I was talking to someone after church on the Fourth of July and we were reminiscing about our enjoyment of seafood in Rhode Island. We talked about how great the food is, especially things like lobster rolls, and how it is not so easy to find anything comparable here. Sam’s Chowder House was mentioned for their chowder and other seafood that is close to a New England taste. Then this individual tells me about a hole in the wall place that they couldn’t remember the name of that is located in Redwood City. They said that they loved their lobster roll but that is a bit pricey. Seems like they were holding out on me. Not really. We just never talked about seafood that way.

So, I had to search out restaurants in Redwood City on the web. After some diligent searching I came up with Old Port Lobster Shack located in a strip mall in Redwood City. It seems that this place has had many good write-ups, some not so great, but the majority very good. I decided to take the family out to lobster roll  sandwiches. I had this craving going that I needed to satisfy and I figured that they probably had some decent chowder. What better to have for a mid-week dinner than chowder and lobster roll sandwiches.

What we discovered was outstanding. We all had their Rhode Island Red Steamer “Chowdah,” the Double Play Lobster Roll, one naked and one baked, and a single Lobster Roll, baked. The naked lobster was just that, naked. It had mayo and melted butter on the side giving you the choice of how much you put on your sandwich. The baked version already had mayo and green onions. The flavors really reminder me of my Rhode Island upbringing and all of the wonderful smells and tastes of New England. The chowdah (yeah, we really do pronounce it that way) was delicious. It had lots of flavor and steamers aplenty. The lobster rolls came with french fries and coleslaw. I later discovered that we could have substituted sweet potato fries for the regular fries. I guess we’ll have to do that on a subsequent visit.

Speaking of subsequent visits, I think we are going to have a tough time trying all of the different menu items since what we ate was so good. We will try our best though. At any rate, we were not able to save room for any of their desserts. That will be a tough task as well.

The service was excellent. Everyone was very pleasant and cheerful. They all made you feel welcome and right at home.

As some of the reviews that I read indicated the prices are a tad bit high. I figure that since we were having lobster it wouldn’t be cheap. Yes, it was pricey but I felt like it was well worth the price for what we received. Their was an ample amount of lobster in the lobster roll sandwiches and they were very tasty.

I will definitely be returning to the Old Port Lobster Shack.

I attend a meeting at 7:00 PM on the first and third Monday of every month. On the way to this regularly scheduled meeting I make a side stop to a local Starbucks near to where the meeting takes place. I always order a Grande decaf with room for cream. Inevitably, I usually have to wait for my decaf to be brewed because Starbucks has stopped brewing pots of decaf coffee on a regular schedule. My guess is because they probably have to throw away many pots of decaf as the majority of the public does not drink decaf coffee. Sounds like a sound business decision to me. I am a fairly patient guy so I have no problem being told that I will have to wait a few minutes for my brew to be finished. Not a problem. I will wait.

Tonight I made my usual pit stop for my Grande decaf, room for cream. The young lady across the counter told me the usual story that Starbucks has stopped brewing decaf coffee after noon time and only brews decaf on demand and that I would have to wait for the decaf to be brewed. She then asked if I had time to wait. Now, just reading the description of this conversation you would think, OK, no big deal but you should have heard the tone of voice and delivery that this young lady gave. The tone of her voice was incredulous, like she was saying to me “how dare you ask me to brew a pot of decaf coffee at this time of night?” Not only did her voice convey this but her facial expression and her body language indicated the same thing. She made me feel like I was not important and like she really wanted me to go away. To top this all off, when the pot was finished (I heard the beep when the pot finished) she turned around, looked at the pot and just continued doing what she was doing. Another employee saw the finished pot, saw my cup sitting there waiting, and went over to the now finished pot, poured my coffee and gave it to me.

I am a big proponent of customer service. I have worked in a manufacturing environment for over 30 years where we have gone out of our way to serve our customers, no matter what it took to get the job done. I know what it takes to respond to changing environments and situations, like having to bring employees in over holiday weekends because a customer was in dire need of the equipment that we manufactured. So I know what customer service looks like and feels like. What I received this evening was in no way close to customer service.

