Los Altos Real Estate Blog

The San Francisco Bay Area Activerain MeetUp happened yesterday afternoon at The Elephant Bar in Fremont, California.  We had 17 people show up representing every region in the area and a mix of real estate agents and finance people.  Since many in attendance had already spoken on the phone, commented online, or shared emails at some point in the past the event felt a bit like meeting old friends.  It was a great chance to build relationships, network, and share thoughts and ideas on a wide range of topics.

Our attendees included:

• Wende Schoof
• Antonio Cardenas
• Anja Karstens
• Karen Levine
• Kathleen Daniels
• Karen Crowson
• Mike Bell
• Rhonda Fee
• Vicky Nagy
• Chris Eckert
• Pacita Dimacali
• Evelyn Kennedy
• John Scott
• Sophia Lin
• Carla Dimond
• David Ames
• Bryan Robertson

This event was a rousing success with substantial help from Karen Crowson and Kathleen Daniels who invited several of the people in attendance.  The feedback from everyone seemed very positive so I'm sure the next event will have even more people.  David Ames offered to host at his house so if we can get 50-60 people for the next event, that'll be great! :)

What I like the most about this event is it gets us from online social networking to "real life networking".  I'd be really happy doing business with everyone I met today.  That feeling comes from meeting them in person.  In my opinion, events like this should happen at least twice a year so we can keep these connections going.  Building better personal relationships will make the Activerain experience an even better one that it already is.

I'm looking forward to the next event.  I hope all the other MeetUps had the same success our did.  Good job Kerrie for coordinating all these!

I recently had the pleasure of visiting The Elephant Bar in Fremont, CA.  While not my normal destination, I visited the restaurant with a group of colleagues for a social event.  We didn't have or need a reservation and the restaurant was more than willing to accomodate my group.  First off, let's talk about hospitality.

I got to the restaurant at 12PM to have a light lunch and get some work done before the meeting.  I grabbed a spot at the bar and the bartender, Jeanine, showed me a great seat and was ready to take my order immediately.  I explained that I wanted to hang out for a couple of hours and she was very helpful with pointing out a power plug for my laptop and told me the best table in the restaurant to do my work.  She got me a glass of water, took my order promptly and made sure I had everything I needed.

My order came out fast, hot, and delicious.  I had a french dip and a side salad with fat-free ranch.  It was one of the lowest calorie meals on the menu, a good value at about $10 and tasted great.  When I was done, the table I could work at was cleared and I got to work.  Another waitress, Casey, was kind enough to ask if I needed anything from time to time and Jeanine kept checking on me as well.  For the next 90 minutes, I always had a full water glass and pleasant smiles.

The staff all appeared to work well together and kept things flowing from the kitchen and bar like a well oiled machine.  As other patrons showed up, they got everything taken care of nicely.  When my group started to arrive, they knew exactly where to send them and got us set up at the most convenient area in the bar, put tables together, and got drink orders right away.  We were very well attended to.

I highly recommend this particular Elephant Bar and encourage you to try others in your area.  If this one restaurant is any indication, you'll have a very nice dining experience.