Tuesday I enjoyed a spark of adventure and headed down to Los Gatos. I wandered along the downtown shops for a few hours, enjoying lunch at Mr. Pickle's Sandwich Shop before hopping the bus back north.
I went straight into downtown to KALIED Gallery to check out the place in preparation for Two Buck Tuesday. This was my first visit to an art gallery and wow, it was a really awesome experience. The variety of art and artists was amazing, many of the pieces were absolutely beautiful or interesting and complex. Some of it was just stupid, but I bet someone out there loves it and thinks the pieces I loved were stupid. I picked up a small, fascinating dish made from the leftover remnants of handmade ornaments--I plan to use it as a candle holder. The artist herself was there and we chatted for a long while about her art and inspirations. The $2 art pieces are all small contributions placed on black boards near the entrance. There were lots of interesting doodles and sketches, photos, and some other items like the earrings I picked up which were made from the read/write assembly of an old 8GB hard drive. I wasn't feeling so great and decided to head home without enjoying the talks and events of the evening.
With some food and ibuprofen in my system, I was ready for the night and headed back to KALEID. I missed a number of the talks, sadly, coming in to see a young 'peace dancer' cutting a rug inside. There were spray-paint artists outside and henna going on inside. I had henna placed on my arm and enjoyed some chai as well as picking up a couple more $2 art pieces that caught my eye. I spent a good half an hour petting the small, three week old kitten that had been saved by one of the other participants that evening. I finally started wandering home at around 10p.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Day Eighteen
I pretty much just stayed home and nursed my sunburn today. I did finally wander out to Blue Rock Barbeque for dinner. Good stuff.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wait--what happened?
Where did my blogging disappear to? Honestly, to my paranoia, haha.
I came back the other night, flipped on the lights in the living room and POP! The streak of blue told me that a bulb had burned out. Not a big problem; the fixture supported something like 6 or 8 so I went about the rest of my evening before discovering that the switch on the wall was no longer working. What the heck? I finally found the pull-cord to turn it off after e-mailing my girlfriend to let her know what happened. My crazy guess is that the POP! also popped the connection to the wall somehow. Of course, now I'm worried it's a fire hazard so it's staying off for the time being.
That same night, I'm sitting at my girlfriend's computer typing up the night's blog and suddenly her monitor starts flickering and getting vertical lines. Figures; I fried their lamp, now I've fried her computer, right? I shut it down and left it--perhaps it was the heat getting to the graphics card. The next day I turned it back on, everything looked good, started to finish up the blog entry... and a few minutes later I start to see flickering. !$#%@#$^ Sigh. So, I've pretty much left it off or asleep and not touched it since it seems that I am very anti-technology this visit and I don't want to break more of their stuff.
Well, I HAD to do my homework last night or I was going to be in deep sludge. My laptop has gone from insane overheating to now chain BSoDing--it's pretty much dead and I'm not going to push it because I don't want to fry my hard disks before getting my data off. So, I had to figure out what the problem was.
Using my powers of deduction (and the first lesson in PC Repair back in high school), I checked the SVGA cable's connection and, lo and behold, it was pretty much dangling to the wind at the monitor. Figures. I screwed it back in and now everything is working splendidly again.
I'm a moron. :)
I came back the other night, flipped on the lights in the living room and POP! The streak of blue told me that a bulb had burned out. Not a big problem; the fixture supported something like 6 or 8 so I went about the rest of my evening before discovering that the switch on the wall was no longer working. What the heck? I finally found the pull-cord to turn it off after e-mailing my girlfriend to let her know what happened. My crazy guess is that the POP! also popped the connection to the wall somehow. Of course, now I'm worried it's a fire hazard so it's staying off for the time being.
That same night, I'm sitting at my girlfriend's computer typing up the night's blog and suddenly her monitor starts flickering and getting vertical lines. Figures; I fried their lamp, now I've fried her computer, right? I shut it down and left it--perhaps it was the heat getting to the graphics card. The next day I turned it back on, everything looked good, started to finish up the blog entry... and a few minutes later I start to see flickering. !$#%@#$^ Sigh. So, I've pretty much left it off or asleep and not touched it since it seems that I am very anti-technology this visit and I don't want to break more of their stuff.
