A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
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