@schahnWe went on the Marine Science Institute‘s cruise today, which was in part to celebrate World Oceans Day 2010. Part of the cruise involved sampling the bay floor and a short trawl with a net. (All animals caught are returned to the bay later in the day.) Ben got to hold a juvenile leopard shark.
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This morning, the pipe segments began to arrive for the section of Bay Division Pipeline No. 5 nearest us. The pipes are a distinct dark blue-green, with the ends capped with paper.
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They assembled this machine this week, but haven’t fired it up. The pipeline runs right behind our property, so I expect we’ll hear the crunching of treads and a large motor (or more than one) fire up early in the morning soon. When you’re digging a miles-long trench, there’s a clear axis of work. And [...]
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There are a couple of major construction projects in Redwood City. On El Camino Real, the block between Broadway and Brewster is being updated, as part of the multi-county Grand Boulevard project. This excavator was standing sentry on the Broadway end. Closer to our house, a new high-pressure water line–part of the Hetch Hetchy system [...]
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We got to this year’s Maker Faire fairly early, and saw the many cool things people have built. (It was our first Maker Faire, and we underestimated the event’s popularity.) Benjamin, who’s recently become an enthusiastic chess player, got to face off against the chess playing robot: Ben attempted a Scholar’s Mate, was stymied, and [...]
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I think we’ve had two evenings with short snow—without accumulation—and one significant hailstorm—with accumulation—in eleven years here. Intriguing.
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For the Thanksgiving holiday this year, we decided to explore San Mateo County’s section of the Pacific Coast. Dina settled on Butano State Park as our base, which is mostly made of a redwoods-forested canyon, south of Pescadero and on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. We arrived in the late afternoon, having [...]
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It’s past ten o’clock in the evening, but it’s still 88°F—31°C—and there’s little to no wind. That means the back office is a little too hot to be comfortable…
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I’ve been wrapping up our tax returns, running reviews and reviewing an actual paper copy. One document (well, two) that I couldn’t find were the bills from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for the car registrations. But I was very pleased to find that they have an online retrieval system to help you find [...]
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Bloglines again suggests the week is shaping up wetly:
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Courtesy of bloglines.com: It doesn’t look like I’ll be packing away the downspout extensions or the portable sump anytime soon…
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Most Saturdays, Dina and Benjamin head off to swimming lessons. Nathaniel and I are left to our own devices, which means we go for one of two kinds of walk: a walking walk, where Nathaniel walks, and a seeing walk, where Nathaniel gets pushed. This week, Nathaniel expressed that he wanted to see trains on [...]
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Nathaniel has keen vision; we often see mourning doves on the power and telephone lines that pass by the front of our house and he is happy to point them out. And occasionally, a raucous crow will perch in one of the nearby trees or atop a pole shouldering the local lines. But a couple [...]
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Ben and I biked to GeoKids and then I carried on to the Menlo Park campus yesterday, perhaps in honour of Canada Day. Ben was pretty happy for the first few miles, but I suspect was bored by the time we made it to downtown Menlo. (Google Maps has the distance at about 5 1/2 [...]
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When we’re not looking at the fast cars, we notice other changes on our drive between Redwood City and Menlo Park. Based on coverage in the San Mateo Daily Journal, it looks like one of the independent groceries in Redwood City closed in April—confirmed by the empty parking lot just off the intersection of Fifth [...]
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I’ve noticed that my driving habits have changed since I found out that the ugly building on El Camino in Redwood City was going to be a Ferrari Maserati dealership. Even during the construction phase, I found myself driving in the slow lane and hoping for a long red light.
I strained my back last Thursday which showed that, while my basketball reflexes return, they do so to an older body. On the drive home, I watched a grey squirrel fall out of a tree—perhaps a twenty foot drop—and kept the car still as it limped to the grassy sward nearby. My weekend was spent [...]
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The semi-official election results for San Mateo Country have been posted. For the two elections we were watching at blueslugs.com: In the county, Ira Ruskin (D) [37,877] defeated Steve Poizner (R) [29,833]. This margin is substantially narrower than other state or national elections in San Mateo County. These results need to be added with the [...]
There is also apparently questionable telemarketing behaviour associated with the pro-Q side. And jra links to another no-on-Q blog, which describes a reaction to the “real pictures” mailing similar to my own. (I’m a little puzzled why none of these blogs are popping up on Google yet.)
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The other day, I noted some interesting politics in Redwood City/San Mateo County. The Economist isn’t covering this race, but is covering the U. S. Senate race in Oklahoma, and that the total spending there has been 3.8 M$. So the Poizner–Ruskin state assembly race in California and a Senate race in Oklahoma match up [...]
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Although the major political news stories surround the U. S. Presidential Election, we’re having an exciting time in Redwood City, with the Poizner–Ruskin race for Assembly and the contest over Measure Q, which would approve the proposed Marina Shores Village along San Francisco Bay. Not being a citizen, I can’t vote. Moreover, I’m probably hopelessly [...]
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Based on the construction and openings going on, I suspect Redwood City must have crossed some critical threshold in terms of average income or population. We’ve gone from one Starbucks and one Starbucks counter (at Safeway) to three standalone stores and two counters (one in Target). (I suspect that there’s a law of Starbucks to [...]
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Had a brief moment of suburban excitement: Dina, Nathaniel, and I were on our way to an afternoon appointment when our driver’s side rear tire blew out. On the soon-to-be-five-lanes-wide U.S. 101 South, in East Palo Alto. Busy. Nathaniel will turn a week old soon, so he wasn’t much going to be much help; Dina [...]
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We recently uprooted our home office, transplanting it from a bedroom in the front house to the room attached to our garage. With the garage building at the back of the lot, I now have a clear view of the yard. Tonight the sensor lights tripped and I had a good staring exchange with a [...]
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