Another weekend rolls by and nothing happened. You went to work, did your homework and sat at home doing the bare minimum with your friends. Here’s an idea, hit up 300 San Jose (located at 5240 Thornwood Dr. in San Jose near Oakridge Mall) for a night of fun and games without the ridiculous Dave & Buster prices.

300 is an entertainment center that focuses on the young adult by providing cheap bowling, pool and a pretty substantial bar and grill. Each lane has comfortable leather seating and club style lighting. The bowling drops to $3.50 per game, after 9:00pm Sunday – Thursday, and there is a 10:00pm curfew for unaccompanied minors, creating a more college friendly atmosphere. Happy Hour, from 4pm – 6pm Monday – Friday, offers $3 domestic drafts and well drinks.

300 has several big screen televisions showing sporting events, music videos, etc and the bar section has excellent lounge style seating if you just want to sit and laugh with your friends. It’s an all around place for the young adult looking to relax and have some fun.

For additional information on 300 San Jose visit www.threehundred.com

Marlon Maloney

- Online Content Editor

            SJSU students more than likely realized early on that it’s situated right in the heart of the downtown area. All within walking distance of campus, students can break from the sobriety of class work—tests, papers, annoying teachers and occupy themselves with a little fun.

            Located just blocks away on Market St. is the San Jose Museum of Art. If you need some quit time, this is definitely the place to visit. Full of contemporary and modern art, the museum currently has Ansel Adams’ work on display, photography depicting a naturalist state of mind, which is actually kind of ideal considering the closest thing to nature in the area is the ivy overgrowth stretched across the side of the building.

            The downtown night-life has its high points as well. One of my favorite places to go is the Loft on 2^nd St. It’s a bar and a bistro—meaning you can get absolutely tossed and then order some food without ever having to worry about arguing with your drunk friends as to who wants to eat where. Both the first and second floors have a bar area, and the music, for the most part is pretty varied.

            There’s so much to do around campus, and these are just a few of the things I like to do when school drives me crazy. Students should take advantage of the close proximity of campus. There’s no reason why we can’t make the best of semester long redundancy.

Angelo Scrofani

- Student Voices Editor

PRIMERA PARTE: ROAD TRIP

Todo empezó con un buen road trip desde LA hasta Frisco, por la ruta 101 de la costa en compañía de buenos amigos y fue tan maravilloso el viaje que porque no escribir sobre esto.  Esta es una pequeña guía de lo que experimentamos y conocimos estos manneaticos y yo, espero la disfruten y les sea útil.

Everything started with a good road trip from LA to Frisco driving the 101 route in the company of good friends and it was so great that i decided to write about it. This is a little guide of what we experience… hope it’s useful and hope  you like it.

Primera Parada.. un viñedo es un must si vas por la carretera… acá uno dos tres especializado en Pinot  Noir.

First Stop… you must stop at any winery by the road… this one was from a Pinot Noir family, mmm so so.

San Luis Obispo. No puedes dejar de conocer el Madonna Inn una maravilla kitsch en medio de la carretera…  hotel de lujo con cuartos temáticos y un restaurante rosa, Madonna Inn Steak House y la mejor pastelería del condado sin duda alguna. : http://www.madonnainn.com/

San Luis Obispo. You must get to know this awesome kitsch place in the middle of the highway, it’s called Madonna Inn and have the best Steak House and the most eccentric cakes i ever seen.

Gorda By The Sea en (805) 927-4600 Hwy 1 Big Sur, CA 93920.   Aunque es una carretera que va derecho derecho, les recomiendo hacer una parada en este lugar   a comer una gran pero gran chocolate  chip cookie, ver ballenas y  arañas gigantes. Buena parada para  esperar que pase la neblina.

Gorda By The Sea. The highway  mostly goes straight, but you need to stop at this place before the fog leave you blindfolded, so  have a nice cappuccino and a big chocolate chip cookie. You can also watch whales or very big spiders.

Big Sur Inn.   El mejor lugar para hacer una parada y pasar la noche. http://www.deetjens.com/ los cuartos son cabañitas y hay un gato muy amigable que puede dormir contigo. El baño es de lo mejor que he visto con una bañera para enanos.  No pueden perderse del desayuno INCREIBLE, especialidad…huevos benedictinos y homemade hotcakes y scones.. una delicia. Ahora se porque Jack kerouac le dedico todo un libro…

Big Sur Inn. the best place for bed and breakfast. Its a lovely cabin with a very friendly cat that can keep you company.  The bathroom has a bathtub that looks like  a dwarf  could sleep in it, but best of all is the homemade breakfast: benedictine eggs and fresh hotcakes and scones.  Now i know why Jack Kerouac wrote a book about Big Sur

Paisajismo hacia Frisco:  San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey…. sea, sea, sea

Manneatic landscapes: San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey.

Next stop: San Francisco!!!

For those of you who just can’t get enough colorful squiggly lines on graphs we thought that we would just post this new data. It seems as though the continuing trend in Santa Clara County remains more pending sales and less actives ones, and that includes condos as well as single family homes. All those buyers (and investors) and buyers agents must be wondering where are all those “shadow foreclosures” when the buyers need them?

