Tips for pet owners when hiring a pet sitter
Give clear instructions in print AND digital format, do NOT rely on spoken instructions (nor digital) alone. Ensure that both you and the petsitter have a physical copy to refer to (click to read more)
All posts filed under: Oakland
Wildfires close to San Francisco : information resources (fire locations, air quality, health prevention tips)
List of information sources about the California fires, air quality & preventative actions for your health.
The air quality in the Bay Area (San Francisco) and North Bay Area (Sonoma, Napa) today is in the red and deep red zone: When you open the article you can access several essential clickable links with useful information to government websites and health resources around the wildfires and the subsequent micro particle pollution.
From trying out life in America: Finally found a dentist .. What a relief!
report: Reasonably positive experience. Good welcome by reception, the dentist is definitely friendly and gentle (! yay!) and I’d be very happy to share coffee some time. bonus points: she likes popcorn, too. I’m on the fence about: 1) the office set-up – there was no spitting sink with running water: only a suction device in my mouth.. 2) the follow up: I should have received an email with my x-rays.. I haven’t yet. Would I go back?: YES if I had an urgent issue, but if I could I would prefer my UK dentist, simply because of cost and 18-20 years of trust. Recommended?: I don’t know how other dentists in the area are, so if you need one then I would say YES. If you can have other options in Europe with your usual dentist or you need a lot of work done then I’d say: wait and go in Europe. The total cost for entire procedure required (I only took the emergency portion and will complete in the UK): …
another chapter of trying to figure out how life in California works.. today I tried buying a bagel…
“Hello. Can I have a sesame bagel with jam please” “$4.22” “gosh!” (but I pay anyway) …. waits 20 minutes…. “here’s your bagel” “hang on, there is no jam, I didn’t want butter” “it’s not butter” “well, I would like jam” “it is cream cheese” “no thanks, can I have jam please as requested when I arrived and paid?” “we are out of jam” “there is no jam” “no, absolutely no jam” “oh…” other member of staff intervenes: “we have jam” 6 minutes later: “here’s your bagel” “thanks” …. spreading the miraculously appeared jam on the bagel.. hmmm… it smells strange for a sesame bagel.. hang on … Oh I give up! … “excuse me, I would like a refund, this is an onion bagel with jam, not a sesame bagel with jam…” … get’s refund, leaves the cafe still exceptionally hungry and wondering why a bagel that can never be the actual bagel one asked for costs $4.22 when service clearly is sleepwalking with reluctance..
Watching Jason Stropko create lidded glass vessels in the glass studio
In these photographs you can see Jason creating the beginning of a glass project that we are hoping to share in it’s full glory with the public soon.
Beginning to forgive California
Being in America I felt pretty angry and helpless a lot of the time. I was there as a guest, with no space and not a lot of small change. I was holding back getting involved in anything because, I realize in retrospect, because I didn’t want to connect and get stuck in a country that I don’t understand. I mean they do things like pour fracking water into rivers.. What crazy people would do this? Don’t even get me started on all the insane rhetoric logic or lack thereof that gets prime airtime in this country. And this wild patriotism, it all astounds me. As does the apparent lack of terms like solidarity, social care, social security nets… I don’t really understand how people live there. Is everybody blindly stumbling around, is this why the media is so dominated by the mantra of: “live for the moment, be happy”, because you better be happy now because ultimately we are all somewhat doomed with threatening poverty in age etc… Well. I don’t know. I simply …
Dogs of Oakland & Berkeley
We went to the Actual cafe sitting somewhere not far from the borders of Oakland and Berkeley, it near Berkeley Bowl actually. Actual Cafe is actually another cafe without functioning table service, but we enjoyed having a late breakfast here twice. It isn’t the best cafe in the area but definitely ok and a safe enough bet if you are hungry nearby. However, we won’t be making a detour to go back. We met this quirky dog outside and it’s even quirkier owner, too.
The chocolate Candy house of Oakland (these days it’s a second hand shop) *{things to do in Oakland}
The chocolate Candy house of Oakland (these days it’s a second hand shop) We loved living in Oakland. Telegraph Avenue offered a variety of interesting cafes, shops and communities. Even if parts of it are being taken over by overpriced hipster lifestyle. This pink house used to be a sweet shop. I wish I would have seen it then in it’s original form. But today it houses a second hand shop with some quality offerings, but beware it isn’t a cheap second hand shop with thrift junk, rather a better selection. However at the back of the store is the thrift, the items with kinks and things suitable for a smaller pocket. How to get there? Take the BART from anywhere in the Bay Area and ride to Mc Arthur Bart station, from there it is only a few blocks walk to Telegraph Avenue. If you take a wrong turn on Telegraph you will find yourself passing a pretty great Bagel Cafe specializing in Bagels, freshly baked. So the wrong turn would work out pretty …
Birgit Over 7 Seas 