They put cool compression packs on your major muscle groups and core. A cooling helmet goes on your head and your feet (without shoes or socks) go on really cold copper pedals. Then you workout hard for 20 minutes. I’ll try to explain the technology, but obviously, you should go to their website for a thorough explanation. Here goes: Because the workout is cold, the blood that would normally go to the surface of your body to cool you down is now staying in your muscles. Lactic acid that would normally build up in muscles doesn’t with a Vasper workout. Your pituitary gland sends out HGH and other hormones to repair and rebuild, but your muscles aren’t sore so they don’t require all that human growth hormone. This creates a surge of HGH in your body. It’s supposed to make you feel great because cooler blood retains more oxygen. The extra HGH helps your brain to be more focused and productive. It actually makes you smarter… well, they didn’t tell me that part, I just made it up and I’m hoping that I’m smarter now. And you don’t sweat! That part is true. You can workout and go back to the office. Have you ever heard of anything like this? No, you haven’t.

After the 20 minute workout you lay down for 20 minutes on a special bed that keeps your spine cool. You also hold onto a Tesla coil during the cooling period. They turn off the lights and you can sleep or meditate. It’s the most peaceful place on earth.

NASA is using the workout because when astronauts are in a zero-gravity situation they lose muscle and bone strength quickly. The Sharks have tested the technology on their players and loved it. It has also been used by Olympic athletes, Rescue Squads and military Special Forces. The founder of Vasper Fitness and Performance Systems, Peter Wasowski, is at the office everyday and he can answer any questions you might have, but he also has a really nice staff of trainers. Kat helped me with one of my workouts and I loved her energy.

Every so often I get to learn about and experience something incredibly special because I write this website about our city. Vasper is one of those special places. I love Mountain View.

I went last week with a few friends. It’s a hands-on class, as opposed to the demonstration kind. She demonstrates a technique and then asks someone to take over and finish the dicing, stirring, or flipping. We made Karai Murgi Torkari (Bengali Chicken Curry) and Aloo Poshto (Potatoes in a poppy seed gravy) and rice. There were 4 students in Fharzana’s kitchen and everyone participated in the tasks as she directed us and watched what we were doing. She complimented me on my slick knife skills.

Two of us brought wine for everyone to enjoy while we were cooking and we all chatted and laughed quite a bit while we were supposed to be paying attention, but we didn’t get in trouble. I’ve been to the kind of class where you aren’t allowed to drink wine and giggle and it wasn’t nearly as much fun as this one.

Fharzana is charming and really good at explaining the history or significance of a dish. She is from Bangladesh and her husband is from South Indian, so she knows how to cook food from both regions. If you have something specific in mind that you want to learn, she would probably be able to show you. We just let her pick the menu for us and all of us were happy with her selection.

She spent a great deal of time talking about the spices involved in the dishes we made. She passed around little spice bottles for each of us to examine up close. There was no talk of measuring anything. I liked that part. Just dump in some of this and even more of that one and it’ll turn out fine. I noticed that since I went to her class, I’ve been more brave at home and willing to try new combinations of spices. And I haven’t measured anything either. My measuring spoons must be getting lonely. And I like that she gave us copies of the recipes that we made. The copies that she gave us do have measurements written down, so don’t worry about whether or not you’ll be able to recreate the dish once you go home.

Fharzana can be reached through her blog, http://foodvestigation.posterous.com/ Her cooking classes seem like a wonderful way to get together with friends and do something new and different. I love Mountain View.

Unable to communicate with the person massaging your feet, you had to either accept the pain as they pushed their strong fingers into the tenderest places on the bottom of your feet, or embarrass yourself and squeal from the pain. Or even worse, cry.

Once I came home from that vacation, I started to go to the foot massage places around Mountain View. My favorite is Happy Feet on Villa Street downtown. I used to go to the Happy Feet in Palo Alto, but one opened in Mountain View about 2 years ago. It’s better than the one in Palo Alto. The one in Palo Alto is on the El Camino and it seemed to attract a rather questionable clientele occasionally.

It’s different from getting a pedicure and different from getting a massage. You sit in a quiet, dimly lit room with lots of other people as they massage your feet and work the kinks out of your shoulders and back. Wear comfortable clothes because you’ll be asked to lay face down in your recliner and someone will climb on top of you in order to properly inflict enough pain to make your muscles relax. And don’t plan on going anyplace important afterwards because they’ll do a really good job at messing up your hair. Sometimes they even smear oil in your hair. They don’t ask permission before they rub oil on your neck and in your hair; you figure it out afterwards when you look at yourself in the mirror.

It’s really a very pleasant way to spend an hour and considering the fact that the massage is so cheap (only $25.00) I always feel like I should leave a really good tip. I love Mountain View.

