It was a great party while it lasted….

…but then it was over.

The appropriately named Variety City at 1281 Lake Boulevard carries grocery items that may have been slightly damaged, or are blemished in some way. Dented cans are a good example. They also have regular grocery items along with various and sundry hardware and gift items. The store has been owned and operated by Joyce and Gene for 9 years, in a property that had started out as a hardware/lumber yard. Over the years, I’ve always enjoyed shopping there for the interesting and unusual food items you can randomly find. There’s always something to be found you might never buy at a big box store, like some odd soup or sauce, but which you can find here priced attractively enough that you end up taking it home. You can find brand names you won’t see in the chain stores around here. Joyce works to keep the atmosphere really friendly and fun. I still remember the first time I walked in there 9 years ago, and Joyce saw me walking around looking at items, and said with her big smile, “Hey you, get a cart. You’re going to need it.” I did, She was right.

I saw Joyce today and she tells me, “Hey Skip, we had Doni Greenberg in here the other day.” And I say, “Yes, I know. Karry read about it online at Food for Thought and sent me down here to buy the Scharffen Berger chocolate.” That’s me, errand boy.

Of course, in these economic times, access to these bargains is more than just a a luxury indulgence. Highly recommended.

I wonder if there are many employers out there looking for temps who find happiness pulling inside jobs?

Well, it got a laugh out of me. It’s been raining (finally). I suspect “indoor jobs” would have been more appropriate.

In search of “page views” rather than readers, the RS has begun pandering to the lowest common denominator, in the area that could be where interested citizens discuss current events. Yesterday, they ran a thoughtful essay by former City Councilman and Mayor Ken Murray, guaranteed to unleash an ugly chain of ad hominem comments and spittle. The article is HERE if you’re interested. Somewhere near 200 comments on a rainy day. Just as the RS hoped.

Ken’s actual idea, predictably only addressed later in the comments section by himself, was this:

“Most of these blogs have not addressed the basic premise I posited; Should there be added an on-line section where issues are posed for debate and public input with standards, or not?”

Utterly inane and hateful cyberbullying from anonymous commentards ensues. RS editor Bruce Ross and I have had this same conversation, so I know well what the current RS “standards” have become. I have counted RS staff among friends, and editors as people I admire. I have loved my hometown paper. There are good people there, but their behavior has become self destructive. The current RS “standard” is to pander to a cesspool of anonymous ignorance in search of pageviews.

As the newspaper I formerly admired sinks in stinking decay and irrelevance, other voices will rise. Even in the earliest years of Redding, there were multiple newspapers, not just one monolithic, and now arguably corrupted corporate shill. Now online, the barriers to entry for new voices are significantly reduced. Our newspaper has abrogated its responsibility to our community. Other voices, please hurry! We need you.

This weekend the HOG (Harley Owners Group) folks had their get together in the Mall.

This one is an Indian Headress. The Harleys are all works of kinetic art. You could shoot all day…

They have a fashion show in the center court which is pretty bizzare. Not intentionally.

It’s a Redding thing…

Thursday’s Chamber of Commerce Greeters was held at the beautiful Gaia Hotel. It’s a lovely property, built with the deliberate use of environmentally conscious materials.

Great turnout, and the food was terrific. The staff was first rate. These movers and shakers of the local business community remain upbeat in the face of the economic downturn. It seemed to me that there was more of an air of grim determination than I had noticed before.

These are 2 of the hotel’s 4 swans. A Black Swan is a metaphor for something that seemingly cannot exist, and then suddenly, it does.

1. Event has appeared by complete surprise.

2. Event has a major impact.

3. Event, after it has appeared, is ‘explained’ by human hindsight.

“The problem Taleb identified with banks and trading firms was that they were very vulnerable to Black Swans and were exposed to huge losses beyond what their defective models projected.”

Greetings from a world where Black Swans do exist.

It’s a sign of the times. In our town, waving a sign isn’t just a job, it’s a career. Here we see Lady Liberty and her employees, on Lake Boulevard.

There is dignity in all labor, but you’d be hard pressed to identify that quality here; dressed up as a mock Statue of Liberty, hawking income tax services to passers by. I am in the car reflected in the window.

I was reminded only a little of the real statue. The original statue is a powerful monument, along with nearby Ellis Island, gateway to waves of hopeful immigrants. Below, we see one of my favorite family photos, from one of our trips to New York. It was taken by a passerby, who got on the ground with my camera to fit us in the frame with the non-inflatable version of Lady Liberty. It was a nice moment.

One of the big (secret)bonuses of being a real estate agent is going into so many houses, and seeing how people really live. I’ve seen some unusual pets, but I hadn’t seen a frog in somebody’s livingroom before. She said it was two years old, and had arrived as a tadpole you could see right through.

I moved up close for a better look.

“Kiss me” it said, “I am a frog prince.”

“Uh, sorry,” I whispered. “Not today.” A talking frog.

“Lick me then.” the frog continued, “I send colors you can hear, and sounds you can see.”

“Hmmmm,” with wrinkled brow as I looked it in the eye, “Gonna have to pass on that. Hey, isn’t that whole licking thing about toads, not frogs?”

The frog spoke no further.

Winter weather seems to have finally arrived, although in February. There’s a flu-like bug going around Karry’s school that seems to find home in one’s respiratory system. Karry’s voice is still husky today, but she’s going to work, teaching science. Being prey to every passing virus is just a routine hazard of the job when you teach kids.

Yesterday was the first day back at school since the announcement came about 15 staff and teacher members at school sharing a $76 million lottery prize. It was a day charged with excitement, and members of the traditional media were there to sniff around for happy stories. There are some very happy stories indeed, and among the lottery winners are people who really deserved for something good to happen. Something did. Still, other good people didn’t win a pile of money, and in a fair universe that wouldn’t happen. Those stories are poignant.

The buy-in to the pool was over $100. Not just pocket change for most of these folks. A number had been playing for years without winning. I mentioned earlier that Karry did not play. As a science teacher she is aware that the California State Lottery has some of the worst odds of any lottery, or any gambling for that matter. This quantum universe enjoys playing tricks with science, though. A few teachers had dropped out of the pool just this year, since times are tough. That, despite the Vice-Principal’s admonishment “how will you feel if we win, and you are not in the pool?” That emotional hook works too well, and the words rang hollow in a number of minds yesterday.

15 people won a pile of money. Most others did not. Low conversations ensued in subdued staffroom scenes. This is a tight knit group, sometimes going to plays in Ashland together, and with other sorts of common events shared. The surprise of the weekend marked a steep and sharp divide. I expect that will be temporary.

Teachers and staff of Shasta Lake School and Gateway District are seen above at a get-together last summer. I don’t know who all the lottery winners are, but at least one announced winner is shown here. No doubt a couple more. These are the good people who work late to teach your kids. They do it because those kids are our future. They show up every day and put on a game face even if they are recovering from a flu bug your kid gave them, and even if they don’t win the lottery. They will remain behind, working, when the limos pull away on Friday. But then, there are a lot of winners shown here, in my book.

We drove by this on our way to show the house next door, southeast of Anderson. Every Realtor’s dream, to have yard art like this in the neighbor’s yard. Needless to say, our client was not thrilled with the house next door. Looks like a really bad horror movie scene.

And of course they felt compelled to put it under cover for protection. Of course.