Dear Boulder

My friends at Boulder.me are putting together a collective list from local Boulder bloggers on "What Does Boulder Mean To You? Of course I wanted to participate, because the very premise of this community project is part of why I love Boulder.

Dear Boulder,

You enticed me so much, I packed up my car (job-less and apartment-less), drove across the country and decided to call you my home this past August 2008. Here I am, March 2009 with a job I love, nestled in the start-up, tech community living in a house looking out at the Flatirons, just moments from hiking trails.

For this and many more reasons, I want to thank you for:

Your Community: It's eclectic by being mixed with locals and transplants who want a life with more balance and harmony. There's a surge of power here. People ask how you're doing and care to hear the answer. Upon moving here alone, I didn't feel alone because I found many groups and organizations focused on niche interests from Boulder Outdoor Group to New Tech Meetup.

Your Weather and Geographical Location: Nice spot to land. You're nestled so nicely against the Flatiron mountains and the Rockies are just at your back. I can snowboard each weekend on some of the country's best resorts within a few hours or hike moments from my front door. With 300+ days of sunshine and summers that are not humid (coming from New England this is amazing), it's a deal breaker in itself.

Technology, Wit and Smarts Oh My!: As I work for Lijit Networks, Inc., I'm thick in the midst of the start-up and technology scene. There's a lot of intelligence and creativity weaving through Boulder. The pulse is beating. There's something in the air and it's not just based around technology. It's no wonder The American calls Boulder the, "Start-Up Town."

Delicious Morsels: Mmm, from The Black Cat to Mountain Sun the culinary range makes a foodie like myself happy, rivaling other city's cuisine selection, per Boulder's capita.

Thank you again Boulder and all that you have given and supported me. Your fresh air, beauty and intelligent people keep me going each day.

Yours truly,

Grace

Interview with Oliver Swann From Natural Homes.Org

I recently received an e-mail from Oliver Swann, creator of naturalhomes.org regarding the cob houses I have been writing about and reviewing. He offered his natural homes map (iFrame code and all) for me to post and share similar houses with my readers. Of course, I was intrigued so I asked him to elaborate on how he started naturalhomes.org- what it's about and why natural homes inspire him. G: Where did your interest in natural homes begins?

O: My interest began when I moved from the UK to live in Norway where houses are generally much better designed, warmer and smaller than the houses in the UK. Friends there gave me a book about earthships which I read and loved but soon realised there were many other eco-house building methods to explore.

G: Why did you want to start naturalhomes.org?
O: There were several reasons to start naturalhomes, the main ones were:
I wanted to make information about natural building more mainstream and accessible, more magazine like but without moving it too much from the roots of where I started to learn myself. I've been on lots of builds, volunteering to help others build their houses, but never meeting any 'mainstream' type people. Obviously they weren't finding out about natural building, hence naturalhomes.org

I want to develop an audience for naturalhomes.org so I can profile natural builders and help support their efforts to teach new people. That's why I developed the map so that it was easy for people to browse the World and see just how beautiful and affordable natural houses can be. To reach a wider audience I made the map available to any blogger or website. The iFrame code is available here http://naturalhomes.org/naturalhomesmap.htm where you can select from either a map of all natural homes or a map of a particular type, like strawbale or earthship. I also manage portfolio of homes like the houses built by the builders, Amazonails (http://naturalhomes.org/themap.htm?strawbale@amazonails)

My own project is in Poland where I hope to create a small eco-village. I'll post details on naturalhomes.org nearer the time but if anyone wants to contact me about contributing they are welcome to write to house@naturalhomes.org. This year we are running courses on the land with earthhandsandhouses.org

G: To conclude, I have to say that naturalhomes.org is a fantastic resource that I have been waiting find. I've posted here previously about cob houses around the world, but really struggled for content and it didn't seem accessible. Oliver's site is comprehensive including maps, links and photos of natural homes and eco-villages around the world, plus it's filled with a myriad of natural home resources. As Oliver mentioned, for any questions or a natural home you want to feature, e-mail him at house@naturalhomes.org and you can also find him on Twitter, @naturalhomes.

