, this Saturday, expanding our product selection all the time, building lots of great word of mouth and buzz in the community, and getting publicity more and more.  We got a mention on the radio and a TV spot - if you check the EcoReno blog (and if you don't, you really should, we do post stuff there that's worth seeing, and if you like us enough to read this site, you should definitely read that one too), you've already seen this, but it's worth including here too.  May I present, a small portion of my 15 minutes of fame:

[flv:http://goecoreno.com/EcoRenoKRNV.flv 480 368]

And lastly, I'm happy to say I've updated photos in Lola's album, Sid's album, and added photos from Lola's (sort of broken second-hand) new digital camera she got for Christmas.

We're nine days away from a new President.  Happy 2009 to all.

Hell hath no fury

Wow, keeping up some semblance of a regular schedule of posting amusing anecdotes here is getting harder and harder.  Between family, the store, and now the holidays descending upon us, blogging keeps getting pushed further and further down the priority list.

I'm here to tell you about what happens when a four-year-old cumulatively loses about 4 hours sleep in a weekend.  We had people over on Friday and Lola was up late being the life of the party.  Then Saturday, we went to dinner at friends and she stayed up late with her DG who was babysitting.  So last night, the trifecta was completed and Rayna and Kelly came over for dinner.  We were determined to put Lola down and hour early, at 8pm, because she didn't even get a good nap.  We started at 8.  Over the course of the next hour, we bargained, scolded, spanked (yes, we spank, but it's pretty rare and really just for these most hellish occasions), coerced, and generally fought with our daughter.  She wants Dada, she wants Mama, she wants milk, she's cold, she's hot, her head hurts.  One thing after another, the games get played.  And Dada gets more and more frustrated and pissed off.  The screaming reaches a crescendo and another round of spanking.  Eventually, Lola got so upset she threw up in her bed.  And then on her floor while we were stripping the bed.  Great.  We took away her little Christmas tree.  Finally, after what felt like hours of battle, she settled in and went to sleep.  Let us never schedule a weekend like this again.

In other family news, we're gearing up for the holidaze, the (real) tree is up, stockings are hung, and "we'll tell Santa if you're naughty" threats are tossed around casually.  I can only think of two things that might comprise my list, so I should really be thankful for all I have and don't lack.  EcoReno is joining in - Morgan's building a trash Christmas tree to show off during the CalAve merchants' annual Holiday Stroll (in which we are participating).  Winter is a mere two weeks away according to the calendar, but we have yet to see any real snow, and people are still riding bikes outside.

Library work is its typical self, but we're circling our wagons for yet another cut to the budget.  People are now getting concerned about layoffs, but they are still telling us that's the last possible option.  I'm feeling pretty solid and lucky to be able to feel that way - we're seeing more and more people we know, or one degree of separation away, that are impacted negatively by the state of the economy.  If someone could please turn things around, now would be a good time to do it.

Been drinking some interesting beers lately.  Between two friends, I secured three bottles of The Abyss this year, as well as some Hallertau, and one precious bottle of Palo Santo.  As long as we're talking festive, Morgan and I got a chance to go out to a movie recently, saw the new James Bond movie.  A little disappointing as a Bond movie, acceptable as a movie, and enjoyable as an opportunity to go out for an evening.

Not much else to report really, so I'll sign off here.  I've got some EcoReno blogging to do too, so take a look there if you'd like.  We did just buy a new camera since the old one started failing, so I'll have a whole slew of new photos of kids and holidays and stuff to post soon, but for now, check out this cool website.

Finally, a real update

Geez, this has been a long time coming.  I actually had to make a list of all the "stuff" that needs to be blogged about here and updated for you, my loyal readers.  And for the ages.  It's getting late, I multitasked my way through updating photos while watching The Office, so I'm going to try to keep it sort of concise and just get it all out there.

This blog started as a sort of extension and continuation of a paper journal that Morgan and I started trying to keep up with after Lola was born.  We'd write in it occasionally with updates on her growth and what was going on in our lives.  After a while, we got lazy about keeping it up, and since I was trying to keep up with photos on the website anyway, I figured this could be our own virtual journal to look back upon someday and see what our life was like "back then".  So, in that spirit, some of this is just recording events for the sake of recording them, more than actually putting it out for you crowds (that's a joke, feel free to laugh) of readers in the here and now.

So, since last I really wrote....

