Another Thought for the Day

Life is about making the right decisions and moving on

Thought for the Day

With the new year now underway, I found this quote by William James that I thought was worth sharing:

"To change one's life:

1. Start immediately

2. Do it flamboyantly

3. No exceptions."

Dualing Elvis & Priscilla Presley Homes

Palm Springs is famous around the world for many things. Our desert paradise has nearly perfect weather year round, winter temps around 70, Spring and Fall in the 80's, and Summer in the 100's. With activities like golf, tennis, swimming, hiking, and horseback riding, there is plenty to do here. It is a short driving distance from Los Angeles, which during the Golden Age of Hollywood attracted famous singers, movie stars, directors, movie studio moguls and various members of the Hollywood elite. To this day, Palm Springs continues to see its share of Presidents, Royalty, and titans of the business industry vacation here in our lovely desert. It has been said "there are more stars in Palm Springs than stars in the sky" which is ridiculous of course, but it makes the point. Celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Elvis and Priscilla Presley to name a few are part of the celebrity lore that people still associate with Palm Springs. There are a few Celebrity tour groups that drive around the desert showing visitors the vacation get-away homes of the stars. Speaking of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, I thought I'd mention that there has been more excitement regarding their residences here in the past few years. There are two homes whose owners now promote as places Elvis and Priscilla spent time in Palm Springs. Both are accurate. It just depends on what type of experience you are seeking. One is the Elvis and Priscilla Presley Honeymoon Hideaway home, where they spent time after they were married. The other is a home Elvis actually owned and lived in, called the Palm Springs Elvis Estate. Neither home is a grand palatial estate. They look nothing like Elvis' Graceland home; but nevertheless they are places where Elvis and Priscilla spent time here in Palm Springs. There are plenty of Elvis fans who want the chance to spend a vacation living in the very place where Elvis walked. Luckily for those folks, these two homes offer that experience. Let's face it, you can't do that at Graceland. So Palm Springs is the next best option if you are a crazy Elvis fan.

The celebrities of today are very low-key when then visit Palm Springs. Some stay at private home of a friend, others stay at a spa resort and enjoy the healing hot mineral waters of our desert. But many rent homes here, seeking a secluded, casual experience of being in a home where they won't be bothered by hotel staff or peering tourists. A new generation of celebrities are coming to the desert more frequently- perhaps some day those homes they rented or stayed in will be promoted as destinations to rent. Perhaps one day people can stay in the place where George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Zac Efron or Matt Damon stayed. You never know.

If you don't happen to care about celebrities and just want to experience the desert life in your own home experience, Palm Springs has a number of homes, condos and apartments available to rent. It's actually a good deal to rent a place for a week, month or longer while visiting. This is not a paid post, but two friends of mine operate businesses that rent homes here in Palm Springs:
Vacation Palm Springs
Beau Monde Villas
Whether you have a desire to sleep in Elvis' home, or just someplace where you can relax as if it were your own home, I hope you do consider visiting Palm Springs. Come and see why it continues to be a destination of choice.

One other note regarding Elvis- he continues to generate all sorts of excitement here. Locals have planned a celebration of what would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. Special tours, guests and performances are expected. If you are interested, check out the details:

Where: Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway, 1350 Ladera Circle, Palm Springs CA

When: Jan. 8

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. — tours and cake

4 to 6:30 p.m. — concert featuring Scot Bruce

Jan. 9

9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. — tours and cake

2 to 6 p.m. — tribute artist James King

Cost: $25 tour, $50 concert, $65 combo (for one day), $125 weekend

Information: (760) 322-1192
-Rick Rockhill

My Photos from the Rose Parade

Whew, the past few days were filled with activity. I had a lot of fun attending the Rose Parade. It was a a little bit for fun and a little bit for work, which is why I was busy blogging and tweeting live from the parade. But in the end, I had a great time and it was well worth going. If you ever have the opportunity to plan a visit to the Rose Parade, do it at least once. It is a fun experience. We got to the parade route around 6:00 AM so we could get to our seats. Some people had started camping out as early as noon the prior day to secure a prime space on the sidewalk along the parade route. As I was attending for my company I was fortunate to have tickets to the viewing stands, so I as long as I arrived before they close off streets, I didn't have to get there much earlier. I wore layers of clothes to keep warm- it was only in the mid-forties at that pre-dawn hour. If you ever go, be sure to eat before you head over, and bring a thermos of hot cawfee or a bottle of water. Its virtually impossible to find anything once you are on the parade route. Once the parade began it was magic! There was excitement in the crowd, estimated at a million plus people along the entire route.

