Category: Misc

Update on Blue Lamp

Turns out the rumors of the Blue Lamp’s death were greatly exaggerated. Looks like they were just doing a little renovation project. The new color scheme can now be accurately described as two-toned: latte and mocha. They almost blend in with the new Safeway facelift. At least they didn’t add those really overdone iron cross things over purely ornamental niches like on most new stucco mini-mansions. Thanks Blue Lamp for keeping it real.

Have smog, will travel.

As many of the proud 96% know, businesses only operate during business hours. That leaves us working stiffs little time to do many of our errands.

So, I had to do the smog check thing yesterday. I decided to try out Smog ‘N Go down in what used to be Laguna. They have several locations, and they’re open well past 5 PM – the one I went to was open until 6:30. Their total fee for smog testing was about $50, which includes the $8 smog check certificate, and a $10 discount coupon (check your pennysaver mailings too – sometimes there’s a good discount on smog checks in there as well).

No appointment was necessary, and I was in and out in half an hour.

I could go on and tell you about the great service I received within those 30 minutes, but they already do on their website:

Quick – Clean – Courteous – Convenient – Competitive. In and Out in a hurry!

I would say they lived up to all of it. And yes, my car passed.

Online map wars

The online map game is getting competitive. As is the case with most online firsts, Google presents a beta product only to have Yahoo! follow suit shortly thereafter. When Google Maps debuted last year it was very exciting. Coupled with Google Earth, I quickly became a daily visitor. However, Yahoo! recently introduced their beta version of a map product and I must admit I’m impressed. If not only for the easy to use interface, I find myself visiting this site more and more.

Basically, Yahoo! took a few of the features that Google Earth offered and implemented them into their web service. That is, you don’t have to download and install the Earth product to sort by categories, for example. And the category listings are very helpful. After entering “Sacramento, CA” into the “Get Map & Directions” field I am able to search by categories such as Restaurants > Italian or Entertainment > Movie Theaters (it’s a beta remember so maybe they’ll remove the listing for the Pussycat Theater?). The real bonus for me being that each listing offers up the address and phone number along with directions to and from without doing more searching. And in a crazed phone number search that is very handy.

And with their API product your very own Sac Rag might be coming at you with some cool new features in ’06!

The red zone is for loading and unloading only

I’ve always maintained that the coolest thing about the Internet is having the ability to interact with business accounts without having to interact with human beings. I think we can all agree that the less we deal with people the better. Or maybe only I can agree. At any rate, businesses have recognized this, too, and have implemented the IVR ( interactive voice response ) system in an attempt to satisfy the needs of the consumer. It simply doesn’t work. 9.5 times out of 10 we all wish we could just hit a button that would bypass the automation and send us to a real person. In the past simply pressing “0” did the trick. Today, however, it is next to impossible to figure out the special number combination that will free us from the IVR hell that we created. That is, until I was sent this link the other day. Some tricks are simple ( press “0” twice) while others are bit time consuming ( Say “I don’t know it” then “technician” ).

With this in mind, I think I am going to start my own 916 IVR Cheat Sheet (Surewest, Comcast, SMUD, etc.) Feel free to comment with any local business IVR system shortcuts you may have. We can do this Sacramento, one #, 0, 0, *, * at a time.

Elk Grove does the gas flip.

Not so long ago, Elk Grove used to have cheaper gas prices than much of Sacramento. But, in the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that this has reversed, and now Elk Grove’s gas is more expensive than much of the rest of the area. This has COMPLETELY changed my weekly refueling strategy.

Just thought I’d share, because, you know, it’s important to ME.

By the way, has anyone noticed the super high gas prices these days? Yeesh…

Be good, it’s the holidays.

Has anyone heard that Arden Fair radio ad, that tells people to behave in the mall during the holidays? Like, no pushing, no shoving, no groping? That was the first time I heard a mall lecture people on holiday shopping etiquette. But, knowing Arden Fair, I can see why they’d do that.

Sacramento News & Review put out an article on how to protect yourself when shopping at the mall. Common sense, sure. But, these days, Christmas shopping is downright treacherous. And can you blame them? Check out the crime stats at Arden Fair during the last quarter of last year by clicking on the map. All kinds of gift giving, and gift taking, going on – in and outside of the mall.

Walgreens makes it easy

There are many online digital photo printing shops available these days. First there was ofoto.com (later became kodakgallery or something) then snapfish.com and shutterfly.com I could go on and on. For me, however, I’ve been using walgreens.com a lot mainly because I’m cheap and they offer in store pick up (no shipping costs!) and the one hour pick up aspect is very reliable and still 19 cents a pop.

What has kept me coming back though is the great customer service I’ve received so far. When you place your order and select in store pick up you usually have the option to choose the Walgreens store closest to you, but sometimes you have to select another location based on high volume, etc. Totally understandable. As such, I’ve been to locations on Howe and Arden (I refuse to say that other phrase for this area), Fair Oaks and Marconi, and Arden & Eastern.
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