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> To: [muffaletta.australasiamerica@blogger.com] > From: Adam Lee Cutsinger [muffaletta@gmail.com] > Subject: Adam Lee Cutsinger wants to stay in touch on LinkedIn
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Picture this: Valentines Day. The sun is just setting over the ocean and the last of it’s light mingles with the soft orange of the downtown streetlights. The smells of great food emanate from restaurants serving the dinner crowd. And Justin Herman Plaza is filled with hundreds of people, all there for the same reason.
To have a great big pillow fight.
The same sort of event will also be taking place in San Diego at the same time, but the metropolises of the rest of the world will be waiting for World Pillow Fight Day on April 4th. This benign event comes with rules that are generally well respected by participants:
1) Tell everyone you know about PILLOW FIGHT!!! 2) Wait for the Ferry Building clock to strike 6:00pm 3) Don’t hit anyone without a pillow (unless they want it) 4) Don’t hit anyone with a camera 5) HAVE FUN!!!
The mass pillow fight is an example of new phenomena taking place across the world, called a flash mob, which sounds worse than it really is. A flash mob is any event about which the word gets out digitally and through social media, and the function of which is along the lines of performance art.
The pillow fight is family safe, so bring a pillow, because, as a bystander said last year, “I looks like so much fun, but I am sans pillow.”
The idea is to get people cooperating with each other to do something fun and spontaneous, and there is almost always a sense of comradery in the crowd. And that Valentines dinner date will be off to a great start when your blood is pumping and eyes are teary with laughter. Try stopping off for chocolate nearby before hand.
Even when you are watching your wallet there are a lot of places you can go to get away for a day, and if you live in San Francisco, the top of the short list has got to be China Beach.
Located on the northwest end of the City, China beach is a pretty ribbon of tope sand tucked away amongst the cliffs and protected from the persistent Pacific wind.This is where many Chinese fishermen used to camp in the 19th century.
Beyond the beach are the gorgeous green cliffs of Land’s End, with tall trees and the easy-to-walk Coastal Trail.Along the trails are numerous curiosities to see, including Eagle’s Point, Painted Rock, a medicine wheel, Point Lobos, the Sutro Baths, the Legion of Honor museum, and a camera obscura at the Cliff House.
The views from the trail are unmatched, whether you are gawking at the sea, the bay, the bridge, or the handsome houses of the Sea Cliff community (the one directly across form the beach is rumored to be Robin Williams’ house).
Plan a Chinese take-out picnic at the most overlooked and underrated beach in San Francisco. [Insert a good place for Chinese take out]Or maybe some sashimi and sake.Peaceful, beautiful, easy to get to, China Beach is an ideal low-cost day-trip destination.
Zipcar is not a car rental company, but rather a green technology that creates "cars on demand,' saving drivers a bundle one hour at a time.
Everything's gone digital, and cars are no exception. But beyond inbuilt computers and GPS, autos are now more than ever accesible from your PDA (there is even a Zipcar iPhone ap due out soon).
It was once Napster's slogan: "Own Nothing, Have Everything," and we've seen that philisophy at work with digital media files replacing books and records. But who would have ever thought people would give up what Americans are reportedly in love with the most: their cars?
Had you asked me that question even as recently as last year and I would have magnanimously explained the similarity between a person's car and his cell phone or computer. That's a sacred personal item, like Thor's short-handled hammer or Harry Potter's curvy wand.
But low and behold, car-sharing has become a booming business worldwide, especially in urban areas, and the trend has been spearheaded by Zipcar. In late 2007 the fledgling Zipcar, Inc merged with Flexcar, making them easily the biggest car-sharing company around. Their members have been multiplying exponentially, and with good reason. The benefits of membership are are manifold and immediate.
SAVE A LOT OF MONEY
First of all, Zipcar members save a lot of money, because they are only paying for the car when they are actually using it. When you consider how much more time your car spends parked somewhere than en route from A to B, it's clear that what we are paying for when we own a car is somewhat less about possession and more about control. We simply need our cars when we need them, so, within the old car rental scenario, it has been impossible to imagine getting rid of our vehicles, even if it's a piece of junk.
Zipcar's car-sharing plans, however, make accessing a car a smooth ride. Weekday rates in San Francisco, under the "occassional driving plan," are $9.25/hour, or $69/day (weekends are $9.75/hour, or $74/day), and that includes insurance and gas. Even after adding the $50 annual membership fees and the initial $25 application fee, there's a huge gap between that and what it costs to keep (and upkeep) a car of your own.
For people who spend a lot of time in the car, there are the "extra value plans," designed to save you more money the more you drive. You can literally sell the car you currently own and use a portion of that money toward your Zipcar membership. The money left over is yours to spend (or save).
"Forty percent of our customers either sell their car or halt a purchasing decision of a car," says Scott Griffith, Zipcar's CEO.
Which leads to another great benefit:
SUPPORTING GREEN INDUSTRY
The wireless technology (for which Zipcar has been the pace car), when combined with a business model that makes it superconvenient to obtain a car anytime (24/7) and anywhere (28 North American states), adds up to a green technology, for the simple fact that it removes thousands of cars from the road. Once you become a member you get a Zipcar card, which is activated to unlock a designated car (which is always parked in the same spot, another convenience).
Zipcar is also borrowing from the best of business practices, which goes a long way toward acquiring and maintaining satisfied carless clients. They maintain very high customer service standards for members, an will even send a cab if someone has failed to drop off the car you reserved in time. They even donate Zipcar memberships to charity workers.
They do check your driving record (usually done in 24 hours), but once you become a member you can use their website to adjust your account however you like.
One more interesting tidbit: each of the hundreds of new models, hybrids, minis and SUVs has a unique name, like VersaValedictorian, Fit Foulke, Crathers, and Monty.
For More info: go to Zipcar.com, or watch this clip of CEO Scott Griffith being interviewed on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
The little green “smart card” designed to make Bay Area commuting easier finally comes to Muni and BART.
If you are a Muni user, you’ll be happy to learn that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is adding Muni to the TransLink travel pass program some time this summer, but you can sign up early to guinea pig it, as long as you are willing to give a little feedback on your experience, so they can work out the kinks.
Since the whole idea of TransLink is to make commuting easier in the Bay Area, you can load an electronic Fast Pass onto your card, or use “e-cash” to power it with an amount of your choice. Any retail location with a green TransLink logo can help you do this (esp. Walgreens), or you can visit one of the TransLink Add Value Machines (AVMs), strategically located in transit stations.
You can also set up your card to “Autoload” from your bank account, which will enable your card to automatically spend a pre-designated amount or the cost of a Fast Pass to your little green commuter companion.
Of course, riders of AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit and the Golden Gate Ferry are already using TransLink. Unfortunately, however, BART, cable car and Caltrain commuters still have to wait for TransLink transferability, and just how long is still unknown. So don’t throw away those paper Fast Passes just yet! But TransLink will eventually be usable Bay Area-wide, even including the following transit agencies:
Alameda/Oakland Ferry American Canyon Transit Benicia Breeze Cloverdale Transit County Connection Dixon Transit Fairfield-Suisun Transit Healdsburg In-City Transit Petaluma Transit Rio Vista Delta Breeze SamTrans Santa Clara VTA Santa Rosa CityBus Sonoma County Transit Tri Delta Transit Union City Transit Vacaville City Coach Vallejo Transit VINE WestCAT WHEELS Yountville Shuttle
