Week 2, March 2010

While I know this is a tall order, I hope some time in the near future you can take a full hour and watch this video.  It is perhaps the best explanation of the American financial system’s meltdown I have thus far found— and it is all framed within layman’s terms.  From history we try to learn what happened so we can avoid repeating the same mistakes over again, right?  Well, in this you’ll see how history repeated itself because of a careless disregard for history.  But you’ll also see how the biggest players responsible for the meltdown are STILL the biggest players and how the lack of regulation keeps the door open for essentially all the same abuses TODAY:

See here for why Jon Stewart calls financial whistle-blower Harry Markopolos “an angry dude.” 

To contact me about financing your dream-home click here.

Weekend Wanderer’s Events

…finding the treasures in your town and beyond. 

Two for This Weekend:

Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival: From their website: The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival is the premier American showcase for vocal harmony music. The annual national competition draws from hundreds of vocal groups from around the country with regional competitions in eight cities. The winning group from each festival is flown to perform in front of celebrity judges and a sold out house of enthusiastic a cappella fans at the National Finals.

Rayko’s Third Annual Juried Plastic Camera Show: From the Chronicle: RayKo’s Third Annual Juried Plastic Camera Show includes strange and stunning images made by the winners of this competition. Photographers from all over the Bay Area as well as national and international entries are featured in this dynamic exhibit. There were even more entries than last year, yet somehow we whittled it down to less than a hundred stellar pieces. Come see beautiful images taken with less-than-gorgeous cameras. Flawed, but not forgotten.

Help Your Fellow Living Beings:

Conservation Corp North Bay: From their website:

Over the years, CCNB has flourished, becoming a national leader in the local corps movement. Since our inception, we’ve helped 5,000 young men and women break the cycle of poverty while serving the environment and community.

We now provide year-round job training and education services to 120 youth. Our programs prepare young people from all corners of the North Bay to become strong environmental leaders, develop an ethic of service and create strong, sustainable communities.

In all, our volunteers and corpsmembers have performed nearly three million hours of work on 150,000 acres of public lands. If you haven’t seen them scattered throughout the county cheerfully doing their work, you’ve certainly seen the results of their labors in pristine trails, clear rivers and streams, fewer wildfires, reduced carbon footprint, as well as reduced crime in your neighborhood.

In short, we teach youth with uncertain futures to create a better present and future for all of us.

Two Weekends from Now:

San Francisco International Chocolate Salon: From their website:  The premier chocolate show on the West Coast takes place this Spring at the 4th Annual San Francisco International CHOCOLATE SALON, Saturday March 20th, 2010 at the Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion in San Francisco. Chocolate aficionados, fanatics, buyers and journalists can experience the finest in artisan, gourmet & premium chocolate in one of the world’s great culinary metropolitan areas.

Pic of the Week… from my phone camera:

 I’m guessing you know where this is.