Swine Flu Status For Riverside County

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:50:41 -0500

I visited with Temecula Mayor Maryann Edwards yesterday. Unless you've been locked away somewhere, you know that swine flu is the hot button topic. She promised me an update from the Riverside County Office of Emergency Services, and I'm sharing it with you:

County of Riverside / Riverside County Operational Area EOC

SITUATION SUMMARY #1

Date / Time: 4/29/09 1800 hours

Prepared By: Riverside County Fire Department - Office of Emergency Services

Situation Assessment:

The County of Riverside responded today to the discovery of 4 “probable” cases of Swine Flu. (1- Corona, 2 - Riverside, 1- Indio)

A Proclamation of Local Emergency in Riverside County was declared at 1000 hours today

The Governor has issued a Proclamation of Emergency for the State of California

The World Health Organization has elevated it’s Pandemic Threat Level to #5, indicating the possibility of an “imminent pandemic”

EOC / DOC Activations:

The Riverside County Public Health Department Operations Center remains open and active from 0700 -1900 daily

The County Emergency Operations Center is activated to Level One Status from 0700-1900 daily

The City of Indio activated it’s Emergency Operations Center at Management Watch Level

The City of Corona activated it’s Emergency Operations Center at Management Watch Level

The City of Riverside activated it’s Emergency Operations Center to Level 1 from 0800 to 1700 hours and Management Watch after hours

The CalEMA Southern Region EOC is activated from 0800 – 1700 hours daily

Incident Related Closures:

3 Schools were closed on advice of the Public Health Department, until May 7^th due to the Swine Flu outbreak:

Indio High School – Indio

Lee Pollard Continuation School – Corona

Mission Bell Elementary School / Headstart – Jurupa

The City of Indio closed indefinitely, it’s Teen Center and Senior Center as a precautionary measure

Miscellaneous Information:

A Public Health Information Hotline (951) 955-2000 is open from 0700 – 1900 hours daily. Additional information and referrals can be found at www.countyofriverside.us

A Press Conference was held today, in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at 1330 hours today with Chairman Stone and Public Health Officials

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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twitter vs. activerain - The Gloves Are Off

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:11:46 -0500

image courtesy of photobucket

Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not implying that one is better than the other. Rather, I believe blogs can complement twitter and vice versa.

One of my favorite people on activerain, Gary Woltal, wrote a post about twitter on March 7th -

Why You Won't Find This Cowboy On Twitter (Yet)

At the time, I had had a twitter account for more than a year, but I was on the fence at best. I had about 200 followers on twitter back then, and I believed with Gary that twitter was a time waster. Fast forward to April 21. Yesterday I passed the 1,000 follower mark on twitter. I follow twitter on a program called TweetDeck, which allows me to categorize the people I follow. I don't have to be glued to twitter - I can visit it as I please, and take what I want from it.

I met a 13 year old boy named Jason O'Neill and interviewed him for a blog post -

13 Year Old Temecula Boy Makes His Mark With Pencil Bugs

This young man is truly an inspiration. I have connected with Pat Kitano and Kevin Boer and have begun taking webinars with them on how to integrate social media - blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter and more - to build your online referral network.

I can't write a post like this on twitter. You're limited to 140 characters. I can, however link to this post with a single tweet and thus instantly expose it to potentially millions of readers.

I see tweets from people like Dustin Luther, Ardell Dellalogia, Teresa Boardman, Todd Carpenter to name just a few. I heard about ReBarCampLA on twitter and because of that experienced a great day of learning and saw fellow rainers there like Ginger Wilcox, Laura Monroe, Marlene Bridges, Ricardo Bueno, Jeff Turner, Jeff Dowler and many, many others.

The beauty of twitter to me is its immediacy. I would have to search for hours here to find what I can find there in seconds. On the other hand, I can do things here I could never do there. That's my point... each complements the other. Do you need twitter? Maybe not. Is it worth checking out? Absolutely. Let me know what you think. You can follow me @TomPlant.

P.S. Follow @nik_nik and you'll be introduced to Nicole Nicolay

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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13 Year Old Temecula Boy Makes His Mark With Pencil Bugs

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:14:47 -0500

I want you to try something. Do a Google search on "Jason O'Neill". Pick your jaw up off the floor - yes, he's thirteen. I visited with Jason and his mom this afternoon at Starbucks. He is one amazing kid.

I found Jason on twitter. You may know I was on the fence for quite some time about the value of twitter, but I'm a true believer now. I saw that Jason was from Temecula, which is right next door to Murrieta, where I live. I contacted him via twitter and asked if I could interview him. I then wound up arranging the interview through his manager, his M.O.M (Mother Of Me).

