Category Archives: events

Wild Walleye: Minnesota Starts Fishing

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Stickie NoteApparently, people will be up late tonight…not because a movie is premiering, not because they’re getting lucky, but because they are catching a fish.  And no, that’s not a euphemism.

I’m told that offices will be near empty tomorrow.  I’ll believe that when I see it.  I love it when offices are empty even when I don’t have many responsibilities in them and yet they never seem to be very empty when I expect them to be that way.

But, as I research this topic on the internet, because I’m a nerd, I am amazed at the resources available.

Paul tells me that the reason people will be on lakes tonight is because the walleye run (is that the right term?) at night.  They are nocturnal creatures who feed at night like vampires (not the sparkly kind).  OK, I’m sure they eat bugs and not other fish, but you get the drift.

So, I’m still wondering…what’s the big deal about walleye?  I’ve seen it on just about every menu (except fast food) here in Minnesota.  And apparently it’s the state fish of Minnesota.  Also, two cities claim to be the “Walleye Capital of the World.”  I’m not sure how one would measure such a designation, but each town has a giant fish statue, so you know I want to see at least one of those suckers.

Allstate Foundation: Drive it Home

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Anyone who reads my blog knows that safe driving habits are near and dear to my heart. Many the post has been dedicated to ranting about how poorly people drive, especially in Sacramento where the red light running seems like it’s reached epidemic proportions.

One way to prevent bad drivers from being created is to create good driving habits from the start. The other day, I attended the Drive it Home tour presented by the Allstate Foundation and the National Safety Council. The goal of the presentation is to teach teens and parents of teens good driving habits.  If one of these shows comes to your town, I highly recommend going. It was interesting and entertaining. Members of The Second City improv group performed, which is always a good time.

The Second City performers

The Second City performers

Many of the tips can be used by drivers of any age:

  • Scan the horizon; be aware of your surroundings.
  • Keep enough space between you and the car in front of you.
  • Don’t text, tweet, or call and drive. I put my phone in my purse, so the temptation to grab it and look at it is gone. Out of sight, almost out of mind.

There were some interesting facts from the Drive it Home event (some of which were scary):

  • Half of all teen drivers will be in a crash before they graduate from high school.
  • The first year a teen drives is the most dangerous.
  • Inexperience is the number one cause of teen crashes, not risk taking.

While teens are distracted by passengers in the car, adults usually drive better when they have passengers. Think about it: If your kids, your friends, or your coworkers are in the car with you, you REALLY don’t want to get a ticket. How embarrassing! So you suddenly become the driver you should always be when you get behind the wheel.

The one thing that I thought was the best piece of advice was this: Parents should BE the drivers they want their teens to be. In other words, set a good example. Of course, that’s pretty much an all encompassing parenting philosophy, but that’s for a different blog post.

If you’d like more information about teen driving in California, Allstate Foundation has put together this fact sheet.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Mixing it up with some Sacramento Bloggers

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frankfurter and beerYou would think that a beer crazy town like Sacramento would have a plethora of German themed bars or beirhalls if you will.

As far as I know, LowBrau is the only one. And while I was disappointed that there was no oompa-like polka music to be heard, it paled in comparison to the pleasure I got from the delicious frankfurter.

Also get your mind out of the gutter…but I thought it too as I wrote that sentence.

Regardless, yesterday I went to what will probably be my last Sacramento mixer. This one was put on by the Sacramento Bloggers group. If you are a blogger in Sacramento and you haven’t signed up on their site, what is your problem? They put together some really nifty shindigs.

Margaret Andrews, Nichole Beaudry and Stephanie Porter run the site devoted to all types of blogs based in the greater Sacramento area.

Their latest gathering took place at LowBrau, where they have plenty of mustards and other interesting sauces/toppings for your food. Who doesn’t love a good dipping sauce?

mustard

But, seriously, LowBrau, my first visit was during the SacTweetup held there. Like I said, I was hoping for a more traditional bier hall. A friend of mine, Jen, has a good rule of thumb:  You always have to give a place two chances before really deciding whether you like it or not. It’s sort of like dating.  She’s right. I’m glad I went back. While I’m not a huge fan of community tables, mostly because I’m anti-social, I do enjoy the self serve water station. Also, the servers were very friendly. And as most businesses know, good service goes a long way…even longer than good food.

