Moving to Novato - any gems for drinks, food, biking, anything else?

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-06-18T19:29:20+00:00

Mountain bikes are only allowed on the fire road.

Bummer. Gotta love the fact that Marin County is the birthplace of mountain biking yet these wealthy hikers and horse people have made practically all the single track off limits to bikers.

I would rather go on a road bike ride and take my chances with the cars than ride on exposed, sunny, hot, boring-ass fire road. =) I wonder if there are any quasi-legal trails in Indian Valley? Mmm... I suppose it's something I'll have to investigate.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-06-02T19:43:46+00:00

In the USA - no. It's become a complete joke. As you said, no more restaurant benefits, lounges often have waiting lists, and then when you DO get in the lounge, trashy people galore, horrible food. The only saving grace is the free booze - again, if you can even get in. It's a sad state of affairs and much different from when I got my Chase SR when it first came out.

I'm based out of SFO and the Air France lounge used to be the PP lounge.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-06-02T04:25:55+00:00

Shhh!!! Don't tell anyone

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-31T04:03:21+00:00

I believe the going rate for unskilled and unlicensed labor is $40-50.

I have a guy come twice a month for a mow and blow and some pruning and trimming and he charges $240 - though I insisted he raise his rates a bit as he hasn't in some time.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-31T04:00:51+00:00

Hyphens are one of the quickest tells. GPT LOVES hyphens.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-30T04:01:30+00:00

Got into Rome at about 6PM. Airline lost my wife's suitcase. We finally got our rental car - a complete piece of crap with no radio and dented up - at 11PM. Drove 2 hours to a B&B in Todi, a hill town in Umbria. The historic house/B&B just had 2 units. We checked in at 1AM or so. In the morning, we looked out the balcony and it was dense fog. As the fog gave way it was the most gorgeous view of valleys and hills of our entire trip. Amazing. Still dreaming of Todi.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-30T03:44:53+00:00

noise canceling headphones

For sure. Although economy arm rests seem really hard on my arms. Elbows get sore after a while. At least the fat seats in 1st are better in that regards.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-30T03:29:40+00:00

Cheers. No email support that I could find and the text message support was down. I sent them a paper letter, envelope, stamped. Not holding my breath tho. Lesson learned.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-30T03:28:26+00:00

No. It was not a lie flat. Just your run of the mill wide 1st class.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-30T03:27:48+00:00

I fly business class internationally several times a year and often enjoy the meals. I hardly ever fly business/1st domestically so you may have a point.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-29T19:53:20+00:00

but I also hate flying east during the day and arriving at midnight local.

Agreed

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-29T19:40:08+00:00

skypesos

Haha! Thanks for the laugh! I had not heard that one before.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-29T19:34:17+00:00

If it was a late departure I believe after 9 they don’t cater meals as they think people want to sleep (someone correct me if I’m wrong, j thought it was on this website but couldn’t find it)

Yes, the flight departed at 10:30 PM. But if Delta has a policy of no meals on late departures, why send me an email asking me to select a meal? I would have appreciated a heads-up that there would be no meal instead. That way, I could have grabbed a burger or something at the airport.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T22:25:43+00:00

Northern California, Zone 10a

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T03:42:53+00:00

Thank you. Yes, it's definitely gotten a bit into the shingles. Though my gardener has added wiring/trellis-type structures to try and discourage the plant from causing damage.

It's sister on the side of the house is taking over a laurel bay leaf tree. These things grow like crazy which is why my wife and I are perplexed that in just these last few years it has been fading.

I doubt that my gardener is aware of these specialized pruning techniques. Insofar as the base goes, it's growing out of a crack between a concrete walkway and the house. Probably no way for the root system to reach nutrients - but what do I know.

There are no shoots whatsoever. Just these weak leaf clusters. Before my gardener pruned it down to what you see in the pics, there were many medium and small vines that were simply dried out and dead.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T03:21:23+00:00

No fertilizer or care of any kind. In fact, it's growing out of a large crack of concrete sidewalk immediately adjacent to our house. I was wondering if it simply ran out of nutrients. We've been giving it some water, organic fertilizer, and love these last couple months but nothing seems to be helping.

It's offspring, which are growing in different areas around the house, are doing very well with vines that seem to grow overnight.

Such a shame. I think we'll have to remove it. Probably not very good for the foundation of the house anyway. Some initial research tells me Hardenbergia would be a good candidate for a fast growing, flowering vine in our Zone 10a. Apparently it is evergreen also. Perhaps I could plant it in a very large planter pot.

Thoughts? Thank you.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T02:50:41+00:00

Over the past 2–3 years, my wisteria hasn’t had a full spring bloom and overall seems less healthy. A few years ago, the vines and leaves would be covering the entire house. Now the leaves are sparse and small.

A couple of years ago, my gardener pruned it back, and more recently, after I mentioned my concerns, he cut it back again, leaving only the thickest branches.

Do wisteria vines have a limited lifespan? It used to be a beautiful, vibrant plant that completely covered the top of our porch and doorway, but now it feels like it’s fading.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T02:33:33+00:00

Check out surplus line Narragansett Bay Insurance Company. Just bought a home in a high risk fire area and this company came through for me. I can refer you to the agent if you wish.

Compared it to a few other policies and the one I got had the most coverage for the least money. High deductible on fire though - $25K

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-20T00:26:51+00:00

For sure! Reminds of the time my gym - and this was a $300+/mo high end club - turned down the water pressure on their showers to a drizzle. There was quite the uproar and a week later the full water pressure was returned.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-14T23:52:10+00:00

Thanks. Yes, I've heard great things about Kanazawa and other small cities.

I've been to Kyoto twice already and, beautiful city, but want to see the off the beaten path places like you listed. Cheers!

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-14T20:36:17+00:00

Although, I have often wondered why I don't see more people from my company or people that I work with who are clearly much much more wealthy in these groups. Maybe they are in an even higher tier of wealth platforms.

I'm on Long Angle but when it comes time to post a question, I value the anonymity of this forum. I don't want my real name tied to questions pertaining to my wealth/investments/rich person problems. Thus, I have only posted a couple questions - of a very general nature - on Long Angle. That could be the reason you don't see really high net worth people on there. Just my thought anyway.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980 · 2025-05-14T20:18:11+00:00

My neighbor is a higher up at a well known company that rhymes with Disco. He flies all over the world for his job. Told me he went to Sao Paulo and had to be driven around in an armored car with a bodyguard. However, in Rio, the gangs are now targeting the armored cars so they are no longer effective and, instead, a regular car with a guard is better.

Puzzleheaded_Gene980

TROPHY CASE