Lindsie and I just drove to TI and back from Oakland with the first wave of cars.  The new span is a stunner!

Yeah Dad!  I tried to snap more pictures of his new ride, but the wind was up and he was to quick to catch! Took it for a spin myself, man they are a lot fun.

Channels and Airdates:
KQED 9
Sat, Sep 24, 2011 -- 2:30pm
KQED World
Sun, Sep 25, 2011 -- 8:00pm
Mon, Sep 26, 2011 -- 2:00am

You are the Best!

Tonight I will be working the door and helping my "besties" with the grand opening of their bar in uptown Oakland.  Come by and say hello! Happy hour from 4-8pm, then an opening party from 8-2am.

Bar 355: 355 19th St. Oakland




Via the Oakland Tribune:

Bar 355

On Wednesday, Travis Dutton and Patrick Lynch couldn't remember the last time they had a full night's sleep. Seven months ago they decided to transform an abandoned bar on 19th Street into a lounge that mingles Las Vegas with Hollywood.

"And finally Friday's the big day," he said, meaning today. Happy hour starts at 4 p.m.

"How did I get involved in this? Purely accidentally," Lynch said.

He was planning to open a restaurant but the idea fell through. One day he asked Dutton, a 7-year-veteran of the Radio bar, if he ever thought of opening his own place.

"Yeah, all the time," Dutton responded.

"The rest is ... history," Dutton said, stacking bottles of vodka, tequila and gin with only 48 hours remaining.

The contents of the bottles will go into classic standards like the aviation, sidecar, Manhattan and martinis.

"Drinks that never really go out of style," Dutton said. "And obviously we're going to make our own drinks as well."

The last time someone ordered anything there, the space was called Softnotes Restaurant and Lounge. (Bar 355 plans to offer food in the future.)

The previous operators abandoned the lounge a couple years ago, leaving almost everything behind.

"The only thing they took was two flat-screen TVs," Lynch said.

The walls were glossy white and mustard yellow.

"It was hideous," Lynch recalled.

The walls are now papered in gold and royal blue. The newly lacquered bar shines under retro lamps in what Lynch said was the Hollywood Regency style. There is a nook at one end of the three-tiered room and a stage framed by gold curtains at the other. Gilded mirrors are plentiful.

Think neo-noir: the Slow Club in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet."

Outside a workman was installing a lamp that will hang in a shallow recess in the faux lava rock facade. Overhead, a sign bearing the name Mr. B's stands like a beacon from some distant chapter in Oakland's downtown history. The sign is topped by an orb painted with the words "Don's," dating back to when the lounge was Big Don's Cactus Room. Someone else took over and changed the name to Big Al's Cactus Room.

Eventually the exterior will give way to city plans for sprucing everything up. But for now, the orb revolves.

Bar 355: 355 19th St., 510-451 3355

Went out and tested the new crab pot setups with Dad this morning...


pic 1:  I don't remember it looking like this

pic 2:  or this

pic 3:  float (or is it a bobber?)

     Drifted from Healdsburg to Forestville with Ravensblack today.  The wind had woken up before we had and was blowing downstream, rarely have I had to drag a paddle in the river to slow down my drift but this morning it happened more than once.

    Early in our drift we came to a popular spot that 99% of the time is fished by the same guy who "makes every cast count."  He was not there today. 

    About half way through the run my offering is slammed and the fight is on!  Flashbacks of heartbreak from less than a week ago cloud my thoughts, while a hot little buck rips line and puts on an aerial display.  When he would jump he would straighten out, no violent head shaking.  He had some style, big overhead arcs with clean entries... Played him out and beached him for a "short" photo op (hehe, thanks Craig!) and quick release.

    Enjoyed the rest of the drift watching the osprey show, and even flushed out a pair of cock pheasant in the frog water above redwood.  It has been a tough year on the Russian but it always seems to make your drift worthwhile, a real jewel right in our backyard to boot.
   
-Patrick

     Met up with the local hero (hydrospider) at Braitos marina on Sunday for a little change of pace.  Could not have picked a better day to be on the water, weather was PERFECT.  We made our way out of the marina and worked a stretch that was rumored to be producing some big fish, but our various offerings were scoffed at while our agents marched through unscathed, .  Terry did show me some spots that if we get some rain look like Kayak Heaven.

    With no action we decided to load up and move to a spot that has always been good to us in the past.  Ah yes "the park" was calling...   It took awhile to find them, hydrospider picked one up then another, while I rode the skunk train for at least another hour or so.  The hope was that as the sun set the bite would improve, and it did.

    We proceeded to burn through 4 dozen or so agents, with Standard Issues, doubles, ferocious takedowns, and fights that had us spinning circles.  These fish were tough!

    One fish made my hands shake for awhile...



-Patrick



Pic 1----   Hydrospider doing what he does.

Pic 2----- PB 23.25"!

Pic 3----- Grumpy eyes.