Heater go America.
Heater.
Posts: 21,230
Heater is landing in San Jose for a visit next week.
It's a working trip so I doubt I'll have much time to look around. But if anyone can suggest some interesting places a nerdy geek should not miss that would be great.
Top of the list so far is the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum of course.
If there is any electronics surplus stores / junk yards around that would be great.
I'd love to get to Rocklin and beat up on Chip about my overdue P2 but I think that is a bit far out.
Suggestions, tips, anyone ?
Of course good bar and restaurant suggestions would not go amiss either
It's a working trip so I doubt I'll have much time to look around. But if anyone can suggest some interesting places a nerdy geek should not miss that would be great.
Top of the list so far is the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum of course.
If there is any electronics surplus stores / junk yards around that would be great.
I'd love to get to Rocklin and beat up on Chip about my overdue P2 but I think that is a bit far out.
Suggestions, tips, anyone ?
Of course good bar and restaurant suggestions would not go amiss either
Comments
Halted just moved - haven't been to the new location: http://www.halted.com
If you're here on Sat June 11th: http://www.electronicsfleamarket.com (also you could swing by Infinite Loop which is close by, or go to Ranch 99 across from the under construction spaceship near Homestead and Wolfe)
Haven't been to Weird Stuff in years it used to be pretty unpredictable - http://www.weirdstuff.com
The tech museum in downtown San Jose might be worth a look - http://www.thetech.org
Since you're planning on seeing Intel you could go to Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale but not sure if it's worth going - http://frys.com/ac/storeinfo/sunnyvale-location-frys-electronics-hours-maps-directions
If you know anyone at Google then arrange for a lunch at the newest cafe "Kitchen sync" since it's right next to the Computer History museum.
If you have a ham radio (Baofeng's are only ~$30 these days) and rights to use it, you might enjoy listening to the 9 am talknet, perhaps you can check it out remotely and ask for advice - http://9amtalk.net
In a similar vein - close to the Sunnyvale Fry's there's a ham radio store - http://www.hamradio.com and yes there's still a technical bookstore - https://www.digitalguru.com
Keep in mind that the Intel museum only covers the history of Intel. It's interesting that way ;-) The new Nvidia campus is going up pretty close to Intel. It's huge. There's also a small electronics shop across from Nvidia - http://anchor-electronics.com
The Tech Museum of Innovation
201 South Market Street
San Jose
thetech.org/
There is also an IMax Theater at the museum location that is worth going to if you have the time.
As for Electronics surplus places check out:
HSC
3051 Corvin Dr
Santa Clara
halted.com
As for a good bar/restaurant, you could try:
Elephant Bar
19780 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino
elephantbar.com
Have a great trip, I'm in the North Bay (Santa Rosa), let me know if you need anything while you are here...
If before Tuesday, just in time for the California primary! Whoo! Hoo! Perhaps you can witness, firsthand, our crazy politics by attending a Clinton, Sanders, or Trump rally!
You'd have to go to Red Bluff anyway. Here's a map, in case you get the chance:
Good luck! Go, Heater!
-Phil
If you have any interest in seeing the Stanford campus, perhaps you could combine it with a tour of SLAC. But there only happen twice a month:
https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/community/public-tours
Perhaps NASA Ames - http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html
You might say what type of food you're interested in consuming.
If you like Thai then the best in the area that I know of is Krung Thai. There are two on Winchester, but there was a divorce in the family so... http://www.originalkrungthai.com & http://www.newkrungthai.com
If you like Indian then there are tons of places. For Chinese there are "Ranch 99" centers which are supermarkets surrounded by Asian shops & restaurants. http://www.99ranch.com - there's one right across from the in-progress Apple headquarters as I mentioned above. Valley Fair just got a Din Tai Fung and you would probably need reservations: http://www.mercurynews.com/sal-pizarro/ci_29873773/dumpling-devotees-flock-din-tai-fung-opening-at
There's a section of El Camino (near Lawrence) that has many Korean restaurants.
Downtown Mountain View (Castro St) has a lot of restaurants and startups too. It's place where you can walk around and check things out. If you're going to the Computer History Museum then perhaps it's worth checking out.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PageDisplayView?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&content=contact
I didn't realize you lived so close. :cool:
Some friends really like this vegan place near downtown for ale - http://goodkarmasj.com
Keep in minds that there might be some activity near downtown due to the Sharks (ice hockey). Maybe just visiting a sports bar would be entertaining if you can sync it with Sharks/Warriors games.
It's kittycorner to the Windows Souvenir Shoppe. Free BSOD keychain with any purchase.
Excess Solutions
1555 S 7th St, San Jose, CA 95112
http://www.excesssolutions.com
Very close to San Jose State's Spartan Stadium
dgately
The American spirit of initiation.
