Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Sounds from Frog Pond

I took a short video of the sounds of the bullfrogs at Frog Pond.

2005 Baseball Game #15

Jack played in his fifteenth baseball game of the season. He was two for two from the plate. He had one of the most interesting base running plays of the year. In the hit shown below, Jack poked the ball into right center. He took a wide turn around first [unfortunately, I stopped the video camera at that point] and danced back and forth. He was daring the outfielder to throw. When the outfielder threw it to first, Jack sprinted to second.








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Launch in external player

Monday, May 30, 2005

Memorial Day



We finished up the Memorial Day weekend spending the afternoon and evening with one of the families from Jack's baseball team.

The boys had a great time hanging out in the pool and hitting whiffle golf balls. We had a wonderful time and a great dinner.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Frogpond Trail

Sharon, Jack and I went to the Cache Creek Canyon Regional Park and hiked the Frog Pond Trail. We covered about 5.25 miles. A number of the pictures from the hike are mapped at Geobloggers.com.

click on the pictures to see a larger copy!



On the way back, we stopped at Cache Creek Casino and Resort for dinner.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Morgan's High School Graduation!

Sharon, Jack and I went to Morgan's graduation from from Union Mine School this evening. I am very proud of her accomplishments!

click on the pictures to see a larger copy!










Pictures from Drew's High School Graduation

Friday, May 27, 2005

Sharon's Busy Day

Sharon took off early to start the day working at T0wer Records. She has done contract work for them off and on since December of 2003.

Just after noon, she headed to Jack's school to serve as the art docent for his class. She and another parent taught Lesson H which discussed how artists use simple objects, such as flowers in vases, for still life painting.

The kids learned about two artists and their paintings: Carnations and Clematis by Edouard Manet [shown below]; and Sunflowers II and Vase of Flowers by Vincent Van Gogh.



For their art project, the class created a still life "stained glass" picture of a vase of flowers.

After Sharon finished up with the art class, she headed over to the church and spent the rest of the afternoon serving as a wedding coordinator for a wedding.

We finished up the day by going out to dinner at Red Robin.

Moblog 5-27-2005

click on the photo to see it mapped at Geobloggers!

Moblog Signs 5-27-2005

click on the photo to see it mapped at Geobloggers!

Google Print

Google Print: Search the full text of books (and discover new ones)

Pair of Kings likely to leave

Pair of Kings likely to leave - sacbee.com: Songaila, Mobley plan to opt out of contracts.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

2005 Baseball Game #14

Jack played in his fourteenth baseball game of the season. He pitched the second inning. He struck out one batter and threw another batter out at first. Jack was two for two at-bat. He laced a strong hit passed the right fielder in the second inning and beat out a sharp infield grounder in the fifth inning. In the fifth, Jack scored from first on a strong hit down the left field line by Cole.

2005 Baseball Game #14


Cub Scout Pack Meeting plus

Jack and I left his baseball game a little early to head to the last Cub Scout Pack Meeting of the year. This turned out to be a little bit of a fiasco. The gym that the pack uses was locked and we were not able to get in. They held a short meeting in the parking lot.

In her role as a wedding coordinator for the church, Sharon spent the evening working a wedding rehearsal.

Paris Hilton Commercial

Paris Hilton Burger King Commercial

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Sacramento Kings Payroll

Kings Payroll at the end of the 2004-05 Season

PlayerAnnual SalaryContract Thru
Miller, Brad$7,875,0002009-10
Bibby, Mike$10,500,0002008-9
Skinner, Brian$4,500,0002007-08 (t)
Martin, Kevin$872,0462007-08 (t)
Thomas, Kenny$6,000,0002007-08 (p)
Stojakovic, Peja$6,875,0002006-07
Williamson, Corliss$5,500,0002006-07
Mobley, Cuttino$5,884,5002005-06 (p)
Songaila, Darius$1,600,0002005-06 (p)
Ostertag, Gregg$4,000,0002005-06
Jackson, Bobby$3,150,0002004-05 (t)
House, Eddie$745,0462004-05
Evans, Maurice$620,0462004-05
Daniels, Erik$385,2772004-05

(p) player option
(t) team option

Source: USATODAY.com - Basketball Salaries Database

Sharon and Liz in SFO

Sharon met Liz at the San Francisco Airport and the two of them spent the night at a Ramada Hotel on Market Street.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Whitney Oaks May 2005

Rudy Jugoz organized a small "golf tournament" for IT staff with the outgoing Sutter Health CEO at Whitney Oaks. We held a similar event with the CEO in November of 2003. I played in a foursome with Rudy, Lew Gasper and John Muncaster.

