Returning to Carmel

With Alex out surfing with his friend at San Luis Obispo, Inna and I decided to revisit Carmel-by-the-Sea on Memorial Day. 

After waking up at 07:30 and getting dressed, we drove to Carmel around 08:30 (stopping for gas at Shell). I noticed that gasoline prices have really increased recently (to $4.40/gallon for 87 unleaded)

We arrived in Carmel-by-the-Sea around 10:00, parked our van, and ate lunch at Inna's favorite Stationery Restaurant. Since we did not make any reservations, we did not know how long of a wait it would be. Luckily, we were promised a place at 10:45. With 45 minutes to wait, we decided to stroll around downtown Carmel and explore the shops.

We returned to Stationaery at 10:41 and were promptly seated. It was still quite cold in the morning, with fog visible in the ocean. We asked for additional blankets (which we were given).

After looking at the menu, Inna and I ordered the following items (which we shared):

• Croque Madame
• Potatoe Pancake

Inna ordered a Seasonal Latte with Lavender, while I decided to try The Club J Hot Chocolate (spicy).

Both Inna and I really liked the Croque Madame! It was much better than the version we usually purchase at Fleur de Cocoa in Los Gatos. The Gruyere cheese and Baker's bacon were sumptuous.

Inna liked her Potato Pancake, too. The prosciutto and roasted asparagus toppings were delicious.

After finishing our breakfast/brunch, we walked to Carmel Beach. American Flags flew everywhere on Memorial Day, and many people were around. It seemed like pre-Covid days were back. Finding parking would be very difficult!

There was still fog over the water, and the wind sometimes made it feel cold. I was looking for surfers and eventually spotted a few. They were mostly beginners trying to surf beach breaks, as there were no other waves.

We kept walking south, enjoying the beautiful beachfront houses and flower arrangements.

Eventually, we reached the Carmel River beach and decided to rest there. We spotted a few divers in the water, too. It seemed like a nice place to dive, and the water was so blue.

I took a short, 45-minute nap, being really tired for no apparent reason. At around 14:00, Inna and I started our walk back to Carmel. Our total walk was about 5 miles.

Here is the Strava log of our walk:

After the walk, we decided to stop by for an early dinner at Little Napoli. When we arrived there, it turned out to be closed for dinner. However, La Bicyclette restaurant was open across the street, and Inna stopped by to see where tables were available. She made dinner reservations for 16:10 and decided to explore some other shops while I rested on a nearby bench. The beach walks tired me, and I wasn't enthusiastic about looking at shoes.

At 16:10, she returned, and we were seated outdoors at La Bicyclette.

After reviewing the menu, we settled on the following items:

• 2 Earl Gray Teas
• Pain du Jour (chunks of bread with Olive oil and butter)
• Stone Fruit Salad
• Parisian Gnocchi appetizer (5 gnocchi)
• Andrew Molera pizza 
• Tarte Grande-Mere (dessert)
• Espresso 

I enjoyed the large cups of Earl Gray tea, served with milk and honey. I was feeling a bit cold, and they helped warm me up.

The Pain Du Jour bread chunks were delicious but too much. We should have skipped them due to the pizza!

I really liked the Parisian Gnocchi and especially the cheesy sauce. We dipped our pizza crust in the sauce for added flavor!

The Andrew Molera pizza was exquisite! The combination of artichoke, Manchego cheese, and pumpkin seeds was unique.

We could not finish the pizza, so we stopped early to have room to try the delicious Tarte Grand-Mere (grandma's tart). The taste was fantastic - not sweet and with just enough dough to keep its shape.

We really enjoyed our dinner. As I was sleepy, I ordered a shot of Espresso, which helped keep me awake during the two-hour drive back to San Jose.

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Dinner at Naschmarkt

To celebrate my new job at Nvidia and Inna's recent promotion at Genapsys, Inna made dinner reservations at our favorite Campbell Restaurant - Naschmarkt - for 8:00pm.

 

We ran a bit late and had trouble finding parking, but we eventually found a spot nearby. We arrived around 8:20pm and sat outside near two excellent heaters.

After looking at the menu, we decided to order the following:

• A bottle of Pellegrino sparkling water
• A bottle of Havermeyer Riesling (from Germany's Mosel Valley). We usually don't order wine, but we thought the special occasion deserved celebration.
• Cheese Pretzel (delicious!)
• Goat Cheese Purse Salad
• Wiener Schnitzel (for Inna)
• Hungarian Beef Goulash
• Apfel Strudel (for dessert)

 It was cold when we sat down, but Inna eventually removed her jacket.

