Tuesday, June 30, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 12 - Philadelphia

Sharon, Jack and I spent the day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The steps in front of the museum were used in five of the six Rocky movies.

Billed as one of the largest art museums in the United States, both Sharon and I were very impressed. Talking to Bernard and Pat during dinner, Sharon said that in her opinion the collection rivals the museums in any other major American city. Sharon was particularly enthralled by the breadth of the Brancusi and Mary Cassatt collections.

I was intrigued by the way they incorporated architectural features into the museum. Many of the rooms included features from temples, abbey's, churches and old buildings. For example, the entry room to the Asian section included features from a Hindu Temple that made you feel like you were walking through the temple. While I have seen this done in other museums, I don't believe that I have ever seen it done on this scale with so many rooms. There were some very interesting architectural features from Southern France abbeys and churches in the wing housing the European art from 1000 AD to 1500 AD.

After I ran on the treadmill, the four adults went out to dinner at the Nector Restaurant in Berwyn. We had a great dinner. By the time, we got home it was almost 11:30 p.m. Sharon and I are getting up early in the morning to pack and then start to wind our way back to California.

At the Philadelphia Art Museum


At the Ohiladelphia Art Museum, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Monday, June 29, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 11 - Philadelphia

The plan for the day was to visit historic downtown Philadephia. After a morning work-out and another great meal from Pat and Bernard, we loaded everyone (Bernard, Pat, Sharon, Jack, Ryan, Brianna and I) into their vehicle and headed into town.

We took a guided walking tour of the historic downtown, including Independence Hall, Carpenter's Hall, Christ Church, Elfreth's Alley, Ben Franklin's Grave, and the Betsy Ross House. After the walking tour, we went through the Liberty Bell Center where the Liberty Bell is now located.

I wanted to walk back to a couple of sites that we had seen on the walking tour. We headed back to Christ Church. George Washington's pew is marked in the Church. Sharon and I sat in the pew for a while and studied the inside of the church. It is amazing to think that Washington sat in this spot more than 200 years ago.

From there, we wandered back to Elfreth's Alley. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the country, dating back to the early 1700s.

We had a very late lunch at Rotten Ralph's, including a couple of philly cheese steaks.

Sharon had gotten directions to the grave of her great grandmother; her mother's father's mother. After about 30 minutes of searching and a phone call to Tom, I was able to find the marker. We cooled off with some Philly Ices.

On the way back from downtown, we went into Valley Forge National Park. I was surprised to find Valley Forge in this part of the region. We drove through the park and made a couple of stops. It was interesting to walk through the reconstructed cabins that the Continental Army spent the winter of 1777-78. The park has some great hiking and bike trails. I would love to come back some time and go for a long run.

We ended the night in the kitchen visiting with Pat and Bernard. By the time, we crashed it was after 11:30 p.m.

At Valley Forge

The Liberty Bell


The Liberty Bell, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Independence Hall


Independence Hall, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 10 - Downingtown

Up fairly late, we went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The plan for the day is to travel to Bernard and Pat's house. We were packed up, out of the room and loaded into the car about noon. Even with the GPS, it took me a number of tries to get into the Holland Tunnel and out of New York City. Although I originally thought it was only about an hour from New York City to Philadelphia, it turned out to be about a 2 hour and 45 minute drive with traffic and stops.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at Bernard and Pat's house in Downingtown. We visited, walked through the neighborhood, sat in the backyard and had a great late dinner outside.

The rough plan for tomorrow is to visit Philadelphia.

Pat and Sharon

Saturday, June 27, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 9 - New York City

After wandering back from the Empire State Building last night, Morgan spent the night with us at the hotel. Sharon and I got up and went for a short run in Central Park. After we got back, the four of us went to breakfast in the hotel.

Sharon, Jack and I headed to Times Square and caught a Grey Line Bus. We took the bus all the way around the uptown loop to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jack and I then headed back across the park to the Museum of Natural History, while Sharon toured the Met. Sharon was particularly interested in seeing the special exhibition titled: The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion. Jack and I had a great time at the Natural History Museum. We just needed a whole day, rather than a couple of hours.

We headed back across the park to meet up with Sharon. Jack had my second favorite quote of the trip. Hiking across Central Park, Jack said "I wish we had a park like this in Elk Grove!"

Catching the bus at the Met, we headed back to the hotel. Sharon had made an early reservation at Bobby Flay's Cafe Americian. While we were running much later than the reservation, we were actually able to get a table about 6:00 p.m. Sharon had a rib eye steak, while I had the Cioppino. We both probably enjoyed the meal better than the previous night at Del Posto.

Dashing from the restaurant, we headed towards Broadway. We had tickets to see Loin King. I was very impressed with the performance. In particular, the customes were amazing.

By the time that we got back to the hotel and to bed, it was after midnight.

At the Museum of Natural History

Jack and Morgan

Times Square


Times Square, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - M. Ward - For Beginners

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Along our morning run in Central Park

Friday, June 26, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 8 - New York City

In May when I went to Morgan's graduation, I got a chance to spend a couple of days in New York City with Drew. Sharon was not happy that she did not get a chance to go. As a result, although we were originally going to go to Philadelphia after we left Cooperstown, we decided to spend a couple of nights in New York City.

