The Year In Posts – 2018

img_6634-1024x768 The Year In Posts - 2018

I always worry these kinds of posts are too hacky, but I am doing it anyway. It’s actually kind of fun going through the posts from this year because some of them I had already totally forgotten about.

Rather than boring you and posting each one, please let me just remind you of the ones that you, the reader of The Fresnan, thought were the most popular.

I pulled the nine buzziest, starting from January and ending now. These might not have been read the most but had the most “action” (sharing/reading/comments).

9. What to know before going to Fresno’s new Chicken Shack.

One of the more significant things to happen on Fulton Street this year. I have yet to set foot in the place but that didn’t stop me from posting about it.

8. Modern Times needs to open up a taproom in Fresno.

I have been lobby two of California’s best indie breweries (that are building remote taprooms), Modern Times and Fieldwork, to come to Fresno. If they want to truly make some noise, they should. Now that Zack’s Brewing is open Downtown, this is less relevant. Still would like to see it happen though.

7. Ranch or Salsa: Which is the condiment of Fresno?

If I did this post today, I would choose Salsa. I did a poll on my Instagram and Salsa won. I personally use salsa as much as I use ranch but at the time I was ranching more so I went with it. This is a forever debate. Salsa now wins.

5. Don’t camp at popular Fresno restaurants!

There are many Fresno eatin’ holes that you have to wait to get seated. Too often, people get a table at these places and then linger while you wait impatiently, staring at these yahoos. Ya done eating? Then get the hell out.

6. I rode my bike to Pine & Palm and nobody flipped me off.

Biking needs to be more of a thing for me in 2019. I did some of it this year but not enough to talk about it, this time being the exception. I even found a “hidden” bike path.

4. How to place your garbage bins in a passive aggressive way.

It’s official. I became an old man this year. When the scavengers became too messy and started dumping my recyclables into my trash bin and on the street, I decided to take passive aggressive action.

3. The one restaurant to take someone to in Fresno.

I understand that Cuca’s was an odd choice but I hope the post explains it well enough.

2. I’m voting yes on Measure P.

While it’s true I live in the middle of Fresno. But I also live in a county island so I couldn’t actually vote for Measure P. That did not stop me from ranting about it though.

1.Dead Lot: NW Shaw & West.

Hey, I am surprised too how much play this post got. More posts to come for this series. It even prompted a response from Brandau.

Setting up the blog for 2019

No drastic changes planned to the blog. My goal is to have a new post every week, at least, usually by Wednesday mornings. But I did not follow through on that for much of the year. Hopefully, I can do that all the way in 2019.

The one change you might see involves monetizing the blog.

I have never seen cash in my hand or in my checking account, because of this blog. You would think after blogging so many damn years I would have figured out how to make money at it.

I have tinkered with being an Amazon affiliate but it doesn’t work well for the posts I write and the traffic I get. Plus, Amazon is a pretty shitty employer, so I feel dirty working with them anyway. I will likey be backing away from that.

Target has approved me to be an affiliate but I have not started messing with that yet. Yeah, I guess Target has a slightly better conscience than Amazon so I feel …okay? using them

You might see me give that a try on a post or two or a banner ad. Oh look, there is one now!:

2092-79158 The Year In Posts - 2018


Google Adwords is a thing but throwing a bunch of banners around to make $20 a month does not sound worth it to me.

I’m thinking hard about starting a Patreon

If you have not heard of the website called Patreon and you are a creative, you might want to check it out. It enables people that like what you produce to donate money to you.

The cool part is, the creator has the opportunity to give extra content to the person willing to give them a few bucks a month.

We do it on the Perfect Pour and it has worked out pretty well. It at least is enough that the show pays for itself, which is a victory to me.

Anyway, man, thank you for reading the Fresnan this past year and whatever year you have read it. I’ll keep posting if you keep giving a damn.

Cheers to Fresno and blogging in 2019!

Dead Lot: NW Corner of West & Shaw

Shaw-and-West-lot-1024x768 Dead Lot: NW Corner of West & Shaw

Part of the RETAIL APOCALYPSE, just shitty landlords or both. This place is dead. And no, Halloween Superstore does not count!

There is not one tenant at the back of West & Shaw, now that Nina’s Bakery has moved (Remember when it was a Pioneer Chicken? No? Ok. I guess I am old then).

I know nothing of the landowner other than they are not into their property.

They seem content with their tenants closer to Shaw Avenue (Starbucks, Taco Bell, Broilers and Colorado Grill). Not giving two shits about how the property looks or what a blight it is to the neighborhood.

I have not seen one improvement to that building since the long-closed Chinese buffet place was put in. And just look at the lovely landscape:

west-and-shaw-rock-1024x518 Dead Lot: NW Corner of West & Shaw

It feels like we should be ripping the whole thing out and putting up a condo building, instead of another retailer that will move out in a year. This feels like the trend we should head for in Fresno. If the lot can not maintain a business, make it a residence. Infill it.

A park would be nice too but we know that ain’t happening.

Developers whine about Fresno’s Master Plan and how they want seemingly endless amounts of land to keep building track suburban houses. Yet, roaming around Fresno as I do for my Day Job, I see SO MUCH land being underused, misused, or not used at all, it makes me want to FREAKING FRESNO THE FUCK OUT!

So I started Dead Lot, a first in a hopeful series of post, in the faintest of hopes that it will spark something somewhere to improve Fresno’s lame negative space. Fresno has a lot of negative space.

Hell, I hear that Save Mart fixed their PA after my post, let’s see what other weird things we can get accomplished here.

Something Sounds Off Inside The Savemart At Bullard & West

img_0414 Something Sounds Off Inside The Savemart At Bullard & West

A glitch in the Matrix is audibly happening inside the Save Mart at Bullard & West, if you want to go and check it out.

Formally it was Home to just ranking #2 on the Most Annoying Parking Lots in Fresno. But now, I am starting to believe, is taking part in a bizarre experiment to see how much the human brain can withstand.

What the hell am I talking about? 

For months (hell, maybe all year), the in-store music that plays over the PA system has been messing up. It cuts out and skips regularly. Like, a lot.

You can listen for yourself (just audio with a static picture):

Am I the crazy one? You hear how the song skips out, right? You hear it too…RIGHT!?

It’s like a wire is loose or something, bad connection somewhere.

I’m shocked at how long it has been going on because I can’t believe the employees are able to live with it. It’s super annoying and to hear it all day every day should drive you to fix it immediately or just keep it off.

But the staff has learned to ignore it, I guess.

I for one don’t go in there much unless it happens to be super convenient for me. I understand I am weird on many levels and I hope you can tell I am having some fun here, but little things can be a big deal.

If you don’t care about how annoying something like a constant drip of audio glitching could be to customer’s and especially to employees of the store, maybe I don’t care about shopping there either.

But also: Glitch in the Matrix!

My neighborhood Save Mart might very well be the portal where the computer programing running this simulation called “Life” is updated.

The store has new floors but couldn’t be bothered to fix the PA system? Interesting. 

WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU, FRESNO!?!? WE ARE ALL IN IT!

Take the blue pill (or is it red pill?) and check it out for yourself and tell me I am crazy. Crazy right.

This is the Save Mart that Kopi and Mayor Swear Bear shop, for fucks sake! THIS CAN NO LONGER STAND!

UPDATE!: Glitch fixed. Due to a tip from a Fresnan reader and this post, the system now appears to be working normally! I can confirm as I went in there last night and the music did not skip once. Well done, Save Mart #54 – Bart and Vic P would be proud.