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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Reality Check for East Palo Alto

When I told my co-workers that I lived in East Palo Alto for the first time, they were all surprised; some asked if I thought I was safe while others jokingly asked if I had ever been shot at. I've realized that it's not the best neighborhood, but I've found it pleasant. No problems with neighbors (they even have some nice children who run up and down the street) and I have my own bedroom/bathroom all to myself. Rent is cheap and I have ample parking in our driveway or the street.

Well, so much for that.

This weekend, MLK weekend, of all weekends, East Palo Alto was hit with three major crimes. A murder. A vandalism of an elementary school. A shoot-out leaving one man wounded. All, just a few blocks from where I live.

It's pretty scary stuff. I drive by the intersection everyday where the murder occurred. Last Thurdsay, I recall seeing police cars and paramedics at a blocked off area of the road where it all happened, probably an hour after the murder. To think, if I had left one hour earlier, I could have been caught at the intersection when the drive-by happened. But, what baffles me is that the next day, at that same intersection, life is back to normal. Kids are playing out in the streets. People walking around like nothing happened.

People move on. Life has to go on, or nothing would be normal.

The question, I am currently confronted with, is if I can or should continue to live here. I have the means to move out. Should I fear for my own safety? I'm not completely certain of my decision yet, but I'm willing to stick things out until my contract ends in August. My understanding is that these crimes have been committed by people outside of EPA. My housemate mentioned that some people are getting out of jail and settling old scores. If it's a one-off thing, then I think I'll be okay. If it keep up, however, I think I would seriously consider moving.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Reworking my tags

When I first started this blog, I thought about tagging posts with whatever subject they were about. I never really thought much about organization - that maybe if I just wrote enough, there would be enough overlap. From a readers' perspective, however, everything was too specific that the purpose of tags - which I believe to be some simple organization based on a common theme or subject, was lost.

So, I've spent some time going over my old posts and decided on the following tags from hereon out:

Biking - road and mountain
Blog - posts related to updating this blog...like this one!
Books/Magazines
Check this out - news articles or video clips I recommend you take a look at
Food - for posts related to restaurants I've recently eaten at
Games - Xbox360 and other stuff
Google - stuff about the greatest search engine ever
History - at one point I was a history major
Travel - places I've been/want to go to
Meta - personal life related posts aka the 'Dear Diary' stuff
Music - live bands or recordings
Photography - pictures I've taken
Politics - various political related posts
Prius - since I drive one, maybe this will have some future use
Sports - self explanatory
Television/Movies
Uncategorized
Work - things related to working

I'll be adding a tag area to the right side navigation of my blog, in case you're ever interested in sorting posts based by each tag.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Reality Check for East Palo Alto

When I told my co-workers that I lived in East Palo Alto for the first time, they were all surprised; some asked if I thought I was safe while others jokingly asked if I had ever been shot at. I've realized that it's not the best neighborhood, but I've found it pleasant. No problems with neighbors (they even have some nice children who run up and down the street) and I have my own bedroom/bathroom all to myself. Rent is cheap and I have ample parking in our driveway or the street.

Well, so much for that.

This weekend, MLK weekend, of all weekends, East Palo Alto was hit with three major crimes. A murder. A vandalism of an elementary school. A shoot-out leaving one man wounded. All, just a few blocks from where I live.

It's pretty scary stuff. I drive by the intersection everyday where the murder occurred. Last Thurdsay, I recall seeing police cars and paramedics at a blocked off area of the road where it all happened, probably an hour after the murder. To think, if I had left one hour earlier, I could have been caught at the intersection when the drive-by happened. But, what baffles me is that the next day, at that same intersection, life is back to normal. Kids are playing out in the streets. People walking around like nothing happened.

People move on. Life has to go on, or nothing would be normal.

The question, I am currently confronted with, is if I can or should continue to live here. I have the means to move out. Should I fear for my own safety? I'm not completely certain of my decision yet, but I'm willing to stick things out until my contract ends in August. My understanding is that these crimes have been committed by people outside of EPA. My housemate mentioned that some people are getting out of jail and settling old scores. If it's a one-off thing, then I think I'll be okay. If it keep up, however, I think I would seriously consider moving.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Reworking my tags

When I first started this blog, I thought about tagging posts with whatever subject they were about. I never really thought much about organization - that maybe if I just wrote enough, there would be enough overlap. From a readers' perspective, however, everything was too specific that the purpose of tags - which I believe to be some simple organization based on a common theme or subject, was lost.

So, I've spent some time going over my old posts and decided on the following tags from hereon out:

Biking - road and mountain
Blog - posts related to updating this blog...like this one!
Books/Magazines
Check this out - news articles or video clips I recommend you take a look at
Food - for posts related to restaurants I've recently eaten at
Games - Xbox360 and other stuff
Google - stuff about the greatest search engine ever
History - at one point I was a history major
Travel - places I've been/want to go to
Meta - personal life related posts aka the 'Dear Diary' stuff
Music - live bands or recordings
Photography - pictures I've taken
Politics - various political related posts
Prius - since I drive one, maybe this will have some future use
Sports - self explanatory
Television/Movies
Uncategorized
Work - things related to working

I'll be adding a tag area to the right side navigation of my blog, in case you're ever interested in sorting posts based by each tag.