Well, I HAD to do my homework last night or I was going to be in deep sludge. My laptop has gone from insane overheating to now chain BSoDing--it's pretty much dead and I'm not going to push it because I don't want to fry my hard disks before getting my data off. So, I had to figure out what the problem was.
Using my powers of deduction (and the first lesson in PC Repair back in high school), I checked the SVGA cable's connection and, lo and behold, it was pretty much dangling to the wind at the monitor. Figures. I screwed it back in and now everything is working splendidly again.
I'm a moron. :)
Day Seventeen
Ah, Sunday. Today was relatively mundane. I woke at 9a and after a shower and breakfast, made my way to the biggest flea market in the U.S. They weren't kidding. It was huge, packed, overwhelming, and a little bit depressing. Nothing particularly caught my eye; a lot of it was simply cheaply made goods being hawked at unsuspecting consumers. A few individuals had a more garage-sale vibe going in the side parking lot and those I appreciated, but as I'm sitting low on cash-in-hand and have no ATM card, I opted to flex my miserly muscles and just browse. I only lasted about an hour and a half before the sun became too much; the booths block the wind so the heat was killer. I'm now sporting a bit too much of a 'rosy glow', too. :/
I wandered back to the Recycle bookstore to browse again and to see their cat, then spent the rest of the evening at home, reading and suddenly remembering my midterm and homework that was due by midnight, hahaha. I finished just in time; 94% on the midterm isn't too shabby.
I wandered back to the Recycle bookstore to browse again and to see their cat, then spent the rest of the evening at home, reading and suddenly remembering my midterm and homework that was due by midnight, hahaha. I finished just in time; 94% on the midterm isn't too shabby.
Day Sixteen
Santa Cruz Day!
So, I was going to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to make my way to Diridon to grab the 17. I'm glad I waited for the next bus because, well, everything would have been closed when I got there. My stomach was a little woozy for some reason so I opted not to wear the whole bathing suit thing. I grabbed the 9:30a bus, arriving at 10:30a to grey, clouded skies and was glad I had given up on the whole tanning thing.
I hopped a bus to the east side of the highway and wandered, looking at some of the smaller shops and stopping in to The Crepe Place for breakfast. I made my way back downtown and headed north, discovering a thrift store, tiny gaming shop, used book store, and an occult shop whose incense was so strong I sneezed just walking past. I then made my way back south and caught a bus to the boardwalk.
By now the fog had burnt away and it was turning into a beautiful day. I and everyone else on the planet was heading for the pier and beach. It took about 20 minutes for the bus to crawl down there; I probably could have walked it in that length of time. Traffic was a wreck and I had to squeeze between bumper-to-bumper cars in order to cross the street.
I finally made it! There was a small music festival of some sort playing reggae to the right of the pier. To the left was a wedding reception. Great. I edged around the wedding crowd and wandered down to the water, enjoying the splash of the cold on my feet and legs and collecting some ocean water. I then wandered along the pier where I saw Spiderman playing acoustic guitar and enjoyed watching the sea lions as they sunned themselves under the pier.
I walked over to the Boardwalk and found a huge crowd of people. Nothing really caught my eye so I slowly made my way back to the bus stop and then into downtown proper. I had an hour before the next bus back to San Jose, so I stopped in at Khyber Pass for dinner.
It wasn't until I arrived home that I realized I'd left my book on the bus. :/ No one turned it in to the transit authority or Amtrak, either. Oh well.
Reviews inc
So, I was going to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to make my way to Diridon to grab the 17. I'm glad I waited for the next bus because, well, everything would have been closed when I got there. My stomach was a little woozy for some reason so I opted not to wear the whole bathing suit thing. I grabbed the 9:30a bus, arriving at 10:30a to grey, clouded skies and was glad I had given up on the whole tanning thing.
