Since September is the back-to-school month, we’ve been hearing a lot about Sacramento Schools.  Let’s pretend you made it past elementary, middle school, and high school.  If you’re off to college, that’s great!  But if you’re still wondering “what now?”, there are options besides college that don’t involve the phrase “would you like fries with that today”? 

There are several vocational technical schools in the Sacramento area.  Wyotech is one of these technical schools that specializes in automotive and also offers an associates degree; kind of the best of both worlds.  I tried to find other schools that offer this option, but Wyotech was the only automotive specialty school I found in this area that offers the option of an associate’s degree as well as technical training.  For people who want specialized automotive training they offer not only mechanical training, but also collision repair, upholstery, and also a certification program to do those smog checks that State of California requires before you can register your older car.

Even the associates degree they offer is somewhat bent toward automotive because they call it their ASM program, which means Applied Service Management.  It gives the students background in business applications such as accounting, communications, human resources, and hands-on computer training.  They learn real world skills such as how to write a resume and practical training for job interviewing, as well as some accounting background that certainly won’t make anybody a CPA but would help in managing the profitability of a business.  If you are looking for an easy way to avoid getting a job, I don’t think this would be the answer; I didn’t find any basket weaving or pottery classes.  But if you are looking for a way to get both technical training and associate’s degree you should check out the ASM program at Wyotech. 

Click on this link for general information about WyoTech.

WyoTech in West Sacramento

About a month ago in a post called “Street Name Game in Sacramento” I talked about how some streets have one name and then all of a sudden the name changes to become a completely different street.  This can be a little confusing until you finally stop questioning it and just accept it as a fact of Sacramento life.  But today I discovered a street that topped all the other crazy street names I have previously encountered in Sacramento, or any other city for that matter.

Just off of Riverside Drive close to William Land Park, where you will find not only a park, but a golf course and the Sacramento Zoo, there’s a street called Teneighth Way.  Using a grid for naming streets works great most of the time, until it doesn’t.  Teneighth Way is certainly one of those times when someone started on each edge and just didn’t quite meet in the middle.  There’s a couple of places where 6th Avenue meets 7th avenue, and 7th Avenue meets 8th Avenue, (and I think all these streets are supposed to be parallel instead of meeting each other), but then the engineers just gave up the fight.  There are a few blocks where 8th Avenue curves around and directly meets 10th Avenue.  So what do you call those few blocks where the two streets intertwine, Teneighth Way of course.  Oh yes, what happened to 9th Avenue in all these wandering streets.  Don’t worry it’s there too, just past Teneighth Way between 8th and 10th Avenues where it belongs. 

I’m sure you’re probably confused by now about these crazy street names, because I know I was, and I was there.  I think it is just one of those quirky things that makes you love the place you live, even though it’s not perfect it’s yours.  Kind of like your crazy Aunt Mildred who bakes all that zucchini bread that’s hard as a rock and gives it to everyone at Christmas.  We haven’t eaten it yet, but we tell her every year how good it is, just because we love her even though she is a little quirky.

Click on this link for a map of Teneighth Way so you will be able to find one of Sacramento’s little quirks that makes it special.  teneighth-way-map

” The worst day of fishing is better than the best day of working“; that’s what any “real fisherman” will tell you.  If you can combine them both like one of our local Sacramento celebrities, Michael Bennett from Roseville, that means not only can you go fishing, you can get rich doing it.

Michael Bennett Million Dollar Winner

In August Bennet won the top prize of one million dollars at the Forrest Wood Cup, a national tournament at Lake Murray in South Carolina, by bringing in nearly 25 pounds of largemouth bass.  He has earned $1.4 million in fishing events this year.  This has made him a real celebrity.  If you don’t believe me just Google him.  He really is the Tiger Woods of fishing, and from right here in Sacramento.  The most amazing part of this Cinderella story is that he is only 24 years old.  He said in an interview that he was hooked (no pun intended) by the time he was five years old.  By the time he was a high school senior he was fishing in 15 to 17 toutnaments a year.

