The power alert has been in effect since Monday. I received this message from the Flex Your Power initiative today:

Thanks to the remarkable conservation efforts of California
residents and businesses yesterday, more than 1,000 megawatts
of forecast usage was off-loaded from the grid, helping avoid
any electrical emergencies.

View energy demand graph: http://fypower.org/news/?p=1598

Because high temperatures are forecast to continue throughout
the state and region, California ISO has extended its declaration
of a Flex Alert into today (August 31), and it asks consumers
to conserve one more day, especially during the late afternoon
peak demand period.

For continuing coverage, visit the Power Plug Blog:
http://www.fypower.org/news/

View the full California ISO press release:
http://www.caiso.com/1c4a/1c4af13c2c080.pdf (PDF document)

Please take action to conserve energy:

- Turn off all unnecessary lights
- If you must use an air conditioner, turn it up to 78 degrees or
higher
- Postpone using major appliances until after 7:00 PM

Thank you for continuing to flex your power!

At least it's working. I will continue to bear the hot nights as best as I can knowing conservation efforts do help on a local level. Maybe I'll sleep better one of these days. The heat makes it hard to catch some good shut-eye, doesn't it? Happy three-day weekend everyone and happy summer (yawn!)

Labels: environmental, local

With the 3-day weekend around the corner I'm making time to get back to an all summer long project - tackling the piece of dirt my landlord calls a lawn.

A little over a year ago my mom, her boyfriend and I made a patio. It was a fairly inexpensive and fairly easy project we completed in one weekend. My landlord even agreed to go half-sies on it with me. Poor renters take note: Always ask when you're going to do some sort of home renovation. You shouldn't expect your landlord to pay for the whole thing but you can usually sway them to help out when you talk about how much you like living there but would love to increase the value in some beautifying way. Be prepared to present a budget and if it's going to create more of an inconvenience for the other tenants than what it's worth.

ReadyMade provides a great how-to article to make a stone paver patio. Leveling the ground with sand is key. I wasn't super concerned as I was just looking for some extra sitting/eating area. We don't get a lot of rain in these parts either, so worrying about puddles forming in front of my door wasn't a concern. Never having to weed again was the objective so we laid a heavy black plastic. Since then I've found damp newspaper also does the trick. When the occasional renegade weed does poke through I opt for boiling hot water or vinegar instead of reaching for icky chemical killers.

My patio care of half my yard problem and provided a great outdoor extension to my free-standing studio. Since then I've fantasized about complete outdoor space to house more guests, more parties, more outdoor time.




When I moved in to my studio I immediately started filling the outdoors with potted plants. The Sunset Nursery is my neighborhood resource. I collect succulents and plumerias. My major concern is that any plant I bring home has to be drought resistant (I'm environmental and I'm lazy!). Both types of plants are easy to care for. They thrive under the LA sun, and remind me of places my family and I visit. The cactus and succulents are for my extended family in Arizona & New Mexico, the plumerias are for Hawaii. I've always kept my plants in pots because I am the non-committal renter ready to move them at any notice.

I've been gathering inspiration little by little to bring continuity to my taste and have come up with a Palm Springs meets Mexican dessert theme. I've been collecting yard sale and swap meet finds. Hopefully by this weekend things will continue to come together.

The biggest hurtle is covering the dirt-yard with something attractive and environment friendly. I do not want to be weeding a garden or mowing a lawn on my off time. I love what Philip Dixon has done with pebbles and concrete.

Labels: design, DIY, shopping

Tastespotting.com. I can't get enough of this site. It was recently described to me as the Food Porn Site. Go to it right now and you won't be sorry. In fact, you might just want to cancel your Gourmet subscription 'cuz the food bloggers of the world are taking over. I've never seen so many unique and delicious recipes in one spot. I used to troll Epicurious.com for recipes but after bland search results and flawed results I gave up looking there for cooking inspiration. Sometimes an event just calls for wow-ing food and sometimes you can't put your finger on what you're craving. Then along came the pretty pretty pictures on Tastespotting. Every day there's 36 new finds, complete with pictures, reviews, and recipes. They're collected from some of the hippest food blogs around the web. The recipes have plenty of commentary which makes them easy to follow for new comers and then some blogs provide challenges to the more experienced palate. Examples: Ever wonder what beet ice cream tasted like? Ever want to throw a Willy Wonka inspired picnic? These questions never crossed my mind before but now my recipe file expands with new twists on old standbys and just new inspiring delights. More than recipes, there's kitchen gadget reviews, party ideas, and updates on all food related debates - like designer bottled water. (Fabulous or Ridiculous?) They even have a widget you can place on your own desktop or blog to keep you updated to every new delight the tastespotters find. Just now I got hit with baklava ice cream, the ultimate scone recipe and salami and ricotta pies. My mouth won't stop watering.