The dinner started with a Homemade Pretzel with beer-cheese sauce! It was delicious and reminded me of Pretzels in Munich.  

Service was speedy and efficient, and our water and wine glasses were constantly refilled.

Our next dish was the Goat Cheese Purse Salad. We liked it a lot! The cheese sauce was so amazing!

Inna received the large Weiner Schnitzel for our main entree while I munched on the Hungarian Beef Goulash.

 

 

For dessert, Inna and I shared the fantastic Apfel Strudel. It was like being in Vienna again. The ice cream tasted freshly made, and the crust was amazing.

We had a fantastic dinner at Naschmarkt and hope to come again. We even managed to finish a whole bottle of wine! We will definitely need to come back.

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Dinner at Plumed Horse

We decided to treat Alex to a delicious dinner at our favorite Michelin-rated restaurant in Saratoga - The Plumed Horse- for Alex's graduation from Bellarmine College Preparatory School.

 After reviewing the Chef's Tasting menu, Inna and Alex decided to try it.

It had the following items listed. As expected, they were exquisitely prepared:

1. Farmer's Market Asparagus
2. Pea Panna Cotta
3. Black Pepper & Parmesan Souffle
4. Davenport Abalone
5. Alaskan Halibut
6. A5 Wagyu Tenderloin
7. Mt. Tam Cheese
8. Blueberry Mousse

I decided to order a la carte and selected the following items for the day's menu:

 

1. Black Pepper Parmesan Souffle
2. Wild Alaskan Halibut
3. Truffle Potato Puree
4. Chocolate Fondant
   

The dinner started with the Chef's Amuse Bouche - a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre that the Chef prepared to amuse his guests.

I really enjoyed the baked roll with deliciously flavored butter.
 

The Chef also provided extra help to the farmers' market Asparagus. It was small but delicious!

The Black Pepper Parmesan Souffle was spectacular! It's one of my favorite entrees, and it was heavenly!

The Wild Alaskan Halibut was exquisitely prepared and delicious!

I also enjoyed the Truffle Potato Puree. It was so smooth and buttery.

For dessert, I shared the Chocolate Fondant with Alex and Inna. It was fantastic!

We had a fantastic dinner at The Plumed Horse. It was simply unforgettable!

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Bellarmine Graduation

Bellarmine College Preparatory held its Commencement Ceremony at 5:00pm on May 28, 2021. The graduation of  Class of 2021 seniors followed a Baccalaureate Mass on the evening of May 27, with both events taking place on the San Jose campus.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, only two people per senior were allowed to be present in person, and each person had to have a valid ticket. 

Inna and I attended the ceremony and were seated at our assigned seats in Row 13, Seat 783, 784. We had to wear masks during the whole graduation ceremony.

Processional

During the processional, all graduating seniors walked from the football field to their seats in front of the stage. Inna and I were seated north of the stage (directly into the sun) and had difficulty seeing the stage. Many seniors wore leis and scarves around their necks, but Alex didn't care about them (though Inna was ready to purchase one for $45).

Master of Ceremonies... Mr. Chris Meyercord

Mr. Chris Meyercord began the program with a short prayer and a discussion of the many challenges that Bellarmine seniors had encountered during their past year (due to COVID-19 restrictions).

Welcome, and Invocation... Ian da Silva

Ian da Silva, the Cardinal Bellarmine Award winner of the class of 2021, gave a short speech about his past 4 years at Bellarmine.

National Anthem... Ajay Mallya

Ajay played a jazz-improvised version of the United States of America National Anthem on the violin. Ajay will be attending the famous Juilliard Musical School in New York City.

Principal's Remarks... Mrs. Kristina Luscher

Mrs. Luscher talked about the challenges of learning using Zoom and the difficulty of hosting sporting events and practices. She was very proud of the class of 2021.

Despite the COVID-19 issues, many Bellarmine athletes achieved outstanding results on track (4x1600 relay), tennis, and soccer teams. The Speech & Debate qualified for the National tournament for the first time ever.

Alex participated in Speech & Debate.

Conferral of Major Awards...Mrs. Kristina Luscher

Mrs. Luscher talked about the multiple award winners.

Valedictory Address...Ashok Ramkumar

Ashok, the Bellarmine Class of 2021, will be heading to Georgetown to study International History. he talked about the challenges of COVID-19 classes.

