Living in Foster City

Welcome Summer

2011-06-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Summer is finally here. Today is the summer solstice. The longest day of the year, or at least one of the two longest days of the year.
Although more days of this year have been colder than warmer, this past week has been hot in Foster City. I hope it will be warm and nice, not hot nor cold, the rest of the summer.

Looking forward to July 4

2011-06-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Foster City has the best July 4th fireworks display in the entire world (as far as I have seen.)

We gather as a family on Hillsdale Blvd and pick a spot between Ryan Park and Safeway - right on the road. When the fireworks start, I lay down on my back and look straight up. What a wonderful sight, right under the fireworks!

Parking full at Sea Cloud Park

2011-05-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

FULL: Saturday was a very busy day for Sea Cloud Park - even though there was no one to sign up for the AYSO - which is when the parking lot is usually full. Almost all the spaces were taken. I had to drive around twice before I could find a space to park. It is a good thing in a way. I like it when we are all exercising.

CLEAR AND SUNNY: The weather was excellent. It was a cloudless day. The sky was blue and it was a perfect 77 degrees. Everyone wanted to be out and about.

SOCCER:
Almost all the fields were in use.

The astro turf has three soccer games going on. (The astro turf is a new addition to Sea Cloud Park. We are able to use it even when it rains and the rest of the park is closed.) Children preparing for the next game were playing on the grass nearby.

BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL: AAA, AA and Minor B baseball was going on. There was also T-ball and softball for the little ones. Even the play structure was fully occupied.

My daughter's coach gave us coupons for free snow cones. So when we got to the snack shack there as a queue there - which is not usual for the snack shack.

It was great to see all these games going on at the park. Each individual game was fun to watch. Here are some pictures I took to remember the day by.

Cricket fever

2011-04-04T12:50:00.001-07:00

India won the Cricket world cup last weekend. My friends and I played a match to celebrate. It has been a long time since I've played cricket. We played at Boothbay part. We had a visiting team from Sunnyvale.

It was a lot of fun and very good exercise. I'm going to play some more and post pictures next time.

It's been a very wet week. But Soccer was not affected

2011-03-28T00:16:00.001-07:00

It rained almost everyday last week. Seacloud park had stagnant water. So all base ball practice and games were cancelled.

Thanks to the artificial turf, spring soccer games went on as scheduled.

Re: Monster bug on my car's window

2011-03-21T22:07:00.001-07:00

This afternoon when I went to lunch, it was raining. The rain must have driven out this poor creature. It was dry and sunny by the time I came back. What a shock I had seeing this "monster bug" on my window!

I froze and my heart jumped. Then I gingerly opened the door and got in, shut the door, and started the car. But the insect did not fly away. So I got out again and carefully took two pictures.

I was not frightened anymore. The poor creature has probably adapted this frightening "skull and bones" kind of personality for self preservation. Good luck my monster.

Rains linger, budgets cut, but spring is here

2011-03-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Last week in Foster City, the rain has been constant. All the grounds are wet. Baseball practice has been cancelled frequently. On Saturday even the game was cancelled. Not sure if the grounds will be closed today for practice. Looks like the rain might clear on Thursday. That will give us a chance to have the game on Saturday this week.

Report cards came home on Friday. Kids are doing well in FC. We are blessed to have very good teachers. But I heard my son tell me last week that 30 teachers were let go the week before from the San Mateo - FC school district. That was indeed a very sad happening. All teachers wore red on a day last week to express their feelings. These budget cuts are hitting California very badly.

Talking about budget cuts, we usually only watch PBS. In fact 90% of the time our TV is tuned to PBS. The rest of the time it plays DVDs. It was saddening to hear last week or two weeks ago that the govt is cutting their funding to PBS and NPR which is approximately $350 million and $100 million respectively annually. I hope they are able to raise more funds from viewers.

