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So you made the decision to attend community college while balancing a busy work schedule. You support yourself and perhaps others financially.You decide to take 12 units because you feel like you feel you can handle it. The cost per class is $36, which adds up to $432. Then you have the student health fee, which is $17 (no big deal). You decide to drive to school because you have to hustle to work right after class,  but there is never any parking on the street near campus so you decide to purchase a parking pass.. $40 (hmm…ok).  So now you are at  $489.00. Starting to feel a little nervous you decide you will power through it and figure out a way to make partial payments. Just when you are starting to feel at ease, you attend  class and your teacher assigns you the newest edition of a textbook , and used versions are not available. The costs is roughly $120.00- the same applies for your other 3 classes.  Let’s add up the total for your semester at community college:

12 units: $432

Student Health Fee:  $17

(4) Text Books:$480.00 =$929.00 (Yikes!)

I didn’t even factor in the costs of supplies.  At this point you are freaking out because you don’t know how you are going to pay this before the semester is over. The administration sends your registration dates mid semester and you can’t  add classes because there is a hold on your account as a result of  not being able to make a payment.  Months pass , your tuition finally get’s paid, and now you can register. But wait.. you missed your deadline and now the classes  you need are full. The first day of school approaches and you end up running all over campus looking to add classes while  competing with a handful of students who also are trying to add.

Next semester you decide to pursue financial aid so you visit the office just to see a line to the office  all the way down the hall and out the door.  You decide to come back the next day and it’s the same thing, next day…same thing. Finally you find a way to talk to a counselor who tells you to go online and fill out the FASFA

which you do but find yourself feeling overwhelmed of all that is being asked of you. There are so many steps in this process and some of these questions you don’t understand and need assistance, but no one is there to help. So you decide to come back and complete it later but never do because you don’t have time, can’t seem to get the help you need, and feel like you probably won’t even qualify. So you abandon the idea of getting financial aid and fall back into the same cycle.

At this point you are feeling stressed and confused about the process of community college. The impression has always been that it is a convenient and resourceful environment, but since you have been attending classes your life has become difficult because you are also balancing a work schedule and paying for the costs of living.  It was not supposed to be this way.

You made the decision to attend a community college based on these reasons:

1. You THOUGHT you could afford it.

2. You want to improve your grades before transferring to a four year University.

3. The scheduling is flexible

Now that there are all these obstacles, you feel behind and discouraged. There have always been resources out there for people in this particular situation, but it is difficult to take advantage of these resources as they don’t provide the “one-on-one” help that you really need. I’m happy to let you know that there is a program out there that will change your perception and restore your confidence in pursuing a college career.

Say it out loud to yourself and believe it: “I Can Afford College”

ICanAffordCollege.com is a website designed to meet the needs of people that are in your situation by educating Californian community college students who are unaware of their eligibility for financial aid. This amazing website will lead you financial resources that will cover the cost of enrollment fees, books, supplies, and even rent. You have probably heard of websites like this before, but what separates ICanAffordCollege.com apart from others is they provide the one-on-one assistance that you need.  If you are still skeptical, just visit the website and read  success stories of people who were in your same situation.

All you have to do is visit the website, enter your zip code, and a list of financial offices with direct contact information to a financial aid officer will pop up. You can wave goodbye to that long line at the financial aid office on campus.

The truth is none of us will ever be able to predict what happen with the enrollment fees in California Community Colleges. Fees rise all the time, books will always be expensive, and whether  you choose to buy a parking pass or not, there will always cost for transportation. In general, education has a lot of financial demand around it. Luckily with websites like I can Afford College.com,the support you need to have a college experience that doesn’t hurt your pockets and sets you sets you on the road to successful career is just a click away.

Our client, the SFPUC, along with key design and construction contractor staff, participated in a webinar on Wednesday, titled “Planning, Designing and Building California’s Largest UV Water Treatment Facility.” The webinar focused on the planning, design and construction of the new Tesla Treatment Facility – a critical part of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System that was built in the mid 1900s and in need of renovations.

