On the way home from 24 Hour Fitness in Walnut Creek today, I noticed activity in The Counter.

The Counter – Custom Built Burgers – is located in the new Mercer building at California and Trinity in Walnut Creek, CA. I had the thought as I passed by that maybe I would go down there for a burger later.

As it happened, Jane was at a funeral in Sacramento and went by the Squeezed Inn to check it out. We had seen the Squeezed Inn Featured on Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins with wild man Guy Fieri and had talked about driving up there to sample their “heart attack burger,” a flat grill burger with an abundance of melted cheddar on it.

So Jane brings me a burger from Sacramento, but no fries. What’s a burger without fries. An hour later, off we go to The Counter for some fries.

As it turned out, The Counter was invitation only, the grand opening is on Monday, June 23^rd. Somehow we manged to convince the staff at The  Counter that we were solid Walnut Creek citizens and hamburger addicts – so they let us in.

This was the last night for training the staff before opening. It was hectic and all proceeds were going to charity. So, what am I going to do – order fries and a coke? No, we ordered a hamburger bowl, fries, a diet coke and a glass of wine.

The Food is great! Here you see our hamburger bowl – a bed of romaine lettuce, a 2/3 pound medium, very juicy broiled burger, with blue cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms with a peppercorn sauce. Very tasty!

The Counter gives you a form with about 128 choices of ingredients to build yourself a custom burger.

Andrew, seen above on the right behind the counter, waited on us. We told him and Rick Betance, Director of Operations, (right) that we were going to do our part to make the world aware of the gourmet burgers available in Walnut Creek by plastering their name all over the Internet – my next stop is Yelp.

My next weekly burger with my buddy Greg Beck of Balloonman fame will be at The Counter. See you there.

My friend, Holly Beck, called yesterday and said they (The Balloonman) were doing a big balloon arch for the ground-breaking ceremony for the new library in Walnut Creek CA. She wanted to know if I was interested in stopping by – so I did.

I don’t know how big this sucker was, but the winds came up and we were hard pressed to keep the balloon arch looking like an arch.

Walnut Creek Mayor Gwen Regalia and the City Council were on hand to give speeches, dig dirt and have pictures taken to celebrate the launch of the construction phase of the project.

After the speeches, we had to move the arch to the bare dirt area of the site where everyone grabbed a shovel and dug a little dirt while photographers on top of the building across the street took pictures.

The Balloonman is extremely busy right now with graduation events. Holly tells me the next six weeks are the busiest time of the year for them, though New Year’s Eve remains the single busiest business day for them. The Balloonman is in their twentieth year of business.

Walnut Creek - Danville - San Ramon - Concord - Dublin - Pleasanton - Heck, all of the East Bay and across the bridges into the San Francisco peninsula - that's where my friends Greg & Holly Beck will soon be delivering festive balloon decorations for holiday parties. 

The Balloonman celebrates their 19th year in business this month. What began as a part-time business venture has grown into a vibrant small business that helped a couple of young parents to buy a home in Walnut Creek and raise three children. You wouldn't think balloons could be complicated, but spend just a couple of hours in their office and you will be looking for an exit door to return to a world of sanity and normalcy. The phone does not rest!

Did you know that there are certifications in balloon decor? These guys once did a design for Japan Airlines recreating their logo with about a zillion balloons. They also launched a car into the stratosphere (accidentally) when a display for the opening of the Broadway Plaza parking garage in Walnut Creek broke loose after the ceremonies. We heard a rumor that it was recently found on a deserted island by Caribbean lifestyle sleuth Jim Walberg.

Greg and Holly must be doing something right. You don't survive and build a thriving small business in the highly competitive East Bay area without being good at what you do and providing exceptional customer service. Holly tells me the balloon part is the easy part (in most cases), it's the logistics that make them heroes to their clients. It seems (can you believe it?) that many, many jobs are last minute rushes. The Balloonman excels at delivering the goods in a pinch.

In case you can't tell, I like these guys. They are very special friends and damn nice people. I want you to give them your business. They've done every kind of party and event you can think of and many that would never cross your mind.

Whether you're booking the Blackhawk Country Club, the Crow Canyon Country Club, the Marriott, The Faz, the Lafayette Park Hotel or AT&T Park - the Balloonman can help make your event special. I can't believe some of the things they can do with balloons! 

Note: 925-934-3186 - The Balloonman

I was the guest speaker on Tuesday at the Women’s Council of Realtors for southern Alameda County here in California.

It was another great lesson in how what seems simple to one person can often overwhelm others. Given the size of the group, about 60, I decided the workshop format would not probably not work for an hour talk.

I tried to focus the talk more of the why than the how of blogging, but that did not address all of the curiosity in the room.

After teaching blogging workshops to over 100 people in the Bay Area, I am of the opinion that the average business person would do much better hiring an Internet/Tech/Blogging coach for six months than to try and go it alone. Most real estate agents and affiliates that I have met rely on canned or templated “turnkey” solutions for their websites and technology needs. These solutions rarely perform to ‘sales pitch’ levels.

The Alameda chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors is very involved in our local communities and is a networking hub for those associated with the real estate industry. As such, I also tried to orient some of the talk around blogging as a basis for establishing an online netwroking presence.

My thanks to the WCR for the opportunity to address them. Thanks to Holly at the BalloonMan for one of my props.

Lastly, I hope you will be hearing more from this young man in the future. He is Joseph Natividad and we hope to have him as a regular contributor to our blog.

Joseph is a contributor to LIP – Life in Perspective, an East Bay blog founded by the Contra Costa Times for local high school students. I have been reading LIP for the last five months and have really enjoyed reading what these young adults have to say.