Indiegogo is a crowd-funding platform where people spread the word about their passion. They usually offer their “contributors” some kind of thank-you gift. People that make a donation to the campaign feel good that they are able to contribute towards something that they want to happen. In this situation, they’ll get to have a sense of ownership over a business that provides an essential service to our community. Yup, I said it, “an essential service.”

People that contribute towards opening Jane’s Beer Store will get their name engraved on the “Contributors Wall of Fame” in the store. Jane is offering all kinds of other beer related thank you gifts, depending on the level of the donation. Please check her page on Indiegogo for all the details. Mountain View loves beer and very soon we’ll have our own unique little beer store where we can make requests, meet other beer enthusiasts, and learn about beers from all over the world.

Jane Thipphavong lives and works in Mountain View. She’s actually an astronaut at NASA*. Her store will be downtown on Villa and she hopes to open mid June. She told me that she wants to re-introduce people to the world of beer. She knows that Mountain View has lots of “soon-to-be-beer-lovers” and she’s excited about meeting them and sharing her passion.

Jane’s Beer Store will stock artisan craft beer, local beer, hard cider, root beer and beer from many international breweries. She’s had a dream of opening a beer store for years. I really love the idea that residents have the chance to make a small donation towards something that they feel passionate about and that Jane chose Mountain View as the place where she would turn her hobby into a business. I know that many locals want downtown Mountain View to have more retail and Jane’s Beer Store is a perfect example the kind of unique businesses that we want. Welcome to Mountain View Jane.

* She’s not really an astronaut, but she does work at NASA.

I asked him what kinds of issues people bring to him. He can answer questions about all kinds of city related problems, anything from zoning, to affordable housing, to relocating a business to Mountain View. If he doesn’t know the answer, he can steer you in the right direct. That’s what these meeting are all about—helping residents and businesses cut through the red tape that they might be facing in our city. Mike doesn’t have any individual power as far as getting things done, (that’s what he claims anyway, but I think he probably has more than he realizes) but he does know who we need to talk to “unclog” things. Sometimes residents just want to ask him why the city made certain decisions around town or why he voted for or against something. He’s happy to explain himself.

Just to be totally clear, any of our council members can do the same thing for residents, but the mayor usually offers these official meeting hours. Any of them would be willing to answer questions and they can all be reached through the city website. The position of mayor rotates every year. This is Mike’s second term as our mayor.

When you arrive at the meeting, take a number from the table that Mike is sitting at and fill out the little form so he has your contact information. He will most likely already be having a conversation with someone, but he’ll let you know as soon as it is your turn. Sometimes he speaks with as many as 15 people while he’s sitting at the coffee shop. I really like that our city officials are so friendly and easy to make contact with and I love living in Mountain View.

The theatre only seats 45 lucky people. If you want to be one of them, you have to plan ahead. In June they will celebrate their 10 year anniversary. They are in an unexpected industrial building and if you aren’t really looking for a theatre, you might not even notice it at all. That only makes it feel more special.

Pear Slices is a special production that the theatre does every year. This year it was 9 little plays, each about 7 to 10 minutes. The plays were all written by members of the Pear Avenue Playwrights Guild. Pear Slices 2012 runs through June 3^rd. Visit their website for tickets as soon as possible because this particular play sells out very quickly.

My favorite actors in Pear Slices were Sam Tillis and Fred Pitts. Sam was in 4 of the 9 plays and Fred was in 5 of them. The subjects covered in the 9 plays were so varied and interesting that I almost wanted a few minutes in between each play to process what I had just seen. One of the plays, No Dogs Go to Heaven by Bridgette Portman, was about rationalizing the misguided belief that you are separate from the lives around you.

In my opinion, going to a play at Pear Avenue Theatre is so much more enjoyable than going to a movie and there is plenty of parking. You’ll be supporting local artists and live theatre which is so important. Lots of people in the audience were introducing themselves to their neighbors before the play started. It was really a very friendly and comfortable atmosphere. I think I should probably considering buying season tickets to Pear Avenue Theatre—I liked it that much! I love Mountain View.

They’ve actually been doing much more than making robots for the last 10 years. They offer full-time and part-time programs in software engineering, software management, electrical & computer engineering, technology innovation management, and more.  Obviously, you should check out their website for the details.

They’re doing some amazing research as well, some of it focuses on cyber security, including browser, mobile and wireless. Protecting the cloud from theft, corruption, and natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to remain accessible and productive is what we want and they seem to have it figured out. Or at the very least, they’re working on it, day and night.