(Click on graph for larger image)

*Jakarta Globe, 25 November 2009

Strangers. The word tends to have an ominous cloud hanging over it. But in the beginning, everyone is a stranger, an unknown quantity — even the people who become our friends.

As a journalist, chatting to random people comes with the job. It’s a prerequisite, in fact.

The other day, I struck up a conversation with two middle-aged men watching a salsa class in San Francisco. They were from Guatemala. After conversing about dancing and being immigrants, the portlier of the pair said, “You’re very open. Most women here don’t normally speak to strange men.” What a pity, I thought, because those women missed out on meeting these two who, with twinkles in their eyes, taught me a little about their country.

I like strangers. They are a novelty with their different points of view and stories.

But like the Guatemalan said, trust in this day and age is hard to come by. After all, if colleagues can backstab you, friends betray you and spouses more likely than not cheat on you, then who’s to say the strangers you befriend aren’t liable to harm you?

Traveling in unfamiliar territory, everyone I meet is a stranger — a possible threat or friend. So as a solo traveler, I try to be more cautious. But on any journey, nothing quite goes as intended. In my experience, strangers have enhanced my travels and, more often than not, come to my rescue.

As a foolish youth driving solo across England and Ireland, I managed to get my car wedged in a ditch. There, surrounded by dense fog, past midnight, in the countryside somewhere between Dublin and Galway, I sat in the dark waiting for help. Eventually, I flagged down two men on their way home from the pub. Unfortunately, due to the substantial amount of Guinness in their system, their car ended up in the same ditch as mine. It was only after the pub closed and the rest of the inebriated villagers came our way that we were saved.

This time my story began when a 5,000-pound steel cable snapped off the San Francisco Bay Bridge, causing it to close for a few days. Due to the bridge closure, Amtrak canceled its buses, which I needed to connect to a southbound train, leaving me stranded in the city. Amtrak did leave a note on the bus stop sign. Catch the train in San Jose, it read. Nothing else.

I went to the local subway station to find a train bound for San Jose. A kind attendant informed me that the southbound Amtrak would leave the next morning. “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” he said. At the train station, naturally. Unfortunately, the stations close at night, was his reply.

Lack of lodgings was the least of my worries. My mission was to catch my train to San Diego. The route I had to take was simple: a Bay Area Rapid Transit train from San Francisco to Millbrae followed by a Caltrain to San Jose where I was to wait for an Amtrak bus to Santa Barbara, and finally a train to San Diego.

Zipping down to Millbrae, I was slightly apprehensive. Was San Jose the right place to catch up with my wayward Amtrak transportation? Midnight was closing in fast. I turned to the elderly couple behind me and asked if they knew where I could catch the Amtrak train to San Diego. Their names were Bill and Roseanne, and they were on their way home from watching the musical “Wicked” in San Francisco. There were no trains till tomorrow. Again came the question: “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?” “No,” I replied.

Before alighting in Millbrae, Bill turned and said, “You can sleep on our couch tonight.” And with those words, the kind pair saved me from spending the night outside of the San Jose station.

So I hopped into their car and we drove to their home in Belmont. It was a quaint old house with a porch, the random passing deer or raccoon in their yard, a kitchen with flowery wallpaper and a brown-and-white Papillon dog called Mickey.

When Bill discovered my budding love for riding long-distance trains, he took me to his basement. On a wall a sticker read: “My wife says if I buy one more train she’ll leave me. Gee, I’ll miss her.” Bill is a railway aficionado.

He had spent the last 41 years turning the basement into a miniature country of undulating mountain peaks, canyons, clouds and cities connected by railways tracks and trains of all shapes and colors. We talked of trains till well past the witching hour.

It wasn’t until I was snugly settled on their couch that a thought crossed my mind — what if they were a couple of elderly serial killers? Laughable misgivings that dawned too late and completely unwarranted for the kind couple shepherded me onto a train headed for San Jose the next morning.

A friend of mine once asked what it feels like to befriend strangers. I had answered: happy. Looking back, I’ve changed my mind. My answer now? Grateful.

Take one a day and you will KNOXX out all your opponents!

The iMD alleycat race and grand opening took place yesterday. It was probably one of the more eventful Saturdays that I’ve had in recent memory.

Photo by Trangalang

Trangalang took this picture of me before the race. He said that I was “carbo loading” before the race; stuffing my piehole with pizza and surrounded by balloons while sitting by myself. Sounds exactly like one of my birthday parties. Suc.

Riding the 50 some odd miles was c*ck brutal; I had a hard time keeping up with my pard’ners Darin and Matt. I remember shouting some pretty absurd obscenities the entire time. Suc this and suc that.

Photo by Anna Marie

It was all worth it because at the end of the race we were greeted by a table full of delicious food fit for a hobo. $5 buc suc pizza from Little Caesar’s, Natty Ice kegs, and $2 buc suc wine. Then Mark had to ruin it by ordering 7 gourmet courses of catered vegetarian food from Tofoo Com Chay. Haha.

One of the best moments of the night was when I heard my number called for the raffle. I was overcome with joy. My prize: the Macaframa DVD, which I have long coveted, but could not afford on my hobo budget.

