The club is $35/month which gives you a tasting of four wines once a month and two bottles from the four wines tasted. The club also offers 5% off all purchases and a 50% discount on wine events at the store. The two bottles of wine are a value of over $35 which makes the club a good value.

The store offers a good selection of wines from all over the world and the people there are very friendly and informative. I'm still learning a lot about wine and I feel like I'll learn more as I try the different types of wine. The biggest thing I've learned so far is that you have to find what you like as opposed to what someone else likes. You may like something that no one likes and vice versa.

I really like all types of wine so I'm keeping an open mind about all the different wines I try. If anyone has some good recommendations for wine I should try, please let me know.

Eats (50 Clement St) Eats is a small breakfast place on Clement St. I had a bacon and cheddar omelette that was pretty tasty. I've had bad breakfast before, but for the most part it's hard to ruin bacon and eggs. I don't eat breakfast too much. I get caught up in my work and by the time I go eat, it's already time for lunch. Eats was good though and I'd probably go back.

NakedFish (2084 Chestnut Street) - Website We found ourselves in North Beach for St Patrick's Day weekend and decided to have sushi at NakedFish.  The restaurant has a sushi bar in front and a small seating area in the back.  I started with the Tuna Tataki Salad which was pretty good.  The tuna was fresh and flavorful and made for a good starter.  I also had one of the house special rolls, but forgot the name of it.  The fish was fresh and that's all you can really ask for when eating at a sushi restaurant.

Burma Superstar Restaurant (309 Clement St) - Website The following week, a friend recommended I try Burma Superstar. She had heard good things about it, so I headed over there for lunch. The place was packed with people waiting outside, but the wait was pretty short. I heard people talking to each other saying how great the place was and what their favorite dishes were. This got my hopes up and it didn't disappoint. I had a Burma Cooler at lunch which was just a beer with lemon and ginger. I ordered the Burmese Style Chicken Salad and it was probably one of the best chicken salads I've ever had. The chicken was crispy and the dressing over the lettuce was very tasty. I probably should have ordered something else though because I left feeling hungry still. It was a good experience though and a place I would recommend to others.

Sushi Bistro (431 Balboa St) - Website I was told that there was a sushi restaurant that only opens when the owner feels like it. He puts a flag or a sheet up on the window and then you know he will be open for the night. I think you need to get on a guest list or something like that because the house fills up fast. It's supposedly the best sushi in the area. I walked by and saw people in line and a sign on the door saying to come back at 9:00 - 9:30PM. It's too much work and I just want to eat. I decided I wasn't going to get in there that night, but I'm going to try to find my way in there someday. Down the block this brought me to Sushi Bistro.

The restaurant is very hip from the crowd to the music and everything around it.  I guess that's what you get when the restaurant is featured in an iPhone commercial.  It was just too busy for my tastes.  I don't really like the feeling where I'm eating in a dance club.  There were too many people around me and people bumping my table and I was getting claustrophobic in there.  The food didn't disappoint though. I ordered the Ahi Tuna Poke special of course, which is a bed of baby greens with ahi tuna on top.  The dressing was very flavorful and the tuna was very fresh.  The avocado and crispy noodles were a nice touch and it made for a great salad.  The waitress said the dish was one of their most popular items and it was definitely one of the better ahi tuna salads I've had.  I also had the Y.T. Jalepeno which was also good.

Nizario's Pizza (3840 Geary Blvd) - Website Lately I've found myself eating pizza by the slice late night. This brought me to Nizario's Pizza late Friday night. Pizza always seems better late at night. I picked up a couple of slices and ate them back at the apartment. The pizza was good, but not the best I've had. It was good for a late night eat, but there's a lot of pizza places around there and I'll have to try some of the others to find the best.

Five Happiness (4142 Geary Blvd) I had a craving for Italian food so I ended up eating Chinese food. It was more of a matter of being really hungry and seeing a restaurant and eating there. The Five Happiness restaurant is a pretty typical chinese restaurant. I started off with the Hot and Sour soup which was pretty good. Most have pork, but this one didn't and I want to say it could be vegetarian, but not sure. I had the salt and pepper chicken wings and shrimp chow fun gravy style. Both dishes were tasty and the restaurant was very reasonably priced.

