Handy Vector Control

As previously mentioned we just moved into a new house. It came with a coi pond full of water. But no coi. So in other words, it’s basically a West Nile Virus breeding ground in my back yard. The mosquito society going on back there was kind of interesting at first but it got old fast. We plan to get rid of the pond but until then we’ve been debating what to do since we don’t want to poison the ground, birds or our dog drinking from it but we also don’t care to raise insects. Then the coolest thing happened. This morning a worker from the County Vector Control stopped by because they had a report of our house being vacant with a coi pond in the back. He let us in on the County’s policy of providing, free of charge, teeny mosquito-eating fish for just such a situation. He then offered to come back regularly and service the pond by taking care of the fish, which he said would eliminate the bugs. Pretty handy service that I never would have thought to call on. So way to go, Vector Control. Thanks for the fish. PS: if anyone wants free fish about two weeks from now we’re still getting rid of that pond. Maybe we will take them to the pound and pit animal control against vector control.

Tommy Tune Hearts Sacramento

Has anyone else been to see Dr. Doolittle on the Broadway Series? I saw it last night. The cuteness of the show was enhanced by the cuteness of all the little children in the audience cracking up at the animal jokes. Very fun. I’m actually not a musical theater buff but I hear that Tommy Tune who played Dr. Doolittle is big in that world. He was outstanding. Just in case I didn’t get the child-friendly jokes and dialogue I had a woman sitting behind me who was clever enough to guess the punchlines and shout them out before the actors could. I’m sure she was trying to be helpful. For example when Dr. Doolittle had an epiphany and realized aloud that although he had learned every animal language he had neglected to learn the most important language of all, the woman behind me was kind enough to volunteer, “the language of the heart” which indeed was his next line. Way to go lady. At the end of the play the cast gathered round and Tommy Tune addressed the audience, saying that he loved Sacramento and noting that we are all so lucky to have so many trees. Then he hung around to sign autographs. Very sweet. Anyone else see it or any other plays here lately?

PAT VOGELI: A cure for housing woes?

The slew of articles and rumors on a declining housing market had my husband and I pretty uptight when it came time to sell our house for something slightly larger. We worried that whatever profit the market did provide could be devoured by realtor’s fees and repair costs, so we weren’t even sure if we should hire a realtor. It didn’t ease our confusion any when one realtor told us flat out that the market was dead (not exactly inspiring our confidence) and another submitted a proposed selling price that was so inflated and greedy even we could tell it would leave us sitting on the market forever. Luckily, we met realtor Pat Vogeli while helping a friend shop for houses. Simply put, Pat was AWESOME.
Continue reading “PAT VOGELI: A cure for housing woes?”

BOOBS!

Just a tip: don’t take your kids to the downtown mall today even though the carousel is looking awesome. There’s a rather vivid display apparently demonstrating the point that wearing fur is bad but objectifying women for the sake of making a minorly relevant social point is A-OK. Translation: there’s totally topless women protesting fur in front of the mall entrance, surrounded by super lame businessmen taking pictures on their camera phones. Personally I don’t think I should have to walk past that to run a quick errand at the mall. On the other hand if you’re in the mood for gazing at some bare boobs you might want to hop on the downtown bound light rail and stop at St. Rose of Lima.

Motivate This.

The watercoolers across town are all abuzz with the fact that traffic was really pitiful yesterday due to a motivational seminar where Rudy Guilianni spoke or appeared by satellite or something. Am I alone in this sort of thing bringing out a huge chip on my shoulder? If you have 2 hours to sit in traffic followed by 8 hours to sit in a seminar where you’re told to get up and do something it seems you had the time and opportunity to get up and do that something in the first place. My favorite quote though was from this lady:
Continue reading “Motivate This.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I don’t think I’m taking too much liberty in using this forum to wish our fearless co-leader COOLDMZ an amazingly happy birthday. I thought about putting something clever like “It’s Yo Birfday” until I realized that that wouldn’t actually be all that clever. So I’ll just go with a simple “Happy Birthday” and leave it at that. Anyone care to join me?

Ho’s on the Light Rail

There hasn’t been much news on the Light Rail beat – just the usuall guys smoking huge fatties right in front of the police, etc. – but last night I witnessed a totally rad fight. A middle-aged business woman was getting on the train while a teeny-bopper Hallaback girl was getting off. They bumped into each other in the aisle. This prompted said Hallaback girl to go OFF, yo. She started screaming immediately (and now I will curse in the manner of Buster from Arrested Development) “F YOU, YOU B” to which the other woman simply and elegantly flipped the bird. The girl had to get off the train – it was her stop after all – but she continued yelling through the open doors, “I F-ed YOUR HUSBAND LAST NIGHT, B, AND HE PAID ME FOR IT TOO, HO!” This was repeated numerous times, louder and louder. I spent the next three stops trying to solve the riddle of whether being paid to have sex with someone’s husband wouldn’t in fact make you the “ho.” Light rail is SO much better than driving.