Author: RonTopofIt

RonTopofIt is a complex personality, as are most of the small breed of modern day renaissance millionaires. He wishes more people were like him and yet believes that it takes all kinds. You've met RonTopofIt many times, you just don't remember him.

Can’t wait to wait

Sacramento’s love affair with a line continued on Saturday as more than a 100 people waited for over 2 hours in front of the Pet Smart on Arden Way to have their personal documents shredded for free.

Sure, I get that identity theft is real, but who are these people that have boxes upon boxes of records to shred?

“Fifteen years’ worth of stuff in here,” said John Wachter, 53, of Carmichael as he dug through a 20-pound bag of old bank statements and receipts. “Don’t remember buying half of it.”

Hmmm, perhaps some of these folks are better off waiting in line at the Oprah show the next time she discusses hoarding.

On the other hand, perhaps these “free” shredding days are part of a master plan to hook the public like a drug dealer offering the first few hits “on the house” with the hope you’ll come crawling back ready to pay any price. A little over the top, you say? Check this out:

An employee could be entitled to recover actual damages sustained if his or her identity is stolen as a result of your inaction. Or you could have to pay statutory damages of up to $1,000 per employee.

Ugh.

Vote for Pete

Some of you may have heard that former congressman Pete McCloskey, 78, is coming out of retirement to challenge Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for Republican nomination for the congressional seat. While it’s cool that this dude is fired up enough at 78 years old to get back in the ring to right some wrongs, what I found especially compelling about this story is the way he’s going about it. If anyone saw this piece on the news the other night, you’d know what I’m talking about. His signs, for example:

“In my campaign, we don’t pay very much. My mother-in-law made up these posters last night. I think there are other things than money that win elections,” McCloskey said.

You can get an idea of what he’s talking about in this photo I “borrowed” from KCRA (expressed written consent be damned, the Rag keeps it real, too!).

Oh, and did you read Pete’s quote closely? His mother-in-law whipped those signs up for him…dude is 78! Now that’s something to vote for…

Is it just my imagination?

Photo of The Fireside sign

The Sac Rag
never forgets

I don’t take H or J street to or from work as often as I used to, but on occasion I like to mix it up and give it a go. Lately I’ve noticed that there is a lot of remodeling going on near the college and/or East Sacramento. For example, a few days ago I stopped at the light on H & 53rd and glanced over to my left and noticed a Starbucks. Seriously, when did this happen? I swear, these joints pop up like those inflatable rafts you’d always see on old 60’s sitcoms. And for the life of me I can’t remember what was even there before. These places ARE everywhere. Speaking of, check out this dude that has taken it upon himself to visit every Starbucks in the world. And how soon before the Yahoo! lawyers come calling the YaketyYak cell phone store next door? But, I digress.

What’s going on, Sacramento? Are local coffee houses dead? It’s no secret that I’m a coffee chain lover myself, but I’m all for patronizing a local establishment when possible. Speaking of, what happened to Mace’s? Man, this town can get away from you if you’re not paying attention.

Sign o’ the Times

Coming into work this morning I noticed a homeless man pushing a homeless woman in a wheelchair. A pretty common sight when you live/work in the downtown area. What struck me about this particular pair was the effort this man was putting into keep everything together. They had a dog on a leash that was swaying from side to side which was making it difficult for him to keep the chair on track. Their belongings were piled so high he was unable to see clearly. All the while trying to maintain a lit cigarette without using his hands.

So they finally stop at the light at 29th & K. I look over and see that the women is holding a cup of coffee (what looked to be Starbucks, of course) and is reading a magazine. I had to look closely to see that she was reading People magazine. Yes, as you would expect in the year 2006, homeless folks are also curious as to why Brad and Angelina are moving so fast.

Insert song title pun here

In light of the recent success of the Sac Rag’s new category, “Make Us Laugh”, we found another story that may solicit hilarity.

From news10.net:

The City of Stockton has its fingers crossed that the $1 million it’s paying singer Neil Diamond won’t be a “song sung blue” Sunday night.

The City Council revealed Tuesday it has paid Diamond $1 million to perform the first concert at the new arena. The arrangement was secret until The Stockton Record filed a request for the information.

Legal Guide for Bloggers

Following up on CoolDMZ’s post from yesterday I thought this site would be of interest. I especially enjoyed the section on defamation:

Can my opinion be defamatory?
No — but merely labeling a statement as your “opinion” does not make it so. Courts look at whether a reasonable reader or listener could understand the statement as asserting a statement of verifiable fact. (A verifiable fact is one capable of being proven true or false.) This is determined in light of the context of the statement. A few courts have said that statements made in the context of an Internet bulletin board or chat room are highly likely to be opinions or hyperbole, but they do look at the remark in context to see if it’s likely to be seen as a true, even if controversial, opinion (“I really hate George Lucas’ new movie”) rather than an assertion of fact dressed up as an opinion (“It’s my opinion that Trinity is the hacker who broke into the IRS database”).

