For the fashionistas

If you know who Hamish Bowles is, then you will flip to hear that I ran into him at the Famer's Market on Claremont. I was so giddy, you would not believe it!! In fact, I could not even say anything clever after he confirmed it was him. I just said "Thanks" and ran away :(

Oakland Over Adversity

A lot of folks and news outlets have talked about the verdict of the BART officer involved in the death of Oscar Grant, but I'd like to focus on the frustration that multiple close friends have voiced about the expectation that Oakland would simply erupt. What I find even more disturbing is the number of highly intelligent and otherwise rational people who still stereotype Oakland as the badlands.

If you listen closely to the language used by some news e.g. "still no violence yet", "so far everything is calm", etc., they make it seem incredulous that people are not running mad and undermines all the great citizens of this proud city. And the late night problems that occurred were propagated by non-Oakland residents.

I've lived in Oakland for 10+ years, have amazing friends/neighbors and seen the influx of idealistic people wanting to shape this city into the jewel that it really is.

[PS- Time flies and that's no joke. I just saw that I've not posted since Sept09. Boy do I feel like a slacker.]

The view is different from a bike

It's been a few weeks since my last posting. I was fortunate to be given a bike and have been riding almost every day. I am happy to report that yes, firmer gluts can be obtained via biking. Of course, as I'm gasping for air while riding up a hill, the last things I think about are my butt cheeks.
The East Bay Active Friends Couchsurfer group met up at Mua Lounge which made for a great night. Loved the atmosphere, but with my tiny bank account, salivation was my drink and meal. It's got that nice mix of edgy and upscale.
Last weekend, Uptown's the Fox Theatre was also meeting ground for the Furthur Fest. If you're like me, you'd need someone to explain that it's the continuation of the Grateful Dead concerts or ex-Grateful Dead. Somewhere the guy from Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream is calling me stupid. Needless to say, there were many drunk and happy folks. PS- You'd have to know the Grateful Dead to know why I mentioned Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.

Eat Real Festival

Sucks to be you if you missed out on the Eat Real Festival at Jack London Square the last weekend of August. Actually sucked to be me because I had NO money. Well, it didn't suck that bad because BHboy was nice enough to treat me to some food and there were tons of free samples. I think I ate 4 yogurt samples from Stonyfield. YUM. YUM. It was also HOT, HOT, HOT out there so we just parked ourselves right by the music stage which still had shade.

Check out the huge paella pans (or whatever you would call those behemots).

The one thing that did bother me was I saw no signs of compost and recycling bins but all the vendors used compostable utensils and paperware. Things that make you go hmmmmmm?

On the way back, I passed by The Home of Chicken and Waffles which has 4-7 Happy Hour deal of 2-1 drinks and a clockbeater entree e.g. you arrive at 4pm then that's your entree price.

Champa Garden before surgery

Had my gum surgery yesterday and still recovering, but luckily I was able to get treated to Champa Garden over on 8th Ave and East 21st St. BHboy also bought me a to-go box of their Panang Catfish curry. YUMYUM. It was a good mix of people that included Couchsurfing and City Slicker friends. A few people discovered the joins of Beer Lao (light and dark). Here's to dreaming about chewing food again.

Art & Soul Festival

This weekend is Art & Soul festival in downtown Oakland. I've not actually gone attended (mainly because I have a thing against paying a cover charge) but I've boogied on down to some great music from outside the fenced area.
Next weekend is Chinatown Fest. For sure I'll try to make that if my recovery from gum surgery doesn't stop me.

Guess where?