Halloween 2009

That wraps up another Halloween. The perfect weather (last year it rained) probably had a little to do with it, but we had the most trick-or-treaters in all the years that we have lived in our current place. There seemed to be more kids from outside our area walking our neighborhood.

This year Naomi was a witch, Ethan was a clone trooper from Star Wars, and Ryan was an army guy. They met up with friends and spent about two hours walking the neighborhood.

Auntie and Uncle visited afterward to end the evening, bringing over some goodies for the kids. They reported that a larger number of kids than last year came by their house too.

Songs Played After MLB Home Wins

Before the 2009 season is over, let's salute all those wins across MLB stadiums. Some teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants have played the same song after home wins over several seasons. These songs have come to become synonymous with the team. For a few teams, I was not able to identify a song.

Boston Red Sox – “Dirty Water” by The Standells
New York Yankees – “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra
Baltimore Orioles – “Orioles Magic” written by Perfect Pitch Inc. (did they play this in 2009?)
Toronto Blue Jays – ????
Tampa Bay Rays – “Feel the Heat Rays” by Living Under Venus

Cleveland Indians – “Rock and Roll All Night ” by KISS
Detroit Tigers – “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang
Minnesota Twins – ????
Chicago White Sox – “Sweet Home Chicago” by The Blues Brothers
Kansas City Royals – “Kansas City” by The Beatles

Oakland A’s – “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang
Seattle Mariners – “Kernkraft 400” by Zombie Nation
Los Angeles Angels – “California Angels A-OK” by Dick and Shirley Winslow
Texas Rangers – “I Like Texas” by Pat Green

New York Mets – “Takin’ Care of Business” by BTO
Philadelphia Phillies – “Goin’ Back to Philadelphia, PA” by Bobby Burnett
Washington Nationals – “Beautiful Day” by U2
Florida Marlins – ????
Atlanta Braves – ????

Chicago Cubs – “Go, Cubs, Go” by Steve Goodman
St. Louis Cardinals – Not sure if there is one song, but the organist often plays “Beautiful Day” by u2
Houston Astros – ????
Milwaukee Brewers –Not sure if there is one song, but Jasen Roby the saxophonist under I-94 plays the “Rocky” theme song after wins
Cincinnati Reds – ????
Pittsburgh Pirates – ????

San Diego Padres – “Rock and Roll Part 2” by Gary Glitter
San Francisco Giants – “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” by Tony Bennett
Los Angeles Dodgers – “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman
Colorado Rockies – “Rocky Mountain Way” by Joe Walsh
Arizona Diamondbacks – “D-backs Swing” by Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers

Those Darn Raccoons!

We have raccoons tearing up our lawn. This is a new experience for us - one that's been ongoing for a couple of weeks now. Our neighbors actually saw them one evening. She said it looked like a mom and maybe two or three little ones.

They have visited us three or four times now, each time digging up the same part of the lawn. We understand that they are just foraging for food. This happens in the fall when all of the hills are dry and brown, and lawns are not.

We sent an email to Gary Bogue, a newspaper columnist with our local paper, who has assembled a pamphlet on tips for dealing with raccoons. We've added a link to Gary's web site to the Links section of this blog for anyone interested.

We've tried leaving the outdoor light on near where they've been digging. We were told that we could kill the grubs in the lawn that they are after, but we haven't done this yet. We changed the time when the sprinklers come on hoping that they would find the wetter than normal lawn to not be to their liking. Who are we kidding, these are animals that will forage through almost anything. We probably really should turn off the water and dry out the lawn. We'll see what happens.

Jeremy Cohen

Yes, we had quite the musical weekend. On Saturday, we took the kids to see the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra. Besides the price being right, it was also a chance to see Naomi's piano teacher play. The treat of the night was the playing of violinist Jeremy Cohen. He was the starring musician in a set featuring a Duke Ellington medley. It was quite a riveting piece.

Jeremy Cohen is a member of Quartet San Francisco. Here's a link to the video page at their web site that includes a video of the quartet playing "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla amongst other compositions.

Jeremy Cohen's set that featured the Duke Ellington medley really did steal the show. It even had the kids' attention. After the intermission, the orchestra played the story of "Peter and the Wolf." The idea of a story through music sounds interesting, but Ryan did not see it the same way as he soundly slept his way through the entire number.

The Story of Billy McLaughlin

Billy McLaughlin was the guest musician at our church this weekend. He demonstrated his unique method for playing the guitar. The story about his battle with a neuromuscular disease called focal dystonia was shared, but it was only after checking out his web site that the extent of his battle was really apparent.

The Very Definition of Inspiration

What if Wynton Marsalis played a set with your high school jazz band, and it was entirely unplanned? This is exactly what happened to the Vaca High Jazz Ensemble at this past weekend's Vacaville Jazz Festival.

The story goes that Wynton Marsalis was driving down I-80 on his way to the Monterey Jazz Festival when he saw a banner for the Vacaville festival. He of the nine Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize quietly joined the high school band on stage. His time included one solo (see video below). As quickly as he joined the band, he was gone after a handful of songs, some autograph signing and other pleasantries.

This is probably something that these kids and their parents are going to remember foe quite some time.

Ichiro Gets 2000

Ichiro got his 2000th Major League Baseball (MLB )hit today against the A's. If you combine this with the hits that he got in 9 years playing professional baseball in Japan (starting as an 18 year old) before joining MLB, it would be enough to place him 12th on the all-time MLB list just 5 behind Willie Mays' 3283 hits.