I think the camaraderie between new and old friends from racing and mingling with friends afterward was the best part; after winning the Macaframa DVD of course. Just look at my facial expressions. Yes, I am very self-involved.

Photo by trangalang

Photo by Birdman

Photo by Birdman

Thanks to Mark, Anna, JP and everyone else for putting this one on.

Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson will face interim champion Gilbert Melendez in a five-round rematch at Strikeforce “Evolution” on Dec. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

The bout, which will unify the promotion’s two lightweight titles, had been twice scheduled and cancelled due to injuries sustained by Thomson in 2009.

Thomson’s shutout decision over Melendez in June 2008 is considered one of the high points of the San Jose fighter’s career.

As a 3-to-1 underdog, the American Kickboxing Academy product established confidence with the Pride Bushido star early, and actively used lateral movement to keep Melendez at bay throughout the 25 minutes. The loss marked only the second in the highly touted Melendez’s career, and solidified what many suspected of the Thomson’s potential in the lightweight division.

In his last performance in September 2008, Thomson, 31, made quick work out of an overmatched Ashe Bowman in a non-title bout, cutting down the Lion’s Den prospect in only 74 seconds at Strikeforce’s second event at the Playboy Mansion.

Melendez earned the interim title with a second-round technical knockout of Rodrigo Damm in April 2009. The voracious 27-year-old wrestler defended the title in August when he demolished Mitsuhiro Ishida with strikes inside three rounds. Melendez also holds key victories over standouts Clay Guida and Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Thomson-Melendez II joins a previously announced roster that includes a main-event middleweight bout between Cung Le and Scott Smith, as well as the promotional debut of Muhammed Lawal against Mike Whitehead at heavyweight.

Strikeforce “Evolution” will be broadcast live on Showtime.

Quite the methodical win for the Sharks as they defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-2. The Sharks are two-for-two against Anaheim this season, and while this game wasn’t as dominating as the first, the result was the same: a win. Also remember this is the second time San Jose beat Anaheim at Anaheim.

It was KISS night in Anaheim. I can’t think of a stupider promotion. I was forcefed two makeup artists during the Ducks broadcast. I will say the makeup was more fun to look at than listening to the commentators.

There wasn’t anything flashy about this game; it was all hard work and determination. Both teams made mistakes — of course a few Sharks giveaways in their own zone stick out to me. But I’ve come to expect that, unfortunately, from the Sharks.

Douglas Murray was bad tonight. Don’t let the +1 rating fool you. He had so many giveaways and positioning errors — one of them led directly to a goal ten seconds later. He also took a penalty late in the second period, and the Ducks converted 11 seconds later. Dan Boyle was just a step behind tonight and couldn’t cover for Murray’s mistakes.

Frazer McLaren and George Parros get busy. (From SJSHARKS.com)

Things were frisky early with a quick fight out of the gates: Frazer McLaren vs. George Parros. Frazer won the first half of the fight, and Parros won the second half. Draw. Good to see Frazer making an impact with such a minute amount of ice time.

It looked to be another boring, close game after a scoreless first period. But the red lights were tiring out from four goals in the second. Ryane Clowe got on the board with a shot from the point. It’s his second straight goal from the point. Not the place you usually see him scoring from, but hey, whatever works.

Dany Heatley scored to keep his title of goal-scoring leader (18). It came off a Joe Thornton shot and rebound. I don’t think Anaheim was expecting Joe to shoot after his passes last game. That’s probably why the play worked.

But Anaheim hung in there, leaving the second period tied at 2-2.

The third period resembled the first, and I started getting deja vu; the game looked a lot like the playoff series between these two from last year. The difference? The Sharks were the ones who willed a goal out of themselves. Heater played passer and found Thornton coming up the side. Jumbo pocketed the puck perfectly to the far side to put the Sharks up for good.

People questioned coach Todd McClellan’s move to keep Evgeni Nabokov in goal for back-to-back games. He didn’t look as sharp as he usually does, but he was competent enough to earn the W. He’ll get a long rest because the Sharks won’t play again until Wednesday.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 20  ANA 19; Scott Nichol (4) and Joe Thornton (3) led the team.

Every Sharks player who was on the ice for an Anaheim goal redeemed themselves; No Shark had a negative +/-.

The Sharks battle the Blackhawks, Wednesday at HP Pavilion.

–Ray

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Here is the link to my latest ‘What You Need to Know’ on NYCSN:

http://nycsportsnews.com/articles/details.htm?id=1029

This week’s highlights:

Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin proves he doesn’t need twin Daniel to score at the NHL level, San Jose’s Dany Heatley nets his 2nd hat trick of the young season, Maxim Afinogenov finds his mojo in Atlanta and LA’s Ryan Smyth & Montreal’s Brian Gionta become the latest scorers to catch the injury bug…

Quite the suhweeeet performance by the Sharks in their 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Sharks withstood the punches and counterpunches, both figuratively and literally, and sealed the win.

The man of the match was Dany Heatley who notched his ninth career hat trick and second with the Sharks. Winning co-man of the match was Joe Thornton who received the primary assist on all three Heater goals and added a fourth assist.

