patrick.net

I think we'd get on well in RL despite our disagreements in the blogosphere, DS. I'll bring some Rammstein and Einstürzende Neubauten for good measure...

Randy H going to Ohio

I'll be paying homage to my roots for the next week. For those denizens of the Bay Area who've never visited the Heartland or been anywhere in the flyover states beside the airport, I highly recommend a semidecadal visit to Ohio. I promise it will anchor your perspective in ways you cannot imagine.

Be well everyone.

Randy H, I recommend San Sebastian Grand Cru, amazing. So good you don't know if you should drink it or rub it on your self.

So far in this thread, my favorite is Haverty's rant about the hippies. Sat here laughing. Way to go dude.

i'm aware it's 10.30 pm on friday night and lager frenzy time, whereas it's sat morning grumpy hangover time for me :(

but i was going to suggest an audioconference in the interests of trans-pacific harmony more than once...

i'm not the wry, cynical, permanently regressed cool geek i pretend to be here, you know...

oh, re the blogspot hijacking query, you'll have to pull my e-mail from here and send a note, i haven't geared up with thread management permissions yet...

John Haverty Says:
By the way, I have told people time and time again pay a premium for non-China (PRC) product! I want to buy made in USA/Japan/Swiss/Germany/South Korea - even Taiwan!

Feeding the PRC was a very bad idea, its like transferring power from one superpower to another.

woops, just bought an LCD widescreen TV, digital tuner and HDD recorder/DVD burner from PRC, for about 3/5 regular price. sorry about that...

a speaker at politics in the pub the other week simply said 'in 10 years, China will be THE superpower, no question'. good thing Oz gets on with 'em -- we're all set up to be their entrepot clearing house, not to mention exporting mountains of iron ore ;)

James Squire brews are highly recommended, particularly amber ale and golden ale - and the indian ale comes in at 5-6%!

http://www.malt-shovel.com.au/frames.asp?page=brewery.asp

hmm, keep meaning to tour their brewery...

St. Sebastian Grand Cru?

Yup that's the stuff, amazing.

I don't buy Chinese, PRC items.

I don’t buy Chinese, PRC items.

I do not care where things come from, so long as they are legal.

I wish I could have responded to Face Reality and Fake P during the exchanges. But I am busy doing more important stuff, like following that small itsy bitsy, tiny sporting event happening in Germany.

Evergreen in San Jose was a hot area, I mean real HOT. Fully supported by Techie Indo-Chinese people, buying newly constructed McMansions. The house prices almost doubled from 02-03 to 2005. One can make arguments on both sides about that area's desirability.

The inventory, per ZipRealty has jumped from around 150 in the begining of the year to around 350 !

One particular street in this area seems to be having problem. I have not been there. All this info is from ZipRealty.

Here goes. 4 houses on the same street, with drastic price reductions, and on the market almost forever.

----- Listing 1 MLS #: 620710
1398 THORNBURY LN, San Jose - Evergreen, CA 95138
Price Reduced: 06/09/06 -- $1,350,000 to $1,250,000
Days on Market: 58

----- Listing 2 MLS #: 618033
1199 THORNBURY LN, San Jose - Evergreen, CA 95138
Price Reduced: 04/12/06 -- $1,161,900 to $1,100,000
Days on Market: 70

----- Listing 3 MLS #: 611550
1267 THORNBURY LN, San Jose - Evergreen, CA 95138
Price Reduced: 04/06/06 -- $1,185,000 to $1,149,900
Price Reduced: 06/09/06 -- $1,149,900 to $1,079,888
Days on Market: 101

----- Listing 4 MLS #: 608331
1357 THORNBURY LN, San Jose - Evergreen, CA 95138
Price Reduced: 03/06/06 -- $1,235,000 to $1,195,000
Price Reduced: 04/07/06 -- $1,195,000 to $1,155,000
Price Reduced: 06/06/06 -- $1,155,000 to $1,050,000
Days on Market: 115

Do I need to say anything more ?

oops, made the mistake of only reading the last 50 posts to catch up... sorry to hear about your situation, LILLL - and I was blithely musing on the biological roots of dishonesty. Maybe the small claims court system? Apart from SCC, under the Dept of Fair Trading here, you can complain about a registered business and, if the problem remains unresolved, get a hearing for only $10 resulting in an order to pay if you're found to be in the right - most businesses don't even bother showing up, cos they know they're going to get their asses kicked. is there anything like that there? only probs might be interstate jurisdictions... cost of lawyers is insane in US too, tho you can probably represent yourself in SCC -- which are meant to be short and sweet hearings and over and done with; perhaps showing the intent to get on with it by starting a process will frighten the company, as they probably operate under the ppl that most people will write the money off and not follow through on their scam...

