brewery33

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.

An awkward moment

Residents of undeveloped nations would scoff at my personal journey. The fact that I am at such an odds with myself, that the focus of my life at this point is to regain a focus, is a metaphor of excess for the gluttony that has entangled the world’s perception of our “culture”. I ridicule myself for having such a paltry outlook. People are dying from disease, famine and violence and I am sitting here pretty in my upper middle class tax bracket with a loving wife, cute daughter, expensive PC’s (that’s right multiple computers), newish car, and job (yes I even have a job) that allows me flexibility in my personal endeavors (blogging, civic involvement, philanthropy). What the fuck do I have to complain about? I feel like such a pussy and a dick at the same time for even exercising my mental ineptitude as a real problem.

Whether you agree with my judgment of myself, or care to add to the findings, I could really give a flying you know what. My goal is focus and innovation. Without imagination, innovation is impossible. In order to find my wayward imagination, I must focus. Focus requires concentration. Hallways as noisy as my social media outlets diffuse focus.

Riding with my Dad the other day, on our way to get ashes I vocalized my issue with him. We had an awkward father/son moment where we weren’t sure how to deal with the emotions, and then after some added forced conversation I happened upon a possible obstacle that could be the first clue in locating my imagination.

Since the death of my mother I have found that the dynamic of my family has changed. Before you face palm and close the tab that you are viewing my stupid writing on, the statement deserves merit. You see with the death of my mother, I basically have become an orphan. My dad being a man from an all boy family and me being the oldest boy of yet another all boy family, emotional fortitude is not really our strongest characteristic. With that said, I always had two parents, but recently had one exit this dimension and move on to whatever lies on the other side. The other, my dad for those of you keeping score, is reeling from the sudden shock of a 35+ year mate vanishing. In his plight of a now upside down life, the role of a father has been displaced with the rest of his displaced existence.

As I sat and pondered the direction that this revelation had the potential to take me I listened to the message of the ashes, which was suffer silently. Great, so now that I have made the decision to go to social media rehab, which we will call my blog, I get an M. Night Shyamalan plot twist thrown at me. Here I think that I am having a complete epiphany, only to find that once again the location of my imagination has eluded me.

Suffer in silence for the world doesn’t hold the answer to your toils. Kind of makes my blog useless.

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