Round Table Pizza at the Hive

If you are looking for a place to hang out with friends and relax, Round Table Pizza at the Hive has your solution and is conveniently located in the University Union of Sacramento State. 

Like many other Round Table Pizza’s, it has an impressive display of flat screen televisions showing news and sports. However, this one also has team jerseys and banners decorating the walls, giving it a sports bar look and feel. 

As you make your way to the cashier, there is a large variety of pizzas, appetizers, and drinks to look at and choose from on the menu board behind the counter. 

You can build your own pizza with the variety of toppings, including veggies and meats. There is also a selection of sauces, including creamy garlic, polynesian, and zesty red. 

To make it easy, you can also choose from their specialty pizzas, including “Italian Garlic Supreme”, “King Arthur Supreme”, Montague’s All Meat Marvel”, Guinevere’s Garden Delight”, “Maui Zaui”, “Hawaiian”, “ Gourmet Veggie”, “Chicken and Garlic Gourmet”, and the “Smokehouse Combo”.

There is the standard order sizes: small, medium, large and extra large depending on the size of your group. 

A personal pizza is a great choice for the busy college student getting a bite to eat between classes. It is perfect for one with only four slices.

Appetizers include garlic twists, salads (garden or caesar), and buffalo wings. There are also Club sandwiches, such as turkey, ham, and chicken.

If a soda wasn’t what you had in mind, there is also a small selection of beers, including Corona, Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada. Don’t forget the lime for your Corona and you are all set. 

Beware: They will card and quiz you on your birthdate. So, those unfortunate souls under the age of 21 are out of luck. It is easier for them to get into a club than order a beer at Round Table Pizza. 

After ordering, the cashier will give you a number to take to your table. You can sit inside at a table, at the bar, or lounge outside on the patio. 

Either one can be a little noisy depending on what time it is. But, it is nice to be able to sit outside in the fresh air and enjoy the day.

Even though it can be crowded, the wait isn’t long, about 15 minutes. 

The “Smokehouse Combo” is amazing. Your choice of pepperoni or chicken, topped with Italian sausage and linguica, Roma tomatoes, red and green onions with BBQ drizzle. It also has three different cheeses on top of a zesty red sauce. Your taste buds will go crazy from all the different flavors. 

This place doesn’t count calories, but you can choose from original, thin, or stuffed crust. 

Hours vary through the week. Monday thru Thursday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

No matter what time you go, there is always friendly and fast service. 

Neighbor from hell

Apartment living. 

Everyone should experience it once in their life time. It’s one of those life experiences that you will never forget.

You share a closeness with people that is beyond what you are looking for.

The walls are paper thin. You can hear what people are doing and saying at all hours. 

You can hear everything. When they pee, what television show they are watching, what video game they are playing at three in the morning, when they are arguing, when they are having sex...you can hear it.

I once had a neighbor that screamed at her boyfriend and cried hysterically all the time. 

She threw dishes at him one night at one in the morning. 

She once ran through the courtyard screaming for help, as if her boyfriend was going to kill her.

The police were called so many times, I lost count. 

One night, in particular, I decided I had had enough with her screaming. I yelled at her to be quiet from my patio door.

Wrong move.

Never mess with a woman you have never met and who happens to be drunk.

She proceeded to scream profanities at me and stormed down to my apartment, banging on my door.

The police said they were too busy to come out.

They are so reliable.

There was no altercation. She went back to her apartment when I wouldn’t answer the door and it was quiet the rest of the night.

The next night was different.

She decided to confront me outside my apartment. She claimed that I had called her a “bitch”. I replied that she must have heard her echo because I never used that word. 

This made her even more angry.

She, then, placed her body so close to mine I could feel her breath on my face. She started to shove me backwards with her body, while screaming profanities and saying she wanted to fight.

Her boyfriend, finally, pulled her off of me, while my boyfriend stepped in-between us.

This was all happening at my doorstep.

I went inside to call the police, as she yelled to me that she was going to “kill” me if I called her a “bitch” again.

The police still would not come.

Apartment security did.

The manager of security told me on the phone that they had dealt with her many times before and he thought she “needed therapy”.

Apparently, her routine is to scream and pick fights with her neighbors and then act as if nothing is wrong once security shows up.

I wish I would have known this information before I moved in.

As the manager predicted, that was exactly what she did.

The next morning, I filed a long report with my apartment manager about what had happened that night and all of the incidents I had ever heard coming from her apartment in the previous months, including the smashing dishes and the fight I had heard her pick with another neighbor.

Management placed a notice on her door that read if there was any noise reported in the next week she would be forced to move out or she could terminate her lease with no penalties. They said there was nothing more they could do in the meantime because California has so many laws to how much they can do.

Needless to say, she kept quiet for the next week. 

However, my landlord was great about the situation. I told her I didn’t feel safe anymore. So, she broke my lease without charging me and set me up with a new apartment, moving me away from my crazy neighbor.  

One of the women in the office told me, later, that my neighbor had moved out shortly after I moved to my new apartment.

Word of advice: Find out about your neighbors before you move anywhere.

University of Phoenix to buy CSU system

In July, CSU trustees voted for no new admissions for the Spring 2010 semester, a 20 percent fee increase, and for faculty to take two unpaid furlough days a month.

