Ian Kimbell's Homepage » IJKMan

Postcard from the Edge of USA #1

IJKMan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:22:19 +0000

A Trip to the Market
One of the big things to do on a weekend in San Fran, is to go to a “farmers” market – which is not dissimilar to a “normal” market, except it has the word “farmers” in the title. But as usual in the USA these are bigger than normal – the selection was amazing. I literally have never seen such a variety of fruit and vegetables in one place and all sold directly by local “farmers”, who would fill you in on every aspect of the fare. On the veggie side, as well as my favourites (artichokes, corn, broccoli) there were many varieties I have never seen before such as ocra, purple cauliflower, blue potatoes and strange green knobbly things. The fruit selection was just as vast, and included the sweetest nectarines and peaches I have ever tasted along with mind bogglingly delicious strawberries and blueberries.

For me, the biggest benefit of such competition is that everyone offers free samples to tempt your purchase – so, in theory, you could stuff yourself silly for free. In practice, this just what I did, and free food was not just restricted to fruit market – next door there were a number of food stalls also offering samples. This snack market really reflected the cultural hodgepodge of San Francisco, some highlights included:

Mexican tamale (corn meal with sweet or savoury filling)
El Salvadorian pupusa (hand-made corn biscuit-like flat bread, covered in yummies)
Hummus and
Chilean alphajores (delicious caramel biscuits made, as it was described to me, from angel sighs and unicorn giggles). They were so addictive I think they are rather made from giggles of cocaine dealers.

After stuffing ourselves, we rolled contentedly out of the market back up the hill to the car. From there it was down to the water’s edge to the scene of 4th July Pier 39 freeze. But this time a kind colleague had invited for a sail around the bay in his 34 footer. And what an adventure it was.

Sailing the Bay
After the sail and the jib (the small sail at the front) were unfurled, the small diesel engine (used for tight manoeuvres) took us out from the dock in to main bay. From there we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. As it was a bit foggy in that direction, we tacked off in a southerly direction and sailed down to the Bay Bridge. It was just spectacular, and at times for a novice a bit scary as the hull heeled (ie tilted) seeming perpendicular to the water necessitating us throwing ourselves to the other side of the boat to balance it.

After sailing around for all too short 2 hours, we headed back to the dock, rolling up the jib and taking down the main sail, and readied ourselves to cruise back in under diesel power. However, 2 minutes after starting the diesel engine there was an ugly sound as it started overheating due to a blocked water intake. We were floundering, and after trying to hail a passing boat our brave captain made the rather bold decision that we would sail in to the dock. So we unfurled the sails again and prepared for this really rather tricky operation. Honestly, it involved real split second timing with everyone pulling their weight, but under his competent guidance we managed it, much to the relief of all involved.

There followed a pleasant chat re-living the experience and using vocabulary which I shall probably never use again – stuff like “self tacking jib” and “that halyard is a bit frayed”. I will attempt to insert these phrases in future postcards to see if anyone notices.

Roller-coasters Galore
The following weekend, we stuffed ourselves silly at the market again, and then chose to try to relieve our swelling stomachs on a rollercoaster ride. There are two large theme parks around San Francisco and we chose the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. It was formerly a Sea World park, so was heavy on the aquatic life, and was subsequently bought by Six Flags chain that added 5 roller-coasters and then went bankrupt. The park is still open though while they recover from Chapter 11.

The park was a peculiar mix of zoo, water creatures and thrill rides. The queues for the roller-coasters were lengthening, so we headed over the whale show – apparently a highlight. There was enough entertainment trying to find a seat between the human whale families that were already seated even before the show began, and we were pleased to be at the back of the auditorium as the first 10 rows were dramatically doused in whale splash, a theme that repeated itself at the dolphin and sea-lions shows. As a result, wet people were a common sight at Six Flag, but when a photo opportunity with Batman came up, I naturally rushed up. However, he was soaking too. Due to the heavy plastic costume and the 38°c heat he was sweating like crazy and it sort of destroyed the illusion – Batman with a perspiration problem never made it in to the comics. We left soon after that.

Dust Bowl Garlic Festival
Following weekend, looking for something to do, we were recommended to experience a “once in a lifetime” event, a The Gilroy Garlic festival. Feelings in the office were mixed on the subject and ranged from “load of old toss” to “overpriced, hot, dusty hell-hole”. The truth was somewhere in the middle. $12 entrance fee to basically have the opportunity to join 10,000 other people looking for shade and occasionally dashing out to view the tat on sale, peruse the “gourmet” food stands which all had the word “garlic” prominently displayed or listen to some garlic related music.

We tried several interesting dishes, garlic chips (sorry, I mean French fries), garlic bread (original), garlic popcorn, garlic chicken, garlic scampi etc etc. The highlight for me was garlic ice cream, which was a big disappointment – basically vanilla with a few cloves crushed in – interesting taste but nothing spectacular. We left to the parking lot (very large fields) and watched the circling irrigation trucks pouring gallons on the ground in an attempt to stop the hot dust creating a sand storm as cars drove by. It really was a once in a lifetime event – it deserves a single visit.

More excitement is planned for the weekends to come, like searching for a self taking jib, but more about that later…

Postcard from the Edge of a Move

IJKMan — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 04:22:13 +0000

Moving is not an easy thing to do, apparently after death, divorce and being arrested it is the most stressful thing you can experience – you uproot your entire life and typically forget something, e.g. cancel the milk. However, given the opportunity to move for a six month period is a different topic all together, at least you know when you get back, you will have enough milk.

