A few weeks ago, Neil and I came up with the idea of a day of touring mysterious attractions within the South Bay. In particular, I wanted to go on a family Mystery Hike at Big Basin Redwoods Park, and Neil wanted to check out the Winchester Mystery House again. I thought why not do…
San Jose Culture Vultures Devour the San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony came to play a free outdoor concert at noontime in downtown San Jose, and I was absolutely thrilled about it. I can’t afford even a stuck-in-the-rafters ticket to the San Francisco Symphony. Heck, I can’t even afford a decent ticket to the Symphony Silicon Valley, Ballet San Jose, or even the…
Our Unexpected Golden Gate Bridge Adventure
We’re having the typical spectacular Bay Area fall weather: this is the one time of year it’s sunny, but not to hot (or fogged over), and I love to get into the outdoors. This was one of those weekends with a multitude of fun things to do: the San Benito County Fair, the Morgan Hill…
Kitchen Nightmares US
Peter is a big fan of Gordon Ramsey, and has followed his American TV show Hell’s Kitchen, as well as (via BBC America) his UK show, Kitchen Nightmares. So he was understandably delighted to find out Kitchen Nightmares was coming the US, complete with Gordon Ramsey as the kick-ass restaurant consultant. But the first show…
Family Haiku Night
Neil dislikes his P.E. teacher. From his accounts, though, I can’t see anything that should concern me. She seems to have a boot-camp style of teaching, so Neil complains that she doesn’t care about him. I asked him whether she hated just him, or whether she hates everyone equally. He confessed she hates everyone equally;…
Lima Towing and the Insurance Shuffle
As regular readers know, a few weeks ago, Peter’s VW Golf was caught in the middle of a multiple-car crash on 101. The CHP called Lima Towing, the towing company that has the local government contract to tow the cars to their lot, and told Peter the insurance companies would sort the whole thing out….
Puzzles of the Day
I’m in a pissy mood today (see the post above), so I thought I’d throw out some conundrums I don’t understand. Oh, ok, I understand, but they still piss me off: 1) Why do the people with the worst-behaved kids always ask me why Kelly isn’t in a preschool, and then (unsolicited) advise me to…
The Emperor Jones
Last year, Peter and I got on a Eugene O’Neill kick, mostly because I thought it would be cool to check out the playwright’s local former home, which is now part of the National Parks Service. To that end, I thought it would be wise to check out a few of O’Neill plays, especially considering…
A Musing on the Importance of Writing
While we were talking about the Rosicrucian Museum afterwards, Peter pondered why the Egyptians had such an evolved religious philosophy, but hardly anything else. Well, perhaps it’s because the only real solid record that still existed by the time we were curious about them was writings on tomb walls. But it made me think why…
The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Last week, we took advantage of a special extra benefit of our San Jose Museum of Art membership and took Peter to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. I’ve been there a few times before, but I really enjoyed it this year, when Neil was happy to show off his knowledge of Egyptian history, and I could…