2024 Christmas Tree

Shopping for a Christmas Tree

Early Saturday morning, Sharon and I headed to Roseville to shop for a Christmas Tree. For the seventh year in a row [2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018], we went to Bambi's Christmas Trees at Douglas and South Harding.

In 2018 and 2019, we went to Bambi's on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. In 2020, we went on Friday after Thanksgiving. In 2021, we didn't get around to going until the weekend after the Thanksgiving weekend; the selection of larger trees was not good. In 2023, we went on Sunday morning after Thanksgiving.

We picked out a very nice 11' to 12' tree. We decided not to have it flocked this year. Taking it home on the top of the Volvo, we were able to get it into the house and in the stand without too much drama.

More 2024 Run to Feed the Hungry

Data from the 2024 Run to Feed the Hungry

Thanksgiving 2024

After the Run to Feed the Hungry, Sharon and I hosted a late afternoon Thanksgiving dinner. The group totaled twenty, including: Tom; Eric and Ashley; Kevin, Leah, Lydia and Amelia; Terry and Steve; Jim; Tim and Kathy; Eileen and Will; Cormac, Erin and Mave; and, Sharon, Jack and I. Clem, Lee, Daniel and Morgan were going to come, but Clem got sick.

I really enjoyed the afternoon. Sharon got a spatchcocked turkey and a porchetta pork loin for dinner with everyone bringing sides.

2024 Run to Feed the Hungry

For the twentieth time in the last twenty-one years [2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005 and 2004], I ran or walked 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 seven years ago when she was feeling under the weather. Last year, Sharon decided to do a virtual 5k around Ancil Hoffman Park.

I took off by myself at 7:10 am. Turning off Howe on to University and then right on Campus Commons, I parked in a parking lot along side Fair Oaks Boulevard.

Taking off later, Sharon and Jack walked the 5k.

I have come to view this run as a referendum on my fitness. I am very satisfied with the results.

I ended up with a chip time of 1:08:47. This is a minute and twenty seconds faster than last year. My pace was 11:04 minutes per mile versus 11:17 last year. My 5k spilt was 33:31 with a pace of 10:40 minutes per mile. Using RunKeeper, my splits were: Mile 1 - 10:37; Mile 2 - 10:26; Mile 3 - 10:34; Mile 4 - 11:00; Mile 5 - 11:25; and, Mile 6 - 11:48.

I felt good physically during the run; nothing hurt. My legs started to die in the fifth mile.

[Note to self], I need to do more training runs outside ahead of next year's run. Get off the treadmill!

Happy 40th Birthday! Drew

Happy 40th Birthday! Drew

At Arcade Creek Golf Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex

Sharon and I played the Arcade Creek Golf Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex with Donna and Kevin. We teed off at 11:39 am.

Although I made a mess of a number of holes on the back nine, I am happy with how I am playing. I have definitely improved over the last couple of months. I need to continue to work on my swing and my chipping. About the 12th or 13th hole, I felt like I started to wear down and lose my concentration.

With a couple of mulligans, I scored a pretty honest winter rules 111. Although the course wasn't as soggy as Sharon feared it would be, he ball was getting very muddy at times...

The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI

My book for November was The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil. Drew recommended the book.

Kurzweil, a renowned futurist and inventor, has long been a proponent of the idea that technological advancements will soon lead to a singularity—a point in time when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, fundamentally altering the course of human history. In The Singularity Is Nearer, he delves deeper into this concept, painting a vivid picture of a future where humans and machines become indistinguishable.

Kurzweil emphasizes the exponential growth of technology, particularly in the field of AI. He argues that this rapid acceleration will soon lead to breakthroughs that were once unimaginable. The author explores the convergence of various technologies, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology, which will enable us to enhance our cognitive abilities, physical capabilities, and lifespan.

I particularly intrigued with the author ideas about the future of nanobots. Science fiction often portrays a human to computer interface as a socket, a physical cabled interface. In 2030s, Kurzweil envisions nanobots being injected into the bloodstream to connect the human brain to the cloud, significantly enhancing cognitive abilities, memory, and learning capacity. This integration, he believes, will mark the beginning of a new era where humans and machines become indistinguishable. I don't think that I have ever seen this idea explored in hard science fiction.

Kurzweil also envisions a future in the 2030s where nanobots will revolutionize healthcare. He believes these tiny robots will be able to:

• Repair cellular damage: Nanobots could address aging cells, genetic mutations, and cellular damage, effectively slowing down the aging process.
• Destroy cancer cells: They could target and eliminate cancer cells, leading to more effective cancer treatments.
• Enhance organ function: Nanobots could improve the function of organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys.
• Monitor health: They could continuously monitor our health, detecting and preventing diseases early on.

Essentially, Kurzweil believes that nanobots will allow us to overcome many of the limitations of our biology, leading to significant improvements in health and lifespan.

