April 2009
1 post
2 tags
Walter Rhoads composes everything →
Ignore the egregious self-promotion. Rhoads is an interesting local artist and worth linking to.
March 2009
6 posts
1 tag
Headline FAIL @ KCRA →
“PD: Men Urinated In Park, Beat Girl With Pipe”
The headline makes sense once you read the article, but as it stands it reads like this:
“OMG, the men peed where? IN THE PARK? I can’t believe it.”
(Cue sound of crickets chirping)
“Hey, did that headline say something about a girl getting hit with some sort of pipe or something?”
“Yeah, I...
1 tag
The uses of fashion (blogs)
I disregard fashion. I don’t think about it when I shop for clothes, and other people’s clothing does not usually catch my eye unless it is appealing to me in a sexual way. As a result, my taste in fashion is doubtlessly quite vulgar, which is yet another incentive for me not to pay it any mind.
However, the Sactorialist is one of my favorite local blogs. Its author, Tosca, posts...
El Dorado County Vineyards
Last Saturday, a former coworker breezed into town. Though we’d been experiencing endless rainstorms, this particular morning the clouds parted, the sun shone, and the average daytime temperature increased about 15 degrees. This former coworker friend has an interesting childlike appreciation for natural beauty, and so all of us were bemused that nature would oblige him so sincerely. We had...
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Sacramento in the NYT →
Hat tip to heckasac for noticing this bit of ignominy.
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Wildflower season has begun →
I name some wildflowers over at Sacramento Press.
Sick day (or, how I almost went to a gay...
susangfx:
So, I wake up one morning this week, all scratchy-throated, sniffly and sinusey. What with all this rain, you would not think it possible for me to be as dried out as I felt. My skin was chapped, and it felt like the Mojave in my sinus cavity. I did the only reasonable thing and took the day off work and went on a quest for a sauna in Sacramento.
Last year the hubs and I went to the...
February 2009
18 posts
2 tags
“But the weirdest moment in local government this week was happening just up the...”
– SNOG > Garvin Here, if you’re like me and need to quickie-wiki Lyndon LaRouche
Returning to Sacramento
Look, I get it; Sacramento is going through hard times. Between the plight of our state workers, to our worsening housing market, not to mention the drought on top of the fact that the price of beer keeps going up. Things look bad all around. Except when you’re flying home from Las Vegas.
Yesterday I left Vegas: dry, brown, extremely quiet, scarily devoid of people, with casinos in...
1 tag
City Closer to Eliminating Design Commission →
You’ve probably already seen this article at Sacramento Press, but I’m linking it anyway. The dialog in the comment section is very lively. I especially like when Burg says to Maviglio, “Steve, it seems like your answer to every public concern is to tell the general public to shut up and just let their betters run the city for them.”
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More blood, toil, tears, and sweat, Bretón
Bretón’s column today concerning the brouhaha around the City’s plans to subsidize a mermaid bar on K Street punts big time.
Bretón shrewdly points out that the controversy arises from a “a neighborhood skirmish,” namely, Midtown restaurateurs don’t want the City subsidizing their competition.
But instead of exploring the very interesting question of whether there...
1 tag
Who doesn't like llamas?
A great animal interest story today in the Bee. I love this quote:Last year, Thormahlen, 79, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. These days, she can hardly walk to the barn to feed the llamas. “It’s a pretty dastardly development, and I resent it,” she said.I feel the same way about my own mortality.
4 tags
Cozy and cavernous
I had occasion to visit one of Sacramento’s newest establishments this week: De Vere’s Irish Pub. I found it to be a nice, though rather large, take on the pub. I have never been to Ireland, so I cannot vouch for its authenticity, but I did appreciate the layout of the space, which has partitions strategically placed throughout in order to create a more cozy atmosphere in what would...
Rain is good for business
I’m sitting in Coffee Garden, and they are packed. More to the point, their primary sitting area is packed, and their study area is packed. Normally, there are mostly empty tables in the study area.
First, the rain helps. It shuts down their outdoor seating, and it makes people stir crazy. Instead of hanging out at home, bemoaning the rain, people go to somewhere where they can still sit...
1 tag
Lance Armstrong's bike stolen - sacbee.com →
Lance Armstrong and Trek Bicycle employees are reporting on their Twitter.com accounts that four Astana team bikes, including Armstrong’s custom painted time trial bike, were stolen from a team truck in Sacramento overnight, according to a report posted on velonews.com.
I can see this kind of thing happening in Davis, but not in our sweet Sacramento! The thieves must have been...
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“The first cyclists in the Amgen Tour of California have headed down Capitol Mall...”
– Tour competition begins as riders hit the course - sacbee.com
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Cheryl Dell, Melanie Sill, are you listening?
I have a simple suggestion for the Sacramento Bee. It’s an experiment. It might not work, but since the ad revenues for newspapers are drying up faster than the lakes and reservoirs of our drought-ridden state it’s time the Bee took a few chances.
Why doesn’t the Bee try to sell ads on its Twitter page?
Now before the Bee did that it would have to promote its Twitter...
2 tags
Marketplace, indie-style
While shopping at this month’s IndieSacramento trunk show, hosted today at the Trinity Cathedral Church at 2620 Capitol Ave, I thought about my reasons for being so committed to supporting local artisans like the ones who hawk their wares at this market. Of course, I have a natural predisposition to support people in their creative efforts, but more than that I want to support what I find to...
2 tags
Memories on the auction block at Captain Sacto's... →
I’m too young to remember Capt. Sacto, but I do vaguely remember Capt. Mitch who introduced cartoons on KTXL from 1968 to 1984.
Googling Capt. Mitch, I came across this neat site called UHF Nocturne. It documents the mostly forgotten history of Late-Night TV in Northern California, including Tom LaBrie ‘s Night Comfort Theater. LaBrie was a waterbed salesman in the 1970s and 1980s,...
1 tag
Beware the "Mullet-Junkie Bandit” →
The Mullet-Junkie Bandits. Sounds like a band.
A hike nearby
About an hour from here, near Lake Berryessa, sits Stebbins Reserve-Cold Canyon, a research site used by UC Davis.
On Friday, we hiked the Cold Canyon- Blue Ridge Loop, which is about 5 miles and features a fast and furious elevation change of 1200 feet made possible by large steps cut into the trail and slow steep summit climbs. The hike begins in dense forest and ascends to a high chapparal...
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Lions Invade Sacramento Supermarket →
This Sacramento Press article is really good. All it needs is a quote from someone in the crowd. If it had that, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish it from an article in the Bee’s Metro Our Region section.
Big game hunter
Don’t worry, I won’t always be so cloyingly clever with my post titles, I just couldn’t resist. Where do I turn for those times when I won’t be satisfied to watch the game in the quiet of home and just need to be around other fans to get the most out of my Sunday viewing? Even though I love my local English pub & frequently enjoy checking out new places, I’ll...
January 2009
3 posts
1 tag
Dry
Image via Wikipedia
Sacramento Bee has a small item on the Sierra snowpack. Officials found that, “statewide snowpack stands at only 61 percent of average for the winter so far; this likely ensures California will see its third straight drought year.”
The WSJ has a longer article on the findings. It puts the drought in perspective:
Droughts of three years or longer have been rare...
1 tag
New pub
I’ve never been to Ireland, but I’m hoping this new pub, de Vere’s, lives up to its hype. I’m headed there now and I’ll let you know what I think when I return. I hope they have Bushmills.