2017: Year in Review

What a year! I can't even begin to remember everything that happened, but here are some highlights and lowlights.

Highlights 

• After 20 years, I left Sun/Oracle and joined Intel as a Director of Software Engineering of Security Solutions Enablement for Data Center.  A long title that means my team works on security related projects, like Open Security Controller, that enable security on the Data Center. 
• I worked at Intel 21 years before, as an intern in their Folsom Engineering Services group (as an admin for Win 3.1, WinNT, Win95, AIX, Irix, SunOS and Solaris).  It was oddly like like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes coming back, but at the same time a very different company. A much faster moving place, a more inclusive place and more inventive place.
• My team has released two versions of Open Security Controller (0.6 and 0.8) this year! (like I said, fast moving!)
• I was appointed to the City of Mountain View's Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, where I get to advise the City Council on such things like: transit projects, walk-ability of new building projects, how to improve dangerous and deadly intersections, and where to spend budget to improve biking and walking.  It's pretty fun! The committee definitely has diverse opinions and I have found the last twelve months on the committee to be quite a learning experience.
• I demonstrated, with my Oracle team, PKCS#11 and KMIP on Solaris at the RSA Conference Expo in San Francisco in February 2017.
• I read 24 books, covering 7,937 pages.
• I recorded the narration for 8 audio books for Learning Ally. These books are for the blind and others with reading disabilities.
• I did a police ride-a-long with the Mountain View Police Department! I was amazed at the officers compassion, how well they treated the citizens and how they were quick to de-escalate a situation.  I watched an officer arrest a man who had been drinking "since the early morning" and then brandished a knife at another man at Walmart. The man was belligerent when first approached, yelling and gesticulating.  The officer used calm tones, did a quick and calm search, secured the gentleman and proceeded with his investigation. I watched a situation go from tense to calm in a heartbeat. Yes, I used the word calm repeatedly - but that is the best way to describe what the officer did.
• I was on the Crypto Review Board for BlackHat USA, and got to attend!!
• Additionally, I was on the program review boards for International Cryptographic Module Conference (ICMC) and GreHack!
• I presented on PKCS#11 version 3.0 at ICMC.
• I became secretary of the PKCS#11 technical committee, a role change from co-chair.
• I reviewed scholarship applications for Learning Ally Scholars - every one of the students was incredible!
• My husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in Sausalito, CA.
• I saw all of my siblings and my parents this year! Most more than once! I didn't see enough of my nieces and nephews, though...  
• I did a few more Murder Mysteries, did photography for a couple of shows, and sang with the Lyric Victorian Carolers.
• Overall, I volunteered more than 179 hours.
• I went skiing!
• I stayed alive!

Lowlights

• I lost my uncle, Dan Bubb, my Dad's brother, to pneumonia.
• My dear friend Elisa was diagnosed with breast cancer in October and Comcast let her husband go from his job (along with the rest of his division) in December - just before Christmas.  Her battle continues, please consider donating.
• I suffered a major health crisis myself - on my first day of work at Intel, where I learned another highlight: Intel is a compassionate company, they were there when I needed them and helped me to get back on my feet and hit the ground running in my new role!  And, I didn't die :)

Any lowlights or highlights for you?

Here's to 2018!

Silicon Valley: We Are Crushing Ourselves - or - Goodbye Fiesta del Mar

We're creating a mess that will haunt us for years. I don't know the solution, but I do know what I'm seeing and hearing are not okay.

Fiesta del Mar has been running in their Shoreline location for 24 years.  I first went there back in 1995 myself, when visiting the south bay.  I moved to Sunnyvale in 1996, and by 1999 I was in Mountain View - walking distance to Fiesta del Mar. I've moved several times since then - but every time I rented and even when I bought my house, I had the requirement of "I still have to be able to walk to Fiesta del Mar".

They are a successful family run business that serves amazing shrimp dishes and outstanding Mexican fare with the best margaritas in the Bay Area - all with a smile.  Everyone there knows my name, my favorite margaritas (La Yarona), and that they cannot possibly give me enough of their amazing salsas.  They are always packed, yet always quick with your food.

And they are closing on September 26, 2015

Huh?

They've lost their lease. Last I heard the new land owner was going to build an office building with a Panda Express and another Starbuck's.

We are losing a successful family business for a Panda Express (or some yet to be determined chain restaurant).

The manager of Fiesta del Mar is going to try to move as much of his staff as he can to the family's other restaurants in Mountain View - Fiesta del Mar II and Agave.  That's great of the family to do that, but it won't be the same.  Each of those establishments makes their salsa and sauces just a bit differently, the interiors are very different, and they are in the difficult to find parking downtown area. Yes, I walk - but my friends drive to Fiesta del Mar from all over the Bay Area.

La Costena, a burrito themed taqueria, lost their Mountain View Rengstorff location a couple of years back. I used to go there for an amazing burrito.  They were lucky and found another place on Middlefield - but in a completely different neighborhood.

