New Year's Eve 2005

Sharon, Jack, Morgan, Drew and I had dinner on New Year's Eve at Lucca's; the dinner was very good. Afterwards, while Morgan and Drew wandered off to separate parties, we went to visit Brun and Kim. We got home about 11 p.m. and Jack actually stayed up until midnight to ring in 2006 with Sharon and I!

2005 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

2005 has been an interesting year for us!

Sharon spent the first three months of the year exploring her creative side by going to floral design school. It was a treat to have fresh arrangements in the house every week.

Jack continued to enjoy sports. In January and February, he played in his first season of Little Dribblers Basketball. April and May were consumed by Little League. Jack played his third season of organized baseball. He moved up from Rookie League last year to Single A. In the fall, Jack played in his second season of soccer. His soccer team had 9 wins and 1 loss and he scored 11 goals in nine games. Jack also ran two 10Ks (Run 4 Independence and Run to Feed the Hungry) with his parents!

Jack finished up this first year in Cub Scouts by earning his Tiger Cub Badge and started on the road toward being a Wolf Cub. Cub Scout trips during the year included a hockey game and tours of a radio station, a fire station and a federal courthouse.

We had some great opportunities to enjoy our friends during the year. In February, we visited the Hoods in what has become an annual trek to Pebble Beach to watch the Pro Am. Mark pulled together a big group of the Davis Mafia to watch the Sacramento Kings play the New York Knicks in one of the suites at Arco Arena. In March, Mark spent a long weekend skiing with Larkin and a group of guys at Mammoth Mountain. In June, Sharon visited Angela in New York City, Liz in upstate New York and then Liz and Sharon toured Boston. Mark and John Wallen visited the Nooters in Virginia. High points of this trip included: Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Bertha's Mussels and a baseball game at Camden Yard. In July, we were privileged to share in the Tomasin's 100th Birthday Celebration.

Both Drew and Morgan continue to be active in the Arts. In March, Mark visited Drew in Irvine and saw him in Bat Boy, the Musical!?! In May, we saw Morgan perform in The Wiz and in June we flew to Irvine and saw Drew in a production of Seussical. Although he has been focusing on his Theater major, Drew has started to turn back to his roots, his music, in the last year. Drew has been playing dates in both Northern and Southern California. His album--& We Hope--can be found at www.cdbaby.com and on iTunes! We continue to be extremely proud and more than a little awed at Drew and Morgan's artistic accomplishments.

In May, Morgan turned 18th and graduated from Union Mine High School.

Mark finished up his seventh year with Sutter Health in July. For the 3rd Year in a row, Sutter Health System Support Information Technology has been rated by Computerworld as one of the top 100 places to work for IT professionals. Out of the top 100, Sutter Health ranked 12th! Additionally, InformationWeek ranked Sutter 98th out of the 500 nation's largest and most innovative companies in its use of technology.

For the eighteenth straight year, we spent the first week of August at Lake Almanor with the Tomasin, Wallen, Hunter, Chabrier, and Snipes families. Afterwards, Mark, Sharon, Morgan and Jack spent some time in Southern California taking in Marina del Rey, Venice Beach, Dodger Stadium, Beverly Hills and the Getty Center.

Drew started his junior year at the University of California at Irvine.

Morgan started her freshman year at Sarah Lawrence College. Sarah Lawrence is located in Yonkers about 30 minutes north of Manhattan. In addition to being able to wander New York City, Morgan has had an opportunity to experience the gorgeous fall colors and a real winter in the northeast.

Jack started second grade at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School.

In November, Drew turned 21 years old.

In the fall, one of Tower's attorneys left and Sharon finished the year working almost full-time for Tower Records!

Wishing you a happy new year,
Mark and Sharon Heringer

My Life 1990

Taken at Lake Almanor, this picture is one of the most poignant in the series. It includes everyone with their first wife; three of the six couples are now divorced. A majority of the kids in the picture are now in college! At the time, Morgan (left front in pink) was three and Drew (right front between David and Robbie) was five.

1990

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

Revenge of the Brick

Revenge of the Brick: LEGO.com Star Wars Animation

The Best Links 2005

The Best Links 2005 (kottke.org)

Explorer Console plus big kids

The last two years we have gone to the mountains for a vacation during the week between Christmas and New Year's. The plan for year was to stick close to home and work on a number of projects. After getting the mirror hung yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon working on replacing the cover to the console in the Explorer and getting ready for tomorrow's project.

