Mindshare Los Angeles

Jasmine, Abel, and I went to Mindshare Los Angeles for the first time last night at the Downtown Independent Theater. I have heard about this group for a long time now, having favorited them on Facebook, and perused their past line-ups, I was seriously motivated to escape the oppressive OC, and get back to beloved LA.

First things first we ate dinner from the MeSoHungry food truck parked right outside. The sliders were seriously delicious. Next, we went inside and stared at each other as people kept squeaking in and out of the dense crowd. Since we did not know anyone, we were a bit shy. Abel brought us each a glass of red wine in small clear plastic cups. We sipped and stared at the highly aesthetic literati sidle to-and-fro exuding verve for life. Personal note, I want to feel that again (I love LA). We went into the theater 20 minutes early and found good seats and waited while the crowd filtered in. I took a picture of Jasmine and I then posted it to her mom's Facebook page, how cute.

The talks began, and were all so very different, yet unusually inspiring. John Bates from MindArk spoke about Creating the Metaverse: A World within our World. Frankly it was creepy to hear about how people can dedicate large portions of their lives building a fictional universe. But then again, here I am at my computer. Syuzi Pakhchyan spoke about Code, Cloth + Culture: Imagining Tomorrow's Wardrobe. Her blog investigates "wearable technologies, physical and soft computing, and interactive textile design".

The last speaker was David de Rothschild, the man who built the Plastiki. Wow, what a hysterically funny and highly intelligent man! Naturally, he has his own blog. I felt acutely aware of my empty plastic cup beside me as I saw a photo of a cross sectioned baby albatross stuffed to the gills with plastic debris. Jasmine informed me David was written up in Time magazine. I am intrigued by his favorite book, Tribes by Seth Godin.

We were definitely inspired by the three talks, Jasmine and I loved it! Afterwards we retired on the 3rd story rooftop after party and huddled at the very far left corner. We could see the Vibiana below across the street, what a beautiful building. The night was crisp, and the crowd was exactly why I love LA. They had free beer and wine and all-you-can-eat assorted Porto's pastry puffs. Next time, because there will definitely be a next time, we plan on bringing really talkative friends with us so we can meet some people.

NOVEMBER 18th PROGRAM INCLUDES

7pm / Doors & Cocktail Hour

Mix and mingle with the most exciting minds of LA and enjoy COMPLIMENTARY beer and wine :)

Arriving early? Food will be available from 6:45pm from the MeSoHungry food truck

8:30pm / Program Begins

Introduction from Douglas Campbell / Mindshare LA, Curator & Cofounder

John Bates / Consultant, MindArk
Creating the Metaverse: A World within our World

Syuzi Pakhchyan / Experience Designer
Code, Cloth + Culture: Imagining Tomorrow's Wardrobe

David de Rothschild / Adventurer and Environmentalist, Adventure Ecology
Tackling Nature Defiancy Through Adventure

PLUS: A Special Performance by Eban Schletter and his Theremin / Vibraphone Duo!

9:30pm - Midnight / Interactions

DISCUSSIONS: Opportunity to interact with the presenters after the program...

Stay for the ART, MUSIC AND ROOFTOP DRINKS!

FOOD

SKIP DINNER! We'll have MeSoHungry food truck on the premises from 6:45pm-8:30pm. The chef was trained at Cordon Bleu, offering great eats at great prices!

VENUE
The Downtown Independent: 251 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

PARKING
Street parking as well as inexpensive lots.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS
Mindshare LA is a unique monthly event which draws a brilliant crowd seeking connections, experiences and exposure to new ideas. Over the past three years a zealous following has developed around what can only be described as Enlightened Debauchery...

IN THE PRESS
Mindshare's ballooning popularity is emblematic of generation steeped in chaos and an unabashed need for personal fulfillment. If you ever come to LA, come to Mindshare.

--Fast Company

If you haven't been to a Mindshare LA event, you haven't seen Angelenos at their eclectic best.

--FlavorPill

A forward-thinking cultural salon.  New ideas flow as liberally as the alcohol.

--Brand X

This is what it would be like if the internet jumped out of the box and grabbed your arm for a trip into Alice's Wonderland of ideas and madmen.

--KCET Online (LA PBS affiliate)

A forum for human technology in its most literal form - shared knowledge.  Fueled by fancy pastries, an exceptionally well-stocked open bar and a room abuzz with stylish people.

--LA Weekly

Maximizing Social Security Benefits

I was intrigued when I read this today. This is a creative way to maximize your retirement benefits when it's time to tap into them:

A little-known way to increase Social security benefits—for some

Would you like to maximize the Social Security benefits your spouse gets—even as you maximize the benefits you will receive?

