Category: Misc

CoolDMZ Makes Headlines

If you don’t get the Sac Bee you haven’t seen this article about my alter-ego Don Zacharias. I will just let my words speak for themselves. Scroll down for pictures.

UPDATE: So far so good, nice to see so many new commenters. One more tidbit on the piece:

Q: What do you think you communicate about Sactown better than anyone else?
A: I guess there are certain constraints on serious journalism, but we’re not constrained, we’re just being the snarky jokester.

David Barton is a great guy, but can anybody else tell that he/The Bee changed this question for print?

UPDATE: Heckasac calls b.s. I call jealousy. The News & Review is good too.

Kinda cool at 55 Degrees

Capitol Mall’s new venue for politico, lawyer and banker types was named 55 Degrees to reference the best temperature for wine storage. After visiting there a couple times, I think the name is more apropos for its room temperature. Truth be told, I’m always cold in restaurants, and 55 Degrees is not any colder than the rest – but all the modernist touches give it a cool, almost sterile, environment.

The restaurant is walled by glass, and nearly everything inside has right angles – even the appetizer plates. It’s quite a contrast from the still popular Il Fornaio just across the street. Unlike Ilfo’s large bar area with lots of tables and even a couple little sofas, 55’s cocktail area is comprised only of the actual bar – a very square bar. So, 55’s bar is fine for two people, not so fine for larger groups or socializing. It is a full bar, but the stock of hard stuff pales in comparison to the wonderful wine list.

I like 55 quite a bit – the appetizers are delectable! the service is fabulous! – and am sure I will end up there with my boyfriend for many post-work cocktails (mostly because he works in that building). But if I’m doing downtown drinks with the girls, we’re headed to Il Fornaio.

GOLD LINE DOWN! But Sac driver saves the day.

This morning I arrived at my stop along the new “Gold Line” (formerly Sunrise line) on the light rail. You know, the one that’s been expanded to go to Folsom. When it runs. Everyone was milling around and there were about 5 times as many commuters as normal. After a few minutes it was clear that a) the train was not coming and b) it had not come for a while, leaving so many extra commuters waiting at my stop. Rumors were flying – that the train had just stopped one stop up, that there was some kind of threat to the train, etc. There was an RT truck parked but no RT worker and no sign posted with information. Finally, just as I was contemplating the bus map to figure out an alternate way to work, a bus driver came up and shouted that the whole line was down both directions and had been for over an hour. She said the stop before ours had at least 100 people waiting, so even when the train started again it would take several passes before we could fit on.
Continue reading “GOLD LINE DOWN! But Sac driver saves the day.”

Smart drivers 1, jackhole drivers 0

Stalled Vehicle

Sacramento freeways lend themselves to aggravation. There’s something about the process of merging in the River City that just doesn’t work the way it should. Too many lanes to merge? Shoulders that are too large and inviting for “cheaters”? Stupid people that simply don’t understand the concept? I’m sure we’d all agree it is a combination of the three. Well, my friends, yesterday’s commute home was one where justice was served. I was making my way onto Business 80 (Capital City Freeway still?) as I do every weekday evening via the J/I street onramp. Anyone that makes this move knows that people just LOVE to try and cheat their way through usually by driving on the side of the road for as long as they can ultimately cutting someone off and being forced to stop traffic and merge (force) their way in. It’s traffic, remember, that’s a lot of cars going the same way at the same time. Short story long, I witnessed this dude in a BMW behind me weaving in and out of traffic making every effort to advance his ride. He was receiving gestures from other drivers and basically increasing the level of stress in an already tense moment. Well, as is rare in this day and age, our smooth operator was rewarded for his behavior with a blown radiator and was forced to pull over and request assistance from the driver’s he had moments ago irritated. Booya.

Cruiser Chick(s) revealed!

Much the same way the now infamous photo of Sasquatch was engrained in our minds as youngsters, I couldn’t believe my eyes this afternoon when I came across a gaggle of cruiser chicks on Alhambra. As promised, I quickly reached for my low resolution camera phone to capture this moment for eternity. As you can imagine this illusion departed as fast as it arrived. But not before my Sprint LG went to work thus pulling back the curtain on one of the most puzzling mysteries in Sacramento history. Cruiser chick, I’ve outted you!

Mason’s: So Far, the Best

Mason’s is where it’s AT! (And that’s saying a lot since I rarely end sentences with prepositions.) I checked out Mason’s, it’s my new fave. Design: uber-modern. People: probably too early to tell, but I spied mostly polished, semi-hoity-toity types. Service: impeccable (one of my friends found it annoyingly constant, though). Bar menu: lengthy and of the best quality. And let’s not forget about location. I don’t mean geographic, I mean proximity – to other bar venues.

Several years ago, most of Sac’s good bars were isolated. Meaning you’d have to DRIVE in order to bar hop. (I am not really a fan of bar hopping for its own sake, rather I like to have the option to go next door if my original destination is too crowded. Or empty. Or boring.) I remember the Centro/Blue Cue/Harlow’s corner was convenient …
Continue reading “Mason’s: So Far, the Best”

Fun with labels

So it appears the “person of interest” in the Christie Wilson case had some of her hair in his car and is now being considered a “suspect” (Reader’s note: Still no word, like at all, on the missing Rio Linda foster mother).

At our last Sac Rag staff meeting we were laughing about this term “person of interest” and how it has made its way into our lexicon in recent years. I found an interesting article from 2004 that discusses it and brings up some great points.

“It’s a sloppy, irresponsible term,” said Ted Gup, journalism professor at Case Western Reserve University and a former Washington Post reporter. “Once you cast a pall of suspicion on someone, you can’t subsequently say, “I didn’t mean anything by that.’ It’s like trying to get the toothpaste back into the tube.”

Continue reading “Fun with labels”

Folsom RT Woes

Apparently the huge popularity of the newly opened Folsom light-rail line caught Regional Transit off guard, too. I know that nobody likes the backseat urban planning guy (especially when he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about), but I’d like to know how something as large as a commuter rail line gets completed without a clear picture of how it’s going to be used. Survey, anyone? Polling? Calling random numbers? Anything ringing a bell?

But from the picture of RT this article paints, I guess the lack of user sampling is not the biggest obstacle RT faces.

Last week, a consultant for the south line extension told an RT committee it now looks like capital costs for that extension will be $150 million – a whopping $38 million more than anticipated.

And that’s not the only project over budget. If the people at RT misplace their tickets, they might want to look up their collective ass.
Continue reading “Folsom RT Woes”