Author: geoffand

  • Service Review – Capitol Honda

    This is the email I sent to Capitol Honda in response to their badgering me to rate my service experience excellent. I thought I would share it. I already posted it as a review on Yelp. Perhaps you should not have emailed me. Having recently moved from Arizona to California, and needing a minor service,…

  • Props to Microsoft

    Props to Microsoft

    It almost pains me to admit it, but Microsoft has gone a long way to restoring my trust in them as a brand and a company to do business with. From the bullshit around Internet Explorer 6 (that I still have to deal with on my websites), to the piss poor security model of pre…

  • Author Appreciation – Harry Harrison

    Author Appreciation – Harry Harrison

    I remember my first introduction to the works of Harry Harrison. I was in high school, getting into a heavy science fiction groove, working my way through some of the classics. A friend, Ken Rice, tossed me a copy of “The Stainless Steel Rat”, a collection of the stories about Slippery Jim diGriz, a criminal…

  • Auto Dealer Service “Fun”

    I have been spoilt. In Arizona, the major dealers all competed with each other to provide awesome customer service. As there was plenty of competition with the independent service shops, many who were excellent, they needed an edge to keep customers coming back. I had become accustomed to fast internet, good coffee, fresh donuts and…

  • Cycling in the Bay Area

    Cycling in the Bay Area

    From the first time I slung my leg over that second-hand Schwinn Stingray (banana seat and all), I have love bicycling. A happy day when I was able to start bicycling to school, and then getting serious about it after I finished with college, my happiest times were when my work schedule allowed me to…

  • A Tale of Two Apartments

    A Tale of Two Apartments

    When we first moved back to the Santa Clara area, we were put up at a newish apartment complex in Sunnyvale. When that month of free rent expired, we moved into an affordable apartment in South San Jose. This will compare and contrast these two experiences. Sunnyvale: Avalon Apartments The Avalon Apartments were built in…

  • Public Bathroom Etiquette

    Public Bathroom Etiquette

    A sort of gross topic today, I am going to discuss some of the oddities I have witnessed in the rest rooms at work. This is not solely my current gig, but instead it is a montage. If you are squeamish, navigate away now. The Stall Snob Most public restrooms have both normal stalls, as…

  • Finally, our House is Sold

    The saga continues, but some good news is in the air. About 6 weeks ago, we got the call that we had an offer for our house in Chandler. I didn’t get immediately excited, as we had been through this before without result. The offer was less than I hoped for, and they wanted a…

  • Jackasses ruining the Dog Park

    Jackasses ruining the Dog Park

    Dog parks are great places in general, however there are some people who screw it up. Today, we had one of those days. When we got to the park this afternoon and it felt a little off. There were three people there and 5 dogs. One group grabbed a couple of their small dogs and left…

  • Commuting Insanity – the exit shark

    Living in south San Jose isn’t so bad, but it does mean I have a somewhat lousy commute. If it is a lucky day, I can get in in a little over 20 minutes. If I am not so lucky, it can take 45 minutes. This is the drive to Santa Clara, the drive home…