brewery33

Give Me 5 Good Reasons…Medical Pot in Stockton?

Another feature that I am going to do is to take a subject, pick a side and give five reasons that back up your argument. I call it “Give me five good reasons”. It works best as a battle between two individuals that are consenting, but it works well on its own as well.

For each reason you get two sentences to explain. You also get 50 words to start and 50 words to end. Twitter has taught me brevity.

This week we have medical pot in Stockton.

Local blogger/writer @slickDiaz who maintains “Reclaiming the Title” has agreed to have a battle of words in regards to the notion of medical pot ordinances in Stockton. Today being the equivalent of Chinese New Year for pot heads, what better way to spend your day than reading two completely obscure points of view on mildly viewed websites.

My five reasons…

5. Stockton’s Great, Take a Hit

Everyone’s favorite director of Stockton’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau’s ears must have perked up when the puppy dogs known as the Planning Commission rolled over and pleased their masters at City Hall by creating the essential City ordinance for the booming industry of government pot. Now we finally have the credibility to attract employment minded marijuana merchants and over achieving purveyors of fine cannabis to our City with a slogan that will truly be in the spirit of celebrating Stockton.

4. Is this the City leadership’s way of playing hardball with the Police and Fire gangs?

Much to the displeasure of our City Council and taxpayers in general, our City Police and Fire departments exhibit a concerted effort to decimate the coffers of money that are generated through public funding for their “more than fair” retirement racket. The passive aggressive tactic of sanctioning the hippie equivalent of a liquor store and adding an element of potential crime as a submission move, rather than the City Council actually facing their pimps and airing the dirty laundry of collective bargaining, makes complete sense.

3. This is exactly what will fortify our landmark initiative of Strong Neighborhoods

When I think of the missing factor that is keeping our neighborhoods from interacting and strengthening the fabric of the community, I am embarrassed that I neglected to realize the obvious answer lies in the exiled close knit community of recreational drug users. Calling upon the reputation of ambition and organizational aptitude that marijuana users exemplify, we can hope to enjoy drum circles and jam band sessions with no particular regularity other than if it feels good and always benefiting the fight against corporate America, because we hate jobs.

2. Just what former most miserable City in America needs, legal drugs.

While the mortgage tsunami decimates Stockton resident’s financial lives and business owners stand in line at EDD, City Hall contemplates the important issue of how and where we are going to sell pot. Clearly this issue far more important than exploiting our humongous inventory of commercial lease space through aggressive outreach and benefits to potential employers, or bitch slapping the bureaucratic militias that disguise themselves as unions in an effort to negotiate a fiscally sound agreement that allows bargaining in times of need.

1. If it is such a medicinal necessity, why not dispense it through a real pharmacy.

If you are going to allow the sale of a mildly illegal substance within your City limits, why are we allowing loosely organized bands of hippies to facilitate sales and not calling upon the expertise of our legitimate pharmacy constituency? Oh, I know, government involvement in the regulation and distribution of the illicit substance tramples on the counter culture code of ethics in that “the man” will attempt mind control and fund his war machine.

With all of this said, I will not claim to be a straight edge prudish conservative. I only think that the current state of affairs our City is experiencing the idea that our City Council is even wasting their time on this non-issue is laughable.

In my humble opinion…

So I decided to take some of the Masters in online this weekend. While I was watching I tooled around on their site. Upon landing on the site I was not surprised by the quality of the site, I mean this is the Masters and most people at Augusta don’t even realize that money is hard to come by these days. While I began to dig deeper into the site I began to find some of the cool tools present. I decided to do a quick hit post about my experience. Let me preface that before you go any further and read my bullet points, I am not a golfer, don’t know anything about golf other than that you hit a ball into a hole, but yes I own a set of golf clubs that Mom bought me at Big 5. So here we go.

1. Pretty heavy site, loads slow.

I did a little research (I viewed the source), and found that the site is built Adobe Flash heavy. While this seems to be the standard for most sites that carry, pardon the pun, flashy animations, it is a resource hog. Plus the iPad owners might have a problem with the viewing, and in my opinion, a perfect use for the iPad. I am not rich so I don’t have an iPad, so my iPad problem is based solely on speculation.

