We spent all day Friday out working on a Habitat for Humanity house as a company event, which was quite nice. Since it was overcast and a bit drizzly, we were limited to painting and cleaning. Originally we were supposed to help rip off the roof! Oh well, the guys still got to go to another house down the block that needed some demolition work.

One of the first things we enjoyed upon arriving was a wonderful backyard with a lemon tree and avocado tree.

This backyard was strangely reminiscent of China for me.

This picnic table in the yard served as a lunch table as well a commemorative item for the family that will eventually move in here. We all left our mark!

The garage was used as storage for all the supplies to fix up the house.

One Habitat employee and one of my company's engineers work together to get paint into cups.

A bunch of my coworkers begin to paint the side of the house.

These adorable little kittens were grooming themselves outside of a house just down the street from the one we were working on. I wish I could have them!

Today was move-out day and boy did I get beat up! My poor legs and feet are throbbing and I’ve developed a couple of bruises from getting banged up.

Check out some of the previous videos too.

I attended the Oppenheim lecture tonight, about green chemistry.  It’s a growing sector that is coming up with innovations that are not only environmentally safe and sustainable for the long term, they work better and make more sense for the bottom line as well.  While there are definitely plenty of “green” products that cost a premium, it doesn’t have to be that way.  As our economy and society demand better, companies will respond with great new solutions to consumer needs.

Many of the solutions that Dr. Paul Anastas, the main speaker, pointed out were rooted in bio-mimicry.  It’s a topic I’m fascinated with, since most (if not all) of the solutions we search for are already present in nature.  For example, he told us of the pain of trying to redo a bathroom because of all the hardened glue you have to scrape away.  It’s tedious and can be quite toxic too.  Instead, we can learn from mussels, which very strongly adhere themselves to rocks and other things just as well, but need no dangerous chemicals to do so.  By learning from the multitude of creatures in the world around us, we can find brilliant, simple, yet effective ways of solving many of our issues.

In addition, Dr. Anastas pointed out that we really have to allow disruptive inventions to come along.  It’s not good enough to just improve some of the products we have now; we have to be willing to adopt a method that could completely upheave the way we’re used to doing things.  Once upon a time any city would have telephone wires running overhead all over the place.  Nowadays that becomes more and more unnecessary as we shift towards wireless signal towers.  In the case of detergents, it is becoming a very real possibility that we could have self-cleaning clothes, which would wipe out the need for detergents!  Or, when creating clothes, rather than using dyes that could be harmful, they are now experimenting with growing cotton that in itself already has color.  It’s a willingness to completely rethink our approach to common issues that can lead to wonderfully disruptive changes to our lives and our way of life.

He also made sure to emphasize the fact that a company’s bottom line does not have to suffer for the sake of these new methods.  In fact, these can be built into very lucrative businesses.  What he said rang so true to what I’ve been learning from Opportunity Green as well: sustainability and environmental responsibility and very much in line with profitability, and not just because you’d have a green image.  In fact, if you don’t even consider the environmental impact, so many of these solutions are just plain superior as is.  Why wouldn’t you go with them?  I think a lot of sustainability and the green movement has been misunderstood.  People still think that to be eco-friendly is to be pricier.  We need more companies out there to show people that this isn’t the case so that the general population can start adopting products that are better for us all – people, the environment, the world.

I’m hoping that part of my impact in the future will be along these lines.  To break people away from the prejudices and misguided opinions of what it takes to be good to our environment.  To show them that they can save money, save the environment, and make our world a better place all at the same time.  It’s about time more light be shed on the beauty of green choices!

Our company recently had a social outing (to a new place that just opened up – Vodvil) and we got to ride over on this party bus, complete with crazy lights!

I was at the mall today and walked by the Apple Store to find a familiar sight: people lining up! I first encountered this when I stood in line for their grand opening. Now people are doing it for the new iPhone 4S. There’s less cheering, but you get the idea…

Inside the very new, cavernous store:

For the Fourth of July, the streets of D.C. were filled with cop and military vehicles.

I just missed recording these guys biking around bagpiping. Very interesting entertainment at the National Mall in D.C.!

All day, Angelenos have been bracing themselves for the 405 shutdown, which has been dubbed “Carmageddon” due to the potential for massive gridlock across the city as traffic diverts elsewhere.  As it is, the 405 is known for terrible traffic conditions, so we were really unsure of what would happen when a 10-mile stretch of the northbound side (approximately from the 10 freeway to the 101 freeway) and a 4-mile stretch of the southbound side was closed for the weekend.  Anyone trying to get over into the San Fernando Valley would have to find an alternate route, ranging from PCH along the coast to the 101/170 or 5 further inland.

We’ve been hearing warnings for over a month, with traffic condition signs flashing: “405 Closed 10 to 101, July 16-17 Expect Big Delays”  It’s been over the news and I’ve heard that even people in Norcal up to the Oregon border were notified!  Caltrans sure worked hard to make sure that as many people knew as possible so locals could plan to stay in and visitors could schedule around the weekend.  As we got closer, we were even told about an app called Waze that could provide us with GPS routes based on traffic conditions to help us get around the congestion.

So Friday afternoon, people started leaving work (wishing each other a Happy Carmegeddon), hoping to get home before the craziness.  Many even stayed at home that day so they wouldn’t have to deal with or contribute to the evening traffic.  By the time I was getting out around 6, the freeways looked clear.  They never looked like at on a weekday!  I was originally going to wait until 8 or 9 to head home so I could avoid the commuter’s clog, but since it looked so good I packed up and left around 6:30.

It was the most amazing commute I ever had.  Even with normal free-flowing traffic, there are still a lot of cars on the road, but this time it was so much more empty.  I only saw one car using the carpool lane, and that wasn’t for lack of carpoolers!  They just didn’t need it.  The only time I really had to slow down was up by the Getty Center, where there had been a crash that needed to get moved over so we could squeeze by.

Thanks to Carmegeddon for freeing up the roads before the closure.  It made my life a lot easier that night!  We’ll see how the rest of the weekend pans out.  I’m steering clear until Sunday night.