Day: April 7, 2010

Decorate Within Oakland Borders

Today, we attempted to decorate within Oakland borders and went on a shopping spree with a grade schooler and her mother.  Since the family had recently moved into a new home, we spent the afternoon seeking girl’s bedroom decor – and we accomplished nearly everything in one local store.

While independent stores are quite appealing, the chain store worked wonders this time:  Bed, Bath and Beyond near Jack London Square.  We could park without paying too, which was a nice surprise.

There were sufficient options stocked in that smallish store, and we felt supported by friendly sales clerks.  The prices weren’t dirt cheap but didn’t bankrupt us, either.  The haul included a shagalicious comforter, sheets, decorative pillows and one large rug.

Our mission wasn’t 100 percent complete, since a new desk remains on the list.  We thought about the Cost Plus World Market as well as Entrez! Open House, but neither carried this sort of furniture.  Our merry threesome headed to Ikea, in Emeryville, where desks seemed too white and too flimsy.  Maybe Craigslist next?

Today’s shopping spree made me wonder about retail tipping points.  How many or what types of stores are needed to reduce forays to points east, west and north?  As a matter of civic pride, we’ll keep trying to spend our hard-earned shekels in Oakland.

No More Buzz Aldrin

If you remember the first lunar landing, then maybe you’ll agree that seeing Buzz voted off the stage was kind of depressing last night.  He was one of the stars dancing on a ubiquitous show, and received the lowest vote count from TV viewers.

So what if Buzz can’t dance?  He’s the second man to set foot on the moon, and we expected a few more weeks of dancing for that reason alone.  Yet most of the voters were born after the 1960s and take space exploration for granted.

Ever gracious, Aldrin decided to wish everyone well by reminding them about Apollo and past glories, as well as the future of space exploration.  He seemed happy to still be alive and kicking with the youngsters.

As a swan song, Buzz and his dance partner appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and he was redeemed there.  “What happened, did the gravity thing throw you off?  You should have threatened Americans with a deadly moon virus, ” exclaimed Kimmel.

The moon walker stayed circumspect, and then launched into space advocacy.  He said that our country should help other countries with their lunar explorations, while we do other things “for global space leadership.”

Kimmel quipped, “I think we need to go to the sun,” and our astronaut replied “as long as we go at night.”  Not bad, thought this blogger.

[We’ll return to our regularly scheduled Oakland and Montclair programming tomorrow.]