Hiking when the Mercury is hot

Sunday was a gorgeous day - still up in the 70s in September!

Finally made it to Almaden Quicksilver Park (yes, their page is hosted on Geocities)

Hike Rating:
6 - scenery
4 - difficulty

Nice drive out past New Almaden - a cute old mining town. All the signs point out that in the 1870s, this was the biggest mercury mine in N. America.

The best parts:

• getting some great glimpses back towards San Jose from the top of the ridge
• seeing the old mining equipment just starting to decay
• reaching the top and looking down back into the canyon

All the way to San Jose

We've started hanging out in San Jose a little bit more often. Not the hottest spot, but some good finds.

I recommend:
Roving Mars - Imax movie at the Tech museum. The images of Mars rendered in full Imax with CGI versions of the rover landing are truly astounding. You almost feel like you are there. The 25-minute prelude about the mission is standard Imax documentary dull though...

Los Cubanos - Cuban restaurant near San Pedro square. The food is outstanding - I had the chicken breast - pounded thin, marinated, and covered with delicious fried onions. The Arroz con Pollo is basically Paella without the pretense. And the sweet plantains on the side are a great touch. Definitely get the soup over salad - the soup is very homemade, the salad is iceberg. The Cuatro Leche for dessert (cake soaked with 4 kinds of milk) is a great topper. And we still have leftovers.

Sometimes you lose, sometimes you get beat... And sometimes it's the refs fault

Ok, I went in very hopeful for the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl, but also pragmatic that the Steelers might pull it out.

Never did I expect to watch a game in which the referees turned the game over to the Steelers. I mean how much did the NFL really want the Steelers to win?

It seemed like pretty much anytime the Seahawks had a good thing going, the refs made a call - from questionable to downright absurd to take the game away from them. Not to say the Steelers didn't make a few good plays, but jeez the Hawks dominated.

Questionable Ref Calls:

• a really short spot on a Mack Strong reception that should have been a first-down
• a holding call on Locklear on a pass to Stevens (caught this time!) down to the 1. Locklear touched the pass rusher twice - but very little holding
• a block-in-the-back on the Seahawks best punt return of the day - the guy who was blocked was very much out of the play

Very questionable ref calls:

• offensive pass interference on Darrell Jackson on his touchdown in the 1st Quarter. He touched the defender and switched directions. Very light and no interference. Not like the defender had a chance with the gaping hole there anyway. Good lord, the ref just didn't want to see the Seahawks score
• actually giving Roethlisberger a TD on his 1-yard attempt. Pretty clear that he was just short of the goal line, but an acting play to put the ball over at the end confused the ref who wanted to give Pittsburgh a TD just for playing.

Absurd ref calls:

• Calling a 15-yard penalty on Matt Hasselbeck on an interception return where he went down low to tackle the returner. How can you call him on a block? That's adding insult to injury!
• Calling a fumble on Hasselbeck when he was down and tackled. At least that was overturned.

All in all, for the first time in 30 years, the Hawks made the Super Bowl. The least the refs could have done was to give them a chance.

Super Bowl eXtra Large - now with Seahawks

After 30 seasons of existence, the Seahawks finally made it to the Super Bowl! And even better, it's Super Bowl XL. I think everyone should call it "Super Bowl eX eL" instead of "Super Bowl 40". Just sounds much cooler that way.

Go Seahawks! I give credit to the Steelers who are also playing well and trounced the AFC, but it's going to take even more to beat a balanced team with Hasselbeck and Alexander.

Seahawks make the Championship!

So it's been 22 years since the Seahawks were last one-game-away-from the Super Bowl. I remember eagerly watching the AFC Championship vs. the Raiders in January 1984 (1983 season). And I remember my special computer program where I could type in each play as it happened and created a whole log of the game.

I'm excited it's happening again and can't wait to see Hasselbeck, Alexander, and the team take it to the Panthers. Go Hawks! Maybe I should pull up the Vic 20 and my old program to see if I can create a new log? Nah, now I just watch the play-by-play GameCast on ESPN.com ...

P.S. Is it just me, or does it still feel strange that the Seahawks are now in the NFC Championship? Just doesn't feel the same when it's not over the Raiders or Broncos.

SBC AT&T - retention matters too!

So, we've been an SBC customer for almost 2 years. Yet somehow, almost every week we keep getting these "amazing" offers to come back to SBC (now AT&T - "Your World. Delivered" - uh, yeah). I mean we're talking like $30/month for DSL, phone, and long distance.

So I finally called and asked for the great rate. They told me since I was already a customer, I was stuck with what I had.

I mean I know all about "introductory pricing" but please please stop rubbing my nose in it. Can't you check your email list and realize I *am* a customer and try to tell me how I can actually save or get those certain Personal Choice features I so desperately need for my phone line?

Otherwise, it's time to keep switching phone companies for a good rate like I do for internet.

It's "Shareware" not "Freeware"

Getting people to pay for software is a real challenge. When's the last time you paid for a piece of software?

Amazing how long it's been since I paid for software. I'm so used to getting great utilities like WinZip, PaintShopPro, and others for free that I forget that real people built these and would at least like to get paid.

At Real, we used to charge for "RealPlayer Plus" - which back in the late 90s, turned out to be a pretty good money-maker. Lots of people were happy to buy this 'upgraded' version - we just gave a few extra features, tech support, and "product ownership". However, at the same, we were seeing a proliferation of free software and free services in the bubble. To keep this cash cow, it got trickier and trickier - making it hard to find the 'free player' link was a game the storefront team seemed to play.

Anyway, it looks like this is coming back. People want to charge for *value* in software, which I think is fair. If you use it, pay for it. I mean we all buy screwdrivers, why wouldn't we buy a file zipper too?

See the article on News.com