Christmas Light Show in Clayton

Another stop on our tour of lights this past weekend was the Clayton Community Church that has a light show at 7 and 8 pm every evening at their downtown office. It was quite a show. It probably went on for about 20 minutes or more. Here's a short clip.

Mr. Christmas

We went to visit Mr. Christmas this past weekend. Mr. Mertz on Olive Drive in Concord, CA is celebrating 30 years of celebrating Christmas in a BIG way. The display includes 50,000 lights that takes 11 weeks to set up. The PG&E bill for the season is estimated to be about $700.

"Fish Out of Water" Move

I'm waiting to see the Cal student section try this at a Cal basketball game this year.

The author of this video clip is non-other than Rod Benson, former Cal Bear basketball player. I got this clip from his on-line column at Yahoo! Sports.

He's currently playing basketball over in Europe. The other person in the clip is a teammate on that French professional team.

Plasma or LCD?

Not that we are in the market for a new set, but here's what is the current state of the "Should we buy an LCD or plasma high definition television?" question.

If having a truly cinema-like experience is important, then plasma displays are slightly better. The main issues with plasma sets seem to be image glare on untreated diplays especially in bright rooms. Also, although for most good plasma displays this is a non-issue today, there is a possibility of image retention for some displays.

LCDs on the other hand come in a wider variety of sizes (e.g., plasma displays less than 42 inches are not available) and images are quite comparable to that from a plasma display. The areas where LCDs do have possible weaknesses compared with plasmas are limitations with viewing angle, blacks not being as dark, and motion blur.

The top plasma display makers are Panasonic and Pioneer.

The top LCD display makers are Sony, Samsung and Sharp.

Why Not Bail Out California Too?

As the clamoring for a bailout of the Big Three U.S. automakers reaches a crescendo, it's still unclear if such a bailout is the right course of action. The total bailout could reach into the $30 plus billion range. That's a lot of zeros.

The main reason that seems to be out there for the bailout is an implosion of the Big Three would be bad for the economy, but where's the proof that this would be the case? It obvious that the Big Three are in need of a course correction. Aren't bankruptcies intended to allow companies to find a course correction?

So if we're talking about bailouts, why not a bailout of California? The current estimate of the state's budget deficit is at about $11 billion. Various proposals have contemplated closing this deficit through raising the state sales tax, raising the auto registration fee, imposing a new tax on any oil produced in California, raise the excise tax on alcohol sales, reducing K-12 education funding, reducing college education funding, reduce the amount available for the state's welfare-to-work program, require state employees to take a one-day a month unpaid furlough, reduce the number of paid state holidays by two days, and postponing some mandatory regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Quite sweeping.

If the auto industry is to be bailed out, the concessions by the auto industry must be at least the equivalent of these kinds of cut-backs being contemplated by states such as California.

After all, if California were a country it would have the 8th highest gross domestic product (GDP), about equivalent to that of France's GDP. So one could make an argument that a bailout of a state such as California might be more important to the national economy than the bailout of private companies that surely would be replaced by other private companies.

Basketball Dribbling Five Year Old

Here's a video of a 5-year old from San Leandro here in the Bay Area who has advanced basketball dribbling skills for her age. She attends something called the Triple Threat Academy. We first saw her as part of a halftime show at a recent Cal men's basketball game. Ryan has expressed an interest in wanting to learn how to dribble a basketball so we had actually inquired into their program. The rates were not too bad, but we haven't signed up.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a nice little Thanksgiving dinner at our place this year. It was a smaller gathering than most years so we were able to get all of the adults a seat at one long table. The kids got their own separate table. The menu included: turkey, ham, stuffing, mash potatoes, corn casserole, bok choy and mushroom, green salad, fruit salad, an appetizer platter, winter melon soup, and rice; and then there was sparkling juice, wine, sodas, apple pie and pumpkin cheesecake. There certainly was enough food and even more for doggie bags for those wanting to take a little home.

Oh, yes, and Ryan got the larger half of the turkey wishbone this year.

Tinkerbell

We've had a guest for the past week in our home. Tinkerbell, the pet guinea pig from Ryan's preschool classroom.



In the photo below, Tinkerbell gets a treat on Thanksgiving Day.

What in the World Do I Do?

Friends back home have asked me what I do for a living. Sometimes it's not easy to explain.

Check this out though. Here's a link to a newspaper article on freeway improvements that was forwarded to me by a friend:

Fixing I-880: the never-ending story

So now you know that my work involves freeways. So how did someone who grew up in a small Alaskan town with no traffic signals and traffic signs used more for target practice (are they still?) get to work on freeways?

The Bears Tribute to Pete Newell

The Bears postgame show with Roxy Bernstein featured stories about Pete Newell who passed away yesterday at the age of 93. Here is a sample:

The first 5 times that Coach Newell coached against John Wooden he went 0-5 against the Wizard of Westwood. UCLA was still not quite the powerhouse that they would become, but nevertheless losing to the south state rival Bruins didn't sit too well with Coach Newell. The story goes that before the Bears' 6th match-up under Newell against the Bruins, one of the Bruins' players provided bulletin board material. Something about the Bears not being able to beat the Bruins. Well, in their next 8 games, the Bears went 8-0 against the Bruins. Pete finished his coaching career with a record of 8-5 against Coach Wooden. How many other coaches can say that they finished their career with a winning record against Wooden?

