🔒Master of Master Lock 7/20/25

Until recently, everyone thought it was impossible to dry your hands with a single towel. However, scientists have recently discovered the exact two-step method to do just that. For this to work, you need to shake your hands out exactly 12 times over the sink, no more and no less. Then, you need to take one paper towel, fold it in half, and dry your hands. If you followed these steps perfectly, then theoretically, your hands should be dry.

I found this sign in a local gluten-free bakery, and thought it was funny enough to share. I can’t imagine how they determined 12 shakes. There must have been a lot of R&D behind that number. Now that you are in the know, though, no more taking multiple towels. I’m watching…

With that said, let’s find out What’s Up With Will…

In our process of getting our apartment all perfect, we ran into a little snag. The storage unit that came along with the place, the one that we were going to put our old furniture and other paraphernalia, had a lock on it that the owner forgot to take off. The owners told us that they unfortunately lost the key, and that we could just break the lock. So, that meant I was off to Home Depot to get an industrial-grade 36” bolt cutters.

On the bright side, the nearest location with a bolt cutter was in Emeryville, so that meant I was able to get lunch with Connor. We went to a place called Doña, a fast-casual Mexican restaurant, with a beautiful patio space that I could imagine hanging out with friends on a sunny day. On our walk,

Connor told me all of the history of the restaurant. Thomas Schnetz met Dona Moniz and opened Doña Tomás in Oakland’s Temescal District back in 1999. This restaurant focused on authentic Mexican cuisine like chilaquiles and fideo, avoiding Americanized dishes like burritos and nachos. This restaurant lasted until 2019, when Dona and Thomas split. In the wake of all this, Dona decided to open Doña.

I got a steak burrito, and while it was fantastically seasoned, with just enough of a kick to leave you wanting more, it’s very interesting that I could order a burrito here, while it would have been shunned at Doña Tomás. Maybe Dona wanted to reach out to Americanized dishes while Thomas was firmly against it. What if the Burrito was their downfall? I don’t have any clue, but it’s some food for thought.

Connor also took me to Dr. Comics and Mr. Games, a comic book/board game store. I have been trying to get more into board games, so if anyone has any personal recommendations, let me know.

It came time to break into my storage unit. Even with my huge bolt cutters, it was a formidable task. I had to call in backup, but Rylee and I eventually managed to break the lock open. I am very happy no one walked by us while we broke the lock. I feel like it would have led to a bit of explaining for us to do. I am also surprised by how easy it was to get a bolt cutter in the first place. I just needed to show Home Depot my ID, and then I was good to go.

We wrapped up the day by going to Locust Street Festival. This festival was wild, especially for a Wednesday. There was live music and aerial silks performances in the middle of the street, a pet adoption agency with a bus full of cats(I really struggled to convince Rylee that we didn’t need another cat), and the festival had local vendors, artisans, and businesses. I even found a place that makes caramel corn puffs, a Mid-West delicacy. Every year around Christmas time, my Aunt would ship us a batch, and it would be gone in a week. Thankfully, I now have a year-round supplier.

I’ve been enjoying these community events, as it has given us more ways to plug ourselves into the area. Every time, I learn something new, whether it be a new business in the area or a new service that the city of Walnut Creek provides.

Rylee has been going into office in Sacramento a couple of times a week for the past couple of weeks, so I figured now would be the perfect time to go up with her and explore the city.

After I dropped Rylee off at work, I ran to a local Coffee Shop called Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, where I got myself a Beehive Brew, a house flash brew sweetened with honey and cinnamon and topped with cream. This coffee shop has won ROAST Magazine’s 2023 Roaster of the Year Award, and it was a nice bonus that I happened to be there as they were roasting the beans.

I then stopped at the Crocker Art Museum, where I spent the rest of my day. The Crocker Family became wealthy through Edwin Bryant Crocker’s role as an attorney for the Central Pacific Railroad. With their newfound money, they made it their mission to bring culture to California by commissioning an art gallery.

