Volvo XC60 T8 - Day 42

We bought the Volvo XC60 T8 on October 28. So far, I am very pleased with the vehicle.

The first tank of gas was November 23 at 1,036 miles. The first thousand miles included a work trip to Marysville and a weekend trip to South Shore Tahoe.

As part of my commute, I have been parking across the street from my work in the morning at a free electric vehicle charger provided by Volta. My commute is just under 30 miles round trip. The SUV is rated at 21 miles all electric. By topping off the battery at the free charger most mornings, my round trip uses very little gas.

Even in the pure mode, the car will turn on the gas engine occasionally. As long as there's juice remaining in the battery, the “pure” mode helps ensure the vehicle stays electric-only and zero-emissions.

I am not crazy about the control that allows you to select the different driving modes, including hybrid, pure, off road, AWD and power. The car always starts in hybrid mode and has to be switched to pure with an odd rocker control.

I am extremely pleased with the Apple Carplay interface to the iPhone. I love being able to get easy access to my podcasts. The Waze interface is fantastic. Being able to listen and then respond to a text messages using Siri is useful.

About my only real complaint at this point is user interface on the technology. There is essentially a touch screen computer in the dashboard. Some of the ways that you interact with the controls seem inconsistent. It will be interesting to see if this gets upgraded and changed over the life of the vehicle. It appears that the technology has the capacity for over-the-air updates.

BlacKkKlansman

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched BlacKkKlansman as an HD rental on the AppleTV. We have shifted into a mode of trying to guess which films and performances will be nominated for Oscars. The American Film Institute selected this film as one of the top 10 films of the 2018. Additionally, it has earned four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.

BlacKkKlansman is a biographical comedy-drama film directed by Spike Lee. The movie is based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington (Denzel's son!) as Stallworth, along with Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Harry Belafonte appears in the film recounting the lynching of Jesse Washington. Alec Baldwin appears briefly at the beginning of the film.

Set in 1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the city's police department as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. It was theatrically released in the United States on August 10, 2018 coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally.

BlacKkKlansman isn't going to win best picture. Although a little slow in the middle, it is a solid movie. Coincidentally, the chapter of Master of the Senate that I am reading deals with the civil rights movement...

Gainsley's Christmas Party

Sharon and I stopped for an early dinner at the Buckhorn Grill in University Village. Sitting at the bar, Sharon had a Steakhouse Burger [Roadhouse Onions, cheddar cheese, & Sweet Fire BBQ sauce] and I had a Buckhorn Burger. I was not impressed with the food; I told Sharon that I rated it a five on a scale of one to ten. We did get a chance to see the end of the Kings versus Cavs game. On a three game winning streak, the Kings won the game by the score of 129 to 110.

From there, we headed to the Gainsley's Christmas Party in Elk Grove. For the second year in a row, we made it to their party! Over the years, it seems like we have often had a conflict. We stayed about an hour and had a nice visit with Laurel and June.

Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle

Tuesday night, November 23, Jack and I watched Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle as an HD rental on the AppleTV. Sharon, Jack and I had watched the first film in May of 2015. We enjoyed the first film enough to watch the sequel...  Sharon only got through the first 40 minutes before going to bed.

Released in September 2017, the film features Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Edward Holcroft, Hanna Alström and Sophie Cookson reprising their roles from the first film with Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Elton John, Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges joining the cast. The plot follows the members of Kingsman needing to team up with their American counterpart, Statesman, after the world is held hostage by Poppy Adams and her drug cartel, "The Golden Circle." It is based on the comic book series Kingsman.

The movie jumps the shark in a number of places. I tried to keep reminding myself that it was based on a comic book. I was somewhat shocked to see Elton John in the movie. I enjoyed the film, but don't recommend going out of your way to watch it.

California Historical Landmark #1048

Sharon and I stopped here briefly on our way to South Lake Tahoe. This is a fairly new historical marker; it appears to have been placed in 2014.

Site of Echo Summit
California State Historical Landmark #1048
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at located at 21200 Highway 50, South Lake Tahoe, California in El Dorado County. There are 30 other California State Historical Landmarks in El Dorado County. The GPS coordinates for this location are 38° 48' 51.5" N 120° 02' 03.0" W.

In 1968, Echo Summit servied as a high-altitude training center and site of the U.S. Olympic men's track and field trials. Four world records were shattered here on the track carved out of the El Dorado National Forest. The U.S. team selected for the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City was celebrated worldwide for its athletic dominance and deep commitment to racial equality.