You may be able to using a Social Security procedure known as "file and suspend" or, sometimes, as "claim and suspend."

If you are married and have reached your full retirement age,* you can simultaneously file for Social Security, then request that your benefits be suspended until you reach age 70.

However, in the meantime, your spouse could apply to begin receiving Social Security benefits based upon your earnings record—even as you continue working.

In some instances—where one spouse has not worked for pay, or earned considerably less income than the other—the benefit the spouse would receive could be higher than the benefit the spouse would receive under his or her own work record.

How "file and suspend" works

Alan Haft, a Newport Beach, California, financial advisor and author of the book You Can Never Be Too Rich, provides this hypothetical example of how file-and-suspend might help your spouse and you.

Henry and wife Julia reach age 66. He is eligible for a monthly $2,000 benefit, while Julia, if she were to file for Social Security, would get $700 a month.

However, Henry decides to invoke his file-and-suspend option. Even so, Julia can file to receive her benefits based on Henry's earnings.

Those benefits will be $1,000, half of what Henry was eligible to receive at 66.

In other words, because Henry has taken the file-and-suspend option Julia's benefits immediately jump by $300 a month.

You and your spouse get another boost when you turn 70

If you reach your full retirement age and delay collecting your benefits until age 70, your eventual benefit will grow by 8% each year between ages 66 and 70, says Mark Lassiter, a Social Security Administration representative.

"If you wait until age 70 to receive your benefits they will be 32% higher than they would have been at age 66," he says.

Extending the hypothetical scenario of Henry and Julia, both would see an increase in their benefits checks if Henry delays filing for his Social Security benefits until age 70.

Under this scenario, when Henry finally starts collecting his benefits at age 70, he would find that his monthly check would be $2,640, not the $2,000 he would have received at age 66.

And if he were to die before Julia, she would be entitled to get 100% of the $2,640 Henry had been receiving.

Should you file and suspend?

Although filing for Social Security and then suspending payments can be financially beneficial, it won't increase benefits for all couples.

For example, it won't work in instances where two spouses earned similar amounts over their careers. If the husband files-and-suspends his spouse would get 50% of his benefits—but that 50% would yield a monthly check that would be lower than the one she would be eligible for under her own earnings record.

Also, obviously, you should consider your health before deciding to postpone your Social Security benefits. "If you are not in good health and your wife is not in good health and you need the money now, file and suspend may not be the best strategy," Mr. Lassiter says.

On the other hand, Mr. Lassiter says, "a lot of people outlive their (financial) resources." And that means, he adds, that if you can you may want to consider file-and-suspend to increase your benefits for a time when you may need more money than you need the day you retire.

Finally, if you are about to turn 66 keep in mind that you don't have to rush to make a decision about file and suspend immediately. You can use that option later, too.

Conversely, if you have invoked your file-and-suspend option, but then find you do need your Social Security check before you turn 70, you can immediately reinstate getting your benefits.

“You are not locking yourself into a four-year decision,” when you file-and-suspend, Mr. Haft says.

The opinions of Alan Haft and Mark Lassiter are not necessarily those of Vanguard.
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Suze Orman: 1st Time Homeownership

Abel and I have been looking at real estate for a couple years now. We decided to really start the search after we have settled from the wedding. Well, here we are. Our first attempt did not fare well as all three offers we made were placed as back up offers. Back to the drawing boards. We will prevail. I am confident we will have a home soon!

In the meantime, I thought I'd start to gather the gems of information I have found while researching. This way, if we need a quick seach on the go, the most important advice wil be here. Suze Orman is a guru, and everything of hers that I have read is sound advice. Sometimes the basics are easy to overlook when we get excited about our future, so I feel this checklist is rather grounding... bringing the business perspective back into homebuying.

1st Time Homeownership Special

The Pre-Purchase Home Check-Up

Buying a home is a lot like falling in love. After endless dating you finally find the special one: you walk in the front door and swoon over the high ceilings, your eyes lock on the refinished hardwood floors, your heart pounds at the updated kitchen and fabulous yard for the kids. You begin to picture yourself cuddled up by the fireplace with your honey, or the holiday traditions you and your family will build in your dream house.

While I totally understand leading with your heart, I am here to tell you that before you take the plunge and say “I do” to the biggest financial commitment of your life you need to use your head too. Love at first sight is fine, but it needs to be followed up by a few repeat visits where you play the role of hard-to-please mother-in-law and check out every nook and cranny of the house to make sure there aren’t any huge unknown big-ticket problems. There’s nothing more painful—emotionally and financially—than to blindly buy a home you fall in love with and later discover it is a financial heartbreak house because of all the repairs and upgrades it needs.

