W H A T : New Year’s Eve Balloon Drop
W H E N : THURSDAY DECEMBER 31, 2009, 0:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Drop Times:
10:45am: Ages 6 & Under (Rotunda)
12:45pm & 3:45pm: Ages 5 & Under (Discovery Lab)
& Ages 6 & Up (Rotunda)

W H E R E : Chabot Space & Science Center

M O R E :
SPACE IS LIMITED!
Register: (510) 336-7373

Public Challenger Missions
For ages 8 & up
Take a trip to the Moon, Mars or travel along with a comet. Fly a simulated space flight mission in the Challenger Learning Center®.

CHABOT CITINERARIES

W H A T : Noon Year’s Eve
W H E N : THURSDAY DECEMBER 31, 2009, 0:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Balloon Drop: 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m.

W H E R E : Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose

M O R E : What’s New
Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China
Box City
Giving Back Days
CDM CITINERARIES

W H A T : Noon Year’s Eve
W H E N : THURSDAY DECEMBER 31, 2009, 0:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
W H E R E : Hiller Aviation Museum

M O R E : Flight Explorers
Hiller CITINERARIES

W H A T : 24th Annual Japanese New Year Bell Ringing Ceremony
W H E N : Thursday, December 31, 2009

9:30–11:00 am: Bell Ringing for Asian Art Museum Members
10:00 am–2:00 pm: Art Activities
11:00 am: Bell Ringing Ceremony

W H E R E : Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

M O R E : Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma, discounts

As you can probably imagine, the weekly events listing takes a fair amount of time to put together, and since there’s not much going on in the next couple of weeks due to the holidays,  I thought this was as good of time as ever to take a two-week break. I will resume the events listing for the week of January 4-10, and that week is jam-packed with events, including the Council’s vote on IRV.

Until then, if you’d like to share events that are happening this week or next, feel free to do so in the comments below. Also, feel free to share thoughts on what you’d like to see (or would like to see less of) in the 2010 weekly events listings.

Best logo ever for the best restaurant name ever.

What more can I say about Oriental B.B.Q. Chicken Town in Oakland other than its in the Rockridge area, has 4 stars from Yelp, and sells Korean Fried Chicken, a dish I didn’t know could be good outside of West 32nd Street or Bonchon in LA. It also helps that the name of the place is Oriental B.B.Q. Chicken Town. Which I love saying, Oriental B.B.Q. Chicken Town. So go check out Oriental B.B.Q. Chicken Town. In Oakland. Oriental B.B.Q. Chicken Town.

It’s not as cold as it has been, but sleeping on Tommy’s porch was cold enough. We stayed up all night since he got a case of Miller for the holidays and we smoked a bowl each. His cousin was over at his place, the one with the red streak in her hair, but I couldn’t get up the nerve to talk to her.

She has this dog, a big black and white dog, and so I’d go pat it and get close to her and she’d coo at it and look at me and I couldn’t say a thing. I smiled at her. She told Tommy once she liked my eyes cuz they’re blue and all, but I never asked her out. Like I said, I never even talked to her.

We were playing PlayStation for a while and then Tommy and his lady went to bed. His cousin left and I was just there, wondering why I didn’t make a move. I got tomorrow off so I played more PlayStation and had another beer. My hands started to freeze on the controller, so I went to the porch looking for that blanket they keep there.

When she left, Tommy’s cousin, she gave me this look through the screen door like she was trying to leave without waking a small kid, like she was looking at me to make sure I didn’t get up after her. She’s not big at all, but she didn’t even open the screen door much, she tried to make the opening as small as possible and keep it quiet and leave in small moves. I think she lives over by the bowling alley, I wonder if I should go to the lanes more. Hang out front. See if she ever walks by.

When I got up for that blanket I found a beer I had left on the porch. It was cold, so I wrapped my sleeve around my hand to hold the bottle and sat down on the big ol chair out there, it was covered in that dog’s hair and the blanket wasn’t what I remembered. It wasn’t much, that blanket, but my eyes started closing and next thing I knew I was awake in the fucking cold and it was light out.

My hat was in my pocket so I put it on. What they got out here for when the lights change are bird sounds in the light signals. I sat out there for a good long time, and every time the light changed another sound came out. A girl came by and she reminded me just like of Tricia in fourth grade. A real girl. She had on a big ol jacket but I could see her nalgas in her blue pants and she had hair, you know, like long hair, and the wind was blowing it and I saw that she was like really close to me, like walking right by with her hands in her pockets.

