Tag Archives: Ventura Breeze

A Couple of Things…

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dabear1. Don’t poke the bear. I have a confession. I poked; he didn’t mind. 🙂

2. The pope has come and gone and though I’m not Catholic, I enjoyed reading some of the public interest stories on his visit to the U.S.

This is among the best: On sex abuse by Priests and then the cover up the Pope was quoted as saying, “I remain overwhelmed with shame that men entrusted with the tender care of children violated these little ones and caused grievous harm. I am profoundly sorry.”

And among the the worst. USA Today reported, “The Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples met with Pope Francis last Thursday during his U.S. visit, a meeting kept secret from the media, her lawyer says.”

(I rarely do an addendum…but this is newsworthy regrading “the worst”:
How the Outrage Over the Pope’s Kim Davis Meeting May Have Paid Off in a Big Way
blog on the Huffington
Author: Michelangelo Signorile
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/pope-francis-kim-davis-meeting_b_8232866.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063 )

cat
3. If you know me, you know I love animals so I had to read the story with the headline: “Ruthie Rosemary the cat survives wildfire!”
Her family was forced to evacuate as a wildfire was encroaching on their home and as they were loading Ruthie into the car, she jumped out and sadly had to be left behind. Five days later they returned to their severely burned property when they heard a mew from underneath a burned out truck. No one can figure out how Ruthie survived and she only suffered singed whiskers and eyebrows.

4.  Every now and then I pass someone who is reading a recent issue of the Ventura Breeze.  I always nonchalantly check to see if they’re reading my Music Scene column.  One of these days I’m going to stop and say, “Hey! I wrote that!”

Syd's new home

Sydney sharing an apartment here with a friend.

home-Fullerton

My apartment building when I was around Sydney’s age.

5.  Sydney Rose has officially moved to Portland after living near McMinnville for the past two years. She sent me her new address and I Goggle-Mapped it (By the way. “Google-Mapped” DID NOT come up as a misspelling).  It’s a cute brick building which sort of reminds me of the brick building I lived in around her age back in Fullerton. I loved that place with its wood floors and little fireplace.  Plumbing sucked, but who washes dishes anyways? Apparently we both love old brick buildings!

6. Does any business want to be known as their city’s “Best kept secret?”

7.  Let’s discuss Wife Beater Tank Tops. We should be appalled, and not so flippant or cavalier when referring to this type of clothing. Even some women’s clothing are referred to as Wife Beaters.  Why not just call them by their original name, a tank top?

8.  Have you ever wondered if you should brush then floss, or vice versa, floss then brush?  This question just occurred to me recently after I invested in one of those Sonicare toothbrushes.  I did a little online research and it appears that even dentist argue on this point but the argument that makes the most sense to me is to floss first to dislodge “stuff” then brush it away.
In case you’re now wondering, According to the American Dental Association, “It doesn’t matter.” Just do both.

9. .  Everyone loves a parade! I’ve been participating in Ventura parades promoting VenturaRocks.com for the past three or four years; first it’s the St. Patrick’s Day parade, then in August it’s the Ventura County Fair parade. They’re a lot of fun, but I’ll admit, I’m always a little nervous to see the photos of us on social media afterwards.

10.  I went to a local theater production of West Side Story at the Rubicon Theater.   I knew going in there was a 110% chance that I would cry as I’ve seen the movie dozens of times and I’ve never gotten by without bawling my eyes out during the final scene. But sadly I was screwed in the first few minutes when I was overcome with emotion and the tears welled up over the the power of a live orchestra and the cast recreating the opening scene. These kids nailed it, and it was only for one weekend of shows!  I felt privileged to be able to see it. And yes, I was prepared with a stack of tissues.

11. Why don’t cell phones just come with protective housing instead of making people purchase a case so the glass doesn’t break?  Or better yet, develop a non-breakable glass.  Am I the only one baffled by this?

12.  I saw a recent mime on Facebook:
“Bacon Fact #18
Bacon is healthier than crystal meth.”

WORD

13. From my Favorites Quotes File:  “If you’re not in the parade, you watch the parade. That’s life.” – Mike Ditka

Thanks for your time!

A Couple of Things…

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MotleyCrew1.  The Transportation Department tries to take a field trip at least once a year.  This year we opted to ride our bikes from Ventura City Hall to Santa Barbara, a little over 30 miles. We got to check out the new bike path along La Conchita, as well as checking out future bike path plans for Carpinteria.

Our ultimate destination?  Union Ale House on State Street across from the train station. After lunch, we hopped on the Amtrak back to Ventura.  No mishaps.  No accidents.  We kept a steady pace with perfect weather and the promise of beers ahead.

finger-dog2.  Well my love of the hot dog has officially come to an end.  Do you blame me?

A Facebook post claimed they went to Cupids hot dogs by Northridge college and it looked like this.  Who could eat a chili dog that looks like spaghetti sauce?  All kidding aside,  that looks like a freakin’ finger. EWWWWW!

3.  A survey taken recently of what moms don’t want for Mother’s Days:
Gym membership
Perfume
Jewelery

Really?  I’d love to have my gym membership paid for, I’d love a small bottle of Chanel No. 5, but jewelry?  Not so much; I’m low maintenance when it comes to jewelry.  I wear small dangling earrings, and not much else; and I’m not a huge fan of diamonds because I think they’re overrated.  All that being said, Bloomingdales sells an ounce of Chanel for $325.00.  If you know me, I get a tad offended when people overdo it on their cologne; but strategically placed minimal taps of No 5, yes please.

