Sacramento enjoys the government stimulus

Mask We spent a few days in Sacramento. Not by choice, but on matters pertaining to real estate training. The visit to the city was enlightening. The same traffic, the same lack of parking, the hustle. Although housing was a large part of Sacramento industry, the downturn hasn’t impacted them as much as it has our town, with many looking to realty agencies similar to carlile realty & lending to help with their housing issue. Obviously, a larger part of their economy is based on government spending. And spending is up. A lot. Just few hours south, Sacramento has a much different feel than Redding.
SacramentoRosettaStoneComing from Redding, another thing noticable is how many languages are spoken there. At a shopping mall, I heard Russian, Chinese, and Spanish, often combined with English. A language mashup. Emblematic of the Sacramento culture, this mall cart sells language training by Rosetta Stone. Not a business model that might ‘translate’ to Redding, or so I think. I set up the shot while the cart vendor looked the other way, but he got that creepy “somebody is looking at me” feeling, and turned his head to look as I hit the shutter.
HelpWantedAs though to drive the point home, a woman approached me in the mall and asked if was looking for work. I was bit taken aback. “No?” she went on, “Well do you know anyone who is?” Well yeah. I do. About a quarter of Redding, by my estimation.

Free Flu Shots in Redding and Shasta Lake City

The line for H1N1 inoculations stretched from Penneys to the center court yesterday. The line seemed long, but moved quickly.
Free H1N1 flu shots in Redding
The Shasta County Health staff was friendly and efficient. If you missed this event, you can get yours on the 29th in Shasta Lake City.
Free H1N1 flu shots in Redding
The media blew up the story of H1N1. I blogged about my flu preparations back in May, when it seemed anything could happen. So far so good though. Pandemic or not, it seems under control. Score one for the public health people. Keep up the good work. I ate my flu season “preparations,” which consisted of chicken soup, in celebration.
Free H1N1 flu shots in Redding

Harleys in the Mall

This weekend the HOG (Harley Owners Group) folks had their get together in the Mall.
HArleys
This one is an Indian Headress. The Harleys are all works of kinetic art. You could shoot all day…
HArleys
They have a fashion show in the center court which is pretty bizzare. Not intentionally.
HArleys
It’s a Redding thing…
HArleys

Screams in the Mall

After years of working in the Mall Kiosk, you get used to the hum and activity associated with being there. This is one of the few places in Redding that bears similarity to a pedestrian street, and I am in the middle of the street. Mall walkers walk, shoppers shop, and staff people gossip to one another. Just like life in any small town, except with security staff just a phone call away.

Every so often a terrifying scream cuts through ambient sounds and muzak. An infant’s cry. Not just a squall of hunger or fatigue. This sound is unmistakably a cry for help. A scream that cuts right to your very DNA that screams to your core “AN INFANT HUMAN IS IN TROUBLE! HELP!” You can’t help yourself. You have to look. The scream is a stunning imperitive. There can be no mistake.

Of course you look, at least the first few times it happens. What could possibly be happening, and how can I help that baby in trouble? Well, you can’t help them at all. That baby just got pierced.

Often the newly pierced baby has an entourage of mother and aunts and whomever else is in the family. Welcome to the world of getting pierced in a shopping mall, my fellow human. I like to look at the entourage and their faces. That scream is breathtaking. Everybody is looking. I think even the entourage are often taken aback by the urgency of that special scream. Uncomfortable smiles ensue.

I think the sound is like crows communicating that a predator is nearby, or similar. Not really words that they use, rather the tone and urgency communicate the message. The message here is urgent. You can see it in the faces of passerbys. The scream cuts across all our consciousness.

Little baby so-and-so, with her new ear stud. Her face is red and twisted into a mask of despair. “Mom, how could you let this happen to me?” I never get used to it. A human pain ritual at a shopping mall jewelery cart. Well, maybe I am getting used to it. But it’s still remarkable.

As I blog about it, why is this human pain ritual considered so mundane that we would take our precious young to a minimum wage employee in the middle of the mall to have their newly minted flesh pierced by sharp metal? It’s much more than just getting a haircut. This I know from the scream. I guess I find it less weird when it’s adults getting piercings, rather than babies and young children. But when you think about it as a concept, it’s still very weird, and yet it’s so widely accepted. I must know at least one person with every type of piercing possible. Yes, even the more peculiar ones… let’s just say that someone from work has a piercing that’s in a place which is not your average stud placement. Ouch.

Why not start a business in the mall to serve that clientele with seating, dramatic video and lighting, and climatic choir music, a priest-like figure holds the infant high over an altar of some sort. Or maybe a feng-shui scheme, very Zen like. Day spa style. Heck your choice. Name a theme. I think there is a business here waiting to happen.

Or just another piercing scream at the Mall Kiosk.
Mt Shasta Mall in Redding

Candy Tyme

This has little to do with real estate.

When it’s slow at the real estate kiosk at the mall, you can people watch. There’s this candy store adjacent to the kiosk, Candy Tyme. To be honest, I don’t visit too often because it can be cheaper to buy bulk party snacks online. It features big bins of loose candy that can be opened with the idea that you fill bags below. Bulk candy sold by weight. The thing is, the bins are an irresistible attraction to little kids who(surprise!) just open the bins up and grab candy, or let it spill onto the floor. It happens all the time (or Tyme). I watched an incident again today with a kid grabbing candy and running off.

Here’s the interesting part. Sometimes, a dopey parent is so protective of their kid when caught that they threaten the employees in some way. The best defense is a good offense, obviously. Today a goofy mom started shouting repetitive curses. The weird part, and there always is a weird part, was that she kept repeating that it was good thing she had her cell phone(?). It made for a big scene.
Candy store in Redding

The last time I saw a big incident there, the defensive/offensive parent decided to accuse the hapless Candy Tyme employee of pushing her, after her little angel was caught grabbing candy. The employee beseeched me to act as her witness to the security guard that she had not pushed anyone. It was good trick by the mom, and security sent her packing, not really fooled. It worked OK though.

The most troubling snatch and grab I witnessed was not only seen, but encouraged by the “dad.” Get in quick, and get out quick. Both laughing. It happened so fast I wondered if I had seen it at all. Hard to know what to think about that. I remember thinking of coyotes, showing their young how to hunt. Candy coyotes.

The mall is main street in Redding, and it takes all kinds.