My 37th birthday has come and gone.  Fairly uneventful, not really a landmark.  We went out for killer sushi at a new place on 5th St., "Sushi Lover".  Overindulged and enjoyed all of it.  Thanks to Turi, David, Bart, Max, Maggie, Rayna, Kelly, Carol, and Paige for sharing the evening.  Two words: Renee Chips.  If you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

EcoReno is clipping along.  Never having opened or run a new business, we don't really have any basis of comparison, but we seem to be doing OK; customers every day, some days more than others, plenty of people interested and giving positive feedback even if they don't actually buy, advertising seems to be working, and perhaps our most visible mention in the press appeared today.  It's all really happening.  During the good times, it feels like this could really be the start of something successful and good; other times, I think "What's the worst that can happen?  It doesn't work out, we have some debt, life goes on."  So there you go.  It certainly has made our lives much busier in a lot of ways, and trying to keep all our schedules and commitments and goings-on straight is probably the worst of it.  So that's not bad.

Halloween.  Lola was a ladybug, Sidney was a pirate.  We hit Raley's for trick or treating one night, did some real neighborhood trick or treating another, and I busted a punk spray-painting a fence.  Pretty standard fare, little fanfare, and the candy continues to haunt our household with its sugary evil.

Grandpa Dave came for a really nice visit, providing a good excuse for a few days off for me and plenty of eating, drinking, and being merry (usually in the form of board games).  Perhaps the only real major outing was a drive over to Nevada City, allegedly to see fall colors, of which there were few.  A nice little day trip regardless.  And it's just nice to hang out and enjoy family time, even if you're not doing anything touristy or special, just doing everyday errands and lounging is made more enjoyable by the presence of visiting Grandpa.  Maybe he begs to differ.

And last, perhaps most recordable for posterity, we had a little election this week.  This is almost certainly the election I've had the most strong feelings about in my lifetime so far.  I have felt the most amazing feelings of hope and cautious optimism the last few days.  I didn't realize how....glum? grey? cloudy?...the last 8 years have felt until it lifted.  I sincerely hope we haven't put too much of a burden for the future on the shoulders of our next leader.  It truly feels like he has become our leader in the true sense of the word, not just "president" (from 'preside' which doesn't really have much meaning to us in our everyday lives.  We need to be led, not presided over.)  I really, really, really have such hope for the future yet mixed with fear that we've just put too much faith in this man.  He is still just a man, and despite being arguably the most powerful man in the world, his power does have limits and he is not able to turn lead to gold.  I think I am caught up in his election coinciding with Lola's birthday, the dawning of a new regime colored blue, feeling like we're close to the bottom and we've nowhere to go but up, and wanting this king among men to lead us to a better future.  Please oh please, let it come true.  I won't blame him if miracles don't happen, but I hope optimism has some power to help make the change that needs to happen.  (On a less philosophical, more tangible note, I am glad to see how many officials I wanted to see win, did indeed win.  Some lost, some questions failed, but overall, on both a local and national level, Tuesday, November 4, 2008, may someday prove to be the day that things got better.  Cross your fingers with me.)   I sort of rambled my way through this topic because I've had a lot of strong feelings the last few days and they've been hard to put down in clear words.  Today I read a very good post by a friend that hit the nail on the head in a lot of ways.  Read it now.

OK, now that you've made it this far, you are rewarded with more than words.  Picture updates!

• New Lola photos


• New Sid photos


• New miscellany including Halloween, Nevada City, and Grandpa Dave

Nothing else of note - nothing read, watched, or listened to worth mentioning right now.  Supper Club ate, joint Princess birthday party coming up, next update when it happens.  And I'm out.

EcoReno update

One week under our belts with our new business venture.  We've done as well (I think) as we could hope, with fair to good sales every day.  Word is spreading, ads are appearing, and we even got a mention on a local blog about Downtown Reno development.  Additional signage coming this week.  Still figuring out all the nuances of small business bookkeeping and finance.  Overall, I think we're both feeling good about how things are going, people are excited about this and love the shop.

And with that, may I present version 2.0 of the EcoReno website.  If you still see the old one, refresh your browser.  It's a lot closer to what I originally envisioned, more aesthetically pleasing, and easier to maintain.  If you'd like to get on our email announcement list, use the contact form.

Thank you all for your support!

New site!

I'm somewhat less than proud of it, but the new goEcoReno.com just launched.  Consider this version 1.0.  I'm already looking ahead to a major revision in coming weeks.  Maybe I can time it to launch when the store opens for business!

stuff

Busy as all get out trying to keep my head above water at work, open a store, and keep my sanity.  I thought my Vespa was finally out of the shop after 4? 5?  weeks sitting, waiting for a part, first from the east coast, then from Italy, but then it turns out Italy sent the wrong part and tomorrow I'll find out what comes next.  Sigh.  For a moment, I imagined myself riding it to work tomorrow and a few more times before fall chilliness makes it too uncomfortable.

