Monday, May 14, 2012
The 40th Anniversary of the City's adoption of 101st Airborne Company A is a weekend long event!
Memorial Day means so many different things to the people across this nation. It marks the beginning of Summer with it's three day weekend filled with Bar-B-Qs, bargain sales, and fun in the sun. It is a time to remember those fallen heroes that served protecting us all. A time to visit the grave of a loved one. After the Civil War, Memorial Day developed from a day to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Many towns claim to be the first to make this official. After World War l, the day was expanded to honor all who have died in American Wars. Here in San Mateo, we take it a step further. Our patriotism run deep. Our pride is not just in our fallen heroes, but also in our everyday heroes that actively protect us now. This …
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Peninsula Humane Society's Scott Delucchi showcased oxygen masks that allow firefighters to treat animals suffering from smoke inhalation on "The Sharon Osbourne Show" in a 2004 appearance.
I’ll always feel a little indebted to actor Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70s Show"). Thanks to Wilmer’s no-show, I was a guest on "The Sharon Osbourne Show." Let me correct that. My dog Cooper and I were guests on the talk show which aired in 2003-2004. Here's the set-up: In the winter of 2004, I received a call from someone claiming to be a producer from the show. This was at the time when my organization, the Peninsula Humane Society, was in the news for outfitting all our local fire departments with special oxygen masks that would allow firefighters to treat animals suffering from smoke inhalation. Naturally, I figured this was a friend pulling a fast one on me and almost hung up. He kept at it, I realized he was who he said he was and we…
Monday, May 7, 2012
Not surprisingly, Prop 29 is opposed by the tobacco industry. What do you think?
Two statewide measures will be included on the June ballot; one adds $1.00 to the cost of a pack of cigarettes, the other limits the term of new legislators heading to Sacramento to 12 years, down from the present 14. Most controversial is the battle over Proposition 29, already being fought on television sets and radio channels around the state and here in San Mateo County. It imposes an additional tax on cigarettes to fund additional cancer research. "It's a do-good thing," said Gene Mullin, a public policy consultant. "You want to stop cancer, and you want to stop smoking, particularly with youngsters. By increasing the cost of cigarettes it's going to dissuade many youngsters from starting." According to the California Secretary of …
Good thing ET didn't need a neighborhood bike ride in San Mateo to get home. Odds are he never would have made it.
In an effort to stave off aging, get more exercise, have fun, torture myself, etc. I recently purchased a bicycle. And being me, God forbid I just get a normal bike. No, mine has a matching basket and looks like I stole the whole thing from Dorothy while she was pedaling away with Toto. Well, might as well do these things with style! Also it is designed to have low impact on a back and has the pedals in front of you rather than underneath. An old person's bike. My goal was to commute to work everyday by bike rather than car. Save money on gas, stop and smell the roses , and all that malarkey. As I hadn't been on a bike in some years, I went for a practice run a few times around the neighborhood. So far so good. Day one of my bike to work …
Friday, May 4, 2012
Guest analysis about some of the negative effects that technology can have on the human brain.
If your phone were wiped completely of all of your contacts, how many numbers would you still know by heart? Your family’s? A few friends? Here in San Mateo, where nearly every person has their own array of Apple products, we rely on our technology devices more than ever before. Sure, this might not seem like the end of the world when it’s just a few phone numbers we’re talking about. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of losing mental capabilities in the digital age seems to be going far beyond just that. Research conducted at Columbia University showed that people recall far more information when they don’t believe it is stored elsewhere (Sparrow, 2011). When study participants were told information would be erased, they had higher …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Writing about San Mateo is my assignment. But sometimes life throws a curve ball that sidelines you for a bit.
So as a local columnist I suck this week. My "local" consisted not of reading the news, nor being out and about town, or even just watching television news. It only consisted of hospitals, doctors, and home. I have been married for a thousand years to an electrician. Three weeks ago he was electrocuted in an accident at work. The current went in one hand, through his heart, and out the other hand (which was hanging on to something that grounded the current). When the current that held him powerless in it's grip ended, he was thrown from the ladder he was on. It was just a freak accident, no one did anything wrong, or is to blame. My husband was rushed by ambulance to the nearest trauma center in Oakland. Note to husband, please have all …
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wild week at PHS ends with pomp and circumstance.
I’m used to getting upstaged by animals. When I speak at local service club meetings, the audience wants to know all about my dog, my wing man. "What breed is he?" I often hear. " How old is he?... Where did you get him?... Is he available for adoption?" Still, this week was a joke. I felt like the Invisible Man. And I could not have been any happier. In a two-day stretch, I was upstaged by 25 animals - none of them my own. On Wednesday, I issued a news release to my media contacts. The headline read, “Peninsula Humane Society’s New Wildlife Center Caring for First Groups of Orphaned Baby,” and the release included photos of the 10 ducklings and 10 goslings now growing up inside our Center for Compassion. These fuzzy, week-old babies …
Monday, April 23, 2012
Foodies take note: San Mateo is the place to be this summer!
An advantage to living in an urban area such as San Mateo is that there is always something fun and interesting close by to entertain us, feed us, or just make us smile. This summer is shaping up to be no exception. I am sad to not find even a whisper of a food truck event Downtown. That's OK, I and thousands of others can hit First Friday Night's Moveable Feast at the San Mateo County Event Center instead. Last year offered a wide variety of food and music. I suspect that this year's First Friday night of the month event has been fine tuned to be even more fun. Starting Friday, May 4 and running through summer from 5 p.m. through 9 p.m. The Downtown San Mateo Merchant's Association is bringing back the San Mateo Wine Walk this September. …
Sunday, April 22, 2012
A South City woman and a 10-year-old stray dog found in San Bruno with health and behavioral issues have become inseparable.
There's a new woman in my life. We're only email buddies at this point, but she's been on my mind and I'd love to meet in person. Yes, I'm married. And, my wife already knows. In fact, I shared the email chain and my new friend's photo with her. Now, it's your turn to meet her. Patch readers, "meet" Milly A., a South San Francisco resident and recent PHS/SPCA adopter who will be 90 years young next year. I met Milly late last week in cyberspace when she sent an email message to our webmaster, an update on the dog she adopted from us. Here’s that message: Dear Pawmaster, Although I had pet dogs all my life, at the age of 88 and confined to a wheelchair, I wasn't sure about getting another dog when Tigger died at the age of 14 last October…
Saturday, April 21, 2012
The admission rates for 2012 are extremely low. And a decision by San Jose State made things worse for some.
For a lot of San Mateo County high school seniors - and seniors across the country - 2012 proved to be an extremely hard year to be accepted at an institute of higher learning. Bay Area universities have been a part of the trend. At Stanford, the admission rate was 6.6 percent for those applying, no matter where they lived. That was third worst in the nation. More than nine of ten kids who applied to wear Cardinal red got a rejection letter in the mail. At Cal, the rate was three times better, at 22 percent, just ahead of UCLA (23 percent) and USC (24 percent). Yet, even those numbers suggest three of four seniors applying to college are being turned away. Ivy league schools such as Harvard and Yale posted record-low admissions rates, 5.…
Denise Nelson
11:55 am on Monday, May 7, 2012
Hi Commuter! Great info on the bike routes on Google. Thank you. GoPro is a good way to video. I ordered the mount made by the bike company for my camera already but if it doesn't work out I now know where to go. Thank you! more ›