Feb 28, 2002

This circle has 22 degrees
It looks like the lunar halo I saw two nights ago isn't all that rare, and my 15° estimate was off by 32%. This whole ring around the moon bit makes me wonder what other kinds of phenomena go on out there that I haven't noticed because I've been too busy sitting in a classroom or in front of a CRT...

For further educational purposes, I didn't in fact see moon dogs as my Walt Whitman wannabe friend suggested (although the halo and paraselenae are related). It's a balmy 15°C outside right now, and that's because it's 19:00.

Feb 26, 2002

Big Sur
We woke up Saturday morning at 08:40, since the Crackhouse (yeah, that's their new name) was supposed to come over at 09:30. Peachy showed up on MSN around 09:15 warning us that they'd be late. I expected 10:00 late, but it ended up being more like 11:00. I should have made breakfast while we were waiting, but I think I ended up being too impatient for that to occur to me.

We took the 101 down to Gilroy, a town famous for its garlic. Even as we pulled up to Burger King for the other guys to grab breakfast, we could catch a hint of the smell in the air. We proceeded down Hwy 152, which proved to be an incredibly curvy drive through mountain forests, with beams of sunlight breaking through the branches as drove through the groves of trees that caressed the sky on both sides of the single-laned road. It's the stereotypical car commercial scenery, the only thing we were missing was the Porsche, but the Camry was good enough since we could fit Billy in the backseat.

As we drove over the mountains, the 152 merged onto the famous seaside Highway 1, and the ominous clouds on the east broke into a clear sky west of the mountains. After about an hour and a half of driving, I caught the 'Garrapta State Park' sign. According to my research this was supposed to be a bunch of turnouts from the highway. But rather than a turnout into a park, it was simply spots on the side of the road. Our first stop was hence rather fruitless, a two minute trail took us to a viewpoint of the sea, but little else.

You call this a state park?

What started rather disappointingly ended up on a brighter note, as a few miles down the river we found a much larger turnout with trails down to a large and empty sandy beach, with five-foot waves crashing against the shore. Not quite the ideal family beach, since the waves made the water much too rough for swimming, but the huge ten foot tall rocks that jutted out from the ocean made it a beautiful sight regardless.

Hey, let's check out that beach!

Careful on the way down...

Hey Shao, how's the water?

We had lunch there at around 13:00, and though I would have liked to spend more time playing in the sand (and I think Billy too), the other guys seemed rather impatient, and we took off to find some wilder hiking trails.

...

Okay, where to next?

A half hour drive later brought us to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (PDF link). It was full of redwoods, with a good number that were fallen in the form of unofficial bridges, and the forest floor was rather dark compared to the brightness of the beach. We decided to hike to the waterfall, along the soft forest path, padded with old leaves.

Man who catch fly with chopsticks accomplish anything



Tag, you're it!

The 'hike' proved extremely unsatisfying, since the 10 minute hike brought us to a waterfall that was unimpressive to say the least. I didn't even remember to take a picture. As a respite, we took the 'Valley View' trail, which was a little bit longer, and ended atop a hill in between two higher mountains, with a view of the Big Sur valley, where the the sea and Hwy 1 were visible in the distance.

Hey guys, check out this view!

At that point Billy was feeling unwell from stuffing himself with regular Lay's, and instead of hiking further, we headed back to the cars. Being 16:30, it was far too early for our 18:00 reservation, but we didn't have anything left on the itinerary. We decided to drive on down Hwy 1, past the Post Ranch Inn where we had dinner reservations, and past the Nepenthe restaurant as well.

Driven.

We spotted two people headed down a gate off the side of the road, and pulled over to explore, while Xun slept in the car. There we found another trail that went down a few hundred vertical feet to the ocean, again the rocky shore with waves crashing in. It was a nice quiet spot, though the trail was well kept. I have no idea what 'state park' it was, or how you're normally supposed to find it, but it was a nice spot. If we ever make the trip again, I think I'd like to spend more time exploring these nooks. We spent a while there enjoying the view before climbing back up to the cars to head for dinner.

