Almost two weeks ago, I wrote a little item titled “The battle for the soul of Walnut Creek—over a luxury department store—grows more muddled.” I was expressing… Read more “Readers: What is your vision for Walnut Creek and its future (especially in light of this Neiman Marcus brouhaha)?”

Like many others, I just dropped in at Trader Joe’s on my way home this evening to–what else?–pick up an easy-to-prepare dinner. ‘Cause I hadn’t planned anything… Read more “Trader Joe’s express line woes, worries and other ramblings…”

On vacation this week, recovering today from flying the red-eye from Oakland to Dulles… My son and I flew together to visit my brother and his family… Read more “Call Homeland Security? Crazy Soccer Mom is a few Metro stops away from our nation’s capital!”

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson: Okay, I’ll date myself, but the two were pop culture icons of my youth. Both died today. Of course, it’s sad, and… Read more “Farrah and Michael Jackson: Pop culture icons of my formative years, now dead”

–The latest Nutshell to arrive in my mailbox, and, which you can, of course, view online, has City Manager Gary Pokorny saying that “things look pretty bleak… Read more “The good, the bad, and the unknown in Walnut Creek’s economic outlook”

Last week, the city’s Action for Beauty Council honored about a dozen new buildings and attractions for its 2008 awards at a luncheon at the Clubhouse at… Read more “Do you think these Walnut Creek buildings, attractions are worthy of design awards?”

Reader (or perhaps we can call him, in true Conde Nast-style, “contributing editor”) DeLaSalle sent along this very cool tip and even cooler pic showing Adam Richman,… Read more “Walnut Creek’s San Francisco Creamery Co. gets its close-up on Travel Channel’s "Man vs. Food" show”

As analysts noted an uptick in median home prices in the Bay Area for the second straight month, SFGate.com’s On the Block blog looked at how Walnut… Read more “Walnut Creek: Where the Bay Area’s biggest home discounts are?”

Yesterday, we all received news that a middle-aged Contra Costa man, suffering from swine flu, had died. He apparently had no other major health problems, similar to… Read more “Another Contra Costa swine flu-related death, and my personal (and probably silly and Crazy) swine flu worries”

A reader happened to catch this headline in today’s Contra Costa Times: ” ‘Soccer mom’ declares candidacy for Tauscher’s House seat.“ Just wanted to say: Don’t worry.… Read more “"Soccer Mom" goes after Ellen Tauscher’s Congressional seat: Relax! It’s not this Soccer Mom”