Everybody is talking about the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” and the people in it, mostly Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.  I went to see the movie before the Oscars so the fact that it won eight of the gold naked guy statues didn’t influence me.  In fact I agree with the decision of the people in the academy that voted to give Slumdog the best picture award.  I think it is amazing when a movie catches and holds my attention for two hours and doesn’t even use big names to do it.  There was no Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie to draw us to the movie theatre, just people that we had never heard of before that did a great job of portraying life in the slums of Mumbai (especially the children).  They tugged at our heart strings because of their life situation, but also made us laugh by how resourceful they were in making the most of things and playing the cards life dealt them.  Our friend that went with us to the movie has been to Mumbai several times and said it was a very real portrayal of the slums that surround the city.  The reason for this is because it was shot there in the slums and some of the children actually lived there until they were chosen to be in the movie.  Danny Boyle, the director, said that when they shot the picture they tried to hide the cameras because they would be mobbed by all the people in the streets if they had known a movie was being filmed.  That makes it even more amazing that they didn’t spend millions of dollars to re-create the slums in some movie set.  Slumdog Millionaire is more than just a movie about the slums of Mumbai, it is about life and love and family.  I really liked “Slumdog Millionaire and give it a two thumbs up.  But you shouldn’t take my word for it; you should see it and judge for yourself if Slumdog is really Oscar worthy. Or if you just want another opinion to see what somebody else thinks Google it for about 10 million reviews. 

Besides best picture, another one of the eight awards Slumdog won was best original song for “Jai Ho”.  In an interview on the Oprah show A. R. Rahman, the guy who won the little golden statue for the song, said that “Jai Ho” translates in English as “May Victory Be Yours”.  The song is upbeat and at the end of the movie while the credits run there is a typical Bollywood dance scene with lots of people singing ”Jai Ho”.  The movie was in English so you don’t have to worry about subtitles, but the song “Jai Ho” is sung in Hindi and interspersed with Spanish lyrics so if you can’t just sit back and enjoy the rhythm it may need a little translation.  If you are interested in the words in English for ”Jai Ho”  click on this link. 

Courtesy of YouTube listen to “Jai Ho” and enjoy:

The Sacramento Bee told us today that the council will vote on Tuesday to raise parking tickets by eight dollars.  This doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to me because the state gets a portion of those fees and the increase would only cover the amount that the state takes from the parking ticket revenue.  In 1993 the state started taking five dollars from each ticket for courthouse construction, and last year raised that fee to eight dollars.  The city has been absorbing this and the increase would cover this amount taken by the state.  At least we have a warning that this increase might be coming and we can be more careful how we park so we don’t get a parking ticket and have to participate in the increased fees.  I know this is a simplified view of the situation because nobody wakes up in the morning and says “I think I’ll go downtown today and get a parking ticket.  I know the city needs the money.”  Just pay attention to your parking “P’s and Q’s” so you can save that eight bucks.

There is one other parking situation that got my attention last week when I was down on H Street close to the courthouse.  I parked at one of those places on the street that used to have a meter, but now you put your money in a pay station and it gives you a sticker to put on your window that has the expiration time.  This all sounds wonderfully high tech, but as I put that sticker on my window I realized that this was the end of an era, sort of like the time I found out the tooth fairy was really Santa Clause (i.e. mom and dad).  When there is no “real” parking meter you don’t even have the chance that someone before you put too much money in giving you that “I won the lottery feeling” when you are the lucky one that finds a meter that doesn’t say “expired”.  So we won’t get that expensive parking ticket if we take too long, almost everyone puts in a couple extra coins.  Now the city is the only one who gets the benefit of those extra coins, no lucky person who comes after you or me.  I say to our city council go ahead and increase the price of those parking tickets, just give us back our little “thrill of victory” when we find a meter with a few minutes for free.

End of a Parking Meter Era

Tonight, February 26, 2009, from 7:00PM to 8:00PM at Samuel Pannell Meadowview community Center, 2450 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA, Mayor Kevin Johnson will Join Sacramento Councilmember Bonnie Pannell for a community Town Hall meeting.  This meeting is for District 8 residents to come and share their concerns with their council and the mayor.  This is the second in a series of town hall meetings that will be held in each council district throughout the year.

This is the third annual America Saves Week.  It isn’t really an event, but  just a reminder for people how important it is to save.  And also to plant the idea that saving even small amounts that can really add up faster than you think.  You know, the latte factor; that is when you give up buying a four dollar latte every day and save $1500 a year and with compound interest you can retire a millionaire.  That may be a little exaggeration, but $1500 a year is nothing to sneeze at.  Even if you can’t give up that latte every day, maybe you can talk yourself into every other day or try those new lattes they have at McDonalds at about half the price.  Don’t think I’m just picking on coffe drinkers because I’m one of the you.  You can use the same savings tricks with other pieces of your spending pattern.  How about those lottery tickets, maybe just put the money in the bank and have a nice chuck of change by year end.  Check out the americasavesweek.org website for more ideas to get your savings on track.  Nothing feels better than that safety net of money in the bank.

