Hello Woodland! Another new thing here at InsideWoodland...and no, it is not a video this time. (Which is a good thing because my face is still numb.) This time around we're bringing a new Homepage For The City. We've got blog entries, news stories, classified ads, real estate listings and more. Actually, all we have is links to this stuff, but it's all compiled in one place that's easy to get to- and updated every 20 minutes. So check it out...we did this for you, so enjoy. It's just another piece of home-grown time-wasting crap from InsideWoodland- the only site in town creating original stuff for you to use. Go to: http://thepile.org/ (And check out the classifieds, there is some good stuff out there.)
InsideWoodland Television returns for Episode Two! This week, we are at the Yolo County Fair. We've got:
Watch the video here: http://insidewoodland.com/playepisode2.html On the technical side, I've made a few changes to make things look/sound a whole lot better. Important! I've also made the video HUGE. This may load a little slower for some of you. If you have problems with the video 'stuttering' then just hit the pause button and wait a minute. After that the video should play fine. Please comment on what you think about the video. Thanks- And if you haven't done it yet- watch the video!
*episode1*
Last night at the Sammies, Woodland's own Bottom Dwellers took home the People's Choice Award for Best Country/Bluegrass Band. Congratulations! If you don't know about the Bottom Dwellers, check out the Inside Woodland story. (Photo by Kristyn Eagleton. Left
to right in photo: Adam - guitar/vocals, Ivan - guitar/vocals, and Mark
- bass/beard. Not pictured is the BD's drummer, Chris.)
When I was in my early twenties, I was fairly poor. So poor, that I had to buy a lot of my clothes at the thrift-store. I used to rush in and out of the store, hoping no one would see me. One day I was in the thrift store with a stack of shirts across my arm, and I noticed a woman next to me. Actually, I noticed nice legs and a short skirt was next to me. So I looked up to see the rest. (And to make sure it really was a woman...this was Los Angeles after all) Oh crap- I knew her. In fact, I knew her from work. And she was looking right at me. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, stammering, trying to think of how I could pretend I wasn't in a thrift-store with an armful of clothes I would be wearing the next week. So I said, "Oh hey...I don't really shop here..." She said to me, "Umm, I shop here. So what's the big deal?" I thought to myself, "Yeah, what is the big deal. If a hot chick like this shops here, then it is no big deal." Then I thought, "Hmm...I wonder if she would go out with me...." (No.) Fast forward about 18 years, and I still love to buy things at discount. That is where Grocery Outlet comes in.
There are two types of people in this world. Those who pay interest, and those who earn interest. This more than anything else determines the flow of wealth in our society. And generally the reason people keep paying interest is because they want instant gratification.
A little while ago I did a story about some of the new Centex homes out in Spring Lake. Some of the people who read the story thought that I was trying to say that the houses were ugly, without charm, etc. That wasn't it. I actually really like the houses. They're big, have beautiful kitchens and tons of things my current house does not have. What I was trying to say was that the houses are expensive- beyond the means of most people in Woodland. Even with all of the discounts, free options, and the other incentives, they are not cheap. So why revisit this story? Right now every news agency is flooded with stories about houses being foreclosed on. Some news outlets are calling this a tragedy, painting the homeowners as 'vicitms.' I was watching a show just yesterday about a woman named Maria whose family has a combined income of $75,000. She was in tears because her $500,000 home is being foreclosed on. Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
Business- it makes the world go round. We know this, so we're adding a new feature on InsideWoodland- free business listings. But wait- aren't there other business listing services out there? Yes- yes there are. But this is a bit different. The main difference is that not only can you create a listing, but you can create an entire page to go with it. You can add as much text, and as many pictures as you would like. Seriously, if you want to put up 50 pictures, go ahead. Write glowing prose about your business. That's fine. You can add links or anything else you would like. Nobody else gives you all of that...and it is FREE. What's in it for businesses? These are super-targeted ads to the Woodland community. And they are only available to Woodland businesses. You won't be competing for eyeballs with businesses from Sacramento, Davis, etc. We'll leave that to the phone book. You have total control to create the type of listing you want. Pictures, pictures, pictures! Once again the phone book is going to charge you an arm and a leg just to make your name bold. Here you can add as much as Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
Once again my wife was out of town, and once again I found myself driving around town looking for something to eat. I had basically decided upon Mexican, but I didn't want the same super-heavy Mexican food that I usually get. So I ended up trying a different place, Cocina Maya, which is in the Raley's shopping center. I asked the counterman, (who ended up being the owner, Roberto) what he recommended. He told me, "Get the number 8 combo, it has a little bit of everything so you can see what you like." It also came with a soda, which was a pretty good deal for $6.75. (I may be slightly off on the price, but it was somewhere around that) Roberto ended up bringing out a beautiful plate of food. Great colors, awesome textures. It looked gorgeous. My god, I haven't seen anything this pretty since I snuck into 'The Blue Lagoon' when I was 12 years old. On the left is a tamale, but it is a special kind of tamale, 'chalupitas.' Roberto was very friendly, and I asked him what the difference between that and a regular tamale. He told me that there are about 6 different tamales in the tamale family, all a little different. He described them to me, but since the only word I could understand was 'tamale' I didn't catch most of it. But I did catch the fact that they use banana leaves instead of corn husk Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
This is just a quickie, but I thought it was worth noting. I went to Walmart today, and on the way out I noticed this big explosion in their milk refrigerator. Obviously it wasn't cooling anymore and the milk was going bad and at least one jug had exploded. Why did I bother posting this? Well, I've made the mistake of buying milk at Walmart before, and I think I've gotten bad milk about half the time. Of the 4 times I've gotten milk there, it was rotten twice. There won't be a 5th time, because I've learned my lesson. I really wish I had taken more shots of the cooler, because most of the cartons of milk were at a pretty advanced stage of rot. But I didn't think they would appreciate me standing there taking pictures.
