Kings sign back-up center

The signing of of center Maurice Taylor was announced by the Sacramento Kings yesterday:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings signed veteran forward Maurice Taylor on Tuesday.

Taylor, who spent the past 1.5 years with the New York Knicks,averaging 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds last season. He has alsoplayed for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets in a nine-year NBA career.

Kings coach Eric Musselman expects to use Taylor as a backup center behind Brad Miller.

“We look forward to having him provide us with some additional depth, flexibility and veteran experience on our front line,” said Geoff Petrie, the Kings’ president of basketball operations. “We think he’ll fit in really well.”

Unsubstantiated reports also indicate that Taylor loves the cities of Las Vegas and Anaheim.

The real live bunch from Coney

A few observations from my morning RT commute today:

I saw a “tag” under the I-5 J street offramp that read “The Warriors,” as in the dystopian 70s gang film. Does this mean that the kids are getting smarter (or at least more into kitsch popcult references)? Or does it mean that graffiti artists are just getting older. Any other Warriors fans out there?

Can anyone tell me what they’re doing with those long narrow concrete pillars on the site of The Towers? There are several dozen sticking out of the ground at different heights which leads me to assume they are being tested for strength or something. Anybody have any experience with skyscraper construction?

MasterCarding George W. Bush

As many of you know, The President of the United States of America just passed through town.  If you didn’t know, and you blinked, you didn’t miss anything.

However, you have to give it to Dubya.  He’s coming to a state where he has a 66% disapproval rating, and where the Republican Governor won’t even see him (in fact, Arnold took off to LA while Bush was here).  But, George’s fellow GOPs here in NorCal needed his help.  Here is a quick synopsis of Bush’s activities while he was around:

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Made in China-Call To Readers

I’ve become quite disenchanted with the state of Chinese food in the Capitol region.  I’m stuck wandering between my two favorite places, Chinois and the Mandarin.  The Mandarin is steady, predictable and delicious and Chinois is hit and miss depending on what you order.  Every other Chinese joint in town either offers cheap, greasy, floavorless fare in unappetizing surroundings or skips all pretenses and goes straight to buffet.  What am I missing?  Where, oh faithful reader, should I go to experience fine Chinese cuisine and not grease noodles with grade D meat chunks thrown in?  Where is the fine hot and sour soup, the glazed duck and top rate general’s chicken?  And if anyone says “P.F. Chang’s” I will punch him in the throat.

Presidents, beware

SacBee.com has a breaking news story regarding the arrest of a Sacramento-area man accused of “sending threatening letters containing a powdery substance to the El Dorado Hills country club where President Bush will appear Tuesday.”

Hmmmmm … seems Sacramento isn’t a great place for presidents to visit. Remember Squeaky Fromme, who tried to kill President Ford in Capitol Park?

Comments, login weirdness

By the way, authors and commenters alike: The system does appear to know that you’re logged in, it just doesn’t tell you that. No matter what you put for your “Name” in the comment form, if you’re logged in, it’s going to use your display name.

Any frequent commenters who haven’t already (and that’s all but one of you)… go ahead and register for a subscriber account and lock in that screen name!

Interstate the obvious

Breaking news. CBS13.com is reporting that California’s roads are bad:

A new report by a group called the Road Improvement Project found that the state has some of the worst major roads and highways.

It ranked the ten US urban areas with the greatest share of substandard roads, based on how bad drivers are shaken around in their cars. Five of them are in California…

Guess who rounded out the California’s Bumpy 5 and made top bottom seven on the list?

And Sacramento scored seventh worse. Fifty percent of its roads don’t meet the group’s standards.

At least now you can justify that Hummer.

Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm

The Cool family took a drive out to Wheatland to meet up with some other families at the Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm yesterday. While not as eventful as last year’s pumpkin patch outing, Bishop’s is a great experience. The family run attraction has quality pumpkins, plenty of hay (including a hay “bounce house”), a petting zoo, a corn maze and carnival food. But that’s where most patches end–Bishops’s is just getting started.
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