Above: Dave Kingsbury‘s laptop, which struts about many of the coolest board rooms on Planet Earth.

Last night, I went to a schwanky green launch at the hipsterly palacial offices of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the biggest coolest ad firm in the world. They’re the Mad Men of today, and they’ve chosen our lil’hometown of Boulder, Colorado as the place to work and play.

Their offices are vast—550 hard-working laptop-loving workerbees buzz about their two-tiered concrete-floored hive…a hive that includes a gym, a garage, hundreds of desks and, last night, lots of VIPs, video monitors showing you the party you’re at, lots of less-than-green snacks and pie and some great local beer and a trash bin wherein we dumped recyclables, compostables and trash. We’ll sort ’em!, I was assured, and in Bogusky I trust.

It was my first meeting with Alex Bogusky—the good-lookin’ cool B of CP+B, the man who graces business magazines just about as frequently as Boulder is blessed with sunshine (300 days a year). He’s one of my idols—I too want to be young, rich, successful, decent, have a lovely wife and a world-changing kingdom of my own…and he further ingratiated himself by talking about our talk shows and pretending to have read elephant magazine (I believed him) and now elephantjournal.com.

Justin Gold, Travis Robinson, Congressman Jared Polis, Alex Bogusky, unidentified. Right) my mentor buddy Jeff Waltcher, amazed at the size of Alex’s, er, fish.

Congressman Jared Polis, who I know a bit and had just invited to our Buddhist New Year celebration, was on hand to raise the VIPbarometer to mile-high status.

And, oh yeah, it was the launch of a company called Green Garage. I gathered that they’ll pick up your car while you soak in the tub (or, say, work), green up some basics (saving you big green money, and sparing our earth a little poison) and return the car. If I had a car, I’d call ’em up. If you have a car, and live in Boulder, where they’re getting their start, give ’em a ring. Info below.

I went with my mentor, Jeff Waltcher, my lifelong “Dharma Brat” friend, the lovely Sophie, and my buddydate Allie, new in town (thank god, she hasn’t adopted the Boulder, Colorado [lack of] style). Because I don’t have a car, and the party was wayyy out in Gunbarrel, and where Allie comes girls in high heels and fancy designer thisnthats don’t like to bike for an hour to and fro a party, we hitched a ride to the green party in Jeff’s BMW SUV.

Irony, anyone?

Ryan Ferrero, CEO of Green Garage, with Alex + Congressman Polis.

We were greeted by valets (how delightfully un-Boulder), and walked in to an already-strong crowd. I saw my greenscenester friends Hunter Lovins, Justin of Justin’s Nut Butter, CP+B’s Dave Kingsbury, many others. Later, we were joined by Allie’s twin, the equally-lovely Kate, and I pushed ’em around at unsafe speeds in an Aeron chair, while Crispin Porter + Bogusky‘s bike-crazy (the halls are lined with bikes) laptopians looked up in bemusement. Mathew Gerson, my fellow lady-killed Buddhist green entrepreneur bud, founder of econsciousmarket.com, also joined us, and joined me in a (brief) pie-eating contest. Too much delicious pie, combined with Upslope? I don’t recommend it.

We left rather early, to pick up my mutt Redford, and go watch an old Wes Anderson. Allie went to bed (really) early, and Kate and I talked about life and love and…

~

…tonight, I popped by Tesla‘s showroom on Pearl Street, where the Downtown Boulder organization (a group that helps our many amazing mostly-locally-owned businesses succeed) was having a schwank-fest. Given that I work in downtown cafes, and two days a week rent a conference room at The Candy Shop, Sean Maher and Co kindly encouraged me to stay and eat their food and drink their drink. Given that I was hungry and thirsty, I quickly gave in and ate a few less-than-green snacks and some yummy locally-founded healthy Izze soda, which I dropped in, good god!, a trash bin that held recyclables, compostables and trash. We’ll sort ’em!, I was assured, and in Tesla I trust.

The Tesla I can afford is at left.

Richard Foy, the Godfather of Downtown, was there, shushing me as Sam of 8 Days a Week and I poorly pretended to listen to the Tesla gent tell us about how shiny and beautiful and fast and green the Tesla is.

It is shiny, beautiful, fast, and green—and $100K. They call it trickle-down technology—building electric car technology takes the support of early adopters (rich folk). Tesla’s next models will go down and down in price until, by 2045, normal people will be able to afford them. As for myself, I’ll be able to afford one by next February 18th, since I’m a quick-learnin’, avid student of Gurus Foy and Bogusky and their world-domination-for-the-greater-good ways.

