World's lamest topiary

Secret location in San Francisco.

Saturday Crossword

I'm pretty sure the Saturday crossword is easier than the Friday one. Probably comparable to one of the midweek ones. I've noticed the sudoku on Saturdays is easier than the Friday one too, so that's consistent. Some people just get the paper on weekends, after all.

Casalegno's

Ride report: Mountain Charlie Road from Scotts Valley up toward Summit has a few steep sections.

At the zoo

California fixies at the zoo.

Gorilla

The silverback at the SF Zoo.

SFSU Bike Barn

Holds 350 bikes. Brilliant.

Clock at Plaza Del Sol

Greenwood Manor Park

Greenwood Manor is one of the smallest parks in Sunnyvale.

Fry's

One of the the Sunnyvale postcards should definitely have Fry's...

Braly Park

I'm still looking for locations in Sunnyvale for postcard pictures. This isn't one of them, but the location looked promising in Google Maps (a small park, with what appeared to be a lake).

Tennis Center

Also taken from Las Palmas Park, by the way.

Stop

Went on a ride with the club today. A very fun, social ride. Took about four hours to lazily cover 30 miles...

Las Palmas Park

Las Palmas Park is very nearly in the center of Sunnyvale, but it is largely unnoticed because it is not visible from any major streets. It's right behind the Tennis Center, not far from the Cherry Orchard apartments.

Counting Prime Numbers

Some engineering folks at Google came up with a "Treasure Hunt" about a month ago, consisting of four puzzles. One new puzzle was released each week. There was probably a prize involved at some point. As far as I could tell, the purpose of the game was twofold: (1) to show off Google's new app engine; and (2) probably as a recruiting tool. Reason (2) is suspected due to the nature of the puzzles released the second and third weeks.

I particularly liked the last puzzle. It looks like the following:

Find the smallest number that can be expressed as

the sum of 3 consecutive prime numbers,
the sum of 81 consecutive prime numbers,
the sum of 561 consecutive prime numbers,
the sum of 745 consecutive prime numbers,
and is itself a prime number.

For example, 41 is the smallest prime number that can be expressed as
the sum of 3 consecutive primes (11 + 13 + 17 = 41) and
the sum of 6 consecutive primes (2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13 = 41).

In this case, the answer is 6929191. However, the parameters of the puzzle are different every time you go to the site. It's always to find a prime number that can be expressed as the sum of A, B, C, and D prime numbers, but A, B, C, and D vary.

St Jude

Located at Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara. This is also the site of the 3-story tall steel sculpture of St Mary visible from the 101 freeway at Great America Parkway (just before you hit the AMC Mercado theaters if you're heading north).

Mexicali Grill

Another shot of the normally-mundane Mercado shopping center in Santa Clara. I think we ate at the Mexicali Grill once when we had a coupon. It was not particularly memorable.

Mercado

We saw Ironman on Saturday. The parking lot was a lot nicer than a when Indiana Jones opened.

Fire truck

This was at the booze and kitsch festival downtown. Sunnyvale doesn't have any buildings this high... why do they need the expensive truck?

Coffee and a crossword

Good times.

Probable SCT Detour

They're building an overpass on the Stevens Creek Trail at Moffett Blvd. I scouted the area for a possible detour, and found a path between Alamo Court and Whisman Park.

For sleeping on the job

The sign on it says to book the pod by appointment prior to using.

Karting

GoKart Racer in Burlingame. We had an offsite. So Silicon Valley.

View of the Columbia River

Looking west, somewhere along Highway 84 between The Dalles and Portland.

Portland in June

PDX this morning.

Castro Sidewalk Seating

This can't technically be called a sidewalk cafe -- the tables are actually in the street. How'd they get a permit for that?

Sono Sushi

Outside Sono Sushi on Castro in Mountain View. The sushi is fine.