Friday random thoughts

• Neighbors in need: Please, if you have the means, donate to the San Joaquin American Red Cross and help the victims of the Sycamore Village Apartments fire, many of whom have been left with nothing.

• Not coincidentally, the shout-out of the week goes to all those people who called the Tracy Press wanting to help after reading Thursday's article explaining the plight of the above-mentioned Sycamore Village residents. It's caring, giving people like that who make communities special.

• Hooray beans! The Tracy Dry Bean Festival is back, and this year, it won't be fenced off, it won't charge admission and it might actually be coordinated with downtown businesses. What a concept.

• New revelations about the crash that killed Mike Ucci and injured three other West High students suggest that street racing was a factor leading to the accident. So, where's the other car, and who was the driver? And why did it take until now for the story to come out?!?

• On any one night, there are about 750,000 homeless individuals in the United States.

• On any one night, there are as many as 3,000 homeless individuals in San Joaquin County.

• That warm, fuzzy feeling's back. John McCain said he misspoke when he remarked that U.S. lives were being "wasted" in Iraq. He meant to say "sacrificed." Either way, many Americans have paid with their lives for the mistakes of many lawmakers who have never seen and will never see a battlefield.

• Maybe the White House is finally getting the message that war alone doesn't solve the issues of the world. Iraq has invited the U.S. to talks including Syria and Iran that could help bolster security in the region. Let's all hope this works.

• You have to love Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's partisan-busting rhetoric. Talk about a fresh approach that I wish other politicians would emulate. But let's not forget his hostile and very partisan attempts to gut the political power of his then-opponents in a bungled 2005 special election.

• Irony of the week: I spent all last Saturday driving and skiing in a blizzard and was warm, dry and uninjured the entire time. Then I fell down the stairs to my cabin and spent the next two hours cold, wet, and in pain. As my partner in crime said: "This is going well."

• Randomest thought of the week: "All things in moderation. Including moderation."

• Calvin & Hobbes quote of the week: "Go do something you hate. Being miserable builds character."

••• Attention alert readers! E-mail your quips, quotes and quirky news items to jmendelson@tracypress.com. If I get enough of them, I'll turn them into a column. If not, they'll at least show up here. Seriously, I promise this time.•••