This is one of Oliver's (many) maps featuring natural homes around the United States--fantastic, click through to find out more:

Personal Space

I grew up in Iowa where physically, there was a lot of open frontier space. Inversely, the three months I spent in Costa Rica I experienced a 'breach' in my personal bubble where the people behind me in lines were close enough that I could feel their breath on my neck. Additionally, I've traveled to Bangkok, Thailand where the population for the city alone is 64 million. Each, vastly different.

Boing Boing guest blogger, Charles Platt asks “To what extent do we feel overcrowded, as a species? I’m not talking about resources; just psychological factors.” Do we ever think about personal space or is it something Americans take for granted? I believe it's a mix between sociological factors and the physical space that is left around us, that we're lucky (or not so) to experience. GOOD Magazine wrote about personal space, via Boing Boing and graphed personal space by each country. Take a look, it might surprise you.


What kind of personal space do you desire? Do you live in a small studio in a crowded city like NYC? Are you just looking for the freedom to roam? Does this affect us mentally and physically?

Friday Linky Love

Welcome Friday and my second Linky Love! Although I'm not a big advocate of Valentine's Day I've ran across some humorous and interesting tid-bits around the holiday itself, so look for the love in some of the links. Happy weekending.

Photo Credit: Lall

1. Modite: Real Life Disclosures on the Myth of Work/Life Balance
2. Altitude Branding: Social Media Start Kit: Twitter
3. Dzine Blog: Web Design Inspiration: 40+ Impressive Single Page Websites
4. Drew B's Take on Tech PR: What Happened When I Spoke to the New Generation Twitterati
5. Naked Generations: Olympic President Recruits Gen Y Evangelists
6. Ad Age: H& R Block Reaches Young Consumers by Mobile Phone
7. The Tampa Tribune: Many Will Say 'I<3>
8. Fun & Food Cafe: Chocolate Banana Pancakes (in bed with your sweetie?)
9. The Huffington Post Re: Adam Sachs of Ignighter: An Open Letter To the Ladies on Valentine's Day...From Some Dudes
10. Geeks Are Sexy: The Geek Guide to Valentine's Day Gifts

Friday Linky Love

Each week I must visit thousands of blogs, websites and newsletters--not to mention my RSS feed is jam packed and I'm constantly updating and changing it. Plus, I'm all about sharin' the love. Why am I not running a link love post? Good question, Grace. So be it. Each Friday, I'll post my top 10 article links that I pick up from the week. As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome and appreciated. Enjoy and happy Friday!

Photo Credit: BotheredByBees

1. Creative Class: Youth Entrepreneurship in the Creative Age
2. Strategic Public Relations: Is Customer Interaction An Opportunity or Cost?
3. Advertising Age: 2009 Super Bowl Top 10 Most-Liked, Most-Recalled Spots
4. Visible Measures: Measuring the Effectiveness of Every Super Bowl Ad across 150+ Video Sharing Destinations (if you don't know who Visible Measures is, you should. Scope their data and graphs on gauging video and audience measurement)
5. Hottnez: Adam's Bridge-1,750,000 Year Old Man-Made Bridge between Sri Lanka and India (this has been found a bit back, but imagine what this means for history, amazing!)
6. Danny Brown, guest post with Elaine Young: Small Business, Not Ready for Prime Time-Yet...
7. Social Marketing: How's Your Blog? Time for a Fitness Checkup?
8. Computer World: FAQ: How Google Latitude Locates You (Although cool functionality, I'm not a fan and wouldn't opt in)
9. Read, Write, Web: StumbleUpon Hits 7 Million Users, Quietly 50% Bigger Than Twitter
10. Drew's Marketing Minute: Which Customer Service Example Are you?

