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Review: Fiddler on the Roof at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Tuesday, May 28, 2019california, musical, sf bay, theater

The sorry state of the world gives us a new reason to appreciate the depth of feeling so powerfully, so ingeniously embedded in "Fiddler on the Roof," the much-loved and much-revived 1964 musical comedy that is touring the country and visiting San Jose from May 21 - 26, 2019.. . . . . The touring production, currently playing at the San Jose Center for the…

Tennis Technique Improvement

Wednesday, May 15, 2019tennis

Watching the Tennis Fundamentals video from Feel Tennis Instruction, Tomasz has reminded me about focusing my tennis technique on the following basic fundamentals:. . Biomechanical Fundamentals. Stability (Priority #1). Hip Rotation. Shoulder Rotation. Swing Style. . . . . Here are my favorite Serve Tips from Peter Freeman of Crunch Time Coaching:. Secret Power Source: . Only when the tossed ball has reached its peak,…

Hiking Wapama Falls Trail, Yosemite

Sunday, April 21, 2019hiking, national park, strava

We were sore from the previous day's hike to Chilnualna Falls, so we decided to hike a flatter, more relaxing trail.. . . . Inna found an exciting hike to Wapama Falls, starting from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.. . . . When we woke up, we initially planned to eat breakfast at our new local favorite breakfast spot - Pony Expresso Coffee House & Roasting. However,…

Hiking Chilnualna Falls Trail, Yosemite

Saturday, April 20, 2019hiking, national park, strava

In the morning, we decided to try eating breakfast at our Best Western Plus in Mariposa. However, we were not very impressed when we explored the dining options available. Besides cold cereal and scrambled eggs, there was not much to tempt us to stay.. . . . . Instead, we decided to try the Pony Espresso Coffee House, a mile away (still in Mariposa). I…

Hiking Mirror Lake Trail, Yosemite

Friday, April 19, 2019hiking, national park, strava

Since my last visit to Yosemite National Park was 6 years ago (in 2013), Inna and I decided to re-visit the park during the off-season (spring) to re-acquaint ourselves with beautiful hikes, spectacular waterfalls, and tall redwoods and pines.. . . . We started our drive from San Jose to Yosemite Valley on Friday, April 19, 2019, at 8:30 am, through Hollister (152 East), encountering…

Rick Newman Tennis Lesson 1: Volleys

Thursday, April 18, 2019tennis

Rick Newman's Tennis Lesson 1: Volleys. . It's been a while since I've had tennis lessons, and I wanted to resume improving my tennis game. I decided to try tennis lessons with Rick Newman, a coach with much experience.. . In my first day's lesson, Rick had me focused on tennis volleys, an area where I was underdeveloped. My volleys had very little control, and…

Review: Aladdin at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Wednesday, April 17, 2019california, musical, sf bay, theater

Although I have seen Aladdin previously at Disney's California Adventure Theme Park, I have never seen the entire production on stage. Since Inna also wanted to see it, I purchased 3 tickets for the Aladdin Touring show at San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. . . . I would have preferred to have seen the musical on Broadway (since Broadway shows tend to employ…

Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park

Sunday, April 14, 2019california, mountain biking, sf bay, strava

After many weeks of constant rains, it was finally time to mountain bike in my favorite local Almaden Quicksilver County Park. . . . . . . The whole park was as green as I've ever seen it. Here is my Strava.com feedback: . . Ride . Biking Almaden Quicksilver . 8:45 AM on Sunday, April 14, 2019 · Santa Clara County, California . Distance…

Early blooms at Filoli Gardens

Sunday, March 17, 2019california, garden, sf bay

After a long, rainy winter, we visited Filoli Gardens to observe and photograph the latest blooming flowers. According to Filoli, the following flowers bloomed: tulips, camellias, and daffodils.. . . . When we arrived at around 1:00 p.m., we had to circle around the parking lot a few times to find an open space. Having parked the minivan, we queued in a long line to…

Review: Old Stock – A Refugee Love Story

Saturday, March 16, 2019california, sf bay, theater

On the spur of the moment, Inna purchased tickets for the Klezmer musical "Old Stock - A Refugee Love Story," playing for only 2 days at the Bing Hall at Stanford University. . . . . . A brief Synopsis according to Sydney Festival:. A dark, funny and high-energy klezmer-folk tale inspired by the real-life story of two Romanian Jews seeking refuge in Canada in…

