A's Buying Parcels in Downtown San Jose

We're still waiting on a decision from Major League Baseball as to whether the A's can move to San Jose, but that isn't stopping Lew Wolf from acquiring all but 2 parcels required to build the 14 acre stadium. Having ownership of the land will give the commission one less reason to prevent the A's from calling San Jose their home.

Fore more info click here.

Google Offers Launches in San Jose

Google Offers has finally launched in San Jose! Their first deal is $15 for $30 worth of food at Sonoma Chicken. The deal is on for another 12 hours or so. If you're interested, just click here.

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Google Offers Beta Launches in Baltimore, Minneapolis, San Diego, and San Jose

We’re on a roll! Today we’re launching Google Offers in four new cities including Baltimore, Minneapolis, San Diego and San Jose. Here’s more on today’s offers in our newest locations:

• In Baltimore the first Google Offer is for Blue Hill Tavern -- “one of Baltimore’s most impressive dining spaces” according to Baltimore Magazine. The artfully designed dishes are as eye-catching as they are palate-pleasing. Enjoy delicious comfort foods and views from the rooftop patio with today’s offer: $15 for $30 worth of food and drinks.
• Visit the acclaimed cultural mecca of the Twin Cities with today’s offer for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. For $1 you’ll get admission to the MIA’s special exhibition: “Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints” (up to $8 value), where you can enjoy the finest of rendered color and texture from the Far East and beyond. The Edo Pop exhibit runs Oct. 30, 2011- Jan. 8, 2012.
• Burgers are on the menu in Sunny San Diego. Our day-one offer is for the famous local eatery, Crazee Burger. Choose from more than 25 creative burger types (including wild boar, ostrich, alligator and more!), fresh salad and savory sweet potato fries. Today’s offer is $10 for $20 toward delicious grub at this favorite local spot.
Enjoy the “best of Silicon Valley” at Sonoma Chicken Coop, which serves up an award-winning combo of fresh fare, fast service, and friendly prices to all corners of Silicon Valley. Grab today’s Google Offer for San Jose and get $30 toward food and drinks for just $15 at participating locations. 

Sweet Tomatoes Grand Opening and Charity Fundraiser

Sweet Tomatoes will be the 5th restaurant to open up at the new @First project bordering 237 and North First Street (Five Guys, Chipotle, Panda Express, and Panera are already open). On November 1st they will  have their official grand opening; however, they have a great concept for a "soft opening" this weekend. On Oct 28th, 29th, and 30th they will be charging only $5 for the buffet. The best part is 100% of that money will go to the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter. It's a promotion where everybody wins! Diners get a substantial discount, money goes to a great cause, and new employees get trained before the grand opening.

I have always been a fan of Sweet Tomatoes. There are on my very short list of favorite chain restaurants and the only buffet I'll eat at outside of Vegas. The @First location is the most upscale I've seen (like most other things in @First... I thought the Panera was going to be a high-end restaurant before the sign went up). Even if you are closer to the Coleman, South San Jose, or Sunnyvale locations, this one is worth checking out. Full details on the fundraiser below:

Sweet Tomatoes Offers Sweet Deal:  $5 All-You-Care-To-Eat at New

North San Jose Location on October 28 – 30

Pre-opening “fun-raiser” to benefit American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter

(SAN JOSE) October 21, 2011 – The newest Sweet Tomatoes, located at 4180 N. First St. in the @First Shopping Center is scheduled to open on Tuesday, November 1. To celebrate the grand opening, Sweet Tomatoes has partnered with American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter to host a preview fundraiser event on the following dates:

• Friday, October 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, October 29, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Sunday, October 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

For only $5.00 (five dollars), guests can enjoy Sweet Tomatoes’ 45-foot salad bar full of fresh, seasonal vegetables and tossed salads, made-from-scratch soups and hand-crafted muffins, focaccia, breads and desserts. Sweet Tomatoes will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter, a non-profit, humanitarian organization that depends on the generous contributions of time and money from local Santa Clara County residents and companies to provide services and programs that help our community prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Sweet Tomatoes seeks to be a vital and contributing part of each community in which it operates. To reach this goal, restaurants offer a “Fun-Raiser” program through which charities, churches, schools, athletic teams, scout troops and other non-profit organizations may raise funds by hosting in-store events. The restaurants assist in marketing the non-profit’s event by creating master flyers for distribution and promotion.

Sweet Tomatoes, named one of America’s “Best Chain Restaurants” byParents Magazine, offers a rotating menu of more than 100 original, made fresh dailyrecipes featuring signature salads, soups, bakery goods and hot pasta sauces, at an all-you-care-to-eat price.  All food is prepared without the use of artificial flavors, colors, additives or artificial trans fats. 

Sweet Tomatoes in North San Jose will be open daily from 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. on weekdays, 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. on Sundays beginning on November 1.  For more information visitwww.sweettomatoes.com or call (408) 526-0200. For more information on American Red Cross visit www.siliconvalley-redcross.org.       