And I thought, how often does this happen, and I wanted to know where she was going. She was moving, she was singing something, and she kept walking. When I ran after her my keys started shaking, they were still in my pocket, and she heard me. She turned around and looked at me, she had black eyes, she was like what I had been dreaming and then I woke up and there was this girl, right there in front of me.

I was gonna say hi, I was gonna do it. I was gonna see where she was going. She turned the corner and I ran to catch up again and she stopped. She looked at me and said hi. I stopped running but not fast enough, I had passed her, so I turned back around. I started to ask her if she knew where something was, just to talk to her, then I moved close to ask her, to really ask her, you know? And it made her nervous and she pulled her keys out of her pocket to show me and told me she didn’t have any money.

Like I wanted her money! I felt all warm and I wanted to touch her face, it was gonna feel like suede, I got up right by her, and I told her But you’re just so beautiful! That’s it, I was telling her! But she stepped back, and I had to keep moving, to get near her face, and she tried to kick me. She was no longer pretty, she was yelling No at me, and I got nervous one of the neighbors was gonna hear her. I moved in, I was gonna tell her to keep it down, she was gonna wake people up, but she just kept it up.

I was thinking I should get closer, I still wanted to put my hand into her hair, but she had stopped trying to kick me and she was looking at me right in the eye. No. She looked like a bull, her head was lowered for the charge and her nostrils were like barrels. No No No. Her hands were all bunched up. Her face was pretty again.

I was tired, really tired. I wanted to get closer but she had moved back, was almost to the corner. If I went after her I’d be on 40th, people out there, she was running across the street now, still staring at me, and I went back to Tommy’s. Damn those keys, she could hear me coming. She looked me right in the eyes when she stopped, she was looking at me.

Sometimes Tommy’s cousin, she don’t look at me when she’s over there, it’s not even like I like that bitch that much. Thinks she’s too good to talk to me, not like I ever really tried talking to her, she’d rather talk to that dog of hers, that dog can’t even talk back. I had gotten really hot, like my hands were fucking irons and I took my hat off. And I still didn’t know where that girl was going.

************

And that is why I will never cross Broadway again. Stupid catsitting.

From my landlord. And have I got a story for you.

The stakes could rise considerably in 2010 in the argument over marijuana use – and not just for medical purposes.

Officials from a group campaigning to put a marijuana-legalization measure before California voters said they have enough signatures to qualify for the 2010 ballot.

The possibility of marijuana being legalized in the state has riled activists on both sides of the issue.

“First off, we don’t think it’s going to pass at all,” said Paul Chabot, co-founder of the Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition.

“California has really woken up since Proposition 215 passed in 1996. Most Californians now know this fraud is brought to us by those who funded the (marijuana) legalization initiative.”

Proposition 215 legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

A Field Poll conducted in April found that 56 percent of California residents supported legalizing and taxing marijuana to help bridge the state budget deficit [ So, as you can see, Chabot lies again. ].

“The question is of the 5 or 10 percent truly sitting on the fence,” said Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project. “Those are the groups we’re going to have to educate on why to legalize and tax cannabis. I think we can do it. We have the attitude. We will raise enough money.”

Swerdlow’s group is an Inland Empire medical marijuana patient support group and law reform organization.

The initiative would legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana or adults 21 and older. Residents could cultivate marijuana gardens up to 25 square feet. City and county governments would determine whether to permit and tax marijuana sales within their boundaries.

medical marijuana facilities would not be affected.

The initiative has far more than the nearly 434,000 signatures needed to make the statewide November 2010 ballot, said Richard Lee, an Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur and the initiative’s main backer.

The initiative is also supported by Oaksterdam University, a marijuana emporium in downtown Oakland. On its Web site, Oaksterdam describes itself as providing “quality training for the cannabis industry.”

Chabot described Oaksterdam as “the same people who run a medical marijuana business.”

“It’s been (marijuana proponents’) agenda (to legalize the substance) since 1996. It’s never about sick people. It’s about drug legalization. This weakens the medical- marijuana argument.”

Chabot described the initiative as, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We don’t think Californians are going to get fooled again.”

Marijuana is illegal under federal law. But some legal scholars have argued the U.S. government could do little to make California enforce the federal ban if the drug became legal under state law.

Supporters point to provisions in the legalization measure that call for jail time for anyone who sells or gives marijuana to children. It forbids smoking pot in a public place or in front of minors.

Opponents of the measure contend legalization of marijuana will lead to more drug abuse among minors.

