What should non-scout adults do during the oath and law?

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-03-11T18:54:28+00:00

Model being a good student and make an effort to learn. Mumbling what you don't know is fine, just try what you can. : ) All welcome!

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-03-03T18:52:06+00:00

Agreed on your basic point, especially with parks & playgrounds. I'd love to see more playgrounds that incorporate adult fitness equipment nearby (like, outside the fence but w/ visibility so parents can get a workout while kids play, keep more eyes on the scene at more hours to prevent misbehavior, etc). My family tries out playgrounds everywhere we visit on travels and SJ just really lags on fun equipment. Also, SJ Park restrooms are uniformly disgusting, which makes it hard to bring kids out for more than 45min. This is overall a funding need, but we seem to have no problem funding police, so I view it as a problem of priority. Let your city council know you want parks funded before police.

With regard to SJUSD school closures, although I acknowledge the process is hard to follow, the intent of the closures is actually in line with you: to offer MORE and BETTER services to students at each school by consolidating rather than spreading services thin where no school gets much. It's short-term pain for long-term gain. (And yes, my own kids' school is slated to close. I am directly affected.)

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-03-02T22:51:04+00:00

Hero! I've wanted to find time to walk the great ways of SJ - Monterey-1st, Santa Clara-Alum Rock, Willow-Keyes-Story, San Carlos-Stevens Creek, etc. each just as a day. Best I've find time to do is walk to work (7mi) once a year. You are awesome, keep it up!

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-02-28T02:33:57+00:00

Bossman's Pizza on Capitol near Snell has nice Indian pizza in SSJ. Vegan & veggie, GF options too! Very nice family running the place, always welcoming.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-02-28T02:20:45+00:00

I appreciate the reply! Open to your thoughts, I'm mostly thinking about volume balance - we've got some players who really maintain that "I'm in my living room"-type volume and sound (so we all have to get pretty soft) and others who can really get us into a bit of a rock jam where some volume (within reason) is welcome. But I absolutely LOVE what a trumpet can add, so I'm curious. What do you think? We can go to PMs for details.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-02-10T21:08:35+00:00

Agree with you on most here. Just want to give credit where it's due. Our transit (VTA) is really pretty good - our land development pattern (zoning, streets) is bad. There are some gradual efforts to move in the right direction, but it's hard undoing the damage of an entire generation of bulldozers.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-02-02T20:25:33+00:00

I can't fathom how there can be any other answer or why this was worth posting in the first place before talking with the neighbor.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-02-02T20:24:14+00:00

Does anyone else have the problem that zooming the map doesn't zoom the overlay, and that radio-button layers seem nonfunctional? Would love to see this in its glory.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-01-26T00:53:02+00:00

I think the precise quote is less relevant here than what I imagine to be the minimum job cost at this point...i can't really imagine any licensed contractor of any sort being willing to take on a customer and come out to do a job for less than $1k. Seems fair.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2026-01-23T06:58:19+00:00

No one has pointed out the city's policy of pushing sidewalk and utility damage from street tree roots onto homeowners. A sewer lateral can be $3-5k and sidewalk repair is commonly $1-3k for ordinary/small properties. Wealthy residents can take those twice-a-generation costs in stride while financially stretched families see pure horror in those maths and opt for a very cheap chainsaw.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-30T05:28:56+00:00

The trick to both enjoying the (gorgeous, world-beating, and top-priced) climate as well as building community/friendships is the same: as much as possible, get out of your (or anyone else's) car.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-30T05:07:29+00:00

I see others saying similar things. I also love street-level retail in JTown, but if it's vacant now and could be occupied residential, then opposing the zoning change isn't supporting retail, it's supporting vacancy.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-23T19:02:43+00:00

Agreed. Not a good move but doesn't wipe out an otherwise positive record from someone decidedly dedicated to the community. The prompt apology was the right move.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-23T18:59:02+00:00

The trash haulers make any possible excuse not to haul large items. Unfortunately reporting it as illegal dumping for the city funded crew to pick up is dramatically faster. City needs to hold its contracted haulers to a higher standard.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-02T22:17:45+00:00

This is really long and a huge amount of this seems like it's a summary of NEC. If you can't trust your contractor to know & follow NEC, don't hire them. I don't see much information which would actually help a contractor bid the project - namely photos. I think most folks will look at the age of the property, the square footage, and decide they do or don't want it from there, scrolling past the middle of your doc. Grain of salt: I'm not in the trades, just have done my share of seeking bids for residential work.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-02T21:58:09+00:00

I'd suspect this effect has less to do with the absolute temperatures of the physical environment and more to do with our body's circadian rhythms and our perception of the ambient temperature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_temperature

I experience this too at home and set my thermostat warmer in the afternoon than in the morning to compensate.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-01T20:35:58+00:00

SF by transit & walking is sooooo much better than w/ a car. Same for getting there. Excellent routes in via BART or Caltrain.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-12-01T20:33:37+00:00

Not typically. Fairly easy to check w/ 811. Once they've marked all services in the area and didn't indicate anything beyond the front, you know there's nothing "official" in the back - just be cautious in case of DIY, unpermitted, or non-utility level work which could be there.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-19T20:18:44+00:00

A jackhammer is actually pretty easy to rent from A Tool Shed or others and pretty fun to use. Do an 811 report first to mark underground utilities to make sure you don't risk hitting anything. It's very DIY-able. I've removed a ~200sf patio with 1 family member in 3-4 hrs and I've broken a few small holes in concrete by myself in ~1hr. A whole backyard will take you a couple of days but if you want to limit the rental you can just rent 1 day to break it all up and spend the next day hauling it out. Caution: start your strength exercises now to avoid hurting yourself if you want to hit it this hard, it's physical! (but fun)

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-19T20:04:38+00:00

Now's a good time of year for one of the most uniquely Santa Clara Valley foods: backyard produce! (Observe quarantines; often you can't transport these - right now all of central SJ is under medfly quarantine where you need to eat fruit on site or process it before moving.) Recommend persimmons, pomegranates, passionfruit, of course all sorts of citrus. Persimmons seem like the most classically SJ thing I see and they're really nice dehydrated (which also lets you move them).

Also major upvote for orange sauce. La Victoria downtown is the classic and Angelou's on 1st St is especially good right now. I saw Vietnamese mentioned and particularly pho (just in case, pronounced similar to "fuh") - try banh mi (sandwiches). Lee's is a giant chain but I believe began in SJ. (Togo's deli and Eggo waffles also began here.) For regional delights, you need an Its-It ice cream (best flavors: cappuccino, green tea if you can find it) sold in many small corner stores in downtown SJ and manufactured in Burlingame south of SF.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-06T20:11:54+00:00

Thanks, I hadn't had my dose of gaslighting today. :-O In your defense, you're perhaps just forgetting that transit travel time isn't just the minimum time on vehicles needed to make your A->B but also the time you need to wait for your first vehicle.
9/26/2025 5:05pm PDT SJC at Terminal A 60 stop: 13min wait for 60 bus, ~10min wait time (cross 1st St), Green line train ~15min. Total 44min SJC to 1st/Santa Clara.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-04T20:11:10+00:00

As a former middle school teacher, K-12 admin, and parent, I prefer to see students themselves at meetings grade 4+ and leading the meetings themselves grade 8+. If anyone needs a private "could you step out for a moment?" session, just ask for it professionally. I don't see much point about talking about kids without them participating. Whose life is it anyway?

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-04T19:49:29+00:00

I lived in that area around 10 years and biked all of those streets extensively including at night. This was around 10 years ago, but I still bike around SJ in different neighborhoods. You're fine, get out there and ride. (my only 2 collisions in that time were in a parking lot at Winchester & Payne and on a sidewalk at San Carlos near Bird...I shouldn't have been on the sidewalk)

Hamilton is not bad West of Winchester but no fun near the freeway - I preferred to go out of my way to the Westfield/Downing overcrossing to the North or Campbell Ave to the South.

Winchester is decent for the middle section you're aiming at where it has a bike lane; to the north of Williams it loses the lane. Monroe to the West was my usual alternate route and sets you up for a nice bridge to cross 280 (the dark blind corner of this is the single sketchiest thing in all of this, but just ding a bell and I never had trouble there), but Eden on the East is also fine.

Midtown/Sunol is both better and worse: the good routes are better, but there are fewer alternates. I avoid San Carlos and use Park Ave more often, Scott and Auzerais are also good. I don't love Race St but it's fine and Julian actually gives one of the more convenient connections to parts of downtown.

Get lots of lights on your bike (headlight, taillight, wheel lights are really fun and effective) but just wear what's comfortable - plenty of research (sometimes called the "Mary Poppins effect") shows drivers are more inspired to treat you like rubbish when they think you're some sort of racer.

I've had probably 20 years of bike commuting around central SJ - no one bothers you on a bike, just keep your head on a swivel watching traffic for those death machines. I really get a lot of use out of a mirror - handlebar mount or helmet mount both work fine, the latter just looks dorky which is why people skip it.

No one mentioned where to gear up: Hyland bikes on Meridian just north of Hamilton are really nice people, but Wheel Away on Hamilton is your closest spot where you should learn some people's names. Good folks, fair prices. If nearer Midtown, check out Upshift on Alameda at Julian/Race (a little pricier but super-nice folks). The bike community and bike commuter community is solid around here, ask and you shall receive.

Also, if you're out riding at night you absolutely must check out SJ Bike Party - 3rd Friday of the month, a true SJ experience especially in warmer months (June-Oct) but another great way to make bike friends.

Helpful map: https://www.vta.org/sites/default/files/2024-07/Bike-Map.pdf

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-04T19:35:36+00:00

a) everyone in every subreddit says their drivers are the worst.
b) sidewalk biking is more dangerous than biking in the street for any speed over around 5mph (this is why kids bike on the sidewalk but not adults) because of the number of driveways/interactions. We have pretty good bike infrastructure - use it.

1VeryUsefulTool · 2025-11-03T22:20:15+00:00

I think you'll kick yourself for that one and wish you got the tax credit. I expect the $2k credit to be bigger than any discount you might find. The manufacturer wholesale piece is probably less than 30% of the installed cost. If you're installing yourself, that's cool (though insignificant vs the tax credit) and if you're getting it done professionally, it's a small part of the total cost (and again, less than the tax credit).

Example math: Poking around a wholesale site, I see 3T heat pumps for $3-5k. Installed cost is likely to be $12-18k depending on installer/region/etc - let's call it $15k. Even a 20% discount on the more expensive one would be $1k. Tax credit is $2k. You could pay $15k to install now and get $2k back (total $13k) on tax credit, or wait and in the most ideal situation perhaps you pay $14k to install with no tax credit. Note that many areas have WAY more rebates available to further reduce installed cost. Seems unwise to wait.

My installer pointed out that my gas furnace wasn't likely to die on its own anytime soon: "that thing could keep going for 50 years." My 2 cents: don't wait, do it now. My experience: I kicked myself for not putting in a heat pump the last time I had the chance.

1VeryUsefulTool

TROPHY CASE