I found some pretty good restaurants over the last couple of weeks, but out of this list if I had to pick a place to recommend it would be Burma Superstar hands down. When people recommend it and you leave a place feeling good about what just happened, it's a good thing to remember. I had that feeling eating there and that's why I'm recommending it. The other places were good as well and I think everyone should try them also. There wasn't a bad place in this list at all. I'll be back out there in a few days looking for more places to eat. Until then it's back to work like always.

It was sponsored by Facebook and more catered to the young adult crowd. You had to be over the age of 21 because they were serving alcohol. That eliminated all the kids. All the tours are open during the day which weren't open at night so if you are looking to get the full experience of the museum you should plan to go during the day. They had a DJ there and some people dancing. It was a pretty cool alternative to the standard bar/club scene, but it did close at 10pm. We were there for a few hours and it was just a nice change of pace.

A lot of the exhibits are closed during the night opening. There were no short educational films. The aquarium downstairs was open though, but it seemed unusual because all the fish were on the rocks or on the bottom of the tank like they were sleeping. They also used to have an Albino alligator there, but I think I read somewhere online that it's no longer on exhibit. It was definitely less educational, but still a good time and much more enjoyable with people around my age group.

First up was Abundance Vineyards. They just opened a new location which was really nice. I'm all about modern things and it's probably why I don't have much appreciation for historical landmarks. To me it's just someplace old. There were a decent amount of people there, but not too many. The wine was okay also.

Our next stop was Lucas Winery. They had some good tasting wine. To be honest, I have no clue what I'm doing. If it tastes good to me that's all that really matters. I picked up a bottle of their Zin Blossoms. It's supposed to be a summer wine, but I'm not sure if it will last until then. By then it was already 4pm, so we looked for a place that was open until 5pm.

This brought us to Jesse's Grove Winery. It seemed like the people were much friendlier there. There were also some people that had too much to drink. I guess that's what happens late in the wine tasting day. The wine maker explained a couple different barrels, one with oak treatment and one without and a mixture of the two. It was pretty interesting and nice that someone was willing to take the time to explain to someone that knows nothing about the industry. I picked up their bottle of Carignane. I noticed the alcohol content is a little higher than some of the other wines so that could probably be a good explanation for the state of mind of the people tasting there. One of my friends burnt her jacket on the space heater. Seriously who does that?

It was a pretty fun trip even through the weather could have been better. It was overcast and rainy at times. I guess that's what I should expect during winter. I'll need to go out and taste more as spring and summer come around. It's much more fun when it's sunny outside, but not too hot. I'm looking forward to my next trip and if anyone has any recommendations of places to go, let me know.

Those great tips include:

• Farmers market
• Eat less meat
• Eat more affordable organic products
• Buy in season

He also included some great tips of his own. Check out the post if you are into eating healthier.

I cut out a lot of the garbage on the site which I thought was unnecessary. I'm the kind of person that surfs the internet, sees something cool and figures I should add it to my site. I think a lot of people are like that. I mean look at how many Facebook apps or widgets people have in their MySpace profiles. It was time to clean things up and scale it back. Limiting the number of plug-ins helped speed up the site dramatically.

I was able to limit the site to 6 plug-ins and I'm really happy with the result. I would like to give a special thanks to a few authors. All in One SEO Pack makes things a lot easier and I implement in all my Wordpress sites. Cforms for making a solid contact form product. I would also like to thank the author of Lifestream for making an awesome product for viewing social network information. It's a big integration of my daily routine and the plug-in is integrated to allow status showing of Brightkite, del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

It ended up being a rough morning. The dogs made a mess I had to clean up before I left. That made me late to drop them off, which made me late for BART. I missed my train and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. I got to the airport with about 10 minutes before my flight and for some reason I let this lady with a baby cut in front of me. Wrong move. I heard them calling my name in the overhead speaker and as I arrived at the gate they were closing the doors. I had missed my flight. I had two choices: take the next direct flight in a few hours or fly to Burbank and then to Vegas. It was off to LA then to Vegas and a few hours later I had arrived. We stayed at Mandalay Bay and luckily we were able to check in early. It's not a big surprise with the economy being the way it is and it showed by how dead Vegas was that weekend. I rested in the room for a little while then decided to get an appetizer before dinner since I hadn't eaten anything all day. I figured it was going to be a long night so eating was probably a good thing. I just got a quick order of Calamari and a beer at Red, White & Blue a small restaurant inside our hotel. It was okay and enough to hold me over until dinner.

