The OREM east coast tour in 5 major cities...

The Berkshires is so green and pretty

This experience was amazing. I never imagined that the east coast to be so green, like an infinite forest, like a permanent spring, lakes everywhere, the air is so clean, and the sky so blue. It makes me think of the blue sky in the highlands of Peru. What surprised me the most was the friendly people.  I am used to being ignored by the people in Los Angeles. People in the east coast simply say, "hello" to strangers everywhere.

Our first stop was Chicago Illinois. We landed in what was supposed to be a 27 minute stop, but it turned out to be a six and half hour stop. I would not mind the wait if American Airlines would have been honest from the beginning and let us know that we would be waiting for over six  hours for our next flight. They landed 20 minutes after our connection to Connecticut already left. This is the last time I  will use  American Airlines.

This stop in Chicago was great because we had the chance to see our dear friend Lira Luis in her home town. You probably remember her from our prior videos on social media, green building, sustainability, etc. and I couldn’t resist  to shoot a brief video at the airport having Lira sharing some thoughts on Social Media and global work.

Lira Luis in Chicago video.

Me in the Berkshires so green

 think I was the only Latino in this part of the country hundred miles away too.

I was visiting friends in the Berkshires Massachusetts, which was a pretty nice experience.

I was eager to see the Boston Tea Party museum because as an IRS Enrolled Agent I believe that here is where the foundation on the IRS spirit was born. Early Americans decided to stop paying taxes to the British crown and to build their own country, with self taxing.

Boston is full of pretty nice old buildings everywhere. To my surprise the building styles are so different from the ones I grew up in Peru, where Spanish colonial is the norm. I try to picture the early individuals living in this city, their works, their lives, and buildings can tell a lot, from the multifamily buildings to the rich doctors and lawyer's mansions

I was in shock to be able to see one of the original wooden tea party boxes that were thrown out of the ship back in time.

Boston central station

There are two things that I want to do in my next trip to Boston, see and touch the USS Constitution the very first war ship made in America, and taste an authentic Boston Lobster.

I was amazed by some crazy drivers in Boston, they can be ruthless! Don't get me wrong we have those in Los Angeles too. However, I never got honk to making a left turn in the indicated area before

Everything is still so green around this area.

Philadelphia was the next stop on our east coast tour, another pretty early American city, full of historic and old buildings, the first congress was here, the liberty bell that cracked before it could go on use, what a bummer!

Walking up stairs of the Philadelphian Art Museum like Rocky Balboa did was a thrill.

I found the general Philadelphian environment so mellow and easy going.

Original tea party wooden box

And this is the moment of the truth, when I was to taste an authentic Philly Cheese Steak ! WOW it was delicious like never I have taste before.

I was very surprised by the names Pennsylvanians named their freeways too. The Turnpike freeway ? it was a bit confusing at first, I’m used to 405 freeway, 101 freeway, the 10 freeway, but nothing prepared me for a Turnpike !

But what I found most confusing was the way east coasters charged their tolls. When you get in the freeway they give you a ticket to which you are supposed to give away in the next toll and they tell you how much to pay. My guess is that they charge you by the distance. I have to admit some times this was free of charge, and they only take cash.

In Los Angeles, in California in general all freeways are free, except those bridges in the Bay area near San Francisco, but when you use a toll in California you can pay with credit cards too, or you can buy a fob that can do it automatically for you without even stopping in the toll. I know someone would say spoiled Californians!

Boston old church

We’re heading to the next and last major city in our east coast tour New York. Traffic was a bit hectic when we passed it by in our way to Philadelphia. So I was a bit apprehensive about not being able to make it on time. I also found the freeways to be a bit narrow unlike the ones in Los Angeles that can have eight lines each way. 

Weird, but sometimes I swear people drove too fast, and sometimes I found exactly the opposite.

WOW I can feel the excitement going through my body by just seeing the skyscrapers in the distance, going under the Atlantic ocean in that tunnel in my way to Manhattan was a thrill. Finally, at the other side of the city. My GPS went crazy a few times because it couldn't get the satellite signal. Then, we were so close to 7th st where my only $24 per day parking was waiting for me.

But then OMFG 7th st is closed! Repairs on Sunday morning! This is pretty difficult because streets in Mahattan are only one way most of the time, so overcrowded with cars and people that DON'T RESPECT THE SIGNALS! In one instance I have people crossing the street while I waited for them to go when a taxi driver kept on honking on me, once I crossed he made a total illegal turn and passed me.

Boston Art Museum

Boston

OH well, this is the New York experience. Finally, we found an alternative parking structure and BOY it was expensive! $ 57 for a day! And all because major Bloomberg decided to do improvements on 7^th Street that day.

Once in Times Square, I was just bombarded with all the New York Experience, solicitors trying to make me buy a bus tour, hundreds of people walking in every direction, I felt like people didn't even care if they touch you when you are walking in the other direction.

And the city smell like pee.

