For those of you who don’t know, the Wenatchee World is a family owned newspaper.

The Woods family has kept this ship afloat for more than 100 years while providing excellent community journalism and becoming a community pillar in the process.

Today Wenatchee World Chairman of the Board, former publisher and possibly the person with the sharpest memory and most knowledge about the history of North Central Washington on the planet, Wilfred Woods, celebrated a birthday. Calling him a community institution would not be a stretch. That’s Wilf sitting at the head of the table in the photo above chatting with some World retirees during his party.

Earlier this afternoon a large group of World employees got together to sing “Happy Birthday” to Wilf and have some cake while the Chairman shared some stories about the early days of the Wenatchee World. One of the stories Wilf shared was about his first job here at The World.

Wilfred’s first job at the World was as a fly swatter. Apparently, back in the 1930s the flies were so pesky and annoying in the offices of The World that Wilfred was paid to swat the flies in the office. Talk about having worked a job as just about every position at the paper. Well, everyone has to start somewhere, right?

He said his first real job at the World was as a printer. He was paid $12 a week to work as a printing apprentice, which was a “gopher job” as he described it.

I won’t share Wilf’s age (but if you see him feel free to ask, I’m sure he will gladly share that information), but I do want to wish a happy birthday to a community institution from Applesauce’s little spot in the blogosphere. So happy birthday Wilf!

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I learned a valuable lesson yesterday: always wear pants to work.

Now before you start thinking this is going to be one of those inappropriate blog posts you shouldn’t be reading at work, keep in mind this is a family owned paper — and Web site — so you’ll have to go elsewhere for those types of cheap thrills.

You see, yesterday was my day off but I voluntarily attended a guided tour of the Town Toyota Center in order to take some pictures and video and to see what the place is shaping up to look like. Besides, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wear my personalized, Global-issued hard hat (Yup, I’ve got one of those. Are you jealous? I didn’t think so.).

When I arrived for the tour Linda Haglund, sales director for the Toybox, informed me I couldn’t go in because I wasn’t wearing pants.

Just to let you know, I was clothed from the waist down. In anticipation for carrying a camera, batteries, notebook, pens and my cell phone, I was wearing cargo shorts. Since it was my day off, I wasn’t wearing pants.

Haglund told me that for safety purposes everyone who enters the arena while it is under construction must be wearing pants. So I zipped home and changed into a pair of blue jeans (I timed myself, it took 17 minutes total to get to home and back to the Toybox) and returned to the arena.

When I returned to the Toybox I got to see the inside of the Wenatchee Wild’s locker room, the kitchen area, luxury boxes, VIP lounge area and other spots inside the TTC that are still under construction. All of the pictures I took are below.

The video I shot can be found here.

Team shop

VIP lounge area

Wenatchee Wild locker room

Balcony view from VIP area

Kitchen

Concession stand

Wayfinder signage

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Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated what the revenue from pet licensing fees is used for. The wrong information has been removed and replaced with the correct information.

A few weeks ago something strange happened at the Applesauce household — my doorbell rang.

You see, my doorbell never rings. I think it’s been rung less than six times during the 18 months I have lived at my current residence. What’s even more strange is that the person at the door, a nice woman wearing an official-looking polo shirt with a badge logo embroidered on it, wasn’t at my door to talk to me or my wife, she was there to talk about my cats (both of which are pictured above).

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A few weeks ago I visited the west side of the state during my vacation. Because we were going to visit multiple cities, Mrs. Applesauce and I decided to drive and not take the train or bus. This, of course, meant we had to spend money on gasoline during a time when gas prices are soaring to record highs.

While we were driving up and down the I-5 corridor I noticed something peculiar about the cost of gas. Every gas station we drove by (and I counted more than a dozen) gas was less than $4 a gallon.

Actually, in some places gas was significantly lower than four bucks a gallon. The lowest I recall seeing was $3.69 for regular unleaded gasoline at a Chevron in Anacortes. I was surprised to see such a difference in price considering I paid $4.09 a gallon at Safeway in Wenatchee earlier that same day.

I know people complain a lt about high gas prices, but I find it odd that out here in Eastern Washington, where the cost of living is cheaper than over on the other side of the mountains, there is such a large discrepancy in gas prices.

I asked World reporter and fellow blogger Rick Steigmeyer, who creates the weekly gas survey, why he thought gas prices are so high out in these parts.

His guesses were that it is because we are geographically isolated and there are only a couple of gasoline distributors that come out this way. I think I agree.

Why do you think gas costs so much in the Wenatchee Valley?

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Because I am a converted word nerd (slang for copy editor, a position I spend two days a week filling here at the World), I am beginning to find typos more and more amusing.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the best typo ever, and last week I blogged about the best local typo.

Here is another typo related to NCW that World reporter (and fellow blogger) Rochelle Feil stumbled upon over at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Dateline Earth environmental blog.

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When I’m not here manning my post at the World’s newsroom working on Internet-y things I am usually spending my spare time taking in live music and providing my thoughts about what I see on a freelance basis.