Jason told me he's been interested in making money since he was five years old. He sold lemonade and hot chocolate and got into recycling (which he still does). A little over three years ago, his mom and grandmother were doing a project for a crafts fair. Jason asked if he could help them and share the profits. Mom told him no. If he wanted to do a crafts project, it would have to be his own. It was then that Jason gave birth to Pencil Bugs. He made 24 of them and put them up for sale at the craft fair, thinking that would be the end of it. They sold out quickly. He started making more, and they now make them, at home, hundreds at a time.

It wasn't long before Jason started gaining attention. They put up the website and started getting orders from all over the world - Denmark, Africa, Egypt and Canada to name a few. He was a contestant in 2007 on NBC's short-lived 1 vs. 100 game show as was called "The Kid Mogul". Forbes.com named him one of the Top 10 Role Models Under 18. Forbes magazine will be doing an article about him. He received "Young Entrepreneur Of The Year" award in 2007 at age 11. It was a contest designed for those 16 and older. He speaks at various events and has hooked up with Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the Chicken Soup For The Soul book series. Mark is including Jason in an upcoming book called The Richest Kids In America. Did I mention he's thirteen?

So many things impressed me about Jason. He's got his head screwed on straight. Mom Nancy says the priorities they have given him are "school, being a kid, and then business". As he told me "You're only a kid once". His school mates just don't get it. They think it's a little hobby he's doing. Make no mistake, it's a full fledged business. In addition to Pencil Bugs, Jason has bookmarks and greeting cards. His future plans include board games, video games, cards games, a cartoon and maybe even a movie. I wouldn't bet against him. He works now not because he has to (he's thirteen), but because he wants to. He wants to work as an adult because he wants to, not needs to. Jason also believes in giving to charity, as long as all the money goes to kids, not salaries or administrative costs. He has given to Hugs Foster Family in Temecula and to Rady Children's Hospital.

Jason hopes to encourage other kids to stretch, adding if you sit on your ideas, you don't know what you might miss. Jason set up his twitter account in December of last year, and now has more than 1500 followers. You can follow him @pencilbugs. I do. His tweets are worth reading.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Today Is Earth Day - We Can Each Make A Difference

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:05:10 -0500

Thirty nine years ago today, the very first Earth Day was celebrated. I realize that some reading this weren't even born thirty nine years ago. Nearly 20,000,000 Americans participated with the primary goal being to create a sustainable environment. Nearly forty years later, Earth Day has become a global phenomenon.

What does Earth Day mean to you? To me, it's a time to focus on our mother earth and see what steps all of us can take to preserve and even improve the quality of life and preserve our precious natural resources. Here are a few simple steps you can take.

Recycle - It's so easy and it makes such a difference. If it's paper, plastic, glass or metal, don't throw it away, recycle it so it can be used again.
Use flourescent bulbs - They cost a bit more initially, but consume 75% less power and last ten times as long as conventional light bulbs.
Enjoy the outdoors and share you stories and photos. Clean up if you see trash. Nature.org

Do a little research. Learn how you can make a difference. Riverside's Press Enterprise has put up a wonderful site called Green Riverside with all sorts of useful tips on going green. Thanks for pitching in.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Another Young Man From The Temecula Valley Making A Difference Globally

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:57:35 -0500

Laura and I attend the Center For Spiritual Living in Temecula. Yesterday, 17 year old Jake Matthews shared a video with us about the Malawi School Project and told us he will be traveling there this summer to help build schools. The group made their first visit to Malawi in 2007 with the intention of building four schools. They built 10. We need more young men like Jake. I hope this video inspires you as much as it inspired me.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Flower photography

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:30:53 -0500

My dad loaned me his Nikon F when I was in my early teens growing up in San Francisco. I took my first photos at the Palace of Fine Arts and have been hooked ever since. I started shooting digital in 1999 and have done so ever since. Two years ago, I self published a book of flower photographs called "flora". This shot isn't in it, but it has the same feel. I took this in Thailand.

Temecula Valley Wine Country Meanderings

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:54:22 -0500

The Temecula Valley Wine Country is growing. The chateau above is the Churon Winery on Rancho California Road. I've had a couple of interesting experiences over the past few weeks I thought I'd share with you. The other afternoon we were at Keyways Winery. There was a woman sitting next to us with a unique voice. I asked her if she'd ever done any voiceover work and she told me she had. Not only that, she's an interior designer and an artist. Let me introduce you to Janie Bowers.