2. Great easy to find statistics

Since the sole reason that I even tuned into the Masters was to see how Stockton’s own Ricky Barnes was faring against the best in world, the ability to easily search the players was much appreciated. I enjoyed that it was kind of real time stats as the current hole was displayed in the player profile along with position and total score (Masters site calls it status).

3. Why only video on two holes

In this day and age and the fact that the members of the Augusta National Country Club have the ability to pay off the national debt and still have money left over, why in hell didn’t they mic and camera every hole. Why be so presumptuous that I would only like to watch holes 15 and 16? Why not give me the option to follow my favorite player? Not only would this be a quantifiable way for the PGA to measure the popularity of the players American Idol style, but it would provide a viewing experience that is individual to each person. The possibility in this notion alone stands to change the sports viewing game. Maybe some big wig will read my stupid writing and bitch slap some of the board members at Augusta, telling them to loosen their grip on the money they love so much and create a user experience that they can sell to every other sport on the planet. You heard it here first, so I am officially taking credit for this idea, because trust me it will happen.

4. All the tools in the Watch Live video server did not work

When I landed on the Watch Live video player and noticed some tools present to customize my experience, I got excited. Then I tried to use them. Yea, they didn’t work. First, I already mentioned the video fascism of only allowing me view holes 15 and 16, but the Hole and Player button didn’t even work. It brought down a container that housed some information about 15 and 16, but I could only view whatever hole Firethorn is. I would have liked to be able to view any hole. That alone would have allowed me follow my favorite golfer through the entire course. The leaderboard button didn’t even work. I liked the picture in picture, but again the elitism of Augusta National permeated the tool as it only allowed for you see what they wanted you to see (Featured Group, Interview(which never worked for me), Holes 15 and 16, and the Amen Corner(Some sort of church reference? WTF)

5. The Masters web coverage is the evolutionary equivalent of Homo Habilis’ use of tools

This is the most diverse sports, if you consider golf a sport, coverage yet. What do I mean? The customization of the viewers experience is driving the broadcasting industry to toy with new technology. Apply this technology to another sport. Could you imagine watching a baseball game and being able to watch inside the dugout, or maybe go to the bullpen cam? What about a penalty box cam in a hockey game to see how bad a dude got messed up during a fight? This is a perfect fit for NASCAR, as the fan could follow the transmissions of their favorite driver. Too bad NASCAR fans think computers are some government conspiracy to become a socialist nation. The work the Masters started during this year’s telecast is only the beginning. I predict that as time goes on, the experience is going to distill into a personalized viewing event for all sports.

I will end with a standing ovation for the Masters. I applaud the innovation, but will nudge my neighbor and say that we still have a long way to go. With the introduction of personal web surfing devices that are pleasurable to look at (iPad reference), the game is changing. I can’t wait to see what MLB will do with the World Series, the NFL with the Super Bowl, the NCAA with March Madness (which by the way killed with this year’s March Madness web coverage), NASCAR with whatever they do with their car races, and the NBA with the Finals.

Mom always said to be nice to the smart kids. Now I know why. Nerds are slowly taking over the way we watch sports.

One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure

While I was paying my debt to the godfather at Podcast Stockton I came across some interesting things. Since I am loyal to the local tech scene and we have a Craigslist style site that is devoid of skanky prostitutes called Closet Goodies, I decided to post the treasures in the free section. This posting of items for distribution online is my first time. Do you remember your first time? Below is a link to the items that profile the social demographic of Stockton.

http://closetgoodies.com/ad.asp?AD_ID=749

Be a gangster and love your local scene. :-)

Here come the coattail riders (yes me)

My secretary came in this morning with some surprising news. Being an avid watcher of Channel 10 and understanding my plight for Stockton, she always has some news nugget pertaining to our City. This morning touched home a little more than the usual useless piece of knowledge. She said verbatim,

“Some guy was on talking really positive about Stockton because of some Forbes list
and he had like an internet show, or talk show, or something. I thought you would
like it because he is on the internet.”

I knew it could only be one guy, so I asked a few questions to see if I was correct.

“Was there a wily mexican guy that was full of positive energy?”

“Yes”

“Was there a short haired guy that looks like he belongs to the cult of Apple?”

