RamblingDyna

I've been soooo busy these past two weeks that I neglected my blog. Like a plant without water and proper sunlight, my blog has laid dormant in the dark lone corner. Time to rejuvenate and give it a kick start! Ding dong...Bueller? Bueller? I'll start by summarizing why I've been away. Two weeks ago I played SF city tour guide host to my friend (and former Sega of Japan colleague) who visited me from Tokyo for four days. Half the time I was working so thank god she knew how to take public transportation by herself (Bay Area Rapid Traing (BART) and the MUNI cable car). Since s he stayed in the heart of Union Square, we walked through Chinatown all way to Northbeach. Strange, but for a Friday dinner night, Chinatown wasn't busy with the usual foot and car traffic. Northbeach was pretty oh hum as well. Yup, it's the effects of the poor economy. Last Tuesday , I was in downtown San Mateo for dinner and it was a ghost town. A sign that more people are making their...

I went to the Doctors Without Borders/Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) campsite on the coldest and cloudiest day of the week and I was impressed with the people who stood in line and braved the Golden Gate winds for 1.5 hours of the outdoor walking tour. I’m glad the MSF camped in San Francisco's backyard, although its ironic the Marina backyard is known for its yachts, yuppy cars and ginormous apartment rentals . Dolores Park would have been more appropriate or in front of City Hall where they recently had a vegetable garden display. MSF is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian assistance (medical treatment, disease prevention, sanitation treatment, counseling, food and shelter) to the 42 million refugees and displaced persons in more than 60 countries. Instead of reading the statistics or watching the brief TV news reports (if any), MSF setup the site to showcase real life situations of a refugee. M...

I’ve been writing political news stories since I started my blog. It’s about dang time to step back from the wall street roller coaster mess and election campaign mudslinging and delve into more interesting or entertaining activities like a couple of free events in the city. Note: I identify San Francisco as “the city” though there are technically larger cities like San Jose and Sacramento. These cities are more suburban and less cosmopolitan, although San Jose has been making a name for itself for about the last ten years, but I digress… So I’ve listed from what I’ve heard in the media and on the street. Now there’s always something going on in the “Baghdad by the Bay” (Thank you Herb Caen) but these activities stood out to me because they’re all firsts and there’s been a lot of commotion about them. Got your pen and pad? Listed in no order of importance: The Red Bull’s Soapbox Race * Saturday 10/18 * 1pm * Dolores Park http://www.redbullsoapboxusa.com/SanFrancisco-2008/default.aspx ...