Martinez water front

Gavin and I went to Martinez on Sunday. A few weeks ago we went to the beach and he loved it, so I was looking for a place to go that was close to the ocean, but didn’t require a huge adventure over to Marin or San Francisco. So Martinez. The town was really nice – we went to the WaterFront Park for a bit, which was kind of surprising. The park is huge; it encompasses a skate park, a bunch of play structures, a marina, and tons of wide open lawn with big trees for shade. We played there for a bit and Gavin really enjoyed it.

The waterfront park is adjacent to the Martinez Regional Shoreline – a pretty substantial nature preserve with lots of trails and beautiful views. We walked around here a lot, the paths were toddler friendly and there was lots of cool nature for Gavin to check out. We even got to play on a very small beach and get sandy. The waterfront was great, we ate our lunch out there and snapped a few photos.

Loyalty and Team Building

One of many things I spend my days doing is working. Since this is something I have to do, I've decided that I should enjoy it, learn about it, and occasionally think of ways to make it better. My work involves managing teams that create, modify, and maintain software. For a long time, I referred to this job as "Project Manager". Now my title has changed and I refer to this job as "Product Manager". Anyway...

I read two extremely different Fortune articles while on a plane to Phoenix yesterday. One was about JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon - and how he has built a top notch team to support his organization while steering clear of the subprime mortgage mess. The other was about the rise of Russia as a global economic superpower, and the team of former KGB operatives that Putin installed to help consolidate power, nationalize certain industries, and generally run the show. These articles are both interesting in their own right, but as I was reading about how Putin assembled a team of folks committed to a nationalistic agenda - it became clear that both teams - JP and Russia - had a common thread - Loyalty to the the top guy. Putin has his "Lieutenants" that came through the KGB with him, and Dimon has his folks that came up through the ranks with him at Citigroup and organizations prior.

I've never really considered the impacts of loyalty on career choices and development, but as I get older, and make certain career choices myself, I've started to realize the weight that it plays in my life and in the lives of others. Granted, shared experience in the KGB is an extreme example, but if you think about a group of people that went through the crucible of espionage and fear that was the KGB, it might make sense to you that a crew like this would not just seek each other out, but actively try to better the lives of the comrades that had been where they had been. The same holds true for the team at JP - if you think about the high profile mergers that the company has taken on - you can't do stuff like that if you don't have a team around you that you trust completely. And once you have it, letting it go would be really difficult. And say you did let it go, you'd probably spend a fair amount of time trying to recreate it in your next venture, because you know it leads to success.

Cordonices Park - Berkeley

We spend an amazing amount of time at parks these days. Last Saturday – August 30th, Gavin and I went to the mall to buy clippers so I could shave my head. Then we headed out to Cordonices Park in Berkeley. This is a great park for big kids, but it works well for the little ones too. Gavin is too young to head down the slides and run around this place like he owns it, but he likes the swings, and he’s content to drag me along by one finger and climb up on things and play in the dirt. So the kids play area is great, but it can get a little crowded if you are looking for a place to relax. After playing on the playground, we headed up to the baseball field. The outfield is bordered by a bunch of big trees and shrubs so there is some shade. We sat out there and ate yogurt and cheerios and played with some dogs that people were walking in the area. Gavin was pretty intrigued to watch dogs fetch.

Gavin, MIA, Tupperware

Riding BART

So – I’m riding BART home the other day. Middle of rush hour. A roughly six foot tall dude gets on. Long hair, in a green bandanna, glasses. Big Features, big nose, double chin, heather grey t-shirt – short green cargo shorts. By short I mean a good 6-7 inches above the knee. Legs shaved smooth. Red leather, black soled, open-toe strappy sandals with a heel. Red painted toe-nails. Pink laptop case. Reading an e-book on one of those new fangled devices you can buy from Amazon. Maybe on his way home from a job at the bank? A few minutes go by. A few stops, downtown Berkeley [of course] and off he goes.

Blueberry Muffins

With sweet potato puree mixed in. Topped wth crushed cashews, honey, and brown sugar.

A day in the Life

Last Saturday Gavin and I spent a lot of time together. I took a few photos and documented our progress through the day.

We started at the big park in Hercules:

















Then we made our way down the long path from that park and we saw goats clearing a hillside:

















We got past the goats without incident and came to the Hercules community pool. I had no idea this existed, but finding it was cool and bumped my opinion of Hercules up a bit.

















On the way back we found some blackberries. I ate them. They were good.

















