For Fans of Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption
Writing to a Dramatic Purpose
by Bill Johnson
http://www.storyispromise.com/shawshan.htm

Shawshank Redemption is a film that points out once again a fundamental truth of storytelling. That by clearly setting out and writing a story around a dramatic issue like redemption, the storyteller sets in motion both a plot -- what the main character must do to gain redemption -- and a deeper story issue – whether adversity can lead to redemption.

By potently and vividly resolving and fulfilling its promise, the story offers a vivid story journey around the transforming power of adversity.

The story begins with its title, which suggests the story's promise. The title, then, is written around setting out the point of the story, not hiding it. By quickly setting out the story's promise, the storyteller can begin developing drama over the story's outcome. Will the main character here gain redemption? To delay the presentation of this issue risks weakening the story to create a distant plot revelation.

Music lyrics, 'If I didn't care... would I feel this way. If this isn't love, then why do I thrill."

This song is a set up for an introduction to the main character, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), and his inner feelings. The lyrics are ironic when we discover his inability to express his feelings, and the repercussions of that failure. Knowing the situation the main character confronts as the story opens, the storyteller choose a song that makes a pointed reference about him. The song and its lyrics are an integral part of the story, just as every element of a well-told story has a discernible purpose. Writers weaken a story when they try and construct it from details that only have a vague association with the dramatic context of the story.

Next we come up on street lights; a quiet night. Another contrast to what will soon be happening.

We move into car, a man listening to the same song that opens the story. Who is he? Andy. What's he doing? The questions arise naturally.

He puts something in his lap. A gun. He loads bullets into it, drinks. He needs courage. Question, courage to do what? The questions here multiply. The song, coupled with the gun and drinking, suggests Andy is tormented by his feelings and is readying himself to do something about them. As a character, he is dramatically ripe. Ready to act as the story opens, not just thinking about taking action. If he were still thinking about acting, he would be a static character no matter how dramatic the situation around him.

Cut to Andy being asked a question at a trial about his conversation with his wife; that his wife asked for a divorce. He was very distraught at the time, but as he testifies, he appears calm, cool.

His wife, it comes out, was having an affair with golf pro. Cut between Andy in car and the trial, where he appears cool, unfeeling.

Andy calmly insists he didn't kill wife and her golf-pro lover, but the DA insists he was on the scene, had a gun. That the gun he insists he threw in the river was never found.

Is he innocent?

We see Andy get out of car with gun. Walk toward house.

DA talks about people being shot eight times. So gun had to be reloaded. A crime of passion.

We see Andy's wife and golf pro making passionate love.

Judge sentences Andy to life in prison, consecutive terms.

Cut to bars sliding open, a man entering a room. Andy? No, it's Red (Morgan Freeman) in for parole hearing. He's asked if he's rehabilitated. He's very agreeable, says that he's "a changed man. No longer a danger to society."

Cut to: 'Rejected' being stamped on his parole form. The scene gets right to the point. No one buys that Red is rehabilitated.

He returns to the prison yard at Shawshank prison. This naturally frames a question, will Red ever change? Ever be ready for parole?

Red walks up to see view in yard.

Through a voiceover, Red explains he is a con who can get anything for anybody. "A regular Sears and Roebuck."

We hear siren, see prison van approach. Question, who's in the van? By withholding that information, simply showing the approach of the van and the fuss about its arrival, a small revelation is set up about who's in the van.

We come up over roof to 'see' prison. This visual image is suggestive that we're going to be allowed a full view of this world. Even the camera work here, then, speaks to a dramatic purpose in the story, becomes another element in how the story is presented.

Men in the prison yard move with purpose toward the van and the arrival of new prisoners. Why are the men excited? The audience is set up to anticipate something.

Guards and cons alike await new prisoners, lining up to see them.

Door to van opens; guard comes out, then others. Finally, Andy comes out.

It quickly comes out that the cons like to torment the new arrivals.

Andy is shy, wears a suit. He's really out of place in this new, harsh world. By showing how out of place he is, a question is naturally generated: can he survive here? What will happen to him in the coming days? Minutes?

Red takes bets on which new man will get beat up first, will be broken.

Red, "I didn't think much of Andy... my first impression of the man."

The story will change the impression of Andy for Red and the audience. Red is set up here as our guide in this story, a guide to the world within the walls of Shawshank.

Andy looks up at the formidable walls as he enters prison. This is to let the audience more fully experience this moment. It also becomes a sly commentary on the inner fortress walls Andy must surmount.

We meet Captain of guards and the Warden. Rules are spelled out for the new prisoners.

Rule # 1. No blasphemy.

One guy wants to know when they'll eat. Captain cusses him out and hits him while Warden looks on. The audience is being shown that Andy has entered the abyss.

Naked men are hosed, deloused.

Men are taken into prison naked and put into cells. It's meant to degrade, and the moments are set up for the audience to experience, to feel the degradation of these men.

Red narrates what it all means, how many men break down and cry their first night. The question, "Who's it going to be?" Who's going to cry first? That's what the betting in the yard was about. Red has bet that Andy will break first.

Red narrates, remembering his first night in prison. Red, the "boys always go fishing with" new men. The cons bait the new men.

Fat man, a new prisoner, cries out plaintively, "I don't belong here."

Cons jeer him.

Fat Man, "I want my mother." Con, "I had your mother; she wasn't that great."

The fat man can't stop pleading that he shouldn't be there. A con in a cell quietly pleads with the fat man to shut up. The Captain brings the fat man out and beats him senseless with a club.

We're shown the brutal immorality here. That the real evil is with those running the prison.

Red narrates that he lost cigarettes because Andy didn't break that night, that he never made a sound. This is another step in our journey to take in the full measure of Andy as a man.

Morning, men walk along cell block and into mess hall.

Where will Andy sit? What will others do? He sits by himself. Picks maggot out of his food. An old man asks for the maggot. Andy gives it to him. Will the old man eat it? It turns out the old man has a baby bird in his coat.

The bird becomes a continuing character in the story, not just a momentary effect in this one scene. Great stories layer their effects, build on them, develop them, deepen their impact, in small moments and large.

A happy con comes in; he's won cigarettes from the bet about who would break first.

Andy listens to conversation, that fat men received no medical treatment. Andy asks his name.

Con, "What the f--- do you care? Doesn't matter what his name was, he's dead."

Andy is listless in shower. Another man asks, "Anybody get to you yet?" He's offering protection for sex. Question, how will this turn out?

Red narrates that it took Andy a month to speak to someone... and that someone turns out to be Red.

Andy still maintains his innocence.

Red, "Rumor has it you're a cold fish... think your shit smells sweeter than most."

Andy asks Red to get him a rock hammer.

Red thinks he might want it for a weapon. Boggs (the prisoner who spoke to Andy in the shower), wants Andy for sex, according to Red. Red tells Andy to grow eyes in the back of his head. Andy says he won't use the rock hammer as a weapon.

Will Red get it for him? They agree on ten dollars as the price.

Set up of question, pay off. One way to draw an audience through a story is to raise a small question at the beginning of the scene and resolve it by the end of the scene. Questions can also be set up to play across scenes, or through the body of the story, its plot, character goals.

Red tells Andy the rules. If he's caught with the rock hammer and mentions Red, he'll never get him another thing... gum, anything.

Red, "He strolled... like he had on an invisible coat that shielded him." Question, will he be able to keep that shield?

Cut to laundry room. Black man sticks something in shirt. It gets to Red. He gets rock hammer and realizes it can't be used to escape or as a weapon. Or so it appears.

Old man who fed maggot to baby bird delivers book with hammer to Andy.

Andy sent to basement area. Other men surround him. He's beaten by three men, including Boggs, and, we assume, raped. We have an answer to that question of what would happen to Andy.

Red, "Prison is no fairy tale world."

Red talks about Andy showing up with fresh bruises. That sometimes he fought them off. Red continues that this went on for two years, that it might have eventually broke Andy, but something happened.

Question, what?

Cut to Warden talking about new license plate factory needing volunteers. Andy and others volunteer.

Red smiles that he's called because of bribe. Andy is on detail as well.

While cons works, Captain talks about how a brother died with money and he's only getting $35,000, and the government will take most of that in taxes.

Andy looks off at something. What?

Andy walks toward the Captain. This sets off a reaction by guards. Will Andy be killed. What's he doing? He tells Captain he can keep money if he trusts his wife enough to give her the money. The Captain is outraged. Will Captain kill him? Andy, an ex-banker, explains that he can set it up so the Captain gets to keep most of the money if he puts it in his wife's name, and he wants three beers each for the work crew for the advice.

Captain goes along.

Cons get to drink ice cold beers.

Red, "We felt like free men."

The audience gets to experience this great victory with the men.

Andy has a strange smile. Big question, what's he smiling about? He refuses beer. Red believes Andy did that to feel 'normal' again.