It was just an unbelievable game all around. The Flyers haven’t beaten the Sharks since 2000, but the games are always entertaining. They bring out the best in both teams, and I hope this is a Stanley Cup Finals preview.

Everything for the Sharks worked tonight: the even strength forecheck, the power play, the penalty kill. All exceptional. Well, I may be wrong about everything working. The defensive zone giveaways were enough to give fans and coach Todd McClellan migraines. If it weren’t for those, it would be a 6-0 victory.

Philly sure didn’t like Sharks ice. They saw it as a slip-and-slide, with public enemy #1 Chris Pronger as the main slip-and-slider. One of his slips ended up being a Heater goal. It really was home-ice advantage tonight.

Heatley’s hat trick was the EPS Trifecta (trademark pending). Even strength, power play and shorthanded goals. Two were carbon-copies. Joe would receive the puck in what looked like a perfect shooting opportunity, but it he would stop right to the side of the crease, wait, wait, wait for the defenseman to make a move, then BAM! Pass to Heater’s stick and it’s as easy as an Ovechkin toothless smile.

Dany Heatley notched his second hat trick as a Shark (From SJSHARKS.com)

San Jose now has its top two lines set in stone for at least the next month. McClellan saw some great play between Heatley-Thornton-Marleau last game and decided to start them tonight. That choice proved epic as every time they took the ice, something good happened. Remember when everyone shook in fear from the Marleau-Thornton-Cheechoo line? Multiply that by 10,000.

The second line was Malhotra-Pavelski-Clowe and they meshed talent with will. This line will probably be broken up since Devin Setoguchi will come back from injury. Move Clowe to left wing and put Seto on the right. While Malhotra did net a goal tonight, he also netted a goal for the Flyers; for some reason he tried to handle the puck in the crease during a scramble, and instead of just knocking it out, he thought it best to backhand it first — bad idea.

The Sharks still haven’t lost in regulation at home either. Oh, how sweet the confines of HP Pavillion are.

Friday Night Fights

Frazer McLaren, up from Worcester took on Daniel Carcillo and McMan-handled him. I this kid is better than Staubitz and should get a few more looks. And he will because Staubitz is out for a couple weeks with an injury. I wish it were under better circumstances, but whatever the situation, cease your opportunity F-Mac.

Wait…Who? And he’s fighting who?

That’s right, my friends. Marc-Edouard Vlasic showed a nasty side tonight. Don’t know if someone stole this pickles from the pickle jar, but he was angry tonight. He dropped the gloves for the first time in his career with Daniel Briere and earned the win. Vlasic was the only one to throw a punch, and he also took Briere down. Vlasic also was featured in some scrums. I really hope this continues; I don’t want another Thornton situation where a guy plays better angry, but chooses to be angry once every leap year.

Other Notes

Hit-O-Meter: SJ 25  PHI 26; Jed Ortmeyer (6) and Douglas Murray (5) led the team.

With the amazing play of the top two lines, the fourth line saw as much action as a young Bill Gates. McLaren played for two minutes, Benn Ferriero played four and Logan Couture played six. That’s fine with me if I can get first-line production like this every game.

The Sharks travel to Anaheim to face the Ducks. In their first meeting, the second game of the Sharks’ season, San Jose pummeled Anaheim 4-1.

–Ray

Pablo Brañas-Garza, Juan-Camilo Cardenas, and Maximo Rossi have new paper on gender, education and reciprocal generosity:

There is not general consensus about if women are more or less generous than men. Although the number of papers supporting more generous females is a bit larger than the opposed it is not possible to establish any definitive and systematic gender bias. This paper provides new evidence on this topic using a unique experimental dataset. We used data from a field experiment conducted under identical conditions (and monetary payoffs) in 6 Latin American cities, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, Montevideo and San José. Our dataset amounted to 3,107 experimental subjects who played the Trust Game. We will analyze the determinants of behavior of second movers, that is, what determines reciprocal generosity.

In sharp contrast to previous papers we found that males are more generous than females. In the light of this result, we carried out a systematic analysis of individual features (income, education, age, etc.) for females and males separately. We found differential motivations for women and men. Third, we see that (individual) education enhances prosocial behavior. Lastly, we see that subjects’ expectations are crucial.

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people call this ‘la zona roja’, the red zone. these are some of the worst parts of san josé, the capital of costa rica. this is where drug trade, crime and child prostitution run amok. over the past few years, considerable efforts have been taken by the mayor to improve the situation. but, as is evident, there is still a long way to go. like all other central american countries, costa rica is a new nation. we are still ‘en mantillas’, in diapers, as people say. despite the poverty in infrastructure and order, the natural diversity and values inherent still in most costa ricans, particularly in the rural areas, are what still brings a smile in people’s faces. this reminder is what lets us enjoy life and live it, no matter what. this is why our way of life is embodied in the two simple words that people all over the world learn and take home with them: pura vida.

(Wow. Time flies when you’re not feeling well. Too much time has passed since my last entry.)

I’m not entirely sure in what order some of these next memories occurred. I’ll just jot them down as they come to me.