above: Watching dawn break at the parade route in Pasadena

above: The Natural Balance Pet Food float- certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Biggest Parade Float in history! It was massive,

above: the Natural Balance float approaches, in the front are Dick Van Patten and his son Jimmy Van Patten.

above: a close up of the Van Patten's. Jimmy is holding the new bulldog puppy, named "Sully" in honor of Captain Chesley Sullenberger who landed that airplane in the Hudson River last year and saved all those peoples lives.

above: Tillman prepares to go down the slope on his snowboard. The top of the ski slope was 16' high.

above: Tillman in action, snowboarding down on the float!

above: Another great shot of Tillman in action as the crowd cheered on. Snowboarding bulldogs were the hit of the parade! In fact there has been so much interest, Natural Balance actually now has Tillman Dog treats, and a plush dog toy of both Tillman and Rose (see below):

above: I bought the toys for my nieces who loved playing with them! Tillman even has a Fan Shop on my company's website. (sorry for sounding commercial there)
Here are the rest of my parade photos. Click on them to BIGGIFY for easier viewing

above: All American Cowgirl Chicks

above: City of Burbank float

above: Cal Poli University float

above: City of Cerritos float










above: I don't know how he did it, but this guy "lassoed" his rope around his horse the entire time.

above: the Kaiser Permanente float had lots of over-sized fruits and veggies

above: this Scissor Wizard float featured an origami dragon

Marching Bands Galore:



above: our Mighty Marines Marching band


above: the Mexico float




above: Rain Bird float featured Jack Hanna

above: the Rose Bowl (football) float

above: the Shanghai China float featured Jackie Chan

I hope you enjoyed my photos. Happy New Year to you. -Rick Rockhill

Video Clip of Tillman & Rose from the Rose Parade

In case you missed, it here is one of the video clips from today's Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA. In this clip go to the 5:45 minute mark and you can watch Tillman and Rose the amazing skateboarding bulldogs from Natural Balance in action!

Cast Your Vote in the Viewer's Choice Award for the Natural Balance Float

Happy New Year!

I hope you were able to watch the Rose Parade today on TV or in person. I'd appreciate it if you would VOTE for the Natural Balance Float as the best float. It was unit# 52 on January 1st, 2010!

The online poll on KTLA's website will open at 10:00 a.m. (PST) and close at 5:00 p.m. (PST)

Vote today. It's quick, its easy just click here.

Thanks!

Happy New Year, f rom Pasadena, CA

Last night we rang in the New Year at a party in Pasadena, CA. We spent the night here in preparation for the 121's Pasadena Tournament of Rose Parade. We were guests at a party hosted by Natural Balance Pet Foods, who have a float in the parade today. You may have heard about their float from the news or right here on my blog. It will be certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World's Longest Parade Float, at 114 feet (34 meters or so). Anyway, you'll read more about the float and parade later today. The party was a lot of fun, dinner, music and a magician who performed and earlier walked around doing close-up card tricks and such. It was a fun evening. We're up bright and early this first day of the new year, getting ready to head to the parade route. I'll be tweeting live on Twitter.com/RickRockhill if you care to follow along.

above: the one and only photo I took from NYE dinner. The floral centerpiece at the table. These are real, fresh flowers. In conjunction with the Rose Parade theme, these roses were sprayed with some weird paint, I thought they were artificial when I first saw them. Anyway, I thought my florist followers would be interested in it anyway. Well that's all for now. Stop back again later today, for a few notes from the Rose Parade. Oh and Happy New Year.
-Rick Rockhill