I am wondering what the heck is up. The last 4 weeks have heralded an uptick in traffic here in the south bay, a real escalation. Traffic has been awful here in the bay area for a long time. Before I moved away, it was bad. But, in the 12 years I was in Arizona it has gone insane. Last summer, when we moved back, I fell into a pattern. There were days that were lighter in commute time from south...
One thing I do miss about living in Arizona is that there weren’t water restrictions, and I could weekly wash my car. I take pride in my S2000, and kept it pretty immaculate, washing it every week, waxing it every 6 weeks or so, and twice a year polishing the paint. Now that I live in California, it is a different story. The first 9 months we lived here we were in an apartment. No...
I guess that my binging on detective and drama series makes me an easy mark, so a few weeks ago, after finishing the 3 seasons of “Death in Paradise“, Netflix offered up NCIS. Why not. Broadcast TV, so there is some, ah, tameness that I usually don’t see, and that adds to the charm. I got hooked. The show is timed for an hour, so 42-ish minutes, so there is not much time to...
While I forgot to carry my phone last night (and with it, a camera) you will have to live with a text only post today. Perhaps my partner in crime will send me the snaps he took. If so, I will augment. Having had a brutally busy week at JASIS, Saturday started a bit stressful. I put my head down in the morning knowing that I had to get caught up with email, and to prepare my training for our rep...
Last Sunday, I set out on what was supposed to be a modest hike. Almost 3.5 hours later, and a ton of climbing and descending, I was back at home. Tired, sore, miserable and with crippling blisters rising on my feet. Ugh, I had gotten out of shape. After rehydrating, and a fitful sleep (you know, where you are too tired to actually rest and sleep), the lactic acid monster set in. AKA Delayed...
More in the things found in Silicon Valley. This isn’t as mundane as a Mercedes with a lawnmower in the trunk. Nope, this is about the Tourist Trap, AKA The Mystery Spot. Why am I bringing it up? Mainly because there are so damn many of their bumper stickers everywhere. I swear every third car has a “Mystery Spot” decal. More than used to have the iconic KOME 98.5 decals back in...
One thing about moving back to the bay area has been an adjustment. I left in 2003, and things were weird then. However, the 11 years I was gone has led to a watershed of oddity. This is the first in a series of things I see on the roads here. Entry #1, a green Mercedes E320, with yard work tools hanging out of the trunk. A gas lawn mower wedged in the trunk. Inside the car was a string trimmer...
Trying to avoid opening the work laptop yesterday, I was browsing Netflix, and one of their recommendations just popped under my remote. Death in Paradise, a BBC detective show. The premise is somewhat weak, the pilot showed a police officer in Sainte Marie (Martinique in the Carribean) was killed with some unusual circumstances. An inspector from Scotland Yard is sent over to solve the case. So...
In a discussion on slashdot about the Apple Watch, where the consensus was that it was a product looking for a solution, and that there weren’t any compelling applications for it. The comment that I offered as a valid use case was as a remote display of the exercise statistics while cycling. When I ride, I wear a heart rate monitor, have a speed and cadence sensor, and use my iPhone to...
Every so often I get tired of be a fat slob, and need to get back into shape. This time, months of moving, living in a crappy apartment, and high stress at work has lead to me, uh, putting on a few pounds. When the 40″ waist jeans stopped fitting, and the 42″ pants were getting snug, it was time to do something. So, I fired up the diet tracker, started counting calories, and...