Andy plays chess; Red hates the game. This comments on how Andy will eventually get out of prison, one move at a time, in a game that takes 20 years to play.

Andy needs rocks to carve chessmen.

Red comments that they are becoming 'friends.' Andy wants to know why he's there. Red's in for murder, the 'only guilty man in Shawshank.' Red knows who he is. Question, who is Andy?

Andy gets up. He carves something into wall with rock hammer. Question, what?

Cons watch movie.

Andy asks Red to get him Rita Hayworth. A poster? What?

Andy leaves. He's attacked again in the movie projection room.

Man takes out knife. He threatens Andy for oral sex. Andy refuses and is beaten senseless.

But now the Captain has something invested in protecting Andy. Boggs, the con who's been raping Andy, spends a month in solitary for the latest attack on Andy. When he returns to his cell, the Captain waits for him. He beats him into a wheelchair as a broken cripple. The Captain is sending a message that Andy works for him now, and he won't tolerate him being abused.

Cons decide Andy is someone to respect. They go out to get him rocks for chessmen.

Man finds a rock, but not right one. It's petrified horse s---.

Red gets in a shipment. It includes a poster of Rita Hayworth.

We now see walls of Andy's cell. It's covered with pictures.

Con mops. Guards come along for sweep of cells.

Captain, to Andy, on your feet. They trash his room, possessions.

Warden comes in. He's pleased that Andy reads Bible. Andy's favorite passage about being ready for Master's appearance.

Captain finds chessmen.

Warden disapproves of Rita poster, but he allows it.

Warden, "Salvation lies within." True words. It lies within Andy.

Andy then is taken to see Warden. Warden asks him if he wants to work in Laundry.

Andy is reassigned to Library. We see raven who was baby bird when first met, with Brooks, the old man in the prison.

Brooks doesn't know why Andy has been assigned to be his assistant.

Captain brings in guard who needs help with Trust. Andy, here, is not a con; he's a man. He sits across from guard as his advisor.

Brooks relates in mess hall how guard shook Andy's hand. Andy wants to get new books. Can he get funds? Another question that will play out across several scenes.

Andy asks Warden for funds. Warden says he'll mail letters. Will he? What will the letters accomplish?

Andy continues doing financial services. Does tax returns...first year, half the guards, then everyone, then guards from other prisons.

Red narrates Andy needed staff... which turns out to be Red.

Red, "And still, he kept sending those letters."

One day Brooks the old man goes crazy, pulls a knife. Andy tries to talk him out of killing Heywood.

Then it comes out that Brooks must kill someone or be released.

Red tells the others why Brooks wants to stay in prison, that it's the only life he knows. Some cons don't believe it.

"These walls are funny. First you hate them. Then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you depend on them."

"They sent you here for life... that's the part they take."

Will this happen to Andy?

Brooks tells 'Jake' the raven he's free.

Brooks leaves prison. He doesn't know what to do.

Brooks on bus, on city street. Sad music plays.

Brooks, narration, "I can't believe how fast things move on the outside." Cars are everywhere; everyone hurries.

He gets room in a half way house and job as bag boy. He worries about Jake. He thinks about robbing store, but feels he's too old. He's afraid all the time. He decides to leave. But where will he go? What will he do? He does something with knife in ceiling of his room. Question, what? Brooks then hangs himself.

We pick up his thoughts via his last letter being read by Andy.

Andy finally gets books. They are addressed to him.

He also gets a check for $200 to buy more books. His letters have brought in a donation. A guard smiles in spite of himself. Guard, "Good for you, Andy."

Andy, "It only took six years."

Andy has a moment of joy. The man who didn't appear to feel is learning to openly feel. It's a significant advance for the story. The moment is presented in a way the audience can fully experience it with Andy. He has taken another, inner step toward redemption.

Andy finds record, opera. He plays it.

He picks up key. Locks himself in room.

He plays opera music so everyone in prison can hear it.

Moment becomes transcendent as prisoners listen to music.

Everyone is shocked, everyone.

Everyone stops what they are doing.

Red narrates joy of moment, even though no one understood opera music. "Every last man at Shawshank felt free."

Andy is sharing his new feeling of freedom, sharing it with the other cons and the story's audience.

Warden demands Andy open door, demands Andy turn off music. Andy turns it up.

Captain breaks in after telling Andy, "You're mine, now."

Andy gets two weeks in solitary, in 'the hole.'

Andy tells others he took music with him in his head into the hole. He's teaching the others to transcend, sharing the experience with the audience by talking about it.

Andy, "That there are places... they can't touch."

Red, "Hope... is a dangerous thing... can drive a man insane."

The story is now on a new track.

Doors open into parole hearing. For who? Red again.

Red runs through his same routine of being changed. He's more thoughtful about it now. He's been in prison for 30 years, Andy ten. Question, will Red be paroled?

No.

Andy gives Red present. Harmonica.

Men are lined up outside cells for searches. Red sends Andy a new poster. Of who? Marilyn Monroe over the grate, her dress billowing up. The poster helps the audience track the passage of time.

Red looks at harmonica. What will he do? He plays it.

Andy writes two letters a week for new books. Finally, he gets $500 for new books.

A wall comes down, a metaphor for what's happening as Andy needs more room for books, as Andy expands his inner sense of freedom.

Men label books. Dumas is Dumb-ass.

By Kennedy's assassination, library has Hank Williams records and is best prison library in country. Andy is changing what exists within the high, thick walls of the prison.

Warden proclaims rehabilitation outside prison walls; that prisoners will work outside of prison. Warden is now older. That also let's the audience naturally track time passage. The new system is meant to save money, but it allows warden/guards to skim money from different projects. Warden/guards, then, are showing themselves as the real criminals.

Warden accepts bribe to not let prisoners build highway, and Andy keeps books for Warden.

Warden has wall safe behind religious message. It's where books are kept. Andy is getting a few gray hairs now.

Andy tells Red there's a river of dirty money running through prison. Red is concerned that it will lead FBI to Andy. Question, what will come out of this? Andy explains he has created a phantom person on paper with birth certificate, driver's license, etc. to collect money. Andy, "I was an honest person. I had to come to prison to become a crook."

Andy sees that what he's doing also got library, helped prisoners get high school diplomas. He's learning all is not black or white; that to be wise is to discern the real nature of what is good and evil.

Sirens sound. We have a new kind of cons coming into the prison, young punks. Prisoners from a new generation. One is Tommy Williams. It's 1965. He gets in with Red's group. He's in for two years.

Andy suggests he should learn a new profession, based on his convictions. Andy's now an old con. And tells Tommy everyone in Shawshank is innocent. Tommy has wife and baby on outside. He asks Andy for help, but Andy calls him a loser.

Andy teaches Tommy his ABC's, teaching him to read.

Red narrates that Andy helps Tommy in part to pass time now that he's built a library.

We see chess set, a few pieces short of being complete.

Andy gets a Raquel Welch poster. We're watching time pass through posters.

Andy times Tommy taking a test. Tommy flips out because he knows he failed test.

Red tells Tommy that Andy is proud of him. Red tells Tommy Andy is in for murder. Tommy's face turns somber. What?

Tommy tells about a cell mate in a different prison, Elmo Blatch. Twitchy, strung out guy who talked all the time. He told Tommy about working at a country club. It turns out Elmo did the murders of Andy's wife and her lover. The golf pro woke up and gave Elmo a hard time, so he killed both of them.

Now we have an answer to a question that began the story, did Andy kill his wife and her lover? But now we have a deeper, more pressing question. What will come out of this?

Warden then tells Andy new con was making up the story. Will the Warden help Andy considering how much he needs Andy around?

Andy calls Warden obtuse, which upsets Warden.

Andy says if he gets out he'll never mention Warden, which sets off Warden, who puts Andy in hole for a month.

Prisoners now know Andy is innocent. He's been in prison 19 years.

Tommy gets his degree. Moment is drawn out. Red, looking at it, "Well, shit." Then guard opens hole. He tells Andy, "The kid passed. C+ average."

Andy smiles. Even in the hole, he's a free man.

Captain pulls Tommy off mopping detail to talk to Warden. But it happens in a dark cage. What will happen? What does he want from Tommy? He offers him a cigarette. "We have a situation here." (A line from Cool Hand Luke). Warden wonders what is the right thing to do. Is he being serious? Will Tommy swear before a judge and jury? Tommy says yes.

Warden looks up toward someone behind Tommy. Who? Shots ring out. Tommy is shot dead.

Door to hole opens. Warden tells Andy Tommy is dead.

Andy tells Warden to run his own scams. Warden threatens Andy will do the hardest time there is. Warden, "You'll think you've been fucked by a train."

We are seeing the face of evil. Just when it seemed Andy might gain his freedom, he's thrown deeper into the abyss. Again the progression here is natural, unforced, but what led to this moment was constructed from the beginning of the story.

Warden adds another month to Andy's time in hole because of his insolence.

Lights go out, just as they go out for Andy in this dark night of his soul. Question, will the lights ever come on for him again? For anyone in this situation?

