I was at my local post office today returning my latest Netflix pick when–to my great surprise–I noticed a new mail slot. The post office is, for the most part, rather old school. For all my life, there have been two options at the mail slots: stamped and metered. Now they’re shaking things up, and I for one am pleased, but cautiously so.

The whole thing raises lots of questions in my head: how many movies do they process through my post office? who decides when there’s a new mail slot? (I’ve never been to the post office on tax day, but I don’t imagine the IRS has their own slot even on that day). Has anyone seen this at their post office? I’m curious if it’s a Sacramento thing or if it’s being done across the country (nothing on the USPS website). Is this a de facto endorsement of a private company? I know FedEx paid a lot to have their kiosks put in post offices.

I was also surprised to see only one pick-up time on the sign (it’s cut off, but it was 5:00 M-F). The regular mail slot has four pick-ups a day. Maybe they only send Netflix out once a day anyway, but it sure felt better dropping them off at the crack of dawn so they’d send the next thing in my queue that much faster.

I used to love to fly. SMF was my gateway to a world beyond California. To Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, New York, all kinds of magical places. Today, though, it was another matter. We checked in with plenty of time to spare, and entered the secure area gingerly. My jacket and shoes off and placed in a plastic bin, my laptop in another bin, my bag in still another bin, my boarding pass in hand and my pants around my ankles, I approached the metal detector.

I watched as the family in front of us moved through. Mom first, then Dad picked up their 2 year old toddler to take her through. He made it one step before the TSA goon instructed him to back up and to remove her shoes. Dad looked incredulous, and the goon repeated himself. Not wanting an anal probe today, he removed his daughter’s shoes, to the girl’s incredible trauma. She was crying, and frankly, I’d have been bawling too. Through security they went Dad comforting daughter that the mean TSA goon wasn’t out to get them.

What kind of world is this if we expect the shoes of two year olds to be carrying explosives?

On a side note, when I went through today, I presented my Library of Congress Reader Card as Identification. I was rebuffed by the TSA checkin woman who told me it was no good there. The regs on the TSA site say: “We encourage each adult traveler to keep his/her airline boarding pass and government-issued photo ID available until exiting the security checkpoint.” I’m fairly sure that Congress constitutes part of a “government” and they were the ones issuing the card, so it really shouldn’t have mattered. But it did.

What’s really funny? I can check out from the Library of Congress a multitude of heirloom-grade archival resources, spend time viewing all manner of invaluable documents, but I can’t get on an airplane. What a topsy-turvy world this is.

An article in today’s SF Chronicle heralds the upcoming opening of Wag Hotel in SF’s SOMA neighborhood. The boutique endeavor started in West Sac, where some careful linguistic choices turned a dog kennel into a dog hotel with rooms, not runs, and turn down service, not poop scooping.

Swapping litter for luxury the West Sac location is described thusly:

Last year, Wag’s Leineke and a partner opened their first facility in a refurbished West Sacramento warehouse, intending to mimic the hotel industry. They went so far as to hire a former hotel executive to help them make the transition, and one of the first things they decided to do was ditch the antiquated kennel lingo, Leineke said. At Wag facilities, guests (not dogs) check in (instead of get dropped off), and they stay in rooms or suites (not runs or cages), which are turned down (instead of cleaned). . . .

[At] Wag’s West Sacramento facility, the lobby and retail center are intentionally designed with hip furnishings and painted in bright colors, much like a boutique hotel. The boarding areas in the back of the warehouse are wide open, with three spacious playpens and a swimming pool. Leineke said Wag’s initial surveys found half of its customers were first-time kennel users, indicating a new wave of clients who’ve found a boarding scenario that assuages their worst fears.

“We’re tapping the portion of the market that says, ‘There’s nothing worthy out there of taking care of my furry child,’ ” Leineke said. “So if they’re going to do it, they prefer these kinds of services.”

So, West Sac has started an all out arms race for doggy decadence. I suppose it makes sense with the emerging West Sac/Sac Area demographics and population growth. But, well, really? TVs for your pooch? One SF Kennel owner said it best:

“I don’t know of any dogs who watch ‘Animal Planet,’ ” he said. “That’s the kind of stuff that helps lessen the owner’s guilt, but I don’t know if it helps the dogs.”

Long-time midtown landmark Harv’s Carwash is now Harv’s Metro Carwash. So are they trying to update their image, or are they trying to keep up with their fancy-pants neighbors?

… and it’s not an arena. Construction on the last leg of the light rail extention that connected the outer ‘burbs of Folsom to downtown is in the final stretch of linking to the Amtrak station near 5th & I.

It’s great to be able to theoretically get from any light rail station to other parts of the state by train, but will it do much to get more people using light rail?

While we’re waiting for a transit-accessible arena in the Railyards, you can hop on the train and go to Oakland or San Francisco. I have many issues with the current arena deal, but its location isn’t one of them.
Hopefully the railyards will get some use for people going places, even if it isn’t a destination itself.

Thoughts and sympathies going out to the a 16-year-old girl and her family, as well as Sac RT bus driver Yon Gomez. According to the Bee, Gomez had a “medical event” just before his bust hit the unidentified girl.

I’ve been taking the bus to the work the last few days, which has been surprisingly convenient. A few years ago, RT had to cut back on bus service because a dearth of drivers and increased overtime costs as a result. My bus the last couple of days has been on time (or even a little bit ahead of schedule), much unlike my junior high school days when I sometimes had to wait 45 minutes for a late bus.

And on a happier note, my bus driver this morning (on the #6 route) took a moment to announce that effective Wednesday there would be a new driver on the route. This driver (who’s name I didn’t get) was “turning in the steering wheel for a bowling ball.” He announced his retirement to a roaring applause on the bus and shouts of congratulations. Good Luck and may the turkeys be plentiful.

11:02 pm Update: KCRA just reported that the man who took control of the bus when Gomez took ill was legally blind!!! Hooray for him for surely preventing other potential harm.

Harv’s: Great car washes, questionable grammatical and/or geographic savvy. (Click to biggify)