All seven of us went to lunch the day before Thanksgiving. We always have our holiday lunches at restaurants downtown and I always look forward to the celebrations. The first Fiesta Del Mar opened in 1991 on Shoreline Blvd. and 4 years later Fiesta Del Mar Too opened downtown. They’re famous for their shrimp dishes. Oh, and the vast selection of tequila. They told me that they have over 200 different kinds of tequila. Really, if you think about it, all you need is shrimp and tequila. I think that there are about 10 different kinds of shrimp dishes on the menu. I’ve never been disappointed with any of them.

The chicken soup is special and made with lots of love. I can just tell these kinds of things. Maybe it’s the lime, tomatoes, onions and avocado on the side. Or the warm tortillas that it comes with. I’ve been known to order it to-go when I needed homemade chicken soup for someone who wanted to stay in bed and watch movies for a few days.

I love that Fiesta Del Mar Too is dedicated to making authentic, high quality Mexican food and that they’re within walking distance of my house. It’s a great place to take visitors from out of town. I remember taking some British tourists there one time years ago. They had never had Mexican food before and they were baffled by the menu. They asked me to order the food for them. It’s hard to imagine never enjoying an enchilada or a chile relleno before, but it was true. A few stiff top-shelf margaritas later—they were ready to move to Mountain View. I just love downtown Mountain View.

I don’t remember exactly when I used her services for the first time, but I do remember having her come over to the house to meet our dogs. She walked in the door and immediately sat on the floor and started talking ‘dog-talk’ to the girls. They instantly loved her and jumped all over her. Shawn seems to have some kind of strange connection to animals—you know, like Cesar Millan or Dr. Doolittle. And she always has a pocket full of treats. Dogs are suckers for treats.

We have a web cam set up in the front room so we can look at the dogs when we’re out of town. One time when we were in China for 10 days we open our laptop to check on the dogs and it just happened to be the exact second that Shawn was walking in our front door. She sat on the floor and the dogs leaped all over her and licked her face. They were thrilled to see her. It felt so good to be on vacation and know that they dogs were in loving hands.

Shawn recently told me that she feels a tremendous connection to all the animals that she cares for. She doesn’t have children and the animals that she cares for feel like her children. I think it’s so much better to hire her and know that my pets are being cared for by a professional than taking advantage of friends who say they can baby sit and then hoping that they don’t do something stupid with my dogs. Not that I have stupid friends, but you know what I mean. Shawn is licensed, bonded and insured. Sometimes I see her in random neighborhoods around Mountain View walking random dogs. I always think that those dogs are lucky to have her as their sitter while their parents are gone.

In the past, I’ve used those kennels where they lock your animal in a small prison cell and I always felt overwhelmed with guilt. Here I am going off to some tropical paradise and my poor doggies were in San Quentin. And those little prison cells are always made out of cold, wet cement and a chain link fence. My pampered little doggies are used to fluffy down blankets and a big leather couch. I’ll never take them to a kennel again now that I know Shawn White. As much as I love Mountain View, occasionally, I do go out of town, and when I need someone to watch over my two little dogs—I call Shawn White, Pet Care Specialist of Sittin’ Pretty in Mountain View.

Remember a while back when Forbes magazine said that Mountain View was #4 on the list of the top 25 places to live in the country? We loved hearing that news. And yet approximately 44% of the students in the Mountain View Whisman School District are on the free or reduced lunch program. It’s really quite disheartening to find out that there are so many people in need in our community.

This is really a wonderful opportunity for our community. Local merchants who are willing to contribute are getting promoted, the non-profits around town are getting extra funds at the time of year that they need it most, and residents get to have that awesome feeling that you have after you give to someone in need.

Chamber of Commerce CEO, Oscar Garcia says, “Great cities create value for the community, support local businesses, and help neighbors help each other.” I like the idea of neighbors helping each other, especially at this time of the year. The Holiday Fund raised about $60k last year and the goal this year is $85k. If we all do a little something, we can make big things happen. I love Mountain View.

As we walked in the door, another couple was leaving and I asked them how they liked the food. They were really happy about what they had eaten and said that everything was wonderful. They were right. It was outstanding food. We’ll definitely go back and that says a lot, considering the fact that we have so many incredible restaurants in Mountain View.

My husband ordered lamb shank and the meat was falling off the bone. I had chicken kabobs. We also ordered appetizers, salads, desserts and drinks. Everything was amazing, but the lamb shank is what I’m going to order next time.

I also need to mention the décor. I really liked the colorful fabric draped across the ceiling that gives the feeling that you are inside a giant Moroccan tent. And the hanging lanterns, painted fabric art on the walls and sconces all create such a nice atmosphere—so different from all the rest of Castro Street. We have a ton of Asian and Mexican restaurants in Mountain View, and I go to almost all of them, but Morocco’s is something new and different and unusual. I’m a big fan of unusual. See you at Morocco’s. I love Mountain View.