Below is my checklist of what you need to test before you agree to buy a home. And I do mean you. This is the first step that comes before you hire a professional home inspector to take a look at the home’s structural health. And do not take any real estate agent’s word on the condition of the home. Sure, agents are required to disclose any known problems to potential buyers, but the agent might be clueless. It’s also important to remember that agents are typically paid by the seller. Now I know the vast majority of agents are honest, but it is only human nature to have a bias toward helping the person that is going to be writing your commission check.

And please if you are buying a new home do not get snookered into thinking that “new” means perfect. Every new home needs to be inspected too.

SUZE’S HOME INSPECTION CHECK LIST:

• Make sure you constantly crane your neck high and low, to and fro, so you can spot any cracks, leaks or other problem areas that aren’t in your “normal” field of vision.
• Think out-of-season. If you are buying in the summer, turn off the air conditioner and crank up the heating system. The last thing you want is to find out five months after you move in that the heating system is noisy, and inefficient. Reverse your strategy in the winter. It is especially important to run the systems to make sure there aren’t any funky smells you wouldn’t otherwise know about—like cigarette smoke.
• If the home has storm windows for the winter and screens for the summer, make sure you check out both to make sure they are in good shape.
• Move the furniture. If the home is still occupied, you are to lift every dresser away from the wall—and especially the windows—and search under every rug in search of stains, leaks, cracks and god knows what else the homeowner is hoping you might not see. Lazy sellers are also notorious for not moving their furniture when they slap on a fresh coat of paint for an open house; you don’t want the ugly surprise of half-painted rooms when you move in.
• Put appliances to the test. If your purchase includes the laundry and dishwasher, then you should ask for a load to be run. (Bring a few dishes and dirty dishtowels of your own if need be). And make sure you give the garbage disposal a spin. You want to make sure everything works and isn’t too noisy. In the kitchen it’s also a great idea to turn on as many appliances at the same time to see if the electrical system can handle the load. Breaking a circuit during the inspection can save you from breaking your bank account later. Your home inspector will also be able to tell you how recently the electrical system has been upgraded.
• Apply a water torture test. While the dishwasher and washing machine are running, head to the shower and turn on the hot water. How’s the pressure, and the temp? Also check to see that the shower is draining quickly. While you’re in the bathroom flush the toilet to make sure the pressure is good.
• Turn on every light in every room. And bring along a small appliance such as your phone charger, that you can plug into every outlet to make sure there are no dead spots.
• Visit the home at different times of the day (and night) to see if there is a change in street noise.
• If you are looking at an apartment, insist that residents of any other unit you share a wall with turn on their stereo and television so you can test the noise level. I would also (politely) ask if a friend could walk in any apartment above you—with a heavy foot—so you can assess whether you are going to be hearing your neighbor more than you can bear.
• Ring the doorbell, and test the buzzer if there is one. If there is an alarm system, confirm that it works and whether it is just local or hooked up to a central monitoring system.

You should also take the time to make sure that the house is going to be a comfy fit for you:

• Will both your cars really fit into the garage?
• What kind of dog do the neighbors own? If there is an aggressive breed next door and you don’t have fenced backyard, then perhaps that home isn’t the best place for your toddler.
• Get estimates for all ongoing maintenance costs. If this is your first foray into the ‘burbs, make sure you factor in the cost of a gardener if you don’t want to mow the law, or a snow removal service if you don’t shovel. Same with pool and alarm maintenance. Better make sure you can handle all the extra monthly bills.
• If you are buying a condo or coop ask how many times the maintenance has been raised during the past five years, and by how much.

Once you’ve worked your way through this pre-purchase checklist you are ready to be a truly informed buyer. Hopefully there are no major surprises, but you know what I like to say: hope for the best but prepare for the worst. When it comes to home buying that means making sure you understand the true condition of your home before you sign on the dotted line.

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Dr. Amen of Change Your Brain, Change Your Body

I am often fascinated by the insight Dr. Amen offers through his newsletters. Here is an except on sleep from his August 31, 2010 newsletter:

Lose Sleep, Gain Weight

You probably thought that your cravings for candy and cookies were just a sign of mental weakness and a lack of willpower on your part. You may be wrong. An expanding body of evidence has shown that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain and obesity.