Janie paints beautiful acrylics. She's holding "Winter Princess" here. She is totally self taught. I think her artwork is exquisite. She also paints wine bottles. I took these shots at Robert Renzoni Winery and watched her put grapes on bottles with colored glue.

She's truly one of the most creative people I know. Finally, I paid a visit to Alex's Red Barn. Alex and Lise Yakut run this boutique winery and offer a variety of wines as well as a cream sherry. Their Grenache is quite tasty.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Easter At Lake Arrowhead

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:17:10 -0500

One of the many reasons I love living where I do is its proximity to so many wonderful places. Easter Sunday, Laura and I took off for Lake Arrowhead and in less than an hour and a half we were there. There's a different feel to being in the mountains. The air is crisper. The trees are taller. Everything feels fresh.

We had a noon reservation for brunch at the Lake Arrowhead Resort. Since we had some time to spare, we strolled through Lake Arrowhead Village and checked out some of the cute shops. We found a wonderful wine store called Vino 100.

After brunch, we browsed the village again and picked up some treats for Laura's dog "Money" at Three Dog Bakery. We drove down the mountain and now we look forward to a return visit.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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"Say It With Pictures" meme - I Was Tagged, Are You Next?

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:26:37 -0500

What would I do without my dear active rain pals? Don't get me started! Pat Kennedy tagged me with this recently. Stay tuned to see who the next victims are.

1. Type out all the questions below and answer each with a picture.

2. Tag 5 people and spread the love out.

It's that simple.

1. Age at my next birthday:

2. Favorite movie or TV character:

3. Place I want to travel:

4. Favorite Food:

5. Favorite Place:

6. Nickname:

7. Favorite Color:

8. Favortie Sports Team:

9. Favorite Hobby

10. Bad Habit:

Now I will be passing this Meme tag on to 5 people. Be sure you come back here and leave a link to your Meme in the comment section and let the people you tag know they have been tagged!

Ok - Fran White, Elaine Hanson, Ricardo Bueno, Joey Aszterbaum and Tom Braatz - it's your turn!

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Meet Todd & Rosie Boorman - Winemakers Extraordinaire!

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:01:18 -0500

I first met Rosie Boorman last year at The Wine Company. She and her associate Val were pouring samples of wine from their winery in La Cresta, an area adjacent to the Santa Rosa Plateau. I saw Rosie and Val again a few weeks ago at Francesca's where they were holding a wine blending party. Guests were given four varietals of wine and asked to create their own wine blend.

I was intrigued and asked Rosie if i could come visit their winery and see what she and her husband Todd were doing there. Temecula is renowned for its wine country, but I wanted to see what was going on in La Cresta. When I arrived, Rosie was dipping the tops of the bottles in food grade plastic and then handing them to Val to cool in water.

It's a labor intensive process, but so is everything they do at Boorman. I spent nearly an hour and a half visiting with Todd Boorman. He told me how they had moved to the area from Orange County in 1986. They wound up purchasing the land they now live and work on. There were already Cabernet Sauvignon grapes planted, but Todd knew nothing about grapes. He spent the first four years landscaping and building their home. He then started taking extension classes to learn how to take care of vineyards. He eventually began taking care of the grapes by himself, buying a sprayer and then a tractor.

Todd became interested in the process of making wine and soon began making wine from his own grapes. His first release was the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. He also bottles Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Pinot Noir and purchased 800 of the first 2000 Petit Verdot vines made available from France which he uses in his Metaphor blend.

I left incredibly impressed with Todd's committment to producing a quality product. In his words: "wine is an art that's being lost to commercialization." He also told me "I just want to make good wine." He's doing exactly that.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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There's A New Face At The Temecula Valley Wine Company

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:06:53 -0500

Dan Atwood is no stranger to The Wine Company. He's been of part of it since its inception in its first location on Ynez Road. He was just much more in the background than he is now. Since the end of last year, however, Dan has stepped out of the shadows to take a much more active role. These days, more often than not, you're likely to find Dan either behind the counter and visiting guests from table to table.

Dan moved to Temecula twelve years ago. He purchased horse property on Rancho California Road that was also planted with Chardonnay grapes. Unfortunately, the vines had been attacked by the glassy-winged sharpshooter and needed to be torn out. Dan turned to a friend at Leonesse Cellars who told him he should plant Syrah grapes in their place. With help from Leonesse, Dan has been producing a superior Syrah and is getting ready to release the 2006 vintage.

