http://school-ratings.com (School district web site with API scores)

I just saw this site that gives you the API scores & maps, I love it! It appears that elementary schools/middle schools tend to pretty high (900s) and clutter up the maps, so by only looking at the high school scores, you get a pretty good idea where good school districts (and they also tend to be more pricy homes): http://school-ratings.com/allCaliforniaCities.php

Where is a good place to live in "San Fran"?

Over the last few year, countless number of my friends moved to the Bay Area. Once in a while someone would ask me "where is a good place to live in San Fran?" (it's funny that people in LA thinks the entire Bay Area is called San Fran). Even though I'd lived in the Bay Area for 9.5 years (4 in Berkeley, 1 in Emeryville, 1 in Union City, the rest in Sunnyvale), I still feel that I'm not qualified to give advice. So to better help out my LA friends, I started asking my other friends that have been residing in the Bay Area since undergrad. Below are conversational snippets I've had that may be helpful for people [with kids]:

... As for schools district, there aren't that many in the affordable range. Not sure about you, the entire Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Saratoga, most of Cupertino, the good part of Mt View and Sunnyvale are out of reach for me.  Unless you want to spend 500k-700k for a townhouse ~1200 sq ft, then you will have plenty of options. There are plenty of 600k-700k townhouses in Sunnyvale, Mt View and even Palo Alto. But one thing you need to know is condos/townhomes don't appreciate much. That is why people live single family home and that's why they are $1M for 1500sqft and 80 yrs old. It is what it is, can't fight it... 

SF, Burlingame, San Mateo, Redwood Shores are expensive without good schools. Yeah, people who already bought homes in these areas get pissed whenever I say this. Just look at the list. Alameda, Contra Costa, SF, and Kern (and sorry to tell you this Kevin, LA also) are rated amongst the worst. 

That gives you Fremont Mission, Fremont Warmsprings, SJ Almaden, SJ Evergreen that are still reasonably close to the Silicon Valley. I am sure they have places that are nicer and places that are worse. Mission is just as expensive as Sunnyvale, but you get slightly better home. Evergreen is a steal compare to all of them but the schools are just not as good since there are lots of bad Asians here, their API scores are just not as high yet. Almaden homes tend to be above $1 mil. Evergreen will be about 800K, commute is not as good though. So really, SJ only has two good area, Almaden and parts of Evergreen, the rest can be a dump. Almaden is south of 85, Evergreen is where I stay, south east 101. I think it is just a classic case of grass is greener on the other side. Some areas of SJ can be just as bad as LA.  But the worst place in CA is probably Oakland.  

If you are willing to drive a little to San Ramon, then it is heavenly if you like new houses, open land and open floorplan with lots of upgrades. I personally like walkable places like Berkeley, but lots of my friends with kids are moving to San Ramon. That's basically it, Bay Area is small. Having said that, there are still deals out there... you just need to look harder... Just a warning though, interest rate is super low now. It feels like it is bubbling again.  Some homes went up 30% in 6 months.

There are, of course, some dark sides of Silicon Valley. Not all of it is about Google/Facebook and the glamor associated with technology. Bay Area residents, what do you think?

Things You Must Get For Your Nerdlings

Do you have a nerdling and/or have friends who have nerdling(s)? Does your nerdling live in the vicinity of Nerdvale, Nerdain View, Nerdo Alto, Nerdotino? Is he/her going to be surrounded by other nerdlings in a highly competitive school and fear that he/she will not be able to out-nerd his/her schoolmates? Fear not! Here are some must buy items if you want your kid(s) to grow up to be well adjusted and successful nerdling(s)!

1) Hi-tech ABC Poster.

 A is for Apple. B is for Blogger. C is for Cisco. I originally made this for a friend of mine who moved to the Bay Area, now I will donate to the public for free! I printed this on a 16x20 poster at Costco, it is pretty cheap to print there and the postboard is professional grade. FREE download the high-res file (2MB) and print it. There's also a 8MB version if you can handle it. Your nerdling will love it!

   

2) Star Trek book of opposites. 

Remember those Happy<->Angry, Empty<->Full books you read as a toddler? Now it is available in Star Trek edition! Get it now!

Available from Amazon.com.

3) Input Output baby shirt.

You can get it from ThinkGeek.

4) The book of Ping. 

As well educated nerds, we all know that it is really the story about the network stack/TCP/UDP/IP. This is a must have item! Here is a review from one of the online reviewers: "Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized. The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River)."  Buy your copy now!

Buy your copy now!

5) Nerd rubber ducks. 

Cute!!! Your baby will have lots of fun with it in the shower!

Get it from Amazon.com.

Did I miss any other must buy item for your nerdlings? Please let me know.