Mr. and Mrs. VaST Architecture, where elephant rents a greenish (solar panels, Flor carpeting), thoroughly cool (flooring is from old bowling alley) co-office and conference room in…yes…downtown Boulder.

After greeting the genuinely charming George K, the ungreenest Boulder greenie of the week (our newest City Council member, he was just quoted in a Wall Street Journal hackfest as saying that being eco-responsible was cool and all, unless it interfered with his business), I greeted an ex-City Councilor, ran into some friends, business colleagues, talked with Dave of Downtown Boulder about how social media can help stabilize longtime retail shops, and one ol’buddy kindly said he couldn’t understand why I’d been left out of the 40 under 40 contest for young local business leaders (I assured him I was 45, just eerily healthy)…I ran off and worked in the Trident café for an hour or two with some dear friends of mine. Then, home, where I worked for an hour or two with my doggy.

Now, 15 minutes of West Wing or The Wire. Buenos Noches~

~

The below is an un-edited press release via our Green Garage friends:

Boulder Based Green Garage is Open For Business

Launch Party Draws Local Politicians and Business Leaders Setting the Stage for a New Kind of Auto Service

Boulder, Colo., February 18, 2010 – Green Garage launches a new kind of auto service that eliminates the typical uninviting repair shop with door-to-door valet service, energy & wallet saving new products and all while making your car gentler on the environment. From an old clunker to a new hybrid, Green Garage can make it run farther for less. Less gas. Less emissions. Less money. Less hassle.

Last night’s launch party held at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky drew Boulder’s Mayor Susan Osborne, Boulder’s Congressman Jared Polis, Clean Tech Investment Honch, David Moll, and Ad Age Magazine’s Creative Director of the Decade, Alex Bogusky.

Green Garage brings the station to the customer’s front door with a convenient Valet service. They’ll pick up a client’s car at home or office, Green Tune it and then drop it off — all while customers go about their day!  Also available is Green Garage’s Corporate Mobile Service Truck.  This custom truck named Willy pulls into business parking lots with it’s mobile lift and is able to service many employees cars throughout the day.  Green Garage’s Carhugger technicians use auto parts that save money by improving fuel efficiency and by reducing the frequency of services. Most customers see noticeable MPG improvements, Green Garage calls it SPG, smiles per gallon or ‘smileage’.

Green Garage’s CEO, Founder and Chief Carhugger, Ryan Ferrero, is a self-described recovering car-guy with a conscious. As an auto dealership owner from Boulder, Colorado, with over 19 years of owning, operating and managing multiple automotive retail, accessory and service operations for Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Kia, Mazda, Suzuki and Ford, Ferrero realized that he could have a positive impact on the often negatively perceived car business. According to Mr. Ferrero, “Let’s face it, going to the garage sucks. I created Green Garage to “fix” the hassle, inefficiency and environmental impact of traditional auto repair.  Plus, we’re full service so whether it’s wiper blades, brakes or a timing belt, we do it all with our core values in mind.”

Green Garage has amassed a line of over 60 “green” products by working with experts in the automotive and sustainability industries. These products are evaluated on 6 sustainability metrics: solid waste reduction, CO2 emission, toxicity, water conservation, use of natural resources and social impact. The breadth of products includes non-leaded wheel weights to bio-diesel engine conversions, and everything in between. As a commitment to transparent and sustainable practices, Green Garage has approved its ‘Green Tuning’ products through an advisory group that includes experts from the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) and top environmental experts from the University of Colorado.

Many local businesses have adapted Green Garages Corporate Mobile service where Green Garage brings the “Garage” to the company’s parking lot and services cars while employees work. Corporate customers like White Wave Foods, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, the Sterling Rice Group, Renewable Choice ENERGY, Imagine!, Tendril, the Colorado LEEDS School of Business and many more. Many corporate customers are offering Green Garage’s services as a subsidized employee benefit and Green Garage can be a valuable element of a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility program.

Green Garage has launched in Boulder and will be available in Fort Collins in April and Denver in August.  Green Garage’s growth goals are to replicate its Green Tuning Valet and Mobile services nationwide in 2011.  They’re currently raising capital and are open to investment inquiries.

About Green Garage: Green garage is a new kind of garage that makes your car gentler on the planet and easier on your wallet. Green Garage aggregates proven, sustainable, energy saving automotive maintenance/repair related products and delivers them through convenient consumer valet and corporate mobile on site services. For more information, please visit www.greengarage.com. For investor inquirers, please contact the corporate office at 303.991.5650. Press inquires, please contact Ripple Effect Relations at 970.274.0753 or [email protected].