Alviston Blog

   Baseball is sort of the unofficial sport of Alviston.com.  It’s been around as long as some of the current building practices and like building practices is very resistant to change.  There’s a charm about the game that has a tendency to grow on people.  They make movies about it and there’s a new script out there. 

    A university out West having numerous bouts with self-esteem takes a giant step forward.  A baseball program rich in tradition and high expectations finally climbs the mountain.  We’ve heard that a hundred times.  O.K., well this is a modern day version of the theme.  The emotional hook is something cast adrift in our modern age, a little something called “team”.  

   To call what happened a miracle would imply this bunch never had a chance.   To call it unbelievable would suggest they did not believe in themselves.  This is simply a return to old values that still work.  What happened in Omaha, Nebraska in the summer of 2008 is what happens when talent meets team.  No one would have guessed the Fresno State Bulldog baseball team with 31 losses would become a National Champion. (In fact that number had a lot of folks riding the bandwagon for this one)  The only ones who knew the possibilities were the team and it’s coaching staff.  

   This team knew it had the talent but did not have the success-formula perfected.  So, twenty-five individuals dumped the selfish, statistics driven, me-me-me concept in favor of “team” and the magic revealed itself.  No miracle just a reality check; team.  Not unbelievable just a smart decision at the right time; team work.  A team that believed in itself and trusted each other enough to raise the National Championship trophy in college baseball for the first time ever in Fresno State University history.  Quite a concept, this unselfish, team thing.  It works wonders in sports and life just ask the Wonderdogs.  

   What does this have to do with improving the world through “green concepts”?  Well this baseball team plays on green grass in Fresno, California and methodically converted the turf to the championship variety mowing down top ranked teams, which improves the program, the university and the community.

Lawrence Verde-Alviston City Manager

There are experiences as a kid that really leave an impression. For me, one of them was standing at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning. The anticipation was unbearable. It seemed like I waited forever to go down those stairs. But when we finally got to go, it was always worth the wait.

The summer had its own special rewards as well. One of them was making fresh, homemade peach ice cream and having it for dinner. Wow. This particular event required waiting as well, as the peaches had to be perfectly ripe. This occurrence wasn’t nearly as certain as Christmas, which made it even more special. (I’m not sure, but peach ice cream for dinner just might have been better than Christmas.)

Quite a few years later, during my biking years, I learned something that helped me appreciate those early experiences.

I rode my bike a lot in my twenties. We rode from Reedley to Canada and back. We rode all over Europe and New Zealand too. One of the things I discovered was that while riding downhill was exhilarating, what made it great was riding up the hill in the first place.

I was fortunate to live on Maui for a number of years. One time, a friend offered to drive me up to the top of Haleakala, a ten thousand foot volcano, so I could ride down. Which I did. But it was no good. It just didn’t feel right.  So a couple of weeks later, I rode up Haleakala by myself on my bike. It wasn’t easy, it took me most of the day and I was sore for a week. When I got to the top I was exhausted and had to rest for quite a while. But when I turned and looked out over the Pacific Ocean and down the road I had just climbed up, I was ready for the ride down, and I knew it would be great.

Christmas comes once a year. You can’t do much to speed it up. You just have to wait. And the waiting is, in part, what makes it so good.

The nexus of fresh peach ice cream for dinner can only happen if everything happens just right. The right amount of sun, water and care. The lack of a dinner plan.

I now realize how it all works and why we really should only get fruits and vegetables locally when they are in season. To me, there is nothing like a tree ripened nectarine. It is a gift. Just like Christmas.

 But you have to wait.

–Mark Alvis

I had to buy a new pair of pedals for Jen’s bike the other day so I went over to Steven’s Bike shop which is not too far from my house. There was a sign in the window that read:

          “It’s your duty to ride.”

I didn’t think much about it at first because I was there to get a pair of pedals not to reason out the nature of bike riding.

The guy was very helpful in picking out a set of pedals and even put them on for me. While he was working I asked him if he had seen an increase in business since the gas prices went so crazy. He said yes, and told me that a lot of people were getting their bikes fixed up so they could use them to do the short errands. We talked a little about doing a story on biking.

This gave me a little more time to think about the sign on the door:

          “It’s your duty to ride.”

You probably think it’s just a way to get more people to ride bikes. Bike shops sell bikes after all. But as I thought more about it, I realized there was a lot more to that sign than just a simple ad.

First, it reminded me of the slogans during World War II that urged us to conserve gas and electricity because these resources were needed to fight the war. And then I remembered reading a story by Paul Wood who talks about riding a bike as a kid. Riding a bike to a kid means freedom. Freedom to go where you want without an adult having to haul you around. Or freedom to just go.

And then it all came together. Bicycling is the quintessential, American mode of transport. Biking is at the same time independent and social, healthy and energy-efficient, clean and economical. The moment you start riding you feel better. Anyone who has ever ridden a bike knows what I mean. If you don’t know, or have forgotten, get on your bike right now, and remember,

 “It’s your duty to ride.”

–Mark Alvis

It’s been awhile, but the first time I ever saw a house built with Rastra insulated concrete forms, (ICFs,)  was in Las Vegas…  Las Vegas, New Mexico, that is.  My good friend Raymond is a cabinet maker in Las Vegas and he took me over to see just how the stuff went together.  Like other ICFs, the Rastra block is stacked and then filled with concrete. Two big differences though, Rastra blocks are very large and are made using recyled expanded polystyrene foam. 

I always enojoy going out to visit my friend Raymond in New Mexico. People out there really think outside the box. Or more acurately, the think inside a very large green box.  I met a ninty year old woman there who was living in a house that she had designed and built in the 70’s with a Trombe wall, solar water heating, a wind turbine.  When I was there, they had just finished adding a photovoltaic system to the mix.

So I wasn’t too surprised when my freind Raymond called me last week and said he was building his own house out of Rastra ICF block.  Plus he’s going to put eight inches of solid foam insulation on the roof to make sure and stay warm. It gets pretty cold in Las Vegas. 

ICFs aren’t for everyone.  For some, structural insulated panels make more sense.  For others a combination of the two. There are numerous building systems that are extreemly energy efficient. There isn’t a “one size fits all,” way to build a house.

I guess the point here is that there are all kinds of ways to be energy efficient when building your house or business.  While we need to keep our minds open to using these different technologies, we still need to pick the ones that fit our own particular climate, geography and available material resources.

Mark Alvis

How do you know when a good idea, is a good idea?  There’s a lot of talk about what we need from people who don’t have any idea how “what we need” really works.  Elected leaders, media, know-it-all’s at fancy parties share the blame in this.  ”We need better use of public transit”-the person has never taken a city bus in their life.  Or the claim “we feel your pain with rising gas prices”-and the last time they grabbed a nozzle to fill up their car was in college.  Come on down and live with the common man for a moment if you want to feel that pain, Mr. Official.  All too often there’s a lot of preaching about what we ALL need to be a better society and those with the sermon don’t have any practical experience with what makes us better.  You definately can’t say that about the creators of Alviston.com.  When Alviston.com offers a good idea there is generally practical use and experience to back it up.  The mayor of Alviston, Mark Alvis has built and lived in many of his green concepts.  So at least there is one designated leader who actually knows what he’s talking about when it comes to green building and good ideas.  You can see it in his blogs, join the discussion as we talk, the talk and walk, the walk through the ever changing world of green.  Our Green News stays on top of latest developments as well.

Lawrence Verde-Alviston City Manager