BA or Not BA, San hofuckingsebag? Give me a mother fucking break. Your posting just shows how fucking far peoples fucking heads are shoved up their fucking asses. San Hosebag is a fucking garbage dump with no redeeming qualities. Fuck that place i hope all those mother fuckers go bankrupt and have to move back to the basement. Fuck ya'll. Seriously, fuck San hosebag, it's filled with maggot fucking McDebtors, I hope they all get ass packed in the most vile medival way possible.

I'm sorry maybe I wasn't clear enough, FUCK SAN HOSEBAG

Apart from SCC, under the Dept of Fair Trading here, you can complain about a registered business and, if the problem remains unresolved, get a hearing for only $10 resulting in an order to pay if you’re found to be in the right - most businesses don’t even bother showing up, cos they know they’re going to get their asses kicked. is there anything like that there?

I recommend just sending a box of dog shit, LILLL let me know if you wish to pursue this option, Hank has the brown wave from his 4 days in the kennel and I would be happy to box up a sample for the fuckers in NC.

DinOR Says:
Randy H,
Yeah, that’s pretty much the place and period I was thinking about. It just struck other midwesterners as so odd that off all places Youngstown, OH became a hot bed of crime.

hee, my mortgage broker mate in DC grew up in youngstown - she doesn't talk about it much for some reason... :P

newsfreak Says:
Muzzle Anne Coulter!!
Anne Coulter looks like she needs to eat a 2 lb steak or a big plate of sushi.

My diagnosis is that it's nothing a good *** once in a while wouldn't fix, she would become a sunny liberal with flowers in her hair in no time...

Amnesty Yes! We must have amnesty, we have no choice.
yes, but don't forget the mexican-american war, Anglo-Saxons claiming their 'manifest destiny', hmm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_War#War_in_California

The Spanish Empire's just getting its land back, by degrees...

is there anything like that there?

I recommend just sending a box of dog shit

heh, ru-uff justice.

LILLL,

I'm just ill about your earnest money. Really, I am. The cost of doing business is painful enough. PAYING for a transaction that never took place is criminal. Period. Who do these people think they are! Trust me, they've already spent the money. Here's yet another example of how realtors exempt themselves from fair trade.

In my arena, I would firstly have to be at the very least somewhat familiar with your "tolerance for risk" meaning if the investment headed south to the tune of 5%+ are you O.K with that? If you harbor designs for a 20% upside are you willing to "stomach" a 40% downside? Do hold other assets elsewhere? If this company goes "de-listed" will it affect your retirement date? If so, perhaps we should reconsider. Have you ever traded on "margin" before? Are you familiar w/options? (which is really what you bought, and THE most riskiest of propositions). Let's set all of that aside for just a minute O.K. From a more rudimentary perspective have you so much as ever set foot in North Carolina? Are you aware that b/c said move would be strictly for a "change of scenery" that said moving expenses would NOT be tax deductible? And a million other things!

Since we all know that real estate is always a good investment for everybody all the time I guess NONE of these things are an issue. Nor will they ever be. This is how they operate. I'm fully aware that there are those among us that will shout from the rooftops that LILLL is her own gal and this is a free country and she can do as she (and her husband) pleases! Oh, I'm all for that! However; when I take someone's money (and I do every day) I must first exercise "the prudent man rule". I know, it doesn't get talked about nearly enough these days, but it still exists! It is still the law. If it were my money, would I be doing this? Is this financial suicide? Can I "cover" a margin call? Would this be a good investment for my mother? If I wouldn't do it, why would any other fool? Why, why, why, why why? John Haverty, you're an engineer. Isn't that what engineers ask any time they implement a change? Why X 5? If you still get a YES after the 5th query THEN make the change? Why is this "deal" better than your current deal? Why is this "new" asset" better than your current asset?

People, these are questions we need to be asking ourselves! LILLL, It's not my intent to get on a soapbox and preach here but at any point did anyone in NC so much as ask you how your husband (entertainment anchored) would be able practice his craft on the opposite coast? Did anyone challenge you as to just how you would be able continue your business 3,000 miles away? Or is it just assumed that you are a "California Lottery Winner" without the economic realities that tether the rest of us. Get your money back kid. This is wrong. This ain't right.

