OREM cool clients in Phoenix Arizona...

OREM the pillar for your business

As of March 1, 2013 my company  has  surpassed  itself as of total number of clients helped from 2012, in less of a month of the tax season that started late this 2013, we have still another month and half before this tax season ends. This is an achievement and a major milestone for OREM accounting.

We had helped clients from all places and economic backgrounds. We help all clients that are in need of income tax services, accounting services and IRS representation as well.

Often   at   times   people   are   asking me,   “ Enrique   how   do   you meet these cool people”?  I simply go everywhere I can with an open mind attitude and ask questions     about what I find interesting and amazing, that is all.  

This year we have clients from multiple states as we did in 2012. I recently visited some of our clients in Arizona. I want to share with you how cool and interesting they are.

www.roadrunnerbicycleengines.com

The first cool client is David Molinar, an architect and entrepreneur from ASU Arizona state university. I met David through social media a couple of years ago. I finely met David in my last visit to Phoenix. David not only is interesting but fun to talk too. His company is Road Runner Bicycle engines LLC. His company sales engine kits for bicycles. The idea is so interesting, and with this economy anyone can save a lot of time and money by using a bicycle with an engine to commute. His company is based in Phoenix Arizona.

We spent an afternoon talking about a whole lot of subjects and possibilities for this bicycle Engines Company; as a California resident I was a bit concerned about the engine itself and the California DMV. However, later I  recall that people   with those engine scooters have ride  those types of bikes. The best part of it is that these engines are a lot more affordable than I previously thought.

There is a lot more about David you should know, and what best ways to find out than having David telling us himself.

What best way to enjoy our conversation than tuning up to it.

David’s Video interview

Road runner bicycle engines website



Signature please,  need a drink?

 The second cool client is Derek Paiseka, a designer from the University of Illinois in Chicago; he is based in Phoenix Arizona. Derek is an interesting and fun character that I have  come across a few years ago from social media and quickly became friends almost overnight.

What Derek and I have in common is the property management background, one night a few months ago we got together and talked about all those property management horror histories with Robert and some of his building residents, that was awesome.





To begging with the place that he lives was transformed by him into a hip place a few years ago. If you happen to be in Phoenix you should stop by and take a look to his place. I have  seen some pictures of the cool terrace he has developed in his second floor, this is place that I wanted to see for a few years but there is always some reason to not be able to see it.

There is l always something cool and interesting over Derek’s sleeve, and this time was not the exception, he is working in something that soon will amuse us. I cannot talk about it but we will all be surprised.

You can take a look at Derek’s work at his website.

I know, some of you are waiting to see Derek in one of my videos, some of you had asked for it last time I talked about him. Just be patience, it will happen.

At times   people are asking me, “Enrique, how can I become someone like your cool clients?” I would say there are some basic steps that you need to follow through, first stay current with your personal finances, second stay current with your tax filing, third follow your passion, follow what you like to do the most and persevere, keep on working on it even if you make no money out of it. You can work on your passion even if you do not make any money then you already have 80% of the battle won because nobody will keep on competing with somebody who is willing to work for free, eventually your competitors will be out of business or you will be one few last standing on business. I personally believe the last one is the most important of all.

If you want to be coached one on one, fell free to contact me by email any time.

Is getting ugly between some tax preparers and te IRS

For sure in life Death & Taxes

This year 2013 is full of surprises for everybody, and tax preparers are not the exception.  Tax preparers are required by IRS regulation to maintain continuing education and adhere to ethics, the IRS carried out the RTPP or registered tax preparer program, all tax preparers are required to obtain a PTIN or professional tax identification number to be able to transmit electronically to the IRS the tax returns prepared by them.

The IRS has had so many problems with the tax preparations made by unqualified tax preparers, so the IRS stepped in and created the RTPP program a few years ago. Who else would have a higher authority than the IRS itself to regulate tax matters?  Or tax preparers?

Me, living in the golden state of California have it a bit more difficult because California is the only state that requires all tax preparers to have a CTEC number or California tax education council, this number is a license from CTEC for the state of California, in California we are required to pass a test with 60 hours of the federal tax code and 20 hours of the state code. So we in California have a bit more difficult than the rest of the country.

I am the type of person who would  like to get things done quickly  and move into bigger and better projects.