Cut to Andy alone in yard. Is he broken? Red sits beside him.

Andy, "My wife used to say I'm a hard to know... I loved her. I just didn't know how to show it is all. I killed her, Red... I drove her away. She died because of me... the way I am."

This is a potent, deeply felt revelation.

Red, "That don't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe."

Andy talks about being in path of tornado. "I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has." He asks Red if he thinks he'll ever get out. Red assumes it will only be when he's old and crazy. Andy says that if he gets out, he'll go to Mexico, that, according to the Mexicans, the Pacific Ocean has no memory. He'll open a hotel on the beach. Story question, will he get this? We now want Andy to have his dreams. He says he could use Red's help if he gets such a place. Red doesn't think he could make it on the outside. That he's an institutional man.

Red tells him to let go of his pipe dreams.

Andy asks a favor if Red gets out. That he go to a hay field and an oak tree where he asked his wife to marry him. "Promise me, Red, if you ever get out, find a rock ... there's something buried under it." Andy won't say what.

We now have a new plot element to track the advance of the story.

The other cons are worried about Andy. He asked someone for six feet of rope. Is he going to hang himself like Brooks?

Cut to Andy working on Warden's books.

Warden has him doing his laundry, shining his shoes. Then Warden tells Andy it's good having him back.

Is Andy broken? He takes out shoes and shines them. The shoes are a significant part of the story's plot now, but that's not apparent at the moment. Every moment of this story plays across different levels, has different meanings according to different contexts.

Andy walks along cell block. Red watches him. He sits alone in his cell.

Red, "I've had some long nights in the stir." He's worried about Andy, that wondering if Andy would kill himself was the longest night of his life.

Will Andy come out of his cell?

No. Is he dead? Guard looks in cell. "Oh, my Holy God." What does he see? We don't know. We here sirens. Andy probably took Warden's shoes.

Guards look at a checklist. He was checked in at lights out. Warden is livid. He brings in Red. He wants to know what Andy told Red.

Warden taunts Welch poster. Warden throws chess piece that goes through poster. But it's supposed to be a solid wall. He rips it down. Andy has escaped through hole in wall hidden by poster.

Cop cars go down road.

Red, "In 1966 Andy Defrense escaped Shawshank Prison." He'd worn down his rock hammer in twenty years of use.

Flashback to Andy first realizing he could get through wall.

Red, "All it takes is pressure and time."

Shot of Andy dropping rocks in prison yard.

Back to last night with Warden. Andy sets out a duplicate set of books and takes real books with him. We see him buffing shoes, looking at Warden's suits. Nobody noticed Andy wearing Warden's shoes as he walked to cell block.

Andy looks at Raquel. He takes off prison clothes. He's wearing Warden's clothes. He takes his chess pieces and crawls through tunnel.

He exits into crawl space and climbs down with package hanging from his feet via rope. Andy waits for lightning, and uses thunder to cover sound of him breaking into sewer pipe. He goes through sewer pipe, crawling through raw sewage, 500 yards. Half a mile.

He runs up creek, takes off shirt and laughs in rain and raises his arms to the sky.

Cut to Warden finding hole. Andy, wearing Warden's shoes, shows up at bank and withdraws money via the phantom 'man' he created. He'll be living abroad, he tells bank official. He asks they deliver package.

What's in it?

It comes out Andy went to 12 banks and withdrew 370,000 dollars.

Then a local paper gets call.

Warden reads headlines. Hears siren, looks at wall hanging about "Judgment coming and that right soon."

He finds a bible with a note from Andy, "You were right. Salvation lay within."

He then sees hole in bible where Andy originally got rock hammer. It now looks like Warden helped Andy.

Captain is served by arrest warrant. Red, "He sobbed like a little girl when they took him away." Warden loads gun. Points it at door (will he shoot at cops), then blows off the top of head.

Red gets postcard, blank, from Mexico. He knows Andy has made it to freedom.

Red, "Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean."

Other cons talk about Andy and laugh.

He's proved that redemption can be won in the most hellish time and place.

Red misses Andy. "Some birds just aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are too bright." But the place is drab with Andy gone. Red, "I guess I just miss my friend."

Doors open. Red goes into parole hearing. Man at table, "Please sit down." Has Red been rehabilitated. He answers honestly this time. Red, "What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?" Red talks about his honest regret. "I look back on the way I was then. A young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him... Tell him the way things are, but I can't. That kid's long gone. This old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitate is just a bullshit word... So stop wasting my time... I don't give a shit." He gets up.

They stamp form. Parole 'approved.'

Transcendent moment. A moment earned through a careful, thoughtful construction of the story's elements.

Red leaves prison, a free man because of what he's learned from Andy.

Red on bus.

Red in cheap hotel room that Brooks once stayed in. He sees words near ceiling, "Brooks was here." He gets job as bag boy at same grocery.

He asks Boss for break. Boss tells him he doesn't need to ask every time.

Red, "Forty years I've been asking for permission to piss... No way I'm gonna make it on the outside." He looks through window at guns. He wants to break parole.

"Terrible thing to live in fear... All I want is to be back where things make sense... where I won't have to afraid all the time." All that stops him is his promise to Andy.

Cut to Red in old field. He walks down field toward oak tree, taking off coat. What will he find at the end of this road? What will we find?

He finds tree in field, then rock wall. Then rock that is out of place. Behind it he finds box. Titanic lunch box. He opens it. Finds plastic sack. Within plastic sack is money and letter from Andy to Red, that Andy wants him to come to Mexico.

Andy, in letter, "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things... I'll be hoping this letter finds you, and finds you well. Andy."

Red leaves field. He is free now.

Red, "Get busy living, or get busy dying. For the second time in my life I'm guilty of committing a crime. Parole violation. "He's excited, the excitement of a 'free man." The audience shares his excitement.

Red, "I hope the Pacific is as blue as in my dreams... I hope."

Cut to Andy working on boat on water. He sees Red come up beach.

Pull back to allow men privacy of greeting.

Music swells.

End of one story, beginning of another.

The Shawshank Redemption is a story carefully constructed around its dramatic purpose. The full effect of this is demonstrated by the fact that nothing can be removed from this story without changing it in some way. In loosely, badly written or constructed stories, one can make wholesale changes in everything and not really affect the outcome of the story and the destination of its plot. Here, everything is finely detailed around its purpose, everything works to achieve an effect, to deepen the impact of the story.

This is also a story that earns its impact, that doesn't cheapen itself by offering an easy, feel-good path to redemption. Here, redemption is carved out of the stone walls of the prison, just as in life people must struggle to find and give meaning to their lives. Through internalizing the journey promised by this story, its viewers can experience that even the darkest abyss can be survived. That sometimes it's through surviving the abyss that we grow and discover who we really are.

©2000 Bill Johnson

BAFFLE 2011

This was the 20th year for BAFFLE, the Bay Area Fantasy Football League for Engineers. This is longer than the run that "Cats" had on Broadway. According to one site, the year that we started BAFFLE in 1991 was also the start of the modern Internet with a user friendly interface. Our initial foray into fantasy sports was decidedly user unfriendly to a certain extent.

We would pore over the sports section of papers on Monday mornings to try to estimate how our teams had fared over the weekend. We got pretty good at quickly perusing the box scores to estimate what we needed in the Monday night game to win or lose if we were so fortunate to still have players going. Tuesday was the big day if we were lucky enough to be able to download the official stats from the service that we used. I say lucky enough because the stats came over a dial-up connection to the one computer in our office that had a connection to the world wide web. It would take what now seems like hours to get the entire week's stats downloaded. Then there was the chore of printing copies of the results for all of the team owners. This was made possible by the efforts of our initial league commissioner, Eric Eby.

This year of BAFFLE was the first without our dear friend John Komaru. John was one of the original team owners in our league. That first year for some reason he and Mark Spencer decided to be co-owners. I remember them bickering like an old married couple during our first draft on which player to pick.

"I think we should pick this guy."

"No, I don't like that. We already have enough running backs."

I think they had Jim Kelly as their quarterback that first year. Kelly was a top quarterback with the Bills in the midst of their run of four straight Super Bowls. John and Mark came close to winning that first year, but lost out in the end to Bill Dietrich.

Two years ago, John, Mike and I were the only remaining team owners to never win in 18 years. As it turned out, Mike and John made the finals in year 19. Mike won. So John and I talked about one of us having to win in year 20. Although neither of us won this year, we wanted to make it so that John's name would be on The Eby, our BAFFLE champion's trophy.

The Eby


Here's a closer view of the lower righthand corner of The Eby. The picture is slightly blurry but it says:

Dedicated to the memory of

JOHN KOMARU
1962-2010

Go Cal Bears!



Finally, for those of you who might be interested here's this year's presentation by last year's winner to this year's winner, Peter Dwyer, yet another first time winner. There's always next year for the rest of us.