Last weekend I trekked over to Seattle with World sports writer Brent Stecker to enjoy three days of music and arts at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival. We both saw some amazing music. I greatly enjoyed the deep-fried Lynyrd Skynyrd Americana rock of The Maldives, the smooth-flowing rap of Grynch, the psychedelic jam band leanings of Howlin’ Rain and the fantastic rockabilly of Langhorne Slim & The War Eagles.

While all of those acts were highlights, the band that we both were most impressed by has some pretty strong local connections.

The group I am talking about is called SHIM and three out of the four massively hairy men who make up this awesome monster of a power rock band are from Wenatchee. Vocalist/guitarist Ragan Crowe and his brother Jeremy (drums) and Mike Notter (vocals, guitar and keys) all hail from the Apple Capital of the World. Bassist Micah Sinclair rounds out the group.

Here is a video of SHIM I shot rocking the masses at the Sky Church. If you listen closely you can hear my scream of approval at the end of the clip.

It’s difficult to pin down an accurate description of what exactly the band sounds like without including the words “they rock.” Put it this way, if Foghat and Wolfmother had an illegitimate rock ‘n’ roll love child it would be called SHIM. That’s the music journalist in me speaking right there.

Anyway, you can purchase SHIM’s records at Hastings, or you can visit the band’s Web site.

Not to brag or anything, but I already had a copy of SHIM’s latest album, “Feel Like A King,” a few weeks before seeing them at Bumbershoot because I had read about them in the Seattle media and wanted to check them out. Although I had no idea there was a Wenatchee connection and there is no mention of Wenatchee in their press material.

But as I was saying, Wenatchee’s own SHIM rocked the Experience Music Project’s Sky Church during Bumbershoot. The band played in front of a massive SHIM logo that was projected on the Sky Church’s video screen and they delivered what was hands down the best set Brent and I saw at the festival. The smoke machine and cool triangle flood lights provided some added punch to the already extremely powerful rock.

“Winner” was the exact word Brent shouted at the stage after SHIM’s set was complete.

Winner of what, exactly?

“Bumbershoot,” he said with a massive grin on his face while pointing the rock horns at the stage.

After the set Brent and I rushed to the merch table like two giddy schoolgirls (Brent calls us the “Beavis and Buttheads” for SHIM) and each purchased SHIM shirts and I picked up a copy of “In The Veins,” SHIM’s first record. It’s not as solid as the latest release, but it has its moments and it was well worth the 10 bucks.

*Note: An earlier version of this post had misidentified the instruments the band members play. 

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Back when I was covering city government a few months ago Wenatchee Mayor Dennis Johnson jokingly called Sonic and the yet-to-be-opened Jack In The Box “health food restaurants.”

Tuesday night I attempted to drop by the newly opened Sonic on my lunch break around 3:30ish, but when I arrived I quickly turned around because there was a line of more than 20 cars waiting in a parking lot across the street just to get into the drive thru. I wanted a cheeseburger, but I didn’t want to wait forever for my fast food.

So last night I visited Sonic again to check out what all the fuss was about. There was still a line of cars waiting to get into the drive thru (and there was a Sonic employee directing traffic with an orange flag) so I decided to park and walk across the street to the restaurant in hopes of getting served quicker.

I walked up to a large menu board that had a speaker on it. There were plenty of menu choices including breakfast options, burgers, chicken (World reporter Christine Pratt told me her sister recommends the popcorn chicken) and Coney Island hot dogs. The Coney Island chili dog looked sinfully delicious, but I decided against ordering it. Sonic’s dessert menu looked great (it is mostly ice cream treats) and there was a decent selection of specialty drinks (I’m told they are famous for their cherry limeade).

Having never been to Sonic before ( I think the Wenatchee Sonic is only the third in the state, with the other two in Pasco and Spokane) I was a little overwhelmed, but in the end, I ordered a double cheeseburger meal with a Coke and was given the choice of fries, or tater tots or some other side. I chose the tater tots and then I was asked if I wanted cheese and of course I said yes, but I didn’t know I was being asked about whether I wanted cheese on my tots. I was surprised when I opened my tots and they were covered with yellow-orange American cheese. I took photos of my food so you can see exactly what to expect if you drop by Sonic.

It took about 10 minutes to get my meal, which I think was a little too long for fast food, but it was still likely quicker than waiting in the long line of cars. A nice server named Esmeralda rolled up to me on roller skates and delivered my food. Apparently servers on roller skates is Sonic’s thing. The servers also act as car hops, delivering food to your vehicle when it is parked next to a menu. Very retro, 1950s-ish, sort of like something else I blogged about earlier this summer.

The total was slightly more than $10. Oh, I also ordered a fried ice cream blast, which is a soft-serve ice cream treat that has caramel syrup and bits of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. It was yum-o and easily the best part of my meal.

But for my tastes I found Sonic to be just another fast food joint, with nothing all too special to offer. The burger was just okay and the tots with cheese really weren’t that good at all. Overall, I would say Sonic is really just … meh.

