Dan Sofia's Retirement Party

Tomorrow we will be attending my friend Dan Sofia's retirement party at Calvine High School. Dan concludes his long career (nearly forty years) in education in just a few short weeks. Many of those years he has served as an administrator for the Elk Grove School District, but he began his vocation as a business teacher at Hiram Johnson High School (that was the year we met) immediately after completing his business education degree from Fresno State University. Dan also worked a short time for the Sacramento County Office of Education, my place of employment for thirty years, both as a teacher and as an administrator. Forty years is a long time, but Dan started his work in education at a very young age, so he has a lot of years left to enjoy retirement.

Nancy and I wish Dan the best as he embarks on his new journey as a retiree. It should be interesting to follow his next life as an untethered educator, with plenty of time on his hands and lots of energy to channel towards some new endeavor. Welcome to the club, Dan!

Visit To Old Sacramento

We took a short mid-week drive to a location that we had not visited for quite some time - Old Sacramento. Old Sac is still being developed, after some forty or so years, and I suspect the recession has curbed a few of the more recent projects that were under consideration to make the area a more desirable attraction to both tourist and locals alike. Nevertheless, Old Sacramento will always have a certain charm even if it does have a few shortcomings compared to other cities that have an enticing river front to build on (for instance - Louisville, Kentucky or Portland, Oregon)

We enjoyed our walk along the river front and as we walked we discovered some establishments that have been a part of Old Sacramento from day one, and a few that that have been recently added, primarily it seems, to draw a younger demographic to the area (some tattoo parlors and several casual eating places). All and all, it still felt pretty much like the Old Sac that I recall from the eighties and nineties. That's not a criticism, I liked the Old Sac from that era and I use to visit the area frequently, back in the day. We spent time shopping at a couple of the smaller stores and then had a foot long hot dog and a caramel apple as we took in the sights.

The Crossfire is a neat way to travel to places like Old Sacramento, West Sacramento, the Delta, or any number of small towns that aren't all that far from the heart of the city. We plan to do more outings to such places, as the summer progresses. You can see some pictures of Old Sac to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Viva Las Vegas - Car Max Email - Chili Dog Rules

Contrary to most media reports, Vegas continues to attract a rather large number of tourists for certain events. At least, if our recent visit is any indication, the strip is still a big draw for those tourists seeking top notch entertainment at lower rates than what was being offered before the recession. Nancy and I have visited Las Vegas many times over the past few years, so I can't say that the city was as crowded as it was a year or two ago, but the streets were far from barren, even though it was mid-week and there was no hundred thousand plus conference going on at the time.

We really enjoyed the shows on this visit. The first night we went to see Donny and Marie Osmond at the Flamingo Show Room. A decade of experience has made this duo a stellar act. Entertaining is in the Osmond blood and Donny and Marie made good use of their family history. The sister and brother act mixed songs from their past, including music from the Donny and Marie show, along with some new material. Yes, one is still a little bit country and the other a little bit rock and roll, but Marie has evolved her sound to include Opera as well. I must add, her Operetta was truly mesmerizing. She performed flawlessly. Her goal is to ultimately sing opera with The Metropolitan Opera.

The next night we saw another fabulous show, a Cirque du Soleil, the Beatles - Love show. The "Cirque" shows are always unique and this is one of their best. Beatles music never sounded better and the visual depiction of the songs was stunning. Quite a contrast from the more traditional Donny and Marie show, but equally enjoyable.

As always, the food was great. We had an especially memorable meal at one of the South Point Hotel (where we stayed) restaurants, Don Vito's Italian Restaurant, and we had a great burger at the Mirage and another delicious meal at the Flamingo Buffet.

On a different note, I received a nice email from CarMax shortly after posting some pictures of our Chrysler Crossfire Limited Roadster which was purchased from the Roseville CarMax store. The details of this purchase is still posted on one of my previous blogs from a couple of weeks ago, if you are interested. We have purchased four vehicles from Car Max over the last five years and every vehicle has met our expectations - in terms of the quality and condition of the automobile. CarMax is very selective of the vehicles they choose to sell. Their extended warranty plans provide an extra measure of protection from potentially costly repairs and the owner has the option to have the car repaired at a CarMax store or by a dealer. In my opinion, CarMax makes a lot of sense if you are tired of the haggling and negotiating usually associated with the purchase of a new or used vehicle. Many vehicles from Car Max are low mileage and in like new condition. I feel that the bottom line is that you pay a fair price for the peace of mind which comes with buying a CarMax vehicle.

I've posted a couple new pics of our dog, Chili. We adopted her a couple of months ago and since that time she has not had any problems transitioning from her previous life to her current head of our household status. We want her to have a good life, and as a result we have made our home more dog friendly. For instance, Chili needed a way to access the backyard on her own, so we recently added a dog door for her convenience. The design sort of snowballed so that it not only included the dog door, but a complete covered dog run as well. The run leads to a grassy area in our back yard. Chili has easily mastered the dog door entry and exit and now she can "sun bath" in our backyard at her discretion. As they say, "Dog's Rule". I will post a photo of the dog run along with some more pictures of Chili, later in the week.