Idaho Falls water company takes honors at international tasting

Mike Sedlmayr and his daughter, Kiersten Landers, are remodeling space on Whittier Avenue into the headquarters for Divinia Water.

An Idaho Falls bottled water startup called Divinia took high honors Feb. 27 at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

Billing itself as the “Academy Awards of Water,” 10 judges spent hours taking and selecting from waters sourced in 18 states, seven Canadian provinces and five foreign countries, including Greece, France, Macedonian and New Zealand.

Divinia took the silver in the Best Purified Drinking Water Category, which had only been added this year. The company is headed by Steven Sedlmayr, who has been using well water from the Roberts area but is moving his operation to a location on Whittier Street and will be using Idaho Falls water once in operation.

Sedlmayr built his patented purifier in his garage in response to a request from his wife, Remy, whom he describes as a “water snob.” The purifier removes such contaminants as arsenic, chlorine, fluoride, lead, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and antibiotics. The process uses 14 stages of filtration, taking over eight hours to purify three gallons of water.

Through lab tests at UC Davis, Divinia has been verified as deuterium depleted water. This is done with what Sedlmayr calls a microwave resonant chamber, which breaks the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in water. “It was a freak discovery,” he said. “I was actually afraid of it for a while.”

It’s bottled in glass, not plastic, because Sedlmayr claims chemicals from plastic bottles leach into the water, especially if subjected to higher temperatures.

The water was a hit in December at the Live Winter 2015 Bevnet Expo in Santa Monica. “We were like rock stars there,” said Sedlmayr. The 72 bottles they took were quickly snapped up and some key contacts were made, especially with potential customers in Europe and Asia.

Operating on a direct sales model, Divinia can be purchased online. It isn’t cheap: a three-gallon case costs $165. Production is between 30 to 40 cases a week, but they will be scaling up once moved into their new location in Idaho Falls, and Idaho Steel is collaborating on a larger version of Sedlmayr’s filtering apparatus.

The company is looking for investors, and admits it has a challenge. “It’s up to us to build credibility,” said Kiersten Landers, Sedlmayr’s daughter and Divinia’s chief operating officer.

This isn’t Sedlmayr’s first foray into the world of invention-based entrepreneurship. His career dates back to the 1980s, when he pioneered a manufacturing process for flat-screen high-definition television. This November 1989 article from Inc. Magazine has a lot of interesting information on that period of his life: Blind Ambition: Two companies fight over the patent rights to fiber optic HDTV (high-definition television).

Entrepreneurs’ Platform set for March 15

The next Entrepreneurs’ Platform will be held March 15 at Eastern Idaho Technical College, Building 5, Room 541, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Hosted by the Research and Business Development Center and Founder’s Forum, the Entrepreneur’s Platform is intended to provide an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to present their business plans to professionals and to be linked to needed resources and potential partnerships. Audience members can support the presenters by offering resources including expertise, contacts, etc. after their presentations. Admission is free.

The presenters this time include:

Simple Helping Hands For You
Founded by the late Al Argyle and Micah Argyle in 2007, Simple Helping Hands For You seeks to provide unique decor technologies to private and commercial customers. Their products enhance the aesthetic appeal of any building interior, what makes products unique is that they enable the customer to seamlessly position a piece of wall art in the corner of any room. They support pictures, canvas, mirrors, clocks and more. Learn more at www.shh4u.com

Education Positioning System
EPS is a new tech platform that addresses the entire student life cycle of undergraduate students at institutions of higher education. EPS provides individualized education tools that help students prepare for college level work, select a career path, map out their entire four years of coursework, receive tutoring and advising support as needed, and find internship and career opportunities.

Institutions can use EPS to track student learning outcomes, forecast class demand, identify at risk students, and support more students with fewer staff. As an integrated platform, EPS helps students to graduate sooner with fewer wasted credits. EPS is a product of Excelsoft Technologies built in collaboration with Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Learn more at http://eduplanner.excelindia.com/

My first ride with Uber ... 'This is Blowing My Mind'

Uber driver Bill Beal

I took my first ride on Uber the other day, when I had to get my car from C&S Auto, where they were replacing the power steering pump in my 2004 Subaru. No one was home to give me a ride and I needed to be somewhere by noon, but also I'd wanted for a while to find out what the Uber experience was like -- and report to you, of course, because perhaps a few of you might actually be curious.

I downloaded the app on my iPhone 5s, indicated I needed a ride and waited. In less than 10 minutes, a silver late-model Ford Escape pulled into my driveway.

Behind the wheel was Bill Beal, 68, an Uber driver since January this year. Beal came to Idaho Falls in 1979 after “prematurely retiring” from the auto industry. He picked eastern Idaho because he is passionate about trout fishing.

