Biking and Scootering

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

Here are the kids lining for a race:


Here's Naomi cruising on two wheels:


Ethan on his scooter and Ryan on his bike:


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

Pop Star = Rock Star

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rocket Cars

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

Human-Powered Merry-Go-Round

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

From 2009_05_RocketDerby

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

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

Katy's Kreek Restaurant

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




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

Ethan Tries Golfing

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

Are we Human? Or are we dancer?

From this weekend...

Foods Good for You

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

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

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

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

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

Air Force One Brouhaha

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

Would You Pay a Toll?

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

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

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

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

Parking in SF

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

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

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

Spring Break 2009

Here is a slide show of our recent trip to Southern California. The main stop was Disneyland. This was the second time to the happiest place on earth for our kids. All the kids got to enjoy the thrill of the "big kid" rides, especially true for Naomi. Ryan even took in Splash Mountain with an enthusiastic, "That was awesome!" He got soaked and was very proud of it.

After Disneyland, we spent part of an afternoon at the George C. Page Museum in La Brea (aka the La Brea Tar Pits). They've unearthed an amazing number of animals from the tar pits.

We wound up the trip by unwinding in San Diego. Got to visit more family (Dorothy's niece lives in SD). We really basically spent most of the day at the beach in La Jolla.

On the drive back we stopped off at Disneytown to do a little last minute shopping.

Parody of Government

There's a new show called "Parks and Recreation" that parodies government. It plays on stereotypes of government in action. We'll have to see if it catches on.

in over our heads, but we must go on...

That's how it feels sometimes. It was one of those days today in the Bay Area where a memorial service was held for the four Oakland police officers that were killed last weekend. Traffic came to a stop on area freeways as ramps were blocked off to aid traffic to and from Oracle Arena. It was an amazing sight to see one-half of Interstate 880 jammed full of cars and the other direction of the freeway entirely empty as if an evacuation ahead of a hurricane was in progress.

I was able to watch a little of the local news coverage leading up to the memorial service and part of the memorial service too because I had the day off from work today (yesterday now as I write this). My two sons saw parts of the coverage too. They were curious about the service and why it was on television.

Ryan: That's a lot of police.

Me: Yeah, there's something 20,000 people at the memorial service (and later I read that there were another 10,000 people watching the service on the giant screen in the Coliseum where the A's play).

Ryan: What happened to them? Where are they now?

Me: Those are the police officers that were shot last week.

Ryan: Are they okay now?

Me: They were shot by a man who didn't want to go back to jail. They died and this is their funeral.

Ryan: Were these police the strongest ones?

Me: They were very brave, but that's what police do. They are here to protect regular people like us.

Ryan: But were they the strongest ones?

Me: What do you mean?

Ryan: They must've been the strongest ones because of what they did.

Me: Yes, police have to be strong, but maybe you mean brave. You know, being able to do something even though you know that it might be hard.

Ryan: Yeah, I think they were brave.

Later, when pictures of all of the slain officers appeared, I explained that one of the officers shared something in common with them: a Japanese last name, Sakai.

During the memorial service, the tribute song that they played for Dan Sakai was one from The Fray. I hadn't heard the song in quite some time, but I remembered that it was used as the sound track for a slide show tribute to 9-11. That was eight years ago. Below is a video clip of The Fray performing the song.

Deeohgee

Naomi: Ms. Colon told me about someone who named their dog, Deeohgee.

Me: That's a good one.

Naomi: You get it? D-O-G!

Greed and Fear

Jon Stewart veered from use usual "fake" journalism this week when he interviewed Jim Cramer who has own financial advise show on CNBC. Stewart exposed Cramer to be more Kramer-esque from Seinfeld fame. Cramer kept referring to the Wall Street "shenanigans" during the interview, and Stewart kept providing evidence of these shenanigans by playing videos of Cramer up to no good.

To quote one of the comments on the Comedy Central web site: it's ridiculous it takes you (Jon Stewart) to hold these people accountable.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Now let's contrast this with a speech by Larry Summers, Obama's top economic advisor. Summers talks a lot about breaking the cycle of greed and excess of fear. The following are some of the themes that Summers discusses without a lot of detail:

"Our single most important priority it bringing about economic recovery" - But so far one of the most visible methods for doing this is through the economic stimulus bill which has a lot to be desired and is fraught with a "me-first" mentality as policy makers flock to Washington to make their pitch for a piece of the pie.

"Not driven by financial excess" - But we have the Madoffs of the world having profited on behalf of their families at the expense of the masses. Yes, he's going to jail for a long time, but there is still that feeling that we have been hoodwinked.

"Raise incomes for middle class families" - But how is this going to help a middle class that at this point feels that they will have to keep working until the very end? I think that most of us would gladly trade the ability to earn more moving forward for the ability to see more of those who have gained financially through dubious means to pay for their actions.

"Our problems were not made in a day, a month or a year" - But what has been done to make sure that this will not happen again? Will there be penalties for the Jim Cramers of the world for not reforming?

At this point, Jon Stewart has done a better job articulating the feelings of most Americans than anyone else in the public sphere to date. This is really a sorry state of affairs.

Trying to do the Right Thing

I came across an interesting article today about Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BI) in Boston. They are going through difficult times just like almost everyone else. Having hired over a quarter of their current staff in the last 6 years, the chances of some of these people losing their jobs is a real possibility. Another thought that crossed my mind was if it was wise to hire that many people in such a short period of time, but without knowing the details it's difficult to say much more about this.

At BI, they've come up with an alternative to layoffs. The hospital has come together as a community in an attempt to make it so no one has to leave. Paul Levy, the President and CEO of BI, threw out an idea. What he said was, "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners...if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice. It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

This idea has been embraced by the hospital staff and has grown to the hospital staff coming up with their own ideas. Some staff have agreed to forego a planned salary increase. Another suggested working less. The State of California has implemented the working less strategy, but with less grace.

I wonder if what is being done at BI could be applied in a more widespread manner?

David and Christina Star on Evening News!

It's not too often that one gets to see a local news story featuring co-workers and friends. Last night was an exception.

The video clip below features David and Christina from out office explaining one of our projects. The footage of these two was taken at a public meeting held at Mountain View City Hall where the public was invited to provide input on the project.

I arrived when Lloyd LaCuesta and the cameraman were packing up to leave. I was told that they asked for suggestions for their on-site footage. The In-N-Out Burger near the Charleston Road on-ramp was the near unanimous suggestion based on proximity to the freeway and the existing safe refuge in the parking lot ... and oh, yes, In-N-Out Burger serves up decent burgers.

http://www.ktvu.com/video/18893851/

No, I Don't Want Quesadilla

Mom: How about if I make quesadillas instead tonight.

Ryan: No, I don't want quesadillas (earlier he was told that we would have pizza).

Mom: I could make Spanish rice too (knowing that Ryan is a fan of Spanish rice). I don't really want to go out again.

Ryan: I don't mind if you go to Rocco's (to pick up the pizza).