Tralfaz

Month: March 2016

  • San Diego Diary – day 1

    San Diego Diary – day 1

    After a sluggish start, we decided that we would go to Torrey Pines Preserve. Alas, when we got there, the parking situation was, uh, abysmal, so we regrouped and headed to the Carlsbad Flower Fields.

    The Flower Fields were touted in a blog on Sandiego.org, so we asked Siri to get us there. Fortunately, it was only 20 minutes from Del Mar when we passed the Torrey Pines crowds.

    Karen had been there before, but not for a long time. In the interim, it had become quite well developed, with a lot of support structure, and sprouted an Outlet mall next door. It is hard to fault the description from the Blog post so I will quote it here: (more…)

  • San Diego Travel Log – 1

    As a follow on from my post on visiting Napa to buy some of the yummy V Sattui Madeira for my dad’s birthday party this weekend, we are now in San Diego.

    Friday – Travel Day

    As airfares were ridiculously expensive, even a month in advance, we decided to drive. Save the airfare, and the cost of a rental car. Big win.

    Of course, that meant driving the 9 hours (with pit stops) from San Jose to San Diego. Mostly smooth, we were against the commute on the way out of Silicon Valley, and the trip down I5 was boring. (more…)

  • Napa Surgical Strike

    Napa Surgical Strike

    Yesterday, I did a quick trip to Napa Valley. The first one since before I moved to Arizona back in 2003. Being a weekday, and off season, it was a pleasant drive with not too much traffic. A bonus.

    The reason for the quick day trip? My father is celebrating his 84th birthday this coming Sunday, and we are visiting him in San Diego, and one of his favorite libations is to take a nip of the outstanding V. Sattui Madeira dessert wine.

    I first stumbled across this fine Madeira in the early 1990’s on a lark. Not being a “Port” person, I really didn’t understand the complexities of a good after dinner drink, but on a trip through the Napa valley, we stopped at this place that had a reputation for having a great delicatessen for a picnic lunch. (more…)

  • Sleazy Sniping Domain Registrars

    Sleazy Sniping Domain Registrars

    I have a few sites, most of them I have paid the extra bucks for the “privacy” options. But there are two that I just forgot this extra.

    Bad idea.

    Yesterday, I got in the mail two letters for the two domains where I didn’t pay for the privacy option. They were identical. They look awful official. They try to scare me into opening my wallet and get my credit card out.

    Of course, I know a little more than the average. I know that this isn’t from my registrar (I register at MediaTemple and mydomin), and if you read it you can see that they are asking you to authorize transferring it to them, and for a mere $45 a year (or $40 if you renew for more than one year).

    What fucking burglars. I pay $12, or $15 a year depending on the registrar, and most of my domains have been prepaid for 5 or 7 years.

    What assholes. I am sure that they hook a lot of people with this scam. I guess I will look up the BBB and file a complaint.