2018 Christmas Tree

In 2015 and 2016, we got Christmas trees at Able's on Sunrise. We were extremely happy with the trees that we got there. When that lot disappeared in 2017, we weren't sure what to do. We stopped at a lot at Cal Expo and then at Lamb's in Elk Grove. We bought trees at Lamb's from 2009 to 2014. We ended up buying a flocked tree at Lamb's. Sharon and Jack were very unhappy with the tree; they felt that it was too small.

Last Wednesday night [November 28], Sharon and I stopped at Bambi's Christmas Trees at Douglas and South Harding. Apparently, this lot has been there for years. They had a wide assortment of large trees, they flock trees and they deliver. We headed up buying a tree tagged as 11 to 12 feet. It was delivered tonight. Sharon went home early to meet them. By the time I got home, the tree was in the house and up on a stand. It is definitely the biggest tree that we have ever gotten!

2018 Jesuit High School Lessons & Carols

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.

For the third straight year [2016, 2017], Sharon and I went to Lessons & Carols, an evening of prayer and song presented by the Jesuit High School Chamber Singers, the Concert Choir of St. Francis High School and Jesuit Drama at the Chapel of the North American Martyrs. Sharon's brother Tom went with us. Sharon went by herself in 2015 while I was working in the Napa Valley.

Potpourri

The California International Marathon is run the first Sunday in December. They close Fair Oaks at Palm from about 7:30 am to 11:30 am. Last year, Sharon and I walked to Mass at Our Lady of Assumption. This year, Sharon, Tiber and I walked out to Fair Oaks and watched the race leader go by. We watched the race for about 15 minutes before heading back to the house.

I ran the marathon twice in the 1980s and once in the 2000s. I would love to be able to find the results from the 1980s...

In March, when I was at Spring Training, I talked to the Wallens about the idea of Sharon and I coming up to Seattle for the 49ers versus Seahawks game. I have gone to the game twice with Wallen [2009, 2013]. When Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a knee injury, I punted on the idea. Snipes, Tomasin, David and his girlfriend ended up going to the game! The Seahawks won the game by the score of 43 to 16.

Sharon finished the day going to a Nordstorms sales event with Janie and Terra.

2018 F@rm Credit West Christmas Party

For the seventh time in the last eight years [2011, 2102, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017], Sharon and I went to the F@rm Credit West Christmas Party. In 2016, Sharon was feeling under the weather and we missed the party.

This year, it was held at the Randy Peter's Event Center in Roseville. We sat with Holly and Van, Chris Petersen, Sylvia and her husband and one of the paralegals at dinner. With Holly retiring at the end of February, this will be the last time that Holly and Van attend. There are fewer and fewer people every year that I knew when I worked for F@arm Credit.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Sharon and her brother Tom went to see a matinee show of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Golden 1 Center. She got tickets for suite 18 from her work. This was the first time that Tom had been to the new arena.

Sharon was lukewarm about the experience. Having watched the commercials for years, I thought that it was primarily Christmas music program, but researching the band, I realized it is really more of a rock band... I am going to sample some of their music in iTunes.

2018 Kings versus Clippers

Snipes and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Los Angeles Clippers NBA game. We met before the game in the Sierra Nevada bar in the arena. This was a rare ESPN televised game with a 7:30 pm start time.

The Los Angeles Clippers built and blew several big leads. Trailing by 20 points in the first quarter, the Kings cut the lead to 4 points with 6:32 in the fourth quarter. The Clippers answered with an eleven point run and won the game by the score of 133 to 121.

Borden Bogdanovic was the leading scorer for the Kings. In 35 minutes, he had 26 points on 8 for 20 from the field, 3 for 6 from three and 7 for 8 from the free throw line. Buddy Hield had an off shooting night. He had 10 points on 4 for 13 from the field and 0 for 7 from three.

The Clippers leading scorer was Tobias Harris. He had 28 points on 11 for 17 from the field, 3 for 5 from three and 3 for 3 from the free throw line.

The Western Conference leading Clippers shot the lights out. They were 56% from the field and 43% from three.

The Sanborns were at the game. Wandering up the aisle, Phil stopped and talked for a few minutes.

The Kings are now have 2 wins and 1 loss in games that I have seen in the 2018-2019 season.

Drew's 34nd Birthday!

Happy 34nd Birthday! Drew

Terra, Sharon and Janie at the Fall Dinner Party

Sanborns at the Fall Dinner Party

Jack back to School

Up at 4:40 am, we left the house at 5:40 am to take Jack to the airport. The airport wasn't as busy as I feared.

