Oakland Scenes

Oakland from Conrad Tse on Vimeo.

Demographics, Bay Area, California

This is interesting:

Red is Caucasian, Blue is African-American, Green is Asian, and Orange is Hispanic. One dot equals the same number of people.
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Kyoto, a few years ago...

This was fun, and our guide was the brother of an old Guam friend.

Back in about 2006

Little Cities Crime

We have friends in Clayton, relatives in Piedmont, and so we viewed with interest:

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Saranap Diary gazing inside the lobby of the Getty Museum, L.A.

11 September 2001

Pentagon, 11 Sep 01, as seen over Arlington National Cemetary.

The Rook

I couldn't resist.

Hawaii 2010

Good friends, great food, delightful weather, and a free place to stay. We couldn't say "no" and snuck in 1 week in Waikoloa on the Big Island.




We rented a bright blue Mustang convertible. Once we were inside, it made us feel young. (Getting inside and buckling up made us feel a bit old.)

The Mauna Kea opened after about 10 years of earthquake repair in 2008. It more lovely than before. What a treasure!

 The flame tree and the parrots still highlight the lobby view.

Mieko's colleague Vicki and Husband, at brunch, Sunday a.m.

Brunch includes sushi, roast beef, Peking duck, smoked salmon, and 12 deserts.

 The lobby artwork is as before. Almost human.

We snuck in some golf on Waikoloa's Beach Course. Confusion gave us 19 holes, over 7000 yards, and a whole lot of time. Nice course, great conditions, and lots of fun.

And then Mieko insisted on a trip to Honoka'a and a visit to Hula Moon. She has been here before. She has bought stuff here before. They have her sizes.

She bought some more stuff. She is very happy.

The final dinner out was a Sansei, in the Queens Shops at Waikoloa. Half-price on most a la carte items on Sunday and Monday. Excellent abalone (farm raised.)

We had fun.

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Gender Equality

From a sideroad somewhere in India.

I can't think of anything to add that won't get me in a whole bunch of trouble.

Gourmet Ghetto

DW1 and I believe that Walnut Creek is overtaking North Berkeley with new, exciting restaurants.

I don't know how to do a review of each one of them that we have tried.

So, now I'll try to import a file from Open Office:

Well, that didn't work. Let's try this:

New Walnut Creek Restaurants

(August 2010)

Sasa
Contemporary fusion Japanese. Good, busy atmosphere. Helpful, friendly service. Foods are varied, interesting, and good. Have gone back.

Shiro
Japanese, South Asia cuisine. Excellent (I was surprised) food with eye- catching presentations. Sushi was great. Lumpia reminded me of Guam. Funky atmosphere. Will definitely go back.

Eleve
Vietnamese fusion. Good imaginative noodle dishes. Open, stylish décor. Will return.

1515
Great décor, good service, excellent small plates of California fusion. Will return.

New China Cafe
California Chinese. No chopsticks. Enticing menu. Familiar Chinese specialties presented in unusual ways. Will return.

VeSu
Stark, tres moderne décor, small plates, beautiful presentations, helpful waitstaff. Food is good. Everything is $1-$2 overpriced, so final bill is high. Probably will return.
 
Just let us know when, and we'll make the reservations. . .

Old Time Pictures

Albuquerque in 1912...a mixture of cultures.

Lincoln Nebraska in the 1940's. I was there, then. Good prices!

Suburban Sprawl

Christoph Gielen photographs new housing developments across the USA. They are not comforting.

Architecture

Well, Frank Gehry's at it again, this time in Las Vegas. The Cleveland Clinic Ruvo Center for Brain Health has opened to its architect's approval.  Under construction, it appeared a bit, well, destroyed:

But Mr. Gehry knew well what he wanted, and he and his staff had compliant computers. The future is here.

I think it's pretty good that I got out when I did.

I don't this today's students spend much time with Sir Bannister Fletcher's efforts, either.

(This might actually have a negative action on my brain.)

Comments cordially invited.

Another Pic from apod.com/

Awesome site with awesome sights.

On Easter Island This Morning

there was a partial eclipse.  The statues watched in silence.

(HT: APOD)

Venetian Macau

Good grief! This is absolutely astounding:

The camera distorts in order to include the breadth of this complex.

Now, here is the Grand Staircase at the center of the Casino:

The entire place provides a mere 10,500,000 sq. ft., 3000 suites, 300 restaurants, etc., etc., etc.
This, and many other pictures, were on page 1 on http://www.twistedsifter.com/ on Tuesday morning. (If you get there late, you will have to dip inside the document.)

This is worth a look, in person.

121 Years.

Baffled on this Fourth

Please watch (12 minutes) this Boston Pops rendition of Tchaikovsky's "1812", enjoy the instruments, and connect all this to July 4. Do not mention Russia. Be brief.
 http://www.mediaite.com/online/happy-fourth-watch-the-boston-pops-fireworks-spectacular/

Thanks in advance.

July 4, 2010

"Same swing. Any club"

If you ever wondered what was going through a golfer's mind during his tee shot, consider:

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