Drew and Morgan came for dinner. Sharon made a great dinner of Cornflake Chicken. After getting Jack to bed, the four of us watched Mr & Mrs. Smith.

Wall Mirror plus big kids

When we were in Half Moon Bay for our anniversary, Sharon was admiring a lighted wall mirror in the hotel room. Jack got one for Sharon for Christmas. I spent the tiger's share of the day hanging and wiring the mirror!


 

Drew and Morgan wandered back in the afternoon. Morgan spent the night. She, Jack, Sharon and I played Sequence. After getting Jack down, Sharon, Morgan and I watched Christmas with the Kranks.

Christmas Card 2005

Memoirs of a Geisha

Sharon met Laura and Liz at Danielle's Creperie for lunch. Afterwards, Sharon and Liz went to see Memoirs of a Geisha.

ESPN NBA Power Rankings

The Sacramento Kings have falled to 25th out of 30 in ESPN's weekly NBA Power Rankings.

Christmas Day 2005

We had a great Christmas morning. Jack is still the perfect age for the holiday.



Sharon made a great prime rib for Christmas dinner; we cooked it on the rotisserie.

Afterwards, we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Eve 2005

Drew and Morgan dropped by in the afternoon.



Afterwards, we went to Mass and then to Sharon's parents. We celebrated Christmas Eve with Sharon's parents and her brother Tim's family (sans Kathy who was sick).

Andrew Heringer 12-23 Concert

After dinner, we met Liz at the Thistle Dew Desert Theatre for Drew's concert. It was a great show and we had a wonderful time. They played from a little after 7 p.m. until almost 10 p.m. with a long intermission. I walked off with one of their handwritten setlists which I will post with links to iTunes at some point. His web site is Andrew Heringer dot com! He will be appearing at the Woodland Opera House on December 29th.

click on the picture for a larger copy!

Moblog Drew at Thistle Dew

Spataro's

Sharon, Jack and I went to Spataro, a new Paragary's restaurant, for dinner. One of Sharon's passions is food. I have had the opportunity over the last almost eleven years to have a lot of good meals; this was not one of them. The calamari appetizer was soggy and oily and the main courses were bland and uninspired. Both Sharon and I agreed that we would not be coming back.

2005 Kings versus Mavs

Drew, Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Dallas Mavericks game. With Bonzi and Peja out, Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia started. I frankly had little hope that the game was going to be competitive. After falling behind in the first half by ten points, the Kings made the game close in the second half. Late in the fourth quarter, Nowitszki took over and the Mavs beat the Kings by a score of 105 to 95.

It was amazing to watch Nowitszki; all of his shots were nothing but net. Nowitzki had a season-high 37 points (14 for 23 or 61%), including 14 in the fourth quarter. Nowitzki scored 11 straight points in the fourth quarter that broke an 85-all tie.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Garica shot a three from the corner and I loudly screamed "don't take that shot." This got a big laugh from the crowd around us... Garica was 0 for 2 from three point range in the game; he is 4 for 32 (13%) from 3 point range for the season.

 

Moblog Kings versus Mavs

Wells, Stojakovic sidelined

With a record of 10 and 15 (14th out of the 15 teams in the Western Conference), I believe that any chance that the Kings had of salvaging their season and trying to sneak into the play-offs is officially gone! I am predicting that the Kings will end the season with a record 34 wins and 48 losses.

Kings' Wells, Stojakovic sidelined with injuries: The Sacramento Kings have lost two of their top players to injuries, with Bonzi Wells expected to miss at least three weeks with a groin injury and Peja Stojakovic out a week or more with an injured back.

Before the season started, Bill Simmons picked the Kings to finish 10th in the Western Conference with 39 wins and 43 losses.

Winter solstice

Winter solstice - Wikipedia

Writely

I am a strong believer in browser based applications. There are some very exciting things happening in this arena. One of the suite of tools that I have been using has been getting more press lately; the tool is Writely (www.writely.com).

Back in August, Techcrunch wrote a nice summary of the product:

Imagine Word, but as an ajax browser application that was free. And allowed tagging of documents. And you could set reader permissions for each document you create and allow others to edit the document, or just read it. That’s what Writely is.

