most expensive zip codes

I was desiring a krispy kreme doughnut around lunch time today; the one down the street from my apartment was the closest one to work I could find. The next closest one was in Union City, 30 minutes away. Wow, I thought there were a lot more of them around.

Home prices in the Bay Area are crazy, and a 800k home here won't get you a nice new 4000 sq-ft 6-bedroom house with a large lawn and swimming pool. Some of those 800k homes are small 40 year old 2-bedroom homes (great school districts)... or you could go for a newly built townhouse that's part of a large complex (so-so school districts). Lawn? What lawn?

The list of most expensive zip codes 2005 is interesting.

Deal is just a few minutes drive from my NJ home. It's full of summer homes of people who live the rest of the year around Brooklyn. Unlike the Bay Area, the prices are VERY localized for Deal; that is, most homes in surrounding towns are around 200k or less. (These are median home prices.)

#64	07723	DEAL, NJ	$1,031,081
#130	11201	BROOKLYN, NY	$826,790

Locations within 30 minutes of where my current apartment is...

#91	94301	PALO ALTO, CA	$915,129
#20	94022	LOS ALTOS, CA	$1,392,522
#29	94024	LOS ALTOS, CA	$1,306,432
#1	94027	ATHERTON, CA	$2,496,553
#27	94028	PORTOLA VALLEY, CA	$1,316,417
#105	94062	REDWOOD CITY, CA	$879,910
#51	95070	SARATOGA, CA	$1,100,804
#115	94402	SAN MATEO, CA	$857,106
#147	95032	LOS GATOS, CA	$804,309
#31	95030	LOS GATOS, CA	$1,278,645
#40	94010	BURLINGAME, CA	$1,152,066

The list is testament to the costs of living in California, with half of our top ten ZIPs in that state, and nearly two-thirds of our top 25. It's not such a shock when you consider that California home prices increased nearly 100 percent between 1999 and 2000, according to the U.S. Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

And the prices haven't really dropped even after the stock bubble burst.

clocky

I definitely need one of these...

When the alarm clock goes off and the snooze button is pressed, Clocky will roll off the bedside table and wheel away, bumping mindlessly into objects on the floor until it eventually finds a spot to rest. Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky... Small wheels that are concealed by Clocky's shag enable it to move and reposition itself, and an internal processor helps it find a new hiding spot every day.

cherry blossom festival 2005

Why am I so attracted to festivals? Do I like battling the crowds? Do I like the over-priced food? Do I like standing on my feet for an hour waiting for a parade and then standing for another 2 hours watching it?

And yet, whenever I hear about an 'annual' festival occurring that I haven't attended, I want to go and check it out. I suppose most things are interesting to see at least once (or else I'll always wonder what I'm missing), and every once in a blue moon I might find one that's worth seeing more than once.

Cherry Blossom Festival notes:

• worth seeing once
• parade reaches Japantown 1/2 hour after parade start
• eat food BEFORE the parade
• watch parade from the same side of the street that you parked on
• bring folding chairs if possible
• apply sun lotion to exposed skin

Other than those, the day was pretty good. And of course, can a day be good without some nice pictures? Picture flood start...

Some of the festival booths contained interesting items...


Stitched "paintings". Look really closely and you'll see that the whole painting is composed of sewed stitches!


Origami. The focus is on the wall as opposed to the linked cranes, whoops! This is made from ONE single piece of paper, no tape of course.


Not hard to make, but I thought the arrangement was pretty.


Washi ningyo, aka paper dolls... ALL paper! (and some cotton)



Waiting for the parade to start...



Lots of little kiddies all throughout the parade. They looked cute, but at the same time, I couldn't help feeling sorry for them.


Anime costumes. I accidentally cut off the Naruto flag a guy was holding. Pokeman was years ago, but there was an Ash Ketchum in there. The guy wielding the sword is pretty freaky.



Lots of these in the parade; this was the largest one. Try to lift THAT up and down!


A very special dog.