:-| *(puzzled look from secretary)*

“Did the news refer to their show as an internet radio show?”

“Yes, yes they did”

“Eureka it must be Podcast Stockton” (I might not have said this)

The last questions were just small inside jokes for an audience of nerds, but I confirmed that the netcast, (we will talk about this later), in question was none other than Podcast Stockton.

Congratulations to Matt and Rod, for being positive and making it great. These guys are proof that positivity will prevail and success is not monetary, but lies within. Why else would two guys that haven’t made a dime for their efforts continue to produce a product that is better each time. If they were a wine they would be a Bordeaux. More importantly if they were a beer, they would be a Gueuze from Cantillon, a beer that completely and consciously transcends any idea that you might have of beer. You see a Gueze takes three years to even be classified as a Gueze, from that point forward the taste only becomes that which legends are written about.

Bottom line, if you don’t listen, you probably should.

Click here to see Podcast Stockton on Channel 10

Click here to see Podcast Stockton on Channel 3

(ps I hate myself for putting “Click here”, but since only my grandparents read this, I have to spell it out for them)

If we are keeping score, I think News 10 did a far better job with the story than the cold Channel 3 in studio plug. The footie of the “outback studio” added a warmth to the story that the frigid studio of Channel 3 couldn’t muster. Also it just seems that Channel 10 cared more because they sent a reporter. Channel 3 invited them to the studio, while nice, its just not personal. Personal works in human interest. Just my opinion, yes I still have it. Enter trolls.

Stay fresh.

I don’t want to suck like SEO companies

I was treating life like a slimy SEO company. I knew the proper strings to pull, or people to agitate to create a response. My content suffered, but I got a healthy amount of traffic. The traffic was seeing a one dimensional character that I had created in an effort to say “LOOK AT ME!!!”. Hence my inner self was experiencing an unseen breakdown. Getting down to brass tacks, number one needs to be in order.

I want to find the focus and channel my energy toward completing a goal that will satisfy my mind. My tactics of late would be just the opposite of what I have realized. I am just as gross as the telemarketer promising front page Google ranking.

It goes like this, the telemarketer will litter your content with links to credible sources and also provide links to your page from “credible” sources. What this does is game the Google engine to garner page views. If you care anything about your content you won’t fall victim to this unethical practice, or you will pay the piper in a high bounce rate.

What you should do is find a focus that your content will encompass. Once the focus is agreed upon, start creating content in the medium that you desire (Twitter, blogging, vlogging, email). Not only will you be staying true to yourself, but you will find that the content is more rich because you actually care about what it is you are creating. Focus allows you a path to follow and a goal to attain. Without either of these you are just treading water.

This has happened to me in the “real” world. I lost my focus and imagination. Living without the chatter I am making strides on finding my lost characteristics. I am creating a plan and readying myself to return the space. Upon my return, I will use the tools available with more precision. That is the idea anyway.

The muddy water isn’t so much clarifying yet, but I think that it is safe to say that the answer lies in acts. You have to love what you do. If you don’t love what you do, you are only acting as a cog in the great machine of depression.

I leave you with a video and a quote.

“If you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves.” Ferment on that until next post.

Stay fresh.

I’ve lost something

In the past few weeks I have noticed something happening. The subtle nuance of this wretched annoyance has been gaining momentum and advancing upon our community with the grace of an ogre pillaging a rural Swedish community. The white elephant in the room has taken its place on the stage and announced that he is present. Everyone at the party has been empowered to acknowledge the subject that we all spoke of indiscreetly.

University of the Pacific is an institution that is quite honestly one of the most immaculate grounds in the City of Stockton. A short stroll through the meticulously pruned rose garden to admire the art of maintaining these visually delicate yet astonishingly resilient plants allows escape. A saunter into the small forum of columns that is easily recognizable as you have seen the image in a coveted family portrait that takes proud residence in the living room of a beloved friend or family member. These and many more monuments of visual expression are valuable to the atmosphere of experimental and free thought, as well as the surrounding community.