We wanted to go to a nice restaurant that night and ended up at Tender Steakhouse at Luxor. With the exception of it being right up against the Casino floor, once you go inside the restaurant it seemed like a very traditional upscale steakhouse restaurant. I started dinner off with a Macallan 18. With it being Vegas plus an upscale restaurant I expected it to be twice the price for the drink as anywhere else and it was. I'm still trying to stay away from beef and pork as much as possible so I had seafood. I started with the oyster sampler. The waiter didn't tell me which was which and I don't know if I would have remembered all of them anyway. I'm a big fan of raw oysters and all of them were very tasty. I followed that up with the ahi tuna appetizer which was very good as well. The fish was very fresh and the dish had excellent flavor. As my main course I finished the meal off with the small portion of main lobster. It was good, but I wasn't very impressed. Overall it was a good meal.

That night we headed over to Body English at the Hard Rock Hotel. It was pretty empty so we decided to head over to the Palms. We spent some time at Ghost Bar and Moon. I have a buddy with a few connections which is nice since we don't have to stand in line or pay cover charge. It also gives us an opportunity to move around a little bit since we aren't paying an arm and a leg just to get into a place after waiting an hour or two. After the clubs I just played a little bit of Blackjack then off to bed for a few hours maybe. I stayed away from Craps that weekend and don't really have any reason why. Those are my two big games. I think I just understand them and it makes me more confident right before I lose all my money.

The next day was a lot of the same. I had a turkey burger for lunch at Red, White & Blue and it was probably the driest tasteless burger I've ever eaten. After a few card games and watching some of the basketballwe headed to Maggiano's Little Italy for dinner. The appetizers were good, but the Linguini and Clams I ordered was pretty dry. It was a swing and a miss as far as food goes that day.

We started the night at Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay. For those who haven't been there it's on the top of the hotel and it probably offers the best view I've seen in Vegas. The view at Moon and Ghostbar are good as well, but with Mandalay Bay being on the strip it gives you a look straight down Las Vegas Blvd. We then went to Rain in the Palms. It's funny because the crowd there stays the same age and I keep getting older. Oakenfold spun that night, but I didn't stick around to witness it. We spent a little while in Ghostbar then over to Moon. I'm beginning to think I'm getting to old for this. Next time I go I think I need to go to lower key places instead of places that are all in your face all the time. I just can't handle it anymore, but I say that now and my next post about Vegas will probably be a carbon copy of this one.

This brought us to Super Bowl Sunday. We got a couple of tables in the Mandalay Sports Book. They had most of the TVs setup for the big game and there were a ton of dudes fans in there watching the game. It was good to have some relax time and a lot of people were into the game. It was a great game and we ended up watching the entire game there. After the game we all flew out and left Las Vegas. Another good trip.

We had the continental breakfast the hotel serves which was pretty basic - bagels, toast, muffins, waffles, juice, etc.  I wasn't expecting much more, but I definitely needed to eat somewhere else the following morning.

After that I took the dogs for a walk along the beach.  We had hot chocolates at Mon Ami a small coffee and crepe shop in downtown Pismo.  The people there were very friendly and let me take the dogs in which was nice.  The hot chocolate was pretty good as well.  There weren't a lot of people out in Pismo Beach nor San Luis Obispo for that matter.  I'm pretty sure it was probably bad weather, but it seemed like a ghost town in lots of parts. I hung out for a little bit and then it was lunchtime.  My brother goes to Cal Poly so I figured I should be a good brother and take him out to lunch.  We went to a place called Corner View on Chorro Street in San Luis Obispo.  I was looking to eat an Ahi Tuna salad so I thought I would try the place.  For $15.95 it seems a little pricey, but not terrible.  To get a sense of their items and prices, it was one of the more pricier items on the menu.  The service was good and their Corner View Pale Ale tasted just fine.  I had asked the waitress how much the tuna was cooked and she said it was pretty raw, but the tuna was a little too seared for my tastes.    I like it raw, seared on each side for a short period of time.  It also had a ranch or thousand island like dressing which seemed pretty unusual to me for that kind of salad.  Overall, it wasn't bad, but I'd probably order something different if I eat there again.

