Zirana City Blog

An interesting perspective on High School final exams by one of Zirana’s school correspondents. Students Stress Out for Finals

Rest of the article is at http://www.zirana.com/cupertino/schools_news/students_stress_out_for_finals.html

Gardening Tips for May

Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mary Crowell    Hasn’t the weather been superb? We can now finally enjoy the color, beauty, being out in our gardens more than a few hours at a time without the winds, rain and cold of the last few months. Finally we are able to weed and prune our garden to where we are no longer embarrassed to have someone stop by. BBQ season is upon us and last evening I managed to spend a few quiet hours in a comfy chair staring at the moon and stars. It is simply amazing the transformation of the garden  by deadheading, pruning judiciously and cleaning out debris. There is nothing quite as cathartic as a peaceful sunny day working in the dirt and gathering those pots that are crying for help. What do you have in bloom at the moment? Those roses are something else, they really loved the rain this early spring. I love taking different routes to and fro in my local area, looking at what is in bloom. Today (mid-april), I have cala lilies, both green and white, bromeliads, cacti, succulents, wisteria (oh wow!), birds of paradise, bearded iris, leucodendron, watsonia, ranunculus, loropetalum, alstomeria, camellia, lots of cymbidiums (still), viburnum (snowball tree), geraniums (actually pelargoniums), lavender, and roses (we only have two large rosebushes, a space crunch problem in our yard, one variety called ‘Betty Boop’ and a beautiful single petaled red ‘Altissimo’,  but we do have many miniatures, as they take up little space).    Little by little, we have been making our postage size water guzzling lawn even smaller, by the addition last year of chimney flues in the middle of the lawn into which I just planted yesterday 5 tomato plants, along with herbs, especially basil. It is also time to feed the citrus and the roses again. Attracting beneficial insects and birds such as bees, hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden is both an art and a science. Some thoughts for creating a butterfly garden are choosing a sunny location, shelter from the wind, rocks to absorb the sun’s heat, include a pool of water, do not spray insecticides, include plants that have both nectar and host plants and leave a corner natural for habitat, yeah right.    Time to repot all those overgrown cymbidiums that have finished blooming, and are jumping out of the pot. If you need help with that project, please feel free to borrow and hire my husband for that chore, or any other handiwork project, he even comes with a machete for those cyms you have left way too long! Try a combination of fine bark, perlite, terrestrial orchid mix for your cymbidiums and do remember to feed them each month, 6 months with high bloom (lo Nitrogen) to set the buds July-Dec and 6 months with high growth (hi Nitrogen) Jan-June. Some hardy perennials to consider planting are geraniums, pelargoniums, campanulas, iberis, penstemon, phlox, delphinium, hellebores, aster, coreopsis, armeria, aquilegia, achillea, bergenias, geum, althaea, chrysanthemum, artemisia, and salvias. This is also a great time to pinch out shrubs and herbs to make them lush and full.

You can read the rest of the article on Zirana at

http://www.zirana.com/sanmateo/featured_articles/gardening_tips_for_may.html

Zirana often gets interesting content from users that would be of interest to readers beyond the city it was posted in. We will feature some of that content here also. This one is a review that was posted for Gold Metal Martial Arts in Belmont, about the boorish behaviour of a Olympic Gold Medal winner.

“Do you know who I am?
THAGAME Not since the likes of Sensei John Kreese of the Cobra Kai Dojo (The Karate Kid) have we seen a man like 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist Master Herb Perez. You remember the guy who said:

Sensei John Kreese: We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A Man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy…

Let me tell you a little interaction I had with Master Perez on a Beautiful Sunday (March 30, 2008) afternoon while I was on my way to lunch with my wife…and then you decide if this is the man who you want teaching “your” kids ethics and morals and values of martial arts:

Any one who has been to the Edgewater Shopping Center in Foster City knows what it is like to park on a weekend (let alone any weekday). We drove around in my Jeep (which I admit can be intimidating at times with 35″ tires and a 4 1/2 inch lift kit and has been referred to before as a tank…lol…but I digress…

We found a spot, I opened my door for my beautiful wife, and we started walking hand in hand towards Chevys…

All of a sudden, out of nowhere this guy (Master Herb Perez) is walking towards me very quickly and stops 4 inches from my face, puts his finger in my face and says “you just blew through that stop sign (the one on the corner between Gold Medal Martial Arts and Chevys)”…I immediately said “OH I did I apologize for that (knowing in my head that I was a little lightheaded and hungry and very well could have)…Then I asked him with all the anger management I could muster to please back up out of my face (knowing where it could go and not wanting it to go there), he immediately responded with “Do you know who I am, you don’t know who I am do you?”…I told him at that point I don’t care who you are get out of my face…Then he starts to take his jacket off (woah, hold the bus, slow your roll, I would expect a guy with 38 years of martial arts training to have a lot more patience then to want to fight someone who “blew through” a stop sign (and admitted in, and apologized”…

I said “you are going to fight me because I went through a stop sign”, really confused and at that point I put my hands in my pocket and said OK if that is what you want to do, go ahead…………..

Rest of the review is on Zirana at -http://www.zirana.com/belmont/after_school_activities_and_daycares/gold_metal_martial_arts/view_details.html#rev-328

Home Sales for Cupertino Demonstrate Strong Demand!! PDF Print E-mail
By John Dozier.

