Jelly Belly Factory

Check out the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA if get a chance. If you are headed to Napa this can be a nice stop over for the kids. Unlike the regular robot infested factory floors, this one is so vibrant with all the colors of the jelly beans. Beware, they give you plenty of sample jelly beans that are bound to drive the kids completely hyper if you don't ration them out!

Dentist: To remove or not to remove?

According to most (possibly all) Dentists in the US it is recommended to remove the wisdom tooth on both ends and their counter parts on the top row. That is a total of 4 teeth! The claim is that they are not used in the chewing process. I have never heard this from Dentists in India.

In general, the attitude of Dentists in India is to try and save every tooth as far as possible. Dentists in the US on the other hand love to do an extraction at the slightest excuse. Someone told me the supposed rational for this approach. If you remove a tooth then they are free of law suits. If you try some fancy exercise on the tooth and something goes wrong, Dentists are likely to get sued! Also, given the crazy health insurance racket in the US, I believe an extraction is easy money. I am curious to know the experiences of anyone around here on this.

Bonfante Gardens

Looking for a nice place to visit with your kids on a weekend? You live in the SF Bay area and don't necessarily want to drive a whole lot? Bonfante Gardens near Gilroy might be your answer. It is just south of San Jose after Morgan Hill. The park has plenty of rides, games, gardens, boat rides, train rides, etc. You can easily spend an entire day there and have lots of fun with the kids. The rides are not high pressure rides and hence perfect for smaller kids.

And finally the best part. The park is not well known. Very few people in the bay area are aware of its existence! The positive of course is that its not very crowded, which makes it an even better place to visit!

Its cheaper to get your tickets online.

Further increase in toll!

Read over the weekend that come 2007 the toll on bay area bridges are going to be increased by a dollar. The toll will be $5 for the Golden Gate bridge! This toll increase is simply insane. Combined with the ever increasing gas prices, simply getting to work is slowly becoming such an expensive affair. No wonder jobs are going overseas!

Bay Area Traffic

Ever since the toll on Dumbarton bridge was increased, I have noticed a significant decrease in traffic along this route! I wonder if there is any data available on this. 880 on the other hand continues to be a nightmare in rush hour. The mess at the 237 junction has been fixed for the most part (the exit for the car pool lane will ease things more when completed). The 880 bottleneck happens now between Warren Ave and Dixon Landing exits. There seems to be stop and go traffic between these points at virtually all times (especially peak hours). Wonder why? I don't think its 680 off Mission that is the cause. In general, Bay Area traffic is no where close to the way it was in the hey days of the valley (late 90s). The only reason not wish for the return of the hey days!! Oh well...

Post office

Been to the US post office lately? You go to the post office most often to mail something. This often means you want to send something fast and of course, cheapest. Unfortunately, these two don't go together (in case you didn't already know this!). On the other hand, you are flooded with options -- Sir, would you like to send this by priority mail? Would you like a receipt? Would like delivery confirmation? Or would you just like to track it online? Btw, you can also send this by certified mail? Just when you think this might be your magic formula, the next question comes along -- Sir, certified ok, but priority also? Receipt also? Deliver confirmation? How about express mail? I'll give you an envelope for free! Would you like to buy some stamps today? (this is straight from the "ask about fries" McDonald's school of customer training) Finally, an easy one, but no thank you!

The guy in front of me in the line was hilarious. He told the service agent, "Send this package the cheapest way, lose it if you can, I just want some proof that I mailed it!".

Ballet

Thanks to an invitation I got a chance to see a live professional ballet performance for the first time in my life. Before we attended the show I wondered how I was going to survive the two hour show. I was in for a surprise. I enjoyed the show and never really felt bored or distracted. In fact, the lighting, the music and the performances made it a very engaging experience.

Polar Express on IMAX

Over the holidays we saw the Polar Express on IMAX. If you plan to watch on IMAX make sure you find good seats (at the top). Otherwise, its better to watch it in a regular movie hall. During the holiday break every show was full and we actually purchased the tickets in advance.


Nice movie. Kids will enjoy it for sure. The look and feel of this film is different from the other popular animated films. I prefer the Pixar/Disney animated movies.

Spare them the spotlight

Do the spouses and kids of candidates have to be paraded all around at these conventions? The recent Democratic convention saw families of the John Edwards and John Kerry actively participating in "pitching" for them. It is more than likely that the same will happen at the Republican convention. The argument is that this is an opportunity for the country to get insights into the personal side of these candidates. Unfortunately, these events are so scripted like "product demos" that even if these individuals wished to reveal something new about their spouses, its more than likely that it will be staged and crafted. The net effect is that we have speeches from family members that hardly come across as genuine, but instead appear fake and untrue. We know they love their spouses, we know they think their spouses are the greatest (even Hillary told us that!), we know they will do anything to impress us to vote for them, then why bother? Moreover, it puts so much pressure on these individuals to be dragged into this whole drama that the candidate is involved with as they run for public office.

I watched Teresa Heinz Kerry's speech the other day at the Democratic convention. She is not exactly a great speaker, didn't exactly reveal anything personal about John Kerry, and is hardly qualified to talk policy. I think the same is true of Laura Bush. These are two women who are probably more comfortable doing their own things, than making speeches at political conventions. It would be better off if they stuck to press interviews and appearing in public with the candidate and stayed away from giving speeches, especially at conventions. This way, if you really care about the candidates personal background you are likely to research it and find out for yourself. At the same time, it will make sure that people don't end up casting their vote after falling for a dog and pony show at a convention.


Finally, here is what I think is interesting about Teresa Heinz Kerry and is likely to appeal to most Americans -- She appears relatively simple and certainly does not look like a woman who has over $500M+ assets. She wears minimal make up and does not fuss over her hair. She can speak five languages, was born and raised in Mozambique and is not afraid to ask people to "shove it" (which BTW is both good and scary at the same time!). What I knew about Teresa Heinz Kerry, I knew even before her speech and I think that was more than sufficient. I would have preferred (and the DNC would have been better served in my opinion) instead to hear a few more up and coming stars of the democratic party like Barack Obama.