Sunny Day

It was a beautiful Saturday in Sacramento, so my parents and I got some yard work done and then I went out with friends to play miniature golf, hang out at Big Spoon, see Bayside's new bleachers and finished the night up at Island's.

Tomorrow, a Mexican Fiesta, Bradley style, in lieu of actually going to Mexicali this year.

Flowrider Comes to Elk Grove

Some of you may remember that on my last Caribbean Cruise I and everyone that was with me had a great time on the Flowrider, well there is good news, the Flowrider has come to Dream Xtreme in Elk Grove, slightly closer than the nearest Royal Caribbean ship based out of Florida. The only problem, on the cruise it was "free" (well included with the food, hotel room and everything else) and in Elk Grove it costs $15 for 30 minutes.

In other news, the Escape has the ski rack secured and is ready to head up to Bear Valley on Tuesday night for some great skiing on Wednesday and relaxing through the weekend at the Bradley Lodge.

Beach

Well, I was near the beach, but never actually set foot on the sand or took a picture from close up. The photos of Long Beach, Redondo Beach and San Pedro are from Google Images. My closest picture of the beach came today from about 10,000 feet up in a Southwest Boeing-737-700 flying out of John Wayne Airport.

Dude, Where's My (Old) Car?

I found my old car today, just where I left it, only a little bit more expensive and poorly advertised, yes, they did not mention the alarm or the fact that the stereo is iPod friendly, instead they used descriptive words like "Sharp" and my favorite "WOW." I think they might want a lesson in how to sell cars, although Ford is the only American automaker to not request federal bailout money (so far at least).

Chris Tomlin

It was a very long day, but a great day. I started the day off by waking up early for a work event/health fair in Napa, then it was off to lunch at Buckhorn Grill (very good) and back to the office for awhile, before heading off to help staff the merchandise tables for the Chris Tomlin Sacramento Concert. I got to use the credit card machines, always fun, and sell lots of people CDs, T-shirts, hats, posters and just about everything else that said Chris Tomlin on it. Although I only went into see the concert for a few minutes, what I saw was great and it was another good opportunity to hang out with all of my friends in the merchandise area. Although not all of the pictures are from the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium concert tonight, many are (thanks to Twitter, more to come from Facebook over the next few days), others are from Chris Tomlin's "On the Road Blog" (Concert review by the New York Times).

Just a reminder, this weekend at Bayside Louie Giglio (Passion Conferences) is speaking and it's Thrive sign-up weekend! Also the Shore 1000 is quickly approaching, March 19th.

Expo

I got to go to Sacramento's Black Expo this weekend, although I am not very black, it was still fun. I saw many of the same vendors and exhibitors I work with at other events, so it was nice to catch up on how things were going and to get their new giveaways, today's free items, included a new bag from Costco and a Costco Almanac, thanks to my current American Express Black Card/Executive Business Membership. It was also a good chance to eat at Capitol Garage (good food, slow service) and my favorite, Ma Jongs.

Oprah

So, I'm not really a regular Oprah viewer, but I watched today's show since part of it was filmed last week in Sacramento by Lisa Ling. Although it didn't show Sacramento's best side, it showed a real side of not only Sacramento, but our nation. Everyday thousands of American's have no place to call home. Thousands of kids have no place to do their homework, many sleep in shelters, others sleep in tent cities or on the streets. I spent one (somewhat controlled) night on the streets of Sacramento outside of the Salvation Army a few years ago, it was an interesting experience and gave me some perspective on what others are facing, but I honestly have no way of feeling what they feel. I don't have a solution to the problem and I'm not even going to give a suggestion, just remember, this recession has many stories and many faces.

Sacramento Bee story from my experience on the streets ...

'It's hard out there'
A night on the streets teaches teens the truth about life of the homeless
Monday, November 20, 2006
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3
By Todd Milbourn - Bee Staff Writer

Growing up middle class in Jackson, Nicole Ferguson didn't deal too much with poverty. Or homelessness.

She'd heard, like many unexposed teenagers, that the causes of homelessness were simple: that it is a matter of choice. Drunks living for a drink. Bums living for a government check.

But this weekend changed that. Ferguson was one of about 20 young people who spent Saturday night on the streets, trying to get a better sense of why homeless people are homeless.

Working with the Salvation Army, the group -- members of First Covenant Church of Sacramento in Rancho Cordova -- brought meals to the homeless in downtown parks. They slept Saturday night, bundled in sleeping bags, outside a B Street warehouse.

"You listen to people. You hear stories. You realize that you have a lot in common," said Ferguson, 19, who's studying to become an interior designer.

"You realize that you, too, can fall on hard times."

Changing perceptions -- that was the point of the night. The church has an active youth and outreach ministry, which strives to bring Christ's word to the streets and hope to the hopeless.

"We have so many stereotypes. We think these people are all alcoholic bums," said Josiah Watters, the church's outreach minister, who organized the effort to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday. "We're out here getting a taste for what life is really like. It's not so simple."

Homeless folks said they were appreciative.

Dennis Covington said life was pretty good for him back in the 1980s.

He had a good job as a security guard, a fine wife. Then his mother died. A bitter family fight over the estate ensued. That was tough on his wife, who eventually left and kept the house. The 50- year-old moved from Oakland to Sacramento to get away from the family mess.

"I meet so many smart people out here, people with big degrees, worked good jobs," said Covington, who's been staying at the Salvation Army for a couple of weeks to save up money to get a place to live. "You don't know nothing, 'til you talk to somebody."