It was a hot day and we were just waiting for our private tour guide arrival. Later the same day we learned it was the hottest day in New York in years. I felt like baking both sides from the sun and from the concrete reflection from above.

Philadelphia first Congress room

This was a unique walking, subway private tour that I recommend to everybody, very authentic tour. Rockefeller center caught my attention, built in the 1930s still have its unique personality. Good morning America is broadcasted from there every day. SNL is recorded from there too. The view from the top of the Rock is just breath taking

I cannot believe I was there at Fox news Corporation headquarters, the GOP seem happy in there.

The NY subway was neat, always on time. I recommend it for the ones that can follow maps and are  good with directions.

Next stop was Central Park, and the building where John Lennon used to live, and where he was shot in 1981. I heard a history that Madonna try to buy a condo in that building and she was turned down. I heard the same thing about the make up pioneer lady Helena Rubinstein, who try to buy a condo in the center of Manhattan and she was also turned down, but this savvy lady purchased the whole building and end up living there anyway

Philadelphia liberty bell

The John Lennon memorial is there in Central Park, this experience is amazing, the carriages with the horses, the people, the joggers, the street sellers, and the heat. 

Then to our way to the Staten Island Ferry, thanks god for the air conditioned stations!

WOW, the ferry experience is awesome, the Brooklyn bridge is right there.

While we get farther away from the island I can see the new World Trade Center, which is the tallest building in America, it does show from the ocean.

And there she is, Miss Liberty, I can just imagine the experience to the millions of immigrants back in the 1800s, new lives, new jobs.

Old Philadelphia at night

I was able to see the Jersey shore from there too, this is a definitely to do in my next trip to New York. I would live to see Snooky and her whereabouts too.

Back in land we walked towards Wall Street, on the way we saw the original Standard Oil Company headquarters. Can you imagine this was the biggest oil company in the world before it was forced to divide in to smaller companies.

It is hard to believe that people had been building sky crappers since the 1800s, and I was able to see some of those early buildings, Cathedrals everywhere in Manhattan, subway stations and people walking up and down the streets everywhere.

The New York Stock Exchange was impressive, it was displaying a company logo on its front, it is said that the NYSE does it when a new company is going to start trading stocks here. Some day OREM will display its logo here too.

Rocky Balboa at the Phi. Art museum

The 911 Memorial was just blocks away, and the new World Trade Center, which is the tallest building in America is here too. The 911 Memorial was built in a way that shows water falls that resembled infinite tears for this tragedy. Among this memorial there is a tree, the only living individual that survived 911. You can see the burnt skin on it and the new branched that grew from it.

Just steps away we could see the hurricane Sandy water markings, it is surreal to think that this whole area was under water during hurricane Sandy.

Our last stop in Manhattan was Grand Central Station that just celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Here is where I met my friend and clients Luis who happens to be a film editor that nowadays is working in a new project in New York.

On our way back to the car we met with another of my good friends Chriss who happens to work in Manhattan.

Times Square

Then we went to our last New York Experience, a dinner in Little Italy, I want to try the authentic New York Pizza, I heard so many good thing about how different and good it tastes. Yes, New York Pizza is a total different thing than what I’m used to in Los Angeles.

What surprised me a lot this time is the fact that all the Italians are gone from little Italy in New York, I’ve seen a lot of Turks, Moroccans, Bulgarians, but not Italians.

This tour was amazing and I met a lot of new friendly people that can help our OREM group to grow in this area, we still have to go to some more details before making the announcement. Of course I would love to have OREM east coast up and running, we’ll get more good news soon.

In the interim of writing this East Coast Blog I got confirmation news that I will be going to Dallas Texas and

On top of Rockefeller Center

who know a Texas tour, more to come soon.

Central Park

Miss Liberty

Hurricane Sandy water marks

Some day OREM at the NYSE too

With my New York friends

Grand Central Station - 100 years

911 Memorial

The new World trade center

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.

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Meeting Lira Luis in Las Vegas

I haven’t been in Las Vegas – Nevada for the past 4 years, and I wanted to see the new places and buildings in sin city. Another big reason to visit Las Vegas was to meet Lira Luis, a celebrity architect speaker that I admire and I had followed for years with the use of social media.

We (Me, Robert, and Christopher) planned this trip for a few weeks, so we headed to Las Vegas for some distraction, excitement and fun.

In Day one, we arrived in the early afternoon and checked in at the hotel. This hotel has a theme for movies and entertainment in each room. There were no lines and the crew was so nice and helpful at all times. Almost immediately we headed to a restaurant in the famous strip. The desert heat was present at 94 degrees around 7 pm.

Las Vegas strip

After a fun dinner we decided to go across the street to see the new Las Vegas center. It was unbelievable to see how the designers came up with an idea to build a three story floor chandelier bar, the crystals hang from the roof (of the third floor roof) all the way to the first floor, literally; all of this inside a building.