Did not know that former Bears assistant coach (and now head coach at New Orleans) Joe Pasternack held a special spot with Coach Newell. About 3 weeks ago, Joe traveled out to San Diego for a couple days to visit with Coach Newell before the season started. After Coach Newell's passing, if Joe didn't already know it, he learned just what Pete thought about him. One of Pete's sons called and in their conversation, Joe learned that Pete felt especially close to three coaches: Coach Knight, Coach K, and Joe.

A few years ago during a Bears game against SDSU in San Diego, Pete sat next to Roxy who called the game solo. Pete sitting next to Roxy was not planned. Anyway, Pete spent the game scribbling notes that he would pass onto Roxy (who was next to the Cal bench) to pass onto the Cal coaching staff. The notes were about possible adjustments that Cal could make. The Bears would go on to win the game.

Now onto the game...

The Bears won 87-74. Cliche warning! ...but the game was much closer than indicated by the final score. In fact, the Dons scored 11 straight points in the middle of the second stanza to take a 60-59 lead. Fueled by a Randle 3-pointer that put the Bears back up, the Bears ran away with the game on the strength of a 16-2 run.

It was only fitting that the first game on Newell Court after the passing of one the most respected coaches in college basketball history would be a game between two teams once coached by the Coach. Prior to the game, a tribute to Coach Newell was displayed on the video board followed by a moment of silence.

The game ended quite anticlimactically with the Bears up comfortably. The final box score will only show that the final Bears' basket was a jumper scored by Patrick Christopher. What the box score will not show is how and why the jumper was scored. The Dons were not fouling with the outcome of the game decided, and the Bears were content to wind down the clock. At the end of clock, Randle set up Christopher for a baseline jumper. Nothing remarkable on the surface, but it spoke volumes about Randle's command and control of the game - quite a contrast to how the season unfolded last year.

Oh, by the way, Randle tallied 25 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists with just 2 turnovers.

The Bears are going to need to find some toughness inside. Although they are now 2 for 2 with the rebounding battle, it is a little surprising that this is the case. Perhaps, this is because they have been guilty of giving up rebounds that seem to turn into points. Max Zhang will need to be able to play more minutes, especially against the beefier teams. It seemed that when Max was on the floor, USF was quite aware of his presence and made it a point to not challenge on the inside.

Next Game: 11/20 (Thursday) against the Texas-Pan American Broncos.

New King Cove - Cold Bay Roadway

Having flown into King Cove on several occasions, it's understandable why an option to be able to fly into and out from Cold Bay is being sought. However, it does not seem that this is a black-and-white issue.

There have been recent stories on the proposed new roadway in the local papers in Alaska and also in papers here in the Lower 48. It's one of those locals versus outside environmental groups where both sides have valid points for and against the project. The articles have included quotes attributed to: president of National Wildlife Refuge Association (against the project), mayor of the Aleutians East Borough (for the project), and other people of note. The articles have mentioned Shell executives (presumably for the project), Fish and Wildlife Service (for the project), Governor Sarah Palin (for the project), the New York Times (against the project), and others.

So what are the opinions of the local people regarding questions and comments like those below?

1. This is really not about the roadway providing a needed safety valve for medical emergencies. It's about taking one step toward future oil and gas exploration in the area.

2. The hover craft system that is in place is too costly (running a deficit of about $500,000 per year) to operate for much longer.

3. How can the new roadway be a much better option when it could take two or three times longer to drive on the new road than it does to take the hover craft to Cold Bay?

4. The hover craft has limitations like not being able to operate when wind speeds are over 30 mph. Is this limitations of the hover craft really an issue?

5. The new roadway will have detrimental impacts to one of the most valuable wetlands in the world.

6. Locals have traveled the area for years on trails and dirt roads for years without an impact to the local wildlife.

Here's a story from the point of view of project opposers.

Here's story from the point of view of project supporters.

The following is a video from those supporting the project and includes local people that some of you may recognize:

A Historic Election

In his concession speech although John McCain looked a little tired, it was one of his finer moments of the campaign. His speech sounded much more genuine as compared to his campaign rhetoric down the stretch to the finish line. The results seem to indicate that the race was not so close.

Obama's speech was full of hope, but he's got a difficult task awaiting. Here are some steps that he should take:

1. Prepare and implement a plan to move our country toward energy independence.
2. Remake government so that it can really make a difference in the lives of ordinary people.
3. Set a tone of accountability; be willing to own up to mistakes.
4. Offer John McCain a seat in his Cabinet.

And finally...

Ryan says, "You rock Obama! I knew that you could do it!"

The Voters

Tomorrow's the big day. Then there is what kids have to say about what tomorrow means.

Me: Who's McCain? How about Obama?

Ethan: Yeah, they're those voters.

Me: What do you mean?

Ethan: You know, those people that you vote for.

Me: So are you saying they need us?

Ethan: Yeah, the voters need us to win.

Ryan (in the background): Yahoo! Go Obama! (over and over)

Halloween 2008

We had a soggy Halloween this year, but this did not deter our kids from making the rounds. Let's see now... Naomi was Sacagawea, Ethan was a clone trooper from the Star Wars stories and Ryan was Mater from the movie Cars.

