Endopolis

I've always loved Portland - the city is amazingly great and getting better all the time. While we were there, the weather went from 55 and rainy to 95 and sunny in the span of two days. That was during the west coast spring heatwave that cooked everyone from Seattle to San Diego. Either way, the sun was out and, it seemed, so were all the people.

In Portland, we lounged around for a lazy lunch at Laurelwood brewery, wandered up and down 23rd Ave., then went into the Pearl District for afternoon cocktails and dinner with a friend. People were everywhere in both neighborhoods, just hanging around. Restaurants had opened their doors and windows, and tables, chairs and patrons were spilling onto the sidewalks. Everyone looked relaxed and not bothered about anything. The next day, we went back into town for a short hike into Forest Park. Joggers and hikers were all over the place.

Coming from Silicon Valley, the land of go-go-go and work-work-work, when the weather is nice people don't flock outside. But as we wandered around Portland, we wondered: What do people do here? On 23rd, it's always full of loitering hipsters. In SiliValley, the only place the hipsters (or anyone else, for that matter) seem to be is in their cubicles. Perhaps it's cultural, or perhaps it's the weather itself -- it's almost always nice in the bay area. If everyone went outside when it was warm then nobody would get anything done, and that wouldn't be very Silicon Valley, would it? Honestly, I'm not sure which is better.

Posted by senders at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You'd think that by living in the center of Silicon Valley, within walking distance of some of the world's greatest technology companies, you'd be afforded certain modern day technological luxuries that other communities don't enjoy.

Take cable television and web access, for example. In a neighborhood like mine, in the 94086, you might have access to cutting-edge communications technology. Perhaps you'd have a fiber-to-the-home setup where your TV (HD, natch) and Internet, and maybe even your phone were all piped in through one blazing fast line. You'd have video on demand, and the fastest Internet connections possible. You might have IP phone service. You might even have fast wireless home networking where all of your gear was connected to the same network.

My mom and dad have most of this, at their home in Tigard, Ore, a Portland suburb. All the cables were laid and work was done relatively recently, courtesy of Verizon. To be fair, I don't know what he pays for this service. And, he's stuck with Verizon -- he can't switch providers and still get all this.

Then there's me. The 94086 seems to be somewhat of a black hole in Silicon Valley. My own problems, as stated in the previous post about my troubles with phone service, are well documented. There is no fiber. There is no quality HDTV service. I haven't had web access for weeks, save for occasionally connecting to the MetroFi free wireless service which is nice, but not great.

Besides spending the bulk of my free time on the phone with AT&T trying to get my phone and DSL sorted out, I've been busy switching from Comcast to DirecTV. I was paying a high rate to the aforementioned cable behemoth for HD service that I wasn't even getting -- in all I got about 8 channels. Now with DirecTV, for less money, I get more than 20. Comcast has been upgrading areas in and around Sunnyvale, but I couldn't get them to name a date when they'd have our area upgraded, so I left them. DirecTV did the install earlier this week, and I'm a happy customer so far.

Our phone line has apparently been fixed, but our DSL hasn't worked for weeks. I'll be calling to get that fixed tonight.

And so it goes from the heart of Silicon Valley. I just hope our phone still works next time it rains.

 

Posted by senders at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yeah, we felt the earthquake last night. At first it felt stronger than a 5.6, but when it was over and after I had calmed down I guessed it to be a 5.5. Not a bad guess.

We were getting Nathan ready for bed, around 8pm when it hit. At first, I thought something hit the floor -- the first jolt was fairly strong. Then, when a quake hits, I always get a woozy feeling, the kind you get when you're in an elevator that moves quickly. The shaking intensified, and I yelled at Jo to grab Nathan. I'm totally useless in an earthquake, so I ran around the hallway like a chicken with its head cut off. I thought about going outside, but then I realized I was leaving my family behind, and also about to walk toward our front door which is lined with lots of glass. Jo did the sensible thing, staying put in the door jamb of Nathan's room. It ended, and we're all fine with no visible damage to the house. Nathan thought it was all kind of funny. I freaked out.

I lost any desire to experience earthquakes on Oct. 17, 1989. That's the day the 7.0 Loma Prieta quake hit, and I've been mostly terrified of earthquakes ever since. I was at my high school after a football practice, watching a swim meet with friends. At its peak you could see real waves rolling through solid ground -- it was like looking at the ocean. We grabbed hold of a chain link fence and held on for life. It was unbelievable and totally surreal. Kids were getting sloshed out of the swimming pool. Others were trying to tread water as waves crashed over their heads and the pool's edges. As I walked home from school, the severity of the quake was clear. Glass was shattered everywhere. Sirens filled the air with noise. Electricity was gone. I got home about 30 minutes later, and the inside of the house looked as though it had been ransacked. My mom and sister were terrified and afraid I had died. They had jumped under the kitchen table only to watch the contents of the refrigerator and all our cupboards come down around them.

