Sac Town Guy - Blah, blah, blah

Groundbreaking for Children's Museum set for Wednesday - Latest News - sacbee.com

2009-10-17T11:25:00.001-07:00

Groundbreaking for Children's Museum set for Wednesday - Latest News - sacbee.com

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Another kook

2009-07-09T09:28:00.001-07:00

Kitty Kat was up at the Safeway in G'bay the other day when she snapped this photo with her Iphone. After Kitty Kat put down the divider, to segregate her purchases from this kook in front of her the kooky lady put her arm down on top of the divider... AND LEFT HER F'ING ARM THERE THE WHOLE TIME. Several minutes. Kitty Kat told the lady, "I put the divider there..." but the lady just sort of ignored her and kept her arm there. Are you kidding me!? What kind of kook is that!? Is she worried our boxes of cereal may contaminate whatever she is buying? Does she really not think the divider that has been used for years at grocery stores is good enough? I don't know about you but I have shopped thousands of times at stores with the dividers and never once seem a person throw their arm down like that. I really am not sure what I would do but props to Kitty Kat for snapping off the photo.

By the way, nice sunglasses lady! Those are kooky lady glasses. Even before you threw your own "divider" down I would have been able to tell you were a nut job. Those glasses are only for wearing home from the eye doctor. Then you throw them away!

By the way, changing subjects, Kitty Kat and myself got the Iphones a couple weeks ago and we love them! I don't know how we lived without them before. Seriously the thing is amazing. Good quality photos as you can see above. The darn games you can download are addicting though so you might try holding off on them.

Peace out.

RIP Crazy Mike

2009-06-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but right up there with the Farrah poster, in terms of EPIC-ness, was the Off the Wall album. We played that thing over and over and over back in the late 70's. So many #1's on that record I can't count them all. Mike had a few screws loose but he could sing and dance that is for sure. RIP

Posters

2009-06-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

For guys around age 40, is there a more famous poster? Did any guy not own this thing? RIP Farrah.

The Tap

2009-05-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

This story started a couple months back and I didn't know where to go with it. However, during a morning bike ride today it came together. It may be long so bear with me.... Oh ya, as for that bike ride it was 33 miles to my office this morning and I am tired. However, I am really dreading the 33 miles back when it's 90-something degrees. I may have to take the more direct route which will cut it to 22 or so... naw, that's for wimps!

Anyway back to my story... my kids are 5 and 6. I like to think they don't "see" skin color. That is, Kitty Kat and myself try not to describe someone by the color of their skin but instead look for other attributes to describe them. Obviously we would not make derogatory comments or sterotypical jokes. The kids thus have no reason to think anything different of a person regardless of their skin color. A couple months back Kitty Kat and the kids were at swim practice. After practice the kids sit in the jacuzzi and mess around. The little dude had a problem with another kid, as there is a lot of rough housing in the oversized jacuzzi, and came over to Kitty Kat to explain his problem.

He said to her, "that brown kid is pushing me...." The "brown kid" was African American. How nice is that to see that my kids don't think to call someone "black" or even "African American." It's just another kid who happens to have brown skin. I liked the story but didn't know where to go with it. Let me see if I can connect this around for you....

Back in eighty six the SacTownGuy graduated high school down in LA. The school was racially diverse. I don't remember the numbers but I would guess it was 65% "minorities" and 35% whiteboys but that's just a guess. The question then is who is the "minority," right? It was a public school located in central LA which drew from all parts of the city. Anyway, I left there with a strong interest in gang life and rap music among other things. No the SacTownGuy was not in a gang. I just found it interesting.

So the SacTownGuy went off to college and the college pairs you with another "similar" person right? So what's the first criteria they looked at back then? Yes, sex first and then what was second? Race, of course. We had 4 guys in my suite and my roommate, that first semester, was another white guy. He was from Mendocino county. Ok, for those that don't know that's about as far away from LA, in geography, culture and everything as is possible in the great state of Cali. Yes our skin color was the same but our similarties ended there. He was a pot smoking, heavy metal music, muscle car driving, long hair, very white guy. I was rap music listening, VW driving, short hair, and as far as I knew at the time, hip dude! Our two suite mates were paired by ethnicity; a Hispanic and an African American. Did the people that selected that pair never read about jail life in California prisons and who fights the most between each other?

Well anyway, I became much better friends with the African American guy, "DJ." He was a middle class kid from Seattle. Our interests were much more alligned than my interest with the heavy metal dude from Mendo. DJ and I became good friends and he became my roommate the second semester. The pot smoker left and was busted a month later for selling drugs out of his dorm room. Imagine if he had been busted when I was roommates with him... would I have been implicated? Could have changed the course of my life. Anyway, DJ was the coolest guy. DJ was a football player, a smooth dresser, always had the sunglasses on but low on his nose, walked slow and very cool, never in a rush, and was really the epitome of a cool cat! He was so cool he ironed his underwear!

DJ was pledging a major fraternity at the time. We won't say the name but let's just say it's the "O" fraternity. We were roommates during his pledge period which was eye opening to me. We thought we hazed in my fraternity and then DJ told me some stories. I thought it was so cool I instituted some of their hazing ideas into our pledge program. The last week of my fraternity's pledge program, until they got kicked off campus in the 90's, included carrying a brick, wearing the same cloths all week, not showering, and a whole host of other things that the O fraternity did. I was so into their fraternity and their ownership I had my fraternity nickname changed to "My Frat." To this day I bet if I see my man Matt C down in LA he will say to me, "good morning big brother My Frat Sir, how is your day going...." All learned from O frat.

Well, anyway the O frat likes to get "tapped" after they cross into the brotherhood after the pledge period. They got big O's branded onto their arms. One Sunday night we were sitting around chopping it up... cuz you know I didn't study a lot! DJ was there, Terry, Vinski and I think my man D-latz also. I believe it was Terry who came up with the idea and started bending a coat hanger into the shape of a triangle to represent the first letter of my frat, Delta Sigma Phi. It actually was a two piece brand with two sides of the triangle on one piece and then a second piece which made the bottom of the triangle. He did think to scrape the paint off also... because branding toxic paint into one's skin probably wouldn't be good!

We went over the Vinski's apartment on campus because he had a stove to heat up the brand. I should say I was stone cold sober that night. DJ, Terry, Vinski and I believe also D-latz and my man Jimmy, aka: The Top Mack Nigga was there. Doing the brand first involves numbing the arm. This was done by repeatedly slapping my arm (which did start to hurt a little bit) until it was really red and then icing it down. Once it was determined to be numb Vinski lit the stove, heated up the two sides of the triangle, gave the first piece of the brand to Terry, and Terry applied it to my arm. Guess what? Well, my arm was wet from the ice and thus the brand slipped creating a bigger triangle than planned but it turned out fine. I felt ok so they did the second part of the brand and applied it to my arm. Sizzzzzzle. My brand was done. It honestly did not hurt. However, I started to smell my burning skin and fell to the ground. Not sure if I actually passed out but might have. I like to think that was my only weak point of the night but it was funny so has to be mentioned.

As mentioned in a previous post I should thank god that my white skin is not prone to keyloting and the brand totally faded within 6 or 7 years. It can not be seen today, 22 years later. I remember seeing my momz a week or two after I got the tap and she was appaled by it. More appalled than that dumb ear ring I got the first month after arriving at college. I had that thing for 8 months and still have the F'ing hole in my ear... mom was right about that one for sure!

How the heck does this all get back to my little dude talking about the brown kid? Well, I am not a professional writer so you can put that together. It worked for me so I went with it.

peace out.

Tats

2009-05-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am a snob. I admit it. I am also a little old fashion when it comes to a few things... However, what the f' is up with all the tattoos these days? I should point out that the SacTownGuy is super hip and liberal when it comes to things like gay marriage. Whatever! I don't care who marries who. Just want people to be happy. However, I can not get over the tattoo thing. Is it just me? I think they look ridicilous. Plus, so many of them SCREAM, "damn I was drunk that night...."

Let me, at this point, say that old dudes with tats from their days in the military are totally excluded from this blog. Same with guys with tats they got in jail. I am sure not going to bad mouth their tats. I am, rather, talking about the glamour tats. Dudes with big muscles with branch like tats all over their arms and chicks with big tats on the stripper spot.

Kitty Kat and I went down to Vegas this past weekend for some fun in the sun of sin city. Let me say that Vegas is truly SIN CITY! My gosh! Makes me blush just thinking about all the strip clubs they have there. I am mean really. How many people must go to a strip club while there!? It's amazing. No, we did not go to a strip club. I would think it's been 10 years since I saw the inside of a strip club. That's really a post for a different day....

Well, anyway we were kicking it by the pool at our hotel. We did the timeshare thing because I love a deal so we were at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club on the strip. It's down in the lower rent district by Circus Circus. We got three nights for $179 with $100 cash refund for doing the 90 minute timeshare tour. We thus got 3 nights for $79 and did NOT buy a timeshare!

So we were kicking it down at the HGVC which was very nice. Rooms were large, with separate living room and kitchen, jacuzzi tub, big TV's, etc.... The pool was smaller than the big hotels but nice. However, that is where we noticed it... damn they were a lot of people with tattoos.

With apologies to all my peeps with tats but we concluded there is pretty much a direct coorelation between number and/or square inch coverage of tattoos and a persons social class. Ok, I am snobby and old school on this but really. Other than the guys I saw walking down the strip at 7:30 AM with cans of Old Swill-waukee nothing yells WHITE TRASH like a bunch of nasty tattoos. Oh ya, the guys drinking cans of Old Swill at 7:30 in the AM is true. I went for an hour run down the strip and passed them around New York New York. They were just cruising the strip, drinking their beer, and they looked to me like they were looking for a Klan meeting possibly!?

Well anyway, back to the tats. I am not sure if they are worse than a cigarette but tats are pretty nasty to me. You are basically permanently imprinting something on your body which you WILL regret before too long. YES, I got the tap back in college. That is, I had my fraternity symbol branded onto my upper arm. Thank god my white skin is not prone to keyloting and the thing faded over the years and can now not be seen. That was a dumb mistake of an 18 year old college freshman. These people with tats are 35 and 45 years old. I just don't get it.

I don't have much more for you... except to say if you are ever in Gatlinburg, TN make sure to visit my buddy Flash at Gatlinburg Ink. Tell him the SacTownGuy sent you and I bet he will give you a deal on whatever body destruction... errrr I mean body art... you would like.

peace out.

Coupon Lady

2009-05-18T08:53:00.001-07:00

I went to Safeway up in G'Bay yesterday. It's a nice modern store in a high income area. I am not hating on people that use coupons. I used them back in the day but am just too lazy now. However, this lady was one of those people with the coupon organizers and EVERY single item had to be checked for a coupon as the cashier dragged it over the scanner. Are you f'ing kidding me? EVERY single item. As each item was scanned the cashier would look at the crazy customer who would then move to the correct letter of the alphabet. I only stood there for about 20 seconds before I realized I had to move but she had a coupon for just about everything. Reminds me of my old friend, Schmed, with the Flock of Segulls haircut in college. That dude rocked the coupons so hard he would get stuff for free quite often! You know, coupons, use them on triple coupon day, and buy stuff heavily on sale. Not sure if he needed the stuff or not but when it's free or near free why not, right!? Anyway, I dropped into the next line and ended up behind "heading to the lake guy." You know, 50ish, bathing suit, flip flops, shirt that was about 10 years old and 2 sizes too small to cover his beer belly, and he was buying beer! I know he was not from G'Bay... just rolling down Douglas to Folsom Lake... passing through and spending money up in my hood. Oh well, at least he just paid and got going. Damn coupon lady is probably still up there going through her little coupon organizer.

The Elements

2009-05-07T14:19:00.002-07:00

No I have not given up on the blog and no I have not been too busy... I just have not known what to talk about. Don't worry K-Bark in Utah a Utah blog will be coming up soon... I got some thoughts to share about the Bee Hive state!

I emailed this to my homie Frisbee Boy earlier today and decided it was bloggable material so here you go.... After having lunch with Frisbee Boy yesterday I was reminded that I need to be riding as much as possible… if I am going to drag my butt across Iowa in late July (www.RAGBRAI.org). Working at my Roseville office today I went out for an early morning ride from the crib. It was a good training ride for Iowa.

I slept in until 4:40, did 45 minutes of stretching, and started to put on my gear. You know it's cold this time of year in NorCal so need layers and need the tights! Plus, got to strap on the pink I-Pod, the bike shoes, the gloves, the sun glasses, the helmet, the watch, etc.... I hit the pavement at 5:45, touch of fog in the air, and headed toward the bike path. I rode through the hard streets of G'bay. Gated communities and fancy cars known as Granite Bay. I do like the Bay. Nice neighborhoods, nice cars, nice, nice, nice.... The ride was going fine as the sun started to lighten a little as I drove by the gates of GBCC.

The fog continued, and got worse, which caused my glasses to start to fog up. I made it the bike path in just under 30 minutes. I felt safer on the path as it was foggy and people would be rushing off to work. I thus was happy to be on the path for a nice easy ride! Everything was going fine though until I went under a little underpass on the bike path… which was full of water. I saw it at the last second, maybe could have slowed down, but decided to just blast through. My left leg was soaked.

I kept riding and the fog was building. By the time I got to Hazel, which is where I turned around, it was pretty foggy and water was starting to drip off my helmet. This was an hour into the ride. I had a sweat inside and mist outside.

About that time I passed a number of ducks. One mommy duck, with her babies, must have felt threatened as she lashed out at my leg to try and peck me. I instinctively lifted my foot off the pedal and avoided the peck. I passed another pack of ducks and was more careful to go all the way to the side of the bike path!

Near downtown Folsom I went through a corner with some loose dirt and felt my tires slide but I didn’t go down. Luckily I was riding my normal slow pace. Any faster I may have gone down!? I thought to myself how dangerous biking is. I was there on a bike path and there were hazards to bikes there. Makes no sense!

I continued on my way with fogged up glasses, water dripping, sweat building inside, and still a wet left foot! I got back to the flooded underpass and smartly slowed down… but not enough. Got drenched again… and this time my right foot was down. What a MORON!

I kept on rolling, off the bike path, back through the Bay, through the line of cars waiting to turn to the Bay's high school. It was like a who's who of nice cars: Escolade, Escolade, BMW, Lexus, etc... and those were probably the kid's cars! I weaved my way through the traffic on down to my crib on the wrong side of the tracks! Certainly not the Bay!

By the time I got home the fog was so thick it was like a drizzle. Glasses were completely wet, helmet dripping, sweating inside my thick shirt, and light layer of water all over me. Reminded me of that day at Ragbrai, in 2000, when it rained much of the day! I rode for just under 2 hours today and only got 28 miles in but I think that is my pace these days. I only stopped for two minutes at Hazel and one or two stop lights. Otherwise just steady riding for two hours.

All things considered it was a great way to start a day... and I still got my hoops game tonight!

peace out.

Disneyland

2009-02-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

Just got home from a week in So Cal. Spent the first few days in RAINEY LA (yes, really) and then spent 4 days in Anaheim at the "happiest place on earth." Let me start by saying I really really really prefer my SacTown lifestyle to that of LA. It is WAY too fast paced for this country bumpkin. Anyway, after a few days of $12 pancakes and $2.00 per twenty minute parking (Farmer's Market parking lot so we could go to the American Girl doll store) it was on to Disneyland. I should start by saying I am not a huge Disney guy. I had my fun there as a kid. I have very fond memories of weekends staying at the Disneyland hotel, pulling out "C" tickets for Autopia (after all the E tickets were used up), and riding that Monorail back and forth back and forth all day long without the parents. Of course I was about 11 or 12 years old at the time. Ahhhh, those for the days. Now I go because my wife and kids enjoy it but I am Disney neutral let's say.

Let me start by saying I realize a lot of adults (mostly women) love Disneyland even if they don't have kids. I am just not one of those guys. I sort of lump those guys in with the comic book reading, Star Trek watching, Dungeons and Dragons playing, crowd... which I was NEVER a part of. Speaking of mega-dorks, there was a Disney pin collectors convention going on this weekend. Oy vey!

Well, a couple days ago I jumped onto the Winnie the Pooh ride over by Flash Mountain... errrr, I mean Splash Mountain (google "disney and flash mountain") with the little girl. Ok, yes I was on the Winnie the Pooh ride becuase my 4 year old wanted to go. I basically took a nap... though I didn't actually fall asleep as I did on Pirate's of the Caribiean earlier that day. Anyway, sitting in front of us were two pretty normal looking dudes. Not mega-dorks... at least I didn't hear them talking about their Dungeon and Dragon's dice or anything like that. They had normal to cool looking hair cuts, cool looking glasses, etc.... They were in their early 20's and I didn't see any kids or girlfriends in sight. So WHY on earth were they riding Winnie the Pooh AND pointing stuff out? Did they work there? I honestly don't know. It was hard to get a good picture of them without being too obvious so here you go.

All in all we had a really nice trip. The kids loved Big Thunder Railroad, I took my dude to the arcade at Space Mountain (where I wasted away many a days back in the late 70's and early 80's), and we roamed all over Tom Sawyer's island (did you know the fort is now a storage place and not open to tour?). Plus had a couple of nice meals with the characters... though the dude would not sit through the dinner with the princesses because "princesses are horrible."

Long drive home today. Darn, that I-5 is long and boring!

Peace out.

The "S Word"

2009-02-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Having dinner with the family tonight and the little dude announces that he knows what the "S word" is. I was thinking to myself, "oh shit...." My dude is in kindergarten and my little girl is a year behind that... how the heck do they know what the "S word" is already!? Doesn't that seem young to you? I asked who told him and he told me that several friends told him; naming Lex, Max and a few of his other buddies. He then said, "daddy, do you want me to tell you what the S word is?" I said, "sure, why not...?" "Stupid" he said. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that S word. I then got real serious and told him how wrong it was to use, etc....

"Sports" Car

2009-01-30T07:45:00.000-08:00

I was minding my own business driving down Sierra College Blvd last night. It was about 5:45 and I was taking my little girl home from her gymnastics class. I do not often get out there so was nice to see her doing her thing. I tend to be a slow driver... yes, mom I know I had 3 speeding tickets when I was 16... and I generally do not run yellow lights. Why bother.

Well, anyway I saw the light turning yellow so slowed to a stop. I could have easily made it through but why bother... I had precious cargo in the back seat. As I was slowing I checked my rear view mirror and saw a car gaining on me as if he thought we were BOTH going through that light. You know, he was going to piggyback right on my tail as we went through... but I wasn't going through. In a split second I could tell that this guy was driving his "sports" car to the fullest. He really wanted to let it all out... wind that baby up.... I could tell he was paying attenion so I stopped.

As I pulled to the stop the "sports" car pulled around me into the next lane. He had a disgruntled look on his face as he gave me the stare. You know the stare for my having the nerve to stop at a yellow light and thus stop him from "racing" his sports machine down the street. At the very moment I smiled and laughed OUT LOUD. This guy really thought he was in a cool sports car. Though I didn't take a picture I just found this one on-line and I swear to go it could be the same car: after market wheels, hard top, racing style head rests, etc....

Look, I like Miatas just fine. I drove one for a few months back in '99 when my aunt and uncle needed to clear out their garage for a while. It's a fun car but it is NOT a sports car. It's a car to take your lady wine tasting. It's a car to jump in, top down, and run over to the store. It's a car for your 16 year old daughter to drive. It's a lot of things but it is not a sports car. The fact that a man would drive that car like he was in some racing machine is really beyond me... and, frankly, is just embarrasing to human kind.

peace out.

dumb blonde

2009-01-27T07:27:00.000-08:00

I was rolling down the street yesterday after paying my semi-annual visit to the dentist for a cleaning. Everything went as planned at the dentist with no problems! Anyway, back to my ride back to the office. I noticed a gal behind me holding her cell phone below her mouth... maybe 6 or 8 inches below. She was clearly speaking on her cell phone using the speaker phone feature. As most of my readers know you are not allowed to talk on your cell phone in Cali but instead have to use an ear piece, Blue Tooth, etc.... As we kept driving down the street I looked back and noticed blondie holding the phone closer to her ear, like you would normally hold a phone, but still about 4 or 5 inches away from her head. Really? Do you really think that doesn't count as talking on the cell phone lady? I am not a cop but I will take a chance at saying that you are probably still breaking the law... and if anything you are more obvious holding the phone out away from your head then if you just head it up by your ear intangeled with your blonde hair. You might think about buying an ear piece next time you go to the store for a bottle of hair coloring... oh ya, I could also tell, all the way from my car, that was not your natural color!

peace out.

Da King's - Mid Year Report

2009-01-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

I just read the Bee's mid-season report card for da SacTown King's and thought I better give my opinion. Honestly, guy must have written the report card during a recent King's win because he clearly was overly optimistic. In parenthesis will be the Bee's grade and then my grade and report!

COACHING (C+) So the coach is fired and replaced by a guy who looks totally confused on the sideline and you give them a C+? Where I went to school a C was a passing grade. It doesn't seem that the King's coaches are passing so I would say they get a D... and that's being generous. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

MANAGEMENT (D) It's a flat F. If there were a lower grade available I would give the Magoofs a lower grade because they are pathetic. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - F

BENO UDRIH (D-) I can't argue with the D-. Beno's game reminds me of this I-guy I used to play with on occasion at Encino Park. Dude would drive hard to the basket, jump from the free throw line and then decide what to do. Of course that guy was just some guy in a park and not getting paid $5m per but same game as Beno. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D-

KEVIN MARTIN (C+) Really? A C+ after you say that his assist to turnover ratio is the worst of any player in the entire NBA... and his defense would be ranked similar if they ranked such things. I will never change my opinion that Kevin Martin would make a great 6th man on a good team. He could come in like Michael Cooper or Vinny Johnson, score 10 quick points, and then sit down. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

JOHN SALMONS (C+) He's a tough one. On occasion he looks ok on offense and he looks like a defense stopper... at least compared to the rest of the King's. Like Martin he should be first or second guy off the bench for a good team and not an NBA starter. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - C

JASON THOMPSON (B-) I like his energy, I like his hustle and I like that he is young. Sadly he will probably be contaminated by all the saps the King's have. Keep up the good work Jason. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - B-

BRAD MILLER (D+) He gets an A for whinning to the refs, jogging up court and not playing defense. Seriously though Miller is the King's only true "pro" so I can't give him an F. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

SPENCER HAWES (B-) Similar to Jason Thompson I see glimmers of hope with this guy. Loved his two big shots to send that game to OT a week ago. He plays no defense so Petrie will probably give him a max contract soon! SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - C+

MIKKI MOORE (C) I like this guy's story and I like this guy's hustle but he should be 12th man. He should be working hard at practice and filling in at the end of blowouts. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - C-

FRANCISCO GARCIA (C-) This guy is so over-hyped by King's fans. He is pretty athletic so you think he will play some defense, slash and finish, etc... but in reality he's weak. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

BOBBY BROWN (C) I like his name and it's my pergoative to say I haven't seen the guy play enough to grade him... but like any good teacher I will grade him anyway. Keep hustling Bobby and maybe we can get you some PT soon. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - C

BOBBY JACKSON (C+) I like Bobby. He created an NBA career which is good since he could just as well be the guy in the parking lot telling you where to park... cuz he did NOT have NBA quality game when he arrived years ago. He is doing great for a 95 year old. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - C

QUINCY DOUBY (D+) He has a great name. I keep waiting to hear Grant say that Douby is somkin' hot... but it doesn't happen to often. He's not an NBA player so he should be ready to head to Italy when the season ends. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

DONTE GREENE (INCOMPLETE) I haven't seen the kid play much but I like young athletic players so let's keep him around. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

KENNY THOMAS (INCOMPLETE) I actually feel bad for this guy. Too bad he doesn't get more playing time but you have to remember that if he doesn't start he probably will pout so it's a catch-22. Time to go Kenny. SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

SHELDAN WILLIAMS (Incomplete) Not too many people can say their wife is a better basketball player... but that's the case here. No problem. Sheldan has his Duke education so time to do something with it Sheldan! SACTOWNGUY'S GRADE - D

All in all the King's are horridly bad and there is not much hope for the future. They will get a top 5 pick in the draft but the draft is weak so that doesn't help much. Oh well, they'll be in Vegas, or Orange County, or somewhere....

peace out.

The Economy

2009-01-12T07:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Original Pimp House for our weekly treat... and ahhhh ohhhh. It was Saturday morning a little after 8:30, the parking lot was EMPTY, the shades were down, it looked dark, and could it be... could they be the victim of this economy? I mean the parking lot was EMPTY. Often by that time there is, or should I say was, a line for a table. Not today. Kitty Kat had me get out of the car to see if the door was opened and sure enough it was. There were 4 employees standing around the cash register/check-in area so I asked if there was a problem. One of the employees replied, "no, just a little slow today...."

Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a person with an MBA from Harvard for that matter, to figure out that an expensive breakfast restaurant needs to do their biz-nass on Saturday and Sunday. It's like a toy store in December right!? You figure a breakfast restaurant, like the pimp house, does about 50% of their biz on Saturday and Sunday I would guess.

Well, they told us we could sit where we liked since only about 10% of the tables were taken. It was really sad. They can only stay open for so long with that kind of business. Later I saw one of the owners come out of the kitchen with an apron on so I know he is doing what he can to keep labor costs down. Very sad.

The breakfast was as tasty as ever but just left me feeling bad. The owners are nice people. The staff are nice. I can't imagine it's too long, depending on how deep the owner's pockets are, before they close up shop. On the other hand it's good for my pocket book as it is about 75% more expensive than most other places and about twice as expensive as the similarly named (but not nearly as tasty) International House of Pancakes. Plus, frankly we are spoiled by their good food and I am not sure I could deal with IHOP, Mimi's, etc.... It just wouldn't be a treat to go to those places.

I guess only time will tell but I sure hope President Obama and his peeps can turn this country around.

Peace out.

Restaurant Review- The Counter

2008-12-29T10:53:00.001-08:00

Went to a new restaurant on Saturday with Kitty Kat. It's called The Counter. It's in the Fountains there in Roseville. That's the new "lifestyle" shopping center with huge fountains, a train for the kids, etc... across the street from the Galleria. The center itself is very nice with lots of cool new stores. The Counter is a burger place but not just any burger place.

I keep wondering when the recession will hit Roseville. I know it will hit but it hasn't hit hard yet... as we waited in line 15 minutes for a table on Saturday. Yes it was the lunch hour but I was surprised to have to wait for a table. Anyway, we sat down and took in the atmosphere. The place has, of course, a nice long counter. Sort of a 50's diner style but throw in a couple of flat screen TVs to watch the games. It then has a large number of tables and some outdoor tables... oh ya, and people were braving that Iowa cold air and sitting out there. Burrrrrr.....

There were plenty of wait staff to give good service. We had a minor complaint about a small issue and the manager fielded it like Brooks "the vacumn" Robinson scooping up a sharp ground ball. Man that guy was smooth! Anyway, they have about 5 million combinations of hamburgers. Really impressive I must say. You can put every combination of cheese, sauce, onions of all varieties, etc.... Kitty Kat had something with cranberries, pineapple and something else. I went for crumbled blue cheese, some fancy salsa and two different kinds of grilled onions.

They have all sizes of burgers and varieties of meats. I went for a 1/3 pound burger. They also had turkey and some other variety. The 1/3 pound burger is $7.95 and includes choice of the above stuff, and 1,000 other things, plus choice of bun. A few things are additional but for the base price you can get a LOADED burger! It was really quite good.

Oh ya, and the fries! They have top notch fries, good looking onion rings and off the hook "sweet fries" (sweet potatoes of course). Kitty Kat and I split a basket of half regular fries and half sweet fries. They were both excellent. I wanted some onion rings but we did not order them. I guess we will have to go back!

The servers kept our drinks full in top style.

All in all I would give this place an A-.

peace out.

R.I.P. - Lil' Jesse

2008-12-25T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I had planned to write today about people insisting on wishing you a "merry christmas"... regardless of what religion you are... but more serious news took ahold of our family yesterday. My little nephew up in Utah died in a tragic snowmobile accident the morning of December 24th. I suppose any accident that involves a death is "tragic" but you get the point.

My step dad, the Deli, got the call and they immediately hit the road back to Utah. That's a 12 hour drive without bad snow... sounds like it will be 3 days with bad snow. I feel bad for the Deli as I am sure that drive home is a tough one....

Lil' Jesse was at the top of some canyon, up around Logan, when a avalanche happened... and wham-o him and one of his homies didn't make it out. The "good" news is that two other homies they were with did survive the avalanche from what I have heard.

I was not close with Jesse but I have known him just about all of his 23 short years on this earth. I remember spending christmas morning at their house many times over the years when he was a cute little kid eagerly opening every gift that came his way. From all accounts Jesse was a good man. His family are a group of outdoorsey people and this stuff happens... and I know Jesse knew the risks. I hope to make it out to Utah for the funeral. R.I.P.

peace out.

Friday Night Lights

2008-12-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Cali you don't see a lot of Friday Night Lights... big time high school football. I read the book about 1988 or so, when I was in college, and remember thinking that Texas Friday Nights Lights was a LOT different than Cali high school football. I grew up near a school called "Hami" and went to a few of their games. Not sure if it was the band with electric guitars instead of marchers or what but it didn't seem like Friday Night Lights. Plus, the apathetic 100, or so, fans didn't really liven the soul either!

