It takes David Aguirre, the manager of Tucson’s Shane House apartments, a matter of hours to rent a place out. If a tenant gives him 24 hours notice before leaving, “No problem” is Aguirre’s response.

The last dozen or so times he’s had to find a new tenant for the Tucson Arts Coalition-owned digs, Aguirre has posted a Facebook status update notifying his more than 1,600 friends of the availability. He’s doesn’t want a deposit, but he does want a Facebook reference, a vouch from someone he actually knows.

“Instead of insurance, I’m getting assurance,” Aguirre said. “It seems to work. … It’s a much more personable kind of thing.”

Aguirre most recently posted a Facebook message about an open apartment Aug. 9. Within three hours, he was standing in front of the apartment with a Facebook friend who he didn’t know and one that he did. The deal was done.

“I felt comfortable with it,” Aguirre said. “It’s not a guarantee, but the second person takes some of the edge off. It could work the other way too. She (the tenant) might feel more comfortable with me.”

Sometimes one of Aguirre’s many Facebook friends replies to his posts. Sometimes the post is passed to a friend of a friend. Often he fills apartments by texting his current tenants a request for referrals. Craigslist, once the primo method of doing these things, is described by Aguirre as a “last resort.”

Why take a stranger when you could have a friend?

This morning, I learned on Facebook that U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s office has released an app for iPhones, iPads and iPods. The app is searchable as “Rep. Raúl Grijalva, U.S. Representative.” You can find it on iTunes here. The app includes all recent news releases and newsletters, as well as a survey questions about whether you would like to see cuts made to Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security. You can read Grijalva’s bio, watch his weekly videos and footage of his speeches, and check out his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Although Grijalva’s office billed the app partly as a way to keep track of legislation, I didn’t see a way to track Grijalva’s voting record within the app.  (There are links to that information from his website.) Even without the voting info readily accessible, I thought the app was a cool way to check in on what Grijalva, who happens to be my representative, is up to via iPhone.

iConstituent is the developer of the app, and according to their website, nearly 40 percent of Congress and a slew of other lawmakers have mobile apps. I did a quick check and found that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords does not have one, though both she and Grijalva have apps that are audio versions of their website. The audio websites do feature the websites’ content, but they’re pretty clunky. Searches for U.S. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl turned up no mobile apps. If you’re not sure whether Grijalva is your representative, check the list of zip codes included in District 7.

What do you think? Would you use an app like this? Or does it amount to wasted energy?

Let’s put the more dour economic news aside and focus on what we can do to improve things. Entrepreneurship surely can’t be bad for the economy.

Lucky for us, StartUp Weekend Tucson is coming up. On Aug. 19-21, local entrepreneurs will meet to pitch ideas and otherwise assemble the components of successful startups. The group’s email newsletter says that about half the attendees have a business background and the other half come from the tech side. Pitch night is Friday, the weekend is reserved for customer development, business plans and prototypes. The organizing sponsors are Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Center for Innovation and Desert Angels, a group of investors who say they have invested $15 million in more than 45 local companies since 2000. (Click here to review their portfolio.)

If you’ve been kicking around an idea for a while but have been looking for partners, investors or a more focused plan, StartUp Weekend Tucson could be worth your while. If you decide to go, don’t forget to register.

On a related note, the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona’s Eller School of Management is holding a free Get Ready Seminar on Aug. 11 to prepare entrepreneurs to present their ideas to investors. There’s more info on the McGuire Center’s website.

On another (more tangentially) related note, I went to Sparkroot this morning. The downtown coffee shop’s weekend soft opening was so successful, the shop was out of hot coffee. But don’t worry, another shipment of their Blue Bottle Coffee arrived today. The iced coffee was good, as was the freshly made coconut cashew granola bar. The design was beautiful, especially the steel work, and I promised to go back. Despite the lack of hot coffee, the experience was invigorating. How happy I am that downtown is blooming despite it all.