this is the personal blog of brandon quintana.
Wine & Chocolate Weekend – Lodi Wine Country
February 16th, 2009
Yesterday I met up with a few friends at the Lodi Wine Country. I’ve done a good amount of tasting in Livermore Wine Country and a few places scattered throughout the US. Lodi Wine Country was hosting the Wine & Chocolate Weekend event February 14-15, 2009. It lasted from 11am-4pm both days and I showed up around 3pm on Sunday. Even though it was kind of late, we were still able to taste at three wineries.
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.
Quick Tips for Eating Organic
February 10th, 2009
I recently added Get Rich Slowly‘s RSS feed to my Google Reader. They have some interesting articles on the site including one posted by J.D. last week, Quick Tips for Eating Organic. It’s cool that J.D. conducted an interview on Twitter, which I’m a big fan of, and got some great responses to include in the article.
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.
Site Redesign
February 8th, 2009
I set aside some time this weekend to redesign my personal blog. I was happy with the old design, but I just figured it was time for a change. I also wanted to polish up my portfolio since times are tough right now. I wanted to open up the design a little bit and make it easier to read. I was able to accomplish this by expanding the layout to take up the entire browser window and let the content define borders in the middle of the page. The fonts are slightly bigger and should be easier to read on the white background. I added the links to the social networks I belong to at the top of the page so it’s easy to find.
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.
Vegas
February 4th, 2009
Last weekend I headed out to Vegas for the Super Bowl with a few friends. It’s becoming a regular thing now for us to go in January. We all decided to take Friday off from work and head out early that morning.
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.
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Pismo Beach
January 26th, 2009
I spent last weekend in Pismo Beach. I drove down there Friday night with a buddy and didn’t get in until after midnight. We were both pretty tired and ended up just calling it a night. The hotel room at the Sandcastle Inn was pretty basic, but it had a nice view. They are also pet friendly so I was able to bring my puppies on the trip with me. The price was very reasonable even with it being a winter month. The weather was a little wet and overcast most of the time, but you can’t really expect more than that even if someone makes guarantees or promises otherwise. There weren’t a lot of people laying on the beach obviously, but a good amount walking their dogs or taking a walk themselves.
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.
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Ahi Tuna Salads
January 8th, 2009
Over the last few years I’ve primarily started eating chicken and fish. I tried to cut out pork and beef and for the most part been pretty successful. There are times when I do eat pork, but I try to keep it to a minimum. When I go out to eat I can usually find something to eat on the menu. I found myself going to more restaurants that have a variety of fish selections on the menu like sushi restaurants and fish taco restaurants. I also started eating a lot more salads. I can always get a chicken salad almost anywhere, but really started liking seared ahi tuna salads.
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.
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New Year, 2008 Is Gone, On To 2009
January 5th, 2009
So New Years came and went. It was funny. We were at Le Colonial in SF on New Years Eve. All of a sudden you look up and people are counting down “3-2-1. Happy New Year!” and it was 2009. It was so quick and it was really a finish to 2008 and how quickly it passed. Looking back at the year, it had it’s ups and downs. My New Years resolution for last year was do more of everything: more work, more exercise, more social activities, more charity. You get the idea. I was able to do a whole bunch of things in a short amount of time. At the end of the year though with about two weeks left I was a complete zombie. I had completely worn myself out throughout the year, but I was able to do more of everything.
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NBA Season Started
October 29th, 2008
Since I’m a Warriors fan our season officially starts today, but the NBA season started yesterday. I was able to watch most of the Cavs/Celtics and Blazers/Lakers games. I’ve been watching TV a lot lately and have been considering getting a second DVR since I can only record 2 HD programs at once with my current Dish Network setup. With the NBA season starting it’s conflicting with shows and I’ll set a Warriors game priority over some stupid network show that I record just because I can. It got me thinking though if one person needs more than one DVR then I’m probably spending too much time in front of the television and should probably be doing something else.
As far as alternatives, most network TV shows allow for streaming days after it airs so I can always watch the show online at some point. It’s always a better experience watching it on a large screen TV in HD, but I guess it’s better than nothing. Also last night, I was recording two shows during part of the Blazers/Lakers game so I checked the website for updates. I followed a link on TNT which showed live streaming of the game in 4 camera angles: two player cameras and two sky cameras. It appears that TNT will be doing this for one of their two televised games on any given day. I thought this was a pretty cool feature and the first I’ve seen that was offered for free. I think in the past their have been paid services, but not really interested in that especially since I can usually catch the game at home and I don’t need to pay to watch two teams I don’t really like. It would be cool to see more networks do sporting events like that or even offer streaming games after the game is over. I don’t know all the technicalities of it all so I’m not sure how feasible it really is.
As far as the Warriors go, it’s kind of like the 49ers. I hope they do well, but it seems like they might disappoint. I’ll be recording part of the game tonight since I have puppy training, so I’ll get a glimpse of the season ahead. Sure it’s only the first game of the season and without Monta Ellis, but I think it will show what to expect. Like I said I hope this will be a good season, but who knows.
Puppy Training
October 27th, 2008
As I’ve told some, I’ve started taking the dogs to puppy training at Petsmart. It’s probably a little later than I originally planned, but the dogs in the class seem to be around the same age anyway. It’s been two weeks worth of training so far and my dogs are slow learners, but they’re picking things up the more we practice.
For the most part, they can sit, stay, and lay down on command. Not every time, but most of the time. They’re much better now than when we first started. I switched them over to liver treats and I think they like them better than their old treats so it gives them an incentive to listen.
It’s tough with two dogs and one person especially since both dogs want my attention. I’ve found that it’s easier to train one at a time and as they both learn it individually I can transition them into listening together. I’m going to try to bring a crate to puppy training this week and see if that method can help during class time.
I think so far so good. The three of us just need to practice more and I think they’ll do just fine.
Cooking More
September 29th, 2008
I started cooking more the past couple of months and I have a few reasons for doing it. The biggest reason is I live in the middle of nowhere. The closest store or restaurant is a 10-15 minute drive so I’ve been stocking up on groceries and trying to eat more meals here at home. The second reason is I think it’s healthier. I’m able to control my diet easier. For the most part I try not to eat pork and beef. I’ve been doing this for quite a while now, but like I’ve said in earlier posts I’m not always that strict on diet. I’ve heard some people cook because they enjoy it. I’m not one of those people. I don’t mind it, but I don’t really get any enjoyment out of it. I used to cook back in college with my friends Ann and Michaela, and I enjoyed it, but I think it was more the aspect of hanging out with friends as opposed to the cooking part.
One thing that has allowed me to cook more is that I don’t work as many hours. Over the last couple of years I’ve been putting in about 12-15 hours a day more or less and there really wasn’t much time for other things. It was much easier to pick something up and keep working to get things done. I was wasting time preparing meals when I could be being productive and earning money. I think things in my life have changed. My lifestyle is a lot slower. I find myself playing with my pets and watching TV instead of going out all the time. I’m also working less hours. I reached certain goals I was looking for when I started the company and I think I’m at a point where I need more balance.
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About Me
Brandon Quintana has been actively involved in web development for the past 12 years. Proficient web programming languages include XHTML/CSS, PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript.
Flickr
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Shared Rombauer Vineyards - Napa.