In the years he has been here, he has sold cars and real estate, worked in restaurants and guided on the river. He said he was attracted to becoming an Uber driver because he could work the hours he wanted.

“This beats cabin fever,” he said. “If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be at home hollering at the television.”
As for the money, “I don’t think I could make a living at it,” he said. “If you lived in a place like San Diego I think you could keep busy all the time, but not here.”

His fares typically range from $6 to $10 (mine was $12.76, and will be counted as a business expense), but he once had a rider who wanted to go to Island Park. He drives mainly during the day. He could make himself available at nights, but isn’t sure he wants to deal with people coming out of bars.

Another thing he has gathered from his conversations with riders is that they tend to be either young or originally from somewhere other than Idaho Falls.

At 68, Beal said he never really thought much about what could be done with a mobile phone until he became an Uber driver. “This is new to me,” he said. “This is blowing my mind.”

As a footnote, let me add that after he left me at C&S Auto I realized I’d left my iPad in his vehicle. Luckily, I still had my phone, and the app allowed me to call him. He was back in five minutes at no extra charge.

All in all, the trip was 3.8 miles and took 10.38 minutes. I rated him 5 stars.

Museum of Idaho director to take over Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park

David Pennock

Longtime Museum of Idaho executive director David Pennock is turning his attention to another community institution, the Idaho Falls Zoo at Tautphaus Park. Effective April 4, Pennock will take the reins there as executive director.

A native of Idaho Falls, Pennock returned in 1999 to develop the Museum of Idaho and became executive director in 2003. Since its opening, the museum has averaged more 104,000 visitors annually, including more than 18,000 school children on organized tours from 17 Idaho counties each year. The museum has a $1.3 million annual budget.

Pennock has a Ph.D. in systematics and ecology from the University of Kansas, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in zoology from Brigham Young University. "With the museum, you'd think I was a history person, but my degrees are in biological sciences," he said. He is a published researcher and has taught various graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Kansas, University of Arkansas and Fort Hays State University. He and his wife, Gisele, have six children.

During Pennock’s tenure with the Museum of Idaho, $20 million has been raised through grant writing, donor development, memberships and corporate sponsorships, with over $950,000 raised for facility improvements.

"We owe David a deep debt for creating and growing the Museum of Idaho," said Linda Guinn Montgomery, who chairs the museum’s board of directors. "Without David's vision, hard work and enthusiasm, the museum would not be able to serve the 100,000 people a year we see. We are very sad to lose his leadership; however, we are delighted with his new opportunity with the Idaho Falls Zoo. We wish him the very best in his new role."

The museum board is organizing a search for a new executive director.

Pennock began working as a consultant for the Idaho Falls Zoo in 2015 to develop a 5-year strategic plan for zoo operations. He said he sees a lot of opportunity to grow the zoo programmatically and to enhance the economic benefit it brings to the community.

"This is something that is well-established, well-loved and well-supported," he said. "It's extraordinary for a community our size to have something like this. There's already a great foundation, and I want to see whether we can't take it another step."

“Dr. Pennock’s experience with the Museum of Idaho, various local non-profit boards and community outreach, coupled with his education, make him uniquely qualified to lead this important community resource, said Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper.

Ace Hardware, Marketplace Home Furnishings coming to West Broadway

The scene last week at Dan's Ace Hardware on West Broadway.

It’s been years since Rite Aid Drug closed on West Broadway, but the space finally has a new lease on life. Two leases, in fact.

Dan’s Ace Hardware will be opening its 14,000-square-foot store at 1747 West Broadway on Thursday. This is the fifth store Dan Moldenhauer of Rexburg has opened. Others are in Rexburg, St. Anthony, Lava Hot Springs and Garden City, Utah. The store has a sales floor of 11,711 square feet.

This doubles the number of family-owned hardware stores on the west side, as Rocknak’s Hardware Plus has been there since 1995.

In the other half of the Westfield Plaza building, Marketplace Home Furnishings is eyeing an opening in the middle of March. The store is owned by Dave Collette,  D.J. Collette, and Barry and Sue Landon. Although they have extensive experience in property management and business this is the first furniture store for them.

“We don’t plan on making it a chain,” Barry Landon said. The store will carry such brands as Elements, Folio 21, Urban Roads and Palliser. Sue Landon is doing most of the buying, and it is she who is calling the shots in terms of display and presentation.

“We want it to be a new kind of furniture store,” she said. “There will be a ton of accessories, a really big variety. This is a brand new opportunity that came about. We’re happy to be bringing something new to the west side and hoping people will make a trip out here to see what we have to offer.”