According to a rumor posted over at downtownmakeover.com, TA truck stops, who own the truck stop at McCarren and I-80 in Sparks, have bought the Alamo truck stop at Vista Boulevard. This might be an indicator of TA consolidating their operations into the larger, newer site at Vista and I-80.

This would be a huge improvement, since the congestion at McCarren and I-80 is made much worse by the trucks entering and leaving the truck stop. Most mornings, I sit through multiple cycles of the stop lights trying to head south on McCarren because a truck has failed to make the turn all the way onto McCarren and is blocking several lanes or the entire intersection.

If the truck stop was removed, chances are the Peppermill would expand their Western Village casino, especially considering the new competition from the Legends Bay casino/hotel coming in the next few years. This would be great for traffic in the area, even with the increased load once East Lincoln opens all the way to Sparks Boulevard. This area of Sparks is just not a place than can support massive truck traffic anymore. So here’s hoping!

With this post I inaugurate a new category that I’ve avoided until this point: Politics. I spent an inordinate amount of time today reading politically themed articles and blog posts. Most of that can be blamed on reading David Colborne’s blog and then following the ever expanding tree of links from there. I find myself doing something similar to this every few weeks, and I always come to the same conclusion at the end; I really know nothing about politics.

I usually feel I have a decent understanding of the current political climate, and an opinion of where I stand. After spending some time reading opinions, interpretations and news articles I feel like I’m back in elementary school again. Everyone throws around the terms; left, right, liberal, conservative, moderate, constitutionalist, and my personal favorite, paleo-conservative. However, I can find the same opinion expressed by a self proclaimed liberal and an obvious conservative; both of which will probably go on in the next paragraph to say something completely opposite of one another.

For example, I read one article about Hillary’s views on the Iraq war and think “OK, I’m on board with that” only to immediately read something such as the fact that her campaign is in debt, and has failed to pay some of their bills. What does that tell me about her (and/or her staffers’) ability to manage finances? Hillary is only one example; I’m not singling her out for any particular reason.

If I, a fairly well educated person who spends quite a bit of time keeping up on current events, am thoroughly confused, where does that leave a large portion of the American public? I can’t imagine the average blue-collar working American has the time to browse the internet and read the things I do. They are probably getting 100% of their news from their local network television station, with a smattering of water-cooler chat mixed in. Does this make me feel confident about the general public picking our next president? Hardly.

All of this brings into my mind the ideas of Socrates. He may very well have been on to something with his belief that the general member of society was not equipped with the knowledge to properly choose a ruler or rulers. I mean, we see the people that win American Idol; they are usually the most talented but also tend to conform to what society wants in the categories of looks, clothing, and attitude. Are these categories at all relevant to their singing? In some respects, they are a part of the performance. They are not, however, directly related to the person’s ability. Can we really believe this is a vastly different group of people than the ones going to the polls to elect our Commander-In-Chief?

Now I’m not advocating an aristocracy, or any elimination of democracy as Socrates was. However it is interesting to wonder what facets of our society, if any, would be better under that type of rule. Complete freedom of choice is not always a good thing for a society, as is evidenced by something like murder. For a society to exist and progress there must be rules, and someone to enforce these rules. When that enforcement is directed by a extremely large group of people, things are bound to become corrupt or deviate from the original intention.

So where does all this leave us? At a very interesting point in history, possibly more than we can know. I only hope we continue to evolve and grow as a society and don’t get caught up in a hodge podge of overbearing government à la Blade Runner or 1984. Of course some may say we’re already there.

Well since everyone’s doing it, here’s the results of my online personality test:

I’m sick of upselling. It started with fast food restaurants for me. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t asked to supersize or the equivalent. Now they’ve really crossed the line.

I do not, repeat DO NOT want to buy additional services when I call Charter because my cable internet is not working. I called tech support because I wanted a problem fixed. If I was interested in additional services (ones entirely unrelated to internet, mind you) I would call sales. To top that off, the Charter tech support person sounded genuinely offended when I tersely replied “No” to his sales pitch for cable TV and premium channels. “Well I just want to make sure we are meeting your service needs properly, no need to get upset.”

Slightly less frustrating, but even more ridiculous is the convenience store upsell. Yes, your local gas station or quick stop will probably ask you if you’d like a newspaper or cup or coffee with that pack of gum. This morning I stopped a bought a bottle of orange juice and was asked if I wanted to purchase a donut as well. Don’t you think that I’d have grabbed one from the shelf 16 inches away if I wanted it?

Showing us just how screwed up the telecom industry is in this article, a Verizon staffer talks about the ridiculous incentives they are offered for selling additional items, and even the punishments they are handed down if they don’t.

This seems to be such a horrible business model to use, but it appears to be invading every facet of business. What ever happened to customer service? Apparently “The Customer is Always Right” has become “The Customer Doesn’t Know What They Really Want to Buy”.

There’s a new brewing game in town, and their name is Buckbean. Located just south of the interesection of South Rock and East McCarren, Buckbean is a medium-size brewing operation. They’re created their space out of a larger warehouse type building, and installed a brewing system with a 30 BBL capacity. That’s 30 barrels of beer, or just under 1000 gallons.

They currently have three beers; the Original Orange Blossom Ale, the Black Noddy Lager, and a Red Ale whos name I can’t remember. The Original Orange and Black Noddy will be the first two beers available via 15 or 5 gallon Keg, 64 oz. growler, or 16 ounce can. Tell your favorite bartender about them now!

