Yo, America! Democracy is in action today, as we all head to the polls to cast our votes on Election Day.
Since freedom is the order of the day, I’m not trying to steer this blog ship too much. Feel free to talk about whatever you want in the comments — describe your voting experience, share cool links, talk about what issues you’re passionate about. It’s totally up to you.
To get us started, here are a number of resources from The Bee and the web, everything from how to find your polling place to profiles of candidates to recommendations from The Bee’s opinion pages. So if you still need to get informed, there’s plenty to read below. Happy bubble filling!
There are a lot of things in life that suck; the good thing about sucky stuff, though, is that you can usually spot the suck right away. For example, you know automatically to avoid a new flavor of Doritos, all VH1 reality shows and any movie starring Ashton Kutcher.
But when stuff that is supposed to be awesome sucks, it’s almost too much to bear. Take, for example, the Slap Chopâ„¢. Because I praised the infomercial (and its phenomenal remix) numerous times on the Beehive, I was gifted with the novelty chopping implement for Christmas. It was a gag gift, sure, but with images of onions chopped and peeled with just a flick of the wrist dancing in my head, I thought it would be worthwhile to try it out.
So I did. I placed a shallot on the cutting board, positioned the Slap Chopâ„¢ over it and slapped my troubles away, like Vince told me to. The shallot immediately got stuck in the blades and I spent the next few minutes trying to dig it out with a knife.
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I found this post on Jezebel about words that should be buried in the “word graveyard” to be very interesting.
Like many, I have a nasty habit of relying on a few choice words to sum up my feelings and ideas. If you read this blog regularly, or know me personally, you’ll hear my speech peppered often with classy gems like “totally,” “awesome,” “dude,” “douchebag,” and, of course, the greatest word ever invented: “f**k.” I know I do this, and yet I am loath to change my ways.
Because, really, it’s not my own speech that irritates me — it’s others’. Drop the word “irregardless” around me, and my eye starts to twitch. Tell me you are in “agreeance” with something, and I start looking around for someone better to talk to.
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In the interest of making our community better, this is a rant.
Friday night, I met up with a friend for a drink at Veni Vedi Vici in the Tower District. It was our plan to sit on the patio and drink a couple of Stockholm Royales before heading over to Palomino’s for Vintage Fridays featuring some local blogger. We were to be joined by two additional friends.
What happened instead was: I got to Veni’s and ordered my drink at the bar, knowing how slim my chances were of getting prompt (or any) service on the patio. I carried my drink outside and found my friend sitting on a planter, as all tables were full. It was around 9:30.
We headed back inside to the far less than half-full restaurant, ordered a Stockholm for my friend, then made our way to a table in anticipation of the rest of our party joining us. Immediately, a guy in a tie rushed up and told us we couldn’t have the table, as it was reserved for diners.
I explained there was four of us, and that the patio was full and the bar had just two available seats left. He said he was sorry. I asked if he would prefer we stood in the middle of the restaurant, drinking our drinks. He said again that there was nothing he could do about the table, but he’d keep an eye on the patio and let us know if anyone left.
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I, for one, managed a hybrid of inside stuff and outside stuff:
- I went to the opening of “The Fantasticks” on Friday night at Severance Theatre. Look for my review by Tuesday.
- I went shopping at Fashion Fair mall on Saturday afternoon with my parents (in town for a visit), and pondered an interesting tidbit. My mother pointed out that whenever she’s in a department store cosmetics area and walks past one of the fragrance reps offering free samples, they pointedly ignore her. She’s too old. Yet if a younger woman walks by next, the free-fragrance-hawkers are all over her like Britney Spears “Believe” perfume” at an eighth grade girls’ locker room. So, we did an experiment. We walked through Gottschalks and she got ignored. We walked down to the Macy’s women’s store and got ignored. The best was in the Macy’s men’s store, where one of the fragrance queens practically tripped over herself to offer a sample of something (and I’m not sure what, because weren’t we in the men’s store?) to a vivacious, dolled-up femme fatale-like 30something strolling in front of us. When Mom walked past, Ms. Macy looked her straight in the eye and glanced away. Funny stuff.
- I went to “Tales from Ovid” on Saturday night at Fresno State. Look for my review by Tuesday.
- On Sunday afternoon, I went to the Lone Oak Iris Ranch on Old Friant Road. The blooms are just starting to come out, and in a couple of weeks the view will be spectacular. It’s a great place: The owners let you wander the grounds looking at all the different varieties. Once I get my pics loaded, I’ll post one or two.
OK, your turn.
I woke up in a great mood this morning. The sun was shining, so I opened all the blinds to let the light in as I enjoyed a cup of coffee, some fruit and some oatmeal, and caught up on my favorite blogs. As I usually do after breakfast, I got ready to go for a swim in my apartment complex’s heated, indoor pool. This is when things fell apart.
The pool is no longer heated. According to the office manager, the heat is turned off in March, and the patio furniture is dragged to the outdoor, unheated pool for those who enjoy swimming in what looks like tree blossom gazpacho. Have you been outside today, friends? It’s sunny, yes. But it’s also windy and still winter. Swimming weather? Not even close, and, for someone like me who is always freezing cold, it won’t be for a few more months.
So, in one fell swoop, there went all my plans to get in shape prior to summer. Unfortunately, I have bad knees (thank you, high school colorguard), so swimming is where exercise begins and ends for me. Is this the worst thing in the world? No. But it’s pretty damn irritating.
Before I go vandalize the signs advertising the heated, indoor pool that the apartment manager stills sees fit to display, I want to hear your stories of suck. Why focus on the positive when you can commiserate with those who have it even worse, right? Rant away …
Perhaps you noticed that Music and More man Mike Osegueda is absent from the Beehive this week; this of course means no “Five Things You Should Do This Week” and “Post No Bills” posts. So how’s a person to know what’s going on in Fresno this week?
This is where you come in. I want to know what’s happening in Fresno tonight through the weekend. Feel free to shamelessly plug your event, or simply offer up whatever suggestions you might have for a fun weekend.
Wanna talk about what you wish you were doing this weekend, or what you plan to do in upcoming weekends: go right the hell ahead. It’s your weekend open thread …