One of the highlights of this museum was its extensive collection of early California works, which illustrated the evolution of California’s artistic identity. It started with California Indian baskets, one of the earliest forms of Native Californian art, moved into majestic landscapes by artists trained in the Hudson River School, and then focused on the Impressionism movement that took root in California, with early practitioners trained in France adapting the style to the region’s light and landscapes.

As I was looking at these paintings, it was evident how important both the landscape and light are to defining the California style of art. The emphasis on landscape works reflected people’s awe of California’s natural beauty. Also, California artists quickly adopted the use of bright colors, in large part because of the year-round bright sun-soaked weather, AKA “California Light”. Light in particular is hugely influential in how we perceive the world, so it makes sense that it would also impact art.

Additionally, there were the special exhibits, “Marvin Lipofsky Blows Glass” (A set of blown glassworks by one of the leading figures of Studio Glass Movement in the US), “Arts, Letters, And Power: Van Dyck and the Portrait Print” (A look at Anthony Van Dyck’s Iconography print series that helped elevate the role of artist in European society), and “Cara and Diego Romero: Tales of Futures Past” (A husband and wife duo that look at the complexities of Indigenious identity and contemporary life).

Friday was Rylee and I’s date night for the week. More importantly, it would be the first official date night in Walnut Creek.

First up was 1515 Restaurant and Bar, a place that I would describe as a classy sports bar. Sure, there were TVs everywhere with various sports games on, but the decor made you feel you were somewhere fancier. On the Wine Walk we did a couple of weeks ago, they gave us free drink coupons, so we figured why not start our date night here. In addition to drinks, we got an order of oysters.

We then went to the local Burmese restaurant, Burma 2, for curry and fried rice. For those unaware, Burmese food is from the country of Myanmar, and is a wonderful blend of southeast asian cuisine. Each dish has such a depth of flavor, and because of this, Burmese food has quickly become one of our favorites. This place might not be as good as some of the places we have had in Oakland, but it goes to show that any Burmese food is great. My only question is, “Where is Burma 1?”

On Saturday, I got free tickets to the R&B sensation All-4-One at Yoshi’s. This band is one of the classic scenarios where you might not recognize the name right away, as is the case with this band, but you know the song “I Swear”. However, this has led to the unfortunate circumstance where I’ve had to hum or sing out a few bars more than once this week just to jog people’s memories.

Beforehand, Rylee and I went out to catch up with Avery at Seawolf Public House. Upon arriving, we noticed a sign noting that today would be the last day before the bar permanently closed. We toasted the occasion with the two drinks that they were known for, a margarita and an old-fashioned, and played some darts (since we didn’t know the rules, we decided that Avery won). Rylee has been wanting to go to this spot since we moved, so we were extra lucky about our timing. I can’t believe we almost missed this place!

I was very impressed by All-4-One. I loved the incredible energy and vocal talent on stage, but they also shared stories between songs from their career. They told us how Christina Aguilera’s “I Turn to You” was originally written for them to perform on the Space Jam soundtrack, and about the time a telethon host’s comparison to Boyz II Men forced them to learn and perform a new song in under 24 hours. They even opened up about their early career tensions, and how they wanted to create tracks like “No Diggity”, but their producer insisted on adult contemporary love ballads instead. He told them, “These are the songs that make a career.” Thirty-one years later, they’re still packing venues with fans.

July 20th is truly a beautiful day, as it is both National Ice Cream Day and National Lollipop Day.

To celebrate the occasion, we first went to Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery. I grabbed a single scoop of raspberry chocolate and chocolate cookie crumble. I don’t think I have ever had cashew ice cream before, but I was surprised by how smooth and creamy it was. I have tried a good bit of plant-based ice cream alternatives, but cashew is the best so far.

Our last stop of this week was See’s Candy for a free lollipop.

I hope you all had a super sweet week, and ate some ice cream or lollipops. If not, have some this week to make up for it.

When we were throwing darts at Seawolf, one of mine ricocheted onto the ground. A guy nearby saw the incident, walked over, and casually asked if we wanted to see his favorite comedy bit about darts. We said, “Of course!”

This is the video he showed us.