I dropped my brother off and played with the dogs for a little while.  Then it was time for lunch number two.  Some friends were having their kids birthday party at Klondike Pizza in Arroyo Grande.  It reminded me of the days back at Chucky Cheese.  There were lots of kids and families there.  It was fun though and their pizza was pretty good, but I don't think I'm ready to have kids for a quite a while.

My buddy and I headed back to the hotel to rest for a while and get ready for the night.  About an hour passed and I figured it was time to eat again.  I got a recommendation to eat at Tsurugi Japanese Restaurant in San Luis Obispo.  It's a small sushi restaurant on Higuera.  The wait was about 25 minutes so we stopped in at McCarthy's Irish Pub for a quick drink.  We had a Jameson 12 which was pretty good.  I don't think I'm at the level where I appreciate it enough, but I'm learning.  After the drink it was back to the restaurant.  I wanted more tuna so I ordered the seared tuna with black pepper.  It was seared slightly and much better than the tuna at lunch, but still slightly overcooked for me.  The dish was good though and I'd recommend it for people that like raw tuna.  I followed that up with the spicy scallop roll, the albacore garlic chip roll, and the calamari tempura roll.  It was too much to eat for me and I ended up giving the last roll to the couple sitting next to us.  Most of the reviews I had read on Yelp said that Tsurugi was a pretty good restaurant for SLO and I would have to agree with that.

After dinner we wanted to keep it low key.  We're getting older so it's better sometimes to not be in the college crowd mix.  A couple at the sushi restaurant recommended Korberl at Blue.  It seemed like it was an older crowd and a little upscale.  The bartender said they get a pretty mixed crowd there.  I ordered a Macallan 18 and like I said earlier I wasn't sure if I was ready to appreciate the Jameson 12 so I definitely think I could appreciate this drink.  It was very good though compared to the Macallan 12 which I drink more often.  I think I need to experience it more before I make any real judgements.

In the morning, I passed on the continental breakfast.  We were leaving in the morning so I needed to get the dogs ready and pack everything up.  On the way out we stopped at Broadway Bagel Cafe.  Since I didn't think I ate enough fish I ordered their New Yorker - lox and bagels.  That was pretty good.  I usually order that in the morning if the restaurant offers it.  I try to keep breakfast pretty light and a lot of the time I end up skipping that meal.  The fish could have been slightly fresher, but it wasn't bad.  After that we took the drive back up to the Bay Area.  It was pretty funny because it was actually sunny as we were leaving.

I think it was a pretty good trip.  I had a good time and I was able to get away from the house for a couple of days.  I think it was a good change of pace for me.  Once everything starts getting too routine I have to break out and do something different.  I like routine and getting into a rhythm, but if I can change it up slightly every once in a while.  I always enjoy that.

For the most part I don't really eat at fancy restaurants on a daily basis. I'd like to but financially and where I live now makes it pretty difficult. Whenever I see seared ahi tuna salads on the menu or even a restaurant that serves seared ahi, there's a good chance that's what I'll order. To me it seems like a pretty simple dish, but it's not really something I can make at home. It really depends on the freshness of the fish. I'm a pretty simple guy so if the fish and lettuce is fresh and the ahi is not overcooked, I'm pretty happy. I went to a restaurant yesterday and they had seared ahi on the menu but no salad. The ahi was overcooked, but overall the flavor of the salad was good. If I wasn't expecting the traditional seared ahi tuna salad I'm used to eating, it was still a good meal. It was probably my fault for ordering something not on the menu.

I've had seared ahi tuna salads in Hawaii, all over the Bay Area, and a couple of places in Southern California from small bistros to chain restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and Elephant Bar. If it's on the menu that's what I'm ordering and it's usually pretty good. I've never really been disappointed, but definately some places have fresher fish and better flavor with the ahi tuna. If anyone has any recommendations on where to get the best seared ahi tuna salads I'm interested in exploring what's out there. I don't mind traveling either for something someone considers a must-try. Well back to work until lunchtime.