We got back to the car and stopped at Kinder's Meats before heading home. Gavin's first butcher shop. We picked up two Rib Eyes and then we went home. We put Gavin to bed and I proceeded to grill up those steaks. Baked potato and braised Brussel Sprouts to accompany.

















It was a good day.

American Guru

Many years ago, Teri and I had a conversation about the rise of the American Guru. I think this was back in 2000 or so. I can remember going to friends houses and having dinner and drinks and late night conversation that would progress towards religion and belief systems and the universe, and eventually someone would volunteer that they had been reading a particular author that had a firm grasp of the metaphysical, spiritual, and physical nature of the universe. And then silence…..

So this type of encounter happened a few times with a few friends and family, and Teri and I started to comment on how these American Guru’s were popping up all over the place. They were influencing how our friends saw the universe - perhaps they were personifying a perspective our friends harbored on “how things worked”. Or maybe they were satisfying the need for a post-monotheistic understanding of man’s purpose on the planet. Maybe these gurus presented the perfect mix of successful capitalism combined with non-threatening mysticism – the idea that you can be rich and mystical – or even better – practicing the guru’s spiritualism would lead to financial wealth. Now that’s attractive. Buy a book, read it, live it, and get rich.

Whatever the reason for their popularity, the phenomenon hasn’t gone away in the 8 years since we started talking about it. If anything, the Guru’s have grown into substantial religious and quasi-religious movements. I say quasi-religious because some of them don’t advocate the belief in any particular religious movement, more so the belief in general spirituality, or the belief in the power of the human mind – the power of intention if you will…

It seems like there are a couple of recurring themes that the Gurus address:
• The universe runs on love [see commandment 9]
• Everything resonates at a certain frequency –the universe, the planet, the people, the rocks - and you, or trained guides have the power to manipulate those frequencies.
• You “attract” what you “put out there”
• Love forms metaphysical bonds

Expressing views about the nature of the universe and human relationships is not enough for the American Guru though – and this may be what sets the American Guru apart from others. The accompanying capitalism:
• Classes
• Certifications
• Retreats
• Seminars
• Franchise Opportunities [!]

The most prominent Gurus in my perspective [or at least the ones I’ve heard of]:
• Dr. Wayne Dyer – aka "The Father of Motivation"
• Dr. Deepak Chopra
• Dr. John DeMartini
• Dr. Eric Pearl - Author of "The Reconnection"
• Suze Orman - sure she's not a spiritual healer in the traditional sense, but finances are as close to spirituality as some people get.
• Robert Kiyosaki - Author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"
• Oprah

Maybe there is a documentary opportunity here, a chance to understand the common bonds [and make no mistake, there is a thread that runs through many of their teachings - Kyosaki and Orman excepted] of the Guru’s and the qualities that make them attractive to everyday folks. Perhaps, something that endeavors to explain their continued success in America. Somehow, I imagine it would be a best seller.

New Camera - Sony DSC H50

Our old camera, a Canon Powershot SD600, kicked the bucket last week. It wasn't that old, but it had logged a few thousand photos, and a few buckets of drool from Gavin, so it wasn't too surprising. We've moved on to the Sony DSC H50 for a few reasons - massive zoom lens, wonderfully intuitive interface, lots of megapixels, and general comfort. We used to own a Fujifilm FinePix s5100 - it was stolen before we even scratched the surface on all the features. We loved the feel of that camera, and the power of a strong zoom lens. For a while the memory was too painful to go off and buy another - it was a Christmas present that we gave to each other :-( but we've recovered strong and jumped back into the superzoom fray.

Gavin and I went out to the mall last weekend and I snapped a few photos to test out the camera.

Sweet Potato Pancakes for America's Birthday

We had pancakes for breakfast, but no ordinary pancakes. Since Teri has been making Gavin's food, we've got lots of organic pureed goodness around the house. Last Christmas, we bought the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfield as a Christmas gift for some family. A little later we decided we wanted it for ourselves - the premise is sound and we happen to have a lot of the ingredients that form the crux of the book - namely purees that you can mix into food to add a bit of health and flavor. Adding sweet potato was Teri's idea, but we consulted the book to see how much was recommended. Just a half a cup - which is a half cup more sweet potato than we would've eaten today.

The 'cakes turned out delicious. Their color, was almost golden, and the flavor was subtle. They were extra moist, so a slightly thinner batter may be in order next time. They almost didn't need syrup.

Whatever happened to...

Hope Sandoval?
Listen to:
Low - Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions, via the Hype Machine.