You would suppose that everybody in on board with the IRS and everybody is studying the tax code and getting ready for this test for tax preparers that are required to take place on January  1 , 2014.

We all tax preparers knew that this was coming, and you would have found tax preparers in the nation taking classes and preparing them for this test.

The only way to avoid  this test is by becoming a CPA, a Lawyer or a  IRS Enrolled Agent. I took the Enrolled Agent test preparation back in 2010, and boy let me tell you that test is so hard.

For god sake! I study so much and dedicated myself to pass those three  tests that I got a stroke in the process!!

So, at this point of my life I feel relief that now as a Enrolled Agent I do not have to worry about no more IRS tests and the tax preparers working in my company do not have to worry either because they all work under my supervision.

Well, let me tell you that three  tax preparers somewhere in America decided to sue the IRS and challenge the IRS RTPP program, saying that the IRS has no business in licensing tax preparers. Well, let me tell you that this program is not a licensing program at all. Not even I as a  IRS enrolled agent am allowed to say such thing as licensed by the IRS or working for the IRS because I simply do not work for the IRS, nor licensed by the IRS either.

Build your nest for the future.

To make the story short, in January 18, 2013 a federal judge ruled against the IRS a turned down the IRS RTPP program based on the decision that the IRS was never given the power or authority to provide licenses to tax preparers. Which  I agree. However, the IRS never said anything about providing tax preparation licenses to begin with.

I think this is all a 'OK I do not want to take the tax preparer test and fail, and then what? Do I lose my clients?” It is understandable. I had the same fear when I started to study for my three tests, especially because the first time when I took the test back in February of 2011 I failed, badly.

Of course the IRS had appeal that decision. What the judge said is the IRS should not collect money from tax preparers in order for them to obtain a license.

Some say that the IRS favored large corporate roviders of tax services such as HR Block inc. and Intuit Inc. over smaller independent return preparers, said Dan Alban, an attorney with the institute for justice, a self-described libertarian publicinterest law firm representing the plaintiffs.

My company is far away of becoming a huge corporations like HR Block or Liberty tax, but I agree that tax preparers need rules and regulations just like CPA’s and enrolled agents. Especially now that I pass my three tests and finely became an enrolled agent

What do I think? How do I feel? I am pissed off! All that time and effort put into studying for nothing? And now just because three  tax preparers did not feel like taking that test and won a lawsuit against the IRS.

Some tax preparers vs the IRS.

The IRS decided to appeal that decision, and I feel relief that the IRS took that step, I wish and the IRS wins.  At the end I think the regulations of the IRS will prevail. Who else but the IRS has the authority to regulate any tax career, this is not accounting, and this is the tax law. And who better than the IRS to enforce that every tax preparer complies with the tax law.

The IRS is not the one who takes these tests. The professional company that takes these tests in a test facility is Prometric, which is a specialized test company. This company takes test for all careers, like engineering, architecture, accounting, enrolled agents and tax preparers.

I hope this goes the way it is supposed to be in the very near future

2013 a Quite different and challenging tax season at times...

Obamacare is a Tax

As of today January 13, 2013, the IRS has not implemented and let everyone know about the new laws that will be regulating the current tax season 2013.

This alone comes as a shocker to many tax professionals including me. Usually the IRS is very good about having everything under control as early as December of the prior year, so this used to leave a good cushion of time to all the tax professional to be prepared for the tax season early.

All this is due to the recent fiscal Cliff battle in congress. All  this is so recent that the IRS still had not put in place the new legislation and notified the people that need that information for the tax season.

I recently spoke with my tax software company and they informed me that the IRS still had not informed them about the new tax regulations for 2013 and until that happened they cannot implement it on their software.

I learned this by helping the early birds of this 2013 tax season, the software let me know in a big window that pops up on my laptop screen that the IRS had not implemented and notified the software developers of these changes yet.

This is not the only change that will be affecting the tax payers this 2013 tax season; another big change that struck me at the regular software questioning was that area that shows now asks about if the tax payer has the employer paid health coverage and if the family is cover by it.

So, if it happened that you are employed and do not have health insurance then Obama care will take a bite of your taxes this year (tax refund). I know it sucks, but if you have health insurance this employer expense will be reported as a deductible on you W-2.

The Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. Reporting the cost of health care coverage on the Form W-2 does not mean that the coverage is taxable. The value of the employer’s excludable contribution to health coverage continues to be excludable from an employee’s income, and it is not taxable. This reporting is for informational purposes only and will provide employees useful and comparable consumer information on the cost of their health care coverage.

Fiscal Cliff

About this new health care tax I tell you not to worry too much because it will have to make sense, I came across some people that are already worry about this new tax. If you are a low income individual there is nothing to be worry about because this is going to a kind of subsidized health care. The less your income the more the government will pay for you.
 

You can find this at the IRS website:

"The Internal Revenue Service warned employers in a new regulatory proposal not to come up with clever schemes to avoid Obamacare’s employer health insurance mandate.

The IRS said it would soon issue “anti-abuse rules” to discourage employers from taking advantage of any regulatory loopholes.

“The Treasury Department and the IRS are aware of various structures being considered under which employers might use temporary staffing agencies (or other staffing agencies)… to evade application of section 4980H [the employer insurance mandate],” the IRS said in a proposed regulatory announcement issued December 28"

But that is not the only change for the current tax season, also there is the payroll tax cut that expired be impose to most tax payers because the congress let it out of the fiscal Cliff negotiations.

IRS - Department of Treasury

Another area that surprised me was the fact that now the IRS asks tax professionals what kind of documents we are keeping for the dependents area, the earned income credit validation worksheet, this part require us to be more proactive regarding tax payers dependents, and my guess is that the IRS wants us to help them with the fraud that some dishonest tax payers do, like loaning dependents from other tax payers to get a bigger refund.

“Which documents bellow, if any did you rely on to determine EIC eligibility for the qualifying child(ren) listed on schedule EIC? Check all that apply. Keep a copy of any documents you rely on. If there is no qualifying child.”

The list that follows this statement goes from school records to social security service record statement.

And to finish this article my friends and followers I think this is going to be a quite different and challenging at times 2013 Tax Season.

Brands, what would the world be without them?

United we stad brand flag

Brands, what would  the world be without them?

What is a brand? Or maybe we should ask ourselves how do we distinguish one company from the other? If you are to buy a car, which one would you buy? And how do you choose from this car from the other one, we have so many options nowadays.

But brands not only entitle one logo and colors, symbols, a good brand makes a company’s experience just pop in your mind when you see the distinctive sings. I am not going to tell you about the history of it or give you a deep definition of it either.

Some people distinguish the psychological aspect, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand, of a brand from the experiential aspect.

Just imagine, all these huge corporations began as a small idea, then somebody started it,  and with the year they became huge businesses lik we all know them by now.

Since you are well aware that I am more interested on sharing my personal experiences and thoughts about my anything I talk about, I would like to share with you at the closing of this year a few good brands that I got to know well this year. Most of them are my accounting clients and I would like to share with you their success experiences from my point of view.

Don't be so surprised some day maybe in 10 or 20 more years when these people and businesses that I describein the lines below are as big as the ones described at the united we stad brand flag.

Aleili Centeno – Aleili is a wonderful  girl, she is the personification of what I always encourage people to , which is have a full time job and start your own business on the side and keep it this way until your business picks up and just take it from there. Aleili’s brand is Aleili’s design; Aleili is a full time pharmacist that always has the interest of jewelry design. Aleili decided to start designing her own jewelry and some purses as well, I have seen her designs and let me tell you and I am very impressed.

Link to Aleili interview

Lauren Amber Serna – I know her for years and her brand is Transformational healing and sitting transmission. Lauren is a life counselor and energy healer in California, and she is based in the city of Granada Hills. I have attended some of her sessions at her home, and let me tell you she is good at what she does; Lauren is also a speaker at multiple public events in the greater Los Angeles area. You can learn more about Lauren at the Interview we did back on August this year. Pay special attention to her thought about what is going to happen on December 2012. Please help to develop the likes on her facebook page.

Link to Lauren’s Facebook page

Link for Lauren’s website

Link of Lauren’s interview

Jordan Cappella – His name says it all, and his brand is Jordan Cappella, Jordan is an Australian interior designer who is really amazing at what he does, every time I go to his house I can see he is good at what he does. Just picture yourself visiting a major Hollywood celebrity, and certainly Jordan’s house is full of his own work everywhere, and Jordan’s house is just like any other Hollywood celebrity. I have seen the furniture he designs, candles, soap bars, and of course the spaces he designs. Jordan’s work has been portrayed at multiple magazines; Jordan had appearances on multiple TV shows. Please take a time to like Jordan’s fan page.