So bottom line is, I’ll likely return to Sonic but not for the burgers and tots. I’ll come back for the desserts and the (hopefully) sinfully delicious chili cheese dogs.

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Remember a while back when Applesauce wrote about the best typo ever?

Well, looks like we have a local contender for the same category.

I’m working on gathering material for a special section about the opening of the Town Toyota Center, which is slated to happen some time before Oct. 10. While browsing the web for a seating chart I went to www.gwreventscenter.com, the old Web site for the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center.

After inserting the address into my browser I was redirected to www.towntoyotacenter.com, the new site for the arena.

There were two things about the new site that immediately caught my eye:

1) The Town Toyota Center signage has been placed on the concept drawings

2) In flashing red and white text below the big “Town Toyota Center” logo that is plastered prominently at the top of the page were the words “North Central Washington’s Premire Entertainment Facility.”

I called Linda Haglund, sales director for the Town Toyota Center, and let her know about the mistake. The site now has the correct spelling of premier.

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 Last week Applesauce blogged about the electronic song by Seattle artist Three Ninjas called “The Wenatchee Pterodactyl.”

Before I took off for a brief vacation I contacted Three Ninjas via MySpace and asked a few questions about the song. Amongst the dozens of e-mails flooding my inbox this morning was a response to those questions from Jason Brunet, the man behind the song (seen in the photo with the hamster).

Here’s the exchange:

Do you have any family, friends or connections to the Wenatchee Valley?

I have a very good friend who lives in Wenatchee and often visits Seattle, where I live, but until last weekend, I had never visited her in Wenatchee. I went camping with a friend at Lake Wenatchee Friday night, and on Saturday we went into town to meet her. She pointed out the bridge near where the guy crashed his car. She loves cryptozoology. We talked about the raptors that were nesting in that bridge or a nearby bridge, and how the guy, in his allegedly drunken state, probably confused a hawk for a pterodactyl.

Why did you want to name a song after the Wenatchee Pterodactyl?

I was working on it Sunday night after my trip to Wenatchee, and the story was fresh in my mind.  I repeated it a few times, and it just sounded so good and so happy, and it seemed to fit the uplifting mood of the song.  Actually, at first it was “A Wenatchee Pterodactyl”, but I could picture people looking puzzled and saying, “What’s an ‘awenatchee’?

Is there a connection in the song between the music and the pterodactyl or is the name the only connection?

I wasn’t thinking of the pterodactyl when I put the song together, at least, not until the very end.  But in a way, yes. I collaborated with several good friends on this song, and that’s the first time I’ve really done that since I started making electronic music.

Friends would come to my apartment and I’d say, “Hey, can you come up with a keyboard part for this?” The song symbolizes the great friends I’ve made in Washington since I moved up here three years ago. So Taisha, my Wenatchee friend, kind of indirectly put the finishing touch on the song by showing me the bridge.

How did you find out about the pterodactyl and what were your thoughts when you found out?

I read a lot of skeptic blogs and science blogs.  I think this story was linked to on Pharyngula (www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula). I was pleased at the attention to something so close to home, but kinda wish there was more to the story than a drunk driver’s one word testimony.

How did you get into music and what do you do for a day job? Is there a connection between music and your work or a connection between prehistoric creatures and your day job?

I’ve played guitar since I was 13 and my sister signed me up for lessons.  I did alternative / rock type stuff with my friends until I moved up here and found myself without a band.  At the same time I met people who turned me on to underground hip hop, and Three Ninjas was born when I realized how easy it was for me to make music by myself with a computer.

For my day job, I’m an SEO Specialist, which means that I tweak websites so that Google and other search engines will find them. No prehistoric creatures there, except for the occasional computer illiterate client. But I volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium, and I do plan to go back to school for paleontology.  The theory of evolution is sort of a passion of mine, and I love learning as much as I can about it, especially how the fossil record backs it up.

Are there plans for any more songs that include prehistoric creatures in their titles? Or perhaps a song with a title that has to deal with the Ice Age Floods, which have a connection locally?

ABSOLUTELY! I really want to write a song about Ambulocetus, a whale that lived about 55 million years ago and actually had 4 legs and could walk on land. It’s my favorite animal. I’d also like to write more songs about evolution.  My song “The Premise of Dogs” kind of touches on it, but it doesn’t actually make sense.  As for local influences, I’m actually working on a song right now with a friend from the Aquarium called “Bucket Sex”, which is about salmon spawning.  It’s amazing.  The only thing left to do is lay down the vocals.

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I’m leaving for a weeklong vacation Wednesday morning so you’ll have to wait a little while for your next dose of The Sauce (that’s my attempt at giving this blog a cute nickname, because we all know I like giving things nicknames).

My vacation will include working on some freelance assignments, seeing one of my favorite bands in concert, going to a tattoo parlor, spending time with family and lots and lots of driving.

Before I take off I want to leave you, dear reader, with something to hold you over until my return. So, taking a page from the blog playbook of The Everett Herald’s Andy Rathburn, I leave you with the video below to contemplate and consider for academic analysis.

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