Oversized sunglasses catch a break

Go Girl! Energy Drink

Ok, kissmekate, you’re officially off the hook. That is, my latest “enough already” thing is with energy drinks. It’s bad enough that you can’t find a picture of Demi Moore or Britney Spears NOT holding a can of this stuff, but now there are so many wannabe energy drinks hitting the market I just can’t take it. I thought Kabbalah Energy Drink was the worst of the worst (the link has a great review, btw, check it out) but today at Rite Aid on Alhambra I found a display of the all new Go Girl! energy drink.

Although Go Girlâ„¢ is not marketed as a mixer, many women enjoy it with vodka and other fun mixers. Go Girlâ„¢ is a functional drink that enhances the body and mind. If you have over indulged the night before try a Go Girlâ„¢.

Ugh.

UPDATE: As runnergirl1971 noticed, Go Girl is distributed by Nor-Cal Beverage Co. of West Sacramento. Apparently the drink is being well received. I guess there really is no accounting for lightly carbonated with a fruit-punch flavor, a natural herbal appetite suppressant, vitamins geared toward women, and about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, taste.

Re: Libeskind and Sacramento

Amanda from My Urban Vista beat me to the punch on the giant sign advertising the designer of Aura, a future 36-story residential building going up opposite the Downtown Plaza. She’s got real smarty-smart book learnt things to say about it, so all I’ll add is that it looks to me like the building developers are trying to do that Target thing, where they sell us the product by selling us the designer. That trend is getting ridiculous at Target–at first when it was Isaac Mizrahi, that worked because he had name recognition for more than a handful of fashion-lovers–and using it on an architect is simply weird.

Casino Gunman Finds Loophole

So it turns out the gunman that injured two sheriff’s deputies at a Lake Tahoe casino on Saturday showed suicidal tendencies and bought firearms at a local dealer just hours before the shooting.

A 1993 gun control law known as the Brady Bill prohibits the sale of handguns to felons and requires a waiting period and licensing on their purchase. But the law does not apply to antiques.

I guess that proves the old saying: “Guns don’t kill people, antique guns purchased through loopholes in gun control laws kill people.”

Macaroni Mayhem

Had some friends over for dinner this weekend. It was sort of a busy day leading up to dinner that we decided to use a gift card we had for the Macaroni Grill (yeah, yeah, I know). So we call up the place with our order. Decide to use the “curbside pick-up” feature which apparently is better than driving to the restaurant and going in and picking up the food and leaving. No, no, they understand you are in a hurry and so after describing your car to them they will meet you out front with your order and you’re all set. Yep, all set.

Before I continue, would someone please explain how to navigate the Alta Arden, Ethan Way, Arden Mall layout? You know what I mean, if not, let Google help you out. Try making sense of those arrows. I came in on Arden, exited on Alta Arden and within 2 minutes was leaving town on Business 80 toward San Francisco…
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Ixnay on the Acism-ray

If I have to hear one more time how Bishop Alphonse Gallegos, being put up by the Sacramento Catholic diocese for sainthood, was “known as the ‘lowrider’ bishop“, I’m not sure what I’ll do but it will be full of righteous indignation. Has anyone actually heard the phrase “barrio bishop” or “lowrider bishop” before, say, this weekend? I only remember him being called “Bishop Gallegos” or “the Auxiliary Bishop” or “Alphonse” (non-Catholics my think that’s a joke, but there’s actually this one prayer during mass that goes “Jesus this Jesus that blah blah bow your heads, [INSERT FIRST NAME OF BISHOP].”)

While we’re at it, can we re-re-name the Alhambra Blvd. Safeway store “Alhambra Safeway,” and reserve the word “ghetto” for its literal meaning, namely the part of town reserved for mistreated minorities.

On second thought, this may be a losing cause. Check out this screenshot of Merriam-Webster’s and the Google ads I got when I searched for the snarky real definition of “ghetto.” Ugh.