California Academy of Sciences

We got a chance to go check out the remodeled California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco that reopened on September 27, 2008. We were able to visit the weekend of October 3 when Obaachan visited.



The message that this is a "green" building is everywhere. Not to nitpick, but we found one way that they could become even greener (get rid of the requirement for kids under 6 who are free to enter to purchase a paper ticket - something about needing this to keep track of the number of visitors). There were a couple of items from the old building: the Pendulum and the seahorse railings. We missed the over-sized Gary Larson "The Far Side" cartoons.

At the end of the day, we asked the kids if they preferred the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Two of the three said that they did prefer the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Maybe it was the fact that we stayed at a hotel on the beach the last time we went to the Aquarium.

There's No Crying in Cutting Onions

The Food Detectives hosted on the Food Network by Ted Allen (former food and wine specialist on Queer Eye and current judge on Top Chef) had a segment where they investigated methods for tear-free onion slicing and dicing. They tested four methods: a piece of bread between your teeth, cutting onions in water, having a lit candle nearby, and chilling.

A piece of bread is suppose to be able to offset the sulfuric gases emitted from a cut onion by soaking up the gases before they reach your eyes. No dice. Did not work.

Submerging the onion in water while cutting is suppose to be able to dampen the effects. Onions float. The cut pieces end up floating and emitting gases. Again a thumbs down.

The flame from a lit candle is suppose to oxidize the gases, but again this did not work. Perhaps a romantic setting with a thousand candles would work.

A chilled onion is suppose to slow down the release of the impacting enzymes. Eureka, it works! So the next time you are going to cut onions put them in the fridge crisper for about an hour before slicing and dicing.

Better to Have Sweet Dreams than "MareNights"

Our Ryan has been fighting his second bout with a cold since the start of the school year.

Last night he woke up not soon after going to sleep because of a nightmare. I asked him this evening if he remembered waking up. The answer was, "No."

This evening when Dorothy was saying good night to him they had this exchange:

Mom: Okay, Ryan, have sweet dreams tonight.

Ryan: Yeah, I don't want to have any mare-nights.

Earthquake!

Wow, we just had an earthquake! Sitting here blogging and a quake rattled the house right at 9am. The reports are saying that it was a 4.0 quake about 7 miles south of Concord centered near Danville (that's where Ryan's friend Brooksie lives). I ran over to the bathroom where the kids were washing up and found them huddled with Dorothy in the doorway.

We're all okay, but it was a decent size temblor that lasted for about 15 seconds. It just rolled through peaking twice.

Is Politics Ready for the Internet Age?

The answer is, "Apparently not." See video below.

For some, this hypocrisy does not matter. The only issue that matters for these people is that a candidate is anti-abortion. What the candidate says, and how consistent they are on other matters does not matter one bit, as long as they are anti-abortion.

By the way, Wasilla is not the second largest city in Alaska. It is not even a third of the third most populous city, Juneau, that has a population of just over 30,000. Fairbanks is second with a population of just over 34,000. I don't think that it needs to be mentioned that Anchorage is number one. Here's one link where this information is available: http://www.citypopulation.de/php/usa-alaska.php

Last 2008 Summer Mini-Vacation

We took one last trip to Monterey before summer was over. Here are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy!

The Olympics in Review

Can't say that we watch an overwhelming amount of the Olympics. Too often, we knew the results before the actual telecast. The coverage was not exactly scintillating either. The third strike was the endless parade of commercials.

The following is a recap of the Olympics by number provided by Jay Weiner of The Sporting News:

204: Record number of nations participating.
132: Olympic records set.
87: Nations that won medals.
80: Ratings share in China for the Opening Ceremonies.
43: World records set.
43: Percent of competitors who were women, highest ever.
40: Olympic-bound athletes popped for drug use BEFORE the Games and barred; six caught during the Games . . . so far.
8: Gold medals for U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps.
4: Nations winning their first-ever medals (Afghanistan, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Togo)
3: Gold medals for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
3: Nations winning their first-ever gold medals (Bahrain, Mongolia and Panama).
2: Batons dropped by U.S. 4x100 relay teams.

The extremely commercial nature of the Games and the competition by nations to be the host nation are somewhat of a turn-off. I don't think that this is what the Greeks had in mind with the Olympics.

What would be more interesting and engender more of a united nations of the world atmosphere would be an Olympics that had the following:

1. All events would be team events
2. Any nation that wants to send athletes would be allowed to do so.
3. Once at the site, the athletes would allowed to sign for events.
4. Teams would be selected for each event by randomly drawing names of signed up athletes to form teams. Each team made up of athletes of various nations would compete against one another.
5. To ensure balance on the teams, the athletes would be given a score based on past performance that could be used for the random draw (e.g., each team would have the same number of top tier athletes).

This would be global athletics.

The Swing

Tired of watching superhuman feats being performed by Michael Phelps and the other Olympians? Here's a cure for you from the Round Mound of Rebound who redefines the phrase "having a hitch in your swing."

It's That Little Man Again

Let's set the time and place: It's prime time on our couch as the Olympics are getting underway. For some reason, it's only Ryan and me watching.

Ryan: Who is that?

Dad: That's Bob Costas (he's reporting from Tiananmem Square)

Ryan: Why is he so small?