Fifty People, One Question

"We had an idea. Go to a place. Ask fifty people the same question. Film their responses." This collaborative, independent film is driven by Crush & Lovely creative studio and Deltree productions. Their idea began on the streets of New Orleans, which is portrayed by the video I found today and had to post. On their site, http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com the response was so positive from this New Orleans video they proclaimed,"now we're traveling to more cities (sister cities to be exact) and asking new questions. Always just trying to capture a little slice of humanity."

The authenticity and genuine nature of each person captured on this short film is raw and honest, which to me, represents the connectedness that human beings have regardless of outward or surface level differences. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

7 Things You Wish You Didn't (Or Did) Know About Me - Meme #2

Micah says, "paybacks a bitch," as he gleefully re-tagged me in the "7 Things You Wish You Didn't (Or Did) Know About Me" meme. This one works like this:

• Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged

Is is just me or do meme's sort of seem like a middle school chain letter? Oh well, here it goes:

1. The language I took in high school is Sanskrit-संस्कृता वाक् an ancient Indian language similar to Hindu. I can read the Bhagavad-Gita cover to cover and yes, can read all those cryptic looking Sanskrit tattoos people rock (do they really know their meaning?)

2. I hate mint. I really do and just don't like any form of it.

3. I lived and worked in Costa Rica with sea turtles on a beach in the summer of 2005. The village beach in Ostional is one of the 8 beaches in the world where the 'arribada' (arrival in Spanish) occurs: female Olive Ridley sea turtles lay their eggs in masses, with each moon cycle.

4. I have an extensive background in horseback riding and for over ten years I competed in three-day eventing (i.e. reference Christopher Reeves harrowing fall). I owned a thoroughbred, taught riding and veterinarian lessons, and traveled around the Midwest competing.

5. You don't know me at all if you don't know that I'm 75% Italian (Calabrese/Sicilian) and 25% Irish (Boyle=last name). A quiet one who doesn't like to eat or drink, with a side sarcasm.

6. I've been meditating (Transcendental Meditation) since I was five, a simple way to release stress. I attended an alternative school where we meditated and practiced yoga before and after school, while in between it was a regular college prepatory school. Hence, the Sanskrit (#1). Other practitioners of Transcendental Meditation: The Beatles, David Lynch, Goldie Hawn. Curious? See below:

7. Queen-Under Pressure is one of my favorite songs of all time. Doo Doo Doo Doo Do Do Do ...

Now my seven people to tag. Your mission if you choose to accept it:

@fullyadam- What a good sport Fully is, plus he's one of my favorite people on the web (& in life)
@JMalan- Emerging into the tech scene with valor especially as my co-worker @ Lijit.
@daveraffaele- A new Twitterati friend and 'social media supporter'
@jshuey- A fellow Biz. Dev practitioner with a pension for tech
@rickbutts- 'International troublemaker'
@GlobalPatriot- With support for social justice and global consciousness, why not connect the dots?
@joegreenz- Spurs of thoughts a' plenty
@converstations- A fellow Iowan and "Social Mediatician."

Meaningful Holiday Gift Ideas

As we are amidst the holidays and the new year is fast approaching, this may mean a few different things for you; some time off, family, traveling, relaxing, energizing, gift giving, change? As I'm home in Iowa, visiting my family and friends I'm taking a little 'hiatus' and attempting to stay 'off the grid' for the next week. However, before I try to take a break from web 2.0 (try) I wanted to present a few organizations and gift ideas that give back.

1. Heifer: Based in Arkansas, this non-profit seeks to end worldwide hunger and poverty. They do this through helping people in developing countries feed themselves. Ie: Buy a goat-->provides milk for the family-->also makes yogurt or cheese to be sold.

2. World Wildlife Fund: Protecting the future of nature, WWF has annual gifts, grants or loans ranging from $1,000 to $3.5 million all of which helps to play an instrumental role in conserving places around the world from devastation.


