Month: October 2003

Fistula

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Risk Of DeathInspires Reflexive Ridicule

I just read Popular Science’s article on the Worst Science Jobs. It’s mainly entertainment value, although you will find out what a “fistula” is!

I don’t have much else to say that the article doesn’t already, aside from pointing out how cool their little icons are!

San Leandro Cafes

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I’m adjusting to my new surroundings… San Leandro isn’t the most exciting place to live, but at least it’s a lot closer to Oakland and Berkeley than my previous place in Sunnyvale (90% of all my social activities are somewhere in Berkeley or SF). So first things first, I found the local coffee hangouts (Starbucks doesn’t count).

These are places that open early, have couches and lounge space, and preferably a bunch of random magazines lying around. Zocalo CoffeeHouse definitely fits the bill; their coffee is great and they have subscriptions to a bunch of the pap news weeklies like Time and People. They also have a rotating schedule of locally-produced art on the walls.

There is also Latté Da, which also has good coffee, and is a little more mainstream, so it’s kind of mobbed on weekend mornings. They have great coffee and a variety of really random social clubs that meet there.

As an aside, they don’t have a web site, and crazily enough one of the only references I found to them online is on the home page of Dal Rae, someone I knew in elementary school and haven’t really seen since!

Firme and Orixa

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Went to a see Firmé last night at Blake’s; they were opening for a band I hadn’t heard of called Orixa. Firmé plays a variety of latin jazz/rock, sort of ska-influenced.

Firmé was down a trumpet player and a sax, but they still had a good show. They were followed by some ass rap-metal band whose name I can’t even remember, and then by Orixa, who was really polished. Their vocalist really worked the crowd and the place was hoppin’ even at 1 am. Looking at Orixa’s web site, it looks like they recently played with Cafe Tacuba, which is a pretty well-known band (I saw them open for Beck once), so Orixa is well on their way.