It's been said that Costas is not a tall guy. There was one on-line site that listed his height at 5' 7". Other references about him note him being no more than 5' 5". Do they pad heights for reporters like they do for athletes?

He did look small. Was it the expanse of Tiananmem Square? Or was it because of the camera angle (the camera seemed to be pointed down on him)? I thought that the camera angle was kind of strange. Aren't there rules against shooting downward on someone who is already short in stature?

So now when we are watching the Olympics and see Costas, Ryan always says, "There's that little man again!"

How to Elect the Next President

We can have lots of fun with the next presidential election. No worries about hanging chads, unless we have a guy named Chad who can dunk a basketball and hang from the rim. No worries about hacking into electronic voting systems, unless the hacking is of the basketball variety. No worries about ballot stuffing unless it's another guy named Chad that can dunk.

I present to you the Presidential decathlon. Here are the 10 events:

1. A game of H-O-R-S-E. Obama might have this one in the bag (see video).



2. Be the first to be able to take a jet to mach 1 (maybe a McCain event?)

3. A game of horseshoes (a very American event)

4. Hot dog eating contest (SJSU's Joey Chestnut would be the favorite if he were old enough to run for President)

5. A debate contest using random topics (Nader might be the odds on favorite with this one)

6. A driving test (appropriate for a nation in love with its cars)

7. A cannonball contest (most water on pool deck wins!)

8. An essay on "Why I want to be President" (judges would be top 10 finishers in Scripps National Spelling Bee Contest)

9. Talent contest (judged by Dave Attell and staff from Comedy Central's Gong Show; our next President will have to have a sense of humor)

10. U.S. citizenship test (this would be a timed event; most points for fastest finish)

Most total points is next President; runner-up is Vice President.

Seahorse Coaches' Performance

One of the highlights of Spirit Week leading up to the League Championships is the coaches' performance. Here's this year's rendition to the sounds of Thriller and Hammer Time.

2008 Summer Trip - Part V

Alyssa had her surprise guests for her party days earlier in Portland, and so too did Dorothy in Seattle for her birthday party. Betty, Barbara, Alden and Cassie flew in from the Bay Area for the party. They flew standby and weren't able to make it on the plane as originally planned so their arrival was delayed a couple hours.

This worked to my advantage, but caught me off guard as I learned about their delay while pulling into the cell phone lot near the airport. The phone rings and I fumble with my hands-free device (the state of Washington enacted a hands-free calling law similar to the one in California except theirs is a secondary offense) to answer the call. It's Betty.

Me: Oh, hello, Betty.
Betty: We're getting on the plane now. Can't talk much now. We'll see you soon.
Me: Uh, okay. See you soon.

My thoughts: So they're just boarding their plane when they should be landing in Seattle. Must've been delayed for some reason. So this'll give me time to shop for Dorothy's present.

So I spend the next two hours trying to find the digital SLR, a Nikon, that we talked about purchasing. In the end, I buy a different camera, but she's happy with the camera now so that's that.

I'm near the end of signing the papers to purchase the camera including an extended warranty (would not normally do this, but we have had really bad luck with digital cameras), and I realize that I'm running late now to get to the airport. Luckily I am only a few minutes away so I rush off even though there is no call yet. So I call Betty to find that they had just landed. Perfect timing.

After a quick curbside pick up at the airport, we were on the way to my parent's house. At the house, I tell them to go to the front door ahead of me. Dorothy answers the door and sees people that she did not expect to see.

Ryan gets more to the point and says, "Hey, what are you doing here?" before running off. We share the whole story with Dorothy and the kids. It'll be one of those memorable birthday stories that will be told over-and-over for years.


That evening after the party, I drive the surprise party guests to the airport and see them off, making it three trips to the airport in one day.

Stats Redux - August 2, 2008

Here's an update on stats first posted in November 2005, and updated on January 2006, June 2006, October 2006, March 2007, and November 2007.

Price of Gas: $4.19 per gallon (down from a high of about $4.49 earlier this summer when crude oil prices pushed past $140 per barrel; Costco price this week was under $4/gallon)
Price of Milk: Still $3.99 for a gallon at Trader Joe's (unchanged from November 2007)
Bridge Toll: $4 as of January 1, 2007 on all Bay Area bridges except Golden Gate Bridge (which is $5 cash and $4 FasTrak with these rates to increase to $6/$5 on 9/1/08)
Today's High Temperature: 88 degrees F (overnight low of 56) and sunny!
Dow Jones Average: 11,326.32 close on 8/1 (down over 1400 points since 11/07)
Shopping Days to Christmas: 144 days (http://eclecticesoterica.com/xmas_cnt.html)
Dinner Tonight: It'll be a meal on the run, due to Swim League Meets ongoing and Naomi's evening class
Average Commute Time: under an hour in mornings due to summer driving conditions (in a 3-person carpool MWF and now a 3-person carpool TuTh; added 1 person to TuThu carpool)
Cost of Area Homes: the median price for Contra Costa County has dropped to below $500k for the first time since 2004
Movie Ticket: recently paid $10
Time with My Kids: good summer days with kids

Naomi just turned 9 and got braces.

