The Wake-Up Call: Thirsty Thursday Edition

Elk Grove, party central? It is this evening, with not one but two hot happy hour events taking place in town. NBA jockfest or grassroots social networking? Better start practicing your teleporting skills, or get ready to make some tough decisions, because both of these gatherings start at about the same time.

In the Patch:

. Whether or not you think Sacramento-area taxpayers should foot the bill for a multi-bazillion-dollar arena for the Kings, the team sure is showering a lot of love on the community these days. Thursday brings simultaneous neighborhood draft parties at various locations in the metro area, including one at 4:30 at here in the EG. Take advantage of food and drink specials, enter to win prizes like hats and game tickets, and meet player Jason Thompson.

. The first Elk Grove Tweet Up in April was a smashing success, bringing dozens of bloggers and other social media addicts to for a raffle, schmoozing and goodie bags. This encore performance at promises all the same fun, minus the free ‘I Love Elk Grove’ T-shirts (sob). Has the Elk Grove Tweetosphere grown in the last couple of months? We’ll find out tonight at 5:30.

Outside the Patch:

Life expectancy for women dropping in hundreds of U.S. counties, study says. Americans are generally living longer than they did 20 years ago. But that's not true for women in large swathes of the South and Southeast, according to a new University of Washington study. Women in these areas are actually dying younger than they did two decades ago, by as much as two years in some areas. Researchers say the decline, which did not apply to men, is likely due to increases in obesity and smoking. (The average life expectancy of a woman in Sacramento County, by contrast, grew by almost three years between 1987 and 2007.)