Dan hired Jim Lilly to build a wine cellar in his home and was asked if he might be interested in investing in wine store. They became partners and Jim ran the business for several years. Last year, Dan decided he wanted to try his hand at running the business, and he's implemented several changes already.

Dan's philosophy is simple. He wants The Wine Company to be a fun place to hang out... low-key and comfortable. There's a bigger emphasis on Temecula Valley wines now. Live music continues four nights a week. Future plans include adding an outdoor patio, and opening up the inside even more. If you want to try some good wine and get to meet some neat people, give The Wine Company a try.

As an added bonus, while I was writing this post, I saw Janice Sutton on twitter. After more than a year of visiting via active rain, we decided to meet in person at The Wine Company. Active Rain and twitter - a winning combination.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

Taken with my Blackberry - sorry it's not sharper.

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Subtle, But - SUBTLE BUTT??!!??!!

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:55:48 -0500

The baseball season must surely be upon us. Spring training is drawing to a close. Across the country, fans are gearing up for opening day. Teams, both minor and major league are getting ready to welcome the crowds. What sorts of promotions can you expect to see this year? Well, In Lake Elsinore, The Storm has a unique idea for their Tuesday night games. In addition to all you can eat for $13, the first 250 fans will receive their very own Subtle Butt.

Listen, you can't make this stuff up, really. If you think about it, an all you can eat promotion does carry built-in hazards. At least The Storm is thinking about its fans. Play Ball!

The Storm's mascot - Thunder.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Emily's Family Needs Your Help

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:19:58 -0500

Every once in a while you hear a story that tears your heart out. I got an email today from a fellow agent at my office:

Attached is the picture of Emily Locricchio. She is a 7th grader at Thompson who died April 7th of asthma attack. She went to school Friday and was in the hospital over the weekend. She was airlifted to Loma Linda where she died early Monday morning. Emily had an asthma attack that closed her airways completely. This is a tragedy for her family and friends.

Her brother is a 4th grader here at Cole with Ms. Calvillo-Murray and her older brother attend Murrieta Valley.

Memorial service will be this Sunday at 2:00pm at Cornerstone (I-15 and Baxter). It is open to the public, and her mother hopes that all her friends and classmate, teachers and staff would come.

Here at Cole Canyon, we are ending the Pepper Family coin drive today (I believe we made at least 2,300.00) and tomorrow Friday, we will start the coin drive for Emily. The same thing is happening at Thompson. The family is in dire need of financial support.

Her mother was in the mortgage business and was laid off after the mortgage dive. She works part time at Longs drug here at Ralphs plaza. Her father works as a substitute custodian for our district.

Mrs. Calvillo-Murray's class is coordinating a silent auction/raffle for the open house and asking donations from businesses.

Meals for the family are being arranged from their church.

From the PTC, I will be getting them a symphathy card and I will enclosed any donation that you would like to give. Checks should be payable to Emily Locricchio's Memorial FundPlease. Please put it in a small envelope and leave it in my box and I will pick it up tomorrow (Friday)afternoon after dismissal. I will give it to the family during the memorial on Sunday.

Thank you very much.

Carol

Carol Stickles
Carol Stickles Insurance Agency
An Affiliate of Professional Insurance Associates. Inc /W3
CA Lic 0A63030
Tel: (951)304-9090 Fax(951)304-9091
E-mail: carolstickles@carolstickles.com
www.carolstickles.com

It sounds like these folks can really use our help. Please give if you are able. I thank you on their behalf for your generosity.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:09:34 -0500

Laura and I went to one of our favorite destinations last weekend. We drove to Paso Robles for the Zinfandel Festival. Zinfandel has become my favorite varietal and they sure make some good Zin in Paso. We met our friends Denny and Jodi at Tobin James winery, visited with our friend Tim Booth, and drove west on highway 46 for a few more stops.

First up was Zin Alley. Frank Nerelli is the owner and he makes a superior wine in very small quantities. Frank is very down to earth and makes you feel right at home.

Our final stop of the day was at Jada Vineyard. Operations manager Susan West had arranged a private tour for us and it was something we'll never forget. We walked down to the barrel room and were shown the new wine "eggs" that they have begun using in addition to the wooden barrels. The eggs are made of concrete which allows the wine to "breathe", something it can't do in stainless steel.

The egg is to the right of the wine barrels.

We then got in Susan's car and drove around all of the vineyard. It was a glorious spring day and the views were magnificent. We went back to the winery where Susan had a table set up for us. We tasted barrel samples of their various wines paired with different cheeses. If you visit Paso Robles, make sure you stop at Jada.

