When I go to Vegas, I should stay here
The Artisan hotel has rooms with pool tables for a mere $499 US a night. Sounds like fun. Expensive fun. Via Seth Godin.
US Hi 5
So, we're in America and one of the kid's favourite shows comes on. Hi 5. Except it's not the Australian version -- it's full of five US people. It's strange because the opening sequence is the same as the Australian version (which implies to me that the Australian show might have been licensed over here) and the format seems to be the same, just the actors all have American accents.
Sitting in the California DMV office
I'm sitting in the California DMV office in Los Gatos -- I've just passed my California drivers test, which means I am licensed here. I am waiting for Catherine to do her test, and then we will see if she is licensed too. I have a couple of observations on the testing here though: It's a lot easier than I remember it being in Australia The driving test is only 15 minutes long, including a bunch of stuff where the car isn't moving They drive a fixed route which doesn't vary between tests No reverse parking (that you Lord)! In summary, the test wasn't all that hard, and I am now licensed to drive in two difference countries.
Buying a car in the Bay Area?
It might be worth your effort to avoid these guys. I quite liked Toyota 101 in Redwood City though.
Herm. Arnie and the DMV
Heh, I'm studying for my drivers test tomorrow, and Arnie has written the introduction to the DMV book. It's kinda strange really.
Napa Valley
Peter, Jasmine (the newly wed Stills) and I went out to the Napa Valley yesterday. Napa Valley is a fairly famous winery area -- kinda like a Californian Barossa. After a very nice meal and the discovery that a wine area is much more fun in the summer, we gave up and headed home. Definitely a revisit in a couple of months though.
Proposed road trip: Santa Cruz
I'm thinking of going on a road trip with the family to Santa Cruz this weekend. The drive doesn't look too bad: Mountain View to Santa Cruz. There seems to be a fair bit to do there. Been to Santa Cruz? Want to suggest something I should do while there that perhaps kids would like too?
What do you do on days as a bachelor in a strange country?
Well, for me it was a cooked breakfast before getting the house work done. Instead of writing an exciting blog post about the fact that the bed here comes up to my belly button and it's sheets needed washing, I thought I would comment on American bacon. As the people who I hang out with will know, my wife is allergic to all forms of pig. In a no longer breathing way. I happen to love pig, so when she's not around I tend to go a little wilder with it than I probably should. So, when I went shopping for the first time here the other day I picked up some eggs and some Safeway bacon just in case my arteries needed hardening. It was a good thing too, because I have a medical need to eat bacon to help me with the after effects of the Coronas this morning. I'd already done one cooked breakfast here, so I have already discovered that American bacon (based on my extensive sample of one) appears to be 50% fat. It took me about ten minutes to trim off enough fat to approximate Australian bacon quality. After that it was quite nice.…
Australian’s say the darndest things
Andrew points out a couple of translation problems we had yesterday. I'm pretty sure the real estate salesman thought we said "Master bedroom is shit" instead of "Master bedroom ensuite" from the look he was giving me...
Jet lag
Apparently I'm not over my jet lag just yet, as it's 5:30am and I can't get back to sleep. I've been up for about an hour now. Oh well.