the easy bay: August 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

a few lessons learned

I've been living in Oakland for over a year and working in San Francisco almost a year now and I've gathered some important bay lessons.

If you think you're being a weirdo, don't worry! Sure enough someone much weirder is walking in the room right now. In fact, look over there-- that guy is wearing an animal onsie costume and doing push-ups on the train!

The musicians playing for quarters probably have a iPhone charging nearby in the BART station. Trickery!

Rent costs do not equate to clean sidewalks. In fact, the more expensive the room (which is really an old outhouse), the more poop you'll find in your planter box.

I'm sure there's much more to learn. Bring it on, Bay!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Besides being one of the most beautiful places in the world, Yosemite holds a dear place in my heart's memory. If you haven't visited yet, stop what you're doing and go now. Seriously, stop reading this. Just kidding, you probably wouldn't be able to find a campsite because Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the U.S.

So here are some tips to help your future trip to Yosemite go as smooth as those rose quartz rocks you can buy in Curry Village!

We call in mid-March to book our sites for lake August. That's right-- you gotta call months in advance to get an assigned camp spot. That's not to say that you couldn't rest your head somewhere if you just showed up. There are backpacker's camps for slackers like you.

There are bears in that there them hills! But seriously, there are a lot of bears in Yosemite. Unlike other places you might have camped, you need to lock everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in a bear box, like the one above.

There is a hybrid, "green" shuttle that transports you all over the park. I'm always so impressed because it just feels fucking WEIRD to drive in a national park. I mean...you're in nature and yet you're creating more pollution and burning fossil fuels. It just doesn't make sense, I tell ya.

catch up

It has been a while since I've written actual content for this blog. Partly that is because I wanted to take a departure from my last blog and make it less of a diary narrative and partly because I just haven't been able to wrap my head around what it is I want the persona of this blog to be. I've never blogged with an audience in mind before but with this project I felt an unnamed pressure. Then I realized the reason I loved blogging is because I did it for myself. So I'm back! Writing has been sorely missing in my life and I need to claim it back!

So in that spirit:

FIRST YEAR IN THE EASY BAY!

2013-2014 has been a generally insane year for me. I planned a giant ass, 300 person / 4 day wedding, put a ring on Mr. Ñ, and moved to Oakland three days later. A month later, I travelled with my family to London and with Ric to Berlin, came home and landed an awesome job in San Francisco. Since last October the adventure has just kept on... keptin..on....?

Anyway, here is a brief recap of our year here so far:

Once upon a time... we moved to Oakland.

Let me tell you a little something about our neighborhood. We're two blocks away from Lake Merritt, the riviera of Oakland and the hunting grounds of human-eating geese (ok, the second part is a lie).