One of the great things about living in Alameda is that I can walk my son to school each day. On most days we pick up the neighbor across the street and during the 15 minute stroll we can talk about things that are going on in each of our lives. Being in Kindergarten, there are lots of distractions along the way so I leave with ample time so we can take these diversions as they come. Today’s diversion was a worm that decided to take a swim in a puddle.
Tag: Alameda
-
Walking to school with my son
-
Alameda Antique Fair
On Sunday we went to see the Alameda Antique Fair which must be seen to be believed. There must be over 400 vendors spread out over the tarmac of the old naval airfield in Alamdeda. All sorts of weird and wonderful stuff, interesting people too.
-
Speed Lumps
I’ve heard of Speed Bumps and Speed Humps but here in Alameda we have Speed Lumps. What exactly is the difference and imagine the bewilderment to the road construction crew when they go into the back of their truck to pick up the the appropriate sign,
“I don’t know Larry, they kind of look like humps to me, what to you think Moe?”
“Nah, it looks more like a bump, check out the curvature on the approach.”
“Yeah, but if you look at the peak, yeah, there, from the driver’s perspective, it’s less of an angle, almost flat, this is more like a lump to me,”
Our taxdollars hard at work. . .
-
Commuting Choices
At long last our offices are now up in San Francisco so I am no longer taking the automobile down the freeway to work each day. Now the choices of how to get to the office abound:
1. The bus can take me from Alameda to the Transbay bus terminal. There is a stop about five blocks from my house for the morning and the return lets me off just three blocks from home. On the San Francisco end, it’s a good 15 minute walk to the office through a dreary (in the rain at least) fringes of the warehouse district. There are three different bus routes to choose from, including a fancy coach-like bus (The “OX” Express) that has cushy seats and nice lighting.
Cost? $3/each way, $100/month if you buy a monthly pass.
Pros? Can drop Tyler off at school on the way to the bus stop if we motivate early enough. It’ll be nice to walk with him to school each morning when the weather gets better.
Cons? The folks that ride the bus seem a bit ground down – usually clutching crumpled up and slightly damp newspapers. With fogged up glasses and overstuffed shoulder bags, these are the worker bees.
2. There are two ferries, one from the West End of the Island and the other over in Harbor Bay. I’ve only taken the Harbor Bay but it certainly is a treat. A 15-minute bike ride along a bike trail (no traffic lights, beautiful views of the bay) takes you to the ferry dock where boats leave on the half-hour. The riders are definitely the movers and shakers, overheard conversations are of family vacations in the tropics and visits to ivy league alumni events.
Cost? Pricy at $5.50/each way, includes a “gasoline surcharge”, $150 if you buy a monthly pass.
Pros? If you absolutely must ignore the views, they have wireless. They sell coffee in the morning and beers at the bar for the ride home.
Cons? There’s a sign up for an emergency email list which indicates to me that this service is not totally reliable. At $150/month you’re talking about a $1800/year commitment.
3. I could still take a car to work and most likely will on days when I have to drive somewhere later in the day. It’s a real grind but do-able if you go either *real* early or after 9 am. Trouble with going after 9 am is that all the good city parking spots are gone so you end up paying for it on the other end. Going home is a drag too b/c of the traffic on the bridge, bring good music for the radio!
Cost? $3 going into the city on the tolls or you can go free in the carpool lane if you pick up 2 riders on the way over. Parking is the kicker – some places advertise an “early bird special” of $8/day but you need to get there fast. Usually it’s more like $10 – $15.
-
Playing Father Christmas
Tonight I had the rare privilege of keeping the dream alive for some 70 kids who came to our street to visit with Santa. Our street gets totally decked out in lights for the month (we even got covered in the SF Chronicle) and to cap things off, we have a little Santa’s workshop thing going on the median right in front of my house.
Santa duty is on a volunteer basis and, wanting to make a good impression with my neighbors, I jumped in with both feet and signed myself up for an evening. Izumi told the kids I had to step out for a few hours to take care of something and I ducked into the garage to change into the suit which the fellow from the night before brought over for me earlier in the day. The beard was kind of funky smelling so I spritzed it with some cologne, threw on an extra sweater for warmth and then threw open the garage door for my 6:30 appearance.