Peter mentioned that he was going to be donating his winnings this year in John's memory. If you're still interested in doing likewise, the following are the donation options designated by his family:

Cal Opportunity Scholarship
http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/donate.htm

Friends of Rollo
http://www.friendsofrollo.com/

American Heart Association
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

Mosaic of Food

December 2010 Lunar Eclipse

The current Photo du Jour on our blog is a photo that we took in our back yard of the December 20, 2010 lunar eclipse that started just shortly before 11:30pm. The photo shows the moon after it had been totally eclipsed.

Naomi stayed up with us to watch the eclipse even though we had a 7am flight the next morning.

Seahawks Upset Saints

The Seahawks upset the Saints in a wild 41-36 back-and-forth game. At this point, each game that the Seahawks play this year is just gravy. It's a miracle that they are still playing. After all, the 'Hawks were but a 11-point underdog at home to the defending Super Bowl champs due to their 7-9 finish to become an unlikely division champ, one where each of their nine losses was by at least 15 points. Kudos to Eric Allen of ESPN for being the only "expert" anywhere who had picked the Seahawks to win the game.

The play of the game was the 67-yeard TD run late in the game by Marshawn Lynch, former Cal Bears star RB. Here's the link to the official NFL.com video clip of the his run in what is being referred to as "beast mode," perhaps a nod to a certain video game play mode I think.

Here's another clip from YouTube:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sound track includes the following:

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Grreen Day
Special Duet by Chuck Kistler on Bass and Naomi Emoto on Piano
"Throw it in the Bag" by Fabolous
"Alleluja" by Sarah Brightman
"Dynamite" by Talo Cruz
Jazz Medley by Jeff Busch Jazz Quartet
"Life in Technicolor II" by Coldplay
"I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas
"We Live for Love" by Pat Benatar

This is how we rolled out 2010 and rolled in the new year.

Shimanami Kaido Bike Trip

Perhaps one day this will be a family trip. Saw this on NHK television this morning on a travelogue. The Shimanami Kaido is the only way (of three options) that is completely traversable on foot or by bicycle from Honshu to Shikoku.

The total distance of this toll road is just under 40 miles. From what we saw on the show, the bike route is well-maintained, well-traveled, has incredible scenery of the Seto Inland Sea, and stations along the way catering to bikers and walkers.

Tire Tracks or Also Called...

Ryan has a way with words.

He is the one child in our house who will on occasion greet me in the garage after work. Today, he came out barefooted even though the driveway was damp from sporadic sprinkles.

Crouching down, pointing to the driveway he said, "Look dad at these 'drove-in marks'." He was pointing at the tire tracks from my car.

Ryan's First Law of Motion

Ryan's First Law of Motion:

R = N * a * P

R = A child's level of motion

N = Number of people in proximity

a = Amount of activity around the subject child

P = An adjustment factor to account for holidays and proximity to favored relatives

Notice that the right side of the equation spells the level of activity sought by parents.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a full house and lots of great food for Thanksgiving this year. The roll call for food included:

Turkey, Ham w/Pineapples, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Sweet Potato Rolls, Cranberry Gelatin Mold, Yams and Sweet Potatoes, Corn Casserole, Pea Salad, Deviled Eggs, Crudites, Ambrosia, Sticky Rice, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream, Butter Pecan Ice Cream, and Finger Jello.



Here's what we looked like before we ate:



After we ate, well, it was another story...

A Duet

Practicing for the Thanksgiving evening entertainment for family.

On This Veterans Day Weekend...

Here's a song honoring those who have sacrificed for our country. It's called "A Pittance of Time" by songwriter Terry Kellly.

Conan's Back!

Conan O'Brien is back on the tube. Did not know that he is quite the musician. On his first show last night he played with Jack White.

"Rock" and Roll?

We took the kids to the Contra Costa Mineral & Gem Show this weekend. It started because a Boy Scout troop was using the event as an opportunity to help Webelo scouts earn their geology pin; and Ethan wanted to earn his pin. This led to Ryana and Naomi joining too because all scouts in uniforms got free admission.

Ethan and Naomi had a general understanding of what we were going to see. The kids hurriedly got into their uniforms as we readied to leave. But I wasn't sure if Ryan understood what we were going to do. So I asked him, "Do you know what we're going to see at the Gem and Rock show?"

After a brief pause, Ryan said, "I think we're going to a gym and we're going to see a rock show...you know, a rock and roll show with music."

The Giants - Out of the Dungeon

This is for Giants fans who live away from the Bay Area. Some of what is written below was gleaned from listening to many hours of KNBR over the past couple weeks on my commute to and from work.

Duane Kuiper (also known as "Kuip") has now been associated with the Giants since 1982, when he had a three-year stay as a second baseman for the Giants from 1982 to 1985. When he retired, he turned to broadcasting and now is one of the Giants key play-by-play radio announcers. Knowing that he would do the ninth inning call for what would prove to be the clinching game of the World Series, he put some thought into the call that he would later make. He actually wrote out what he was going to say because if he didn't he thought that he would break down in the moment and not know what to say. Apparently, there was a moment right after the game ended when he tried to get Mike Krukow (also known as "Kruk"), who himself has now been associated with the Giants since 1983, to chime in but all "Kruk" could do was do a two handed wave to basically say, "not now." It was just too emotional.

Listening to the radio today, there was story after story about what the Giants World Series win meant to fans. There was the Humboldt State student who called in to say that he watched every Giants playoff game on television even though he didn't own a television. The retort from the "Razor" (one of the KNBR afternoon drive time sports talk show hosts) was, "that's a neat trick, watching television without a television," The student went onto explain that he watched the games in a common area in his residence hall, but his main point was that spending time in the common area resulted in him making new friends with other like minded people.

There has been much written about the Giants' pitching which has been spectacular, but not many people know that the Giants also won plenty of games down the stretch with their bats. After overhearing on one of the talk shows that the Giants led the National League in home runs hit from September on to the end of the season, I tried to verify this. After about a half hour of tick marks, my tally showed that the Reds had hit 33 home runs. the Rockies had hit 35 with and without the humidor, the Phillies had 38, but at the top of heap was the Giants with 39. Surprising indeed.

On Tuesday mornings, the KNBR morning drive hosts have a call in show with "Kuip" at 7:30, which usually puts me about 10 minutes from work. After the World Series, there was talk about whether there would be a call-in show on this morning. After all, the morning drive show was going to be broadcasting from Texas and then fly back after their show, and "Kuip" would be calling in after a red eye flight. But "Kuip" made this a non-issue when he said that there was no way that he was going to miss this show, the one show that he had been waiting to do ever since they started the morning call-in segment for him maybe six or seven years ago. On this show, he explained what he did to prepare for the call of the end of the Giants' Series clinching win.

This evening the Razor and Mr. T on their show were talking with Scott Ostler, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, when the discussion turned to Aubrey Huff, he of the rally thong. Ostler shared about an incident when another writer mentioned that he should go check out the Giants' weight room. So he ambled down to the room, only to see the sight of Huff lifting weights wearing thong underwear. This would be Huff's red rally thong. He started wearing this to break a slump that he was in at the end of August. With the thong in full effect, the Giants would go 25-12, win the National League West, lead the league in home runs, and rest is history as they say. It's funny that baseball would crack down on closer Brian Wilson's orange shoes, but be powerless to do anything about Huff's red thong.

Giants Baseball - Torture

I am not a Giants fan per se, but can't escape following them with their success pushing their imprint on almost every square foot of Bay Area media real estate. And even though I am not a Giants fan per se, I have to admit that theirs is a compelling story. This is a baseball franchise, if not for the hapless Cubbies would have a firm grasp on the ultimate baseball loser title, having not won a championship since moving west from New York to become the San Francisco Giants in 1958

First it was Glee, and now the Giants have taken on "Don't Stop Believing" as a theme song. Of course, we'd like to think maybe they're copying us.

The following is the Giants version of the song courtesy of Ashkon Music.



Just a loyal fan
Tryin' to do the best I can
But these last three or four years have made it hard

But I had faith and I had hope
And thankfully the Padres choked
Either that or maybe it was the Rally Thong

Let's go Giants
NL West Division Champions
Feels good but we ain't stopping here

We got Timmy and Torres
Huff Daddy and Buster Posey
Hands down Rookie of the Year

The playoff fever's giving me the chills
Willie Mays and Will the Thrill
Bobby Thompson and the shot that day heard around the world

We're here to win but in case we lose
I'm purchasing a case of booze
I guess the torture will never end
It goes on and on and on and on

Kung Fu Panda
Pat the Bat and U-ribe
Brian Wilson in the ninth

Don't stop believin'
This could be the season
Black and orange till I die

Don't stop believin' (Yeah, shout out to the Giants' entire organization)
This could be the season
Black and orange till I die (Bochy, Sabean, Kruk and Kuip, what up?)

