La Villa Deli - Willow Glen

Sunday the Rompacoglioni Car Crew will start their engines for the ‘Second Annual Cruise for a Cause’.

This classic ‘car cruise’ is happening September 6th – 9 AM to 3 PM on Lincoln Avenue in downtown Willow Glen.

Everyone is welcome to look at the cool cars. Please bring canned food and/or financial donations to the La Villa Deli parking lot.

Every $1 donated will help the Second Harvest Food Bank (750 Curtner Ave.) provide two nutritious meals.

In 1774 wild cattle wandered under giant willows and through blackberries that grew in a swampy area that is now known as Willow Glen. As I try to fall asleep I rather imagine my bed among the fruit trees that flourished here in 1948.

To see what was once where your bed is now try Historic Aerials (can be slow to load). Put in your address, zoom in, zoom out or pan the image. I enjoyed looking at our valley in 1956 with ‘Major Roads’ on, to see where the freeways of the future would be. To get a look at Park Ave. as it runs through what is now Plaza De Cesar Chavez Park use 170 S Market St 95113 (The Fairmont Hotel). Panning the image can be a bit fussy and slow, but it is a good way to navigate to a spot if the address is not known. Set it to 1948, zoom out – pan around our valley and just look at the orchards.

It was so nice to get away for the weekend. My husband and I spent Saturday night at the Colusa Casino. He put $20 into a 25¢ slot machine and won $259.00. Paid for the room and then some! I did quite well myself. In Jack’s Lounge we enjoyed good food and the music of Bobby Chitwood.

Back home today to the same old, same old blah stuff like laundry. But then there is that free Hot Dog on a Stick at Valley Fair.

June 15th   5 – 8 PM

Our own San Jose Repertory Theatre is a really beautiful venue, even more so inside than out.  They also generously support our community and youth, and are a huge contributor to the Cinequest Film Festival.  San Jose would not be such a fun place to live without the Repertory Theatre.

However, upon exiting the balcony from a recent show that I attended, I happened to look down at the steps and was shocked at the condition of the carpet.  Threadbare, dull and worn, it really showed the effects of having thousands and thousands of feet walking through over the years.  It was so disappointing to see how worn it was, and it really takes away from the great beauty of the rest of the building.

So I was surprised and very happy to hear that the SJ Rep has received a Challenge Grant to remedy this exact problem!  Emeritus Board member John Michael Sobrato has pledged to pay half the cost of new carpet if The Rep can bring in the other half with contributions.  This is a very generous gift, and one I hope will not be missed.  In even more wonderful news, The Rep has already raised one third of the matching funds.  The other 2/3 must be raised by June 30, 2009, and despite their very generous regular donors, they need funds specific to this fundraising goal.

Offers as generous as this don’t come around very often.  It is my sincere hope that although we are all in some very tough times, the people of the South Bay can help pitch in to take advantage of this offer.  If you could contribute just five dollars it would be so appreciated.  If you could contribute $20 or $50 it would bring them even closer to their goal.  They only have one month to collect donations in order to receive this Challenge Grant; I hope we can all pull together and help The Rep achieve this goal.

Time is of the essence.

Please contact Development Associate Janet Herrington to make a donation to this cause.  She can be reached at 408-367-7264 or JanetH@sjrep.com. 

One of the best festivals in the Bay Area is the Maker Faire (World’s Largest DIY Festival) and it’s happening next weekend, May 30 and 31st.

Now in it’s fourth year, Maker Faire has grown not only in size (it now spans the entire San Mateo County fairgrounds now) but also in popularity. The first two years it was rather easy to park at the main parking lot outside the East entrance to the fairgrounds. Last year traffic was backed up for MILES on the freeway just getting to the place. Not to mention, once you were there, you had to drive a bit farther to dedicated parking lots/garages elsewhere and ride an old school bus (free) to the fairgrounds. I think it’s awesome that this service is provided and goes to show just how wonderful this event truly is.

If you’re a Maker Faire virgin, what should you expect? Team Maker Faire boils it down to the categories of: Arts & Crafts, Science & Engineering, Robotics & Rockets, Sustainability, Fun For Kids, and Music & Fire. There is something for everyone. Bring Mom and Dad, bring your college buddies, meet up with your coworkers, or just come by yourself. Regardless, everyone will have something up their alley to watch, listen, or participate in.

Throughout the two days, special guests will be performing or speaking. One that will be no doubt popular – Adam Savage of Mythbusters will be speaking on Saturday (2pm, MAKE Main Stage 2) on “Colossal Failures”.

In the Arts & Crafts world at Maker Faire, if you’re into that sort of thing, there will be plenty at hand. Bazaar Bizarre (a fave of mine) will have a selection of indie designer and crafters on hand selling their wares. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is returning so if you’re into sewing be sure to bring a bag of unwanted clothes and your creativity. Donate the clothes and pick out some new ones and create a new outfit on-site. I checked it out the first year and noticed there were several sewing machines, screen printing machines, and all sorts of other resources (including fellow crafters) there for all your hand-making needs.

Sculptures, working-machines, fire-breathing iron contraptions — the festival showcases so many amazing creations.

