5/26    Dear Bay Area residents, what's a good place to hike that is close
        to the south bay and is toddler friendly (flat, shaded, close to
        civilization)?
        \_ I like Henry Coe, but it is kind of far. You can always get in,
           even without a reservation, so that is nice.
        \_ Some possibilities are Rancho San Antonio, Sawyer Camp Trail
           (next to Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo), Shoreline,
           Coyote Hills, Lake Chabot, Guadalupe River Trail, Alum Rock
           Park, and Vasona Park

5/5     Are there dine-in theatres in the Bay Area? Like the AMC Dine-In but
        in the Bay Area?
        \- New Parkway in Oakland? Kabuki in SF?
        \_ Rialto (formerly parkway) in El Cerrito. Easily BART-able from
           Berkeley -- 2 blocks from El Cerrito Plaza BART..

3/5     What's a good place in the south bay for families where you can
        meet other stroller moms and dads? So far people tell me that
        Santa Clara has a bad school district, San Jose is cheap but
        only if you can tolerate the commute, Mountain View Castro is
        better for singles, Los Altos Palo Altos is great if you can
        afford it. Where else is good?
        \_ Cupertino, West San Jose
        \_ Cupertino, West San Jose, Sunnyvale
           \_ Cupertino costs too much.
              \_ Cheaper than Los Altos and Palo Alto.
        \_ Campbell
           \_ Mediocre schools.
              \_ http://campbell.patch.com/articles/campbell-schools-do-well-on-state-api-report
              \_ If you want a good school go private. I would never buy
                 an area for the schools. Ever.
                 \_ Do you have kids?
                    \_ Yes, which is why I have them in private school.  Why
                       would I trust them to a public K-12 school? Public
                       university is another story. The schools in my area
                       are EXCELLENT (as it happens - at least according
                       to API) but still terrible compared to private school.
                       \_ Why wouldn't you "trust them" to a public school?
                          What do you think is going to happen to them there?
                          If money was no object, I might consider private
                          school, but as a Poor Ass Millionaire, I need to
                          save for college. Even Cal costs $200k/per kid
                          and I have two of them.
        \_ The sad truth is people move to the suburbs to isolate themselves
           from other people. You won't find any place where friendly
           neighbors congregate, like a neighborhood street. Everyone
           is locked in their car, whisking their child from soccer practice
           to piano lessons.
           \_ What a load of crap. I live in the suburbs for 10 years now
              and I know my neighbors even blocks over. We get together
              for July 4th, we have a mailing list, and we meet each other
              when out watering lawns or walking dogs/kids. Sorry your
              neighborhood sucks.
              \_ I live in a great friendly urban neighborhood. Good for
                 you that your area is friendly, it is the exception.
                 http://www.hynesdevelopments.com/thoughts/essays/suburban-isolation
                 \_ Your neighborhood is what you make of it. I spent a lot
                    of time walking the neighborhood and knocking on
                    doors. I told people about the mailing list who didn't
                    know about it or else left flyers. People actually
                    like to interact with a little prodding. Most don't
                    move to the suburbs to isolate themselves. It's a
                    by-product.
                    \_ Good thing you don't live in Florida, you would
                       probably get shot. My relatives in Riverside literally
                       don't know one neighbor and they are pretty friendly.
                       I know about half the people on my block in SF
                       and I have lived in my place about the same
                       amount of time as they have. Read some June Jacods
                       sometime, suburbs are isolating on purpose.

9/12    Found three old computer-y books. Email me if you want them, don't post
        here, as I don't really check the motd anymore.
                Design Patterns
                (e|E)xtreme Programming (Installed|explained)
        You can pick them up either in SF (Haight) or South Bay (Cupertino).
        It's also great to see that people still don't respect motd write locks
        -abe
        \_ You enter an older, more primitive world.
           \_ with twisty passages, all different.
        \_ no one cares about patterns. It's stupid. I refuse to hire any
           gen-Y who has a patterns book on his desk. They think it's the
           greatest thing in the world.

7/8     White cop who unnecessarily shot and killed black convicted-of-gun-
        possession felon who was digging in his pocket while face down was
        convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
        http://www.csua.org/u/r3g (news.yahoo.com)
        Expect riots.
        \_ I don't think there will be significant rioting.  When the news
           is hyping something as much as they are the possibility of riots,
           they're almost always wrong.  -tom
            \_ AGW?
            \_ The Footlocker got looted, some other stores got broken into,
               somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 people arrested. Really
               sounds more like a Berkeley riot than an Oakland riot.
               \_ You saw it here first:
                  "Oscar got shot, Mehserle got probation, and I got a new
                   pair of shoes."
        \_ What does his parole status have to do with anything? Do you think
           that the arresting officer knew he was on probation?
           \_ I didn't keep track of the testimony.