Last time I played this course, I knew I was in trouble from the minute I stepped on the driving range. I played much better this time. I had a 56 on the front nine and 52 on the back back for a 108. I hit thirteen of the fairways off the tee, sank a 34 foot putt on 16 and hit a 130 yard eight iron to within 6 inches of the pin on 18. Given how little I play, I felt very good about the day.

Golf Group Picture


Whitney Oaks Golf Pic #1


Whitney Oaks Golf Pic #2


Whitney Oaks Golf Pic #3


Rexona Stunt City

Rexona Stunt City

Monday, May 23, 2005

My Life 1963

1963

click on the picture for a larger copy!
Mark Heringer 1963


My Life

Moblog Signs 5-23-2005

This is one of the signs along my lunch-time running route. I have yet to see any burrowing owls.

click on the photo to see it mapped at Geobloggers!

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Kaiser Chiefs

Driving home from work on Friday night, I listened to an All Things Considered segment on NPR titled Finding 'Employment' With the Kaiser Chiefs. Saturday morning, I listened to some samples of the album on Itunes and then purchased and downloaded the album while I was doing some electronic bill paying. I loaded it to my iPod and listened to some of the album while running.

As I have said before, I believe that brick and mortar record stores are going to have an increasingly difficult times competing with this type of technology.

Inflection Point

There is an interesting article on the PBS site entitled Inflection Point. While I am not sure that I agree with the first inflection point in the article, Microsoft taking over the hardware business. I find the other two points very interesting. First, although I am not sure where, I do think that all of the services Google is rolling out are leading somewhere. As a case in point, for the first time ever, I have switched my browser's home page from the default MSN to Google.

Second, the article says:

It [Yahoo] is trying to kill the iTunes pay-per-title pricing model, replacing it with the subscription model that has emerged as preferred by the record companies. And at $6.99 Yahoo's move has to worry Apple.

I am still not convinced that I want a subscription model. I do not think that it matches my buying habits. I tend to buy a song here and an album there. I don't want to be committed to a monthly charge. I also do not understand why the record companies prefer a subscription model.

Links 05-22-2005

The Da Vinci Code

Personalize your Google homepage

How would you change TiVo?

Saturday, May 21, 2005

49 years and counting

With Jack staying overnight at Anton's house, a friend from Cottage Kids, Sharon and I went with her brother Tom, her Dad, her brother Tim and his wife Kathy, Jim and two other couples to 49 Years and Counting at St. Mary School. Sharon and both of her brothers went to grammar school there. This was a fund raiser for the school's fine arts program.

2005 Baseball Game #13

Jack played his thirteenth single A baseball game of the season. With an early morning start, the kids seemed to be sleep walking through a slow motion game. None of the pitchers could get the ball anywhere near the plate. Additionally, for the second straight game, Jack's team was not swinging their bats very well. Jack went 1 for 2 with a sharp infield single.

2005 Baseball Game #13 pic 2


2005 Baseball Game #13 pic 1


Friday, May 20, 2005

Second Season of West Wing

Sharon and I finished watching the second season of West Wing on DVD. The last scene of the season finale has always been one of my favorites. The scene is set to a Dire Straits song called Brothers in Arms that I listened to for more than twenty years while I run.

Mammatus Clouds

Sherry sent a link to a page with pictures taken in her home town of Mammatus clouds.


Children's Theatre

Sharon went with Jack's first grade class to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at the Children's Theatre of California.

Moblog Signs 5-20-2005

click on the photo to see it mapped at Geobloggers!

Thursday, May 19, 2005

2005 Baseball Game #12

Jack played in his twelfth baseball game of the season. He pitched one inning. His control was not as good as his first outing. He got on base twice with two sharp infield hits.