The webinar speakers conducted a successful webinar highlighting the project process through the planning, design-build team procurement, design and construction phases, as well as a snapshot of the current status of the Tesla facility and the lessons learned by each team member. The Tesla Treatment Facility is currently in the middle of a one year Commissioning phase, following the facility’s substantial completion in June 2011. A dedication was held in July 2011 to officially dedicate the new facility.

More than 70 participants attended the webinar from across the US and into Canada. The full webinar can be viewed on-demand here.

My parents spent their 20s in San Francisco (I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree) and my dad used to tell stories of passing a parking spot in SF and parking there for no good reason – he would find something to do in that neighborhood. You simply didn’t pass up a parking spot in 1970s SF.

Well, dad, not much has changed… until now?

Just as www.nextmuni.com revolutionized the bus-riding experience, SFpark may  mitigate the parking headache.

According to the website, SFpark combines sensors, new meters and real-time parking data to create the world’s most advanced parking management system. SFpark sensors, installed in both street meters and City-owned garages, track parking availability in real time. The public can check parking availability via the SFpark website and smartphone applications – and coming soon, text messaging and 511. Currently only 7,000 of San Francisco’s 28,800 meters are SFpark ready – but they’re making progress.

As if that wasn’t enough – SFpark will adjust meter prices based on demand, meaning parking may even get CHEAPER sometimes. No more three minutes in exchange for a quarter, or whatever it is.

Sounds good to me so far. My next question is always about money though. Who’s funding this? Taxpayers? Me?

According to the SFpark website, the initiative is being funded by a $19.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Urban Partnership Program.

Phew. Again, San Francisco is at the helm of a pilot project. Apparently, other cities have implemented portions of the SFpark program, but San Francisco is the first to execute the full spectrum of components.

Now, if they could only find a way to monitor and report the status of neighborhood parking spots. That’s sometimes where the real headache is incurred.

What do you think? Have you used the SFpark site or app in San Francisco?

Photo courtesy of National Geographic.

One of the most helpful sites I came across was from the Humboldt Earthquake Education Center at Humboldt State University. The site, titled “Living on Shaky Ground, How to Survive Earthquakes and Tsunamis in Northern California,” poses several questions and scenarios to help better prepare for the worst.

Questions you should ask yourself:

Where will my family be and how will I reach them?

• Develop a plan that includes where you will meet and how
to contact each other.

Am I prepared to live without the essentials?

• Put together disaster kits for home, work and your car

Do I live, work or visit in a tsunami hazard zone?

• Learn to recognize the natural warning signs of a tsunami and determine your evacuation routes

Where will I get medical help?

• Learn how to help yourself and your family by taking first aid and CPR classes

How will I pay for things?

• Keep cash on hand because banks may be closed, ATMs inoperable, and credit cards unusable

How will I repair the damage to my home?

• Minimize your losses by reducing your hazards and consider adding earthquake and/or flood insurance

Additional emergency preparedness resources:

Home Safety

Bay Area Community Resources

USGS Earthquakes

If you find yourself unprepared, take the recent natural disasters on the East Coast as motivation to ready yourself and your family. The Bay Area is more likely to encounter disasters that offer no preparation time, so be ready now.

I have to admit – I’m more than a little jealous of the 70,000 expected attendees, but not just because they’ll get to rock out to all those amazing bands.

It’s also because of the food.

A veteran festivalgoer myself, I can say with almost absolute certainty that no one – not a soul – goes to music festivals for the food. We go for the music and we eat the food, but we eat it mainly because it is located within the same temporary fencing as we are, and because we are hungry, and because sneaking in outside food is strictly forbidden.

But Outside Lands’ organizers have planned an event that will give this year’s concertgoers more than just musical nirvana and an excuse to dance badly in public. In addition to the 100+ concerts at six stages, attendees will experience a food culture of culinary innovation, sustainability and local sourcing that is quintessentially SF.

