Alameda

Friday I volunteered at the Alameda Point Collaberative, a project that was organized by my work. The APC is a group of 200+ housing units for formerly homeless families. There is also a farm (to grow food for the community), a nursery (to make money), and a bike shop (for being awesome). We spent the day tearing up weeds and putting in a flower garden - other groups of Googlers helped with a corncob-and-mud shelter and weeded rows of vegetables.

At the beginning of the day, this plot was a mess of weeds and some overgrown artichoke plants. By the end of the day, it was a mess of mulch and plants - but an intentional mess, and one that will look a lot better in a few weeks.

I came away with a very fetching sunburn and some artichokes that I gave to Teppi, who then brought me to a bar in Alameda that had four kinds of beer that I hadn't heard of. Most were Belgian, but I also tried a funky IPA. And I didn't notice it until looking at my photos later, but the bar has a mighty fine mural.