We went to the Amtrak station at Jack London Square to pick up a friend who was arriving from San Jose. The train was a little late, so I took a few pictures:
secure shopping cart
this shopping cart was locked to the information display via cable lock.
loco spot
I’m guessing “loco” refers to locomotive rather than crazy?
note: locospot.com = porn, not locomotives nor crazy.
bike to work day 2011 was fun – here are some photos:
volunteers at one of the many east bay energizer stations. This one was in berkeley, staffed by grizzly peak cyclists(?) The woman is holding up little colorful bike pins. They had snacks and coffee and information about the east bay bike coalition. According to streetsblog SF, about 10,000 people biked to work in Alameda county, up 12.3% from last year. I definitely saw a lot more cyclists out on the streets.
bike love
this photo was taken from the energizer station outside of actual cafe
people were out from Spokeland – a north oakland bike co-op.
after work, we headed to bike away from work party, where there were tons of neat bikes to check out:
a rusty paint job
leathery cowboy bike
this bamboo bike was really well done
the crucible was showing off some bikes modified by teenagers
the popcycle
actual cafe’s parklet
this bike was handcuffed to a speaker
a danish pedersen bike. wood fenders, rims. hammock seat. stumey archer 3-speed internal rear hub. coaster brake.
bike, shoes, jeans, shirt, hat
and cyclecide was there with their deadly-looking-but-fun looking bikes and rides
It looked a little smaller than last year’s but was still a fun time.
A break from the biking for some photos from around rockridge:
Simon. He said he was trying to see his family on Easter. He talked about his sister in Emeryville and his dad who’s 82.
Outside of Cole coffee, dogs wait for their owners to finish their drinks
I got out early this morning to check out the 2011 Oakland Marathon. I didn’t have it in me to try to try to run it again this year (especially with all of the cycling training) but it was really exciting to see the runners. I got out to around the 4.5 mile mark on College ave in front of Crossroads Trading and across from Toast and near miam miam (expensive, but probably the best frozen yogurt I’ve had)
This is Tegenu Beru from San Jose. He won the race wish a finishing time of 2:30:08. Damn.
He had a small entourage of cyclists surrounding him and preceding that were some police motorcycles and an official pickup truck.
Ivan Medina from Hayward finished 5th with a time of 2:44:33, but was in 2nd place at this point.
These guys were running together at this point in the race, but eventually Jesus Campos (#1003) pulled off to capture 2nd place with a time of 2:37:31. Tony Torres (#1000) still finished strongly at 4th place with a time of 2:38:45.
Anna Bretan took 1st place for women and 11th place overall with a strong finishing time of 2:53:19. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this was her first marathon ever and the longest distance she’s run in her life.
Lori Buratto from Washington finished 2nd among women with a finishing time of 3:02:53.
They look happy!
Suet-Fei Li finished 3rd among women with a time of 3:03:25.
This guy was awesome.
By the way, she is ripped
Hawaiian shirt
This guy ran the marathon with a hemp shoulder bag.
Hard to see from the photo since I had switched out to a wide-angle lens, but this guy is “Endorphin Dude” and ran with a cape. Pretty sweet. Check out his website.
The 2011 Winter Eating About Beer dinner was held at the Commonwealth Cafe and Public House in Oakland this past Sunday. Here are the photos that I took of the event.
Terrariums in the window. It was a rainy sunday but the lighting in commonwealth was great.
Preparing endives for the first course
Kitchen knives
On the wall
Frying pheasant skin
Those glasses need an anti-reflective coating
Potatoes being cut prior to frying
Crispy pheasant.
Commonwealth’s coffee condiment counter
Discussing pre-dinner activities
The Eating About Beer crew in the kitchen
Awesome flower arrangements.
game face.
Chives
Frying the “belgin-inspired crispy potatoes”
Scallions to later go with cheese and sausage
Commonwealth’s storefront, telegraph side.
The menu
The first guests start checking in
Plating the endives
seated, awaiting the first course
handling the marinated daikon
the plating continues
First course: Endive with roasted pheasant and hazelnuts – paired with a scottish heavy 70 shilling ale
The chefs discuss the first course
toast
Pouring homemade sake
plating of the onigiri
second course: a deconstructed sake bomb with umeboshi onigiri and marinated daikon
Guatemalan longaniza sausages, cooking
describing the second course
more photos to come. If you need more of a fix, check out the last eating about beer dinner.
Mac n cheese (“the exchange student”) plus egg at homeroom in Oakland
I recently participated in and took photos at a wonderful baby shower. It was a woodland creature theme full of wonderful ideas and cute little woodland animals and hand-made decorations. It was the first baby shower that I’ve ever attended and I fear that this will skew my expectations from future ones. Every detail was exquisitely planned:california wildflower seeds or graham cookie party favors. hand-sewn bags with twine and die cut tags with various wet-embossed owls. pretty awesome.
terrariums – live plants, moss, little tiny animal figurines and stones in a base of perlite, charcoal and potting soil in various glass containers
a super-fancy yule log by Erin. marzipan owls, skunks, mushrooms, pine cones and bunny.
various sweets – puffs and eclairs
a lovely view of oakland and lake merritt
kids tables with coloring and DIY masks
yummy sangria filled with apples, lemons, and oranges, peach juice, and baby shower labeling
meat plate
owl food markers and pine cones and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids
gnomes and more pine cones
hand sewn hedgehogs and another terrarium with a lil mushroom
thinking gnome
more fancy yule log and marzipan owls, and a skunk and a rabbit
Closeup of a terrarium and hedgehog. The little deer figurine (and the other animal ones) are surprisingly expensive!
paperwhites and a little bluebird
the bunny lost its ears!
East Bay Mini Maker Faire was rainy but fun. The mini-sized faire made for a much more manageable experience than the gigantor (but awesome) hodgepodge of overstimulation that is the full-scale bay area version. it was held at the park day school in temescal. originally scheduled to be mostly outside, the planners did an excellent job with the rain contingency plan.
Lilypad arduino – part of the woven futures digital quilt project
park day school lighting
LED skull
the eggbot does pumpkins for halloween as well. It looks like the marker holder is hinged so that it just rests on the surface, which is helpful for not-quite-round surfaces like little pumpkins and gourds.
Photos of components of the world’s smallest post service kit from leafcutter designs. Pretty awesome idea. They send you a real letter with teeny writing and a magnifying glass for reading. Comes with a custom wax seal, stamp and all. check out their video.
forging knives via the crucible
ice brain by anja ulfeldt
such a cool project – it’s a growing (and shrinking) ice brain. Refrigeration coils form the brain and water vapor in the air condenses and then freezes onto the coils.
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key: more crema = better. empty cup = not so good. Sorry about the funky anti-aliasing.
credit for working the google maps/wordpress hack: http://digwp.com/2010/01/google-maps-shortcode/ if you want to try this, don’t forget to add the &embed at the end of your link.