Claremont Graduate University professor of psychology William Dean Crano said he does not want to see the initiative passed because of that issue.

Crano published a paper in the Association for Psychological Science’s journal Perspectives on Psychological Science stating that the more involved parents are with their children, the less likely the children are to use marijuana.

“It’s a natural push to model after those respected parents or adults or people who happen to be 21 and over,” Crano said. “It’s inevitable it will make smoking dope seem more legitimate. I’ve done plenty of research. And contrary to the people in the marijuana movement, I’d suggest this is not a good thing for youngsters.”

Crano said adolescents who use marijuana “are prone to a host of negative consequences and reoccurring problems,” including delinquency, affiliation with delinquent peers, mental impairment and other issues that “lead to more drug use.”

Swerdlow thinks the younger generation will help pass the initiative in 2010.

“I think a lot of young people are excited that marijuana has chance at legalization,” he said. “They don’t feel like criminals, and they’re not doing anything wrong. They want to see it legalized.”

But Chino resident Darrell Kruse, who operated a medical marijuana dispensary in Claremont, said passage of the initiative would give sick people access to necessary medicine.

“I would vote for anyone to have access so that people who are deprived under current law can get it,” Kruse said. “In the current time, in my opinion, it’s not the easiest thing to get a place to distribute it.”

Kruse’s dispensary was shut down by court order in 2007.

“Eventually, the courts will recognize” the legal right of people to have medicinal marijuana, he said.

Jan Werner, operator of a Bloomington and Home Gardens medical marijuana collective, said marijuana is a medicine like any other medicine and should be controlled.

“People who need it (should be) under doctor’s regulation and guidance would be best like any medication,” Werner said. “We don’t just legalize valium or legalize Vicodin for recreational purposes. What we do do is provide safe access for qualified patients.”

Election officials must validate and count the signatures before the California secretary of state places the measure on the ballot. Campaign organizers say they will submit more than 650,000 signatures of registered voters next month.

{357} Tat, originally uploaded by The Inadvertent Gardener.

A portion of our waiter at the Chop Bar in Jack London Square, where I met Fatemeh and Colin for drinks and dinner. On this particular evening, it was especially good to be out with friends.

Are you thinking that your computer or pc is not safe and having security threats while using the internet.You need a reliable computer repair service to install a firewall to get rid of such problems .

Book online Oakland Computer repair

In advance of their upcoming 2010 full length New World Symphony, West Coast/Midwest trio Chosen Few are dropping a series of collaborative tracks, collectively titled Sounds From The Fewchr, to build buzz. The latest, “Checkin’ In,” featuring Bay Area compatriot Jern Eye, might be the jazziest hip-hop track released since 1995, and that’s not a bad thing. When you’re making “golden age” style hip-hop, few co-signs are more valuable than that of legendarily innovative Oakland collective Hieroglyphics.

DOWNLOAD: Chosen Few – Checkin’ In (ft. Jern Eye)

Saturday, December 12, 2009
Manhasset

Sunday, December 13, 2009
Jack London Martini

Sunday, December 13, 2009
Nightmare

Monday, December 14, 2009
Nutty Martini

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Oakland Cocktail

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Parisian Martini

Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Orleans Martini

Friday, December 18, 2009
Opera Martini

Week started off well with a Manhasset, 6 parts rye whiskey, ½ part dry vermouth, ½ part sweet vermouth, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice with a twist.   I like rye, so was looking forward to this, expecting it to be something like my favorite Manhattan.   This was similar, but not exactly like a Manhattan due to the citrus of the lemon juice and twist.  In addition to have a citrusy taste, it was not as sweet as a standard Manhattan, given the addition of the dry vermouth.   But, all in all, this was drinkable and enjoyable.

Sunday’s drinks were polar opposites in terms of taste and “enjoyability”.  The Jack London Martini consisted of 6 parts currant vodka, 2 parts Dubonnet blanc, 1 part maraschino liqueur and a lemon twist.  This used up the last of my currant vodka, was not sorry to see the bottle go into the recycle bin.  Every time I have currant vodka these last few weeks, the drink has tasted like a form of grape Koolaid.   While that may be fine for 10 year olds and Jim Jones, it is not suitable in a cocktail.   However, this drink did not taste like grape Koolaid.   I had never had Dubonnet blanc, but I do remember the commercials during the holidays when I was a kid—have Dubonnet on the rocks.   It sounded so elegant.   It is a fortified sweet wine, very sweet.   It was not a bad drink, but it was far from memorable.