Speaking of TV, last night for no reason I decided to channel surf. Some times I check out what's on channel 27 - FCTV. Instead of programming, there was this notice: Due to budget cuts Foster City TV cannot show programming all the time (or some thing to that effect). Or it cannot show all programs that it used to show or show or something. I wonder if there is a difference in cost between broadcasting a still image of that message versus broadcasting a show. I can understand that there is production cost for new programs, and a little bit of cost for the operator to configure the schedule etc. I wonder.

A new Spring is here. Spring is always a good time. It is the harbinger of summer. Good times.

After the Census

2011-03-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a year since I blogged here. As I predicted in my previous article, the wikipedia entry for Foster City has changed after the census. The population has now gone up by over 1500 people. Here is what is says now.

Foster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California, 94404. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 30,567. Forbes ranked Foster City #10 on their 2009 list of America's Top 25 Towns to Live Well. Money has also recognized Foster City multiple times as one of the Best Places to Live. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its proximity to Silicon Valley cities.

Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in its initial design. His successor firm, Foster Enterprises, run by his descendants, is still active in real estate affairs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Foster City

2010-02-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is the blurb before the Table of Contents in wikipedia today. After the census later this year this will change.

Foster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California, 94404. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 28,803. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its neighboring Silicon Valley cities.

Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in the initial design. His successor firm, Foster Enterprises, run by his descendants, is still active in real estate affairs throughout the San Francisco Bay area.

Burlingame

2010-02-09T15:01:00.001-08:00

Burlingame is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame.

It is renowned for many surviving examples of Victorian architecture and its high residential quality of life. Burlingame was settled by wealthy San Franciscans looking for a better climate for their second homes, but industrial growth was spurred in the 1960s and 1970s by proximity to the San Francisco International Airport, generating airline support services growth near the U.S. Route 101 corridor.

Burlingame is known as the 'City of Trees' due to the number of trees within the city (18,000 public trees). Most residential properties have trees owned and protected by the city on their public right of way. In addition the city has many parks and Eucalyptus groves that add to the overall tree numbers. The Eucalyptus groves occur to the west of the city on Interstate 280 and alongside many city streets, like California Drive, El Camino Real, and other smaller local streets. Washington Park with Burlingame Avenue at its eastern edge, Burlingame High School at its western edge, and the Caltrain line at its southern edge is the oldest park in Burlingame. It was originally part of the Gunst Estate, and some of the existing large trees within the park were part of this estate.

Update on election results

2010-02-05T23:49:00.000-08:00

Looks like Perez did not win after all. He came in third of 5. Only two seats were available.

Candidate Vote by Mail Early Voting Election Day Grand Total Votes
PAM FRISELLA (30.43%) 1,188 5 603 1,796
CHARLIE BRONITSKY (23.08%) 873 7 482 1,362
HERB PEREZ (19.08%) 659 5 462 1,126
WING YU (18.50%) 614 3 475 1,092
LINDA HASKIN GOLOGORSKY (8.91%) 336 3 187 526

The election was on Nov 3, 2009.
The current council members are
Rick Wykoff Mayor
Linda Koelling Vice Mayor
Pam Frisella Councilmember
Art Kiesel Councilmember
Charlie Bronitsky Councilmember

Chess classes at Foster City Elementary School

2010-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Ever other Friday there is an opportunity for children of FC schools to practice their chess skills against each other. From time to time these children participate in USCF regulated tournaments and come home with honors.

The classes are free. The teachers are very friendly, and the children are happy. This Valentines day, there is a tournament somewhere locally. If you need more info, post a comment. Depending on if I have the info at the time I can provide it.

Long time no post

2010-02-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

It has been such a long time since I posted anything here. I had lost touch with my blogs and then forgot about them completely. It is pretty cool that two or more years later, a series of chance occurances allowed me to get back.
I am still living in Foster City. This is a place like no other. Over the last two years house prices have gone down. But it has not gone down much in Foster City. In the mean time Barack Obama has become president in an unprecedented way. This is a great country where people of all races are given the same opportunity to excel if they put their mind to it.
I wonder if Master Perez won a seat on the City council. I had seen a lot of placards all over FC last year.