John Abshier
-Phil
An of course the bay area has nothing compared to China. And the level of service can be quite good. Once when I was staying in Beijing I had a friend from the bay area ask me to get some EOLed parts. He could get them in the US, but it was going to be expensive. We simply called up a Beijing distributor and arranged to purchase them. On that same day a woman rode over on a motorcycle with the parts, and came up to the 6th story apartment that we were staying in to deliver them. I took that parts back to the US and they worked just fine. The price was quite affordable too - I don't think that there was even a charge for delivery.
Seed has a maker's map to Shenzhen - http://www.seeedstudio.com/document/pdf/Shenzhen Map for Makers.pdf
Back to the bay area - maybe a visit to a maker space would be interesting. Here's one in Santa Clara - http://www.hackerdojo.com I don't know the visitor policy, and they've had to move around a bit. There are others - http://www.techshop.ws/ts_sanjose.html
...we got electricity a while back!
Moffett field (former home of the USS Macon) is ~8 miles north of San Jose. Several huge blimp hangars and one gigantic zeppelin hangar, which is a kind of national landmark and currently nothing but a skeleton, per http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_26910584/google-take-over-much-moffett-field-restore-hanger . Hangar One is probably not open to the public now, somewhere in transition from NASA/Ames to Google (also nearby). But it's a dramatic sight and very visible just east of the 101 freeway if you're driving past.
If you'll indulge me, here's another erco zeppelin story. A few years back I was at the small LTA museum near Hangar One. At that time, Airship Ventures was selling zeppelin rides on a leased NT for $200-400. Too rich for my blood, I was just taking in the museum displays. Weather was not good, and the zeppelin never left the hangar. Several scheduled passengers killing time inside, waiting to see if the weather would improve. One was an older lady chatting about her dad, and I recognized her as Marie Wiley, daughter of Herbert Wiley, the COMMANDER of the Goodyear-Zeppelin USS Macon and one of only three survivors of the sister ship Akron. The Akron crashed off New Jersey and I've been out there scuba diving looking for it...
Marie helped to locate the Macon wreckage off Big Sur CA in 1990, neat story at http://www.blimpinfo.com/history-2/this-mo-in-hist/this-mo-in-hist-feb/the-remains-of-the-uss-macon/
She was a very sweet lady with vivid memories and we talked for an hour. She invited me to come visit and see her collection of photos & letters, which I couldn't do then sadly.
I snapped the pic below, that's her in daddy's arms, circa 1933-35! The Macon was a flying aircraft carrier, that airplane is one of the Macon's Sparrowhawk fighter planes.
going to Rocklin is mandatory. Like the Hadsh for a Muslim, at least one time in Mecca.
If you are in San Jose you are almost there, compared to say Helsinki.
Don't chicken out. Rent a car, take some vacation while here anyways and work yourself up north.
Stop by in LA to visit Phil, stop by in Hollywood and meet JonnyMac, just start a thread for stops between San Jose and Rocklin up to Red Bluff.
Run up the coast on HW 1 or HW 101 and see something of the west coast. Scenic landscape, sometimes.
Who knows when you are again as near as that.
Don't miss it.
Btw, on Phil's Map you even can see the Clearlake (the biggest one). That's where I am at.
Mike
Heater, if you're so inclined, come up to the Pacific NW. Port Townsend is where I hang out:
Washington's presidential primary is over, so you won't have to endure any campaigning in this neck of the woods!
-Phil
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29837065/one-third-bay-area-residents-hope-leave-soon
Well there's talk and then there's action...
Keep your money in your socks... a bunch of one dollar bills in your wallet... Just so you don't get assaulted while you are getting robbed.
Don't smile at the girl behind the counter ... unless she is well beyond her prime. In California, smiling at a service worker is considered sexual harassment.
If you smoke ... don't do it in public... and don't do it in your hotel room... that leaves your car.
Don't go into any "bars." You will get assaulted. Only go to establishments that clearly indicate something about "gentlemen".
If you only need a drink, go to a convenience store... but park as close to the front door as possible.
We give money to beggars... they need it for heroin.
Please inform your embassy of your itinerary. That way when you have to call them to get you out of jail, they will have a paper trail.
Other than that... have a great time:)
San Jose has lots of good restaurants in the area, just check Yelp.
And Phil - the HQ of the startup I'm working at is in Seattle, or more accurately, East of it in the 'burbs.
Yeah, I came to one of your Saturday open houses a couple of years ago.
Don't do it in a rental car!
Apologies Tom. So many people come to Parallax to visit and there are so many tours. At my age I don't always remember everyone who comes unless they've been there many times.