Category: Personal

I’ll be heading over the the City to check out the SF New Tech Belly Up tomorrow night, and hanging out with my buddy JJ Behrens.

One of the things that makes me a great technologist can make me terrible at buying things for myself. I tend to want perfection, which is easy to achieve in code and impossible to attain in real life. My friends and family know that I’ve been talking about a new car for at least a year, probably two. I vacillated over a Mustang, a used Camaro, an RX-7, and a bunch of other cars. Could I get away with a two-seater? Should I get a truck to be really practical? I finally convinced myself that a Mustang would be the best car for me. It’s fun and fast, plus I could squeeze the whole family in there if I had to.

This was part one, because the next torture I put myself through was finding the one, true car with the options I wanted. As is typical for me, I wanted an unusual combination of options. I didn’t want a spoiler because I found that area under the spoiler on my old car was always dirty and impossible to clean. The V6 version of the Mustang has no spoiler by default. Almost all the V8’s have them. And it had to be a stick. And I wanted orange. The car I wanted does not exist.

I know this because I had a guy at carsdirect.com search for me. He came close a few times and he would always find a car with a ton of extra options that I didn’t want to pay for. $1700 navigation system? No thanks. I have a $300 Garmin that sticks to the windshield that’s fine for the rare times I’d ever need it. I think I wore that guy out because he just stopped replying to me. The best use of carsdirect.com is for giving you an idea of the real market value of the car is.

Based on advice from my buddy David, last night I decided to try asking for an “Internet quote” from the Ford site. I thought I saw a car that I’d want by checking their inventory. I got a call in the morning from one of the salespeople at Micheal Stead in Walnut Creek dedicated to responding to these requests. We figured out that the car listed on the Ford site was really a Shelby, and therefor a lot more expensive. But she searched inventory from all the dealers in California and eventually found a car that worked for me. It’s in Marin, so I have to wait until Tuesday to get it.

So, it was cool that it all got wrapped up in a few hours work. The Ford salesperson found me a car in no time, compared to the failure of the carsdirect.com guy. And I feel like I got a good deal because she offered a price that was lower than the price the carsdirect.com site told me a car with those options would be. I’m sure there’s differences in quality between the different brands, but I’d recommend using Ford’s site for anyone looking to buy a Ford.

As we were sitting around, waiting for the finance guy to do the paperwork, we figured out that not only do we both live in Martinez, but she’s good friends with April, my neighbor and wife of my good friend Jeff. It was good to do business with a Martisian even if I had to go to Walnut Creek.

My family and I just returned from a short vacation to Yosemite in celebration of Vicky and I being married for 10 years. John Muir, a saint of Martinez, wrote that one should climb the mountains and get their glad tidings. That line bounced around my head as we were walking around the valley. When we’d planned the trip months ago, we expected snow in the valley to play in, but it was warm–at least 70F every day–just perfect. This being so early in the season, the waterfalls were full and roaring. Some waterfalls that don’t flow every year were flowing. It was great!

We did get to play in the snow by taking the bus up to Badger Pass. They rent innertubes to ride down a little hill. Tre and I took several rides with one big spill. I forgot how rough ice can be, and Tre scraped up his arm pretty good. I was so proud of him not ending the fun there, continuing on with more rides down the hill.

We stayed at Yosemite Lodge, which offers small motel rooms, a cafeteria and a little store. The TV had one channel that played a promotional film for Delaware Northern Company, the company that has the contract to provide services in the valley. I noticed that all the people we interacted with were exceptionally nice. Maybe they are happy to be working in Yosemite, or maybe it’s part of DNC’s ISO 9000 certification.

Another channel on the TV constantly played a single episode of Huell Howser’s California Gold, the one about the Yosemite firefall. Howser has had this PBS show about California for at least 10 years because when Vicky and I were first getting to know each other, we found the episode about the Golden Gate Bridge particularly funny. He has this way of stating the obvious with genuine amazement: “so, now we are over the bridge” as he flies over in a helicopter. Anyway, this show the the property of being a vlog before anyone thought of the term.

It really was a wonderful trip. For a place that can be insanely crowded, it was virtually empty, but the weather was perfect. I always like to spend time with my best friend, and I like spending time getting to know my two little sons.

My friend Paula told me she met someone who thought about asking me for an interview (I’m trying to hire another couple Technologists at Clear Ink). But that person decided that I was too scary. Me? I’m not scary.

Current conditions in Martinez are as follows.

Fair 107°F Humidity: 20% Wind Speed: 8 MPH Barometer: 29.81 in. Visibility: 10 mi

I can’t remember it ever being this hot so many days in a row  (although, Vicky reminded me of a day maybe 8 years ago when it was 115 outside and north of 90 in the house). It never got below 70 all last night. Our air conditioner can’t keep up, but at least it’s keeping the inside below 80.