I hopped a bus to the east side of the highway and wandered, looking at some of the smaller shops and stopping in to The Crepe Place for breakfast. I made my way back downtown and headed north, discovering a thrift store, tiny gaming shop, used book store, and an occult shop whose incense was so strong I sneezed just walking past. I then made my way back south and caught a bus to the boardwalk.
By now the fog had burnt away and it was turning into a beautiful day. I and everyone else on the planet was heading for the pier and beach. It took about 20 minutes for the bus to crawl down there; I probably could have walked it in that length of time. Traffic was a wreck and I had to squeeze between bumper-to-bumper cars in order to cross the street.
I finally made it! There was a small music festival of some sort playing reggae to the right of the pier. To the left was a wedding reception. Great. I edged around the wedding crowd and wandered down to the water, enjoying the splash of the cold on my feet and legs and collecting some ocean water. I then wandered along the pier where I saw Spiderman playing acoustic guitar and enjoyed watching the sea lions as they sunned themselves under the pier.
I walked over to the Boardwalk and found a huge crowd of people. Nothing really caught my eye so I slowly made my way back to the bus stop and then into downtown proper. I had an hour before the next bus back to San Jose, so I stopped in at Khyber Pass for dinner.
It wasn't until I arrived home that I realized I'd left my book on the bus. :/ No one turned it in to the transit authority or Amtrak, either. Oh well.
Reviews inc
Day Fifteen
Friday was kind of lazy. I made my way to Cinema 12 to watch Despicable Me in 3D. It was a very cute movie aside from the gaggle of kids that came in right as the previews started and left and returned noisily multiple times during the movie... sigh.
For dinner, I stopped by Pizz'a Chicago and spent the night watching movies so I wouldn't stay up *too* late. Tomorrow is Santa Cruz!
Reviews
----------
Pizz'a Chicago
Pizza
$$
So, like most of the world, I love pizza. This place had some glowing reviews so I stopped in. It was that in-between time of roughly 4p: the lunch crowd was gone and the after-work and dinner crowd hadn't gotten there yet. The decor certainly played homage to Chicago and gave me something to look at while waiting for the waitress to return. Homemade lemonade in mason jars--there really is nothing better.
I grabbed an appetizer sampler for my actual 'lunch' meal. The pesto cheese bread was absolutely amazing, like eating scrumptious pasta with your hands. The stuffed mushrooms were nicely baked, not burned, but had a lovely crusting on the top and the mushrooms themselves were just barely wrinkled. I was worried about the curry sauce that they place on them but had nothing to fear, it was extremely mild and almost tasted, to my lame tastebuds, like a mixture of mayo and mustard with some extra spices. The buffalo wings were what worried me the most, however. I hate spicy foods and my last encounter with wings had me in tears. The sauce actually was quite flavorful and the spice was there, but mild enough that I could actually enjoy the wings.
I ordered a calzone to take home for dinner. The basic calzone has mozzarella cheese and sauce; you get to add up to four toppings to have stuffed in their as well. Now, I must say, their topping selection is HUGE. It took me a while to decide, but my choices for the evening were grilled chicken, roasted garlic, black olives, and smoked gouda cheese. Now, cheese has not been agreeing with my stomach lately, but there was no way I was going to pass on smoked gouda.
I didn't have my calzone until later that evening. Pretty much imagine a small pizza folded in half and that was the size of it. By then everything was cool but I actually love cold pizza more than reheated so into my belly it went! Well, half of it. The thing is huge! The flavors I chose blended well together with the garlic giving it a bit of crunch and the smoked flavor of the gouda permeating everything. Mmm... I set the other half in a baggie in the fridge for another night's leftovers, I was way too stuffed!
I'll be going back again to try their pizza, but this place was great. It's a bit more pricey than something like Pizza Hut but it's so worth it. If you have your Downtown Discover Card, you'll get 15% off of your bill!
For dinner, I stopped by Pizz'a Chicago and spent the night watching movies so I wouldn't stay up *too* late. Tomorrow is Santa Cruz!
