Tag: idiots

Das Haus

As I run, bike, and drive around the greater 95864-95825-95821 ‘hoods, I see countless houses that have no resemblance at all to the original neighborhood homes. While a number of remodels have been completed beautifully that complement the vibe of the neighborhood, there are some which I’m sure make the collective neighbors’ skin crawl.

I’m talking mostly about “architectural fusion” elements that combine too many features that flagrantly do not go together.  Construction on some of these homes has been shoddy — I honestly saw a drooping balcony on one house in Arden Oaks.

Now I’m not saying every neighborhood should dictate exactly how a homeowner remodels his or her house, or telling people what color they can and can’t paint their house, but there seems to be a lack of common sense, eye for design, and courtesy to others who have to live next door to some of these abodes.

Please feel free to be specific about what you’ve seen recently — anyone in the Arden Park neighborhood can probably share their sentiments about one particular recent remodel.

Mix-n-match fusion at Three Monkeys

Today I passed a new establishment next to the Starbucks at St. Rose of Lima called Three Monkeys. Tagline: Saloon – Broiler – Sushi. Finally, you’re thinking, a place where I can get my chop and my sasparilla with a California roll on the side.

This raises several questions. First, is there a county or city office somewhere that when you walk through the door you are automatically granted a license to open a restaurant or bar? Second, how much is too much with the gimmicky restaurants? I would say that mashing up a 19th century term for a watering hole with sushi means we’re at least 80% of the way to the bottom of the barrel. What do you all think?

Natomas Flooded in Media Controversy

This controversy over free publications makes me think of ripping down someone else’s “Vote for me!” student council campaign sign and replacing it with your own:

A Natomas media rivalry has turned ugly, with owners of two local publications each claiming the other has stolen stacks of the competitor’s periodicals from the rack.

In one case, Natomas Journal publisher Will Craig was caught on surveillance tape in August picking up a stack of N Magazines from the South Natomas Community Center, replacing them with his own newspaper and dumping the rival publication in an outside recycling bin…

Craig said he simply was sending a message to the people connected with N Magazine because he believes they have been stripping his racks for 21 months.

I understand, only remotely, that it’s important to the publishers to tell advertisers what their circulation is and where their publication is offered; however, doesn’t getting rid of the rival’s rag artificially increase the number of publications being taken?

At least he’s recycling them.

An unique twist on a common occurrence

We’re at the point here at the Sac Rag that we don’t even bother reporting on “normal” crashes involving a vehicle and a living room (unless it’s a two-fer, of course), but this one is different. While Sacramento isn’t making a name for itself on any “best place to…” list, it does continue to bring its “A” game in this arena.

Sacramento police say around 9:20 p.m. one of its officers and the driver of a Honda crashed into one another on Village Star Drive and Franklin Boulevard. The impact sent the Honda into the living room of a nearby home.

Wow, huh? I wonder what happened. High speed pursuit? Drunk driver? Man, what could it have been? I must read on…

Police say there are no indications that speed or alcohol lead to the crash.

Oh, ok, Police, sure that’s enough for me. I’ll move on now.

Yellow journalism at the Bee?

I’m wondering what other people think about the Bee’s stirring article yesterday on “wounds that have festered for some time between Sacramento’s gay community and members of the Slavic evangelical community,” brought to clearer light by the beating death on July 1 of Satender Singh at Lake Natoma.

But I think it’s irresponsible for the Bee to make the jump that the attackers are part of that church. The tragedy of Satender Singh’s death is a reality. The danger represented by the tensions between the gay community and anti-gay Slavic Christians is a reality. But the lone thread connecting those two stories is that the attackers spoke Russian.

One need only read the comments on the Bee’s article to see how quickly readers picked up on the Bee’s assumption that these attackers were motivated in any way by their church. Some commenters go so far as to advocate closing the nation’s borders to prevent entry by “these people.” The only reason such commenters think this has anything to do with Christians is because the Bee made that assumption.

I feel like this might only inflame those tensions by putting it in the minds of readers that all Russian-speaking Sacramentans are necessarily bigots. If it’s true that those bastards, when they are caught, were influenced by the church’s rhetoric, then we have a problem. But until that is known, isn’t it irresponsible to cast the net as wide as the Bee has done?

A plea for niceness

Three run-ins with idiots this weekend reminded me that our area has a real rudeness problem. I was asleep at the wheel earlier this summer when news arrived that area drivers are some of the worst in the country and I think our stupid and reckless driving can spill over into stupid and rude encounters. I was having trouble formulating this until I read TalkingPocket’s comment.

My favorite (i.e. least favorite) kind of rude idiot is the kind who is rude while in the giving or accepting of a favor. They come in two varieties: the rude favor acceptor and the rude favor giver. The rude favor acceptor usually comes in the form of a pedestrian who waves you on when you pull up to a Stop sign (usually clearly marked for cars with a red Octagonal sign). Dude, guy, buddy, I’m tryin to throw you a bone here.

Continue reading “A plea for niceness”

County pays for medical neglect of inmate

The Bee reports today that the County has settled with a former inmate who was suing over neglect for a cut on his hand. Health care reform is all the rage these days, but something about this case tells me it’s not going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back…

Ricky Kirk, in jail on a spousal abuse charge in 2004, had cut the palm of his hand on his wife’s teeth while hitting her in the mouth.

It’s all the rage

Most have you have probably heard by now that Sacramento ranks #8 nationally for road rage.

As someone who spends a great deal of time on the road during the average workday, this comes as no surprise to me. People tailgate, switch lanes quickly, then gun it — only to end up at the same red light as the person they were trying to pass. I know with certainty that if I leave a safe distance between me and the car ahead of me, someone will cut me off to take that space. Continue reading “It’s all the rage”