Later, Laura and I returned to Tobin James for their James Gang Reception. Food from about 20 different restaurants, live music and lots of wine. They had a new product called "plush puffs", flavored marshmallows that we got to roast over a flame.

Steve Anglim makes excellent wines which you can sample in the tasting room of Anglim Winery in the train depot downtown. That was our first stop Saturday morning. We sampled some of Steve's wines while we nibbled on salami and cheese and visited with Steve and his lovely wife Steffanie.

Next stop, four blocks down on Pine Street was the Mid Life Crisis Winery.

Jill and Kevin Mittan are the owners and winemakers. During the week they work in Hollywood. Jill works in post production on the TV series 24. It was great to visit with Jill, sample some more fine wines and pick up some sparkling wine for our upcoming wedding.

From there we went to Zenaida Cellars where they were celebrating a "Zen" fest. Flute music was playing, and we entered the candle-lit barrel room, where they offered "library" tastings of their different wines, vintages from 2003 to barrel samples of 2007 wines accompanied by delicious hors d'oeuvres. Winemaker and owner Eric Ogorsolka was on hand along with cellar master Tyler Russell.

The wildest part of the afternoon was at Four Vines Winery. Shortly after arriving, winemaker Chris Tietje led a group of about thirty of us into a dark barrel room, lit only by candles. He told us about his wines, mostly Zinfandels, and we tasted barrel samples. The last taste came from a glass carafe that we held above our mouths and let the wine flow in - extremely bizarre. Make no mistake though, Four Vines makes superb wines.

Sunday morning we drove to the end of Vineyard Drive and began the day at the fabulous Carmody McKnight Estate Vineyards. Laura and I found this place last year on our first visit to Paso and we just love it. We passed a bicyclist on the way and we met him when we were parking the car. It turns out he was winery owner Gary Conway. You may remember him as an actor from Burke's Law or Land of The Giants. We had a nice visit, then proceeded to the barrel room where winemaker Greg Cropper was just getting ready to sample the barrels for the days' visitors. We were extremely happy that he asked ask to taste along with him. Carmody McKnight's wines are world class and the work Greg puts into them really shows.

We had two last stops to make. We discovered Dubost Winery on our last visit and met Kate Dubost then. Kate's son Jacob is the winemaker, and he is one of the very talented new winemakers making his presence felt. Jake's making some delicious wines, and we also enjoyed some very tasty barbeque before heading down the road for our final stop.

Finally, we pulled into Starr Ranch. Owner Judy Starr sells grapes to many of the area wineries. She opens her gates a few times a year. We've been lucky enough to be there on two occasions when she's been open. Laura is very fond of her Gypsy Rose. I'm partial to her Cabernet Franc and Odysseus blend.

Phil Stevens was on hand and he is just getting ready to release wines under the Del Real label. He gave us a great tour and let us taste several barrel samples including his phenomenal Zinfandel.

We're already looking forward to our next visit to the Central Coast. We'll be staying in the winemaker's loft at Zenaida cellars. You can see a few more photos if you visit my photo blog.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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So You've Started Tweeting - Now What?

Tom Plant (WINEormous.com) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:21:14 -0500

Last week I wrote a post about my "getting" twitter. If you missed it you can read it here. Make no mistake. twitter has its detractors. Several reports say John Mayer's time spent "tweeting" was a factor in his breakup with Jennifer Anistion. There's a video called Twouble With Twitters.

Yet with all the negative press, I find there's a lot to like about twitter. You can get real time news updates from places like The New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN and more. You can follow what some of the cutting edge social media experts are saying and follow links they provide with relevant and timely information. You can keep up with friends and family. You do it all in 140 characters or less.

TweetDeck is an app that sits on your desktop and displays tweets from the people you follow. You can divide them into different groups and read post tweets from it. I find it simplifies twitter immensely. Here's a screen shot.

Twitterberry is ideal for Blackberry users. It makes using twitter on your Blackberry far easier than the standard SMS text messaging app. As you can see in the screen shot, the basic twitter commands are available from the menu key.

Like the logo says, TwitSeeker allows you to find people you'd like to follow by searching what they are tweeting about.

The Twitter Fan Wiki lists all sorts of apps with some that are certain to fit your needs. Twitter is growing very quickly. If nothing else, it's a great tool for building a referral base. I have only scratched the surface here. i'd love to hear what you come across. I invite you to follow me... on twitter.

Murrieta Real Estate Expert – Tom Plant, REALTOR® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage – Active Rain Ambassador (951) 907-9701

It would be my honor to show you the incredible Temecula Valley, a place I’m very proud to call home.

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