One of my favorite science museums in the Bay Area is the Chabot Space and Science Center in and on top of Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park. It’s one of the newer–if not the newest–science museums and still has a shiny, polished feel as a result. It was busier than I’d ever seen it before on…
Category: Out & About
M. C. Escher and Op Art at the San Jose Museum of Art
I’ve been looking for an excuse to renew my membership in the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA), and I found it today in the Escher exhibit they currently have on. Just as context, about a year ago, the SJMA, formerly featuring free admission to all, had to start charging for admission when they lost…
A Day at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center
Neil, Kelly, and I just got back from spending the day at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz. It had something for to pique everyone’s interest. Neil found a science computer quiz a Jeopardy-style quiz game, and a scavenger hunt. Kelly found jigsaw puzzles and a crafts room where she made herself a…
Brand New at The Warfield
Brand New is one of the more complex modern bands I like listening to. I got hooked to their dancey angst songs on their first album, “Your Favorite Weapon.” So when their second album, “Deja Entendu,” came out, I happily bought it and found out they’d changed. It took a few listens for the album…
A Bike Ride Along the Guadalupe River Trail
This morning, instead of doing my regular work out, I put Kelly on my road bike, and took her along on a ride along the Guadalupe River Trail, an off-road paved trail, not far from our home. Why? Well, for one thing, in the past few weeks the weather has been too perfect to remain…
A Weekend at Mount Madonna
We spent the weekend with other members of Neil’s cub scout troop at Mount Madonna. Mount Madonna is a popular local camping locale on the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. One reason for its popularity is that its western slope faces the Monterey Bay so it’s always cool, but never cold, and…
A Pretty Day at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo
The weather has been so ideal lately that it should be a crime not to go out and enjoy it. So yesterday, after breakfast, we took our children Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. We’ve been going there since Neil was a baby and it’s the near-ideal place to bring young children in San Jose. It’s…
Mountain Biking at Arastradero Preserve
Since Peter bought me a mountain bike for Christmas, I’ve become an enthusiast for biking in the wilderness. It’s like fast hiking, which lets me go faster, further, but it also requires some new skills to ride quickly over ruts and tree branches and to spin around uphill and downhill curves. I also like the…
The Zeum Playground
Kelly is not really convention ready. She’s at an age when she really likes to pick things up, examine them, restack them (often in a different place), and eat a lot. Many of the booths at Wondercon were remarkably indulgent: the man with the tiny voodoo doll keychains was especially nice, and let Kelly hold…
Wondercon Sunday
I expected Wondercon to be quieter on Sunday. I’d worked at the ComicBase booth on Sunday last year, and the last day of the show was uncrowded, though not in a deadly way. There was no such luck at Wondercon. I arrived early, but by 11 am, the attendance was in full effect again. Inevitably,…