Labels: food, reviews, www.internet.com

Last night around 9:00pm the power on my street went down. Just one side of the street, no streetlights, just dark houses. The chatter of the TVs and air-conditioner hums were silenced. But not for long. Before I could dig around for the flashlights and candles (I had to search my way around my apartment with the little light from my cell phone) the power came back on. But not at full power. Just eerily dim like some grid monkey had his hand on a giant lever and thought, "I'll give 'em just a little juice to start with and see how things hold." The lights flickered from dim to full in my apartment and my neighbors' until 10:00 when the power went out again. This time I ran for sanctuary in a glass of Pinot at Cliff's Edge. A couple hours later I came home to the AC and TV buzzing again. Everything seems to be working as normal now.

Today I got on the phone with LA DWP. They're a private run company - mind you, not part of the city. They've got a lot of helpful energy saving tips on their website and sponsor some good Green LA programs. I was immediately directed to an automated menu and chose to report a power outage. After more menu choices I was led to an operator who requested my information - account #, phone #, zip code and then was able to explain LA's policy of "Brown-outs". What in fact had happened last night was so minor it hadn't even registered on the the power grid as a failure. Power has to be out for over an hour to register as a Black-Out. She told me often in the summertime when everyone's running their AC units the power system makes adjustments and re-sets itself. The dim lights and the flickering would indicate a Brown-Out where the grid conserves energy in some areas to provide energy to others.

So now the question stands.... it's obviously un-environmentally sound to have so much power running nightly. The dimming and flickering lights points to an indication of grid drain. The nights are not getting cooler. I'm not missing another episode of Top Chef. What can I do?

I went to Treehugger.com. They provide tips for Green living. To conserve electricity they suggest putting your house on a diet. Do an energy self audit. Treehugger tells you briefly how to do one or our very own LA DWP walks you through it on their site. After an energy audit, like a weigh in before you hire the personal trainer, you can buy some compact fluorescent bulbs. They don't suck up as much energy. There are some super cheap and super nice ones at IKEA right now. Warning: They function a little differently than regular light bulbs. Their wattage is dimmer and there will be a slight delay, like old school fluorescent bulbs, but without that horrible green color and buzzing noise that makes you feel like you work in the office from Joe Vs. The Volcano.

You probably knew that already. But I don't think most of us know that our basic wall-socket items pull energy even when turned off. The rule is if they're plugged in, they're plugged in to the grid, especially electronic items in stand-by (like a Tivo box). Power strips are a good tip. You simply plug all your daily appliances into one and then switch it off when not in use, like when you go to bed. Some genius made Smart Power Strips that go down automatically when the items plugged in to them go idle.

The power bill savings is their big seller. Those of us that live in little apartments don't feel a huge electric bill during LA's harsher months so it's not really an incentive. I often hear renters say they don't care about leaving their lights on when they leave the house because the bills are covered by their landlord. LA probably will have to go back to rolling blackouts if we don't do something. Right now it's inconvenient, but anyone can tell you who lived in the valley two years ago how fun it was to run from supermarket to supermarket to find out who's power had gone down and who's food had gone bad when the rolling Black-Outs were mandatory. I will say that it's usually the little inconveniences that indicate a bigger problem, or a problem on the horizon. Brown-Outs here and there today, utter power failures tomorrow. I better get some more candles.

Today I also joined the Flex Your Power Flex Alert Notification Network. Flex Alert is not a private company but statewide campaign initiated in 2001. Flex Alerts were started in 2004 to alert homes and businesses when their areas were in a Stage 1 Electrical Emergency. A Stage 1 Emergency is simply defined as times when energy needs reach their peaks - typically hot summer days. So all you gotta do is sign up and alerts get emailed or texted to your cell phone when the alert is on. Then you follow 3 simple steps.


I see the goal as using these steps whenever possible. To join the network, you just spread the word to your business. I'm pledging to do the same to my neighbors and friends. When the heat gets to be too much and you can't bear to turn down your AC, then take a walk with me. We'll grab a glass of wine. Then wait for the day when the power comes back on.