Don't stop believin' (F.P., Marty Lurie, Steve Perry)
This could be the season
Black and orange till I die (White collar brawlers, Ashkon)

© 2010 Ashkon Music, WhiteCollarBrawler.com

The Giants are really a Band of Misfits as they and their fans have labeled them. They have a first baseman who has bragged about wearing a rally thong, a third baseman who looks to be eating his way to his nickname "Kung Fu Panda," a rookie catcher who acts like a wise old sage, an ace pitcher who was taunted by Phillies fans for looking like a girl and having been pinched in the off season for pot possession, a closer who has a dyed black beard that has resulted in the slogan "Fear the Beard," and of course the unlikely outfielder MVP who was claimed on waivers to be kept away from an opposing team and has disclosed that his dream as a child was to become a rodeo clown.

The following is a tribute to that rodeo clown wannabe.



This has led to their real team anthem coined by one-half of the Giants broadcast team, Duane Kuiper: Giants Baseball - Torture!

Neil Young at Bridge School Benefit Concert

Neil Young played at this year's Bridge School Benefit Concert again. Here is a video clip from his appearance at the 2009 concert. If you search on YouTube you can find other clips. Neil Young is near the end of the clip.

Overheard This Weekend - Episode 1

I'm talking to a friend on the phone and ask, "What's going on?"

His answer is, "I'm watching C-SPAN2."

I ask, "What are they talking about?"

My friend says, "C-SPAN3."

Did you know that C-SPAN is an abbreviation for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network?

Cross Country Running in September

Hardly posted a single entry last month, but this was not for a lack of subjects to write about. Far from it.

For some reason, we thought that it would be a good idea for our kids to do cross country running. The kids are running through the local Catholic church's youth sports program. Several other families from our school are also on the team. The season only runs through part of October, but the kids have practice two days a week and a meet on a third day.

While watching NFL games this weekend, Ethan noted that the 49ers were playing the Falcons. The game information showed ATL and the team logo so I asked how he knew that the Atlanta team was the Falcons. He said, "Because the logo is the same as the one on our cross country running team uniforms."

Their team name is the St. Francis of Assisi Falcons. Can you spot Naomi in the photo below?

Scavenger Hunt Results are In

Alas, we did not win the scavenger hunt, but we came close again. We found all 20 items, but lost out on the tie-breaker. The tie-breaker is whoever comes closest to guessing the number of teams to find all 20 items. We guessed 93, and at least 2 other teams had guessed 88 and 89. The correct answer was 88 out of 452 entries.

According to the paper, people had the most difficulty finding people feeding pigeons. Other items that gave people a difficult time were ice cream truck, mime and motel named for two people. Our most difficult item was a mime.

We did get one consolation, with one of our photos making it on their slide show. See if you can find our photo in the Best of the Rest slideshow on their site. You might recognize where the photo was taken. The answer is in a previous entry on this blog.

We had a great time though. We'll give it a whirl again next time.

Thinking Outside the Box

A friend forwarded this to us. It's from TheFunTheory.com. Our kids got a kick out of this video and others on the web site. Ryan said, "can we go see it?"

2010 Scavenger Hunt Compilation

This is a compilation of what we found for our road trip scavenger hunt this year. Some of these photos were in a previous post, but this is the entire list. The two most difficult items to find this time were a motel named for two people and a mime. There really aren't too many motels named for people these days. The market is dominated by chains, and the ones that are not chains have catchy travel related or destination oriented names like Ponderosa Motel or Drift-Inn Motel. We learned that miming is likely a dying art. Perhaps in NYC or other large urban centers street mimes can be found entertaining tourists, but we didn't have any luck finding a mime in the cities that we visited. In the end, we had to improvise.

We completed two road trips this year to find all of our items. In an earlier post, the first part of our first road trip is described. Picking up the discussion from that earlier post, we zipped across from Montana to Seattle in one day. We stopped along I-90 in Montana to pick up fireworks that were a hit later on the Fourth. There were many such fireworks stands along I-90 to Seattle. We knew that we could cover this last leg of over 500 miles to Seattle in one day because we had done it before.

We'll post our photos from our stay in Seattle separately so we'll just say that our stay in Seattle was shorter than usual, but we had a full Fourth with tons of food and a great fireworks show, a Mariners game, and visiting and sleepovers (for the kids) with family and friends.

The second road trip was to southern California. People who don't live in California may not understand this, but southern California is different from northern California. Geographically, southern California is just so much more spread out. We talked about going to the beach one day, but didn't make it because it was going to take too much time. Even though we live in-land in the Bay Area, going to Ocean Beach in San Francisco does not seem to be the same sort of ordeal. Ocean Beach is not like the California beaches you see on television which are usually beaches in southern California. Ocean Beach is 60 degrees and windy, with very few tan bodies.

Our trip to southern California was more scavenger hunt oriented so there were no stops at the "Happiest Place on Earth" or other amusement parks. The closest we came was the Watermelon Festival in Sunland, California. The itinerary of events for the Kids' Stage at the festival listed "mimes," but there were no mimes to be found. We did have a nice chat with "The Great Omar" who had a nice kid-friendly magic act. When we spoke with him after his performance, he said to us, "No, I don't know of any mimes being booked for this festival." He did give us his card that Ryan promptly took after which Omar said, "Here's another card because who knows where that card will end up."

We spent part of one day in Little Tokyo. The Japanese American National Museum had several activities ongoing that were all free. Besides free entry into the museum, they had a hands-on arts and crafts workshop with free popcorn and cotton candy. The museum had two main exhibits. One was on portraits of multiracial kids by Kip Fulbeck. There weren't any photos of Japanese-Chinese kids. The second was their main permanent exhibit called "Common Ground: The Heart of Community" on the 130-year history of Japanese-Americans. A smaller exhibit called "Textured Lives" on Japanese immigrant clothing from the plantations of Hawaii was also running through August 22, 2010.

We drove US 101 on the way to Los Angeles. it was a good compromise between taking the much slower Highway 1 on the coast and the faster, but less scenic I-5 route. The only Pea Soup Andersen's that we knew of was the one that is located along I-5 near Santa Nella, but the original one is located along US 101 in Buellton. Apparently, there were as many as four such restaurants. Not sure if all four are still open, but we'll have to stop in next time.

One reason for taking US 101 was because Dorothy's always wanted to visit Solvang. For those of you who have never heard of Solvang, it's a small town in Santa Barbara county that was founded in 1911 by Danes from the Midwest. It has the feel of a small European town with narrower streets and sidewalks full of tourists. The architecture is suppose to be consistent with what is common in Denmark. We sampled some delicious pastries, checked out the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and saw the sights of the town. Solvang is a picture of quaint.



Another US 101 stop was San Luis Obispo. Did you know that SLO is the home to the first motel? The term motel was coined by Arthur Heineman in 1925 for his new creation the motor hotel. The Milestone Mo-Tel (later renamed to Motel Inn) was suppose to be a convenient rest stop for travelers between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but the motel chain never got underway. Heineman was undone by an inability to register the name as a trademark allowing others to use the "motel" name and do so more cost-effectively. There's not much more than two partial buildings left today behind a chain link fence.





We also checked out the Cal Poly University SLO campus. Maybe a preview of things to come in perhaps six years or so. Wow! Can't believe that we could have a child heading to college so soon. Here's a photo of us outside the office of my friend who teaches in the Department of City and Regional Planning. He obviously was not in as the campus was still on summer break and quite quiet.



Okay, that's enough background on the rest of our road trips. Here's the compilation of our finds for the scavenger hunt. Drum roll please....

1. Covered Bridge - This was an easy one for us as it was a repeat item from a couple of years ago. The last time we had covered bridges on our list, we had no idea where we would find a covered bridge. We only could think about the "Bridges of Madison County" and the actual bridges of Madison County, Iowa. However, we learned that Oregon has many covered bridges, probably one of the largest collections in the country. We knew exactly where to find one that would be easy to reach. Cottage Grove, Oregon on I-5.



2. Church with Visible Bell - This one was a little challenging when we realized that most churches these days do not have bells. Even with steepled churches, the steeples are often solid with no belfry. Perhaps this is due to the age of technology and speaker systems that can broadcast the sound of bells. The church in the photo is St. Rose's Church in Dillon, Montana on I-15. We stopped in because I have a colleague who works for Caltrans and has in-laws that live there. We wanted to see what was in Dillon.



3. Sign that is Intentionally or Unintentionally Funny - We could have used any number of several signs for this one. Naomi picked this one in Twin Falls, Idaho as being funny.



4. Black Bear - Okay, so it was going to be a long shot that we would find a living black bear. Perhaps in a zoo, but we found this taxidermy black bear at the visitor information center in Butte, Montana.



5. Lemonade Stand - Normally, one would look for a lemonade stand in a neighborhood. We were surprised to find one at a freeway rest stop outside Missoula, Montana on the way to Seattle. The rest stop had this little stand complete with lemonade operated by a White Star of Jerusalem chapter out of Missoula who were raising money for dental work and orthodontics for children. I learned that one of the women working the stand was originally from Fairbanks, Alaska.



