No right just rules

Today, I’m looking to complain. Specifically, I’m looking to complain about my gym. I’ve been a member of California Family Fitness for many, many years. So many years, in fact, that if I were to quit and try to re-enroll I couldn’t afford it. Therein lies my problem. You see, what bugs about this gym (and many other gyms, I am sure) are the rules.

For example, it used to be that you couldn’t access the gym without your gym card. If you did, you were hassled about not doing it again and to please pee in this cup. Then they came up with keychain cards. Great idea, problem solved. Alas, people still forgot their cards. So Cal Fit came up with a photo identity feature where your account included your basic information AND your photo to identify you if you forgot your card. Great idea, problem solved. Not so fast, you still need your card because it was taking the staff too long to look each person up who forgot their card, back to being hassled.
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There are TREES on Fair Oaks Boulevard?

Shocker!

If you travel on Fair Oaks Boulevard between Eastern and Watt Avenues — also known as miles 18-19.5 of the marathon course — you’ve no doubt seen the new signs reading, “CAUTION: TREES NEAR ROADWAY,” complete with a graphic representation of trees near a roadway.

I’d post a photo, but given the speed at which people drive in this section, even my hardhat and orange vest wouldn’t protect me from being mowed over by a (insert name of luxury car or pricey SUV here.)
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Run river

Is there any doubt the best thing about Sacramento is that which is also the most dangerous? I write, of course, about the rivers, so high at New Year’s that we watched the levees anxiously, images of New Orleans fresh in our minds. So beautiful now, flowing through river parkways still green with the rains and exploding with wildflowers.

Rivers, floods and levees… these have always been the story of Sacramento. Me? I worry more about a little creek than a big river, backing up as my house does to what by this time of year is little more than a smelly dribble. But at least three times in my lifetime, this little dribble became a torrent, once taking out part of Cal Expo and twice putting Woodside under water.

When the rains fall and the rivers rise, I watch the creek.
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Disappearing moms, disappearing babies

The online magazine Salon has a story (gotta view an ad first, sorry) about a book chronicling the post-World War II phenomenon of sending away young women from “good families” before their pregnancy showed …. and then taking away the babies, without the young moms having a say in the matter.

I’m not old enough to remember such times, but my mother sure is. Which is why when I bought my house in Tahoe Park some 17 years ago (I’ve since moved), my mom said, “Oh! It’s near the Fair Haven Home.”

“The what?” I said.
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Dude, don’t spam your mom

Sacramento’s other major daily online newsource (aside from the Sac Rag, of course) published a useful tip for Mother’s Day. The Sac Bee warns us today about subjecting our moms to spam:

According to McAfee SiteAdvisor, a unit of antivirus company McAfee Inc., at least 10 sites that offer greeting cards, silly poems or other light-hearted material can flood the sender’s inbox with spam. For instance, signing up at one joke Web site resulted in more than 1,000 spammy e-mails a week for McAfee’s testers.

Of the 10 sites that McAfee warns against, five are high-volume spammers and five others install unwanted software like spyware or viruses, Keats said.

A list of those sites can be found at http://blog.siteadvisor.com.

If you want to show Mom how much you care, McAfee recommends Hallmark.com, 123greetings.com, WorldWildlife.org and AmericanGreetings.com as sites that offer quality cards without a side order of spam.

A nice recommendation for those of us who care to send the very least for Mother’s Day.

I knew it!

Scene: Hoppy’s in East Sac. Two guys, watching the ballgame, discussing the tip.

“I just do what my mom always said, and double the sale tax,” says Guy No. 1. Guy No. 2 nods, and Guy No. 1 adds, “Then, I adjust the amount upward according on the rackage on the waitress.”

At the table next, dining on burgers and kettle chips, I shoot my brother a dirty look. He has a knowing smirk on his face.

“What did I do?” he protests.

Right Awn! Friday: Don’t call it a comeback…

rightawn.jpg

The fair citizens of Sacramento are not without their heros. God knows we certainly have our villains. But, what makes a hero special?

With raised fist, it’s those people who have the burning desire to fan the flames of justice and goodwill that we try to salute each week, here at Right Awn! Friday. And Sacramento, this week, one of our heros has returned…
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It’s hard out there for a pimp my ride

89 Honda Prelude

Dig the Wheel of Fortune “before and after” title? Bonus points if you immediately thought of that when you read it. And by “bonus points” I mean you admit to being a nerd like me who would even think of making such a reference.

Not much to this one, folks. A simple reminder why you all work so hard everyday, braving the traffic, the smog, the high gas prices, only to go home and do it again tomorrow. So that you never wind up being this guy.