ForbesOnTech

My Ardor for the Stone Houses of Azusa-- It's Still Surging Through my Body

Sailing into my lustrous years, and looking back at the receding shoreline of my home town in Southern California I’m struck by the images of my youth.

Foremost among these area a series of homes and other structures built using material that was at hand on parcels, or in the nearby vacant fields of an ancient watercourse scoured by the San Gabriel River in Azusa, California.

My mother came to Azusa in 1918. All my life, I’ve been fortunate to see the growth of my home town through her eyes. Azusa wasn’t really laid out until about 1899 and aside from the occasional live oak that used gnarly roots to sustain itself in the mostly sandy alluvial soil, the only abundant local building material was river stone, smoothed round by countless eons of tumbling in the San Gabriel Riverbed.

Watching me dig a garden and build a mound of stones to use as a garden edging in the mid 1950’s, my grandfather quipped “Nice crop of Azusa potatoes, boy.”

It was a very nice three by four foot mound too.

I have never forgotten how many stones I pulled out of the ground for that first garden but it took me about five years—after I had newspaper delivery route, ton pay close attention to the eight or nine stone houses in Azusa, I pedaled past on my three mile wide daily herald Examiner  paper route .

Back then, the homes seemed  distinctive and ageless. Many of the stone homes I admired as a kid, are still standing and have passed through several generations of Azusa families.

I’ve always been curious about those homes—all but one of which are north of highway 66, and many others near the first site of Azusa’s  Saint Francis catholic church.

Curiosity is a good trait in a reporter and I started chipping into the stories of those stone homes while writing for daily newspaper in West Covina, CA. I didn’t take me long to discover that the homes were built by immigrant Italian stone workers working  on several dams on the San Gabriel river in Azusa Canyon. Azusa has a temperate climate, although it’s subject to blast furnace heat waves in the early fall. In addition to being free and commonly available, river stone homes are cool when outside temps skyrocket into triple digits, and can be easily heated with a simple fireplace in the winter.

There are two great example of stone construction homes in and near Azusa. The first is a home in the 500 block of West Third Street, just west of the southbound Vernon Avenue on the 210 Freeway—which is conveniently near the home my father built for his family.

The prettiest example; however is an Old Catholic church in Irwindale, which was built by its parishioners using river stone. See the below.

I suppose Azusa’s stone homes would be classified as bungalows—most are less than 1,000 SF. But, because of the effort and individualistic spirit that went into their construction, I think of them as vanguards of the build your home for your family craftsman movement that swept Los Angeles Country prior to World War II.

Many of Azusa’s stone built houses today are surrounded by chain link fencing with sugary fragment honey suckle twining through the fence. Not surprisingly, many of the homes are protected by Chihuahuas who rest on front porches, keeping an unblinking eye on the coming and goings nearby.

Currently there is a preservation movement sweeping Southern California. I sincerely hope that my home town’s stone homes would be included if the movement ever swept east of the San Gabriel River.

I’ve always been proud to be an Azusa boy descended from two families that settled there within 25 years of the town’s founding. And in my mind’s eye, I can picture myself sitting on the front porch of a stone house somewhere east of highway 39 and north of the tracks--Chihuahua by my side. Jim Forbes on January 24, 2016.

A Thank You note: Chris Shipley, Best Ever Editorial Manager Sails on to MIT's Technology Review

Has  there ever been anyone in your life or career you’ve seen turn dreams into reality, while pulling kindred souls along on glorious adventures?

There is someone in my life that’s done exactly that and as I write this, she’s packing up her notebook, some basic files and clothing in preparation for a move back to Boston.

That person is a strawberry blond I met while working at a PC Week in the early Nineties. Her name is Chris Shipley and in a 40-year career, Chris is the best editor and editorial manager  I ever worked with as a colleague or worked for as a subordinate.

