The New Bee

That's our local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee. Yesterday marked the first day of circulation for the transformed paper, which for the most part appeared to be a newspaper on a diet. Oh to be fair, the Tuesday and Wednesday papers are not normally the thickest of the week to begin with... let's see what's in store when Sunday rolls around. The typeface seemed to be smaller overall and harder-edged than previously used. The obits however, are in larger print as so are the puzzles (Jumble, Sudoku, Cryptoquote and the NY Times Crosswords). I look forward to these puzzles, so that would be a bonus for me (I wear reading glasses now).

The comics appear in full color every day instead of being limited to just Sundays, which leads me to ask, "have they always been created in color and we've been shortchanged all this time with B&W?".

Additional color is also introduced sparingly elsewhere, such as in the photographs of our illustrious columnists who slave away on their word processors to bring us the daily news, drivel, or what have you.

It comes down to this: content aside, IMHO the Bee comes pretty close to looking like USA Today (and perhaps even closer if I actually read the latter). Now if only the newspaper carrier would leave my paper on the doorstep near the door's latch instead of the door's hinges...

The State of CA?

The answer: in dire straits. Governor Schwarzenegger plans on signing an executive order which will reduce the state's employee salaries to the federal minimum wage, well below California's own minimum wage limit. Will this be carried out to fruition? I don't know. You conceivably are taking about 200,000 wage earners' spending dollars out of the economy, an economy that is already in turmoil. Add to that the high fuel prices, and you have people not driving anywhere to spend money they don't have anyway. Of those employees, add the number of their kids receiving allowances, or those having to cut back spending on the spouses' incomes. Merchants will see less business, who in turn as consumers must also curtail their spending. A domino effect, but not dominoes.

For Arnold the Chess Player, it is a chess game and the state workers are the pawns.

Cheerleading...

... is not a sport. My weekend was spent playing in a grass doubles volleyball tournament, and there were many ladies competing who could have easily made the sis-boom-bah squad. Whoa, the best of both worlds!

Yup. Two straight days and my body is aching. What a drag it is getting old.

I Can't Drive...

...55!

I read a couple of our local newspaper's reader responses to the outrageous prices at the gas pump, who suggest that our government reinstate a 55mph speed limit on our highways to increase fuel efficiency. Do we really want more government control over our lives? I am all for these people choosing to drive 55mph; they have the freedom to do so and are not forced to drive any faster.

Or, they can sell their gas guzzlers and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. Bicycle. Walk. Carpool. Take public transportation. Drive smarter and drive less. We are all in this together, feeling the pinch in the pocketbook, but given the choice of being a slave to gas prices or slave to The Man, I am thankful for my freedom to choose.

Energy Czar

I read the news today oh boy! Guv Arnold Schwarzenneger will consider a future position (if offered) under Obama if he becomes President of the USA? As some sort of energy commissioner because he is deeply concerned about our environment and wants people to get serious about conservation?

Yup. This from a man who has a fleet of gas guzzling Humvees, and spends a good amount of time flying between his home in SoCal and his office in Sacramento, the state's capital. SoCal, where desert communities are sustained by the water that is diverted from the north and east.

Oh boy!

Parking Ticket

I fought the law and I won!

That's actually the title of a song by an old punk rock group, the Dead Kennedys. I just received a letter in the mail informing me that a parking ticket I had incurred about two months ago had been dismissed. It wasn't my first challenge to a traffic citation.

Years ago I had a court date challenging a CHP officer's claim that I was driving my car while wearing headphones (in CA, headphones can only cover one ear, not both). It was 11:00p at night, the convertible top of my Alfa Romeo was up, meaning the 8-yr old plastic rear windshield was not the clearest thing to look through, and black 'phones on black hair did not provide much detail. The case was dismissed, the clincher being my cross-examination of the officer asking whether he was able to see both my ears. As it was, in a brightly lit courtroom, noone was able to see either ear since they were draped by my long hair. He admitted the conditions did not allow him to accurately discern any detail to conclude that either ear was covered.