Link to Jordan Facebook page

Link to Jordan’s website

Link to jordan interview

Lira Luis – Lira is a Architect based in the city of Chicago. Lira is one best example of how to develop a brand. Lira’s brand is ALL Atelier Lira Luis. Lira has architectural licenses in multiple states. Lira is the architect to meet and hire in the states of Arizona, Illinois, also in Asia and Europe. In her spare time Lira has the time to share her experiences with the world giving speeches all over the world, lira also keeps a blog and I am proud to say that the video interviews I have shot with Lira are the ones that have the most traffic ever in my segment “Enrique & friends



Link to lira Facebook page

Link to lira’s website

Link to lira interview

Luis Pazos – Luis is a multi talented young man, hi is a movie editor, writer, producer  and actor in Hollywood, and his brand is Dasoir Films, I have seen his work which is really good, I also witnessed this year Luis receiving the Toscar Award, that awards the best short films on Hollywood. He won in the categories of the best editing and for the best short film movie in Hollywood. Luis and I went together to the writing boot camp   class earlier this year. Luis was part of this movie Avatar. I am pretty sure you can recognize the guy with him in the picture. This was a great experience. Please give some likes to Luis's Facebook page, we all greatly apreciate it.

Link to Luis Facebook page

Link to Luis’s website

Link to Luis interview

Enrique Otarola- All you know who I am, and the brand that I represent which is OREM which has the multiple divisions such as Accounting, Marketing, Nonprofit and soon Real Estate. We encourage people to pursue their dreams and start your own business and whichever interest you have in life. Please help us to build our friend base and help us to reach 1,000 likes in our Facebook page

Link to our Facebook page

Link to OREM website

Like to Enrique's interview

Darius Paiseka – I know Derek for a few years by now, and I was really impressed by his work this year when I had finally the chance to see his work. His brand is Studio Darek LLC, which is a construction design LLC, his LLC designs and builds projects. Derek is multi talented and his background is in interior Architecture, he is based in Phoenix AZ.  I was impressed to see this building he got and  he transformed it and it is a really hip place. Derek is one coolest person I ever met. And I would like to see his progress on another project he mentioned to me. I still have not seen the cool terrace he had built on his second floor and I am pretty sure we all will enjoy seeing it when I have the chance to interview him there in 2013. Please take some time to like Derek’s Facebook page

Link to Derek’s Facebook page

Link to Derek’s website

Sorry no interview yet, available until 2013.

The tax year is almost gone...so, get ready!

OREM Sounthern California

No, my friends and followers, I am not dead yet and I am here to stay, so for the ones that were already celebrating, I tell you I fell great and almost 100% recovered. Thank you for your emails and messages from all over the world. I really appreciate them.

It is November and as we are getting closer and closer to the New Year, I cannot think of a better idea than to start to get ready for Tax season, individuals, companies, individuals with businesses, etc.

OREM Southern California Website

Usually I came across people that have a complicated organization system, mainly because they don’t have any, bookkeeping should not be that difficult, it should only record what is important for your tax preparation nothing else.



OREM Northern California



Some people ask me how to get organize; it is not difficult at all. If you are just starting, you have so many choices nowadays; from the simplest excel spreadsheet to the more elaborated accounting software.



If you are in a small business or thinking to start one, I suggest to record your income and expense with excel every month, and also save your receipts and invoices in order just in case you need to get to it.

OREM Northern California Website

However,  if you want to be a bit more organized than that, I suggest getting any of those accounting software at the local electronics store. I have used QuickBooks, Peachtree, and those are not expensive nor difficult to use at all, I remember paying like $80.00 for my very first accounting software, and the cool part of it is that not only you can record all your transactions on it but also you can scan your invoices and attach them into the software, so you always will have access to your invoices and when you are done in the year, it will give you a nice and well organized Financial Statement that will ease a lot your income tax filing, and will keep all  your expenses in track.

OREM Arizona



OREM Arizona

What I have discovered as well is the fact that these financial statements also help you to point out the unnecessary expenses so you can avoid them in the future.

