💐 Three Years... 4/20/25

Hi Everyone!

While Easter and 4/20 happened yesterday, I think it is important to highlight a vastly under-appreciated holiday: National Lima Bean Respect Day. The lima bean deserves our respect as a symbol of both war and eternal life (I’m not making this up, this is straight from the USDA National Agricultural Library). Show some respect and eat some lima beans next 4/20. 

For real though, I hope you had a happy whatever holiday you chose to celebrate. We gave Cleo a plastic egg, and she played with it all day. She seems to be firmly in the celebrating Easter camp.

Now, it’s time to find out What’s Up With Will…

This week marks a special day in the history books: It is Rylee and I’s third anniversary of dating. What a three years its been. I simultaneously feel like they have moved by so quickly, and yet it feels like I can’t remember a time BR (Before Rylee). I would say it’s been a lot of ups and downs, but there haven't been much downs, so maybe a better way to say it is twists and turns.

To celebrate, we went to a Mediterranean place called À Côté. While Mussels and fries might not sound like the most romantic of meals in the world, but oh boy, did it taste good. It also took me back to being in Belgium, as this is a local meal there.

On Thursday, I decided to take a little day trip to Richmond.

Richmond, CA became home to one of the largest shipbuilding operations during World War II due to its deep harbor, ample amounts of available land, its location at the terminus of a major railroad line, and the ample amounts of workers within the Bay Area. During its wartime operations, the Richmond Shipyards built 747 Victory and Liberty class ships, more than any other location. As such, it grew in population from 23,000 to 120,000 by the end of the war. During this time, many Women and Black Americans joined the industrial workforce to meet the needs of the war economy.

The Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park is not, in fact, a park, but a set of historic sites from World War II. I first stopped at the Visitor Center, which explained what life would have been like for people working in the shipyards, as well as Rosie the Riveter. I also visited the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, a sculpture meant to represent the framework of a Liberty ship. 

It’s interesting to see what an impact Richmond had in the course of the war, as I was never once told about this city growing up during school.

On the way back home, I drove past Armistice Brewing Company, so I decided to stop for a drink before I drove back home. This place’s drink selection was absolutely bonkers. There were mango margarita hard seltzers and Piña Colada IPAs, but I decided to get their Protein Shake, a peanut butter and banana smoothie ale. Imagine chugging a couple of these after your workout…

On Friday, we went to my friend Mikk’s 31st birthday party! Whenever Mikk throws a party, you know it's going to be great. We also stopped by his Tiki bar aptly called Trader Mikk’s while there. Growing up, I always wanted a Tiki Bar in my backyard, so it's pretty freaking cool that Mikk has his own.

Before the party started, Mikk was explaining that there are three things that a great party needs: Company, Consumption Media (Food and Drinks), and Music. This doesn’t seem that hard to achieve on the surface, but the hard part is having a discerning eye to get the right combination of all three. 

Oakland as a whole has been dealt a bad hand when it comes to sports teams. In the past 10 years, it has lost three pro sports teams. In its wake, there has been a resurgence of grassroots sporting teams focused more on community. One of the teams that has emerged is the Oakland Roots, a men’s professional Soccer Team in the USL Championship League (the second-tier soccer league in America). What’s even cooler is this year, they are playing in the former Oakland A’s stadium.

As an anniversary present, I took Rylee to an Oakland Roots game against Orange County SC. It was pretty cool to come back to the Coliseum after the A’s left, and as I knew very little about soccer strategy, I was very thankful to Rylee for giving me the play-by-play analysis. I think the team is still in its growing phase, but it's nice to see Oakland still has a sports team.

One last thing, for their half-time show, they brought out my favorite Grammy Award-winning children’s hip-hop group, Alphabet Rockers. This is primarily because I do not know any other Grammy Award-winning children’s hip-hop group. They were great, though, and I was dancing in my seat the entire performance.

Hyphy music is huge in the Bay Area, but I don’t really understand it. I was just talking about this with my dentist, who comes from New York and feels the same way, so it was a coincidence that I stumbled upon this video explaining Bay Area rap. And while I still don't really get it, I appreciate that there is a set of musical traditions and characteristics that these songs all follow.