Thursday, April 24, 2008

No Blood For Oil

(taken in London in 2005 - one of my favorite stencils ever... mayb it'll be my next tatoo)

Is the tank half empty?

Not sure what to say but wanted to say something. Here in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, gas is now more than $4.00 per gallon. That's cheap compared to what most Europeans pay... in many cases, upwards of $10 per gallon once the math is converted to liters and to Euros (no idea what they pay in Japan or China). I currently don't own a car for the first time in my California life, which is actually a blessing in disguise, especially when it comes time to pay the pumpman... or woman or bullet protected attendant. Instead, I use public transportation. Today the black bus driver told me quick and frankly, "machine don't accept paper money, just go on." It was the second time this month that I got a free ride, saving me the $1.75 per ride fee to work. Time to get back on the bike .

(Note: Meanwhile, Exxon continues to post record profits, something I mentioned awhile back on this wee blog.)

Friday, April 18, 2008

Furenzu = Fun with Friends

Good food and good times with your friends is what Restaurant Furenzu is all about. If you're not familiar with the restaurant and their 'New Wave' Asian tapas, here's a review I wrote on Yelp. For those of you that haven't yet seen the news plastered across the media, the restaurant right across the street from me on Adeline at 39th here in Emeryville was robbed at gun point two night ago and most of the patrons as well as Cynthia and Simon had all their cash taken.
As a big fan of the restaurant and as an eye-witness to the crime - yep, I was there with no cash in my wallet - I want to publicly thank Simon the manager who took the brunt of the abuse but kept his cool throughout the entire ordeal, which seemed like an eternity even though it was probably not even five minutes.

After the gunman realized that there was not more than $40 in the cash box, he repeatedly told Simon that he was going to shoot him while his cowardly accomplice sheepishly went around collecting the all-too-ready cash in hand from the stunned patrons. Then the gunman took Simon into the kitchen with the gun pointed at his head shouting, "Nigga, I'm gonna fucking shoot you right now unless you give me the money!" Simon calmly answered again and again that there was no safe and no more money.

Returning into the dining room, the gunman made Simon lay down on the floor with the pistol pointed directly at the back of his head, repeating that he was going to shoot him and then the tow thugs left. Thanks again Simon for keeping calm while your life was at risk, setting the tone for the rest of us, letting us know that we were safe because of your cool-headed poker-like rock steady nerves. You the man!