Another area that Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is doing a great deal of work is with their Disaster Management Initiative. In a major disaster, the technology that we normally use to communicate, would potentially fail and we would need help. They’re preparing to provide solutions. They have a strong relationship with NASA, and many other organizations, and they also have the ability to bring in any experts or help that we might need in a crisis. They would be able to coordinate citizens, emergency responders and establish command centers. They know how to harness the power of social media. They’ve actually studied our tweeting habits. And in a time of disaster, people wouldn’t want to learn a new technology or software in order to ask for help; people want to tweet. I had no idea they’re doing this right here in Mountain View and now I’m feeling quite a bit safer.

The building that Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley is in was a hospital 90 years ago. It has an archway that looks like an old drive-through. That’s where the ambulances would park to unload patients. And their basement used to be the morgue. It’s true and as soon as I heard that part, I couldn’t wait to write about it! I love Mountain View.

That’s when Sandrine Cornet, a waitress/bartender at Zucca, decided to gather investors and become the new owner. She has worked at Zucca for the past 7 years. It’s still in escrow, so the ownership hasn’t officially been signed over yet, but it looks like Sandrine, “a small woman with a big heart” according to her staff, will be the new owner.

I think it would be so nice if the community showed support to this restaurant that has been part of our community for the past 10 years, and also to Sandrine for saving herself and 15 of her co-workers from unemployment.

Remzi, the manager that I spoke with, told me that they’ll still serve their famous ravioli, salmon wraps and burgers for lunch. And they’ll still have the lamb shank and striped bass at dinner. They’ll still have the same quality service that we’ve come to expect; the only difference will be the name change. It will transition to “B’ Zu Café” very soon. Right now the building has both names, but watch for changes as “Zucca” comes down. And the website is still in transition too. Let’s all raise a toast to Sandrine for having the courage to save everyone’s job and take on the responsibility of being a business owner in downtown Mountain View! I’ll see you at Happy Hour (4-7) at B’ Zu Cafe, 186 Castro Street. I love Mountain View.

The Mountain View Chamber of Commerce is well connected to companies in Silicon Valley and they’re bringing in Google, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook,  and Yelp to speak. Can you imagine seeing all of those companies together on stage at one event? There will also be presentations on blogging, using mobile coupons and creating email campaigns.

The event is designed to help business owners and employees improve their social media skills so they can more effectively market themselves and their products or services. If you’ve been busy running your business for years and aren’t quite caught up to speed on how to make an eye-catching business page on Facebook or how to create a business profile for your company on LinkedIn, this just might be a good event for you to attend. If you don’t have much social networking experience, this event will catch you up to everyone else and if you already have a great deal of experience, this event will be a good chance to fine-tune your skills. Be sure to think up a few hard questions to bring for the Q&A portion of the program, or to spring on the presenters during the networking session afterwards.

YouTube has over 500 million unique users each month, people on Facebook install over 20 million apps everyday, there are over 190 million tweets posted daily on Twitter, and over 135 million people are proudly posting their professional accomplishments on LinkedIn for the world to see. I want to hear all about the latest tips and tricks and I want to hear them directly from the people who created them.

Google+ was the fastest social media website to reach 10 million users. It happened in just 16 days. Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days. One in every nine people on Earth is on Facebook. I think it’s so exciting that those companies are right here in our neighborhood and that they’ve changed the world. I feel honored to live right in the middle of the Silicon Valley and I hope to see you on May 1^st.

The key ingredient is the “fromage blanc.” It’s handmade cheese. The Milk Pail owns 29 cows. They live in Orland, California. That’s about 3 hours north. The cows have 39 acres to graze on and they’re quite happy about their job. Paul Schmidt, the magical cheesemaker and dairy farmer, also lives in Orland on the farm. Paul makes the fromage blanc and Steve takes the fresh cheese to his ravioli maker. Steve sometimes, actually most of the time, tweaks the recipe by blending other ingredients with the fresh fromage blanc.  The selection of raviolis changes from time to time. Steve told me that he likes to mix it up for his “thrill-seeker customers.” I guess I’m included in that group.

Fromage blanc can be used in the place of ricotta or cottage cheese. It has much more of a tangy flavor than ricotta or cottage. The tartness comes form the natural lactic acid in the cheese. Other, lower quality cheeses that aren’t as flavorful, add lemon juice or vinegar to get that same flavor. You can use the fromage blanc in crepes, tiramisu or lasagna, just to name a few. I got a container of it and I plan on making lasagna this week.

