BTW: I'm Over on Vox Now

I've decided to move my blogging over to Vox, and what's more, I am now running two blogs! That is double your lurking pleasure--since I never see any of you posting...

It's also twice the snark, twice the material and two very different themes:

pinkslipnation.vox.com covers economics, politics and environment in my voice

thekklife.vox.com is the same random observation and humor you expect from theKKLife

I hope you will like the new layout, which, coupled with more focused and less sporadic posting, will make both of these a lot of fun to read.

So why aren't you commenting already?
:0

What if Your Starbuck's Card Threw in a Free Tip?*

I love my barista but it just is not convenient to tip in a credit card society, and I know that tips have declined as more of us whip out the card instead of pulling out a few dollars.

Which got me thinking, why doesn't Starbucks encourage everyone to use a gift card by offering that every time we load a gift card and pay with it, the crew working gets some token amount or percentage thrown into their pay that day? Ponied up by the company itself, of course. I don't mean charging the customer, but building it in as an incentive of using the card the way you did for the drink upgrades or free syrups. It would emphasize the company's focus on employees and social/corporate responsibility, make customers feel good, and incentivize the cards which I am too lazy to use.

Think of it as a barista appreciation program--and a way of keeping your employees happy while tying the community to their store and rectifying the slide in tips.

I'd love to know that I can tip for free as a perk of buying and using a Starbucks card and I don't think the cost to the company would be very much at all. I may be using my own card now, but this would get me to reach for that branded piece of plastic.

* P.S. I offered this idea to Peet's but they didn't do anything with it. Somehow with the store closings, Starbucks seems hungrier...

I'm getting a life and it's LOCAL!

I rode my bike to Ventura College today along Loma Linda. Starting off down the hill there was more than a little trepidation since I drove back from Peet's coffee in rush hour yesterday along Telegraph thinking, "I wouldn't want to ride my bike here!" And the Ventura County Star profiled the memorial bike rack outside that very same Peet's in honor of a bike rider who was killed in March.

So today I had a general sense of the direction and figured I could sort out all the details of my route later. I would head East and take whatever route would minimize inhaled smog and threats to my physical well-being. And I was really wondering how far 4 miles felt on a bike.

The ride actually wasn't that bad--and it was surprisingly easier on the way back once I knew where I was going and what I was doing. There were a few hills but most of the ride is relatively flat and the shoulder for most of it is wide with a bike lane and not too many parked cars. The swoosh of vehicles still makes me nervous and I am overly cautious about watching out for cars coming up on me and staying to the right while scanning for parked cars looking to throw a door open on me, but I felt confident I could make the ride safely and survive the 8 mile round trip ride five days a week.

Arriving at the college, there are bike racks and the bookstore was easy to find. I had forgotten the pain of paying for text books: the damn book and workbook cost more than the class! I did buy a bottle of water for $1 flat, which the clerk I agreed was the best deal they had going.

While the ride out took me 30 mins, it was only 22 getting home, so I expect I will start making up some time on the ride as I learn idiosyncracies of the route. I made it up every hill except my own final beast of an incline, but man, even though I run and walk and am in pretty good shape, this is either going to kill me or render me a late night infomercial fitness goddess.

I actually didn't head straight home after my ride, but instead rode down to Starbucks and on to the bike depot, where the lady was kind enough to show me how to get my clip on headlights off so I could remove my basket and take it with me. I still can't figure out how to put my lock in its holster, but I just throw it in the basket so I don't much care. Besides, she was busy with a man and his three triplets who came in honking every horn in the place so I left them to their cacophony and jetted off.

Back at home, I've suddenly become very interested in the location of every bike rack in the city. I tried to find a guide to local streets and recommendations on routes in the city but the only link I found was dead. Maybe it's time for me to start my own.

For what it's worth, Main St. is to be avoided at all costs--take Santa Clara instead. And 10 miles on a bike today made me very glad I replaced the seat.

I Got BIKE

So I signed up for a Spanish class at Ventura College and decided I didn't want to buy a parking pass because I just couldn't face arriving 45 minutes early to circle the parking lot in a futile loop. But I also wanted to make sure my newly found affinity for all things "bike" weren't as fleeting as other hobbies or interests (archery ring a bell?). Rather then splash out money on new bike, I had my mom bring my old bike down from Santa Barbara and took it to the Ventura Bike Depot to have a tune up and add a basket.

I asked what they could do with my relic of 7th grade past (yes, it is really that old) and the answer was pretty much anything short of streamers. The declined to give it a wedgie so I scheduled a tune up, added a basket, a bell, a comfy seat and headlights.

Well, the call came in tonight that my bike was ready and I rushed on over right before they closed. After tooling around in the parking lot to make sure everything was adjusted well, I headed home.

It felt weird riding a bike after so long--at first the feel of the wind on my bare arms made me feel really vulnerable: what was I doing? I was going to get killed! It felt so illicitly unsafe, despite my helmet. As I carefully and slowly made my way through town and over the rough asphalt the city has been tearing up for the past four months, it started to grow on me--riding felt fabulous! Until I hit my big hill...I ended up having to walk the damn thing up. But I can't wait to ride tomorrow. We'll see if I make it to the college and back--there might be a whole new physical learning curve involved...

Too much time at the computer =no fun

Time to head down to town for a bit...I've got a craving for an ice coffee and I think a little sunshine will do me good as I finish up Friday.

The nice thing about living in downtown Ventura is we're only a short walk away from all sorts of fun yet practical things, like the library, coffee shops, used furniture stores, restaurants, a birthing center. Yep, check it out. My neighborhood has its very own birthing center. TGIF, do you know where your doula is?

Expirements in Baking: Feel the Beet

This funky loaf of bread has been my most successful experiment with beets so far. My earlier experience involved roasting the little suckers, which released that ozony smell I associate with hairdryers and made me fear for the life of my pet bird. My parents seemed to grow more and more concerned as the minutes ticked down on the timer, and when the malodorous and brightly colored starch was finally done my normally omnivorous father wanted nothing to do with them.

He was, however, intrigued enough to stick around and bear witness to my taste test. The urge to pitch them directly into the garbage was strong, but I had endured enough teasing I vowed that I would pretend to like them. A few rubbery bites and even I had to give up the ghost. But the horribly red tongue, teeth and lips actually kind of made up for the huge disaster roasting beets turned out to be. This bread, though, was amazing: with an earthy taste and a nice texture, not to mention this arresting and slightly freaky color.

Mini Frosted Berry Cake

I had a ton of cleaning to get done today, so I put it all off to bake and frost this fabulous lil' cake! Can you say procrastination? I think I displayed exceptional time management: I whipped up that frosting in under FIVE minutes!

It's cuter than a cupcake: it's a ProcrastiCake!

And in an act of super deviousness, I pulled Dave away from his Blackberry long enough to snap this picture...

Whole Grainy Goodness 2.0

This is an oatmeal yogurt bread with some poppy seeds sprinkled about for good measure. It hails from around the time I stopped following directions and started "modding" it up by changing flour ratios, adding extraneous ingredients (including liquids) and basically coloring outside the lines. And it was Tasty!