Eddy Arnold has passed away. It’s interesting that there are still some real old-school legends walking the earth but we forget until they pass away. There are rumors of a racist move that he pulled and I don’t know anything about that. He was like country’s Sinatra, though. Countrypolitan, they called it.

The good news is that there are seven teams right now with worse percentages than the Giants.

The bad news is that they are moving Barry Zito back into the starting position after putting him in zero times as a reliever. Ego management? I guess they were just making a show for the other starters by announcing that he was in the bullpen. I’m no genius when it comes to baseball management.

I hope it works.

Coach needs to get these guys’ attitudes under control. It’s a bad carpenter that blames his tools. How can they learn when they are out flapping their gums?

Hey, want to meet my boss and find out more about where I work? Lookie here.

Also, you’ll never guess who showed up to speak to us yesterday.

That’s right - The KayJ-ster! he did pretty well, actually. Go figure.

I work in midtown and generally bring a frozen lunch to microwave, but this week we have tried to spice it up a little by grabbing lunch out. It’s a good opportunity to try a few places that have seemed compelling.

Yesterday we ate at Cafe Marika. It’s a czech-hungarian mom and pop cafe right across the street from my office. I have had my eye on it since the first day of work. I had the ‘Chicken Thermal with spetzels’. Yummy. The thighs weren’t anything special but the meal was prepared well and not very expensive at $7.50. The place is tiny and only has about 5 tables. The couple that operate it were interesting and the decor is grandma-quirky.

I love the quote from chef-owner Louie Chruma in this article - “When you work together and live together and sleep together, you have to know when to shut up” True words from a wise man.

Today, though, was a mind-blower. La Bonne Soup Cafe is around the corner from the central library and is another hole in the wall success story. Chef Daniel Pont used to rule things in Castro Valley but is now kicking soup’s ass here in Sac. (neener-neener-neener!) We split two sandwiches. The bread was perfectly fresh and well-toasted as the owner-operator-master calmly assembled each order before ringing up the customers himself (and washing hands every time!)The braised pork was delicious but the warm brie and apple has to be tasted to be believed. I had a cream of mushroom and leek soup with mine that was very pleasant. It doesn’t seem like such a difficult thing to do, but he does it with charm. He’s clearly shopping correctly and rotating the food through in order to serve fresh daily. This place only has about five tables as well, but as we arrived before noon, we were able to sit. I find it hard to imagine a better lunch in downtown, but will try try try to seek that out in any event. My bet is that I will just return to La Bonne more often than not.

Amazing!

Albert Hoffman, known as the ‘Father of LSD’ has passed at the ripe old age of 102.

I owe this guy a lot. I would not be who I am today without his wonderful accident.

operating a cd shop on mars (thanks Simpleton) from 1995 to 2001.

Men want to talk about any brush with greatness that they think you will hear. I do the same thing. Ask me about walking Kurt Cobain to his table. Or escorting Chris Rock to the Digable Planets dressing room. This goes on all day when you stand behind the counter in a record store.

Customers will make today’s purchase with lots of confidence while attempting to sell their last pile of bad decisions.

There is no point in trying to stop a dope or alcohol fiend from spitting on a cd and wiping it on their shirt when you tell them their cd has a trillion deep grooves on the back and that it is reason number 250 why you won’t be buying it from them….for any amount.

I imagine that they take these cds to the lake with them and when they get out of their friend’s car, the discs fall onto the hot parking lot surface and get kicked, stepped on, raked along and destroyed. Daily.

Yes, I know that 17.98 is too much to ask for that dumb cd. I paid 13.78 for it myself already. The more I stand here listening to your internal monologue-gone external, the less I make per hour to sell it.

I am walking down the street with my kids on a Sunday evening. Do not pull over to ask me if I have the Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits in stock…used.

I always had Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits…used. It’s like running water for Northern Californians apparently. Other must-own chestnuts include Enya, The Eagles, The Beatles and Stones (of course), and those ‘Now’ things.

When I special order something for you and you bug me about holding it for you for months while you have no money, I think you are an asshole the day you show up and quietly buy something else. I didn’t forget, I just get tired of underscoring your pathetic tendencies, which are obvious. No, I will never order something for you again without a pre-pay. Don’t complain. Just shut up and do it. Your world sucks.

When I catch you shoplifting from my store, I feel it is completely reasonable to make you throw your fancy new shoes onto the roof and to make you hand over your cool new hooded sweatshirt. It’s called frontier justice, I believe. It’s what I deal.

New releases arrive on Tuesday with the UPS guy. Always have. Forever.

If someone tries to give you a copy of REM ‘Monster’, just walk away. It’s one of the most often purchased and rejected albums in my experience.

There’s a reason that crappy 3 dollar new cds cost that much. I know that the recordings are strange and not what you expected. I know that there are no liner notes inside. Did you really think that you had outsmarted the industry and found a way to pay less than everyone else for top quality product?

If I decide that I like your style and want to make your life a bit easier in exchange for you doing the same for me, I will quietly give you a discount at the register. It’s not a mistake and I don’t need to talk about it and you don’t owe me anything in return. It’s my choice and I want you to come back. Seems simple to me. I will take a smile.

So, you’re getting married to a cop…yes. I hear you. I am already walking out to the rack for your copy of Lonestar’s ‘Amazed.’ Have a nice wedding.

It has always disturbed me the way that an artist’s work sells so much after they die. Immediately after they die. Is that not sort of embarrassing to be that person rushing out to buy things that way? Guess not.

Yes, I did hear that one of the Beastie Boys died. Every ten months since I was in high school, in fact. No, it has never been true. I don’t know why this one persists so.

I remember being happy to open a store where local Indians could feel comfortable buying their music. The old store in town was run by crabby old women that didn’t create that sense. An Indian later stole from me while I was helping a blind customer and, in one case some Indians left actual human shit on the floor to repay me for my efforts. Bummer.

I felt like a true businessman standing in the shop until late on Christmas Eve.

Sometimes when you have a hottie female customer that supports your business whenever she is able and maketh the good conversation when she shops, you move in with her a decade later.

Oh man. What was this guy thinking running for public office?

Kevin Johnson’s St. HOPE nonprofit is under investigation by the federal government for allegations including misuse of federal funds and Johnson’s sexual misconduct toward two participants in its Hood Corps, an urban Peace Corps-type program, according to a government attorney.

Dan McGuire, legal affairs secretary for the Governor’s Office — which manages all the state’s AmeriCorps programs — said Friday morning that the probe was launched after The Bee raised questions about Hood Corps. These questions included the failure to report the sexual allegations related to a student and a teenage volunteer, the program’s religious and physical aspects, and the types of work volunteers were doing.

“We were quite alarmed,” McGuire said. “We called the inspector general and started the process.”

Finally, The Sac Bee gets it’s teeth on a real story. Good job!