Are you still on Facebook? Why? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy that everything you purchase or clock on becomes fodder for the marketing machine? I still have an account but I only spend about five minutes a month on FB. Too annoying, too much garbage about things I don’t care about about. Why am I getting messages from Mike Pence???? I didn’t sign up for that!
The Silicon Valley Business Journal recently wrote about the data brokers that Facebook works with.
Read about it HERE.
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I always complain about bad service. Here’s a tribute to those who provide GOOD service.
Recently I snapped off my passenger side mirror while exiting my garage. This is about the fourth time. I don’t recall where I took it the other times but this time I consulted Yelp and decided to go with Rosewood, a family-owned detail-and-body shop in Eureka at 842 W 14th St, kind of across from Walgreen’s past the freeway. I don’t have a lot of details to go into because the service was quick and efficient and thorough. It took a couple of days to order a new mirror (my friend had done a great job of taping the old one on except I couldn’t open the window) but it only took a few minutes to install and I was good to go. The price of $186 was fair, and enough to make me more careful about my garage exits.
The place is clean and cheerful with a nice little waiting area and the staff are friendly and helpful. I think it’s the mom who acts as receptionist but I was in and out so quickly I didn’t have time to find out! We like that!
BTW, the defunct Asian restaurant catty-corner from the Walgreens has had a “Rita’s Taqueria Coming Soon” in the window for several weeks. Hurry, Rita!!!
The other great experience we had lately was having our rugs done, again, by A-1 Carpet Cleaners. They restored our dining room carpet that I thought had been ruined by an inconsiderate dog. Phil and his helper did a great job for a reasonable price (two rooms for $97). Definitely recommended.. Their site is HERE.
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The Humboldt Soup Company opened for business in early December to an enormous fanfare of reviews and gossip. People were realy jazzed about it and for a few weeks it seemed to be attracting crowds. Now the hubbub has subsided. The Yelp review count is roughly divided with about four more positive than negative reviews. Practically all the Yelp reviews mention prices.
Price jumps out as an issue because the little 8-ounce cups of soup that go for $3.99 DO seem pathetically small, especially when the soup is particularly good. But we ‘re getting ahead of ourselves.
The soup selections when we went last week were as follows:
Farmers’ Market Vegetable: plenty of vegetables , including broccoli. I though it was a bit light on flavor but it improved a whole lot with a slug of Lea & Perrins and I finished every drop.
Tuscan Turkey Sausage: This soup got most of its flavor from the sausage, strong fennel flavor. Pretty good.
Smoked Ham & White Bean- my friend complained that hers wasn’t thick like mine but mine was fine.
Coconut Chicken and Curry: WE HAVE A WINNER. This was the best soup I’ve had in a while and I’d go out of my way to get it again. Absolutely scrumptious! Terrific!
Now, about those prices. HSC doesn’t have a functioning website and they present their menu on a Facebook page with a photo that looks like a selfie- blurred. The cups of soup go for $3.99, the 16-oz bowls for $6.99, which seems like a much better deal. They have a good selection of salads and some sandwiches. My friend had the pulled pork, which she pronounced fine. There’s enough on the menu to explore that I forsee several upcoming visits. They really do stress local ingredients and in that context, they are not overpriced. The staff are excellent.
So there it is. I’d go back. And I’ll get a bowl of the Coconut Chicken Curry next time. Definitely an upgrade from Church’s!
I had been driving past the Wild Oaks signs in front of the Vets’ Memorial in Eureka for several weeks when I finally got a chance to stop and see what they had. It was pouring rain but the two fellows at the grill were cheery and efficient.
This is not your ordinary food truck. They don’t sell sandwiches, just meat- in big chunks. Like all food trucks they have a website which explains the situation. No sides, no fixin’s, just meat. Well prepared meat, but in large quantities. You can get pastrami and brisket by the pound, but a lot of the other meats require a three to five pound purchase. I had hoped to try their brisket but Rob, the friendly honcho, said they were about half on hour away from finishing . I would have waited if it weren’t raining- the company was pleasant enough- but in the end I went home with about two pounds of pork belly which had been rouladed with peaches and other interesting flavors and then smoked and grilled. It was creative and well-executed, and I look forward to tasting their other wares. Next time I’m having company for dinner, I’m going to call ahead to pin down a time for getting brisket and let Rob and his staff do the prep. Their prices may seem a little spendy but you’re getting hours of real smoke. Serve with a twice-cooked potato and fruit salad from Murphy’s and you’ve got a no-fuss meal.
