The Best of Sacramento

Most of the Flash animations I’ve created have been purely for fun, although ostensibly I made each of them to learn some particular aspect of Flash technology. After having studied Flash fairly intensively for 6 months, I posted them to my online portfolio, and then began searching for Flash jobs. What I found was that a sense of humor has very little place in the increasingly money-driven world of Flash development.

Which brings me to the subject of this article. I realized that I was limiting my self-marketing options by not creating and posting examples of strictly commercial Flash, such as banner ads and web pages. After all, that’s where the money is. But what could I use for inspiration in this endeavor? What could I advertise through the magic of Flash? How about Sacramento?

So what are Sacramento’s good points? Perhaps the most common way of answering this kind of question is the familiar “10 best restaurants” or “5 top hair stylists” – such commercial lists abound. So instead I’ll just concentrate on two things free to the general public: The Sacramento Public Library and the American River Parkway.

If you read as much and as often as you can, the Sacramento Public Library is the place for you. It used to be the case that in order to get rare, technical, out-of-print, or scholarly books, you’d have to get library privileges from your local university. But now that the Sacramento Library participates in LINK+, you have access to almost any book. LINK+ is a networked catalog of over 5 million books from participating libraries in California and Nevada, such as the San Francisco and Berkeley Public Libraries. This service is the answer to a reader’s prayers.

Staying in the forefront of the digital revolution, the Sacramento Public Library also offers free computer use and Internet access, online catalog search and requests, online technology training classes, online employment resources including live interview coaching, digital book downloads, live chat with a librarian or a tutor, and even texting a librarian!

The Sacramento Public Library also helps build a sense of community. There are ice cream socials, the “One Book Sacramento: Connecting Our Communities” project, baby and toddler play groups, family game nights, movie matinees, and a total of 29 safe and welcoming locations for Sacramentans to connect year-round.

When you put your book down and want a breath of fresh air, the American River Parkway offers a wealth of outdoor pleasures. You can walk, jog, skate, bike, or launch your boat along 23 miles of trails running beside the American River from Beals Point in Folsom to Old Sacramento.

On any given day you may see turkeys, jack rabbits, hawks, ducks, geese, turtles, quail, a solitary coyote running along the river, or even a family of river otters slowly swimming past – a true mood elevator. As you wander through oak groves, deer grass and coyote bush, you’ll get a better perspective on life – in particular, life in Sacramento.

Click here to view my American River Parkway Flash advertisement.