Okay here is a good story:

On Sunday afternoon I played golf with another staff member and a few friends. We played at North Kern Golf Course and were having a pretty good time. (I won!) As we headed to the parking lot, I dropped off my bag at the car and returned the cart over to the cart barn.

Later I got home and noticed that my cell phone was gone. I thought maybe I left it in my car but it was getting late and I thought that if it was in the car, I'll just find it in the morning on my way to work.

I get in the car and nothing. "Well shoot!" I said. That kind of cuts me off to the rest of the world, especially all my friends and family in Chicago. It was an old phone but I really didn't want to have to get a new one and then have to track down all the phone numbers in the phone.

So I am moderately annoyed now. I know that I probably left it in the golf cart, but being a former golf course employee myself, I remember how easily things disappear. Early Monday morning, I call North Kern and they said nothing had been turned in yet. At that point I thought I better start shopping for a new phone.

About 20 minutes later, one of the employees here tells me a guy is waiting for me downstairs. "That's kinda weird," I thought to myself. "I wonder what it's about."

So I go downstairs and a young man is sitting there. He approaches me and pulls out my cell phone, saying "I think you left this at the course."

That young man, Nick Orton, works Saturday and Sunday nights at North Kern. He is a recent graduate of North High School and is headed to UCLA this fall. He also happens to be an incredibly smart and generous person.

He delivered my cell phone to the Californian office!

He tracked me down by calling the number listed as "home" on my phone and they told him I work here. All I could do was laugh in surprise and give him a big handshake. He didn't ask for anything and I watched him just walk out the door.

Now you say or think all the world is going to hell-in-a-handbasket but with people like Orton around it's going to take a little longer to get there. So if you know him tell him how much I appreciate it. I'll certainly be looking to pass on the good Karma bestowed upon me and maybe by some stretch or in some indirect way it will get back around to him.

So bloggers, what random acts of kindness have you witnessed lately???

- Joe Boesen -

I have been assigned, or rather happily volunteered to answer an "Ask the Californian" question. It is actually a two part query where a reader first asked:

1. Why do journalists always use the adverb "bodily" to modify the noun "fluids"?

2. If the protagonist in Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" shot a man in Reno "just to watch him die," why would he be incarcerated in Folsom Prison?

These are good questions. I have spent more time on the second one because...well because its a lot more fun to make phone calls for. I figure I can ask around the newsroom for opinions on the first one.

Calls for the "Folsom Prison Blues" mystery have put me in touch with people from the Buck Owen Crystal Palace, the California Dept. of Corrections, the Nevada Dept. of Corrections and a Reno-based author by the name of Caleb Cage who recently wrote a story on exactly the same topic. I think a serious answer to a not-so-serious question would be rather comical and definitely interesting. The spokespeople from both Dept. of Corrections said that occasionally prisoners are exchanged in an "Interstate Compact" when those prisoners would be in danger behind bars in their own state. So if Cash's protagonist shot a well-connected Reno gangster "just to watch him die," perhaps Folsom would be a better fit for him.

So blogging community, if the protagonist in "Folsom Prison Blues" "shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die," why would he be incarcerated in Folsom Prison?

- Joe B.

p.s. Californian interns do serious work too...

I had never been to Trader Joe's before I moved here. I hadn't even heard of it. I went there a couple of days ago to get a few things...bagels, soup, tortilla chips, guacamole, blah blah blah. My total was $23 exactly. The cashier looked at me and asked if I knew what that meant...having an even amount. I had no idea. Were balloons and confetti going to start falling from the ceiling? I was hoping that would be it, but I was wrong.

Instead, I had the opportunity to embarrass myself in the realm of foam basketball. These things come naturally. The cashier told me I had a chance to win a prize (I don't even remember what she said it was) by making one out of two foam balls into a basketball hoop. She rang a loud bell, and I could feel everyone looking in my general direction.

The pressure was on.

The first ball completely missed the hoop. The second bounced off the rim. So I admit it...I'm not an athlete, but little unexpected moments like that make me smile.

-Angelle

I've seen Voodoo Glow Skulls play a few times in New Orleans, and last night was the first time I saw them play in their home state (they're from Riverside). Like always, they were fun and energetic, but there was something different about last night, and I don't know if I can properly explain it.

Fishlips isn't any larger or smaller than the venues I'm used to, and the crowd was about the same size as usual. My fellow VGS fans were just as enthusiastic and sang just as loud as they do back home. But still, there was a different feel to the whole evening. Maybe it was because we switched places. This time I was in their territory (southern California) instead of mine (southern Louisiana). They weren't in a foreign environment, I was.

It was really like seeing them for the first time (again), and I loved every minute.

-Angelle

1. A desert.
2. Willie Nelson's bank account in 1990.
3. Mitch Hedberg's sense of humor.
4. Bakersfield, California.

A quick list of dry things.

Everyone back home keeps asking me how the weather is. Dry. That's probably the easiest way of putting things. I don't think I've ever gone this long without seeing rain or carving my way through humidity.

At this point, I think I'm getting used to it, but that kind of worries me. I'll be returning home in mid-August to finish up school, which means I'll be back in the thick hot air of Louisiana. Is it going to be twice as bad now that I've settled into this dry zone?