Let's go down there...

Looks just as nice from down here.

We got to the Post Ranch Inn around 17:30. It resembled a high class summer camp. The area was left wild and undeveloped, but luxuries, like the lights along the road and the art noveau sculptures along the side of the ponds, were quite apparent. After finding parking in their crowded little lot, and changing into something a little more decent in the car (while the girls went inside to change), we ended up at the restaurant on time for our reservation.



Sierra Mar
Unfortunately, we were a tad late for the sunset, as the pink hue on the horizon showed. The dining room had glass walls facing the ocean, and the view of the sea from the cliff a few hundred feet above the surf was incredibly serene. The four course prix fixe was $73, somewhat higher than expected.

I found this place on the Zagat restaurant guide. It was listed as a 'sleeper', rated higher than both La Folie and French Laundry, so expectations were high. Billy ordered the least expensive bottle from the menu, a 1997 red Languedoc from Chateau de Negly, but I haven't tasted enough wines to critique with any order of accuracy.

The meal started with a salmon amuse-bouche, served with caviar atop a potato blini. The appetizers came together pretty well. The ahi tuna tartare was well dressed, served with fancy potato chips on the side. I took in half the order before I traded it with Billy's pistachio crusted foie gras, since the Lay's sickness he lost in the crisp sea air seemed to be coming back with the melt-in-your-mouth fat. The duck liver was well prepared, lightly seared and buttery. I was surprised that Billy had ordered it, since he was just saying how he disliked it, but I think he would have enjoyed it if he wasn't feeling sick. The fresh Malpeque oysters were served with a well balanced ginger sauce.

Second courses were less appealing, green globules of oil floated atop the crab bisque served in asymmetric bowls. The Waldorff salad was clean but not spectacular. The entrees were also mixed, the roast duck breast with grilled apple steak and green papaya in ginger jus was fantastic, far more appealing than the ordinary New York steak banally served atop a sloppy joe.

Choices for dessert included a chocolate mouse cake that Johnny ordered, served with three candles to commemorate his upcoming birthday, while most of us went with the aromatic oak tree ice cream with ginger cake in apple sauce. Amy ordered a remarkable marshmallow-like poached meringue with kumquat sorbet. The sweetmeats that finished off the meal included dark chocolate truffles, soft chocolate cookies, and small cuplets of custard.

Service was clean, but the included gratuity at 19% seemed steep. However, a step outside the glass doors to the patio at the back of the restaurant, with its telescope, astronomer, and clear night sky made up for it. Stars were clearly visible, and we were shown Jupiter and Saturn, with rings and moons visible, through the telescope. Food and service were not spectacular for the price, but the view, of the ocean and night sky, made the dining experience enjoyable. 4/5

Epilogue
The night air was chill, and we hurried back to our cars after stopping to say goodbye to the grey furball of a cat in the reception area. It was 20:50 as we left the restaurant, but the drive back to San Jose only took an hour and a half. It was the end my best week in recent memory, one of my best weeks ever. It's unfortunate that fleeting moments like these last forever only in your mind. Maybe I should be feeling a longing for more, but my only sense now is that, over the last twenty-some years, I've already had more happiness than any single person should deserve, probably more than most people could imagine. This might sound like it's coming out of nowhere, but if you stripped it all away, the food, the mountains, the sea, the empty beaches, the luxury, the beauty, the pleasure, I realize that this kind of happiness still isn't that which makes life worth living.
Halo
I looked up into the sky earlier tonight, in the clear night sky I saw the blazing full moon, and around it was a great big hazy halo. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it before, but it was pretty funky. Assuming my line of sight to the moon was 0°, the ring was a good 15° away.

Feb 24, 2002

She's gone

my heart has flown away

Feb 21, 2002

Stuffed Silly
The last few days have been a return to relatively relaxed dining, as opposed to the previous week of mad stuffing. The previous Monday, February 11th, Chinese New Year's Eve, was spent scarfing down home-cooked Chinese food at my aunt's house. Fish, shrimp, chicken, and a big Chinese hot-pot of boiling fish-balls, vegetables and assorted goodies.