Up early, Sharon and I packed up the house. After almost a week at Cooperstown Dreams Park living in the bunk houses and playing baseball, Jack is beat. We finally woke him up about 8 a.m. and got him loaded in the car.

I was originally thinking that we would head east towards Albany and then drop south towards the city. The Garmin GPS had other ideas. It dropped us almost straight south over a series of county roads for over an hour before picking up a freeway. It was a beautiful drive. Jack probably slept for almost half of the three and a half hour drive.

Even with the GPS, driving into the city was an experience. We finally got to the hotel and settled in the room about 2:00 p.m. We are staying in the same Hitlon on Avenue of Americas that I stayed in when I was here last month.

From there, we walked half a block to the New York Museum of Modern Art. The three of us spent about two hours wandering through the museum. I was amazed at the number of Picasso's that they have. One of my favorite paintings of the afternoon was Van Gogh's Starry Night. As we were leaving to go back to the hotel, the museum started to get really crowded. It turns out that Target is sponsoring a free Friday night. People were pouring into the place!

Sharon had reservations for dinner at Mario Batali's Del Posto. Hopping in a cab, we picked up Morgan along the way. We had a very nice dinner. After course of antipasto and pasta, Sharon had duck, Morgan had pork and I had lamb for our secondi course. I had an interesting antipasto that included a Spanish barnacle. We split a couple of bottles of an Italian Pinot Noir: Le Due Terre.

Sharon wanted to finish the night with a trip to top of the Empire State Building. There were essentially no lines and we got to the top quickly. Although I am not much of a fan of heights, the view of the city at night was pretty spectacular.

Catching a cab back to the hotel, the four of crashed about 11:30 p.m. Morgan is spending the night with us.

View from the Empire State Building

At the MoMA


At the MOMA, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 7 - Cooperstown

Sharon and I started the day with coffee at Gemini Cafe in East Oneonta. The plan for the day was for Sharon to hang out at the house, while I went with the team to Baseball Hall of Fame.

After a short run, I headed to Cooperstown Dream Park to catch up with the team. From there, everyone took a bus into Cooperstown. We spent a little over two hours wandering through the Baseball Hall of Fame. The hall has a quiz sheet that kids can fill out with answers found in the exhibits and then turn in for a package of baseball cards. Jack, Cooper and AD stayed together and worked on getting the sheet completed. They had to visit all of the rooms to find the answers. After they completed the first sheet, Jack and Cooper decided that they were going to back and get the second sheet that had different questions. This took us back through all of the exhibits again. We finished up in the gift shop.

My passions do not include the history of baseball, but I enjoyed the visit. In particular, the hall with all of the plaques for players is very well done.

I took Jack to lunch with several of the other families at a place just down the block. I need to find the name of the restaurant because it is place that I would NOT recommend eating.

After the late lunch, I took several of the boys over to Doubleday Field.

Returning to the bus, we headed back to Cooperstown Dream Park. I headed out to pick up Sharon and bring her back to the park for the closing ceremonies. The closing ceremonies include introducing each boy and presenting him with a ring; think college graduation.

Unfortunately, the week ended like it started. After about a dozen of the teams and their players had been introduced, a thunderstorm moved in. They suspended the ceremony and we headed for cover in the family tent. It took a little over an hour for the storm to move through. They restarted the ceremony. The closing ceremony concluded with fireworks.

At this point, they still had to play the championship game. My guess is that the game would not start until almost 10:00 p.m. We collected Jack and his stuff and headed back to our house. We will be trying to get an early start tomorrow morning to spend a couple of days in New York City.

Jack leading off second against the Gainsville Virginia Cannons

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 6 - Cooperstown

With the boys not playing until noon, Sharon and I took the opportunity to have a lazy morning. We went into East Oneonta for a light breakfast the Gemini Cafe. Afterwards, we both went for a run. After my trail run yesterday and a long run this morning over the rolling terrain, I am extremely sore.

The Elk Grove Gunners played the Motor City Hit Dogs Orange at 12:00 p.m. in the start of the single elimination tournament.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 2. He started the week batting eighth in the line-up. Jack batted second in this game; he has been making great contact and getting on base all week. In his first at-bat in the top of the first with Cooper on second and no outs, he hit one up the middle that was deflected by the pitcher. He was thrown out at first with Cooper going to third. Jack hit a nasty hard chopper down the third base line for a hit in his second plate appearance. In spite of a great slide to the right slide into second base, he was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

In the field, Jack played two innings in left field. He had a dying line drive down the line that he got his glove on, but could not make the catch. In the top of the sixth, he ran for Patrick after Pat got on base with a 3DK and hurt his leg stealing second. The inning ended with the bases loaded and Jack at third.

The Gunners lost to the Hit Dogs by a score of 11 to 3 and were eliminated from the tournament. The Gunners actually scored 3 runs in the top of the first, but gave up five runs in the bottom of the first. After a lengthy delay at the top of the second inning around a discussion of the rules for pitching changes, the Gunners could never get back on track.

For the week, Jack was 5 for 12 with three walks and one strike-out (BA - .417 & OBP - .533). He put the ball in play 11 of the 12 times. Jack struck out only once and this was looking rather than swinging. Given the quality of the pitching, I am very proud of how he did at the plate. Although I considered it, I did not keep my own score book this week. In hindsight, I regret it. It seems to me that Jack either led the team or was second behind Cooper in batting average and on base percentage. Jack had a couple of stretches were he struggled in the field, but also made some nice plays.

