Random Acts of Adventure
Lessons For An Optimist - Giving a Dam
May 26, 2009
On a recent trip to connect my 80-year old father-in-law with the Grand Canyon for the first time, I came away with an unexpected realization ... while our lives may be short in the bigger scheme of things, our impact can still be great.Contrasting an 80-year lifetime to the two billion year old layers of rock at the bottom of the canyon, you immediately get a sense of how short our time is on this wonderful planet. Yet, it was just 26 years ago in 1983 that the Glen Canyon Dam almost spilled over as Lake Powell had reached “full pole” and the water needed to be released to allow the Colorado River to flow into the Sea of Cortez for the last time. Lake Powell is now estimated to be less than 50% full. While drought has contributed some to this trend, the vast majority of the depletion is a result of exponential growth in demand by a growing population.
Recently, our friends at Teva teamed up with our hero Wade Davis – and frequent guest at our Telluride Mountainfilm event – to release the recent Imax film River at Risk documenting the challenges this beautiful river faces after spending its lifetime carving one of the planet’s most spectacular natural monuments.
The optimist in me says we can reverse this trend by just paying more attention to the water we use everyday. I recently learned that one of the largest impacts on energy and water in the clothing chain was customer care. Reducing the number of washes, hang drying and applying efficient practices to care can reduce impact by upwards of 30-40%. So we are on a mission to promote lower impact care requirements and practices. We can also take shorter and fewer showers and reduce usage in many other obvious ways in our daily lives.
So let’s fill Lake Powell back up and spill the Glen Canyon dam by 2040!
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Lessons For An Optimist - Question of the Month
May 18, 2009
Last week we spent some time out of the office to establish our priorities for the coming year and refine our 5-year vision for the family of brands (Horny Toad, Nau and Lizard Lounge). Being committed to creating value with a sense of balance between social, environmental and financial impacts creates an energizing environment for innovation and inspiring possibilities. But the reality is that we also have to be practical and somewhat prudent in the challenging economic climate of today, so some of those great ideas might not have had a chance to surface or fully develop. So I thought it would be enlightening to broaden the dialogue to our community of enthusiastic product and brand fans.
So here is my first of many “Questions of the Month”
Q: What is your favorite aspect of our company and what should be our top priority for improvement?
I will respond and comment on submissions to provide a window into our efforts to address your suggestions. I look forward to your thoughts.
Ping-Pong Door
May 15, 2009
We are fanatical about a few things here at the Toad – beer, dogs and ping-pong. All of which help us remember to play and have fun even in the middle of a busy day – uhhh, beer is saved for a little later. So, when our friend Jessica found this amazing invention, we nearly lost our collective, ping-pong minds! First there was sliced bread and then there was the ping-pong door.Designed by Tobias Fraenzel, this pint-sized version of ping pong is too good to be true. This ingenius design was in a DesignBoom contest.
Here’s some more really cool takes on our favorite game.
Biker Gang
May 14, 2009
Hopefully you already know that this week is national Bike-to-Work Week (May 11th – 15th), and are peddling away to work and back home. Seeing as most of us here in the office are obsessed with bikes, it seemed fitting that we would hop on the ol’ two-wheeler and commute to Toad this week in bike ridin’ celebration. Actually, most days here at the Toad you can find a line of bikes parked outside the office. We actually joined a local competition with www.trafficsolutions.info for the months of May and June – why do a week when you can do months! Heck, why not make a commitment for the whole dang year. Think about how happy you would make Mother Earth. Check to see if there is a similar kind of group in your area and let the commuter games begin.
The League of American Bicyclists is one of our favorite groups ever. Actually, they are on our 9 in ’09 list – check it out. Anyway, they have great information on local events in your area and how to get involved with bike commuting and making the commitment to a greener and fresher future simply by riding your bike. How awesome is that?
Lessons For An Optimist - What Really Matters
May 11, 2009
Being reminded what is important in life often comes at the most unexpected times.That was my experience last Tuesday as I flew from my home in Santa Barbara (Horny Toad) to Portland, Oregon (Nau & Lizard Lounge) when a terrible fire broke out. I found myself on the phone as I landed talking my wife and two daughters through the list of “important” things to grab as they evacuated our house as the fire was turning our community upside.
Getting back into our home this weekend with a new found appreciation for what really matters, I came up with the following:
Of course family, friends and pets can never be replaced and it sure feels great to have them all safe and sound.
Memories in the form of pictures, videos and those amazing art projects for Birthdays and Father’s Day will come in handy when the brain slows with age.
Community…firefighters and civil servants are true heroes and we all stand a bit prouder at how our neighbors supported each other through a very trying week.