Conferral of Diplomas... Mrs Kristina Luscher andMr. Chris Meyercord

During this portion, Alex walked on stage to receive his diploma. I could barely see him (he was so far away), and I had to use my Canon EF 70-200 zoom lens to capture his image. Bellarmine should have set up large projector screens so that we could see the conferral of diplomas to graduates.

President's Remarks...Mr. Chris Meyercord

Benediction...Ft. Gerald T. Wade, S.J.

Recessional

After the program ended, all graduates walked onto the Football Field. We briefly returned to our car to pick up a tripod and Inna's shoes and then looked for Alex on the football field. It was hard to find him, as the field was overflowing with graduates and their families. We called Alex on the cell phone and eventually found him.

Alex was jubilant, and we congratulated him and took many photos of him and his close Bellarmine friends.

 Go Bells!

We are proud of Alex's achievements at Bellarmine. Here is a close-up photo of his High School Diploma:

 After graduation, we drove for our graduation dinner at The Plumed Horse (a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Saratoga).

Returning home at 10:30pm, we presented the following graduation gifts:

• Apple MacBook Air M1 512GB SSD (returned for a newer model)
• A custom green graduation troll
  
• Fleur de Cocoa "Paris" Graduation Cake (presented one week later due to Alex's surfing trip to San Luis Obispo)
  

 

The custom Fleur de Cocoa graduation cake was incredibly delicious! "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

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Repairing Toyota Sienna Damage

On May 15, 2021, my neighbor dented the driver's side of my 2008 Toyota Sienna minivan. 

After discussing the incident with State Farm Insurance, I took it in for an estimate and repair to Fix-It Auto San Jose, nearby (the shop recommended by State Farm). I initially hesitated to use it, as I have never used it before (but the multiple positive Yelp reviews won me over).

 

I received varying repair estimates from multiple shops:

• Almaden Collision & Kenny Auto, Inc. estimate came out to $3761.38
• Fix it Auto San Jose's initial estimate came out to $2700, but the final repair came out to  $4219.13 
• Pan American estimate came out to $3700. I used Pan American before on Audi Q5 and had excellent results

After multiple calls with State Farm, I was reimbursed for my $1000 deductible (since the accident was not my fault).

The repair minivan looks excellent.

 

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Review: TP-Link AX6000 WiFi 6 Router(Archer AX6000)

I have owned the Asus RT-AC66U WiFi Router (AC1750 3x3) for 8 years (since February 2, 201), which has served me well. However, in the past month, I experienced multiple disconnects from many of my devices (including the Ring Alarm) and decided that an upgrade might solve the problem.

I tried upgrading to the Asus RT-AC88U two years ago, but it had difficulty connecting to my Synology DS1815+ NAS through the 1GE Ethernet cable. Thus, I was looking to replace it with another brand.

After reviewing SmallNetBuilder, Costco, and Amazon, I settled on the TP-Link AX6000 WiFi6 Router. It was relatively inexpensive ($250), well-rated, had 8 LAN ports, and had built-in antivirus support.

I want to purchase a WiFi 6e router (the new, upcoming standard) offering speed improvements, but models with 6E support are still too expensive.

Initially, I could not connect my Synology DS1815+ NAS to AX6000's Ethernet port. After some troubleshooting, port 1 (of 4 available ports) in Synology's DS1815+ is not working well. I connected the AX600 to the LAN port #4, and all is working fine now.

I enabled OneMesh support using both of my TP-Link RE220 Router Extenders, and it works as a Mesh (only one SSID is seen throughout the house).

TP-Link AX6000 WiFi 6 Router(Archer AX6000) Score Card

Positives

• 8x1GE LAN Ports (using 6 of them)
  
• WiFi6 support for 8 streams
• Quad-core 1.8 GHz CPU
• 8 Antennas
• Tether iPhone App makes configuration very easy
• OneMesh support (can use other routers to create a Mesh Network at home)
• The Trend-Micro Antivirus is working very well 

Negatives

• $250 price
• The OneMesh does not always work well with RE220 router extenders

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Improving Surf Paddling Part 2

After surfing for many weeks at famous surfing spots in Laguna Beach: Thalia Street, Rockpile Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, and Trestles, I realized that my surf paddling could use improvement. 

I discovered Rob - a local surf trainer who teaches proper surf paddling techniques. He runs a website called surfpaddling.com. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and offers online and private lessons.