Up here in SacTown they do a little better job with Friday Night Lights as people do get into it a little bit. Not like Texas, of course, but they sometimes show some spirit. There are some good teams around SacTown like Jesuit, Granite Bay, Cordova, Nevada Union, Elk Grove and Grant. Today we are talking about Grant High.

For many years Grant did not have "Friday Night Lights" as they had a little too much gang violence. Or put another way I imagine the "white" schools were scared to come play Grant on a Friday night in Del Paso Heights. Shoot, most white people were probably scared of going to Del Paso Heights on a Saturday afternoon! Anyway, for many years Grant has been one of the premiere local high school football teams. It's a primarily African American school with a heavy dose of Pacific Islanders these days. Not a lot of white boys at Grant! Except the coach... like the White Shadow!

This year marked just the third year of Cali having state wide "championship" games. Well, actually just bowl games where some committee subjectively decides who is the "best" in each division. This year they picked 5 teams from Nor Cal and 5 teams from So Cal to meet, in So Cal, for the state "championship" in 4 levels plus the "Open Championship." Though Grant was 13-0 I think everybody expected Concord De La Salle to be picked for the open game. DLS is a private school, has produced countless pro athletes, is home to many children of the rich and famous, and frankly has been a national power house in football. I believe at one time they won about 125 games in a row even though they played a tough national schedule! No way they would pick little old Grant High from the ghetto in SacTown... or would they?

Well, the selection committee DID pick Grant to play in the state open championship game against So Cal powerhouse Long Beach Poly... the school that has produced more NFL players than any school in the country and ranked #2 in the whole country! All week the "experts" gave Grant no chance against mighty Long Beach Poly. The SacTownGuy, himself, gave Grant no chance against the mighty Long Beach Poly. Grant High has produced one above average NFL player in recent years (Dante Stallworth) and one drug addicted could have been an NFL star (Onterio Smith) and that's about it. Poly famous alum include NFL'ers DeSean Jackson, Willie McGinist, Marcedes Lewis and the list goes on and on. Plus, Tony Gwynn and Snoop Dog to name other famous alum of this 5,000 student school! Little ol' Grant has about 2,000 people at it's Del Paso Heights campus. Why even play the game....

So Cal won the first 4 bowl games this year. No doubt the open championship would be a clean sweep for So Cal. The experts were saying the open championship should have been Poly against some other So Cal powerhouse... not little ol' Grant. I mean Poly was voted in 2005, by Sports Illustrated, as the high school of the CENTURY! That's not so bad.

I turned the game on about 7:00 and watched the pre-game festivities. I watched the hype and the build up. If Vegas put odds on games this would have been Poly by 28. I figured I would watch for 10 minutes, Poly would be up by three touchdowns and I would turn it off....

The game finally started and Grant looked ok. Their defense was stronger than I expected. Their offense didn't do much until all of a sudden the Grant QB dropped back to pass and dropped a bomb for a TOUCHDOWN! Then the extra point... wait, did the kicker (who is also the QB) just do a straight on TOE-JOB like he was Tom Dempsey? Didn't they stop kicking like that in 1974 or so!? The dude put it through the uprights and it was seven nil!

The defensive battle continued and then Grant dropped another TD on them. The kicker missed his second toe kick and it was thirteen to NOTHING. Poly stole one to make it 13-7 and before long another to make it 14-13. I am not a play by play guy so it came down to the wire. According to the SacTown paper the Grant QB said to his players in the huddle, "you give me a time and I will march us down field for a touchdown." Guess what?

Well, Kitty Kat and I sat in bed and watched the third quarter before she nodded off. The next morning the first thing Kitty Kat asked me was, "did we win?" We take pride in SacTown of OUR teams and Grant was OUR team! I told her she had to look at this picture to decide who won....

Ok, you either know the outcome or you know the outcome... little Grant High took down the mighty powerhouse! To be honest Grant dominated the first half and held on in the second half... and then added the last minute TD for the win. Grant's defense was awesome. I will take a wild guess that Poly will put 10-15 kids onto D-1 rosters next year and Grant might put 2 or 3. If they played again I don't know who would win. I do know that on this one night Grant won.

The thing is a win like this goes deep. Del Paso Heights is a tough neighborhood in a small city. When Derrick Lee hits a home run for the Cub's the local TV news sports guy will say, "... and El Camino High's Derrick Lee hit a home run today as the Cub's won...." I think Tom Hanks went to school at Sac State for one semester and we still act like he lives here! The small town pride is even deeper in a neighborhood like Del Paso Heights. That win might be the pinnacle of life for several players on that team but they have that pinnacle forever. I am sure many players, with their new level of confidence, will use that win to propel themselves forward in life... or at least I hope they do!

There is a parade today from Grant High to downtown Sac. Mayor KJ will be the primary speaker as the Govenator is busy. I won't be at the parade today... at least not in person as I have a client meeting. However, I will be there in spirit as many people from all around SacTown will be. It's really a great accomplishment and gives great civic pride to all of us. I was more excited with that win, Saturday night, then when the King's finally broke through to win a playoff series in about 2000. Let me tell you I was REALLY excited when the King's finaly won! This was a huge victory and I want to thank Grant High for providing the fun and excitment! It's good to be in SacTown today!

Peace out.

People

2008-12-22T07:34:00.000-08:00

Not to say I am perfect but some people... some people... some people are just plain awful. Case in point: I was at the local Safeway up in the Bay yesterday. It's a pretty nice looking crowd in there generally. I am not saying they are models but it's a pretty fit to above averagely fit crowd with a fair amount of elective surgery work. I headed toward the check stand to pay. I then noticed a guy in front of me loading up the conveyor belt with loaves of white bread, sausages, hot dogs, huge packs of meat, packages of Pillsbury dough, etc....

I had no problems with the guy. Sure he weighed about 450, had breasts larger than most women, and was buying a ton of crap food but what do I care... I thought all this as I loaded my carrots, apples, bananas, multi-grain nut bread, etc... onto the conveyor belt. Our two cart fulls of food could not have been more different. I am not hating here. I mean he was a BIG man and that's fine. I am just saying....

Then I noticed his wife. Oy vey! If he was 450 she was 375. Let me start by saying, I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. These two people were really f'ing large. Unhealthy and pretty disgusting looking. She had a very similar body to his. Her boobs sort of melded into her body. They were just round people. It was really gross. I am not sure who had bigger boobs between the husband and the wife. However, they were both friendly. They were chit chatting with the checker. The wife bragging about her gasoline discount (they were going to cash in this week and fill up their diesel - I pictured a very large dully to carry the load) and their airline miles (I stared at her butt and wondered how on earth she could fit that into one seat with the arm rests down). They seemed liked perfectly nice people.

Again, I had no problem with them at that point. Yes, they looked disgusting, and yes the food they were ingesting was disgusting, but whatever, two fat people. Of course they had real soda bottles on the counter because why he even bother trying? Why drink diet soda at that point? What's another few hundred calories?

Then my feelings changed... and changed quickly. These two incredibly large, and grotesque looking, children came waddling up. My feelings then changed to pure hatred. Do what you want fatties. Eat your sausages, drink your Sprite, nibble on your Pillsbury... but look at your kids. Oh my gosh. Those are your kids you are raising to be "mini" (and I use that word very loosely) versions of the parent. The son, about 12 or 13, was bagging the groceries. He was huffing and puffing as he did it. He weighed about 275 and I am NOT exaggerating. He had boobs like his mom and dad. He looked dorky and a little repulsive. However, I felt bad for him because I blame his parents. Then I saw his older sister, a few feet over, sipping on a Coke, looking slobbingly with shirt hanging out the bottom of a high school sweatshirt that I know to be in the lesser neighborhood to our west (good, they weren't local to the Bay). Her jeans were seriously about size 50 around the waist and she had them pulled up very high to try and hide her waist? Oh my, oh my, oh my! She had a body like her mom, weighed about 325, and was just awful looking. Again, I only felt bad for the kids and anger toward the parents.

I had my fingers on my phone in my pocket as I wondered if I could snap off a picture or two but I just wasn't sure I could do it. I resisted. Please hear me on this: the weight estimates above, and every detail, are accurate with no exaggeration. These people looked like they could go on Jerry Springer with the kids telling of all the awful foods, and I am darn sure NO exercise program, at their house!

In the spirit of the holidays I won't say anything mean about these people and just end it here.

peace out.

Dumb People

2008-12-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Sadly it seems that often when I title a post as "Dumb People" it is about people that work at Mickey D's. Hmmmmmmm....

Well, today is FRIDAY so I thought I would get myself a special treat. I am out in RoseTown so can't go for my usual whole grain bagel at the SacTown office building. I thus decided I would go to Noah's to grab a bagel (maybe with some low fat veggie smear-- very light amount of course) and a hot tea. It's COLD out there. Feels like I am in Utah or something! Well, at the last second I decided Mickey D's was closer and I really just wanted the hot tea anyway. I rolled up to the drive thru and decided to get some plain McGriddles too. I know they can't be good for you but I really like them.

Ok, I ordered as follows: "hello, I would like a large hot tea with one equal in it and a plain order of McGriddles."

The response, with a voice like I must be really stupid, "you don't want no meat or no egg or nothing on it?"

I replied, "nope, just the plain McGriddles."

The voice replied, "ok, so plain McGriddles... anything else?"

I patiently said, "yes, a hot tea with one Equal in it."

Well, I got up to the window to pay... the second window today. Why wasn't the first window in operation? Anyway, I paid my $2.24. A minute later I am given a bagel with my plain McGriddles. I am then given a cup of hot water, with a lid, a tea bag on top and a thing of Equal on top. I asked, "you don't put the tea bag and Equal in the tea anymore?" The real life human said, "nope."

I would write to Ronald McDonald himself but that did not bring a satisfactory answer last time. Instead I will just tell you that I have to imagine it is not Mickey D policy to give someone tea with the bag on top. As it was, I drove through the parking lot, worked that lid off, almost burned the crap out of my leg, and finally got the tea bag and the Equal into the cup. I just KNOW that is not what Ronald envisioned one of his customers to do!

peace out.

Bowl Games

2008-12-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

I was just listening to ESPN Radio on the way to the office from the gym. Had a nice 90 minutes or cardio, a few minutes of weights, and I am feeling good. I am now nibbling on a whole grain bagel and sipping my iced tea as I relay to you what I was listening to. "The Herd" on ESPN Radio is normally hosted by Colin Cowherd. I find him to be a very amusing radio host. He often has creative intros. Today he has a sub in for him, Eric Casilias, who is an ESPN regular. Casilias happens to be a lawyer so I like him!

Anyway, Casilias did a Cowherd type presentation on bowl games. He said you better get your holiday shopping done today and tomorrow because this weekend is full of football including some bowl games. He said that the bowl "season" starts Saturday. He commented that the bowl games, except for the BCS Championship Game, mean absolutely nothing. They are merely exhibitions. How true. Other than for fans of a certain college who really cares who wins ANY bowl game!?

After beating up bowl games and explaining how pointless they are he did say the ultimate truth. "However, if you are going to a holiday party at some friend of your wife's house... there is nothing better than watching a bowl game." Casilias said it doesn't matter which bowl game is on... it's better than talking to some guy about the time be bogeyed the 9th at Pinehurst, here what cute thing his daughter did at school last week, etc.... Casilias said that bowl games are the ultimate party excuse. "Oh sorry, can't talk now... look the Poinsettia Bowl is on...."

He went on and one with the one liners. You know the party hosts ask if they should start a video from their trip to Hawaii... "no, sorry I am watching Navy...." Or somebody wants to talk to you about some inane topic, "sorry, I have NC State winning this so have to watch...."

How true it is! How many of us have watched, with some intensity, a game we could care less about... as it often beats the alternative!? That's not to say all parties are bad or anything like that but there are times when watching the Meinike Car Care Bowl is better than hearing about the hosts incredible ability to make martinis... just ask him and he will tell you AGAIN!

With that... I am out. Happy Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Xmas, or nothing (if you are a JW).

peace out.

Kids

2008-12-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday morning and I am still sick so no workout this morning. This sucks! I start anti-biotics yesterday so should be feeling better by tomorrow. Anyway, I am here at home checking out the WWW and my little dude just got up. Today his is 6th birthday. Kids are so fun. My momz came to town this week, rolling her Sub, and brought a bunch of toys with her. Toys that used to be mine when I was 6 years old or so! Here's a quick snap shot I took with the camera phone of 3 guys every kid of the 70's should recognize. Actually the one is hard... and the picture isn't too good but give it your best shot. I will post some more in a few days. Momz brought all my Big Jim's with their vehicles, accessories, etc....

Momz, momz, momz.... She had a big box of stuffed animals... like cheap ones I won at carnivals and stuff. Ok, they are going straight to Goodwill... but will have to drop and ditch before the Goodwill employee notices as I am not so sure they will want them! She also found some more of my old coins... cha ching! That should be a quick five hundo on the Bay! Momz seems to have kept just about everything my youth. I suppose it's good as now I can sort it out. However, she didn't find my Lego's and my little dude is really into those right now. I might go visit momz to look for myself but we shall see about that....

Well, I am sitting here and the little dude tells me he wants to watch something on the OnDemand page on our Comcast cable. He assured me he knew how to get to Ying Yang Yo, which is what he wanted to watch, and voila... it's on now. Amazing how kids figure stuff out isn't it!? I hope he doesn't figure out where the adult OnDemand channels are, in a few years, cuz then we will really go broke!

The answer to the above picture:
Oscar Goldman, Six Million Dollar Man and GI Joe. Yes, that's a REAL GI Joe with the fuzzy beard and hair!

peace out.

Gas Prices

2008-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

How the heck did gas prices fall so quickly and so far? Of course I am not about to go out and buy a Hummer as I realize the price could go back up even quicker. However, it truly is amazing. Here's a snap shot of Kitty Kat's fill up yesterday. Yes, she really paid 83.9 cents a callon yesterday! Ok, ok so maybe there is more to the story... she has been hording her Safeway 10 cent per gallon discounts for a while. Thus she got eighty cents off per gallon.

However, still would have been $1.63(and 9/10) per gallon without the discount. Shoot, a buck sixty three, are you kidding me!? Wasn't that long ago we were happy if we "only" had to pay FOUR sixty three a gallon. I am not smart enough to understand it. Economics, cartels, etc... but whatever the heck it is I will take these prices! Now let's lower the prices of professional sports events.

peace out.

da King's Game

2008-12-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

My 10 year old niece had a few friends over for a slumber party at Casa de SacTownGuy last night so I took my nephew and my little dude out to Arco Arena for a boy's night. I must say I might send a copy of this to some peeps over at the King's organization because I was really dissatisfied with a few things. However, that's not the point of this post. It was a great night with the boys and I hope we can do it again!

Not even talking about how god awful bad the King's are. Oy vey! In the first quarter the Nuggets had about 5 or 6 blocks, and 5 or 6 steals... though most of the "steals" were just the King's GIVING the ball to the Nuggets. The King's just looked awful. Anyway, let me tell you about the evening.

My dude is turning 6 next week and my nephew is 8. Thus they are prime to go to the King's game. I can remember going to games about 1974-1975 down in LA. I actually turned my grampa down when he wanted to take me to the 1974 World Series (A's at Dodger's) but I was going to UCLA hoops and football games at that time. Starting in '75 I went to Dodger's and Laker's games with some regularity. I also remember going to Merlin Olson's last game for the Ram's but that was probably '77 or '78!?

I knew there would be plenty of tickets available but I checked on-line first. Knowing we wouldn't be there all game and not choosing to spend my money on tickets I checked for some upper level tickets. $25.50 seats look fine but WAIT... $6.75 PER F'ING TICKET finance charge!? ARE YOU F'ING KIDDING ME!? I opted to get them AT Arco... and save the twenty bucks of BS charges!

Well, anyway I wanted to make it a fun night for the boys so I let them choose where we would have dinner. I was hoping they might want to go to C'Webb's restaurant near Arco but they ended up battling between Mickey's D's and BK... and of course Mickey D's won based on the idea they would have better happy meal's toys. I respect that choice because they don't care about the food quality anyway so why fake it.

We hit Mickey D's. Surprisingly my health conscious nephew chose the Big Mac. You can't get a Big Mac in a happy meal so I got him a separate toy. It was some Bioncle toy that both boys seemed happy with. The boys ate their grub. At one point my nephew was disappointed to note his burger had cheese so I assisted in dismantling it. He commented that the Whopper does not come with cheese (which I recalled from my days working at BK was correct) but "the Big Mac has that special sauce... I really like that special sauce... I wonder what's in the special sauce...?" He had the cutest expression as he said it too... like he really was honestly curious what might be in that magical sauce.

We finished our fueling and headed to Arco. We parked pretty close, since nobody was there, and walked to the ticket office. A dude was scalping outside the ticket box but I didn't feel like negotiating so I walked inside. I told the lady I wanted twenty or twenty-five dollar tickets on the aisle. She said she could do row R, on the aisle up in one corner... or "wait, how about 211 row L?" I said, yes that would be great. We headed inside....

We made our way to 211 row L. Anybody that has been to Arco knows that is pretty high up but you have a nice overview of the game. Plus the fans can be good up there. Oh ya, we stopped at one souvenir stand and the main King's store on the way to our seats. We got to the seats and my dude asked when we could get some ice cream. Game hadn't even started yet! Oh ya, our seats were NOT on the aisle but instead dead center (seats 8, 9 and 10). Thanks ticket office lady for LYING to me about where the seats were. Luckily only a few people were in our row so I didn't feel cramped.

The game got going and the boys were into it for a few minutes. My nephew was great about yelling "Defense, defense...." My dude was good about asking for ice cream. Then we saw the cotton candy guy so we were good for the minute. The boys gobbled that down pretty quick.

As the first quarter ended I had something happen that had never happened to me ever at a sporting event. In my 40 years of life I have probably been to 1,000+ pro or college sporting events. Not to mention I have been to about 150 King's game since moving to SacTown in 1991. We were in row L. Nobody was in any row between about D and L. I suspect those were the $45 seats and nobody felt it worthwhile to pay for. Thus there were people in the first few rows of the upper deck and then nobody until our row. The usher came up and asked me for my ticket. I thought we must have sat in the wrong seats but no we didn't. He then asked the nice family behind us for their tickets. They said, "you already checked our tickets." He said, "let me see them again." I said, loudly, "ya, we are all sneaking into row L in section 211!" Seriously, the lower bowl is about half empty so if I was going to sneak anywhere it wouldn't be to 211 would it!? I found this ticket thing offensive. Had he asked again I would have asked for his supervisor and his supervisor would have gotten an ear full!

The game was uneventful but luckily the ice cream guy came around mid-second quarter. We got a pack of the Dibs which the boys consumed in about 24 seconds! I was allowed ONE Dib and only after many threats by me!

The boys told me they were tired. The King's were down 25 or 30. Then it was halftime. Oh I forgot about the misunderstanding at the ticket office. Ok, as the lady was processing the credit card a nicely dressed man, about 30 years old, comes up behind me. He was a little too friendly but asked if they still had tickets. I assured him they had plenty! He asked "are you here for the cheerleaders?" I replied, "no, I am here for the basketball." Sure, I am a guy and I am happy to look at attractive women but I don't like ogling and the cheerleaders at Arco are pretty trashy looking to me. After a split second of thought, I then added something like, "I'll look at the cheerleaders when they perform...." I wanted to validate my man card. I am not some prude or something. Ok, well it turns out the halftime show was a group of YOUNG cheerleaders. At least 100 of them. I would say junior high and high school. The misunderstanding could have been taken as I was only talking about LOOKING at the King's cheerleaders and I was NOT going to be ogling a bunch of kid cheerleaders. I just didn't know what cheerleaders he was talking about. It wasn't as bad a misunderstanding as it could have been....

The boys were bored, and didn't want to look at the girls at halftime, so we headed for the King's store. We spent a half hour there. I went in thinking $8 head bands or mini basketballs. I mean really I still have the $2 mini bat my gramps bought me at Dodger Stadium back about 1975. However, as we went through the store we found a rack of close out jersey's; mostly Brad Miller's... hmmmmm, I wonder if he is almost gone!? $18 for the gold jersey and that's what my dude wanted so I let him have it. What the heck!? You figure with $10 for dinner, $10 to park, $75 for tickets, $10 for junk food, we were easily over $100 already so what's another $18 for something my dude might actually wear!? Plus, when he wears something he wears it EVERY DAY for 6 months straight! My nephew didn't want a jersey and finally settled on a pack of old King's basketball cards. Ten bucks for about 50 cards. Mostly 1990's and 2000's but also an '88, or so, Hoop's Rory Sparrow. You know the same cards I have given to Goodwill 100 times over because I have too many of them! Instead I paid ten bucks to buy them. Oh well!

We headed to the car. It was now 3rd quarter. The parking lot at Arco was dark and there was no security to be seen. I would say they need to fund a little more money toward security. I paid ten bucks to park my rig. The last thing I want to do is get mugged on the way to my car. Just my two cents on that.

We headed home. I thought about a post game ice cream but opted out. I don't know about you but I still remember stopping at Apple Pan, on Pico, with my dad after a UCLA football game... back when they played at night at the Colisieum! Oh ya, the slumber party was still going full bore so NOBODY under age 11 wanted to sleep. Long night and early morning. However, the good news is my dude woke up with his Brad Miller jersey on and is still wearing it right now. I bet he wears it to school tomorrow too! I already got eighteen dollars of value out of it!

peace out.

Whose the Teacher?

2008-12-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

I was driving home from work yesterday, on the freeway, and noticed a driver's training car passing me. It was hard to tell what the name of the school was as he had more stuff on his car than a NASCAR racer! However, I remember it said "Referral Driving School" and his license plate was something about football with a heart, like FUTBOL but the "O" was a heart!? I would have taken a photo with my camera phone but dude was driving way too fast for me to catch him and my off ramp was coming up. Anyway, the guy driving was 50 or 60 years old and there was no student in the car... luckily. Why do I say luckily? The guy had his Iphone on the steering wheel and I saw him typing a message into the thing. You know, looking up and then looking down to type, looking up, and then back down.... I am not a driver's training instructor so what the hell do I know? I am just guessing that it's not a good idea to type messages on your Iphone while you are driving. Maybe I am wrong though. Maybe that's what they teach the kids these days!? Shoot, we know all the kids are doing that while driving so maybe the driver's training guy needs to be able to teach it so he was just practicing yesterday, on the 80, doing about 60 MPH!? Hmmmmmmm....

Peace out.

It's ON...

2008-12-02T07:32:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was December 1st and I had the feeling it was the "holidays." Why? Did someone send me a holiday card? No. Did someone wish my happy holidays? No. Did I even see holiday decorations at the coffee shop in my office building? No. However, I DID get a BIG box of See's Candy... nuts and chews. Nothing says the holidays like a box of See's.

See's are not the best, are not the most expensive, are not anything other than ordinary... but to me they are the epitome of holiday times. Plus, I love those dark chocolate caramels! I ripped that box open and pulled that sucker off the top deck (oh ya, it was a double decker box) fast! I should have gone down to the lower level... you know, push the candy's to the side, life the divider and sneak down into the bottom to get that second dark chocolate caramel. However, I resisted. By lunch time it looked like a Cambodian village had raided the box with just a few scraps of candy mixed in with lots of empty paper candy holders. By the way, what the heck do you call those things the candy sits in?

I don't know about your office but in my office the "good ones" are gone quick and then there are a couple of stragglers that sit there for a day or two after the rest of the box is gone. Not sure if it's people being polite or people just not wanting whatever is left. To me it's the white nougat ones. If I accidentally bite into one of those I threw that away and FAST! Not sure why Mrs. See even inventing that one!?

By the time that box is gone (today or tomorrow?) I am sure another will arrive... or at least I hope so!

peace out.

Franchises

2008-11-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

Owners of franchises have to rely on their head office, who gets a percentage of every burger sold, to maintain company standards. I would say McDonald's is the best at this. You will LOSE your store if you don't keep up with company standards. Now, their standards are not high enough for me but they are consistent. With the exception of my overstuffed cup of ICEd tea recently Mickey D's does a heck of a job at being CONSISTENT. You buy a burger in SacTown or a burger in New York city and it will taste just about exactly the same, will look just about exactly the same, and will cost about the same. This contributes greatly to every Mickey D's owner. People that are satisfied with the Mickey D's quality can always rest assured their burger will have 2 pickles, 1 swirl of mustard and 2 swirls of ketchup. The meat will probably be from the same farm and the bun will be made to the exact specifications that Ronald yells from the rooftop at the home office in Illinois. With this in mind people buy burgers at Mickey D's when visiting a strange city as they know what to expect. The local diner MAY be better and it may be horrendously bad and serving horse meat.

Why am I talking about franchises today? Any of my readers know my favorite breakfast spot is the Original Pancake House... aka: the Original Pimp House. Though it is high quality it is also a nationwide franchise. Kitty Kat and I have been to the first store in Portland a number of times and also been to stores in San Jose, Los Altos, Denver, Honolulu, Scottsdale, Poway, and probably a couple more I am forgetting. They are always high quality and very similar. The decor is similar, the prices similar and the long wait for a table are similar. That is, until this past Thursday....

We were in San Diego for a couple days to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of our So Cal relatives. We hit the OPH in Escondido which is on the north side of San Diego. It was equa distance to there or the one in Poway so we opted to try a new one. We called, and following general OPH practice, they did not accept reservations even for our party of 10. However, they said there was no wait. Hmmmmmm, yes it was Thanksgiving but it was like 9:00 AM and you are telling me nobody else is going out for pancakes on Thanksgiving!? I was surprised.

We found the OPH without much trouble, parked and rushed inside to beat some others inside to get our name on the waiting list. I was SHOCKED to see the place 85% EMPTY. Finding a table for 10 could be our choice of several locations around the circular restaurant. We were seated at a marginal table near the kitchen door, overlooked the poor seating selection of the host, and began perusing the menu. The menu looked similar to our OPH in Roseville. Apple Pancake, Dutch Baby, pumpkin pancakes as the special, etc.... Prices were actually a few pennies CHEAPER than up here in SacTown which seemed odd.

We ordered an apple pancake as an appetizer. Let me start by saying I have had the apple pancake at 6 or more OPH locations and this one was NOT consistent with the others at all. It was like they used a different recipe. The thing was breaking apart, sliding around the plate, and did not have that usual eggie foundation that an apple pancake should have. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would put it at about a 4. Very disappointing!

The fresh fruit options for Kitty Kat's waffle were... ahhhhhhh... NONE. The waitress said she could get some melon if she liked. I was picturing a nice big OPH waffle with a big hunk of cantaloupe on top so was not surprised when Kitty Kat turned that down. She went for the plain waffle.

One thing that the Roseville store does different than most OPH's is bigger glasses for iced tea and they do have a soda fountain so Kitty Kat can get her Diet Coke on. The Escondido store had the traditional small iced tea glass (about three gulps for me) and no soda fountain. No biggie for me as I just had the wait staff filling me up throughout our time there. Bigger deal for Kitty Kat as she couldn't get her morning groove going without her fountain Diet Coke. Bummer.

Then the waffle arrived and... well, that's when we realized OPH needs to work on their franchise consistency. The thing was a little, tiny, flat, and BORING waffle on a plate. I would have eaten five of them as I had gone on a great 75 minute run that morning and was famished. I'll tell you about that another day; it was a glorious run along the coast and up into the Torrey Pines state park. Luckily I ordered an omelet which was normal sized though too many veggies inside. I thus was able to re-fuel my body.

Anyway, the meal was fine but certainly not what we have come to expect. It was particularly disappointing as we had guests with us who had not dined at OPH before. I think they were wondering why we would drive 15 minutes for breakfast when there was a nice looking buffet at our Marriott. The next morning we could have gone to the other OPH, up in Poway, but instead went to IHOP near our hotel. Now, IHOP was worse than the OPH in Escondido but at least we expected that. IHOP has standards that are met nationwide. It costs about 40% less than the OPH and is about one-third as good. However, it was what we expected.

In conclusion, if down in Diego go to the OPH in Poway and not the one in Escondido!

Peace out.

Random Thoughts on a Friday

2008-11-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I really like Friday's. I hate to sound like Loverboy but I sometimes do feel as if I am working for the weekends. Anyway, I have a busy day including a 3:00 appointment. Oy vey! Who the heck schedules an appointment at 3:00 on a Friday!? Luckily I did 100 minutes of cardio at the gym this morning and feel great! Ready to attack the day!

Had lunch yesterday with a colleague of mine who is in his 50's, conservative, Mormon, and father of many kids... including some adoptees. As we ended lunch he mentioned, ironically, that the Obama win might be great for two of his adopted kids who are African American. I think he is very correct as my man, the Top Mack, recently indicated to me it's different out there now, for people of color, after the Obama win. White people are treating African Americans better says the Top Mack. I suspect it's a combination of that and some pride and a boost of self esteem. However, whatever the case that's a great result of the Obama win. However, let's get back to my Mormon friend. Traditionally members of the Mormon church vote overwhelmingly for Republicans (to quote Seinfeld, "not that there is anything wrong with that"). I wonder if they might have some interesting political conversations in the next few years in their house as the kids come of age with the pull of family and religion on one side and the pull of their heritage on the other. Only time will tell....