Stockton Beautiful is an organization of concerned individuals that have a mission to beautify their community. The board and membership of the philanthropic group from the young and energetic to the wise and accomplished infuse each other with the notion of beauty. Beauty goes further than its superficial stereotype. Beauty creates a culture. Pride comes from beauty. Stockton Beautiful is no stranger to efforts of invigorating a community of individuals to accomplish unthinkable feats of excellence. We can see the fruits of their work in the collaborative spectacle made possible through driven community philanthropic exertion, in the Rose Garden that resides in Victory Park on the north side of the Haggin Museum.

Greg Bahr is a citizen of Stockton. If you have spent any time on the Miracle Mile enjoying a sunny walk on Sunday, or patronizing one of the loving merchants, you have probably come across Greg. He is responsible for community events in the district such as the wildly successful Miracle Mile Night through his interaction with a group of focused individuals that serve on the little known, highly experimental, yet overwhelmingly effective Neighborhood Renaissance Committee. This group is of the mind that if neighborhood events are present the fabric of the community will be strengthened. Communities with strong fabric tend to employ a lighter outlook on the grim offerings that life brings. My opinion of Greg is rather skewed, due to my respect for his efforts, but I am fairly confident that if you stop and listen to his pleas for a cohesive effort in the infinite quest for betterment, we will most definitely agree.

These three groups evidence the presence of positive movement in our City. People are working to create the nirvana of community. As we spoke of earlier, a white elephant that has come from the shadows of civic conversation in Stockton. His presence has been embraced. It is all too easy to make fun, stay cynical and ignore our emotions. The perception of mediocrity and ignorance is lavished upon us by our national media publications. Our local media has become snarky and arrogant to the population of new media consumers. I have found myself embroiled in passion fueled discourse that is not contributing to the solution but rather of symptom of the white elephant. This is the most troubling to me.

It is through my faith that I have weathered the stormy waters of loss. I am no person to preach and ladle my ideological rhetoric upon you. My only mention of this is to make apparent of my plans to regain my imagination and focus my efforts. In my loss of imagination I plan to embark upon a spiritual journey in search of the treasure that has befallen me.

The white elephant’s message is a dangerous path. His call to acceptance is my cue to reboot my operating system. With the Lenten season upon us and the coming of Ash Wednesday, I will be disconnecting from the matrix of chatter, and focus on real efforts. I will leave the acoustically challenged halls of Twitter to find the voice that I have lost. I plan to engage the philanthropy that is meaningful to me and shed the cynicism that has polluted my mind. I plan to detoxify my spirit in an effort to return with the child like wonder that I desire.

Words are not meaningful if not built upon action. My grand plans of success through philanthropy are on trial and it is my turn to stand in front of the judge and plea our case for freedom. I will not be participating in any form of social media other than blogging. I will not be Twitter alerting my blog. My reason for this is that the core of my answer lies in personal discovery. Vanity and narcissism are the foes in which I am at battle with. It is the constant quest for the laugh, that I have lost the ability to entertain myself.

Easter will be the day in which I emerge back to the scene with a hopefully fresh look and box of hustle. I will look to the people that are fixtures in my life for support and share the journey through this little piece of real estate on the internet I call brewery33 aka my stupid writing.

I leave you with a quote that hopefully bounces around your cranium and ferments for a while. I actually don’t know who said it, but it is in no way my work. I hope that works for citing purposes.

“In this media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts.”

Stockton will win.

Stockton is lucky to have this guy!

Guest blogger day at @brewery33 Labs. I met Greg while working on a local political campaign. We instantly became friends based solely on the fact that we were the only people that were not in contention for an AARP discount working on the campaign. As we conversed more, his passion for philanthropy through positive event organizing became apparent. This guy is one of the integral reasons that the Miracle Mile is having community events. His latest endeavor of the Neighborhood Renaissance Committee’s “Save our Post Office” event, was a wild success. I have video to prove it, and will post sometime in the next few days.

Without further ass kissing I give you Greg Bahr “unofficial Mayor of the Miracle Mile” (a title that I officially coined) Thanks for coming to play.