The Nightmare (6 parts gin, 2 parts Madiera wine, 2 parts cherry brandy and an orange twist) was true to its name.   No need to ponder where that name came from.   It was bad.   I cannot describe it any other way and I only had two sips of it and tossed the rest down the kitchen drain.   I am not sure what it was that made this so awful, I guess it was the interplay between the Madeira (which I have had in the past and enjoyed) and the sickly artificial sweetness and color of the cherry brandy.   Anyway, yuck.   I cannot recommend this drink.  My apologies if I have offended anyone.

Monday night brought cocktail relief in the form of the Nutty Martini:   6 parts vodka, 1 part Frangelico and a lemon twist.    I like Frangelico, add some vodka, badda bing badda boom.  It is sweet, so might work better as an after-dinner refreshment rather than an aperitif, but you would likely not be disappointed.

Tuesday’s drink seemed appropriate as it was called the Oakland Cocktail.  I was born and raised in Oakland.  It was comprised of 4 parts vodka, 2 parts dry vermouth and 2 parts fresh orange juice.   It was the return of the Screwdriver, expect not as sweet.  I was never one for Screwdrivers in college or when they were popular in the early 80’s, so I will toss this in the “not-to-make-again file”.

OK, am I going crazy or am I just an absolutely horrible speller who has gotten by relying on SpellCheck too much?   I thought the Martini Book listed the drink recipes in alphabetical order.  I looked up the next drink on my list, the Parisian Martini, which I would expect BEFORE the Parrothead Martini.  “I” still comes before “R”, right?   But the order in the book reads Palm Beach, Parrothead, Parisian, Park Avenue and then the Peach Blossom.   Maybe I should have been an editor.  Nah, I am not that detail oriented.  I am starting to sound surly and churlish so I will just go back to the drinks.    The Parisian was 6 parts gin, 2 parts dry vermouth and 1 part crème de cassis.    I was expecting something like a kir royale.   It was a passable drink, the sweetness of cassis balanced out the dry vermouth, although I did use only half the dry vermouth indicated.   Given the choice, I would have a kir royale (champagne with a couple drops of crème de cassis) instead of this drink but it would do in a pinch.

I finally broke down and had New Orleans Martini on Thursday night.   I was dreading this as it had Pernod.  I have bad memories of Pernod from college days.  BLECK.   I agreed to take this drink in a moment of weakness when I felt guilty because Cathy had taken all the Pernod drinks and she obviously was not enjoying them.   So I stepped up to the plate.   This drink was 6 parts vanilla vodka, 1 part dry vermouth, 1 part Pernod, 1 dash Angostura bitters and a fresh mint sprig.  The vanilla vodka overpowered the Pernod, so I hardly tasted the anise of the Pernod (which is always a good thing to my thinking).   The mint spring kept is fresh, which was also a plus.   All in all, this was not as bad as I thought, but it had enough of a licorice taste that I will not have this one again.  But it was better than the Nightmare.

Friday night as the end of a very, very long week, and an even longer semester.   The College is closed next Monday and Tuesday and the campus is closed from next Wednesday (12/23) to January 6, 2010, so I have 2.5 weeks off.  Hooray!  Granted, half of it is furlough time, but I can hopefully relax a bit.   Tonight’s drink was the Opera Martini, 6 parts gin, 2 parts Dubonnet Blanc, 1 part maraschino liqueur and a lemon twist.  I do not know if there was more alcohol in this than normal, if I didn’t have enough to eat, or if I was just so exhausted from the last couple of months or what.  But I do know that I felt this drink, it put me on my ear ass.   My husband called this a “cheap date drink” because it put me under the table. (Cathy’s comment:  Probably the wrong place for a good cheap date to end up, I’d think the bed would be more comfortable!) 

That’s all for now, thanks for stopping by,
Sue

{356} Toasting out 2009, originally uploaded by The Inadvertent Gardener.

At a year-end, holiday team lunch (don’t worry…paid for with personal funds…) we toasted out 2009. Here’s to a new decade…and the new opportunities we all hope it will bring.

What’s there to be said about a movie in which a ripped guy mutilates dozens of people because they killed his girlfriend? That’s pretty much what Ninja Assassin boils down to: Quentin Tarentino-esque gore without the quintessential Tarentino plot twists and cinematography. So really just a lot of blood and body parts everywhere without much else going on.

Granted said ripped guy is hot and shirtless for good chunks of the movie, so that’s a plus. And the flashback scenes do give you a sense that this movie did actually have a plot at some point but somehow lost it in between the inexplicably American Naomie Harris as EuroPol agent Mika and a cameo role by the that one guy from The Matrix with all the keys.