What I love about going to Sacramento Blogger events is that you get an interesting cross section of people. You see people you’ve probably run into at other social media or blogging events in the area, but you also get the opportunity to meet new folks too. And you don’t just talk about blogging, although it’s a great way to break the ice.

Marriage Equality: Grow up, people.

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United for Marriage

United for Marriage

It baffles me that people are so weirded out about letting gays and lesbians get married. Their arguments are ridiculous and illogical.

Today I saw a new one. If you want to let everyone get married, then brothers and sisters could marry each other.

First of all, gross. Second of all, that’s a genetic time bomb waiting to go off. Third of all, and most important, that’s like 0.000000001% of the population. Of course, I didn’t do the math. I don’t have to because it’s common sense.

Marriage is a secular contract. Religion is part of some people’s experience, but not everyone’s and the question here is a legal, secular one. What’s at stake has to do with equal rights.

When a man and a woman get married now, the government recognizes it as a contract. It’s an agreement to be a household. What’s mine is yours and vice versa. In California, we have community property. It can only be between a married couple. You have certain legal obligations to one another. You have a say in that other person’s life from a legal standpoint. The marriage license on file at the county recorders office says so.

How is it a legal contract?  Here’s how our government reinforces the idea:  Married people have rights to their deceased spouses Social Security benefits. That right there shows you the “domestic partner” status is NOT equal to being married. What about the tax breaks married people receive? If a “domestic partner” dies does the remaining partner automatically get to own the house they’ve shared?  Even if both of them held title to it?  Not necessarily, but with married people, there’s no inheritance tax obligation if one of them dies.  They can thank community property for that.

And of course if the “domestic partner” gets sick, there are no protected rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for them. Married people have that protection.

Marriage has traditionally been about economics anyway. Think about it. Dowries are not religious, they are quite secular. They are about stuff, things, and sometimes livestock, but not your eternal soul. Common sense dictates that it’s easier to survive with a helpmate than it is to go alone. Marriage is a contractual agreement between two people. It’s very simple. People’s ridiculous fears are what complicates the matter. Grow up and get over yourself. Who cares if two adults (or even three or four) want to create a household together? Do you want someone telling you who you can and can’t marry? I sure as hell don’t.

The micro-blogging site that changed the world…

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Seven years ago today, a site launched that would change my life. 18 months later I would find out about it and sign up. I learned about Twitter at work. I was reading some article about marketing and the author mentioned this new micro-blogging site that was starting to take off.

At first, I didn’t get it. As you can see from my very first tweet…it wasn’t interesting.

The tweet that started it all.

The tweet that started it all.

Eventually, Twitter became another creative writing outlet for me. In this ADD world, it was perfect. The thoughts that crowded my mind would quickly find an escape. Not all of my thoughts were lengthy enough for a blog post, but they needed to be expressed. I’d already been blogging for three years at that point, but my creativity was always yearning for another outlet.

What I didn’t know then was that in 3 and a half years, I would meet the love of my life through Twitter.

At first, I followed people whose blogs I read. I’d regularly commented on them, but Twitter let me interact with them in almost real time. Eventually, I started following whoever they were following because their retweets were interesting. Through the course of my online life, I gathered more people to follow and who followed me.

One of those people lead me to Paul. I still remember the day I started following him. His profile and his tweets called to something in me. We seemed to have the same outlook on so many things, the same sense of humor…Plus, I liked the picture of the gopher he used in his avatar.

It was at tweetups that I made the conversion of online friends to friends in real life. It still amazes me that if you interact with someone on Twitter enough, you will get the gist of how they are in real life. And they only have 140 characters to get their point across.

So, here’s to you, Twitter. Thank you to those people who invented you and keep you running. I’m moving to Minnesota next month to live with Paul and it’s all your fault that I’m happier than I’ve ever been.