The American Way

Emigrant Gap team get together

Remember Bernardo... and the rest of the crew we went hiking with in Emigrant Gap back in September? Well we met up in San Francisco tonight for a little get together (we were to spend the 200$ that Chevy's gave us in compensation for the latex glove Max found in her salad).

So we ended up going to Thirsty Bear... a pleasant bar/spanish tapas with its own brewery on 3rd street and Howard in the city. Nice enough place, with nice enough food... but I always get pissed off when we end up going to Tapas bars with large groups (i.e., 16 people tonight). Especially since max and I are still low carbing our diets - its frustrating, as the food is mainly bread based, dip based or otherwise potato based (patatas bravas and aioli... hmmm.). We end up ordering some ribs, some meat... pff.

And the waiters tended to favor one side of the table over the other... meaning that we had people eating on one side while the other was still waiting for food !!! (wtf ?!!).

Nice atmosphere. Nice ambiance. Nice music. Perfunctory Service. Good Food. Skimpy on the quantity. Expensive drinks. Expensive Food. Make your choice.

In any case - not such a memorable place.

We are moving ! (not to another country !)

Sometime ago, I warned you that we were going to be moving to another part of town, and leaving our current community ("The Esplanade") for something a bit more quaint. Well, it's finally happened !

After weeks of searching for a new home, and exploring unknown neigbourhoods in San Jose, we finally settled on Willow Glen. Willow Glen is a charming San Jose neighbourhood, situated just southwest of downtown SJ (about 3 miles from where we live now). It's about a 100 years old ( :) ), and has this main street called Lincoln Avenue (referred to the locals simply as, "The Avenue"), which has a number of nice restaurants, cafes, wine bars, and the ubiquitous Starbucks and Peet's Coffee (a bay area institution, which makes better coffee than Starbuck IMHO).

We've already had dinner & a couple of brunches there to get a feel for the neighbourhood: John's XLNT Foods is a great little mediterrenean place (greek/italian) which has outdoor side walk seating, has nice bubbly white wines and a great tasting menu. Bill's is also a local institution, and serves a mean breakfast, as well as some of the best calamari in town ! What's nice about Bill's is their out door sitting, perfect for sunny San Jose weather !

In any case, our new apartment is in a community called Hidden Willows. The name is appropriate, as it's nestled in a beautifully landscaped environment, with old willow trees, flower beds everywhere, a nice sparkling pool (heated) and a jacuzzi, as well as a spa (me like....).

The nice thing about our new place is the outdoor patio. Folks who visited us in our fantastic place at the Esplanade all know what was missing there: a nice outdoor patio to hang out and have dinner, bbq's, or chill out and read a book. Sure we had communal areas, but nothing beats the privacy of your own so called "back yard" ;-). In any case, I digress; the patio is large, big enough to put a full sized gas grill, a table, 4 chairs and still have a bit of space. It's not as big as the terrace we had in our flat in Newtown (Sydney), but it'll do the trick !

Otherwise, it's your typical US style apartment: 2 bedrooms, living, open plan kitchen - 1000+ sq feet (about 96 sq meters), so a bit smaller than our town home currently which is 1200 sqft (111 sq meters). Carpet through out. We're near the pool at the sauna/jacuzzi... so it'll be a short walk to go for a swim in the summer and a dip with champagne in the winter (Ma, don't forget to bring your swim suit !).

We gave our notice today, and we can move in as of October 31. We're going to hire professional movers - as Max is pretty busy with her mid - terms and school (she's studying like crazy), and I'm slated to travel a fair bit towards the end of the month (South Carolina potentially on Nov 1st, and Atlanta from Nov 6-9).

That's the news for now !

Meet the World

Link: www.BrazilianArtists.net, the A-Z of Brazilian Arts, Entertainment & Cultural Events in the UK.

YOU HAVE GOT TO CHECK THIS SITE OUT. It's hard to explain. But click the link and be blown away. The guy who did this is a genius.

(c) Icaro                       Doria

Emigrant Gap write up

At long last, the promised write up on Emigrant Gap. Sorry for the delay, but things have been crazy hectic here (Karson's wedding in Toronto (write up to follow), biz trips left right and center, new role at work...) so I have been able to write us much as I wanted to. In any case, here it is:

So we finally went on our very 1st back packing trip. I must admit, I was a bit fearful about this - carrying a fully loaded 50lb back pack, hiking 5-6 miles, then spending a couple of nights with no running water, electricity - just the trees and a river stream and the open stars.

We had a fantastic time - the hike was of moderate difficulty, not too rugged, and not too uphill. We got to see some beautiful vistas... we headed out with Wes, Yolanda, Wes' brother Dave, our guide Bernardo, and a few others. It was a wonderful crowd, and we sealed some friendships fairly quickly.