I have an ancient love for little pink umbrellas made of paper. You see, we had a carnival in our backyard in San Jose benefitting the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. I recall the festive atmosphere, watching my brothers and my father set up games (there was a dunk tank, I think), but mostly I remember the huge bags of little pink umbrellas being given out as prizes. I can still see their bright pink color that so delighted me, and the tiny little shiny wooden caps on top. To this day I’m tempted to ask for a pink umbrella in my diet Cokes. Bartenders look at me strangely.

I’m sure there were much better prizes but these…well they might be responsible for my lifelong love of the color fuchsia.

San Jose, CA: 1967

10-27-09

Took our bike to Bicycle Outfitter because it needed some TLC in order to make it safely to the Mexican border.  The bike shop gave us some really old loaner bikes.  Then we got supplies at the grocery store for a baking spree.  Scott has been missing his kitchen, more specifically, his oven.  So he went full boar on the cooking – baking pizza, chocolate chip cookies and bread.  Dinner was quite decadent that night.  Tom left before the cookies came out of the oven.  Poor guy.

10-28-09

Biked to the train station and hopped on the train to San Francisco.  Ate Pho in China town, walked up and down Russian Hill (didn’t find any Russian food), and explored Pier 39.  Bought a sourdough loaf at Boudin Bakery and stopped at Ghirardelli for a chocolate sample.  Then stopped at a bar on the way back to the train station for happy hour.  Then we saw a Rogue pub and had a beer there.  We didn’t get far before seeing the San Francisco Brewing Company, so we stopped there too where we met George the nudist who ran for mayor of San Francisco and Ramon.  Then we walked off with Ramon on a mission to see more of the city and he took us to a little café, Trader Joe’s, another café, and a park next to the St. Peter and Paul Church where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married in 1939.  Ramon knows a lot of people, so we stopped a lot to talk to his friends.  We were having such a great time that we lost track of time and didn’t make it to the train station for the 10:40 train.  Got to the train station six minutes after the train left and had to wait for the 12:01 train.  Scott let me sleep on his lap while we waited and we also slept on the train.  Biking back to Venice Way didn’t take long because there was no traffic, but we got home at 2 AM.  Scout the dog growled a bit to let Barb and Ed know that we were home.

10-29-09

Slept in later than usual and Scott made waffles for breakfast.  Did a bit of house cleaning and some work on our websites.  Then we walked to the European market, but didn’t buy anything, although the selection of salami and smoked fish was plentiful.  Ed made delicious enchiladas for dinner.

10-30-09

Took the train to Stanford.  Beautiful campus with an amazing church.  The bike mechanic called and said the bill would be $280, which sort of ruined our Stanford visit.  The fact that the bill was $170 more than the estimate didn’t set well with us, so we discussed our options on the walk to Palo Alto down Palm Avenue.  Found Barb’s car at her work and drove it home.  Stopped at the train station to pick up the bikes, but the car wasn’t big enough, so Scott decided to ride back with both bikes.  Barb made delicious pork shops with dried cherries.

10-31-09

Went to the Farmer’s Market.  Barb gave Cameron $10 bucks and sent him on a mission to find a vegetable that he’s not familiar with and find out what it’s called and how to cook it.  I joined him on the mission and we found a Sinqua and an entire stalk of sugar cane.  That cost $10, so we didn’t get any Kettle corn.  The Farmer’s Market was full of delicious samples, and tempting food.  One of the best markets I’ve been to.  Then we stopped at a pumpkin patch and bought three pumpkins.  Barb prefers buying locally to support the local economy, which is great.  After we got home, it was time to go pick up the tandem bike.  Ed and Barb coached us on what to say to negotiate a lower price, and my mom gave me some tips on the phone.  We called ahead to make sure the manager would be there and biked there in a hurry because we just wanted to get that confrontation over with.  It went pretty well.  We were able to patiently reason with the manager and the bike mechanic and they knocked $85 off the tab.  We were very happy to have our bike back, it works really well now.

Back at home Scott, Cameron and Barb carved pumpkins while I worked on our website.  Then Barb made fondue, roasted pumpkin seeds and Scott made oatmeal cookies.  Scott and I took Scout for a walk.  When we got back, Barb had lit the Jack-o-Lanterns, and some candles inside the house.  The smell of the candles and fire made the house feel really homey and Halloween-y.  It felt like fall.  We ate the delicious fondue as trick-or-treaters occasionally knocked on the door.  The kids were super adorable, and so were their parents who stood back and smiled as Barb tried to guess the kids’ costumes.  Right as we finished a bottle of wine, Steve, a friend and neighbor, came over with a bottle of wine and we had a good time talking to him.

Ed and I had a great conversation about parenting and relationships with family members that made me realize how my mom feels about me.  The night ended when Cameron and Laura came home.

11-01-09

Scott made waffles again for breakfast.  Laura had a soccer game so I decided to go to that, while Scott went to St. Andrews to church and to paint an oil painting of the big oak tree for a fundraising auction at St. Andrews.  Barb sings in the choir and Cameron played the drums in the band.