Holiday Touring

For those of you long time Sacramento (down/mid town, east sac-ish) residents you’re sure to know Christmas is right around the corner when Sacred Heart Parish School holds its “most ambitious fundraiser of the year.” That’s right, going on today through Sunday is the 2005 Holiday Home Tour:

Join us for the 32nd year of our self-guided tour of six magnificent homes decorated for the holidays by top interior designers and florists. View the wonderful architecture and experience the creative design ideas of some of the region’s most talented designers.

Remember, ticket organizers are predicting another sellout so get your tickets now! Oh, and “children over the age of 1 must have their own ticket“, it’s a fundraiser for goodness sake! And another thing, leave those Doc Marten’s at home, too…

To protect the homes’ floors and carpets, we respectfully ask tourgoers to remove their shoes or wear booties provided at the door. Tour organizers strongly advise tourgoers to wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off.

And lastly, I’m sure those Jesuit Marauders CoolDMZ wrote about earlier will just be getting back from their “experiment” when you arrive in time to greet you at the door!

Home Sales Skepticism

CoolDMZ is many things. I was told recently by my 2-year-old that I’m “just a man who loves stickers,” for example. But one of the things I am not is a real estate or economics expert. So take the following with a few dashes of salt (to taste).

When I read that there are indicators of slowing home sales, I expect to be told of the number of actual home sales, since a sale indicates an actual transaction–demand being met by supply, capital being exchanged for capital. So in the above article, as in so many others, I only get the number of houses being supplied by the market, my skepticism alarm goes off. If three times as many homes are for sale this month as there were last year, that means crap to me about home sales unless I know how many of those homes were bought. Maybe there is a terminology problem here–maybe “home sales” really does mean “for sale signs posted.”
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Save it, stretch

Some don’t-miss piss and vinegar from Heckasac this morning on Aileen Voisin’s most recent call for a new home for da Kings. I never quite buy the argument that the pharoah skipping town unless the serfs build him a new pyramid is the serfs’ fault. If it’s purely a business decision, then the people have the power to pay or not pay, just as much as the owers have the power to stay or not stay. Me rhymey.

Homeless for a day

Did anybody else catch the KCRA story on the Jesuit boys camping out in Friendship park last night to learn how homeless people live? No, not helping the homeless people, just pretending to be homeless for 24 hours. Because otherwise, how are we supposed to know if living on the street in the rain with no money is all it’s cracked up to be?

Full disclosure: I’m a Jesuit grad (what up ’94!), so I am not going to deal in generalities here. This situation is more about this specifics: you needed to see the report to get the full flavor. From Leticia Ordaz calling spending a night in the rain because you’re homeless “roughing it,” to the concept of needing to play homeless to understand what it might be like, to film crews taping sleeping homeless people, this KCRA piece did not depict Catholic charity at its finest.

Support your local post office

With the holiday season fast approaching (yes, I refuse to admit that it is upon us already) I wanted to provide you with a recommendation (a new Sac Rag category you’ll notice) on where to go to ship those presents and returns.

We all know we have many options when it comes to shipping. You have your Fed Ex, your UPS, your DHL, but what if you don’t want to pay a premium price AND be treated like you’re a bother? Give the new United States Postal Service a shot. Specifically, give your local USPS branch at 1618 Alhambra Blvd a looksee. I’ve been finding myself needing to send packages a lot recently so I stopped by this branch a while back on my lunch break. I’ve been back 3 or 4 times since and I’ll be damned if the folks there aren’t the nicest, if not a little odd, guys in town. And if Norris serves you, you’re really in luck. Plus, they employ the feeder line system with grace and efficiency.

It used to be that going to the Post Office was a death wish. You avoided it like Wal Mart (waa waa waa). But they’ve stepped it up and really provide some great prices and great service. And if your package is of normal size and weight you can even use their self service machine which is a real plus when you’re in a hurry. Easy to use, easy to pay, the works. And the delivery times are impressive.