America Saves Week 2009

Today on the Oprah Show Lisa Ling talks about her visit to a tent city of homeless people here in Sacramento.  She said that even though there are homeless issues in cities everywhere because Sacramento is her home town this really hit home for her.  I don’t  like the idea that this is what Sacramento is going to be highlighted for on national TV, but maybe this is the wakeup call we need to make us aware of all the people right here in Sacramento that need help.  When we drive through neighborhoods and see all the foreclosed homes that should also remind us that those empty homes were once filled with families and people who are now forced to find other places to live.  Click on this link to Oprah.com to read the story. 

Courtesy of You Tube and the Oprah Show here is a preview of the Lisa Ling story:

If you’re in Sacramento today then there’s a good chance that you missed Mardi Gras in New Orleans too.  Since I can’t lay claim to being a great chef and invite you all over for some ”Cajun Cookin”, I decided to see if I could find some places to go for a little spicy food of the Cajun or Creole persuasion.  Here are a few of the places I found right here in river town. Notice almost all of them have Creole, Cajun or New Orleans in their name, that was how they got on the list.  Now that I’ve found some, all of you ”real” Cajun food critics let me know if any of them need to be kicked off the list and replaced with one that you can vouch for.

• Crawdad’s River Cantina - 1375 Garden Highway, Sacramento, CA
• Hot & Spicy Cafe New Orleans - 117 J Street, Sacramento, CA (Old Sac)
• Cajun Cafe - 1151 Galleria Blvd, Roseville, CA
• Cajun Quarters - 813 Sutter Street, Folsom, CA
• Mimi’s Cafe - (More than one location) click on the link to find (This one only made the list because I saw gumbo on the menu when I went there for breakfast.)
• Creole Cafe Catering - 3017 Howe Ave, Sacramento, CA
• Alaina’s Berries and Creole Cafe - 1537 Howe Ave, Sacramento, CA (Century Plaza Shopping Center)
• LJ’s Creole Buffalo Wings - 7454 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA

It’s national pancake day at IHOP.  Today until 10:00PM get a short stack of pancakes for free.  They are asking that you consider giving a donation to Children’s Miracle Network for support of children’s hospitals, so if you want to eat some free pancakes as well as have a chance to help a good cause check out this link to find you local IHOP.

National Pancake Day at IHOP

The Amgen Tour of California started with the Prologue eight days ago here in Sacramento and finished today in San Diego County with Levi Leipheimer the overall winner.  There were over 130 riders to begin the week and only about half that number was there in the end.  There was a lot of drama connected with this bike race that ran from here in the Capitol City, down the coast, and through the mountains all the way to San Diego County.  Lance Armstrong’s bike was stolen, then found and returned to him.  He rode the stolen bike again during the race, but it didn’t bring him a win.  Although Armstrong didn’t finish first his team, Astana, supported his teammate Levi Leipheimer to his third consecutive win of the Tour of California.

There were more than two million spectators that came out to cheer on the riders all along the route over the nine days of the race.  That sets a record for the most spectators at any sporting event in California history; of course it does have an extended time line and spans the entire length of the state.  Some of the spectators dressed in crazy costumes and ran along with the bike racers as far as they could.  There were lots of unique costumes and guys without shirts as well as other articles of clothing missing, but my favorite spectator was the guy with antlers on his helmet wearing a University of Montana jersey. 

Spectator Amgen Tour of California 2009

President Obama signed the stimulus bill on February 17, 2009, but what does that mean to us as individuals.  I wouldn’t even pretend to be able to answer that question, but CNN money had an article with what they chose as the top ten questions with short easy to understand answers.  If you really want to get in depth it tells where you can go to read the bill.  Kind of interesting; here’s a link so you can see for yourself.  CNN Money answers to stimulus questions.

What does the economic stimulus mean to you?

The April 15th deadline isn’t even close, but everyone should have received their W-2’s and finished all their year-end business by now.  So it’s not too early to get out the old shoe box full of receipts and start sorting.  If you’re a do-it-yourselfer there are several software programs that promise they are so easy your fifth grader could do your taxes.  That might not really surprise you if you ever watched that show “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?”  Now all I need is a 5th grader; anybody have a kid that needs to earn a little extra cash?

All kidding aside, those tax software programs really do help because they kind of lead you through the process.  They ask you questions so you won’t miss deductions, but the best part is they do the math then print you a nice copy as well as help you file the return electronically.  I have personally used Turbo Tax and found it really easy, but this by no means an endorsement for them because I think probably most of the tax software programs are probably a lot alike.  If you don’t want the satisfaction of slaying the tax dragon by yourself, and just want a little help from your friends, it won’t take you long to find a friendly tax preparer.  You can get one of those guys that work “magic” and get 9 out of 10 of their customers a refund.  It may sound like I am taking this lightly, but filing your taxes is a serious matter and if you are going to trust someone else to prepare your tax return it would be a good idea to check to make sure the preparer is licensed  by the California Tax Education Council CTEC.org or is a Certified Public Accountant.  Just remember that even if you have someone else prepare your taxes you are still responsible and must sign the return acknowledging that the information is true and correct.  In other words you are untimately responsible for your tax return and payment of taxes.

Believe it or not the best deal I found was with the IRS.  Sounds like one of those oxymorons doesn’t it; I’m with the IRS and I’m here to help.  How many people believe that one?  But just follow this link to IRS.gov for a look at freefile.  If your adjusted gross income (after deductions) in 2008 is $56,000 or less you can prepare and file for free.  What could be better than that, file for free with the blessing of the IRS?

Tax Time Again