Personal

June 28th, 2008 by alephnaught

Wacko / Soap Plant Store

We decided to drive down to Wacko / Soap Plant, a cool store that I was turned onto by the guy that did my first tattoo. Wacko / Soap Plant is located at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, California, (323) 663-0122. They moved into the Hollywood Blvd. location in 2000. Aviva in front of Wacko […]

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June 27th, 2008 by alephnaught

Dinner at Il Tiramisu in Sherman Oaks

We had a good week at the office (mostly things were quiet and so we made lots of progress on everything – very nice), so I left early and Aviva and I tried an Italian restaurant she wanted to check out. Il Tiramisu (13705 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 – 818.986.2640) is located on […]

June 25th, 2008 by alephnaught

What makes for a common culture?

In these days of declining birthrates in the developed world along with greater immigration and rising third world economies, what makes for a common culture? What makes the US a desirable place to live, and what makes us Americans as opposed to Italians or Dutch? I thought of this while reading a NY Times article […]

June 22nd, 2008 by alephnaught

Woodland Hills Arts and Crafts Fair

We took the dog and went out at about 11A to see what the fair had to offer. Well, it offered lots of heat and sunshine – it was already in the 90s F when we arrived. We brought water and a portable dog bowl so the dog wouldn’t get overheated, but even with water […]

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June 21st, 2008 by alephnaught

Miracle Mile art walk

We visited about half the galleries that participated this month; the work was so bad that I brought home no (that’s zero for the algebraic or null for the mathematicians) cards home. I stopped in the small gift shop for the Craft and Folk Art Museum on Wilshire Blvd. I bought a book of Japanese […]

June 20th, 2008 by alephnaught

Yang Chow Restaurant

We ordered carry out from Yang Chow Restaurant – who’d have thought there’d be a good Chinese restaurant within walking distance of our apartment? While they are known for their seafood, Aviva didn’t like the scallops – she felt they’d been frozen and were therefore chewy. My Szechwan chicken was very good, not too spicy […]

June 14th, 2008 by alephnaught

Venice Beach

We decided to take the dog down to Venice Beach – it was hitting over 90 degrees in the Valley and it was only in the mid 70s at the water front, and we’d heard that Venice Beach was still a hippie holdover from the ’60s. I liked it. We walked perhaps a quarter of […]

June 8th, 2008 by alephnaught

Changing minds in small ways

I read an article in today’s NY Times with some interest: Giving Young French Muslims a Close Look at the US. While working a lot in Amsterdam, I came to realize that many Europeans view our government policies and the opinions of people on the street as the same; so, I’ve wondered how we could […]

June 7th, 2008 by alephnaught

Koreatown

We drove down to Koreatown, which is south of Wilshire and mostly east of Western.  We went to both the large Korean malls but only bought a set of brightly colored Tupperware – oh well…. An aquarium in the wall of a restaurant at Koreatown Plaza A Korean Buddhist Temple we drove past on the […]

June 7th, 2008 by alephnaught

Rabbit in the Moon

So now that I live in a place with a real climate, I try to go out and get lunch and take a walk around. I often go to Fry‘s, a very cool discount electronics shop about two blocks from my office. So I typically walk over and check out different parts of the store […]