Almanor 2005 Day 2

I spent some time messing around with the computers in the morning. A couple of utilities that I can normally use over the broadband connection were not working. As a result, I spent some time trying to figure out how to use some alternative procedures to post pictures and text.

While I was messing around, Tomasin took his boat out. Morgan, Drew, Jack, David and I ended up going out with Tomasin on his second run. I singled skiied, while David and Drew wakeboarded. Jack had expressed an interest in skiing, but when I got him on the back of the boat and started putting skis on him, he bailed.

Afterwards, a large group of the adults spent some time on the boat ramp visiting. We eventually got the entire group, all 28 of us, headed towards the hamburger hut. We usually avoid Lassen View on weekends, but with Mike going back for football practice on Monday, Tomasin wanted to go today. The resulting wait for food was epic. The place with packed with people who had not eaten yet. I believe that we ended up waiting for more than an hour and a half before we got our food.

As an interesting sidenote, the owners of the Lassen View Resort and the Hamburger Hut have sold the place. The area is going to be subdivided into lots.

With the wind picking up, we had a bumpy ride back to the cabins.

The Chabriers invited everyone for dinner at their house. We ended up spending the late afternoon and evening at their house. Chabrier barbacued hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken for everyone, while the kids played football and horseshoes.

Wallen and Nathan

Drew

David

Almanor 2005 Day 1

Drew, Morgan, Jack and I left Elk Grove about 11:30 a.m. heading towards Lake Almanor.  Every year, since 1988, I have spent all or part of a week at Lake Almanor.  We drifted up the valley getting to Dorado Inn about 3:15 p.m.  Hunter had come up on Friday and hung out at the Chabrier's.  Bob Wallen arrived about 1:00 p.m. and was already settled.  Everyone else arrived over the next two plus hours: the Snipes, then the Wallens, followed by Sharon and finally the Tomasins.

The excitement for the day occurred when Tomasin put his new boat in the water.  The Tomasin's replaced their old boat within the last couple of months with a very nice used Ski Centurion.  Unfortunately, it would not start.  Tomasin and I have a history of boat problems over the last twenty years.  Hunter and I wandered down and worked to help John troubleshoot the problem.  After about 45 minutes, We were starting to consider taking the motor apart when Tomasin and I noticed that the deadman's switch was not connected!

After a quick run down to yell at Charbrier from the lake, we headed back to the cabins to get a pizza order organized.  By the time, they got back to the cabins with the pizza, everyone was straved.  We finished the night having a late dinner on the picnic tables in front of the cabins.

Almanor Sunset

Drew and I

Morgan and I

Moblog Grildey for Lunch

Everyone together

With Drew away at college, it has been a while since Drew, Morgan, Jack, Sharon and I were all together. It was nice to have everyone here. While Drew entertained us with songs from his new album, Sharon made cornflake chicken for dinner.

Ten thousand superballs

Boing Boing: Ten thousand superballs rolling down a San Francisco hill-street

Object Bigger than Pluto

SPACE.com -- BREAKING NEWS: Object Bigger than Pluto Discovered, Called 10th Planet

Water ice at Martian north pole

Mars Express - Water ice in crater at Martian north pole

The Birth of Google

An interesting read - Wired 13.08: The Birth of Google

My Life 1971

1971

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

More Swimming Lessons

Jack finished up another two weeks of swimming lessons.

California Historical Landmark #335

A couple of months ago, I bought two books on historical sites in California. With my company spread around Northern California and my job taking me to many of the sites, I figured that I would occasionally stop and visit a site on the way there or back. With a trip to San Francisco planned for today, I thumbed through the books this morning looking for a short side trip.

I found a California Historical Landmark right off the freeway in Emeryville. When I started, I did not realize that this was a site that never had a plaque placed on it or how much recent controversy there was. You can get a feel for the history of the site and what has taken place in the last six plus years by looking through the information in the following links:

• City of Emeryville - South Bayfront Project
• Sacred Sites International Foundation - Preservation
• Emeryville: Filmmaker tells story of forgotten Indian burial ground disrupted by quest for retail
• Shellmound - a documentary film

Some of the old pictures are interesting. It is a area that has an amazing history both in the last 2,500 years and the last 150 years.

It is said that the Indians who came to this site camped just above the shoreline. The shells they threw aside from their catches of shellfish eventually covered some hundreds of thousands of square feet, marked by several cones.

Site of the Shell Mound
California State Historical Landmark #335
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located in the 4600 block of Shell Mound Street in Emeryville, California. There are 35 other California State Historical Landmarks in Alameda County.

Kings acquire point guard

Kings acquire point guard Jason Hart from Charlotte, trying to retain Darius Songaila is the next order of Business.