So, please do not wait until the last minute to have all your tax forms ready, all your income and expenses ready for the business owners.

Don't push yourself to the limit, or the breaking point, this is not joke

Please, check on your blood pressure, visit your doctor.

Hello Everybody, I want to tell everybody who works hard for your career, business, school, etc.. think how important is this effort that you are doing. You may be one of those people that some times over do it, by postponing  breaks, or by delaying your own personal life. Think on how meaningless all this effort could be if suddenly you get a wakeup call in your life (heart attack, stroke, seizure, etc). 

 Well, let me tell you I was one of those who work ten hours in a row without taking breaks or delayed  breaks for the second part of the day.  I could easily accumulate projects finished one to just jump into the second one finish it and then take my break or relax. I was not aware that I had a high blood pressure for a few months, which is also called the silent killer because there are not warning signs.





What I can recall is having some minor headaches, or felling dizzy at times, which of course I just take some pain killers and keep on working. I thought by just joining the gym or playing some sports it would take care of the problem but I was so wrong. I should have made an appoint with the doctor. 




I was so glad to leave the ICU
and in my way to my own suite



Three weeks ago while at the gym, I was getting ready to play Volleyball with some friends, when all of the sudden  I felt so agitated, then dizzy, then I collapsed, and next thing  I can remember is having my friend Eric next to me telling me the paramedics were on their way.  I remember this worst ever headache. While at the ambulance I remember following some directions, to move my right arm, my left arm, to move my left arm, left leg, I remember I could not move the left side of my body, for some reason I did not worry, I was not fully aware of the situation either. Then I remember being placed into a MRI machine to check my brain.

My next memory jumped to a ICU intensive care unit where I laid down on a bed, then I saw like ten friends around me, then I felt sleep.



At the Intensive Care Unit

 Then hours later, I remember that I was going to have some kind of procedure in my brain. I have  had so many surgeries in the past, I counted the other da and they're close to 10, that I was not really scared nor impressed either, knowing I was in what it is considered one if not the best hospital in the world.

After a few hours I remember having a panel of doctors in front of me, yes I felt just like one of those talent shows, and certainly I did not wanted to be eliminated at this point.

Then I was asked a few basic questions, like my name, here I was at, the day, the time, and to move my arms and legs, this time I remember I was able to move my whole body. The only thing that bothered me was the constant headache, which was minor compared to what I had the night before.

Then hours later, I start on receiving some shocking statistics, like

“Enrique, 95% of people who has what you had died on the spot”.

“Enrique, don’t worry, you are going to live”

“Enrique, you are so lucky, you are recovering so well, and so fast, you are doing great”

“Enrique, you can considered yourself like you have a second chance in your life and you just re-born at this age”

I got most of this information while still at the ICU and when I had access to my personal computer and cell phone. I was so nicely impresed by all the get better messages from all over the world, I was like WOW bad news spread fast. I had some friends visiting me to the hospital as well, Thank you all.

Some friends and doctor family members informed me that “ Enrique, just 3 or 4 people out of 100 survived of what you had, or fully recovered, some people remained paralyzed and have to go under physical therapy to recover fully



Robert, and friends visiting me



I have a friend who  told me that I am so optimistic even at the most scaring times, I do not think of myself as that optimistic, I feel well, except by the fact that I cannot fully move my left feet. Other than that I feel like before except by this minor head aches.

On my last doctor visit I was told I need to forget about those ten hour study or working marathons I used to do. That I need to take more breaks and enjoy more life around me.

I suggests  to everybody to do the same “Enjoy more your life, family members, friends, go out more often, join the gym, take care more of yourself.”

Then I had a friend (client) who told me, probably he was fully aware of what I experienced “Enrique, you have so much to do in this world yet, so you cannot die yet, you need to help me to make so many businesses decisions.”

To be honest with you, this issue surprised me a lot, since I am the kind of person who works out at the gym often, I eat healthy all the time, and rarely felt sick.

I want to express to everybody who works a lot, and who depends on your own or those people that depend on your work, to tell people to Relax and to take life easier, no need to rush or to push themselves to do things or to complete projects, it is much better to take plenty of time to finish your projects and also to take breaks every couple of hours or so.

