Battles with Integrity

Forbes Magazine rates my town, Oakland, in the Top Five Coolest Cities in the US.

#1 was a tie between NY & Vegas
#3 went to Seattle (using a picture from the one sunny day they had last year)
#4 was taken by Chicago
#5 was Oakland.

Six through ten went to Orlando, San Diego, LA, and DC.

San Francisco didn't even rate.

(Technically, if you read the pop-up, they call it the SF-Oakland statistical area. Even so, an editor decided to choose Oakland over her sister on the far side of Goat Island.)

In your face, peninsulares!

Ok. I'll admit, Forbes isn't exactly an arbiter of cool, and their rankings don't really mean much of anything anyway, but a guy's gotta have something. I'm constantly trying to defend my town from folk who claim Oakland isn't safe enough, or cool enough, or cultured enough.

warthog_rugby is a feed for a local Oakland kids rugby team. The blog talks about the benefits of kids rugby, and explores some of their travails in trying to get the City of Oakland, and/or OUSD to allow them a place to play.

I enjoyed the posts I got to read, and I look forward to seeing the future exploits of Coach Spencer and his team. Though I'm not a rugger myself, I am a big fan and supporter of student extracurricular activity in its myriad forms.

Chip Johnson, the SFGate Oakand correspondent runs a reasonable list of grievances against Mayor Dellums (masked as a comparison with Berkeley's Bates: Dellums should take some cues from Mayor Bates.

So really, upon reading this I'm wondering if we should be deciding between two unpalatable choices. Do we wait for another 19 months of this while Mayor Dellums fails to prevent the city falling around our ears, or do we recall a public servant who had a distinguished career with an ignominious end?

Game on tonight (Tuesday, May 6)!

Rules explained at 8:15, game starts at 8:30
@ Frank Ogawa Plaza

More info:
http://www.oaklandctf.com/
http://www.myspace.com/oaklandctf

Capture the flag every 1st and 3rd Tuesday night throughout the summer.

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Pass it on...
http://www.oaklandish.com
http://www.myspace.com/oaklandish
http://www.youtube.com/oaklandish
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I can't go myself, but you all should have a great time. I'll aim for maybe sometime in June or July.

[x-posted in oaklandca]

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It's the last game of the season!
*URBAN CAPTURE THE FLAG*
Tuesday September 18th in Frank Ogawa Plaza,
City Hall, Downtown Oakland
- Explanation of Rules at 8:15 pm
- Game Starts promptly at 8:30pm
Post Game Celebration at Radio Bar at 10:15pm
((( bring your running shoes! )))
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( other oaklandish events, too. )

Who's coming with me to plunder and pillage the high seas (er, estuary)?

Regatta 2.0 Ad for the 2nd Annual Oaklandish Radio Regatta, August 26

[x-posted to oaklandca]

Pssst.... Capture the Flag is on *again*
The last game was so hott, we had to do an encore...
8:30 on Tuesday June 19th @ Frank Ogawa Plaza (City Hall)
Tell a friend.

Ooh. That sounds like fun. And this time I know about the damned thing more than 12 hours beforehand.

Let's talk.

(titled with apologies to rosefox)

I had an excellent lunch today. Fresh tamales (they don't have to be heated), some string cheese (I'm still a kid a heart sometimes), and LA's fruit salad (I made the fruit salad, it's her family recipe).

( read more, if you like )

The SF Mime troupe is doing a showing of Godfellas at Mosswood park (Broadway at Telegraph) in Oakland. Show starts at 2pm, with music 30 minutes prior. We're going to be there at around noon, stake out a picnic, and stay for the show. Feel free to join us.

Comment if you don't have my number, and we'll sort all that out.

Cheers,

~Brian