More than any other one this year, this game felt like it dragged on and on. The kids pitched to each other the whole game and all of the pitchers struggled with their control. On the other side, none of the kids were swinging the bat. As result, most of the at-bats stretched to the maximum number of possible pitches.

2005 Baseball Game #12 pic 1


2005 Baseball Game #12 pic 2


2005 Baseball Game #12 pic 3


Moblog 2005 Baseball Game #12

sent directly from my cameraphone

Geoblogging 5-18-2005

I mapped a couple of the pictures that I took yesterday at the golf course and on the way back at Geobloggers.com.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Saddle Creek Resort

Rudy Jugoz and I played in the 3rd Annual Modesto Hospital Foundation Golf Classic at Saddle Creek Resort near Cooperopolis. The foursome included Sutter's general counsel and the senior executive in charge of risk management. Originally, my boss was going to play, but at the last moment he had a conflict and I recruited Rudy.



I have not played since last September. Nevertheless, I had a great time. The format was a little different. Rather than a traditional scramble, you played best ball on the drive and then played your own ball from the spot of the best drive.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

End of an Epoch

In the two plus years which I have been writing in this blog, it has always been very politically correct. The blog has been mostly about things that I am interested in or what we are doing. I am deviating from those themes today. Frankly, I am not sure how long the following tirade will stayed posted; I may decide to take it down and burn it electronically in the next week.

Today marks the end of an epoch. I made my last child support payment to my ex-wife. I feel like I have been making these payments for an eon. In reality, it has been almost 14 years.

When my ex-wife has a net worth of more than $3 million, it is hard for me to understand how the legal system has required me to make payments to her for all these years. This is a person that essentially has not worked in more than ten years and supported herself from her assets.

I have reached this point unhappy with my relationships with Drew and Morgan. While I feel like I did a pretty good job being engaged in their lives through the 1990's, the last four years have been somewhat of a train wreck. Jack's birth, the move to Elk Grove and some personal struggles resulted in me being less focused on the big kids during some important times in their lives. I am going to pay a heavy price for this for a long time to come.

While I accept a great deal of personal responsibility for state of affairs with the big kids, my ex-wife owns a piece. I talk often to the people who work for me about good faith efforts. This includes being honest with people, making your best effort and not saying one thing and doing another. When you look in the dictionary under bad faith efforts, you will find a picture of my ex-wife. She has done everything she could to make sharing the kids a struggle of biblical proportions. Everything has always been about her. My ex-wife has never considered what might be in the best interests of Drew or Morgan; only what is in her best interest. She is without a doubt the most selfish and self-centered person I have ever known.

I worry about how my ex-wife's view of the world has impacted Drew and Morgan. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and believes that the world owes her. For most of us in the real world, it takes a lot of perseverance to keep our heads above water. My ex-wife has never demonstrated any persistence at anything.

I also worry about the impact on Drew and Morgan of the several dozen (3 dozen?) boyfriends that she has dragged through their lives. I am afraid that they will be very cynical about relationships.

In the immortal words of an eleven year old when I asked whether the guy I had just met was their mom's new boyfriend or some dude, "Dad, they are all just some dude..."

My ex-wife's plans to marry each of the last three boyfriends, including buying property with one of them, are astonishing! The havoc resulting from the real property purchase is unbelievable. This is one of Drew and Morgan's role models for how relationships work?

Having ranted about all of this, I am not someone who agonizes about the past. I focus on the different roads that can be chosen going forward. As this period of history passes, I recognize that there are likely to be different struggles in the coming age, but damn does it feel good to know that I do not have to write her another check!

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Very Busy Day

This was one of the busy days that we have had some time!

Walk on the Wild Side

We started the day by going to the Walk on the Wildside. We took self-guided tours in the riparian forest and the wetlands.

See this photo at Geobloggers!

2005 Baseball Game #11

Cutting our walking tour of the Wetlands short, we hurried to get Jack to his eleventh baseball game of the season. He got on base in all three at-bats with two solid hits and getting hit by a pitch.

2005 Baseball Game #11 pic 1


2005 Baseball Game #11 pic 2

Dinner at the Bell's

After Jack's baseball game, Sharon headed to Roseville for a massage and I ran on the treadmill.

