The things I know could fill a book. Or a magazine at least.

One of the perks of my job is I get to learn new stuff all the time. Fresno's co-housing project, for example. Or Good Compay Players (a whole history) or why a store like Coach (or Flemmings) would want to open up shop in Fresno.

Things I'm learning about just now:

BBQ. From competive BBQers. These aren't your backyard grillers. These are "slow-and-low" smoker types, who think nothing of putting a beef brisket in for 14 hours, getting up in the middle of the night to check the temperature (of both the smoker and the meat) every hour. Pretty hard core. But the result is ... wonderful. A quick factoid: rib meat is not supposed to fall off the bone. That just means it's over cooked.

Gary Selzi. Dude is a drag-racing legend. Apparently, he won the World Championships his first year as a pro and was the first to reach a top speed of 300 miles per hour. He has his own show on ESPN2. It's called "Selzi Says." And he's from Fresno. A quick factoid: A funny car produces 8,000 horses, can reach top speeds of 330 miles per hour and do a quarter-mile in 4.5 seconds. There's 5 Gs on acceleration, 6 Gs when the chute open at the end.

Automobiles. Like the new Jaguar XF, which is supposed to be the I-phone of cars, whatever that means. It's all the rage, for those techno-philes, with i-pod connectivity, blue tooth, a rear-screen something or other. The damn thing great you when you get inside. Seriously. It says hello.