I will post some general comments about the team and the week over the next couple of days.

After the game, Sharon and I headed into Cooperstown. After wandering through the town, we sat and had a drink at the Hoffman Lane Bristro and talked about how we felt about the week and the team.

We had dinner on the lake at the Blue Mingo. This is another restaurant that we would recommend. We had a nice dinner of salmon bisque, crab cakes, mahi mahi and steak.

We finished the evening sitting on the bridge over the creek next to the house we are renting, reading our books and waiting for the fireflies to come out.

Jack at bat against the Pembroke Lake Florida Bulldogs

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 5 - Cooperstown

The house that we have rented has a number of trails out the back door. Rather than running on the county road, Sharon and I both went for a morning run up the trails. Other than being very wet in a number of places from all of the rain, I had a great run up to the top of the ridge. I will be very interested in making a map from the Garmin later.

The Gunners played against the Pembroke Lake Florida Bulldogs at 11:00 a.m. Apparently, the Bulldogs are ranked 4th in the nation and are undefeated in the tournament so far.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1 with 2 walks. In his first at-bat, Jack drove a pitch to the right side and was thrown out at first by the second baseman. Jack walked on five pitches in second second plate appearance and eventually came around to score on a double down the right field line by Josh. In his third at-bat, Jack walked again and eventually came around to score again.

In the field, Jack played five innings at third base and one inning in left field. At third, Jack made a nice catch on a foul pop-up. There several balls hit to his left between him and the shortstop that it seems like he should have gotten a glove on. It seems to me that he should be playing a step to his left and a step farther back.

The Gunners lost the game by the score of 14 to 7. In total, the Bulldogs had only given up 3 runs in their previous four games so everyone viewed this as a moral victory.

With a long break before the next game, Sharon and I wandered back into Cooperstown and had a late lunch at the Otesaga Resort Hotel. We ate in the Hawkeye Grill. Sitting on the patio, we had an amazing view of Lake Otsego and the Leatherstocking Golf Course. Sharon was particularly enamored with the scenery.

After lunch, we went to the Fenimore Art Museum. The museum is set in a very nice 1930s neo-Georgian mansion with terraced gardens overlooking the lake. The highlight is the mansion. There was not much interesting other than some photos of Central Park and Niagara Falls. Sharon actually said at one point as we were walking through the museum that “this is the worst museum collection that I have ever seen.”

With a little more time to kill about the next game, we took an hour boat tour of the lake. From there, we stopped briefly at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

The Gunners played the Cincy Ohio Flames at 7:00 p.m.

For the first time all week, Jack did not start. He played the fifth inning at third base and did not get to the plate.

The Gunners lost to the Flame by a score of 5 to 1. I think that everyone was particularly disappointed by this game. It was a team that they could beat and it would have been nice to finish the pool play with .500 record.

The Elk Grove Gunners ended the third day with a record of 2 wins and 4 losses. Jack is 4 for 10 with three walks and one strike-out (BA - .400 & OBP - .538).

Finishing the pool play, the Gunners are seated 53 out of 88 teams for the single elimination tournament. They will play the 52th seed Motor Town Hit Dogs Orange at noon on Wednesday. In order to advance to Thursday, the Gunners would have to win four games on Wednesday!

Cooperstown Dreams Park

You can find more pictures and the diary of our trip to Coopertowns here!

Monday, June 22, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 4 - Cooperstown

After a couple of long days, Sharon slept late. We both eventually went out for morning runs along the county road before grabbing a quick bite to eat and heading into the park.

The Gunners played the Noblesville Indiana Heat in their third game of the tournament at 11:00 a.m.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 2. In his first at-bat, Jack blooped one into center field to drive in a run. The center fielder tried to make a diving catch, but slid just short. Jack went to second on the throw home. He scored from second on an infield error. Jack hit one up the middle that the pitcher deflected to the shortstop in his second plate apperance. Jack was thrown out at first by a step.

In the field, Jack had some struggles. On a ball hit down the third base line, he tried to backhand it, but could not find the handle. Jack wears his emotions more than any other kid on the team; he was very upset with himself. This play was followed shortly by one where Jack, a runner stealing third and a ball all got tangled up. Jack was even more frustrated with himself. The inning ended with Jack tagging out a runner stealing third. Jack ended up playing three innings at third and two innings in left field in a seven inning game.

The Gunners beat the Heat by the score of 4 to 3 in seven innings. It was a wild game. The Gunners had one run erased due to Dillon sliding into home head first; this is illegal in this tournament. With two outs and runners on second and third, Cooper hit one over the top of third base just fair for a walk-off single. I was standing very close to third base and was sure that the ball was foul!

Sharon and I went into Cooperstown for lunch. We had a nice lunch at the Hoffman Lane Bistro; this is another place that we would recommend. After Sharon shopped for a bit, we drove up the lake to check out Otesga Resort Hotel and a restaurant on the lake called the Blue Mingo.

The Gunners played the Gainsville Virginia Cannons in their second game at 4:30 p.m.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3. In his first at-bat, he drove one down the third baseline and was safe at first. Jack stole second and went to third on a passed ball. He was still at third when the inning ended. Jack drove a line drive into right field to drive in a run in his second plate appearance. He stole second and third, but was stranded on third at the end of the inning. In his third plate appearance, Jack struck out looking on a call third strike.