So, quakes aren't my thing. Last night's event reminded me yet again that I need to put together a survival/preparedness kit, and bolt bookcases to the wall. I'll do it now. No, really. 

Posted by senders at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It was our dumb luck/move that we bought a house in Sunnyvale, which sits under the flight path to Moffett Field. Since we lived in Mountain View previously, we knew the base was still used quite a bit by the military, NASA, and other government planes, even though it's classified by the military as "closed." We didn't know how much it was used until we moved closer. The military flies in and out of Moffett every day -- transport planes, fighter jets, helicopters... you name it. About once a month, pilots seem to be doing training runs -- literal touch-and-go in big planes that circle directly over our neighborhood. It's annoying and probably even somewhat dangerous. But that's just me.

But now it's confirmed that the Google dudes are flying their shiny new 767 over Sunnyvale, and parking it at Moffett.

As a Yahoo, it's painfully ironic that the Google "party plane" is flying over Sunnyvale, which is home to my employer. As a resident NIMBY, it upsets me a little that yet another big jet is flying in and out of town, making noise over my house and city. Truth be told, I haven't yet seen or heard the Google jet, at least that I know of.

Then again, NASA Ames and Moffett have regularly opened up their airfield to aircraft from other companies who do business with the government. And since Google and NASA are in cahoots, then I suppose it all makes sense.

I think what it all really comes down to is that I'm just jealous I'll probably never set foot on the plane. 

Posted by senders at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

 
This weekend we made it into downtown San Jose for the 18th annual SJ Jazz Festival, which was once billed as the "world's biggest free jazz festival." Now it costs $5 to get in, which probably makes it the world's cheapest.

It's also probably one of the most fun, especially for the money.

I've been going to shows as part of the hipper, more upscale and distinguished SF Jazz Festival for years. And the SF Jazz Festival is hardly a festival, but rather an ongoing seasonal series of jazz concerts. SF Jazz nets some of the pre-eminent players in jazz today and in jazz history. I've seen Sonny Rollins, Dianne Reeves, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, the SF Jazz Collective, and on and on. You really can't see these legends play anywhere else in the Bay Area, at least not with any regularity.

The concerts are usually held in San Francisco's finest theaters and venues, such as Nob Hill's Masonic Auditorium (a terrible place for a concert, by the way - the acoustics suck). Patrons tend to get dressed up (who wouldn't for $50 or more for a ticket), and they sit and listen attentively to the music, clapping appropriately after solos. The music is often amazing, but the shows have often left me bored because you primarily have to sit down, shut up, and watch while the musicians play. To me, that's not how jazz is meant to be heard. There's no involvement from the crowd, and I always wonder afterward if the musicians are having a good time. I've seen Joe Lovano at Birdland in Manhattan -- my only New York jazz experience. It left me with goosebumps. The musicians were five feet away, and the audience was participating with hoots and hollers. I felt like I had stepped back in time 50 years.

Flip to SJ Jazz, where shows are held over three days on multiple stages spread out around downtown San Jose. Bands often play simultaneously, so you have to be somewhat strategic about who you want to see and when. But the shows are accessible and lively. The salsa stage is like a raucous street party, with the street packed, hundreds of people dancing, and hundreds more taking it in, standing and bobbing their heads. The main/headliners stage itself caters more to a picnic-blanket crowd, but you can get up, walk around, grab a beer and some food and absorb everything however you want. Meanwhile and after-hours, there's music happening in all the clubs downtown.

This year I hung out for most of Saturday and saw David 'Fathead' Newman, a sideman and friend to Ray Charles for years tear it up on multiple instruments. Later, we saw some new incarnation of The Headhunters, Herbie Hancock's old funk/fusion band. The band leader even dissed Hancock after playing their signature track, saying it was "too bad Herbie got all the money." Classy! Still, people were dancing in the aisles and having a ball. Later on, I watched my friends play in a bar. Again, people were up dancing and having a good time.

San Jose Jazz may not get the big names, but it sure is a hell of a lot more fun.

Posted by senders at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night, I flipped on the MLB All-Star game from San Francisco and caught all the pre-game festivities, including the fly-over by four jets after the national anthem. We live somewhat in the flight path of Moffett Field, and I know from previous nearby sporting events that upon fly-bys, the planes also often fly by my house. 

After the anthem, I said to Jo: "I bet in about 15 minutes they come screeching over our house."

