To dine on the patio and enjoy a bit of light and heat on colder days, we purchased the Bentley III Outdoor Fire Table by OVE from Costco. It had excellent reviews and was on sale for $599.
The Fire Pit arrived in a large cardboard box but was not very heavy. It was already assembled, so it was easy to install. I added the glass beads and inserted the 1 AAA battery for the lighter.
It came with a fire pit cover and a Natural Gas conversion kit. So far, it's working well.
As I struggled with my consistency and power on my serve, Ryan Reidy from 2minutetennis evaluated my serve (using Zoom) and offered excellent pointers for improvement.
Strategy Video:
Zoom Video with Ryan
Serve Video (Side View)
Serve Video (Rear View)
Serve Placement Strategy
Serve Technique
Singles Strategy
Doubles Strategy
My home's 30-year-old York furnace and air-conditioner were getting old and working ineffectively at cooling the house.
After consulting with David Pogosian and Conrad (two highly regarded contractors), I decided to upgrade my system using the following components:
I connected the Nest Thermostat to Alexa to control the thermostat with voice commands.
On Thursday, June 23, we noticed our air-conditioner was not working well. We contacted David, and he discovered a leak. All of the cooling fluid was gone! He proceeded to work on a repair.
After fixing the leak, the A/C is working much better. Today, on June 24, it was over 90F outside, but our home was at a comfortable 71-74 F.
For Father's Day on June 19, 2022, Inna made dinner reservations at Naschmarkt in Campbell, CA. Naschmarkt is one of my favorite Austrian restaurants, and I was pleased to dine there again.
Inna drove me there in the Tesla Model Y, parking at the First Street Parking Garage on 168 S First Street,
After arriving for our 19:30 dinner, we sat outside and ordered the following items from the menu:
I really enjoyed my Hungarian Beef Goulash. It was exquisitely prepared and very scrumptious!
Inna's Halibut was also quite delicious but not as good as the Weiner Schnitzel.
Inna and I really enjoyed our dinner.
The Schoko Kuchen dessert was so delicious!
I arrived at Coyote Point, San Mateo, at about 2:10pm. After paying the $6.00 park entry fee, I parked my Toyota Sienna minivan near a grassy land strip near the windsurfing launch point.
I wanted to know the size of the sail to rig. The forecast called for 18-24 knots of wind, but actual wind varied from 14-17. I decided to use a more giant sail to ensure adequate power. I rigged an Ezzy Elite 5.7m sail on an Ezzy 430/400 mast. I used my Fanatic 105 STB with a long fin.
When I got on the water at 3:00pm, there were many wing dingers on the water. In fact, it looked like windsurfing was dying, as only 1-2 other windsurfers were remaining. Everyone else was either wing foiling or windsurf foiling.
As I started sailing, I had to adjust to the gustiness of the wind. It was dead one second, and in another, it was blasting 25 knots. I finally got planing on my STB and had a nice long ride. On the way back, I had difficulty water-starting as the wind was gusty. Eventually, I got going quite well.
It was a great start to the season. I sailed for about 90 minutes total and was really tired afterward.
After staying in Arnold, where we enjoyed listening to music on the patio (with the installed Bluetooth Patio Speakers), we decided it would be a great idea to do so in our home.
I researched many available options on wirecutter.com and finally decided on the following possibilities:
I decided to try the Pyle PDWR64BTB due to the favorable reviews on Amazon.com and the relatively low price. I wanted a simple solution without having to bother with a separate waterproof 2-channel power amp like the Pyle Marine Bluetooth Amplifier.
I also ordered the following accessories to mount the Pyle Speakers in my backyard:
Since the speakers are mounted on our wooden fence, about 20 feet apart in my backyard, 20 feet of speaker wire are required (in addition to a speaker wire to the RCA converter). The Kasa Smart Plug turns the Pyle speaker on/off (so it's not always on).