See Chinese food...
Tuesday night was spent with the UW Crew at The Mayflower Chinese seafood restaurant, with lobster, Peking duck, and steamed fish highlighted a classic chinese dinner. At $25 a head it was more than our usual fare but worth the food, though perhaps not the service. We even had a very New Year's style soup with 'hair fungus' and dried oysters. 3/5

... More Chinese seafood ...
My aunt from Chicago visited on Friday the 15th, so I was invited to dinner at the uncreatively named ABC Chinese seafood restaurant. The restaurant fit the typical Chinese seafood restaurant profile, although the menu offered eclectic delicacies not common elsewhere. Highlights were a slightly fishy, but sweet and crisp geoduck sashimi, and an extravagant 9 lb. Australian 'Emperor' crab. The crab was excellent, as meaty as a lobster tail and even more succulent. Even the red bean dessert was good. 4/5

... and yet more Chinese seafood
It's great when relatives treat you to excellent dinners, and even better when it repeats. Saturday's restaurant, was more typically designated in the same Chinese seafood style as Dynasty Chinese seafood restaurant. The place had more of a Toronto or Hong Kong feel to it as we had a large table in a private room. I lost count of the the courses, though it started off with a mixed platter (jellyfish, duck, suckling pig and other goodies), and proceeded to various dishes including a dish with 'hair fungus', braised dried scallops and dried oysters, shark fin soup, steamed fish, lobster, and sticky rice. The papaya dessert ended off the meal very nicely. 3.5/5

Vietnamese in America
February 18th finally arrived on Sunday, and it brought Amy with it that afternoon. I picked her up after church and we lunched in the city, at the popular and chic Slanted Door vietnamese restaurant. Not your typical Pho place, dinners tend to require reservations, although the two of us were seated immediately at the bar for lunch. The service from the bartender was the best kind: quick, clean, and courteous. The vietnamese shrimp rolls and the crispy crepe appetizers were both excellent. I don't recall ever having bean sprouts as good as the ones in the crepe. The fried noodle with sea bass included bits of fish and seafood in a sauce that was a bit heavy on the salt. All were nicely presented in very westernised fusion display. A relatively light lunch for two came to $12 each. 3.5/5

Classically French
Monday was spent touring the city, and the evening was spent at one of San Francisco's fancier French restaurants, La Folie. The small, jester themed dining room was rather closely packed and more business than romantic, although curiously the tablecloths were carefully draped all the way to the floor. The menu was very traditionally French with very few signs of Californian fusion influences, with caviar, truffles, and foie gras starring in multiple appearances. The serving staff was polite, yet as mechanical as the marionettes that decorated the walls, delivering a well-practiced but graceless proposition to add truffles and caviar to our meal, which we passed on. The food however, spoke for itself.

A complimentery oyster appetizer was a happy surprised, perfectly served on seaweed, topped with some sort of cucumber sorbet and fish roe, without a hint of any seafood fishiness. The duck and oxtail consomme with a foie gras flan was served beautifully, as was butternut squash soup with (a single) duck ravioli. In the playful theme of the restaurant, both soups are served in covered bowls, as the lid comes off, the later appears as a single ravioli in the center of an empty bowl, the iconic French dining experience until the soup is poured in. The goat cheese tatin was a very tasty salad., but the albacore and lobster duo which was tuna tartare with a shelled lobster salad on the side was extravagant.

The 'loup de Mer', a seared Mediterreanean sea bass was a smaller fish than I expected, not the usual flaky and buttery type, but still a fat fish that was cleanly prepared in its crispily seared skin. Not particularly notable but a reasonable addition for the five course dinner. The salmon was better, though still simply prepared. However, the evening special was an epitomy of epicurean cuisine, a perfect medium rare filet mignon topped with foie gras in a truffle Madeira wine sauce.

