Going Politico

Yours truly applied for the tiger team needed for the planning commission, and they actually wanted to talk with me. I gussied up and headed down there this evening and prepared a 2 minute talk on points I was concerned about with environmental sustainability, and then answered questions for 3 minutes.

It was fun.

I got home and thought of a bazillion more things I should have said in thirty seconds, but there you go.

And I completely forgot to mention improving safety for pedestrians like Walking Girl. How could I forget???

Still, I was happy to do this, irregardless of the outcome. I'm not an Almaden Girl, I'm not a Silver Creek Girl, I'm not a Palo Alto Girl.
I'm a Los Gatos Girl to the core.

It was wicked fun being in the council chambers. I haven't been there since 1985 when I had to attend for Civics class my senior year.

The cool thing is that you go in thinking "I want to be part of the solution, not the problem" and you realize, there are limits. Sure, I want everyone to have inexpensive high speed connectivity, but how much influence does the council have? The key is in recognizing what you do have and using it wisely. I learned that from my high tech days.

I'm just prejudiced since I work out of my home office and would love to pay less than $230/mo for DSL.

Still, I walk. I have a huge garden in my backyard (23 tomato plants, 6 cabbage, 12 corn, 32 potato, numerous peppers, squash, and melon). I'll have to post a photo of how it's growing. We have the best climate which is perfect for growing a huge variety of produce.

Silicon Valley did used to be the most fertile valley in all of California. I suppose it's rather ironic that it turned to "stone" :-) Ok, yes, I'm aware that silicon isn't a stone per se, but work with me here.

Businesses Closing

Maybe there is something to this recession. I was toodling through downtown yesterday trying to find a knife that could cut a birthday cake and not mangle it (one said serrated, one said never serrated, and one had someone working there that used to work at Icing on the Cake who said use a chef's knife, which I did, but you have to remember you're using a chef's knife when you clean the frosting off of the knife between cuts...ouch), and I saw that Twig is in their final week and everything is 50% off. I remember when that was the used book store. I can't remember the name but it was a play on Cats of some sort.
Then I was surprised to see Sharper Image had already closed. It was open when I last went past. I'm not surprised, though, given the problems the parent company is having. I remember when that was the stationery store where they had a special room just for typewriters. Heh, I doubt many of today's kids know what a typewriter is. I was sad when they closed. Wolfe Computer was a nice place too, back when there was a lot of competition. I never went in when it was Sharper Image...there was nothing there that I wanted, really. I never figured out the business model.
And lastly, the Transylvanian restaurant closed. They were quite good. I think they just weren't in a good location. Pity. Of course, it took me awhile to forgive them for replacing Lisa's Tea Treasures which I adored. I spent many an afternoon in the comfy wing backed chairs in the front with my late mom. Before that, I can't remember what they were. I usually would stop next door at Dragonwood and the Magic Crystal.