Off to Las Vegas

Up at 4:15 a.m., Sharon took off for Las Vegas. She is helping to negotiate a lease for a new store. On short notice, she had a hard time finding a room; she ended up staying at the Flamingo. It is amazing to me that Vegas is booked up even when it is 105 in the shade...

California Historical Landmark #745

Coloma Road-Sutter's Fort
California State Historical Landmark #745
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at northeast corner of 28th and L Streets, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.309 W 121° 28.224.

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



Sutter's Fort, established by Capt. John A. Sutter in August 1839, marked the western end of the Coloma Road. Opened in 1847, this road ran from the fort to Sutter's sawmill at Coloma. Used by James W. Marshall in January 1848 to bring the news of the gold discovery to Sutter, it was traversed later by thousands of miners going to and from the diggings. In 1849 the Coloma Road became the route of California's first stageline, established by James E. Birch.

Seattle Concert Date

Drew may be opening for Aimee Mann in Seattle on August 28th. The concert would be at 5,000 seat venue near the waterfront. He has just finished up his latest album. He and the producer are having copies made now. Hopefully, he can get it for sale on-line soon.

Tomasin 100th Pictures

A few pictures from the Tomasin 100th Birthday Party!

MSN Virtual Earth

MSN Virtual Earth

Lance Armstrong's Seventh

While Jack and I went to Mass, did the grocery shopping and other errands, Sharon worked most of the day on a lease for a new T0wer Record store in Las Vegas.

Like last year, we have spent the last three weeks watching the Tour de France. We have probably watched more than 60 hours of coverage on the Outdoor Live Network.

Andrea's Wedding

Up before 7:00 a.m., I headed back to Sacramento for Andrea Turner's Wedding. Andrea is Jack's godmother.

Andrea and Joey had a late morning wedding at Saint Anthony's Parish Church. Although the moblog picture does not do it justice, it is an interesting church architecturally.

The reception was held at the Loin's Gate Hotel. The hotel is in McClellan Park, essentially on the old McClellan Air Force Base. It was a very nice setting.

With a rushed day on Friday and a little over four hours sleep, I was dead by the time we got home from the reception.

Moblog Andrea's Wedding

Tomasin's 100th Party

I spent part of the day heading to meeting at the Sutter Santa Rosa Hospital. I had an afternoon meeting with the IT Director to talk about help desk services.

Afterwards, I checked into a nearby Hilton and went out for a short run. Wallen had flown in to Oakland and rented a car. He spent the late afternoon fighting his way through travel to Santa Rosa. He finally got to the hotel about 5:45 p.m.

With both John and Julie turning 50 this year, they decided to throw a 100th birthday party. They held the party at the Mary Agatha Furth Center in Windsor. The evening included hors d’oeuvres, a buffet dinner, a live band and lots of dancing. In total, Tomasin and I speculated that there were probably more than 125 people. The Davis Mafia was represented by Hunter, Geselbracht, Wallen, Connor (plus Nicole) and I.

It was a great party. Both John and Julie got up and read poems that they had written to each other. The band ended up playing until about 11:30 p.m. A large group went back to the Tomasin's house afterwards. By the time, Wallen and I got back to the hotel it was after 2:00 a.m.

I posted two pictures (pic 1 and pic 2) from my camera phone during the party. I also took a number of pictures over the course of the evening and will get them organized into a photo album over the next day.

Moblog Tomasin 100th pic 2

Moblog Tomasin 100th pic 1

My Life 1970

My Life

1970

click on the picture for a larger copy!


This picture was taken outside the El Macero Country Club Clubhouse after my cousin Pete's wedding.

Giants versus Braves

Sharon and Jack went to see the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves at SBC Park. Like the last time he went, Jack was more interested in all the things to do in the outfield than watching the game; he loves the little replica of SBC Park that the kids line up to hit in.



The Giants lost the game to the Braves by a score of 4 to 1. John Smoltz pitched eight smooth innings for his seventh straight win. Smoltz is unbeaten with a 1.86 ERA and 47 strikeouts in eight starts since June 6.

3rd all day Budget Meeting

While Sharon and Jack spent the day at SBC Park, I spent nine hours in a budget meeting. This is the final of three all day sessions that we have had in the week and a half.

Google Moon

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

To Marin and Back

I spent a large part of the day heading to Marin and back. We met with the hospital IT Director and the support staff about help desk issues.

California Historical Landmark #999

Marin County Civic Center
California State Historical Landmark #999
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is in the Civic Center, San Rafael, California. There are 13 other California State Historical Landmarks in Marin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 59.802 W 122° 31.835.

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


The Civic Center Complex was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) near the end of his long career. The administration Building was completed in 1962 and the Hall of Justice in 1970. They are the only government buildings designed by the distinguished architect that were ever actually constructed. The project fully embodied Wright's ideal of organic architecture-a synthesis of buildings and landscape. In Wright's words, the structures were planned to 'melt into the sunburnt hills.'