Pyle Outdoor Speaker Review
Highlights
Lowlights
To explore Arnold's beautiful lakes and trails nearby, Inna reserved a charming Mountain Cottage in Blue Lake Springs (using Airbnb). The cottage is located at 1709 Manzanita Drive, Arnold.
Initially, we planned to rent a kayak, but the nearby shop charged about $80/day and required a roof rack to transport the kayak. We decided to order the Explorer k2 Kayak Inflatable Kayak from Amazon.com for $140. It would pay for itself in 2 or more sessions.
We planned to drive on our Tesla Model Y to minimize unnecessary fuel costs, given the high price of gasoline ($7.00/gallon).
Friday, June 10, 2022
In the morning, I woke up and remembered forgetting to charge the Tesla’s battery. I plugged it in immediately, setting it to charge to 90% capacity (it would take 5 hours on our 24A charger).
I showered and went for a stroll around the neighborhood. As the weather promised to be very hot, I decided to skip the tennis ball machine workout (as I played the day before) and use Adobe Lightroom to correct my numerous photos from our recent trip to Boston.
At around 3:00pm, Inna freed up from her work, and we drove to Arnold. This was our first long trip on the Tesla Model Y. I needed some time to get used to driving it. Unlike most cars, the regenerative braking works very well, and I must mostly use the accelerator pedal to accelerate and brake.
The drive to Arnold should typically take about 2.5 hours, but it took us close to 4 hours due to heavy traffic. My Tesla was charged 95% before we left. While on the way to Arnold, we decided to stop by the Tesla Supercharger in Copperopolis (a tiny little village).
When we arrived at 6:05pm, our Tesla Model Y had 49% battery left. I connected it to the Model Y (it was pretty easy), and it started charging immediately. While setting the Tesla, Inna and I played some games (Driving, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Chess). The cost to charge went from 49% to 80% and was $11.75. After 15 minutes, we drove to Arnold, stopping at Dogwood Italian Restaurant for dinner.
We were seated outside after parking our Tesla Model Y nearby and checking in. We looked at the menu and ordered the following:
Since it started to rain off and on, we decided to relax in the cabin, where I continued to read One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General.
Arnold Trip Report
Highlights
Lowlights
I had a free day at work and decided to surf in Capitola. Although Surfline did not report favorable conditions, I wanted to return to surfing this season.
The 40-minute drive from South San Jose to Capitola was smooth, and I arrived at the Hook Parking lot around noon. I parked and put on my wetsuit, booties, and a cheap watch. I waxed my Wavestorm 7' board and attached a leash, heading out to surf.
The waves were 2-3 feet with low tide. There were not too many surfers out, and I paddled to position myself to catch some of the waves. There were very few breaking waves, but I saw one good ride.
It was nice to be back on the ocean, though there was a lot of kelp.
After returning from Boston (where I did not play tennis for May), I resumed my tennis practice at the Almaden Valley Athletic Club (AVAC).
Playing on the club's ball machine, I noticed that my forehand and backhand techniques have deteriorated, and I need additional help to improve them. I scheduled a video lesson with Ryan Reidy (2minutetennis.com) for June 8, 2022, at 18:00.
I used the following video for Ryan's review:
Forehand Side View
Ryan's Forehand Pointers
Ryan's Backhand Pointers
After returning from a ball-machine session at AVAC, Inna and I decided to return to Los Gatos and visit our favorite local patisserie, Fleur de Cocoa. Inna agreed to drive her new Tesla Model Y, and I enjoyed the smooth, quiet ride.
When we arrived, it was pretty busy (with all the inside tables full). We also noticed that most outdoor tables have also been removed. We decided to try eating somewhere else, perhaps at Epernay Bistro, but Inna had an idea to try the newly opened Spanish restaurant nearby.
After walking over to Teleferic Barcelona, we asked to be seated outdoors and were sitting at a lovely table in the shade. Our waiter, Julio, brought out the menus, and we soon ordered the following items:
Inna loved her Sangria Teleferic. It was much better than most sangrias in the U.S. and close to the sangria we tasted in Seville's El Pinton. The Gazpacho Porron was excellent, too, and Inna and I shared it. Next came the tapas; we loved the Chicken Empanadas and Crab Croquetas.