DS,

"it's sat morning grumpy hangover time"

Ahem, (clears throat second time)

Hangovers, my dear sir are a time honored tradition in the DinOR family! Each and every one is "special". Precious I might add. It is (in my twisted mind anyway) the best part of drinking. One must take extra special care to be "most pleasant" after a bender (lest mom pull the plug). Go on about your day with extra kindness and an unending need to please others. Savor every moment and always remember "just because you've had a few drinks doesn't mean you can't be a gentlemen". Right about now my eyes look like two "piss holes in the snow". Please excuse me now as I have to fix breakfast for my wife.

I have to work in San Jose. I hate it. Buying houses in there make me shudder. Anyone shelling out 1M+ to live in anything associated with Crud Jose is a maniac.

I live in Downtown San Jose. OMG. It is horrible!

My apartment complex is very well-managed though. It has the best managers I have ever seen. That said, I am moving to Sunnyvale in two weeks. The area is too bad.

Having lived in SJ for a year, I have become a strong supporter for:

1. Prohibition (at least no alcohol in public)
2. Death Penalty
3. Mandatory military/social service for youngsters

Young people should spend more time in the library, not bars. If they have ego or emotional issues, they should channel the excess energy in serving their communities.

God, we need religion in the class room.

LILL , if someone can blow away someone over bar seating, then I would think it is certainly justifiable to threaten to blow away someone for stealing your money.

Killing people over stupid things is the worst. We need to bring back public execution. Such people should be hanged high outside the city hall.

I grew up in southwest San Jose near the foothills. I'm part of the history of that place. It'll always be my home. There were great times and a golden era there. I now reside in Phoenix.

But, they've raped it. They've turned it into an overpriced third world shit hole.

I weep for San Jose, and admit that's it's time stick a fork in its ass and turn it over, it's done!

San Jose is over, barring any sort of renaissance. What have they done to San Jose? It's like Rosemary's baby! Its eyes...its a possessed baby!
god damn you evil bastards!

Hey Rat:

ST (Santa Teresa High) class of 1984. What a friggen' great year!

The 80's rocked. 1981 was fricken' sublime!

Actually, the late seventies had some cool Cali stuff going on.

My cousins were seventies kids. Graduated in Sunnyvale.

I went to James Lick High, eastside San Jose…lovely place…looked like a factory.

LILLL went to James Lick MyBalls? ahahahaha, funny, me? Independence.

M. holiday how is Phoenix? Tempe? Good or bad or indifferent.

LILLL, wow amazing. Sort of same hood. Never figured you for an Alum Rocker.

LILLL, Independence HS in San Hosebag, hence the origin of my loathing.

X- you having a party on the 4th?

Possibly, you in?

Saying that the entire San Jose is sh*thole is really an over-generalization. I personally find Almaden, parts of Santa Teresa, and particularly somewhere south of San Jose quite charming. Small pockets still retain the rural feel of the past.

The scary parts are East San Jose and the parts next to the airport. Evergreen is just too plastic. Anywhere along the western foothill is good all the way down from the peninsula, if you just ignore price for a minute. Price will correct itself, but geography hardly changes. I'd say if you keep yourself anywhere along the western foothill, you can't go wrong, even if you have to go as south as Gilroy.

I have a general dislike for East Bay for the lack of vegetation except for patches of brown grass 9 months out of a year.

There are no redeeming qualities to San Hosebag. I personally find Almaden, parts of Santa Teresa That pretty much nails why San Hosebag bites so much fucking ass, Almaden? Where exactly is that? If I were to mail a letter to Almaden where would I send it San Fucking HoseBag. Santa Teresa, where is that again, in San Fucking Hosebag. Ahhh the pretense, "I live in Almaden". Fuckers go to fucking hell. My ex syphilitic whore girl friend is frome "Almaden" thats funny you vapid cunt, where is that again?

Tonight I saw the film’The Big Buy’ about Tom Delay…

I have to make a long list of these films to catch up on...

...and Sacto State…and Chico…and yes, UCDavis….etc.

I thought you might like this story from Sac State. There was an exchange between Sac State and a university in England. They swapped statistics professors, so a CSUS math professor taught in England, and an Englishman was teaching statistics courses a Sac State. Prompted by the foreign accent, one of my fellow students said, "I want to complement you on how well you've learned English." Ah, when people generously share their idiocy.

