The Movies On a Big Screen schedule for December was announced, and if you’re a fan of hearing about The Replacements without actually hearing the Replacements, or of Christmas films both great and terrible, this is your month.
First up is “Color Me Obsessed,” the new documentary about “the only band that mattered,” seminal 1980s rockers The Replacements:
Continue reading “December MOBS: Replacements doc, Christmas films”
I noticed this sign at my local Togo’s/Baskin-Robbins eatery yesterday (another awesome photo, so you’ll have to take my word for it).
Every Night is Family Night
9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Something for $1.00
Something Else for $1.50
Hope they don’t come out with a happy hour…
Driving into work this morning I noticed two billboard advertisements for Raley’s/Bel Air along U.S. Highway 50 and Interstate 5 featuring a Wheel of Fortune style word puzzle. Is this a great idea? I managed to get “All Natural” together before I almost rear-ended the car in front of me.
Anyone else see these ads?
It is comforting to know that while our country continues to battle over percentages, professional sports press on to keep us entertained distracted. But, of course, since professional sports is comprised of mostly people (a ball is usually involved) there has to be conflict. We learned last week that Major League Baseball agreed to a five-year deal collective bargaining agreement that really ironed out some key issues. Phew.
Other highlights of the deal include:
- Players will be required to play in the All-Star Game unless injured or excused.
- Players, managers and coaches may not use smokeless tobacco products during televised interviews and may not carry them in their uniforms.
- Players arrested for DWI will be required to undergo mandatory evaluation.
Yes, a “highlight” of a labor agreement involved what to do with players arrested for driving under the influence. How about an agreement that players not drive under the influence? I know, I know, crazy talk.
And now we learn that the NBA has confirmed the Players Union and League Owners have come to a tentative deal that will end the lockout with the 2011-12 NBA season beginning on Christmas Day.
Commissioner David Stern says the two sides have reached a “tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations.”
For the love the game, right? Continue reading “Very complex machinations”
Tomorrow (November 24th) marks the 24th annual Appetite Enhancement Ride, a uniquely local Sacramento event founded and spearheaded by Two Rivers Cider Company. Every year, hundreds of folks hop on their bikes, party it up, and raise thousands of dollars for local charities, including the Sac Bike Kitchen, WEAVE, Sol Collective, Mustard Seed School, and natural disaster relief. Join them for a healthy ride, great food and libations from almost a dozen breweries.
The fun begins at the California Auto Museum at 9AM and lasts all day. Even if you don’t feel like riding, come out and give a little thanks to the many local businesses who support this event. Admission is free, so bring some cash for when they pass the hat!
Info at their Facebook page.
I drove down K Street this week. It was life changing. Honestly, it was like finally being able to sit in the front seat when I was 8 years old. ‘Twas a whole different view on life. And then, it was over. A two block drive ended rather rapidly. With nowhere to park and nowhere to even pull over and drop off diners/moviegoers/homeless people, the thoroughfare felt a bit hurried. It felt like one of those amusement park rides that you wait in line for for about an hour only to have the ride last about as long as a 14-yr-old boy’s first night of passion. It did, however, bring me by Pizza Rock.
Let me say this right away. I don’t like Pizza Rock. I don’t like the weird Sistine Chapel ceiling; I don’t like the Peterbuilt driving through the wall; I don’t like the feeling that I’m in an Indian casino or an adult Chuck E. Cheese (which I guess is the same as an Indian casino). But, and this is a serious but here, the food is pretty damned good, almost awesome.
Fried string beans. Delicious. Plain pepperoni. Ridiculous. Margherita. Yummy. 22 oz. Morettis. Score. Dessert calzone (stuffed with apples, caramel, and ricotta). Tastier than a taste of tastiness.
What else can I say. It’s amazingly good pizza. Fresh toppings, good cheese, subtle sauce, great dough. What more could I want? Well I could want Tony Bennet and Dean Martin videos on the flat screen instead of Poison and Quiet Riot, but I’ll opt for good food over good music in this instance.
Pizza Rock- 1020 K St. 916.737.5777Â
Food ***1/2 Service *** Atmosphere **
The maybe-late-to-the-game-but-sure-to-dominate-the-market-eventually Google Offers program added Sacramento today along with Detroit, Indianapolis, Ft. Worth, Long Beach, and St. Louis.
The first deal in Sacramento?
Sacramento: $5 for $15 of burgers, sandwiches, salads and more at Hamburger Patties
The days of ’50s diners may be long gone, but you can still get a great burger, fries and shake in Sacramento at Hamburger Patties. With 18 different burger offerings, 16 sandwiches, weekend brunch, a separate menu for vegetarians and mighty meal choices for kids, Hamburger Patties is a go-to spot for River City residents.
I’ll see what kind of offers I receive, but I did enjoy the “Look inside” (360-degree view) feature which is something Google has going for it, I am sure.
The Bee reports today that Power Balance, the company that lent its name to the building in which the Kings aren’t playing, filed for bankruptcy. Apparently a court found that their bracelets don’t do much more than sit unattractively on your wrist, leading to a class action suit in which the company was liable for the $30 plus $5 s/h for every single person that bought one of the useless pieces of jewelry.
Now I’m not sure what this says about the Kings/Maloofs/city of Sacramento/Federal Reserve Bank, but I do know what it says about stepping up your athletic performance: equipment is rarely the answer.
Riding home from Folsom yesterday on the American River Parkway, I noticed a lot of fisherman lined up along the Nimbus Dam. I thought this was a bit odd for a Thursday afternoon, so I took a few photos. As I road past the Nimbus Fish Hatchery I noticed a lot of birds congregating in a shallow area of the river. So, I stopped to investigate. I ran into a nice woman who was also interested in what was going on. She informed me that this was the annual salmon run.
Department of Fish and Game opened the gates at the hatchery’s fish ladder Tuesday to begin collection salmon for the fall spawn. Each year, the Nimbus Hatchery raises 4.2 million salmon. In a brilliant display of nature, the salmon flip their powerful fins and lunge from the water as they climb the hatchery’s ladder. At the top, the fish are stunned by an electric jolt and then spawned by hatchery workers.
Yikes. That is some reward for a hard day’s (week’s? month’s?) work. I am curious to check out the fish ladder though (very cool photos).
The Nimbus Hatchery fish ladder on the American River opened for the fall salmon run. Several hundred salmon most of them jumping swam up the fish ladder to the delight of crowd that lined the fences. After about an hour over 700 salmon of the 1,500 needed were in the hatchery.
It is stuff like this that reminds that I need to get out more. We have some pretty cool things going on in this area.
In this News10 story about California losing green businesses (nice effect with the scrolling list of businesses leaving California during the piece), we learn that “the number of companies moving out of the state is five times higher than the rate of companies that moved out of California in 2009.” The two main causes of this exodus are said to be regulations and energy costs, but what I found most interesting was the lack of an organized effort by the state to lure/keep businesses to California.
Business owners said California can learn from other states who are working hard to attract business. Krehnke said many cities they toured went into “pageant mode.” “[We were assigned] a dedicated person to call anytime to ask questions,” Krehnke said. “They arranged meetings with the mayor so we got very good exposure to the right people. We were educated on incentives and they went out of their way to put themselves in a good light.”
What would Sacramento look like if it went into “pageant mode”? My guess is it would do well in the swimsuit competition, but really struggle in the question and answer piece. But, seriously, what’s going on here? Continue reading “Sacramento in “pageant mode””
The Sac Rag 