A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
After being disappointed with the Zepp 2 tennis sensor, I continued searching for one that could provide meaningful/actionable tennis statistics to improve my tennis game.. . . . I decided to try out the Babolat Pop tennis sensor since it was popular and inexpensive. With Babolat Pop, one wears a wristband that contains a small packet where the small sensor resides. The sensor records the…
Read More: Review: Babolat Pop Tennis Sensor
At 18:35, I arrived at San Jose City College, where all the Bellarmine Home Football games are played. I parked in the garage, entered the stadium, and walked to the Bellarmine concession stand to purchase food. I decided to get the highly recommended tri-tip sandwich, chips, and water.. . Unlike the previous Bellarmine football game against Gonzaga, this game was much more crowded for both…
Read More: Bellarmine vs Mitty Football
On my last mountain bike ride at Almaden Quicksilver Park, I stopped by for a short break and got talking to another mountain bike rider. She told me about a mountain bike ride on the nearby John Nicholas Trail in Los Gatos (relatively nearby), which she thought was one of the best rides in the area.. . Since I had never biked there, I was…
Read More: Biking John Nicholas Trail
It was my son's first Bellarmine vs Gonzaga Football game and my first home tailgate. . . The actual game was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at San Jose City College (where the pre-game tailgate dinner was held from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.). . . . When I arrived at 5:00 p.m., I parked at San Jose City College's parking garage and walked to the dinner…
Read More: Bellarmine vs Gonzaga Football
I was always curious about tennis sensors and was set on purchasing the Babolat Pure Aero Play tennis racket with built-in sensor technology. Since it was costly - $350 - I decided to try a lower-priced option - the newly released Zepp 2 Tennis Sensor.. . . . I attached the Zepp 2 to my 2017 Wilson Burn 100S tennis racket using the "insert mount."…
Read More: Review: Zepp 2 Tennis Sensor
After hearing our friends' favorable review of "Something Rotten," I decided to see it in San Francisco's Orpheum Theater (if I could get reasonably priced tickets). . . Today, on Sunday, September 3, when I checked my iPhone's TodayTix app, I realized that some seats could be available at the $40/ticket price. At 09:00, I got the $40 Rush tickets (which turned out to be…
Read More: Review: “Something Rotten” at Orpheum Theater
When our friends suggested hiking at Butano State Park, I was surprised to hear about it - since I never heard of it before. It was only 80 minutes away from Los Gatos (so nearby).. . . . When we arrived, we decided to follow some of the suggestions from Alltrails.com:. Start from the Park Entrance parking lot. Follow the Six Bridges trail south toward…
Read More: Hiking Butano State Park
As the weather was scorching, I mountain biked the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard).. . . . . I arrived just before 9:05 am and rode my 2011 Specialized S-works FSR with newly built wheels. The rear tire flat has been fixed at Silva Cycles.. . The trail started…
Read More: Biking Saratoga Gap and Long Ridge
Today, my wife and I saw Constellations at TheatreWorks of Mountain View.. . . . I had never heard of this particular play and thought it might be a musical, but it turned out to be entirely different.. . The basic idea of the plot is to imagine a universe where all possibilities are explored sequentially. In this incarnation, the two main characters, a beekeeper…
Read More: Review: “Constellations” at TheatreWorks
It was Alex's first day at Bellarmine College Prep, and he was very excited. After two days of orientation (Friday, August 18, and Monday, August 21), his classes finally started. . . As parents, we also had to attend Parent Orientation, where we learned about all the activities freshmen attend. Bellarmine had a very nice "Parent Mixer" for us to prepare us.. . . .…
Read More: First Day of High School
I have been practicing forehand, backhand, and volleying, and have been serving at the Sunnyvale Tennis Center for a long time. I decided to record my technique using my trusty GoPro 4 Hero Silver camera, mounted on a tripod, for further review.. . . . In this short GoPro 4 video, I am practicing my forehand and slice backhand.. . . . . In this…
Read More: Practicing Tennis on the Ball Machine
Today, I was fortunate to witness a Lunar Eclipse. Although the weather started out initially cloudy, it cleared up before 10:15 am (when the total eclipse was scheduled to occur). . . . . . . During the total eclipse, the sky went dark in Oregon but not completely opaque in Sunnyvale. . . . . . . . .
Read More: Watching the Lunar Eclipse
Today, I decided to go for an excellent mountain biking ride at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.. Unfortunately, halfway through the bike ride, I heard a loud whistle as my rear tire lost air pressure and turned flat. Since I was using tubeless tires, I expected my rear tire to self-seal automatically, but this did not happen on my ride. My WTB Werewolf rear tire went…
Read More: Biking Almaden Quicksilver County Park
. . To improve my flat tennis serve, I recorded it with my GoPro 4 Silver during my regular serve practice and shared the footage with my coach.. . The service is broken into 8 phases. I have marked the errors I observed in red.. Grip: Continental. Initial Stance: Platform. First Move (turn away from the target). Ball Toss (using fingertips). Trophy Pose. Serve Stroke.…
Read More: Practicing a Flat Tennis Serve
In the morning, with the slightly cooler San Francisco Bay Area weather, I returned to off-road motorcycling in my favorite Hollister Hills SVRA.. . . . I loaded the bike and stopped by for some bagels and cookies (for lunch) at my nearby House of Bagels. I continued on toward Hollister Hills SVRA, taking another hour of driving time.. . Upon arrival, I noticed the…
Read More: Dirt Biking Hollister Hills SVRA
As the weather was sunny and mild, I decided to try to mountain bike the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard).. . . . I arrived just before 10:00 a.m. and rode my 2011 Specialized S-works FSR with newly built wheels.. . The trail started with an…
Read More: Biking Saratoga Gap and Long Ridge
In the morning, after checking San Francisco and Santa Cruz weather, we decided to drive to San Francisco's Presidio and hike around to the Golden Gate Bridge.. . . . We have previously hiked the Lands End Trail, but we wanted to try a different hike this time. After looking at the list of possible hikes on Alltrails, we decided to hike the Presidio Promenade…
Read More: Hiking Presidio and visiting The Legion of Honor
For Alex's 15th birthday, we decided to surprise Alex with presents and activities. . . Since he has not been playing the PlayStation 4 recently, I decided to treat him to two PS4 games: Bioshock - The Collection (3 separate games) and Horizon Zero Dawn.. . Inna surprised Alex with a new family activity - an escape room. She reserved an exciting escape room in…
Read More: Alex’s 15th Birthday
In the morning, we ate our last breakfast at the Premier Inn. I again selected the "Continental Breakfast" while Inna and Alex ate full hot breakfasts. I mainly ate cold cereal and a few pastries with coffee, while Alex and Inna ate some scrambled eggs.. . After breakfast, we quickly packed our belongings and checked out of the hotel. Once outside, I ordered UberX for…
Read More: Returning to Oakland
. . In the morning, we decided to have another breakfast at the Premier Inn to save money and time. I didn't like the breakfast there - with mobs of guests and low-quality fare - but it was convenient and inexpensive. I selected a “Continental Breakfast,” while Inna and Alex chose the full hot breakfast. Since Alex was still a teenager, his breakfast was complimentary.…
Read More: Visiting Hampton Court and London