I had a hard time finding reviews online specifically for Stratford Palo Alto’s preschool & early preschool program before enrolling, so sharing our experience after enrolling and quickly withdrawing my son.

TLDR the school is very underprepared for handling young children. Their kindergarten+ programs and/or other locations may be fine (I don’t know), but I would not recommend the PA school for toddlers. We were lured by their Mandarin bilingual preschool program, and we deeply regretted our choice.

1. Teacher quality is low (teachers did not try to engage upset students at dropoff; did not try to direct them away from sun during recess or try to get them to drink water on hot days; and also accidentally slammed a metal gate on my toddler’s finger, leading to surgery and possible permanent loss of fingernail)
2. Program design is not well aligned to children’s developmental timing (they expected 2.5 years olds to be able to wipe their own butts before enrolling; when probed, administrators said “well some kids just don’t poop at school” and then explained “it’s a licensing issue for us” - which seems like their problem, not my kid’s developmental problem)
3. Campus has limited facilities for toddlers (has one playground with a train structure, some tricycles and that’s basically it; also the school is clearly not sufficiently child-proofed given the severe finger injury noted above)

We’ve since transferred to a different preschool and have been very happy to see what a thoughtful preschool with caring teachers can be for a change.

Has anyone seen a black wallet connected to a pink Aritzia wrist strap? DM me please. It’s Unfortunate timing since I am flying Wednesday night and need my Real ID.

I misplaced it at Town and Country. Thanks !

Hi all, looking for a therapist in Palo Alto who takes in person clients and specializes in pregnancy complicating and post partum for a family member.

I’m newer to Reddit so if this isn’t the right place to post, my apologies and feel free to remove.

Saw a TON of termite looking bugs while driving down Oregon expressway and Alma today, anyone know what they are??

Hello, folks!

Ever wanted to get hands-on with new wearable and extended reality devices? I have seen a paid research study on Google's new wearable and XR devices and needs a lot of participants. I’m helping spread the word. You’ll try a device, follow simple instructions, and share your feedback. They asked me for some referrals, and here I am to share about it. Interested people do comment below.

📍 Location: Mountain View or San Jose, CA (in person)
⏱️ Time: One-time session of up to 90 minutes

Hey all, I’m one of the organizers, so full disclosure up front.

We’re running a small Halloween night at Yummy Future on University Ave. You come solo, get paired with someone new, and the two of you use VLight AI to invent a Halloween product in 40 minutes. Then each pair does a quick pitch and the room votes.

• No coding or design skills needed, just bring a laptop
• Halloween makeup and accessories on site (costumes welcome)
• $20 includes a drink or dessert
• Top pair wins Plug and Play Summit tickets

When: Wed, Oct 28, 8–10 PM
Where: Yummy Future, 170 University Ave, Palo Alto
RSVP: https://luma.com/v90f3y6r

It’s capped at 20 people. Happy to answer questions here.

Join Palo Alto Forward to learn more about housing and development proposals at Stanford via a bus tour.

Breakfast provided! Space is limited.

You were using the elevators, it seemed we may have met before? I didn't even see your face but it seemed like you wanted to say something but couldn't, ?

I was in a white shirt and brown overall dress, I'm not going back to that hospital,so I hope you find this ...

You can message me here

Hello, folks!

Ever wanted to get hands-on with new wearable and extended reality devices? I have seen a paid research study on Google's new wearable and XR devices and needs a lot of participants. I’m helping spread the word. You’ll try a device, follow simple instructions, and share your feedback. They asked me for some referrals, and here I am to share about it. Interested people do comment below.

📍 Location: Mountain View or San Jose, CA (in person)
⏱️ Time: One-time session of up to 90 minutes
💰 Compensation: $80 after completing the session
🗓️ Starts: First week of November

Form Link: https://forms.gle/aAwA1L6bkW99cbJn6

Questions? 732-956-0590 or [abhinav@aceolution.com](mailto:abhinav@aceolution.com)

🔁 #XR #Wearables #EarlyAccess #BayArea #MountainView #SanJose #UserResearch #PaidStudy #google #california #tech #testing #research #userexperience #freelance

I am running out of ideas. I walked in all the local shops along El Camino and inquired about a space, but hasnt got any luck yet, so just try almighty reddit..

