MONTCLARION NEWSPAPER – February 26  2009

TOWN CRIER’S TOP 10 reasons to be happy in hard times:

10. More game nights with your friends

9. Two buck Chuck could soon be a buck

8. Staying home means more time to update your Twitter

7. Rain is free and we’re getting plenty of it

6. We can coast down the hill if we run out of gas

5. Home prices are down but Ark prices are rising

4. Casseroles are back in vogue

3. Safeway has $5 Fridays

2. Crogan’s has $3 wine

1. And if you’re still crabby — lobster night is now twice a week at the Montclair Bistro

DINING FOR DOLLARS: Speaking of eating out, save April 21 for Montclair’s first-ever “Restaurant Walk.” The Lions Club and the Montclair Village Association are putting the finishing touches on this event, which features an old fashioned dine-around. It looks like tickets will be $25 and you’ll get to taste the food and drink at some 17 restaurants and food/beverage outlets. Call it a spring version of the popular Holiday Stroll.

E-MAIL BAG: Thanks to reader Les Henry for taking the time to peruse ginnyprior.com. “I have to tell you that your web/blog is beautiful,” he writes, “as in — you know that little boy in the commercial who responds in earnest wonderment ‘it’s beautiful!'” The real credit goes to hills Web guru Vidya Tolani, who set me up on a site I can maintain myself. Check out the possibilities for your own web/blog at wordpress.com/.

Then there’s the e-mail from Mark Magers, regarding my column on the gutsy gobbler on Scout Drive. “At the risk of sounding alarmist,” he writes, “I was nonetheless a little bothered by the anthropomorphic description of the disenfranchised turkey.” In other words, he was worried that neighbors might be feeding the bird, making it more aggressive in its hunt for a meal. Magers knows from experience. He was once chased from his mailbox by a wild turkey gone wild.

HAMMER TIME: You’ve heard of a marathon? Well Habitat for Humanity East Bay is holding a build-a-thon April 18-21. Their goal is an aggressive one — to frame five houses a day for four days. Anyone 16 or older can help. It’s great fun, not to mention rewarding. Heck, you may even get a new skill out of the deal. For more information see www.habitateb.org.

FREEBIE ALERT: Are you looking for your 15 seconds of fame? Would you settle for a second or two? Then be part of the weekday studio audience for The View from the Bay on KGO-TV. You’ll not only see what goes on behind the scenes of live television, but you may get in the picture when the camera pans the audience.