I had some quick explaining to do to the startled kids that wondered why Santa was coming out of a garage to which I said that it’s the best place for the sled b/c parking is tough in this town. I settled into the chair that had been set out for me and then realized that, (a) the cologne smell was going to make me woozy, (b) I couldn’t see a thing b/c of the spotlight on me and the condensation on my glasses, and (c) I was going to sweat up a storm with all this gear on because the wig and hat were actually quite warm.
No matter, my elves, which were older kids from the neighborhood, moved things along nicely and whispered each child’s name into my ear before they approached. It was great to see their eyes when I would say to them, “Jose! How good to see you again! Now, tell me young man, you have been good haven’t you?” In one glance I could tell if they were good or bad because they were either happy to see me or looked at their toes in guilt. A few words of advice later (“be sure to make your bed each morning, pick up after yourself, and eat all your veggies”) and then I would get an education on the state of the toy market.
Most popular request? Bikes followed by Gameboys.
Then there was the handwritten note slipped to me by one boy when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. It was a simple boy’s request for some things to make his life better:
- Juice
- Stuffed Cat & Dog
- Clock
- Garbage Can for Room
- Telephone
- Rescue Hero Hyper Jet
- Green Long Hair for Daddy
- 100 Quarters ($25)
Some things seem so mundane, like a shopping list, then there’s the Rescue Hero, an indulgence, and the “Green Long Hair for Daddy” – I would love to know the full story behind that one but alas I didn’t have that much time.
The other note slipped my way was from a father who had scrawled on the back of an envelope:
Santa,
Please mention to Jonathan to be sure to take the rubber snake off our garage roof so it doesn’t frighten Prancer.When I discussed this with Jonathan, he almost lost his cap! He was just beside himself and solemnly promised to tell his father about Prancer’s ophiciophobia.
Good fun, it was totally worth it.
-
Boating with my neighbor
My neighbor has a small powerboat that he takes out to cruise around the Bay, including over to SBC Park where he’s got season tickets to see the Giants. This morning, at his invitation, Tyler and I went out to cruise around Alameda Island passing the giant cargo cranes (pictured) on the way out of the estuary that lies between the Island and West Oakland. These cranes were built by Hitachi many years ago and passing them one time on the Bart train, the driver came on the PA to tell the passengers that the cranes were the inspiration for the Imperial Walkers in the Star Wars films.
Once we cleared Alameda Point, we were hit by the full force of the wind and water on the open Bay. We then spent the next 20 minutes soaking ourselves as we motored down the leeward side of the Island. Tyler and the neighbor’s son, Julian, whooped it up enjoying the morning thrill but as a parent I was a bit concerned with all the violent thumping – happy to have noted earlier that the hull was “Kevlar enforced.” Drying off later, we headed into the city for supper in Chinatown. Another weekend in San Francisco.
-
Library Card
Now that we have a permanent address and can prove to the local library that we’re not going to pinch their books, Izumi was able to get Tyler his library card. Only one other litmus test – he needs to be able to write his own name.
-
Home at Last!
Almost two months to the day of searching and we finally got the house of our dreams. We are now going to be residents of the Island of Alameda!
We must have reviewed at least 50 houses and were in bidding wars on three of them. I was beginning to get blase about the whole process, with all the offers & counter-offers, and it was getting to be kind of enjoyable. Such a game! Our realtor came to meet us while we were eating dinner with Mie & Dav so we could sign our latest counter-offer. Dav mentioned that the last time he went to dinner with someone who was sitting on an offer, they won. He must have some kind of real estate karma thing that rubbed off on us – thanks Dav!
I’m glad it’s over. We were cooling our jets in Berkeley on the latest round of bidding when our realtor called and said, “So, are you ready to move in?” We immediately whooped it up and sang “we got a house. . . .we’ve. . . got. . . a. . .house” all the way back to the apartment.
-
Flying
Michael Karp, our new friend in Alameda, took Tyler and I up for a spin around the Bay with his son. Tyler was glued to the window as we took off and circled over the Golden Gate but then fell asleep for the landing. Just another flight for him I suppose but for me it was an great perspective on the San Francisco Bay.