Shipley’s curriculum vitae is a shining example of leadership. She was an EIC of a Ziff Davis computer magazine aimed at consumers, most recently was a Fellow at the University of Missouri's Reynolds Journalism Institute. But most famously, Chris was the longest serving executive producer of the Demo technology launch pad events.

Chris and I joined paths twi: the first time at PCWeek where I worked in that publication’s west Coast Bureau and she worked at Headquarters in Boston, and later at Demo, where I was writing PCLetter before she was hired to be Demo’s Executive producer.

Chirs didn’t know that I was writing PCLetter until I arrived at a meeting to get her approval on stories for the newsletter. After about 20 minutes, Chris looked at me and asked “Do you want to work here on a new project?”

And so began my dream job, producing DemoMobile and working with Chris on the larger Demo event.

I was just one of several people Chris helped along the way.   

Now she is about to begin her next adventure at MIT, working for Jason Pontin on an MIT Technology Review project.

My gut feeling: there is no other editorial manager better equipped to plan and execute new projects. MIT is lucky to have her.--jim forbes on 08/05/2014.

(unfun fact! I picked about half of the companies that appeared at Demo 2002 but had a stroke in my hotel room at about 4AM. With her co-producer missing, Shipley didn’t miss a beat and launched the companies. Chris, I’ve always felt badly about leaving you holding my bag o’ companies.Sorry about that and thanks for the best job in the world.)

Taking the Easier, Tastier Road in CA's Central Valley; My Perfect Peach Odysseey

I believe that the road less taken is a much tastier highway than an eight-lane lane interstate.

So,  choosing a route for summer travels up to the Bay Area or the CA gold Country east of Sacramento often take me off I-5 and lead me on my search for f “the perfect peach.”

The Perfect Peach is like a quest for the Holy Grail. In the last ten years, i’ve stopped at a lot farm stands in California’s heartland and sampled a lot of peaches.

Over the last two decades California stone fruit orchardists have developed several artisanal clings and freestone hybrid  peaches. I like juicy monster fruit that weighs a pound, or more. and which are best eaten in parking lots that have a nearby water faucet.

I’ve found several farm stands that sell memorable peaches.

My favorite peach connection is Fisher Farm on Highway 120 between Manteca and Ripon CA.

The owners may not  have aisle after aisle of produce, but what they do have is grown for flavor and only picked when its ripe. So when I’m scooting up and down I-5  nearing Stockton, CA, I take an easterly heading and zip over to Ripon to buy a box of peaches or equally tasty nectarines and heirloom tomatoes.

Fisher Farns is just one of several fruit stands on the 120 highway heading east toward Yosemite. One of the many things about the Fisher Farm operation is its owner orchardists willingness to share information on how to grow great California. If this stand sold rootstock, I’d stump my Desert Gold peach tree and a struggling avocado in my front yard and replace them with their trees.

There are two other farm stands further nprth that call my name when i’m driving in the area. They are Mana Ranch in Esparto CA north of the outlet malls on I-80 http://www.manasranch.com and Hooverville Orchard on the ouskirts of Placerville,CA, www.hoovervilleorchards.com

Mana Ranch is very high on my private list of favorite farm stand peach suppliers because it sells great quality graded peaches, nectarines as well as seasonal vegetables.

Hooverville Orchards is on my list because of its fruit and vegetable selection and because of its ambience. Hooverville is an ideal place to buy fruit, sit under a tree, smell the trees and get very sticky faced chomping away on stone fruit. Like Fisher Farm, the Hooverville orchard owners are happy to talk to you about how to grow great stone  fruit.

So take a break, get off the interstate and seek out Central Valley fruit stands. you’ll know I’ve been there by the trail of cracked pistachio shells by the side of the road.--jim Forbes on July 9, 2014.

It's Time to Begin Reporting My First book-- California here I Come

X still marks the SPot In My Heart

Two years ago I began researching a book I wanted to write about
a contemporary phenomenon that’s become quite controversial here in the
precious metal laden western United States.