So I have resolved that I will no longer give that Starbucks my business ever again, period. Since that particular Starbucks is in close proximity to where my meeting is located I would much rather get my decaf coffee from McDonald’s or Jack-in-the-Box. That particular Starbucks, sorry, but you have lost a loyal customer because of your lack of caring and customer service.

Had a nice but crowded drive south down highway 17 and out toward the Pacific coast. We delivered a care package to a student who was attending the COSMOS program at UC Santa Cruz. What a wonderful setting that is set in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains. After making our delivery we drove north on highway 1 heading toward Half Moon Bay.

With stomachs rumbling we stopped at Sam’s Chowder House set along the coast in Half Moon Bay. Check them out at samschowderhouse.com where they also have a live cam set up. Pretty cool to be able to check out the weather before you commit to making the trip out to the coast. I have to say that I have now had probably the best New England clam chowder that I have ever had on the “left” coast at Sam’s Chowder House. The lobster roll sandwich, though a bit pricey, was excellent as well. There were some other great sounding dishes on the menu but we had a hankering for chowder.

Just as we were leaving a 4 piece band was kicking out some good live music out on the rear patio. Music can be heard Friday, Saturday, and Sundays. Check their web site for music types and performance times.

So, if you have a craving for a really good New England clam chowder Sam’s Chowder House is the place to journey to. You won’t be disappointed.

I am a bit remiss in posting this, well, posting anything really, but I am taking a few minutes to write this post. A great place to stay in Monterey is the Otter Inn. It is reasonably priced, clean, and a stone’s throw from Cannery Row. Easily accessible from California Highway 1 south, the Otter Inn sits one block away from Cannery Row at 571 Wave Street, Monterey, CA 93940. They have a web site at www.otterinn.com that you should check out.

My wife and I decided, (well, I sort of talked her into this) to venture down to Monterey, CA on the coast to celebrate our 29^th wedding anniversary. I figured that two nights in Monterey would be a perfect mini get-away. A good friend (thanks Scott) recommended the Otter Inn, saying that it was within walking distance from Cannery Row, a clean place to lay your head at night and fairly reasonably priced. It was indeed all of that.

We started our little journey out on a Tuesday afternoon. We headed south on Highway 101 and made a slight detour in Gilroy for a bite to eat at Famous Dave’s. My wife loves ribs and Famous Dave’s offer up an excellent rib with out of this world BBQ sauce. They have a good range of sauces all the way up to a pretty hot number. You can’t go wrong with any of their sauce choices. We had a great lunch and were ready to head on out on our Monterey adventure.

We got back on 101 heading south. It wasn’t long before we veered off on CA 156 toward the Monterey Peninsula. While listening to a repeat of the Mother’s Day message delivered by a wonderful mother from our church (Twin Oaks Church) we quickly came upon CA Highway 1 and headed further south. Very soon you could smell the salt water in the air and we knew that the Pacific Ocean was soon to follow. About 15 minutes later we were pulling into the ground level parking area of the Otter Inn. Registration was very quick, and after picking up the complimentary basket of goodies we headed off to our room.

The next several days were spent walking all over Cannery Row. We probably went into just about every shop along Cannery Row. It was very tiring at the end of every day but my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our selves. We certainly got in our exercise on a daily basis. The only place we did not enter was the aquarium. Little did I know but just one week later I would be venturing back to visit that very same aquarium on a bus load of screaming kindergarteners.

One of several great eating establishments there on Cannery Row is Bubba Gump. I had some of the best clam chowder that I have had on the west coast. Many of the other places we ate at were very good. A few of the restaurants are a little bit pricey, but all in all every restaurant we dined at was very enjoyable indeed.