Urban Farming

Carol Lloyd at SFGate has an article about urban farming. Chickens, pigs, rabbits, goats - all in San Francisco. The global food crisis and modestly rising prices for staples like milk, eggs, cheese, and the like may actually start to persuade people to live their lives differently. If nothing else, it sounds like fun.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

I'm on a buttermilk kick.

I saw this recipe cooked on EveryDay Food, right after we had gotten rid of the last of the buttermilk from the waffles and pancakes.

So I got some more. I had no idea that buttermilk fried chicken is a southern classic, but I guess I should have known. Anyway, I followed Every Day Food's recipe to the letter, but I think my oil was too hot. Should've been 350, but I think mine was a bit hotter since the batter was borderline burning by the time it was all said and done. The chicken was really moist, extremely tasty, with just a bit of warmth from the cayenne. We knocked it back with some cold pasta salad and a pale ale. Perfect for a hot summer night.

This will get done again. I'll probably mix it up a little - get a bit more liberal with the spices, maybe use something more savory and perhaps some herbs as well.

This joint in Brooklyn had a recipe that I may try.

and another I came across.

[Grape Seed Oil - brilliant] and marinating for overnight in the buttermilk

and some reasons behind why buttermilk and/or yogurt work well as marinades.

G and T

Its hot. 90 degrees in the east bay – 88 in the city. Too hot to cook. Last night Teri and I sat around drinking Gin and Tonics after we put Gavin to bed.

Music is my Beach House

When Teri and I went to Maui last June, I made a playlist on my iPod and called it “Beach House” It was a huge list, with everything from Bossa Nova to Down Tempo, Trip Hop to Acoustic Rock. Our time in Maui was almost surreal. This was our second trip – we made the first a year prior, and literally started planning to go back as soon as we got home. When we went in June, Teri was between 6 and 7 months pregnant. The tempo was just right – we’d get up at sunrise, get breakfast, walk on the beach, read a book, swim, take a nap, go back to the beach, eat some lunch, read a book, lounge on the beach, swim, take a nap, eat some dinner, go for a walk, and crash. Now a schedule like this takes practice to perfect – the first time we went, it took us 3 days to get into this rhythm – we showed up and scheduled tourist activity back to back.

Anyway, Bebel Gilberto figured big in the Beach House playlist. I’ve been listening to her as I commute into the city on BART lately. This is dangerous at 7am – the potential to pass out while listening to her soothing voice is pretty substantial, but the reward is too great to pass up. This is perhaps the easiest way for me to recapture the feeling of the trip – photographs are an easy way to remember the events, but don’t necessarily engage the mind in exactly the same way – pulling up emotions, smells, sounds, all through the power of a song is pretty cool.

All this reminiscing got me thinking about why music is so cerebrally powerful, which then got me googling, and I came across a neurologist that appears to have devoted his life to understanding how music interacts with the brain – his name is Oliver Sacks. This passage from an interview with Discover Magazine is enlightening:

Music seems to be involved with so many functions of the brain: It can aid memory, assist movement, and trigger emotions. Why is that?
However music started—and it may be that the evolution of rhythmic sense is quite different from that of tonal sense—it has now taken up residence and demands many, many different parts of the brain, certainly more than language. And by the same token, music is very robust neurally. There are people with a huge amount of cerebral disease who are still responsive to music.

Does that suggest that music is somehow essential to human survival, or at least to social survival?
This is a big question. I can only say that there is no culture without music. There are almost no individuals without music. The lady in the Bronx is a one-in-a-million sort of exception. And in every culture, music forms a social cement for dancing, for singing. It’s invariably part of ritual and religion, and then there are things like work songs and martial music. Steven Pinker said, “Music could vanish from our species and the rest of our lifestyle would be virtually unchanged.” I strongly disagree with that and I think no anthropologist in the world would agree with that.

You’ve been fascinated with music for so long—why are you only writing about it now?
Going back 40 years, I was very struck by the therapeutic power of music with many of the patients I saw: Parkinson’s patients, patients with aphasia, patients with dementia. But just in the last 20 years, there has grown up an ability to examine the living brain when people are listening to music or imagining music or composing music and to define—in a way which would have been unimaginable 30 years ago—what goes on in many different parts of the brain when one listens to music, imagines music, composes music, et cetera. Although I was experiencing both the power of music and the varieties of musical experience 20 or 30 years ago, I couldn’t have given it the scientific backing which is possible today.

