It's Almost November

Well Sam's Club has out Halloween items, Costco has out Santa and reindeer, but my sights are on November right now, not for my birthday or for Thanksgiving, but the election.  No this is not a political blog, no I will not tell you which way to vote, but as some of you may know I sit on a volunteer committee for Citizen Voice.  One of my projects is to find a representative from each side of the nine propositions on the California ballot and set up debates between the supporters and the opposition.  Each debate is 10 to 15 minutes long and is then placed on the Citizen Voice website for every Californian to watch.  Why do I do it?  Why does Citizen Voice take the time to film debates for each proposition?  Simply because it is important to have informed voters and with a voter guide numbering nearly 130 pages, we all recognize that very few people will actually read it from cover to cover, but perhaps they will watch videos from their computer or smart phone.  This year may not have "Prop 8," but it does have "Prop 19" and a slew of other important propositions that claim to do everything from save state parks (Prop 21) to make it easier to pass a state budget (Prop 25). 

So take the time to vote in November, but before you vote, watch some videos, read the voter information guide, read newspaper editorials or do something else to make an informed decision.

Citizen Voice debate videos are scheduled to be posted in late September.

Woody Woodpecker

Well, we may have cheated a little bit, using two chainsaws, but I thought Woody Woodpecker needed a little shout out.  After half of the tree came crashing down onto the Bradley Lodge in December and we had the other half cut down professionally in July, it was time to cut it up into rounds so that we could use a log splitter in a month or so. The whole project, cutting 30 rounds only took about 2 hours and with a little luck and some skill, no one was gravely injured and no limbs were lost.  Thanks to Eric for all of your help and for trying out your new toy at the Bradley Lodge!

After our fun morning, we decided to take a trip down to Arnold, where my dad got additional information about renting a log splitter (see above for the reason), we went to a Calaveras Humane Society fundraiser and art show and of course stopped at my mom's favorite store ... The Outhouse, despite the name it is a great store and for the first time I played with what is supposedly one of the "World's Greatest Toys," magnets that are super strong.  When we arrived back at the Bradley Lodge, we played Pinochle on the deck, even braving the rain and hail, thanks to the new awning that was installed to not only keep us in the shade, but to provide a roof over our heads when it was raining (since the 2,500 sq ft inside isn't enough I guess).

Fire Near Fort Bradley

Although I was no where near Fort Bradley while a 434 acre grass fire was burning a mile away, I was still part of the action and helped get video to both Fox40 and News10.  My former roommate called me around 4:00 pm asking if I was home, I said "no" and then found out there was a fire burning in empty fields near my house, although not too scared (knowing that it would have to burn through lots of houses and jump a 4-lane road before coming close to mine), I was interested in learning more.  A few minutes later he sent me a text message with a video, I watched it and again thought all would be fine.  About an hour later, Fox40 tweeted asking for videos, I responded that I would send one, News10 quickly asked for the video as well.  Within minutes I e-mailed the video in and my former roommate and I immediately became sources of information as the video was posted on both websites.

The lesson from this ... don't just sit on the sidelines when watching breaking news, help newsrooms by taking pictures and video, then send it in to the newsrooms that are actively seeking information. After all, it is always nice to be thankful and you never know when developing developing a relationship with an assignment editor or producer could pay off, especially if you work in PR.

Squeeze Inn

After attending the Sacramento Tweetup at Chipolte Downtown and seeing a friend from the Sacramento Bee, I noticed that she had purchased the same deal ($10 gift certificate for $4) at The Squeeze Inn, a Sacramento institution.  I've known about The Squeeze Inn for most of my life, seen it featured on Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives, followed news developments after an ADA lawsuit was filed against them and they decided to move from their original location and so on.  All of that said, today was my first experience at the world famous establishment.  The "Squeeze with Cheese" was amazing!  A well cooked hamburger with grated cheese piled high, making a "cheese skirt" around the burger, placed on a bun and served to hungry diners.  The fries were not as good as I was hoping for, but overall I enjoyed the experience, the burger and especially the cheese.