The other day I wrote about having some 50 days left untilmy employment status changes. Now the waning number is 47, yet to be precise about the whole of the situation, this building will be vacated by the approximately 100 people that currently work here in this Fremont, Ca. manufacturing facility. We are the remnants of the the Tandem manufacturing group that moved into this space in January of 1995. It sure doesn’t seem like we have been here for 14years but that is surely the case. At that time we consolidated two manufacturing facilities (Cupertino and Sunnyvale) into one location.

In it’s hay day there were probably some 4 or 500 people working here in this 500,000 square foot facility. Parking lots in the front and the rear of the building were always in use. It was very rare to come in late morning and be able to find a parking spot in the front. You were sure to have to go out to the back forty to find a spot, and then you were in for a very long walk to get into the building and then yet another long walk if you happened to work in the front of the building. If I am not mistaken it is about a quarter of a mile from front to rear of the building. The exact distance doesn’t matter, it’s far. It has been very weird coming into work over the past year seeing the cars in the parking lot dwindle.

There are a lot of memories in this place. A lot of lessons learned, many friendships made and many experiences to draw on for many many years to come. The thing that most sticks out for me today and I believe will also be the thing that I most remember is the caliber and the DNA of the people that have worked here for these past 14 years as well as the numerous years at the other manufacturing sites prior to coming here. It has been quite remarkable to see in action. Just think about this group of people training others from another country to take their jobs and doing so with not a single complaint. Where do you find a group of people with that kind of DNA makeup? No other place I have ever worked or seen or read about, that is for sure.

And where do you suppose this DNA has come from? Well, how about a great company once known as Tandem. Someone (Daryl) basically took the Tandem Fundamentals that we all had instilled in us, added a measure of all that we learned as a manufacturing group over the years, mixed them all together, and poured out what we called Fremont Fundamentals. Mind you it really hasn’t matter how many acquisitions we have gone through. As one manager has so aptly put it, “all we’ve done is had different logos printed on our paychecks. We are fundamentally the same people working together to produce the finest computer hardware anywhere in the world.” So no matter who came through this facility to work, no matter how many acquisitions we have gone through, we have instilled a work ethic like no other into a great number of people who will take that dynamic with them wherever they go and just maybe we will instill just a little bit of that DNA into others.

It brings a smile to my face to think back on how many times we have had surprise customer visits to our facility and to have them remark that they couldn’t believe how clean and orderly the whole of the manufacturing operation looked. That is no easy feat when you are running a full blown manufacturing operation with material moving all over on a daily basis. We have had a great heritage from our Tandem days. A few years ago we had an ITUG tour come through after hours. We had a great turnout of volunteers that worked a full day and then stayed around that evening to assist with the tour. The most memorable part of the evening was later hearing that just about everyone coming through the building were amazed at the longevity of experience the employee population had as a whole and all visitors just had to have a picture taken next to a crate that we had that had Tandem stamped on the side. How cool is that when the name Tandem causes that much of a stir. There have been many proud moments being associated with this great group of people and that certainly was one of them.

So this really is an end of an era. It’s hard to let the reality set in but this chapter is coming to a close . I think I can say that everyone involved in this unique adventure will have lasting memories, from billion dollar parties to beer busts to sabbaticals. Gee, let’s have a party and have Chicago or Tower of Power for our entertainment. We all worked very very hard and we all played very very hard. What great things to look back upon.

In about 50 days I will be looking at a new phase in my employment history, after just shy of 25 years of working at Tandem/Compaq/HP. It has been quite the ride over the years, especially through the transitional periods as we would be integrated into and consumed by each new company. The experience has been like no other, especially meeting and working with so many great people. Friendships and experiences to last a lifetime.

I just cleaned out two drawers of a file cabinet today. Man am I a pack rat. Must be my New England upbringing. Seems we save just about everything ’cause we will have a use for it someday. Usually, the moment we toss something out we find that we could have used it for something or other so we don’t toss anything out, ever. Well, I got rid of SO much paper today. I can’t believe it. I am pretty proud of myself for getting it tossed and not waiting until the last minute to get rid of it. I was having a hard time being motivated today so that was a good way to channel myself into a productive activity.

