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.

"I Love Rock and Roll"

It's that catchy song by Joan Jett. It came on the radio while we were in the car this evening.

Ryan said something like, "Oh, I like this one," and then started singing.

"I love rock and roll."

"I want to play in a rock band with a UFO."

Of course, this is not the correct line.

More Neil Young

Stats Redux - May 14, 2010

Here's an update on stats first posted in November 2005, and updated on January 2006, June 2006, October 2006, March 2007, November 2007, August 2008, and January 2009. It's been quite some time since our last update on these stats

Price of Gas: $3.19 per gallon (crude oil prices are down to a three-month low of about $71 per barrel, but the price at the pump remains over $3. gallon; is it the gargantuan oil spill in the Gulf that's responsible?)

Price of Milk: Down to $2.99 for a gallon at Trader Joe's (not that different from the price in January 2009)

Bridge Toll: $4 since January 1, 2007 on all Bay Area bridges except Golden Gate Bridge (which is $6 cash and $5 FasTrak as of 9/1/08), but tolls are set to rise on July 1, 2010 to $5 on all State bridges (with Bay Bridge prices going to $6 during morning and evening commute peaks, $4 other weekday times, $5 on weekends and $2.50 toll for carpoolers)

Today's High Temperature: 74 degrees F (overnight low of 51) and sunny/clear skies

Dow Jones Average: 10,620.16 close today (up almost 1600 points since January 2009)

Shopping Days to Christmas: 223 days (http://eclecticesoterica.com/xmas_cnt.html)

Dinner Tonight: Dorothy and Naomi are gone for the weekend, but here was a discussion from earlier today that led to today's dinner:

Ryan: Can I have Wendy's for dinner tonight?
Mom: You're going to have to take this up with dad tonight; I'm gone.
Ryan: But I know that he'll say, "No."
Mom: You'll have to check with him.
Ryan: McDonalds is okay too.

The Wendy's is still closed for remodeling so we went to McDonalds in downtown Walnut Creek.

Average Commute Time: just over an hour in mornings including pick up/drop off times (down to a 2-person carpool TU through FR; 3rd member of our carpool was a casualty last summer of slow economy; no carpool on MO because my carpool partner telecommutes)

Cost of Area Homes: median price of area homes is just over $400k

Movie Ticket: tough times means new, lower prices for movies of $8.25 for adults; last movie that we saw as a family was "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D (add $3 to prices)

Time with My Kids: played Connect 4 with Ethan while Ryan was at his friend Gabe's bowling birthday party; I was able to win only half the time (apparently, he and 3 friends have a Connect 4 game club at school for rainy days when they have to stay indoors)

Ryan just had a Star Wars themed 6th birthday party complete with a Death Star pinata!

They Give You This, But You Pay for That

Pinewood Derby Car Races - 2010

This is a video from our Cub Scout Pack's recent pinewood derby car races. We all had a great time as you can see from the video.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

It was a birthday weekend as our Ryan turned 6 this past week. We decided on a "Star Wars" theme at home. Let's just say that we survived. As one of the other parents said, "Imagine if these eight were your own." We tried to keep them occupied with games and activities. Started with a gathering activity (making Star Wars masks) as the party goers arrived. We had a Star Wars obstacle course, a Star Wars "pin the tail" game, an asteroid scavenger hunt, and a Death Star pinata. Here's what Ryan had to say about turning six:

The Wedding Entrance to Beat All Entrance

This is a video that went viral maybe a year or so ago. It was long ago now that the NBC show "The Office" even did a spoof of it on a recent episode. The original and the spoof are below.

I've encouraged my kids that if they are going to get married one day that this is what their wedding entrance should look like.

The song is Chris Brown's "Forever."

Pink Glove Dance to Promote Breast Cancer Awareness

Here's a great video to promote breast cancer awareness made by the staff of Providence St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. Got the link from my sister.

Speaking of Fireworks...

There will be a Seattle 4th of July fireworks show after all! Most of the effort to save the fireworks is owed to Dave Ross, a KIRO radio show host, and Tom Douglas owner of Seattle area restaurants featured on the Food Network. Here's a video clip about his donuts from Lola. His other Seattle area restaurants include: Palace Kitchen, Dahlia Lounge, and Etta's.