Laura’s team won the game 5-1.  On the way home we stopped at Subway, and ran into trouble when Ed tried to pay with a $20 bill because the cashier decided that the bill was counterfeit.  Ed didn’t like that at all, which is understandable, and the confrontation ended when Ed handed her all the cash he had, which was less than the tab, but she didn’t bother checking the other bills.

While everyone was away, the dog got into the garbage, ate a lot of it and strewed it all over the kitchen and the living room.  So we’re waiting to see whether he’ll get sick.

Scott and Uncle Ed

We weren’t home long before we left to go for a short hike.  Barb stayed home to pay bills and Laura had a lot of homework, so Scott, Ed, Cameron, Ben (Cameron’s friend) and I went hiking.  The hike felt great and the view at the top of San Jose was beautiful.  We saw two deer and a lot of quail.  A full moon was rising over the city.

For dinner Barb made her award-winning chili and Ed made corn bread.

11-02-09

Went back to San Francisco today, but instead of going to the touristy sections we decides to check out the other side of town.  On the walk to the Castro district we went under some overpasses and were a bit concerned about our safety.  The Castro district showed signs of an insane Halloween party, smashed pumpkins, condom boxes, and fast food garbage littered the streets.  We did get great doppios at a little café though.  So we kept walking toward Haight Ashbury and walked up some very steep hills through Bueno Vista park perched on top of a big hill which afforded a marvelous view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge.  After savoring the vista we continued to Haight street.  Once there, we realized that we had walked right into another tourist trap.  Cafes, head shops and trendy clothing boutiques lined the street.  On the way back to the train station we stopped for sushi at a place that just opened six days ago.  We engaged the server in a conversation about Alaska, which somehow happens all the time, and the conversation led to us telling her that we’re going to Japan in January, so she told us about love hotels in Japan.  They are affordable, pay-by-the-hour hotels that are places for people to commit adultery, but locals opt to stay here when they are traveling because they are so much cheaper.  We thought that was interesting, but I’d have to see one of these hotels before I can bring myself to book a room there.

On the way back to the train station we managed to wonder into a really sketchy part of town and were really freaked out by the people we saw there who were engaged in drug deals, pan-handling (not that unusual), and prostitution.  We walked past all that as quickly as our legs could go, and were relieved when we crossed the street to a safer block.  Amazing how the drastically the scene changed just across one crosswalk.  Stay away from Howard and 12^th.

We managed to catch the train at a reasonable hour this time, and made it home by 6 pm.  Uncle Ed was nice enough to give us a ride from the train station.  For dinner we reheated Barb’s delicious chilly and Scott made a fresh batch of corn bread.

11-03-09

In the morning we drove to the store to get some supplies and almost got hit by a Camero, so that turned us off of driving because we’re kind of paranoid about driving Barb’s Lexus.  We were going to drive to downtown San Jose and Los Gatos, but Uncle Ed told us about a bike trail that goes from Campbell to Los Gatos, so we opted to ride our bikes to the trail, which was very close, and then biked all the way to Los Gatos.  The ride was very nice and really reminded us of the Coastal Trail in Anchorage.  Los Gatos was a cute little town.  Ed gave us a mission to find the gourmet kitchen gadget store and find a gadget for Barb, who loves kitchen gadgets.  It didn’t take long to find the store, but once we were in the store, we spent awhile perusing shiny gadgets.  Good thing each one was labeled, otherwise I’d never know what some of them were for.  So we bought a citrus press because Ed and Barb have an orange tree and a lemon tree, and we couldn’t believe they didn’t have a citrus press.  This was big hit with Ed and Barb.

For dinner Ed made his special clam fettuccine, which was delicious.  We’ve been eating very well here – a gourmet feast every night.  Scott had been working on Julia Child’s croissant recipe all day.  So after dinner, it was finally time to bake the croissants.  He made plain ones and chocolate ones.  They were so delicious, there were only three left out of sixteen by the end of the night.  The croissants inspired all of us to brag about them on Facebook, and Dick chimed in from Anchorage.  Good times.

11-04-09

Napa Valley

We decided to drive up to Napa Valley today, so we Googled the route and drove the Lexus for about an hour and a half to Napa.  Ed gave us a couple suggestions, and we decided to check out a small winery that specialized in red wines called Cuvaison.  To get there we had to drive nearly the entire length of the Valley, which was very scenic with fall colors.  The downside of driving is that we felt rushed by the string of cars behind us on a road with a speed limit of 55, so we couldn’t fully absorb the scenery at such a high speed.  We wished that we were riding our tandem.  The tasting at Cuvaison was lovely.  We were asked where we are from, so we told them the story of how we got here and that scored us some extra tastings – wine from a bottle worth $88, port, and Sauvignon Blanc.  We bought a bottle of Zin that we were told would pair well with a garlicky pesto that we were going to have for dinner.  Scott made the pesto from scratch before we left.

We were starving, so we stopped at the first place we saw, which was a pizza place that made terrible pizzas.  I got a stomachache on the drive back.  Surprisingly we didn’t run into traffic, eventhough we hit downtown San Jose right after five, so we made it home in time for dinner.  The wine was good with the pesto, but not so good with dark chocolate, which is unusual.  After dinner Ed passed out on the couch as Laura, Cameron and I worked and played on our laptops.  I started a new blog called Stupid Things People Do to Destroy the Planet.  Also, Scott had the genius idea to start a dinner club called First Attempts.  The point is to host dinner parties for fellow club members once a week and cook something you’ve never cooked before.

