Biking and Scootering

It looks like the worst of hay fever season is over. No more sneezing and runny noses. This made it a great time this weekend for outdoor activities like biking and scootering.

Here are the kids lining for a race:


Here's Naomi cruising on two wheels:


Ethan on his scooter and Ryan on his bike:


One...two...three...Go!

Pop Star = Rock Star

We first learnt about this video from a friend's music compilation on CD a couple years ago. When we showed this to Ryan he insisted that the artist was singing about a Rock Star in Spanish. Eventually he came around to admit that it was pop star and that the song was in Japanese.

Ryan's been practicing his own lip synched version of the song.



wanna be a pop star kimi wo motto muchuu ni sasete ageru kara ne
kirakira no pop star hane wo hiroge mahou wo kakete ageyou kimidake ni

kimi ni deaeta yorokobito, kimi ni aenai samishisa no
ryouhou wo te ni irete, koi wa hashiridasu
sora mo tobenai boku dakedo, kodoku wo utau yoru dakedo
sono hoho ni, hohoemi wo ataerareta nara
hajimete kimi wo dakishimeta shunkan ni
kamisama ga boku ni kudashita shimei wa kimi dake no Hero

i wanna be a pop star kimi wo motto muchuu ni sasete ageru kara ne
kirakira no pop star hane wo hiroge, mahou wo kakete ageyou
i wanna be a pop star kimi wo gyutto, dakishimete ageru kara oide
kirakira no pop star hane wo hiroge, mahou wo kakete ageyou, kimi dakeni

kakushite itai kurayami mo, kimi wa sotto hiroi agete
taisetsu na boku nanda to, dakishimete kureta
hikari eto tsuzuku, michi aruite yukou
kizu kabau, kono migite wa, kimi to te wo tsunagu tame ni

you're gonna be my pop star boku wo motto muchuu ni saseteyo hohoende
kirakira no pop star sono hitomi de, boku ni mahou wo kakete
you're my only pop star boku wo gyutto, dakishimetara mou hanasanai
kirakira no pop star sono hitomi de, boku ni mahou wo kakete ima sugu ni

koi ni ochitara daremo ga dareka no pop star
kamisama ga bokuni kudashita shimei wa kimi dake no Hero

i wanna be a pop star kimi wo motto muchuu ni sasete ageru kara ne
kirakira no pop star hane wo hiroge, mahou wo kakete ageyou
i wanna be a pop star kimi wo gyutto, dakishimete ageru kara oide
kirakira no pop star hane wo hiroge, mahou wo kakete ageyou, kimi dakeni

Rocket Cars

These cars were able to cover about 200 feet in just a few seconds, which translates to something like 25 to 30 mph. The cars were all quite fast.

Human-Powered Merry-Go-Round

Although our cub scouts were able to test out the rocket cars that they built, most of them may have had the most fun on the human-powered merry-go-round that the host Boy Scout pack had assembled. Check out this video:

From 2009_05_RocketDerby

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

We had a not so common windy day this weekend that was perfect for kite flying at Arbolado Park. The park has a bowl shape with a higher rim perfect for launching kites.

Katy's Kreek Restaurant

A place for a good Sunday brunch is Katy's Kreek in Walnut Creek. This weekend's visit included sampling the Basque Omelette and their bowl of mixed berries. Thumbs up to both!




...before the good food came a little waiting for a table.

Ethan Tries Golfing

We went to the driving range over the weekend and the boys got to use their new golf clubs for the first time outside the back yard. Here's Ethan's golf swing.

Are we Human? Or are we dancer?

From this weekend...

Foods Good for You

Saw an on-line article that talked about foods good for you and those that are not so I thought why not plan a daily menu around these foods. The main problem was trying to match up items that made sense for the meals.

Breakfast: Low fat yogurt sprinkled with nuts and blueberries mixed in along with a cup of coffee. This will give a boost to short-term memory (coffee), benefit long-term memory (blueberries), and provide a calming effect (low-fat yogurt and nuts) for the commute.

Lunch: High-protein salad with vinaigrette sprinkled with ground flaxseed and a mug of peppermint tea. The salad with diced chicken will provide needed mid-day energy, and the flaxseed will sharpen your senses while the tea boosts your concentration level.

Dinner: Salmon with spinach salad. The salmon helps to speed up your thought processing, while the spinach promotes a good mood and grins. Yes, these were the actual words in the article.

Avoid the following or at the least moderate: energy drinks, too much coffee, unripe/unready fruits, full fat ice cream, pancakes, bagels, soda, candy, white chocolate and alcohol.

Air Force One Brouhaha

Here's one of the photos taken recently of Air Force One that has caused much trouble for the White House. It seems that if they really wanted to they could have saved a lot of trouble by "photoshopping" the plane into the picture. Nice picture though.

Would You Pay a Toll?

One of new newer concepts in Bay Area transportation is something called an Express Lane. An Express Lane is a carpool lane that also can be used by toll paying solo drivers. The video below by the Alameda Congestion Management Agency is for an express lane under construction on I-680 in Alameda and Santa Clara counties. VTA, where I work, has about a 20 percent stake in this project.

Following this project are four other Bay Area projects with similar designs. There's another that is under construction along I-580, a major artery to the Central Valley of California. We're managing the other three projects that are in Santa Clara County and are under various stages of design.

These projects offer the ability to use capacity on existing freeways without widening of freeways and at the same time allow for the generation of sorely needed revenue to pay for roadway maintenance and operations, and improvements. We'll see how these projects pan out.

Other areas like San Diego, Minneapolis, Miami, and Seattle have already constructed express lanes. Other areas like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. have projects under development.

Parking in SF

The first car that we bought together was a VW Golf. One of the reasons was to make finding parking in San Francisco easier. We don't go into the City as much now so we do fine in our mini-van.

However, for those of you still battling for parking spaces in the City, check out the following web site: findingthesweetspot.com.

This also brings to mind a former co-worker. He had the most amazing parking karma. We would go to eat lunch in the busiest of places right in the thick of lunch hour on a Friday. This was in the Silicon Valley in the midst of the technology boom. Places like Ranch 99 in Milpitas. Never fail, if we were with Jeff, we would always find a parking space. It was amazing.