I have no idea what lies ahead. All I know is that God is in control. Don’t get me wrong, I am not gonna set back on my haunches and wait to see what God will do. I am going to do my part of the bargain, retool my resume, beat the bushes, network, and that other necessary stuff in order to gain employment. I’ve even checked out various web sites of organizations I would like to join that are way different than the field I have been working in over these past 25 years. Unfortunately there are no job openings but I am persistent. I just now that God is closing this door and that He has yet another door to for me to walk through. I just wish he would us neon signs to point the way.

Ah well, patience.

Living Water

This week the Target toys catalog and the Walmart holiday catalog showed up at my house. We have a 6 year old grandson living with us so you can imagine his excitement when they arrived in the mail, like they were sent to him personally. I wasn’t there when they arrived but I can imagine his wide-eyed expression as he sat on the floor, flipping through page after page of toys to fulfill his every fantasy. Oh the wonders of childhood and the anticipation of the arrival of Christmas and santa and presents and toys and the tree and family and excitement and wrapping paper everywhere, the smells and smiles and laughter and joy and all that makes the holiday season wonderful.

I remember as a child putting the string through the heavy woolen snow sock to hang on the bedpost at the foot of my bed and the excitement of Christmas eve. My brothers and I were so happy to receive the goodies that santa would put in those woolen socks. We would usually find an apple, an orange, a tangerine, walnuts, almonds, a large candy cane, and a few small gifts like a pencil and an eraser or some other small things. For presents we would usually get much needed woolen shirts, a dress shirt, apair of pants, underwear, handkerchiefs, socks, jeans, and one special gift. There might have been one or two smaller gifts like toys but there was always THE main gift. We were happy as clams to receive that one special gift year in and year out. We were on top of the world.

Today we all go so way overboard with our giving, so much so that we create incredible stress in our lives. Will we have enough money or room on our plastic to cover it all? Have we forgotten anyone on our lists? Oh man, I forgot to get Christmas cards. Darn, now I need stamps! Am I sure I haven’t forgotten anyone on my list? Gotta bake cookies, or a cake or a pie. How many parties did I commit to? Where did I hide that gift for <enter name>? I don’t want to see those credit card statements show up in January. Can’t we change our address? So what ever happened to the “reason for the season.” Where is the gift of Jesus in all of this?

A very special man that came into my life a year or so ago who shall remain nameless (Pastor Dan Perkins) has introduced to me and the elders of the church the Advent Conspiracy. When you get a chance (not if you get a chance, when you get a chance) take a look at their web site at adventconspiracy.org and read through and listen to the material they have provided. It will open up your eyes to a reality that exists each and every day. It really opened up my eyes. So, as we lead up to Christmas Pastor Dan will be opening the eyes of others at TOC (Twin Oaks Church) so that they too can get back into the “real” reason for the season.

I know what I want for Christmas and I know what I am going to give. How about you?

Cruise vacations are definitely at the top of my list of favorite vacations. It’s like vacationing at an all-inclusive vacation resort except that you are on the high seas. Now, granted you rock and roll a little bit but that is to be expected at sea. At any rate, it was totally fun.

We decided to go on our cruise vacation one day early and just stay overnight in San Diego. One of our daughters who lives in Imperial, Ca, about 2 hours away, picked us up from the airport and treated us to a wonderful lunch at Benihana’s of San Diego. It was sort of a belated birthday gift for Kica. We had a wonderful lunch and good conversation with Ana and grandsons Daniel and Larry. The chefs at Benihana cook well and put on a pretty entertaining show to boot. The food was very good too. After lunch we walked around a favorite mall of Ana’s and later that evening she took us to our hotel. That was so nice spending time with them. We were tired yet excited about our upcoming cruise.

