Feeling the void...

I do not believe that I am not one to post about having a heavy heart.  My dear readers (I think that there are three of you out there...) do not want to hear me whine.  I say that because my tolerance for whining is not very high.  That being said, I will just blurt this out...

I really, really miss my best friend and partner out here.

I have hopefully been conveying the fact that while places like my previous stops in Manhattan, KS and Houston (please see: http://webguyinhouston.blogspot.com/) have wonderful elements and things to do, it is a totally different experience out here in the San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland/Napa/Sonoma/Monterey/Berkeley/Palo Alto/Silicon Valley area.

Let me explain.

In all of the other places I have lived, there are wonderful places to go.  The destinations available are fun and exciting.  Going down to Aggie-ville in Manhattan, Kansas makes for a fun evening and if you review my Houston blog you will know that places like Miller Outdoor Auditorium is wonderful.  Both places have great restaurants and pubs/bars to visit and relax.  These are really fun places to land.

Out here though there is that added feature of "the journey".  In all of those previous places, you put your head down and drove to the destination where a fun time awaited.  Here, the fun time starts with the drive.  There are the roadside produce stands, the winding roads through the hills and mountains, the road that has the ocean as your driving companion.

So yes, I miss that one person who used to hold my hand and share my running commentary and there are a few places that I know that I cannot journey to on my own.  I am a social creature by nature and life is so much better with my partner.  She know who she is and (to be frank) I don't think she reads this so I am pretty safe.  :-)

Man, I sure would like to show her these sites... back to normal on my next post.

Can't see the trees through...

At the risk of being rather rude, all I can say is "DAAAAMN!!!"

Okay, please remember that I grew up in Illinois and spent time amongst the oak and walnut trees.  There were many other types of trees that my laziness prevented me from learning about in my childhood.  But there was nothing to compare to what I saw this past weekend.

I traveled to the Big Basin Redwoods state park and might I say that these trees are HUGE!  It honestly is a beautiful park with waterfalls (I never found them, I got a little lost quite frankly), and wonderful camping spots.  It was a beautiful day to wander about.

I also learned another valuable lesson.  It is not very easy to take a picture of these monsters.  I went explicitly to stretch my legs and take pictures so I took a lot of close up photos of the wood.  Turned out rather well, I thought.

Long story short, it was simply amazing to wander around these giants.  It was also a place that I am sure to back to time and time again.  As with everything else in this area, the drive there was just as enjoyable as the destination.  There are very few places that have that luxury.

Plus, I got to find that waterfall...

Wine, water, or trees...

Okay, I am going into a three day weekend with quite the dilemma.  When you move to a new area, the impulse to do as much as possible can be a bit over whelming.  Especially here in the northern California region, it is especially suited for variety.

You have the sheer beauty of driving the coastline and gazing upon the beauty of where the land meets the sea.  There are the multitude of state and national parks to see with the beauty of the redwoods.  Heading into "the city" and visiting Golden Gate Park is an option.  Then, of course, this IS northern California which means "wine country".

What to do...

I tried to ask my kids and their immediate response was "Disneyland!"  This is an extremely exciting response, but to be honest, they aren't here and after a five hour drive it would feel a little empty going by myself.

Asking natives is probably the worst thing to do.  They will give you a laundry list of spots to visit and drives to take and they will go on listing these things for close to 45 minutes... and then keep coming back with more recommendations (God love 'em).  I sincerely appreciate their input but really...

So, while I have a pretty much booked Saturday, I imagine I will just wake up on Sunday (and/or Monday), grab my camera, just get in the car and go where the wind takes me.  So let's see where my mood wakes up on those days - wine, water, or trees.

It is a burger battle (...with a side of fries)!!

This is a post that I have wanted to write for some time.  Now that I live out here "on the coast" (I have ALWAYS wanted to say that - please picture me saying that with sunglasses on...), I feel that I have legitimacy in my judgement because I have tasted an In-N-Out burger.   I did not feel that it would be a complete picture without the west coast representative.

Rule number One is that this only includes chains.   We are all very much aware that home grilled and local burger joints have a much higher tendency towards better products.  So I do not want to hear how Bob's Burgers in Aggie-ville outclasses them all.  I am sure that they do...

Now let's just cut to the chase.  My personal, own opinion, based on the tastebuds of the Web Guy, winner would be Five Guys with In-N-Out burgers coming in a very close second.  In fact, In-N-Out lost huge points with me because of their fries (Overall, the worst in the business... and as an FYI, Steak 'n Shake has the best fries ever.)

Third place was won by the aforementioned Shake 'n Shake (burger are bolstered by the best fries in the business and great milkshakes).

I found Burger King's burger to be rather flavorful so they gave in fourth.

Red Robin came in fifth on the strength of serving liquor and great milkshakes in their establishment, but the taste of their burgers puts them on par with Wendy's (sixth).

I am sorry to say that the worst burger(s) in my highly scientific poll was a statistical tie between McDonalds and Smash Burger.

There you have it.  Now, I also want to reiterate that I am not that picky so I will be sure to revisit all of these establishments in the future (except Smash Burger... man, just not to my taste).

Enjoy!

Making new friends

Made a new friend

My mother and sister came into town for the past weekend and it has been a lot of fun.  I even made a new friend as you can see here on the right.  I  am STILL just tickled at the fact that there are animals that I loved as a child but only saw in zoos.  Hearing a seal vocalize and seeing it lay under a wharf is just wonderful.  I sent this picture to everyone I have EVER met!

