San Jose June 2008
Another seminar, this time in San Jose California. I had never been to San Jose and being kind of a computer geek I was excited to visit Silicone Valley. I was amazed that Northwest had a direct flight into San Jose, I had thought I would have to fly into San Francisco and drive to San Jose. I like flying west a lot more than flying east. My departure flight was at 10:00 am and I landed in San Jose about 11:45 am. If I head east on a departure flight I have to catch a 7:00 am flight to get to my destination by noon. Of course you pay on the return flight because you have to take the red eye home.
The seminar was at the Holiday Inn San Jose. The hotel is older but well kept up. My room was a little small by Holiday Inn standards but nicely decorated. The banquet rooms were far nicer that any of the banquet rooms that I have stayed at lately. I was in Woodside 1. All of the Woodside meeting rooms were located by the pool, the outside walls were glass to from floor to ceiling.
The food at the hotel was great, usually we have pizza or sandwiches or lunch but we had stuffed turkey breast, fillet mignon, salmon and prime rib, and it was all very good. I am not sure what Kelly had to pay for lunches but the food was much better than what I am use to. The banquet staff was great, I believe Rose was the name of the person that served us our lunches and she was like a doting grandmother. We requested to have lunch by the pool so she set up tables for us by the pool, she had a great personality and she made sure that all if my students were happy. The only problem that we had was the air conditioning broke the end of the third day. It appeared that it was fixed for the last day of class but by noon it was heating up in the room again. They opened the sliding wall to Woodside 2 so we could get cool air into our room.
Usually I do not do much when class finishes for the day, generally I have room service and watch a little TV, every now and then I will by drinks for the class. The nice thing about a seminar in northern California is you know the weather is going to be nice and there is many places worth seeing when class is done. We do not have Fry's in Minnesota and I needed a meter for class so I drove over to geek heaver- after class, Fry's is incredible and I wish we had one on Minnesota.
I drove to Santa Cruz one evening. There's not a lot to see there. They have an amusement park which I drive past and a pier that you can drive onto. The drive to Santa Cruz is beautiful, it is winding road thought the hills.
I went into San Jose one night, I was going to have dinner but I could not find anything that looked good. I was a little disappointed, maybe I was in the wrong part of downtown, but it was a little seedy, drunks on the streets etc...
Los Gatos was my favorite town near San Jose. It is a walking town, there are many good shops and restaurants within several blocks. I ate at a great little Italian place.
I was scheduled on the red eye back to Minneapolis so I had hours to kill after class ended and I finished packing up. I decided that I would go into San Francisco to have dinner in North Beach. It almost never happens but it was hot, in the 90s in San Francisco. I hung out at the book store (Barnes and Noble?) by Fisherman's wharf and then drove to North Beach. Bad idea, it was Friday night and there was no parking to be had. I finally gave up, returned my rental car and had a delicious (not) dinner at the airport.
I did the usual, caught a couple of hours of sleep on the flight, grabbed breakfast, and slept until noon.
The seminar was at the Holiday Inn San Jose. The hotel is older but well kept up. My room was a little small by Holiday Inn standards but nicely decorated. The banquet rooms were far nicer that any of the banquet rooms that I have stayed at lately. I was in Woodside 1. All of the Woodside meeting rooms were located by the pool, the outside walls were glass to from floor to ceiling.
The food at the hotel was great, usually we have pizza or sandwiches or lunch but we had stuffed turkey breast, fillet mignon, salmon and prime rib, and it was all very good. I am not sure what Kelly had to pay for lunches but the food was much better than what I am use to. The banquet staff was great, I believe Rose was the name of the person that served us our lunches and she was like a doting grandmother. We requested to have lunch by the pool so she set up tables for us by the pool, she had a great personality and she made sure that all if my students were happy. The only problem that we had was the air conditioning broke the end of the third day. It appeared that it was fixed for the last day of class but by noon it was heating up in the room again. They opened the sliding wall to Woodside 2 so we could get cool air into our room.
Usually I do not do much when class finishes for the day, generally I have room service and watch a little TV, every now and then I will by drinks for the class. The nice thing about a seminar in northern California is you know the weather is going to be nice and there is many places worth seeing when class is done. We do not have Fry's in Minnesota and I needed a meter for class so I drove over to geek heaver- after class, Fry's is incredible and I wish we had one on Minnesota.
I drove to Santa Cruz one evening. There's not a lot to see there. They have an amusement park which I drive past and a pier that you can drive onto. The drive to Santa Cruz is beautiful, it is winding road thought the hills.
I went into San Jose one night, I was going to have dinner but I could not find anything that looked good. I was a little disappointed, maybe I was in the wrong part of downtown, but it was a little seedy, drunks on the streets etc...
Los Gatos was my favorite town near San Jose. It is a walking town, there are many good shops and restaurants within several blocks. I ate at a great little Italian place.
I was scheduled on the red eye back to Minneapolis so I had hours to kill after class ended and I finished packing up. I decided that I would go into San Francisco to have dinner in North Beach. It almost never happens but it was hot, in the 90s in San Francisco. I hung out at the book store (Barnes and Noble?) by Fisherman's wharf and then drove to North Beach. Bad idea, it was Friday night and there was no parking to be had. I finally gave up, returned my rental car and had a delicious (not) dinner at the airport.
I did the usual, caught a couple of hours of sleep on the flight, grabbed breakfast, and slept until noon.
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