Monday, April 22, 2013

Best Foo Foo Burger places in Eureka.

This last weekend I was in a softball tournament in Redding. While there I had a chance to go to Five guys burgers and the next day go to In N Out burger. (Just what is in that In-N-Out special spread?!) I know we don't have these places but it made me wonder once again, what is the best places for a burger, besides the fast food places. Here is an updated list for best places in Eureka! (Not elsewhere in the county.)

10. Waterfront Cafe. Want blah foo foo? This is it. Needs something to perk it up.
 
9. Village Pantry. Can be really good, or really so so. Hit and miss.

8. Kristina's. This place is trying too hard to go classy. But they are consistent.

7. Fresh Freeze. Good sloppy burgers!

6. Stars. Funny how one bad experience can turn you off on a place. Many think this is the best though.

5. Mike Drive up. Love their fries. Burgers are up and down. They sure are grumpy there! Be sure to wear an Obama shirt to see their reaction!

4. Amy's Delight. Go there at lunch time and be shocked at how many burgers they sell! No frills but good old style burgers.

3. Double AA. Double good or what's with that? You just don't know what you will get each trip.

2. Surfside Burger Shack. I used to think this place was just all right. But the longer they have been open the better they get! Even though they serve grass fed beef.

1. Cafe Nooner. The King of the Eureka Foo Foo! You won't be disappointed. Way under my radar, but this place is classy and good!


Yes, there are others that deserve notice like Cafe Marina, Ingomar Club, Sizzler, Adels, Golden Harvest, Avalon, Lost Coast........but this is just one man's opinion. And we all know samoasoftball loves his food!

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Batter up! Spring League starts May 5th!

The Mad River Softball Association is hosting an adult wood bat Sunday softball league starting May 5th at the Arcata Community Sports Complex. Teams play double headers starting no earlier than 12:30pm. Free agent players without teams will be placed on teams. Players must be at least 16 years or older. For more information contact (707) 445-3432 or email Samoafog@aol.com.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Are Our students too Drugged to learn? How do we fix the broken education system?


I don’t know what happened over the years to dummy down our educational system. Or did we drug it down?
When I went to school in the 60’s and 70’s the system seemed pretty straight forward. You came to school, you listened to the teachers, who were usually working alone and were graded A through F on your ability. Or by Grade point average which was 0-F, 1-D, 2-C, 3-B or 4-A. There were no above 4.0 point averages. You could not go over 100%! Whoever started this trend of giving scores higher that perfect have done a disservice to students. If kids were in need of special attention they were a small percentage and had their own class. Students were disciplined physically, (Spanked or swatted) and knew the repercussions of their actions.
What has changed? The over active or “hyper” kid of my time has been diagnosed as “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Now here is something to blow you away, around 20% of students in the US have been diagnosed with ADHD. Add the 2% Autistic Autistic children and 1.3% with Mental Retardation and other physical special needs and you have almost 25% of the students in the US designated as “Special Needs!” 11% of these kids are on the drug Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and others are on other drugs! Each school district is mandated under law to have 1 on 1 teacher aids to help with education. And with a 22% of the general population of students coming from impoverished families, doesn’t this put poor school districts at a disadvantage in teaching the public?  
Even with such help, our students lag way behind other industrial nations in education. Is it drugs? Why do our students use 5 times the amount of Ritalin compared to other countries? Why has the drug use of Ritalin risen 700% over the last 10 years? Wrong diagnosis? Push by Pharmaceutical companies?
What are the solutions? I don’t know if our education system is too broke to fix. Help me out here.