Reviews
----------
Pizz'a ChicagoPizza
$$
So, like most of the world, I love pizza. This place had some glowing reviews so I stopped in. It was that in-between time of roughly 4p: the lunch crowd was gone and the after-work and dinner crowd hadn't gotten there yet. The decor certainly played homage to Chicago and gave me something to look at while waiting for the waitress to return. Homemade lemonade in mason jars--there really is nothing better.
I grabbed an appetizer sampler for my actual 'lunch' meal. The pesto cheese bread was absolutely amazing, like eating scrumptious pasta with your hands. The stuffed mushrooms were nicely baked, not burned, but had a lovely crusting on the top and the mushrooms themselves were just barely wrinkled. I was worried about the curry sauce that they place on them but had nothing to fear, it was extremely mild and almost tasted, to my lame tastebuds, like a mixture of mayo and mustard with some extra spices. The buffalo wings were what worried me the most, however. I hate spicy foods and my last encounter with wings had me in tears. The sauce actually was quite flavorful and the spice was there, but mild enough that I could actually enjoy the wings.
I ordered a calzone to take home for dinner. The basic calzone has mozzarella cheese and sauce; you get to add up to four toppings to have stuffed in their as well. Now, I must say, their topping selection is HUGE. It took me a while to decide, but my choices for the evening were grilled chicken, roasted garlic, black olives, and smoked gouda cheese. Now, cheese has not been agreeing with my stomach lately, but there was no way I was going to pass on smoked gouda.
I didn't have my calzone until later that evening. Pretty much imagine a small pizza folded in half and that was the size of it. By then everything was cool but I actually love cold pizza more than reheated so into my belly it went! Well, half of it. The thing is huge! The flavors I chose blended well together with the garlic giving it a bit of crunch and the smoked flavor of the gouda permeating everything. Mmm... I set the other half in a baggie in the fridge for another night's leftovers, I was way too stuffed!
I'll be going back again to try their pizza, but this place was great. It's a bit more pricey than something like Pizza Hut but it's so worth it. If you have your Downtown Discover Card, you'll get 15% off of your bill!
Day Fourteen
I overslept. :/
So no Docent Tour at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library for me today and I shifted my Friday plans to Thursday: walk along the Alameda. I took a slightly longer way over there, passing through Diridon Station so that I knew where the Santa Cruz bus would be picking me up on Saturday and also to gauge time to walk over there.
There are a lot of law offices and a few restaurants and shops; I ceased my walk a few blocks before Naglee. My main stop was Recycle Book Store, a used book store that seems to be extremely popular here in San Jose. The shop itself is packed to the brim--in fact there are carts of more books sitting in the narrow aisles and stacks sitting on the corners. A small display case shows some of their rare finds, such as a first edition of Of Mice and Men with the lovely price tag of $1,449.95. Sure, let me just write a check...
The organization is lacking and makes it feel more like a thrift store than a book store, but I may just be spoiled by Powells. I walked the place twice before deciding on what I wanted to look for: a book on basic Wicca. My best guyfriend became a Witch a few years ago and I just don't know anything about it. I found what is actually an excellent book titled "Witch: A Magical Journey--A Hip Guide to Modern Witchcraft". It's witty, down-to-earth, and so good that I read through about half of it just that afternoon. I don't know how much of it applies to my guyfriend, but at least I now have some understanding overall on the matter. I also found a copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", a classic that I have heard rave reviews on but had not yet managed to read. That shall be the weekend's beach material.
I wandered a bit further, stopping in to Greenlee's Bakery and then Starbucks before heading back home.
The evening plan was a trip to A Perfect Finish for a tasting event. The night was truly perfect; even the insanity of people mobbing into the light rail that evening didn't phase me much.
Reviews
----------
Greenlee's Bakery
Baked Goods
$
I stopped in and found a barely-lit shop with two women working behind the counter. There was very little selection and almost none of it was marked with the item or the price. I found their lemon bars and purchased one as well as a bottle of water.