According to a study from the University of Chicago, people who are sleep-deprived eat more simple carbohydrates than people who get adequate sleep. The researchers studied twelve healthy men in their twenties and found that when the men slept only four hours a night, they were more likely to choose candy, cookies, and cake over fruit, vegetables, or dairy products.

For this study, which appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers also looked at two hormones—leptin and ghrelin—that are regulated by sleep and involved in appetite. Leptin and ghrelin work together to control feelings of hunger and satiety. Ghrelin levels rise to signal the brain that you are hungry, then leptin levels increase to tell your brain when you are full.

The researchers measured the levels of leptin and ghrelin before the study, after two nights of only four hours of sleep, and after two nights of ten hours of sleep. After four hours of sleep, the ratio of ghrelin jumped 71 percent, compared to a night when the men slept for the longer period of time. This made the men feel hungrier and drove them to consume more simple carbohydrates.

Eating simple carbs sends blood sugar levels skyrocketing then plummeting, which lowers overall brain function, saps energy, and lowers impulse control. That can make you even more inclined to reach for the Oreos.

5 Tips for Better Sleep

• Maintain a regular sleep schedule — going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each day, including on weekends. Get up at the same time each day regardless of sleep duration the previous night.
• Create a soothing nighttime routine that encourages sleep. A warm bath, meditation, or massage can help you relax.
• Some people like to read themselves to sleep. If you are reading, make sure it isn’t an action-packed thriller or a horror story — they aren’t likely to help you drift off to sleep.
• Don’t take naps! This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you have insomnia. Taking naps when you feel sleepy during the day compounds the nighttime sleep cycle disruption.
• Consider taking natural supplements that promote restful sleep, including melatonin, valerian, GABA, magnesium, and vitamin B6.

You can find more tips for more restful sleep in my book Change Your Brain, Change Your Body.
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The Undefined Boundaries of Our Privacy

I have thought about privacy rights for a long time. My generation is the one that bridged the gap between life before and after computers. I remember a time in my life where your whereabouts and activities were very private, and very few people knew you beyond surface value.

Now, the vortex of social networking has nearly all of us in its grasp. Along with that has grown the expectation that others have the 'right' to know everything they want about us.

When will we be able to take ownership of our privacy again? Will we continue to be at the mercy of invasive investigations that can and will effect our perception and ability to participate in life's activities?



Employer Credit Checks on Job Seekers Draw Scrutiny: Checking credit histories of job applicants--a common practice among employers--is coming under fire. - Four Developments in Hiring Practices
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Mindshare LA

Ever since I learned about Mindshare LA I have had a wide eyed excitement at the possibility of being immersed in a room full of idea weavers and dream makers. So this November 18 will be my first time, and I can't wait.


"Mindshare LA is a unique monthly event which draws a brilliant crowd seeking connections, experiences and exposure to new ideas. Over the past three years a zealous following has developed around what can only be described as 'Enlightened Debauchery'"

Thanksgiving Salads

Abel and I will be preparing a fresh salad to counterbalance the heavy Thanksgiving dishes. Here are a few of my ideas:

1. Orangette's Kohlrabi Salad
2. Hmm... will post more ideas as I find them

Tim Ferriss' Amazing Perspective

Ever since I first learned about Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, I have had a mixture of intrigue and inspiration. There are many successful people who follow trodden paths, and then there are forgers, modern intellectual Lewis and Clarks. He takes the status quo our culture feeds us, and turns it upside down. He made me realize that things are defined by my perceptions, and their interaction with me is defined by how I see them.

Yesterday I read his perspective on ideal life costing and was moved. It immediately shifted me to think about how I define/confine what a meaningful life is. Financial books and blogs engross us with defining a golden sum, the 'retire young' sum. What is that really about? Hoarding money until you can sustain the BMW and picket fence?

TMI—TARGET MONTHLY INCOME—AND DREAMLINES
For purposes of Lifestyle Design, it is necessary to move from annual thinking (“I make $50,000 per year”) and total costs (“A Ferrari 612 Scaglietti costs $250,509”) to monthly cash-flow. What is your ideal lifestyle in exact detail, and how much does it cost per month? This figure becomes your TMI—Target Monthly Income. This is divided by 30 to give you a TDI—Target Daily Income.