2008 Summer Trip - Part IV

So it was from ice cream in Troutdale to on the road again. We had designs on hitting Best Buy to look into buying that digital SLR for Dorothy, but decided to get going on our trip to Seattle. Lianne joined us, with Ojiichan and Obaachan with Yuki in her car.

We took a break in Centralia for dinner at the Country Cousin Restaurant. Their tag line is "Home of Old Fashioned Pot Roast." It's one of those restaurants that you see and think, "Let's check it out one of these days." It's what I would call a quirky restaurant, with good American food.

The Ballard District of Seattle has a uniquely maritime heritage that can still be seen today. Its most famous landmark is the Ballard Locks. The locks provide a way for boats and fish to make their way between Puget Sound and Lake Union and Lake Washington. One somewhat unknown gem of the Ballard area is its park/beach, Golden Gardens Park, on Puget Sound. We visited both these locations during one day of our Seattle visit.


In between visiting the beach and the Locks, we had lunch at the Totem House (also pictured above) located just down the street from the Locks.

2008 Summer Trip - Part III

After our early evening of shopping, we phoned the Oregon Emotos. They were out and about, but we got in touch and made arrangements to get to their place in the evening after dinner. Dinner was a quick stop at the Elmer's located near the Woodburn outlet stores. Elmer's is an Oregon institution. They opened in Portland as a breakfast place serving primarily pancakes in 1960.

The next morning we woke up to the arrival of Yuki, Lianne, Ojiichan, and Obaachan to join in the fun to celebrate Alyssa's birthday. Ojiichan had said earlier that he wasn't going to make it so everyone was surprised to see him. So off we went to Meeka Sushi for Alyssa's birthday lunch. Diane's parents were there waiting for us so too was Chuck. He was apparently on his way to eastern Washington for a gig that evening and decided to swing through Portland (never one to pass up good Japanese food).

The food was great just like some of the reviews that we found for the place later on. This was topped off by the traditional singing of Happy Birthday with Ryan adding his own twist as you can see in the video below.



So when will Alyssa be asking for the car keys now?

After lunch we drove out to the Bonneville fish hatchery, where we were able to feed rainbow trout and check out sturgeon. The hatchery is located at Exit 40 east on SR 84.

Spending time with family is always one of the highlights of our trips to the Pacific Northwest. Before leaving for Seattle, we were able to spend a little time with the Lee family (Diane's younger brother and his wife and two kids) from Detroit. Here's a picture that we took of the kids while in downtown Troutdale for an ice cream break.

2008 June/July Swimming

June and July are busy months for swimmers, leading to league and city meets in early August. Naomi and Ethan continue to enjoy their swimming, each progressing at her and his own pace. Ryan continues with his swim lessons.

Here are some photos from the past month.

2008 Summer Trip - Part II

With about 300 miles of driving scheduled for the day, we woke the morning of Day 2 with the aim of being on the road by 9am. We are not the most driven traveling group, especially with three kids in the mix. After the usual hotel continental breakfast fare, we were on the road by 930am.

Now, southern Oregon is one of our favorite parts of our trip to Seattle. We have gotten to know Medford, Ashland, Grants Pass, and Roseburg quite well over the years. One of our finds from the 2007 trip was the Grants Pass Pharmacy. It still has one of those old fashion soda fountains that serves phosphates. This was going to be our first stop of Day 2. Although the downtown was not as festive (there were no bear statues), the pharmacy did not disappoint.

After wandering around Eugene for a bit, we decided on World Favors for lunch. It was right next to the Lane County transit station. Although their menu featured mostly pastas, pizza and salads, they did have a few out of the ordinary items like cream puffs on their menu. The place had a college hole-in-the-wall feel to it. When we were leaving, there was a band showing up to set up for live music.

Eugene, self-proclaimed Track Town, U.S.A., was once again hosting the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on the U of O campus. We saw a sign that said that entry to watch the trials was free to the public. Only if we would've had more time and the kids were older, we would've stayed to take a peek. Oh, well, maybe in four years.

As a substitute, we held our own family track trials around a water fountain in downtown Eugene after lunch. See below.



Could've spent more time in Eugene, but we had to shove on. One thing that we all noticed was that there was something in the air in Eugene that caused our allergies to flare up. By the time we left, we were all sneezing.

Our final stop before Gresham was the outlet malls in Woodburn located about 40 miles south of Portland. We had stopped before, but never had much time for shopping. We actually had time to shop this time.

Here are photos from this leg of our trip.

2008 Summer Trip - Part I

Although this year's trip to Seattle was shorter than the norm and there was no scavenger hunt this year, it was memorable just the same.

Our first day of traveling featured the usual bathroom breaks, pit stops for food, and refueling stops. We detoured to the AAA office in Redding (Ext 678 on I-5) to pick up an Oregon/Washington tour book. Our copy was back at home, not so useful there. With the book in hand, we were ready to book a room for the night. We decided on Medford as our stop, but were chagrined to learn that the Windmill Inn was no more. It was now called the Quality Inn and Suites. We were assured that they had maintained many of the same features of the Windmill Inn so we paid for a room.

After about 333 miles of driving from home, we drove past the sign welcoming us to Oregon. Not soon after, we passed through Siskiyou Summit which at an elevation of 4310 feet is the highest point on I-5.