In Musicophilia, you argue that emotional responses to music may be distinct from other emotional reactions. What do you see as the difference?
I think the emotional responses to music can be unbelievably complex and mysterious and deep. You can be sort of agonized, sort of ecstatic, and you don’t know what’s happening. You can’t even say what the feeling is. The usual feelings just can’t begin to match the musical experience. On the clinical side, in some cases, people—maybe after a head injury or a stroke—suddenly cease to enjoy music, while still enjoying everything else, and while perceiving music perfectly well. And then there’s the opposite of this, which gives the title to my book: people who develop an oddly specific need for music—they must have it.

The whole article is a great read. And of course, there's Bebel.

Buttermilk Waffles

Both Teri and I grew up eating waffles made from a mix. Krusteaz or something like that. Over this past two weekends though, I was inspired to make pancakes and waffles from scratch, and with buttermilk. A couple of notes on buttermilk – even though it’s fresh, it smells like its gone bad. Even though its been refrigerated, occasionally it has lumps, and even though it looks like milk and you can cook with it, it tastes like crap. Ok – so I made waffles this weekend, and they were ridiculously good. The recipe is simple – I got it from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything”. All the things you’d expect to be in waffles were in here – flour, sugar, baking soda, butter, salt. But the key was the eggs – separated, with the whites beaten until they picked up a decent amount of volume and held their shape for just a second before falling down. I folded these into the batter and the waffles came out crisp, light, and decadent all at the same time. We topped off the waffles with fresh organic pears and strawberries, with a bit of lemon squeezed over them, and rounded out the meal with some Full Circle Bacon [damn right]. It was good enough to eat both Saturday and Sunday.

Front Yard Farming

A while back, I was reading the Wall Street Journal on the way home from work. [I work for the man, so it’s appropriate] I read this article called Green Acres – which I can’t find online anymore – about suburban gardeners ripping up their front lawns and replacing them with vegetables and herbs and fruit trees. Of course they pissed off some of their more conservative neighbors. I love this idea – green lawns look nice and all, and rolling around the grass is nice, but growing your own food just feels good. Teri and I have been on a pretty serious organic food trend lately, and knowing where your food comes from and that it took only steps to transport it from the ground to your home would take it to the next level. There was an example of a guy growing so much that he would sell his excess organic goods to local restaurants and actually turn a profit. I went looking for that article and came across another, that basically tells the same story. It referenced a dude named Fritz Haeg who designs front yard gardens for a living and has a book out called “Edible Estates - Attack on the Front Lawn”

On a completely unrelated note, my parents saw Matisyahu on Letterman and were really impressed. I came across this group about two years ago but never bothered to see what they looked like. I just liked the roots style and the energy and lyrics. Check out the live video version for King Without a Crown . Hasidic style.

Hip Hop is Dead. Long Live Hip Hop.

So I guess the first one is free. I made a Hip Hop CD for Josh. Seems like Rap music and Hip Hop in general ebbs and flows for me. Some of the groups I remember listening to from the early 90’s – the Pharcyde, Naughty by Nature, LL Cool J, MC Lite, Snoop, Dre, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Eric B and Rakim, EPMD, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy – lots of these guys found ways to re-invent themselves as time went by, either in new careers that were logical progressions from their lives as MC’s and DJ’s or through new and continually relevant music. Music, production, arrangement, vocals – all this stuff keeps changing, not to mention that listeners tastes keep evolving – its no small feat for some of these guys to keep making good music decade after decade.

Anyway, like I said, hip-hop finds its way into and out of my life at different times. At least for me, the past two or three years have been kind of a hip-hop renaissance. I’m sure there are some deep reasons for it, but I can’t explore that right now. But my renewed interest in it, made me want to share some of the goodness. To be honest, I was burnt out on hip-hop for a while. I wasn’t hearing anything new, or I was hearing new stuff that just wasn’t innovative. Maybe this has happened to other people, critics and the like – I do recall hearing people talking about how hip hop was dead a few years ago.

Anyway, what I was hearing lately was good, and I had to share, so I burned a CD for my friend Josh. I’m pretty sure he needed some hip hop in his life, so I sent him some things that were new, some that were old, but all stuff that I loved. I tried to include descriptions and explanations of why I chose what I did, for his benefit. Here’s the list:


Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push
So Lupe is kinda new on the scene, he’s from Chicago. Got popular maybe early 2006. Probably the only rapper I’ve ever heard rap about riding a skateboard. Connected with me since I used to ride mine all over the place. His lyrics are great, his style like a young Nas, but not so damn angry.