Hello David Siders & Record Staff,

It was good to see you at last weeks City Council. I’m sure your still adjusting to the new resident in your home. As always, I also read your blog from the meeting. I thought it striking that there was no mention about the unique and trailblazing partnership between the City and UOP and many others in the median project at Pacific Ave & the Calaveras River. The fact that UOP donated $86,000 to pay to create a shovel ready project isn’t something commonly seen here. This is good news that the Record should be covering. It is a source of never ending frustration that important things like this are often neglected, passed over, or dismissed. The Record plays an important part in our community. Stockton suffers a bad self-image, and this springs up from many issues, such as; crime, education, and unemployment. However, the Record also shoulders some of the responsibility for our low self-esteem. If the Record were to embark on a “what is great about Stockton” campaign, and create a noticeable, focused, and consistently positive effort at promoting this community, it would go a long way to garner good will equity with the community. A lasting effort to promote the positives of our community would help to spur economic development. And, this part is for the business end of a newspaper, growth in economic development would increase potential advertisers.

I’m trying to do my part to improve the quality of life here. What is the Record doing?

Please be more mindful of important opportunities to report news-worthy events such as the public/private partnership between the University of the Pacific, Stockton Beautiful, the Miracle Mile Improvement Dist., & the City of Stockton.

Greg Bahr
Co-Chair
University Neighborhood Renaissance Committee

St. Baldrick’s Day Massacre

Today was potentially a big day for philanthropy in Stockton. During my daily lurk of the Siders blog I came across the young Lincoln high school student that stood before City Council offering the opportunity to help children that have cancer merely by shaving your head. The poor student got the political treatment and walked away with a meager offer from vice mayor Kathy Miller to hold the clippers, rather than get scalped for charity.

This event gave me the idea to ask my current favorite City Council member (due to her presence in the playground we nerds know as Twitter) @susanEggman if she was game to shave her head. My initial tweet to her was in complete jest and I actually was waiting for some of the faithful to say that I was acting like a bully again and to stop being so rude. Side note, I have found that sarcasm and jokes tend to not translate so well in the written word.

Much to my surprise @susanEggman accepted the challenge but added a caveat, raise 5 thousand dollars. It’s basically a political trump card. It puts me in a position, which began as a common chide, of now becoming a fund raiser for a cause that while is very worthy, doesn’t really fire me up enough to take even more of what little precious time that I have with my family, away from them.

I have received a lot of support from the Twitter community from Stockton and abroad encouraging the pursuit of the goal (thank you by the way), but much to the displeasure of the crowd I will have to bow out. Let’s say politics have won this round. While in a perfect world I would love to drop everything and raise the 5 thousand dollars that it would take to have @susanEggman shave her head, not only embarrass her, but more importantly provide the funds to whatever children’s cancer society that Lincoln High school is benefitting, I must swallow my pride and accept defeat.

I am still game to get my head shaved, and invite fellow Stockton Tweeps to do the same, as long as it doesn’t cost any money. With my stupid start up and educational pilgrimage, I really have very little cash to spare. The only tangible thing of value that I could give to benefit the research of children’s cancer at this point is my dignity by allowing my locks to taken.

Feel free if you are a philanthropist in search of a cause, to take this episode of Parks and Recreation and run with it. It will not be considered poaching and you will be assured run in the paper and possibly TV coverage. It has some legs, but will take a lot of energy to meet the goal, especially in this recession. I hate pussing out, but through many battles and wild stunts I have learned to fold my hand. Thank you Kenny Rogers. Now excuse me while I go to write a check that the City Council is making me do, because I do business in an Enterprise Zone.

Politics 1, @brewery33 -100, Lincoln High School St. Baldrick’s Day complete win, because lots of people are talking about your event. Keep it philanthropic.

Why @podcaststockton will win

@podcastStockton is a pillar of the tech community in Stockton, and San Joaquin County for that matter. I have been marginally entertained with the caliber of guests that @pghMatt has been able to secure for the podcasting faithful to listen to. I say marginally, because truthfully I really don’t care much for the human interest story unless it involves tech in some manner. Whether I like all the features or not, I must commend @podcastStockton for their contribution to this dichotomy we refer to as Stockton, as I sit here and pound out criticism of a positive thing. Reason #666 that blogging is evil.