At the Quality Inn, we were greeted by a large banner that said, "Under New Management." The place did still have the decor and feel of the previous Windmill Inn. None of this mattered too much to the kids. Their main interest was the pool. So while they swam, I went out to get a pizza for us. The first stop was the local Costco's to refuel. The price was $4.19 per gallon, about 20 cents less than at other nearby stations. The pizza was from Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub. Later we learned that this was award winning pizza for the Rogue River Valley area and that the owners are transplants from Alaska. With the swimming, the late dinner and baths taking up time, this was only the first of many late nights on this trip.

Ethan's First Camp Out

Ethan got his first taste of camping with his Boy Scout pack over the weekend. It was just an overnight camp out at one of the several campgrounds (three family campgrounds and five group campsites) located at nearby Mt. Diablo State Park.

We stayed at the Wildcat Campsite, a nice tree covered site with very little parking and very little level ground. The very little parking meant that people had to carpool. The very little level ground meant that we didn't wake up in the same spot in the tent where we went to sleep. Ethan went to sleep in the middle of the tent next to me, but woke up in a ball in one of the downhill corners of the tent. The tree covering was a plus though that allowed us to wake up to some people wearing sweatshirts to keep warm even after the sun had arisen. This was in sharp contrast to the valley below that looked like a sea of warmly-glowing golden yellow hills. Even at 7:00am, the hills below already looked blazing.

The boys were kept busy. They had day time activities aimed at allowing them earn belt loops and badges. The older boys helped with dinner. Our den was in charge of the games. Although there wasn't a campfire, there was a fire pit that the boys used to roast marshmallows and make smores. After dinner, the dens got to entertain with skits and singing. The scouts got an astronomy lesson, got a chance to make popcorn making, and take in an evening hike.

The next morning there were some that were up at the first crack of daylight, which was probably a little after 5:00am. Most of the campground was up by 7:00am. A flag ceremony was held at about 8:00am, right around breakfast time. This was followed by a short drive to Rock City for a hike to Sentinel Rock (need to be careful here as there is poison ivy everywhere).

After most of the group had packed up, one of the dads who is an expert tree person helped a couple of the scouts get a chance to go tree climbing in a harness. This same dad is the one hooked up a tree hammock and a tree swing that were both hits with the scouts.

Ethan is ready to go on his next camp out!

Contra Costa Valley Swim Conference

Win or lose, Naomi and Ethan continue to enjoy swimming. Naomi's in her third year of swim team, while this is Ethan's second year. They've both made good strides since they started swimming with the Seahorses.

The Ygnacio Wood Seahorses are one of seven teams in the Contra Costa Valley Swim Conference (CCVSC). The CCVSC is a recreational swim league made up of two teams from Concord, two from Walnut Creek, and one team each from Pinole, Antioch, and Brentwood. The number of such swim teams in the area is incredible (see the Aquatic Times site).

The kids practice every weekday and have two meets a week until late July when they have their league, City and County championships. Here's a video of Naomi from their latest meet against the Forest Park Flyers. She's in lane 6, the rightmost lane.

One Sea Pony and Two Seahorses

Ryan likes to tell people, "I'm this many," putting up four fingers as in the picture. Another interesting Ryan fact is that he likes to wear blue jeans even on a hot summer day.

This photo was taken just before the team photo was taken.

Picture Day!

It was picture day for the swim team today. Imagine trying to shepherd over 125 kids onto risers in the bright sun and telling them that they have to sit still. Sounds like an impossible task, doesn't it?

Here's the team picture of the Ygnacio Wood Seahorses for 2008. Ethan and Naomi are in the picture. Can you find them?

Swim Meet Versus Forest Park Flyers

Swim Meet Versus Valley Vista Barracudas

The kids are making progress with their swimming, but most importantly they continue to have great time. Ryan is not swimming yet, but he is their biggest fan. In some of the videos that we have you can hear Ryan cheering on Naomi and Ethan.

Here's a clip of Naomi swimming the backstroke at the meet against Valley Vista. She's starting to get the hang of swimming backwards in a straight line.

Ryan Anderson - NBA Bound

Ryan Anderson, top player for the Cal Bears the last two years running, announced today that he's staying in the NBA draft. No doubt a blow to the Bears, but a result that was not too surprising.

For you Cal fans out there, here are the top ten reasons why Ryan Anderson is moving onto the NBA (play the accompanying video clip for the source for this top ten list):

10. Not only can Ryan shoot, but he can also shoot from the hip!

9. He can dunk! I know that you Cal fans will find this both amusing and amazing.

8. He can go right and left just like Big Bird now!

7. He is a supporter of Rod Benson's "Boom Tho" movement (Benson is a former Cal player who has been entrenched in the D-League, the minor league baseball of the NBA, and is moonlighting as a blogger for Yahoo! Sports through their Ball Don't Lie blogs on NBA basketball).

6. He's ready like spaghetti and in there like swim wear.

5. He is environmentally conscious and recycles.

4. He's like Captain Planet with better footwork (and looks great in tight fitting silks).

3. He can take on Kevin Love one-on-one and defend him outside the arc.

2. He's really 30 years old, not 20 (okay, this was just Benson messing with Ryan).

1. He's a great kid with his head in the right place (he finished up all his class work at Cal this semester, unlike many early entry players who just drop out of school, while auditioning for his next employers in the NBA).