I honestly can't say whether I liked the lemon bar or not because I couldn't taste it. The bar was coated with at least 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. I scraped off as much as I could, but the bar was still covered in it and it was pretty much all I could taste. I also noticed that I received an edge piece which was mostly crust. I was crestfallen.
Of interest is the antique mixer with a letter home to Mom written on it; very cute. I would not suggest getting lemon bars here unless you'd like an instant cavity.
A Perfect Finish
Wine and Spirits
$$
I'm not a big wine person. I love dessert wines because they're sweet but am pretty ambivalent about anything else. My girlfriend is the wine aficionado and we have always sampled wines while visiting each other. While it may not have been with her, I am visiting so I decided a wine tasting was in order.
I'm honestly not sure what to think of this place. It's in downtown and has the noise of the light rail and cruisers/gang-bangers. The setting itself is very classy, however. A portion of the space houses couches, chairs, and coffee tables for lounging in addition to the standard table/chair and bar setup. Baseball was playing on the television when I first entered, however at 7p it was changed to Jeopardy!. The owner is also the grill-master and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans while the barman was nicely dressed. Tim, the man I learned was their publicist, was wearing a suit with the jacket unbuttoned, displaying his "No War" t-shirt proudly beneath. The entire experience was one huge contrast and I'm quite unsure what dimension I was temporarily inhabiting.
I was early and needed some substance before the tastings began, so I indulged in their Sautéed Mushroom Crostini and paired it with a half glass of the Flying Winemaker Ancient Vine Lodi ’07 Zinfandel at the suggestion of the barman. Magnifique! The bread had a small amount of crisp but the oils from the butter and mushrooms caused it to soften for a lovely contrast and the zinfandel was lovely and firm, contrasting (I'm beginning to notice a pattern here...) the softness of the mushrooms.
The tasting itself was performed by a lovely gentleman who worked for a local wine distribution company. The tasting was not only for customers but also for the bar itself. I was the only individual initially but in the end my count was six individuals, not including Tim and the barman who were also enjoying tastes. One of my companions this evening was a gentleman from German who currently lives in Scotland and was visiting the U.S. He was very pleasant and his accent was a rather interesting composite that almost lent in a way toward French--quite fascinating to listen to.
The flight consisted of:
Tangent Grenache Blanc 2009 (Edna Valley, CA)
Meerlust Chardonnay 2007 (South Africa)
RolfBinder Halliwell 2006 (70% Shiraz, 30% Grenache) (Australia)
LaPlaya 2007 Claret (35% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Petit Verdot, 21% Syrah) (Chile)
Peach Canyon 2006 Petit Sirah (California)
Casta Diva Bodegas Muscat 2007 (Spain)
To finish the night, I enjoyed the most delicious cheesecake topped with lemon curd I believe I have ever tasted accompanied by a glass of Thomas Fogarty L. H. Gewurztraminer.
Tim, you were an amazing host, intentional or not, and I do hope I'll have a chance to stop in again before I leave. I can't wait to see your next t-shirt.
So no Docent Tour at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library for me today and I shifted my Friday plans to Thursday: walk along the Alameda. I took a slightly longer way over there, passing through Diridon Station so that I knew where the Santa Cruz bus would be picking me up on Saturday and also to gauge time to walk over there.
There are a lot of law offices and a few restaurants and shops; I ceased my walk a few blocks before Naglee. My main stop was Recycle Book Store, a used book store that seems to be extremely popular here in San Jose. The shop itself is packed to the brim--in fact there are carts of more books sitting in the narrow aisles and stacks sitting on the corners. A small display case shows some of their rare finds, such as a first edition of Of Mice and Men with the lovely price tag of $1,449.95. Sure, let me just write a check...