We then met up at Sherry and Matt Bell's for a short visit. Jack swam in their pool, while the rest of us hung out in the backyard. Sherry and Matt served a great Chinese Chicken Salad and potsticker dinner.

Cutting our visit short, we rushed to Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills to catch Morgan performing in The Wiz! It was a great show. By the time, we got home and got everyone to bed it was after midnight.

Morgan in The Wiz


Thursday, May 12, 2005

2005 Baseball Game #10

Jack played in his tenth baseball game of the season. He probably played his best game of the year so far. Jack pitched the second inning; he did a great job of getting the ball over the plate and struck out all three batters. Jack went three for three at the plate and scored twice.

2005 Baseball Game #10 pic 1


Tuesday, May 10, 2005

South down the Valley and back

I spent the morning in Modesto at steering committee for our outpatient electronic medical record and the afternoon in downtown Sacramento for a digital hospital of the future presentation by Dr. Mark Blatt from Intel.

Although there is not much interesting along Highway 99, I added a couple of more pictures to the Geobloggers site. At the Mossdale Crossing site last week, I stopped and read the California State Historical Markers. This started me thinking; as I wander back and forth across the countryside I may start looking for and mapping some of these sites.

FAQ: Google Web Accelerator

FAQ: Hard facts about Google's Web Accelerator

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Mother's Day 2005

I made Sharon breakfast when she got back from the spin class at the club. After Mass, Sharon went to her parents to take them food for the week, fix them dinner and spend some time with her mother. She finished up the afternoon shopping. She wanted to go out for dinner for Mother's day so we met her at Scott's Seafood Bar and Grill.

For Mother's Day, Sharon got a Murano Glass bracelet, a couple of DVDs and a paperweight and a paper flower that Jack made in class.

Ten ways to live longer

Ten ways to live longer

Saturday, May 07, 2005

2005 Baseball Game #9

Jack played in his ninth baseball game of the season. They played a fast six inning game. Jack only got up once. He had the hardest hit ball of the game, but right at someone in shallow left field who made a nice catch. He made a nice play on a grounder hit to him at first and tagged out the runner. The game ended in a scoreless tie.


Shuffle grabs 58% of market

Shuffle grabs 58% of flash player market: I ordered a 1 GB iPod Shuffle the day they were announced. I also got the armband. It is a perfect combination to wear while running.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Geoblogging 5-5-05

I spent the day winding my way to the Casto Valley and back for a TAG Meeting; this is a meeting of the IT Directors of all the facilities. I took a few pictures as I wound my way home. I am using the GPS features of my Nextel Blackberry 7520 to get the latitude and longitude of the location of each picture. You can click on the picture to see a Google Map of where it was taken!


2005 Baseball Game #8

Jack played in his eighth baseball game of the season. He went one for two: beating out a sharp infield single and striking out. It is fun to watch the kids pitch. Even after only one game, some of the kids are starting to pitch pretty well.


Morgan's 18th Birthday!



Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Geoblogging 05-04-2005

Geoblogging my way across the countryside. Click on the link below and then on the the small geotagged link under the picture to go to the Google Map!
I had a late afternoon meeting in San Francisco with a customer to work on a service desk SLA. With the heavy rain, the freeways were clogged and it took me more than 3 hours to wind my way home.

My Life 1960

1960

click on the picture for a larger copy!
Mark Heringer 1960


My Life

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Geobloggers

I stumbled across a very cool web site called Geobloggers that combines flickr and google maps using tags indicating the latitude and longitude. I switched to flickr as my primary moblog a couple of months ago.

Running with my Garmin Forerunner 201 at lunch, I took my camera phone. At the halfway point, I stopped and took some pictures and marked my location on the Garmin.

Links to the pictures are included below. By clicking on the link for a picture and then clicking on the small link labeled geotagged under the picture, you will get a google map of the location of the picture. You can use the controls on the google map to zoom in and out and see a satellite view!

Here is a link directly to Google Map on Geobloggers of the spot that I took the pictures; links to the pictures are on the right hand side of this page.

Basketball Social

Jack and I went to the Little Dribblers Basketball Social. The kids got an award during a short presentation and then had ice cream.