In the field, Jack played five innings in left field and the third inning at third. He had one high fly ball hit to him in left just in front of the wall that he caught easily. After the morning struggles at third, it will be interesting to see where he plays over the next two days.

With the game tied 3 to 3 in the bottom of the fifth, the Gunners gave up 4 runs. They made a series of errors in the field. One of the dad’s sitting next to me described it as “Monkey Ball.” The Gunners lost the game by a score of 7 to 4.

The Elk Grove Gunners ended the second day with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses. Jack is 4 for 9 with walk and one strike-out (BA - .444 & OBP - .500).

Sharon and I finished the night with a very nice dinner at Alex & Ika Restaurant in Cooperstown. Sharon had rack of lamb, while I had the Hanger Steak.

I made a tactical error on the way home. Leaving Cooperstown, I let the GPS lead me on a wild ride home over a series of country roads.

As we pulled up to the house, the creek that borders the property was alive with fireflies; it was a very cool sight!

Gunners versus Heat


Gunners versus Heat, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 3 - Cooperstown

After a quick breakfast at the house, Sharon and I headed to the park for the Opening Ceremonies. The number of teams this week is 88. The extended festivities included introducing all of the teams and marching them into the field.

Walking to the field for the first game, we got your first real look at the complex. It is gorgeous. There are 22 fields laid over an area of probably 40 acres of rolling terrain. All of the buildings and fields are done in a very simple style.

The Gunners played their first game at 11:00 against the Glenview Illinois Blaze. At the plate, Jack was 1 for 2 with a walk. In his first at-bat, he hit one up the middle and was throw out at first by half a step. He walked in his second plate appearance, stole second, went to third on a grounder and was strayed there at the end of the inning. In his third at-bat with the sign for a hit and run, Jack drove the first pitch hard through the left side for single. He eventually came around to score.

Jack played three innings of the four inning game at third. He handled the ball three times including a throw from the shortstop to force a runner at third, a throw from the catcher to try and get a stealing runner and running down a runner between second and third.

The Gunners won the game by a score of 16 to 1 in four innings. There is a 12 run mercy ruling after four innings. At the opening ceremonies, the announcer reminded everyone that the tournament includes a mixture of rec and competitive teams. This was definitely a rec team.

Sharon and I left the park for a nice lunch at the Yum Yum Shack. This is a place that we would definitely recommend.

The Gunners played their second game at 3:00 p.m. against the Wellington Florida Warriors. We were warned that the Florida teams were very good.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2. In his first at-bat, he hit a hard grounder deep to the third baseman and was just out at first. He was not pleased. With the count 3 and 2, Jack hit one back to the pitcher in his second plate appearance and was out at first.

Jack played six innings at third. His play in the field was very solid all day. He caught a pop-up down the third base line in the first inning and made a great catch on a shoe top line drive to end the top of the sixth.

The Gunners got beat badly. They lost the game by a score of 12 to 0, including giving up a grand slam in the third inning and home run in the fifth inning. Falling behind 7 to 0 in the third on the grand slam, you could see the air go out of the boys. It will be interesting to see how they bounce back tomorrow.

The Elk Grove Gunners ended the first day with a record of 1 win and 1 loss. Jack was 1 for 4 with walk.

After the game, Sharon and I drove into Cooperstown and explored. Sharon found a couple of possible places for dinner in the next couple of nights. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some food and then stopped at the Bear Pond Winery for a couple of bottles of wine; they do not sell wine or hard alcohol in the grocery stores in New York.

Back at the house, Sharon fixed a nice dinner. We sat on the porch, drank some wine, had a late dinner and watched it continue to rain. Given it was the longest day of the year, we had enough light after dinner to start to explore some of the trails that lead away from the house. Hopefully, it will dry out enough this week for us to do some hiking.

At the Opening Ceremonies


At the Opening Ceremonies, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 2 - Cooperstown

After a very late night, I slept until after 9:30 a.m. Eventually, I went out for a 5.5 mile run on the County Road 8. Getting cleaned up, I went drove past the Cooperstown Dream Park and into Cooperstown for lunch.

I spend some time wandering downtown Cooperstown. I ended up sitting at the bar in the Doubleday Cafe for lunch. I got a kick of their t-shirts; the slogan on the back is “A Drinking Town with a Baseball Problem.” At this point, it started to rain pretty hard outside so I lingered over my lunch and a couple of beers. I talked to Sharon in Chicago; She is winding her way east today.

When the rain stopped, I wandered down to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I spent some of time exploring; I am hopeful that we will get a chance to bring the team to the museum later in the week. I went to Doubleday Field next.

At this point, I headed back to the Cooperstown Dream Park. The opening ceremonies were scheduled for 4:30 p.m. with the skills competitions to follow. It was raining steadily at this point. Meeting up with the rest of the Gunners parents, I spent an hour plus in the stands in the pouring rain waiting for the opening ceremonies to start. Just about the time I was completely soaked, they announced that the opening ceremonies would be rescheduled for Sunday morning and the skills competitions rescheduled for Wednesday morning.

After a quick stop at the house for some dry clothes, I headed to Albany to pick up Sharon. It is a little over an hour drive back to the airport; it poured the whole way. Somehow in the chaos of Friday night, one of the coach’s bags got left at the airport. As a result, the team was glad was going back to the airport so I could pick up the bag.