But then my aged mother’s health began to fail and the time
I had set aside to report the basic facts of this book instantly evaporated. However,
I’ve never given up on my idea for this book and I’m about to literally plunge
back into the project this winter. I’m quite coy about the specific topic of
this book but based on a lifetime career as a reporter I have a solid understanding
of how comprehensive the research for this project needs to be.

The bad news is; it’s going to take three over-winter months
to collect and assimilate the basic information to present my topic. On top of that,
I estimate it will take another six months to do the field reporting associated
with this topic. The golden part of this project is: I can do much of the grunt
work in and within one day’s drive of my favorite California towns; Sacramento
or nearby Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley and Marysville.

For the last six months I’ve used spare time to amass
quantitative information with the several public agencies that are directly or indirectly
involved with the people who are involved in this fast growing trend. Fortunately,
the contacts I’ve made among law enforcement agencies in north Central
California have already delivered a couple of interesting tips and court cases.

In order to find a publisher, any book needs a platform.
Mine combines: the raw entrepreneurial spirit that defined the west since its
earliest time, native resources, greed, an immutable resource an th e razor
edge balance to keep vital western resources-(water being the best example)
available for recreational, agricultural and society’s use. Set against this
are groups of people, often working alone and fearful of being observed, who
define “barter economies” and who by their vey nature are often colorful.

I now reslize I’ve been preparing to write this book since I
was a young adult and grew intrigued by stories told by wilderness land
surveyors over Holiday dinner desserts that detailed how they had come upon
people far from cities seeking solitude or fortunes in the mountains.

But it wasn’t until I was fully immersed in the entrepreneurial
flood waters as a Demo event producer that I realized that although Silicon
Valley was new, it was merely the 20^th Century manifestation of the
classic California dream.

And that’s what I want to capture and present; déjà vu all
over again.

So, my back pack is loaded with a digital camera, a new
sleeping bag that can keep me toasty in the 20 degree chill of Sierra Spring
mornings, a comfy foam pad to protect my boney butt from pokey sharp granite
and shale, an ultrabook notebook with a very long battery life, a new cell
phone and the will and ability to show that underneath razor creased khakis and
starched button down shirts, the spirit and native opportunities that defined
the west are still alive.

Like the song poclaims:…California, here I come, back where I
started from—Jim Forbes on 11/25/2012.

CapturenGo: Puts Money Back in Biz Travlers' Hands, Corrals Runaway Receipt Lost

 

 
About once every two-days I’m surprised to find little pieces of paper in my pocket litter collection. Most often, those pieces of paper are various receipts for transactions I’ve conducted over the last two days.

So why do I stash receipts? Simple answer: I use to lose up to $40 a week for business expenses that I was unable to account for.

CapturenGo, a new web-based service for camera-equipped smart phones with cameras helps eliminate this problem.

Available initially for the RIM blackberry platform and Apple’s iPhone, Captureengo lets users snap pictures of receipts (and business cards), and annotate the images with supplemental data needed for expense or trip reports.

Captured images are uploaded (in the .vcf format) from user’s phones to the Captureengo web sites where the information can be further organized into files needed for expense reporting using templates for commonly used Microsoft Excel or Adobe .PDF-based expense report forms.

CapturenGo appears at a time when airlines, hotels and other business related entities are providing travelers with detailed receipts, delivered by email. The new service allows users to forward that data to their CapturenGo accounts where they are easily integrated into expense accounts.

The firm’s CEO, David Peskin, notes that lost receipts cost some business travelers up to $1,000.00 a year. CapturenGo helps plug the drain on non-reimbursed business expenses.

A free version, supporting up to 50 receipt or business card captures is available now at www. CapturenGo.com.

The company is self-funded and its founders come from the banking industry.

Sun sequent versions of the program for Android operating system -based deices are under development, Mr. Peskin noted.