The organization is lacking and makes it feel more like a thrift store than a book store, but I may just be spoiled by Powells. I walked the place twice before deciding on what I wanted to look for: a book on basic Wicca. My best guyfriend became a Witch a few years ago and I just don't know anything about it. I found what is actually an excellent book titled "Witch: A Magical Journey--A Hip Guide to Modern Witchcraft". It's witty, down-to-earth, and so good that I read through about half of it just that afternoon. I don't know how much of it applies to my guyfriend, but at least I now have some understanding overall on the matter. I also found a copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", a classic that I have heard rave reviews on but had not yet managed to read. That shall be the weekend's beach material.
I wandered a bit further, stopping in to Greenlee's Bakery and then Starbucks before heading back home.
The evening plan was a trip to A Perfect Finish for a tasting event. The night was truly perfect; even the insanity of people mobbing into the light rail that evening didn't phase me much.
Reviews
----------
Greenlee's Bakery
Baked Goods
$
I stopped in and found a barely-lit shop with two women working behind the counter. There was very little selection and almost none of it was marked with the item or the price. I found their lemon bars and purchased one as well as a bottle of water.
I honestly can't say whether I liked the lemon bar or not because I couldn't taste it. The bar was coated with at least 1/3 cup of powdered sugar. I scraped off as much as I could, but the bar was still covered in it and it was pretty much all I could taste. I also noticed that I received an edge piece which was mostly crust. I was crestfallen.
Of interest is the antique mixer with a letter home to Mom written on it; very cute. I would not suggest getting lemon bars here unless you'd like an instant cavity.
A Perfect FinishWine and Spirits
$$
I'm not a big wine person. I love dessert wines because they're sweet but am pretty ambivalent about anything else. My girlfriend is the wine aficionado and we have always sampled wines while visiting each other. While it may not have been with her, I am visiting so I decided a wine tasting was in order.
I'm honestly not sure what to think of this place. It's in downtown and has the noise of the light rail and cruisers/gang-bangers. The setting itself is very classy, however. A portion of the space houses couches, chairs, and coffee tables for lounging in addition to the standard table/chair and bar setup. Baseball was playing on the television when I first entered, however at 7p it was changed to Jeopardy!. The owner is also the grill-master and was wearing a t-shirt and jeans while the barman was nicely dressed. Tim, the man I learned was their publicist, was wearing a suit with the jacket unbuttoned, displaying his "No War" t-shirt proudly beneath. The entire experience was one huge contrast and I'm quite unsure what dimension I was temporarily inhabiting.
I was early and needed some substance before the tastings began, so I indulged in their Sautéed Mushroom Crostini and paired it with a half glass of the Flying Winemaker Ancient Vine Lodi ’07 Zinfandel at the suggestion of the barman. Magnifique! The bread had a small amount of crisp but the oils from the butter and mushrooms caused it to soften for a lovely contrast and the zinfandel was lovely and firm, contrasting (I'm beginning to notice a pattern here...) the softness of the mushrooms.
The tasting itself was performed by a lovely gentleman who worked for a local wine distribution company. The tasting was not only for customers but also for the bar itself. I was the only individual initially but in the end my count was six individuals, not including Tim and the barman who were also enjoying tastes. One of my companions this evening was a gentleman from German who currently lives in Scotland and was visiting the U.S. He was very pleasant and his accent was a rather interesting composite that almost lent in a way toward French--quite fascinating to listen to.
The flight consisted of:
Tangent Grenache Blanc 2009 (Edna Valley, CA)
Meerlust Chardonnay 2007 (South Africa)
RolfBinder Halliwell 2006 (70% Shiraz, 30% Grenache) (Australia)
LaPlaya 2007 Claret (35% Carmenere, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Petit Verdot, 21% Syrah) (Chile)
Peach Canyon 2006 Petit Sirah (California)
Casta Diva Bodegas Muscat 2007 (Spain)
To finish the night, I enjoyed the most delicious cheesecake topped with lemon curd I believe I have ever tasted accompanied by a glass of Thomas Fogarty L. H. Gewurztraminer.
Tim, you were an amazing host, intentional or not, and I do hope I'll have a chance to stop in again before I leave. I can't wait to see your next t-shirt.
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