Collecting Sharon, we stopped and had a late dinner at the Reel Seafood Company in Albany. By the time, we got back to the house and settled in it was about 12:30 a.m.; another late night.

Out for my morning run


Out for my morning run, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Friday, June 19, 2009

2009 East Coast Trip - Day 1 - Cooperstown

Jack will spent the next week playing baseball with the Elk Grove Gunners 10U team in Cooperstown, New York. He and I met most of the team at the Sacramento Airport mid-morning on Friday. We caught a noon flight from Sacramento to Midway Field in Chicago. The last hour of the flight was extremely bumpy and it was a rough landing. We were scheduled to stay on the plane and continue on to Albany, New York.

After they got everyone loaded, a lightning alarm sounded and they took everyone off the plane. The plane was actually being buffeted pretty heavily in the wind as it sat at the gate. As we passed, the pilots, I heard the co-pilot say to the pilot "have you ever seen the wings vibrate like that?" The pilot said no...

We were lucky. After an hour of standing in the terminal, they boarded the plane and we were on our way. This leg was a little smoother.

We landed in Albany about 11:30 p.m., about an hour and a half behind schedule. Sharon and I have a saying when we travel: any day that you end up were you were supposed to be is a good day. By the time, we got all of the luggage, got the boys and coaches loaded in the bus and collected the rental cars, it was almost 12:30 a.m.

It was an hour and a half drive to the Cooperstown Dream Park. We rolled up to the park just before 2:00 a.m. After making sure that Jack was pointed in the right direction, I headed towards the house that Sharon rented. In the dark and the fog, I would never have found it without the GPS. By the time, I got to bed it was after 3:00 a.m.!

Cooperstown Game Schedule


Schedule for Elk Grove Gunners for week of Week of June 20, 2009

Day Time (EDT) Field Home/Visitor Opponent
Sunday 8:30 A.M. 14 Visitor Glenview Blaze 10U (IL)
Sunday 1:45 P.M. 19 Home Wellington Warriors (FL)
Monday 11:00 A.M. 16 Home Noblesville Heat (IN)
Monday 4:30 P.M. 8 Visitor Gainesville Cannons (VA)
Tuesday 11:00 A.M. 6 Home Pembroke Lakes Bulldogs (FL)
Tuesday 7:00 P.M. 4 Visitor Cincy Flames (OH)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

California Historical Landmark #823

Governor's Mansion
California State Historical Landmark #823

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at the southwest corner of 16th and H Streets, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.818 W 121° 29.081.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.

 

California State Historical Landmark #823

This mansard-styled Victorian house was built for Albert Gallatin in 1877. Acquired by the State, it served as the first official Governor's residence, Governor George C. Pardee and his family moved in during November 1903. It was home for 13 Governors over a span of 64 years.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

2009 LYB Minor Twins

In spite of playing with mostly 11 and 12 year olds, Jack had a very good Spring Rec baseball season. The Twins were representative of most of the teams in the Minor Division and included: three 10 year olds, seven 11 year olds and two 12 years olds. Jack lead the team in on-base percentage (0.612), batting average (.548), hits (23) and fewest strike-outs (8). With Cooperstown and the Northern California Cal Ripken tournaments coming up, it is going to get much harder. It will be interesting to see how he does.

Jack pitched 21 innings in 12 games. His ERA was 4.86. After not pitching at all in AAA or with the Gunners, Jack improved steadily as a pitcher over the course of the season. He has improved enough that I think that he might pitch a couple of innings at Cooperstown.
Regular Season


03/28/2009 - 0-0-1 - Twins 6, Cardinals 6 - [box score]
03/31/2009 - 1-0-1 - Twins 17, Braves 5 - [box score]
04/06/2009 - 1-1-1 - Dodgers 8, Twins 4 - [box score]
04/09/2009 - 1-1-1 - Twins, Rockies - [rain postponed]
04/13/2009 - 1-2-1 - Yankees 17, Twins 9 - [box score]
04/18/2009 - 2-2-1 - Twins 20, A's 7 - [box score]
04/20/2009 - 3-2-1 - Twins 12, Cardinals 5 - [box score]
04/23/2009 - 3-3-1 - Braves 10, Twins 7 - [box score]
04/27/2009 - 3-4-1 - Giants 12, Twins 4 - [box score]
04/30/2009 - 3-5-1 - Dodgers 6, Twins 0 - [box score]
05/04/2009 - 3-5-1 - Twins, A's - [rain cancelled]
05/09/2009 - 4-5-1 - Twins 10, Braves 3 - [box score]
05/11/2009 - 4-6-1 - Rockies 8, Twins 2 - [box score]
05/15/2009 - 5-6-1 - Twins 12, Yankees 6 - [box score]
05/19/2009 - 5-6-2 - Dodgers 8, Twins 8 - [box score]
05/26/2009 - 5-7-2 - Giants 10, Twins 3 - [box score]
05/28/2009 - 5-8-2 - Rockies 14, Twins 6 - [box score]


Tournament of Champions


05/30/2009 - Rockies 12, Twins 0 - [box score]
06/03/2009 - Twins 20, Cardinals 8 - [box score]
06/04/2009 - Dodgers 3, Twins 2 - [box score]

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - The Tragically Hip - Coffee Girl

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - The Tragically Hip - Coffee Girl

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Big Tree - Little Brother

One final long video from Saturday night. This was the last song of Big Tree's set. I particularly enjoyed this song because Drew's band gets up on stage with them. After a brief appearance, Drew is out of the picture to the left of the stage for the last half of the video. Morgan is on the left on the stage in purple.