Within the festival grounds, there will be a farmer’s market selling local, seasonal fruits and veggies. San Francisco favorites like Philz Coffee, Kara’s Cupcakes and Farmerbrown will be among the restaurants setting up temporary shop. Composting will be ubiquitous. Last year, the festival composted more than 30 tons of waste, diverting 76 percent of festival trash away from landfills. This year, their goal is to compost even more.

In short, what Outside Lands has done is taken the San Francisco restaurant scene, made it a tad less healthy and extra earth-friendly, and packed it into one enclosed space for tens of thousands of locals and visitors to experience. And enjoy. And want more of.

All of this is great PR for San Francisco and its culinary scene. Outside Lands will showcase not only just how great the food here is, but also how much our local chefs, restaurateurs and event planners care about cultivating a food culture that is both delicious and socially conscious.

I have no idea if Charles Chocolates’ organic s’mores are tastier than the Hershey’s/Jet-Puffed/Honey Maid s’mores of my youth. I’m not quite sure what I’d get were I to order one of Straw SF’s falafel snowcones or Namu’s Korean tacos. But the San Francisco foodie in me is getting hungry just thinking about the food at Outside Lands, and my inner environmentalist loves that the plates and utensils I’d be eating with will never see a landfill.

It is undeniable that the quality of education a child receives is directly correlated to their surrounding environment; with this in mind I took a look at standardized test results from third graders from six public elementary schools – each from a different neighborhood in San Francisco. I also researched the demographics of each neighborhood.

The disparities between individual neighborhoods is shocking in itself, but it should come as no surprise that the communities with higher median household income numbers produce higher education levels and higher test scores. Unfortunately, the amount of funding a school receives is a direct result of its students standardized test scores. This policy undoubtedly creates an uneven playing field in today’s education system where income and demographics are so intertwined with a child’s scholastic achievement.

This chart was created with statistics and information gathered from the  California Department of Education 2010 STAR Testing Results and the San Francisco Neighborhoods Socio-Economic Profiles. You may click on the chart to view it in full screen.

At the end of the campaign, we had tallied 88 new fans or followers- and subsequently set out to fulfill our promise to complete 88 hours of service work.

I am pleased to announce that our staff has both met and exceeded our goal!

I recently returned from an incredible six-day volunteer experience at the Painted Turtle – a camp located outside of Los Angeles which serves children with chronic, life-threatening illnesses and their families year-round.

The Painted Turtle is an exceptional facility that offers kids a chance to be themselves – just kids! – and enjoy the typical summer camp activities that they may not usually be afforded due to their illness. The Painted Turtle boasts boating and fishing, archery, arts and crafts, woodshop, music, horses, and a wheelchair-accessible ropes course – in addition to a nurse and doctor-staffed wellness facility.

After racking up 144 hours as a volunteer cabin counselor at the Painted Turtle, I’m pleased to report our staff has completed much more than our pledged 88 hours of service work!

But I’m not the only one who volunteered and the Painted Turtle isn’t the only organization we served! Other staff members spent hours at the Shelter Network, Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN), the Glide Foundation, the Stanislaus County Aging Commission – as well as donated blood and through the YMCA Adopt-A-Child program for Christmas.

Do you have any favorite organizations to support in the Bay Area? Where should we spend time next?

For example, how would your ex-girlfriend feel about you browsing her physical photo albums? Have you actually written on anyone’s wall before, and if so, how did that go over?

This viral video is gaining popularity as a tongue-in-cheek look at how the things we do online everyday, sometimes more than once per day, would play out in real-time interaction with people.

Though it was actually created to promote a new opera in London that focuses on the risks of living our lives online, the video is an entertaining look at how folks might react to common social media advances, like getting poked, in real life. But really – I have to point out that I personally don’t believe using the “poke” feature on Facebook has been appropriate or cool since my freshman year of college in 2004.

What do you think? Does this make you think twice about the activities we regularly engage in on social media?