Jack caught a 8:10 am United flight nonstop to Dulles. He was on the ground and at the gate at 4:20 pm Eastern time.

Catching an Uber at 5:18 pm, Jack was back on campus before 6:00 pm. The Uber ride was only 36 minutes!

It was great to have Jack home for a few days. He will be back for a longer Christmas break in about a month.

Decorating the House for Christmas

Parts of Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent taking down the fall decorations and decorating the house for Christmas. Fighting a cold and raining hard Friday afternoon, I got a slow start. I spent of the loin share of the weekend moving boxes back and forth from the storage shed, putting up the outside lights and starting to get things organized inside.

A couple of hours on Sunday were focused on "supervising" someone putting lights up on the top of the front of the house. It took longer than humanly possible...

I love the house at Christmas, but this year seems like a death march. We finished the weekend with a lot more to do inside and the garage in disarray. We still need to get a tree.

Sharon, Liz and Laura

Although it has been somewhat hit and miss, a group of Sharon's high school friends traditionally get together on the Friday night after Thanksgiving. This included 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. At some point in the late 90's, they switched from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Sharon, Liz and Laura went to dinner at Lemon Grass.

2018 Thanksgiving

After running the Run to Feed the Hungry, Sharon made a couple of pumpkin pies. We took off for Sharon's brother Tom's house about 1:30 pm.

At seventeen, it was a big group this year, including: Tom, Jim Dunn, Tim, Kathy, Erin, Cromac, Kevin, Leah, Lydia, Amelia, Leah parent's Terri and Steve, a friend of Leah's and her daughter, Sharon, Jack and I. Eric and Ashley went to Ashley's grandparents in Sonora, while Eileen and Will were dealing with a pet emergency. Tom set up two long tables in the living room. Although he said that he did it at Easter, this is the first time I have seen him serve dinner this way.

Much to my chagrin, we watched the Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Redskins by the score of 31 to 23.

2018 Run to Feed the Hungry

For the fourteen time in the last fifteen years [2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2004], Jack and I ran the Run to Feed the Hungry.  We entered in 2007, but I was feeling under the weather and we decided not to run before heading to San Francisco for Thanksgiving. Sharon also missed two years ago when she was feeling under the weather.

For the seventh year in a row, we parked off University Avenue. For the third year, I parked closer to the H Street bridge rather than the Guy West Bridge.

I have come to view this run as a referendum on my fitness. Although I was fighting a little bit of a cold, I was pleased with this year's results.

My official chip time for the 10k was 58:58 with a 9:30 pace. I was 28:44 at the 5k with a pace of 9:15. My Runkeeper splits by mile were: 1 - 9:11; 2 - 9:01; 3 - 9:28; 4 - 9:36; 5 - 9:45; 6 - 9:50, and; last quarter mile - 9:41.

This was my fastest time since 2014. In 2015, I ran 1:00:21. I was embarrassed by my 1:03:57 in 2016 and turned a 59:10 in 2017. The secret to beating last year's time was a strong first mile.

Jack walked the 5k with Emma, Cara and Jason. Sharon ran the 10k, but cut the corner at McKinley Park. The three of us drove together so Sharon and I had to wait for Jack to finish the 5k.

A footnote. Looking back over the years, my 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 times were all set running with Jack at what was probably the peak of his conditioning. It was a unique motivation. It would be interesting to see what pace I could carrying now if I was similarly challenged...

Mikunis

Sharon, Jack and I finished the day with an early dinner at Mikunis on Hazel. We were able to drive there and back in the Volvo without using any gas! A longer post on the Volvo is coming.

Back at the house, we watched the second half of the Sacramento Kings versus Utah Jazz NBA game. The Kings held on to win by the score of 119 to 110. I am enjoying this version of the Kings.

Morgan and David

Morgan and David were married a month ago (October 20, 2018).

Jack is Back!

Jack took an Uber from campus to Dulles Airport. I was shocked that it only took him 31 minutes to get to the airport. The last time that Sharon and I came into the Dulles it took us 72 minutes to get from the airport to the campus.

He caught a 5:20 pm nonstop United flight from Dulles to Sacramento. Jack was on the ground in Sacramento just before 8:00 pm, 20 minutes early.

Sharon and I picked him up. I was disappointed to see a pair of Teslas parked in the charging stations in the parking garage.

More on the new car soon...