Big Tree - Little Brother
from heringermr on Vimeo.

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Andrew Heringer Band - Roads

Using a Flip MinoHD Camcorder, I took several videos at Drew and Morgan's show on Saturday night. I particularly like this video because Morgan and Kaila are singing back-up and dancing on the right side of the stage.

The Andrew Heringer Band - Roads
from heringermr on Vimeo.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Friends and Family Summer Tour Show at Beatnik Studios!

After hitting the graduation party and the season-ending baseball party, we headed downtown to the Beatnik Studios. Liz joined us. We got to see both Morgan's and Drew's bands perform. I really enjoyed the show. I shot a couple of HD videos that I will post over the next couple of days.

The Andrew Heringer Band


Big Tree

The Andrew Heringer Band


The Andrew Heringer Band, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Big Tree


Big Tree, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Twins Season-ending Party

Dashing from Erin and Eileen's graduation party, we headed to the season-ending party for the Jack's rec baseball team, the Twins. The Cunninghams hosted the party in their backyard. The boys had a great time in the pool. One of the parents put together a DVD of pictures and videos from the season that the boys enjoyed watching.

At the LYB Minor Twins season-ending party

Erin and Eileen's Graduation Party

Saturday become one of those perfect storm days with everything happening. We started the afternoon at Sharon's brother Tim's house celebrating Erin and Eileen's graduations. Erin graduated from St. Francis; she will be going to Gonzaga in the fall. Eileen graduated from St. Marys; she will be going to St. Francis.

At Erin and Eileen's Graduation Party

Friday, June 12, 2009

2009 SHSS IT Golf Tournament

From 2000 to 2006, Sharon and I played in the SHSS IT Golf Tournament five times with Donna and Kevin Gainsley (2006, 2005, 2004). The tournament is a charity fund raiser for the hospitals. Starting in 2007, I have been required to play with vendors who made a contribution. I missed last year's tournament due to our vacation.

After playing at the Forest Lake Golf Course in Acampo for the last nine years, the tournament moved to the Bass Lake Golf Course near Rescue this year.

I played with Lily and Robin from Kronos and Steve from Microsoft. We were 5 over par for the day.

I have not picked up a club since last August and decided not to even go to the driving range. I hit the ball pretty well a few times, but as you would expect was wildly inconsistent.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Drew on Capitol Public Radio

The Andrew Heringer Band was on Capitol Public Radio today. You can find the segment here. Drew et al appear about 25 minutes into the show and their segment runs 14 minutes. I recommend clicking on the listen button and then following the instructions to download the audio to your computer. Using this method, you can skip right to Drew!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Outliers - The Story of Success

During late May, I finished reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell. I read about the book in a series of columns that Bill Simmons did with Malcom Gladwell. Rather than doing a podcast, the two of them did three columns of over 9,000 words back and forth.

Gladwell looks at why some people succeed, while so many more never reach their potential. He suggests that superstars are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages, extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn, work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.

As a parent, his thoughts on how opportunities and repetitions make people successful struck a chord with me. With one of my goals in life is to support Jack, Drew and Morgan to be as successful as possible, it provided some thoughts about how this might be accomplished.

This is a light, quick read; I finished it in four days. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the book. I highly recommend it and I am going to add his other two books to my pile to read in the future.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Melody Gardot - Who Will Comfort Me

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Melody Gardot - Who Will Comfort Me

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Bat Talk and Walk

Sharon, Jack and I went to a Bat Talk and Walk put on by the Yolo Basin Foundation. The program began with a 45 minute indoor presentation on bat natural history and included an opportunity to view live bats. The group then carpooled into the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area to watch one of the largest colonies of Mexican free-tailed bats in California emerge to hunt insects at sunset.

Unfortunately, the bat watching part was a little anti-climatic. It was a very cold and windy evening. Consequently, we got to see some bunches of bat emerge, but not the giant mass of bats that other people have described as witnessing.

2009 LYB Minor Twins Box Score TOC #3

Twins are edged by the Dodgers and eliminated from the Tournament of Champions.

1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
Dodgers 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 7 1
Twins 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 3


TWINS
Player AB R H RBI AVG
CJ Hoffman 1 1 0 0 .156
T. Gill 2 0 0 0 .227
N. Farnetti 2 0 0 0 .172
J. Heringer 2 0 1 0 .548
I. Ryan 3 0 0 0 .431
E. Inouye 3 0 2 0 .382
N. Maidrand 2 0 0 0 .233
T. Neff 3 0 0 0 .237
C. Cunningham 3 1 1 0 .216
D. Vajraca 2 0 0 0 .242
T. Sanborn 2 0 1 1 .138
25 2 5 1

2B: C, Cunningham 1 (3)
3B: None
HR: None
Runs: C. Cunningham 1 (6), CJ Hoffman 1 (20)
RBI: T. Sanborn 1 (6)

TWINS
Player IP H R ER HBP BB K ERA
J. Heringer 3 4 2 1 0 3 4 4.80
CJ Hoffman 3 3 1 0 1 1 0 4.28
6 7 3 1 1 4 4

Errors: C. Cunningham 1 (11), N. Farnetti 1 (6), T. Neff 1 (6)

Monday, June 08, 2009

Yes, Even More Baseball

With Sharon in San Diego with Janie for the night, Jack and I went to the Laguna Youth Baseball Minor League Division Championship game. The Rockies rolled over the Giants by a score of 16 to 3.