Parent teacher conferences next week.

2007-11-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you who may have forgotten, parent teacher conferences are from today till Nov 20 at Foster City Elementary school. Monday Nov 12 is veterans day, so there will be no school. Today is minimum day at Audubon as well.

Election for city council today

2007-11-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get the grandiose feeling that this blog will be regarded in the future as a historical reference to what was going on in Foster City in the 21st century. While it is very unlikely, let me contribute my two cents any way.

Today is the election for city council in Foster City. One name that is very prominent in the signs all over the landscape is Dr Huijun Ring. She was the first one to have her hundreds of signs all over the city, almost a month before the others put up their signs. She has been canvassing everywhere personally with flyers, brochures, etc., standing in front of schools, shops and other meeting places. Today, I saw her at the corner of Foster City Blvd and Hillsdale Blvd with her fellow canvassers. Whether people vote for her and elect her or not, her campaign will remain one of the most memorable in recent times, largely due to the sheer number of places her name RING showed up over the last couple of months.

Later this week we should know if her expensive campaign helped.

Stay hungry, stay foolish. Steve Jobs says "Follow your heart and your intuition"

2007-11-01T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today I stumbled on what I think is a fascinating speech by Steve Jobs, one of the greatest businessmen alive. He talks about his birth, his college days (after which he dropped out), his philosophy of "connecting the dots" which he says will give you the confidence to do what you want to do; his starting of Apple with Woz, his getting fired from Apple, his confidence and his love for what he does.

He shows why getting fired from apple was one of the best things that happened to him.

This led to the most creative period of his life when he met his wife, started pixar, and started NeXT. Apple later bought Next, bringing him back to apple. He says don't settle - keep looking.

He also talks about living each day as though it was his last day. He says follow your heart and intuition.

"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Special requirements for a systems analyst in FC

2007-10-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the employment page of the city of Foster City and found these special requirements for a Sr. Systems Analyst. The url might become obselete, so I am pasting what I found there. It was really funny to read it. I am sure it is just the government's attempt to avoid lawsuits in the future.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; physical strength and agility to safely lift, manipulate, install and troubleshoot computer equipment; ability to hear, understand and retain complex information and instructions; ability to sit, stand, walk, kneel, crouch, stoop, squat, crawl, twist, climb, and lift 50 lbs.; exposure to confining work space and electrical hazards; ability to travel to different sites and locations; availability for shift work, 24-hour on-call, and stand-by.

An easy way to dispose batteries

2007-10-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Recycling woes. Have you been storing your used batteries in some corner of your house because they are banned from trash? I have been struggling with finding a convenient way to recycle them myself. I know I could take it to my office where they have separate bins for batteries, aerosol cans and other recyclables. But I always forget.

A new hope. Well now there is a new rule that offers a much needed relief. The South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) has launched a new curbside recycling program for household batteries and cell phones on October 1, 2007.

Residents in single-family homes of SBWMA member agencies (i.e., the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos and San Mateo along with unincorporated portions of San Mateo County and the West Bay Sanitary District) can set out household batteries (rechargeable and disposable alkaline types, but no automotive batteries) in a clear plastic bag on top of their mixed paper recycling bin on recycling collection day. Cell phones should be wrapped in paper and placed inside the same clear plastic bag that contains the batteries.

Where have all the AAA's gone. That reminds me, I have not been able to find AAA batteries in Costco for some time now. Is that only in Foster City? Or did Costco decide to stop selling AAA batteries? If they did where else can I get a good deal on AAA batteries like I could get at Costco?