My use of the adjective “marginally” might sound to some as a diss to a homey. Well it’s not, it’s my viewpoint. I must say though that since episode 17 has come out, @podcastStockton has moved from a sometimes listen bench warmer to the sixth man. Why? There are many reasons. So many in fact that I was relegated to boil them down to the four listed below, or force you to suffer through 1000+ words essentially flattering my humble compadre @pghmatt. You can thank me by telling your friends to listen to @podcaststockton.

Without further adieu here is why the format change and move in relevance to the listenership is going to ensure that @podcastStockton will win.

1. The entrance of co-host @rjvillagomez

At first I was skeptical of @pghmatt and his choice to include @rjvillagomez on the show. Up until this point, @rjvillagomez is only known to me through his VSN (of which I had never heard of until @pghmatt enlightened me) and my voyeuristic encounter with his critically acclaimed 24-hour Rantathon on justin.tv. So to say the least my expectations were pretty low. After a listen to his inaugural performance I was pleasantly surprised. The show will benefit from the outlook of another passionate and charismatic voice. Not that @pghmatt is boring, but it is nice to have the back and forth of two different points of view. Most great heroes have sidekicks, Batman and Robin, Lilo and Stitch, Bert and Ernie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Now the world has @pghmatt and @rjvillagomez that make the dynamic production @podcastStockton.

2. The features were tech centric

I listen to podcasts because most peeps that make podcasts are tech nerds just like me. Sure there are probably some rose gardeners, or pogo stick enthusiasts that produce a podcast, but at the base of the issue, the production requires some tech savvy. Most podcasts are at least mildly related to tech. This is where episode 17 was a huge win. First we have the interview with local blogger @slickDiaz. Dude is an active member that peeps in the tech community are rather intrigued by. Also the dynamic duo took a bite out of @googleWave. Now this is a post in itself, but it brought this new and largely mysterious tech to the table. We had the Tweet-Up story, that was pretty felatious, but a tech story none the less. @CVBWes and his report of local happenings is hugely appreciated, not to mention it is great platform to pump his site in which he attempts to bridge our digital divide. (seriously props to @CVBWes and his team) Kudos to @podcaststockton for the tech theme. I suggest you do more tech, or at least include a tech feature that addresses something tech that is relevant to our little community.

3. Bumpers with local tech peeps

Enough said, love the production value.

4. More features, with the new team of reporters.

With the addition of @rjvillagomez the show stands to cover more ground and benefit the listeners with rich content, more often. Maybe @pghmatt is sitting on a little bureau of community media. Let’s see if he can take the #stir concept that was hatched on Twitter and run with it. @podcaststockton could turn into the 60 minutes of hyper-local media coverage. I smell a little conglomerate in the future.

Bottom line, props to the @podcaststockton team. Look forward to the evolution of the show. So far, I give you thumbs up.

Drinking beer with a purpose, a civic purpose that is

Lot’s of talk regarding this little issue of the public servant sector moving forward with utilizing a more social web. Where I think we lose ground is by attaching the proprietary names of Twitter and Facebook. Try to think concepts and not solutions just yet. I hate when peeps try to force the square block through the circle hole. Just getting on Facebook is not the answer. In fact I don’t even think that Facebook has any real relevance within politics or public service.

The social web movement is a much deeper concept than it seems on the surface.

Here is a little video that will give you some sort of idea of just how intense this whole dissemination of information really is. That is if you aren’t one of the 10 million nerds that have already watched it.

While we talk a lot about our ideas of how we would do it better, and how they don’t utilize the power of the tools put before them, we don’t really act. So here is my challenge. All three of you that have read this post, head on over to the Stocktoberfest on the Miracle Mile. I will be attending, God willing, and we should meet, drink a beer (or a hundred) and put a face to this little digital revolution. Without practicing the art of conversation we will not succeed. Our dribble will be reduced to that of the trolls that lurk on the web espousing their genius solutions to the world’s problems while never taking that walk up the steps that lead out of their parent’s basement and into the real world.

Doesn’t it suck that just because I happen to be able to use a computer good, that I am socially deemed a basement dweller? Well stereotypes will always plague us. It doesn’t bother me, because I get mine.

Hope to see all of my fellow basement dwellers at the Stocktoberfest this Thursday October 1, 2009, if you want to change the world that is.

I will be the guy in the red Polo shirt with a beer in my hand.

Innovate and stay fresh.

~andy