While Kurzweil's optimistic outlook on the future to be overly idealistic, the ideas are interesting. The book provides a glimpse into a world that may seem distant but is rapidly approaching. It is a valuable framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. I did find the book a little slow in a couple of spots. Nevertheless, I recommend it.

A Real Pain

Late Monday afternoon, Sharon and I saw A Real Pain at the Country Club Cinema. Like when we saw Dune Part Two, we were the only people in the theater. We are continuing our annual journey to see all of the films that might be nominated for an Oscar. GoldDerby currently has A Real Pain with the eighth highest Best Picture Odds. Additionally, Kieran Culkin has the highest Best Supporting Actor odds for his role in the film.

A Real Pain is a comedy drama film, written, directed, and produced by Jesse Eisenberg. It stars Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.

Two mismatched cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), embark on a trip to Poland to honor their late grandmother and explore their Jewish heritage. As they navigate the tour group and visit historical sites, their contrasting personalities and past tensions resurface, leading to humorous and poignant moments.

After seeing Anora and Emilia Perez in the last couple of weeks, A Real Pain was a nice change of pace to a more traditional movie. Eisenberg and Culkin's performances are good. I can see both of them getting acting nominations. Overall, the film is not as good as The Holdovers was last year. While I can see it getting nominated for Best Picture, it is not going to win.

My Life 2023

This picture was taken at the Dorado Inn during our week at Almanor in 2023. It is a callback to the 1990 picture!

All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

Drew's 40th Birthday Celebration!

We spent the day at Drew and Carmen's house in Orinda celebrating Drew's 40th birthday. With a little bit of work, we were able to get Clem, Lee, Daniel and Morgan and Jack there! I enjoyed the day immensely.

They had the party catered by the Salty Pearl restaurant. We had dinner with Jack, Carmen and Drew there in May.


A few Polaroid pictures from the day!

Emilia Perez

Friday night, Sharon and I watched Emilia Perez on Netflix. We are continuing our annual journey to see all of the films that might be nominated for an Oscar. GoldDerby currently has Emilia Perez with the fourth highest Best Picture Odds.

Emilia Pérez is a French musical crime comedy film written and directed by Jacques Audiard. It is based on Audiard's opera libretto of the same name which was loosely adapted from Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute. Its original songs were written by Camille Dalmais, while its original score was provided by Clément Ducol.

The film stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez [Only Murders in the Building], Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, and Édgar Ramírez.

A powerful cartel leader, Juan "Little Hands" Del Monte [Gascón], seeks to retire and transition into a woman named Emilia Perez. To achieve this, he hires a disillusioned lawyer, Rita [Saldaña], to orchestrate his disappearance.

I liked the film more than Sharon did. Before starting to fix dinner, we watched a couple of minutes and I was intrigued. It has an interesting blend of music, choreography and cinematography. It won't win Best Picture, but it could win for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

Song for 2023

I have been meaning to add a Taylor Swift song to the Soundtrack for My Life. From the Eras Tour to her very visible relationship with Travis Kelce, Taylor kind of owned 2023.

I have been undecided about what song to add. I have finally settled on Shake It Up. I have had this song on my running playlist for the last year. It has a strong beat.



You can find the work in progress Soundtrack for My Life here!

What is this?

And Just Like That... - Season One - Spoiler Alert

Sharon and I finished watching season one of And Just Like That... Sharon had rewatched all seven seasons of Sex and the City plus the two movies. As she started to rewatched And Just Like That..., I joined her. I had watched a little of season one when it first came out, but lost interest.

And Just Like That... is an American comedy drama television series developed by Michael Patrick King for Max. It is a revival and a sequel of the HBO television series Sex and the City created by Darren Star, which is based on Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name.

The first season was billed as a one-off miniseries. The first episode aired December 9, 2021. However, a second season was announced in March 2022; it premiered on June 22, 2023. In August 2023, the series was renewed for a third season, due to premiere in 2025.

Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis) navigate the complexities of life in their 50s. The series delves into themes of love, loss, friendship, and the challenges of aging. A sudden tragedy shakes their world, forcing them to confront grief and uncertainty. As they support each other through life’s ups and downs, they discover new strengths and redefine their identities.

I didn't enjoy the plot for the arc of the season. In the first episode, Carrie's husband John (Chris Noth) suffers a fatal heart attack following his Peloton bike workout. The season follows the aftermat of his death.

Golftec

My achilles heel in golf has always been chipping around the green. On Sunday, the two holes that I blew up were both due to my chipping around the green. When I took some Golftec lessons in 2018, the instructor tried to change how I chipped. I gave up on that approach over the last couple of years.

I had a Golftec lesson on Tuesday morning. We spent the whole time working on a very different approach to chipping. I am interested in working on it at the range a little more and trying it out during a round.

2024-2025 Sacramento Kings Over/Under Wins

In their annual NBA Over/Under podcast, Bill Simmons, Ryen Russillo and Joe House were all over on the Kings [44.5 wins]. Simmons has five of their players in the his top 100 NBA players...