6. Water Tower with Writing on It - Almost all of the towns in Idaho that we passed through had water towers so we had our pick of towers to photograph. The trick was to try to get a shot showing the tower and the writing with members of our family in the photo. This was taken in Burley, Idaho.



7. Festival Celebrating Food, Vegetable or Fruit - The photo is from the Watermelon Festival in Sunland in southern California that was mentioned earlier.



8. House that Doesn't Have Four Sides - Another find in Cottage Grove, Oregon. These are yurts based on structures of the same name used by the nomads of Central Asia. They can now be found at some campgrounds in Oregon. The inside of the one in the photo was complete with sleeping, dining and cooking areas.



9. Mime - If you read our earlier post, you'll get the story behind the photo below from Hollywood, California



10. Someone Feeding Pigeons - This photo was taken in Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon. Did you know that if you feed pigeons and the birds do not pick all the crumbs clean, you could be cited for littering (at least in Portland)? We were told this by a nice security guard at the square who politely warned us. There were plenty of pigeons, but no one feeding them so we became the pigeon feeders. What was funny was that when we started feeding the pigeons none of the birds in the area would come to the food that we were tossing on the ground. It took one bird to take the first step and the others followed.



11. Ice Cream Truck - This is one of those trendy roving food trucks. On this day, the Coolhaus truck was on the rooftop of a business next to what seemed to be a very popular downtown Los Angeles seafood market and restaurant called the Fisherman's Outlet Seafood. The Coolhaus truck was partnered with another food truck serving some sort of Asian fusion food. The flavors are interesting, but their twist is that the ice cream is between soft cookies as a sandwich. Your fingers sort of stay clean due to an edible wrapper. The ice cream sandwiches were tasty!



12. Motel Named for Two People - This was the big head scratcher. We had no idea what to do, but did a little research while in southern California and came up with the motel in the photo below. Thanks to our GPS we were able to find the motel in a part of Oxnard that probably would not be a destination for most.



13. Obscure Historical Marker - This was one of the first items that we found. It was a marker at the Elko, Nevada airport marking it as the destination of the first air mail route in the U.S. This was covered in the earlier post.



14. Parked Car with More Than 10 Bumper Stickers - This was one of only two items that we found in Seattle. In previous years, we used the knowledge of family and friends in Seattle to find items there. My sister spotted this van and took us to where it was located.



15. Building Painted Purple - We found this building in Pocatello, Idaho. It was a night club, sort of explains its purple color.



16. Blank Billboard - We didn't think that this would be an easy find, but we were wrong. It's probably a sign of the times and the down economy, but there were plenty of blank billboards along I-80 in Nevada and other states too. This was near Hollister, Idaho on the way to Twin Falls. We found others but nothing like this where one could stand under the billboard. The story behind the story here is that we were looking for a place where Ryan could use the restroom. We couldn't find one and this billboard appeared so we took care of two things at once in the parking lot of the Country Haven General Store. No, we did not relieve ourselves on their property. We have a portable potty that has been a lifesaver on several occasions.



17. Closed Store with We've Moved Sign - This was the other item that we found in Seattle. We found it on the way back to our car from the Seattle Mariners game. Lianne is in the photo with us.



18. Ferris Wheel - We could've used a couple of different ferris wheels, but this one is from the Watermelon Festival. Ethan and I were the only ones to take a spin. Ryan wanted to take a spin too, but he was not tall enough. We got our money's worth with over a dozen revolutions on this ferris wheel



19. Rainbow - We have more information on this one on our previous road trip post too. But we got this photo along Highway 93 in Montana.



20. Something Unusual Not on the List - This was a keeper. It was in a place not well traveled - Cut Bank, Montana. The Cut Bank area does figure prominently in the Lewis and Clark chronicles as the north branch of the Marias River traveled by Meriwether Lewis is the present day Cut Bank Creek. I don't think Lewis and Clark would've ever envisioned a 20-foot plus tall statue of a penguin in northern Montana. We had to double back in the rain to get this photo. Totally caught us off guard.



Well, that's it for our road trip scavenger hunt. Naomi is the only member of our family that made into each of the above 20 photos - what a trooper!

A Teaching Moment

School started this week. Fittingly, here's a video clip that provides an example of a teaching moment.

One Final Look at Jerome Randle

Here's a final look at Jerome Randle, arguably the second best point guard to come out of Cal in recent times (J. Kidd being the first). Jerome's the second best that I have seen in person without a doubt. So it's perplexing why he was not drafted. I was surprised when a friend of mine mentioned that Jerome was not drafted. I just assumed that he would be drafted somewhere based on the on-line sites that I had seen leading up to the draft. Most had him going some place in second round. He was even named MOP in one of the showcase camps leading up to the draft.

If players like Spud Webb, Earl Boykins and Muggsy Bogues (all 5'3" of him) could make it in the NBA, Jerome Randle should be able to make it too. No slight to the other three that I just mentioned, but none of them had a consistent shot like the one Jerome has.

The latest is that he's signed a contract to play professionally in Turkey so at least he will play professionally some place and be paid handsomely to do so. Maybe one day he will catch the eye of an NBA scout that can look beyond his 5'9" stature so that we will have a chance to see what he can do the world's biggest basketball stage.

Here's the video mix from YouTube on the "Bulldog":

Overheard on Our Road Trip...

This year's travels took us to Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington in addition to our stops within the Golden State. In total, over the course of two road trips we covered almost 4200 miles with our minivan. We travel pretty much low-tech, except for the iPod touch that the kids have finally discovered. Ryan is a good napper in the car so that'll sometimes buy us an hour or two. Naomi usually finds some way to entertain herself like by reading, although she has to be careful with that now that we've learned that she gets motion sickness. We've managed by having her wear Sea-Bands, bands worn on the wrist that work on the principles of acupressure. Ethan can spend hours in the car and not sleep. He has no problem with motion sickness. Often times, it was only me and Ethan who were awake in the car.

We participated in a road trip scavenger hunt though the Contra Costa Times for the third time. We scored all 20 items for the second time, with the mime being the most difficult find. We learned that miming is a dying art. A friend told us about a mime outside Anthony's Seafood Grotto in San Diego, but we weren't able to make it that far south. Another friend told me about mimes that she saw in Boston, but driving to Boston wasn't an option. We thought for sure there would be a mime some place in Hollywood, for sure on Hollywood Boulevard, right? But there were no real mimes in sight. So we tried asking the clerks in what must be the busiest souvenir shop on Hollywood Boulevard opposite the Grauman's Chinese Theater about even photos of mimes. Surely they must have one photo of Marcel Marceau, the most famous mime of them all. We mostly got blank stares, or "Marcel who?" It was sad.



There were unexpected finds like the rainbow. We were all set to find a Double Rainbow ice cream shop or similar establishment with a rainbow in its logo, but we found a spectacular rainbow in Montana on the drive from the Kalispell area to Florence, Montana on Highway 93. Good thing that 93 has driveways. We were able to quickly, safely pull over and get a shot!



The first leg or our road trip took us through Sacramento, Ikeda's California Country Market in Auburn, Reno/Carson City, Winnemucca, and Elko where we found our obscure historical marker. The Elko Airport was the terminus of the first air mail route in 1926 from Pasco, Washington via Boise, Idaho to Elko, Nevada. The 460-mile flight was made by Varney Air Lines which was sold to Boeing before merging with United Airlines.



We continued onto Idaho through Jackpot, Nevada having not lost a single dollar in Nevada (of course, we never wagered a single dollar either). Our only night stay in Idaho was in Twin Falls which is located adjacent to the Snake River Canyon made famous by Evil Knievel's attempt to jump the canyon on a motorcycle. We drove out of town on Highway 93 across the Perrine Memorial Bridge that offers incredible views of the Snake River Canyon.







We only hit one stretch of roadway on the entire trip where we lost cell phone coverage. This was on the stretch of I-15 spanning Idaho and Montana. We completely lost our cell phone signal from north of Spencer. Idaho until Lima, Montana. These are just places on a map mostly. We were talking with our friend John. When we reconnected in Lima, I had to explain that we did not hang up on him. We all got a good laugh.

We passed through Dillon, Montana and onto Butte, birth place of Evil Knievel and Levi Leipheimer. Levi is one of the top American cyclists going today. Levi's jersey is on display at the Butte Visitor Information Center. After Butte, the next stop was Deer Lodge to visit with Mrs. C. The kids had a vague memory of her two cats Dell and Ned, but there was no sighting of the two cats as they stayed down in the basement for our entire visit. So the kids made themselves at home and played with the cat toys. Mrs. C. demonstrated the use of an old fashion oil lantern that the kids thought was neat. It was a short, but sweet visit.





