To the guy ranting and raving on outbound bus 34 at 6:45 last night, just an FYI: to use public transit you have to go to a designated transit stop and wait for it to come to you more or less on schedule. That’s how it works. Apparantly this dude felt differently, because he chased the bus to a stop only after attempting to flag it down at a random point. When he finally got on he proceeded to scream at the driver for about 5 stops about how he couldn’t believe she didn’t stop the bus mid-road at his beck and call. It’s not a cab, dude. It’s the bus. He then progressed to screaming generally, “I CAN’T BE IN THE SUN! I CAN’T BE IN THE SUN!” Understood. The heat is making me crazy too. May I suggest a hat or some SPF. Or perhaps private transport. Lastly, he resorted to screaming over and over, “You are a jerk!” Kudos for refraining from outright vulgarity. Nevertheless, sir, have you considered that perhaps it is you who is the jerk? P.S. to the couple making out in the seat next to me, RIGHT AWN! That was better than free cable.
Category: Misc
Affect this, Wikipedia
At the risk of distracting attention from my earlier post, of which I’m quite proud, I’d like to draw attention to the OntoWorld‘s entry on Sacramento. What’s OntoWorld? Only an experiment in Web 3.0, the “semantic web” where all information in the world is ordered in a logical relational manner. Or something. Anyway, about Sacramento some yahoo has written
The Central Valley’s would-be hipsters and hard cases, meanwhile, have affected the moniker Sactown in imitation of the nearby hip-hop hub of Oaktown.
While I love the phrase “hard case” I think that description is a bit unfair. Affected? “Would-be”? It is hardly an affectation. Do the real hipsters call it something else?
Would you pay more for a cooler car?
Wouldn’t you think by now there’d be a car that keeps itself relatively cool when parked in the sun? Turns out there used to be:
Fifteen years ago, Mazda introduced a solar-powered ventilation system that would continuously flush hot air out of a vehicle parked in the sun. A solar cell array was mounted on the moon roof, supplying power to a small fan that drew in outside air.
The system worked only when the car was parked in the sun, exactly when it was needed. It was not hooked up to the car’s battery and therefore could not drain it. A Mazda spokesman confirmed that the system was offered as an option and that it was dropped.
Seems like an option that would be extremely popular in Sacramento. Here’s a piece on the history of such systems, how they work and why they’re not available. (Bugmenot will get you in to the Web site without signing up.)
In the meantime … oh, for a parking spot in the shade!
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.
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.
Continue reading “Run for the hills!”
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?”
What is Sacramento Watching?
I just noticed a new feature on Netflix that caught my eye. It’s called “Local Favorites” and it focuses on which DVD’s people from Sacramento are renting. Featured as a “Local Favorite” is the Ellen Degeneres stand-up special “The Beginning.” Hmmmm…Ellen DeGeneres is one of the top choices for Sacramento film watchers, and the Monarchs are WNBA champions…correlation?
Here it comes
101 … 105 … 109 … 109 … 108 … 109 …100 … and then a cooling trend next week, all the way down to 98. Read it and sweat.
I have to admit to feeling like I brought this all down on us, after spending the better part of an hour talking to my native San Francisco pal about how Sacramento really isn’t hell on summer earth, touting the Delta breezes, lots of shade, two rivers, etc. “Well,” she says. “At least your housing’s affordable,” which is something only a San Franciscan would say.
Fill up the kiddie pools, folks, it’s going to be a long week.
City vs. County
Which is best, city or county?
I now live in the county, just outside the city limit. But I still miss the city. I grew up in East Sacramento, next to East Lawn. By high school, we’d moved to the edge of Carmichael; by college, I’d moved back downtown. I’ve lived city, suburb and rural, in every corner of the county. I still like the city neighborhoods best, but a couple years ago I happened to trip across the perfect house for me in the county, so there I am.
In my dealings with the various bureaucracies, I have to say that the city beats the county every time, in my experience. Overall, I found living in the city much more pleasant and interesting.
Let’s go to the list:
Continue reading “City vs. County”
Signs of summer
Is anyone really missing triple-digit weather? Pleasant as the temperatures may be, it’s difficult to believe it’s almost officially summer without one or two of those sizzling Sacramento days. Without them, you have to look for other signs.
Here’s one: The first stack of wood spotted piled in parking lot, soon to be a fireworks stand.
Others?
The Sac Rag 