At Timber Creek Golf Course

Holly, Van, Sharon and I played the Timber Creek Golf Course. This is a course that I have never played before. We teed off at 11:39 am.

Continuing to work on my swing, this is probably the happiest that I have been with my golf game over the last eighteen months. It felt like I am actually making some progress. I ended up with a liberally scored 105. I made a mess of the 13th and the 18th on the back nine, but had five bogeys and two pars. Admittedly, it was a fairly easy short course that allowed me to recover from a poor shot and not completely blow the hole.

On the par three 4th hole, Sharon hit her tee shot within four inches. Rolling towards the flag, it looked like she actually might have a chance at a hole in one.

It was a very slow round. It took us almost five hours to finish. We were done just as the sun was starting to set!


The four of us finished the day with dinner at the Rose Park Bistro. Sharon and I split a CHAR-GRILLED ARTICHOKE HEART [Crumbled Feta, Crisp Watermelon Radish, Micro Greens, Fresh Oregano, Pesto, Lemon Vinaigrette]. For entrees, I had SEAFOOD PAELLA [Butter Poached Lobster, Prawns, Salmon, Scallop, Green Lip Mussel, Chicken Chorizo, Tomato, Bell Pepper, English Peas, Clam & Saffron Broth], while Sharon had BLACKENED SALMON [Seasonal Vegetable, Corn Succotash, Lemon Beurre Blanc].

Dinosaur Adventure with Lee

Keeping Lee overnight, Sharon and I took him to Dinos Alive.

Lee Overnight

Friday afternoon, I picked Lee up from school. It was a surreal experience. Drew and Morgan went to this grammar school. I haven't been back on the campus since 2001, twenty-three years.

Lee and I had a nice afternoon. We took Tiber for almost a mile walk. Lee led Tiber the whole way. We played with the Thomas trains for over an hour. After picking up the trains, we watched an episode of Big Beasts on AppleTv about Elephant Seas.

When Sharon got home, the three of us went to dinner at Serritella's. I had Lasagna [Layers of beef, Italian sausage, Ricotta, Parmesan, and Mozzarella topped with meat sauce. Sharon and I split a pizza (half cheese and half vegetarian.

After giving Lee a bath, we finished the night watching more Big Beasts: giant South American River Otters and Gorillas. Reading him a couple of books, he crashed hard about 8:30 pm.

Only Murders in the Building - Season Four

Sharon and I finished watching season four of Only Murders in the Building. It is available on Hulu. We watched season one in January of 2023, season two in February of 2023 and season three in November of 2023.

Only Murders in the Building is a comedy mystery television series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. Season four premiered August 27, 2024. The series has been renewed for a fifth season.

Starring the trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, season four includes special guest appearances by Paul Rudd, Meryl Streep, Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy and Eva Longoria. Ron Howard also appears as himself in season four.

Charles (Martin), Oliver (Short), and Mabel's (Gomez) podcast becomes a hit and leds to a movie adaptation. Finding themselves entangled in another murder mystery, they travel to Hollywood.

While I really enjoyed the first two seasons, I didn't feel like season three was as good. Season four is better than season three, but not as good as the first two seasons. The first couple of episode for season four were solid, but it gets off track when they hide out at Charles' sister house. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the season and recommend it.

Decorating the House for Christmas

For the sixth straight year, [2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023], we started decorating the house for Christmas before Thanksgiving rather the weekend after. For a couple of different reasons, we are actually starting about a week earlier this year.

We spent Tuesday taking down the fall decorations. On Wednesday, I moved the fall decorations to the storage shed and dragged the Christmas boxes back. There are more than forty Christmas boxes of different shapes and sizes!?! It is going to take a week to get all of the decorations put up.

Anora

Late Tuesday afternoon, Sharon and I saw Anora at the Cinemark Century Arden. This is part of our annual journey to see all of the films that might be nominated for an Oscar. GoldDerby currently has Anora with the highest Best Picture Odds.

Anora is a romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Sean Baker. It stars Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn. It features a supporting cast of Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov.

Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

I didn't enjoy the movie and don't recommmend it. The second half of the movie is very tedious. While I think that Mikey Madison might be nominated for Best Actress, I am surprised that movie has the highest odds for best picture on Goldderby. Of the movies that we have seen, I still think that Sing Sing is the best. Anora would fall way behind Dune: Part Two and Conclave.

Dinner with Holly and Van

We were originally planning to play golf at Timber Creek with Holly and Van on Veterans Day. With rain in the forecast, we punted and got together for dinner at Paragary's Midtown.

For starters and salad, the four of us split BEETS & BURRATA [bosc pear · candied walnuts · balsamico · watercress] and a SLICED MUSHROOM SALAD [jarlsberg · parsley · lemon vinaigrette]. For entrees, Sharon had TAGLIATELLE [lamb ragu · snap peas · castelvetrano olive · mint · pecorino romano], while I had BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI [chanterelle mushroom · pepitas · sage].