Weather, Dates for Dinner

Today is TUESDAY, March 29, 2011. It is supposed to be another glorious spring day, much like Monday. The smell of the air and the depth of green makes all those cold, rainy days seem worthwhile. So it's difficult to maintain any sense of gloom and doom in this spectacular weather, which is supposed to stay with us for at least the rest of the week. Of course, it seems as though whenever I forecast the weather, it goes the other way, so perhaps I should predict a blizzard. Well, no one ever accused Five Things of being meteor-logically sound. Let's move on:

1. As noted in Monday's story, the is reminding you that the nominations for Man, Woman, Young Man, Young Woman and Educator of the Year close on April 4, which is coming up sooner than you may think. The banquet at which all these fine upstanding people will be recognized is now being held on April 29, rather than April 30, so it doesn't compete with the senior prom. 
2. If you want to learn about things to do in and around the Bay Area, you should head across the bridge to the today to hear author Carol Terwilliger Myers discuss her book Weekend Adventures In and Around San Francisco. And you can count that as one of the things you can do in and around the Bay Area. 
3. According to a story in the weekend Contra Costa Times by Lisa P. White, Martinez is launching a community channel in conjunction with Pleasant Hill and Clayton. The channel will be used to market the city though, given the City Council's confusion over the value of marketing in general, it's hard to see what having a TV station will do to make a difference.
4. Speaking of marketing, you have mere days left (two, exactly) before the end of the contest. So far, we have no entries that qualify for the $50 gift certificate to a local dining establishment. If you have a marketing idea, logo, slogan, whatever, send it to jim.caroompas@patch.com. Actually, come to think of it, we did get one entry, so the contest is officially still on. Dick Duncan submitted "Martinez - Bringing Back the Romance." That's pretty good. Can you do better?
5. Finally, our condolences to officer Ian Leong, who lost his canine partner, , last weekend to complications of pneumonia. RIP, Canto.