Even with the Rec Baseball season ending this weekend, Jack has a lot of baseball to play over the next six weeks. In late June, he will be playing in a 96 team tournament at the Cooperstown Dreams Park in Cooperstown, New York, with the Elk Grove Gunners Team. In late July, Jack will be playing in the Norcal Cal Ripken 10U Tournament with the Laguna All-Stars.

Rockies versus Giants - 6/8/2009 - Josh from heringermr on Vimeo.


Rockies versus Giants - 6/8/2009 - Patrick from heringermr on Vimeo.

2009 LYB Minor Twins Box Score TOC #2

Twins beat Cardinals to stay alive in the Tournament of Champions.

1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E
Cardinals 4 0 4 0 0 X 8 8 6
Twins 2 6 2 5 5 X 20 17 3

TWINS
Player AB R H RBI
CJ Hoffman 2 2 0 1
T. Gill 4 3 3 1
N. Farnetti 2 4 2 2
J. Heringer 3 2 2 3
N. Maidrand 2 0 0 0
I. Ryan 4 2 4 3
E. Inouye 2 2 2 1
C. Cunningham 2 1 1 1
T. Neff 2 1 1 0
T. Sanborn 3 2 1 1
D. Vajraca 3 0 1 0
N. Roy 2 1 0 0
31 20 17 13

2B: N. Farnetti 1 (1)
3B: J. Heringer 1 (2)
HR: I. Ryan 1 (3)
Runs: C. Cunningham 1 (5), J. Herringer 2 (19), CJ Hoffman 2 (19), T. Gill 3 (18),
I. Ryan 2 (19), E. Inouye 2 (12), N. Farnetti 4 (13), T. Sanborn 2 (8),
N. Roy 1 (5), T. Neff 1 (8)
RBI: I. Ryan 3 (18), CJ Hoffman 1 (4), T. Gill 1 (8), J. Herringer 3 (13),
E. Inouye 1 (8), N. Farnetti 2 (2), C. Cunningham 1 (9), T. Sanborn 1 (5)

TWINS
Player IP H R ER HBP BB K
T. Gill 3 5 8 4 0 4 7
CJ Hoffman 2 3 0 0 0 1 3
5 8 8 4 0 5 10

Errors: CJ Hoffman 2 (7), C. Cunningham 1 (10)

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Gunners Batting Practice

Jack spent the morning working out with the Gunners at Elk Grove High School.

geotagged
Vista Grande Way & Fontana Ct, Elk Grove, CA 95624, United States

California Historical Landmark #612

Site of Pioneer Mutual Volunteer Firehouse
California State Historical Landmark #612

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located 200 feet northeast of intersection of 3rd and J Streets, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 35.006 W 121° 30.144.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.



California Historical Landmark #612

Erected in 1854, this structure was occupied by Engine Co. No. 1, the oldest fire company of California.

This building was located at 917 Third Street, but no longer exists.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

2009 LYB TOC Rockies versus Giants

With Jack's team eliminated from the Tournament of Champions on Friday night, he and I went to see the Rockies and the Giants play on Saturday morning. Seven of his teammates from the 10U All-Star Team play on one or the other of these two teams. The Rockies won by a score of 6 to 2.

Rockies versus Giants - 6/6/2009 - Patrick from heringermr on Vimeo.



Rockies versus Giants - 6/6/2009 - Josh from heringermr on Vimeo.



Rockies versus Giants - 6/6/2009 - Matthew from heringermr on Vimeo.

California Historical Landmark #611

Original Sacramento Bee Building
California State Historical Landmark #611

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located under the north-bound offramp of I-5 on the west side of 3rd Street between J and K Streets, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.941 W 121° 30.186.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.



California Historical Landmark #611

The Sacramento Bee was founded in 1857, its first issue was dated February 3, 1857. Its early home was a two-story brick building on the west side of Third Street. The original address was 1016 3rd Street.

This is one of four California Historical Landmarks that were destroyed when Interstate 5 was built in Sacramento. The location is now under the freeway.

Jack pitching against the Dodgers

Twins versus Dodgers - 6/5/2009 from heringermr on Vimeo.

Friday, June 05, 2009

2009 LYB Minor Twins TOC Playoff Game #3


Jack played in the Twin's third Tournament of Champions playoff game of the 2009 Laguna Youth Baseball Minor League Season. The Twins played against the Dodgers. The two teams met three times in the regular season. The Twins lost to the Dodgers by a score of 8 to 4 in the third game of the season and by a score of 6 to 0 in the ninth game of the season. In the thirteenth game of the season, they played to an 8 to 8 tie.

There were two kids on the other team from the Gunners: Niko and Cooper. Cooper pitched the third and fourth innings, while Niko pitched the fifth and sixth innings.