I was thinking about moving my 401k to cash. I have always been a buy and hold guy with my 401k. I didn't even have my on-line access information since I have never looked at it on-line. I figure it doesn't matter from day to day so I don't look. I often don't look at my monthly statement. However, as the stock market free falls maybe I need to do something!? Well, I got on-line and my stomach danced... and not a happy dance. Oy vey! From the peak this year to the current is just over a 40% drop. I felt bad for myself. My 401k wasn't huge to begin with and now it's worth 40% less than at the peak this year. Should I move it to cash? I decided it just doesn't matter. I will likely never be able to retire anyway so why worry about it!

Well, with that happy news it's time to work.

peace out.

Oh not the books...

2008-11-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

I was watching the TV news last night. The story of the fires down near Santa Barbara came on. Let me start by saying I am very sorry for everybody's losses down there and hope the firefighters are able to contain it soon and contain it without major loss of life. As I read the paper this morning it sounds like there are more fires down in SoCal as the Santa Ana's are blowing!

The story, on the TV, was interesting. They showed pictures of multi-million dollar mansions, owned by people such as Oprah, which are in danger. My first thought was how often does Oprah really get out to Santa Barbara and does she really need a 10,000 or 20,000 square foot home there? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just rent half of the Four Season's and fly in, on a private plane, whatever of your stuff you want to have with you? Even a minor actor such as Christopher Lloyd, from Back to the Future, had his home damaged... but it didn't sound like it was his only home as his "caretaker" had to escape the flames. I don't know about you but I have ONE home and ZERO caretakers at my pad.

That's not the point of my story though. They interviewed one guy who was near tears because his house was a total loss. Was he upset about losing the family pet, his life's photos, his children's teeth that the tooth fairy had taken, or whatever other ONE OF A KIND items that he may had? NO! The old dude said, in cracking, near teary, voice... "I lost every book I have owned since I was eleven." The dude was probably 70 so had about 60 years of books in his house. Is that really necessary?

Ok, let me break the news to you dude... that's just paper. That's just paper you probably NEVER look at. That is just your OCD side kicking in that has caused you to save "every" book you have owned since you were eleven. That's scary. I used to have your problem and hoarded everything. It seemed that everything I owned was part of a "collection." You know what? That's just CRAP! It's really just a bunch of garbage.

I honestly think the fire did that dude a favor by burning up his books. I think we have all asked ourselves at times what would I save if I only had a few minutes to get out of the house. I say pets (even though I don't really like them that much), photo albums, and the kid's baby boxes with assorted stuff that I know Kitty Kat does not want to lose to a fire. However, what about my $30 or $40 g's worth of baseball cards? Honestly, it would be doing me a favor to burn them up. Sure the insurance company wouldn't give me the true replacement cost of $30 or $40 g's and would probably give me about 1/10th that amount. However, that would be fine. I would go buy a few special cards and I would gain a large walk in closet, once my house was rebuilt, for other stuff to be kept in. Actually, I wouldn't have any stuff after the fire so the kids could use that closet for hide and seek or make a little fort it in or something!?

Seriously though, I think we as a people get way too worried about our collections of crap. I like my baseball cards but every single one of them is replaceable. If I really wanted to I could buy every single one of them again. I have a list of most of them and it's saved on computers in multiple locations so the list should survive the fire. If I wanted I could go spend $40 or $50 g's and get every card again. However, would I?

I really would not. I would buy a few special cards like I have now: '49 Robinson, '63 Rose, '67 Carew, '72 Erving, '80 Bird/Johnson/Erving, '86 Jordan and of course '94 Allen. However, do I really need complete sets of Topps from 1974 through 1991? I should say NOT. What about the 25,000 ungraded "star" cards? No, I don't need those either. They all just take up space. Give me a few special cards and I am good.

I believe the book man down in Montecito should listen to this. Go to some special bookstore, maybe in New York or London, and buy a FEW great books. Put them on display so you and your friends can see them. Make sure the display can be opened so people can actually READ these books. Beyond that, why the F' do you need EVERY book you have owned since age 11? That's just plain STUPID. If nothing else you created a great environment, with all that dry paper, for the fire to spread. I would call that contributory negligence!

peace out.

Down by a river

2008-11-13T07:40:00.001-08:00

Probably my last India post from momz and then I hope to have something good to tell you about. Not sure what yet but something will come up I am sure!

Just had our last tour this morning. Tonight is faraewell dinner. Tomorrow, Fri., we fly to Delhi. Early Sat morning we fly to London. Arrive about noon London time.

We have been out at very early hours for several days. Five thirty this morning to see people bathing in the Ganges. This ia a holy city for Hindus.

The mob scene at 6 am on the river was amazing. On the way to the Ganges River site we passed a religious procession of Sikhs and our driver went through the center divider and onto the opposing lanes -- so did everyone else going in our direction. One can experience excitement in many many ways here.

Last night we also went on a boat in the Ganges and observed one of the crematoriums. They are on the river side with steps going down. Whatever level the river is, they can get to it. There were boats unloading firewood most of the time we were there. The cremations are done outdoors in separate fires. Each body takes about 3 hours and the family and friends stay there for the entire time. They use sandal wood and incense, and there were no bad smells. It seemed rather nice and personal compared to sending our relatives to a building where we can't even see the inside.

There is a hindu service on the riverfront at sunrise and sunset. We experienced most of it last night. Huge waves of incense. Burning triangles like Xmas trees. A huge mob which we are told will be ten times the size tonight. Tonight is full moon.

All for now.
Lots of love, Mom

Indian Four Seasons

2008-11-12T10:53:00.001-08:00

This email from India makes a Radisson hotel sound like a Four Seasons. I am going to leave the typos. I am guessing the keyboard mom is on sucks! Here you go:

It' getting easier to get a computer suddenly.

We had our train adventure today. The windows were too dirty to look out. The food trays ere dirty. The seat acks were dirty. The hot water holders were filthy. I don't nderstand why standards are not higher. There is trash on the ground in every town and few dumps. Often you see people and or animals going through the trash in the towns.

It was interesting to see the people at the train stations. They were sitting on the concrete outside having a picnic or taking a nap. It always looks like one big party here. People don't have muh, ut they are smiling.

We are in a Radisson tonight. Very attractive. Lots of staff members knocking on our door. Turn down service, fruit and cookies, who knows what else.

We had lunch at a 400 year old mansion in a small village. The youngest descendant of the person lives there in an upper apartment and there is a restarant and hotel. Lunch was fine. Then we toured a little of the mansion and had a walk arond the village with a staff member. The kids ere saying hello and asking for pens and rupees. We had been told by the staff member not to give the kids money. I told them that rupees wren't good for kids. It was fine antering with them.

Sometimes I feel like we are missing life here by being on the bus, but a few minutes at a abazaar are exhausting etween the people showing us something to buy and the beggars asking for food. I gave aay two ananas this morning and they were well received.

We see lots of little kids in no clothes or no bottoms. Often the toddlers are carried by a slightly older sibling. Women carry some babies; often they look barely alive. They look stiff.

We had a risky bus driver this afternoon. Fortunately we get a new one tomorrow. Our first driver was with s for 10 days and he was great. His helper would pass out water to us, give hand gestures to drivers on the non driver side of the bus, etc. Every bus driver has a helper. The helper opens the door for us to get out and stands at the bottom and helps us down the steps.

It would be nice to give a few bucks to every beggar, but that causes almost a riot because the news spreads quickly and more and more people want money. At the train station there was a young man with elephant sized feet. It looked like his feet had been blown up like balloons. He couldn't walk very fast and walked on the sides of his feet instead of the soles.

Tractor Guy seemed a bit better today. He did it all with the group.

Lots of love, Mom

Don't drink the water

2008-11-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

Got another email from my momz over in India. In case you are interested:

Saw the Taj Mahal this morning (got there by 6am and waited for the gate to open) and the Agra Fort later on. Then went to a factory where they make inlaid marble products. They use semi precious gems to make designs on marble. We saw making the grooves in the marble to hold the stones and others putting pieces of stones together for different patterns. Lots of intricate hand work.

Dell feels lousy -- sore throat, cold. He skipped the second tour this morning and slept. I seem to be more or less healthy and feel good. Still some congestion and cough.

Tomorrow we have a 2 1/2 hour train trip on which we are not allowed to eat the breakfast provided. Only bottled water. Then a bus ride, maybe the same length. We will end up in Kajuraho where they have temples with erotic art. The next day we fly to Varanasi where many people go to die. It is a very holy city on the Ganges river where there are lots of crematoriums and people making prayer offerings of candles and flowers which float on the water. I read that it is not unusual to step over dead bodies in the street. We have not seen anyone that we knew was dead. When we are driving around 8-10 am and I see someone still apparently asleep on the sidewalk, I ofter wonder if they are still alive.

So much of life is in public view, it is hard to believe. When we left our camp stop (fake tent, really a cabin with a tent top on the ceiling) we rode through the little village in a home made pick up truch taxi with a water pump motor powering it. The kids along the was were all waving. We passed several men who were standing on their front stoops brushing their teeth and spitting into the dirt road.

It is amazing how many people we see bathing wherever there is water available. Some are naked, some in short shorts or undies. But, never a woman. We don't know when or where they bathe or relieve themselves. Whenever we see a man with his back to us, it's pretty clear what he is doing. I saw one faciing us, hand on penis, but busy watching our bus drive by.

The local buses are pretty interesting, too. Sometimes 50 people sitting on the roof cross legged, with nothing to hold on to. I don't know how they avoid falling off. In Calcutta the buses looked like they had had at least 50 years of hard service. They are so dented and dirty. Usually no glass in the windows which is likely cooler. Delhi had modern busses. The small towns had the pick up truck busses and jeeps (front seat and back seat) which they can fit about 20 people into and holding on at the back.

There are also lots of bicycle rickshaws and motorized rickshaws (3 wheeled taxis called took-tooks in Bangkok). We rode in bicycle rick shaws in old Delhi. The streets were so narrow that 2 rickshaws could hardly pass. Our driver would also warn people with an arm to get out of the way. The 2 seater seat behind the bibycle is of course wider than the bike. It was a fun experience in spite of the discomfort. Many stores floors are raised about 3 feet more than normal and the merchants sit on the floor. The costomers stand in front of the store in front. The whole street is about 5-6 feet wide. The streets are just body to body. Tourists and locals and school kids are riding in the rickshaws. Others are walking.

Love to all of you.

Competitive Sports

2008-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

The SacTownGuy is NOT one of those crazy parents, roaming the sidelines, yelling at the coaches, yelling at the refs, yelling at the players, and doing everything possible to get himself kicked out of the park... however, the SacTownGuy is not a hippy sitting on the sideline smoking some reefer while the kids are picking daiseys. The SacTownGuy expects his kids to play with intensity, work on fundamental skills and play hard. The SacTownGuy does not want to breed a fat, sloth, who cries when they are beat. In life you win and lose... and sometimes you need to push the other guy down to get the big "W."

Well, today the Dragon's played a soccer game against the Rocket's. Let's just say the Rocket's were no match for the mighty Dragon's. The Rocket's had one player with any skill and the Dragon's had 3 or 4 on the field at all time with mad skillz. So, as coach, the SacTownGuy made sure to pull one of his strongest players and have them on defense at all time... but it's a small field so they find ways to get up and score.

We don't keep score in our league (dang PC crowd won't allow it) but we all know it was AT LEAST 6 to 1 and probably 7 or 8. I try not to keep score too closely. I know my dude had 1 today, I know Bones had 2 or 3, Ort's had 3 or 4, etc... and I KNOW they only had uno. My mad dog goalie, Mace, saved two with incredible diving plays. Well, he probably didn't need to dive either time but it really looked awesome... and he got muddy which made it all the better. Mace will be a good goalie through high school. He is too slow to play beyond that but he will be good through high school and he has that mad man component which will make him perfect for keeper.

Anyway, when we were up 6 or 7 to one we got in a couple situations where the ball was near the Rocket's goal and the Rocket player had the ball trapped at their feet. Now, the hippy side of me wanted to lay back and let them be but the competitive, go for the kill side, yelled "KICK THAT BALL... DO NOT STOP... GET THAT BALL... KICK IT IN THE GOAL GUYS!" I hesitated as I yelled it but you know what? We need to teach these kids life skills. You can teach life skills that aren't real like we don't keep score in real life or pretend it's not ok to push the other guy in real life but I want my charges to be ready to face REAL LIFE. Don't forget this can happen now in kindergarden and first grade... a little tussle on the playground, a competitve spelling bee in the classroom, etc... and my charges need to know how to react.

Anyway, I kept yelling, my kids kept shooting on goal, and I kept high fiving and telling them were doing great. I got the feeling the loser parents on the other team... oh gosh I hope that didn't sound... I mean the parents of the Rocket's, didn't like my intensity as I was more intense today than normal but I think that's my job. I don't want my kids to be daisy pickers because generally speaking daiseys do not pay the billz.

peace out.

Barak Omama

2008-11-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

My kids were excited to see the map on TV tonight. They asked why it was there with all the blue and red. I explained today was the day we voted for president. They cut me off because they talked about it in school aparantely. My dude said, "I want Barak Omama to win." Well, at 8:00 Pacific time my dude got his wish and Barak Omama, or Obama if you prefer, has been declared the winner. It looks like a landslide.

Of course this is not the first time the black man has taken the white man to the shed like this. I remember an all fraternity basketball tourney back in college in the 80's. My frat, Tappa Kegga Brew, or whatever they were called were a bunch of beer drinking white boys. That first night many of my guys, including myself, were unable to play as we had tests the next morning, were out of town or whatever the story was. We were playing against the mighty Kappa's, the red frat for those who pay attention to colors. The Kappas were a group of primarily African American students. I heard the score was something like 134-38 or something like that... as the Kappas took it easy in the second half. 'bout like the score is turning tonight.

Good on you Mr. Omama... or Mr. Obama... or should I say President Obama, good on you! Now let's all hope that our country, blue or red, white or black, purple or green, can come together to support our new president.

peace out.

Ramdom Thoughts

2008-11-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

On this fine Monday morning I have a few random thoughts to share:

- Though I hate the rain I had a 40 minute run in the rain on Saturday and it was quite re-freshing. I will do that again!

- 50 houses in my neighborhood, a few do not give out candy and each of my kids ended up with about 7 or 8 FULL SIZE candy bars. I don't know about you but when I was a kid we might have gotten one full size bar and we were banging away for 3+ hours back in the day.

- If you are going to use the spray bottle to clean your bike at the gym spray it into the towel and not directly onto the machine. You never clean it all and the guy sitting on the bike next to you ends up getting over spray which is not fun to breath... you f'ing moron!

- Weekends are more enjoyable than week days!

- Working a few hours on Sunday was more enjoyable than going to Disney on Ice with the family.

- I don't love Monday's... but it is another full week where I have the opportunity to make more money which is defintely the bright side of having to work!

- I am very curious about a couple of political things on Tuesday but I won't get political on you... just saying I am curious what happens.

peace out.

Observation

2008-10-30T06:58:00.001-07:00

After attending a meeting last night I have concluded that Power Point presentations with lots of quotes in them are really f'ing boring. Oh my gosh. Next time let me leave the room and go watch paint dry because it might be more exciting! People, just because you can use Power Point doesn't mean you always should use Power Point! Oh ya, the best was the conclusion of this 3+ hour marathon meeting... they told us to meld everything together into a new vision statement for the organization. See blog a few weeks ago for my feelings on vision, mission, etc... statements.

peace out.

Ronald's reply

2008-10-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the SacTownGuy got an unexciting canned reply. No free coupons or anything! Basically they apologize for my "recent disappointment in McDonald's." They suggest that every employee is trained. They also indicate they will pass my letter on to the franchise owner. I probably should reply for clarification but I know some guy already wrote a book like that so I don't want to copy him... however, I can see how it happens. Though expecting a canned reply I would expected a better one. Maybe they need more cans to choose from!?

peace out.

Mas India

2008-10-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

When you can't think what to blog about just paste your mom's emails from India. She asked me to forward it and I failed to do a good job of that so now I am forwarding ot the world:

This is one day later. We are in Paro, Bhutan. Bhutan is like heaven after Kolkata. We are high in the mountains near Nepal. The air is clear, no crowds, green landscape. We saw Mt Everest from the plane yesterday. The mountains are big and lovely.

The men wear outfits like bathrobes with knee socks and regular dress shoes. Our guide said his wife wove the fabric of his robe -- it is almost like a small scottish tartan. No way does it look home made. We are all very happy to be in Bhutan.

Kolkata has so much going on -- on every inch of the sidewalk -- like sleeping, bathing, urinating, cooking, selling, trying to give help with finding where you want to go after which you let them take you to the merchant who will pay them a commission. There is constanhtly a beggar with a hand on your arm and 2-3 sidewalk merchants pointing out their merchandise. The first morning we walked 1/2 block after breakfast and were overloaded and stressed out. We neeeded to return to the sanctuary and peace of the hotel.

The Oberoi Grand Hotel is world class. I bet that Gigi stayed there back in the 1960s. It was a joy. We hated to move down to a dreary 4 star hotel.

We met Russell Peters, a comedian, at lunch one day. He was performing in Kolkata that night and Bangelore the next. He said that he performs all over the world. Lives near Cahuenga Pass in LA. Grew up in Toronto and is related to Nahun the baker here in Kolkata. We went to Nahun's bakery to get permission to go to the Synagogue. That was quite a trip through amazingly narrow streets.

In Kolkata traffic is often at a standstill. Something has to give which it eventually does. Drivers often turn off their car engines for a red light. Traffic passes so close that every vehicle is dented galore. The busses are about 50 years old. The taxis are old Ambassadors -- about a 1950 design. They are now built in India, but many appear to date back to 1950.

There is a great description of living in India. Called "Holy Cow" by Sarah Mac Donald, an Aussie.

We were going to hike up a mountain this morning, but it is raining and too slippery and muddy.

It is slightly cool here in the mountains, very welcome. Kolkata was mostly in the 90's. Sweat was just dripping off of us constantly.

At breakfast this morning, there was an adjoining group mostly from Sac.

Love you lots,

Mom/Grandma

Daddy, what does that mean?

2008-10-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids piled into my car after soccer practice. Kitty Kat was home as she was tired from a long day. The little dude is 5 and is learning to read. As he gets onto his booster seat in the back seat I hear him sounding out letters of something he sees. Now kids today learn phonics so I hear "ya... e'... sssssss... ahhhhhh... nnnnnnn... 8." I wasn't really paying attention to what he was spelling as the little girl needed help getting her shin guards off.

Then I put it together as I heard him say, "daddy, what does yes on 8 mean?" Well, that is a loaded question of course. For my readers from around the world that don't know there is a statewide proposition that... well, shoot, let me just quote from Wiki because I am not trying to get political on you:

"Proposition 8 is an initiative measure on the 2008 California General Election ballot titled Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry. If passed, the proposition would change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. A new section would be added stating only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

I then told the little dude there is a proposition, or an issue, that people would be voting on. "What's voting?" Ok, well I explained how we are going to choose, or vote for a number of things in a couple weeks. I explained that all adults get to vote for a number of things including the president of the United States. I told them that there are two men running for President. I was interrupted, "why only those two?" Having a hard time with the president imagine how I can explain something like proposition 8!

We finally got back to proposition 8. I started by saying, "remember how recently we talked about the fact that when you are older you can marry a girl or a boy... whatever you want...." I cut myself off there. I want my kids to know how I think about stuff and I want them to know that approximtely 50% of the people feel different on any given issue. I don't want them to think I have all the answers. However, proposition 8!? That is just a loaded question. You know, how the heck can you explain that some people feel very strongly that you can not marry another boy if you want to and others feel you can. Oy vey!

I told him mommy and daddy were voting no on 8 and I left it at that.

peace out.

India

2008-10-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

I am too busy to blog. I am just waiting by the door for the mailman to show up with my McDonald's letter. Nothing yet. I got a nice email from my momz this week and realized she could be a good blogger. I thought I would share with you. They are in India. Anyway, here you go (I did alter a few words for better context):

This should be titled Tractor Guy and Grandma conquer India or India conquers Tractor Guy and Grandma. To sum it up: the people are very kind and try to help, but it's a lot different than the good old USA -- and also similar. Obama and McCain are on page 1 of the newspaper.

We arrived in New Delhi at 11 pm last night after a 9 hour flight on British Air. My vegetarian food was delicious. The crew were very pleasant. I had an aisle seat. It was a smooth flight. We had a pleasant seat mate from Jaipur who is in the travel business (at the wholesale level, I think) and invited us to call her for a drink in Jaipur.

We purchased a prepaid taxi in the airport. I didn't see an ATM there so exchanged some cash -- I planned my cash needs with the expectation of ATMs. Paid 340 rupees for a taxi to our hotel. Went outside and saw more people than ever anywhere. We found our taxi #2197. Watched them put 3 of our bags in the trunk and one on the roof rack. Tractor Guy asked if they would tie down the bag on the roof, but they said no.

A few minutes we pulled into the side of a gas station. An area full of cars. Both the driver and his helper left us with an incomprehensible explanation. I felt fairly certain they would return, but I was recalling that the guide book had recommended the pay ahead taxi so we would not be taken away by 2 men who were up to no good. We had the suspicious 2 men. After maybe 15 minutes our men returned with a tire and added it to the luggage. I made Tractor Guy check that they were not removing any of the luggage.

Next we had to come up with more money for a toll road -- 68 rupees (47 to a dollar). Not a lot of money to us, but a lot to Indians who may live on $1 per day. We left the toll rood and drove through totally dark streets. Our driver kept noticing people on the road: a ricksha driver with no customer, guards at various places along the road, a man who appeared ready to lie down on a mat/blanket on the grass, 2 policeman, more building guards, etc. None of them gave the right directions. Tractor Guy is ready to check into any hotel we see, and I am concerned to use the hotel we already paid $265.

After more than an hour while Tractor Guy suggested the car might run out of gas we finially spied a sign for the Lemon Tree Hotel. Then we couldn't figure out how to drive up. We could see a large parking lot either in front of or behind it. Our driver tried to go around to what he thought would be the front, but that was a construction zone and not passable. Then we drove along the edge of the parking lot (out on the Street) and finally found a narrow driveway and a Lemon Tree sign. The lot was very bumpy, but we did get to the hotel and someone was out there immediately to take our bags. I tipped the driver 500 rupees ($10) after Tractor Guy suggeted that he maybe close to running out of gas. I was impressed that the driver never dropped or dumped us at the wrong hotel. I don't think he could afford all that extra driving.

We checked in uneventfully EXCEPT the desk man did not think we had prepaid. I gave him my credit card and said we could figure it out in the morning. IT was 2am here, but only about 8 pm in London. We were pretty wide awake after out frights. Eventually I slept and somehow woke up about 7:30 am (just when the breakfast buffet started.

There were no Indians in the dining room. All westerners. At the same time, there was no recognizable western food except bread to toast and croissants. I had a spicy potato dish that was quite good. I also really ejoyed the plain white rice. It reminded me a trip to China when the SacTownGuy ate entire plates of rice at any meals. We each ordered eggs. The fried eggs looked fairly normal, my scrambled eggs looked strange. I got some protein!

Gigi, I have to report that I have seen no one sleeping on the sidewalk, but it is about 50 years since you were here. I did see a tent at the side of the road with 4 hard hats handing outside. I'm guessing that road workers were sleeping here. The roads do need work.

Some dirt hit me in the face as we drove in the taxi. The taxi was really about a 3-star attraction.

We are resting up today and flying to Calcutta tonight. I'm wonderig if I should be making arrangements for a car to pick us up. I now realize that the middle and upper classes do not use taxis here. They have clean modern vehicles and drivers. Last night at the airport arrivals there were at least 100 men with boards with hotel or passenger names on them. It gave you the feeling that your own name must be there somewhere.

After hearing that we hadn't prepaid the hotel last night, we were pleased to hear this morning that we have the rate which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, some laundry and ironing and transport to and from the airport. I believe we are appreciating the humor of our ituation.

I don't mean to sound like I am complaining. We are quite content and learning a lot. I had read that Indians can not say no. It istoo harsh. So one says that perhaps it is thus and so -- when one has no idea howto answer a question. I suspect that was what was happening last night with the taxi directions.

All Indians so far have been friendly, helpful and kind.

We wish that all of you were here with us discovering India.

Yesterday in the London airport I saw an interesting light skinned African man. He had short braids all over his head and was wearing a suit -- with the pants slung low, but not loose and under the suit a hoodie. That may be the style for 2009.

Lots of Love, Tractor Guy and Grandma

The Letter

2008-10-17T06:43:00.001-07:00

McDonald’s Corporation
Attn: Customer Service
2111 McDonald’s drive
Oak Brook, IL 60523

Dear Sir or Madam:

I purchased an iced tea yesterday at your store on Foothills, near Washington, in Roseville, CA. I have purchased iced tea there before. The most notable thing about the store is that the guy who takes the money, a young Hispanic man, is THE most friendly fast food worker I have ever encountered. He always thanks me and calls me “amigo.” However, this letter is not a letter of compliment but rather a letter of complaint.

I purchase a lot of iced tea. I don’t drink coffee but I do like iced tea. I consider myself some what of an iced tea aficionado. I dislike the tea at Burger King because it comes out of the fountain and I don’t care for Starbuck’s as it has too much of an aftertaste. I prefer your tea as well as that of In-N-Out as it’s just plain, old fashion, tea.

Yesterdays purchase left something to be desired. I actually blogged about it with pictures, if you care to read, at www.sactownguy.blogspot.com. I didn’t notice until I was back at my office and had removed the lid that the “drink” was not a drink but rather a cup full of ice with a splash of iced tea across the ice. Ok, I am exaggerating the point but it was rather bothersome to find that I had received so little tea and a cup packed to the top with ice.

I thus conducted a little experiment. I left the cup in my office all day, with the lid off, and drank the cold water occasionally that had melted from all that ice. To show you how ridiculous the amount of ice was there was still ice cubes in that cup 12 hours after purchase. No joke!

In case you didn’t read my blog let me tell you that I, like most people, worked at a fast food establishment. In fact, I worked at Burger King during 11th grade and again during college; the second stint lasted about a week but that’s a story for another day. My recollection at BK was that they either showed us how much ice to put in a cup or there was a line on the cup. I don’t recall but I do KNOW, with certainty, that I would never serve a beverage to someone with ice to the rim. I mean really… who wants a cup full of ice? You finish the drink so quickly and then you just have ice.

A related complaint is the styrophome cup. No, I am not concerned about the environmental effects that the cup may have as I am sure you guys have done testing and these cups aren’t like the old styrophome cups. However, when the cup is so full of ice it’s impossible to slide the straw down the side as you can do with the plastic cups. I thus had to lift the cup to get the few drops of tea at the bottom of the cup. Luckily I did not have an avalanche but I was worried as I had my work clothes on! Just imagine my letter if I had attached a dry cleaning bill to it!

In conclusion, I hope you send a training manual to that store so they can work on their ice serving skills. I like McDonald’s and will continue to buy my iced tea there but I would prefer to have things served correctly.

Agua

2008-10-17T06:12:00.001-07:00

I was disappointed to wake this morning to find only water in my Mickey d's cup. The ice did not last 24 hours as I had hoped it could achieve. I went to bed about 9:15 and the ice was still going strong so it made it at least 12 hours. I was really hoping as I drank the water this morning that some little ice chip would flow through my teeth but alas it was for not... it was just water. Kitty Kat thinks I am looking at this as the glass as half empty when, according to her, the glass if half full... Mickey D's makes a hell of a good Styrofoam cup. Be that as it may when I buy an iced tea I want iced tea and not just ice. Letter going out today on official SacTownGuy letterhead to:

McDonald’s Corporation
2111 McDonald's Dr
Oak Brook, IL 60523

Happy Friday and peace out.

O'Shea's in the cup

2008-10-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so no this is not a thread about "tough guy" Ice Cube in his pink and white striped shirt back at Taft High School in the rough and tumble San Fernando Valley. Rather this is post #3 about the ice cubes that are STILL in my cup! It's now 7:00 at night. I bought the Iced Tea about 9:20 this morning... about ten hours ago. As of 4:30 there were plenty of cubes for this picture to show. It's hard to get a picture now... and I am too lazy to go get my phone to take another picture. However, this 4:30 shot is good enough I think.

Now at 7:00 PM there are about 20 ice cubes left. I will leave it on the counter and try to remember to check in the morning before I go to work. What a great cup Mickey D's uses. My full cup of ice and splash of tea is looking great IF having ice cubes 10 hours later was the goal of my purchase this morning!

peace out.

Ice Ice Baby

2008-10-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

You need to read Fast Food Workers, below, before reading this blog or it might not make any sense.

As of 1:25 PM (4 hours after purchase) the stryphome cup is still about 1/2 full of ice. It is sitting on my desk as I post this blog. Just think, if there had been room for more than a few ounces of iced tea this morning that remaining tea would still be cold!

YES, I am going to write to McDonald's about this major travesty!

Fast Food Workers

2008-10-16T09:57:00.001-07:00

I was going to tell you about the annoying morning at the gym with the guy singing LOUDLY as he listened to his I-POD, the woman that talks (and laughs) loudly with herself while working out, and the chatty-cattys talking about their "friend" after she walked away. However, I have a problem that is bigger than that!

I went to a board meeting this morning. Afterwards I stopped to buy an iced tea at Mickey D's. You may recall a month or two ago I told you about the Mickey's D's where I ordered an iced tea with an Equal added to it and they gave me sweet T with an Equal in it which is way TOO sweet.