Anyway, back to Seattle fireworks. After searching for 15 months, One Reel, the nonprofit responsible for organizing the annual Lake Union fireworks, announced on March 31, 2010 that the fireworks show would be cancelled. They had been unsuccessful in reaching agreement with an entity to underwrite the cost of the $500,000 show. The previous local funder was Washington Mutual bank. Chase, which purchased Washington Mutual, funded the fireworks one year, but announced that they would not fund the fireworks show again. You would think that JP Morgan Chase would be able to spare $500,000. Chase had an ad campaign running that said, "Chase picks up the tab." "Your morning mocha could be on us." But I suppose your fireworks cannot be on Chase.

Chase is on the list of banks that received bailout money from the federal government, but not on the list of donors that ended up putting up money to fund the Seattle fireworks:

Microsoft $125,000
Starbucks $125,000
Vulcan Inc. $50,000
Nordstrom $25,000
Merrill Gardens $13,950
Charlie's Produce $10,000
Seattle Bank $10,000
International Parking Management Inc. $5,000
KING 5 $5,000
Northwest Administrators $5,000
Stewart & Terry LLC (Aspira Apartments Seattle) $5,000
Taco Time $5,000
Tom Douglas $5,000
Turner Construction $5,000
Underdog Sports $5,000
Red Mill Burgers $3,000
Berschauer Phillips Construction Co. $2,500
Cristal Charters $2,500
Ewing and Clark Inc. $2,500
Hales Ales $2,500
Novastar Development $2,500
Point B Inc. $2,500
BNI-Western Washington, Inc. $2,000
Filco Environmental Services $2,000
Key Bank $2,000
Neighborhood Grills $2,000
Pacific Urethane Recycling $2,000
Renton Concrete Recycles $2,000
Heidi McBain $1,500
Brian Hartman $1,250
All Systems Electric $1,000
Anchor Bay Charters $1,000
Anita Yearley MD $1,000
Beecher's Handmade Cheese $1,000
Blue Moon Burgers $1,000
Blue Rooster, Inc. $1,000
Brewe Layman p.s. $1,000
Brian Cartenuto $1,000
Capital Management $1,000
Cascade Federal Credit Union $1,000
Catherine Budbill State Farm Insurance $1,000
Claudia, McClain Insurance in Everett $1,000
Continental Van Lines, Inc. $1,000
Cutter & Buck Inc. $1,000
Dave Ross $1,000
Dearmin Fogarty PLLC $1,000
EmeraldSkySports.com $1,000
Findwell Real Estate $1,000
Fusiontek $1,000
Futurepoly $1,000
Geocaching.com $1,000
Greg Hunicutt $1,000
Gunning, Stenson & Price, P.S. $1,000
Heidi Heineman Aflac Insurance in Kent $1,000
Heston Technical Inc. $1,000
Hollywood Lights Inc $1,000
Homestead Book Company $1,000
Hy-Security Gate, Inc. $1,000
Jana Helmuth CPA $1,000
JK Fabrication $1,000
John Hanson $1,000
Legal Media Experts $1,000
Lenati LLC $1,000
Lucius Hill $1,000
Marty Rood, Mr. 99 & Associates, Inc. $1,000
Max Technology $1,000
Medina Hair Design $1,000
Meriwether Partners $1,000
Minor & James Medical $1,000
NELLA CUTLERY $1,000
Next Door Media $1,000
Northwest Gourmet Foods $1,000
Northwest Yacht Brokers Association $1,000
Nursecall Northwest $1,000
Paddy Coyne's Irish Pubs $1,000
Pamela Hinckley $1,000
Pennys Salsa Inc. $1,000
Phoenix Mailing LLC $1,000
QUEEN CITY PLATING, INC. $1,000
Read Products, Inc. $1,000
Reconstructed Clothing Company $1,000
Rite-Line Tax Service, Inc. $1,000
Santamaria and Sons $1,000
Schumacher & Co., P.S. $1,000
Seattle Ferry Service $1,000
Security Imaging Corporation $1,000
Sequoyah Electric $1,000
Sharron & Gary Deibert $1,000
Silver Cloud Inns and Hotels $1,000
Smith Brothers Farms $1,000
Sprague Pest Solutions $1,000
Sweetwater Investments $1,000
Tricia Rendina $1,000
Ventana Construction $1,000
Ward's Cove $1,000
West Seattle Blog $1,000
www.saspcrecycling.com $1,000
In Play Films $500
MCW Events $250
Turnure Telecom LLC $250
Dancey & Cassady, L.L.P. $100
FloorPlanOnline.com $100
The Frenchy Bee $100

