A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
Today, we saw Berkeley Rep's production of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.". The play was exciting but not super entertaining.. . SFGate has an interesting review of the play here.. . . . . . . Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike . Written by Christopher Durang. Directed by Richard E.T. White. Limited Season · Roda Theatre. September 20–October 25, 2013 .…
Read More: Review: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Berkeley Rep)
Today, we purchased an Apple iMac 27 (2013+) to replace our Dell XPS One 2710 (which had problems with WiFi connectivity).. . . . . In comparison to Dell, Apple's iMac has some interesting differences:. . Advantages of iMac 27. iMac is much slimmer and much better looking. iMac is much quieter, and I never heard the fan going off (Dell's fan is pretty loud)…
Read More: Review: Apple iMac 27
About a month ago, I purchased a refurbished Dell XPS One 2710 all-in-one desktop Windows 8 PC from Costco.com (online) - to replace my 7-year-old Apple iMac.. . . . . The Dell desktop PC arrived quickly and booted just fine. I really disliked Windows 8 and decided to install Windows 7. I ordered a Crucial M4 mSATA SSD (256GB Flash) and installed it inside…
Read More: Review: Dell XPS One 2710
Today, we decided to visit Truckee and the nearby Donner Lake to enjoy the last remnants of late summer at Lake Tahoe. The day was sunny and warm but became overcast in the afternoon, with a light shower.. . The beach around Donner Lake was nearly empty, and few people were around. . . . . . . Alex and Sasha did a few rounds…
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With thousands of photos stored on my server, I needed more speed in Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Sony Vegas.. . Previously, I ran software RAID-5 with 6 Hitachi 4TB hard disks, yielding 18TB of usable capacity. Disk performance was quite decent for reads - 380-500 MB/sec, but relatively poor for writes (as most software raid servers are) at 70 MB/sec using ATTO benchmarks. This…
Read More: Review: LSI MegaRAID
Today, I made an appointment to purchase my leased 2011 Audi Q5 2.0T sports utility vehicle at Audi of Stevens Creek. As my 3-year lease was expiring, I decided that the value of my car was much greater than the lease-purchase price.. . . . . . . When I arrived at 12:00 p.m. for my appointment, I planned to drop off the check, sign…
Read More: Purchasing an Audi Q5 2.0T from Audi of Stevens Creek
Today, we watched Elysium at the local AMC Saratoga Movie Theater.. . The movie had an interesting take on the future, where all the rich people live off the Earth, on the space station "Elysium," and all the poor, wretched souls live on Earth, suffering from poor health care, crime, and unemployment.. . The movie was enjoyable but not profound, and did not develop characters…
Read More: Review: Watching Elysium
Today, we test-drove a 2013 Tesla Model S sedan. After reading about the fantastic reports of Tesla's performance, I requested a test drive after reading about the tremendous reports in Consumer Reports and Car & Driver.. . I requested an online test drive for the Model S and confirmed my appointment by phone.. When we arrived at the Santana Row showroom, we found a Tesla…
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Today, we saw the play "The Further Adventures of Three Musketeers" by the Los Gatos Shakespeare Company in Oak Meadow Park (on an outdoor stage).. . . . The play is loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers series of novels. We enjoyed the performance, and Alex liked all of the swordplay.. . It's all for one and one for all in this premiere…
Read More: Review: The Further Adventures of Three Musketeers (Oak Meadow Park)
Today, we decided to go for a mountain bike ride at the Wilder Ranch State Park near Santa Cruz/Davenport, California.. . Wilder Ranch State Park borders the Pacific Ocean, offering sweeping views of the nearby cliffs.. . . . . . There is little shade, and the trail can sizzle in the afternoon sun. Most of the vegetation was dry or burned out.. . .…
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Today, we took the train from Brussels to Antwerp, Belgium. We arrived at the Centraal Antwerp Train Station - an impressive-looking building on the outskirts of Antwerp.. . . . The Centraal Train Station is modern and very unique-looking.. . . . Once we stepped outside, we were in the modern-looking Belgian town of Antwerp. We immediately noticed the very wide streets (which are uncommon)..…
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Today, we took a train from Brussels to Ghent to explore this old Belgian town. The train ride from Brussels was relatively short. When we arrived in Ghent, we took a trolley to the downtown area.. . . . There are many old Renaissance buildings throughout Ghent, and we explored the city on foot. Touring Ghent on foot or by bicycle is best, as the…
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Today, we took an early morning train from Brussels to Bruges. Bruges is a small Belgian city crisscrossed by multiple canals and is considered the "Venice" of Belgium.. . We took the local bus from the Bruges train station to Bruges downtown / Burg Square.. . As it was early morning and not very crowded, I climbed the Belfort Tower for a better view of…
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After spending the afternoon in Lyon, France, we drove to Brussels, Belgium, for the next part of our European trip. . . . I was happy to be out of France - the cost of all the paid tollways started to irritate me (compared to toll-free roads in the Netherlands or Germany). Thankfully, Belgium's roads were free, and we had a good time in Brussels..…
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After a two-hour drive from Baden-Baden, Germany, we finally arrived at Metz, France, at around 9:30 pm.. . . I had made Airbnb reservations with Nelly Clesse in Metz for a single room. Metz is conveniently located halfway between Baden-Baden and Brussels, and it would make a nice stop (to avoid a non-stop 5-hour drive). . . . When we arrived in Metz, we found…
Read More: Adventures in Metz, France
The drive from Sankt Goar to Baden-Baden took several hours on the autobahn. The weather was overcast with occasional rain. Germany is full of trucks ferrying cars and other industrial goods. Compared to other countries, the number of trucks on the autobahn was significantly higher in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.. . . Most cars drove at 75-85 mph on the autobahn. Only once did…
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After visiting the Burg Eltz Castle and Cochem, we decided to stop by Sankt Goar.. . . . Since we ended up on the other side of town, we had to take a car ferry to get across the Rhine.. . . . Many other people were crossing the Rhine, including pedestrians, other autos, and motorcycles.. . . . There were many castles, some in…
Read More: Sankt Goar, Germany
After visiting Burg Eltz Castle, we decided to visit the little town of Cochem, Germany. Cochem is located on the Moselle River. The whole region has many quaint little towns with numerous wineries.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . There is a small tourist train that shuttles tourists from downtown to the Sesselbahn. . . . .…
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Today, we drove to the famous Burg Eltz Castle in Germany. Burg Eltz is located above the Moselle River, between Koblenz and Trier.. . . . . According to Wikipedia:. Burg Eltz is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the…
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After visiting Cologne, we stopped by for the night at the little German town of Bacharach. Bacharach was highly recommended by Rick Steves in his travel guide to Germany, and we wanted to experience the wonders of this small town.. . We had hotel reservations at Hotel Zur Post, with a room upstairs.. . . . The town is relatively small - a very quaint,…
Read More: Bacharach, Germany