Anyway, same Mickey D's but new problem. Look at the picture above and what do you think the problem is? Styrofoam cup? Whatever! I am not trying to save the world. Just enjoy my iced tea. Yes, the Styrofoam cup is a problem... mainly because the straw can NOT get to the bottom of the cup as it won't slide down the side as a plastic cup would allow. I thus can not get to the iced tea at the bottom of the cup without picking the cup up and tilting it... so why give me a straw!? What's the problem? THE ICE! I bought this thing 40 minutes ago and the ice is still packed to within 1.5 inches of the top of the cup. Who the heck needs that much ice in their drink?

I get iced tea every day. I normally buy it at the coffee shop in my office building. It's self serve there so I get to put exactly 3 inches, give or take half an inch, of ice in the bottom of the cup. That usually chills the drink and finishes melting just about the time I am done drinking it. That means I have maximized my iced tea intake. I sometimes scoff when I see novices fill their cups full of ice.

Today though was not a novice but rather a professional fast food worker. Don't they train people anymore? I worked at BK back in '85. I remember being taught how much ice to put in a cup. I think they even had a line on the cup back then. Hmmmmm, maybe we are getting somewhere. Maybe it's really Mickey D's corporate who is at fault here and not the idiot who filled my cup!? Maybe I need to write a letter to Mickey D's corporate offices!? Maybe I should link to this blog? This is changing from a rant to a really good idea.

I gotta sign off as I have to go write to Mickey D's!

peace out.

College Dorm Life

2008-10-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying we all know that kids don't study all the time in college. That first year, kids are away from home for the first time, no supervision, and basically left to run wild in the dorms. Our parents felt secure that we would be safe in the dorms with the "RA's" overseeing our behavior. Of course, anybody that is anybody knows be-friending the more experienced RA's was the best way to get beer because they were all of 19 or 20 years old themselves but they had been in college for at least a year so they had fake ID's! Plus, if you were doing something illegal with the RA's, you couldn't get in trouble yourself could you!?

It would seem that John Belushi, as "Flounder," in Animal House really set the bar for how a drunken college student should act. Of course that's the movies and that stuff doesn't happen in real life. The pranks that one pulls are generally not quite as big as those in Animal House and they rarely work out exactly as planned. I have a couple of examples to share. I should start by saying these are NOT tales that I was involved in. Possibly I will share some of my tales another day. However, today I am sharing the stories of a fellow Cossack alum. Yes, he lived to graduate!

Both of these stories were brought to me by a college friend who we will call the Librarian. The Librarian was your typical 18 year old, college freshman, back in the middle 80's. He may have had a little bit more of the hippy vibe going than did the SacTownGuy was but I don't think he was out protesting at nuclear waste rallies or anything like that. Rather, he was just a regular mild-mannered college kid living the dorm life, drinking beer, going to class most days... and just maybe taking a hit or two off a bong on a rare occasion. ;)

The names and exact locations have been changed to protect the guilty....

The first one as told to me by the Librarian: "Lolita and several of her friends were kicked out of the dorms for spraypaint vandalism our first semester. They were drunk and trying to paint "Drop acid not bombs" on the dorms (F building where we lived) but because of their drunkenness, they actually spray painted, "drop acid not bobb" I still have a copy of the SSU newspaper with a picture of that on the front page."

Then, here is another told expertly by the Librarian: "This was the semester I was in the S-dorm. I still spent most of my time at my old dorm. That was room F6. Our bedroom window faced the dorm office and the pool. Over to the right you could see the bedroom windows of the 'B' building that sat perpendicular. There was this one window where the people stacked their beer cans all the way to the top of the window, like they were proud of how much beer they drank. My friends and I thought this was like the ultimate bonehead thing to do, so we got the idea to try to knock down their beer cans. I think it was three of us: Me, Bob and Jill, who decided to do this one night. Our idea was to bang on the window in hopes of knocking them down. So we snuck over there at night around 9 or so and on the count of 3, banged on the window REALLY HARD. The window completely shattered!! We were completely freaked out because this was not our intention. All three of us ran in different directions to avoid getting caught. I ran all the way out to the campus entrance on East Cotati (the entrance nearest the dorms). I then walked west on E. Cotati, made that first right, and walked back to the dorms along the bike path. We all eventually came back to the dorms and were not caught. I guess we lucked out in that respect. I think that was way worse than the spray paint thing. We would have probably been expelled from the whole university, I'm guessing. No one was hurt, fortunately. Man, I'm almost ashamed to tell that story. Anyway, that's what happened."

For those that don't know the Librarian probably walked/ran a mile and a half to avoid being caught after the above episode... on a dark and pretty busy street. It's really quite amusing because most anybody that spent time in the dorms got into some mischief of their own. Maybe one day I will tell you about the time the Rodent Park po-po gave chase to the SacTownGuy... but until then you will have to wait to find out if the SacTownGuy got away!

peace out.

Writer's Block

2008-10-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy is not on strike... but is having a bit of writer's block lately. It seems that ideas come to my head as possible blog topics and then leave without getting written. Some things are just EASY... like Star War's Guy below. That dude was basically walking around with a shirt on that said, "PLEASE BLOG ABOUT ME." Beyond that though I have had problems.

This morning while I was on a beautiful sunrise bike ride I thought about riding about the peacefulness of riding at that hour on a Sunday morning... but I didn't have more than that.

Then, while on the same bike ride, I was enjoying my I-Pod and thinking about writing about the music. Maybe some moving words from an old rap song or even the enjoyment I got today from some old 80's "new wave" music that snuck it's way onto my I-Pod from my Kroq listening days. Alas, it was not enough to blog about.

I could blog about going to our neighbor's 5th birthday today. How clicheic it is that the women were helping the kids with crafts while the guys sat on the couch watching a blowout football game... just biding time until cake was served. Actually, I enjoy those parties but how boring is that blog!?

Could blog about my son's addiction to Lego Star War's on the Wii... but that's sort of the definition of a 5 and a half year old so that's too easy... or "easy peezey" as my son might say.

Could blog about my breakfast the Pimp House this morning. Their omelets are the best. Anybody that messes around eating breakfast somewhere else is just wasting time. However, I have blogged about that before.

I was toying with the idea of blogging about politics and how funny it is that I have friends on the extreme right and extreme left on so many issues. However, I don't like to be a political guy so won't wage that war.

Oh ya, I thought about writing about the fun of connecting with old friends on Facebook. I connected with a couple of old college friends and a couple of old high school friends this week. Very fun to share memories... but if you aren't one of those people those stories might seem boring. Actually, I did hear one worth sharing with you. Connected with an old suite-mate from my freshman year who we will call Brian. If recollection serves me, Brian was an average sized guy who shared the other room with a roommate who was a HUGE guy named Rich. I mean HUGE. Rich had formerly played on the school football team but falled out of shape after a bad car accident. So one night Brian falls asleep in his little dorm bed (not much bigger than a cot) and later that night his huge roommate Rich stumbles in, probably drunk, and on who knows what else.... Rich passed out to sleep... on the wrong bed... and right on top of his roommate! Brian tried to wake him to get him off of him but had trouble as Rich was deep in a drunken stooper. Ok, if you didn't think that was funny you don't know humor.

Ok, that's all I got for ya today. I think my writer's block will be broken by Wednesday so be on the lookout.

peace out.

Star War's Guy

2008-10-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have pulled out the camera phone yesterday because this guy was a specimen that you needed to see! I was at Target with the kids. Each kid had ten bucks to spend. Thus we were in the toy aisle... the boy's toy aisle. It's full of plastic figures and vehicles for such lines as Power Rangers, Spiderman, Star Wars, etc.... This is my son's favorite place to go... he loves that boys toy aisle. Nothing pink!

As the little dude, who is almost 6 years old, perused each item with eyes wide open another shopper was also looking at each item... and even more eagerly, and with greater determination, than my 5 and a half year old. I will call him Star War's Guy. Dude was about 30 with a Mario Brothers shirt on. The shirt appeared new as it still had creases in it. He had a couple friends with him that looked pretty normal. In fact, if they hadn't been with this dork I would not have noticed them. The one, in particular, looked uncomfortable hanging out in the toy aisle as his friend ravaged the displays looking for certain items. Let me back track. I am not saying these other two guys ever get any action from the ladies... EVER... but I could see the other two guys sitting in a bar, very uncomfortably, and at least looking at women. Star War's Guy would have no time for such a time expenditure as being out looking for women. Ahh shoot, he has the Internet what does he need a bar for!?

Star War's Guy was going through each rack of toys like a homeless man at a homeless shelter. He had one Spiderman item under his arm but he wanted more! He was looking through the Spiderman items, the Incredible Hulk items, the Power Rangers items, and on he went. I stood there, starting at this guy in disbelief. Let me quickly point out he was NOT an Ebay guy (who I would give some leeway too) who was buying unique items to quickly flip on Ebay. This guy was buying for his personal collection FOR SURE! Let's talk about his "look." First of all, a Mario Brother's shirt, in and of itself, is fine. However, couple that with browsing through the toy aisle and the rest of his outfit and it screams MEGA DORK!

Dude had a normal looking hair cut (short overall but a little longer on top) but his clothes... oy vey! He had some jeans (NOT Levi's) that were that slightly off color of dark blue... as you might get at Wal-Mart. He had on generic, dark colored, shoes. Not athletic shoes and not dress shoes... just SHOES. Beyond all that though, the gleam in his eyes as he looked through each stack of kids toys was too much for me to take... MEGA DORK. I felt bad for him in certain ways as it was sad.

I have some dorky tendencies... most notably I get some enjoyment out of baseball cards and to a lesser degree video games. Let me quickly point out I like baseball cards, primarily because they are worth money, and I like video games from my youth and NOT computer games that cause me to sit for hours. In fact, I don't go out of my way to play video games but will play a game of Ms. Pac-Man while waiting for car to be washed down at Harv's... or occasionally will play a game with my kids. However, I have never owned and never played those mega-dork games on the computer which are basically akin to Dungeons and Dragons on-line. Of course, I NEVER EVER in my life played D & D because everybody knows that is the mega dork game of my youth. Makes me cringe to think about those dorks.

My son was unsure what to get but as my little dude looked through each color of light sabre, before selecting some other Star War's plane it dawned on me that my son really should have asked Star Wars Guy for his opinion on what to buy. Shoot, maybe they could have a play date next week and play with their Star War's toys together!? They could do a full scale re-enactment of the movie from the fort in the back yard and dive the death stars into the sandbox, before finally throwing Darth Vader to his death... in the deep end of the swimming pool! Hey, I was 5 once so I know how to play with toys... I just stopped making that choice when I was about 10 years old!

peace out.

TAG

2008-10-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

You know you are getting old when you have to look up on-line to see what it means to be "tagged" in a blog. This getting old stuff is rough. Anyway, I have been tagged thanks to Chelsie out in Utah. My understanding is that I am now supposed to tell my readership 6 quirky things about the SacTownGuy. The problem is the SacTownGuy really has no quirks. He is perfect. Seriously though my quirks are more about all the annoying stuff OTHER people do. THEY have the oddities not ME! Well... I will put in some thought so here it goes... 6 quirky or odd things about the Sac Town Guy:

1. I am completely obsessed with working out every day. I am not in great shape, have very little muscle mass, can not run fast, can not bike far, but I am obsessed with working out every day. I prefer when my muscles hurt because it means I got my workout in. I am in a complete funk if I miss a day. All plans I make, such as vacations, include thought about where and when I will get my workout in.

2. I don't care for fireworks. They bore me. Back in the day I enjoyed setting off M-80's, bottle rockets, etc... just like the next kid. However, I find fireworks, up in the sky, to be one of the most boring activities on earth. Would rather go for root canal... at least there is some excitement there.

3. I don't drink coffee. Ok, well Chelsie lives in Utah so this doesn't seem weird to her. However, out here in Cali pretty much everybody over the age of 4 goes to Starbucks every day. I have drank coffee one time in my entire life. It was at a UCLA football game, when they used to play at the LA Coliseum, when I was about 12. Momz had bought the coffee, didn't like, it, and I didn't want it to go to waste so drank the whole cup of that swill. Makes me want to heave just thinking about it.

4. I have never done drugs. Again, this seems normal for Chelsie in Utah but pretty much 99.9% of the high school and college students in Cali do drugs at least once. In college bong hits were a daily thing for my friends and roommates and I was at plenty of parties where I watched friends do everything from lines of coke to smoking rocks. Never my thang though.

5. I am a neat freak. I HATE clutter. Luckily, Kitty kat feels the same. We joke that we are borderline OCD... or maybe it's not joke!? Seriously though, WHEN IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT is definitely the motto at our crib. We have received gifts that go straight to the Goodwill pile the day we receive it. YES, we have an active Goodwill pile going at all times. Goodwill makes big bank off the some of the stuff we give them... because we are too busy to do a garage sale.

6. I go to bed very early. This is related to #1 above. I am more than happy to cut the lights at 8:30 if Kitty Kat will let me and sometimes I just fall asleep while she is watching TV or reading. I wake up at 4:20 on most work days so I gotz to get to bed! 11:00 news? Haven't seen that in years! I do sometimes stay up "late" on the weekends... you know 9:30 or even 10:00 sometimes. Crazy, eh!?

I do not think I know 6 people who blog who I can tag. I know Chelsie who tagged me and my man Jimmy. I can't re-tag Chelsie so I just tag Jimmy!

Happy Friday and peace out.

Life Is Good

2008-10-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

I think it's natural we all feel a bit down on life with all we read in the paper, watch on TV and even experience first hand. Business IS down for many of us, restaurants we like to eat at might be going out of business or at least not have long lines as they once did, stores (sometimes HUGE corporations) we enjoy shopping at are going bankrupt and in general there is a feeling of doom and gloom in the air. The SacTownGuy though is feeling good about life!

This morning I received an email from a friend of mine which had about 15 photos of amazing things in mother nature. There were animals, pictures of the sky, pictures of snow, mountains, etc.... At the conclusion of the email it simply said, "LIFE IS GOOD." You know what? Life really IS good!

I don't know about you but I have a job! I get paid good money. That's good.

My firm employs other people so they have jobs. We just gave our annual raises and gave pretty much what we have given in past years. Good for our employees!

I drive a new car. Sure it's only a four cylinder Honda Accord but it's new!

I hit 200 on my Facebook "friends" last week. How lucky am I to even know that many people that are willing to call me their friend!?

My baseball team is going to the playoffs. Good for them!

This past Sunday I went for a two hour bike ride at sunrise. I was up on top of a small mountain watching the sun rise. The ride was great, the sunrise so pretty in that crisp morning air and then I went to the Pimp House for breakfast. Not much of a better way to start a day than that!

My wife is beautiful and keeps our house running smoothly. I feel very lucky to be married to such a great life partner.

My son is proud to be growing big muscles and six pack abs with his work at gymnastics and soccer. It really couldn't be cuter... especially when he flexes his muscles in the bathroom mirror. He's all of 5 years old so it's pretty funny. Oh wait, I think I just heard him yell that he is five AND A HALF!

My daughter is excited to wear her ballet outfit anytime we will let her... be it to ballet class, gymnastics class, or neither. At 4 years old she smiles about some pretty Small stuff and laughs at ALL my jokes! She's not the best ballerina or gymnast in the world but she is the cutest! How good I have it!

People actually read my blog. I track the numbers and more of you are reading each week. How cool, eh!?

Bottom line: LIFE IS GOOD. Look for your good stuff!

Say What?

2008-09-25T15:58:00.001-07:00

Do you ever say something to a person in passing and really have no clue what they say back to you? It happens to the SacTownGuy a lot as I was the 700WattCarSteroGuy for a long time. Rolling around town with the booming bass and crystal clear tweeters will mess up a person's hearing... just like momz told me it would! Anyway, I had passing words with a guy yesterday that left me wondering... I assume I heard him wrong... or maybe he was just messing with me because his word was so clear!?

I was walking down the hallway in our office building heading the bathroom. Side note, you know you have little kids when you almost write "potty" as the place an adult goes to urinate. Anyway, I was walking down the hallway and passed a guy that I often see around the building. I think he is like a maintenance guy or something. I have seen him for several years. He's a little Hispanic dude. I would say he is 5'5" or so. We usually acknowlege each other with a smile, a "hello" or the like. Yesterday he was walking toward me and as we passed I said, "good afternoon," to my little friend. He replied, "gordito."

I am guessing he didn't really say gordito to me but what did he say? It defintely was not "good afternoon." What could it have been? Or maybe he was just messing with me and really DID say gordito?

Of course it reminds me of Fletch greeting the housekeeper with the name of a popular SoCal fast food restaurant. I think the maid greeted Fletch with a "buenos noches" and Irwin M. Fletcher (aka: "Fletch") replied, "Pup 'n Taco." At other points in the movie he also greets people with various Spanish words such as an exchange with a guy (maybe the guy that brought him the two steak sandwiches?) The waiter says: "Muchas Gracias" and Fletch replies, "Tierra Del Fuego."

Anyway, the bottom line is I will likely never know what my little friend said yesterday but feel free to let me know if you have any idea.

peace out.

The computer says....

2008-09-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend. Saturday we went to the pimp house for breakfast. Our beloved waitress, Andrea, has moved on to greener pastures so we are trying to become accustomed to being treated like common customers. Andrea would greet us, about the same moment we sat down, with our drinks as she knew what us creatures of habit drank each time we were there. The replacements not only don't greet us with our regular drink, like we were Norm or Cliff, but also seem to ignore us like we were some outsider invading their space. Seriously, sometimes I feel like the staff there is avoiding our table; "oh those are Andrea's customers we will never match her skill as a waitress so we won't even try...."

Well, anyway we had a nice breakfast and might have found a replacement for Andrea. The gal was efficient, filled the drinks and didn't miss anything. More on that in a few weeks.... Sunday morning we hung at the pad in the AM. Kitty Kat wanted her Diet Coke so I rolled out to Mickey d's to get it. The kids were with me so I decided to get everybody some McGriddles. I have never been a Mickey D's fan but those McGriddles are pretty damn good. Order them plain, without the sausage, because who really knows what is in that sausage!?

I got to the drive-threw line just behind another car. He took the right hand lane behind another car I took the left behind a car. My lane moved first so I was able to get the jump on the guy who took the right. Of course, that is the same scenario, and same Mickey D's, as the time the lady cussed me out in the drive-threw line. CRAZY LADY I order 4 plan orders of McGriddles and 1 large Diet Coke. I know McGriddles are about 1 buck an order and the Diet Coke is about two bucks. However, the drive-threw loudspeaker told me the total was $10.04. This can't be right....

I got up to the window and alerted the young man that $10.04 did not sound right. He was very polite but was not sure because, of course, the computer told him it was $10.04. Dare he do any independent thought on the subject! I put the car in park and we waited. A few minutes later he comes back and tells me the new total is $4.10. I ask him if he is sure he got everything because that doesn't sound like enough. He assures me it's what the computer says. I put the car in drive and drove up to the second window. I figure maybe they are having a special on McGriddles, fifty cents per order, and the Diet Coke was $2.00 which would put the total to four bucks. However, how could they sell McGriddles for 50 cents an order? Seems to cheap to me!?

Well, I get the drink and a small bag from the gal at the second window. As I grabbed that little bag it sure didn't feel like it had four orders of McGriddles in it so I opened it up and guess what? TWO orders of McGriddles. I put the car back in park, motion the gal over, and explain I ordered four orders of McGriddles. As if I just changed my mind on how many I wanted she says something like, "oh you wanted four orders?" I tell her that is correct. She quickly gets them for me, and luckily someone else noticed the situation, had been alerted to my almost getting overcharged a few minutes earlier, and they gave me the second two orders for free. I drove out of the line and headed back to the crib. The guy behind me in line was probably wishing he had chosen the left line and not the right as we were slow!

However, the point of this story is not about McGriddles being a secret gem of a food (they actually inject syrup into the pancake), or how bothersome fast food workers are (because we all worked there at some time in our lives), or really about anything else... this story is about, HOW OFTEN DO WE GET OVERCHARGED ON A DAILY BASIS BECAUSE THE COMPUTER SAYS?

peace out.

Business Plans

2008-09-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy was BusinessMajorGuy in college. I took all the classes: corporations, partnerships, marketing, business law, human resources, accounting, international business and, frankly, I don't remember what else. In fact, I don't really know if the above were the names of the classes but I took an f'ing boatload of business classes! In just about EVERY single one of those classes the first few chapters of the book were about writing business plans, mission statements, etc.... To me there is no more futile exercise than writing such things.

Yesterday we had lunch with a woman who buys into this crap. She was trying to gauge our business by asking such questions as: do you have a written business plan, how often do you have meetings with your partners, how often do you have staff meetings, etc.... It was really annoying. If the meeting had been arranged differently and had I not been buried in the middle of the booth I would have done like Snagglepus and... exited stage right.

As she asked her annoying questions my eyes glazed over as I knew I was not the type of person she wants to do business with. I am straight forward and honest so I answered all her questions honestly:

1) No we don't have a written business plan;
2) We have partner meetings when they are needed;
3) We have staff meetings when they are needed.

Now, I had other thoughts to answer her questions but they were just thoughts:

1) No we don't have a f'ing written business plan because that is the biggest f'ing time waster in corporate f'ing America and really should be reserved for college students, state workers and others who don't have to worry about making money.

2) My partners and I are too busy helping our clients and making money so we don't schedule a meeting just because we have to have a partner's meeting the first Tuesday of every month or some such thing. Rather we have a partner's meeting when it's needed; you know, when we have an important business issue that requires a MEETING of the minds. Might be every day and might be once every six months but it's when we have something to talk about and not just an excuse to order coffee and danish and shoot the breeze with each other.

3) If we need to tell the staff something important we schedule a meeting. Otherwise they do their job because their job description does NOT include sitting in meetings all the time just because. What a waste of f'ing time. Plus, it's just more danish and coffee we would have to buy!

Simply put most of us with a business have a pretty simple business plan:

My business plan is to make a ton of f'ing money in an ethical manner.

Really, beyond that I don't care about much. Did I make a lot of money? GOOD. Did I treat everybody properly? GOOD. What the f' else really matters? Could I wordsmith the thing to death, add a few other sentences, come up with some great catch phrases, etc...? Sure I could but why waste the time. I am too busy trying to make money so I can pay for my kids private school, my big house, etc.... My job is to MAKE MONEY.

In hindsight I probably should have re-directed this annoying lady to some other questions that she could have asked. For example, maybe I should have said:

While the issue of a written business plan is an intriguing academic exercise it seems a more relevant question you could ask is: how long have you been in business? You would find we have been operating by the seat of our pants, with a written business plan, since 1979. That's a hell of a lot better than 95% of the companies that DO have a written business plan, true?

Additionally, the idea of regularly scheduled partner meetings are nice why don't you ask how well the partners get along or how much we trust each other? I would tell you that the other day we had to move money around to keep our bank accounts under the FDIC limits and when I heard we had to move $50,000 I did not hesitate, or think twice, in saying just give it to one of my partners and we can straighten it out later. I KNOW they aren't going to steal the companies money. Even though I don't have regularly scheduled meetings with them I know they won't steal it!

I could go on but hopefully you understand that business statements and regularly scheduled meetings are a waste of time. I can promise you that EVERY single big corporation that Bush is bailing out, so that McCain has a chance of being elected, has a well developed business plan, weekly partner meetings and monthly staff meetings. As George Zimmer says, I GUARANTEE IT!

In fact, corporate America would be much better off reading the SacTownGuy every day because I guarantee you I will share more useful information than you ever could come up with at your next staff meeting! Plus, I wrote your business plan up above and you can copy it if you want to.

peace out.

Going Back to Cali

2008-09-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Back about '87 LL belted out Going Back to Cali. If memory serves it was on the Less than Zero soundtrack. That was an interesting movie about kids in LA, cocaine, going to Palm Springs... ah, I don't really remember exactly but I do remember that is where the song got it's start. The phrase, "going back to Cali," has remained a commonly used phrase and is just another reminder of how Cali really is THE place. Shoot, LL is from New York city but did he ever sing "Going back to Queens?"

I have thought more about this conclusion lately as we watch Texas and Louisiana flood... again. Cali really is THE place to live in our country. We don't have crazy huricanes and stuff like that. My favorite snippit was about some guy at Galveston Island. This from an AP article, and you just can't make this up. Makes me very happy to live nowhere near the idiots on Galveston Island. As my peeps in So Cal might say, "oy vey, and as my peeps in Utah might say, "oh my heck." Check this:

Steven Rushing, a commercial fisherman, tried to ride out the storm with his wife and several family members, including his pregnant 17-year-old daughter, in their one-story brick home on Galveston Island.

Early Saturday, they watched the water rise and donned life jackets. When the water reached the TV, about 4 feet high, Rushing's plan was to kick out a window so they could tie themselves to a tree and await rescue.

But then he noticed a sudden calm, apparently the hurricane's eye passing over. He loaded his family into a 17-foot ski boat and headed for the San Luis resort, the headquarters for emergency personnel about 20 blocks away. It took 20 minutes to float 16 blocks before the boat ran aground. Then the Rushings sprinted for safety, guided by lights from police responding to a 911 call made from the boat.

"I'm drained. I'm beat up," Rushing said later Saturday morning. "My family is traumatized. I kept them here, promising them everything would be alright, but this is the real deal and I won't stay no more."

I have traveled the country, as well as the world, and there really are few places that match it. Is Cali perfect? Of course not. However, it has a lot of incredible attributes. Let's take SacTown for example. If you ask just about anybody in the highly populated areas of LA, San Diego and 'Frisco they would tell you SacTown is CowTown. Could be that compared to those places it is a CowTown. However, if I want my big city fix I head 90 miles west to A City by A Body of Water or I can head 90 miles east and be on the slopes of some of the world's greatest skiing in the Lake Tahoe area. I can play golf 365 days a year. I can ride my bike 365 days a year. I certainly can run 365 days a year.

What are the downsides to living in Cali? It seems one of the most common refrains from people in most other states is we don't have four seasons. That's true for the most part though here in SacTown it gets cold enough that the trees turn colors and we have snow within 45 minutes, up the hill, sometimes in winter. The funny thing is though when you ask a former cold weather state resident now living in Cali about living in Cali they ALWAYS say, "I sure don't miss the snow." That is 100% of them! So maybe that four seasons thing is just justification for living in a crap place!?

Oh ya, and my favorite reason people don't want to move to Cali... earthquakes. Not to jinx anything because we all realize we could have the BIG ONE and become an island but do you know how many earthquakes I have felt in my LIFE living here? Maybe 4 or 5 that I can recall. They last 10-20 seconds and then you go back to your perfect world. It's not like a hurricane that you brace for, board up the house, travel inland, etc... earthquakes just happen and then they are done. Plus, they have earthquakes in other places too.

Are taxes higher in Cali? Probably. However, that's because we have to build stuff like bike lanes, bike routes, nature trails, beach walks, etc.... They don't have to worry about that stuff in a lot of other states now do they!?

I guess we do spend more on sun block each year so that sucks. All that sun....

I like to dream about retirement... even though it's probably about 100 years away. I want to live on a golf course and preferably a place I can play golf 365 days a year. That basically means Cali, Arizona, New Mexico and MAYBE portions of the southeast... unless I go international.

As recently stated I went out to eastern Tennessee recently. They have some beautiful retirement communities in the mountains near Knoxville. Just awesome looking. My favorite is Rarity Pointe. They have a fancy country club golf course AND a fancy yacht club on their big lake. YES, both clubs in one development. I don't even like boats but if I move there my neighbors will have boats won't they!? So I started snooping around their website, www.raritypointe.com. WOW, is it beautiful.

As I was looking around their website I noticed they predicted about 4 inches of rain in each of the winter months which is about the same as Cali. Their coldest weather would be a tad cold for golf but not totally out of the question. So, with any luck, could play golf about 300 days a year. However, what's up with the 4 inches of rain in each of the summer months? I know they have that southeast humidity which sucks... oh ya, speaking of humidity just about every other state in the union, except Cali, has that. Humidity sucks!

Anyway, I kept looking because the community just looks so awesome. You have to put up the bible belt mentality but I still went to their religious page links. As expected, near the top is a list of 29 Baptist churches. You got your full gambit of other Christian religions, Catholics, Christians, Church of Christ, Mormons, etc... and then I saw the Judaism link. Hey, why not, let me check it to see what the Jews have going in Knoxville. I kid you not, the link goes to a page that says:

Sorry, the page you requested

www.discoveret.org/kjf/kjhwor.html

was not found on the DiscoverET.org website.

Ok, so humidity, snow, bible belt mentality, and apparently no Jews... I guess I'll be staying in Cali when I retire.

peace out.

9-11

2008-09-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today is an important day in the history of our country. It's a day we all are aware of. When we hear "9-11" we think of that horrid day back in 2001. I have no great words of wisdom but I do think it important we all remember this day each year.

What were you doing that day? I was at the gym that morning. I was watching the TV, from a bike, and trying to figure out if it was real or fake what I was watching. I just couldn't figure it out at first. I had an early client meeting, about 7:30 that morning, and he showed up. We spoke as much about what news we had heard as about his legal needs. I cancelled the rest of my appointments that day. Whenever I see that client, who I met with that morning, one of us will always mention that first meeting back on 9-11-01.

I visited New York that October for a wedding. We walked all around ground zero. More than a month after 9-11 and stores were still closed, streets closed, police everywhere, etc.... What a mess!