3. Pro Mujer-Microfinance: One of my best friend's, Ali works at Pro Mujer (Spanish, meaning "for women") in New York City with their Finance Department. As they "give women credit," by helping them help themselves I love what they do for women in Latin and South America. Donations range in price--$25 gives a woman credit to grow vegetables to sell at the market, $500 provides 3 women with loans and health care and $5000 provides 25 women with loans and health care. To donate directly, click here.

2. Oxfam America: An online catalog that delivers to 120 countries around the world. It's as simple as purchasing an item (ie. can of worms, a camel, building tools), the card goes to the recipient, then the gift goes to those who need it most.

Whatever your choice may be, there are many ways to ensure your holiday gift is backed with meaning and making an impact in someone's life.

Happy holidays!

6th Photo Meme

The social media world loves to create games. I just got opted into one of those games: '6th Photo Meme.' The idea is 666-fold: go to the 6th page of your Flickr photostream, grab the 6th photo, post the photo on your blog and then tag 6 of your friends to do the same.

Adam Fullerton (@fullyadam) just tagged me over at his blog, The Passenger, so here goes my picture and response.

This photo I took is from the Boulder/Denver New Tech Meetup in Boulder. Five people get five minutes each to demo something about their new technology. I love this photo because it a) shows the collaboration of technologists, entrepreneurs, geeks and hackers (300 strong) in one room together; b) it represents the new tech boom in Boulder. The American Magazine calls Boulder, "a serious technology hub," and look out because, "The Western frontier is open, and geeks are populating the range." As a recent geek transplant, this makes me happy.

Now comes my turn to pass the Flickr meme love onwards:

1. Tara Anderson- a fellow 'too lijit to quit' co-worker (Marketing Manager at Lijit) who has a zest for life and insatiable humor. Tara is a force to be reckoned with.

2. Micah Baldwin- because he's keen on succeeding through failure, has a smart business mind (VP of Biz. Dev. at Lijit) and gives back by mentoring start-ups and coaching lacrosse.

3. Lauren Cook- a social media strategist and Founding Partner at Swarm Collective. Plus, we're connected by six degrees of separation and as a 'professional wine consumer,' we have more than one interest in common.

4. Melissa Michaels - her blog, The Inspired Room is one of my favorite sources of information for interior design and creating a beautiful home. Not to mention, she's one of the sweetest bloggers out there.

5. Jeremy Tanner - With a tagline like: "Consultant - Party Crasher - Startup Junkie," who could refuse Tanner's humor? He is also the Head Facilitator for Startup Weekend.

6. David Mandell - Best friends with one of my favorite professors, now also my friend. I love connecting the dots as Mandell's a local Boulderite and entrepreneur.

Social Media for a Social Cause: The Opp-Guide

Social Media is powerful in shaping brands, ideas, people and most interestingly, social causes. I ran across one such social cause from an article in Market Watch about Wendi Oppenheim, a 16 year-old founder of a community service, social cause revolution, The Opp-Guide. Oppenheim's non-profit was a recent finalist in the Best Buy @15 competition, inspiring teens to help their community.
The Opp-Guide is comparable to Zagat or Yelp, except here, teens submit reviews of their volunteer experiences with local nonprofits and charities. Their byline: "Community service ideas and organization reviews for teens, by teens."

I'm impressed with Oppenheim's eloquence as she understands where our country stands now and the importance of community, "Young people need to know the true satisfaction of giving their time to people in need." She attests that the reviews are honest and help fill the missing link between actually enjoying volunteering and only being there for the credit.

Market Watch believes, "The Opp-Guide has proven an innovative way to get teens involved in community service by helping them pinpoint opportunities that tap into their passion and skills."

So if you feel so inclined: Rock the Vote for The Opp-Guide at http://www.genv.net/bestbuy or text BBYV24 to 32075. You can also check out Oppenheim (President) and equally young, Ben (Business Manager and VP) talk in this cute video about their organization.

For more information about The Opp-Guide or to speak directly with Wendi, here is her e-mail: wendioppenheim[at]gmail[dot]com

So I'm curious...what other social causes do you know that leverage social media for their organization, cause or idea? Please share.