It is a very functional word processor with most of the bells and whistles you’d expect - a range of fonts and styles, embedded images (up to 2 megs each), spell checker, etc. It has a fantastic wysiwyg editor. It also has an option to upload and/or save in Word format.

Writely built the core feature set with an ajax UI, and then they went a step further and added some cool web 2.0 stuff. In addition to naming a document, you can allow others to edit it, or allow them read-only status. Documents can also be tagged for easy searches later.

Writely is a highly specialized niche application built with ajax. Ajax allows this (and other applications) to act very much like desktop apps. Stuff like this must get Microsoft’s attention…How long will it be before a full suite of platform-independent ajax-enabled office applications becomes available? If all you need is a browser to open and edit these documents, the huge network effect enjoyed by Microsoft Office could simply vanish.

More information can also be found at the Writely Blog.

Google Zeitgeist

2005 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

Internet encyclopedias

Internet encyclopedias go head to head : Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries, a Nature investigation finds.

My Life 1989

From 1985 to 1990, I ran a number of distance runs, including two marathons, a twenty miler and an aborted attempt at a 50 miler. This picture of Larkin and I was taken during the American River 50; I wilted in the heat after about 35 miles. One of my goals is to run the AR 50 in April of 2007.

1989

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

At the Thistle Dew

My sister Lee Ann and her husband Dean went to see Drew at the Thistle Dew Theatre in Sacramento on Saturday night. Drew will also be performing there on Friday night, December 23!

Eagles Setlist

Here is the setlist from the November 19, 2005 Eagles Concert at Arco Arena. I have created an iMix playlist on iTunes that includes all but two songs; No More Cloudy Days and Heartache Tonight are not available on iTunes.

1.  Take It Easy,
2.  Witchy Woman
3.  Peaceful Easy Feeling
4.  One of These Nights
5.  New Kid in Town
6.  I Can't Tell You Why
7.  Lyin' Eyes 
     (Dedicated it to his first wife, the plaintiff)
8.  Boys of Summer
9.  In the City
10. Long Run
    - Break -
11. Tequila Sunrise
12. Love Will Keep Us Alive
13. No More Cloudy Days
14. Hole in the World
15. Take It to the Limit
16. Walk Away
17. Sunset Grill
18. Life's Been Good
19. Dirty Laundry
20. Funk #49
21. Heartache Tonight
22. Life in the Fast Lane
    - 1st Encore -
23. Hotel California
    - 2nd Encore -
24. Rocky Mountain Way
25. All She Wants to Do is Dance
    - 3rd Encore - 
26. Already Gone
27. Desperado

Christmas Party

Sharon and I spent the evening at the Cunningham's Christmas party.

30th Wedding Anniversary!

Today is the Larkin's 30th wedding anniversary!

December 2005 Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the December Cub Scout Pack Meeting of Troop 233. There were a number of activity stations, including taking their picture with Santa, making a frame for Santa picture, making a candy cane ornament, decorating a cookie and making snowman soup.

 

JibJab 2005 Year in Review

JibJab.com presents 2-0-5 George Bush's Year in Review

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

2005 SEAS Christmas Program

We attended the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School Christmas Program. Jack's class sang Silent Night and Must be Santa! The program was just the right length at about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Must be Santa

 

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code Movie Trailer

California Historical Landmark #439

Sheldon Grist Mill
California State Historical Landmark #439
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at the intersection of Meiss Road and Highway 16, 100 feet west of Sloughhouse. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 29.792 W 121° 11.840.

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



Site of Grist Mill built by Jared Dixon (Joaquin) Sheldon 1846-47 on Omochumnes Rancho, granted to him by the Mexican government 1843. Sheldon born in Vermont January 8, 1813, came to California in 1832. Sheldon shot July 11, 1851, by miners in quarrel over dam he built which flooded miners' claims.

It looks like this marker has been moved some time in the last ten years. Some sources and a sign on Highway 16 suggest that the marker is about a one mile south east on Meiss Road near the Consumes River. About two months ago, I drove to the end of Meiss Road looking for the marker; it is a very peaceful, secluded spot that seems a lot farther from Sacramento than it is.

strong run during lunch

I had a strong run during lunch. I covered 7.5 miles in 1:05:09 for an average per mile pace of 8:41. The splits by mile were 1-8:58; 2-8:49; 3-8:44; 4-8:44; 5-8:24; 6-8:15; 7-8:53; and the last 0.5-8:40.

