Just a reminder that tonight is the East Bay Express Best of the East Bay Party at the Oakland Museum of California from 5pm-midnight. You really should stop by for at least a little while. It’s free, should be a lot of fun, and will probably be the last time you see the museum before it closes for renovations on August 23rd. And now onto the updates.
Using Translink on BART: On Tuesday, I wrote about BART finally implementing Translink, and on Wednesday evening, I got to try it out myself (yay!). But I must admit that I was a bit confused about where to swipe my card. I was looking for something labeled “EZ Rider” since I knew Translink would use the same reader, but there was nothing like that. I did figure it out, but others I know just gave up. Luckily, the Translink Facebook page posted a photo of where and how to swipe the card:
New blog joins the blogoaksphere: Sweeeeet Oakland launched late last month and “will be focused around political, food, and event happenings as well as generally cool things to check out in and around Oakland California.” Graham Patterson, the author, moved here just 6 months ago so it should be interesting to follow his explorations of his newish home.
Don’t try biking to the Lake Merritt Boathouse: You might have heard that there was a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday at the Lake Merritt Boathouse. If you drive, there’s plenty of parking for you there. But if you bike, according to dto510, there’s absolutely no bike parking. Hopefully that will get fixed, especially since, as WOBO reports, new bike lanes were completed this week on Lakeside Drive.
Video from National Night Out: There was lots of talk about National Night Out leading up to Tuesday night, but I haven’t heard too much about how it went. Myrtle Street Review videotaped their block party in West Oakland. Looks like it was a fun night:
Catching up on old Council Meetings: Miss the Council during their recess? Well, there’s no need to since you can catch up on past meetings via videos online. Maybe the pro-parking protests could go back and watch all the meetings they missed out on in which the parking changes were discussed in great detail. Another way to catch up is via Oakland North’s “live” (well, it was live) coverage of the budget council meeting on July 28th. The coverage is good, but my favorite part is the caption of their picture of Sanjiv Handa: “Sanjiv Handa addressing council members. As usual.”
Scraper bike photos: Also from Oakland North is a great set of photos from the “Healin’ from Killin’” bike ride for peace. Here’s a sample, but head over to Oakland North for the rest.
Living in the O 
We had a great ice cream social over on my block in the East. 70 folks turned out and had such a good time that we’re doing a bbq next month. There will be a full report up later today at http://www.38thNotes.com
“Catching up on old Council Meetings: Miss the Council during their recess? Well, there’s no need to since you can catch up on past meetings via videos online.”
Or they can catch Hall Pass: 1 meeting in under 10 minutes (or your money back.)