End of the parade. The guys were throwing water, which was supposed to represent sake, I think.

tanequil

I finally finished reading Tanequil after weeks of not touching the book and being stuck on page 8. It just required a half hour of dedicated reading while waiting for the washer to finish, and then I was hooked. Needless to say I did not get as much work done as I wanted today. It's not the end of the world; it was a productive day in other ways.

The good thing about forgetting the 2nd book in a trilogy is out until almost a year later is that I read it a few months before the 3rd book is about to be released. 6th Harry Potter book in July and Straken in August. This should be a good summer.

fit oldies

L cycling at criterium, June 2004
I found out today that someone I thought was in his forties (based on his appearance and fitness level), and then corrected myself and thought he was in his fifties (based on random knowledge of life events) is in fact 60 years old.

He is definitely at the top in terms of fitness out of everyone I see in my weekly aerobics classes. The difference between him and L is his better physique; L might look 62, but J certainly does not. L attributes his belly and fat to be a result of really liking food, so he is 185 despite cycling more than 100 miles every weekend. L is starting to lose the fat now though, and I am quite happy for him. Now that's two people in their 60's that have better fitness than I. Defintely puts me to shame -_-

exercise => longer life + more yummy food

I got my hair trimmed 2 inches today... any time before a year ago, 2 inches would be a hair cut, not a trim. Despite the trim, my hair is still longer than it ever was during the first 23 years of my life. There was a girl at the salon getting her hair done for prom... prom on a Saturday? I thought it was always Friday evening, but I guess not.

I haven't watched anything in over a month, so I stopped by dd and am getting caught up on four Good Eats episodes (Melondrama, Sprung a Leek, Art of Darkness III, Dr. Strangeloaf). Mythbusters will have to wait.

Only a couple more weeks left to register for Wharf to Wharf before it gets filled up. I better get back into running and to my regular workouts. Infrequent workouts for 3 months gets rid of whatever fitness you had, especially if you weren't all that much in shape in the first place. My weight's still the same; it hasn't changed in x years. But I wonder if I lost muscle and am just getting more fat. I could get my body fat measured every few months like R. He's down to 6% now and any lower is in the danger zone. Bleh, I don't care about body fat. I just don't want to be decrepit when I grow old. And I want to eat more yummy food (exercising makes me hungry).

sheep

Which flock do you follow?

Wah!!! Two quizzes in one day!!! It's not my fault... blame V. Will this turn into a blog filled with random quizzes? No guarantees, but I surely hope not JUST quizzes.

There were a few questions on this quiz that I was 50/50 on. But even changing my answers to those questions, I am still the same kind of sheep. And V is a geek sheep no matter what he does. K is a hippy sheep O_o

Sheep reminds me of sheep. Sheep is one of those people that doesn't keep in touch very well, and lately my skills in that arena have been lacking as well. It's almost a year now and I wonder how she's doing.

the other craze

I give in to the quiz craze as well... why not? Somewhat amusing...

I find it strange that it says I am so "Liberal"; maybe L's daily ramblings are rubbing off on me.

Oh, and there is something wrong with this quiz. My top trait is "Liberal" and yet my perfect match would be "Conservative"?!

Your dating personality profile: Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life.

Your date match profile: Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Conservative - Forget liberals, you need a conservative match. Political discussions interest you, and a conservative will offer the viewpoint you need. Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Liberal 2. Big-Hearted 3. Adventurous 4. Wealthy/Ambitious 5. Intellectual 6. Romantic 7. Athletic 8. Stylish 9. Sensual 10. Traditional

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Practical 2. Conservative 3. Intellectual 4. Adventurous 5. Athletic 6. Big-Hearted 7. Traditional 8. Outgoing 9. Romantic 10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Take the Online Dating Personality Quiz.

pets

V's kitties Spot & Tiamat, March 2005
V has no image hosting for his blog to show pictures of his cute kitties, so I proudly display them here ^o^

My mom didn't allow pets other than fish. She always kept the house spotlessly neat and clean; pets just meant more work for her. Many parents probably trust their kids with pets and see it as a way to learn responsibility. My mom only had us feed the fish, and sometimes not even that. She took care of the tank and everything else. The short lifespan of goldfish meant we only had pets for 2 years.

