mountainview – Made by Mikal

Mikal’s unreliable guide to buying secondhand sci fi in Mountain View

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 26, 2008
Post category:Book

My algorithm goes something like this: If I am just browsing (I tend to target complete series before I start reading them, so am often buying things I don't expect to read for months) and looking for a great deal I go to Rasputin's Books. Sometimes they have nothing, and other times I walk away with 30 books. They currently have a "10 books for $5" deal, which is hard to beat. If I want something specific, and its not too rare, I go to Book Buyers. They have an awesome collection, and have most common things. Some harder to find things might be missing though, and you need to know that not everything is filed by author (check the series section as well). If I want big lots, ebay.com. Most of the time there is nothing, but sometimes you can pick up 20 books by the same author quite cheaply.

Noisy neighbours at Central Park in Mountain View

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 1, 2007
Post category:Travel

Its 5am my time, and I've been awake since 3am. Not from choice though -- its the downstairs neighbours waking us up yet again. They're shift workers you see, and must either sleep with construction hearing protection on, or be deaf. Either way, they seem to think its ok to stand outside our apartment at shout at each other at 2am, or slam doors at all hours, or listen to music so loud it vibrates stuff in our apartment basically all night. We've asked them nicely to turn it down (we used to get on quite well with them at first). We've asked the complex to please do something. We even rung the complex security folk when its happening, and asked for some peace. Its really done nothing to help -- they perhaps turn the music down for 30 minutes until security leaves, and then turn it right back on again. So, we've run out of ideas, apart from ending the lease early (which will cost an unknown amount of money), and moving somewhere else. We're so serious about doing that that I have started looking around Craigslist already. Perhaps the floor between apartments is too thin, because the bathroom…

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?

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...

Packing

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 13, 2005
Post category:Travel

It's time for Catherine and I to start thinking of packing for the move, and as ever it's a barrel of laughs. We've made the decision that there is a bunch of stuff which we're not going to bother to take with us... Mainly things like reference books which I haven't used in years, but can't bear parting with. We've therefore entered the exciting world of boxing and listing everything which we're leaving. We're also doing something similar for the things with a lot of value which we're moving to the US. I decided that it was time to roll out an official stillhq wiki to hold this sort of documentation, as well as other things which seem like they should be documented over time. This is the first time that Catherine has used a wiki, and so far it's working well.

All airline tickets now booked…

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 25, 2005
Post category:Travel

Not that it was such a pain that I now feel I've really achieved something or anything.

So, how am I getting to the US?

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 22, 2005
Post category:Travel

Well, I just booked my flights to the US... The flight there is on 18 November 2005, and goes from Canberra, to Sydney, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco with Qantas. At least I get club access along the way.

What are we doing with the pets?

Post author:mikal
Post published:October 20, 2005
Post category:Travel

We own a dog and a cat. We've had the cat, Taffy, for a long time and he's quite old now. The dog, Spike, on the other hand hasn't been with us for very long. So, when we move to the US, what are we going to do with the pets? Well, the cat is relatively easy, as he's too old to cope with a move, and is quite attached to my father. He'll be staying in our current house, which dad will be renting from me. The dog, Spike is harder. The kids are now quite attached to him, having been initially scared of him (we got him as a puppy, and the kids didn't like that puppy phase too much). He's now a year old or so. On the other hand, he didn't like the flight from Sydney to Canberra when we acquired him, so a 14 hour flight to the US is too much for him. If we don't like the US and want to come home really, soon then he would also end up in quarantine, a four hour drive away from us, for a very long time (around three months I believe). Worse than that,…

Andrew is a loony

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 13, 2005
Post category:Travel

He hasn't slept in something like 48 hours now. He's a loony. On of the funnier parts of the trip over was listening to the Channel 9 "from the flight deck". Before they could take of the United plane insisted on burning off 1,000 pounds of fuel. How long did it take? 5 minutes of idling and driving around in circles. The airline was fairly ordinary though -- no screens in the back of seats. 5 inches of extra leg room for premium economy, but that only put them about 2 inches ahead of Qantas. Catering was nothing special. No little care package for during the flight. No face mask. I'd fly United again, but only if I didn't get to chose the airline. [tags: airline united]

Hotel Avante

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 12, 2005
Post category:Travel

Well, I got here. Nice hotel, nice staff on check in. Easy drive from the San Francisco airport for us foreigners. The San Francisco airport seems a lot nicer than the one in Los Angeles as well. [tags: hotel, avante]