Overall, we had a lovely lunch and hope to return to Teleferic Barcelona soon.
Monday, May 30, 2022
We returned to Cambridge from The Berkshires at about 6:30pm. I parked the car on Harvard Street, and we unloaded our backpacks. I started to sneeze, as Boston had a very high pollen count.
At 7:10pm, Mounisha (our Turo host) arrived to pick up her Honda Civic. I handed off the keys, and Inna and I walked to the nearby Tatte Bakery for our small dinner. The bakery closed at 8:00pm, so we hurried to place our order. I ordered a Chicken Salad sandwich, while Inna selected a Lamb entree with a few small tea cakes for dessert.
When Tatte Bakery was closing, we returned to our apartment, and each took a shower. We were a bit tired and drank some hot tea. The allergies bothered me a lot, and I was sneezing incessantly.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
In the morning, we woke a bit later (due to being tired from our previous day's trip to the Berkshires. I had a very annoying allergy attack going on most of the day. I avoided spending too much time outdoors, where the pollen would be even more potent.
When Inna woke around 9:30am, she dressed, and we walked to our nearby Tatte Bakery for breakfast. We ordered the following breakfast items:
We really enjoyed our sandwiches! The Croissant Breakfast Sandwich was delicious as usual. Unlike most days, Tatte was not overly busy (probably because all the Harvard students had already graduated or departed for the summer).
As I had a lot of meetings, I returned to our 334 Harvard Street Apartment earlier while Inna stayed at Tatte for another half hour.
Inna and I worked most of the day. During the afternoon, our apartment's water was shut off due to some repairs being done, and we could not make any hot tea. Eventually, all of the water was turned back on.
In the evening, for our last dinner in Boston, Inna, Alex, and I decided to eat at Eataly's La Pasta restaurant. Inna made reservations for 7:30pm, and we boarded a Lyft Lexus RX350 to the restaurant. We met up with Alex and sat down for our dinner, ordering the following items:
We really enjoyed our dinner, and I liked my Lasagna. Inna's Capiciosa was also quite delicious! For desserts, we shared two Affogatos, which were also delicious.
It was our last dinner in Boston, and we were sad to say goodbye to Alex, who still had 3 remaining weeks of the Summer I session at Northeastern to complete before flying back to San Jose.
He will be taking Summer II session classes remotely from San Jose.
We took a Lyft car home to our apartment and made hot tea with the last remnants of our Russian cake.
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
I woke at around 7:37am in the morning, showered, shaved, and dressed. I opened the hamper to prepare to do laundry and purchased $5.00 worth of washing machine time (2 loads).
During the night, Inna did not sleep well due to the heat & humidity, and I turned on the air-conditioning, which seemed to help.
We planned to pack all of our suitcases and prepare for our flight from Boston to San Francisco on JetBlue #633 at 6:05pm EST (arriving in SFO at 10:00pm PST).
In the late morning, Inna and I went for our last stroll along the Charles River, noticing the calm water and the absence of students. Usually, many people are jogging along the river, but with the end of the spring semester, Cambridge was a little more empty.
After our walk, we stopped at our favorite Tatte Bakery (which was not busy at all). We ordered the following items:
After a delicious breakfast, I returned to our apartment to unload the dryer. I decided to do laundry on the last day, so we replaced all our clothes cleanly.
We still had some cleaning to do in our apartment, including emptying all the trash and cleaning our dishes.
We ordered a Lyft at 3:40pm, but the driver arrived at about 3:50pm due to traffic. We loaded our suitcases and were taken to Boston's Logan Airport. Once through security, we ordered a few sandwiches and ate them before boarding the plane.
I read most of Mark Browder's Red Notice on the flight back to San Francisco. Here is a short summary:
