usa – Page 4 – Made by Mikal

Kern County oil wells on I-5

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 17, 2006
Post category:Travel

Wow, and then we drove past a bunch of oil wells in the middle of an otherwise pleasant rural area called Kern County. I didn't realize that the Kern County area is responsible for two thirds of all oil produced in California. So there you go. There was even a 1950s truck next to one of the wells, which looked like it had just been abandoned one day from the look of the vegetation around it. If I wasn't going 130 kilometres an hour with the camera in the boot I would have taken a picture. Here is someone else's shot:

Are you required to wear a seat belt in California? I thought you were…

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 17, 2006
Post category:Travel

And then I saw a dude sitting in the back of a pickup, wrapped in many blankets, taking pictures as they drove down the road with his big SLR. Now that's dedication to getting a good shot. I would have a picture to show you, except that the OV511 driver oopsed, so the webcam wasn't working at the time. Damn Linux. [btags:road trip]

Meh, 3G coverage with Verizon is patchy

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 17, 2006
Post category:Travel

At least between Mountain View and LA the coverage is a bit patchy. We're back online again, but were off line for a couple of hours. I guess we should take the data from the GPS and provide a map of where Verizon failed to work for us...

On the road

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 17, 2006
Post category:Travel

Well, we've set off on our trip to Tempe, AZ. The first leg of the trip is to drive down to LA today. There we'll meet up with one of James' friends, and have dinner and so forth. Remember we're tracking the trip online, assuming the 3G coverage is good.

Where in the world are Mikal and James

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 17, 2006
Post category:Travel

Tomorrow we will be driving to LA. The day after we continue on to Tempe, Arizona for a week in the Phoenix office. Then we drive home. We got bored this afternoon, so you can track our movements here: http://blog.jdns.org/traveltracker.

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?

Oh, and no affection of SouthWest flights!

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 20, 2006
Post category:Link

(Yes, I'm catching up on CNN this morning, I have a headache, and it seemed like a good plan at the time). Clearly SouthWest want to be the only ones screwing their customers, don't you dare rest your head on your wife because that's a Federal offence they will pursue.

Kynan’s going to be in trouble…

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 20, 2006
Post category:Link

Kynan is an Australian I work with. He has an Australian flag in his cube, and it seems to me that he's skirting on the edge of crazy US laws if he happens to move to one of those jurisdictions. I can't imagine such laws passing in Mountain View, but I figure he deserves the warning anyways.

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...