About Sweet Tomatoes

Sweet Tomatoes was founded in 1978 in San Diego and currently operates 121 salad buffet-style restaurants across the western, southern and eastern portions of the United States. Sweet Tomatoes cares about what comes out of guests’ wallets and into their bodies by creating an exceptional, all-you-care-to-eat dining experience with a daily selection of made-from-scratch soups and salads and hand-crafted muffins, focaccia, breads and tasty desserts. By combining high-quality, farm-fresh and scratch-made foods for a fixed price, the restaurants provide guests with the freedom to create their own wholesome meals. The restaurant concept is built around fresh prepared, great-tasting recipes with a salad bar full of seasonal vegetables and tossed salads prepared exhibition-style every 20 minutes. Sweet Tomatoes restaurants are open daily for lunch and dinner. For more information, visitwww.sweettomatoes.com.

About American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter :

Founded in January 2009 with the merger of the Palo Alto Area and Santa Clara Valley chapters, the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter is a non-profit, humanitarian organization that depends on the generous contributions of time and money from local Santa Clara County residents and companies to provide services and programs that help our community prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Led by volunteers and supported by community donations, your American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter is part of a nationwide network of approximately 710 locally supported chapters dedicated to saving lives and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Weekly Sharks Update: Welcome to the New Season!

Hello, Sharks fans!

As this is my first post of the San Jose Sharks’ 2011-2012 season, welcome to another exciting season of Sharks hockey! For those of you new to my Sharks posts here on The San Jose Blog, during prior seasons, I routinely posted relevant updates (with much more frequent post-game updates during the playoffs). Starting this season, I plan to post updates once per week to provide my Sharks game analysis and to shine light on notable updates to the team and organization. In the near future, I plan to provide video updates for those of you who wish to watch updates provided in that format.

As for my hockey “experience,” besides being a Sharks fan since their inaugural 1991-1992 season, I played in the Magnitogorsk Metallurg hockey development program as a kid (where Evgeni Malkin played), before moving to play D1 hockey in high school, before briefly playing in the WHL (Seattle Thunderbirds). Eventually, I decided to attend Santa Clara University to earn Accounting and English degrees, and am currently limited to playing an “offensive defenseman” role for adult “beer league” play on the weekends.

(Now that I have provided my new introduction, let us jump right into the season!)

As of today, the Sharks stand at 3 (wins) - 3 (losses) - 0 (OT losses), after winning their last two road games against the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins, respectively, to improve their once abysmal 1-3-0 record for the season’s start. During the off-season, the Sharks made a tremendous amount of adjustments, with the purpose of building a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Sharks fans are already accustomed to watching a team continually qualifying for the playoffs. While repeated post-season eligibility is good sign, a city with no prior Stanley Cup victories (like San Jose) leaves the fans hungry for more. The fans want to see a winning team. Even though the Sharks have yet to play in a Stanley Cup Final series, appearing there is just going to be another step in the momentum that is bringing the elusive hardware to San Jose for the first time ever.

To assist the Sharks with doing this, General Manager Doug Wilson made several notable changes. During the last two seasons, the fans clamored for “more defense,” and while this issue had partially been addressed during last season (with Ian White, who has since been signed to the Detroit Red Wings), drastic line changed were implemented, in addition to the acquisition of veteran Colin White, and the major trade to acquire defenseman Brent Burns from the Minnesota Wild for fan favorite right winger Devin Setoguchi. The trade came as a shock to most fans, as less than a day prior to the trade, Setoguchi agreed to a three year extension with the Sharks. Burns has already proved to be a real asset so far with his fantastic puck handling, strong defense, and putting up good scoring numbers. From Burns’ days in Minnesota, he was highly regarded for his off-ice activity and charitable contributions as well.

In another move, the Sharks sent Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat. Havlat had put up similar numbers to Heatley last season and has historically had stellar playoff production, as opposed to Heatley, who many fans saw as underachieving in the post-season (tallying only five goals in the last three post-seasons combined). In addition, it is noted Heatley would have provided a $2.5 million greater salary cap hit per season.

Along with the Burns and Havlat acquisitions, the Sharks acquired Michal Handzus from the Los Angeles Kings, the same player who had been a perennial thorn in the Sharks’ side during the regular season and Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Kings last season. Doug Wilson surely did not forget Handzus from last season.

So far this season, the Sharks have made known their ability to control and shoot the puck, evidenced by their “shot on goal” count (especially in comparison to their opponents), and their shot on goal tally can be even higher if the Sharks can keep many of their non-deflected shots from flying high and wide of the net. Although any high level hockey player can express the importance of shooting the puck at the net, the NHL (as expected) requires shots with greater accuracy and velocity. A dominant shot on net tally, however, can prove to show how well the opposing goaltender is playing. Shots need to be put in the back of the net.

If we can look at it this way, which shots are more effective? Are they the shots from the point (the area near the blue line, where the defenders stand), or the shots up close? Either way, each shot counts as one shot on net, but it is clear the more devastating shots are the ones that are up close.