Our next stop was Glacier National Park. The weather was not that great so the mountaintops stayed shrouded in cloud cover for our entire visit, but incredible vistas were plenty. How can they not be, when the drive is on a road that is essentially carved out on the side of mountains with roadside snow in July!



Our last stop in Montana was the home of Mr. Bruder. I hadn'r seen him maybe since high school or maybe a little after that, but had kept in touch all these years. He looked the same, except for the white hair. We spent one night with him and his wife in what was a quite a roomy, comfortable house. He had a walking trail on his property that the kids hiked twice. The trail had at least seven creek crossings with bridges that Mr. Bruder had built. There was a tree that had been clawed up by a bear. There were wild turkey sightings. It was quite a different experience for our kids.

The Bear Man

John, this photo is for you.



The rest of the story...

When John and I first started going to Cal basketball games back in about 1990, we noticed the man in the picture above. He sat near us and attended nearly every game like we did. He almost aways wore the same outfit as he is wearing in the above photo. Before the start of the game and halftime, without fail he would stand or sit and read his newspaper.

Then at one point we stopped seeing him. John and I would look for him, but to no avail. So we made a bet. The first one who got definitive proof of the Bear Man would be owed a dinner. The photo above was taken at the Cal women's NIT championship game earlier this year. I told John about this, but never got a chance to show him the photo.

Here's a photo of the Bear Man reading his paper.

Eulogy from John's Service

The following is the eulogy given by John's college roommate, Geary Chun.

Childhood:
John was born in Los Angeles on December 29, 1962. He was the youngest of 3 children born to Haruso (or Harpy as he was known to his friends) and Gladys Komaru. John had two older sisters: Karrie and Leslie Komaru. Their family was always close and enjoyed many activities together. Karrie and Leslie remember taking family vacations every summer which included road trips to Las Vegas, San Mateo and Denver.

John was a collector and hobbyist from a young age. He loved collecting comic books and would seek out the rarest ones he could find. He had 3 or 4 aquariums filled with fish of all kinds and an endless number of pets including dogs, cats, turtles, mice and even a salamander.

John learned to love sports from his dad. They would often spend their weekends together watching football, basketball and baseball games. And they, along with sister Leslie, frequently attended USC football games, as it was their dad’s alma mater.
In High School, John was a member of the football team and his family would regularly attend his Saturday games. During that time, John also began his punk rocker phase and turned Leslie into a lover of the music too. Together they would head to Melrose Avenue where they could find their favorite music albums along with the clothes and culture of the punk rock era.
After graduating from Loyola High School in 1981, John attended El Camino City College. It gave him time to pursue his many passions and to hang out with his two best friends from high school. It also gave him time to think about the future and to decide what to do next.

Much to his family’s surprise, John decided to attend UC Berkeley instead of hometown favorite, USC. Leslie says it was the best decision he ever made.

College:
John spent the next 5 years attending Cal where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in City Planning in 1986 and his Master’s in Transportation Engineering in 1988. In those 5 years, John became a die-hard Golden Bear fan with season tickets to both football and basketball.

Professional:
In 1988, John began his career as a traffic and civil engineer. According to his friend Kevin, he really enjoyed solving traffic problems and working closely with others on his team. John has been described by his supervisors as technically one of the best they have ever worked with. He was one of the most respected professionals in his field by virtue of his professionalism, technical ability, and uncanny knack for making those around him feel good about themselves.

In 2005 John requested a job transfer and moved from Oakland to San Diego. The move brought him closer to some of his favorite fishing spots and closer to his dad whose health had been declining. On weekends, John would drive from San Diego to Los Angeles to be with his dad and to visit with his sisters. Together he and his dad would watch all of their favorite sports, just as they had always done when John was growing up.

After the death of his father, John moved back to Oakland in 2009 where he soon re-connected with his many Bay Area friends.

Personal remembrances:
My name is Geary Chun. I met John in college when we were both 20 years old. We became friends almost instantly and were roommates for 3.5 years. And although it’s been about 20 years since I moved from California to Hawaii, John and I remained close friends.

I’ve spoken and exchanged emails with several of John’s friends since we heard the terrible news. We shared some stories about the good old days and wrote down some thoughts about what made John special to us. And now I’d like to share some of them with you.

The Big Kid - Cars
When you come right down to it, John was just a big, overgrown, 47-year old kid. Forget the fancy degrees and prestigious job. John was a teddy bear on steroids. And John loved what all boys love: Cars, sports, fishing, gambling, eating, drinking and hanging out with friends. Most guys might indulge in their hobbies from time to time; maybe the occasional fishing trip; perhaps an old car to tinker with now and then. Not John.

John had more cars sitting around at his house than I think I’ve had in my entire life! According to his friend Ron, John would have had more but he’d run out of places to park them. John didn’t just sort of like cars, he was passionate about them; he loved any type of performance vehicle or 60’s era muscle car. John has owned 12 or more cars and trucks since he left college, some of these included: a Hurst Oldsmobile, a 65 Mustang, and two 65 Chevy Novas. Although John had his pick of these classic cars to drive, he always had what he called a “beater” to drive to work or just beat around in. One time his beater was stolen. It was later found with parts missing, but John still drove it using a screw driver to start the car and open the trunk.

John loved to go to car shows, auto swap meets and junkyards. His trips to the junk yards started out as a need to find cheap parts for his cars. Later it turned into a time to relax or a getaway from the daily stress of work. He was always looking for some “treasure” or special part to use on his cars; or maybe something just to keep, in case he might need it in the future. John didn’t mind getting a little greasy either. One day John and Ron were in a junkyard and had split up, each looking for treasures. John came back to Ron with a little grease and one of those “John smiles” on his face. John asked him, “Do I look Mexican”!!! Ron replied “no, well maybe just a little, why”. John’s reply was, “this guy just came up to me and started talking to me in Spanish, just like I should know what he was saying”. John said that he and the man made a few gestures at each other and then he let the man use a tool that he needed. John was always willing to help other people, even if he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

The Big Kid – Fishing
John’s love of fishing began as a boy growing up in Los Angeles. John spent many hours fishing at the Redondo Pier, hoping to catch some Bonito or some White Sea Bass.

He didn’t have much time to pursue this hobby in college but his passion for it was rekindled when he met Mark Aikawa at the Centennial Engineering firm. They became good friends and soon John was a part of Mark’s fishing fraternity. John enjoyed fishing on the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean catching Salmon, Striped Bass, Halibut and Rockfish.

Soon after, John started going Long Range fishing on the Royal Polaris out of San Diego. He was immediately hooked for life. This really started a new adventure for John. It was now about catching Yellowfin Tuna, Blue Fin Tuna, Albacore, and Yellowtail. He met many new friends while going on 5-, 8-, and even 21-day fishing trips. And many of those friends are here today. As the trips got longer and the fish he was chasing got bigger, John’s house began to resemble a fishing tackle store. But that didn’t prevent Mark, Leroy and John from making frequent trips to the “Rod Rack” in Hayward. The three of them would go there even if they didn’t need to buy anything, but just hang out with other fisherman.

John had some great expressions when he was fishing. When he didn’t get a bite or wasn’t catching any fish, his lower lip would come out and that pouty face we all know would appear. When John was getting a bite, you could see his face light up with joy. When the fishing was slow and no one was catching anything, John could be heard telling stories. One day while John was telling stories and he wasn’t paying attention to his fishing line, someone tied a pair of pliers to John’s hook. Minutes later when John was winding his line in, you should have seen the look on his face when the pliers appeared at the end of his line. Everyone was laughing, even John.

John’s fishing adventures took him to Clipperton Atoll, which is a 6-day boat ride from San Diego. There John had a chance to catch his first 200 pound Yellowfin Tuna. John hooked a big one, but unfortunately the fish broke the line and got away. Of course, John was upset, but he did manage to become a proud member of the 100-lb club by landing his first big yellowfin tuna.

He returned to San Diego without the elusive 200 pounder, but was more determined than ever to catch one the next time. That summer, Mark went on a 5-day fishing trip and caught a 135 pound Blue fin tuna and got in the club too! Mark said he knew John was happy for him, but also knew that John was a little perturbed since it only took him a 5-day trip to join the club while it had cost John thousands of dollars more. Once again, the lower lip appeared. But, not to be outdone, John caught two Yellowfin Tuna of over 200 pounds. He was in heaven for he was now in the 200-lb club.

The Big Kid - Sports
As you all know, John was a sports fanatic. He grew up as a big fan of the Angels , Cowboys, Lakers.

In college, John always played on our intramural sports teams. And at work, he was also a regular on his company’s softball team. John loved playing so much that he kept playing even when the younger guys started ribbing him about his age. When he was working in San Diego, a few years ago, he proudly told me that none of the young guys could believe how old he was. They wanted to know what year he graduated from High School and couldn’t believe he was a dinosaur from the 80’s! John did look pretty young; with his black slicked-back hair and always fashionable work clothes. But I think that they were really commenting on the excitement and joy he brought to something as simple as a softball game.

