A Night at the Movies

I try to never recommend movies. They are too contemporary when compared to books. Not every summer blockbuster can be enjoyed several years later, and the contemporary jokes and culture references lose context and turn blank with time.

I don't really like going to the movies anymore. I have more control when watching a film on my home theater system, or my laptop; no one talks on the phone next to me; and I can stop and continue watching next week (just like books, I'm currently in the midst of at least 3 films).

But some films deserve/demand a wide screen and a good sound system
Also, my non-linear film habits tend to take the edge out of every film (you can't be scared if you just pause in the middle of the action). Plus, crowd responses can sometimes be fun (who are they clapping to at the end of the film?)

Yesterday, I've decided to watch Iron Man on its opening night. If I do go to see a movie, it's at the AMC Mercado in Santa Clara (near Yahoo, right by EMC - these guys can just watch one during their lunch break ).

I planned to take a late show (11:20pm on a Friday) to avoid the crowds, but completely forgot I live in Silicon Valley ( == geeksville). All shows - and it was showing on 5 screens at same time - were sold out. Still, by a stroke of luck, I got a parking spot right in the front, and a ticket.

The theater was full to the brim with the usual Valley sci-fi movie goers: programmers, Indians, Israelis, Chinese etc. All the preview trailers were for other sci-fi movies coming this summer (The Hulk, Indiana Jones, Narnia, The Spirit etc.). No mushy dramas or chick-flicks here.

And then, all of a sudden, the trailer to Mike Mayers' Love Guru. At first, I was afraid it would offend some of the crowd, but the Indian guys started laughing out loud. It was followed by the trailer to Adam Sandler's "You don't mess with the Zohan" - and now it was the Israelis' turn to bust a gut laughing.

I do recommend Iron Man as a good way to pass the time. It has the perfect mix of good adaptation, good acting (except for the done-before-tired bad guy) and great effects. As a comic-book-based movie, it's certainly one of the better ones. Here's a link to the trailers.

If (and only if) you are a comic book geek (like me), stick around. After all the end titles, there's a 30-seconds sequence bringing back a familiar character.

Don't Mess with Texas

I love California, but the tax rate is preposterous. And since my lease is up for renewal (and my landlord raised the rent again - 3rd time in 2 years!), I decided it was good time to look for alternatives. As you may or may not know, state tax differs from state to state in the US, and some states actually have 0% tax rate.

My modus operandi is simple: use my weekends to visit different cities in the US, touring the area and getting some apartments' data.

I've used a trip to Raleigh to get a long weekend in Atlanta, GA. I spent some time with friends and some time surveying some very nice properties. I collected the data and moved on to my next target: it was time to mess with Texas.

I've used a business trip to Dallas to start my trip. Driving south on I35 toward Austin, I stopped at Waco for refreshments (I've only heard of that place before in relationship to crazy cults) and then at Georgetown. I visited an amazing complex, located at a bend in the San Gabriel river - very nice, convenient and affordable - but too far from an airport.

I continued to Austin. I stayed at the university area and started visiting apartment complexes.

Situated in a hilly are, Austin is an amazing city, with rolling hills, rivers and nice urban areas. I still think of some of the places I've seen. The view from some of those is amazing. Another one, called "The Domain", is situated in the midst of an open-air mall. Very modern and comfortable.

From Austin I continued to Houston, and from there I flew home. I intend to visit several other places (Washington state is next on my list) before rendering my final decision.

As always, I suffer from the too-many-options syndrome. To read more about that look no further than this week's recommendation.

I'd like to recommend Barry Schwartz's book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less.
The book describes the common problem we all suffer from. Starting in the mid 20th century, we all started having way too many options (from dozens of types of cereal in the supermarket, to job opportunities, to states or even countries, we can work and live in). The writer does his best to explain the root cause of the problem and suggest several solutions.

You can find a link in the Amazon Widget.

Yosemite Park - Day 2

• A link to the first part of the trip
• A link to the pictures I took at Yosemite park

I woke up early and drove to Badger Pass. The route is amazingly beautiful, first going down to the valley and then snaking up the mountain again.

There are several vista points and a mile long tunnel through the rocks. Badger Pass is a ski resort and it was full of skiers and snowboarders, even at 9am.

At the ranger station we met Ranger Dick (don't look at me - that's how he introduced himself), who appointed me to collect a $5 non-mandatory donation from the crowd (everyone paid, although I think most thought it was a price, not a donation).