Michael Bennett Fishing

It may surprise you to learn that nearly 40 million Americans fish.  A fact, according to the American Sportfishing Association, that makes fishing more popular than golf and tennis combined.  Who knew? 

Why in the world didn’t I pay more attention when my grandfather took me fishing with him all those years ago?  I didn’t want to touch the icky worms, or get mud on my shoes, or sit still in the boat.  If he had only told me I could make a million bucks, I’m sure I would have learned to like icky worms.  People on those reality shows eat icky worms for less than a million bucks, and all I had to do was touch them.  I like sushi, that should count for something.  My friends in Houston refuse to eat it because they say that in Texas that’s called bait.  Maybe it’s not too late, I think I’ll go out and look for some icky worms.

Gone Fishing

I really wish the title of this post was just a flight of fantasy, but unfortunately it’s harsh reality.  No other state in the U. S. gives this perk to their legislators.  If you get elected to the legislature in California you get a state-issued vehicle (another perk not available in most other states), and a charge card for unlimited use that sticks taxpayers with the bill.  Oh sure, it’s supposed to be “for legislative purposes”, but it doesn’t include a way to check to see if the use is for public business or private travel.  The charge card can also be used for purchases such as snacks and drinks.  So all a California legislator needs to do is pull up to the pump in their free car and swipe the card for a free fill-up, some corn nuts, and a large slurpee for the road, then the bill goes straighht to the taxpayer.  I’m sure there are other perks to make up for it, but Governor Schwartzenegger doesn’t have one of these cards because the Highway Patrol provides transportation for the Governor’s Office.

Free Gas

This whole thing got stated about 50 years ago when gas and cars were cheap and state legislators didn’t get paid much for being elected officials.  But now a California lawmaker has a salary of $116,208 a year plus $170 for daily expenses, and the Assembly Speaker and President Pro Tem get even more at $133,639.  I understand that things cost more than they did 50 years ago and legislators need to make more money.  My problem with this whole gas card thing is just that they don’t have to justify where and why they were required to travel and it’s just treated like free money.  The other day when I told you about “Cheap Gas in Sacramento“, I said you could check the Sites To See in the right hand column of this website for a place to look for cheap gas but your state legislator doesn’t even need to worry about that, just “gas and go”!  When I pull up to the pump and swipe my card I get a bill at the end of the month, so I don’t have to fill out an expense report or justify the dollars to anyone and that’s all I expect from our elected officials, pay it yourself or justify the expense.

Free Gas for Legislators

 Here is a link to a website that lets you just enter your zip code to find out who is your legislator and how to contact them.  I say let them know how you feel about all this free gas and free car stuff!  Get fired up and call somebody!

• Know Your Legislators

I am also adding this link to Sites To See in the right hand column under Community Services as a permenant part of this website so you can come here any time to find information about your legislator.

Yesterday I shared that “Money Money Money” video by ABBA with you and it brought back all those other ABBA memories.  So after watching the “Dancing Queen” video several times it made me remember that trip to New York when we saw “Mamma Mia” (the real thing, not the movie).  That was a really fun trip, just the girls obviously.  How many guys do you know that would spend four whole days shopping, eating chocolate, and attending Broadway Plays like “Mamma Mia“?  Then one thing led to another and before I knew it I was watching Dancing with the Stars.

I haven’t really been that involved with past seasons of Dancing With The Stars, but everybody keeps talking about it so I must have been missing something.  After watching, I can see how people get involved because you start rooting for them and you don’t want your guys to lose.  It’s sort of like cheering for your favorite basketball team or soccer team; you know, lots of fancy footwork except with flashy costumes and high heels.

This sudden interest in dancing made me realize that not everyone can have their own special trainer and millions of people cheering them on to victory.  So what do normal people who live in Sacramento, not Los Angeles, do if they want to learn to dance?  They trick their husband into taking ballroom dancing lessons by telling him, “Honey if we do this we could win the grand prize, a new set of golf clubs.”  Oh sure he will be a little disappointed when he finds out you didn’t win and all he gets is an 8×10 glossy of Tiger Woods that you printed from the internet.  But by then you will be skilled, and the two of you will be dancing as one, like a well oiled machine.  Then watch out Dancing With The Stars, Sacramento can be the new Hollywood.  We can have The Governator and his partner Maria in our first star studded episode of Dancing With The Stars Sacramento.

Arnold and Maria on the Red Carpet

Here are a couple of links for you to check out dancing in Sacramento.

• Ballroom dance lessons search on Google
• Ballroom dance lessons search on City Search by Yahoo Local

If you need more inspiration than that just watch this “Dancing Queen” video by ABBA a couple of times and you will be clicking your heels before you know it.

Since I posted the article earlier “A penny for your thoughts“, Yahoo News has featured an article about the new pennies as well.  Just click on this Yahoo News link to see their take on the whole new penny design.

These undated images provided by the Treasury Department show the reverse sides for the 2009 Bicentennial Lincoln penny. In 2009, the U.S. Mint will put into circulation a series of four different one-cent coins in recognition of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln cent. The obverse, heads side, will remain the same.(AP Photo/Treasury Department)

I read an atricle in the Sacramento Bee today about the new look the penny will be getting next year for the first time in 50 years.  That is what I like about the Bee, real cutting edge information.  With all the financial firsts like the Wall Street bailout proposals, major bankruptcy filings, and government takeovers of large financial based corporations, the lowly penny is still newsworthy.  At least I have to say it was a very positive spin on the new designs the U. S. Mint unveiled of the government’s commemoration for next year’s 200th anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth.

Lincoln Penny

There are a couple of things the Sacramento Bee forgot to mention that I really should bring to your attention.  First of all they didn’t say that by last year’s measurement it costs the government l.67 cents to produce a penny.  That means that even the government can’t buy a penny for a penny.  This lack of value leads some people to the conclusion that the penny should go away.  While I’m not a fan of having a pocket full of pennies, and there really isn’t anything you can buy for a penny (even penny candy costs a nickel), I’m worried that if the penny goes away what’s going to protect the nickel?  And besides that it currently costs the government 9.5 cents to produce a nickel, which is even worse than the penny.

You can see what I mean though, where does the madness stop?  Before you know it there wouldn’t be any coins, and that would lead to a whole new set of problems.  Can you say “inflation”?  What would we put in parking meters?  What would we do to see who kicks off at the football game if there were no coins to flip?  I was about to say what about all those machines in Las Vegas, but you don’t even need coins for that any more, just tokens or dollars.  Look out pennies, you’re doomed!

At another level of concern about our penny and its survival, what would we do for a picture of one of our greatest presidents, at least unless we happen to have five dollars?  What about penny stocks?  And that wise and wonderful saying that Ben Franklin coined, “A penny saved is a penny earned“, how would we explain that bit of history to our children if there were no pennies.  But then again we stopped making the half-cent coin in the U. S. in 1857 and our society weathered that storm.  So if the penny does get replaced by the nickel someday, I know we will be strong and survive that as well.  I just hope some collector of extinct coins wants that jar of pennies I have on the dresser for about a dollar apiece.  Either that or the odds on those lottery tickets need to improve, since all the crazy things happening in the stock market have left my 401K feeling a lot like a half-cent coin.  Long live the penny!

Here are some money thoughts for your listening pleasure by ABBA.  Just click on this link from YouTube.

Last Friday I was surprised to find so many people at the mall in the middle of the afternoon.  Since my calendar was free for this afternoon I decided to use the time for a little research.  (Research sounds a lot more official than goofing off.)  Since there were so many people at the mall on a weekday afternoon, I wanted to see if the same was true for other things that don’t seem to be work related.  That seems like enough justification for spending an afternoon at the movies, not to mention the fact that I just felt like going to the movies.