It's amazing how much extra time I can get out of a day by getting up at 5AM. I always hear people say they can't do something because they are too busy. I consider myself a busy person. If you need to get more done in a day get up an hour earlier or go to sleep an hour later. Time management has been the biggest thing for me and I guess I'm pretty insane when it comes to it. People look at my schedule and say that's your schedule with a look like you've got to be kidding me. Every day is broken down almost to 15 minute increments on tasks with some tasks overlapping others from 5AM to 11PM. I've taken a lot of pride in making sure things get done well and on time.

With that being said, last year I found myself doing a lot of things which I wanted to do, but it was becoming too much. I hit a point where there just really wasn't enough physical time in the day.  I made it a point to conserve time in some places to fit everything I could into small time increments. It was becoming less productive and more like I was just going to the motions just to do it. That doesn't mean it was a wasted year by far.

Last year I was able to purchase my first home pretty close to what I consider the bottom of the market. I realize it's probably still going down even today. Weighing the factors that I was paying rent which was increasing and the amount of tax write off were the two big factors of making the move. I don't regret purchasing when I did and I think if I had to do it again I would. The only small regret I have is moving farther away from my circle of friends, but since it's not too far it's really not an issue. I was looking to make a change in my life and think I made a good choice.

After the move, I went forward and incorporated my business. This was a big step for me. I have been doing web development for many years now and I know my experience is worth it's weight in gold, even more than fancy degrees and certifications. I made the jump a few years back to do freelance full-time, but incorporating the business made it real. Before it was always if this doesn't work out I'll just go back to work as a web developer for some company. This was the first time I really felt that this was going to work out and that this was the direction I want my career to go.

Now that I had the house and the business was doing well, I made another move adopted two small doxy-terrier puppies. Being the person thinking more is better, I thought it was a good idea to get two instead of just one. It's been a lot of work and pretty expensive, but again no regrets. They're really great pups. We did about two months of puppy training at Petsmart and lots of training at home. Potty training still needs some work, but overall they're starting to learn and listen. Living in the suburbs I'm able to take them to the park a lot and hopefully this year I'll get my backyard in so they can play and run around back there. We traveled to the beach a couple times and I think the dogs just enjoyed getting out.

I think that was the big three that stood out this year: home ownership, business incoporation, and dog adoption. This was mixed in with my normal routines of working, weekend trips, and the usual local socializing. There were also some things I think I should have done but never go around to doing them and parts of the year that weren't so great.

Taking a vacation for example is one thing I wanted to do. I don't even remember the last time I took one. It's probably been a couple years now at least. I did take the usual weekend trips around the area: Vegas, LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego. Even during the weekend trips, I'm never really out of touch with the business aspect of things. I always travel with a laptop and it's really just like any other day except I'm in a different location. So that's one thing I'd like to take care of this year.

Another thing that got me little worried last year is the economy hit a recession. The stock market tanked and it was the first time I'd ever been in a big recession with any sort of substantial money in the market. I was less worried about the business because right now it's so small with very little overhead. I knew there would probably be cut backs, but I figured it was something that we could overcome. The thing that worried me the most of the rest of the world. Going out it's not real happy times during a recession. Just doing Christmas shopping the malls were pretty empty. Talking to people about the economy made it even worse. People were worried they might get laid off and some were unsure of the next move. For me I try to set things up so the things ahead are pretty predictable. At times like this I think not knowing what happens next is one of the worst feelings in the world. Another big thing last year that I haven't touched on yet was Barrack Obama becoming out country's next president. He has his work cut out for him with the economy the way it is and I guess this year we'll see if he can do something about it.

Some other things that happened were people got married. Some had kids and not in that particular order. I just wanted to say congratulations to those people. I used to think I'm young, but now I think I'm getting older. I turned 26 last year and up until then I thought of myself in my 20s. Now that I'm 26 I feel like I'm almost 30.

So those were the big things of last year for me. I think for 2009 I just want to have a more productive year. I'm sure I'll still do a lot of things on every given day, but I think I'm going to have to be selective and make sure the things I'm doing count. I know that if I'm spending time on one thing I'm missing out on something else. We'll just see what happens I guess. So far the next things on tap for 2009 are a trip to Pismo Beach towards the end of the month and Vegas trip Superbowl weekend which is starting to become a tradition. Until then, back to the daily grind I guess.