Wild Oaks has a few challenges. Their website is a mess. Their ever-changing locations and lack of sides or sandwiches may not be a sustainable model but for now they’re kicking butt. The aroma from the grill will convince you. I asked Rob which location did the most business. It’s McKinleyville, with all those two-income commuters.
So check them out and tell them I sent you. I note with interest that two of their three Yelp reviews to date were negative and focused more on the appearance of the staff rather than the quality of the food. The day I was there, we all looked like hell. It was raining!
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When I first discovered the Grocery Outlet, they were in a slightly different location than they are now. The old place was in the same part of town, I just can’t remember where, so if anyone does, tell us please. The old one was a bit more adventurous for the shopper. The used to carry jams from Turkey and honey from places like Moldova. Every visit was an adventure. If you saw something you liked, you had to just grab it because it might disappear, never to return.
Since the move, it’s a different experience. Gone is the schadenfreude I used to feel from mixing with the hoipoloi. These days I’m one of them, and glory in my identification with the 99%. GO is evolving, too. Nowadays, like Safeway, they send you emails about their current offerings. I go about once a month (my food comes from Winco, COSTCO, Murphy’s and Safeway, in pretty much that order). I always go when there’s a food drive on. Not only can you fill your bag cheaply, they stock the kinds of food you want for a food drive- canned soups and stews, peanut butter, tuna. I go to buy for the food drive, then end up buying more stuff for myself than for Food for People. This last time GO was featuring Harris Ranch ground beef in 3 lb chubs for $10 and change. Considering the godawful rise in GB prices lately ($4.99/lb at Safeway) this is a no-brainer. Made two meat loaves.
They still have the weird imports and the domestic non-starters too. I bought tapenade from Peru and low-sugar marmalade from Smucker’s for $1.99. (The NO-sugar version version goes for over $3 at Murphy’s.) They have Irish cheese and I picked up some Stilton, very cheap. They have a lot more fresh produce than they used to and their beer prices are excellent. Definitely the first stop when I’m giving a party.
So if you haven’t been there, give GO a try. Nice people, good prices. And on top of everything else, it’s just across the parking lot from Mike’s DriveUp, of Garlic Fries fame. I’ve never appreciated the Garlic Fries, but Mike’s is the only place in Humboldt -as far as I know- where you can get an LA Tommy’s-style cheeseburger, sloppy. drippy, gooey. With chili? Of course.
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I took my car into Old Town Brake and Auto at 4th and D as I have for the past 15 years and Wally told me he’s retiring at the end of the month, turning the shop over to his son Brian (whose own shop, Eureka Brake & Automotive, on Second Street, will remain open.) Wally has achieved the American dream- a successful business to pass on to his kids and as far as I can figure he did it the old -fashioned way-through hard work. Keeps the same employees around for years too. Stop by and say goodbye to Wally and Sharon, who are remaining in the area. We’ll miss ya, Wally.
And I’ll be offline for a few days while St. Joseph’s installs my new knee. Or should that be, my knew knee? Blessings of the season to all of you.
When I saw that strange-looking letter, I knew it meant trouble. Here was a letter from BOTH North Valley Bank and Tri-Counties Bank, which has absorbed them. At the bottom were TWO signatures, one from each bank. When I worked at Pearl Harbor, the CO used to say, “Split responsibility is no responsibility.” The Old Man was right.
The letter was dated October 3 and notified me that as of October 25, a new servicer, Tri-County, ‘will be collecting your mortgage payments from you” and exhorted me to send all payments due on or after October 25 to TriCounties Bank at a Chico address. I called both numbers to find out that to expect. My mortgage payments are automatically deducted from my Coast Central account. I called Coast Central and both of the numbers on the letter. No one knew anything except that one person thought that TriCounties would be sending me a letter, maybe even telling me what my new account number would be. Nothing came.