It seems that going to the movies does not rate on the same level as hanging at the mall.  It was quite a nice surprise to find that I was one of less than ten people in the theatre.  I didn’t have to worry about those late people (you know who you are) stepping on my feet or spilling their drink on me as they searched for those last two seats which are always in the middle of the row.  Truly I was doing my part to stimulate the economy by pumping a little money into the capitalistic pipeline.  I went to the Regal Natomas Marketplace 16 theatre for the matinee at 3:00PM.  The theatre looked nice and clean and there were even paper towels in the restroom.  Although I’m not sure what that slight odor was in the hallway, maybe someone burned the popcorn.  Speaking of popcorn, I wanted the full experience so I got a medium drink and medium popcorn which cost a total of $11.75.  Hard to believe that stuff cost more than the ticket which was only $6.50 since it was before 5:00PM, I think it is $8.00 in the evening.  I usually don’t indulge like that for the whole experience, well maybe not the whole experience since I skipped the Milk Duds, but remember this sacrifice was in the name of research.

Movie Review

My research was going well until the movie actually started.  I guess I did learn a couple of things even though I was a little disappointed I had to spend money to learn them.  First thing is you can never trust Ebert and Roeper or any of those other official movie reviewers.  I think they probably spend too much time in the dark and need a little sunshine and fresh air to help the blood get flowing to the brain.  If you can’t tell, I read the reviews before I chose to see “Burn After Reading“.  And the second thing I learned is just because George Clooney and Brad Pitt are easy to look at doesn’t mean things always work out when they are on screen together.  All those Ocean’s things eleven through twenty seemed to work, even if the plot was a little thin, but this “Burn After Reading” one really should have been burned before it made it to the theatre.  There were a few funny moments if you don’t miss them when you doze off.  Actually I was having flashbacks to “Weekend With Bernie” (another not so favorite movie froma a few years back) so I might have missed a couple.

Brad Pitt

George Clooney

 Never the less I would say that my research was quite successful.  If you find a movie that really does live up to that official four star rating it would be well worth your while to work overtime on the weekend and take time off to spend your Monday afternoon at the movies.  It’s not crowded so you can have your pick of seats and you can save a couple of bucks with the afternoon price, and if the movie isn’t very exciting it’s nice and dark so you can take a nap.  Don’t tell anyone what a deal it is though or the crowds will be at the movies instead of the mall in the afternoon.  Any suggestions for my next research project let me know.  I think I’m on to something, now if I could just get someone to pay me for all this valuable research.  Who do those Ebert and Roeper guys work for anyway?

I bought gas today at the Safeway Store on Del Paso Road and thought I got a pretty good deal when I paid $3.53 per gallon.  Just seeing the prices dip a little made me long for the days when the price for a gallon of gas was under $3.00 (last year).  This longing prompted me to search the internet to see if I really got a good deal.  What I found at sactogasprices.com gave me hope.  Even though it would probably have cost me more to find it than I saved, it made me feel better just knowing that somewhere in Sacramento someone was buying gas for $3.29 a gallon.  This was also the cheapest in the state of California.  Yea for Sacramento!!

Searching for Cheap Gas

 The next step in my quest for cheap gas took me to gasbuddy.com where I searched the map for gas prices in Houston, TX.  The reason for my interest in gas prices outside Sacramento was not prompted by my longing to take a road trip to Texas, but I have friends there who always remind me how much cheaper it is to live in Texas.  Much to my surprise, gas in the area of Houston I checked was $3.69 a gallon, which makes it officially more expensive to drive in Houston than in Sacramento.  Of course some would say it took a major hurricane to accomplish that, but we have to take our victories where we find them.  I would say it’s no small victory since we aren’t expecting a hurricane any time soon here in Sacramento.  So unless those Texans are riding their horses, transportation is cheaper this week in Sacramento.  Although I’m not even sure of that, since I haven’t checked the price of hay this week.

Gas Prices Impact Our Lives

Since gas prices affect our daily lives I wanted to be pro-active, you know part of the solution, not part of the problem.  So if you check out Sites To See in the right hand column of this website under the category Services and Things to Buy, you will find a link to look for cheap gas prices in Sacramento.  Just check it before you head out and you’ll know which direction to go to find cheap gas in Sacramento. Hope that helps you save some money at the pump.  I have to go now so I can call my friends in Houston before the price of gas goes back up.

