In California

My father and I arrived in California in one piece (well, two pieces as it were). It’s been an incredibly demanding day as we got up around 5AM, flew to LAX (from Florida) and then to San Jose. Silicon Valley is absolutely incredible. Really neat. I was expecting a lot, but nothing like this; I’m pretty excited.

After getting off the plane in San Jose we got into our convertible rental (I’m only 23 and can’t yet rent a car, ergo my father’s accompaniment), put the top down, and proceeded to get lost. And again. And again. Ah, the joys of a new city clear across the continent.

After we got situated (cough after broadband internet in the hotel was up and running) we were off to look at my school and to also look at some of the apartment complexes I’ve been researching for the past two months; there are about nine that I really want to look at. We got to two of them today. One was a complete bust (i.e., didn’t even pull in, just kept driving by), but the other is a definite possibility. We’ll see how the next few go. I’d like to get to at least five tomorrow. That’s going to be a stretch though as we also have a meeting at a Honda dealership to see about getting me a new car.

We have already been doing some serious eating while here. Got some great Mexican for lunch and excellent sushi for dinner. If there’s one thing I can bet on about my father, it’s that we’ll eat proper. You guys that know me personally know that my 155lbs can eat some serious food — bring it! I wasn’t talking to you, Takeru. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of this apartment shit out of the way so that we can head up to San Francisco and take in some of the sights together.

Speaking of taking in some sights, my father almost got to see me bust the lip of the guy that puts your shit on the x-ray conveyor belt at the airport. As is extremely well known, I’m absurdly anal-retentive when it comes to my personal stuff, and tend to get fairly upset when someone damages my things. At airport security you are required to take notebooks out of their cases and place them in a little plastic bin. To make a long story short, I put my PowerBook in the bin and asked the guy to be gentle as he put it on the conveyor belt. Is he? Fuck no! He literally ramps the bin up the metal roller things until it hits the conveyor belt causing the notebook to slide across the bin and slam into the side. I was livid. The sides of the computer didn’t sustain any noticeable damage, but the bottom is pretty scratched up. Not looking forward to doing it all over again on the way back.  🙁

Ahem, this post has certainly turned out to be longer than anticipated. I’m obviously still on Florida time so that puts me at about 2AM — nothing out of the ordinary, but that coupled with the fact that I got up at 5AM this morning after going to bed at 3AM the night before and at 6AM the night before that (blame the alcohol), has left me slightly drained. Night.

One last thing: if anyone reading this site has any suggestions as to where to eat in the valley, be sure to let me know.