Earthquake!

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

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

Is Politics Ready for the Internet Age?

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

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

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

Last 2008 Summer Mini-Vacation

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

The Olympics in Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

This would be global athletics.

The Swing

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

It's That Little Man Again

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

Ryan: Who is that?

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

Ryan: Why is he so small?

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

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

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

How to Elect the Next President

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seahorse Coaches' Performance

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

2008 Summer Trip - Part V

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Stats Redux - August 2, 2008

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

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

Naomi just turned 9 and got braces.

2008 Summer Trip - Part IV

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

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

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


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

2008 Summer Trip - Part III

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

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

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



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

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

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

2008 June/July Swimming

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

Here are some photos from the past month.

2008 Summer Trip - Part II

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

Here are photos from this leg of our trip.

2008 Summer Trip - Part I

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

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

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

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

Ethan's First Camp Out

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

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

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

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

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

Ethan is ready to go on his next camp out!

Contra Costa Valley Swim Conference

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

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

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

One Sea Pony and Two Seahorses

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

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

Picture Day!

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

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

Swim Meet Versus Forest Park Flyers