Some people feel their cell phone is their life line and the only thing that connects them to reality.  Those same people would describe what happened to me today as a true “out of body” experience.  My cell phone died!  It was almost as bad as “the day the music died”, Miss American Pie.  I went to the repair place, not the store where I bought it, the place where they really fix cell phones.  This was serious business.  I thought it would be just a little cosmetic out-patient surgery, but I really under estimated this time.  The do-not-resuscitate order was signed, and life support was turned off.  Its little keypad went dark and its sweet melodic ring tone was silent.  Hard to believe, but before my little green friend was even cold a shiny new model was alive and filled with all my personal information, phone numbers I haven’t been able to remember since I put them so carefully into my contacts.  I said my farewells and thought I would be on my way with my new friend and connection to the real world.  But Life is never that simple, my new life line knew all my personal info, but it seems the little fellow wasn’t quite ready to leave the Mother Ship.  Something about not being able to activate service because the server was down and nobody was sure when it would be up.

You and your cell phone are one!

I had already spent almost an hour, and my choice was to wait some more or leave without my active lifeline to reality, so I decided to wait a while longer.  Since I wasn’t close to home, but I was close to Arden Fair Mall I decided to go there and amuse myself while the resurrection continued.

It’s a good thing I had this opportunity because I found out exactly what’s wrong with our economy.  No one has a job; it’s not even the weekend and everybody was hanging out at the mall in the middle of the afternoon.  I usually don’t get to observe this phenomenon but I swear it’s true; Friday afternoon and nobody was at work.  Even if all these people do have jobs, no wonder nobody can afford houses and cars, they are spending all their money on fluff and stuff at the mall.

Cell Phone Ankle Bracelet

Not wanting to stand out in the crowd, I got in line and paid my bucks for the grande size frozen coffee drink, sugar free of course, and with whipped cream to offset the calories saved.  Sipping with my green straw I blended easily with the shoppers and I’m pretty sure they weren’t able to tell I was the only one there without a cell phone.  I really can’t explain the crowds, unless maybe they moved Christmas to September and nobody told me.

If you’re a people watcher, the mall is the perfect place to spot all sorts of human species.  I saw a girl with a shirt that had a picture of an Uze and the words “shoot your local drug dealer“, not a bad thought, but I’ll bet there is some obscure law against it.  Then there was the couple with matching blue hair, and the people getting a free make over at the “Dior” cosmetic counter that made me wonder just how bad they looked before the purple eye shadow and orange lipstick.

After about an hour of this aimless wandering and observing what the real world is doing in the middle of the afternoon, I was ready to give up and return to the waiting room and check to see if my new friend (phone) was activated and ready to leave with me.  But, like I said, life is never that easy, and neither is getting your cell phone fixed.  It wasn’t ready to leave yet so I continued to wait until it was time for the people to leave.  I was told that even though its ability to connect me to the real world hadn’t happened yet, it would magically happen at midnight.  So I left the repair shop with my shiny new phone and brought it home to wait for the great pumpkin to come at midnight and turn it into a prince  or maybe the little green thing is just another frog.  I have my doubts about this magic awakening, but if it doesn’t happen I may just have to sign up for that network that has all those people follow you around all the time.  The only problem with that is I sometimes like a little privacy.

Actually I’ve been thinking maybe this afternoon wasn’t so bad.  I didn’t have to check in with anyone (I didn’t have a cell phone you know), and nobody called to see when I would be back, (I didn’t have a cell phone).  Maybe I’ll just unplug the little shiny green monster and just forget about the magical awakening at midnight.  It doesn’t really matter, it’s the weekend now and those people at cell phone repair won’t be there until Monday.  I think maybe the whole midnight thing was just to get me to leave so they could make their get-away.  Who knows, I made it at the mall without a cell phone, maybe I will even try going to the grocery store without the little technology monster.

Cell Phone Technology Monster