11-05-09

Stayed home today.  Cameron had the day off from school, so him and Scott made amazing brownies from scratch in the morning.  Then we all cleaned the house by dividing and conquering the chores.  Made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner in honor of Papa Mac.  Didn’t quite turn out the way we intended, but was edible nonetheless.

11-6-09

View from the top of stormy Mount Diablo

Drove to Mount Diablo, a state park about an hour and half from San Jose.  On clear days the view from the top is incredible, but today the mountain was shrouded in clouds and we encountered a healthy rain storm at the summit.  We managed to have a great time anyway when we found Rock City, a grove of sandstone boulders that were really fun to climb.  The views were magnificent and Scott did a little painting in the rain.

11-07-09

Dick arrived early in the morning.  We went to Laura’s scrimmage game, the last day of varsity soccer try-outs.  Came home and watched two football games.  If I had known that both were happening in the Bay area, I would have gone to one of them.  One was at Stanford, the other at Berkley.  Barbara made some amazing beef roast for dinner and we had a great time talking around the dinner table.

11-08-09

El Capitan

Woke up early, packed our bags and drove to Yosemite NP.  This was one of the most amazing days of my life.  I couldn’t believe how incredible the views are at Yosemite.  The granite rock formations are really tremendous.  We hiked to the top of two waterfalls, about six miles, and then drove home in the dark.  Stopped at In-n-Out burger, the Alaskans hadn’t been to one ever.  I liked the simple menu and the reasonable prices.  The food wasn’t bad for fast food.  Scott and I want to visit every National Park in the U. S.

11-09-09

Dick, Ed, Scott and I played tennis for about three hours today.  Ed used an old Soviet racket and Dick used one of Ed’s oldest rackets to play against Scott and I who are complete amateurs in tennis.  Then Ed introduced us to his kids’ favorite sandwich shop – Mr. Pickle’s in Los Gatos.

Ed made French bread from an old family recipe that was just sinfully good and we ate it with ribs for dinner that night.  Poor Dick had to fly out before dinner.  For dessert Scott made short bread lemon cookies by combining two family recipes, his grandmother’s short bread cookie recipe and the lemon meringue pie recipe.

Laura found out that she made the varsity soccer team, which was a big deal.  Everyone was really happy and relieved, so we celebrated a bit.

Y tal cómo os comenté en mi última crónica, después de alejarnos de Ciudad de Panamá, estuvimos un mes navegando por el archipiélago de las Perlas y por Coiba. Estas a diferencia de las islas panameñas del Caribe, son de aguas frías, vegetación exhuberante y selvática, de formación volcánica y de aguas
riquísimas de peces de gran diversidad y de serpientes de mar.

 Fue un mes en donde el pescado frito, horneado, sancochado destacaba en la mesa del Talula y en el plato de Suri para mi deleite y el de la perra básicamente.
En las Perlas estuvimos en diferentes islas todas ellas casi deshabitadas y bastante vírgenes excepto la isla de San José que era de propiedad pero que dejan fondear a los veleristas siempre y cuando éstos cumplan las normas que exige el propietario. Aquí hicimos una excursión a través de una pista forestal.

El calor era intenso y mis ojos siempre iban mirando al suelo buscando posibles serpientes de las cuales te avisa la guía náutica de que la isla está llena junto con cerdos salvajes. Serpientes finalmente y para mi tranquilidad no vimos pero en cambio, Suri de repente, desapareció en la selva detrás de una pareja de cerdos salvajes. Al principio se oían ladridos y toda clase de ruidos de pelea pero en cuestión de minutos, la selva se lo tragó todo. Por más que llamábamos a la perra, no podíamos oír nada y después de media hora decidimos abandonar la búsqueda (yo sólo me dediqué a llamarla desde el camino y dejé que Joan Antoni y Toni, es decir la sección masculina, se adentrara en la selva). Pero la suerte nos volvió a sonreír. Suri apareció de repente sana y a salvo aunque eso sí, llena de garrapatas.
Y de San José, desembarcamos a Toni en el continente para que continuara su viaje por Panamá y Costa Rica y nosotros nos fuimos a Coiba.