There is one thing, however, I’ve learned about web logs in my short time in the game: people want to be pissed off first and entertained second. A simple review of the comments on this site will support this opinion.

Local firefighters catch a fire

{In an ongoing attempt to encourage visitor interactivity, the Sac Rag is introducing a new category: Make Us Laugh. From time to time we’ll post a link to a news story that we feel lends itself to humor. Your task is to review the story and submit your punchline or funny commentary. No scoffing (I can see you cynical, at work internet surfers now). Oh, and Runnergirl, please don’t review this bit. Here goes nothing. Literally…}

From kcra.com:

An alleged marijuana operation went up in smoke Monday after fire destroyed a Sacramento home. Metro Fire Department officials said the home was totally engulfed in flames when they arrived, but they were able to knock the flames down quickly. Officials said that 450 marijuana plants were found…

Unbelieva-bowl Prices

On Wednseday, January 18th 2006, Country Club Lanes in Sacramento is hosting the “Drive The Lanes Wth Peja, Vlade And Friends at The 4th Annual Charitabowl.” This purpose of this event, which is not easily obtained from the site, is to raise funds for Peja’s Foundation. Great, good for them. Lanes are going for $3,500 big ones and general admission (you get to watch and hang out!) is $50. With the GA ticket you get “Autograph opportunities w/select players” and “Picture opportunities w/select players.” With an emphasis on “w/select players” of course. “Hey, Mom, I got Luke Schenscher’s autograph last night!”

The reason I know about this event, you see, is that I recently enjoyed me some bowling at the CC lanes. You remember bowling, right? That favorite collegiate pastime where, for a handful of student loan doll hairs, you could consume a pitcher or two of your favorite watered down lager, hurl a 16 pound ball down a lane in an attempt to knock down neatly stacked pins, and talk about that cute girl you met in Sosh class. Well, my reader (ok, I think I am up to three), times they have a changed.
Continue reading “Unbelieva-bowl Prices”

Piling on (sort of)

marksallen.jpg

As DMZ mentioned here earlier this week, the News & Review published Robert Berry’s Top 10 list of annoying things about Sacramento. Topping the list was Mark S. Allen. Now who doesn’t love them some MSA bashing? Count me in, that’s for sure, but my frame of reference for my insults are still based on the Scratch days. So to get up to speed I checked in on the Good Morning Sacramento Today show on UPN 31 for the first time in months and, man alive, what has happened to that guy?

So they toss it to MSA and Nick chimes in with a great flat ironing joke which MSA uncomfortably accepts (see photo, come on, man, take your age like a man). He proceeds to interview each of the hourly producers on the show who were discussing what each segment was going to be about. He then makes a crack about his run in with Peter Jackson oh so long ago and how one of them made the right career choice, or something. If you check out his bio you’ll notice he loves the self deprecation. But he does it in that way that makes you a little uneasy, you know? He does hold the record for the most jalapenos eaten in one minute, however. So he’s got that going for him. And, to his credit, he has a listing on IMDB, which I clearly do not have.

Bottom line is (for when I undoubtedly run into him at Trader Joe’s…people in San Francisco don’t have to worry about this stuff, huh?) that he has made a living in this business we call show for a long time now so, unless he’s holding pictures of high powered people in uncompromising positions, he must be doing something right.

It’s the law

Never to buck tradition, we at the Sac Rag feel compelled to link to SacBee.com‘s brief listing of the new laws that take effect today. We live in the Capitol City afterall and these babies are written and signed here. Here some highlights:

Senate Bill 1028 – Prohibits killing birds or mammals via a controversial Internet technology linking a computer mouse to a camera and rifle.
{Oh, this can’t miss: “We are offering a limited number of ‘I Shot OSAMA’ t-shirts for sale. Purchase one along with your membership and shooting session. Put up to 10 holes into a target printed on the shirt and then wear it with pride.”}

Assembly Bill 405 – Restricts the use of experimental pesticides on school campuses.
{Restricts? Good for you, Legislature, no need to get crazy here. Baby steps}

Assembly Bill 121 – Bans the sale of candy containing excessive lead, as was detected several years ago in a batch imported from Mexico.
{Excessive? Again, baby steps, what’s a little lead in your Snickers, anyway? It’s not like there’s an excessive amount in there, sheesh.}

Senate Bill 670 – Apologizes to U.S. citizens or legal residents of Mexican ancestry who were forcibly relocated to Mexico in the 1930s.
{Oops, our bad.}

But seriously, props to Assembly Bill 1328 which designates a 31-mile stretch of Cache Creek, primarily in Yolo and Lake counties, as a state wild, scenic and recreational river. Who knew there was an actual Cache Creek? And knowing is, of course, half the battle.