I called Tri-Counties again and was told that all the information was in the packet that was sent to me. I explained that no packet had been sent. Finally they told me to visit the TriCounties branch after November 1. On the morning of Monday , November 3, my mortgage payment cleared! Now I could avoid a useless trip to Tri-Counties, right? Oh no, I called and was told by a nice young lady that I had to come in, anyway. I obediently drove to their branch, which was having the signage changed. It turned out the only reason for making me come in was to pick up the stupid packet, WHICH THEY COULD HAVE MAILED TO ME.
Now that I know Tri-Counties is in such dire financial straits that they cannot afford first-class postage and an envelope, I will be following their fortunes with renewed interest.
Meanwhile, a Friend of the Blog filed the following:
“I tried to simply cash a small $260 check (usually $300) from my wife, done monthly , mostly in McKinleyville’s CCCU. Both of us have an account at CCCU. I told the teller my member #. I assume somewhere on their screen it would show that I have 10Kin checking alone. I have lived at the same home address with the same phone number for 43 years and have been a member of CCCU for decades. My CDL was expired and the clerk was not going to let me cash the check without an unexpired CDL. When I pointed out much of the above, I was told that next time I would need an unexpired CDL. I asked the teller to ask management why? Are they law enforcement? What next, you need to be a currently licensed driver? I have both a current license and a CA ID card. I have never had a point against my license since I started driving at age 15 1/2. DMV is using the same photo for both. My credit score is well above 800. I have a VISA with CCCU. I have two monthly deposits from CAL-PERS and Social Security into this CCCU’s checking. DMV never asked for the expired license. I held onto it thinking it would be a valid Government issue photo ID- not at CCCU. What a tale of woe.”
What a tale of woe, indeed. Whatever happened to recognizing your customers?
I drop into Tasty Tacos (in Cutten, on Walnut) every week and when Tom announces “Julie, you’re order’s ready,” all’s right with the world. The banks should be learning from small business. Boy, should they.
AIR- Redding gets a grant. Redding has been awarded a $450,000 grant from the Dept of Transportation in the form of a revenue guarantee to help SkyWest defray the cost of replacing their current turboprop (Embraer Brasilia) service with Canadair Regional Jets, according to the Redding Searchlight Record. The grant requires a $50K match and does NOT guarantee that jets will return to Redding but is a necessary first step in that direction. SkyWest recently pulled out of Modesto and is discontinuing service to Chico in December.
RAIL-HSR is on the way. The California High-Speed Rail Authority took the first step toward actually buying trains, opening bids for a billion-dollar contract to build trains and maintenance facilities. Siemens, which has a location in Sacramento, will be among the bidders, and interest from Chinese and Japanese manufacturers is expected to be strong. The specs are that the trains must be able to deliver passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in three hours. If Siemens prevails, the economic benefits to the Sacramento area would be substantial.
MORE RAIL– The Economist reminds us that HSR is nothing new, in fact it’s been around for 50 years, just kinda slow in coming to California. Fifty years ago this week the Osaka-Tokyo line commenced operations and has “since whisked 5.6 billion passengers across the country without a single serious accident. Punctuality? The average delay is less than a minute.” Japan’s HSR, at 200 mph, is actually pokey compared with China’s Shanghai maglev (430 kph) or the maglev being developed to update the Tokyo-Osaka run to a speedy 500 kph, about an hour’s time. This will cost $47B, but the Japanese have a government that is willing to invest in infrastructure.
STILL MORE RAIL– Closer to home, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Appellate court found that the North Coast Railroad Authority and its partner the Northwestern Pacific Railroad can expand freight service without further environmental review. Specifically, the panel found that freight rail traffic is interstate commence and not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. The envronmental groups that brought the suit, Friends of the Eel River and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics, had not announced at press time whether they would appeal. The NCRA’s next step is to raise $5M to rehabilitate the tracks between Windsor and Cloverdale and to recruit customers for the freight service between Napa and Windsor which currently runs twice a week.
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Do you love dogs? Sure.
Do you love OPD (Other Peoples’ Dogs)? Uh, not so much.