I contacted Rob and discussed various training options, selecting the Level-1 Paddling Technique 4-session bundle.

4 sessions (~3 hrs each): Pool, Ocean 1, Pool/Lagoon, Ocean 2

Included:

• Level 1 Paddling Technique Lessons and Coaching
• Before/After Paddling Analysis
• LIFETIME Access to the Surfing Paddling Academy Level 1 Online Course. Begins after the last session.
• Guided Drill and Practice
• Breathing for Paddling
• Commentary and Practice Assignments for Continued Practice
• Two Ocean Application Sessions
• One additional Level 1 Technique Coaching Session

I purchased it on October 21, 2020. I look forward to improving my training in the upcoming sessions.
My first surf paddling session has been scheduled for Sunday, October 25, 2020, from 1:30pm to 5:00pm in Novato, CA.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Assignments:

• Watch the beginning 3 videos in Module 1 in the Online Course to get an overview (Discover the Fundamentals, The MAP REVEALED!, Muscle Memory Method Overview).
• Module 1 –
• Watch Step 1: Get Horizontal
• Visual Cue:  Keep the nose of the board at the surface of the water on average to cut the frontal drag. 
• Once positioned in the sweet spot range of the board, practice using the other techniques to modify horizontal balance while you paddle (head, feet/legs, chest press). This is supercritical. If the nose rises more than an inch above the surface, use these techniques to drive it back down. If it goes below the water's surface more than an inch, use these techniques to bring the nose back up. The goal will be to keep it at the water's surface to an inch above average. 
• Practice -  Step 1 Drill 1: Horizontal Balance Drill Dryland out of the water on an exercise ball.
• Practice - Step 1 Drill 3: Horiz. Balance Advanced Dryland
• Practice – attached thoracic spine exercises to 1. Increase mobility in your thoracic range. 2. Increase endurance
• Feel free to contact Jim Cegelnik, DPT, with any questions about these exercises. Just mention you are taking the Level 1 course from me, and he can provide some assistance. 
• Watch Step 2: Keep It Together
• Practice – feet together, using the lower back and glutes to control lateral balance control.
• Module 2 –
• Watch Step 3: It's All About The Entry
• Good hand entry form. Continue to slice the water, and make sure the fingers enter first. 
• Practice Entry Point – 8-12 inches in front of your face. Mindful practice for now. Use tape or stickers at that location to remind your brain subconsciously. 
• Practice Entry Angle - 10-15 degrees for shortboards using the efficiency stroke. This angle is the water's surface to your elbow (with no broken wrist). Elevate the elbow and drive it forward underwater to break frontal drag. Slice through the water!
• Watch Step 4: Making Magic Happen
• Practice Drill: Catch-Up - Enter and extend. Be streamlined. 
• Progress from a 2-second pause between strokes to a 1-second pause to simply replacing the hand in front with the other.
• Work on moving between the various "gears" (1-3 for efficiency stroke) like on a car. 
• Module 3 –
• Watch Step 5: The Clock We Need To Be Able to Understand – we will cover this more in the next session. 
• WATCH Dryland Underwater Armstroke Drill SPECIAL. We will cover this more in the next session.
• Watch Breathing For Paddling Mini-Course (it is one of the Bonuses in the Online course):
• Exhaling slows the heart rate
• The belly breathes from the diaphragm. 
• Meter your exhale, like blowing out through a straw, controlled. 
• Practice 2 counts inhale, 6 counts exhale on land.
• Practice land activities such as walking, jogging, rowing, etc., and maintain 2 in, 6 out. Progress to 2 in 4 out when under more exertion and 2 into 2 out at max exertion. 
• Practice land activity – medium to high exertion, go to the ground on the stomach, and practice slowing the heart rate down while in a paddling position. 
• Practice while paddling the above rhythm in sync with paddling strokes
• Try to exhale when applying Force and inhale in between.
• Relaxation pattern (when waiting for waves, at home, not moving):
• 2:00 total (or longer if you like)
• 2 sec inhale
• 2-sec hold
• 10 sec (or longer) exhale
• Relax into this

NEXT SESSION: Sunday, November 15, 2020. Meet me at 8:00am. Location: The Hook, Santa Cruz. Based on the conditions, it will be somewhere in between us. I'll tell you a few days before or even the night before via text and email. In this session, we'll focus on applying the above techniques to the ocean, on energy conservation, and introducing concepts for the next Pool/Lagoon Session. 

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