Contract Karma by Fear the Beard

Got this off a site called Fear The Beard that claims to be the East Bay culture blog with a high basketball IQ. I'm not that up on the Warriors, but I think the name of the site is a play on a Warrior slogan. The Beard is a nickname of sorts for Baron Davis, ex-UCLA baller and current leader of the Warriors. It's like saying, "fear the Warriors...they're coming for ya with the Bearded one leading the way!"

Baron is hoping for a contract extension from the Warriors, but it's possible that one might not be forthcoming (they have younger players that could play the same position and he's been injury prone). He still has one year left on his contract for something around $17 million. He could opt out of this contract, but it's unlikely that he would get more than this amount for next season. On the other hand, he could opt out and sign a longer term contract with another club for a higher total amount, but less on an annual basis, but who's counting when you're talking about millions of smackeroos.

The clip below is of Baron trying to do good because he says, "it's better to give than to receive." But the FTB guys know what this is about given the title of the post: Contract Karma.

A Real Life Unicorn...Sort of

At the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, Italy (a town near Florence), a single-horned deer has been born. Deers with such a single horn are rare. This deer has a twin that has the normal set of two horns.

A Blast from the Past

I came across something the other day that I hadn't seen in quite some time. This is proof (I suppose) that you can find almost anything on YouTube.

When I was in Japan for a year in the 80s, there was a female singer who was all the rage. It was 24/7 Akina Nakamori. You could not escape her music, picture and videos.

We went to a robata one evening and they had a television blaring her video. Later at a kisaten (a Japanese cafe) near the train station there was more Akina on a television. Then at the train station there were near-life sized ads featuring every where you looked.

Another time, we went out and one of the stops was for karaoke. Stopping for karaoke in itself in Japan is not amazing, but seeing the same song sung over-and-over-and-over was bordering on too much. The Japanese pop idol wannabes that took the stage to be like Akina had their pop idol's every move down, able to exactly mimic Akina's every movements as they sang her hit "Desire."

Here's one of her many videos for the song "Desire":



And here's a site that has an English version of the same song: Desire

Swim Meet Versus Antioch Delta Skimmers

June 7, 2008. The swim season continues onward.

Naomi swam the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly. Ethan swam the freestyle and backstroke. The following are videos of Naomi's breaststroke (in Lane 5) and Ethan's backstroke (in Lane 1).

"I Am From" by Ethan

I Am From

I am from China, Japan and Berkeley.
I am from visiting my cousin, our grandma and grandpa's,
going to karate and being at Boy Scouts.

I am from building a derby car with my dad,
going swimming in the summer and going to Seattle.

I am from chow fun, mochi and butter noodles.

I am from hugs, how was your day and poems before bed.

I am from Ojiichan, Obaachan, Casey and Dorothy.
I am from Naomi and Ryan.
I am from E.E. and Buddy.

I am Ethan Avery Emoto

The End of Another School Year

The end of the school year comes with a flurry of field trips and end of year activities. For us, the activities have included a visit to the Smith Family Farm, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Los Vaqueros Dam and Reservoir, the 3rd graders' flute performance, the 1st graders' "How Does Your Garden Grow" musical, a preschool musical parade, the Boy Scouts bridging ceremony for Tiger Cubs to Wolf Cubs, and the Girl Scouts bridging ceremony for Brownies to Junior Cadets just to name a few. Now bring on summer!

Swim Meet Versus Pinole Seals

We had our first swim meet of the year today at our swim club against the Pinole Seals. Both Naomi and Ethan swam, with Naomi swimming the butterfly (also known as the fly) and the backstroke. Ethan was even busier, swimming in the breaststroke medley relay, freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke.

Here's a video of Naomi's backstroke. She's in the second lane from the right (lane #2).

Summer's Here...Sort of!

We spent one day of the recent three-day weekend at a Six Flags amusement park in nearby Vallejo. Although it was not a scorching day, the water rides were still quite popular. You can't see her, but Naomi and some friends are on the boat in the video below. Yes, there were more than a few people who got soaked.

Mom's Going on a "Retreatment"

Ryan: I'm going to miss mom.

Dad: She's still here.

Ryan: But she's going to go away for her retreatment.

What Ryan was referring to was that Dorothy was going to be gone for a women's retreat for the weekend. He probably heard us use the word "retreat," and for some reason thought that he would add his own touch to the word.

When I told Dorothy about this, we had a good laugh! I suppose it is a treatment of sorts!

Oregon, where boys are boys and...

...girls play basketball.

Here's a story about a 12-year old girl in Beaverton, Oregon who has been banned from playing in a private boys' basketball league. The league cited an obscure league rule prohibiting mixed gender play saying that rules are rules. When asked why she had not been banned previously, the league said that they are under new management that enforces policies. Of course, policies are policies just like how in Oregon boys are boys, unless it comes to basketball.

In case you're wondering, the inspiration for the title of this blog was Susan Butcher. Over one five-year span, she won four Iditarods. This spawned the saying, "Alaska, where men are men and women win Iditarods,"

Skyping

We had our first experience earlier this week with video calling. In the words of our kids, "It was cool!"

Auntie Yuki has been trying to convince us to sign up with Skype for maybe a couple years now. Well, we finally signed up and placed our first call using our new web cam.