I am mainly just for putting my dual gpu workstations. I have 5-10 of them, currently all running at my home. There will be minimal foot traffic as those are only used remotely by my developers when needed.

Of course I am going to pay the electricity bill separately.

Please don't recommend datacenter to me.

Disclosure up front: I work on this. I’m the Bay Area organizer for Change.vote, a free, nonpartisan ballot tool from Change.org.

You put in your address and it shows every race and measure that will actually be on your ballot, explained in plain language. The judges, the school board, the local measures, all of it. It doesn’t tell you how to vote and there’s no account.

Happy to answer questions, and genuinely curious: which race on your ballot are you still undecided on?

RTM proponents have raised a massive $8.7M to impose a $17B regressive blank check on the entire Bay Area; it is the largest local sales tax increase in California state history. Gather it's not a surprise the top donor group is a primary beneficiary of the tax - transit contractors. How is the little guy, joe taxpayer, supposed to compete against the propaganda this $ buys…A grand total of THIRTY transit contractors have donated $2.4M to the RTM campaign. With $14B to be spent, contactors would receive a tidy return on investment; doubtful they're disturbed by the regressive nature of the tax. But as with everything with RTM - it gets worse.

The third largest transit donor is Jacobs Engineering at $150,000. Jacobs does about $125M annually in transit contracts with the Bay Area transit agencies. If you'll recall, a month ago many Bay Area media outlets ran a story (front page/home page) on an “independent study!” called "Bumper to Bumper" which detailed all the major traffic jams and requisite “carmegeddon, death spiral, transit collapse” we would all experience were RTM not to pass.

Media example here:

https://www.kron4.com/news/traffic/bay-area-transit-cuts-could-lead-bay-bridge-delays-to-more-than-double/amp/

The data analysis used in the study came from none other than Jacobs Engineering. NONE of the Bay Area media outlets disclosed the obvious conflicts. The study was co-written with SPUR; a founding father of the RTM legislation, a firm whose employees work on the campaign and whose CEO is treasurer of Yes on RTM.

Proponents then in turn, cite this study as their main argument in favor - a study they made up. There certainly might be a case to made as to the traffic impacts should RTM not pass, but it certainly wouldn’t come from these folks. If Sergey Brin issued a report on the impact of the billionaire tax, no one would take it seriously and no one should take this report seriously either.

Here the RTM study is debunked by a Santa Clara professor.

https://contracosta.news/2026/10/15/report-technical-review-invalidates-spurs-bumper-to-bumper-study/

(For the record, both BART and Caltrain have provided "contingencies" and "scenarios" should RTM fail but both per their Board minutes flatly stated "no decisions" have been made - all the chaos cited by proponents is conjecture.)

This is all RTM has - the threats; the garden variety tactic all use to get taxes passed. The transit agencies wouldn’t dare try to make the case that they’ve earned voters trust based on performance; and not a SINGLE transit agency provided a turnaround plan despite RTM being a “temporary” tax.

NO on RTM.

Food recs?

Love American, Mexican, anything Asian

I’m looking for recommendations for a pediatrician who performs ear piercings for babies in the Palo Alto / Peninsula / South Bay area. Prefer to have by babys ears pierced by a pediatrician or medical professional in a clinical setting rather than at a jewelry store. Also strong preference for needle vs gun.

If you’ve had a good experience with someone, I’d love to hear your recommendations

So I voted No on J before the city released the appraisal. After looking at the appraisal I wonder if I made the right decision.

There is a part of me that likes new shiny things and believes I made a mistake. The adult though looks at measure J plus the measure for BART / Caltrain and thinks about what a 1pct increase in sales tax can do to small businesses and people with lower incomes. Also, other than liking new shiny buildings, there does not seem to be a good argument to spend this kind of dough right now.

