This Saturday is the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. Berkeley's is out at the Marina, by Shorebird Park or there's also a setup at Brickyard Cove. Come and pick some trash! It's a nice time. Honestly the Internet would have you believing the world is ending soon (and...maybe it is), why not literally touch some grass and then pick up trash to give your brain a break? https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/coastal-cleanup-day-2025

One of my fave Berkeley institutions. Had Thai Temple brunch this weekend. I probably haven't been in several years but realized I have been coming here very occasionally for over two decades now. Nostalgia washed over me, appreciation for the community and the tireless volunteers that spend all week to prepare for the Sunday brunch. Berkeleyside profiled a bunch of the volunteers recently. Brought my kiddo this time, he's too picky to eat anything but hopefully one day. Talked about a friend's first Burning Man experience in his mid 40s trying to convince us all we need to go with him next year even though we gave away all our gear years ago lol. Ahh a very Berkeley experience. Love living here.

Opted to walk in Oakland. Peaceful and purposeful. Your neighbors care about you.

Checked out the new Kura Sushi on University and Shattuck. This place is like the restaurant of my childhood dreams, ha! I mean in terms of sushi quality, it's fine. But the pure spectacle and experience was pretty silly. You've got a conveyor belt full of sushi dishes for about $4 a plate. You can order a specific dish for your table and it zooms out on a separate conveyor belt above the sushi one. A robot brought us drinks. Then you put the plates into a slot and watch them disappear. 15 plates and you get a gatcha prize 😂. Very entertaining for kids (and this grown-up). Ah I'm so glad to have a place like this in town. I can't believe my kid is growing up in an era of robots serving us drinks.

It was properly windy, flew some kites. I miss the kite festival. Maybe we could crowd source the funds for the permit and portos.

It was a great Hands Off protest yesterday with great energy! It was one of over 1200 protests organized yesterday. If you need a jolt of optimism, come join the next one which is looking like April 19. All ages were out but the majority of the crowd were the good ole Berkeley hippies. I swear the 75+ crowd dominated! It was beautiful, like seeing them in their natural habitat 😂.

I also appreciate that Berkeleyside covered this as their top story. Local news has withered away in most places for the last couple decades, but Berkeleyside has picked up a lot of the slack as a non-profit news org. Throw them a few bucks if you can. These protests across the country should have been front page news today but many big newspapers failed to cover or feature them.

Anyhow, you are not alone. Take care of the person next to you. Enjoy this beautiful day.

Just came from Reddit, I kind of like the BerkeleyCA subreddit though it's not huge. Are there users over here? Would be cool to have an active community of users over here. Here's a pic of our town from my last visit to the Lawrence Hall of Science. The view up there never fails to amaze me. They have a cool future of food exhibit. The whale still abides kids climbing it.

🐻🐻🐻

All of this is true.

bears!