The weekend started off on what could have been a rocky beginning.  We got dinner at a place called "The Left Bank" in an area called Santana Row.  The area is really a great place to wander and people watch.  It is a rather hip residential/shopping area and we were having a blast wandering around.  Then we sat down for dinner.  The service was wonderful, my trout was great but my mother's steak (while very flavorful) was tough as nails.  Unfortunately, she refused to return it because she didn't want to be a bother.

Saturday was the obligatory trip to San Fransisco's Chinatown and lunch in the Italian section.  Once again, great people watching.

Anyway, on Sunday we had a great time in Santa Cruz.  Everything was damn near perfect.  While the water is a bit chilly, my sister got to walk on the beach for the first time.

We stopped for lunch on the wharf at a place called Riva's Fish House where I had a passable fish and chips.  The prices were rather reasonable (in comparison).  My sister ordered the crab sandwich and my mother got a burger.  I will say that the cole slaw that came with my mother's burger was fantastic.  Yes, I would go back.

On the way back to San Jose, the ladies wanted to visit a winery (when in northern California, I think it is required by law...).  My sister picked Rapazzini winery in Gilroy, California.  Now, you have to understand that Gilroy calls itself the "Garlic Capital of the World", so when we pulled up to the winery there was a garlic shoppe next door.  On the other side of the winery was a roadside fruit stand.  Needless to say, we got back on the road with quite the haul.

The mother is happy and so is my baby sister.  They both are tickled pick with their first visit to the northern section of California.  Of that, I am glad.

This really is a great place to be.

Finally... Furniture!!!

I honestly try to look on the bright side of things.  I will genuinely try to see the other side of opinions and try to accept the excuses.  Really... I do try.

But Condor Moving Company exhausted any reservoir of good will in me.  We will start off with the packing job in Houston.  I had been told that they would be by to get my stuff out of the apartment in the morning.  The kids and I had planned the route to San Jose based on us getting out of town by early afternoon at the latest.  Condor showed up at 9 pm.  We could not get on the road until after 10 pm.  We had to change our route and planned stops (including changing hotel reservations).  Now, the guys that showed up were very nice and knew their jobs.  They made quick work of wrapping up my stuff in a very professional manner.

That was the pickup.  The delivery turned out to be an even worse situation.

The contract stated that delivery would be between July 2 - 13 (quite the breadth of time).  I arrived in San Jose on the 1st.  So on the 11th, I started to call to get a status update.  After no one returned my phone calls (5 of them) I finally got through to someone on the 13th.  I was then told that the trailer had broken down and that they would not be leaving Dallas until Wednesday the 15th and that the arrival would be on the 18th or 19th.

So I started calling again on the 18th (6 calls this time) with no one returning my phone calls.  On the 20th, I finally asked to speak to the owner or general manager  (Yes, I know I have a LOT of patience and can easily be taken advantage of...).  The sales manager that I talked to agreed with me that it was horrible that no one called me back and guaranteed me that I would have delivery on Wednesday the 22nd.

I got the call from the driver saying that deliver would be between 12 and 2 pm.  Now please note that I have just started a new job and taking time off is never a great idea.  Anyway, I left at lunch to be there.  Around 1:30, I started to call again to ask where they were.  The driver texted back "2-5".  At 4:30 I texted the driver asking for an update.  He texted back "today".  He and his crew showed up around 6:45.

Now, once again the gentlemen were very understanding and professional.  Admittedly, I also only had one wine glass and one chair that were broken which I seriously consider to be a very successful move.  The best part was when I explained my frustration, he simply nodded knowingly and told me that the truck never broke down.  Evidently, summer is the busiest time of the year and moving companies always overbook their schedule to make the most money.  It is easier to deal with an angry customer that usually will not be moving again (so no repeat business) than to lose out on big bucks.

This has been my fifth multi-state move and I have to say, it has been the worst.  I guess the bottom line is that I will not move again in the summer.

Thanks for letting me vent.  On a brighter note, my sister and my mother are going to visit next week.  This ought to be interesting....

Air mattress be damned...

Ok... the movers are now not scheduled to be here until next weekend (insert obligatory grumble and gripe here...)  I found a leak in my air mattress, so I am now sleeping on one of the kid's single mattress.  Oy!

But on to some good news, I spent my first full weekend here and on Saturday I drove to Monterey to see/join the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  All I can say is that I got to see some seals and otters!  I felt like my 12 year old daughter when I saw the seals sunning themselves on the rocks in the bay.  I really wanted someone with me so I could grab their arm and point and excitedly say "Look... look out there!  There are seals!"  Then I would repeat the process when I spotted the otters.

The aquarium was a real treat and then I took a stroll down Cannery Row (which is attached to the aquarium) and had a great lunch at The Cannery Row Brewing Co.  I had a delicious fish and chips plate partnered with a double chocolate stout.  It was simply fantastic.  So was the day.

One of the best things was actually the drive down there and back.  The road (Highway 1) is simply gorgeous and it was littered with fruits stands along the way.  Cherries, Strawberries, Avacadoes, and Artichokes (Castroville, CA claims to be "artichoke center of the world" - quite the claim) were all over the place so I stopped and loaded up on cherries and strawberries.  Once again, they were heavenly.

Life is certainly off to a great start here despite the lack of furniture.  Plus, I found out that my mother and sister will be coming to visit at the end of the month.