In my personal case, I am the kind of person that always placed my projects or plans first before anything else, and since I remember from my high school years, I remember working for hours and hours in a row without breaks until I completed my projects or home works and then I finely took my break once I completed the whole projects.

I remember having some headaches or feeling dizzy when working on some projects or home works. I also remember some of my family members   that are doctors telling me to take breaks to be easier with myself or to let my brains relax for a while before resuming to my projects.

I do remember having these issues more often once I was admitted at my Engineering school; I have always just ignore it and just work myself off until finished or completed my projects for school, or studying for any school test.

It is not my intention to give any kind of medical advise, I'm just sharing my own personal experience and hope this could help somebody and who knows avoid this experience to you.

My ideal for breaks or vacations was to complete projects and once everything was finished or under controls then I felt relaxed enough to enjoy a break or a vacation.

Or if you are in a similar situation of where I was or even if you are not, I would suggests  to visit your doctor and have a check up, because you never know what might  be going on.

And yes,  will make some canges in my work and personal life too.

Social Media, Sustainability and Empowerment in San Francisco

Transamerica building & early skycraper

This time I headed to the Bay area in northern California to take area of some business clients (yes, I like to do the extra mile, about 380 miles in this case), and this short trip was full of surprises and nice events. The good thing about having all of my clients spread all over 3 neighboring states is the fact that I happen to visit them quite often when required and that is an advantage when traveling while conducting business.

The weather in Los Angeles (near the ocean) was about 73 degrees, so we expected it to be about the same these days, and a friend of mine told me the weather would be around 50 and 70, much cooler than Los Angeles. So, after we arrived in the Bay area and left all our cargo in the hotel, we drove to St Helena, to the CIA “Culinary Institute of America”. Robert took four years of culinary arts while in high school and he wanted to visit this amazing place. And while driving throughout the Napa County, we noticed how well kept and green is this whole area.

In general the whole Bay Area has its unique personality, that always draws me to it, with all its green areas, their weather, their well kept landscaping, their recycling bins everywhere (like most of California near the ocean cities), and their people.

Santa Rosa town - 1919 building

While driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, I could not resist but to stop in one of the visit areas, the first one was unusually full so I was forced to make the other end, not after paying the $5 toll. The ocean breeze was colt, my car marked 57 degrees outside and I was wearing shorts thinking like any common individual this is California, and California has its weather, well I was wrong this time.

After making a few stops, we drove north to the Napa County, yes where the California wine comes from, I was excited, we passed vineyard after vineyard, this whole area seem like the perfect place to have the wine tasting, olives and cheese, or maybe to take a class on wine and become a wine expert. The wine sampling did not sound too appealing to me since I was driving and I still had a lot to do in this trip.

More stops, then we passed by this Santa Rosa town, it was so green, so well kept, the weather was just perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and the environment was just delicious. I saw houses from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, these buildings were so well kept and somehow they were recycled into residences and commercial buildings. This place reminded me a lot of Palo Alto which I visited last year in 2011, it was just like it to me but much smaller.

While driving we were trying to figure out how the life of a student at this culinary arts school would be, this place is definitely isolated, and we did not see many apartment complexes around but hotels and vineyards, we figure probably they are must have some sort of dorms or living around the site.



Vine warehouse into reception room



We passed after some breath taking views at this area, picture this, a hill full of green vineyards and flowers around and a Victorian house on top of the hill, we saw this picture several  times while driving, and these place happened to be wine makers, this place was so beautiful and it was not that far from San Francisco, just  one hour away driving.

So we finely arrived to the CIA Greystone, I was glad that it was not crowded like most of California main attractions, the weather was at 85 degrees by now, just perfect!

The view of the main building from the entrance is just amazing, I had the impression of watching a European castle, and the stone building is impressive with all their landscaping around this place is worth the trip.

We started by visiting the museum and look at the original cornerstone of Greystone, where the founder of this place buried some bottles of wine in the concrete foundation of this place. Now they have this stone on display in a crystal box.

We were told by one of their staff members that our guess was right, the students stay on dorms while attending to this school. What surprised me the most was the fact that they not only teach the culinary arts but they also have their own vineyards and they teach all about wines, they also have their own restaurant, their own gift shop, and they have their old wine warehouse (full of those huge wooden wine containers) that was transformed in to a beautiful  room that can host gatherings like weddings, parties, etc.