My friend, Meteorite Guy, shared some photos yesterday. I thought this one captured a lot so thought I would share.

peace out.

Gym Talk - Monday Edition

2008-09-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

MEMO TO 3 NEWBIES ON THE BIKES IN THE FRONT ROW:

DO NOT TALK SO LOUD AT 5:00 AM. THIS IS NOT THE SOCIAL HOUR.

Seriously, if I was a newbie at a gym I would keep my mouth closed and try to fit in. Maybe see how others behave. Is there a protocol for changing a TV station, turning fans on or off, and... TALKING. These three people are acting like they have been there for years. The one gal looks familiar but she is not a regular. The other two are fresh off the boat! Today I went to sit down on a bike, after hitting the Nautilus machines for a few minutes, and the newbie guy said, "oh we are actually saving that bike for our friend. Would you mind going down there?" Well, of course I did it. He did not realize the bikes that were left, on the far end of the front row, are not as good as the bike he was saving. However, more importantly this is not a social time and NOBODY saves bikes at 5:00 AM at my gym. These people are out of line and need to be stopped! At 5:00 AM you put in your time and then go to work; all business!

With that said, I will now start working!

Happy Monday y'all.

peace out.

Guess What?

2008-09-01T07:56:00.001-07:00

The SacTownGuy was the HillBillyGuy for about 7 months back in 1985. The trip this past weekend back to the Smoky Mountains revived memories of that 7 months... which at time felt more like 1955 than 1985. As stated in the previous blog while Gatlinburg, and presumably much of the southeastern United States, has come along way since 1985. People of color are much more abundant around the Smokey Mountains; both as visitors and locals working the stores. Not sure how many people of color actually live in Gatlinburg or if the local high school has ever admitted a student of color but I will just assume they have.

Back in 1985 that was not the case. The school was 100% white and I mean cracker southern WHITE. Truck driving, rock 'n roll listening, white boys! The SacTownGuy was actually the LAGuy at that time. A move from sunny Los Angeles to the Smoky Mountains was an eye opening experience mid-way through my junior year of high school! Moving from a school that was 60-70% "minorities" (who is the "minority" if you have a roughly equal mix of several groups of people?) to a school that was zero percent minorities made me feel like the minority. I recall the time sitting in the back of class, not listening to the teacher (big surprise) and a couple of my classmates were looking through my wallet. They were quite dismayed to see photos of many African American gals and even asked if I was a "n___ lover." In reality the LAKid was living a "sheltered" life going to school in central LA because I didn't know those redneck racists really still existed but they most certainly did.

There were many other examples of racism I was exposed to but today's blog is not about that issue. As mentioned in my previous post though things are substantially better down south I don't think they have their race issues resolved quite yet in the Smoky Mountains. Make sure you read the quote from the Knoxville newspaper in my previous blog, down below, for comfirmation of that.

When the LAGuy moved from LA to Tennessee it was like Kevin Bacon in Footloose... but I couldn't dance. Gatlinburg, Tennessee in 1985 was a few years "behind" LA in just about everything. A couple noted exceptions: 1) the people of eastern TN were substantially better sports fans and 2) ... while I haven't come up with anything else yet. The place was truly different. I remember one of my first days at the new school walking through campus with some of my finest cloths on... Guess overalls... two tone. Man those things were sweet! I don't remember if I did the one arm strap down look or both down but I felt pretty good rockin' the Guess Jeans overalls right!? At some point one of my classmates looked at me with a real stupid look, very thick accent, and said, "guess what?" That was followed, a day or two later by another classmate, with equal dumb look and thick accent, "Swatch watch... what's a Swatch watch?" Not but a few days later, in the parking lot, as I rocked my steady LA beats during the lunch period... "Bingo Boingo... what's Bingo Boingo?" Or "Run DMC... what is Run DMC?"

My little LA world was awakened just like Kevin Bacon arriving at his school in Footloose... driving his VW Bug. I drove a VW Rabbit. Guess how many other foreign cars there were at my new high school? ONE. I saw one guy who occasionally drove a VW Bug. Everybody else was rockin' Camaro's, Trans Am's, Mustang's, trucks of all makes... and almost all vehicles in sheet metal gray color! Cars define some people in high school... including me so I was an outsider by my car among so many other things.

However, I tried to play along so I got the confederate flag front "tag" for my car, put a bag of Red Man chew on my dash, but the best thing I did... I got a horn that played 100 different songs... including the Dukes of Hazard song they played whenever Bo and Luke were about to jump over a river. That was the best. Driving through town if I saw my classmates I would hit the button and the Duke boys song would play to announce that I was there! It even had a loud speaker built in so you could yell at people on the sidewalks. Damn, I wish I had that still!

I remember the day I met the guidance counselor in the school when I went to register for classes. He looked me up and down and with that deep southern accent said, "you play football?" I told him I didn't that I played soccer. The guidance counselor replied, "that's ok... we can always use a good kicker on the football team." Let's just say that high school football is sort of big time in eastern Tennessee. The games are on the radio and on TV with many replays so you can watch it over and over! I ended up playing soccer on the high school's first team. We were not good but of course no other local teams were good as most people hadn't played before. One of the few times in my life I was one of the two or three best players on the soccer team!

The SacTownGuy worked at Burger King that summer. Mastered the fry cooker the first night, was whipping out burgers a night or two later, and was running the cash register with in a few days. My manager, John Henry, thought I must be a rocket scientist I was such a fast learner of all those difficult tasks! I always remember the first time John Henry told me the shake machine was "tore up." I had no clue what he meant. Was there a hole in the machine? Tore up, of course, meant it was broken. They really should give you a dictionary when you arrive in the south!

Speaking of arrivals I remember crossing the county line the first time I arrived there. The large sign, no joke, read,

"WELCOME TO SEVIER COUNTY
HOME OF DOLLY PARTON."

Yup, old Dolly grew up there and went to our rival high school. The year I left she bought a local amusement park in the next town over and turned it into Dollywood which is of course still there today. I never saw Dolly while I was there... I am guessing she does not spend a lot of time there.

Well, guess what, my time is done for today. More another day.

peace out.

Swap Meet Louie

2008-08-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

A few of my readers may remember the Sir Mix A Lot song, Swap Meet Louie. It was about his trip to the swap meet (some places they call them flea markets) where there is a lot of fake Louis Vuitton and other knock off items being hawked by the swap meet sellers. It's really a great rap. Some classic lines are Mix telling the sellers that "Louis Vuitton never made a sweatsuit...." If you have ever been to a true swap meet you know what I speak of.

Anyway, Kitty Kat and I are out in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains for a long weekend. We stayed in Gatlinburg last night and walked all around and looked at all the stores full of purses and other assorted crap for sale. Ahhhhhh, you see how I am getting back to the swap meet louie title... all kinds of fake purses and stuff being sold here along with a ton of unlicensed characters on air brush t-shirts and who knows what else. Let me end the comparison to the swap meet there because this place is pretty nice. This is a very beautiful part of the country and, no offense to the Rodium or Slauson Swap, thus is the most beautiful big swap meet anywhere!

Here's one of our favorite pictures. They have air soft guns (or some such thing) for sale all over town. The only thing more prevalent is old tyme photo shops (you know where you dress up in old fashion outfits) which there may be 25 of in this small town (and that's no joke). Anyway, in this photo Kitty Kat holds up a fake purse but notice what's for sale in the background... air soft guns. Other stores have weapons galore; guns, knives, nun-chucks, and other ugly looking weapons.

Ok, put aside the weapons, old tyme photos and this is a most beautiful area. I went a 60 minute run one morning, and went into the side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and it is beautiful... and the temperature goes down 5 or 10 degrees within a block due to the shade of the trees. Anyway, I highly recommend the area for a visit. Plus, bring the kids because there are probably about 50 mini golf courses, 25 go-kart tracks, 50 old tyme photos, and hundreds of assorted other shows and activities. People out in SacTown have no idea but I do recommend you come check it out!

However, the SacTownGuy enjoys talking other stuff besides the beauty of the great outdoors. Besides the beautiful Smoky Mountains you notice a lot of other smokies... SMOKERS. Gosh, they are everywhere! They are up and down the sidewalk, perched in front of the gun stores, old tyme photo stores and pancake restaurants. Luckily I love pancakes because they have a lot of pancake restaurants here! Here are three Shoney's employees right in front of their restaurant smoking... right on the main street in the middle of town. YUCK! They need some of those Cali type laws where you are not allowed to smoke on sidewalks or within 15 feet of a building because the smoking is NASTY! That's about my only real complaint actually.

We have to visit our man Flash, aka Earl, at Gatlinburg Ink, the top tattoo shop in the southeast. I highly recommend you go visit Earl when you are looking for your next tat. Tell him the SacTownGuy sent you and he will hook you up! Here's Kitty Kat with Earl getting ready to go under the needle... or maybe just posing....

Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anybody the people down south do not know the Civil War is over. No joke! They LOVE their confederate flags. They have it on everything from purses to flip flops to t-shirts... oy vey do they have T-shirts! I have never seen more T-shirts in my life and some with the most obnoxious slogans you have ever seen. Not sure which is worse... that somebody came up with his "great idea" for a shirt or that somebody bought it. I can't even quote these shirts in this family friendly blog. Here however is a pic of some for you....

I was so pleasantly surprised to see people of different nationalities working in Gatlinburg. WOW, this place has come along way since I first became acquainted with this place in 1985... or did it. I was impressed with people of varying middle eastern backgrounds working, and presumably owning, many stores throughout town. Their young children running the cash register... the American dream right!? Then I was reading the Knoxville (the BIG city) newspaper yesterday and there was an article about a new development by the Reagan family (big mockers in Gatlinburg) in Gatlinburg and I QUOTE from the Knoxville News Sentinel, "Lee Reagan said that, contrary to rumors, there are no Middle Eastern investors, but a person from Indiana is involved." Oy vey is all I can say.

We moved on to Sevierville and Pigion Forge yesterday. Spent a nice day there touring factory outlet malls and we also went to the Cirque de Chine which was an excellent show which the SacTownGuy highly recommends. For thirty bucks it's a deal. You will be freaking out during the last routine I promise! Plus, Texas BBQ, across the street, just got a beer license recently (the whole bible belt/no liquor thing will be addressed at a later date). I think that makes the show even better!

Oh, I almost forgot to give you a little breakfast review. I love my pancakes and iced tea. The Sevier County area is a hot spot for both. Of course, being in the south they have fresh brewed iced tea everywhere (and not that crap out of the soda machine). As for pancakes... they got pancake places on every corner! The first morning we woke up at the airport Hilton in Knoxville. Other than asking if we wanted separate checks the place was great. $6.50 for pancakes at a full service hotel? WOW! That's the cheapest ever. Plus $1.50 for iced tea. I could get used to these prices. The second morning we went to the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg. It's the tourist trap type of place, with line out the door, cash only, and you know what... it was damn good! How many times have the Pancake Pantry people heard this during their annual audit, "so Mr. Pantry you are telling me I see lines out the door every day but you have lost money again this year?" Ok, I lucked out that day and I got pancakes and iced tea a second time... lunch at the Cracker Barrell. Not having the Barrell in Cali I enjoy it so hit it up. The biscuits were awesome. I carb loaded: pancakes, biscuits and has browns. Oh ya, I also had similar for breakfast the Pantry and their hash browns were off the charts good! The last morning we had breakfast at Flapjacks in Sevierville. It was runner up to the Pantry in terms of food but a close second. The service was excellent and the ambiance perfect for breakfast in TN; as they are a log cabin style place. All in all I carb loaded on this trip and loved every minute of it!

All in all we had a great trip and, as I type this in an airport Hotspot, we are ready to get home to the kiddies on Sunday afternoon.

peace out.

Dumb People, PhD

2008-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

So when you are in college you typically think (most) of your professors are about the smartest people in the world, right? I think it's natural to think that because these people are being paid to teach us about a specific subject. There whole life is directed toward one activity. They went to college, then got a masters in their subject and then got the holy grail of knowledge... a P.h.D. However, is that true? Are they really that smart? I suggest NOT. Let me give you a specific example.

I have a client who is a tenured professor at a university. He has a PhD from a major university and has been teaching in his area of expertise for well over 10 years now. He should thus be pretty smart, right?

Let's start by realizing there is a HUGE distinction between someone who is smart and someone who is practical. You know, some people have "book smarts" and some people have "street smarts." To me I would rather have street smarts. I don't mean the fact that I try to never have my car boxed in at a red light because that makes you more susceptible to being car-jacked but rather it's the practical knowledge that some people just HAVE and some people will NEVER have. You can not teach it in a book or class.

My client has NONE of this practical street smarts I speak of. Let me start with a quick example. He was in my office for an appointment and his phone rang. I said, "by all means take the call if it's important." Implicit in that is "but make it quick." In fact, further implicit in my statement is, "I am being polite by offering that you take the call and you probably should not really answer it...." He took the call and talked for at least 10 minutes about general business stuff with some colleague of his. I understand if you are in my office and the mortuary calls asking for instructions about burial of your dead father. In this case he was just shooting the breeze as I stared at him in disbelief... until finally I just started checking email. You could say he has bad manners but that's not the case. He is from a very prim and proper family and he is very polite but he has no CLUE. Smart people, even some of my busy business owner clients, apologize when their cell phone rings during a meeting. Most, if it rings, slip it to silent mode so it won't happen again. Those are smart people!

The guy just has no common sense. Everything that could be accomplished by one email is accomplished by 21 emails. Each one asking, and re-asking, the same dumb questions. Phone calls are painful since his questions are so stupid. I sometimes want to reach through the phone and shake him and ask if he is really that clueless. Questions are usually asked with the most excruciating detail that it makes my brain numb. He asks the most unlikely questions and then carries those out to the 10th degree of unlikeliness. Also everything is by group decision and meetings. I will give him advice and he will then say, "let me make sure everybody is in agreement with that" which triggers another 55 emails... all of which include me as a CC. Lastly he does NOTHING fast. He is used to that nice slow pace of the college campus. The only time he deals with a deadline is the end of the semester when he has to get grades in. Otherwise he is pretty much just walking the campus and picking up on young co-eds. Yes, that's true because young co-eds are often attracted to these professors and/or fain attraction to receive a better grade.

Anyway, the guy is a complete idiot but he has a cush job with no real pressure. Well, some months ago he took a private sector job. I was very surprised that he would leave the ivory tower lifestyle but he did. Frankly, I figured there was no chance that this slow moving, over analytical, IDIOT could survive in the REAL WORLD. It sounded like a good job with a good organization. Wow, good for him....

Gosh, shocking, the other day I got a call that he is back at the university. Apparently he could not hack it in the real world. How cush is that tenured teaching job? He was able to take a "leave of absence" while he checked if he could hack it in the real world and now he goes back to the cush job at the university. If I left my office for a week they would probably have someone new in my spot but I work in the real world.

The bottom line is, listen to your professors and get good grades but make sure you get jobs, with real companies (not on the college campus) so you can learn about REAL LIFE. Because they don't teach you everything in the classroom... they just aren't capable of it!

peace out.

Dumb People

2008-08-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe I am the dumb person here but if you go through a drive-thru at Mickey D's and order, "an iced tea with one Equal in it" (cuz they don't have the pink stuff there) what would you expect their response to be?

No matter what you say they will ask if there is anything else. You could say, "I only want an iced tea with one Equal in it and that's it... solamente... todo... no mas..." and they would still say, "would you like anything else with it." I thus don't bother signifying the simplicity of the order and instead I play their game and politiely decline anything else.

The last few months the local Mickey D's have been running a new kind of iced tea. I call it southern style but they simply call it "sweet tea." You know if you go to a restaurant down south, as I will do next week, they ALL have both kinds of tea... but not out here in Cali. Down south that sweet tea is hugely popular; or muy popolar as we say in Cali.

Have you ever had sweet tea? It is REALLY sweet. I find it sort of disgusting as it tastes like pure sugar. I got one recently by accident but we were down the road before I took my first sip. Did not drink anymore. Just dumped it out. You defintely have to have southern roots to enjoy that crap. Or maybe be from Utah because I notice they do things a little sweeter out there then I do it.

Anyway, I ordered my tea as I always do and she replied over the loudspeaker, "did you want sweet or unsweetened tea?" I felt like responding, "what the f' do you think I want? Do you really think I want Equal put in SWEET tea? As if it's not f'ing sweet enough let's add some fake sugar so it's sweet and cancer causing!?" F'ing moron.

Ok, that's all I have to say about that.

peace out.

The Aloha Desk

2008-08-20T07:01:00.000-07:00

Them: "You have to talk to the Aloha Desk."
Me: "The Aloha Desk?"
Them: "You have to talk to the Aloha Desk."
Me: (thinking, why the hell are they telling me call the Aloha desk... I am not going to Hawaii...) "THE WHAT?"
Them: (Using their exact same voice and words, "The Aloha Desk."
Me: (Giving up) "What's the number?"

Well, this was part of my call yesterday to United Airlines. I was cancelling a flight to Chicago and a flight to Florida... NOT Hawaii. I had used miles to book the flights but things have changed and we are not going. I called the United Airlines customer service number for Mileage Plus because that seemed like a logical place to cancel my flights and get the miles put back into my account. After a number of minutes on hold I spoke to the above woman.

Now, let me say I could care less where someone is from. I don't care if people are black, brown, yellow, gay, religious, atheist, Republican, Democrat, whatever. I am good with everybody. HOWEVER, I am not good with poor customer service and to me it's poor customer service if I can't understand you on the phone. It's fine with me if United wants to hire people in India to answer their phones but they have got to speak better English. The woman, on the phone call above, was apparently telling me I needed to call the "Awards Desk." The thing that adds to the poor customer service is she kept repeating the same words with the same enunciation.

I don't remember which cartoon character it was, but I think it was Elmer Fudd (or was it Porky Pig?) who would get fed up with his stuttering and then use a DIFFERENT WORD to get his point across. Possibly United needs to let their new trainees in India watch Bug's Bunny cartoons to see how Elmer, who is clearly not a smart man, is able to adapt to the situation and CHANGE his delivery to get his message across despite his speech impediment.

Take a lesson from your kid's Saturday morning cartoons, United Airlines, and do better with your customer service!

Thhhh, that's all folks!

peace out.

Hoops Report - Muy Mal

2008-08-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy played like he was a member of the Washington General's last night... missing shots, throwing the ball out of bounds, turning the ball over and, all the while, playing my usual spotty defense. My poor play, coupled with my teams mediocre play, made the other team look like the Globetrooters! All in all it was my worst game as an adult... maybe my worst game ever!? Well, not as bad as that one three-on-three tourney I played in with BIG Drew and Reverened Ivan back about 10th grade. I still feel bad for all the bad shots I took that day! I could give you a laundry list of excuses for last night but I won't do that... ok, I will:

- Not enough sleep this week;
- Hot out so feeling drained;
- Hadn't played in 3 weeks;
- Lots of stress at work;

Well, you get the point. The bottom line though is the SacTownGuy no juega basketbol muy bueno las noches. Oh ya, I also do not speak very good Spanish but that should have said that the SacTownGuy did not play good basketball last night.

The team we played were a bunch of scrubs. They sucked ass! They had one or two guys who were good but were clearly football players. They had one guy who was about 85 years old who pulled up for 3's at the top of the key on the dead run. They had a couple of skinny kids, about the same age as the Chinese gymnastics team, who had the ugliest shots I have ever seen in my life. They were a bad looking team. Oh ya, we lost by about 20 so not sure what that says for the Dream Team!?

Lucky for me I brought an extra player with me who played real well. Caddilac Carson is more of a runner than a hoopster but he is young and is good shape. Lucky we had him or we would have lost by 30! Caddilac had about 10 points, a few steals, a couple of assists and only a couple of turnovers. All in all I have to say that Caddilac was our player of the game as the other 5 didn't play their best. McAlan would have gotten player of the game honors as we was having his usual solid game... until he got kicked out of the game.

McAlan's play, which caused him to get the boot, was not that extreme but the refs were calling it tight. For example, at the end of the first half I got a technical for counting down the seconds like a student section does at a college basketball game. That is, with about 10 seconds left the other team was racing down floor to score so I started yelling "5, 4, 3..." becuase who knows maybe it would throw off the kid with the ball. Intead I got a tech called against me which gave the other team 2 points. Oh ya, the refs also started the game by saying no swearing was allowed and later gave McAlan a warning for swearing while sitting on the bench after he had been kicked out; what were they going to do, kick him out again!? What is this a U-6 game in Provo? This is a men's, ADULT, league in Cali. We pay $475 for the privilge of playing and we are not allowed to drop an occasional F bomb? I have seriously never heard of such a rule. Not a big deal for me as I try not to swear but WHAT THE F... I should say, "oh my heck that's a crazy rule."

The good news is that I think I got the demons out of my system before my next big game on Saturday. I should be ready to go!

peace out.

Jabber Jaw

2008-08-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today started out at 4:20 with the alarm waking me up from the midst of a dream. That doesn't happen to often so seemed odd but at least I had a good night sleep. I was inside the gym lifting weights by 5:00. After that I moved on to the front row, recumbent, bike for 50 minutes. It went fast as I am enjoying the Vince Flynn book I am reading. His character, Mitch Rapp, is kicking ass. He is a good writer and really keeps you engaged. I recommend! I then moved on to the back row, standard stationary, bike for another 30 minutes and a casual reading of the SacTown Bee... until I heard Jabber Jaw jawing a very annoying nasally talk and cackle of a laugh that was really awful!

Jabber Jaw is a guy I have seen in there occasionally. Probably once a week. He is in his late 40's, looks a little retarded, smiles too much, but I have never had any dealings with him so can't say I dislike him. Today he was named Jabber Jaw and I have a hunch that name will stick because he could not stop his motor mouth! WOW!

I was in the back row, next to a guy I have been working out with for 8 years whose name I don't know but we say hi to each other many mornings, a guy on the bike next to him who I have been working out with for most of 8 years who I find annoying so I do not say hi to him, and then my buddy Murray on the next bike. I often sit next to Murray and we talk about world events or make fun of others in the gym. Murray has an uncanny ability to pick up on people that slap their feet too loud on the treadmill, don't pick them up high enough on the stair-stepper, guys that arch their backs to much while lifting, and most of all guys that sweat on machines. Murray needs a pristine work out environment and always cleans his machine before and after his workout.

So to my left I hear a guy jabbing non-stp to a gal next to him. They must be friends, I think, as the guy is jabbing about everything under the sun... but then I hear him introduce himself. The guy continues his loud nasally talk, annoying laugh, and NON-STOP jabber with this helpless woman. I feel bad for her really. I look over to Murray and give the "you hear that guy" look. He replies with the hand gesture to show a jabber jaw talking and a look of disgust on his face. I give a confirming look and go back to my newspaper.

I just could not concentrate though because Jabber Jaw kept jabbering. I said something aloud to Murray about how annoying it was. He agreed. I then said, especially loud so Jabber Jaw could hear (if he ever shut up) that the laugh was really annoying. It continued though... almost without interruption.

A few minutes later, Jabber Jaw still talking to his victim (even though she still had one Ipod ear bud in her ear - the universal sign that a person intends to go back to their Ipod soon) I mention to the guy next to me how annoying it is. He says, "what you going do?" I reply that I am impressed by his patience and wish I had such patience. He tells me he tries not to get worked up about stuff he has no control over, etc... but then says (and I really do quote), "except that one f__ing chick... you know the one who talks...." I cut him off and told him I knew exactly who he was referring to. If you have read the SacTownGuy before then you know about the annoying lady that grunts and talks... LOUDLY. Well Mr. Calm, though Jabber Jaw couldn't get him worked up, obviously did not like the Moaner! He could not say enough bad about her including repeated uses of the F word which is usually not spewed to someone you don't know to well in my experience but obviously she fired him up. I thus like him more to know he also dislikes the really annoying lady... and I am sure he will come around to dislike Jabber Jaw if he keeps on jabbering!

Murray told me that he once was accosted by Jabber Jaw and the guy didn't stop talking for an hour... just standing next to the bike while Murray peddled and looked down trying to ignore the guy. Oy vey!

peace out.

I remembered...

2008-08-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

It came to me yesterday what I knew was going to be a good blog... and that leads to another blog idea. Things that seem like great ideas at 3 in the morning might not seem like as great an idea at 10 or 11 in the morning! I previously told you that I couldn't fall back asleep Friday night and as I laid there I came up with the best idea. Well, I realized it was not my 3:00 AM wake up call wherein I had this great idea but rather my 4:18 wake up. How do I know?

Well, I have a built in alarm clock in my brain. For years I thought I had a built in alarm clock as I would often wake up on weekends or vacations about the time I normally wake up for work. The last 5+ years I have been pretty regular with a 4:20 wake up. My internal alarm clock wakes me about that same time most every day. Lately however it's been a true alarm clock. I mean I hear alarm clock beeping type noises in my sleep.... The Saturday morning at 4:18 alarm clock was not the usual beeping but rather one of my kids talking to me as they do when they come in to our room in the middle of the night. The exact words weren't clear but I JUMPED off that people expecting to see one of the kids standing there next to me but guess what? No kid in the room. It was just my internal alarm clock telling me it was time to get up.

So this alarm clock "goes off" most mornings. I usually can fall back asleep on weekends or vacation which is lucky. However, this beeping sound I hear is really strange. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite characters, Jack Reacher, in the books by Lee Child. Jack is an ex-military police who travels along the country kicking people's asses. He is about my age and that's where the similarities end. He's like 6'5" and defeats multiple attackers on any given time. You know it's about to be a good read when Reacher walks into a bar in some small town in middle America... because somebody is about to get their ass kicked and it won't be Reacher! Well, Reacher often talks about his internal alarm clock waking him up. For example, he will go to bed at 3 AM and need to wake up at 6 to go kick some ass... no problem he sets his internal alarm clock.

I guess the good news is I am picking up Jack Reacher traits. Maybe the next time I walk into a bar I should start a brawl just to see if I can whup some ass like he does!? Really, the guy makes it sound pretty easy. You block the guy coming from the side with a block of the hand, then you grab one of the other TWO guys attacking you and break both their necks simultaneously... while at the same time winking at the single young lady sitting at the bar. The dude is amazing!

Oh ya, like I said this seemed like a great idea for a blog at 4:18 in the morning which leads to the conclusion that you always should double check your early morning thoughts before taking action.

peace out.

I forgot...

2008-08-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

DAMN! I was lying in bed about 3 AM, after Kitty Kat woke me up going to the bathroom, and then I could not fall back asleep. I laid there for 15-20 minutes and had a great idea for a blog... but now I can't remember what it was. I remember thinking it was a great idea but would I remember in the morning? OF COURSE I would, I thought to myself, because it was such a great idea. Furthermore, I figured, that even if I forgot the idea it was such an obvious idea for a blog topic that it would come back to me. Now Saturday morning I sit here, with the little dude, watching cartoons and I can not remember what that great idea was.

Instead I will paste the obit from one of the original King's of Comedy, Bernie Mac, who died earlier this morning. I really liked his sense of humor. If you missed the King's of Comedy go check it out. Rest in peace Mr. Mac!

By F.N. D'ALESSIO, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50.

"Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama's campaign.

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.

"Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show."

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."

He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.

Mac went on to star in the hugely popular "Ocean's Eleven" franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

His turn with Ashton Kutcher in 2005's "Guess Who" topped the box office. It was a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" — with Mac as the black dad who's shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.

Mac also had starring roles in "Bad Santa," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."

In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in "Moesha," the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy.

The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006.

The series about a man's adventures raising his sister's three children, won a Peabody Award in 2002. At the time, judges wrote they chose the sitcom for transcending "race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion — and cool."

The show garnered Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Mac.

"But television handcuffs you, man," he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview. "Now everyone telling me what I CAN'T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?'"

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he planned to retire soon.

"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."

___

PEACE OUT.

Gym Talking

2008-08-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have discussed before the woman at the gym I have tabbed "Old Yeller." She talks, groans, and moans during her workouts... and LOUDLY. It's quite annoying. She has been out lately. I heard she has an injury. Oh how sad....

Well, today I noticed an older guy (in his 60's I would guess) running (and stumbling) along on the treadmill. I didn't pay much attention except I did notice him since I have not seen him before.

A little later I was sitting on a bike and I heard somebody behind me say something that sounded like "forty-five... wow" I looked at the clock and it was about 5:35 so I figured he was talking to someone else about how early it was in the morning or something. I didn't think much more of it... until I heard it again AND LOUDER.

"Forty-five... WOOOOOO." Then "thirty-two woooooooooo." It continued for a few minutes but I just couldn't figure out what he was talking about. I was looking at the TV screens trying to see something with numbers as I thought maybe he was watching some TV show but the only screen with numbers was the local weather and there ain't nothing about 32 or 45 in those reports! I have seen some treadmills that show laps around a track but not these treadmills. I have heard people who check their RPMs, their calories, and their heart rate. However, none of those should be 32 or 45. Strange, eh!?

He stopped after a few minutes and left... and I still don't know what the heck he was yelling about. However, whatever it was he was sure excited about it! I hope he does NOT come back to my gym!

peace out.

Facebook

2008-08-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

I always thought Facebook was for kids. I can barely get this blog thing figured out so certainly I couldn't figure out Facebook. Then this weekend one of my frat bros sent me an invite to join. He being two years younger than me (all of 38) and still very single I figured (and accused him) of joining Facebook to pick up on young gals. He denied the charge.