Our team of Toads, Nauians and Loungers…from sharing in our star customer service Manager’s wedding on Saturday with ashes falling to getting right to work on a benefit concert and product donation plan for victims and firefighters, it was nice to be reminded we really do have a Family of brands.
And in the interest of full disclosure, during a reflective afternoon of surf with my wife and two girls yesterday, I decided holding on to a few toys that make life a fulfilling adventure is probably a good idea as well.
Locally on Tap
May 6, 2009
This may be a new concept to some, but there is a difference between good and bad beer. Shocker, I know. It’s not like we are beer snobs at the Toad, but we certainly appreciate good food and good drinks. And, just like food, good ingredients and a bent towards perfecting a craft makes for the best product. Such is the case for our local brewery, Telegraph Brewing Company, here in Santa Barbara. We love the folks over at Telegraph, not only because they make amazing beer, but also because they are the embodiment of a passion – they took a great belief system and made a dream a reality. Fortunately for us their “dream” is on tap during happy hour for the Toads … mmmm beer. This is just a shout out to all local brewers that put smiles on the faces of their neighbors. Find one near you and get on the good side of the tap.
Lessons For An Optimist - Signs of Hope
May 4, 2009
Last week I was on the road to NYC for a media event and Freeport, Maine to visit our store. It was great to get out and see how spring was shaping up and I have to say the warm weather seems to be injecting some enthusiasm and hope that the worst is behind us.A couple of thoughts come to mind about where we are as May begins.
Resilience - It was nice to see our population not flinch as the 24/7 media (and our Vice President) tried to scare us with the swine flu story. I was in packed airports and airplanes all week and lived to tell about it.
Growing Confidence - We may not be completely out of the woods yet but it is noteworthy that the stock market has steadily increased in the last month. It appears the first 100 days of our new Administration have established the potential of our country’s economic future in green technology and alternative fuels.
Opportunity - How about a 50:1 Kentucky Derby winner that comes from last to first in the final turn. Score one for the “anything is possible if you dream big” category!
Junk Ride
April 29, 2009
What a great way to see the country side and raise awareness of our dependence on disposable plastics and other materials. This is a great journey to be aware of and perhaps even involved in. They are touring the west coast, so check them out when they are in your town.
Check out the Junk Ride of 2009!
Lessons For An Optimist - Earth Day
April 27, 2009
To be an entrepreneur is to be an optimist and I try to live by one of my favorite sayings, "Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.” Thomas L. FriedmanThis post is the maiden voyage of an idea that our team had for me to share weekly thoughts and observations with our family of friends and fans. Every Monday you can count on an observation from the prior week through a glass half full lens. My objective is to share experiences as we navigate this fast changing world and encourage your participation and commentary in those adventures.
My subject this week – Earth Day. I know, you’ve heard it all by now, but don’t you think it’s amazing how ubiquitous this previously little known celebration of environmental awareness has become in recent years.
Why is that? Is it that we have finally embraced the evidence of global warming and have entered survival mode. Has the recent financial turmoil reminded us to cherish green places and the simple things. Maybe it is that green has become synonymous with economic potential. Or, perhaps, Earth Day has simply accomplished its purpose over the last four decades and converted the masses. Like most things, it is most likely a combination of these and many other factors that have all contributed to a major shift in awareness, perspective and practices.
I sleep at night because although we’ve left an environmental mess for our children, our youth today has been born with awareness. It is almost like our DNA was altered sometime in the last two decades and kids are teaching adults how to be green. I am regularly impressed by how aware and engaged my 9- and 11-year old daughters are. My wife and I try pretty hard to be good stewards, but our girls often point out how we can do better.
Finally, kudos to Google for understanding this long before many of us – shocker. They understand that youth gets it and launched a program several years ago to solidify Earth Day in the schools. Grades K-12 are asked to have their students design an Earth Day inspired home page Google logo and contest winners in various age categories were awarded $10K for college tuition and $25K grants to the schools of those winners. What a great way to get teachers, students and parents talking about some of the most important and relevant issues of today in the name of Google. Nice thinking!
Thanks for reading,
Gordon
Street Wise Bike Trials
April 23, 2009
We like bikes here are the Toad, but, Danny MacAskill obviously reeeally likes bikes. What an amazing collection of street trials riding. This was all filmed in Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby. It’s always fascinating when someone shows a passion for something so much so that they are able to master it to a point of jaw-dropping awe. You’ll see, take a looksee. Errrr does it need to be said that you should not attempt this at home.Crusade Against the Mundane
Welcome to the Horny Toad Community. This is where you get to tell us what Every Day Is An Adventure means to you. The best part is that you will help define what the Toad Community becomes. So let us know what you think, check out an event in your area, or just sit back and laugh a little. The idea is to have fun!