Well, as of January 1, California restaurants with patio spaces will be allowed to serve dogs right along with their owners, assuming the owners are human. This “change” will probably affect Humboldt less than more urban regions because plenty of local eateries are already allowing dogs. The rules are that the patios must have separate entrances so that the doggies don’t enter the restaurant itself and they continue to be banned from food preparation areas. The new rule does NOT mandate that dogs must be allowed on patios; that’s up to the proprietors. Nor does it change any of the rules on bona fide service animals.
I’m a dog owner who does not envision taking my dog to a restaurant in this lifetime. For one thing, she’d eat everything in sight. For another, she’d never be able to share space with one of those cute fuzzy little dogs that look and sound exactly like her squeak-toys. The other question is, do I want to share a table with someone else’s dog? When MY dog drools on the table, it’s cute. When YOUR dog does it, it’s disgusting.
I’m all in favor of consumer choice, so when I pass by a patio cafe where chows are chowing down in favor of a human-only environment, that’s a valid choice. I wonder how the majority of Humboldt diners will react to their new dining companions.
PART ONE: Imagine there were a company that offered on-line shopping, business-to-business sales, online payments, wholesale trade and cloud computing- in other words a combination of eBay and Amazon that is actually bigger than eBay and Amazon combined. Welcome to Alibaba.
Started by a schoolteacher named Jack Ma on his kitchen table in Hangzhou in 1999, the company, now based in Hong Kong, is about to launch what may be the biggest initial public offering in history, one which could easily surpass Facebook’s fumbled IPO of $16B in 2012. Why will be the biggest beneficiary? Yahoo, which owns 24% of Alibaba and will probably use the infusion of cash from the IPO to continue its buying spree of smaller tech companies. To give you an idea of the scale, Alibaba processes $248B in retail sales yearly. Here’s a description from the Mercury News:
‘”Nearly 8% of all Chinese online shopping goes through Alibaba sites; on Singles Day last year, a popular holiday in China for online shopping, the site processed $5.8B in in purchases. By comparison, eBay’s total sales on its online marketplace for all of 2013 were $6.8B.”
Alibaba is also moving into mobile commerce in a big way, investing in American companies like Mountain View -based Tango Me and in Lyft, the San Francisco -based ride sharing app, while attempting to consolidate its position amidst its nearest rivals, Baidu and TenCant, which is already rolling out its own IPO. (Google and eBay have departed the China market). Alibaba’s IPO was scheduled for August 8 (eighth day, eighth month- the Chinese like “8”s) but may be delayed due to last-minute glitches involving SEC approval of some of their subs which are based in the Cayman Islands. Ma, who is worth over $8B, has stepped down as CEO but remains as Chair of the 21.000 employee firm and is devoting his time to a charitable trust.
It’s a global economy for sure, and becoming more so every day. Wonder how long it will be before we start seeing Singles’ Day promotions? That ‘s too good an idea to skip.
PART TWO: The Analects of Jack. The early history of Alibaba is set forth in a documentary and a book (Alibaba, by Liu and Avery, 2009) which describes how at one time in the early days, Ma was literally kidnapped and held hostage in a Malibu mansion at gunpoint until he talked his captor into going into business with him). Ma only got into college on his third entrance exam but his English major has definitely been put to good use in the following phrases which were compiled by American City Business Journals from various interviews and an appearance on Charley Rose that I’m sorry I missed. Here’s a sampling.
Why he likes small businesses and tries to help them through Alibaba: “I’ve seen people make a fortune by catching shrimps, but I’ve never seen anyone make a fortune by catching sharks and whales. It’s like Forrest Gump.”
On putting customers first: “It’s customers No, 1, employees, two, and shareholders, three. It’s the customer who pay us the money, it’s the employees who drive the vision, and it’s the shareholders who when the financial crisis comes, these people ran away. My customers and my people stayed.”
On technology: “I know nothing about technology. I use the computer to browse the Internet and receive email. That’s it.”
On developing a business: “If you want to be a great company, think about what social problem you could solve.”
On money and Alibaba’s large cash reserves: “When you try to solve problems with money, that is when your real problems start. A company’s assets are like a country’s armed forces.You cannot use it lightly, but if you ever need to mobilize it, you must win.”
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