Author: Runnergirl

Top off your tanks & get some cash

With the threat of rolling blackouts and with some areas experiencing power outages, take a few minutes today to hit the ATM and gas station. I tried to get gas at the 76 on Fair Oaks & Watt this morning, but they were completely shut down due to a power outage earlier this morning. Even though they had power when I went there, their computer systems still were not working. Luckily, the Shell across the street was able to gas me up since I was running pretty low, but the clerk indicated that they’d had some issues in the power outage aftermath too.

This isn’t exactly a newsflash, but if we do have widespread blackouts, we won’t have access to basic things like gas stations, ATMs, and just about any other business that is dependent on computer systems. Not that people can actually count change, but it would be advantageous to have some extra cash on hand should you need to make purchases for which you’d ordinarily use your debit or credit card and to have a full tank of gas no matter where you need to go.

Robbery @ Arden Fair

While running an errand at Arden Fair this afternoon, I heard the sound of breaking glass — not like someone dropping an item on the hard floor, but like a large window breaking.

A few of us were able to see bits and pieces of the scene unfold as we looked down from the second level into DeVons Jewelers where we could see sales staff cowered under their display cases while a trio of robbers smashed cases and loaded up on jewelry. Naturally, many folks in the mall were on their cell phones to the local authorities.
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What could have been

Over the years, we’ve all heard rumors of where freeways in our region were planned to be built before right-of-way was sold off to developers. While packing up my house, I happened across an old Thomas Guide my friend Mike brought to my house about eight years ago since he knows I have an affinity for maps. I finally got around to looking at it last week, and it shows the alignment of the freeways that were proposed at that time.

guide.jpg

The guide is so old (“HOW OLD IS IT?” think Match Game) that it still shows I-5 south of downtown as a proposed freeway.
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Arena chat, part III

As someone who was privy to a behind-the-scenes tour of ARCO Arena today, I can say with 100% certainty that we need a new venue this moment, and I will lobby hard for this cause. Until today, I thought the arena was just fine, and I’ve been there for a wide variety of events many times over the years.

Here are some hard facts and recent observations:
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“I’m surprised you would ask such a personal question!”

Maybe it’s my sensitivity of being a newlywed who’s selling her house, but what’s up with everyone wanting to know personal financial information like how much you paid for your house and how long ago you bought it?

I realize such questions became part of the daily chatter before the real estate bubble burst, but when you think about it, how obnoxious is it for someone to boast over how much equity they have? How gauche is it for someone to ASK how much you’re making on your home sale? Why don’t we all carry around laminated copies of the previous year’s tax returns while we’re at it? Would you like to see my medical records too?

This came to light a couple weeks ago when Mr. NonRunnerButHeSwimsALot and I went to Fro’s to celebrate having faxed my signed counter-offer to my prospective buyer’s agent.
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Filling in for Joe Carcione, with your Green Grocer’s Tip of the Day

Bless the fine folks at Raley’s and Bel Air. They send out a weekly e-mail with tips, recipes, and a coupon good for a quality item for free in their store.

This week you can get a free garden salad when you buy a sandwich. Other weeks have featured a free bag of romaine lettuce with a $10 purchase. I have no idea how I got on their e-mail list, but it’s the one piece of advertising I actually look forward to each week (now if they’d spam me with a coupon for free Spam, that would be funny.)

Now, I realize Raley’s and Bel Air are no Whole Foods, but who doesn’t like to patronize a home-grown business, and who doesn’t appreciate free stuff when it’s actually good for you?

Where’s my sushi, Nick?

OK, remember what I said the other day about treating everyone nicely (yes, Kit, including hipsters)?

The one exception is Nick from Ameriprise Financial. “Who’s Nick from Ameriprise?” you may ask yourself.

Answer: He’s the guy who called me to tell me that he’d plucked my business card out of the fishbowl at Kamon Sushi, entitling me and nine of my friends to a complimentary sushi lunch.

I immediately called my hubby, and we brainstormed on our favorite sushi eaters who would be on the invitation list (yes, you were all on the list), and we compared Outlook calendars to coordinate good days for our complimentary lunch.
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Run for the hills!

A world class athletic event is happening in our backyard this weekend. Starting at 5am in Squaw Valley this Saturday, I — along with about 450 other runners from all over the globe — will begin a journey that traverses the Sierra Nevada range and ends up at the finish line in Auburn 100.2 miles away. I will get to see the sun rise twice, on Saturday morning then again on Sunday morning, without the benefit of sleep.

The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra marathons, and it is regarded as the Boston Marathon of ultras (Western States is slightly tougher, mind you. Heartbreak Hill? pul-lease. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a comparison.)

An ultra-marathon is anything longer than the standard 26.2 marathon distance, and you might think “Why would you go longer than a marathon?” Since most ultras are trail races, the dirt trails are much more forgiving on the joints and are more scenic than pavement. Running ultras takes major physical conditioning, but you have to be strong mentally too. It’s fun to push your mind and body to the test.
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