The next morning we had a little bite to eat from the hotel’s continental breakfast. They had a shuttle service going to the cruise terminal so we took advantage fo that service. When we got to the cruise terminal it was absolute chaos. It turned out that another Carnival ship called the Spirit was two hours late returning to port. That created so much chaos because now the terminal was trying to handle two out-bound cruise ships at the same time. Traffic on land was so backed up and there was much confusion as to which line you were supposed to be in for each of the cruise ships. It was so hot and we were so tired waiting in line. It was probably about a two hour process. Unfortunately I could not convince Kica to take a suitcase with wheels. She insisted on a folding garment bag and she also had a fairly large carry-on bag that was rather heavy. This was no picnic getting on board ship. When we finally reached the cruise terminal to enter we were asked whether we wanted to carry our own bags on board or not. I chose a big resounding NOT. We were too hot and tired at that point. I figured that they could earn their keep and deliver my bags to our stateroom. We were hungry and just wanted to get on board ship.

After we made it through the terminal we walked up the gangplank and were finally on our way to a cruise vacation. We checked out our stateroom and then headed up to the buffet for lunch. They certainly know how to put on a spread of food. We ate our lunch, headed back to our stateroom to get our life jackets for the mandatory lifeboat drill, and then we were on our way out to sea, ready for a week of whatever lay ahead.

All week long we were well fed and well entertained. The food was great for all meals. You could certainly gain a few pounds traveling like this. Every evening there were shows to entertain. Song and dance routines had you smiling and tapping your foot the whole time. Throughout the day there were all sorts of activities, from art auctions to bingo to salsa dancing to what ever you could imagine. There was never a lack of activity. We had dinner with three other couples, one from Chico, one from Nevada, and one from Temecula. Every evening there was great conversation, learning about each other. Truly fun.

Cabo San Lucas was a nice diversion. It was so hot and humid but we made the best of it anyway. It was in the 90′s with humidity in the mid 70′s. We walked around many small shops and stopped in at Cabo Wabo for for a bite to eat. We had chicken tortilla shop with a definite lack of chicken in the soup. Kica had a definite craving for carne asada tacos and wanted to eat at the Office, a restaurant on the beach that was recommended to us as a good place to eat. We were very hot and tired at this point so a taxi ride was in the making. We got to the other side of the bay and discovered that the rode leading down to the Office was closed off due to construction. The walk down the dirt road was fine but I knew that after eating the trip back up the hill would be killer. The rest of lunch, the tacos, were great and well worth the trip over to the Office. Many street vendors, or should I say beach vendors were hawking their wares on the beach but that was to be expected. The food was very good and it was nice to just hang out and relax.

All in all Kica and I had a wonderful cruise vacation. This mode of travel and vacationing is very much in our future.

Carnival Elation

So I’m looking at this ship and I’m thinking that in just 2 days Kica and I will be on board, heading to Cabo San Lucas. Neither one of us has been to Cabo before so we are both anxiously looking forward to visiting Baja Sur. I unfortunately threw out my back yesterday so walking around Cabo should be interesting. I was able to get to see my doctor so I do have some meds to get me through. He was funny when I saw him. His first words were, “so I guess dancing is out, huh.” Well, I think that Kica and I will certainly enjoy the relaxation that the cruise ship has to offer. We are definitely anxious.

It has been quite a while since Kica and I have been anywhere by ourselves for a week. We did have a wonderful weekend excursion for our aniversary one year that a wonderful couple from our church blessed us with. That was fun checking out San Francisco with Kica. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves that weekend so I am sure that we will do the same this coming week.

I’ll write more when I return.

This Sunday, October 19th, Twin Oaks Church in conjunction with several other churches will walk along side others in the Silicon Valley AIDS Walk to help raise money for AIDS victims. Church will be out in the streets of San Jose and not in the building we call church. Reminds me of the Doobie Brothers song “Takin’ It To The Streets.” Years ago I wanted to get something going out in the streets with that song as sort of a theme, to actually walk the talk so to speak, to actually get out in the community and make a difference somehow. I am thankful to see that being acted out this weekend with our entire church participating in the Silicon Valley AIDS Walk.

So, how do you put feet to your words? What actions do you take to make this world a better place, no matter what your religious beliefs?