Anyway, I started to mess around with it and found a lot of people I know on there! I am up to 54 "friends" so far. I haven't really tried too hard yet to add more. For example, I have not yet uploaded my contact list from Outlook. Not sure I want to. Then I am sure Facebook would send invites to all of my contacts. They might have the same thoughts I did a week ago... Facebook is for kids and then they might think, "what the heck is the SacTownGuy doing on Facebook?"

So for now I am searching out all my young and hip friends on Facebook. I am sure a few other old geezers, I know, are on there but haven't connected with all of them yet. If you are on Facebook make sure you look me up... by my other name.

peace out.

Sunburn

2008-08-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day on vaca and now am back in RoseTown. We planned to pack up, hit the pool for an hour, and then head home.... We had the house packed, all 18 bikes on the trailer, and everybody ready to go by about 10 AM. We were hanging poolside by 10:30... and 5+ hours later we finally left for home! What a day! I am feeling a bit sunburned today after a week in the high elevation sun. I think Truckee is just about 6,000 feet up... or about 5,999 feet higher than the flat land of SacTown! That much closer to the sun means that much more intensive sun rays on my bald head!

The pool at Old Greenwood is just exceptional. Actually, there are two; one just for adults and one for the masses. Could be because our favorite pool side waiter this week was named Danny and it could be the chaos of kids around the pool but I often reflected back on Caddy's Day at the Bushwood pool in Caddyshack. We even made a joke about a Baby Ruth floating in the pool.

The main pool at Old Greenwood is pretty good sized with a nice water slide, a hot tub, and a separate little kid's pool with separate water slide, water guns, etc... and then next to that is a sand vollyball court and large kid's playground. All gated in so parents can feel pretty relaxed that their kids won't escape! Inside is the kid's club where you can drop your kids up with supervision or the teen club with pool table, tv, etc....

Today we were laying by the pool by 10:30, jumping down the slide with the kids by 11:00, jumping into the hot tub like a 5 year old, and then back to the chairs and ordering lunch at 12:30. Sure we brought lunch but something about ordering an $18 burger makes it seem like it must be really good so had to order some grub from Danny. Props to Danny; an about to be "super senior" at Chico State. Cool guy and knew to bring me a pitcher of iced tea. He also brought Kitty Kat a pitcher of Diet Coke. Cool guy and he will go far in life. I also have a hunch he is having a very fun summer hanging out in Truckee!

As we sat by the pool the kids played in the pool, on the slide, and built forts out of tables and chairs. One a boys fort and the next door neighbor girl's fort. The girls tried to connect the two forts but that was met with opposition from the boys.

I think the kids went down the main slide about 500 times this week. I, myself, went down it several dozen. Actually pretty fun. Try the headfirst and upside down move and it's sort of cool.

We piled in the car and headed home about 4:00. The nice thing about being in Truckee... it's less than 90 minutes home! Love that short drive home from a vacation!

peace out.

Golf Talk

2008-07-31T12:01:00.001-07:00

You don't see golf talk posts around here too often. At one time in life the SacTownGuy was a very avid golfer. It was not uncommon for me to play 2 or 3 rounds a week and 36 per day on vacations with the guys. Then kids came and life changed! Since the time my little dude was born in 2002 I have golfed 5 times I believe; 2 "charity" type scramble tournies and 3 times up here in Lake Tahoe (each of the last three July's). In fact, last year's, once a year game, was just a few holes as I was nursing a pinched nerve in my neck at the time. I thus have basically not played at all.

Even back in my "glory days" I was never great. I carried a 14.4 index which was accurate as I have always been a stickler for the rules and count all shots, all penalties and all lost balls. I was consistently in the 80's and have not broken 80 since my college playing days. Oh THOSE were the days... go to class for an hour or two, go home and watch re-runs of CHiP's and then hit the local course over in RP for 18; $5 per round on the locals rate! Anyway, bottom line I am not great but at one time in life did enjoy the game.

I teed off yesterday with expectations of having a hard time completing 18 holes. It's a Jack Nicklaus designed course up at Old Greenwood. It's not the hardest course ever but has a lot of sand that's for sure! Also some lakes... oh water hazards are extra scary when you haven't played a lot.

It's hard when you haven't played as the back hurts and the lost balls and penalty strokes start to weigh on a guy as the round continues. Well, if you told me I would play 18 holes with no lost balls and just one penalty stroke for an unplayable lye I would take it... and I did. 53 on the front which included an 11 on hole #8. The back nine ended with a 56 which included a 3 putt from about 4 feet... but also included a par on another hole and included hitting at least 3 greens in regulation. I will take that!

I teed off with the 4 iron for the most part and then pulled out the "big dog" (the 3 iron) on a couple of shots. Played a lot of 5 irons in the fairway! All in all it was a successful day.

peace out.

Gym Talk - Vacation Edition

2008-07-28T09:33:00.001-07:00

The SacTownGuy likes going to the gym as you know. You know what I like better than just going to the gym? Going to a NICE gym. Today I had the pleasure of walking the mile over to the clubhouse here at Old Greenwood. The air was crisp at 6:15 but what a way to awaken the senses. Upon arrival I flashed my temporary membership card and asked for a copy of today's SacTown Bee. To my dismay the "deliver guy must have overslept" and they didn't have the Bee. They had the SF Chron which is fine but I like my local news and not all angles of Gavin Newsome's nuptials. She suggested the Bee should arrive any time so I said I would pay when I leave since I have to pay by credit card (since they don't take cash) and it seemed silly to charge 75 cents now and then another 75 cents in an hour or two. She then suggested I "just take the Chronicle, read it, return it and it" would be "our little secret." I explained it would not be a secret to anybody if I read the paper while on the exercise bike as I tend to sweat a lot.

Off I went, upstairs, to enjoy the fine gym. I have worked out there before so was familiar with the quality of equipment. A TV on each piece of cardio equipment, thick cotton towels, free headphones to keep after using, bottled water, etc.... I did my thing in the gym; about 75 or 80 minutes of cardio and then headed to the locker room. I must say the SacTownGuy likes a nice, country club quality, locker room!

I hadn't shaved in a few days so I approached the sink with that in mind. I had to navigate through all the bottles of stuff as they have everything for you: soap, lotion, deodorant, after shave, etc... and finally shaving cream. Several types of deodorant and shaving cream to make sure they have your brand. Nice! Oh ya, plus combs in individual bags, razors and my favorite... individually wrapped toothbrushes with toothpaste on them. I love that! Don't tell anybody, and Kitty Kat hates this, but I do not brush my teeth every morning. However, when they make it that easy how can I not brush my teeth!? I thus left that locker room feeling clean and ready for the day! However, I still hadn't paid for my SF Chron so I went back downstairs and by the front desk.

The SacTown Bee never arrived so I owed 75 cents for the Chron. I wasn't buying water because they had bottles in a cooler by the pool (have I ever told you I like the country club lifestyle!?). The woman at the desk told me to give my cabin number and she would charge it to my room. I explained I had a private rental and thus could not charge to the room and would have to pay with credit card. She said, in a condescending voice, "JUST GIVE ME YOUR CABIN NUMBER." I said, "I can't charge to my cabin." She replied, again like I am an idiot, "JUST GIVE ME YOUR CABIN NUMBER AND I WILL CHARGE IT TO YOUR ROOM BILL." I repeated that we were renting from a private party who were country club members and thus we were just their guests for the week. The lady was looking at me like I snuck in or something, even though she had seen my guest pass, and was just treating me poorly. As Kitty Kat reminded me when I told her, they were treating me like a Macy's customer though I am paying Nordstrom prices! Anyway, finally one of the other front desk workers said, "ohhh, you mean you do not have guest charge privileges." He said it in a snotty voice and I was feeling too good with my cardio done, brushed teeth, shaved face, showered body so I let it all go. I told him I would pay him tomorrow. I just felt stupid charging my credit card for 75 cents. Seriously, what's their per transaction charge from Visa, 30 cents?

With my newspaper purchase out of the way I headed to town to get Kitty Kat a 44 OZ SUPER Big Gulp from 7-11. Then back for some golf ball hunting with the kids. Then it was time for the lady's to take off. The day was the lady's shopping day and thus the dad's had the kids. We all loves our wives but there is something a tad more relaxing about having only dads. The kids just don't cry/whine as much... and when we do we just ignore them. J/k. I remember last year when we had the dad's day Mr. Greg said, with a big smile on his face, "remember kids the rules are no crying and whining." My little girl repeated that many times throughout the year; "Mr. Greg says no crying and no whining." So, it's apparent they do learn good lessons on dad's day!

This year we hit a local lake for some jet skiing. Mr. Greg has a couple of wave runners. FUN! In typical suburban fashion we rolled out to the lake in 3 of our SUV's, a Sequoia, an Expedition and a Denali. We had the EZ-UP up in no time, sandwiches ready for the kids, and the wave runners in the water. A tad chilly in the water but a great day and fun was had by all!

peace out

Vacation Rentals

2008-07-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is the third year that the SacTownGuy, Kitty Kat and the kids have been able to join our great neighbors for a week in Lake Tahoe. This year, we changed it up and are staying in Truckee. Just a "cabin." Here's a picture (obviously not taken right now) which may show why they get eight C notes a night. We are sharing it with our neighbors and two other neighbors are sharing a house in this same neighborhood.

I can remember vacation homes as kid down on Balboa Island. I was 5 and 6 years old but still remember those frozen bananas down there. As I got older I have many fond memories of vacation homes in college. After college have had a few opportunities to partake in enjoying someone else's home.
This year it's the cabin in Truckee. Ok, full story is it's in the Old Greenwood golf course community with country club amenities like a Jack Nicklaus golf course, huge pool for the kids with water slide, bar/restaurant with great pool side service (thanks Danny for keeping the iced tea flowing all day) and incredible out door resources to enjoy.

Here's another picture from the rental's website. Notice anything funny in it? YES, the wine bottles which are not locked up. Most rental houses have ANYTHING of ANY value locked up... and with good reason. I remember my frat bros destroyed a few houses in Bodega Bay during our frat "retreats." Sometimes just one night and never more than 2 but I guarantee those people reconsidered renting their house out after that hurricane went through there.

One year I remember breaking the hot tub after 12 (or was it 15?) guys piled into their little hot tub. Not sure what happened but it was broken. Of course, broke a lamp but that almost goes without saying when a group of frat boys takes over a house for the weekend. The best though was the year "Jethro," wearing his wet suit (for no good reason), driving his BMW (when he should not have been) and got all 4 wheels off the ground after hitting a median at the end of the street. I beleive he broke all four wheels on that move. However, you know what? It was worth it. The guys that were there can remember it, the guys that weren't can keep telling it as well, and all of us can use it as a good story of what not to do when talking to our kids when they head off to college. That lecture will be long!

Or maybe the time "J.C." kept betting double or nothing with "Turtle" after he lost a one dollar bet. It got up to $200 or some such number at which point J.C. stopped betting and, half assuming, Turtle would never make him pay. Well, J.C. was wrong. Took some years but I believe J.C. did finally pay Turtle for that gambling debt.

Ok, but back to the present so they left a bunch of bottles of wine as the picture above shows. Then we found the cabinet full of liquor. Oh my! Can you imagine if a group of frat bros found that in their rental house? It's not just that the liquor would be consumed (and I mean every ounce) but it would HAVE to be consumed because it was there and it was free and it was sort of rule breaking because no doubt the owner did not intend their renters to drink their booze. Of course, however, the cheap dumps the frat boys used to rent in Bodgea did not have a booze cabinet. They were pretty bare bones.

Seriously though, I can just picture Turtle and Flounder, among others, emptying the last drop of obscure liquor at about 4:30 AM. They would start with the tequilla and vodka the night before and by 4:00 it would have been a battle of attrition to see who was more "manly" to stay up later, drink more and drink whatever it was. The SacTownGuy would have been sleeping at that hour! Of course, I can remember trips where "Hacker" would be in with the blender going at 6:00 AM for the next day's drinks to start. Yikes! I am glad that was a long time ago... seems like a lifetime ago actually.

Anyway, the house in Old Greenwood is a tad nicer than the frat dumps in Bodega and probably out of the price range of most frat boys... except maybe those at U$C!? I should add that we probably won't touch a drop of their liquor or their wine... nor all the condiments and stuff they left here. Yuck! I don't know about you but I don't like the idea of eating some stranger's food. Especially condiments that might have been there for a year or two!? With that it's almost dinner time so time for the major "partying" to begin. I am sure I will drink a beer... if not TWO tonight. Oh times change.

peace out.

Gym Talk

2008-07-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week I missed my freeway exit going to the gym... for the second time in recent memory. I have been going to that gym for 5 years, most every day, drive the same route, and twice in short order I just drove right by my off ramp. Just day dreaming at 4:45 AM and drove right on past it! Getting old sucks... but that's not what I want to talk about today. I had an unfortunate incident at the gym that same morning. Someone passed gas and I am pretty sure the guy next to me was thinking I did it... just like I was thinking he did it! The fact is it was NOT me.

Ok, the situation was this. I was in the back row on a bike with a guy on the bike to my left. There was another guy on a stairmaster about two machines over to my right. There also were people on the two treadmills in front of the bikes. However, due to the length of the treadmill and the walk way behind the treadmill they were not as likely to be blamed for the incident. The situation reminds me of something George Carlin once said, "if there are two people on an elevator and one of them farts everybody knows who did it." How true!

In this situation we had the guy next to me who was most likely the culprit because the smell was very strong. However, it could have waifed back from the treadmills!? I remember there used to be a guy in the mornings that often ran on the treadmill in front of me. If nobody else was around and a bad smell waifed toward me I knew who to blame. He had his back to me so he didn't have to look me in the eye but the old George Carlin adage would be true in that instance... or maybe he thought the fans up above would dissipate the odor before it got to anybody? I know I have had thought in the gym before. Don't laugh, you know you have too!

So, again I am assuming it was the guy on the bike next to me because it was a strong odor and he was closest to me. However, what do you do? The options I considered were:

1) Say to the guy on the bike next to me, "wow, someone really let one go, eh?"
2) Say, "it wasn't me" and sort of look at him like I KNOW it was YOU to see if he would admit it.
3) Do nothing.

I decided it really didn't matter and did nothing. It's just the gym, who really cares, as I was sweating my bodily fluids all over the bike and the floor so really a fart is nothing compared to that!?

Keep this in mind next time you have to pass some gas at the gym. The smell does travel!

peace out.

Awkward

2008-07-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Had a retirement party today for our incredible office receptionist. 23 years on the job (since July '85) and she is now moving away. Really one of the best employees I have ever seen. Anyway, had an awkward moment at the party. It was at a nice restaurant in a private room. Probably had about 20 people there. She opened her cards first thing. As typical of an office event we passed the cards around the office the last few days and everybody wrote a few nice words. Of course when you lose such a loyal and great employee some people said a lot. Now, I realize those messages are not "private" per se as you pass the card around the office. I don't know about you but I generally do not read what others have written. I consider it semi-private. This great employee started reading a few of them while we were all sitting there... and she read them aloud to the group. I found it awkward and was glad she didn't read what I wrote. I don't remember what I wrote and maybe it was the greatest thing ever but there is something about hearing your words, in a setting like that, which would not have been comfortable to me. Maybe it's just me but I found it a tad awkward.

Speaking of awkward I didn't tell y'all what happened at the barber shop on Saturday. I went to a small barber shop here in RoseTown with a very overly-friendly barber/owner. He was shaking hands, finding out the customer's names, etc.... I was waiting my turn for a cut when a woman walked in. She was in her mid 50's I would say. She said she was in to buy some shampoo for her husband as the shampoo this barber shop sells is the best dandruff shampoo he has found, yada, yada, yada.... Mr. Overly Friendly Barber asked the customer what her husband's name was. She replied, "it's Dave." [PAUSE PAUSE] "No, I mean it's Jim... Dave is my boss." She went on to say that her husband would find that funny. We laughed and then I told her we would keep that secret amongst us there at the shop... because I am not sure Jim would laugh as much as she thinks he would!

peace out.

The Weekend

2008-07-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well Kitty Kat and the kids have been out of town since Friday. The SacTownGuy has so much time on his hands I am sort of surprised there are not 25 new posts this weekend. However, have been busy cleaning up around the house (even did some painting), did some shopping, and went into the office for a few hours today. I have even relaxed a few times which I NEVER do. Feels strange to sit here and not do something though. I don't like this relaxing thing.

I must say I really prefer having my family around. You just get used to having them here. Chaos at times, very little down time, but that's what I am used to. I will be very happy when my peeps are back.

Went out for a beer Friday night with my neighbor, Big Jim, as he is bach'ing this weekend also. Went to Island's which is always good to me. Solid burger, with some guac on it, and a Skinny Deep beer. Not a bad dinner! I have often said how great it is to live where I live with such great neighbors and this was just one more example. If a house ever comes up for sale, in my hood, you all should try to grab it! Good people behind these gates!

Woke up Saturday morning and went to the Ranch for some hoops. Two hours of hoops with the old guys who I have never played with before. Coming off my great game Thursday night I was ready... but wasn't ready to start O for 3 and have my teammate on two occasions tell me to pass not shoot. Damn! That hurts. The only way to prove you can shoot is to keep shooting but you really don't want to miss it. Did lots of screening, moving without the ball, and defense (well, a little defense). I tried to avoid the ball for a few minutes. Then I found myself at the free throw line, cutting, ball coming at me, so I caught it, tossed up a little floater and... air ball. Ouch! The next game I caught a little fire, knocked down a couple of treys, caused a couple loose balls and even got a couple of rebounds as I was trying to find some way to make myself useful. All in all I balled for 2 hours and was just hurting after. Had to cancel my planned bike ride for Sunday, with D'smooth, as my body was hurting... and still is.

Did some stuff around the house, watched a little British Open (wow, that was almost a great story) and then went over to the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale. It's their good sale. Just started Friday. Had been given a nice gift certificate for the holidays but have never had a chance to use it. I don't waste time and within 20 minutes I bought a sports coat, 3 nice white shirts, and a pair of Allen Edmonds. I like being a guy. I dropped about $850 in 20 minutes and was done with my shopping for a year or two. I, of course, look better than this guy in the coat but just wanted you to see what my new coat looks like. My shirts are pretty sweet looking but I won't make you look at pictures of them.

Went home after Nordies and watched a little baseball. I ended up doing nothing Saturday night. Thought about calling Big Jim to go out for another beer, thought about watching a movie, and ended up doing very little. Spent some time prepping for my big family party in a few weeks. Evite should go out today! Oh ya, we still haven't ordered a party favor so I looked around on the net for that. Did a little work also.

Woke up early today, struggled through 30 minutes on the exercise bike, washed my car and then headed to work. Spent a few hours there and got some good work done. I felt pretty useful. Came home. Decided to break out the golf clubs. Has been about 5 years since I used my clubs so was like a time capsule. I have played twice in that time but with rental clubs. Found 3 Power Bars, an empty water bottle, some range tokens and 50 unused range tokens on a card (damn I guess that was a waste of money) from the country club I used to belong to, random scorecards, 3 pairs of old socks (why was I carrying 3 pairs of socks in my golf bag I want to know?), a nice Nike golf hat, and a bunch of other crap. Threw much of it away... yes, including the Power Bar's and one pair of old socks (the other two looked pretty nice). One Power Bar proclaimed it be to a new flavor... they probably don't even make that one anymore! I then headed to the crappiest, nasty, driving range I have ever seen in my life. It's over on Sunrise near the Sunrise Mall. Yuck. See, I have lived here in Rosetown for 5 years and have not been to a driving range during that time. I thus did not know where one was. Let me say this place sucked! I actually hit a few nice shots but tough to know as it was off the mat and not real grass. Those mats are awfully forgiving. I hope to get out there before another 5 years elapses.

Then it was back home to shoot some hoops (damn, I got wasps up in one of the rims) and hang out. I did get bored though so just played a game of Pac Man. I play but a couple times a year but it is still a cool game. Really everybody should own a cocktail Pac-Man table. There is nary a person, old or young, who does not comment on the table as it's in the living room. I did not quite get to the keys today nor did I have an incredible score. However, I only played one game and got about 88,000 and got to the first gold bar.
It actually wasn't bad as I lost my last Pac-Man when I was on the first apple after a couple of dumb mistakes. I thus went a long way on that last guy. You know if you were the guy who had slapped his quarter down for "next game" you would have been bummed watching me plow through the screens.

I must tell you my new laptop is in the shop due to some problem and I have been using this relic of a laptop the last few days. It's about 5 or 6 years old. The kids use it to go to webkins.com, barbie.com, etc.... Let me tell you it is SLOW. Plus, it never sleeps and is always making noises. I will be happy when the Geek Squad gets mine up and running again!

With that, it is nearing Sunday dinner. I may go grab a burrito... and I may just have some cereal. Have not decided yet. Early to bed as the alarm is going off at the usual time in the AM... while most of you are sleeping.

Happy Monday Eve.

peace out.

Aches and pains

2008-07-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

I met with a little old lady client yesterday. She complained (several times as if she hadn't just said it a minute before) how "this getting old stuff is no fun..." and similar sentiments. I said, "you probably don't want to hear about my aches and pains at 40 then?" She smiled and agreed she did not. It's really all relative. I have aches and pains at 40 because I bust my butt to get out of bed at 4:20 to go the gym and then, once a week, I play basketball with a bunch of hacks (myself included). Last night was hoops night and I am feeling some aches and pains this morning.

The "E" league is way the heck out there. When people talk about "BFE" that's about where this is. If you don't what BFE is I guess you have to look it up. The school, a brand new shiny middle school with no kids to attend it, is northwest of Sun City Roseville. It thus is in Roseville but over 20 minutes from my house which is in southeast Roseville. Anyway, it's FAR. I went straight from work. I got there early and started warming up and was hitting a lot of my shots. Hmmmmmm, maybe this would be a good night....

Before I go on I have to tell you how nice these gyms are that we play in. It's a LONG way from the metal nets I grew up with at my school in LA. That was metal nets on outdoor asphault courts since we had no indoor building. How about that, high school basketball games could have been rained out back then! Not likely as it was LA but anyway a long way from that. Roseville has built nice gyms at every single elementary and middle school they have! This brand new school has TWO big gym buildings. We played in the main gym which is pristine, with bleachers on both sides of the court, nice bathroom facilities, nice climate control, etc.... I have to imagine the people that love the city rather than the 'burbs have never lived in the 'burbs!?

As the 6:15 tip time approached the other team, with their matching uniforms (how cute) did not have 5 players. First game of the night so they had a 5 minute grace period. Unfortunately they only had 3 players at 6:20 and thus no game. Well, you know the SacTownGuy is not going to sit. We had 5 players, they had 3, the refs didn't want to run with us (punks) so we started running full court 4 on 4. Before long a couple more showed up and we were running 5 on 5 with no refs. However, the scorekeepers were nice enough to keep score on the electronic scoreboard. I love the suburbs!

Put on your best Dan Patrick voice and repeat after me, "dare I say the SacTownGuy was en fuego!?" Damn. Flat out they couldn't stop me, contain me or even guard me... luckily they never really gave a great effort. One thing I have developed over the years is a very good 3 point shot... especially when not closely guarded. It's just like practice. I hit 3 or 4 of them from one side so the guy started guarding me. Then I slipped down low, cut across to the other side, caught and released and... swoosh from the other corner. Basketball is a lot of fun when you are on fire!

I threw in several tough lay-ups, along with a few missed lay-ups, and ended with at least 30 points. I don't really know how many but let's call it 30-something. In a 40 minute game where the final score is in the 60's that's a lot of points! We won the game but who cares. It's all about the points and the run!

We played with a 40 minute running clock and practically no fouls called so pretty much just up and down the court for 40 minutes. I was tired after that! Sure, sure, sure... in the old days we could run all day. I know. This isn't the old days. We played for 40 minutes straight and I was beat tired after that! Just 40 minutes of hoops and my legs are tight, my feet hurt, and I could barely peddle 40 minutes on the exercise bike this morning. However, you know where I will be next Thursday night? Damn straight!

peace out.

Rockin' Out

2008-07-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Most of us have hobbies. As I acknowledged in my previous post this week I enjoy collecting baseball cards. I also enjoy running, riding my bike, and at one point in life was an avid golfer. In particular, the physical activities, like going to the gym every day, really help relieve the stress and tension of life. More of us should have stress relieving hobbies we enjoy doing.

Having said all that my man Rockin' Rubes (aka: Hockey Guy), the Jewish Eddie Van Halen, got back into music a couple years back. He started a rock band and before long they were playing gigs... real gigs where people paid them money to perform. How cool is that!?
Seriously, how many of you golfers would like to get paid for playing, even if not a lot, rather than only spending money on your hobby?

I would say it has become a very large part of his life with band practice, gigs, and partying all night like a rock star! Ok, well maybe no rock star partying but my man does rock the house. I have not been at the wild gigs but I have heard at one certain pub in Citrus HIIIIeights the crowd got pretty rowdy late at night!

The band originally was known as Silent Dissention, then become Silent Dissent and is now called Twice Divided. They are probably breaking up soon due to a couple of rock star attitudes but I bet Rockin' Rubes will find a new band soon!

I don't know how to load a video so go check it out at YouTube, right HERE.

Can you guess which is the Jewish Eddie Van Halen? Yes, the guy clearly enjoying what he is doing.

Party on Rubes!

peace out.

Dorkiness

2008-07-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I am not a dork (and certainly not a nerd) as I am aware of the dorky things I do (as far as I know). Also, I have NEVER played (or considered playing) Dungeons & Dragons and I have never watched an episode of Star Trek (in fact throughout life nothing makes me change the channel quicker than seeing Star Trek, Star Wars or any similar show/movie). I think those are the big two for our generation and I just don't go there. As a kid I collected comic books for a few weeks but that ended pretty fast. Also, I got big laughs from Revenge of the Nerds and did not personally identify with them.

Having said the above I do enjoy a few dorky (or is it geeky or nerdy?) things. In particular, you are reading my blog and that is pretty dorky I admit. Also, I do enjoy collecting baseball cards and do enjoy visiting a baseball card message board on the internet. I sometimes am embarrassed by the dorky statements or actions taken by my "friends" there but by and large I am ok with that geeky outlet in life. Additionally, in the last few years I have taken to wearing sports jerseys on occasion but I normally select obscure jerseys rather than the most prominent athlete of the day. For example, I was rocking my New Jersey Net's Ed O'Bannon last week at Family Camp. Also, I wear my Matt Barnes UCLA practice jersey when playing in my old man basketball league. So, I have some dorky tendencies but am aware of them....

Not to defend myself but one of the two main influences that got me to blog is my man Jimmy from college who has an awesome blog and I don't think many would call it dorky. I mean with a name like the Top Mack Nigga how dorky could it be? I like to think of myself as the white suburban Top Mack. For a top notch, and not dorky at all, blog check Jimmy out at: www.topmacknigga.blogspot.com/

I am not a huge fan of autographs. I find it funny (borderline dorky) that people have obsessions with collecting someone else's written name. On the rare occasion I get an autograph (it's been years) I ask for it to be personalized to me and am more likely to get the obscure autograph than some more famous person. For example, the last time I went to a baseball card show was about 3 years ago down in SF. There were a whole host of athletes signing autographs. Many hall of famers. I opted to do a family picture with ex-UCLA great Ken Norton, Jr. because to me he was much cooler than the rest even if the others were much more well known. In fact, didn't even get his autograph... just the family photo. I did once wait in line for a half hour to get Leslie Nielsen's autograph at Tower Records so I guess that's dorky. Oh ya, and I also asked Trevor Wilson for his autograph at a Tower Records back during law school when he played for the King's (probably the last time I bothered a "famous" person for their autograph). The Leslie Nielsen situation was during summer break from college... plus he was one of my favorites back then.
If you didn't like Leslie Nielsen in Police Squad you don't know humor! I do not envision myself seeking others autographs and would throw away (or sell) my childhood collection if not for my kids one day wanting to have some of them.

I also am not a huge collector of sports memorabilia. I have a couple jerseys hanging up but they are random players: SSU "alum" Larry Allen, an authentic Joe Ferguson Dodger's jersey from about '72, and my man Keith Owens UCLA hoops jersey. Keith was buddies with my cousin BIG Drew, in fact they rode the hoops bench together in about eighth grade and played soccer together, and the fact he made it to UCLA and then a two year contract with the Laker's is f'ing amazing! So I have his jersey hanging.

Having said all that, I held an autographed baseball yesterday that I found to be pretty cool. NOT a life changing event or anything like that but pretty cool nonetheless. A friend of mine has a baseball signed by baseball hall of famer Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth! No kidding!

I mean holding a ball signed by the man, the myth, the legend... GEORGE HERMAN "BABE" RUTH is pretty f'ing cool to me. Call it dorky but I found it be pretty cool. He probably had a beer in one hand, cig in his mouth, and two young women behind him as he signed that right!? I would actually like to own an item like that in my collection of crap. Right in between my Brad Miller autographed shoe and my A-Team toy car set maybe!? Would definitely bring the level of crap up a notch or two, eh!?

peace out.

A Day at the Movies

2008-07-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I scoured the far reaches of SacTown this weekend trying to think of something that my readership might find interesting. There were little things here or there but nothing really blog worthy. However, yesterday we had a babysitter (our old Ace Alli) so Kitty Kat and I went to the movies and to run a couple of errands. Just a typical Sunday in RoseTown....

