Since I’ve decided to dive head first into my first real Christmas since I was about 10 years old, I’ve once again discovered a long buried love for outdoor holiday lights.  I’m not planning on hanging any in the near (or distant) future, but I love driving around and looking at how people have tricked out their homes for the holidays.

I’ve also had this gift card from First Street Coffee for a couple of months now.  I don’t know how much it’s worth (probably $5 or $10) as it was a birthday present and I don’t drink coffee, so have no use for it.  So I’ve decided to combine these two issues here on Gilroy Review and sponsor a Christmas Lights Contest for the fine residents of Gilroy.

If you (or a neighbor or a friend) have decorated the outside of your house for the holidays I wanna know about it!  Around the first of the new year I will mail off the First Street Coffee gift card to the residence that had the best holiday display (in the sole judgment of Zaira and myself).

How To Enter-

• Take a picture of your display and email it to philaahzophy@gmail.com
• Comment (or email) with your address and we’ll do our best to swing by ourselves and get some pictures

You aren’t limited to submitting pictures of your own home.  If you see a display that warms your heart and  you’d like to give something back to the people who built it, send me their picture (and address)!

I’ll post the pictures here as they come in for comment and critique.

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Zaira recently bought herself a new laptop. Well, technically, I loaned Zaira some money so that she could buy a laptop. The deal included that the computer would remain in my possession until she had fully paid it off. So I’ve been taking advantage of this system since her laptop is significantly better than even my desktop, not to mention my laptop.

Part of my playing with it has been exploring connection possibilities in and around Gilroy.  According to hotspotr (a WiFi location directory), there’s only a single free Hotspot location in Gilroy.  In just my first morning of looking I’ve found four:

• First Street Coffee – 1211 1st St.
• COG WiFi – City of Gilroy(?)  Available both in the same shopping center as First Street Coffee, though stronger on the far side of the parking lot, near Togos.
• Safeway WiFi – 905 1st St – This network barely reaches past the building itself.  The tables out front get a great signal, but even the closest parking lots get a Fair signal at best.
• COG WiFi – In front of Grocery Outlet (727 1st Street).  I picked up a decent signal from various spots in this parking lot.  Perfect for lunch at Wienerschnitzel or breakfast at Gilroy Donuts.

I was really hoping to find one near South Valley Middle School so I could work while waiting to pick up Zaira from school, but no such luck.  Later this evening I intend to explore over by Gilroy Crossing.  Have you found any other free Hotspots or unsecured WiFi connections in Gilroy?  If so, I’d love to hear about them!

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Back in 1968 photographer Ralph Crane took a series of photographs for Life magazine that demonstrated exactly how a cat manages to always land on its feet when falling from a height.  These photos were used as an aide in determining how astronauts would need to manipulate their bodies in order to move around their space capsules in the zero gravity environment of space.

I’m sure they were very useful for the astronauts, but as a cat lover I find them fascinating in and of themselves.  Additionally, according to a 1987 study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Two vets examined 132 cases of cats that had fallen out of high-rise windows and were brought to the Animal Medical Center, a New York veterinary hospital, for treatment. On average the cats fell 5.5 stories, yet 90 percent survived.

Is it any wonder cats rule the world?

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I was honored by the responses I’ve received to my recent post on home deconstruction.  It has already been accepted into two blog carnivals and shared with the readers of the All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume 26 hosted over at Focus Organic and Bienvenidos al Festival of Frugality hosted at Eco Joe’s Green Thinking for the Average Joe.

It is also still being considered for inclusion in the Consumer-Focused Real Estate Carnival at Searchlight Crusade as well as the Carnival of Trash to be published next month at Zero Waist (which is a vastly clever name for a blog, IMHO).

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My name’s Aahz and Gilroy Review is my personal forum to boast, brag. and bitch about all that Gilroy has to offer however I see fit.  I’ll be posting details of upcoming events in Gilroy, business and restaurant reviews, commentary on news stories, and pretty much anything else that seems to apply to the Garlic Capital of the World.

My qualifications?  Well, I registered the domain and set up the blog  :twisted: Seriously, though.  I don’t actually live in Gilroy, but my 12 year old daughter, Z, does so I spend a fair amount of time in your little town.  Personally, I live in Morgan Hill about 10 miles North.  But we’re all just one happy community down here in the South Valley, aren’t we?

If you wanna know what I think about my new hometown check out MorganHillReview.com 

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