All in all it’s a entertaining ride, and I must admit watching a Japanese hilltop monastery get decimated by European military was kind of fun, but don’t expect more than what’s advertised.

A surprising number of people have been reaching my blog in the past few days by searching for “oakland holiday gift guide” or something similar to that. The problem is that all the events in my Oakland holiday shopping guide have now ended, and it’s clear many people are still looking to shop locally.

At this point, you might just be tempted to do all your shopping online or head down to a big box store, but there are still many opportunities to finish (or start) your holiday shopping in Oakland. Here are a few of the places I recommend.

Rockridge Home

Last year, I didn’t manage to write about Rockridge Home until after the holiday season, which I regretted because it’s my favorite place to buy presents. As I wrote last year:

And soon I realized Rockridge Home was one of the best places in Oakland to go gift shopping. They have a little bit of everything there – art, kitchen tools, books, music, toys, and all sorts of random fun things that you really want to buy for yourself but can’t justify spending the money on. Whether your budget is $5 or $500, you’ll be able to find something that’s just right. You can feel good about spending money there, as they recently became a Certified Green Business.

So whatever you’re looking for and whomever you’re looking to gift to, chances are that you’ll find something at Rockridge Home. And gift wrapping is free so you don’t need to worry about having time to do that yourself.

5418 College Avenue, Oakland
Open 11am-8pm everyday
Accessible by Rockridge BART or the 51 bus

Oaklandish

There are tons of incredible Oakland-focused t-shirt artists, but only one of them is setting its truck up this Tuesday and Wednesday to help you finish your last-minute shopping. You can buy t-shirts, hoodies, and tote bags that celebrate Oakland for people of any age and size – from infant to adult. Head down to their truck tomorrow or Wednesday to support local artists while completing your shopping.

Piedmont & Pleasant Valley
Tuesday & Wednesday from 12-7

Awaken Cafe

Awaken Cafe is not just a great place to get a cup of coffee or an excellent chai, but also a perfect place to snag a few gifts for that coffee-lover in your life. Swing buy for an Awaken Cafe t-shirt or travel mug, coffee-brewing supplies, coffee beans in gift boxes, and more. While you’re there, drink a cup of coffee to fuel the rest of your holiday shopping.

414 14th Street (between Broadway & Franklin)
Monday through Friday: 7 am to 6 pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8 am to 5 pm
Accessible by 12th Street BART station or many AC Transit buses

Gift Certificates to Oakland Stores & Restaurants

If you struggle with ideas for gift-giving, gift certificates are a great option. Just call your favorite Oakland store or restaurant and ask if they have gift certificates available. You’ll be supporting an Oakland business and could introduce someone you know to one of the great places Oakland has to offer. My favorite place to buy gift certificates is Piedmont Springs, since most anyone would appreciate an hour in an outdoor hot tub, a massage, or skin care treatments.

Telegraph Holiday Street Fair

This isn’t in Oakland, so I didn’t mention it in my last post, but the Telegraph Holiday Street Fair in Berkeley does feature many Oakland artists. If you can brave the crowds, you’ll find plenty of jewelery, glass art, clothing, ceramics, metal-work, and just about anything you can imagine. And this is one of the few places where you can buy gifts on Christmas eve, so if you’re a super-last minute shopper, this just might be the best solution for you.

Telegraph, between Dwight & Bancroft in Berkeley
December 23rd & 24th from 11am-6pm
Accessible by the 1/1R bus lines

The Operation Medicine Cabinet which I blogged about recently has rounded up 60 pounds of unused prescription drugs in Oakland County.

The grand opening was Friday the 11th at the Royal Oak Police Department in partnership with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Home Instead Senior Care, as well as other organizations. The residents were asked to bring their unused prescription drugs to the Police Department.

“It was a great success, and we’ve had dozens of people coming in since then, bringing their prescription drugs to our police station,” Police Chief Chris Jahnke said. ”Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, especially among teens, and that is one of our goals — to get narcotics out of the medicine cabinets and put them where they can be safely eliminated.”

This station in Royal Oak is now different than the situation at the Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac, as well as substations in Rochester Hills and Commerce Township. The new policy at the Royal Oak Police Department allows residents to drop off their prescriptions 24/7, while all the other stations are only on Wednesdays between 8 am and 4 pm.

