There are evenings in Santa Cruz that are perfect for a late night swim. Tonight was one of those nights. The ocean was perfect. The waves action had the start of the winter swell, but slow enough for this old fat bastard to jump in.
It was cold….

The moon was full. I was [...]

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One of my many hobbies - or is it just a quirk? - is that I like to identify locations in movies and televisions. Basically, while I am watching movies and or television, I try to identify the location that they are shooting in and then list in my head where has it been [...]

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Here are my notes from Wednesday, Sept 3rd Meet-Up. Disclaimer - these are my notes, so please do not think the speakers actually said or claimed anything I wrote down.
Santa Cruz New Technology Meet Up
September 3, 2008
Message from Doug Erickson -

Agenda
Silicon Valley Meet Up next Tuesday
House Keeping

Sponsor - Soquel Group

Local [...]

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I have been wanting to get a Harley for about six years. Well longer than that, but the last six years the itch has been bad. Sure, it might be a mid-life crisis but then again that would imply that I have grown up and we all know that has not happened.

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“Sometimes there’s a man, who, well, he’s the man for his time ‘n place.”

Since a three day weekend is upon us any minute now - yes we officially start the three day weekend at noon Friday — I need to get this blog entry done very quickly.
DUDE WEEKEND IS UPON US!
My better half will be [...]

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I got the news on Sunday that Chris Matthews, the infamous owner of Poet and Patriot Irish Pub, passed away on Saturday after a bout with lung cancer. He was only 61.
For those who never had the pleasure of meeting this man, let alone drinking in his fine establishment, please know that we have lost [...]

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This evening I attended the monthly Santa Cruz New Technology Meetup which was once again held at the Santa Cruz Police Department’s Community room. The event was sponsored by Soquel Group.
I encourage all of my local friends to join the Santa Cruz New Tech Alliance Meet-up Group. The event is free, you get [...]

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August 1 was my 46th birthday. 46?!? Jeez, if I had known that I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself. Yet, I found myself not really thinking about getting older. Maybe I am just in denial, or maybe I have come to terms with my [...]

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Most of my friends consider me to be brain dead, so when last week started, none of them saw a change in me or my activities. Yet I saw a big difference. I had no brain power. None. Nada. Zip.
I realized early on Monday that I was in trouble as [...]

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Summer arrives and what to do with the kids?
Growing up, part of my summers were spent at camp, overnight and day types. Some were up in the mountains, such as Catholic Youth Organization, while others were at local school such as the soccer camp at Santa Clara University. Some were overnights, while others [...]

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Regular readers of Bananaverse might remember the tragic end to my beloved 1989 Toyota 4 Runner back in March. Since then, I have attempted to live without a motor vehicle by ridding my bike, or public transportation like buses and trains, occasionally getting taxi’s and bumming rides from friends. On the occasions that [...]

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A photo of the recent Martin Road Fire which broke out in the hills near Bonny Doon on June 11 at 3 p.m. At its height, the blaze consumed 900 acres. As of now, it’s believed to have destroyed 10 homes, and evacuated nearly 1,700 people. Firefighters believe it will be fully contained this weekend. [...]

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Yesterday evening (June 10), I attended the “Visions for the Future of Game Design and Digital Media” event put on by Santa Cruz Design and Innovation Center and UC Santa Cruz Baskin Engineering (Computer Game Design Program).  Held at the Digital Media Factory, which is in the old west-side Wrigley’s building, the event featured UCSC [...]

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Great event tomorrow (map link — event link)
Visions of the Future Game Design and Digital Media
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Digital Media Factory

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I was sadden to read that Don Yee, the proprietor of the old Tea Cup bar and restaurant had passed away. Geoffrey Dunn (Santa Cruz’s best historian!) wrote up a great article “Last Call at the Tea Cup” this past week in the Good Times about Mr. Lee’s life and his memories of [...]

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