And I shared my own idiocy by managing to italicize everything.

bloody hell.

John Haverty Says:
[...]
Another thing hippies do is ride bikes and block traffic. The metal on the bike took tons of energy to make the metal from ore. The tires are rubber and are a petroleum product. The grease on the chain is a petroleum product, the batteries that charge their bullhorns were charged by evil oil energy.

how much metal goes into a Humvee 2 for the little woman to take down to the shops by herself for a carton of milk, all the while burning non-renewable fossil fuels, emitting toxic pollution and carbon gases, and remaining obese and under-exercised, at risk of diabetes and heart disease?

how much does it cost to register and insure and service the Humvee every year? How much oil does it go through? How much gas does it burn? How much lubrication of its many moving parts does it need? It's a question of degree, not kind, in this case -- the 'hippy' is reducing their environmental footprint by a factor of 1 000 compared to the Humvee queen. More than 1 000, as far as emissions go. how long would world oil reserves last if you only had to oil a bike chain once in a while? how much middle east turmoil would there be, and how much would 'america lose it's addiction to oil imports'? (© GW Bush Group, trading as Carlyle Group)

it takes 7 GALLONS of oil to make a single car tyre.

i thought bicycles WERE traffic, with the same rights to use the road. but which also highlights the need for dedicated cycle lanes.

i recommend aeroriders for everyone. DinOr likes these so much, he told me he's going to buy 2... www.aerorider.com

John Haverty Says:

> Another thing hippies do is ride bikes and block traffic.
> The metal on the bike took tons of energy to make the
> metal from ore. The tires are rubber and are a petroleum
> product. The grease on the chain is a petroleum product,
> the batteries that charge their bullhorns were charged
> by evil oil energy.

Then Different Sean Says:

> bloody hell.

I still have a hard time believing that he is really Australian since 99% of what he says sounds like the party line from the thousands of self hating rich hypocritical Matt Gonzalez fans living in the Mission District riding around on vintage Bontrager mtn bikes with bar top shifters and fixed gear track bikes with vintage Campy parts…

> how much metal goes into a Humvee 2 for the little woman to
> take down to the shops by herself for a carton of milk, all
> the while burning non-renewable fossil fuels, emitting toxic
> pollution and carbon gases, and remaining obese and under-
> exercised, at risk of diabetes and heart disease?

Sure the Hummer 2 (the Humvee is the military version and there is just one of them) uses a lot of gas and most have so much bling that I want to walk over and tell the drivers that they are not “pretty fly for a white guy”, but they use less gas than the F350s that harvest the green bud in Mendocino County that the Green party hipsters smoke before they ride around blocking traffic. I can out run, out ride and out swim 99% of the Mission District hipsters who are half my age since they are not riding to stay healthy, they are riding to block traffic and piss people off (and look cool with their $3,000 vintage track bike sitting next to them when they smoke cloves and drink coffee at one of the cool indy (non Starbucks) shops). I think John’s point was that hippies use petroleum products and it is hypocritical to want to ban something if you use it (or do it) at all. A hippie that wants to ban oil drilling is like a casual body builder that uses steroids a couple times a year but goes to protests trying to ban them in baseball and when someone points out he is a hypocrite he says that he is not since he does not use as many steroids as Barry Bonds…

> i recommend aeroriders for everyone.
>DinOr likes these so much, he told me
> he’s going to buy 2… www.aerorider.com

When I was a kid my Dad (who took us on 40 mile rides on our one speed 20” bikes in the early 70’s) used to say “everyone that rides a recumbent bike is nuts”. All these years later I have never met a recumbent rider (or person who called themselves an “activist”) who was not totally nuts… http://tinyurl.com/e1t1

I’m glad I got that out of my system since I’m leaving to drive my girlfriend to Mill Valley to run the Dipsea and I’ll be waiting for her in West Marin (lets hope the West Marin nutballs don’t burn the SUV)…

Surfer-x:

I grew up in the west foothills/Santa Teresa Blvd. area of San Jose.
I agree with the other poster, it has its charm.

I went back to my old street last year, it was four years since I was back, and it looked very charming. The folliage had grown in. It looked kinda like parts of Los Gatos. It's aging nice in some parts & like shit in other.

Over all around the downtown area it looked LA-ish: Ramshackle, overdeveloped, dumpy. But, then again, when I took my friend from the East Coast, who got his MBA from Columbia, to Stanford University, he thought Stanford looked like shit. He said, "I'll show you some real brick university architecture."