To San Diego and Back

Sutter's CIO, CTO and I spent the day traveling to San Diego and back to meet with SAIC. The agenda for the meeting included: Next Generation Clinical Technologies; Thin Client Computing; SAIC Experience with Electronic Medical Records; SAIC Security Experience with the VHA; Clinical RFID; Managed Security Services; Service Oriented Architecture; Team Defend Training; and SAIC Experience with Wireless Technologies.

Hot Sunday

Sharon, Jack and I went to Mass at Good Shepherd and Sharon served as a eucharistic minister. The homily was given by Father Thomas J. Hagan from Eveche Gonalves, the Diocese of Gonalves, Haiti. He was a very dynamic speaker who talked partly about the quailty of live in Haiti.

As I have noted before, it rarely gets over 100 degrees at our house. We are about a mile and a half east of the main channel of the Sacramento River and almost always get a breeze in the afternoon.

Based on the weather station that I have in our backyard, there was only one day with temperatures over 100 last summer. Today was the sixth straight day that temperatures have been over 100 degrees!

Farewell to Mace's

Almost ten and a half years ago, Sharon and I had our first date at Mace's Restaurant. Mace's is closing at the end of July. Another couple, the Cunningham's, that we have gotten to know also had their first date at Mace's. The four of us went to dinner there on Saturday night. After dinner, everyone took a dip in their pool and spa.

We spent the day emptying out Jack's room and closet, sorting through the stuff and then putting everything back.

Map of Sharon's Hike

When Sharon hiked with Janie on Thursday, she carried her Garmin Forerunner 201. I downloaded the data from the hike and created the following map. From an elevation of 7,412 feet at Echo Lake, they climbed up over 1,000 feet and dropped down to Ahola Lake in the Desolation Wilderness.

click on the map to see a larger copy!

Another all day budget meeting

I another spent nine plus hours in a budget meeting. This is the second of three all day sessions in middle of July. It makes for a long day.

Echo Lake

Sharon and Janie took off in the late morning to Echo Lake. They took the water taxi to the west end of Upper Echo Lake and then hiked up into Desolation Wilderness to Aloha Lake. They covered about 7.5 miles round hike.

On their way home, they stopped at Strawberry Lodge for dinner. Sharon noted that the place has changed hands in the last few years and appears to have gone downhill. She was very dissappointed in her meal...

iPod Flea

iPod Flea

Wallen's 26th Anniversary

Today is John and Jill Wallen's 26th Wedding Anniversary! We had a great time at their 25th Wedding Anniversary Party last summer!

My Life 1969

My Life

1969

click on the picture for a larger copy!

Training to run with Wallen

I went out for my lunchtime run a little after 11:30 a.m. I set the virtual trainer on my garmin 201 for 7.50 miles at a pace of 9:15. I cruised through the first six miles with splits of 9:06, 9:04, 9:07, 9:06, 9:09 and 9:05. Starting into the seven mile, the growing heat, the pace and yesterday's work-out caught up with me, I covered the seventh in 9:40 and the last 0.5 mile at a pace of 9:29. Overall, I averaged 9:13, covering 7.50 miles in 1:09:07.

I have been increasing my mileage over the last six months. I have myself pointed towards a couple of events in late 2006 and early 2007. Additionally, as I told Wallen when we were in D.C., I have to train hard year round just to be able to run with him half a dozen times a year!

A second Tivo

About two years ago, I bought a Series 2 Tivo for the entertainment center in the bonus room. I have been very pleased with its extended feature set. It is attached to my wireless network. I can send the unit requests to record shows from anywhere in the world from the internet. I can transfer recorded material to my personal computer and burn DVDs. You can even edit the material once you get it to the personal computer. We have gotten so used to using it that we were frustrated trying to watch the Tour de France downstairs in the family room without a Tivo.

I got a second Series 2 Tivo for the family room tonight. At some point, I need to put together a network diagram that shows all the different devices we currently have on our home network.

Hot Afternoon Run

I was booked solid with meetings for the first part of the day so was not able to get out the door for a run until about 1:30 p.m. It was hot. I ended up running 7.05 miles at an average pace of 9:48 per mile. My splits were 8:56, 9:22, 9:32; 9:42; 10:11, 10:36 and 10:09. Although there was a little bit of a breeze, the temperature was close to 100 degrees. Under these types of conditions, I will carry at least two large bottles, one with water and one with gatorade.

Podcasting

About two weeks ago, Apple released iTunes 4.9. This version supports Podcasting. It now allows you to elect subscription options and download your favorite podcasts automatically.

On my sister's blog, she has been recommending a few podcasts and providing some pointers on how to get started listening to Podcasts with iTunes. One of her recent recommendation is the Discovery Channel "Chasing Lance at the Tour" podcast.

