still can’t parallel park

Now that I’ve had my Rabbit for a year and 21K miles, I still feel that I cannot parallel park it all that well. Living in the suburbs and having a garage at work I don’t get much practice. I figure maybe 20 times so far. I figure I need about 50 or so parks to get a good feel for parking it. So to get to this theoretic number, I’m going to practice when opportunities presents itself.

Puerto Vallarta 08

Just got back from a short trip to Puerto Vallarta for some R&R. We stayed at the Westin once again. Upon arrival, we were pressed into a sales pitch for some partial ownership properties right at the airport. The airport’s nicer and roomier since our last visit (‘04). A less than 10min drive and we were at the Westin.

Thanks to Opentable.com International, we made dinner reservations before hand at two places from before (Barcelona and La Palapa) and two new recommendations (Trio and Cafe des Artistes).

Barcelona was nice but not as good as we remembered. A nicer evening might have helped.

We ended up skipping La Palapa for Hors Dourves at the Lobby bar at the Westin plus it was happy hour. We also found a new mexican beer, Bohemia, which is also served with the customary lime slice.

Trio was good, I had a nice lamb ravioli.

Cafe des Artistes, now that was a experience. Gorgeous interior, excellent staff and wonderful food. We picked a good time to come for they had a 3 course prix fixe menu for just 269 pesos or about 28 bucks (restaurant week). How can you beat that? Even at the regular price of 390 pesos, this place is a deal! We both started with the tuna and salmon tartare with a Dijon sauce served in a martini glass. Our entree was the beef tenderloin petals (cooked as requested) with crisped potatoes shaped in large leaves rising out from the 4 pieces of beef. Beneath a slice of potato and sweet potato au gratin and a small tomato with some cuts in it which held a thin zucinni slice. It was finished off with a chocolate Napoleon. As the restaurant name suggests, everything was presented like a work of art. Definitely one of the better dining experiences for me.

We took taxis into town for the dinners. Each way was about 80-100 pesos or $8-10. We asked a driver how much gas was here. He replied about the equivalent of $4 per gallon. Tough job.

Though we had overcast the 1st full day, we had sun the rest of the trip. Temp was in the mid 8o’s but alittle humid. The pool was not very crowded, especially the last 2 days. Another thing nice was that the kids for the most part were very well behaved (at the pool and the restaurants) though that was spoiled on the last day at the pool. This trip, we bought a small spray bottle to cool ourselves while in the sun but did you know that works great against yellow jackets. A traditional waving or swatting usually doesn’t deter them but with a blast of mist from the spray, they left us alone.

I don’t read often. Typically only on longer vacation but I did managed to finish two small paperbacks. About a year ago, I wondered if there was a sequel to the 1970’s TV movie, “the Forbin Project“. The two little known sequels are “the Fall of Colossus” and “Colossus and the Crab”. Well, 30 plus years late, it’s good to know what finally happens.

Lines at ticketing, security and customs were nil both ways. Even our bag was out quickly at both airports.

One last thought, here we were in mexico and the only Mexican food we had was one breakfast at the hotel, and a couple of quesadillas by the pool.

new apps for my iPhone

With yesterday’s jailbreak of my iPhone, these are the apps that I found to be useful to me.

• intelliscreen – I’ve like this from my windows smartphone days.
• services – a one-button access to all the network settings
• capture – to grab good screenshots of my tweaking
• idialer – predictive phone number with first few digits.

The first two were what I was wanting for a while. (See Mar 31 post, redesigning my iPhone))

As part of the ZiPhone jailbreak, an install program has an RSS type list of programs for you to install.

As with any operating system, install at your own risk.

jailbreaked…

Yesterday I finally decided to jailbreak my iPhone. Guess it’s the tinkering in me.

After some research, I decided to give ZiPhone a try. Downloaded (Windows),installed and ran the program. 10-15mins, it was done! No glitches that I could see.

Missed the “Done” screen.

As with any operating system, install at your own risk.

just another Thursday…

Today, like many Thursdays in the recent past takes me to the cars shop. Fortunately it’s Burlingame Independent VW which I found on Yelp. Never a problem here. The night before I checked out eateries to go while my car’s being service. I originally was going to go to Copenhagen bakery in Burlingame but decided to try Broadway Grill (also in Burlingame). I scoped out that Copenhagen was about 3 miles away, so Broadway Grill should be nearby.

So, off for my walk. When I get to Burlingame Caltrain station, I realize that Broadway Grill is still another mile away! Well. I’m still early for my reservation so, on I go. Roughly hour-10 later, I arrive. My iPhone’s map says 4.3 miles. Add a nice breakfast. Not too heavy. At this point, I decide to take the train back to San Mateo. Which incidently is where Burlingame VW actually is.

I arrive at the Broadway Burlingame Caltrain station shortly. Just missed the train. So, I hike over to Broadway Burlingame train. Just missed another. I stay this time to wait for the nect train (30mins). $2.25 later and 1 stop later, I’m back in San Mateo. From here it’s about 20mins back to the car shop.

So, all in all, I figured I walked about 7 or so miles and I’m beat. 20 years ago, I was walking 26miles for the March of Dimes. Well after today, I think my limit is down to 5 miles. On the plus side, it was a pleasant day for the walk and it wasn’t too hot.