DeeDee's Indian Buffet and Grocery lost their location a few years back, so an apartment building could be built - and never could find a suitable alternative location in Mountain View. So, guess how many Indian grocery stores Mountain View has now? Zero.

I've seen neighbors posting on NextDoor complaining about the sudden rise in RVs, buses, vans and cars on the street with people obviously living in them.  After Mountain View closed their last RV park...is this so shocking?  I used to live in the Forest Glenn town homes, and read in the paper that the landlord is evicting everyone to remodel, and raise the rents. I knew families that had lived there for 10 years or more. Where will they go?

Walking to the transit center the other day before 8AM, to take my companies corporate shuttle to work - I saw a man washing his hair and face in a water fountain in the park. He had a tube of toothpaste and toothbrush in his back pocket. He was dressed nicely, clearly getting ready for work - and clearly living somewhere without running water.

Houses in my neighborhood are being purchased by "investors" and left empty, or in one case turned into a Youth Hostel with bunk beds!  Families are losing their home for "investments".  One "gentleman" bragged on our neighborhood alias about how he will outbid any offer you get on your house, as he's collecting houses in our neighborhood so he can remake them in his "vision" - he already owns 5.

And just over the last two weeks, I've read with horror about the police arresting transients for stealing clothing! CLOTHING!  One man stole a shirt from Walgreen's, and was booked in the San Jose jail. Another stole a pair of shoes from Walmart (he did become violent when confronted) and again taken to jail.

Is there not a better place to take poor people who are homeless and desperate for clothing and shoes?

We are clearly not meeting our communities needs and we're in crisis.

I've loved Mountain View for their diverse cultures, nonchain restaurants and focus on community.

Can we get this back? How can we better serve those who do not have Silicon Valley paying jobs? Is there a place for us all?

Stein's Beer Garden: Mountain View Gastro Pub

We dined at this new gastro pub, Stein's Beer Garden, last night, very excited to see them finally open! Those of you that follow me on twitter will remember when I went to bat for the owners at the Mountain View City Council meeting last July.

It's a good start, but there's still room for improvement.

When we arrived and checked in with the hostess, we were told it would be a 10-15 minute wait. No problem. Another party of 2 came in about 5 minutes after us... and were seated before us.  Then another hostess asked if we'd been helped, yet (10 minutes into our wait). Apparently my name wasn't on the wait list.  Thus, we restarted our wait of 10-15 minutes. I wish they would just take reservations, or hand out pagers or something. Some places in SF (21st Amendment comes to mind) take your mobile number and page you. That would work, too.

There is an extensive beer menu, which is awesome, but too heavy a lean on some great breweries like the Bruery who only specialize in strong beers. If you're an IPA, amber or lager fan, you'll be hard pressed to find anything under 7.5% ABV (many more over 8 or 9% and even 11%!). The fruit beers were closer to 5%, but if you don't like fruit  flavor in your beer you'll be at a loss. There were also a few porter and stouts at the lower ABV, but not much overall choice (and there are 31 taps, so there should be a wider range  of styles/ABV). I had the Saison Extra, and it was excellent. The menu described it as the saisoniest saison - and they were right. Delicious. As it was a strong beer, I didn't have a second.

I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup - very yummy, though the bread was a bit greasy.  I can manage to make non greasy grilled cheese at home, so this should be possible to do here, too.  The bread itself was wonderful (made in house) so should be left to shine!

My husband got the homemade pastrami. The pastrami itself was very fatty, so it probably didn't need the cheese. The menu also said the sandwich would be served on toasted rye bread, but for unknown reasons, this sandwich was also grilled. The last thing you need on a sandwich with fatty meat is butter! It was too greasy for my husband to finish.

This makes me think that in general, the cooks should be trained to use less butter/grease. Reading other reviews, I see other similar comments. Great menu ideas, but not quite executed correctly.

Service was great, though like some other Yelp! reviews, we noted that the acoustics were terrible.  The ambiance is simply gorgeous, but something needs to be done about the noise.  In Paris, we saw a few restaurants and bars that put acoustic foam on the ceilings to deaden the noise. I'd highly recommend something similar.

I will be back. I hope the beer menu gets more balance soon - yes, do stock some "heavy hitters", but have some more 4-6%  ABV beers for those of us that like to have more than one beer with dinner.

Update:  I went again on Friday night. The beer list had changed quite a bit in those 5 days, and there were quite a few lower ABV beers than on Sunday, and a better mix - though I loved that Saison Extra so much, I had it again.  This time, the hostess took my cell phone number and name when we checked it in and wrote it on a clipboard.  Still an outrageous wait (1 hour 45 minutes), but good to know we were on the list.

My husband and I both ordered the "Pork and Beans" dinner, and it was just delicious.  Our other 3 friends ordered burgers. One ordered his rare with blue cheese. Another ordered his plain and well done.  The well done burger had the blue cheese on it. We also had to ask multiple people for cutlery after our food was delivered so that we could actually eat it.  Ketchup for the fries was slow coming as well.  So, still some service glitches but I'm happy to report improvements all around.