Back at Hollister Hills SVRA

After a long wait for cooler weather, it was time to resume off-road motorcycling at Hollister Hills SVRA. With the Red Sticker season on, the normal staging area was crowded. I decided to record all my trail rides using Strava. I usually only use Strava to record my mountain bike rides and hikes, but recording segment times for various trails might be helpful to see if I am improving my overall time. Because I have not ridden my Yamaha...

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A Personal Computing History

The first time I encountered a computer was the Space Invaders arcade video game in Rome, Italy, in the winter of 1980 (during my temporary stay in Rome, on the way to the United States). A young Italian boy offered me a chance to play, and I was immediately hooked! I have never seen anything like it before. When I moved to the United States, the very first electronic game I recall was some version of Pong. I had fun playing pong...

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Anniversary Dinner at Evvia

For our 17th Wedding Anniversary, we decided to have a nice, romantic dinner at the Evvia Restaurant in Palo Alto. At first, I made dinner reservations at 21:00 on Sunday, October 14th (using OpenTable), but I could book an earlier time (by calling the restaurant directly). The last time we dined at Evvia was on Bella's 83rd birthday, and we enjoyed our dinner a lot. Evvia is similar to Dio Deka (a fine Greek restaurant in Los Gatos) in many...

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Disaster at Steamer Lane

Alex had been making excellent surfing progress on his 6' Firewire Spitfire board. He surfed on it in various conditions at "The Hook" and Pleasure Point in Capitola. However, on Saturday, October 13th, feeling confident about his abilities, he decided to try surfing at the famous "Steamer Lane" surfing spot in Santa Cruz (near the Lighthouse). Alex encountered 6-8 foot waves at Steamer Lane, and during one of his attempts, he was not quick enough...

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Eating Ramen at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Since returning from our incredible summer trip to Japan (where we tasted the most delicious ramen at a small restaurant in Matsumoto), we have been looking for a similar experience in San Jose. One of my co-workers suggested I try the Hokkaido Ramen Santouka place at the Mitsui Marketplace (Japanese grocery store) nearby. Although I lived nearby, I have never been inside Mitsui Marketplace. On Sunday, October 7 (after surfing in Capitola), we...

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