Since it was launched less than four months ago, almost 1,500 users have signed up for CapturenGo, the CEO said.
I like CapturenGo because it neatly solves a problem many business travelers face daily, and because its webs site is capable of generating electronic expense report in the most commonly used formats. It’s easy to use, takes advantage of technology that’s used by everyone. Keep an eye on this Melville, NY, company, they’re on my personal list of Companies to Watch.” -- Jim Forbes on 11/09/2010

I-5 "Farm Fresh Produce" Yum Yum!

I made a 900-mile Bay Area round trip excursion over the weekend.  All the way from Escondido here in San Diego County to San Mateo, on the San Francisco Peninsula in one long non-stop, 394-mile, hop in my Prius via I-5 and various connectors up to 101.  I’m not one of those Californians who snivel about driving the I-5 cement ribbon between LA and San Francisco.

            It’s a drive I’ve done so often since the early Seventies that I just put my mind on “auto-pilot”, set my cruise control so that I’m safely part of a pack of cars, pop in a books on tape CD and watch the miles just roll by.  Truth be told, I still find this particular drive very interesting, although it can be butt-numbingly long. Luckily the poppies on the side of the hills through Tejon Pass on the Grapevine were in full bloom, a site that always make me burst into “California Here I Come” no matter how old I’ve become.

            After the poppies the next thing that always amazes me are the mile-after-mile rows of orchards and field crops that line California’s north/south artery. I spent more than three decades as a reporter covering various technologies. First it was aerospace and later it centered on computers and software. But at no time in my career was my mind very far from awareness that California’s most valuable commodity wasn’t capital for risk-based ventures, or a seemingly limitless supply of bright engineers, administrators and entrepreneurs, but rather rich soil that supports a variety of crops.  No matter what story or beat I was assigned to, over the years I always managed to find the time to pull over to the side of a rode, kick off my shoes and socks and curl my naked toes in rich California soil.

Driving I-5 strengthens my roots with California like a balanced dash of pot ash  rich organic fertilizer reinforces a young plant’s root structure.

And then there’s scenery: resting raptors perched on fences around pistachio and fruit groves, low-flying AgCat aerial sprayers wheeling overhead in the early morning and long stretches of the California Aqueduct that bring water down to the “Cadillac Desert” of southern California. But what most often catches my attention on I-5 are signs alerting divers to “fresh produce ahead.”

Parched from a 101 degree heat, I’m easily seduced by the thought of a plump Sequoia strawberry or a cold fresh navel orange, either of which may have been in a field o orchard just hours before. But not this trip, the purpose of which was to attend a memorial service of a good friend named Judy Sobieski.

As I peeled off on the connector leading from I-5 to the Bay Area I realized a couple of things:  How lucky I was to have been befriended by Judy, her husband, Andy, and daughter, Marie and how much I learned from this short-dark-haired native San Francisco lady. I’m so glad I made this trip, because it allowed me to provide emotional support and cover for Judy’s husband and daughter.

It was an altogether beautiful trip for me because I got to spend time with people that literally adopted me into their family at a time when I really needed family support and for some reason the weather in San Mateo was utterly fabulous. As I pulled into the neighborhood where the Sobieski’s live, I heard a faint slightly rural voice reminding me to be sure and bring a cake or pie when I go “calling.” So off I went in search of a pie and a cheese cake.

I was really impressed with the memorial service for my friend, Judy Sobieski, and the incredible job her daughter, Marie, did in putting it together to help her family’s friends and relatives come together to remember one of life’s great treasures.

All too soon, I changed into my short pants, a t-shirt and moccasins and whirred my way back home to Escondido, where the amazing Mr. Perro greeted me with two welcome home “yip-barks” and a series of mighty sniffs to see if I had been around anyone he knew.

I didn’t make it back down I-5 uneventfully. I stopped to buy some good looking Sequoia strawberries and four excellent navel oranges. Hell, there’s no sense in passing signs advertising “farm fresh produce” with a stop to see if fruits and vegetables grown by someone else taste as good as yours.