Where is Keon Clark?

During the 2002-2003 NBA Season, Keon Clark played for the Sacramento Kings and started 11 games. In the fall of 2002, Jack and I went to a game where Clark was particularly active, including blocking a number of shots. For weeks after the game, Jack insisted that he had to have a Keon Clark jersey. At some point, I finally relented.

Clark was traded to the Utah Jazz during the summer of 2003, played 2 games for the Jazz during the 2003-2004 season and was never heard from again.

Jack still wears the jersey to bang around the house and as pajamas. Whenever I saw it, I would chuckle and wonder whatever happened to Clark.

In one of those twists of fate, I ran across a link to a recent article in the Toronto Star titled Keon Clark won't save the Raptors. The article starts "Off the hoops radar since '04, Keon Clark is alive and well..."

Georgia Aquarium

The Georgia Aquarium opened on November 23rd as the World's Largest Aquarium. With over 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water, and 100,000 animals representing 500 species from around the globe.

My Life 1988

This picture was taken in Mazatlan during Nooter's bachelor party! I previously posted a group of pictures from this trip.

1988

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

2005 Christmas Lights

I really enjoy the house at Christmas. This year, it seems like the Christmas season is passing too quickly. After church, we spent some time putting up a few last Christmas decorations.

Every year, I have slightly expanded the amount of lights on the outside of the house. For first time, I have added lights on the second story over the bonus room.

click on the picture for a larger copy!


2004 Picture of outside Christmas Lights

2003 Picture of outside Christmas Lights

88th Birthday

Sharon's family got together to celebrate her Dad's 88th Birthday. We ended up having an early dinner at Scott's Seafood and then went back to her parent's house for marble cake, pineapple upsidedown cake and presents.

 

Obituary: Robert Heringer

Obituary: Robert Heringer, busy volunteer in retirement

California Historical Landmark #804

Wolfskill Grant
California State Historical Landmark #804
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at the University of California Experimental Farm on Putah Creek Road about 1.5 miles Southwest of Winters, California. There are 13 other California State Historical Landmarks in Solano County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 30.279 W 121° 58.830.

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



In 1842 John R. Wolfskill arrived here laden with fruit seeds and cuttings. He was a true horticulturist and became the father of the fruit industry in this region. In 1937 Mrs. Frances Wolfskill Taylor Wilson, his daughter, bequeathed 107.28 acres to the University of California for an experimental farm. From this portion of Rancho Rio de Los Putos the University's research has since enriched the state's horticultural industry.

Wolf Den Meeting #3

While John and I were at the Kings game, Sharon took Jack to the December meeting of Jack's cub scout den. The boys worked on learning how to fold the flag [Requirement 2g] and made Christmas decorations and a gift [Elective 9b].

2005 Kings versus Rockets

John Cunningham and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Houston Rockets game. John is my RCIA sponsor.

Late in the 3rd quarter, the Kings lead by 14 points. Amazingly, the Kings were outscored 45 to 20 over the remaining 14 minutes of the game. During an 8-minute stretch in the fourth quarter, Houston scored 17 straight points. The Kings went 4 for 21 in the fourth quarter, including a couple of ugly airballs from Peja and Francisco García. When it was all over, the Kings lost by a score of 106 to 95.

After playing so well for almost three quarters, it was almost as if they sent a different set of players out on to the floor for the fourth quarter...

A glimpse into childhood

Anyone interested in a very small glimpse into our childhood can read my sister's weblog entry for my uncle's burial service.

Robert Peter Heringer

I went to the private burial for my uncle (one of my father's seven brothers) at the Old City cemetery. My sister, Lee Ann, and her husband, Dean, also attended. Afterwards, most of the group went to the home of Uncle Bob's oldest son (Pete) for lunch.