Last night I made two different kinds of the Milk Pail’s ravioli. I made the one with both parmigiano reggiano and fromage blanc cheeses and also the one that is a blend of three cheeses, including fromage blanc. The shapes of the raviolis are different so you can make them together and you’ll still be able to tell them apart from each other. I boiled them until they were perfectly al dente and then added them to browned butter with fresh parsley and tiny grape tomatoes. It was heavenly. Honestly, you don’t need sauce on them because they have so much flavor on their own. I planned on taking a cute photo of them before we sat to eat, but I was overwhelmed with excitement and I forgot that part. That’s why the photo for this story is of the frozen raviolis in their package. I also forgot to crack open a bottle of red wine, but I’ll be sure I do that when I serve the lasagna.

I love that we have had the Milk Pail Market here for the last 38 years and that they continue to offer us high quality products. It’s businesses like the Milk Pail Market that make our city the unique place that it is. I love Mountain View.

I asked Shelley to talk to me about the different ways the community can get involved in KMVT. She told me about the numerous workshops that are offered throughout the year. The first one that should be on your agenda if you are at all interested in being part of a crew is the “Studio Production” workshop. You’ll learn about operating cameras, teleprompter, and audio equipment. Other workshops being offered include: Producer Training, Field Production, Adobe Premiere, Intro to Motion Graphics, and Citizen Journalism. There are some Students Camps (ages 10-14) that are very popular, including Claymation. I expressed interest in the Claymation workshop and Shelley told me that they’re working on creating a Claymation workshop for adults as well. I’m pretty sure that we all secretly wish we knew how to film our own version of Wallace & Gromit.

People attend the workshops for all different reasons—some want to learn about the station so they can volunteer, others want to know more about the ever-changing media and the role that they play in our community, and others want training for a career in television. Whatever the case, KMVT is very progressive and they offer a wide variety of possible opportunities for people who want to get involved.

KMVT is always looking for experts who would be willing to teach workshops. If you have some amazing skill that you would be willing to share with others in the community, please contact Shelley Wolfe. And KMVT is always interested in getting feedback from the community. If you have ideas or comments about programming, please get in touch with them. If you know of anyone who would be willing to donate a small, fuel efficient vehicle to the station, please pass the word along. Currently, they have a large vehicle and it works great for big community events like the festivals, but they need a small or medium sized automobile that can carry the equipment needed to cover sports events. It would be a good tax write-off.

If you aren’t able to watch KMVT (if you have dish or satellite TV instead), you can find them on YouTube. Please visit the KMVT website if you have questions about the station, their message board, or their programming—really, they’re doing some amazing things. I’m always in favor of public access television, creative people getting involved in the community and our First Amendment rights. I love Mountain View.

Then I met Rashein Lindsey of Rok Fitness. He’s a certified Boot Camp Instructor with a military background. Rashein has trained over a hundred civilians to pass the fitness exam required to join the Marines. If he can make someone “combat ready,” he can certainly whip some local residents into shape.

Rashein is a partner at Functional Core Fitness, which is on the El Camino in Mountain View. His business is Rok Fitness. He has class 7 days a week, because that’s how they do it in the military. His ‘campers’ start by stretching. The stretch exercises are led by one of the students. That’s the technique used by the military to teach camaraderie and leadership. He wants his clients to feel accountable to each other and to the commitment of getting in shape together. I like that. Rashein tells me that his classes are very non-intimidating and that if someone needs extra help, he’s happy to work one-on-one with them on the side.

He’s focused on adhering to the Marine Corps style of fitness program, and also to helping his students with a nutritional plan. He also offers health coaching, and personal training. He told me that 75% of his ‘campers’ are trying to get into the military and that the rest are regular people—just your average Silicon Valley engineer types. People are welcome to join the boot camp at any time. There isn’t a specific start date. Just show up and be ready to sweat. You’ll be doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and squats in no time at all. You’ll use your own body weight for most of the class.

Rashein seems to be very passionate about what he’s doing—he loves his job. He told me about his long term plans for the future. They involved helping kids fight obesity by giving them the skills they need to live a healthy life. When he talked about his passion for helping clients discover an active, healthy lifestyle, I could see how much his job means to him. Rashein is inspiring and is definitely the kind of person who could keep you motivated. Mountain View is full of all kinds of different start-ups and they aren’t all high-tech–some of them are old-school. Welcome to Mountain View, Rok Fitness.