Is Central Valley “road fruit” as good as anything I grow?  You betcha!

I-5. It’s more than just a four-lane artery through California. It’s also a good chance to taste excellent regional produce. “Farm Fresh Produce” yum yum—Jim Forbes 11/28/2008.

Back in Silicon Valley For a Day-- "My, How I have Changed!"

Back in the saddle again, Back in

Silicon Valley

, My friend.

So there I was sitting in a window seat on SouthPest, climbing out at 12,000 feet northbound from Ontario International in

Southern California

, headed back to the bay Area for a half-day. On final approach to

San Jose

, with my seat back and tray table stored in their upright and locked position, I mentally prepared myself for reentering the world I left unceremoniously four years ago.

            As soon as we landed I noticed members of the Borg Nation had put on their ear gear and were frantically grabbing at buttons on their head sets. Lots of impassoined calls about information on term sheets, deals and new hires. I shrugged into my ruck and fled the terminal. Soon I was headed up 101 north past concrete tilt-ups that had housed four or  five start-ups in their short six year lives.

            The real money in

Silicon Valley

isn’t in the semantic web, social networking or the current buzzword. It’s in much more tangible asset—land or office space that can be traded for wealth and bets that your single-story glass front building in Sunnyvale or Redwood City can be used to house the succession of startups that flow like quick silver through the economy as they burn up venture funds begged from retirement portfolios.

            Some

Silicon Valley

things never change. I had a late lunch with a great friend at Max’s Opera Café.  While we caught up on retirement and life in the middle of a remodel, I spied and said “Hi!” to a couple of entrepreneurs whose companies I covered before I retired. Both were deep into a conversation about how the nature of venture capital would change given the current stock market conditions.

            I was intrigued by their meal and recognized the chunked green vegetable in their salads “hey, you guys like Haas avocados?”

            Both entrepreneurs are I sent a box of mixed Reed and Haas avocados to at the beginning of the last fall season. “Hey, can you send me some more of the big round ‘cados?”, one of them asked. “I can’t get them in the stores up here and they’re very good.”

            I laughed but didn’t tell him that very few Reed avocados ever leave

San Diego

or

Riverside

Counties

. Besides, every time you pick a Reed from a tree, it’s like taking one or two dollars from a branch. Living in

Escondido

, I’m somewhat rooted to the avocado economy. Every day my dog “Perro” and I walk through three groves, a journey that’s like a hands-on sampling tour of a mint. I made a mental note to send them each a box of fruit when it ripens later this year.  As I returned to my table they went snout down back to their salads.

            

California

’s agricultural economy is the best example of an infrastructure play I can imagine. It’s not understood much by Stanford MBA’s or their venture capitalist partners.

            But it’s the one example of a way to make money while other technological trends blaze and die out in cycles. Going back to the Gold Rush, who were the real winners?  Simple answer: The orchardists and farmers who produced fresh goods and arranged for its transport to the mines, along with necessities like Levi’s waist jeans, and iron tools.

            The one image that makes me cringe today is the site of a high wheel Caterpillar D5 ripping out a grove to make room for tilt up offices. It may be the price of progress, but in the end arable land and the ability to grow things for markets and family tables that remainsis business proposition that’s sustainable and a major benefit to

California

’s various economies.

              I’m a native Californian who never outgrew his love for the smell of emerging citrus blossoms, the taste and texture of a perfect Sequoia strawberry picked and consumed early in the season or the sheer pride and enjoyment of providing my family and friends with produce that I grew.  I may use a computer and cloud computing technology to plan my life and communicate. But, at the end of the day, when I go home to my little mountaintop in

Escondido

from a day trip to

Silicon Valley

, my roots quickly burrow into my native soil.—Jim Forbes, flying back home today on 01/23/2008.