Building A Cob House-Follow Up With the Mullenneaux's

In early November I wrote a post on "Building a Cob House" about the Mullenneaux family, and their personal cob building community story. The responses from readers were fantastic and inquisitive, so I felt a follow-up was necessary. I reached out to Hap and Lin Mullenneaux with questions readers had asked and how it felt to be living in their new cob house the past month. They happily obliged and also offered to serve as a contact for anyone else interested in cob houses. I hope you enjoy and learn from their responses as much as I did.

GB: With your cob home finished, how does it feel to be living in a home that you created solely with your own hands (and feet), especially with the help of Fairfield (Iowa's) supportive community?

HLM: We have been living in the house for one month. It feels more like a part of nature than a conventional house. As something natural, it is easy to accept it as it is. While there are some things that aren’t finished, we are beginning to realize that this house may never be finished because that is a static condition and this house is alive. We do look forward to running water inside and taking baths at home, coming as soon as the pond fills. Since summer ended we have missed our outdoor shower.

Loft Bedroom. The ceiling is bamboo matchstick blinds over reflectix. Photo Credit: Hap and Lin Mullenneaux

GB: What specific environmental benefits have you noticed in your new cob home?

HLM: In building this house we used much more “waste” than we created. Now our use of energy and water is a fraction of any house we have lived in before. We use rainwater from the roof. We heat with wood from the scrap pile at a nearby sawmill. Our total monthly housing costs are under $100, mostly phone and internet.

Cozy Kitchen-Photo Credit: Hap & Lin Mullenneaux

GB: In my previous post, I received a question regarding cob homes' flexibility and durability for various climates. Can you answer that comment, especially in light of Iowa's notoriously cold winters, wet springs and hot summers?

HLM: At this stage of our experiment the jury is still out. The season in question is winter. Cob walls give you excellent thermal mass. Heat them and they will radiate that heat back to you over time. But what happens when there is a sub-zero wind chill hitting the other side of the wall? Stay tuned!

GB: Are there any challenges you've noticed since moving in?

HLM: Balancing the heat was a challenge because we put the woodstove by the stairs. We are closing it in so that the heat spends more time downstairs. Condensation was an issue at first. We made the house very tight and there was still cob and plaster drying when we moved in. Add the vapor that we contribute from cooking, etc and you have high humidity. This is becoming less of an issue as winter progresses, but the interior plaster absorbs moisture easily and down the road we may cover it with something less permeable.

GB: So, if someone were interested in building their own cob home what insights, resources and advice would you give them and why?

HLM: In a climate with real winter you need to use every bit of the building season to finish a cob house before freezing begins. Keep the design small. Have the foundation and stem wall ready in the spring. Do the roof first on either permanent or temporary posts. We had to work hard to protect our walls before we got the roof on. Enjoy the process and encourage everyone to enjoy it with you. Cob is not meant to be done alone. To give cob a fighting chance in cold weather, do everything you can to help it. We made the house tight with good windows that are strategically located. We insulated the roof properly. We probably should have done more to insulate our stone stem wall. Keep the cob walls thick. In places where we sculpted seats or niches into the wall the thin wall tends to be cold and damp. Finally, don’t let heating be an after thought in a cold climate. Make sure you will have heat where you need it with proper placement of the woodstove or other heat source. Some folks who built a cob house in south central Iowa said that their home was a bit chilly when the woodstove was located on the north wall. The next winter they moved it closer to the middle of the house and were much more comfortable.