Desserts were well prepared though not spectacular. An assortment of fruit sorbets, and a sugared puff pastry with dark chocolate in Grand Marnier sauce presented a clean finish to a fine dinner. As usual quality comes with a price. The four course prix fixe rang in at $75, and an additional entree makes a five course meal for $85. Even after the bill, I found myself well satisfied as the chef and owner, Roland Passot, greeted us on the way out. 4.5/5

Feb 16, 2002

War Movies
If you like grim war movies, go see Black Hawk Down. Not particularly plot intensive, but keeps you on the edge of your seat for two hours. 4.5/5

What have I been wasting my time with recently? Classic Calvin & Hobbes. It's funny, I used to identify with Calvin, but now I find the parents amusing too. Way scary thought.

Feb 13, 2002

Time well wasted?
Do any other developers out there find themselves with nothing to do for ten minutes while doing a large recompile? Is there a better use of this time other than blogging?

It's been warm here this past week, at least warm enough to go swimming in an outdoor pool (not that I swim). A far cry from that week earlier in January where it was colder here than in Toronto. I'm really getting used to the weather here, if not everything else. The only recent peeve is the damn ant infestation in my washroom, but the exterminators are coming tomorrow.

Here's some reading material I've collected in the past while for comic fans and for asian lifestyle afficianados.

Feb 12, 2002

Money Money Money
When I was younger I used to believe in Capitalism. Like you work hard, earn a good life for yourself. You reap what you sow. It seemed fair and reasonable, the way the world should run. But live a little longer, and see a little more, and you begin to realize that capitalism is merely a utopian dream: the world simply doesn't work this way. The winner of the race isn't necessarily the one who trained the hardest, sometimes it's the one born with an unfair advantage, other times it's the schemer, and sometimes it's just the one who lucked out. Some people are born inches away from the finish line of a comfortable, successful life, while others have a marathon before them, and yet to others that finish line is but a dream.

So perhaps socialism is the way to go. Let the government act as a social equalizer, a monolithic Robin Hood, taking money from the rich folk and sharing it with the poor. But again, there's a sense of injustice, for as much as Robin Hood was a hero he was also a theif. And few people in society feel that the government is justified in taking their money and supporting lazy ass slackers with it. What's the point of working hard anymore, if the government will support you regardless?

I think it's rare to find anyone who thinks that the government has properly earned their taxes. Whereas most people will think that many large corporations earn their revenue (though not necessarily fairly). With their deep pockets, large corporations have more financial clout than small countries, and yet unlike a government, most corporations see little responsibility to their own communities, let alone the global community. It seems depressing sometimes that the plight of the unfortunate needs celebrity endorsement before anyone will notice.

Aristotle suggested that the purpose of government is to promote good lives. I suspect that a political science education may imbue a sense of ethical responsibility, a business education focuses primarily on corporate and personal gain. Even when businesses can rival governments in the ability to balance unfortune in a society. Afterall, most people are happy to give their money to competitive companies.

I was pondering these useless ponderings (especially useless when one is an engineer) when I chanced across two articles that seemed to show humanity in a slightly warmer light. There are people who seem to believe that social responsibility is more than simply paying your taxes. And it's somewhat heartening to see that Bill Gates thinks so too.

But sometimes I really wonder, since supporting the poor, giving them education and health, only serves to create a new demographic of consumers.

Feb 5, 2002

Time Flies
Two weeks fly by quick. Seems like a lot has changed since my last post, although it's probably more my perception than anything else. Last time I went to see a movie in the theater my housemate was still around. Now I'm in an apartment on my own, entertained by my recent netflix subscription. Speaking of Netflix, I think I've gone through seven movies in the last week and a half.

Bone Collector 3.5/5
Proof of Life 3.5/5
The Score 3/5
American Pie 2 3/5
Tomb Raider 2.5/5
American Pie 2/5
The Fast and the Furious 1.5/5

Also tried out Straits Cafe before my housemate took off for Toronto. Fancy Indonesian food, that didn't live up to expectations, although Sandy claims it's because we didn't order the crab.
2.5/5

I'm gonna try to get good at two things... playing the violin and snowboarding (you need Quicktime to view the movie clips).