All three of their beers taste smooth and well refined. You’d never guess they just started operations. The Original Orange starts crisp and clear with a slight citrus note, and finishes just a bit sweet and brings back the hint of citrus. It’s the ideal warm weather refresher. The Black Noddy is a fine example of a black ale, with the richness of a porter and the clean taste of a basic lager, topped off by a smooth finish. The red ale has a clean simple taste with no surprises.

I met one of the owner’s and another woman (perhaps his wife?) who were every bit as nice and hospitable as you’d expect from a small family owned bed and breakfast in a rural mountain town. It’s quite refreshing to meet people with obvious passion for what they do.

So, I suggest that you stop by, if you happen to be in east Reno, and give their brews a taste. The tasting room is open Tues-Thurs from 11-6 and Fri-Sat 11-7. 1155 S. Rock Blvd, Reno NV.

Cheers!

http://english.pravda.ru/business/companies/14-04-2008/104878-highest_tower-0

Apparently the esteemed journalists at Pravda.ru fell asleep during Journalism 101. I ask you to think back to elementary school, and recall the concept of What, Where, Who, When, Why and How - the basic questions that any article should answer.

This article does address the What and the Who, a two-mile high skyscraper designed by some Chinese-American architect, but utterly fails to answer Where this project is occuring (other that specifying that it is in the US), When it will be built, Why in the world it will be built, and How these miraculous architechts propose to build this massive structure.

I mean, really, what’s the point of reporting the news if you’re not actually going to tell us anything about the subject? I won’t even get into the tiny info graphic that looks like it has some size comparisons but is too small to actually read.

But hey, it will contain artificial rivers and be taller than anything in Dubai, so what else do we need to know?

Someone has invented the laptop sweater. Oh, its called a Body Technology Interface? That makes it sound perfectly sane.I think there’s something wrong with this person’s Chair-to-Keyboard Interface.

http://sternlab.org/index.php?project=BodyTechnologyInterfaces

Wow.

My fourth batch of home brew beer is almost ready; it’s been in the bottle for almost two weeks.

At this stage in the game, I feel that I’ve learned enough to have a fairly complete understanding of the process. I’m no longer reading directions at every step, or worrying about missing or screwing something up. I’ve come to the realization that its actually pretty hard to do something that will actually cause the batch to fail.

A few things I’ve learned:

• People have been making beer for thousands of years, long before exact measuring or laboratory grade sanitizing chemicals. As long as common sense is used, it will turn out fine. If the beer were to become contaminated, it would not carbonate and would smell like a dorm refrigerator.
• As long as you use enough base fermentables (barley, wheat, etc), some hops, and a good yeast you will get decent beer. Mixing and matching those ingredients is of course the key to being a good brewer.
• There are a few tools that make the job a LOT easier that you will not find in most starter kits.
  • Having a good boil pot and large spoon to stir your beer with is essential. Make sure the pot fits on the stove!
  • A hydrometer is very handy to tell what the alcohol content of your beer is, and to tell when its done.
  • A copper coil (heat exchanger) for cooling the wort is pretty much essential; without it the process will take a lot longer. You can’t add the yeast until your wort has cooled below 80 degreed Fahrenheit or so.

Most of this is mentioned in various books and guides, but it is mixed in with many other recommendations. If I had followed all of the suggestions I read, I would easily have spent hundreds more dollars than necessary. And of course, you’re mileage may vary.

For your inner social activist, I present The Flobots.

If you’re feeling adventurous, listen to the song before you watch the video. The video increases the impact of the song exponentially.

In the immortal words of Tommy Chong “Thats heavy, man.”

The band is not from the Bay Area, surprisingly enough, but from Denver. While I can’t say I wholly identify with the so-called modern hippie, of which this group seems to be composed, I can definitely buy into a lot of the ideas. On top of that, I’m always a fan of people expressing their ideas via music and art.

Reno made the Esquire Top 100 this year… twice. The first entry at #12 covers Reno itself, and while it presents an overall positive picture, it makes Reno seem a little more backwater than it is. For example:

“There are people who want to make Reno a destination again. But the nice part is that when you’re there, you are off the grid. I flew in on a propeller plane, which added to my sense that I was headed to a sort of backwater. There aren’t cameras everywhere like in Vegas, and even the pit bosses don’t seem to track you as hard. Maybe they’re just grateful for the action.”

Yeah, I doubt the majority of tourists arrive via turboprop. I don’t see the dealers begging for your bets or telling you how gracious you are for plopping down your five bucks. I’m also sure we can’t compete with Vegas in sheer camera density, I would still say there are in fact cameras “everywhere” downtown.

The author seems to enjoy the word “seedy”; he uses it to describe everything from the town in general to dining at the Nugget to the “whorehouses that dot the perimeter of the city.” Huh? Is this 1976? Maybe I’m missing the new definition of seedy. Classy but not pretentious? Yeah that must be it. Someone call dictionary.com and tell them that “poorly kept; run-down; shabby” and “somewhat disreputable; degraded” aren’t current.

It would seem he missed a few areas of town during his three day tour. No mention of any of the non-casino attractions other than a quick word or two about “the mountains” and “the lake”. Well he does briefly mention the National Bowling Stadium. Apparently Reno is composed of the two blocks either side of South Virginia; “You can walk from one end of the city to the other, pass six decent casinos….” Yeah, you missed a block or two.

Despite the misguided perspective, the article certainly doesn’t bash Reno (if we ignore the excessive use of “seedy”); in fact it includes a lot of compliments. I suppose this isn’t the worst writeup we could ask for.

http://www.esquire.com/features/esquire-100/reno1007

The second mention, at #13, goes to Peg’s Glorified Ham and Eggs. According to Esquire, “The Best Breakfast in America.” Alright, I’ll buy that.

http://www.esquire.com/features/esquire-100/bestbreakfast1007