The owner, Randi, has lived in Mountain View for over 20 years. She opened her store back in June. She took me on a tour of the store and told me about the different kinds of merchandise that she offers—every imaginable kind of t-shirt and sweatshirt in all different sizes and colors. And if you don’t see exactly what you have in mind, you can order something out of a catalog. And, yes, it’s even possible to bring in something that you already own. She has a super incredible “printer on steroids” that does the ‘direct to garment printing’ method. Everything single item is custom. Local schools purchase shirts for teams and get each student’s name on their shirt for no extra charge.

One detail that I thought was pretty cool is that they can resize the artwork for each size t-shirt. For example if you put a logo for your family reunion on an XL shirt and put the same logo on a small shirt for a toddler, it would look pretty funny. She showed me a big order that included toddler sizes as well as big adult sizes. The miniaturized logo was so cute on the tiny shirts. And it doesn’t matter if your artwork has only one color in it or 20 colors, it’s all the same price and they don’t charge extra for millions of different colors.

These new custom t-shirts are nothing like the kind they had in the old days. I remember the old ones cracking and peeling off if you stretched them too hard. The ink on these shirts doesn’t sit on top of the fabric; it sinks down into the shirt and is embedded, then it gets heat set. And it’s soft and flexible.

You’re certainly welcome to go to Big Frog and order a t-shirt or shopping bag with the ILoveMV logo on it, but you might also want to design your own artwork. I saw lots of examples of photographs on shirts, favorite family quotes, drawings, school names, dates-to-remember, and logos. Anything is possible. The staff at Big Frog is a really creative group, so even if you think you have a decent idea, let them work their magic if they offer. You won’t be disappointed, I promise. So, technically, I don’t have t-shirts with the ILoveMV logo on it, but I know where you can get one.

Alicia told me that her specialty is really going into people’s homes and creating and the perfect environment for them and their family. That could mean helping them select new flooring, wall coverings and furniture, but sometimes it just means “refreshing” what you already own. Alicia can come in, rearrange your existing furniture, make recommendations about changes that might take it to the next level and give you tips and ideas to make your home exactly what you always wanted it. She also does Holiday decorating. Her prices seemed really reasonable—I’ll let her talk to you about that. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an expert decorate your tree, hang garland and lights in the front room and put the perfect finishing touch on the room before your next party?

I love that we have this new store downtown and I really hope that the community keeps in mind how important it is to shop local and support cool independent stores like Villa Rouge. I’m a big fan of the 3/50 Project. Check out their website for the details, but the point of the movement is to inform people that for every $100 dollars that they spend locally, $68 of it stays in the community. If that same $100 was spent is a nationwide chain, $43 of it would stay in the community and if the $100 was spent online, none of it would stay in the community. Let’s all go shopping, not just anywhere, but in Mountain View!

Some of the different activities that are organized by the club are tournaments, ladders, inter-club competitions, social events, and USTA (United States Tennis Association) league play. Membership is open to all Mountain View residents. Non-residents might be able to join, however a majority of the members need to live in our city. Here’s the page that explains the membership process and dues. They play at Cuesta Park and Rengstorff Park.

The big event every year is the Mountain View Open. It’s in May. Last year was the 43rd annual Mountain View Open. It’s always at Cuesta Park and admission is free and it attracts players from all over northern California.

I met Tony Serksnis, the president of the MVTC last week and he told me that it’s a really friendly group of people. I get the impression that the focus is on team-spirit, supporting each other and meeting someone to play tennis with. He said that the club is all about having fun, being active and doing your best. He joined in the 1980s. They have seven tournaments a year and the last one is in November. Now might be a good time to think about joining the club for 2012. You can go to the November tournament, meet Tony or some of the other members, and see what you think.

It’s actually a reasonably priced sport for the entire family, “all you need is a pair of tennies and a racket” Tony told me. Play It Again Sports has used rackets and Swetka’s is a fabulous tennis store that has been around for over 40 years. Tony told me about their “demo” racket program. I checked out their website and it says that they have over 500 rackets that are available for customers to test drive before they buy. You can buy a new one or an inexpensive demo racket. I always look in the window of Swetka’s and think that the clothes are so cute. I’m sure you can tell by this article that I’m not a tennis player—I’m not even going to try to pretend. Someone in the community, Heidi Sloss, told me about the Mountain View Tennis Club and I thought it sounded like a nice organization to write about. Then I tracked down Tony, the president of the club and asked him to meet me for coffee. I really think that it sounds like a fun way to meet people and lots of new people are constantly moving to Mountain View. I’m here to let them know how lucky they are to have just relocated to such an amazing place. I just love Mountain View.