Best Part of Thanksgiving? Leftovers!!

As I head for a turkey sated slumber this evening, I am pleased to know that today's fabulous meal with be with me for several days yet. Lots of turkey (thanks to Whole Foods and Diestel) and dressing left for lunches, snacks and late night raids on the fridge. Some pics to document to occasion:














Authentic Southern cornbread dressing, complete with toasted pecans, starts with freshly made corn bread, naturally.

This year we has a Toulouse 2004 Anderson Valley pinot noir with our dinner, and it was a fabulous wine. We bought it last year at the winery near Philo, and managed to save it for this year's dinner.

Hope you had as much fun as we did and your leftovers will remind you of a wonderful time spent with family and friends.

You know, I think I'll just go have another piece of pumpkin pie!! With some tasty Tailor Maid decaf expresso coffee.

Interestingly enough, I spent the past two days at the San Francisco Auto Show working on a demo of upgrading a Toyota Prius to a plug-in version, which is not yet on the market. AAA put the event on since they have moved most of their company cars to hybrids, including the Pruis that was converted as part of this demonstration. HyMotion provided the battery assembly for the conversion and Pats Garage of San Francisco, which is part of the Green Gears network did the actual installation. Check them out at this address: http://www.greengears.net/



Very informative and exciting to be part of. If you are in the SF area next week, Friday and Saturday, stop by and watch as they re-do the conversion for a new audience. I'm the guy with the camera shooting close ups!!
About Economy
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Walking the Stairs on the Eiffel Tower

Back in 05, Kay, me, her brother Eric and wife, Laura, spent several days in Paris. A visit to the Eiffel tower was de riguer since Eric and Laura had never been to Paris before. So, before heading off to see Paris on the Fat Tire Bike Tours adventure, we walked up the stairs on the tower, avoiding the elevators and working off some croissants calories. We only had time to visit the premier etage (1st level) and on the way back down, it occurred to me to document the event since it is one not often seen. Using my Nikon Coolpix 5700 ( a true work horse) I recorded a one minute video.
I now, belately, offer it for your enjoyment and edification.
I just saved you a trip to Paris!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqDgA2QXtzk

In Honor of Veteran's Day, a film to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcvmoGjGNc

Happy Veterans Day to My Fellow Vets!

Kay and I send out best wishes to Vets everywhere on this day of recognition. Kay was a Capt. in the USArmy, stationed in Germany and San Francisco's Presideo and I was an Airman First Class (E-4) in the Air Force, stationed in Taiwan, Japan and Da Nang, Viet Nam working as an airborne Chinese translator for the NSA.
Picture me taken in fall of 65 in Da Nang.





Could not find a photo of Kay in her uniform, partially because the living room is a total
shambles due to new wood flooring due to be installed as soon as we get the termite damage repaired. Note to myself: never buy an old house again.

Day After Celebration Calls for Biscuits!

So I had some great ones at Parkside Cafe in Santa Rosa.

Election Night Photos
In an evening that surely will produce many great images, here is my favorite so far, from a slide show on Huffington Post with no photo credit, at least for now. From Kentucky, if you can't read the small sign:

Tesla Makes News After Appearing on My Blog!

Remember last week when I posted a photo about a Tesla car being shown at the Marin Civic Center? Well, seems like another story was going on in the background.
Here's a release posted today on Silicon Alley Insider's website:

Tesla Motors Getting Some Cash

Vasanth Sridharan | October 31, 2008 12:52 PM

Valley darling Tesla Motors, which makes the Roadster, a $109,000 electric sports car, needs a little more cash. The CEO Elon Musk confirmed with Reuters that the company has $9 million cash on hand and that they’re going to get $20 million in the coming weeks from their existing investors. Reuters:

When Tesla failed to secure a $100-million investment round earlier this month, Musk cut 24 percent of the company's work force and delayed development work on a battery-powered electric sedan, known internally as the "Model S."

He also took the CEO post from Tesla's former chief executive, Ze'ev Drori.

"We didn't raise the $100 million but we still need to raise some money to get to cash flow positive," Musk said. "We actually probably only need on the order of $20 million to do that. We're going to raise more than that, but we only need about $20 million."

Nov. 4 Finally Here!!

The morning came with blue skies and ground fog after a day of rain yesterday. Perfect day for voting and celebrating. We'll be drinking Korbel Natural tonight!
Photo shows the organic farm next door, Laguna Farms, with harvested vineyard in foreground and Great Egret Rookery eucalyptus trees back in the fog.
Taken with my Nikon Coolpix 5700 again, can't seem to get the D70 out anymore. Thinking that a D90 may be the camera I really need.

The Simple Distillation Of McCain's Message Problem

A great illustration of message development. I use this tool a lot with my clients in Media Training classes.

I will use this post in future classes as an excellent example of how to analyze successful campaigns. I have a feeling that the Obama campaign will provide fodder for many "how to" and "how it was done" books in the coming years.

Kudos to Mr. Nikolas for pointing this out.
About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Slow Day at the Office (that is, if I had an office).

Construction around the ol homestead fireplace today, new tile going in, front door open, freezing inside as I take refuge in my office.
Thought turn to other things, like biscuits, and herons, and warm climates. Herewith a montage of images appropot of nothing and everything.

How about a head of lettuce.
Worked for David Frost once.

The show needs no host. The guests show up with the week's talking points and run thru them regardless of the question (a media training goal, I might add) so just let them line up, approach the mic and let rip. Next in line follows... asst producer keeps them to tigth time limits.
Voila! Another 30 minutes of puntificating history.

No need to thank me.

---

Sorry, " tight" schedule, it should read.
About Meet the Press
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Sarah Palin Spotted in Sonoma!

As you might expect there were a lot of Palin costumes at Halloween parties last night, including this very clever and detailed one in Sonoma. Photo by Gale Mead, Sonoma, CA.
Caption to photo reads: "Me as Sarah Palin, complete with dead wolf, M16, baby, and bandolier, fistbumping with a guy in a Barack Obama mask."

I'm sure some of our famous Sonoma county wines had a little something to do with this patriotic display. (h/t Huffington Post)

Court Docs: GOP Donor Secretly Funneled $75K To Coleman Family

Media Training 101:



If you get hit by a lawsuit from Texas about GOP contributors funneling money to your campaign thru your wife's company (documented elsewhere on Friday) try to counter the impact by filing a lawsuit yourself against your opponent, say, for slander or something and hope that confusion will reign in the voting public's mind, helped of course by a lazy media.

Seems to be a textbook case of it going on here. Thanks Coleman, for giving me more material to use in my classes.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost