Aaron M.'s Profile

Friday evening. Interior. Home office. Zoom-in to Aaron M finishing up with the week's work at his computer. The iPhone on the desk lights up.
[RING]
[RING]
CALLER ID: 000000000
ME: [dubious] Hello?
HIM: [excited] Hey!! Aaron! I'm so glad I finally got ahold of you!
ME: Yes?
HIM: I'm calling from DirectBuy. Now I don't want you to get me wrong bro, I'm totally not selling anything. You probably already know all about DirectBuy, right?
ME: Ummm...
HIM: No? I'll tell you all about it. [starts spiel]
ME: [interrupting] This is my cell phone number, which is on the do-not call list, please remove me from your calling list.
HIM: [hurt] Dude!! How come!? This is an invitation to an exclusive grand opening event in Mountain View!
ME: Because as we're talking I Googled "DirectBuy" and the second hit after your website is a ton of bad reviews on Yelp.
HIM: Bad reviews? But what about the good reviews?
ME: There aren't any. Please remove me from your list.
HIM: I'll be the only person you work with, I'll be your direct representative. I want to...
ME: [interrupting again] Please remove me from your...
HIM: [interrupting me back] [click]

Through his thick indian accent, I was totes amused by his excellent usage of American slang and casual banter. Also, I got to write a funny Yelp story.

I've worked with Mike at D3 to manage and support the website, content management system, blog, and social media platforms for one of my IT clients. He's been professional, super responsive, and very helpful. I highly recommend D3 for any web development project.

Our almond colored Frigidaire (circa 1980something) wasn't Frigerating so well, and we were planning on replacing it during the upcoming kitchen remodel. When the freezer melted, we decided it was time.

Sears Outlet is where my dad went to get his new fridge. Dads know about appliances and stuff, so I figured I'd check them out.

We were greeted at the door, and wandered over to check out the huge selection of fridges. There were a BUNCH of options, maybe 100 in total. We were looking at the stainless French-door style fridge (UPGRADE!) and there were maybe 30 to choose from. Almost all of the appliances are previously purchased and returned for cosmetic reasons. They're inspected and then put out on the showroom floor. As such, they are roughly 40-50% off of the retail price.

After wandering around for  a bit, we were greeted by Alex. He was super helpful and knowledgeable, offering advice on manufacturers, models, features, etc. He answered all of our questions, and was even happy to wheel our selected fridge to the power outlet so we could plug it in and see what it looks like with the lights on.

When you find your dream appliance, make sure you carefully inspect it. We went over ours with a fine toothed comb, once we got it home I still found scratches and dings I didn't notice on the show room floor.

We ended up choosing a KitchenAid, but there were many other brands to choose from including Kenmoore, Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, and others.

For delivery options, we were shopping on Saturday and they were available as early as Wednesday. You don't get to pick a delivery time, just a date. Luckily I could plan on working from home for a day. The delivery service computer will call the evening before your delivery day to give you a 2 hour delivery window.

The two delivery guys were friendly, professional, on time, and even took the old fridge out to the driveway, even though that's beyond the scope of their responsibilities.

I definitely recommend Sears Outlet for good deals on home appliances.

WHATS THE STORY WITH THE BIKES ON THE WALL?
At the end of the night I finally asked one of the waitstaff what the story is with the bikes on the wall. He explained that they are symbols of the meeting of American and Italian culture in the restaurant. The bikes are built of a combination of US and Italian made components. I also *LOVE* that there are additional empty hooks under the display bikes so customers can park their bike in the restaurant while dining. I can't think of many other Bay Area restaurants that offer indoor bike parking. Actually, I can only think of one. Do you know it?