We headed over to the theater for the "bargain" maitnee of Don't Mess with the Zohan. Now, please remember the SacTownGuy worked at a movie theater back when he was the LAGuy so knows a thing or two about movies. In fact, remind me and I will tell you about my time at the theater in LA. However, this was a day at the movies in RoseTown and 20 some odd years since the LAGuy worked a theater in Westwood.

As typical of too many places I had to be asked if I wanted to donate a dollar to some cause. You know I donate a lot to charity but I don't like feeling guilted into giving a buck with every purchase so I politely declined. We gave our tickets to the ticket-ripper inside and HE asked if we wanted to donate a buck. How about this for an idea, how about NOBODY asks me for money while I spend my money to go to your movie theater! I wasn't done though. Kitty Kat belongs to some frequent moviegoer club (not sure who she goes with because it isn't me) and got a coupon for a free popcorn. I don't even like popcorn but I like free so we hand it in as we purchase our five dollar Diet Coke. The lady asks if we want to up it to a medium for fifty cents more. NO, JUST GIVE ME MY FREE F'ING POPCORN... and NO, I don't want to spend $1.50 for your new Kettle Korn flavoring because I just tried the free sample and it tastes NOTHING LIKE KETTLE KORN! After successfully navigating the concession stand someone to the right tries to call me over so I can try my chance at winning a free trip to Napa Valley. Without even listening or looking I bet you ten cents that was some sort of timeshare presentation!

Finally got to our seat and watched 10 minutes of commercials BEFORE the trailers started and everbody knows trailers are just more commercials. Do you know why they call them trailers? Maybe I will tell you another time. The Zohan finally came on and he amused. Not great but I would call it a C+ with moments of solid B. It appeared Sandler gave up with about 15 minutes to go and just called it a wrap because the last 15 minutes was pretty stupid. However, the first hour had a lot of funny bits and one-liners. Ok, well maybe not a lot but some!

We left via the snack bar to fill up Kitty Kat's Diet Coke with the "free" refill as if the first 44 ounces wasn't enough for us. Sharing her Diet Coke all afternoon is probably why I couldn't sleep last night. Anyway, as I get the re-fill I witnessed something a little scary at the snack bar. A young couple (30ish) were enquiring about the "kid's meal" for their 3 year old daughter. The couple was heavy set (and I am being kind with that description) and their daughter will be heavy set by the time her parents are done with her! Do you know what's in a kid's "meal" at a movie theater? You have the choice of a hot dog or pizza, the choice of candy or popcorn and a drink. They chose pizza, candy and a Sprite. Who the F' gives their 3 year old Sprite? Have you heard of milk or water? Shoot, give her fruit juice if you must but Sprite? Maybe I am old fashioned but I am old enough to fill my body with the chemicals of soda if I want to but I don't think it should be allowed for 3 year old kids. Seriously, should be illegal.

Well, we left there, completely disgusted with humanity and went to Target. We passed some people that must have thought they were going to Wal-Mart, in the parking lot. I could do a whole blog on them but let's say they were 30ish (they looked 50ish) but have consumed more beers than my frat did... going all the way back to when Meyer Boskey and Charles Tonsor, Jr. founded the f'ing frat at CCNY in 1899. These people looked like they could navigate their way to a sleezy bar and make inroads with the biker selling crank out the back door. Anyway, the woman, with tattoos trying to escape from her large, but very sloppy, clevage said, "no, no... I am talking about the guy who is my supposed real dad...." We only heard one line but it was all I needed to sum up that couple. I needed to hear no more. Scary! Oh ya, dude had on fishnet jersey style shirt; shocking! Basically the 90's version of a wifebeater shirt. Ok, not quite as bad as this one I found on-line but something like this.

Happy Monday y'all.

peace out.

Bumper Sticker

2008-07-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

It's a lovely Friday morning... ok, well not lovely but it is FRIDAY so it's all good. I had a quick trip to Probate Court this morning where the Judge granted my order and I was quickly back on the road to my SacTown office. I then saw a bumper sticker that made me do a double take, I re-read it and drove on... however, I thought to myself I must have read that wrong because nobody would drive around with that on their car would they!? I thus moved over a lane and slowed down so the car could pass and I could re-read it.

Yuck, how crude! Who would put that on their car? Some young gal is who. She was about 20, some tattoos visible, and driving this beat up Camry (or whatever it was). Here's a picture. Sorry the bumper sticker isn't readable but I kid you not as to what it says. Political commentary aside as I understand she doesn't trust the president and I can't disagree with her... but what a crude bumper sticker. If she was my daughter that sticker would be coming off the car or she would be cut off!

The sticker read, "THE ONLY BUSH I TRUST IS MY OWN."

With that as her bumper sticker I can only imagine the potty mouth that young gal must have. Yuck!

Happy Friday!

peace out.

Family Camp

2008-07-10T07:19:00.001-07:00

Had a great 3 night trip to Camp Sacramento. It's a family camp the City of SacTown has owned since 1920. It's near South Lake Tahoe, along highway 50, has about 60 cabins, and thus I would guess about 150 total "campers." Now let's remember the SacTownGuy lives the old joke about what is "roughing it" to a J.A.P. (if you don't know what that is, you can look it up on wiki as it should be there, and has NOTHING to do with our Asian friends from Japan)... and the answer is, a hotel with no room service. Camp Sac had no room service, no pool, no bell hops, no air conditioning, no towels, no nothing. To this city kid it was about as close to camping as I need to get! It is, however, in very pretty country, about a mile east of Strawberry, and within a few miles of some ski resort (I know this as we got lost during a long run and ended up under the chair lift).

We took the whole gang, in-laws, out-laws, everybody. Even my boy D'Smooth and his family came up with us. Coincidentally some other friends of ours were there the same days so the kids had extra playmates. There were a few characters there like Mandolin Mike (who even took his mandolin on the hike up to the top of Lover's Leap) and also the dude that was seen drinking beers (bottles of Bud Light) at most every hour of the day (noon, evening, 3:30 AM, 8:00 AM)... including the day he was driving to Lake Tahoe. He made it back somehow! If he ever went to AA Anheuser Bush stock might take a tumble!

The kids had 2 or 3 age group activities each day; arts/crafts, tye-dye shirt making, nature hikes, playing, etc.... The parents fished, hiked, chilled, etc.... Almost everybody caught a fish including Kitty Kat who caught several! Luckily Grampa Tractor was there to help clean because I don't think Kitty Kat or the SacTownGuy would be doing that!

The weather was perfect, the air not as smoky (or as hot) as SacTown and all in all it was a great trip. Oh ya, the food was pretty decent and the people that work at Camp Sac are very friendly. The counselors are all very nice, friendly and the kids adored them. There were camp fires at night, camp legends (like the ghost, Chonsen, who lives in cabin #46), and all of that! Memories the kids will have forever I am sure!

One highlight was driving there. The Little Dude asked Kitty Kat if we had any food. Of course we had packed all sorts of junk food to snack on during the trip so Kitty Kat assured him we had brought food. The Little Dude responded, "good because I don't know if I could go four days without food."

One morning, the SacTownGuy took a run with our friend, we will call him "The Don", which ended up as a 90 minute adventure run. The Don is more adventuresome than the SacTownGuy. Look, the SacTownGuy is from the city. Yes, they have gang members and things like that in the big city but they don't have snakes and bears! The SacTownGuy is more comfortable with gang members than snakes and bears! Another friend of the SacTownGuy had mentioned going on a long run, up at Camp Sac, and running into a bear. Some other people encountered a rattle snake during a hike the day before our run. I don't do snakes and bears!

The SacTownGuy was thus on high alert! Looking down for snakes and listening to every rustle in the trees for a possible bear. It crossed my mind that The Don was in better shape than I and thus I was reminded of the old adage, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend!

After climbing to the top of Lover's Leap, we ran down the back side of the mountain before deciding it may not loop around. We headed back to the top of Lover's Leap, down to the Pony Express trail, and headed east.
Eventually we ended up under a ski lift of some ski resort. During the way we encountered a baby rattlesnake which caused the SacTownGuy to about jump out of his skin. I was ready to keep running but The Don wanted to look close to confirm it really was a rattler. Look, the way I see it whatever it was I would call it a rattlesnake when re-telling the story! However, he confirmed it was a rattler and I believe him. Let's not forget that baby rattlers can be the most dangerous since they don't know to just give a little jolt with their rattler... they empty the whole clip!

We will definitely be doing back next year and look forward to many years of family memories there!

Upon return I went into the office. There is record breaking heat right now in SacTown (108 yesterday) and awful smoke from the fires. Makes me feel like I am back in LA with the air quality! Anyway, here's a picture pulling out of my office parking lot yesterday afternoon.

peace out.

NBA Summer League

2008-07-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

Just back from vacation. Thanks for checking in. I will be throwing up some details on our family trip to Camp Sacramento in the mountains but I got to be quick today as I got emails and phone calls that need some returning... however, the SacTownGuy doesn't want his readers to think he is on a long hiatus again.

I was debating about buying a Russell Westbrook Seattle Supersonics jersey last week. It would look like this as NBA.com shows you a sample but damn that's a lot of money ($179 for a real stitched letter/number jersey or $79 for silk screened). It was in the morning when I learned Russell would be wearing number zero in the Orlando Summer League games so I thought about buying it as I knew the team would be moving to OK City in a year or two... and then later that same day it was announced they would be moving for this coming season. So now the debate is will that Seattle jersey be old skool cool and eclectic or will it just be old!?

Then today I was reading on espn.com (just taking a quick break from work) and saw this article (highlights only) on the Oklahoma City _______'s (don't know the team name yet) second summer league game. It's getting me pumped up for my man Russell. By the way, what would be a good nickname for him? Maybe I can come up with something catchy!? Here are some excerpts from the espn.com article:

ORLANDO -- P.J. Carlesimo knew this moment was coming the day he agreed to allow Kevin Durant to join his new Oklahoma City teammates at the Orlando Pro Summer League.

...

The league's runaway winner of the top rookie award was the buzz of the summer league Tuesday when he made a surprise appearance and proceeded to throttle the Magic with a seemingly effortless 22 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. Durant, who sat on the bench and watched in Monday's opener, couldn't stand the thought of being that close to the action and not playing in Tuesday's game.

...

The combination of Durant, Green (28 points) and rookie point guard Russell Westbrook (19 points, three steals, three assists) proved to be far too much for an overwhelmed Magic team. Oklahoma City led by as much as 32 points and won, 100-77.

Durant's surprise appearance Tuesday had Orlando rookie Courtney Lee wondering about his luck of the draw. The 6-5 Lee tried contesting several of Durant's shots, mostly to no avail as each hit the bottom of the net. The 6-9 Durant gave him fits with his length and feathery soft shooting touch. Not surprisingly, when the game was over, Lee -- a Western Kentucky University product -- admitted that Durant is the best talent he's ever faced on a basketball court.

...

Durant notwithstanding, Westbrook has been the best all-around player in the Orlando summer league through two games. The 6-3 point guard made 8 of 10 shots Tuesday and seemed able to get to the rim anytime he pleased.

Durant admitted after the game that he's already dreaming of the possibilities of running the wing next season as Westbrook pushes the ball frantically up the court. Durant studied game tapes of Westbrook's college days at UCLA before the draft, but already he's topped his expectations.

Westbrook's presence was just another reason that Durant couldn't fathom the thought of sitting out of another game.

"I knew [Westbrook] was a good defensive player and really athletic, but I didn't know he was this good," Durant gushed. "He's shown me a lot and I'm already excited about playing with him."

Not bad, eh? Anyway, I am really unsure which jersey to buy. I just hate to drop big coin on something like a jersey but since I have been saying Westbrook looks like a young #23 (yes, you know who) I maybe need to step up and drop the coin!? We shall see....

In the meantime keep an eye on Mr. Westbrook! Here's a picture for the SacTown King's to look at. I call it DEFENSE. Maybe the King's can incorporate something like this into their games this season!?

peace out.

Have it your way

2008-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy has always had an infinity for Burger King. Ok, well I don't like to eat the slop there much but I have a long history with the King. You may not believe this but the SacTownGuy had two tours of duty working at BK back in the 80's. The first one, in 11th grade, was my first real job. Or at least the first job where I was hired without knowing anybody. Just walked in and got the job. Went from fry cook to smartest guy there in about a week. It was during my 7 months living in eastern TN so not hard to be the smartest guy there. $3.35 an hour and they didn't pay overtime. I worked the 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM shift. Those were the days. Cleaning the fry vat out with a red neck with a thick accent at 2 or 3 in the morning... oh the joy! Drove in to Knoxville every week or two and spent my whole pay check after cashing it at the Food King. All spent on important things like "big" 6 x 9 speakers for the car, new Run DMC tape, etc.... Then I went back for a second tour at BK in the Friendly City my freshman year of college. That lasted a week or two... and still at $3.35 an hour I believe. You may recall the BK logo looked about like this back then.

A long way from cleaning the fry vat at two in the morning, today I took the kids for a little lunch with daddy. Pretty much the choice is either BK or Micky D's and really depends on who has the better happy meal toys. Either way I am stopping to get myself some food somewhere else so really doesn't matter to me. After stopping at Q'doba for a burito and a SacTownBee we headed over to BK as they have the Incredible Hulk toys right now. By the time we finally got seated in the play area my veggie burito was a little cold but life is good when you have lunch at one of these places. The kids LOVE IT, you got some decent food for yourself, you read the paper, the kids play with whoever is there, and all is good.

After finishing my burito, iced tea from the King (I forgot they have that crappy machine made iced tea) I read the Bee and watched the kids. Fun was had by all. Here's the little girl running off for more fun.

We were there 45 minutes or so and all three of us had a great time. Plus, Kitty Kat was getting a breather at home so the whole gang was happy. However, when you go to BK you have to interact with the employees of BK. In my experience there are good people working there but not always the swiftest. Today the little dude had been given a toy of the bad guy from the Hulk. Of course, he wanted the Hulk. He kept telling me, "I want the big green Hulk doing this" (showing me his version of the Hulk flexing his arms overhead and frowning). He went up and tried to exchange it himself, as he was able to do so last time we were there, but he got nothing. He told me they needed to talk to his daddy so I went and asked the rocket scientiest at the counter if we could trade. She said, with little conviction, "I can't do that." I said, "well they did it last time we were here...." She relented and went and look through all the bags to find a Hulk for the little dude. No such luck but he got another one he liked better so we made the trade after a good 30 seconds of indecision by the little dude. Seriously though, shouldn't they make about 95% Hulk's and 5% other toys? Who wants one of the other toys? Doesn't everybody want a Hulk? Why not just have 4 or 5 different Hulk's and maybe 1 bad guy for the contrarian kids? Plus, I think a good percentage of people are NOT there for the food so be a little nicer about trading toys! The way I see it I am paying four bucks for a Hulk toy and coincedently they throw in some free food with it.

Oh ya, they have a new thing at BK... apples shaped like french fries. No joke. They are in a sealed plastic bag but they give you a fry looking container to put them in. Since my kids get apple sauce or apples this was a nice treat. They really liked them. Oh ya, they were NOT fried apples. When I first saw the picture I thought they were fried apples. Nice job Mr. King! Give a raise to whoever came up with that idea!

Oh ya, just remembered the manager at the BK in Pigeon Forge, TN was named John Henry. I bet he is still there in the Smokey's somewhere. He was a good dude.

Peace out.

P.S. Customer Service

2008-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Read the post below this one before reading this P.S.

So at 9:15 this morning Bill called and left a VM for me. He did apologize so I will not quit the Ranch today. However, I do like the idea of saving a C-note, or more, a month on gym dues.... Anyway, his apology was fine but missed the mark in two major ways.

First, he said he did not put the card on my windshield, does not know who did, and nobody was authorized to do so. Ok, fine. However, I think he should also have said, "I will find out who did this, tell them not to do it again, because our customers are so important to us... and in the end this is on me because I am the GM." I felt he was just passing the buck. He is the GM and thus he needs to take that on HIMSELF. I know I do so just about every day around my office!

Second, he told me he was really surprised about my complaint about the bikes as they spent $26,000 about a year ago on new bikes at the Ranch. Either he is CLUELESS or... well, I don't have anything else, he must be clueless. It doesn't take a fitness guru to know the bikes at the Ranch I go to has bikes that are about 10 years old. I have been working out there for 5 years and during the entire 5 years the bikes have squeaked, do not have straps on most, etc.... Now, there are two facilities across the street from each other. Possibly the old Ranch building has $26,000 worth of new bikes? Possibly the spin class room has $26,000 worth of new bikes? However, the newer Ranch building with the kid's club and the basketball court has REALLY OLD BIKES. Plus, only about 6 bikes. Just pathetic. Does he really not know that? Playing dumb like that just makes him look stupid in my opinion.

Ok, back to work.

peace out.

Customer Service

2008-07-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Is it a lost art or what!? Yesterday morning I dropped my little dude off at the Ranch for swim practice. I parked in one of the 5, or so, parking places closest to the door as I was just dropping him off. The places are clearly marked with signs that proclaim them as 10 minute parking. The other 10 minute places were empty so not as if the SacTownGuy was taking the last one. I don't know about you but I am assuming that a 10 minute parking place is to drop someone off. If not for that purpose what else would it be for? Well, later in the day I noticed a card on my windshield. I assumed it was an advertisement of a great "job" where I could make $20,000 a month working from home and I would only have to work 5 hours a week, blah, blah, blah.... However, it was not. It was the following business card from the General Manager of the Ranch.

I noticed this at the end of the day so emailed him. Had I noticed it when I was at the gym I would have gone in and talked to the guy face to face. They are charging me as if it's a f'ing country club and thus I don't want to be treated as if I am at the public park. My email was as follows:

Bill-
I found your business card on my car windshield alerting me to the 10 minute parking at Johnson Ranch. I can read the signs fine and am thus aware of the 10 minute rule. I was dropping my son off at swim team and am pretty confident I was there 5 minutes or less. I certainly was parked there no where close to 10 minutes. It’s a tad rude to put a card of this nature under these circumstances in my opinion. I suggest you do not put a note on someone’s car unless they have actually been there for 10 minutes. I pay $200 a month and would appreciate better treatment. I can get sloppy treatment at 24 Hour Fitness for a lot less per month! While I am at it let me also say that the cardio equipment, in particular the bikes, at Johnson Ranch are so pathetically poor that they really should all be replaced. I go to many different Spare Time clubs and your bikes are THE worst I have seen. Even Natomas has better bikes these days! Thank you.

Seriously, is it just me or what!? I was there 5 minutes and I get a note on my windshield!? Even if I had been there, dare I say, 11 minutes (which I was NOT) who cares if all the other sacred 10 minute places are available?

I have not yet heard back from this guy but I hope he says something other than "I am so sorry Sir, I will be more careful, we are ordering more bikes, etc...." If I do get something other than that I can quit the $200 a month club and move to 24 Hour which has better hours (because I won't have to wait until 5:00 AM to arrive) and will cost me a ton less each month. It's currently 8:30 in the morning and no reply. The note on my car yesterday was at 6:45 AM so I am assuming he is there. We shall see.... As I wait for the reply I am starting to surf the net and I am starting here...
If I understand it right I could go to all their clubs in the country for $35 a month and could add other members of my family for $35 each so max $140. My math skills tell me that $140 < $200.

I am still waiting Bill. Please reply soon....

peace out.

Morning Run

2008-07-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

There is really nothing like a morning run (or bike ride) to be reminded how great life is! This morning I woke up at my usual 4:20 but I worked out at home as I was doing the green thing and carpooling with my neighbor. How cool, right!? I will tell you about the carpooling another day. Anyway, rode the stationary bike for 50 minutes, reading a good book, and waiting for the sun to come up. About 5:20 I hit the road for a 45 minute jaunt around the area.

The air was crisp when I started out but I quickly got used to it. My mind wandered into all different topics as I slowly cruised down the street. I checked out cars, I noticed some people that need to hire a gardener, wondered why the King's signed Beno for 5 years as he has such a bad assist to turnover ratio and seems to get injured easily, wondered why someone doesn't fix the aim of their sprinkler so it doesn't force me to jog around it as it douses the sidewalk, I thought about work, I thought about commuting to work, and occasionally I actually noticed what Old Skool rap song was playing on my IPOD.

I recently had about 15 old Rodium Swap Meet mix tapes made digital and I downloaded them onto my Ipod. Many of them including intros by Dr. Dre and others as they mixed the tapes their at the Rodium. They are all from 1986-1989 and just have a gang of classic songs on them. As great as they are my mind wandered away so often that I didn't even hear all the great songs.

I noticed a runner jogging the other way, we gave the quick hi sign, and kept going. A few minutes later that same jogger went storming by me like some Ethiopian marathoner passing a rank amateur. She quickly passed and created distance. I then decided I was going to keep up with her as I was in the home stretch... well that thought lasted for about 10 strides as it became clear she was training for Boston Marathon qualification or something because she was way out of my league! With that, I went back to random thoughts like the pollution coming out of the back of cars, could I make the light if I ran fast enough, and other such thoughts.

I highly recommend you go for a morning run. Who knows what might happen....

peace out.

Picture = 1,000 Words

2008-06-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

From sacbee.com and captioned: "A woman counts cash after putting gas in her Cadillac Escalade full-size SUV at a Chevron station in Santa Monica on Friday. AP"

peace out.

Charlie's Angels

2008-06-30T09:32:00.001-07:00

I have a great mother in law. She really has a lot of positive attributes and even her negative ones are positive in ways. She is generous to a fault and will buy your kid everything ever made. If one pair of pajamas is good then certainly 6 or 7 is better. This weekend she took care of our kids for about 24 hours so we could get a night away. Sunday, in typical mother-in-law fashion, she woke up early and took them to Burger King for cini-mini's (something that they do not normally get), then a little later in the morning they went to IHOP for chocolate chip pancakes, then they went to see that new movie Wall-E, then they went to Nordstrom to buy new shoes, and then they went to some jumping horses show at Arco Arena... where she had front row seats of course. The show was at 2:00 so you can see it was a busy morning!

However, who wants to read a positive mother-in-law story? I think most of guys would prefer to think of mothers-in-law in terms of Fred Flinstone's mother-in-law. Here's some lines I found on-line from an old Flinstone's episode:
"Fred: Hi, Mother-in-law dear, how was your trip?
Wilma's Mother: Oh no. He's been at the cactus juice again.
Fred: Can I take your bags? I love my dear sweet mother-in-law.
Wilma's Mother: Stop your mumbling, you've been drinking.
Fred: No I haven't. I just love having you here."

During the weekend Kitty Kat and I spoke of her mom and grandma as often rationalizing ideas in their mind. I acknowledged that they make a statement and then like to stick with it. Even far fetched things. I think they truly believe them eventually.

Anyway, when she dropped the kids back off we told her we had seen Get Smart and what a bad movie it was. She said she was surprised and still wanted to go see it. I said, "why are you surprised it was bad... has there ever been a TV show that was made into a good movie?" The lawyer in her was quick to disagree with me and tell me that of course there were. I asked her to tell me which TV series had been made into a good movie.

Her answer was Charlie's Angels. Kitty Kat and I looked at her with some disbelief to which she replied, "well it didn't get great reviews but I think it was good." I acknowledge I had not seen it but was pretty sure it was not seen as a great movie and thus I was pretty confident in my hypothesis. She continued defending Charlie's Angeles until she finally said... "I actually might not have seen Charlie's Angeles."

That is my mother-in-law for you. The competitive lawyer who will take up a case just to defend the downtrodden like movies made from TV series. Kitty Kat will not live this one down and the Charlies Angels story will be brought up for years to come.

Having finished that story I have to say I was really only making the statement about TV series generally. I wasn't that invested in the idea because undoubtedly there have been some TV series that were made into great movies. The Naked Gun series for example are made from my favorite TV show, Police Squad. I believe the first Naked Gun was officially called, "Naked Gun, from the files of Police Squad." Let's say this: the list of BAD TV series movies is much longer than the list of good TV series movies.

peace out.

Movie Review - Get Smart

2008-06-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

OY VEY!

No es muy bueno.

In any language this movie was muy mal. Yes I have fond memories of the TV show which is one of the greatest of all time; right up there with Police Squad, the Dukes and CHiP's! That's lofty air! As most movies of TV shows go... it didn't live up to the TV show.

Few might remember they made a Get Smart movie in the mid 80's. I think I have that on tape. It was bad but this new movie was worse!

Was it as bad as the Dukes Of Hazard movie? Yes, I saw that too. Well, that's close. I would have to watch the Dukes again to compare and that ain't happening!

Save your $20. Wait, did I really spend $10 for a ticket to the movies!? Inflation!

In the end this movie missed it by THAT much. Don't see it.

peace out.

TGIF

2008-06-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

I am glad it's Friday. This week feels like it's been going on for about a month. However, still made it out to the gym this morning for 70 minutes of cardio. Didn't have much more in the tank after playing in my weekly hoops game last night. Did we win? Did we lose? Who cares... how did the SacTownGuy play? Marginal. Couple assists, about 10-12 points, but a missed layup, a blocked layup, two missed free throws, and the usual bad defense. Not a great game for the SacTownGuy last night. Sure the Dream Team won but who cares!? At my age I don't care about wins and losses... I care about playing well! Nothing really exciting happened as the other team was sort of non-descript. They were late 20's, had one very good player, had a bunch of average players, and we beat them pretty easily. Vegas Randy had some nice drives to the hoops and Dandy Don had lots of tough rebounds inside. Overall a nice team effort by the Dream Team. Oh ya, and I got some props one of the refs for my Matt Barnes jersey.

Speaking of jerseys I will be buying a Russell Westbrook Seattle Supersonics jersey as soon as they are available. I hope I can get one in a throw back style. Late '70's preferably. How about Russell going 4th in the draft? I have been telling people for MONTHS he would get drafted ahead of Kevin Love. People thought I was crazy well all I can say is... SCOREBOARD. Russell went 4th and K-love went 5th in teh NBA draft last night. Not bad to have two UCLA Bruin's in the top 5. Plus Luc Richard went early in the second round. I hope Coach Howland can get the Fab 5 freshman to play together next year... but with Collison running the point I think another final 4 is very obtainable.
Back to my man Russell Westbrook. One of the talking heads on espn.com says, "Great pick for the Sonics. I know that Sam Presti's heart was with Westbrook. While many think this is too high for him, I don't. I think he has incredible upside and he's a lock to be a great defender. He should develop on the offensive end, too. Overall, he has a chance to be a better version of Rajon Rondo." I would compare him to Michael Jordan rather than Rajon Rondo but what do I know. Here's a picture from the Seattle Times website. I guess I will have to bookmark that site so I can keep track of Mr. Westbrook's progress this season.
I have other topics to mention, like the King's drafting a guy from Rider who should have been a second round pick, Larry Allen's 2013 HOF induction in the greatest HOF class ever, and more... but will save those for another day.

peace out.

OC North

2008-06-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy came up with a revilation recently while cruising around the SacTown 'burbs of RoseTown... there are a ton of people here from Orange County. I went and expressed this to a couple of others and they looked at the SacTownGuy like, "ahhhh, duhhhhhhhhhh, of course there are...." I had just never thought about it but I guess it makes sense.

When you live in SoCal the OC was also known as the "Orange Curtain" which was it's only little (now many millions of people) place totally different than the rest of SoCal. Growing up IN LA we rarely went out to the OC and, as far as I know, they rarely traveled up to the big city.

The OC was known for Disneyland and Republicans... and maybe not in that order. Well guess what... RoseTown voted for GW Bush at about an 80% clip 4 years ago. Scary says I! However, this is not a political discussion so we will discuss that another day. I just found the whole thing interesting.

I had on an old KROQ t-shirt recently at my dude's swim meet. A guy about my age said, "ohhh, haven't seen a KROQ shirt in a while...." He said he was from SoCal so I asked where and he said he was from the OC. I don't remember where but whatever it's all the same anyway. I NEVER EVER EVER meet someone from West LA. Ok, that's not totally true but it's pretty darn rare. Pretty much ever "LA" transplant is from the OC. As someone else pointed out to me there are also a lot of people from San Jo living up here in RoseTown. Again, a burb to burb transfer.

Since the above is no great revelation to anybody else I have one other random, and semi-related, thought to share. People from San Diego, who live up here, say they are from San Diego. People from the OC say they are from "southern California." People from LA (like the SacTownGuy) say we are from "LA." There is one other group that often claims "LA" status... people from the Inland Empire. That kills me every time I hear it. Look dude, Moreno Valley is NOT LA it's "Riverside" or the "Inland Empire." Same goes for every other town from Pamona to Palm Springs... you are NOT from LA. Don't disrespect like that.

peace out.

A SHOCKING picture

2008-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

A friend just forwarded this to me and I had to share. Those in Southern California might remember when this accident happened. ..... 4 years ago this March, i.e., March 2004

This Southwest Airlines flight from Vegas overshot the runway at Burbank Airport.

The plane smashed past the airport fence, careened across the street and ended up with a collapsed landing gear, right next to this gas station.

RIP George Carlin

2008-06-23T08:31:00.001-07:00

I was already to post an update about the NBA draft but I just heard that George Carlin died so need to change directions today. In my youth I was very into comedians. Listening to tapes of the big comedians, on my Walkman, was a nice way to pass time riding the bus to school. I had so many of their bits memorized. The big ones I remember listening to over and over were: Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and George Carlin. I wore those things out.