Even on my own now, I still don't have a pet. Aside from having lived in a spotless house rubbing off on me and thus thinking pets would be too messy, I'd have a hard time dealing with the death issue. I know some cats can live more than 20 years, but that's not enough. My daily life would also become less flexible and I'd worry about the pet all the time.

I'll just have fun with other people's pets instead.

collections of memories

Newport Harbor, Southern CA, Jan 2004
I wonder why I didn't join the blog craze earlier. In fixth grade, I started keeping a "diary". That diary became a "journal" in sixth grade. I don't know what the difference between a diary and journal is, but journal seemed more appropriate because I had moved beyond the "My Diary" book given to me as a present. I now had a pretty spiral-bound half notebook. I wrote fairly regularly in my journal starting from that point in time all through high school and even into my college years. I had, of course, gone through several journals during those years.

The consequences of being "too busy" to do something can be sad. The weekly, sometimes daily, journal entries became monthly entries freshman year of college. And those monthly entries became once or twice a year entries. That, coupled with the lack of pictures after freshman year, is something I regret dearly. Most pictures I have are either from the start of the first year (a result of regretting taking almost no pictures in high school) or the end of the last year.

As we age and more and more time passes, our once vivid memories become more and more faint. The details start to slip away, leaving only bits and pieces. We may even begin to replace parts of those memories with our own fabrications just to fill in the increasingly many gaps. Then comes the time when the linkages are so faded that the memory is no longer a memory.

Pictures and words can't bring back the past, but they can help to keep those precious remembrances from sinking into a forgotten pit.

spaghettios

I tried Spaghettios for the first time today (yes, I have never had them in all my 24 years). I, of course, got the original O's, fortified with vitamins and minerals, including calcium.

It all started with an episode of Unwrapped that I watched while running on the treadmill. I don't remember the whole show... but during a part of it, they talked about a very popular restaurant (somewhere) that only served Spaghettios. I was reminded of this as I was cruising through the supermarket the other day.

The little round noodles are a good size, I suppose, but they taste quite strange - a little sweet, which was unexpected, and a small bit of dairy taste. They also seemed mushy; of course, I'm used to al dente pasta. All in all, I don't think I'll be eating Spaghettios again.

What amazes me is all the people who go to the restaurant that only serves Spaghettios. Is buying your own can, popping the contents into a bowl, and microwaving for a few minutes really so much trouble that you'd rather shell out a few extra bucks for someone to do it for you?

blogger vs livejournal vs xanga

When K told me that only about 5% of the blog population uses xanga, I was quite surprised. 20-ish% use blogger... same with live journal. I'm not sure where he got his info, but I did come across this.

Out of the 9 people I consistently "stalk", 8 use xanga and 1 uses livejournal.

Too bad I have problems with at least some part of the user interface on all of the 3 blog sites... I guess I'm just picky. In order of preference right now, for me it's
1. blogger
2. livejournal
3. xanga

It'll probably change as I get to know each service better. One hour certainly doesn't cover everything.

So for now, here's my limited assessment...

I like being able to date my posts (what if I have back logged posts?!) as well as edit previous posts, which xanga does not allow me to do.

I like being able to upload and post pictures for free... no free image hosting at xanga nor livejournal. Blogger lets me do it, though the process is kind of clunky, I think. But hey, it's better than nothing ^o^

People shouldn't have to create an account in order to comment non-anonymously on your blog, or to even comment at all.

I like being able to fully customize the blog without needing to pay for a premium service. I haven't done any self-customization yet, but I'll get around to it, hopefully.

I guess the part I'm missing out on by using blogger is the 'community' aspect, which is quite strong on LJ and xanga... ah well.

Here's a pic to get it all started. More pics to be expected (maybe this will force me to finally organize my pictures!)


Mountain View Art & Wine Festival, Sept 2004
(flowers made with leaves, taken with our new spiffy digital camera)

giving in...

Ok, I gave in to the blog craze finally... let's see how long this lasts...