-Angelle

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Sometimes it takes me a while to do things. I have a feeling blogging is going to be one of those things. But in case you still care, here's my delightful 4th of July post, a good five days after the holiday.

Angelle and I visited Redondo beach to play in the waves, do a little reading and mainly be at the beach. It was our first trip to the Pacific ocean, which is illustrated by my more than 100 pictures on my camera.  I was excited to see that the waves were much bigger than the Gulf of Mexico, and I know I need to get a boogie board before our next trip.

I really loved the Redondo Beach Brewing Company. In Columbia, we have a similar small local brewery, and I find it fascinating that you can see the process. Plus, the beer always turns out a tad bit crisper. My only disappointment was that they only brew the Hefeweizen seasonally, but the Manhatten Beach Blonde made up for it. I had a lager, and the name is escaping me, but it is the best beer I've had out here.

We also watched fireworks on the beach, which is a Midwestern girl's dream. So overall, we had a lovely 4th filled with festivities. I know Joe had a great time too down in Mexico for the holiday.

But I was wondering what you all did for the 4th? The interns are always looking for new trips to take this summer. Also, I'm curious if anyone has brewery recommendations for San Francisco? Or any must-see destinations in San Fransisco for that matter?

- Maggie

I read "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath on my 2,000 mile trip to California. I highly recommend it...the harrowing story of Esther Greenwood and the roadtrip...at the same time if you ever get the chance.

And a few nights ago, I finished reading "The Rum Diary" by Hunter S. Thompson. It was a far cry from the drug induced adventures and twisted characters of "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas," but I liked it. He's an amazing storyteller.

So summer reading has been going well. I have two books sitting on my desk, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to read either of those yet. "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "The Enchanter" by Vladimir Nabokov. I bought those a while ago because I know they'll be good reads, but I'm in the mood for something less heavy and dramatic.

So I went to the bookstore, and the first book I saw was "The Unabridged Journals Of Sylvia Plath." It was misplaced in the music section facing out...about 700 pages of her life from 1950 to 1962. Definitely not light reading and not what I want to read right away, but once I picked it up to look inside, I was doomed to buy it. But on to my original purpose: To buy "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" by Chuck Klosterman. I read the first few chapters on the beach yesterday. I didn't realize someone could pack so many pop culture references into one book.

On a side note-- I'm going to try to make all of my blog post titles references to songs. I don't know if this is going to be possible, but I'll try.

-Angelle

I am writing this to congratulate Maggie and Angelle for winning a Vizzie for the month of June. Vizzies are awards given by TBC Interactive Multimedia Team for excellent videos. They both won the writers division.

For writers video:
 
Couple Finally Weds – Angelle Barbazon
http://link.brightcove.com/...
 
MOVE-ing forward – Maggie Creamer
http://link.brightcove.com/...
 

Check them out!

I'll cross my fingers that I get one next month but I won't hold my breath...I like air

-Joe

I'm thinking about investing in a compass. Nothing fancy...just something that tells me which way is north, west, south, east and the little bits in between.

One of the first things I learned about the people in Bakersfield when I moved here was about their impeccable sense of direction. It's like they can be blindfolded, knocked over the head, turned upside down, spun around three or four times...and still be able to tell you which direction they're facing.

Every time I ask for directions (to an assignment, to the nearest grocery store, etc.), someone inevitably tells me to go north on some street or east toward another. When I give them a look of helplessness, they instantly know I'm not from around here. I'm from a place where people tell you to go left or right, sometimes straight or take a u-turn. And that's fine. It's different here, and I like it.

I knew this summer at the paper would be a learning experience. I just didn't expect it to be a lesson in geography.

In conclusion, does anyone know of a good place to buy a cheap compass? No, seriously...

-Angelle

I am taking lunch at my desk so I can blog for the new intern blog.

I am the third intern(actually the first if you count arrivals...I got here May 19, two weeks before Angelle) to post. But alas I have not posted anything to the blog yet.

My name is Joe Boesen. I am from the MIDWEST not the North as Maggie says. Actually I would tell you I am from Chicago if you asked. I grew up in a suburb though so I am not exactly from the city. A distinction city people get all defensive about.

Either way I go to school in Milwaukee, at Marquette University, a jesuit school in the middle of the inner city. Its cold there. This spring semester, I trudged through what seemed like mountains of snow. One day, I think in February,  we got 18 inches in 12 hours. We got a snow day.

In fact, Milwaukee got the second highest amount of snow fall in its history as a city...and now I am in what seems like the hottest place on earth. Yep Joe, you sure know how to pick'em.

I'm going to be a senior at Marquette so I am a bit younger then Angelle and Maggie but they don't hold it against me. I am a Journalism and History Major. If I had to pick heroes from either field of study, I would choose Winston Churchill for history and Mike Royko from journalism. (Royko was a Chicago columnist, google him. you'll be glad you did when you read his columns)

I was talking to someone on the phone who told me I sounded like I was from the Midwest. She specified saying I sounded like I was from Minnesota, which to me is a huge insult. I wasn't completely offended but my feelings were a little hurt. I hope none of the readers are Minnesotians but I think that is the goofiest sounding accent in the world. Maybe second only to Canadians. (Now I just insulted all the Canadians...shoot!)

I'm going to stop before I get in any more trouble.