We each got a pair of snowshoes and a short explanation of how to lace them up. The walk is quite strenuous and is entirely on a slope. Be sure to bring with you sunglasses - the glare from the snow, especially on a sunny day, can be blinding (you get close to 180% sunlight).

I found out again how out of shape I am, and was quite happy I missed the moonlight walk - imagine the same trip at night, where if you drop back, you get stranded in the snow. The funny thing was that despite the mountains of snow and ice around us, everyone were hot. So make sure you wear layers.

I proceeded down the mountain and had some lunch at the village. From there to the Yosemite Lodge, where I took a tour around the main attractions of the park.
I recommend it if you want to see all the highlights and snap some pics in a limited amount of time.

Over the last 2 days I found myself stopping at the side of the road, looking up and inhaling deeply. This park is one of the greatest manifestations of nature I've seen since visiting the Canadian Rockys. I highly recommend it.

Yosemite Park - Day 1

• A link to the second part of the trip
• A link to the pictures I took at Yosemite park

I've decided to use the long weekend ("Good Friday") and get my lazy ass out of the house.

Yosemite park is one of those "must visit" points, and Google Maps showed it was just 170 miles away, so I hit the road.

I intended to follow the GMaps instructions, but my GPS tried pulling me in different directions. It also kept crashing ("uncaught Java exception" - whatever happened to exception handling?) and finally, I took a wrong turn somewhere and when it rebooted, it dragged me an extra 50 miles. And after it served me so well in Quebec...

I got to the Cedar Lodge at El Portal on CA-140, 8 miles outside of the western entrance to the park. The place is nice and clean. On the off season (before May) you could get a room for $79 a night. But since I decided a day in advance and it being a holiday weekend, it came up to $143 a night. I was upgraded to a room with a huge 4 poster bed and a jacuzzi. The building has an indoor pool. I recommend it highly, unless you can book any of the hotels inside the park.

While this time of year is considered off season, with some of the main roads and attractions closed due to snow and avalanches, I lucked into a wonderful clear weather that permitted clear views of the peaks, valleys and waterfalls.

The Drive from the lodge to the park is short and scenic. The Merced river snakes along the road, tall trees shade it, and above them the high cliffs of Yosemite make you feel insignificant. I managed to see Bridalveil fall (short walk from the road - 0.4 miles each way). You can get up close to the fall and get mystified (and by that I mean, get wet by the mist thrown off it).

From there I continued to Yosemite village. Here you can visit the visitors' center, shop at the store, eat a good sandwich at Deegnan's Deli (try the hot roast beef) and visit the Ansel Adams museum. At the Yosemite Lodge (10 minutes walk from the village center) you can register for several guided tours and activities. I registered for a valley floor tour and a snowshoe walk (missed the moonlight walk by 20 minutes - lucky me as I found out later) and returned to the lodge.

Couple of good-to-know facts:

• Dining options up the mountain are limited. The lodge has a restaurant (5 out of 10) and so does the neighboring lodge. Other options are in the park, or at the bottom of the mountain (20 miles drive which is not fun at night).
• There's no cell reception anywhere on the mountain (that also means that wireless cards don't work - so no internet for 3 days. Probably a good thing :)). The only place around with cell reception is in the village (for the benefit of the rangers who live there). If you get a flat tire, stand by the side of the road and hope someone pulls over.
• Something I read before but forgot and paid for - fuel on the mountain is extremely expensive. The difference between Mariposa and El Portal is $1-1.20 per gallon.
• Expect road delays of up to 30 minutes in some of the park roads. Some are caused by construction, carried out all over the park, and causing some road sections to be reduced to a single lane. Some are caused by traffic jams. And some by Bambi jams. These happen when someone spots a deer and everyone stop helter-skelter to take photos. The deer are very trusting and are used to humans and will allow you to step up and take your shot (which is very sad for the deer, 'cause come hunting season, you can just step up to it, put your gun to its head, and turn a Bambi jam into a Bambi bam).

Read about my second day at the park here. And a serious question: can someone please explain why I had no GPS reception anywhere on the mountain, yet my XM radio worked relatively well (some hiccups in certain areas). Don't both technologies use satellites?

Back on Track

I haven't written in my blog regularly for a while now.

It was an unfortunate combination of extreme case of travelitis, some personal problems, some family health issues and - just to top it off nicely - some problems at work.

Well, most of the health problems are solved, my dentist is about to become a tad richer, I'm resting off my jet lag, and since it's Sunday - work problems are non relevant .

Following this post are:

• 2 Yosemite Park posts (first and second parts)
• A Texas trip report
• A Technology digest