Shots up close are what made the Anaheim Ducks so deadly when they played the Sharks on Tuesday, the 18th. Veteran forward Teemu Selanne tallied two goals that night (in addition to several shots on net) using the same strategy: by sneaking behind the Sharks’ defense to be in position for his shots. Although getting set up for more lethal scoring opportunities is easier said than done (especially from my “fan’s perspective”), some teams can very effectively clear out the goalie’s crease and slot to keep other players from sneaking in for a point blank shot on net.

If the Sharks can effectively deliver more accurate shots and clear the front of their net, they will prove to be a dominant force this season. The Sharks must execute more accurate shots, not counting the extremely common shot deflections that occur and bouncing/rolling pucks (that are unpredictable for every level of hockey player). I understand that, in most cases, players are attempting to pick corners and ovoid other players when blasting the puck at the net, however that means the players must be quicker at releasing the puck from each of their sticks, and handling/shooting a puck not bouncing around must be on the mark. There are no excuses.

The Sharks have real potential this season, and as I have mentioned before, a playoff entry is all I care about, as far as the regular season goes (besides the Sharks winning at home when I am in attendance for the excitement factor). As for the post season, our weaknesses must be ironed out. If the last year’s Boston Bruins squad can win the Cup, so can the Sharks.

Let us cheer on our team this year – loud and proud! GO SHARKS!

Downtown Condo Crawl Open House + Free Drink at SPSM!

This Saturday from 12-4pm you can check out all of the high-rise condo buildings in Downtown San Jose with free pedicab transportation between each one! If you have ever wondered what living in a high-rise would be like, this would be a good opportunity to get more information and see all of your San Jose options. As an added bonus, if you visit all 3 towers you will get a drink ticket for use at the San Pedro Square Market (complete digression here, but it's really coming along nicely and well worth a visit). 


Fore more info click to enlarge the image below or click here, here, or here. (Come on, I know you want to click all 3!)

MathWorks @ TheTech

Just a quick post to mention a free program at the Tech to teach children and their families about math and science. Contact Tammy for more details!

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Event Name:
2011-2012 MathWorks 

Event Description:
MathWorks is a free, bilingual Spanish program for children and their families. These math and science activities are designed to teach parents and families how to help reinforce math skills that are being taught in school. These basic skills have been identified as those needed in order to be successful in math and science. Snacks are provided for participants. 

Event Time:
Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. or 2:00-3:30

MathWorks schedule: 
October 22 - December 3, 2011 (No class on Thanksgiving weekend)
January 7 - February 11, 2012
February 18 - March 24, 2012
April 14 - May 19, 2012

Each MathWorks session is 6 weeks of Saturday classes.

Cost:
Free

Event Venue:
The Tech Museum 
201 South Market Street  
San Jose, CA 95113

Event Contact:
Tammy DelaMora
Tdelamora@thetech.org
408.795.6330

Say Hello to 669

Unfortunately we have run out of the number which has become synonymous with Silicon Valley, 408. Last week regulators approved a new 669 area code for the South Bay to kick in next year. The means that starting October 2012, everyone will have to dial a prefix of 1-408 to call 408 numbers, even if you are dialing from a 408 number. In November 2012, ALL new South Bay numbers will have a 669 area code. So how do you all feel about the change?



Click here for more info.

Fresh & Easy May be Coming Downtown!

This could be the news of the month if it comes to fruition. The retail anchor spot formerly occupied by Su Vianda (and Albertsons before that) has been vacant for well over a year. Now Fresh & Easy--a new market to the Bay Area similar to Trader Joe's--may be filling the void. This would be a tremendous resource for San Jose residents and visitors. They also have a large selection of ready-to-eat options, which is not a strong suit for The Market at the moment. As Matt mentions below, another huge added benefit would be if they are able to keep the general area clean. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

Fresh & Easy in Downtown San Jose?

from San Jose Metblogs by Matt Bruensteiner

I haven’t seen any public announcement yet, but “Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets” has requested a city permit for beer and wine sales at 272 East Santa Clara Street in San Jose. That’s the former Albertsen’s /

Lucky’s / Su Vianda location next door to City Hall.

If this works out, it will be a great shopping option for downtown dwellers. Fresh & Easy has a kind of different business model: They have a lot of own-branded items like Trader Joe’s, but they tend to focus more on prepared items like salads and sandwiches rather than the packaged items that dominate TJ’s. In addition to ready-to-eat, they also have a pretty much complete line of other kitchen basics including fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats. They don’t have the selection of a full-size suburban mega-market, but they cover every-day needs.

They’ll be in direct competition with Safeway’s The Market a few blocks away, but they’ll have the advantage of a surface-level parking lot. If they do one thing to improve the streetscape on Santa Clara Street, though, it will be to keep that parking lot clean, which previous owners have never done.

Here’s looking forward to another shopping choice in downtown.