Isabella

While I was at the Cisco meeting last week, Sharon and Jack picked up a new cat at the Sacramento airport. Sharon bought the cat from the same Manx breeder in North Carolina that she had bought Peja. Sharon has named her Isabella. While she was in Boston, Sharon went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Mass

Sharon, Jack and I went to Mass at Good Shepherd and Sharon served as eucharistic minister. Afterwards, Sharon took food to her parents.

Mikuni's with the Bells

Saturday night, Sharon, Jack and I met Sherry, Matt and Madison Bell for dinner at Mikuni Sushi in Fair Oaks. Afterwards, we went back to their house for dessert. Drinking coffee, we sat and listened to Drew's new album.

Short Bike Ride

We took the bikes out for a couple of short bike rides in the morning. We explored a couple of bike trails in Elk Grove. Unfortunately, both trails dead-ended; One of them in the middle of nowhere. We ended up riding about 3.25 miles in 40 minutes.

Google Earth Hacks Forums

I am fascinated by the Google Earth program. After going to dinner, Sharon, Jack and I settled in to watch Stage 7 of the Tour de France. We have been TIVOing the live race coverage in the morning and then watching sometime later during the day. I downloaded the route for stage 7 and loaded it into Google Earth. As the race progressed, I followed the course in Google Earth.

All Day Budget Meeting

I spent nine plus hours in a budget meeting. This is the first of three all day sessions scheduled for the next ten days. Unfortuntately, we did not get finished with the first pass through everyone's budget and have to pick up where we left off first thing Monday morning.

TAG Meeting

I spent almost all day in a TAG meeting. TAG includes the IT Directors from all of the foundations and hospitals. At the meeting, the CIO asked each person to get up and introduce themselves and talk about one of their recent successes.

The IT Directors are customers of services that my teams provide. It was very gratifying that four directors got up in the meeting and talked about their biggest successes being data center and the help desk projects with my teams. PAMFs comments about the critix farm consolidation, MPHS remarks about the tandem move to the data center and SRMF's and Santa Cruz’s remarks about their help desk migrations in a forum of their peers were a huge win.

My Life 1956

My Life

1956

click on the picture for a larger copy!

Growth of a Nation

Animated Atlas: Growth of a Nation

Drew working on a new album

Drew is working on a new album. He stopped by on this way back from Carmel to use our broadband to download the latest mixes of the new songs from the producer. A couple of the new songs, Molly and Sit and Stare, can be found at Drew's Myspace music site.

2005 Tour de France Pictures

There are some great 2005 Tour de France pictures at the Graham Watson site. It has been updated every day with pictures from each stage.

2005 4th of July Party

We spent at the afternoon at a 4th of July party at the house of some friends. We swam in the pool, had dinner and finished the night with fireworks.

1st Annual Run 4 Independence

Sharon, Jack and I ran the first annual Run 4 Independence. Sharon ran the 5k, while Jack and I ran the 10k.

Jack was the youngest person to run the 10k!

After the 10k

At the finish of the 10k

At the start of the 10k

Boat Parade?!?

For the fourth year in a row, Sharon and Janie got together on the evening of July 3 to watch the boat parade on the river from the Virgin Sturgeon. Unfortunately, the boat parade was on Friday night this year!

Ninth Wedding

Sharon spent the afternoon serving as a wedding coordinator for Good Shepherd. She is starting to be a seasoned hand; this was the ninth wedding that she has done.

Drew stopped by in the afternoon on his way back from Irvine. He is playing tonight at the Woodland Opera House. He is opening for a band called Thomas Cunningham and the Locofocos. He is coming back here afterwards to spend the night before heading to Carmel.

Sharon, Jack and I went to see Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Over the last week, we have watched Episodes I and II on DVD and Episode III in the theater.

2005 Tour de France

Last summer, as Lance Armstrong was trying his record setting sixth Tour de France, we got into watching the race every day. We would Tivo the live broadcast in the morning and then watch in over the course of the day. We started today right where we left off last year watching Lance in the Stage One time trial.

Elk Grove's growth

Maps can't keep pace with Elk Grove's growth - sacbee.com: "Elk Grove, which today wins the distinction of being the nation's second-fastest growing city among those over 100,000 population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city grew 10.6 percent in the 12 months ending July 1, 2004, to an estimated 100,760."

world's largest catfish catch

Thai fishermen catch 646 lb. catfish believed to be world's largest

Gourmet Evening

Parents of one of Jack's classmates invited us to go with them to an event that they had purchased at a church fund raising auction. Over the course of the evening, the hosts served ten different small courses paired with eight different wines. The hosts of the event have a web site at Steve's Cook Book.

There were two celebrity couples: Dan Elliott and his wife and Tim Herrera and his wife. It was a very nice evening.

Another Wedding rehearsal

Sharon spent the early evening working as the wedding coordinator for a wedding rehearsal.