MetroFi – free wireless access anywhere in Foster City

2007-10-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

A new kind of wireless. Just about a year ago, I found a new wireless connection pop up automatically in my wireless connection profiles. It was called MetroFi. A quick visit to http://www.metrofi.com/ confirmed that it was a free service available in select cities. MetroFi, Inc. is a private corporation based in Mountain View who provides wireless Internet services in municipal areas. They have deployed citywide Wi-Fi networks in places such as Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Mountain View, and soon will deploy a network in Portland, OR. Foster City is one of the cities that have MetroFi connectivity.

Initially I thought that the routers were provided to selected neighbors and kept unencrypted. I could not come up with how else they did it. Especially considering that the power of my laptop’s transmitter is only a few hundred feet at most. I was wrong.

The way they do it is by placing the transmitters on top of lamp posts! What an amazing concept!

Terms and conditions. MetroFi's agreement with the City requires them to plan their network such that all parcels of land in outdoor locations in Foster City have the capability of receiving the service. They are required to meet a coverage objective of 95%. In other words, 95% of all outdoor areas will be able to access the Wi-Fi network without the need for additional equipment other than a standard laptop or other typical Wi-Fi device.

Because of building heights, construction materials, and water features, some users may require the need for additional "customer premises equipment", which simply put is an antenna booster to strengthen the WiFi signal within your facility (home, business, etc.).

The City does not regulate the cost of Wi-Fi services provided by MetroFi. Check MetroFi's website for current subscription prices. MetroFi has indicated they will provide a mix of free (ad-supported) access as well as a subscription-based service model.

Halloween safe street for Trick or Treat.

2007-10-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

New Location. Halloween is just around the corner. This year Foster City’s safe street is designated to be in Neighborhood 6 behind Farragut park. This is a deviation from a tradition established over the last decade when the safe street used to be between Beach Park Blvd and Monterey in the Dolphin Bay neighborhood. This year 119 houses in Decatur, Bainbridge, and Blythe Streets will be invited to participate. The houses on Halsey and Farragut will not be participating. And even on these two streets only “local” residents will be allowed to drive/park.

Parking. I used to think that if I parked my car in the Edgewater Place Shopping Center, it could be towed away. Not according to the planners of the Halloween Safe Street. You are allowed to park anywhere in Foster City, including at businesses near the safe street. Note that parking will be prohibited in the two churches (Mormon Church, CPC) parking lots. Barricades will be set up on Beach Park Blvd, at Edgewater and at Farragut.

Fun. Every year this event is conducted by the Rotary club of Foster City. This is a fun time for all residents of Foster City and nearby areas to come in their costumes to collect treats in a safe "trick or treat" environment. Kids have a blast. Some kids come from as far as Sunnyvale and Cupertino I have heard.

I have always wondered how local residents can go in and out in case they need to. Apparently Rotarian staffed check points will be available at the entrances to Burrows and Decatur Streets to escort vehicles entering Neighborhood 6 to and from their respective residences throughout the event. As it was with Dolphin Bay residents, the residents of the safe street are not too happy that their neighborhood was picked. Everyone else is happy.

Foster City is attracting more businesses - IBM

2007-10-24T00:56:00.000-07:00

Foster City (CA) is already home to big office buildings. One of VISA's largest software development sites is here. During lunch time, if I am in the Metro Center, near Safeway, I see a lot of Sony employees go to lunch in that complex. I can tell they are from Sony (play station people) because they have the bright yellow badge hangers around their necks with the playstation symbols: triangle, square, circle and the X.

Now IBM is moving into the Inktomi building on top of Baja Fresh. They are going to take the entire fourth floor (which is really the first complete office floor because the others are all car parking and retail stores). There will be around 300 employees housed there. That should be good for local retail and restaurant businesses.

One interesting thing I noticed in the Metro Center is that there is a ghost IBM office in that complex. There is a list of companies/stores in front of the WaMu bank (near safeway). One of the offices listed is IBM. It is supposed to be near Curves. But if you actually go there, there is nothing there.