With California’s unemployment rate continuing to rise, 12.2 percent in August, education is taking a huge hit due to the budget cuts.

A solution has arisen to the enrollment of students and the state budget cuts. The Apollo Group’s University of Phoenix has been thought of to relieve the tension and buy the CSU system.

The 23-campus CSU system, containing 450,000 students, could increase enrollment for the University of Phoenix and save California billions of dollars.

The University of Phoenix has 300,000 students on their 39-state campuses and online. 

The New York Times reported that the annual tuition and fees for the University of Phoenix is $9,630, twice as much as a four-year public college. The tuition rates at the University of Phoenix varies upon degree.

To obtain an Associates degree, tuition is 345 dollars per credit and a 70 dollar per course materials fee. A Bachelor’s degree requires tuition of 530 dollars per credit and an 85 dollar per course materials fee. A Master’s degree requires tuition of 655 dollars per credit, a 105 dollar per course materials fee, and an application fee of 45 dollars. A Doctoral degree requires 745 dollars per credit, a 45 dollar application fee, and a 120 dollar per course materials fee.

The University of Phoenix offers online, class-based, and FlexNet (a combination of online and class-based) classes.

Each student can only take one class at a time. The campus-based students only have 20 to 24 hours with the instructor because each course only meets once a week for four hour classes.

A traditional university student typically meets with their professor for 40 hours per course and can take up to seven courses a semester. 

This is a key reason why students at the University of Phoenix have a graduation rate of 16 percent. Whereas, the graduation rate across all universities is 55 percent.

The faculty plays a role as well. 95 percent of the University of Phoenix faculty is part-time. Whereas, 47 percent of each CSU university faculty is part-time. Part-time employees are not fully committed to their jobs as educators. They have other jobs and other responsibilities, leaving their students on the back burner. 

The University of Phoenix gives students flexibility when in comes to class schedules, but they are limited as to what they can learn or degrees they can obtain. Arts and Sciences, Business and Management, Criminal Justice and Security, Education, Health Care, Human Services, Nursing, Psychology, and Technology are the only degree specialties offered.

If you are looking for english, history, marketing, journalism or digital media, you are out of luck. 

If the Apollo Group buys the CSU system, students will be forced to pick another major or move out of the state to pursue their specialty. 

The workforce in California would decrease dramatically. More and more jobs are requiring employees to obtain degrees.

Through the University of Phoenix it would cost more and take longer to obtain a degree. Not all of us are willing to take these risks and depend on an education system that has a 16 percent graduation rate. 

Part 2 of Proposition 8 underway

On Sept. 1, Sacramento resident, John Marcotte, filed an initiative with the attorney general’s office called the California Marriage Protection Act. 

The initiative says: “No party to any marriage shall be restored to the state of an unmarried person during the lifetime of the other party unless the marriage is void or voidable, as set forth in Part 2 of Division 6 of the Family Code.”

In other words, this initiative is setting forth a ban on divorce, bringing communism to the ballot in 2010.  

Placing this initiative on the ballot is a way of handing over our rights to the government. The only people that will vote for this is people with a strong religious background. There is a separation of church and state for a reason.

This initiative is ludicrous.

No one's situation is the same. Sometimes divorce is the only option. 

“Till death do you part.” How many times does he have to beat her in order to be granted a divorce? 

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States”.

There are many logical reasons for divorce. Lack of commitment to the marriage, lack of communication between spouses, infidelity, alcohol or substance abuse, emotional and physical abuse, inability to manage or resolve conflict, and financial problems are just some of the top reasons cited by the Associated Press.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the marriage rate in the U.S. is 7.1 per 1,000 total population. The divorce rate is 3.5 per 1,000 population.

Currently, Nevada holds the largest divorce rate in the nation with 14.2 percent of the population. California was last calculated in 2004 with a divorce rate of 4.1 percent of the population.

 Marcotte is know to have engineered a number of harmless social pranks. In 2006, he and a group of friends placed a giant pair of Groucho glasses on a statue at a Sacramento retail center, reported by News 10.

The Marriage Protection campaign already has t-shirts stating, “You said ’til death do us part. You’re not dead yet.”; “Jesus still loves you if you get divorced - just not as much as before.”; and “Hell is eternal - just like your marriage was supposed to be.” 

Do you smell sarcasm in the air?

Marcotte said that he was inspired by the Prop 8 campaign. He believes the California Marriage Protection Act would be a logical extension of Proposition 8. But, what is the true motivation for this campaign?

According to San Diego News Network, Doug Manchester, a supporter of “traditional marriage” donated $125,000 to Proposition 8. Is this another scam for money? 

Marcotte said he wasn’t planning to ramp up outreach until petitions were prepared to circulate. There are still those who haven’t heard of the California Marriage Protection Act. But, news is spreading fast with Facebook fans of over 1,900, the website RescueMarriage.org, and statewide news coverage.

The website, RescueMarriage.org, has many comments with various ideas. One commenter is a mother who describes how her kids and she would be dead if she wouldn’t have left her first husband. Some agree with the initiative, while others joke about it and claim it will never pass. 

Many websites such as, digg.com and asylum.com, are calling Marcotte a prankster. 

For the meantime, the talk about banning divorce doesn’t seem to be anything to joke about.