April real estate sales activity for the greater Cupertino area continued at a impressive pace much as it has for the previous few months. There were 41 closed sales in April compared with 41 for March. There are currently 52 pending sales. Pending sales are homes that are under contract, or in escrow waiting to clear inspection and financing contingencies prior to close. There were 75 homes for sale at the end of April compared with 83 at the end of the March. There are still a significant number of homes that continue to sell above their asking prices. The majority of these homes tend to be priced between $900,000 to $1,500,000. There were 21 sales that closed above asking price. Most, however, were not significantly over. In some cases the pricing strategy has affected the outcome, whereby, the homes are deliberately priced below the selling price the seller expects to achieve. For the most part, prices are holding steady. Buyers have showed more discipline in their approach to the buying process. Buyers, for the most part are showing a disciplined approach and are doing their homework before coming to the table with an offer! I have noticed with a few buyers, that if they detect there may be competing offers on a certain property, they become hesitant and may elect not to offer at all.

The supply of homes remains low by historical standards. We are experiencing a stabilized supply of homes as we approach the summer selling season. There is still an over supply of Buyers out there compared with the relatively small number of homes for sale. The bulk of the buyers tend to be seeking homes that are affordable by our standards, priced below $1.5 Million. The market trends at the moment would indicate a continued upward pressure on prices. Homes priced upwards of $2 Million are tougher to sell.
Rest of the article is at http://www.zirana.com/cupertino/featured_articles/home_sales_for_cupertino_demonstrate_strong_demand.html

One of the objectives of Zirana is to provide a platform to the local community to express themselves on issues that matter to them. So we welcome folks to share their experiences with others on Zirana and at the same time we would welcome the service providers, referenced in the reviews, to present their side of the story, so our users get a balanced view.

One of the reviews that was posted on Zirana, refers to the Magrove Medical Group in Chico, CA. The user has given a fairly detailed description of his experience, whch is copied below. We would welcome a response from the Mangrove Medical Group.

”

Mangrove Medical Group
Just another no name patien After waiting nearly a month to see a Dr. about my injured foot, the pain finally got the best of me and I decided seek assitance. I did a quick search of local Dr.’s who would accept my health insurance, which is 100% coverage by the way. I don’t have a primary care physician, I’ve been lucky to be as healthy as a horse for years.

The receptionists were very friendly but didn’t make up for the hour and a half wait. The facility looked like a free clinic, packed full of patients who had been waiting as long if not longer then myself.

The Dr. I was assigned didn’t spend more then five or ten minutes in the office with me. All the while clicking away on his tablet PC grumbling about how busy they were that day and hardly making eye contact. He said he would recommend me to an orthopedic specialist, call in an anti inflammatory and sent me out down the hall to the lab for an X-ray..I was still putting my shoe back on… and in X-Ray I again found my self waiting.

A quick note about the lab, one genltman in front of me stood up and said somthing to the effect of “you told me right away, it’s been over and hour” he then left. I will be the first to say I don’t know much about X-ray equipment, but I have had more then my fair share during my life. I never once felt heat when I received an X-ray!! They took two images of my foot and both times my foot turned hot like it was in a microwave. Just from my observation the equipment looked antiquated.

The worst part of this experience was being told that I would get a call back on Monday morning from the Dr. with the results of my X-ray. Monday came and went and no phone call. Tuesday afternoon I called and spoke with someone in the Lab. She stated that the radiologist was not in, she made a quick look at my file and said it looked normal, no fracture. I dont know if she was reading the notes or looking at the X-Ray, I didnt think they could give you the results over the phone like that if they are not the Dr. or the Radiologist??? Provided she gave me the right answer, I was at least a little thankful to have some idea of what might be going on with my foot. She then passed me back to the front desk where I was put into the Dr.’s assistants voice mail. I left a message for her stating that I wanted to know what was going on. I also told her that the Dr. stated he would call in that anti inflammatory, it was not done.

Here it is the following Thursday, almost 1 week to the day of my long wait and 5 min Dr. visit and I had to call again. This time being put in the voice mail of the “on call”. Apparently my Doctor is out of the office all week. This would have been nice to know when he saw me and proceeded to tell me he would call on Monday with the results.

I had been living with my injured foot for about a month, yes I’m that stubborn. I would suggest however, if your truly ill, don’t go to Mangrove Medical Group, please go somewhere where you will get prompt attention and at least a courtesy call back to let you know the specifics about your illness.

This orginization should take a hard look at how they do business. I would like to see their mission statment, I just wonder if it references hearding cattle?

Zirana interviewed Nancy Hart, member of Riverside, CA, City Council. Among other things, she was asked about the major issues facing the city council.

What are the points of debate that the council has? Annexation and converting old areas into re-use. After years of empty space next to their property they begin to see it as an area that will always be vacant open space for them. When you want to finally develop it they fight it, even when it’s to a good purpose such as a park.

It is interesting to see that folks and their behaviour is the same everywhere, so City Councils face similar issues in many cities. There should be a forum for these city councils to share their innovative solutions to city problems. It would help everyone, if good approaches to common problems were adopted everywhere and folks in different geographies can bring their unique perspectives to bear on these problems.

Nancy Hart’s interview is at-http://www.zirana.com/riverside/city_news/nancy_hart_riverside_councilwoman.html

Former San Mateo Times Managing Editor Michelle Carter has been named to the same position for Zirana.com.
The announcement was made by Sanjiv Sahay, Zirana CEO, from the company’s headquarters at 1340 S. De Anza Blvd., Suite 104, San Jose. He added “Michelle brings a lot of relevant experience to Zirana, as it grows into a digital media platform covering local communities across the globe.” The company was founded recently and now has two hundred and forty community news sites up and running. Zirana expects to cover over a thousand communities by the end of this year.
Carter left The Times in 1995 to accept a grant from the United States Information Agency to work with newspaper editors in Russia for a year. She continued work with newspapers in emerging democracies of the former Soviet Union and former Soviet bloc countries until 2002 when she began teaching journalism and communication at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. She is retiring as a core faculty member and adviser to The Argonaut, the student newspaper, this spring.
Carter and her husband, Mike Venturino, live in Belmont.