Robert Peter Heringer - In Sacramento, CA, on December 3, 2005. Husband of the late Isabelle Heringer. Survived by his companion Nellie Heringer; children Karen, Diana (Bob Schroeder), Robin, Pete (Judy) and Doug (Sandra) Heringer, grandchildren Brandon, Andrew, Matt, Libby, Megan, Sara and Adam, great-grandchildren Joshua and Lexi, brothers Lester and Jim. Bob had a deep respect and love for his country, community, church, friends and most of all, his family. He attended Stanford University for one year and graduated from UC Davis where he was the 1941 heavyweight wrestling and boxing champion. Bob was drafted into the U.S. Army during WWII and saw service in the European Theater from 1944 to 1946. Upon arriving home, he rejoined his father and brothers in the Heringer Farming operations. His agricultural interests included past president of California Sugar Beet Growers Association, District 3, member of the advisory board of the Bank of America for agriculture and a member of the Yolo County Planning Board. He was a superintendent of the Clarksburg Community Church Sunday School, sang in the church choir and was a commissioner for the Clarksburg Volunteer Fire Department. A Past Master of Franklin Lodge #143 F&AM, he was also a Hiram Award recipient and was a member of the Scottish Rite, Shrine Royal Order of Jesters. He was a Gold Coater for the Sacramento Camellia Association, a member of the Grandfathers Club, past president of the West Sacramento Rotary Club, and the Sacramento Pioneer Association where he was instrumental in the renovation of the Pioneer Hall. He co-authored books about the Delta Communities and dabbled in the arts. Friends are invited to attend a Celebration of his Life at 11:00 AM on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Clarksburg Community Church in Clarksburg. Private Interment at Sacramento Pioneer Cemetery. Remembrances preferred to Clarksburg Community Church.

2005 Kings versus Cavs

Sharon and Tim went to the Sacramento Kings versus Cleveland Cavaliers basketball game. The Kings lost their fourth straight game by a score of 102 to 97. It was the Cavs' first victory in seven trips to Arco Arena since March 19, 1998. The Kings are now 6-6 at home. Last season, they did not lose six home games until February.

Watching the first half of the game, I halfway expected the Kings to fire Coach Adelman during half-time and trot out John Whisenant (he coached the Monarchs to the WNBA championship last season) to start the second half. My prediction is that Adelman does not survive into the new year.

My Life 1987

This picture of Randy Wong, Larkin and I was taken at Candlestick Park before a Giants baseball game. I dropped a picture of Morgan in the lower right.

1987

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

'Podcast' Is Word of the Year

Editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected 'podcast' as the Word of the Year for 2005.

First Snow at Sarah Lawrence

In early November, Morgan sent some gorgeous fall pictures. This weekend, she sent an album of pictures of the first snow at Sarah Lawrence. I hope that she has some warm winter clothes!

Christmas Decorations

We spent the lion's share of the day putting up Christmas decorations, including decorating the tree. Every year that Sharon and I have been together, I have bought her an ornament for Christmas. Combined with all of the ornaments that the kids have made, it makes decorating the tree an interesting walk down memory lane.


 

More Bad Girls

Sharon and Janie got together with Jeana at her house.

Christmas Tree 2005

In the last two years (2003 and 2004), we have gone to the Cal Expo lot for a christmas tree. They have a large inventory of pre-flocked trees. This is the fifth year that we have gotten a pre-flocked tree. It is also the probably fastest that I can remember picking a tree. We walked through the tent and picked a tree in the first 5 minutes.

Moblog Xmas Tree Shopping

2005 Kings versus Heat

Jack and I went with Randy Wong and his son to the Sacramento Kings versus Miami Heat basketball game. The two boys are only a couple of months apart in age. The Kings just could not get over the hump in the fourth quarter and lost by a score of 98 to 87.

Jason Williams scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, including four 3-pointers. He looked a man on a mission to prove that the Kings were wrong to have traded him. Alonzo Mourning blocked seven shots. Peja Stojakovic was awful; he went 3-for-16 and missed all six of his shots in the fourth quarter.

At half-time, we met up with Larkin. Wong, Larkin and I appear together in the picture that I am going to post next week for 1987.


 

Dead Man's Chest

Trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on Yahoo! Movies

CA Historical Landmark #755

Corral Hollow
California State Historical Landmark #755
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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This landmark is located 1.5 miles west of I-580 on Corral Hollow Road. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin.



The Edward B. Carrell home was built here at the site of an Indian village on El Camino Viejo, an old Spanish trail. Through here passed the '49ers and the first mail to the Tuolumne mines, men and animals received food and drink at Wright's Zink House five hundred yards north of here.