The web cam has a few other capabilities like being able to take pictures and save video clips. It's also possible to enhance photos. We used the web cam to take the picture below impossibly showing Ryan with facial hair.

3-2-1 Go, Race Cars!

Ethan is in his first year of scouting. One of the big events for Boy Scouting is pinewood derby cars. The scouts are given basic materials to build their own cars to enter in a race. Our Pack had its race earlier this month.

Ethan picked the colors. I tried to sway him away from Stanford colors to no avail. It's the only car with these candy cane colors. Ethan also helped with some of the sanding, painting and installation of wheels. He was also the official decal affixer. There is some science to this "kiddie" fun. It turns out, the real serious racers likely spend much time correctly weighting their cars and polishing and lubricating their wheels and axles. These are probably the keys to winning.

This was our first time racing pinewood derby cars. We did not really know what to expect. We did learn a lot for next year. We didn't win, but had a great time.

The video below was shot by one of the fathers in our den. Their car finished in 3rd place. Another car from our den won the top prize. We almost won a prize too: the Turtle Car Award for the slowest car able to make it to the finish line. After seeing the video, you'll probably agree that calling these "slower" cars "turtles" is a misnomer. We had "victory" snatched from our grasp when the winning car just barely rolled across the line a few second after our finish.

If you watch the start of the video closely, you'll see Dorothy.

New Soul

The MacBook Air commercial features a catchy tune. It's a song called "New Soul" by Yael Naim, a French-Israeli singer/songwriter. Here's the link to her web site: http://www.yaelweb.com/

And here's the video for the song. Enjoy!

What's a Middle Name Worth?

Today, we learned what Ryan thinks about middle names.

We have a picture of the family taped on the door to one of our bedroom closets. I pointed to the picture and asked him who was in the photo.

Me: Ryan, is this Michael?

Ryan: No, that's me.

Me: Yes, it's Michael.

Ryan: Please don't call me that. That's what people call me when they need to call me three times.

I Don't Like to Dress Up!

We were eating at a restaurant yesterday when my salad arrived ahead of the main course. Of course, the kids were clamoring for their food.

Ryan: I'm hungry. Where's my food?

Me: You want a crunchie (crouton)?

Ryan: Okay. [so I give him a few]

Ryan: Thanks, but you can have these back.

Me: Why?

Ryan: They have dress-up on them.

I figure out what he means. He didn't want the pieces with salad "dressing" on the croutons!

Electioneering

Much is made about the American public not turning out to vote. Given the many arcane and ridiculous voting rules in place, it's a wonder that fewer people don't decide to stay home.

Here's a case in point: The state of Washington has both a caucus and a primary. This one makes no sense. Their caucuses are today. Voters don't really know where they are suppose to go for their local caucus location. This is compounded by the fact caucuses start at 2pm when many people are out for weekend daytime activities. What's important is that it's these caucuses that are used to select delegates in Washington. The odd thing is that Washington holds primary elections on February 19. Since their delegates are selected through the caucus process, the primaries are essentially meaningless. This hasn't stopped the state from mailing out countless mail-in ballots.

Another case in point: An issue has surfaced with Washington's mail-in ballots. In order to vote through the mail-in process, voters are to mark their party affiliation on their ballots. The ballots are deemed invalid if this is not done. It turns out that a high percentage of ballots have been returned without such an indication. Although it's been noted that the place to mark the ballot is buried in fine print on the outside of the ballot, the real issue is why this is even necessary. Isn't vote counting automated these days? Shouldn't the election office already have information on voter registration? Why is there a need for voters to state their party affiliation?

Number of the Day: 3984

The state of Montana has its American Legion White Cross Highway Fatality Marker Program that has been around since 1953. The program was initiated as a way to remind motorists to drive carefully following the 1952 Labor Day weekend when six lives were lost in the Missoula area. The program has continued to the present, with the various American Legion Posts around the state responsible for posting white crosses to mark the location of traffic fatalities. Not all fatalities get marked. Due to a federal ruling, these white crosses are not allowed on interstate highways, although they are allowed on other federal and state highways and along forest service roadways. Since the inception of the program, it's estimated that over 2000 white crosses have been planted. This translates to about a five acre cemetery.

The photo above is not from Montana. It's not a reproduction of all the white crosses from Montana. The number of crosses on the hillside in the picture numbers nearly twice the number of white crosses in Montana. These crosses in the photo (Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn) are located along a busy stretch of State Route 24 across from the BART station in Lafayette, California. I observed the number 3984 on a large white board amongst the white crosses from the BART train today on the way home from work. Each cross represents one American soldier killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. This number was 3173 on March 5, 2007.

Critics say that this display disrespects the memory of the soldiers killed in combat in Iraq because it was erected as a protest to the war. The other side says that this is a protest against the president and his staff who planned and executed the war, not a protest against the men and women serving in the military.

Meanwhile the number of crosses in Lafayette, California continues to increase and will likely surpass 4000 soon.

Flying out of Sand Point

This is a video clip showing a Lockheed Electra flying out of Sand Point, Alaska. The plane taxis down to the south end of the runway and then takes off north toward the mainland down the 4000-foot runway. The plane takes most of the length of the runway before it lifts off, then flies over the strait between Unga Island and Popof Island.


From merculiv on YouTube