Nephew Sitting

I was never one to babysit neighbors' children, not because I did not want to or turned people down, but because I was already among the youngest on the block, so the opportunity never presented itself. Last night I had the opportunity to hang out with my nephew and for the first time it was without his grandma, grandpa or parents in attendance.  It was only for a few hours, but we had a great time.  We went on a walk around the neighborhood, he especially enjoyed walking through the water in the gutters from a neighbor washing his car and picking up a stick and hitting piles of yard waste.  After our walk we played with his trains, cars and a new set of foam blocks that his grandparents got for him at Costco (well in all honesty, I built large towers of blocks and he crashed anything and everything into them). After a dinner of Mickey Mouse themed mac & cheese, chicken and applesauce he decided it was time to watch most of A Bugs Life and about 10 minutes of Jungle Book before heading back to his roots, demolishing foam block towers and derailing every train car in sight.  All in all, my four hours of "nephew sitting" was a huge success.

Good News

This week was full of good news.  On Monday I had an interview with a public relations company in downtown Sacramento (I do not know if I will make it to round two yet), on Tuesday I had an interview with the public relations/advertising agency that I have been doing freelance work for (see previous posts about Specialized Parts Planet), later that same day they offered me a part time position working in their office for about 25 hours a week.  Although I am still looking for a full time position, this could lead to that and/or help me continue to build a more robust portfolio of work experience that I can take with me to other opportunities as they present themselves. Most importantly it gives me a huge burst of confidence that all of my hard work, persistence, networking (which will continue), education (through "webinars" and events) is paying off in ways that I may have never imagined.

Beyond interviewing, I also went to the Bradley Lodge, where my mom, grandma and I painted the great room (22+ foot vaulted ceiling, 12 windows, 2 doors).  I believe this was my first time painting on an extension ladder, which presented a host of problems, including having to climb up and down to get blue tape, paint and so on), but it turned out beautifully and most importantly I took some pictures from the top of the ladder looking down. After two days of painting on our own, my brother, his family and my dad showed up on Friday evening for a celebratory dinner (after-all we finished painting and I found work).

On Saturday morning my mom, grandma, sister in law and I (I had to drive) headed off to a very large flea market/rummage sale in White Pines (near Arnold) to see what we/they "needed." Although I didn't purchase anything, they came home with some espresso cups, toy cash register (it said "cute" on it), some clothes, games, etc. The crowds and lines to get in reminded me of the news clips they show of people racing into Walmart on Black Friday.

We then quickly loaded up my nephews in the mini-van (aka swagger wagon, although they have an Odyssey) and went to Bear Valley for an orchestra performance geared towards children.  I am pretty sure my oldest nephew thought it was cool for the first song, after that he was over it and needed to run free, so we let him (outside of course). Overall the musicians, including some very young children, were amazing to listen to and I am sure in a few years we will be able to hear the entire performance.

Our successful misadventure to the orchestra could only mean one thing, we needed to go somewhere that my nephews could be boys.  We headed deep into Big Trees State Park (literally the end of the road) and stopped at Beaver Creek.  An odd name we thought, but it was amazing.  Park goers had made rock pile dams that created pools of slow moving water for kids to play in, while also creating rushing rapids that others (older kids and adults) could float down. It was gorgeous and both the nearly three year old and the four month old had a great time with their twin 18 month old friends who knew the watering-hole well.

A final bit of good news, after more than a year one of my roommates got an offer too good to refuse and moved out of Fort Bradley, although that part is sad, I found a new roommate within about two days and he is moving in Monday!

From Facebook to 1965

It was a week of paradoxes and lots of fun. First I attended the "Facebook for the Floundering" event on Wednesday (see previous post). On Friday night (or Saturday morning, depending on how you look at it), I watched the 1988 movie Beetlejuice presented by Mystic Cinema, a group that is showing classic movies at Roseville's historic Tower Theater.  Then on Saturday night I attended "Poor Boys Midnight Mass" at the Placer County Fairgrounds.  It was definitely a crowd that I am not used to hanging out with, but it was really cool to see tons of old cars from 1965 or before.  Some of the cars included the first dragster to go over 200 mph in Sacramento (the "Vagabond"), a few that reminded me of characters from Cars, the "FLUMNGO" (complete with pink plastic flamingos), a Studebaker, lots with painted flames and a few even got their kids into the action with low-rider wagons. So in four days I went from 2010 to 1988 to 1965 (and earlier).