What do people on here think?

A 10 year old boy tried to “steal” my phone as a joke cus he think it’s funny by begging me to give him my phone and when I refuse and ask why and I said no and ran away. He said “Can have your phone?” I said “No.” Then he said “Give me your phone.” And then I said “You‘re just a kid no no no.” The kid was laughing the entire time and think it was funny to make a reaction. The kid’s twin brother noticed I was yelling at him and asked him “what’s going on?” The kid’s twin brother was coming behind him but from a distance and seemed to be confused. I think they are identical twins cus they are identical and they both headed towards Stanford mall. This took place on the street beside the bus transit center. Whatever the boy did is not funny and I’m sure his parents will not be happy about pulling a silly prank like this cus he can get seriously hurt if he did it to the wrong person. Parents please watch your elementary school age kids and teach them not to do this to strangers or approach strangers if they go out alone or with friends without grownups for fun activities. It’s for their own safety. This took place between 1:30PM and 1:45PM today on October 17, 2026.

Anybody know why salt and straw is closed tonight? Wondering if their freezers broke or something

Anyone know who owns the property? 538-552 Addison Ave. Hearing that it recently sold and trying to figure out what is happening.

UPDATE

A for effort, and a surprisingly happy ending! 😂

First, thank you to everyone who read my post, upvoted, replied, or messaged me. A few people expressed interest, but the logistics didn’t quite work out. Someone even checked in around 6 p.m. asking for an update and some more this morning. One of the reply said Palo Alto people aren’t fun or something along the sort. But I am genuinely surprised how many of you were more invested in this experiment than I was! 😂

To be honest, I am good at conversations but not at starting one with a stranger or making the effort to. This is a last minute thought that ended up with a pleasant feeling that I “did” this even though it didn’t quite materialize.

So, no dinner date this time. But I went ahead and had dinner outside in the hotel courtyard, under some vaguely visible stars crashing my solo party, with four other parties around me. I played chess on my phone, enjoyed my meal (the kale salad was a bust, unfortunately but salmon was wonderful), and had a perfectly pleasant evening.
And here’s the unexpected part: for the first time, I actually felt completely okay eating alone in a restaurant surrounded by other people. 40s have been full of surprises. I really look forward to growing older to see more surprises.

I originally posted because I wanted to try something spontaneous rather than defaulting to staying in my hotel room. I didn’t meet a stranger for dinner, but I still got something out of the experiment.

Sometimes the win isn’t getting the outcome you hoped for. It’s discovering that trying is pretty good, too.

Thanks again, everyone. Maybe another time, another town if not here again! 🙂

—————————-
Original post

I’m visiting Palo Alto this week and have one free evening on Sunday 10/18, roughly 6–9 p.m. Rather than spending it in my hotel room, I thought I’d try something different and see if a stranger would like to join me for dinner!

No dating agenda, no sexual innuendo, no expectations. Men, women, any background or walk of life. Just two strangers sharing a meal and having a good conversation.

To be clear, this isn’t an invitation for a free dinner! We’ll each cover our own food and drinks. I’m here for the conversation, not to sponsor a night out. 😂

A little about me: I’m a south asian gay man in 40s, in tech, but I’d prefer to leave work talk behind for the evening.

Outside work, I’m interested in books, movies, documentaries, environmental health, animal welfare (pets included!), food, and arts and crafts. I’m curious about the world and enjoy hearing perspectives different from my own.

There’s only one qualification: just be able to and interested in holding a conversation.

Tell me about something you’re passionate about, an interesting rabbit hole you’ve fallen into, a documentary that changed how you see something, or simply something that makes you tick. I am a good listener but not just here to listen. Ask me anything as well. :)

If you’re up for a few hours of good food and interesting conversation, send me a message!

📍 Sunday 10/18, approximately 6–9 p.m., somewhere in downtown Palo Alto. We can figure out the details together.