We’re with Reno
The at large vote is the swing vote. On a council where each other seat represents a specific ward, the at large candidate represents the city as a whole. What is your overall view of the city? Read the rest of this entry »
Ward 3
If Forest Gump was right and life really is “like a box of chocolates” then Ward 3 is the 50 piece sampler box. Ward 3 is arguably one of the most economically and culturally diverse neighborhoods in Reno. Read the rest of this entry »
Ward 1
I would compare a seat on Reno City Council to being an assistant manager. Sure you have manager in your title and you are potentially building toward that higher management position but Read the rest of this entry »
For your reading pleasure, I have uploaded and organized the questions and responses provided by the participating candidates. You may use the index to navigate by question and candidate or use the drop down menu from the “Reno City Council Election 2012″ tab at the top of the page to go to each individual candidate’s pages.
Coming soon(when I get a minute away from studying for finals) my thoughts on the candidates.
I will be the first to admit that I love politics. And I’m not talking catty interoffice kind of politics, but the democracy in action kind of politics. I grew up around it. I gave speeches about it. I will argue with you till late in the night about how I fully believe that my vote really is making a difference.
One thing about politics that I dislike, is ignorance. Mud slinging, attack adds, and rumor mongering drive me into a frothy rage of intolerance that can only be quelled by ferreting out the facts and getting the answers from the source. And I know I’m not alone.
With this in mind, I am throwing down the proverbial gauntlet. I have contacted my fellow Reno based bloggers and invited them to participate in a panel interview of willing candidates for Reno City Council. As you read this, panelists are joining, questions are being compiled, and candidates are being invited to participate.
In the name of fairness for all candidates, each participating candidate will be sent the same questionnaire via email on the same date and will have the same amount of time to respond. All responses will be reviewed by the panel and then published for all to see in their raw and unedited form. Should panelists choose to, they will get to publish their assessments through their own blogs or as guest writers here on RenoWriter.net.
Are you ready?
If you could ask any question of these prospective Reno City Council members, what would you ask?
Some of these candidates will become the next group of people to lead our city. Did I mention I love politics?
Craig Fellers over at Magnetic Junction just did an awesome write up on the trail running opportunities in Reno. As a long time trail runner I can’t help but add my two cents and share my two favorite trails.
Rancho San Rafael/Evans Creek Canyon
Rancho is what I would call a Reno version of Central Park. A museum and art gallery, kids park, lots of open space, plenty of trails, and beautiful groves of trees. Add in that you can park at Rancho and start a hike all the way up Peavine through Evans Creek Canyon, and you could easily picture Rancho being just as big as Central Park.
Living on campus at UNR, a lot of my runs have been through Rancho. I love it because on any given day, the network of trails is such that I can mix and match long slow distance or grueling grinding hill climbing.
Picture this. The headwind from your movement chills the sweat on your face. Your heart, feet, and music all move in sync. Your footfalls only make a poof as they push into the 4 inches of fresh powder snow that blankets the hillside. Everything around you is whitish grey. Once in a while an errant snowflake adds a touch of icey sensation to your moist skin. The temperature is sitting around 30f but you are working hard enough that you are warm and comfortable in a light thermal layer. For the last two miles, the only footprints in the snow have been from you and an unseen coyote seeking breakfast.
As you reach the high point of your run and begin to loop back, you catch a glimpse of the city. The grey clouds look like fog curling through the downtown towers. One cloud is low enough to envelope the base while a second cloud sits tantalizingly close to the rooftop antennae. The background, a city sized blanket of white with a few of the first lateral rays of sunshine beaming in from the east.
Just as quickly as you take everything in, the image is saved in your memory and the task of running down a steep snow covered slope regains your focus. A moment of beauty. As if a reward for braving the elements.
That is why I like that trail. I have run well over a hundred miles of trail through Rancho San Rafael and Evans Creek Canyon and haven’t duplicated the exact same run twice.
Hunter Creek Canyon
Looking up the east canyon at Mile 1 of the Hunter Creek Trail
Early Spring in Hunter Creek can be dramatic AND COLD
As a runner, I love this trail for it’s constant twists, turns, and elevation changes. Like an interval run where all the runner has to do is maintain a constant pace. The trail climbs quickly then drops and climbs again. Regular switchbacks and straightaways provide the kind of variety that makes the trail fun AND challenging. Fairly regular traffic gives a sense of security should anything go wrong(there are a number of rocky sections that challenge you to dare run through at the risk of your ankles). Even with the regular traffic I highly recommend going with a buddy or using a check in system with someone who knows where the trail is and what section you will be on. This trail is wilderness area and you should always practice proper wilderness safety.
So where do you like to run in Reno?
Do you think I’m nuts to be running in the snow? If you do, then don’t look for my results in the 2012 Snow Joke Half Marathon in Seeley Lake Montana.
Happy Running Reno!
College is fun! Seriously hard. No doubt about that. But fun! And yes, I am very happy that I took as much time off as I did, because even though I’m the guy in the dorm closer to 30 then 20, I am loving being here because I know why I am here and what really matters to me.