Recuerdo que tras un día entero luchando con la corriente que no nos dejaba apenas adelantar, llegamos a un fondeo rodeado de pequeños islotes donde la vegetación caía sin tregua y la playa era una línea minimalista de arena. Empezaba
a oscurecer y podías oir toda clase de animales chillando y alborotados y en el agua, las tortugas sacaban la cabeza. Aquí pasamos dos días para continuar bordeando esta isla, donde la naturaleza no permite el acceso a tierra y donde los baños eran rápidos e inquietantes a sabiendas de que hay más de 7 especies de cocodrilos en este lugar. Fueron 10 días de tranquilidad y de gran belleza. Contentos por haber llegado a esta isla declarada por la UNESCO Patrimonio de la Humanidad y con fuerzas para adentrarnos en el Pacífico para llegar a otro santuario como son las Galápagos.
Y aquí estoy después de 5 días de navegación y casi 800 millas más que sumamos a las 12000 que ya llevamos navegadas.
5 días que fueron perfectos. Buen viento, buena corriente a favor, buen humor, nada de oleaje y guardias tranquilas en donde la soledad no se sumó esta vez para apretar a los fantasmas que llevamos dentro sino para apreciar lo bueno de esta vida y todos esos detalles que la hacen tan especial día a día.
La primera parada fue en Genovesa. Aquí entras a través de un canal a un cráter que está sumergido y en donde las ballenas vienen a parir. Por cierto, en esta travesía pudimos ver una ballena en nuestra proa y relativamente cerca por lo que estuvimos atentos para cambiar de rumbo en caso de posible colisión que otra vez por cierto, es tal vez el único peligro que te avisan todas las guías del trayecto Galápagos-Marquesas.
Pero bueno, volvamos a Genovesa. Aquí esperábamos pasar un día o dos tranquilos y solos disfrutando de la isla que es un paraíso de aves y lobos marinos pero cual fue nuestra sorpresa que al entrar a ella, ya divisamos 5 barcos de turismo anclados al lado de la playa. Eso quería decir que la posibilidad de bajar a
tierra se extinguía ya que está prohibido parar en las islas sin  previo permiso de las autoridades ecuatorianas. Pero hubo suerte otra vez y un guía del parque nos invitó a bajar con él a la playa. Y así con mi cámara de vídeo y de fotos en mano,

bajé a tierra para hacer de reportera dicharachera y en donde estuve
grabando y fotografiando a piqueros de patas rojas, a fragatas macho con el pecho inflado para atraer a la hembra, a gaviotas endémicas de cola bifurcada, a lobos marinos tomando el sol y a un lobito que hizo las delicias de los turistas que estábamos ahí presentes. Fueron dos horas únicas y tal vez de las
más especiales de mi vida  por ser uno de mis sueños desde la infancia.
Y con los ojos echando chispas, volví al Talula para levantar ancla e irnos a la isla de Santa Cruz donde continuamos disfrutando de esta naturaleza tan especial y única en el mundo. Hemos visitado el Centro de investigación Charles Darwin que se encargan de la preservación e introducción de iguanas y tortugas gigantes que han estado en peligro de extinción. Hemos visitado túneles de lava, playas blancas moteadas de iguanas de mar negras, campos de árboles cactus,

mercado de pescadores rodeados de lobos marinos, pelícanos, rayas y garzas y un Talula que cada día es visitado por una pareja de lobos marinos.

Y en una semana partimos hacia Isabela para continuar disfrutando de las Galápagos y ya prepararnos para realizar el gran salto del que ya estamos haciendo preparativos en el Talula, básicamente revisándolo todo y de aquí a unos días haremos la gran compra de frutas y verduras que espero duren más de un mes con la ayuda de la nevera y comprando casi todo bien verde y teniéndolo en redes que estén bien aireadas para evitar la putrefacción.

Cómo podéis imaginar, los nervios a bordo van “in crecendo” pero también la ilusión y las ganas de estar casi un mes en alta mar. Es la gran prueba tanto física como psicológica en la que tendré que verme ahí día a día y la que me permitirá continuar repasando y poniendo en orden todos los episodios que han ido
pasando por mi vida y preparándome para futuros.
No siempre todo es divertido en este proyecto del cual ya llevamos dos años y medio. Hay días como ayer en donde la soledad se hace muy presente aunque estés rodeada de muchas personas. Desde que salimos de Panamá, hemos dejado a un lado y a otro de este país a todos nuestros amigos que han ido tomando otros rumbos y que incluso han abandonado. Y esto hace a veces mella en ti y sobre todo la distancia, cada vez mayor con tús seres queridos que no se irá acortando hasta que estemos en Fiji. Mi padre cada vez está más lejos de nosotros y más apegado a su pasado y no sé si el día que lo vuelva a ver se acordará de mí.
El otro día soñé con él. Estába en una fiesta y de pronto el entraba por un gran portón en compañía de mi madre. Venía hacia mí. Se acerca y me mira de frente.
Me reconoce y me abraza largamente. Siento mucho calor y cariño. Estoy en paz con él. Nos despedimos.
Pues si, a veces es difícil pero hay algo aquí dentro que no me deja parar y aún menos renunciar. Estoy atrapada por este mar en el que después de varios días de navegación estás como si todo fuera una ensoñación; como si nada fuera real; en donde día a día te vas sumergiendo más y más en ese bamboleo constante del
barco, en esa brisa que te roza a veces y te enloquece en otras, en ese sol que a veces calienta y otras abrasa. Y en ti. Sola con mi vida y con ese azul profundo que te enseña a mirar de frente todo lo que va pasando por delante de tús ojos y de tú alma.
Solo deciros que la siguiente vez que os escriba, ya será desde la Polinesia francesa y aún escribiéndolo y sabiéndolo, casi no me lo puedo creer que hacia allá vamos.
Besos pues y hasta dentro de otro momento con 3000
millas más vividas y aprendidas,
Laura