Another Neighborhood Walk (with Stairs)

First a little baseball gloating ...

Last night Donna and I hooked the MacBook to the big TV, and watched on the internet as Dice-K pitched a gem. After the Red Sox won their game, we switched MLB-TV "channels" over to the Orioles and Yankees game, doing our best to duplicate the experience of the fans in Boston. We cheered like crazy when the O's tied it up against Rivera, and then could hardly believe it when Mora laid down the bunt. The unlikeliness of that series of events (plus the Red Sox and Yankees role reversal) seemed to make clinching the Division extra special; what a celebration. I loved all the comments on SoSH and YF-vs-SF. We celebrated the Red Sox' AL East Division title by watching a bunch of internet videos late into the night. It was great to hear Bob Lobel and Dan Roche bring the celebration to us from Fenway. It's weird being so disant -- and then not distant.

But this morning the fog broke, and we got one of those glorious California mornings. We went for a little walk and we're finding more and more of these public walkways and stairs hidden in the hills. It's an amazing area. Here's a little slide show for you:

My Parents as Goth-Rock Fans

Trying to put last night's ridiculous Red Sox loss to the Yankees out of my mind, and while running errands this morning, I stumbled on this odd article re-printed from the LA Times in today's Oakland Tribune (click for story):



The article is about Chthonic, a Taiwanese death metal rock band. Imagine, if you will or can, KISS with strait black hair and a real serious attitude (click to go to their myspace page). They are currently touring in the US with Ozzfest, and their fans often include middle-aged (and older) Taiwanese-Americans. Evidently, one their songs, "UNlimited Taiwan", has become an anthems of sorts for the independence movement, which is hoping that the UN will recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. Here is the song played along with a montage of the independence movement -- the myspace video description reads, "This is a short film by Director, Cheng Wen-tang. It's not a Music Video" (click to play):

UNlimited TAIWAN Short Film (Not Music Video)

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Even though it's not a "music video", the video piece actually fits well with the song, and focuses attention on Taiwan's exclusion from the World Health Organization (WHO), something my parents have been working hard to do something about. Definitely a great way to focus a new audience, and connect what would normally be divergent audiences with common goals -- but I have a hard time picturing my folks moshing at the foot of the stage, waving little flags.

But, whatever it takes. Rock on you guys.

The Spiders are in Charge

Tho it's not as bad as the "giant spider web in Texas" (why is everything big in Texas?), but the spiders here are just all over the place. True from the day we moved in, we've been running into, and cleaning spider webs all the time. Odd, as I don't think there are many bugs around at all, except maybe a few moths. I went out this AM to try to take pictures of the Bay Bridge closing (too foggy), and got covered with a web! And here's the busy little guy rebuilding:

It's such a strange day, and I really feel like the whole summer phase-shift thing is done now. I've started my job and started teaching my class; the Lab is pretty much done by now and the wave of tech issues resulting from the return of the faculty is behind me. The Bay Bridge is closed on Labor Day Weekend for this crazy construction thing, and the first Cal football game of the year is on. Tunnel Road is a mess. I had no idea we were so close to the Stadium that people would be *upstream* from us on Tunnel Road scamming tickets ("Anyone need tickets?"). It's like popping out of the T Station at Kenmore on Red Sox game day, only these guys are are barking at the traffic jam. And the traffic jam is a block or two from my front door. That's really strange.

So here we are, in our own happy little web. Our back to the Hills and Tunnel Road in front of us. We are caught here, but I am fine with that for now.

A Walk Around the Neighborhood

Went for a walk after dinner and snapped a few pics.

We moved to an area of fires and earthquakes, but it is a really beautiful neighborhood. It was wiped clean about fifteen years ago by a big wildfire. All the homes are new and crazy big, and they scamper up the hills in the most amazing ways; it's hard to show in pictures. And stylistically, the homes stretch the American vernacular - from pseudo-colonial, to California Mission, to "real new".

A guy from Berkeley Public Works told me that our house and the one across the street were really the only two buildings to come through the fires intact. It's strange that it should all feel like an established area and a new development at the same time.

Reunion Pictures

Irene's father just moved to the neighbohood, and stopped by for a chat.

David, Aenoch, and some meat. 

Lapoe, Aenoch, and some meat; Kris and Sophia are all smiles.

Sophia.

Penny and David get a piano lesson from Matthew.

David at the helm of the shark.

Shark vs. Sea Monster!

Earthquake

From CNN: " A 4.2-magnitude earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay. " The other thing centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland is our new home. What an introduction to be shaken from sleep -- espcially while my parents were visting (they've lived in SF before and did not seem too alarmed). And then the local news folks launch into fear-generation mode, telling us that the Hayward Fault is due for a "big one" relatively soon. Good gracious. I just moved on top of this (from Wikipedia): "Of all the region's large faults, the Hayward (and) Rodgers Creek fault system is considered most likely to create the next major destructive earthquake in the region." Yikes. But nothing really was damaged; actually, nothing much moved at all. The quake was incredibly short and sudden. Donna said it was like being on a train. Maybe we should install straps and handles, like they have in the subways.

Californians

Well, hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I heard it was kinda wet and cool in New England. It was hot here -- about 80 degrees. I guess 80 is the new hot. This weather is going to take some getting used to. We finally got the TV going and were able to listen to the local forecast. Boy, the meteorologists here have to deal with 60's at the coast and 100's inland.

But the night cooled off nice. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy (smoggy?), so we could not really see the big fireworks off Fisherman's Wharf very well; we could not really get the spray of color and the full size of the bursts. But we could see fireworks that were (I think) at the Berkeley Marina better, but that display was smaller.

Slowly unpacking. My car is here; that's a relief. Today, I wired my bookshelves to the wood ceiling (they are in front of a mirror, so I could not secure it to the wall). I hear they got a thing out here: earthquakes.