All of that is simply teaser for another post. Right now a quick update.
It is official, I have survived the month from hell. Or at least the month that was too busy to even contemplate a blog post. Here is the brief run down of my February
Last week of January
-Move in to dorms(room mate is very cool. Phew!)
-Start classes –17 credits–
-Calculus 2 Integrals(last calc class was Fall 2004)
-Psychology(I like this class A LOT!)
-Spanish(If you read forgettingtofall about my time in Spain you will know why)
-Macroeconomics(Another class I enjoy)
-Legal Environments of Business(Is it wrong for me to LOVE this class?)
-Continue training for Half Marathon(runs up to the “N” every other morning. Yeah!)
First week of February
-Class/Class/More Class
-Paper shuttling to get officially enrolled in certain said classes
-Sinus infection blows up into full body sick yuck(Saline Sinus Rinse to the Rescue Here)
-Training
-Spend the weekend attempting to get ahead in all classes
Second Week
-Class(amazing how one little word can encompass SO MUCH WORK)
-Finally enrolled in all the right classes
-Order transcripts to be sent for Transfer Application
-Shenanigans(more in another post)
-Training
-Friday afternoon pack everything and drive to Sacramento to catch a train to Eugene, Oregon
Why? You ask? Only this little thing called The National Paintball League. A little project I have been a part of for the past two years. Now I am going with a coworker to administer testing for league participants. So exciting! Also keeps me away from homework(though I do manage to get a lot of reading done on the train each way).
Third Week
-Monday morning 5:30am detrain in Sac, drive through blizzard back to Reno, to be just in time for everyone’s favorite….
-Class! (hurrah!)
-Homework(still attempting to stay ahead enough not to fall behind while working weekends)
-Training (race is getting close and runs are getting longer)
-Calculus Exam(heart palpitation inducing review leads me to believe this could be trouble)
-Saturday morning 5am, you guessed it, travel time. Off to Pasco, Washington! More NPL work.
Fourth week
-President’s day being a holiday I got to spend a 24 hour layover in Seattle with a friend. Hurrah!
-Class(94% on calc exam?! This guy was elated)
-3 day class week means all the teachers decide EXTRA HOMEWORK!
-Group presentation in Legal Environments class. Kicked Butt!
-Training
When you train at shorter distances and faster then race goal pace, race pace feels awkward unless you actually practice prior to race day. Thus akwardly boring training runs this week. LSD (long slow distance)
-Thursday crank out first draft of application essays that are due in one week(plenty of time)
-Friday Travel Day!
Off to Missoulla, Montana for my first half marathon with my cool, newly minted doctor, cousin who made a joke about running this race and is now following through because I actually took her up on it. Did I mention it is in Montana? In February? Yeah! I got that same funny look from everyone else too. None the less, and in a proper blizzard, we ran. And ran. And ran some more. And 13.1 miles later got a sticker, a time printout, and pigged out on sloppy joes, bratwurst, and hot chocolate. Fun time had by all and most definitely a memorable first half.
-Sunday happily home to dry cold Reno(I was glad to leave the snow in Montana)
Last week of February
-Mother nature had the last laugh. Waking up to four inches of snow. Oh well. Off to…
-Class(a spanish prof born in Russia means no snow cancellations for morning class. EVER)
-Application Essay editing and submission
-Spruce up ye old resume for Application and Submit
-Submit every other document ever related to school for transfer application to be finished
All of a sudden it’s March. Woah!
Midterms, Birthday, and Spring break all in the next three weeks. Will write when I next make time.
How was your February? Is the first quarter of 2012 shaping up to be everything you expected? Who has made the most of Reno’s lack of winter this year? I have to say I enjoyed the dry cold training runs. The snowy ones had a tendency to soak my running shoes and made for some rough blisters.
Oh and by the way, I loved my half marathon because I set reasonable and attainable goals, trained effectively, and arrived prepared to enjoy myself and thus did exactly that. Beyond that, I ran for 2 hours and came away knowing I will probably not do more then one more of those in my life. I respect all of you distance runners but it just isn’t my bag. The Reno 5000 series starts up in a month. Maybe you will catch me at a couple of those. Thanks again to my cousin and her family and friends for a great weekend in the great white north.
Cheers,
Patrick
Although the news is mildly old now, Gannett Company announced that all of their websites would shift to a delayed paywall for all of it’s websites by the end of the year, similar to the one adopted by the New York Times a few years ago. Although USA Today will be exempt from the change, the paywall will affect all 80 plus community newspaper owned by the company, including the…
More and more, it is the local bloggers and the "light" news articles of RNR that I find to be more accurate, in depth, and on point for area news.
Will a paywall at RGJ increase their revenue or decrease their traffic enough that advertisers will begin to pull out even more?
Beautiful? Yes. But is this Reno?
Dear Reader,
I will be the first to admit that my ambition and passion can get the better of my sound decision making process. Read the rest of this entry »