Be sure to get some hands on experience before you start your own project The workshop that we took at Cob Cottage was a blast. http://www.cobcottage.com/

Here are more great teachers we have met:
http://www.housealive.org/
http://www.emeraldearth.org/
http://www.cobincornwall.com/

We are happy to answer questions and share our experience via email: haplin[at]gmail[dot]com

Thanks for doing this, Grace.
Hap & Lin Mullenneaux

The Music of Inspiration

A new friend, fellow Iowa blogger and social media "conversationalist," Mike Sansone at ConverStations recently posted this video by grammy-award filmaker, Mark Johnson. The musical project Johnson has created, connects people from around the world, bringing together different global musical styles to create one beautiful vision. The film, Playing for Change took ten years to document. When talking about the driving force for the film, Johnson says it was, "to find a way to inspire the planet to come together as a human race. We wanted to focus on our connections rather than all of our differences. We believe music can break down the walls and barriers between cultures and raise the level of human understanding and connection."

This follows one of my deepest passion that we are all connected on a global scale. So watch this inspiring video and share it if you feel so inclined.

Eventually, everything connects-people, ideas, objects. The quality of these connections is the key to a well lived life. -Charles Eames

Building A Cob House

How eclectic, yet authentic does it sound to build your affordable dream home...with your hands and feet?
My close friend, Mani Mullenneaux's parents Hap and Lin have been doing just that. They've had "cobbing" parties, mixing earth from their own land in our hometown of Fairfield, Iowa (South East corner of the state) to create their sustainable and natural dream home. Their end result: 400 square feet including a loft bedroom. An article from The Iowa Source features Lin and Hap's journey through not only building their cob home, but the community they've built around it. I was home for a little this summer before moving to Colorado, and I almost went with Mani to help cob, so the story touched me on a personal level. Here are the highlights from the article, with my opinions and thoughts inserted throughout...

What IS a cob house?

"Cob building has been used for centuries in Europe but is relatively unknown in the U.S. In the summer of 2007, Hap and Lin journeyed to Oregon to learn cob building at the Cob Cottage Company, the home of Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley."

Lin in the early stages of foundation of the cob walls (Photo Credit: Hap and Lin Mullenneaux)

In knowing Hap and Lin, I can see how they seek to inspire others to build homes with natural materials through their own personal joy of building their own. "Part of the appeal for this kind of building is that it involves community,” says Lin, “when your friends and family help build your home.” My friend, Mani is the youngest of five in the Mullenneux clan, so with Hap and Lin's children, grandchildren and parents their family and 'cobbing' support has had great breadth.

Affordable living for today's economy

As of October the house has grown and is close to finish. There is a white lime-plaster finish, a green metal roof to catch rainwater and a periwinkle blue door.

“Hap wanted the door to be the color of morning glories,” says Lin. The morning glories have climbed to the top of the arches over the garden and Hap’s mother Dorothy and her husband Bill Beal have planted a beautiful garden of their own, next to the camper where they have lived this summer."

Hap's mother Dorothy and her husband, Bill enjoying the 'cob dance' (Photo Credit: Hap and Lin Mullenneaux)

I think the author, Linda Egenes does a beautiful job of describing the mystical cob, cottage of which I can't wait to see when I make a trip back home:

"But the cottage, the cottage. It’s a cozy, magical place, with a winding staircase to the wooden loft where the bed already rests, and two small baskets for socks and sleepwear are the only other furniture. Pine saplings, cut as dead wood by Hap from a nearby forest, form rustic beams downstairs. The partially plastered interior walls feel smooth and cool as stone. A wood stove sits in the northwest corner, cob benches create a window seat under the south windows."

The best part is that their unique home cost them only an estimated $7000 and half of that was in the windows and roof. Not only have they efficiently spent less on their new home but they are reaping the benefits of the sustainable lifestyle it will provide them.

“The experience of building this house was completely different than the home we built ten years ago,” says Hap. “I don’t remember feeling so vibrant at the end of the process like I do now. These materials are alive. With materials coming out of the ground, with labor coming from so many wonderful friends and family, it’s a tremendous blessing that we’ve received. It feels like a miracle."

Lin and Hap in their cob home (photo by Gabe Walker)

Here is the full article in the Iowa Source, "Building a $7,000 Cob House"
In addition, Hap and Lin are incredible photographers. Check out their site here as they created, "A Cob House Journal"