These donors stepped up after Tom Douglas went on Dave Ross's radio show to pledge the first $5,000. After his appearance on the radio show, Tom Douglas went back to his office and started making calls. Microsoft and Starbucks pledged that they would match amount pledged by others meaning that $250,000 would be needed. Within two days, the entire amount was raised. Talk about grassroots efforts!

Oh, yes, and those of you from Alaska that make the trek to Seattle on a shopping trip might consider taking some of your business to those on the above list.

KFOG KaBoom

If you can't wait for the 4th of July fireworks, check these out. These were the fireworks from the 2009 KFOG KaBoom live music event. The venue opens at 1pm with fireworks at 9pm this year.

2009 KFOG Kaboom Fireworks from KFOG Radio 104.5/97.7 on Vimeo.

A Day at the Beach ... Sort of

We spent a day visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium during this spring break. One new exhibit was on pink flamingos. The river otters have been replaced by sea turtles. Got good pictures of Ryan up close and personal with the turtles.

Another new one was about the retreating ice and advancing water in the north in places like Alaska. The video focused on Shishmaref, Alaska.

Other sightings include sea horses, spotted jelly fish, sea otters, sharks (no great whites though}, a shy sunfish, penguins, giant tunas, and skates.

Most of the final pictures of the ocean in the slide show below were taken by the kids while we ate dinner at the Paradiso Trattoria on the Monterey water front. If you're looking for a bargain, be sure to ask for the three-course meal menu.

Cal Bears Women's Basketball Wins WNIT!

It's a rare year to be able to see two teams cut down the net. For those of you not familiar with basketball, the "cutting down the net" ritual is part of winning a championship. Usually this happens after winning a league championship or after winning a tournament.

Earlier this year, the Cal men's basketball team clinched the Pac-10 conference championship by winning their last home game of the season. I wrote about this earlier on this blog. This was their first conference championship in 50 years so it was only fitting that they clinched the crown at home and had a presentation after the game that included the team cutting down the net.

We decided to attend a Cal women's basketball game for the first time yesterday. It just so happened that they were playing at home for what was the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) championship. The women's games are general admission meaning that the seating is first come first serve so we got seats four rows behind press row across the Bears' bench.

Harmon seats about 12,000 and usually fills up once or twice each year for men's games. The men's games draw about 9000 or 10,000 people on average. The women's games usually draw fewer than 1000, but on this day the announced crowd was about 2500 although there were times that the place got loud enough to feel like more than the announced crowd. I think that this speaks for the passionate, loyal fan base that the women's team has. Kind of reminds me of the old days with the men's program when Harmon only seated 6600 and had a waiting list for season tickets.

If the men's games had the same kind of boisterous fans on the alumni side of the court as at the women's game, we'd probably have to wear ear plugs for the game. At men's games, often times it takes something really special for the alumni side to give a standing ovation. Not so at women's games. The difference probably is the general admission seating. Perhaps at men's games they should consider making all seats available to anyone in attendance after half time. It's a shame to see empty seats closer to the court.

The women's program seems to have a bright future. They started four freshmen for this game and the first player off the bench was also a freshman. They have another top recruiting class coming in too. With the ticket prices being in the $6/$12 range, I can see more people attending their games in the upcoming years.

Happy Easter!

We've annually attended Dan'a annual Easter egg hunt at his place. Until this year it was known as Megan's Easter Egg Hunt. Megan is his daughter who has probably not attended one of these events in a few years since she no longer lives at home and is either attending school or working now back east. This was the first year that it was called "Dan's Easter Egg Hunt."