But the thing I’ll remember most about John was his passion for his Golden Bears! It didn’t matter to John if the football and basketball teams were good or bad. And when John arrived at Cal in 1983, they were pretty bad. The Cal football team had been to just one bowl game in the last 25 years. And the basketball team hadn’t been to an NCAA Tournament since 1960.
But John was the eternal optimist. He’d pour through the Cal media guides looking up info on his favorite players and the latest crop of recruits. He’d refer to them by their jersey numbers as if everyone would know exactly who he was talking about.

John sent me copies of the Cal football media guide every year until it became available for free on the internet. I think it was so he’d have someone else to rant and rave about his beloved bears with. He always talked about how this year was finally going to be Cal’s year. With John, every year was going to be “the year” for something.

Last football season, John was convinced that this time, it really was Cal’s year. They were going to the Rose Bowl. They had Heisman Trophy candidate Jahvid Best coming back for his junior year. And of course, they had Coach Tedford who had saved Cal after years of mediocrity. Tedford had paid his dues and this was finally his year. This was our year!

John emailed me to see if I might be interested in travelling with him to an Away game. You see, John was kind of hoping to go to ALL OF THE AWAY GAMES! Of course, as all Cal fans know, the wheels fell off of Cal’s Rose Bowl hopes early in the season. Cal got thrashed in their first two PAC-10 games by Oregon and USC. They lost by scores of 42-3 and 30-3.

For John, it was just a minor setback. He called me about a month ago with exciting news: “Hey Geary, this is going to be Cal’s year. USC’s on probation cuz of Reggie Bush. This will be the year! Or maybe it’ll be next year. But it better be soon! USC’s bowl ban only lasts two years”

John and I had planned to go to the Cal vs. Nevada game in Reno in September. It was the perfect combo. Sports and Gambling! To be honest, they don’t look so great this year. They might even lose the Nevada game. But John would have been rooting for them loudly, celebrating every great play and complaining about every bad call. And he’d be having the time of his life. Win or lose.

How to describe John?

John’s sports and hobbies were a big part of his life. It brought him so much joy and it was a gift that he could share with his friends. But, to me, it didn’t define who John was as a person.

I talked to several friends. None of us could easily sum up who John was but we all used the same adjectives to describe him. We might have chosen adjectives like smart and professional; or competitive and hard-working. John was all of those things and more. But the ones that first came to mind, the ones that really mattered were: playful and enthusiastic; kind and considerate; good-natured and generous.

Enthusiastic

Our friend Kelly wrote to me and she said:

- It's hard to describe John. You know how some people light up a room when they walk in? When I remember John from our college days, I think about how he was one of those people that would warm up the room when he walked in. He had a shy, understated way about him that, combined with his big smile and passionate talk about "boy hobbies", made you feel like you should maybe take a second look at car engines and fish guts.

I loved the way John described things too. Things weren’t good. They were awesome! If it were a restaurant, John would say something like “Hey Geary, I know this great place! They make this awesome [whatever it was]. I’ll take you there next time!” So the next time we’d go there. And the thing was, it really didn’t matter if it was good or just okay. It might have been a greasy Tommy Burger down in LA, which is just okay; or maybe a slice of Zachary’s deep dish pizza which actually is really awesome.

But the point is: if John said it was awesome, you believed it. How could you not when he got so excited about it?

Smiles and Laughter
Lots of friends reminisced about John's funny side. One time he and our roommate Wayne played a prank on CeCe and Ann, the neighbors below us in our apartment building. They lowered a weight over our balcony and used it to knock on the girls’ window pane while laughing loudly at their shrieks and screams. Another roommate, Paul, reminded me about the time we broke into our friends’ apartment and added food coloring to all of their food. In fact, John and Paul liked it so much that they started putting food coloring in our own food.

Wayne remembers John teasing me about my hair. He said that when I woke up in the morning it looked like the hair from one of those troll dolls that were popular in the 70’s. You know, the kind with the bushy hair that sticks out in all directions. But as you can see, that was a long, long time ago!

Of course, John was never malicious with his pranks or teasing. He’d always have a big smile on his face. Sometimes it was sly and mischievous, but it was always genuine.

Always had time for a friend
We all remembered how generous John was with his time. Our friend Carol reminded me that John had this old beat up Datsun pickup truck when we were in college. In those days, he was one of the few people we knew with a vehicle. Every week he would come by the apartments and one or two people from each apartment would climb into the back of the truck and he’d take everyone to do their grocery shopping.

John’s truck was our sole source of transportation for many years. We’d all pile in and John would drive us over to Fenton’s for ice cream; or to haul supplies for our annual Luau; or even to go down to Stanford for the Big Game. John was always willing to help. Anytime a friend was moving apartments, John was the first one there.

Over the years, John has helped me in so many ways. When I was planning to attend grad school at UCLA, John drove down to help me find my first apartment there. When I needed a better wardrobe, he’d take me shopping at Nordstoms. When I got married, he stood by me as a groomsman. And when I had kids he’d always remember to buy them little footballs or t-shirts or jerseys.

We weren’t able to get together as often as we would have liked. We weren’t great at exchanging emails and rarely spoke on the phone. But that never changed our friendship. I always knew that the next time I’d see John, we’d pick up right where we had left off.

The kind of person that you hope your kids will grow up to be like

I can’t pinpoint what it was, but there was always something about John that drew people in. You wanted to get to know him. You wanted to be his friend. And I think it’s because you just knew that you’d be a better person for having John as a part of your life. I’ve always considered John one of the finest people I’ve ever known. He was the kind of person that I hope my kids will grow up to be like someday.

John lived his life to the fullest. On the day of his passing, John had just returned from a 5-day fishing trip, still basking in the simple pleasure that it brought him. That’s the John I’ll always remember.

We will mourn John’s passing today and for many more days to come. But we should also remember to take time to celebrate his life. And we should remind ourselves how lucky we all were to have been a part of it.

Break Your Heart

Another video request by Ryan.

"Break Your Heart" by Talo Cruz

An Incredible Catch

Hiroshima Toyo Carp's Masato Akamatsu robs Yokohoma's Shuichi Murata of a home run on Tuesday night.


EMBED-Spiderman Style Baseball Catch - Watch more free videos

Sky High Sports

There's a new game in town. Actually, it's a trampoline-based gym. The concept apparently was hatched by two brothers from the Bay Area. Now there are several outlets including the one near our home. There are also gyms in Tigard, OR and Bellevue, WA amongst other places.

Some of the kids from our swim meet had an outing with coaches recently. Instead of trying to describe the place, check out the video below. Naomi, Ethan and Ryan all were able to attend. Follow the bouncing Ry.



Here's a picture of some of the kids with the coaches.

Words to Live By

In an article in the June 21, 2010 edition of Sports Illustrated on the subject of mental health in baseball, Ian Snell who is now in the Seattle Mariners' farm system says that he lives by this advice given to him by his family:

Life is short.
Enjoy it.
Do everything possible to make it better for other people.
Just try to laugh, have fun, and don't let anything negative bother you.

These are good words to live by.

In Memory of John Komaru

Our dear friend John passed away on July 16, having just returned from a weeklong fishing trip.

We will remember him for his smile (he always had a smile no matter what), for his passion for all things Cal (most know about his passion for Cal football and basketball, but he was a huge supporter of all things Cal), and for his ability to see humor in the smallest snippets of life.

He was taken from us much too early and we will all miss him tremendously.

The slide show includes photos also provided by Ron Freeman. If you have any photos to share, please do so and I'll add them to the slide show.

Memorial Day 2010

Ygnacio Wood Seahorses - June 5, 2010

Today's swim meet was against the Forest Hills Beavers from Martinez. Ryan swam backstroke in the medley relay, free, backstroke, and free relay. Ethan swam free and backstroke. Naomi swam free and butterfly.

Girl Scout Court of Awards

Every year the girl scout troops of our school has their annual court of awards. This gathering is to celebrate the achievements and promotion of the girl scouts. Girl scouts bridging from Daisies to Brownies and from Brownies to Juniors get to cross the lovely bridge on the stage as accompanied by an older girl scout troop. Naomi's girl scout troop was the troop that accompanied both groups over the bridge. Naomi's troop had actually bridged from Juniors to Cadettes earlier this month by crossing the Golden Gate Bridge along with approximately 4,000 other girl scouts from California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Texas.

Bear Cub to Webelo

It's the end of another cub scouting season. Ethan moved up to become a first year Webelo. Webelo stands for "We'll Be Loyal Scouts." After second year Webelo rank comes promotion from cub scout to boy scout.

The following are a few pictures from our annual graduation ceremony. The event was somewhat bitter sweet in that the leader of Ethan's den announced that he and his family are leaving to head back home to Kentucky. Our den leader and his family will surely be missed as they were quite active in our pack.

Ryan plans on joining scouting next year as a Tiger Cub provided that a den is formed for the first graders next year. The signs for this happening look positive at the moment.