Having a degree in Civil Engineering (for almost 20 years), it amazes me how these designers and builders came up with this concept. I recall in my early Engineering years (yes, many of you weren’t even born yet) how difficult it was to build these funky designed buildings that my early employers want me to build. I remember back in my early 20’s, just fresh out of engineering school, and having been a resident engineer at this apartment complex construction site, how challenging it was to build the entrance for the complex that had a particular design. I was just wondering about all the challenges (it took) to build these amazing structures. I give all my respect to whoever built this structure.

Let’s keep in mind that Las Vegas, a city that was designed to be enjoyed at night, and having said that, its structures and buildings were intended to be enjoyed in the dark, a good lighting system must be in place. So attending the Lightfair International 2012 that was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center would be a great idea.

There is a restaurant bar inside

After a long walk inside this new center I was ready to continue with the fun “Las Vegas style” across the street, so we headed to another place. And after visiting 3 more places and just having a few more hours before my work on the second day started, we headed to the hotel.

Day two: I was worried of not having enough sleep before my working day, but I was energized and ready at 8 am, so I got ready and headed to the Lightfair International 2012 conference.

I was nervous and excited at the same time, not every day do you have the chance to be invited as a Blogger press to cover an important event, but also this was the first time that I will meet Lira Luis and to attend one of her speaking events.

Lira Luis and Enrique Otarola

I’ve been working in the blogging world, networking, and interacting with people using the social media tools for a few years now. Trust me when I say it’s not easy. You have deadlines. You have people to see, places to go, and business to do. In a way you are in people’s radar all the time, so you have to develop a thick skin some times because not everybody likes what you do (or your opinions). You get lovers and haters too.

So meeting Lira Luis was a big deal for me because she is doing the same thing (as me) and much more but in a mega level. Lira travels all over the country. She has architectural licenses in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Asia. She speaks at different events throughout the year all over the globe.

Lira Luis website -  http://www.liraluis.com

I arrived at the Lightfair event in the morning and picked up my press credentials and immediately headed to the auditorium to cover Lira’s presentation. Me and my 30 pound press equipment went straight to N116 where Lira will be.

When I entered the room, the moment was magical for me; I’ve seen the room full of people, all of them ready for Lira’s presentation. I looked for the best place to see the presentation and I quickly found it. I unloaded all of my press “cargo” (professional camera, video camera, tripod, PC laptop, digital recording, etc.) and then, I was ready. In moments like these, I wondered “Where is my assistant? He is sleeping off the party time from last night.”

Then, there she was, we had a good distance between each other but she managed to recognize me among all of the attendees and then she waved her hand hello to me.

Lira Luis at LFI in Las Vegas

Lira spoke about the concept of “opportunities to define space with light”, which I found so interesting. All the buildings and structures become pleasant to the human eye when they are in display to be enjoyed.

Watch Lira Luis presentation in Las Vegas 2012

Having an engineering chip deep in my brain, at the beginning I couldn’t quite understand it, so having all of these wonderful pictures in a presentation called Prezi, were so helpful, even to an engineer.

Lira showed pictures of spaces that were enhanced by the natural light at different times of the day, for instance, Lira showed a picture of a shelter (living space) that she lived in while attending her architecture school.

It was amazing for me that Lira was just talking about the same concept that I had in mind just hours ago about a city, places to be admired at night. Although this concept was more organic, the principle was the same.

In a more specific part of the presentation, Lira presented “pockets of opportunities to define space with light”. I liked the picture of a brick wall that was brought to life with the simple fact of having a light entrance in the right place (for the different hours) bringing different effects throughout the day.

Lira Luis presentation

After the hour and a half of presentation, I learned something else about architecture. How important it is to keep the original design of a building. Sometimes the design suffers due to the changes in budget and time of the construction process.

After the presentation was over, I went to the press room to immediately start working on this new material, and while waiting for Lira I had the chance to meet Brandon Smith a designer based in San Diego and a power blogger. We enjoyed a fun chat while having a bite. You can read more about Brandon Smith at http://dcoopsd.wordpress.com/

Enrique and Brandon

I’ve also had the chance to meet another press colleague Merwin Videña, who was covering this Lightfair international event from San Diego.

Then, after Lira was finally free (she is a busy professional) I kidnapped Lira in our media booth at the Press room, where we talked more in detail about her presentation and I also had the chance to shoot a short interview for everybody to enjoy.

After having the opportunity to meet Lira and learning first hand about her amazing work, I can’t just get enough of this amazing woman, so we planned to have dinner at the hotel, later the same day.

Click here to watch Lira Luis interview in Las Vegas 2012 




Click here to watch full video interview

 

The event was full of people from all over the world, interesting vendors and imaginative creations too. You can see more about this event at – http://www.lightfair.com/

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I want to thank Lisa Kay Bokovoy -Manager of LFI Marketing, Lira Luis – Principal of Atelier Lira Luis LLC, and everybody who made this article possible.