Consider the question: What would you do, day-to-day, if you had $100 million in the bank? If still blocked, fill in the five “doing” spots with the following:

• 1 place to visit
• 1 thing to do before you die (a memory of a lifetime) 
• 1 thing to do daily 
• 1 thing to do weekly 
• 1 thing you’ve always wanted to learn

Chances are that the ultimate TMI figure will be lower than expected, and it will decrease over time as you trade more and more “having” for once-in-a-lifetime “doing.”
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November Elections

Thank god for election guides. With the media fracas bombarding me with advertisements everywhere I look, and information sources everywhere, it is very hard to know when I am reading valid information. When sources like Credo consolidate everyone's opinions next to each other, it is easier to see the truth rise above the noise. Based on this guide I was able to research the initiatives and make my decisions efficiently:

Halloween Part II: KCRW 2nd Annual Masquerade Costume Ball

After the Dia de Los Muertos festival we walked to our car and changed into our lucha libre costumes - right on the street. It was so funny! Abel pulled out the car floor mat and started changing into his lucha tights. Abel was decked out in a full blown lucha libre 'Nacho' style costume, and looked the part to the T.

We hopped in the car all costumed up, and headed over to the KCRW 2nd Annual Masquerade Costume Ball not knowing what to expect. I love almost everything that is generated from KCRW, so I imagined this would be a fun night. Abel's lucha libre costume was a hit. With his broad chest and strong build, people approached him throughout the night. One woman even tried to grab his chest! If anyone knows Abel, they will laugh when they read this.

The KCRW Masquerade Costume Ball took place in the Park Plaza hotel in downtown Los Angeles. What a gorgeous venue. It reminded me of the Madison with its lofty coffered ceilings and ornate details. Many of the signature KCRW DJs were there... Jason Bentley, Raul Campos, Ann Litt... all spinning in the four separate rooms. We wandered in and out of all the rooms, dancing for a while, and then went outside for a few tacos from the Border Grill food truck.

Every room was teeming with people, and crazy costumes. At 2 am, when the night was over, we wandered into the lobby and watched all the costumes disappear into the night. Thankfully I remembered to take photos of us in our costumes in the parking garage before we headed home. Be sure to ask Abel if you can see a picture of him in his costume!
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Halloween Part I: Dia de los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery

To celebrate Halloween Abel and Alisson and I decided to go to the Dia de los Muertos at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery before we went to the KCRW Masquerade Ball. We arrived around 7 pm, not realizing it was not enough time to see everything before we had to be at the ball ay 9 pm.

I had never heard of this event before.... so we had no idea how huge this event would be! It wa amazing... so many costumes, altars, performances, vendors, and decorations. It was aesthetically dense and visually intense.

Here is the article in the LA Weekly on the event:
http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/11th-annual-dia-de-los-muertos-at-hollywood-forever-cemetery-31716210/

We are definately planning on going back next year! And this time we are going early and in costume! Can't wait to layer black and white lace with red sashes and parasols!
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Magnitude 3.7 Earthquake Today!

Magnitude 3.7 - GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA - 2010 November 05 16:06:37 UTC
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci10833357.html

We are located in the Orange County Fault System which has five faults:
http://wiki.ocregister.com/Orange_County/History/Disasters/Earthquakes/Fault_System

The earthquake we felt was from the Newport Inglewood Fault Zone:
http://wiki.ocregister.com/Orange_County/History/Disasters/Earthquakes/Fault_System/Newport-Inglewood_Fault

Ode

Ode is the online community for intelligent optimists. I subscribe to the weekly newsletter and love it:



"Ode is a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.

Ode was founded in the spring of 1995 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands by Jurriaan Kamp and Helene de Puy. Kamp, a former editor and correspondent with the leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, and de Puy wanted to create an alternative to mainstream publications, a magazine that was open to new inspirations and new visions from around the world. The cover of the first issue - a close-up image of a radiant woman laughing out loud - captured the joy and spontaneity they wanted Ode to embody.

For the first nine years of its existence, Ode was published in Dutch. But in the summer of 2004 Kamp and de Puy, who are partners in marriage as well as in publishing, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to launch the English-language edition of the magazine. Ode now appears ten times a year in both English and Dutch, with a worldwide circulation of more than 100,000. Over the past 12 years, Ode has helped make the 'alternative' media space more mainstream. The magazine profiled people like clown-doctor Patch Adams, guru Deepak Chopra and Dr. Andrew Weil long before more conventional publications made them household names.

During this time, Ode also built a community of readers who are passionate about the magazine and the issues for which it stands: positive social, environmental and economic change. Because these readers have a lot to say for themselves - and to each other- Ode created a new website that allows them to communicate, socialize and contribute to Ode. Odemagazine.com's mix of print and online journalism with user-generated content and social networking makes it unique on the Web.

In print and online, Ode's aim is to bring a new reality into view, to explore opportunities for positive change in our daily lives and our daily minds."
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