This tea leaf salad from Burma Superstar in Oakland is the best thing I've eaten so far in 2012. I'm not a fan of salads, but I've been craving this ever since I had a couple bites of Jeskat's tea leaf salad when we ate there a month ago. I had to go back for…
I’m Proud of the Yehoodi.com Community
As one of the adminstrators of the swing dance website Yehoodi.com, I sometimes get lost in the minutae of moderating the discussions, projecting managing our web dev team, and producing our podcasts. But just today looking at the front page of the site, I'm immensely proud of what we have built together. Every single…
NOLA Dancers in Fun Music Video “Baby Can Dance”
This music video "Baby Can Dance" has been making its way around the internet lindy circles, and for good reason. It features several New Orleans lindy hoppers (including my friend Lisa Casper) dancing to a very cute tune by Carsie Blanton. Featured dancers: Chance Bushman and Giselle Anguizola Peter Loggins and Amy Johnson Reuel Reis…
Rikomatic.com is back in business
We had some snafus in the transfer of our domain from Godaddy to Namecheap, which we spent way too long trying to fix over the past couple of days. Apologies if the site did not load for you or if emails to rik @rikomatic.com were bouncing. We should be mostly fully operational at this…
Christmas Decorations on Graves? No, Thank You.
Note to my loved ones: When I have discarded this mortal coil, please feel under no obligation to put cheesy seasonal decorations around my gravestone. Wherever I end up, I have passed beyond all interest in tinsel, foil and plastic fake trees. Thanks for understanding. (Seen at Mountain View Cemetary, Oakland.)
A New Year’s Eve Fun Run to the Golden Gate Bridge
For the last day of the year, my cousins had the brilliant idea to do a casual, 5 mile "fun run" from Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. It was a gorgeous Bay Area winter morning, in the mid-50s, sunny, windless and clear. Folks were out jogging, biking, walking their dogs and…
My Favorite Swing and Lindy Video Clips from 2011
Here's one of my favorite video clips from 2011 — the world's best lindy hop troupe, the Harlem Hotshots, performing at the largest swing dance camp in the world, the Herrang Dance Camp. Sadly, I missed this performance by a week or so when I was there. Still this is some ridiculously badass dancing….
Rik doing cartwheels
It took me just 42 years, but I can finally do cartwheels. It's never too late to learn something new.
Happy Funky New Year from the FreePlay Dance Crew!
Here's a super cute picture of my dance crew FreePlay, wishing you a very funky, happy New Year!
Christmas 2011 with the Santos Clan
I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, full of loved ones and yummy food. The Santos clan gathered at the home of my Auntie Gloria and Uncle Andy in Hercules, CA. It was a good crowd of about 30-some folks, each of them bringing boatloads of food and drink to the affair. That's lasagna, beef…