Nas – Hope
Still one of the best rappers out there – this song is just a story about how he came up learning how to rap, going to see shows, doin hip hop stuff like keeping your sneakers clean with a toothbrush. Plus he’s east coast just like you. You better reprazent!

Blackalicious – 40 oz
Bay Area hip hop – this is an older song, I think from early 1994 maybe. Gift of Gab on the mic. Blackalicious is part of Quannum, a collective of hip hop artists and DJ’s like DJ shadow, Lyrics Born, LifeSava’s and a bunch of others. DJ Shadow is on production for this one, quick and witty lyrics.

Talib Kweli – Get By
Another east coast guy – Kweli used to rap a lot with Mos Def in a group called BlackStar –back when we were in high school. He’s since gone off on his own and I think he’s way better than Mos these days. This song is just straight up inspiring. Reminds you of why you do shit every day – like get up and drive to work and do some job. Some mornings you get up feeling brand new, and you know you are gonna handle some business and everything is gonna be cool.

The Pharcyde – Runnin’
Just straight up dope. Nobody hears from the Pharcyde anymore, which is just a shame, but they made some great music in their day.

Beef Wellington – Threes
I just kind of stumbled across this group last year – not sure where they are from, but I like the beat and its unique.

Blue Scholars – The Ave.
Just came across these guys last year too. They are out of Seattle – I actually know the area that they are rapping about. They’ve got some pretty good lyrics and beats. Very independent – they are all up on public radio and college radio. They start off rapping about the rain coming down. The dude has a line “ I be like Prometheus Brown stealing fire out of heaven.” That’s dope. Like he’s some Black Greek God Superhero rapper. Dope.


Blackalicious – Paragraph President
This song is just a verbal attack. Gift of Gab again demonstrating serious vocal ability, very appropriate name considering this is an election year. There’s a line in here at the beginning of the second verse it starts like this: Hit you with the funk, its like “who cut the provolone?” That’s dope. The end of this song has a beat laid down by DJ Shadow that just gets your head nodding. It follows him as he tries to get home on the bus.

Mos Def – Miss Fat Booty
Mos Def is East coast too – he does really well rapping about women. I’d say this is him at one of his finer moments. Great story, plus there’s a part in there about him getting dissed in the club, which I know we could relate to.

Talib Kweli – The Perfect Beat ft. KRS One
More East Coast rap – KRS One is a classic, and the beat is actually pretty damn good. A whole song about making beats and rapping over beats and the power of beats? Hard to deny it. Kweli’s rap is dope as always. This is off of Eardrum – the whole album is ridiculously good.

Common – Nag Champa
Jay-z has a song where he say’s that he wishes he could rap as good as Common, but can’t since he’s sold so many albums. He’s been in a couple of movies too. Also from Chicago. He’s just kind of philosophizing about the state of hip hop and the people in the game and the way the music has changed people, and how people have changed the music. He’s kind of spiritual, but he cusses a lot – like me!

Common – Corners [Remix]
This is the first Common song I heard. It’s pretty dope. Its all about how people live, play, love and die all in one tiny area – hanging out on the corner. “to actualize scripture, the rich are gettin’ richer, the younger becoming thicker, summers becoming winter, hard times, hard liquor…” His word play is pretty dope. Scarface and Mos Def close this one out.

T.I. – What U Know About That [Ross Hogg - Remix]
Relatively new. This was released in 07. So I personally think the original version of this song was crap. But then this Bay Area DJ Ross Hogg got ahold of it. This version makes you think TI was from some Island when he’s really from Atlanta. Here’s some notes from an interview Ross did:
Introduce yourself in one sentence:
* My name's Ross and I have a Texas-shaped waffle iron.
* PS Lots of Texans hate Bush.
* PPS Most of them live here. [San Francisco]

Yung Joc – Coffee Shop
So the dude has a strange name. Ok whatever. This song is really just about dealing drugs in the hood – but the comparison to starbucks is pretty damn accurate considering how addictive coffee is. His album is called Hustlenomics – a play on Freakonomics I’d guess. It’s a fun song.

T.I. – Big Things Poppin
Occasionally when I need to get psyched up about making lots of loot and driving an Escalade, I put this song on. This song got mad radio play, but the chorus is great. Nobody has said “Just do it” so well since Nike.

Common – The 6th Sense
Might as well end on a high note. Common brings it back home with some deep lyrics and simple beats. Long live Hip Hop.