If you read the Daily Democrat, Woodland's newspaper, you know editor Jim Smith. I like Jim, I don't always agree with Jim, but he's a good guy. I called the newspaper office one day at 7:00 pm to ask for a meeting location that ran in the paper a few days before, Jim picked up the phone and dug through a few old papers to find the article for me. You know you have a small staff when the editor answers the phone at 7:00 pm on Wednesday. Let me assure you that- To be fair to Jim, he is a rather plain looking fellow who lacks the flair and panache to excel in a visual m
The most heavily read story on this site so far has been David Brown's article that there is no place to skate in Woodland. The story did mention that we have one place to skate- a small area of Crawford Park is set aside with a few ramps and rails. I figure that I should go see what is going on there. I pulled up to the park hoping to see some kids skating. A big group of kids with skateboards was getting in a truck just about to leave. So I went over, "Hey, I was lookin' to take some pictures of skaters. You guys wanna get your pictures taken?" " Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
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A new supermarket, or super mercado, opened up in town a few weeks ago. I went right away, intending on writing a post. I took pictures and had everything set- except for the story. My problem is that while the La Superior Super Mercado may be the best Mexican supermarket I've ever been to...it just isn't that fabulous. They do a great job- the fruits and vegetables section is good. The meat area is good, and the bakery is impressive. But Nugget is better. Raleys is better. Bel Air is better. I know that this is a different supermarket, specializing in Mexican groceries. But I didn't see too much stuff that you can't find at Food For Less. La Superior is a FANTASTIC place to buy Mexican groceries. But a lot of this stuff is overlap from the things you can buy at regular stores. I mean, do I really need a new store so I can buy, 'Champagne Cola?' I don't mean to knock La Superior too much- I know I am not part of their intended audience. But I guess I was expecting more...like maybe a bullfighting ring or something. Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
The Pupuseria is in a pretty odd location. It is in the old Taco Bell building at the East end of the Hollywood Video parking lot. This is way too easy to miss, but I recommend you do not miss it, because this is a new and very interesting type of food in Woodland. What is a Pupusa? A pupusa is really thick corn tortilla that is stuffed with things like pork, cheese, or beans, then it is cooked with everything inside. It is not stuffed like a taco or burrito, but stuffed like a pot-pie. (Can I get any whiter?) Like I said, the tortilla is really thick, like a gordita from Taco Bell. (There, I just got whiter.) The restaurant also has a full menu of food, both Salvadoran and Mexican. Everything is fresh. Because of this the food is not ready super-fast, but the wait was not excessive. I enjoyed the food here immensely. I ate 3 different kinds of pupusa (Pork/Cheese, Beans/Cheese, and Cheese/Squash). Each is served with a healthy dose of cabbage (they call it coleslaw, but they know as much about coleslaw as I know about pupusas) and a good selection of hot salsas. I also had 'Empanadas de Platano' which is banana empanadas. I didn't realize this was a dessert item, but it was also good. I am VERY excited to go back and try some of their other food, including the Sweet C Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
I was a beautiful day, so my wife and I wanted to get out of the house. I was trying to convince her that a trip to the motorcycle dealership would be a good way to spend time. She was looking for something a little less...well, expensive. So she said to me, "Why don't you grab your camera, and we'll go see if anything is happening at the Community Center." Hmm..she usually groans when I've got my camera (she has been to waaayyy too many photo sessions) so I figure this was a pretty big sacrifice for her to make. Or more to the point, she really doesn't want to go to the motorcycle shop. Continue Reading Click icons to view large pictures.
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