HOUSE PARTY AUGUST 30TH!!!

VENA CAVA CD RELEASE PARTY!!!!
Wear All Black Because Summer Had Died

Rats: the new Dogs

No other animal on earth has been as wrongfully stereotyped as the rat. Countless films, books, TV shows and old wives' tales have painted the small furry rodents as intentionally mischievous, filthy, disease-carrying animals intent on frightening even the strongest of manly men.

Now while the part about "disease carrying" is true, per se, its only because the fleas on street and sewer rats were responsible for the majority of the bubonic plague that killed ¼ of the population during the 14th century. On the bright side, this plague brought about a time of renaissance and prosperity that ushered in the work of Michangelo, Da Vinci and Shakespeare. Go rats!

Disease spreading aside, rats make wonderful, friendly and very warm pets. Below are the reasons to consider a little guy before getting a dog or cat.

-Rats are smarter than dogs. They are naturally inquisitive and love to both create and solve puzzles. Must be why they're used in medical research so much.

-Rats are very clean. You need to keep their cage clean, of course, in order to make sure they always smell nice. However, rats are very concerned with hygiene and even like to keep their cages organized. Most will find one spot in their cage for feces.

-Rats are friendly and enjoy human interaction. Within a few days of owning a rat, you will notice that they enjoy being held, cuddled and paid attention to. With a bit of cheese, you can get your new pet to do just about anything.

-Rats don't require a lot of money or space. You can buy a pet for around $5, the cage and accessories for about $30-40. Other than that, rats are happy to just run around your living room or small area. While you're home, of course.

There you have it! Consider one of these small, furry friends before you jump into the huge responsibility of getting a dog.

Coffee House Review: Ken Coffee

Kensington Coffee Company

4141 Adams Ave

(619) 280-9114

I bet you know where the best coffee place in San Diego is. We all do, and they are most likely all in different locations. You like the one where the coffee is as hot as the earth’s core, she likes the one where you get a cookie alongside your cappuccino, he likes the one where the people watching is the best. Just because you already pledge allegiance to a coffee house doesn’t mean you can’t branch out. I myself, don’t have a particular favorite but I’m ready to call somewhere home. Working in an office has got me so hooked on coffee that I definitely need it on weekends now but I just won’t break down and get a coffee maker, that’s for people with coffee addictions and right now, I just have a habit ok? I can quit anytime I want. OK???? 

I had to pick up some free Del Mar Fair tickets I scored off a blog contest in Kensington and decided I might as well try a place out there, something new. Me and a friend decided on Kensington Coffee Company for coffee and breakfast. I’d like to admit here: it was 3 pm. This is a tough time for people who can’t quite yet make that difficult, deep question that usually follows a rough night and a half day of hangover time. It’s the glorious moment you realize you can hold food down again:

Should I eat breakfast or lunch????

Go to Kensington Coffee, they’ve got a diverse menu of both and the prices are so good you can get a BLT AND an omelet if you wanted to.

They have delicious classic items you’d expect from any coffee shop like bagel, pastries, fruit bowls and juices but they are also a full functioning café. The menu boasts items like breakfast bagels and chicken quesadillas to awesome sounding salads and sandwiches like the Tuscan Chicken. My friend ordered the chicken quesadilla and it was loaded with well spiced shredded chicken and perfectly melted cheese in a flaky tortilla. This was a big ass thing, seriously, the super nice cook even came outside to warn her he’d made it so big that he might need to cook it longer. Turns out it was bomb and it came with a side of grapes to munch on. Unfortunately all I could stomach at the hour was a house coffee which left me in a much better mood and with an excuse to come back. And I’d like to announce: the coffee is damn good. Atmosphere wise it’s spacious and sunny with lots of different types of people hanging out on ample couches and tables. There is outdoor seating also which is great for smugly glancing over at all the shameless Starbucks Squares right across the street. Even at 3 pm on a Saturday Ken Coffee was hopping so I bet things can get pretty crowded in there at peak times. The staff is polite and in good spirits, awesome, hard to find these days it seems. And like I said before, all this comes with pretty inexpensive prices ($4-$7 range!) which justifies the drive over if your neighborhood is a bit far away like mine.

Damn Flamingos, what happened to you??

You used to be so cool in the 80's...

Now your glories been reduced to tacky yard kitsch and hideous sequin covered tourist blouses from Miami Beach....

SCARLET SYMPHONY TO RAGE INSANE NEW VENUE

Local Favorite's Scarlet Symphony turn a Mission Valley Warehouse Into an Inferno this Saturday. Somewere Loud is not to be missed!! Bedford Grove is blazing up shows of 2000+ and Drop Joy is a Seattle Band with a black girl offering up insane guitar licks. Oh yea, and the DJ is the percussionist from The Black Eyed Peas. Hey the price is right, it's close and all you can drink till any time you want in the morning? DO IT!!! Come out and party with us!!!

Live Beyond Your Means With Ease

By using: Community Magazines Dowtown/Uptown Coupons
I’m broke but I insist on living beyond my means. I cook at home quite often but if I want to eat out, I’m gonna fucking eat out. Forget fast food, I’m over it and the whole scene stinks, both figuratively and literally speaking. That’s why I adore and always keep nearby, The Downtown Magazine. This magazine sized, glossy, good looking book of coupons has basically every nice restaurant you can’t afford but really want to try, and now you can because most of it is buy one get one free or better.

We had one that took 25% off of our bill! And it’s not just downtown snooty joint’s, there are some of your favorites, some hole in the walls and the variety of cuisine is enough to make your head spin. Take a chance on a restaurant you’ve never been to and enjoy paying only a little over half of what you would have. There are adds for other services, like lipo and dog walking, but the main event is all the great deals on gourmet meals. I magically get mine free in the mail every three months but check out the website for places to pick them up if you don’t. Café Carpe Diem and The Postal Place in Hillcrest are some of the places by my house that have them. Uptown Magazine is for you folks, in, well, Uptown, not sure where the best pick up place is there. See you out dining! Nobody has to know youre crossing your fingers hoping your paycheck cleared☺

If Your iTunes is boring the hell out of you: Pandora

Check out Pandora Radio if you’re itching for new music. It’s really cool, you type in any song or artist you like and their system starts matching up songs or artists based on hundreds of musical attributes they’ve been studying for years. This is more complex than matching up just genres like other personal web radio stations. Read the excerpt below taken from the Pandora Radio website describing “The Music Genome Project”:

“On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever. Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.”

BOMB. What’s awesome is that as I’m listening I’m finding other bands and songs I’m into. I have to keep a list by my computer to write down the names of some bands and songs I want to downloaded or check out their entire album. See for yourself, it’s free and easy. Pandora.com.