Speaking about sustainability, green building, recycling buildings and new uses.

Greystone culinary arts school

This is a place that I will definitely recommend to visit while you’re in northern California, while you can buy some good quality wine for really cheap in this area.

After visiting wine country we came back to the San Francisco area, this time he headed to the Fisherman wharf, which is just a few yards away from Port Mason which is near the ocean (I stayed at this place the first time I ever visited northern California a gazillion years ago). This place has all kind of businesses all over the place, many people and tourist from all over the world too. We walk from the free public parking to the wharf and while walking I noticed the Ghirardelli’s brick building (yes, the famous chocolate factory) which is an icon in this city. This building was constructed in the late 1800’s. I remember back the first time I came to this area I wanted to see this place but I did not have the chance. This place was designed to be walked, they have this beautiful  park right next to the beach, a marina museum, and the shops in the near streets.

From this point you can really see Alcatraz which you can access by ferry.

This place is also walking distance from the original San Francisco Port, where ships from all over the world used to connect this city. Nowadays,  they have one of those old ships at the port that you can visit and walk around too.

I spotted the Ghirardelli building just like half block away so we decided to pay a visit. This place is a perfect example of green design, sustainability and green construction. They fused the old brick building with a modern terrace and metal structures that added to the building use. I’ve noticed this lot in this city.  We walked in to the Ghirardelli’s shop where they staff greets everybody with free chocolate samples, we were in heaven!

Fisherman Wharf - San Francisco

They have the famous Ghirardelli plaza right next to the shop where you can relax and rest when you are walking in this city.

This plaza is full of shops of all kinds, and right next to the plaza they have some of the old machines in display, what impressed me the most is the metal and stone mortar that was used to break in to liquid the cocoa beans.  The plaque read that Chocolate is originally from ancient Mexico and the Aztec king used to offer this drink called “chocolatl” in the ceremonies to their gods.

This day was becoming colder and colder and we headed to the last stop before heading to the hotel.

While walking around this city, I could not but admire the beauty of this city, their green gardens everywhere, their Victorian houses, and the new buildings that resemble Victorian houses, their streets that run up and down the hills, its weather, and its people.

It was cold and breeze when we arrived to the hotel. But that did not stop us from reaching our last destination from the day.

Ghirardelli factory - built on 1898

It happened to be a coincidence that my good friend Lira Luis, an architect from Chicago was in the city working in a summit about Social Media in the AEC industry. The last time I met Lira was in Las Vegas in May, you can read more at our May blog article, and you can see our Las Vegas conversation too.

By the time we both met, we were tired after a long working day, tired but happy to reunite. We held a friendly conversation about Social Media and Sustainability with some vine, olives and cheese, and being in San Francisco, the place of green building then decided to record our conversation like we did in Las Vegas for everybody to enjoy.

I was shocked to learn our first Las Vegas conversation on Social Media reached over 22 thousand viewers from all over the world. Check out latest Las Vegas Video statistics here.

Since our accounting company learned the basics on Social Media, and we confirmed that having those statistics services work, we decided to create OREM Domains, which is a company that helps you to create a domain name, to build a website, to host your website and to keep track of your traffic with the website analytics service.

Celebrating the reunion - San Francisco

Could you believe that by just adjusting some words on your website, blog or video description you can reach thousands of viewers? This later can translate in revenue.

www.oremdomains.com

Filming this conversation on Social Media and Sustainability was fun and very educative for me. For instance I did not know that one of the countries that is the most green is Costa Rica.

I also did not know that by just doing your part while taking care of yourself you can be green and sustainable too, simple things like separating paper and plastic, using less water, using your bicycle for short commutes, not wasting resources and recycling as much as possible. By doing this you are making a big difference for future generations.

Lira Luis on Social Media

Lira Luis on Sustainability

The next day we decided to take a tour together in this fascinating city, so we all went to diverse places in the Bay Area in my SUV.

First stop was the Palace of Fine Arts, this place is an amazing place surrounded by neat gardens, walk ways, and the neighborhood is full of Victorian houses style, and other styles that go from conservative to ultra modern. This place has also an artificial lagoon with water fountains. If you visit the Bay area you definitely have to visit this place.