The details:
Maker Faire 2009
San Mateo County Expo Center
Saturday: 10a-8p, Sunday: 10a-6p

Weekend and Day-Pass tickets are available. Note that while discounted tickets are no longer available via the website, there are over 75 locations in the Bay Area that offer discounted tickets. Don’t hesitate to check them out!

For more details and a program you can download, visit MakerFaire.com

The Maker Faire is coming around again this year and this weekend is your chance to have your project at Maker Faire 2009.

The fourth annual Maker Faire’s theme is Re-Make America and it “will showcase individual creativity and grassroots innovation in the largest festival devoted to DIY culture and technology in the country.” Personally, I’m a big fan and have been to the previous three, sometimes going both days because there is just so much to see.

So what are they looking for?

“We’re looking for anyone who has something fun to share, something they’ve made with their hands,” explains Dale Dougherty, Publisher & Editor of MAKE magazine. “It can be practical or impractical–it could be something simple like a creative costume or maybe some handmade jewelry. Or it could be something wild like a bike with ten wheels, or a dog-powered lawn mower. Whatever it is, the more creative and imaginative, the better!”

So if you are a Maker and would like to share your innovations with others at one of the year’s best events, bring your project downtown on Sunday March 8th.

* When: Sunday, March 8th, 2009 (noon – 4pm)
* Where: The Tech Museum of Innovation
201 South Market Street
San Jose, CA 95113-2008
(408) 795.6225
* Admission: FREE
* Contact for Auditions: Sherry Huss, (707) 827-7074 or sherry@oreilly.com

[More Maker Faire audition details here]

Also – if you’d just like to stop by the Tech Museum, Sunday March 8th’s admission is FREE, as part of the Free Second Sundays Program.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field - NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope has made it possible to look back to a time when the universe looked very different than it does today.

Steven Beckwith, currently the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies for the University of California’s ten campuses and former Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (which runs the Hubble), will give a somewhat non-technical, illustrated talk on The Dawn of Creation: The First Two Billion Years.

Billions of years ago galaxies looked much different than they do today. The Milky Way and other galaxies took shape slowly, building up from many pieces in the debris of the initial Big Bang explosion.

Topics like galaxy shapes, the expanding universe, gravity – is it the same now as it was billions of years ago, dark matter, and dark energy should get you tingly all over. No? Then Baryon Acoustic Oscillations may do the trick.

Note: The Ultra Deep Field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Arrive early to locate parking.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the Smithwick theatre.

Smithwick Theater, Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills

Wednesday, March 4
7:00 pm

Admission: Free
Parking: $2.00

The Bay Area has about two-dozen trash-impaired waterways. Trash impaired is a nice way of saying there is a lot of garbage in our creeks and rivers.

In the South Bay Coyote Creek, Saratoga Creek, and the Guadalupe River are in the top ten of trash-impaired waterways.

A major problem, beyond ugly and environmentally impacted waterways, is that trash flows from storm drains into the local waterways. Then it flows into the Bay and from there into the Pacific Ocean eventually ending up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

A list of these waterways compiled by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board that will pass along the information to the Environmental Protection Agency. In turn, the EPA will get nasty with the offending Bay Area cities and counties having them clean up the waterways and implement projects to collect the debris early in the various paths. Cities and counties no doubt will step up their efforts of banning plastic bags.

How bad is it? Last year on Coastal Cleanup Day, volunteers pulled 125 tons of garbage out of the bay, including 15,000 plastic bags.

Save The Bay has information about the trash-impaired waterways.

Though I have found past seasons of Dancing with the Stars entertaining, I have never set it on my DVR in fear of missing it.

This season will be different, because there is no way I’m missing Steve “The Woz” Wozniak twirling across the dance floor!

Dancing with the Stars premieres on March 9th.

This Wednesday, January 21, astronomer Anthony Colaprete of NASA’s Ames Research Center will give a non-technical, illustrated talk on Prospecting for Water on the Moon: The Upcoming LCROSS Mission.

Sometime this year NASA will purposely crash two spacecraft into a permanently shadowed crater in one of the Moon’s polar regions. Yes, purposely.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is to determine the presence or absence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials. The LCROSS mission is going to do this by directly impacting one of the permanently-shadowed regions near the moon’s pole and creating a crater, throwing debris and potentially water ice and vapor above the lunar surface.

The two main components of the LCROSS mission are the Shepherding Spacecraft and the Centaur upper stage rocket. The Centaur rocket will impact the moon causing a cloud of lunar debris. The Shepherding Spacecraft, which has scientific instruments on-board including cameras, will take pictures of the Centaur’s descent and impact into the moon. Four minutes later, the Shepherding Spacecraft follows almost the exact same path as the rocket, descending down through the big plume and analyzing it with special instruments. The Shepherding Spacecraft will then crash into the moon. This impact may be seen using an amateur telescope.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Arrive early to locate parking.
Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the Smithwick Theater.

Smithwick Theater, Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills

Wednesday, January 21
7:00 pm

Admission: Free
Parking: $2.00

650-949-7888