Of course I would never expect my daughter to be so extravagant.  But to everyone else, my birthday is coming up (hint hint).

batman-vs-superman4.  I went to the movies and while watching the upcoming attractions, I saw a preview for the movie “Superman vs Batman”.  Am I the only one confused here?  Aren’t they both superheros?

5.  MSN Medical news headline:  “Frequent Orgasms May Protect Against Certain Cancers.”  Sorry girls, unfortunately this applies only to men.

6.  I may be alone on this, but I already missed David Letterman, that is, the early days of Dave pre-1999.

lunch7.  Sheldon Brown, publisher of the Ventura Breeze held a Writers/Photographer’s luncheon recently.  Coming from an architect background, he decided to launch a newspaper eight years ago.  He said he had no idea what he was doing, and pretty much still doesn’t.  He’s a dear friend and I admire his tenacity. I’m proud to be a contributing writer for him.

8.  I’d been in the thick of HTML5 and writing code for the current website I’ve been working on for the past month when I hit an impasse. I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the page layout the way I wanted it to.  I googled it, I looked to the Worldwide Web Consortium specs, I search different tutorials to no avail.  Then while driving last weekend, the solution hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was like magic and it worked like a charm!

9.  For the first time in seven years I have seriously considered pulling the plug on VenturaRocks.com.  There is much to mull over.

 

10.  From my favorite quotes file, “Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.” – Charles M. Schulz

Thanks for your time.

A Couple of Things…

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With Syd Rose1.  For those who never read about why I started this blog (Read “About Pam”), here it is in a nutshell: “It’s therapeutic as it takes my thoughts out of my head, and frees up that much needed space for handling life.”

The photo I use on my blog is of me and my daughter, Sydney Rose, celebrating my birthday a couple of years ago. THIS is how I take on life!

2. I read a blog called “31 apologies you should make to your bartender.”  I’m sharing my two favorites, the first of which resonates totally with me, the second is just funny:

#6. I’m sorry I ordered Cabernet in a bar and then made an icky face like I expected it to be good.
#12. I’m sorry I told you my drink was too strong. Who does that?

3. I had never been a fan of the marmot, that’s not to say I didn’t like them, but I just didn’t give them much thought until I saw this video from Greenpeace.  They were doing a time lapse video at Glacier National Park when this furry guy came along and ruined it.  They weren’t too mad about it though, how could you be?  Check it out:

4. I saw a story called, “Famous products back from the dead”, one of them was the Astro pop.  I gotta get me one of them!
Astro Pop

5. I rarely have nightmares, in fact I can’t remember the last time a bad dream woke me up, but when I do they are usually one of three recurring scenarios all stemming from real life stressful situations:

  • The DJ nightmare – where there is dead air and I’m running around trying to get the next song on, but the equipment won’t cooperate.
  • The waitress nightmare – where too many people are seated in my section for me to keep up with them.
  • And finally, the smoking nightmare – where I realize I’m smoking after having quit for over twenty years…because IT”S REALLY HARD TO QUIT and who wants to go through that again!?

6. On the other end of the spectrum, there are simple things that ALWAYS make me smile:

  • The feel of the warm sun on my shoulders when I come out of an air-conditioned building or car.
  • Hearing the trolley make its stop around the corner from my house.
  • Hitting a three-pointer.
  • Pictures of most baby animals.
  • Getting a message from my daughter.
  • Seeing my dog, Samantha “Boom Boom” Baumgardner, waiting for me when I return home.
  • Seeing dolphins in the ocean.
  • Hearing the perfect drum fill/solo.
  • Hitting all green lights.
  • Walking into a venue and seeing someone sporting the ever popular VenturaRocks.com t-shirt.
Scanned from my photo album

Scanned from my photo album

7.  Another great memory of being married was when Sydney Rose was born. Because of all the horror stories you read about how hospitals can mix up babies, Syd’s daddy never let her out of his sight while they cleaned her up and he made sure they put the proper i.d. bracelet on her.  It really was sweet.

And though I was dead tired after being in labor since 5 in the morning (I gave birth at 7:10 that evening), I couldn’t sleep.  I got up after midnight and made my way down the hallway to the nursery where they let me hold my baby.  I couldn’t stand to be apart from her.

8. I hate that expression, “Only the Good Die Young.”  In fact, I call BULLSHIT!!! After a certain age, are we all Bad???  And what age is that?

People resort to that expression because they remember Billy Joel singing it, and you may or may not know, it was actually about a young teen trying to deflower a Catholic girl: “You Catholic girls start much too late,but sooner or later it comes down to fate.I might as well be the one.” Suggesting even the good people die, so you might as well be bad.

I say we retire that expression…of course unless you’re a horny teenager. 😉

breeze9. Sometimes I worry about writer’s block; I worry mostly because I have a deadline for my Ventura Breeze column that I write twice a month.  I have to come up with 500 words about Ventura’s music scene.  Luckily there is an abundance of music and I have enough contacts to get the inside scoop. I post them here (along with other editorials when I get a bee in my bonnet):  http://venturarocks.com/blog/category/ventura-rocks/

10. From my favorite quotes file: “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”  – Isaac Asimov

Thanks for listening!