In what was probably his best outing of the season, Jack pitched the first three innings. Before they even got an out, the Twins gave up two runs in the first inning on a couple of errors. Jack bore down and pitched extremely well after this. Frankly, he is a more effective pitcher when he is mad. The Twins held the Dodgers scoreless over the next two innings. Jack threw 61 pitches.

In addition to pitching three innings, Jack played two innings at shortstop and one inning at third. In the field, he had only one opportunity. With the bases loaded, Jack fielded a grounder and flipped it to CJ at second to end the inning.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 2 with a walk and strikeout. In his first at-bat, Jack walked to load the bases. The inning ended with him still at first. Jack fisted a single into center off of Cooper in his second plate appearance. He was forced out at second on a grounder by Ian. Niko struck Jack out in his last at-bat (As Jack will point out, he struck out Niko).

It was a very well played close game. At the end of the day, the difference was the Dodgers were able to make a couple of key defensive plays and the Twins were not. Twice, the Twins loaded the bases, but the Dodgers made the plays to kill the inning. Conversely, Twins defensive lapses give the Dodgers two runs in the first and the winning run in the top of the sixth. This has been the story line for the Twins all year; they just made too many errors on what should at this level be relatively routine plays.

The Twins lost the game by a score of 3 to 2. They are eliminated from the Tournament of Champions. This is the last game of the 2009 Rec season.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

2009 LYB Minor Twins TOC Playoff Game #2


Jack played in the Twin's second Tournament of Champions playoff game of the 2009 Laguna Youth Baseball Minor League Season. The Twins played against the Cardinals. The two teams met twice in the regular season. In the first game of the season, the Twins tied the Cardinals with a score of 6 to 6. In the sixth game of the season, the Twins beat the Cardinals by a score of 12 to 5.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 3 with a walk, a strike-out, three RBIs and two runs scored. In his first plate appearance, he ran the count to 3 and 2 and struck out swinging. Jack hit a high line drive to left center in his second at-bat that rolled to the fence and drove in a run. He tried to stretch the triple into a home run and was thrown out at home in a very close play. In his third at-bat with one out and the bases loaded, Jack hit a hard grounder down the third baseline to drive in two runs. He walked in his fourth plate appearance and eventually came around to score the run that ended the game.

In the field, Jack played two innings at third base and three innings at shortstop. Oddly, he never handled the ball in the field.

The Twins gave up four runs in the top of the first and four more in the top of the second. They continue to get pretty good pitching performances, but commit bushels of errors. The Twins were eventually able to get to the Cardinals pitching and get back into the game.

The Twins won the game by a score of 20 to 8 in five innings. The box score is here. Leading 15 to 8 in the bottom of the fifth, the Twins scored 5 more runs to invoke the 10 run mercy rule. With the bases loaded and one out, Ian hit a blooper into shallow left center. Jack was on first and kept running. He scored the 20th run and the umpire called the game.

The Twins will play the Dodgers on Friday night.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Boy Scout Troop 59 Weekly Meeting (#1)

When his grandmother died in late March, Jack missed the formal bridging event from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. With school, track and two different baseball teams over the last couple of months, I have not gotten him to a Boy Scout troop meeting.

I took him to the weekly meeting of Boy Scout Troop 59 for the first time on Wednesday night. We visited this Troop last November and went tubing with them in January. Tim and Cody from his Cub Scout den joined this Troop. Although he was less than thrilled about being there as we were waiting for the meeting to start, Jack was very upbeat and enthused when we left. Although it is going to be difficult, I am going to try and get him to a few of the weekly meetings over the next two months.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Gomez - Sunset Gates

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Gomez - Sunset Gates

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

A Talent for War

During May, I finished reading A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt. This is the first book of a series that take places in the same world with the same main characters (Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath). Seeker, the third book in the series, won the 2006 Nebula award for best novel.

This science fiction novel is set in the distant future with humanity spread amongst the stars. Several hundred years before the time of the novel a war was fought against an alien species. The plot revolves around historical research trying to untangle the events of the war. The passage of time and the confusion of war create disinformation and confusion. Essentially, the novel is a historical puzzle with a number of interesting plots twists.

I give the book a lukewarm recommendation. There are parts of the books where the pacing is very good that I really enjoyed, but there were other parts that seemed to drag. The underlying puzzle is strong enough that it pulled me along and kept me interested until the end.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Homestead-Blue Ridge Trail

On Sunday while Jack and I were at Gunners Baseball practice, Sharon and Janie hiked the Homestead-Blue Ridge Trail near Lake Berrysessa.

I created a KMZ file from the Garmin 201 and generated the following views in Google Earth, a topo map, an elevation graph and google maps. The KMZ file can be found here.

click on the image for a large copy!









View Larger Map

2009 NBA Mock Draft V2.0

2009 NBA Mock Draft: Version 2.0 - ESPN

PICKTEAMPLAYERVITALS

Sacramento

Jrue Holiday

Position: PG
Height: 6-4
Weight: 200
Age: 18
School: UCLA

Analysis: This would be very high for Holiday, but this year, there just isn't a big difference between the fourth pick and the 10th pick in terms of quality. The Kings need a point guard, and if they can't get their hands on Rubio, Holiday's combination of size and defensive ability should get him the nod in Sacramento.

Brandon Jennings is also a real possibility here if he wows the Kings in Treviso at the Eurocamp. So is Syracuse's Jonny Flynn, who is getting a lot of love from NBA GMs of late.