All of us who have lived here for any length of time (even 6 months) have had a favorite business close its doors, leaving a big hole in our routine. I’ve been a resident since 1982 so I’ve got my fair share. I’ve already mentioned Franke’s and Sidewalk Pizza, and I could probably list several dozen but the following 3 have been on my mind recently, so here goes my list of favorite businesses that are no longer among the living…

Continue reading “My favorite closed-up businesses” »

East Sacramento shoppers, rejoice at the photo The Game Guy just snapped:

Not sure what it means — according to the Target @ 65th Website, which I just discovered 10 seconds ago, the project is going in further down 65th, on the other side of US50. Perhaps the contractors are setting up shop behind the Dollar Tree in order to start hiring laborers? Also, do my words have the power to get cranes in motion?

I found some time to catch up on the latest news regarding the California budget crisis. If ever there was a reason to tag a post in the “ugh.” files…

Both legislative houses were pondering 27 hastily drafted bills that cover state budgets for two fiscal years: the current one that ends June 30 and the next one that begins July 1.

Should the words “hastily” and “budget” ever be used the in the same sentence?

In the Senate, the debate included cliff-hanging metaphors and disparaging references to Detroit.

“California is on the edge of a financial cliff, and some would say we’re just about over the cliff, hanging on by our fingernails,” Steinberg said. “We are running out of cash, and the situation is getting worse.”

But state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, said that if the package were approved, Feb. 14, 2009, would be remembered as “the Valentine’s massacre on California taxpayers.”

“If we pass this budget,” he said, “Los Angeles and San Francisco will become the Detroit(s) of the West.”

You sports fans will recall the incident with the Kings and the Pistons from 2005. Damn you, Karma.

Continue reading “Becoming Detroit(s)” »

Taking a page from RunnerGirl’s Guide to Job Hunting, Christopher Adams is letting everyone know that he needs a job. Everyone. I found him last night at Alhambra and K in the middle of rush hour traffic.

Chris lived in Sacramento before, but transferred back three months ago for love. One week, he and Michaela got engaged; the next week, he was laid off.

While I am inspired by his pluck, I am getting worried. I am also job hunting, as are 61,000 other residents of Sacramento County, which had an 8.7% unemployment rate in December. It looks like February will be a month of tough competition for a scarce commodity, so job hunters will need to go bust their asses before their asses go bust.

Chris does sales and marketing management, but is open to new opportunities. If you want to see Chris’ resume, contact him at thechristopheradams at gmail dooooot com. Good luck!

While the private school market may be experiencing a downturn, the niche grocery market appears to be full steam ahead. Last night at the East Sac Trader Joe’s I was asked my Zip code at checkout, surely the first sign of a massive identity theft ring development plan in the works at TJ’s HQ for a new store in the area. For once I had small talk to make with my checkoutperson — he said Davis folks can be rabidly for and against a new store, and that he has heard talk of a new store in Auburn. Yeah, that’s actually all I got. Anybody else have anything to say?

You should have seen my face when I read the headline on CBS13.com, “Famous Crystal Company Goes Bust.” Don’t worry, it’s just about the Waterford company, based in London. I’m not accustomed to getting my U.K. financial news from the home page of my local news website.

Crystal milk products are of course now produced by Foster Farms, and you may continue to enjoy their delicious and affordable milk products at your local greengrocer.

Please to allow me to continue the rant I started before Christmas.

So the results of a survey about the employment outlook for 2009 in Sacramento were released on Wednesday. Check out the headlines from the Google News feed:

• Survey: 20% of Sacramento companies plan layoffs in 2009
• Grim Economic Outlook For Sacramento Area In 2009
• Sacramento Companies To Cut Jobs In 2009
• Region’s jobs outlook for early 2009 is grim

Super…Great…Grand. Did I mention that we get it? No one is saying that these are the days, but come on. Report different.

Continue reading “Only happy when it rains” »

Make a U-turn, if possible

I don’t know why this story of folks getting lost trying to get to the new Red Hawk casino using their GPS devices makes me chuckle. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve been in the same situation before trying to decide if I should use my common sense or hand my faith over to a talking box when driving to a new destination.

I have such a love/hate relationship with my Garmin Nuvi. On one hand, it’s been a life saver when I’m forced to take side roads or alternate routes due to a traffic accident or construction. On the other hand it, it’s caused many delays especially when I approach forks in the road or subtle turns. Hard right or soft right? Veer right or stay to the right which is actually straight with no turn at all?

Back to the Bee story…

Continue reading “An unsatisfying journey” »

Those of you that have passed by the Howe Avenue or Arden Way editions of the Steve’s Pizza franchise have surely assumed they went the way of the dodo. The SP Web site indicates they are “Closed temporarily for renovations” which seemed fishy to me. Emails were sent and responses received and from all accounts both locations will be back up and running in the new year. Howe Avenue in January and Arden Way “in the next 90 days.”

This was good news to me. I hope it is to you as well.

News10.net reports that an all-women facility of the California Family Fitness chain of gymnasiums will be forced to open its doors to men due to threat of litigation.

California Family Fitness operates 14 other gyms for both men and women, but kept its Howe Avenue location single-sex because it grew out of a nearby women’s health club known as Living Well Lady purchased by the company in 1997.

The company said it has also modified seven other locations that had separate workout areas for men and women.

I tell you what, these are wacky times we live in. Curves anyone?