Frustrated tonight at my inability to create a simple quarter-page flyer for EcoReno to distribute to nearby businesses as advertising.  For perhaps the first time since I started paying attention to such things, I wish I had a Microsoft program (Publisher) to use instead of the free alternative (OpenOffice) that I have installed on our laptop.  I feel like a total rookie trying to do the simplest tasks, and even once I figure them out, the (admittedly miniscule and feeble) part of brain that thinks like a graphic designer has taken a leave of absence and I can't think of what it should say or look like.   Same thing with the website - my website creation skills were decent in 1996, but there are so many technologies that I don't have a clue about that are practically mandatory to include in this day and age to create even a very basic site.  The site you are currently viewing is easy - the Wordpress software is easy to install, run, and configure.   So if any of you loyal readers know any good, inexpensive freelance web designers, send 'em my way, huh?

That all said, the store is coming along.  In the few nanoseconds between child-rearing tasks Morgan has, she's got some merchandise ordered and a few boxes have started to arrive; we have phone, DSL, computer and cash register up and running, carpet is clean, and signs are in progress.  With any luck, in about 3? weeks, you'll be cordially invited to a grand opening.  Not sure how grand it'll be exactly, but...

OK, well, enough wallowing in my own overwhelmitude for tonight.  Check out this cool little timesuck.  I wish I had even 1% of the skillz it took to create that.  Oh, and this little gem if you want to make yourself totally insane.

Time for an update

Lots of STUFF dominating my thoughts these days, my mind is crowded and time to spew forth a bit.

First of all, just a brief commentary - we ventured out to the spectacle that is the rib cookoff tonight.  Morgan had called to say some coworkers were headed down there after work and would I like to meet them with the kids.  Sure, yeah, ribs sound good, I've never been to the event.  Wednesday night, shouldn't be too crowded, parking not too bad.  Oh the humanity.  If I ever think that sounds like a good idea again, somebody smack me.  Yeah, I wanna park like 10 blocks away, walk down there to stand in line for an eternity to eat some  (admittedly delicious) ribs at like $20 a pound, drink some overpriced (admittedly delicious) beer, and wade through the lowest common denominator crowds that plague special events around here with a double stroller.  In the warm August night.  Hearing too-loud music that I don't like much.  Smelling the port-a-potties.   With Sid ready for bed.  Ugh.

Now that I've got that debacle off my chest, I can move on to the other things that seem to dominate my psyche these days.   Number one: EcoReno.  For the few of you who may not have heard, we're opening a business.  A little retail shop to sell all things environmental, sustainable, recycled, nontoxic, organic, etc.  With any luck at all, we can make a small difference in the future of our planet and make a little money on the side.  So we just (well, actually tomorrow) got a small business loan, locking us in to indentured servitude (or, god forbid, bankruptcy) for the next 7 years and are currently navigating the choppy seas of business licenses, tax permits, fire inspections, merchant credit card processing, shelves, accounting, and the like.  This is huge.  I had no idea how many hoops there are to jump through, and I marvel at how many people are actually capable of opening a successful business.  Let's hope we join their ranks.

Number two: Burning Man.  Most of you know, I've had a love-hate relationship with this thing for 13(!) years now.  Gone, not gone, missed it, gone back, stayed home, etc.  We sat it out last year because we had just moved and had a baby boy, no big deal.  This year, a confluence of opening a business, babysitting, money, etc. conspired to keep us home.  And how it pains us.  Perhaps more than ever before (and I have felt this way to some degree quite a few times previously, even when I thought I never wanted to go back), it really saddens me to not be there, thinking about what people are doing out there right now, envying the loaded cars we see coming through, reading blog posts live from the playa.  Next year, we will return, come hell or high water.

And with that, may I present some updated photos of Lola, including two series of self-portraits we found on the camera after the fact, and, to a much lesser extent (sorry buddy, when you can swipe the camera and take pictures of yourself, I'll post 20 photos of you too) Sid.

Crummy.  I was going to post a new snagfilm but their site is down.  Or out of business.  Something.

Green tip for your lucky day 8-8-08

This headline caught my eye.  Actually, a lot of headlines on The Daily Green catch my eye.  But after reading these facts, I thought that I would pass it along to all of you and see if we can't take a tiny step and stop our junk mail.  In fact, yesterday we received 5 pieces for local elections.  Does it make me want to vote for any of them? Not really.  Just annoying.  One of them has also been flying a plane over Reno campaigning with a sign trailing behind.  Wonder how much gas that wasted?  Plus, you could hardly read it.  Anyway, check this out when you have a chance.  There is a link to stop junk mail.  I have started calling companies as soon as I get anything to be removed from their mailing list.  Try email updates.  I usually get some fun deals. They are just as easy to get rid of if you get overwhelmed.

Junk Mail Article