I remember back about 1978, when the SacTownGuy was the LAGuy, and my cousin found his parent's George Carlin album (yes, vinyl or "wax") that included the 7 bad words you can't say on TV. Do you remember them? I found a nice website which says the original 7 were: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Damn, I remember listening to that bit over and over and over with BIG Drew at his home up in the valley. Nothing could be funnier than a guy who kept saying swear words! I found a website that has the entire bit if you want to read it: The 7 Bad Words

The other Carlin bit I really liked was from his album a Place For My Stuff. My boy Footloose let me dub that back during high school. That was another good one. The synopis was you have a house so you have a place to store your stuff. You have locks on your doors to keep others from stealing your stuff. Then you go on vacation to... buy more stuff to bring home. Good bit if you havne't heard it. Actually, I just found it on-line. Man, love this internet thing! A Place for My Stuff

With that, it's Monday morning so I better get working.

RIP George Carlin. 71 years young. Very sad. I just saw he died at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica. I happen to know personally a very good blogger here in SacTown who was born at that very hospital. He was such a cute baby they named the hospital after him!

peace out.

King's Draft Version 1.0

2008-06-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

For a long time now the SacTownGuy has been saying the King's should pick Russell Westbrook. I knew they wouldn't since he is not a one dimensional shooter as Petrie likes. He actually does other things well besides just shoot. The King's need a big man and the current ESPN Mock Draft (version 5.0) has the King's picking Anthony Randloph, a big guy I have never heard of, out of LSU. Mistake? Well, here's what another ESPN.com columnist says about him in an article about big men. Let me start by telling you the article starts at the top with the locks, high lottery picks, late first round, journey men, overseas players, etc... and then dead LAST they have this guy. Petrie likes long range shooters and long shots so he probably will pick him:

Between Me and the Scouts, One of Us Will Look Like an Idiot
Anthony Randolph, LSU, 9.85

Yes, this is true. Seen in many quarters as a high lottery pick, Randolph has virtually nothing in his statistical record to justify such a lofty selection.

In particular, his woeful ball-handling numbers are a major red flag. Randolph had more turnovers than any prospect except Beasley and Thompson, but those two players had every play run through them; I'm still waiting to find out Randolph's excuse.

Additionally, his 49.9 true shooting percentage is alarmingly bad for a guy who is supposed to dominate athletically.

He can block shots, and the fact his team was such a mess probably didn't help his numbers any, but gambling on Randolph with a high first-round pick looks like the basketball equivalent of hitting on 19 in blackjack. Hey, maybe the dealer throws out a 2 and everyone thinks you're a genius, but chances are you're going to bust.

It appears he's going to be drafted in the middle of the first round at worst, but even that appears to be a terrible mistake -- there is no track record whatsoever of a player rated this poorly achieving pro success.

peace out.

Basketball Jones

2008-06-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last night the SacTownGuy played in his second game of the hoops season for his team, the Dream Team (props to my frat bros in college since I stole the name from them). We have not fielded a team in a league for a couple years but this year we thought we would give it a go as they offered a 40 and over league. As a new member of the 40 club I thought we would try the old man's league. Unfortunately they didn’t have enough teams but the RoseTown Parks and Rec guy assured me that our new league had a lot of older players. The new league is the “E” league. It’s THE lowest possible level. Though we have stat keepers and two refs the refs mostly just run up and down the court. Their whistles are mostly stuck in their pockets.

Anyway, I got to the gym a little early. I had my two kids with me as Kitty Kat had a meeting to attend. Outside the gym was a group of kids in matching jerseys; our opponents I presumed. A couple of them had their I-Pods on. There was one old guy sitting there so I asked if he was on my team since I had not met one of our players yet and figured it must be him. He said that he was just a father of a player on the other team. He wasn't but 5 years older than me. We then headed inside.

As my kids sat in the stands eating their food I started warming up with the other team since none of my teammates were there. The other team was a team of young kids with the team name “GOAT.” I asked one of the kids if that was a take off on the LL Cool J album (and yes I did say “album”) and he told me it was. I almost said that I started listening to LL Cool J before some of your teammates were born but I opted to keep that point to my self. Seriously though, I got the Radio tape for my 18th birthday (Feb. ’86) which we celebrated at El Cholo in LA (the OG one down on Western of course).

At 6:14 our 4th and 5th players arrived and we avoided a forfeit. So we had 5 guys age 40 and over with 2 of our players over 50 against 7 kids who probably have fake ID’s in their wallets. Now, let me not make it sound like they were some impressive group of kids. A couple could shoot, a couple had decent handles, and they had Engelberg in the middle. Of their whole team I would say 2 or 3 might have played high school ball but that's about it; at least I know they wouldn't have been able to play at my little high school! They had matching GOAT jerseys with catchy names on the back like “Romancing” and “Hawk” and other such names. The Dream Team, on the other hand, has a whole range of jersey and no two are alike. I had on my “game worn” Matt Barnes UCLA reversible practice jersey and we have guys like Vegas Randy who usually wears his high school jersey which just might be from the 1970’s. So, to look at us GOAT sure looked better than the Dream Team.

We won the opening tip as we had our own Swen Nater out there, 6’10” BIG Duane. Don’t tell the city of Roseville but Duane was drafted by the Knick’s in ’87 and played overseas after playing his college ball at South Carolina. He is 45 and I believe I heard he is coming back after cancer treatment but 6’10” is SIX TEN no matter how you slice it! He has some nice post moves and gets a ton of boards of course.

The game started nicely and the Dream Team got off to a little lead. The team was really playing well and simply put... SacTownGuy esta en fugeo in the first half. When the other team starts yelling "someone get shooter," and they are talking about you, then you know things are going well. I really didn't keep track but I had 4 or 5 3's in the first half, a layup or two, and a freethrow so 15 or 17 or so. I believe 17 but that doesn't matter. It's not about points and no it's not about winning... it's about the individual highlights that make a blog even worth writing.

The fun started to heat up after I hit a couple of 3's. The kids didn't like losing to a team as old as their parents. I probably would not have liked it either when I was their age. I found myself on a break away 1 on 3. They had a guy standing on about the middle of the free throw line, a guy to the right of the key, and a guy in the middle of the key. I have seen my main man, Russell Westbrook, do it many times so I quickly calculated and did what he would do and went strong to the basket. I went right down the middle, between free line guy and outside the key guy, did a hard dribble to the left of the guy in the middle of the key, and finished... let me repeat AND FINISHED... with a nice left handed lay up. As much to myself as to anyone I said something like, "and Russell Westbrook with the strong finish." I said it loud enough for my dejected opponents to hear because they were sitting there with the realization that an old guy just diced right through the middle like they were standing still. Really. I think I better bring the video camera next time in case that ever happens again!

Things started to heat up at that point. I really don't remember all that was said but the next thing I remember was one of the kids saying "be quiet old man." I said, in a semi-friendly voice, "let's see how good you are when you are 40!?" For some reason that really set him off and he was popping off about stuff and then he called me "Basketball Jones." Well, in my book that's a pretty big put down. I picture the 40ish, white guy, tube socks, low top shoes, short shorts... oh wait a minute. Hmmmmmm....

Well, anyway I decided to google the term and found this on Wiki: "'Basketball Jones'" is a 1974 animated short film based on the Cheech and Chong song, "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces", from their album Los Cochinos. The cartoon was created to promote the song's release in the United States. It is about a black teenager called Tyrone Shoelaces and his love of basketball."

This insult really sparked me... and I got a little out of control. Next time down court I found myself running across the top of the key toward the left wing, I picked up a loose ball, still moving toward the corner I contemplated what to do... "I of course should pass this to an open player but imagine if I make this..." and falling away toward the baseline I shot another 3 pointer and... swish. I then stopped and looking much like the Russell Westbrook picture a couple of posts below this gave a loud scream of joy. I don't think the kids liked that. I hit another 3 to end the half and, like I said, ended up with about 17 or 18 or whatever. Shoot, could have been 20 and when I re-tell this story in 25 years I scored 40 in the first half.

At half time I went up to one of the kids and assured him I was just enjoying myself, wasn't looking to start a fight and was really talking to myself as much as anybody. I guess that was a stretch. Anyway, he was friendly and said, "hey it's competitve, we just got off work...." I said, "I too just got off work, and then I picked up the kids... when you have work AND kids then you will have something to say." He acknowledged not having kids and he seemed to understand what I was saying. He also may have remembered that we had to play 4 on 5 for a minute as my little girl had to go potty during the first half and would not go into the bathroom alone. I got her in there, knowing the game is going on, and of course she had a shirt and pants over a leotard. Speaking of which, here is a picture of the little girl from earlier in the day. There are no soccer games scheduled until the week after Labor Day but she is ready:

Though I tried to make peace with GOAT the second half included many hard fouls by the kids. With two minutes left and the Dream Team down by 2 I was fouled hard near mid-court trying to dribble the ball up court. I threw in a little Vlade Divac by crumbling to the ground as if a bulldozer had hit me. Guess what? It worked. I got the intentional foul call but guess what? I missed BOTH free throws. Ouch. The Dream Team was 1 for 7 on free throws in the last couple minutes... and we lost by 3 or 4 points. I think I had about 2 points in the second half so a tad disappointing after the strong first half.

The kids were talking the whole game. They questioned the refs calls, they committed hard fouls, and in general they looked like chumps. Even their girlfriends in the stands were questioning calls. Though my team didn't win I always knew in the back of my mind that I could always go to the ulimate manly man, tough guy, comment and go "1040" on them. You know, "hey, let's compare our tax returns" because that's the ultimate scoreboard. However, I resisted.

I have to say the Dream Team played well. We had a 6th player show up at halftime so got to get a quick breather during the second half. We had nice bal movement, nice shooting, good rebounding, etc.... After the game Old Man Don, a 50'something year old rebounding machine, said that his 8 year old son came up to him at halftime and said, "dad you guys have to shoot better... also your whole team is not playing defense... you guys keep letting the other team into the lane...." WOW, broken down so well by an 8 year old. The bottom line kid is that good defense doesn't get you on SportsCenter!

As we got to the parking lot the kids from the other team piled into a couple of 1990's American cars. Probably going to ask one of their big brothers to buy them some beer. My kids and I got into the G35 to head home for bath time. Sure an Infiniti G35 is a nice car but that would have been a moment that would have made the purchase price and repair costs worthwhile to have bought a Porsche 911. That would have topped the night off just perfectly....

peace out.

Man Crush

2008-06-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

According to Wiki, and everybody knows Wiki is always right. A "Man Crush" is defined as, "Man crush is a term sometimes used to describe a fondness and admiration a self-identified heterosexual man feels for another man." I was a big Rod Carew fan as a child, I have been a big Larry allen fan the last 14 years, and I always have fond thoughts for Ron Cey and Steve Garvey. However, none of them are really man crushes. However, the SacTownGuy is not without a Man Crush in his life....

My man crush on Russell Westbrook seems to grow everyday and the dude isn't even playing right now. I was reading a little ESPN.com Insider news this morning that my man "Magic" Chang sent me so I have a little more Westbrook news to share. According to their sources Westbrook is refusing any more workouts as he has been guaranteed a mid-lottery pick. The story claims Phoenix really likes Westbrook but they pick 15th so I don't think they are getting him there. The story also says Seattle is very interested but believe the 4th overall pick may be too high. I am thus sticking with the Knick's at #6 as the place Westbrook lands. I don't like to buy new player jerseys as I don't like to drop big coin on something that really just looks so silly. However, I may drop a C note and get me a Westbrook jersey. We shall see....

NBA Talk - P.S.

2008-06-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

I posted the blog below BEFORE ESPN released their Mock Draft 5.0 today. You will see there that they now show the Knick's picking my man... but you would have already known that by reading my blog earlier today! Anyway, here is what ESPN says about him right now at the 6th pick:

"The skinny: The Knicks want a lead guard who can push the ball and hit an open jumper. Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo and Jerryd Bayless are their top choices, but if they are off the board, New York will have a tough choice to make.

I had Danilo Gallinari here in the first two versions of this mock draft, thanks to his Italian ties with Mike D'Antoni.

But a Suns source told me that D'Antoni wasn't a huge fan of Gallinari's game when he was shown some tape during the season, which has made me seriously reconsider that forecast.

In the past two mock drafts, I've had two different guys in this spot -- D.J. Augustin and Anthony Randolph.

But after talking to the Knicks, I would say the two guys who now appear to stand out are Russell Westbrook and Joe Alexander.

Westbrook already worked out in New York, and I hear he was impressive. The team liked the way Westbrook handled himself on the court. His length, speed, athleticism and defense wowed them. And he shot the ball better than expected.

Alexander is a superathletic forward who has competed very hard in workouts. That's attractive to teams, but he still has some issues -- in particular, in terms of his basketball IQ, which he still needs to develop.

So this week, Westbrook is our choice. But we reserve the right to change it (again) next week."

NBA Talk

2008-06-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Back on February 4th the SacTownGuy told you about the little known combo guard out of UCLA, named Russell Westbrook. If you missed it, here's the link. Back then I told you how Russell was not even in ESPN's not 100 NBA prospects but I was sure he would be in the top 50 by year end. Within a week of my posting in February ESPN put him in their top 100. Apparently those draft "gurus" at ESPN.com know about the SacTownGuy and get some info here!? By the end of the season Westbrook was a solid first round choice by all the experts and the SacTownGuy was telling people he will be a higher picked pro than Kevin Love. People scoffed at the SacTownGuy.

For months the SacTownGuy has been telling people here in SacTown that Westbrook would be a GREAT fit for the SacTown King's as he is a big, tough, defensive minded guard who can score... plus he will develop a better shot (remember he's only 19 or 20). I have told many people over the last couple months the King's would be smart to pick him with their pick (King's will be picking 12th) but I doubt Petrie would take him since Westbrook is not a pure outside shooter yet. Petrie doesn't care if a guy can play defense. He only cares if they can shoot. It's Petrie's main fault as a GM. He can pick shooters but there is more to the game than just shooting 3 point shots. Yippeee, Peja won the 3 point contest one time. Shoot, Jason Kapono won it twice I believe. Shooting 3 pointers does not make a great NBA player. Defense, toughness, and ability to score is more important to me. Russell Westbrook would help so much to round out the King's.

However, guess what? Russell Westbrook will NOT be available if the King's hold on to their 12th pick. The ESPN mock draft 4.0 (dated June 9th) has Westbrook going at 11 to Indiana. However, I don't see him lasting that long. I have read the Knick's like him and they pick 6th. Do not be surprised if he gets picked 6th by the NY Knick's. Basically, guy went from small school prospect to lottery pick in about 3 years. Here's a snippet from draftexpress.com dated March 5th, "There might not be a more improved player in the country over the last year or two than UCLA sophomore guard Russell Westbrook. Considered a mid-major recruit leading into his senior year of high school, drawing scholarship offers from schools such as San Diego, Wyoming, Creighton and Kent State, Westbrook benefited from a late growth spurt that saw him shoot up from just 5-10 to 6-3 late in his prep career, and is now a key cog on a Final Four contending team and one of the hottest draft prospects in the country as of late. Obviously a late bloomer, Westbrook remains a raw prospect as far as his skill-level is concerned, but has just about as much upside to continue to improve as any guard in the NCAA not named Derrick Rose."

Pretty amazing, eh!? Dude went from a 5'10" scrub to a 6'3" monster! He is so athletic, understands defense, has a knack for scoring, has a strong desire, appears to be fearless, and in summation appears to have a lot of intangibles that NBA greats have. Rookie of the year in the NBA? Probably not. I have a hunch he will have a year or two to learn but don't be surprised to see him averaging 20 per AND locking down the best player on the other team on the defensive end in year 3. Hall of famer? You never know.

peace out.

Fedco

2008-06-15T07:08:00.001-07:00

Anybody from LA knows that sign... or at least remembers it from the past. What a store it was. It was a membership department store with cheap prices long before Costco (or Price Club). According to Wiki Fedco was started in the 40's by some postal workers who wanted to use their buying power to get cheaper prices. Back then it was just for federal employees (hence the name) and later for all people... like us. What brought Fedco to mind today? Well, actually yesterday I was looking for something under the bathroom sink. I noticed I still had these plastic hold-alls that were purchased at Fedco. I would say in the early 80's by momz and then I think I took them to college... and still have them all these years later. Though I don't like to keep stuff I also don't like clutter so these handy little plastic bins help keep down the clutter.

This post is not about the plastic bins under my sink. Rather I thought I would tell you about a few specific things I remember buying at Fedco but first let's set the stage. We went to the Fedco down on La Cienga. I believe it was near Jefferson. It wasn't too far from Ladera Heights. It was a decent hood. It was worth the drive to my family because of the money savings. Not trying to say my pops was cheap but during the gas crisis he would drive the green on green Ford LTD down to a gas station on Century. It was like World Gas or something. It was the cheapest in all of LA according to him. I am not trying to crack on the neighborhood around Century but it did not have quite the same socio economics of my hood up in Cheviot Hills. Shoot, why pretend... if you are from LA you know that Watts started at 102nd street officially so Century (do the math) was only two blocks from there. It was a long drive from our house... but the gas was cheap! Even as a 10 year old I wondered about the economics of driving a gas guzzler down to the ghetto to fill up the tank. Anyway, back to Fedco....

We shopped there a lot. It was like Target and Costco combined. I would like to think it was nicer than Walmart but maybe not. Anyway, I vividly remember walking around the store carrying a certain record album... which I finally bought with many weeks allowance... the Star Wars soundtrack. I didn't even like the movie so it was sort of an odd purchase but that theme song was (and is) a good one. I think I still have that in the thinned down record collection in the garage. Along with it, I have another Fedco bought record... Star Trackin' 1976. It was a RONCO, "as seen on TV," type record and included the theme from swat, Jackson 5, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, The Who, Allman Brothers Band, Average White Band, and Abba among others. Thanks to the internet (since I am too lazy to pull my copy out... though I believe I still have it) here is a picture of it:

What an album right? So, Star Wars soundtrack, Star Trackin' '76 and what else did I buy at Fedco? Two other "big" purchases come to mind. In the early 80's I went through a spell thinking I was a photographer. I bought... wait, let me re-start that sentence because I am sure I didn't buy anything. Momz bought me a Cannon AE1. One of the first cameras with the auto setting. It was a full SLR and later on I added a sweet Vivitar telephoto lens. Why? It was bought prior to our to Europe in 1984. I wanted to make sure I could get some good photos on the beaches of France... if you know what I mean. It didn't work out though. Darn it. Hey, I was 16 at the time so it seemed like a valid reason to own a telephoto lens. The old Cannon is still alive. I traded it with my homeboy Bruce, during law school, for some Bose speakers that he had. I bet Bruce still has that Cannon because he is old skool.

Lastly, and one of the best purchases of my life... about 1979 or 1980, if memory serves, momz and popz bought me my first Walkman. That's Walkman with a capital W becuase it was a Sony Walkman. What model? FM only! Remember that one? Before they put casette tapes into those things they had the FM only model. I believe it was blue in color. Cost about $90 if memory serves. I traded it to Xen Lang about 1981 for his 1975 Topps baseball card set. Guess what Xen? I still have the baseball card set. You might know that set includes rookie cards of Brett, Rice, Lynn, Carter, Hernandez along with cards of all the hall of the famers of that era. That multi-color 1975 set is a popular one for collectors to this day! Give me a shout Xen, if you read this, haven't seen you since high school.

So, with that my tales of Fedco are done. According to Wiki Fedco went BK about 1999 and later was sold to Target. Good memories....

peace out.

Old Man Car Shopping

2008-06-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

The SacTownGuy is obsessed with cars the last few months. The problem is the current bookmarked web pages run the gambit from Renlist.com (Porsche enthusiasts) to Prius Hybrid pricing on Edmunds. Would be easier if I knew what was the best to get. Of course the Porsche is the best because a 911 is a 911. However, that's a boatload of money that the SacTownGuy does not have right now. Not a very smart purchase and may lead to Kitty Kat disowning me. Thus the boring and practical car is the likely choice. However, which boring and practical car to buy?

When I look at this picture of the Honda Accord I think to myself that is a lot of car for $25k. It's the 4 cylinder Ex-L Accord. The "L" means leather and for $25k you get everything but navi. I don't care about navi so no big deal to me. The Edmunds forums, prices paid page, clearly shows $23k to $24k is EASILY a doable purchase price. Plus TTL you are at $26k. PLUS, Honda is offering .9% financing for 3 years. WOW! So here's a picture that makes me think YES:

That's a nice car for $25k, no?

Then I saw in the paper today a Toyota Corolla on a lease for $88 a month. DAMN! Figure it's a C note a month including tax! WOW. Reminds me of that apartment I had in Fair Oaks back in '95... $505 a month for a two bedroom and the $5 was for unlimited video rentals at their little store. Plus, I had a roommate! Paying my whopping $252.50 was pretty nice! I pay that on the water bill, it seems, some months!

Anyway, can't go for the Corolla obviously. However, what about the Accord? Well, I was ready to buy it after test driving the black on black one the other day at the RoseTown automall. Mannie, was the sales guy, and he was a real nice guy. I would like to buy from him but I don't think AutoNation will want to sell at the price I will want to buy. However, we shall see.... Ok, but then I saw this article at LATimes.com and now I am not so sure. I will give you the beginning and the link to the rest if you are interested.

What should I do?

By Dan Neil
LATimes.com
September 5, 2007

I was sitting at a red light when they rolled up beside me, the guy riding his Suzuki Do-Me 8000 with his hot female companion on the back, her thongage pouring out of her low-rise jeans. Her blond hair fell from beneath the helmet and fluffed weightlessly in the hot breeze. Her skintight ballistic-armor motorcycle jacket was unzipped down to her navel. It's a good look, I guess, if you go in for that sort of thing.

As I sat there in the Amana-white 2008 Honda Accord EX-L sedan, she looked over at me. I knew what she was thinking. I knew she wanted me.

And why wouldn't she? The Honda Accord ska-reams confirmed heterosexual, and not in a Larry Craig way, either. This car ought to be issued with a complimentary pair of relaxed-fit dad jeans. Every male owner should get a free BlackBerry, which is like monogamy's ankle bracelet. To own this car is to be possessed with an inexplicable urge to trim hedges. While other cars suggest the owner is still working out issues -- experimenting, if you will -- the Accord sedan says, "Hey, I'm past all that. I'm a smoldering volcano of straight suburban love, and I accept it."

After reading that I really don't know what to buy!?

peace out.

SacTown

2008-06-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

I just realized that yesterday was my 100th post on this blog. Rah rah for me! Thank you very much! As I enter my second century of posting I have an issue that needs to be discussed. People here in SacTown don't want to hear it but they need to. I thus suggest if you live in the greater SacTown metro you sit down and relax before you read this blog. I might say some things that hurt your sensitive feelings because at the heart of this blog is the FACT that ALL of us in SacTown feel like the little step brother to the nice older sister (the Bay Area) and that mean older brother (SoCal).

Let me start by saying I have lived in SacTown since 1991 and I love it here! I am very glad to call this place home, I don't mind the heat, like the proximity to other places, and like the "small" town feel. We have a lot of very nice restaurants, we have some nice people, have great outdoor amenities, it's relatively affordable to live here, and all told it's a great place to live! We have a little too much crime for my liking and I strongly dislike the weather in December-February but otherwise it's a pretty great place to live!

Anyway, ever since that fateful series between the King's and the Laker's in 2002 (YES, SIX years ago) the people of SacTown have felt like they were "robbed" of a championship. As a huge King's fan myself I was very disappointed by the loss BUT let's remember the King's lost the series for reasons other than just the refs. What about missed layups, missed free throws and a blown 20+ point lead in a game!?

I just checked some old box scores and noticed Hedo, a starter in game 1, had no points on O for 8 shooting in that game. I like Hedo but you need more than zero points from each starter to win a game! What about the fateful game 4 loss. Remember the Horry shot... and that's why the King's lost that game right? What about the fact that the King's scored 40 in first QUARTER and 34 in the second HALF. Tough to a game scoring 15 and 19 in quarters! This will really shock you because nobody likes to hear anything bad about Doug Christie (and I certainly hope Jackie doesn't read this), and I like Doug, but did you know he had 5 points on 2 of 6 shooting in the game 6 loss? What about his epic game 7 performance of 2 of 11 shooting for 4 points!? Again, I love Doug and I know scoring was not his greatest asset to the team but let's not blame the refs. That series should have been won by the King's.

People in SacTown are so blinded by their younger step-brother mentality. I was talking to this guy at the gym the other day. He asked if I thought the Tim Donaghy accusations of corrupt refs (and/or NBA involvement) in the 2002 playoffs are true. I told him, "we listen to LOCAL sports radio, we read the LOCAL paper and we talk to other LOCAL King's fans to make our decision about this... in my mind you have to listen to NATIONAL sports radio, read articles from writers from other places around the country and talk to other smart people around the country. The overwhelming majority say the refs had a bad day at the office...." He then said, "ya, but it was like David v. Goliath...." This stumped me. Did he mean the King's were the Goliath or the David? The King's were the #1 seed and I believe had the best record in the entire NBA that year. Basically it was our championship to win (or lose). I asked for clarification and he said the Laker's were of course the Goliath. Why let the facts that the King's were the #1 seed and the Laker's the #3 seed get in the way of your conclusion buddy!? That's SacTown though. We ALWAYS feel inferior to these other places. The Laker's were glitz, glamour and defending NBA champs but the fact is the SacTown King's were the team to beat that year.

The Donaghy allegations have not re-opened anything. The issue of the 2002 playoff loss to the Laker's is brought up on local sports radio, by idiots that call in, at LEAST once a week. That is, the issue wasn't closed so it hasn't been re-opened. It's just elevated it to FRONT page news in the local fish wrap. People calling sports radio say stuff like, "reminds me of game 6." The year or playoff series is not necessary for people in SacTown. It has never died but hopefully it will one day. GET OVER IT. WE LOST. Blame whoever you want but how about we just look in the mirror and realize we didn't hit the clutch shots when they were needed!?

I was emailing with a friend today who is a Laker's fan. I mentioned that the vast majority of people in SacTown believe what Donaghy is saying (and don't see him as a guy about to be sentanced to a LONG time in jail trying to reduce his sentance by making up stuff) and there are probably some who would like to see the playoff series replayed right NOW. You know, have Webber limp over to Arco Arena from his Center Court restaurant up in Natomas, have Scot Pollard jump off the Celtic's injured reserve and suit up in the old purple and black, and all the rest of the boys. He replied that Jim Rome was joking yesterday that SacTown is already planning the championship parade for Peja, C-Webb and the rest. That's funny... but not too far off. I could honestly see someone like Mayor Heather Fargo suggesting such a thing. It's the PC thing to do since the King's "would have won the series if not for the corrupt refs...." Sad. In fact, here is an actual quote from sacbee.com on readers comments to an article about the King's and Laker's. "When all is said and done, the NBA will HAVE to take a good look at that game. If it is determined that there was a good possibility that there was cheating, then they will have to take steps. Those steps will be to give the Kings that game by default, thus destroying the Lakers Championship and their much hearalded 3-peat. I live near LA and it was Hell to be a Kings fan during that series. The Lakers will also lose their championship rings, and the books will show that the Championship Series went unplayed that year leaving NO WINNER!" Did somebody really mean that or is it a joke? SCARY!

Lastly I have to ask why the hatred for the Laker's? You do know there is NOT a rivalry, right? People in LA could care less about people in SacTown. We are a non-entity to them and why should we be? We never were able to beat them in those series were we!? Plus, it was years ago and was very short lived. Let's move on to bigger and better things. Let's spend our energy worrying about other stuff... like paying the mortgage, filling the car with gas, and cheering those River Cat's to another AAA championship!

That's a joke but it reminds me of something I have to tell you about. We took the kids to the River Cat's game last Saturday night. My SoCal roots tried to get us out by the 3rd or 4th inning but we lasted until the bitter end becuase they had fireworks afterwards (I will wait for July 4th to tell you how I feel about fireworks). We sat out on the grass in right field. That is truly a beatuful thing! The kids can run around, you can watch a little baseball and sip on a Coor's Light. What a country! However, the big guy sitting behind me didn't realize this is JUST AAA baseball. It really matters less than almost anything in life if they win or lose because we are just a feeder team for the big league team. Just a stop over for guys moving up the baseball ladder. Over the course of the final two innings he let two very loud calls of "SHIT" after the River Cat's missed opportunities on the field and then a loud "DAMN" after the last out. Several other grunts and other such noises after bad plays by the Cat's. Can you imagine what that guy is doing this week with the Donaghy allegations coming forth?

Let's stop all the Laker hating, let's forget about a basketball game from SIX years ago, and let's move on. It's silly and makes our city look like whiners and bad sports. You don't have to like the Laker's but why hate on them? That was one of the first things I noticed when I moved to NorCal... the huge "rivalry" toward everything SoCal. I am a committed NorCal resident and I love it up here. How about we focus on all the great things we do have and not worry about what LA is doing!?

peace out.

Are you f'ing kidding?

2008-06-12T14:38:00.001-07:00

This is FUNNY! Maybe the local Honda dealer hasn't heard but we are in a bit of recession right now and Honda Accords are not in especially high demand. $2,995 dealer mark up!? That's classic. Anybody with an internet connection knows these babies sell for $23,500 + tax all day long. I want to meet the guy that pays that dealer mark up. If it's YOU please don't tell me about it. That's awful. Makes me sick to think that some sucka pays that. Awful!!!!

peace out.