RAN INTO AN OLD FRIEND, DOUBLE LUCKY TWIST!
Right when I first arrived I heard somebody call out my name behind me. I turned, expecting to see a friendly Yelper face, and instead saw a friend that I hadn't seen since I was 19 years old working as a counselor at Camp Tawonga outside of Yosemite. It took me a full 5 seconds for my brain to process this familiar face out of context before I gave her a big hug and we started catching up. She's in town for work and just happened to be finishing her dinner when we came in. She told me we looked like some kind of speed-dating group, I replied "yeah, kinda". Catching up with my friend I missed out on the first pizza (honey and pear), which sucked because everybody reported it was their favorite. Before she left she gave me her leftover pizza because her hotel room didn't have a fridge. This morning I opened the box and discovered: honey pear pizza!! So yeah, totally awesome and lucky way to start the night.

LO AMO IL VINO ROSSO
I was too busy gabbing with my friend so I missed the cocktails that were brought out. Our waitress (the cutie with the heavy eyeliner) offered me a glass of wine instead. At Karen Z's recommendation, I tried the Barbera. I'm a big fan of Barbera and this one was excellent. I also tried the Pinot Noir which was similarly tasty. I'd recommend both of them again. Diana V offered me a taste of their house white, we both found it to be pretty disappointing. Thanks anyway Diana! Celeste B had the Soave white wine which folks said was way better.

Thanks so much to Nique for the pizza, drinks, new friends, and for a great night. I'll see ya Friday!!

Well hidden inside the 199 Fremont building is a cute little convenience store offering candy, drinks, cigarettes, over the counter drugs, lotto tickets, snacks, etc.

While the address is 199 Fremont, the entrance is actually on Beale St. at Howard. The Google and Yelp maps do show the correct location.

Russell's is a useful little shop for those in the neighborhood. I've been working 1 block away for 2 years and never even knew it was here.

Softer than fresh fallen snow. Their signature favors are coconut, mango, pineapple, guava, and passion fruit. The guy told us only 2 people in the world know the recipe for these syrups.

Tip: walk a block and a half south and cross the street to the other Ululani's location in a beautiful shaded courtyard. Relax at a table with gorgeous trees overhead. Enjoy your shave ice relaxed vacation style.

Better tip: get the snow-cap.

Foodie paradise!!

Others have compared Mana Foods to Rainbow Grocery in SF or Berkeley Bowl, but I'd say it's a little closer to the Co-Op in Arcata. It's crunchier than Rainbow or The Bowl.

Great bulk foods section, nice selection of vitamins, herbal remedies, and natural beauty products, awesome fresh local produce, huge selection of chocolate bars, great salad bar, etc.

We asked about the Star Apples which we'd never heard of before. The produce manager gave us a lesson on how to tell if they're ripe (squishy like an overripe tomato), and he even cut one up for us to try. It was AMAZING, like a sweet hiyachi persimmon, only more subtle. We bought 6, and then came back the next day to buy more. He also gave us a sample of the super sweet Longan fruit (Japanese for dragon eye) which are like lychee but better.

How anybody could choose Whole Foods over Mana is beyond me.

Meh, it's a mall.

Mostly tourist trinkets and the usual mall shops: PACSUN, Billabong, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, etc.

It's hot, the heat radiates off the ground, and there's not nearly enough shade.

They have a couple boutique shops. I don't shop at Louis Vuitton, Coach, or Swarovski at home, and don't feel any desire to shop there while in Maui.

We walked through Whaler's Village in about 3 minutes and had enough.

The best thing about Whaler's Village is that it's right by the beach so you can ditch the mall and go enjoy the natural splendor that is this little island paradise.

Super cute store with lots of unique gifts and souvenirs to take home.

Tobi's shave ice is cold and sweet, which is exactly what we were craving.

The staff were super friendly as well.

After being blown away by the fresh fruit syrups and cotton candy texture of the shave ice at Ululani's, the favors here just don't compete. We couldn't really tell the difference between the various favors, they're all just sugar water.

In my book, it's worth the additional 10 minute drive towards the airport to get my shave ice fix from Ululani's, but I'm a food snob, so maybe you'll like Tobi's just fine.