Sunny Day at Hollister Hills SVRA

Saturday, March 16, 2019motorcycling

After a very long and soggy winter, the weather in Northern California returned to ordinary - beautiful and sunny! I was eager to return to off-road motorcycling and decided to start my 2019 season on Saturday, March 16, 2019.. . It was already quite busy when I arrived at Hollister Hills SVRA at 9:30. It became even busier throughout the day. Because of the recent…

Review: Cirque du Soleil Volta

Tuesday, March 12, 2019california, sf bay, theater

I originally purchased tickets for the Cirque du Soleil Volta production on Wednesday, February 27. Still, Inna had an evening class scheduled, and I was forced to sell our tickets to the show.. . . . . . However, a bit later, Inna found tickets for the March 12 show and purchased them. . We really enjoyed the show and all of the incredible acrobatics..…

Review: Newsies at Bellarmine

Friday, March 8, 2019bellarmine, california, musical, sf bay, theater

Plot Summary:. . With the Spanish-American War over, newspaper sales were down, and Joseph Pulitzer decided to increase the price that newspaper boys pay for 100 newspapers from 50 to 60 cents. The boys (many of them orphans), loosely organized, decide to strike to force Joseph Pulitzer (and other newspaper publishers) to back down. With the help of Governor Theodore Roosevelt, the newsies eventually prevailed..…

Alpine Meadows Powder

Sunday, March 3, 2019california, lake tahoe, skiing

After waking up around 6:45 a.m., I showered and dressed for snowboarding at Alpine Meadows. Carlo and Susan - our hosts at the Truckee Airbnb - prepared a delicious breakfast for us: yogurt, scrambled eggs, hot coffee, and tea.. . . . After breakfast, we drove to Alpine Meadows, arriving at about 8:12 a.m. The drive was supposed to take 25 minutes, but it took…

A Soggy Day at Squaw

Saturday, March 2, 2019california, lake tahoe, skiing

A few months ago, I purchased 2-day Squaw Valley lift tickets for a planned trip to Truckee, CA. However, due to the extreme snowfall, all of the roads to Truckee were closed.. . After our recent epic snowboarding trip to Mammoth, we decided to head back to Squaw Valley (before the warmer temperatures melted all of the freshly fallen powder). My plan was to head…

Review: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Saturday, February 23, 2019california, concert, napa

For the past 25 years, I have been a big fan of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ( a swing band), and I thought that Inna and I would enjoy seeing them play their set at the Uptown Theatre in Napa, CA.. . . . The show was scheduled to start at 20:00 but was delayed until 20:45. The band was in fine form and played…

Inna’s Birthday Dinner at Bouchon

Saturday, February 23, 2019birthday, personal, restaurant

For Inna's Birthday, I took her to Bouchon, a Michelin 1-star restaurant in Yountville, CA. I made dinner reservations in advance for 15:15 using OpenTable.com.. . . . When we arrived on Saturday at 15:15, our table was ready, and we sat down quickly. We ordered the following items from the Bouchon menu:. . Appetizer. Liver Mousse (Patte). Salads & Soups. Salade Maraîchère au Chèvre…

Chasing Mammoth Powder

Sunday, February 17, 2019california, mammoth, skiing

My son has always talked about the beautiful powder conditions at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, but I never had the opportunity to go there. However, with his high school ski week vacation from February 17-22, I decided to see if it would be possible to visit Mammoth Mountain.. . At first, I considered driving there, but the 6.5-hour trip from San Jose would be tedious…

Dinner at Bellagio

Thursday, February 14, 2019personal, restaurant

I decided to try the Bellagio restaurant in downtown Campbell for Valentine's Day dinner with my wife. It had excellent reviews on Yelp and Google and was nearby.. . The Valentine's Day Menu was $75/person and included the following items:. . . San Valentino, February 14, 2019 . . . Antipasti . Crab cakes, fresh crab, lemon, garlic, aioli . . . Insalata . Organic…

Review: Farewell Yellow Brick Road

Saturday, January 19, 2019california, concert, sf bay

Elton John was one of the first rock musicians I heard of growing up. In fact, I recall that "Your Song," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Crocodile Rock" were some of the first songs I heard played on my dad's record player.. . . . I have seen two other Elton shows - the Elton John's Made in England Tour in Tacoma Dome, Washington, on…