Two years later, a Sacramento Police officer cited me likewise, but the case was dismissed when the officer failed to appear, notifying in advance that he was unable to recall much of the details of the incident.

And now this $35 parking citation. This is a motorcycle parking area delineated by corner brackets painted in the asphalt and fits around 4 to 6 bikes. There is a 2-1/2 section of curb on one end that had once been painted red and quite faded by age; it was within the corner bracket marked in the road. Ambiguous to say the least.

Well, I'm glad the verdict came in and I can now rest easy. It wasn't the $35, but just a matter of principle.

Respite from the Heat

We have had mild temps the past few days, staying well below triple digits. The coming work week we'll be in the 90s (today is forecast at 90), and the skies have been much clearer as the delta breezes are here to blow much of the smoke out of the valley.

Fires still continue to burn throughout Northern CA, but many of them are contained to some extent. Thankfully I haven't heard that any new dry lightning strikes have ignited additional fires.

Summer ain't over yet, but I'll keep my fingers x'd that things will smooth out for the latter half of 2008.

Midwest Hot?

Natalie Bomke is a morning news anchor at our local Fox40 News station (KXTL), joining the team in January 2007 after leaving her rural home state of Illinois.

I came across a website where the commentors were praising, and bashing, local area news personalities. Mostly bashing, and everyone seemed to be fair game. The barbs directed toward Natalie were on the order of "phony, phony, phony", dumb and bland, with shriekish voice.

That's not quite the impression I got from what I've seen so far; perhaps I'm missing the big picture having to be at work sans TV in the morning and relying on Channel 40 evening trailers. Snippets. Previews. Or whatever you wish to call them.

More likely is that I'm just a red-blooded American male (note that I left out "normal") who is smitten by what I consider portrayed as cuteness... pleasingly hot so. Maybe I was blinded by the smite. And if she ever decides to get herself a motorcycle and license, consider me a hopeless, hapless gaga case.

Hormone bias? I'll let you be the judge by clicking here.

Toys

We bigger boys have bigger toys, as the saying goes.

A few of us stopped by Pasquales Italian Restaurant after a 3-game match of volleyball (indoors, coed 4-person league). I ran into some old faces there, previous owners of the motorcycle store that was two buildings over who were enjoying their dinner. Enjoying, I'm sure, since the food is tops as long as you aren't in any hurry.

Anyway, they are a retired couple who turned over the business to a former employee. After roughly two years, he and his partners (parents) shut down the business. What I didn't know was that they just skipped out on it, right out from under the retired couple to whom they still owed money (or whatever arrangement they had made). Wow, big surprise.

Joe and Debbie were in town to help move their daughter (she was dining there too, by the way) out east with them to North Carolina, where they had decided to retire several years ago. But I digress... I'm talking toys here remember?

Before leaving for home, my teammate Mike and I briefly got on the subject about my bikes (and his guilty pleasure, guitars), and the expenses incurred to date this year. Maintenance isn't necessarily cheap, especially if you don't do your own wrenching. But, we all have our priorities and I just love motorcycles. Sure, I have my pickup truck, so most people will quickly point out that the 2-wheelers are toys.

Toys?

Hmm, I was averaging over 8,500 miles per year on my 9 yr old Cruiser (before the mishap when I met with a small boulder). At the current rate, my Rockster (the green-striped Beemer) is averaging over 3,000 miles per year. And my truck? Just over 2,500 miles per year last time I checked. So what's the toy here?

Heh, priorities.

The Oven

That's what I feel like we're in right now. The valley is filled with smoke from the remaining fires (several hundred, from the 1000+ burning a couple of weeks ago... the smoke due to a wind shift). Temps hit a 103 degree high depending on whom you ask, and at 10:00pm PDT it's still around 90 degrees out there!

The a/c is running while I'm kicked back on my couch typing this. Headlining the news is a hazardous air quality warning in effect through at least Thursday. Record to near record temps. Ugh.