Check out how much power California is using this very moment at the CA ISO Status Monitor.

Labels: environmental, local

My kind friend Matt took some fun pictures of Silver Lake's Annual Sunset Junction Street Fair on Saturday. Link to his entire Flickr pool here.




Like always the Junction fell on the hottest day of the year. We sweated out the heat and stayed for lots of bands, fair food and the eclectic round-up of local artisans, shops, sponsors, and people-watching. A highlight of the day was happy hour hosted by Malo. Their patio was an oasis of kind bartenders and top shelf margaritas for $5. Thank you to Steffie at Yelp.com LA for pointing the way and providing drink coupons. The prize wheel over at Amoeba Records' tent was an inventive way to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims and any spot with shade was a god-send. Just a buck donation and you could walk away with little prize packs courtesy of LA Weekly or just get a taste of what a Price Is Right contestant feels like.






The main stage as expected packed the biggest crowd, especially for Autolux and Blonde Redhead. And like every year technical snafus stalled set times. Sea Wolf took it in stride and was able to get to his new hit -"You're A Wolf" which got everyone and their parasols jumping after slower Bright Eyes sounding tunes.

The community vibe was strongest Saturday night at the smaller Sanborn stage where Morris Day & The Time delighted a diverse crowd. Shirtless gay men and police officers swaying in time to "The Bird" was the picture of harmony. Young and old shared stories with the clueless but impressed on-lookers which mainly started with "You know, the villian from Purple Rain" or "You know, the band from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back". I included came naively for the spectacle and stayed for the soul.

A couple new restaurants opened their doors just in time for the crowded weekend. Flore is a happy addition to the strip offering vegan cuisine. They make a tasty lemonade and offer many natural elixirs. Even though they served a limited menu I'm sure they'll have the Jicama taco roll-up creations I tried on a daily basis. Full of hummus and deligthfully seasoned the faux tacos are a welcome alternative to the dried out tempeh your veggie friends probably try to stuff down your throat.

Sunset Junction has another coffee house now too. Intelligentsia Coffee threw quite the opening bash on Friday night, thanks to jugs of sweet wine from the Silver Lake Wine gang. It sure got the Street Fair weekend off to a bang as many hipster hangovers continued to be nursed well into Sunday. Intelligentsia makes good use of the space next to the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music that has been boarded up for as long as I can remember. It's a yuppie's wet dream for sure to be able to sample gourmet coffee of varying quality grades and then pay up to $120/pound for the finest blend (plus it was plugged on Daily Candy.) Too upscale for the 'hood? Time will tell. But a decent cup of coffee is never unwelcome especially when they offer so many Direct Trade and shade grown varieties.

Dogs barking and happily exhausted by the end of the night I still am glad to live in a neighborhood that hosts one of the funnest events of the summer. Yes, I yearn for the days when it was a truly donation based event. The $15 entry fee this year (aka MANDATORY DONATION wtf?) kept the locals out for at least one of the days. Many complained about the defeat of the Street Fair's original intent to be a community building event. A message to the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance: Please pass on to your organizer that if you truly want to continue promoting a neighborhood event you must treat the people in the neighborhood nicely. They're the people that you meet each day. As big as the Junction is it sends everyone living off of Sunset away for the weekend when they should be mingling with Latinos and Leather Daddies in the spirit the event intended 27 years ago. A lowered donation for residents is mandatory. Or give up your non-profit front all together and come out to LA as the concert promoter you want to be. Or make it a charity event worth the cost of admission. Or introduce a weekend pass deal. Or better publicize the free wristbands offered at Tsunami Coffeehouse for the residents living right on Sunset Blvd. Or let everyone in half price during the early part of the day and make the Eastside invaders who come to see the headlining acts pay the full cover price. This is what we call compromising, which after all the Silver Lake Improvement Association's petitioning this year the Junction still did not know the meaning of the word.

Like so many popular summer events around LA, the Junction has outgrown her britches. The new location layout where the majority of vendors sat on Santa Monica Blvd. was disorientating at first but on the bright side allowed breathing room further East on Sunset for the daily traffic. The local shop owners along Sunset were cut out of the action but provided dinner & drink specials, sales, Air-Conditioning, and after parties. Bingo the wiener dog at cute store Pull My Daisy was especially friendly when I saw him early in the day. The gang at Thinkspace Gallery not only hosted live painters and a flashy gold tee-pee but a couple doors down sold homemade cupcakes with a smile. Overall everyone was cashing in and acting neighborly, just as they have in past years. In the words of much more cliched man "They may take our mandatory donations but they will never take our freedom."