I tried to explain that all the stucco buildings were because of earthquakes & that brick is not as safe. I explained all the overgrown with weeds foliage was because Californians are into the "natural" look, etc.

As far as Phoenix and Tempe. This place takes a calling. This is the badlands my friend. If you are from the coastal area, you will probably run like hell from here as fast as you can, after one month of our hell-on-earth summers.

My affinity for Arizona came as a child. We used to visit my uncle in Scottsdale in the '70s, so I came to like the desert. I did attend two military intelligence schools at Ft. Huachuca, in southern Arizona back in the late '80's and early '90s.

Now as for Phoenix, it's like San Jose in a lot of ways. In otherwords it's quite a mixed bag of different experiences based on your income level/sophistication. California it is definitely NOT.

IF you are a desert dweller, Phoenix has something for everyone. There's a lot of shithole neighorhoods here, but if you go around the block a very nice neighborhood pops out of nowhere for no rhyme or reason.

It' all niched-out, with pockets of really nice desert dwellings and then East-Side San Jose-type ghetto-ass dumps, etc.

I live in the northwest valley, in Phoenix near Glendale and Peoria. If you draw a straight line East and go about 15-20 miles, you run right into the nice parts of Scottsdale, which is considered affluent. So, in essence, for half the house price, I'm basically getting the Scottsdale-type lifestyle without double the price. Scottsdale is a cut above. Paradise Valley, near Scottsdale is VERY desert pimped-out...celebrities, etc.

South Scottsdale is the dumpy/old/ghettoish side, but money's starting to go into there tojazz it up.

Tempe? Well I just got off a contract at Honeywell in Tempe and may get hired full-time, hopefully, by next week. I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway, Tempe isn't really my cup of tea. The west side near the Ahwatukee foothills is nice. Just too flat & bland for me...

This place either grows on you like a fungus or you hate the hell out of it.

Definitey, it's worth going at least to Scottsdale in the winter because the weather's so nice.

Personally, I love the mountains and the desert austere beauty, while trying to avoid the shithole areas.

For me, the desert reveals itself and gives up it's secrets to those who are patient and pioneering. Otherwise, stay the F*** away from this place.

self hating rich hypocritical Matt Gonzalez fans living in the Mission District riding around on vintage Bontrager mtn bikes with bar top shifters and fixed gear track bikes with vintage Campy parts…

hmm, they sound like typical hippies to me. yuppy hippies. at least they get from A to B without burning fossil fuels and polluting the air...

I think John’s point was that hippies use petroleum products and it is hypocritical to want to ban something if you use it (or do it) at all.

but do they want to ban it, or just reduce usage? let's not get carried away with untested assumptions and false polarising stereotypes. has he asked every so-called 'hippie' riding a bike he sees whether they want to 'ban oil drilling everywhere'?

A hippie that wants to ban oil drilling is like a casual body builder that uses steroids a couple times a year but goes to protests trying to ban them in baseball and when someone points out he is a hypocrite he says that he is not since he does not use as many steroids as Barry Bonds…

i see. it's a strange old world, isn't it?

When I was a kid my Dad (who took us on 40 mile rides on our one speed 20” bikes in the early 70’s) used to say “everyone that rides a recumbent bike is nuts”. All these years later I have never met a recumbent rider (or person who called themselves an “activist”) who was not totally nuts… tinyurl.com/e1t1

well, dads are always right, especially FAB Srs. never mind that recumbents go faster than uprights, and were setting speed records in the 1930s, before they were written out of the rules. Wind resistance slows upright riders down significantly. The Aerorider tops out at about 4' tall, which is the height of a sports car, so can't really be missed by motorists. It can't fall over, and is well protected against accidents. Sounds reasonable to me. The tiny url link you posted recommends recumbents. The seats are more comfortable, too.

This POS just sold for $790,000.

The structure may be POS but the land...

hmm, maybe you should consider Oz after all, Peter P. no guns, no suspicious cars, and can be quite boring in areas, but very scenic. english speaking, plenty of work opportunities still, and the US$ will still buy AUD$1.25. depends what occupation you’re in as to settlement decision.

I have been to Oz many years ago. I liked it.

Astrology works differently though (north vs south hemisphere).

Feng Shui works differently also. But I will visit Oz again soon. Thanks.

Peter P
Astrology works differently though (north vs south hemisphere).
Feng Shui works differently also.

hmm, tricky. there is sushi tho.