Capt. John Brackenbury, head of the Sacramento Salvation Army, said he was heartened by the church group's effort. He said it's so easy for well-off people to look the other way when it comes to problems like homelessness.

"Christ was dealing with homelessness 2,000 years ago. We're still dealing with it today," he said.

"We're not going to eliminate it," he added, referring to the city's 10-year plan to eradicate homelessness. "But we are going to get beyond this idea that there's a Band-Aid approach. We got to get at the root of the problem."

The effort began Saturday with church members scattering around Sacramento, looking for homeless folks to talk to. They brought brown-bagged meals -- sandwiches, Capri-Sun and some fruit.

Nathanial Anisodon, a 22-year-old from Sacramento, said he met a homeless man at a downtown park who used to be a lawyer. The man told Anisodon that his life went into a spiral after his wife died, and he hasn't recovered.

"It's hard out there," said Anisodon, who spent some time in the Air Force.

"You realize that anything can happen."

About the writer:
The Bee's Todd Milbourn can be reached at (916) 321-1063 or tmilbourn@sacbee.com.

New Car

I got a new car this weekend. Goodbye 1996 Honda Accord and hello 2007 Ford Escape XLT. It's got a lot of cool features and only seems to get 2 or 3 less mpg than the Honda + it has all wheel drive which is helpful, since the Lodge seems to have gotten a few feet of snow in the last few days. Other than the whole, buying a car thing (and all of the negotiations and sleazy sales people), it was a great weekend spent with friends and family.

Super Bowl

It's Super Bowl Sunday ... that means football, food and of course commercials - for some reason it's the one time of year we don't actually change channels or fast forward during the commercial breaks (although it is one of the few times a network can make $261 million in a day from commercials).

Although I don't know which will be the best, here's one from Pedigree (visit Hulu to vote for your favorite commercial during the game).

In other news ... the Shore 1000 is coming on March 19th, so if you've always said, "I should really come to Bayside," but don't want to do it until Thursday, March 19th, here's your chance (although you're welcome to come before that too).

A New President

Some of you may not agree with the ideas of our new President, many did not vote for him, but we all must remember that this happens every 4 years. Some people are mad and others rejoice. Our nation truly is one of the few that can have a peaceful transition of power every 4 years and that is something that we all need to be proud of and respect. No, things will not change overnight (the DOW was down 332 today), but with time, as a nation we will become stronger and overcome both our economic and political troubles.

Now onto the fun stuff ....

I tried to watch the live feed online from CNN (after all, I did RSVP through Facebook), here is what I saw ...

CNN does have some pretty cool tools though, here is a picture of "The Moment" - you can use PhotoSynth on your own to see the other 11,000+ viewpoints.
Check out the 2 million people from space ... they look like little ants

An Interesting News Day

Okay, so I just found Thursday to be an interesting news day and I wanted to share.

First .... the people of Fresno said "Move that Bus" as a new home was revealed for a taping of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Second ... Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a 13 minute state of the state address, that just said California is $40+ billion in debt and until he figures out what to do with that nothing else will get done and everyone will be getting IOU's soon.

Third ... someone made a mistake on Twitter, they said Tennessee wasn't the best place to live, right before they were getting paid to speak in Tennessee in front of a group of FedEx employees, yes a FedEx employee found the post and it was brought up in the meeting ... ooops. As a side note, have you ever noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo?

Fourth ... President Bush said farewell.

Fifth ... a plane landed on a river in what is now known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" and everyone survived, that was pretty cool and I'm glad that everyone is okay.

Bloom

Two brothers, lots of hard work and a 10 item menu make for one of the best new hang outs in the greater Sacramento region. Roseville's Bloom Coffee and Tea has become not only a major media story with live shots on KCRA/KQCA, it's just a great place to hang out with friends. The place is amazing, great job Luke and Jake!
5 stars on YELP
Bloom on Facebook

NASA Visit

Okay, so a few months ago I signed up for a little service called HARO and then its founder, Peter Shankman, came to Sacramento and gave an amazing talk for SPRA. He sends out daily e-mails that have a fun intro and then list reporter requests for thousands of PR people that then help the reporters with their stories. Anyway, he's a pretty cool guy and today he was in Houston visiting NASA and got to go on a special tour. Below is a video interview he took and here is a link to the rest of his post.

Merry Christmas!

With just a few hours until Christmas I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. It has been a busy last few months and as I look back on it a great year. From going to Las Vegas and Florida twice and spending lots of time at Bayside, the Bradley Lodge and with my family on trips and vacations (like Christmas Cruise 2008), life has been great. Although the economy is depressed, there is lots to be happy and thankful for and hopefully 2009 will bring even more good times and fantastic surprises.

Track Santa

36 hours and counting

I got home last night and that began my 36 hours in Sacramento before flying to Miami for the family cruise. For my last night on the road I went to Alioto’s on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, an upgrade from the previous nights of eating in the room. I had some great homemade New England Style Clam Chowder and Lobster Thermidor, which is lobster sautéed in butter, onions, mushrooms, white wine & a light cream sauce and served with rice. It was really good. Last night I unpacked everything and repacked new clothes for the cruise, today I am off to work and tonight I am headed to First Covenant Church's "An Evening in December" and then tomorrow I fly out. It will be busy, but it's all worth it and I am looking forward to spending time with family and exploring the Liberty of the Seas. Oh and I might go to Las Vegas for an event the day after I fly back to Sacramento from the cruise. It's a crazy life, but it's my life and it's great.