A typical week of meeting and greeting

My week starts with attending a “fireside chat” by the Mayor at USC, which is actually pretty interesting as the Mayor is more relaxed and speaks at length to an academic audience.  This is the week before his big debut at the Democratic National Convention.

A low key event in which Bill Gross, founder of Idealab, speaks on what it takes to create an environment that nurtures creativity.

The pain meter rises considerably at the annual International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers BBQ. EVERY politico within miles shows up to speak for two minutes (before hurrying off). I try to “work the crowd” with little success.

A hub bub of activity, I attend a Los Angeles City Council meeting to speak in support of a Motion by Councilmember Garcetti.

Give and take.  LACI hosts a seminar on how to “work” the LA County Purchasing Department.  This was pretty interesting.

Then its off to East Los Angeles City College to hear a panel discussion led by Todd Park, the White House’s Chief Technology Officer (yes, even the White House has a CTO).  This is interesting on a number of levels:  (1) ELACC is a large, modern junior college providing higher education to the working class kids of East Los Angeles.  (2) Todd Parker is one smart and energetic dude who gives me hope that there’s something to be done to/with the federal government to make it more efficient.

MIchael Swords, Chairman of Cleantech LA, and I sit on a panel discussion on the role of sustainable energy plays in military strategy (no kidding). The panel is held in the Tom Bradley Tower, literally on top of City Hall, which as an unrestricted view of downtown LA.

You know you’ve reached bottom when the first start up that you encounter at a high tech “mixer” is Catman-Doo: )  And I drove all the way to Marina Del Rey to see this marvel of innovation…