Ramen Shop in Oakland – Chez Panisse vets opened up a Ramen Shop near Zachary’s Pizza on College Ave.; pretty good, a bit on the expensive side for a bowl of ramen but the execution is nice…could be giving some of the best ramen shops in Japantown in LA a run for it’s money once they find their groove…
and Ramen Tomo will be opening up on Telegraph near Koryo soon…
If I knew and was really passionate about ramen (I’m not), I’d open up a ramen shop called Fukuoka Ramen or FU Ramen for short. Fukuoka is supposed to have the best ramen anywhere, famed for their tonkatsu ramen, and Fukuoka is also Oakland’s sister city.
There’s a name idea for you for whoever wants to open up a ramen shop in Oakland.
New definition, kind of winging what this should look like but here goes:
stacktrap (n) – a product or service from a company that lures you into a set of additional products or services, locking you into that company and limiting your use of other competing services
similar: lock-in, product lock-in, data lock-in
examples: [1] The new iPod is a stacktrap for all your music and video for Apple. [2] The new Facebook Home phone is a stacktrap to keep all your contacts and messages on Facebook.
stack trapped (v; past tense) – to be tied to a particular set of product and services from one company, limiting a person’s ability to use a competing set of products and services.
examples: I have my email and documents stack trapped Google. I have my music and videos stack trapped in Apple. I can’t decide whether I should get an iPhone 5 or Nexus 4 device.
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Working on the “clean” diet and “core” training routine to get into snowboarding shape for this Winter and hopefully launch me back into Ironman triathlon training.
Clean diet – “clean” foods, clean meals, simple ingredients
Core training – shoulders to thighs training with emphasis on developing ab and back strength
I got a good friend of mine to get me some Bernachon while she was in France. I asked for Day and Night but they were out so she got me one caramel and one hazelnut.
Bernachon could arguably be the best chocolate in the world, just delicious.
The caramel didn’t last at all and the hazelnut is almost gone.
Finally looking to get out of hibernation mode and into Spring mode, shedding Winter fat (about 25lbs) and getting ready for the Summer.
New diet to include loads of steel cut oatmeal, lots of tea, no sugar, no sweets, more vegetables, little to no bread, more sweet potatoes, less meat, more rice, and more fish.
Training this year will probably pick up some time in June, a lot of running and maybe back to spin class.
If I were to buy a laptop in 2012 it would be one of these (in the following order):
Spec wise I guess you’re supposed to look for Core i5/i7 processors with 256GB SSD hard drives (I’d want 512GB) and 4 to 8GB of memory and 6-7 hours of battery life. SD card slot, back lit keyboards, high res screens, a couple USB slots pretty much rounds things out. Might want to wait for Ivy Bridge processors, “retina display” for the MacBook as well as Mac OS X Mountain Lion or Windows 8 due out later this year.
For tablets, there’s really only the iPad, no point in getting anything else at the moment unless you’re a developer or want a tablet to just watch movies. For smart phones, either the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and probably the next generation of both, due out later this year, is the safer bet.
My current setup (and will be through 2012 and a good part of 2013/2014) is a 13″ MacBook Pro from a few years ago and a Nexus S that I upgraded with a better battery that can last me a day or two between charges. And no tablets yet.
Roy Denim are the best jeans out there (for men only right now), might not be able to get them though since they’re made by one guy in Oakland, CA and they’re limited in quantity. I’m lucky to have a few pairs and they’re just fantastic. Roy Slaper is Levi Strauss reincarnated.
Plenty of videos and discussion why Roy jeans are great out on the web but it’s mostly because it’s about a passionate guy doing one thing and doing it really well. And it’s hard to beat that.
I’m doing the SF marathon this Sunday. It’s going to be my fourth time doing this race. The highlight is running across the Golden Gate bridge. The low light is all the time spent in Golden Gate Park, we see about every inch of Golden Gate park. The other low light is that this race has gotten to be too expensive.
I prefer the Oakland marathon that I ran earlier this year. I like the warts and all course through Oakland much better. There’s more people cheering at the Oakland marathon and the runners seem a little more laid back and a little more entertaining. Whatever. Just being cranky/Oakland prideful.
Anyway, SF marathon should be pretty fun. Weather is always great, overcast, not too cold and not too hot and not windy, perfect running conditions. The hills are tough though.