Labels: events, local, reviews

The posts have been sparse because summer's got the best of me. Romance is all around and I keep skipping town. A year ago this little blog got started because I fell in like with LA in the summertime. Those of us in the know know there are those who "Heart NY" but we "Like LA".

Kate Neckel has been mentioned on a few design blogs. She's made a wonderfully unique quilt out of old skateboard decks. She also makes these daily drawings that make me wanna quit my job and go join the coffee house sketch artists. Then I remember I don't have the patience.



This one especially caught my eye. She says it's from a series done in Paris. I think it looks like the perfect alternative to a travel log. If not a drawing for each day, each little sketch could represent a favorite moment form one's travels. Here's a link to the larger image.

Maybe I'll get motivated and go to Casbah some warm Summer evening to sketch my recent escape to La Fonda, BC.

Labels: design, random

The Finches are a folk/alt-rocky duo from the Bay Area who'll win your heart with a gentle sound and pretty lyrics. They'll make their nest all this month at Bordello (formerly Little Pedro's Bar) every Tuesday night. What sets this duo apart from the rest? Aaron Morgan plays a mean acoustic for a ginger. Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs was featured in ReadyMade Magazine for her crafty coin purse holds your keys on your wrist thing. It's no wonder with just a couple independently produced albums under their collective belt The Finches have an ever-growing fan base. I'm sure they'll bring a much needed breath of North Cali fresh air to the hot downtown scene. Other local bands start the shows around 9:00pm.


The Finches
Tuesdays, Aug. 14, 21, 28, 10:00pm
Bordello Bar
901 E. 1st Street
Downtown LA, 90012
$10

Labels: events, music

Patti Smith plays a free show this Thursday on the Santa Monica Pier. Weird, right? I thought Santa Monica's Twilight Dance Series were for the washed-up bands found in yuppie record collections (no offense Arrested Development - who played last week). Indeed the original punk goddess/poet will be there in all her androgynous skinny glory. As far as lanky, scraggly punk heroes go I would argue Smith blows Joey Ramone out of the water. So pack up early for the Westside and let's start the debate this Thursday evening. If nothing else you'll get a pretty sunset and maybe a chance to grab a smooch on the Ferris wheel.


An Evening with Patti Smith
Thursday, Aug. 16 7:30pm
Colorado Ave. & Ocean Walk
Santa Monica, 90405
parking info

Labels: events, freebies, music

This all ages event rages from 6:00pm to 6:00am. The FREE all night happening features ambient music galore, video projections, and a slew of DJs. Bring chairs, blankets and pillows to lie out on the cement and experience all the magic.

If you're not in a festival state of mind drop by to find out what Farm Lab is all about. They're probably one of the most important cultural groups in the City of LA. Since the shutdown of the downtown Corn Fields, they've continued exploring sustainable eco living in an urban environment. Farm Lab's latest community outreach projects include making garden boxes, they call them Ag Bins, for Skid Row so the homeless population can grow their own food and even beautify their street corners. Farm Lab Under Spring provides an art space in hope of community building and cultural change. Located under a bridge on the LA River, every person who visits the site grasps what a truly diverse environment LA is and the worth of what it means to protect it.




Here's the list of the performers for Saturday night/ Sunday morning:

DUBLAB DJS & FRIENDS

Hoseh (Headspace, KXLU)
Morpho
Frosty
Ale
MatthewDavid
Part Time Punks DJ Michael Stock
J.Mendez (Cytrax/Sandwell District)
Farzad Moghaddam (WRAS, Atlanta)
Farbod Kokabi (WRAS, Atlanta)

LIVE SETS UNDER THE STARS

Dntel
Languis
Tropic of Cancer
smgsap

LIVE NATURE SOUND DUETS CURATED BY CARLOS NINO

Mia Doi Todd and Andres Renteria
Adam Rudolph and Ralph "Buzzy" Jones
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Peter Jacobson
Adventure time (Daedelus & frosty)
Carlos Nino & Gaby Hernandez

PROJECTIONS PROVIDED BY

Carolina Chaves and Ben Loiz
the Labrat Matinee
the Masses


Saturday, Aug. 4 6:00pm - 6:00am
Tonalism
Farm Lab Under Spring
1745 N. Spring St.
Los Angeles, 90012

Labels: environmental, events, freebies, music