Jahnke says that not only does this rid the streets of drugs, but it also has a green aspect; “Now the unused drugs won’t be going into the waterways and landfills,” he said.

These drugs will be disposed of in the same way that the police use to get rid of illegal drugs they have confiscated.

Bert Copple, general manager for Home Instead Senior Care in Birmingham, said disposing of drugs protects pets and children who spend more time at home.

“They’re around the house, and having prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet that aren’t being used, may open the door to experiment,” he said.

The Operation Medicine Cabinet which I blogged about recently has rounded up 60 pounds of unused prescription drugs in Oakland County.

The grand opening was Friday the 11th at the Royal Oak Police Department in partnership with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Home Instead Senior Care, as well as other organizations. The residents were asked to bring their unused prescription drugs to the Police Department.

“It was a great success, and we’ve had dozens of people coming in since then, bringing their prescription drugs to our police station,” Police Chief Chris Jahnke said. ”Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, especially among teens, and that is one of our goals — to get narcotics out of the medicine cabinets and put them where they can be safely eliminated.”

This station in Royal Oak is now different than the situation at the Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac, as well as substations in Rochester Hills and Commerce Township. The new policy at the Royal Oak Police Department allows residents to drop off their prescriptions 24/7, while all the other stations are only on Wednesdays between 8 am and 4 pm.

Jahnke says that not only does this rid the streets of drugs, but it also has a green aspect; “Now the unused drugs won’t be going into the waterways and landfills,” he said.

These drugs will be disposed of in the same way that the police use to get rid of illegal drugs they have confiscated.

Bert Copple, general manager for Home Instead Senior Care in Birmingham, said disposing of drugs protects pets and children who spend more time at home.

“They’re around the house, and having prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet that aren’t being used, may open the door to experiment,” he said.

There’s some new graffiti in the left stall of the women’s restroom on the main floor at Highland Hospital. It reads, “Thy will be done.” I stare at it when I’m taking a whiz. It’s not the usual graffiti in the bathroom, and I wonder what they are talking about. Highland? The ER? Death? Christmas? A bowel movement?

Saturday, as I was walking down the hill by the hospital, a police car rolled into the emergency room parking lot, joining the other three already parked there. The female cop barely got her car turned off before she was running for the automatic doors. Four cop cars is a good indication some shooting spree was resolving itself inside the ER.

Novella Carpenter has a farm.

It’s in Oakland, California.

She wrote a book about it (over which my friend and her daughter are fighting for control).

She likes goats and so do I.

{354} Still life with oranges, originally uploaded by The Inadvertent Gardener.

On my list for today was to make up some time in the office in exchange for ducking out early on Friday. I didn’t set the alarm the night before, and slept so late I had to get up, get ready, and head straight to an appointment. Afterwards, I headed for the office, but stopped at Farley’s East for a sandwich to sustain me while I worked, and for this photo.

Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable decided earlier in the week to start Charlie Frye this week over JaMarcus Russell.

Hey, I’m all for it. Tom Cable feels that it gives the Raiders the best chance to win. I absolutely agree. By now, you all know how I feel about Russell.

The Raiders are in Denver to take on the Broncos. They went to Denver this time last year and got a surprising victory at Invesco. That was with JaMarcus as QB. That means there’ s no excuse to lose this one.

Charlie Frye, along with Bruce Gradkowski, is a  bit of a journeyman himself. He’s in his fifth year now and is playing for his third team. He was drafted in 2005 by the Cleveland Browns, then lost the job in 2007 to Derek Anderson. He was traded to Seattle last year and started against the Green Bay Packers and others after injuries to both Matt Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace.

Today, he gets his opportunity to lead the Raiders to a big divisional game that the Raiders can hopefully play spoiler in.

The plan was to have a Thanksgiving potluck among friends the Sunday after Turkey day; however, it was postponed until the first Sunday of December. Nonetheless, there were good times and definitely good food.

Maly’s house | yumskaus.wordpress.com | 510.xxx.xxxx

I tried to make pumpkin cheesecake. Presentation was lacking so I tossed it.

I ended up baking pumpkin pie and traditional cheesecake. Ukeleli was kind enough to bring some berries for me to adorn the plain mini cheesecakes along with some pasta salad. Cat made some super delicious candied yams and organic roasted garlic mashed potatoes. JPac baked some wonderful salmon, while Jenn made kimchi rice and Maye baked a great, huge turkey. My favorite was Maly’s quinoa with sundried tomatoes and macaroni & cheese.

MC’s rating: 5/5 | Cat’s rating: I’m sure is also 5/5