Sure enough, in about 10 minutes, two F-16s and two F-18s made a sharp left turn directly over my backyard. I had forgotten to grab my camera, but was able to snatch it fast enough and change lenses to shoot this F-16. It's probably somewhere between 500 and 1,000 feet up -- incredibly low and noisy for a residential neighborhood. As pissed off as I was that it was so loud and so close (my kid started  screaming, and cat freaking out), it was just awesome to see.

I snapped about eight shots as it made the turn over my house with my 75-300mm telephoto lens. A gray plane against a cloudy sky doesn't make for the best shot, but you get the picture. 

Posted by senders at 07:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nearly every day for the past week, the San Jose Mercury News has run a feature or some other article about Joey Chestnut, "competitive eater" and prime challenger of Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, the reigning hot dog eating champ. Merc readers today lambasted the paper for its ongoing Chestnut coverage, and especially for running a huge lead feature a few days ago, which took up about 2/3 of the front page news hole.

Yesterday, the Merc ran an editorial celebrating Chestnut and his talents, and suggested San Jose get in on the act by hosting a burrito eating contest or some other celebratory affair for its suddenly most-famous resident. 

Today, Chestnut and Kobayashi squared off at Coney Island for the annual Nathan's hot dog-eating contest, the Super Bowl of competitive eating. Chestnut knocked off the champ (Kobayashi has been suffering from a jaw injury), gobbling 66 hot dogs and buns. 

Congratulations to Chestnut and to San Jose. What a great claim to fame. I can't wait to see Chestnut's mug on the front page of tomorrow's paper.

Eating is now a spectator sport -- ESPN carried the Coney Island event live this morning. My brother-in-law claims that betweeen this and the iPhone, The Terrorists can rest assured America is still #1.

He may not be so wrong. Happy July 4th.

 

 

 

Posted by senders at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jo and I found ourselves in Palo Alto on Saturday evening for dinner. Naturally, we had to stroll down the street to check out the Apple store, to see if there was any leftover pandemonium from Friday, when the iPhone went on sale. I was really beginning to hate the hype over this thing. As Walt Mossberg said, it's been unlike any event ever surrounding consumer electronics. Ridiculous.

Still, I had to see it. I wasn't expecting to actually play with it. 

The store was heaving, easily 100 people inside. The store itself has been totally rearranged from the last time I was at this particular location (granted, it's been a while).  But, a whole table just to the right of the door was set up for people to oogle the iPhone. Another shelf behind the checkout counter had another three or four units on it.

I spent a couple of minutes chatting with the Apple employee manning the front door who said, amazingly, that the opening event was less chaotic than they thought it'd be. I guess they were ready for riots, and people were generally well-behaved. That's so Silicon Valley. How boring!

After a few minutes, we wandered behind the counter to take a look. A kid was using one, playing with Google Maps. The interface looked really slick, the way you can zoom in and out using your fingers to pinch and pull the screen. Someone next to him stopped playing with a phone, so I was able to step right up and take it for a spin.

In short, the phone is unreal and to call it a "phone" isn't even quite right. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or any gadget I've ever touched. The touchscreen is incredible. The software's UI is unbelievable. It's smooth, and not overly sensitive to the touch. It does what you want it to do. The phone itself feels very solid and well-built. The form factor is really nice - it's small enough not to be a brick. The touchscreen was not really intuitive, though I could imagine getting it down after just a couple of days. Surfing the web was a little difficult because of the touch commands. I was really impressed with changing the aspect ratio of the screen, by turning the phone horizontal or vertical. The iPod functionality was really great, and scrolling through a music list was also... fun.

I only had a few minutes with the iPhone, but I nearly walked out of the store with one. I'll wait -- a 3G version will no doubt be coming, and surely Apple will be making other modifications. Hopefully the price will come down a bit. I'm sure there will be a few first-gen bugs.

I overheard someone at the store say: "you can make a call with it!" So, I did, dialing my parents who live near Portland, Ore. Surely the call plan doesn't discriminate between local and long distance on weekends, right?

Anyway, I was surprised that the call went through and my dad picked up on the other end.

"Dad, I'm calling on an iPhone."

"Nooooo!"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool. Don't worry, I didn't buy one."

"Wow!"

"Anyway, you sound really good." I truly was impressed -- the store was loud and I could hear dad crystal clear.

"You sound terrible!" he said. "Turn down the treble!"

"Alright, well I'll tell the employee standing next to me to do something about that. Although, I don't think it's Apple's fault. The phone is perfect, after all"

"Yes, definitely blame AT&T."

 

Posted by senders at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)