Pete Rose leads the hit parade with 4256 career hits in his major league career. He got a hit about every 3.3 times at bat. Ichiro in just his MLB career has averaged a hit every 3.0 times at bat. If you add his Japanese baseball stats, then it's one hit every 2.93 at bats.

He's made it to 2000 faster than anyone not named Al Simmons who went on to finish with 2927 hits. He'll be 36 when baseball starts next year, when he should have about 2040 hits. By the time he finishes his first season as a 40 year old five years from now, he should be at about 3140 hits.

At one point, it was thought that Ichiro's stats in Japan would be needed to help him get into the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. This is no longer the case. He's gotten 200 hits in all 10 years in the majors. Pete Rose did not get his 10th 200-hit season until his 17th season. Ichiro also has been a Gold Glove fielder each year in the majors. He's broken the all-time single season hits record. He led the Mariners to their record 116-win season. Now it's just a matter of how many more stats he will amass before he decides to hang up his cleats for good.

Ponyo

We went to see this movie with my mom during her visit with us. Now I'll find Ryan humming the theme song from time-to-time. So here is the song with lyrics.

2009 Summer Road Trip - Part II

Here's a compilation of photos from the second half of our trip. Again, the slide show includes more items for our scavenger hunt.

2009 Summer Road Trip - Part I

The following is a compilation of photos from the "to Seattle" leg of our trip. This slide show includes a few of the photos for our scavenger hunt. How many can you spot? Some are marked, but others are not.

Good luck in spotting our "finds!"

Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

The local paper ran a scavenger hunt for summer road trips. The hunt ends on August 26, but we've completed our search and have submitted our entries. The following are the items that we were to find over the course of our road trips this summer:

1. Town mascot
2. Gas station adapted for different use
3. Professional fisherman with catch
4. Town square clock
5. Headstone inscribed with date before 1800s (bonus point if before 1700s)
6. Double-decker bus
7. Dog on the beach
8. Traveler from your team assisting street performer
9. A real outhouse (no portable potties allowed)
10. Red barn
11. Sign with Mother's, Mom's or Ma's on it (or foreign equivalent)
12. Cobblestone street
13. Oversized animal sculpture
14. Outdoor pay phone
15. Statue or art made entirely of edible food
16. A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny
17. A camel (bonus point if not from a zoo)
18. Town sign with population of 100 or less
19. A former jail
20. Something unusual not on the list

We had to have a photo of each of the items above with one of our travel party in the photo. The photos could not be from locales in the Bay Area.

The places we visited to collect entries for the hunt included items found at or near the following places:

California: Redding, Hilt, Dunsmuir, Humbug, and Truckee
Oregon: Grants Pass, Florence, Newport, Riddle, Wolf Creek, Canyonville, and Winston.
Washington: Seattle (Fisherman's Terminal, Pike Place Market, and Lake View Cemetery)

So as you can see we had an adventurous summer once again.

2009 Seahorse Season

Here's a video recap of our swim season. Enjoy!

Ryan's First Backstroke

Naomi in Free Relay

Ethan in Backstroke

Negotiating with Ryan

Ryan is following big brother into becoming a Lego nut so it was no surprise when he started picking out what he wanted for Christmas from a Lego catalogue.

Ryan: Hey, Dad, I want this and this and this and... (you get the idea)

Me: What will Santa say if I ask him if you've been naughty or nice?

Ryan: Yes.

Me: No, have you been naughty or nice?

Ryan: Yes.

Me: Your choices are "naughty" or "nice." Do you understand what I'm saying?

Ryan: Naughty?

Me: So if you've been naughty, what do you think you will get from Santa?

Ryan: No, I want you and Mom to buy the Legos for me!

Cuban Sandwiches in Seattle

One of our best food finds this year during our trip to Seattle was Paseo Caribbean Restaurant in the Fremont District. It's been around since the mid 90s so we've probably driven by the place (which is easy to do).

Be prepared to stand in line to get your eats at Paseo and don't forget to bring cash. They don't take credit cards. Also, don't plan on eating in. They might have enough seats for perhaps 8 people, maybe less.

We went for sandwiches because it was lunch time, but it seems that they serve just about everything on the menu in a sandwich or as a plate. The sandwiches that we got were the Cuban Roast (made with super tender pork shoulder meat - came highly recommended by Chuck's mom), Smokin' Thighs (chicken thighs marinated with the skin on - great flavors!), Fish of the Day (which turned out to be catfish - never had catfish so good!), and Grilled Pork (had to try their original sandwich). We also got an order of rice and beans. Everything was terrific!

They are closed on Sundays and Mondays. They have a second location in the Ballard District. The original location in the Fremont District is at about 43rd Street on Fremont Avenue.

Are You Ready to be a Traffic Engineer?

Check out this game from the University of Minnesota to see if you have what it takes to be a traffic engineer. Of course, in most cities the timing of signals is controlled by a computerized system.

Ygnacio Wood Seahorses - 2009

Where's Naomi and Ethan in the photo below. The team photo was taken before Ryan was on the team so he is not in the photo.



The coaches naturally had to cool off after their hard work in lining up 130 or so swimmers for the photo session.

Ethan Hits His Mark

Ethan has found a comfort zone with karate. Things do get more difficult as one moves up, but Ethan just this past weekend passed the belt test to make it to the purple/blue belt level in the Dragons Program at Bay Mountain Martial Arts here in Concord. We have been very happy with the programs at Bay Mountain. The instructors are terrific with kids and although cramped, the place has a family atmosphere.

Here's Ethan with Sensei Alex at his recent belt test. These tests are fairly involved affairs that could take well over two hours to complete depending on the number of kids testing.