On the 2nd day, we hiked another couple of miles into the mountains, and found a watering hole. The water was really cold (i think around 12-13 degrees, possibly less), but hey, we dove in any way ! Oh my god... when I jumped it... I thought my heart had stopped beating - I couldn't breathe at all, and had to scream to get the oxygen back into my lungs... almost scary, but boy it was fun !!!!! We did it all over again. After letting the sun tingle our skin dry, we headed back to camp, to relax, and prepare the camp fire and dinner.

The only black dot on this trip was on our way back, when Max's aunt Yolanda slipped on a large boulder and broke her ankle in 2 places. The walking stick that she had been using had given in, which caused her to lose her footing. She put on a really brave face (I think I would have been screaming my heart out), and thankfully a couple of red necks driving monster trucks with a confederate flag and bearing "Don't tread on me" tattoos offered to help, and drive her down to the trail head, calling the fire department ahead so that they could meet her with an ambulance.

We headed down, and a couple of hours later met up with Wes and Yolanda.

I definitely was more careful going down back the trail after this. Thank God, Yolanda is feeling better. I remember tearing all my ligaments in my left ankle 10-15 years ago, acting stupid at school. It was so painful ! So I admire Yolanda's courage in the face of such pain. It is truly, truly admirable (must be a Dutch thing ;-).

Finally, on the way back to San Jose, we stopped at a Chevy's restaurant to have dinner with the whole gang... Chevy's is an american chain of tex-mex restaurants. We never really liked their food, but definitely like their margheritas !!!!! ( you can check out my past reviews of Chevy's here ). Max however, ordered a salad... and imagine her dismay when she got it --> it had a latex glove hidden in the middle of it ! (gross !!!!!). No real profuse apologies from management at the time, and they even charged us for the salad !!!

Thank God, Max decided to complain (as did Yolanda, and even Bernardo). Thankfully, the regional manager of Chevy's was a nice guy, and profusely apologized for the mishap, and offered to give us 12 vouchers for free meals at Chevy's and a full reimbursement of the 200$ bill. Now that's what I call service. Only in the US of A (yeeeehhhhhaaaa!).

So all in all - a great trip, with memorable experiences, beautiful vistas, and a free meal to boot ! Max and I can't wait to do it again, and we will. First around all the wonderful nooks and crannies of the bay area, but also Yosemite, Yellow Stone, Big Sur - there's so much to do here, and we've only barely scratched the surface after a year!

So it was an adventure ! But Max and I definitely developed a taste for the open air on this trip. We look forward to the next one!

Pictures of Toronto uploaded

Ok, I've uploaded some of the pictures of our trip to Toronto. These revolve mostly around Karson and Maria's wedding. I'll uploaded the pictures of Toronto proper in a few days. The write up will follow around the same time.

Our Backpacking trip in Emigrant Gap

Pictures for our trip to Emigrant Gap uploaded - you can click here to see them. Write up to follow.

Travel Plans...

So I'm going to be off again soon. My next travel plans are the following:

August 14 - 26: Melbourne, Australia (Business)
September 2 - 4: Camping/Hiking trip in the Sierras
September 14-19: Toronto, Canada (Karson's wedding)

A country that I fell in love with...

Joost, our friend that just visited us and who is currently doing a world trip is currently in New Zealand (North Island). I spent some time there when I was living down in the Asia Pacific Rim, from 2000-2003. I was leading a consulting team there for 5 weeks doing a scoping exercise for a deal, down in Auckland. I fell in love with this country - its raw natural beauty, the sympathetic character of its people, its historical Maori heritage, the variety of the landscape. I ended up going back there a few times to ski down in the Southern Alps (South Island). I'm going to upload the pictures of that trip, because they were soooo beautiful.

I've always (romantically) held the notion that we could retire there - play some golf, snowboard, and hop in and out of Australia to visit friends... who knows ?

Home sweet home...

So, my Boston Session is finished, and I'm back in SJ. 10 hours to get from Boston to SJ. This country is really weird sometimes... I don't understand why they don't have more direct flights... that don't cost the price of a small car.

Tomorrow... catch up on work, maybe catch 9 holes early morning ?

Pictures of Cambridge uploaded

I went to check out Cambridge last night (I seem to be only getting out in the evenings :( ). The heat popped yesterday, and we got a good' old fashioned East coast thunderstorm last night. You can check out the lightning I managed to catch on some of the pics.

Didn't have time to check out MIT, but I did get to Harvard square - What a pretty town. Almost British in its appeal. I can see why people find this place mesmerizing. You can check out the pictures here.