The Prius Menace

The Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars have become quite popular in Berkeley, replacing the Volvo and VW van as the car of choice. I think this is great, more power to them (har har).

The problem is, I walk and ride my bike around Berkeley a lot, and I have two little kids, and these things are a menace. When they're driving slowly, say through parking lots, or coming up to a stop light, they're almost completely silent, only their tires making any sound. As a pedestrian I constantly find myself jumping to discover one of these things coming out of nowhere.

It seems to me they should require some kind of signature sound to let those of us using people-power to detect when they're nearby.

Nice Berkeley day

Every now and then I have just a great day being in Berkeley. This Saturday I was with my kids and we went down to 4th Street. The goal was to get the new Dave Barry Peter Pan book at Cody's, but outside of Cody's were the foster animal folks with cages and cages of wonderful cats. With two kids, what can you do, we had to stop and look around. Ariel got to hold the sweetest little cat, and that resulted in this beautiful picture:

Later I went to the grocery store, and as I was standing there looking at all the amazing produce, I was struck with gratitude that we had this little place, Berkeley Natural Grocery, which has 100% organic produce, it's quiet and sweet and the people are incredibly nice. So much better than the zoo at Whole Foods or Berkeley Bowl.

I've travelled to a lot of places in my life, and I do have to say that Berkeley is one of my favorite spots. The weather, the people, the food, the quiet nature of the town - not Big City and not the 'burbs - all fit very well with me.

News from Baghdad

An article from today's SF Chronicle talks about a woman with the pseudonym Riverbend who has been blogging from Baghdad since 2003. It was a very interesting article, so I thought I'd take a look.

Here is a different view of the landscape than the one we're normally fed here in the USA. I feel like, just a bit, I can peek through the curtain of US media and see a different world. These are the words of someone who is living in the middle of it, and sees how it is impacting a community, families, a home.

Through her links, this blog also leads me to a whole group of people I never heard of before, sharing a world view that is not the one we see here. Finding blogs like this is very refreshing and seems incredibly important. Sometimes I get tired of technology, but sometimes, like in this case, it can bring us together and cuts through the layers and layers of space, time and misinformation that lie between us.

Michael the Magnificent

2006-07-21-0004, originally uploaded by David Mezzo Van Couvering.

I love this photo of Michael, because it shows his personality so well, and it also shows how much he can raise his eyebrow. He's done that since birth.

Michael is now 8 months old and so close to crawling (he scooches). He is a boy on a mission, and it's great to be his Dad.

Halloween

Photo_103106_007, originally uploaded by David Mezzo Van Couvering.

We just had a great time at Halloween. Nothing like having a six-year-old in the house to get things going. We had major decorations outside, cobwebs galore, a moaning ghoul and four jack-o-lanterns.

I love this photo of Ariel, it's so dramatic. And Ariel loves to be dramatic. What a cutie.