So, when I was given the opportunity to move to Silicon Valley to work on a project, I jumped at the chance. Sure there are downsides – the paperwork, leaving friends and family, taking a place one quarter the size of my current abode, for four times the price, but the parking spaces are huge, movies are in English and the shops are open 24×7 – so on balance it was a go.

The first hurdle was the paperwork. Reams and reams of it. The lawyers did most of the work, creating a case file as big as a telephone directory, which I then had to take to the US consulate. The consulate is a fascinating microcosm of the hodgepodge that is America. All walks of life are represented there: the 60 year olds with shiny new 20-something year old Pilipino wives, the dumpy German girls with young, freshly snared GI husbands accompanied by disregarded, screaming kids, the college youths on an academic break and then the odd business man, but my visa was approved on the spot – for a bargain $650 and a 2 hour wait.

So the preparations began.. cleaning my car (first time in 5 years) to return it, disinfecting the apartment to ensure some intelligent life-forms do not evolve while I am a way and deciding what to take. It is amazing how much stuff one collects over the years, after packing 2 suitcases (a normal sized one and my BFS, the larger suitcase) my wardrobe hardly looked as if anything had been taken out (mental note: clean out the crap when I get back).

So I was in a positive frame of mind (all be it with a bit of trepidation), as drove up to the airport to board the 11 hour flight to San Francisco (with a free upgrade!). Arriving, my first task was to pick up the rather “compact” rental car for the next six months – a Toyota, with no remote, but a nice shade of red. Still it made me look forward to the shiny, blue, new car I have just ordered to be picked up on my return in December.

From there it was off the apartment and to unpack. This was a rather distressing time. The jetlag, the size of the apartment, the used car, the loss of the friends and the isolation all contributed to a rather emotionally charged 4th July weekend. Still, I made an effort and got out and about, up to Pier 39 in San Francisco, about 30 miles away, to watch the holiday fireworks.

As it was really hot in Mountain View, I thought nothing of wearing a t-shirt and shorts – but the weather variations in this part of the country are huge. The water-front in San Francisco was literally about 15°c colder and it was freezing. So despite meeting up with a really good old friend, I wimped out due to cold and tiredness and fought through the thousands of people and came home before the fireworks began.

But I managed to get through the weekend, and Monday came as a bit of a relief I could move in to my very own cubicle. Dilbert heaven. But my work colleagues turned out to be really delightful, both personally and professionally and things started to look up.

: Postcard from the Edge of a Move

Postcard from the Edge of Communism

IJKMan — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 20:05:21 +0000

Well, the only way to get through Moscow traffic is sitting in a convoy of 3 armoured plated Mercedes with a police car at the front to clear the way. The Merc has all the accessories needed – driver, body guard – you know the usual. Being picked up at the airport in this way, I knew this trip was going to be something different.

The reason for the terrible traffic is the number of people in Moscow. There are lots, and thus labour is still one of the cheapest resources and to keep them in full employment there are a number of unusual jobs that I encountered. Some of my favourites include:

Hotel Kempinski revolving door turner. Yes, rather than install a motor to turn the revolving door, put a couple of people on it to turn it as you approach (see pics)
Metro escalator regulator person – Every (I mean every) escalator in the metro system has a small glass hut at the bottom with a person sitting in it. Their job is to regulate the speed of the escalator to speed it up if queues get to big or bring to a stop it if someone falls
Kremlin hat check clerk – This is the traditional 3 people making tea, one person hanging the coat operation. I want to be the tea(m) leader.
Car park ticket dispenser – Despite putting in an automated ticket dispenser at window level at a car park, Muscovites are so unused to this new fangled device, that a guy is employed to hit the button, take the ticket and pass it the 40 cms from the machine to your car window.

Moscow itself is not that pretty (or warm), but it is the history and people that make the place such a pleasure to be in. I did a lot in the 2 days there (Red Square, Lenin’s tomb, Bolshoi Ballet, guided tour of the Kremlin and loads of work) but all the time, the people were pleasant, friendly and very sociable. For example:

Imagine you are trying to haggle to buy software on the street corner and the guy is clearly ripping you off, asking 250 Rubles ($8) for the latest version of some software. A nice Russian lady comes by and tells the guy off for being nasty to foreigners and you can then negotiate a more reasonable 350 Rubles for 2 CDs of your choice.
Hotel room service. In the “party” hotel next to ours, guests are regularly woken at 5 a.m. with friendly women knocking on the room doors, in skimpy clothes asking if they need anything. (Our hotel had a lock down device, so that lifts could only be used with a room key, but there were plenty of such kind women in the lobby).

Another highlight was meeting Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. The guy has a brilliant sense of humour (website is www.gorby.ru) and babbled on for ages without the translator getting a word in edgeways. His Gorbachev Foundation seeks to promote business and education in Russia and is having quite a lot of success.

All these kind (and some not so kind) people have built some amazing things in Moscow. The inside of the Kremlin (Kremlin = castle, the 5th built on this site) with its beautiful buildings, the 9 churches, the museum and above all the diamond exhibition is simply breath taking. Imagine a silver rose covered with 2,000 diamonds or a rare 45 carat black diamond, a or a piece made from 999 diamonds for Catherine the Great’s horse (the 1,000th Catherine the Great herself) all this can be scrutinized and marvelled at in this mesmerizing place. (Unfortunately the security stops you being able to purloin anything).

Lenin and Stalin, for all the naughty things they did, also left their individual mark in the forms of statues and incredible structures that even today you have to marvel at.

Moscow is wonderful, but is unfortunately turning away from its communistic roots and becoming very “western”. In a few years time, it will be like any other city with Channel, Yves Rocher, Burger King and McDonalds littering the streets – a great pity and a loss for the world.