Ghirardelli's new modern addition

Our next destination was Lombard St, which is the crookedness street in the America, this street has traffic in one direction only (down) and it is located in a hill, funny fact is that after we parked, we had to literally climb out and later climb back in to the car because the car was parked sideways in a hill

There were lots of people at this street (tourist mainly) all looking for the perfect moment to take their pictures.

Next stop was Coit Tower, which is located at the end of Lombard St in a hill, this place was beautiful , historic and has one of the best views in the Bay Area, and it was full of people. Too bad they charge to be able to go on top of the tower, so I didn’t go. Parking was also challenging at this limited parking space.

One of our final destinations was downtown San Francisco, this city is so beautiful and well kept that I would like someday to own property at this place. This city is much pricey than Los Angeles, I can tell.

Driving throughout these streets I saw the Transamerica Pyramid building. I was surprised to learn that this building was one of the pioneers in green building back in the late 1960’s the Transamerica building was commissioned by Transamerica CEO John Beckett, with the claim that he wished to allow natural light and fresh air to filter down to the street below. This building has 850 ft and contains 48 floors of retail and office space. Although the tower no longer serves as the Transamerica Corporation headquarters, it still strongly associated with the company and is depicted in the company’s logo. The building was designed by architect William Pereira.

Golden Gate Bridge on windy day

Driving down the street I spotted the early skyscrapers in town. I saw some of the historic buildings but not that many. Later I recall that most of the historic buildings were destroyed by the fire of early 1900’s. At 5:12 Am. of April 18, 1906 an earthquake estimated between 7.8 and 8.3 that lasted for about 45 seconds on the Ritcher scale, which wasn’t invented until 1935. The earthquake broke gas pipelines, water supply and waste lines which later ignited several fires in the city. The early fire fighters even used ocean water pumped to several locations, but the efforts were not enough to contain the fire that lasted for 72 hours. In the aftermath most of the buildings were severely damaged and they were required to be demolished and replaced.

Then we went for a late lunch or early dinner (lunner?) and we headed to Chinatown San Francisco. What surprises me is the fact that all the major old cities (that I’ve visited) with Chinese migration have these common early Chinese settlements. For instance, the ones in Lima-Peru, Los Angeles-California, or San Francisco-California have distinctive common characteristics. The one in South America in Lima city has a blend of the local culture and food, and the ones in California (north and south) have a more authentic characteristic.

Palace of Fine Arts - San Francisco

Our final destination was the Castro Area, this is the place where all the Gay right movement started. I’ve been a few times in this city but I never found the place where Harvey Milk started it all. I believe things happen for a reason, we were just driving around Castro street looking for a place to park, (parking was a bit challenging here too) when all of the sudden I found a space who somebody seemed to be holding for me (he left just until I approached) immediately after getting out of the car, I recognized the front store where we just parked (yes, I watched the movie Milk, the story of Harvey B. Milk), this was the place that Harvey Milk rented back in the early 1970’s as his Camera shop and where people always seemed to gather to discuss the latest new, problems and concerns. Its front windows turned into a community bulletin board, covered with announcements of upcoming civil rights demonstrations, protests, meetings, and events. Harvey became “the major of Castro Street”. Nowadays it serves as the Human Rights Campaign, an Action Center & Store. If you don’t know his story, I recommend the movie.

Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 (after 3 failed attempts). This is the spirit that I always embrace when I encourage people to pursue their dreams and push them to go in to their own business, no matter how many times you fail, all you need is to make some adjustments and try again.

Lombard St. Crookedest St in America

We walked around Castro Street, interacting with this place, looking into the shops, the stores, the bars, I’m based in Los Angeles so I was pretty curious about the possible similarities with West Hollywood (the Los Angeles Gay center), and I found that they’re none, its place has its own unique character. Then we walked to the wine-cheese-coffee shop store where we sampled some wine, cheese and crackers, I would be happy living nears this place!

The sunset just start, and it was getting dark, and after dropping my friend at the San Francisco airport we headed to Los Angeles. It was cold and dark outside, its time to go home and I can just wonder when I will be back to this wonderful city.

Chinese lamp at Chinatown San Francisco

Transamerica building in downtown San Francisco

Castro Street

Castro area

Castro area

Human Rights Campain Store

Special thanks to Lira Luis, Merwin Videña, Robert Ziemlak for making this article blog possible.

***