california – Page 2 – Made by Mikal

Please report to the municipal hall of justice

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 24, 2006
Post category:Travel

Catherine rang me while I was at work yesterday to let me know that I had a letter from the courthouse in Santa Clara country demanding (it doesn't make it sound all that optional) that I attend at the "Municipal Hall of Justice" for jury duty. Yes, they really called it that. Yes, I thought it sounded like something from a bad 1980's film too. So, I apparently can get out of the jury duty by proving to them that I am not a citizen. In fact, it's much more onerous to show that you're not a citizen than it is for many of the other escape clauses. They want a copy of my passport for example. The letter also doesn't make it particularly clear if being a non-citizen excludes me from jury duty or not. Oh, and the only contact details on the letter are a web site, and a 24 hour recorded message line. I don't know if I would serve or not if given the option -- I probably would. So, am I able to serve? Should I? Will the Demolition Man be at the municipal hall of justice? What about Judge Dredd?

Dave and Busters

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 18, 2006
Post category:Travel

To celebrate a recent launch the team went out to an "adult arcade" called Dave and Busters today. An adult arcade is pretty much what it sounds like -- imagine a huge collection of arcade games, pool tables, bar, and restaurant. I of course had the most American thing I could find, which was a double cheese burger. It was sufficiently huge that I didn't really have dinner, just a light snack. Dave and Busters was cool, and I recommend having a look if you ever see one of them. The food is generic, but of a reasonable quality and quite cheap compared to what you would pay in Australia. The games are expensive, but given I have basically never been to an arcade in Australia I don't know if that is run for the course or not. I had fun, and I suspect that James with his fifty fluid ounces of Guinness did too. Oh, thats 1.47867648 liters by the way.

Mi Pueblo

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 6, 2006
Post category:Travel

The phrase "Mi Pueblo" is remarkably over used, which made web surfing for this one hard. For some time, Catherine has been doing some of our food shopping at the little Spanish grocery store in Mountain View. For the first time I went along yesterday (she normally goes when I am at work). Imagine a food shop full of kids running around the place, loud Mexican music playing, where you're the only ones speaking English. It was great fun... Like a very short trip to Mexico. Oh, and it's cheap. Really cheap. For example, half the price of Safeway for Sirloin steak, and most fruit. For some time I've been thinking I should learn some basic Spanish. I really should get around to doing that...

Mountain View WiFi

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 21, 2006
Post category:Google

I'm sitting in a park in Mountain View at the moment, and the Mountain View Google WiFi works just fine. That's totally cool. It makes me think about all those random crazy projects I can now implement where a computer in my car needs an internet connection to work right. Hmmmmmm... I guess that's another good use for a slug.

The wreck of the dominator

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 10, 2006
Post category:Travel

Another old thing to visit when next I happen to be somewhere: the the wreck of the Dominator in LA. Via SJH who found it on Metafilter. Oh, and the the guide to forgotten LA places is cool too (via Dan Goods).

Did I mention it’s hot here?

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 24, 2006
Post category:Link

California is suffering under a record heat wave, I find it odd that people debate whether there is global warming, when we keep hitting new temperature records. Then again, as a single person I feel rather unempowered to actually do much about fixing the whole thing.

Proposition 82

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 9, 2006
Post category:Link

California has this strange direct funding system, where the electorate can mandate a given amount of funding for a specific line item, and not involve the politicians in the future decision making. Wikipedia doesn't have an article on proposition 82 yet (I might make one...), but here is an example of a previous proposition. Proposition 82 proposes free preschool education for all California kids (these guys have the noon82.com site as well as the yeson82.com site). It does have opposition though. It's strange living somewhere where I get no say in the political process, and where I don't feel obligated to live with the long term effects of any given change. So, I say give me the free stuff!

Light rail, oh how I love thee

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 25, 2006
Post category:Travel

One thing I think that Canberra really lacks is a light rail system. My travels over the last few years have made me realize that one of the things that makes a city a great place to live is a good light rail system. The first one of these systems that I saw was in Washington DC / Virginia, and it was great -- clean, fast, on time, cheap, and it went everywhere I wanted to go. San Francisco's BART is similar, except that it's a little too slow because it has to travel a lot further. London's tube is a contender as well, although I would argue there that it's too expensive (everything in London is too expensive), and is dirty. Oh, and there is something disheartening about dudes with bombs trying to make you enjoy the train ride less. The Silicon Valley VTA system is great too. My ride to the MySQL User's Conference made me write this post, I hadn't used the train system really until then. I'd caught the Caltrain to SFO once, but the Caltrain isn't really light rail in my mind, and is nowhere near as nice as the VTA light rail. The ride…

List of VTA station addresses

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 21, 2006
Post category:Travel

Oh, and this list of VTA station addresses is very useful...

VTA station for the Santa Clara Convention Center

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 21, 2006
Post category:Travel

I'm doing public transport research for MySQL user's conference next week. Here is how to get from the VTA station at Old Ironsides to the Santa Clara Convention Center.