RTH Gravesite

My dad died twenty years ago this month, 10 days shy of his 53rd birthday.

He is buried at the Masonic Lawn Cemetery, plot 253, in Sacramento.

Lake Almanor 2002

After the 2002 trip to Lake Almanor, I posted a number of pictures from the trip on individual web pages on my site. I took some time to recognize those pictures into an album on Google's new picasaweb site. The new Lake Almanor 2002 photo album can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/heringermr/Almanor2002

Photo albums are also on-line for the 2003, 2004 and 2005 trips to Lake Almanor.

Google Checkout

Google Checkout

CA Historical Landmark #594

Site of China Slough
California State Historical Landmark #594
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
The site of the slough, which formerly extended from 3rd to 5th Streets and north of I Street in Sacramento, is now occupied by the Southern Pacific depot. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 35.020 W 121° 30.020.

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



In the early 1800's, the slough was an arm of the river. As late as 1849, schooners coming from San Francisco would moor in what is now known as China Slough.

The history of the current depot site began when the railroad was deeded a wetland known as China Slough for its shops, and built its first shop buildings—wood frame ones—in the vicinity of Sixth and H streets in Sacramento around the fall of 1863. The railroad prepared for the present complex of buildings by driving pilings in four feet of water until the tops were at the water line, then filled around the pilings with granite riprap from Rocklin, California, then sand and silt from the nearby Sacramento and American rivers. The railroad then laid four feet of solid granite on top of the piles and riprap, and began construction of brick and timber buildings. The last of these reached completion and was occupied in 1869. By 1869, a total of 20 acres had been reclaimed from the slough and filled to four feet above the water line, a job that kept more than 100 teams of animals at work.

The following picture from 1878 was taken from 5th Street and I Street. The view includes China Slough, the bridge across the slough and the original train depot.



Residential homes and railroad shops were constructed along the shores of Sutter Slough (also known as Sutter Lake, China Lake or China Slough), which bordered the Alkali Flat neighborhood. At its peak, Central Pacific employed more than 10,000 Chinese workers; many settled along I Street and the shoreline of Sutter Slough (later known as China Slough).

Historical accounts claim that a widespread stench seemed to hover over large sections of Sacramento, the most oppressive stench seemed to come from the stagnant Sutter slough. The lake became a receptacle for filth and garbage of every description and even the dumping ground for railroad scrap including worn-out locomotives and cars. [See An Economic History of Alkali Flat]

In 1876, the city passed Ordinance No. 93, marking the first action by the City of Sacramento to regulate solid waste disposal. This ordinance prohibited the dumping of garbage in Sutter Slough and China Slough.

In the early 1900's, the railroad started work on the current depot. In order to minimize disruption to current traffic, and to allow for a completely new track arrangement to be constructed, a site for the new depot was chosen just to the southeast of the old Arcade Station. Soon, SP had begun work on filling in what was left of the old China Slough, where the new depot was to be sited. Tons of sand and rubble were dumped along the slough’s southern shore (near Fifth and "I" streets), and company engineers were brought in to begin the task of settling on new trackage alignments and general facilities arrangement.

By 1910, the railroad had filled China Slough.

The following map from the late 1800's shows the slough.


Here is a current map showing the location of the site.


View Larger Map

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

Bad Girls Wine Tasting

Sharon, Janie and Jeana spent the day in Napa. They went wine tasting at Peju Winery and Hall Wines in the morning. They had lunch at The Market in St. Helena. After lunch, they made stops at the Lamborn Family Vineyard and St. Supery Vineyards.

U.S. citizenship test

Could you pass the U.S. citizenship test?

What women can't do in public

What women can't do in public!

A clever idea for a commercial...

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KML of 19 mile run

I built a Google Earth KML of the my 19 mile run on Father's Day weekend. You can load it into Google Earth and fly along the route of the run besides the American River; this is very cool!

KC-135 Refueling C-5

Google Earth Blog : KC-135 Caught Refueling C-5 Galaxy in Mid-Air in Google Earth!

Good-bye Magic Mountain?

Good-bye Magic Mountain? Six Flags puts six parks up for sale or closure

Pics from 6-14-2006 Concert

Here are a couple of pictures from Drew's June 14, 2006 concert on the UCI Campus in the Nixon Theater.

 
 

Graduation Party

We spent the afternoon and evening at Sharon's brother Tom's house. They had a party for Eric's graduation from eighth grade at St. Ignatius and Kevin's graduation from high school at Jesuit.

Moblog At the Tom Frame's

At the Pool Party

Lake Almanor 2005

I never got around to organizing a photo album of pictures from last year's week at Lake Almanor. I used Google's new Picasaweb to post a set of Almanor 2005 pictures.

I was definitely had a theme last year. My goal was to take a picture of each of the dad's with their kids. The series is missing only Becky who did not go last year and Bob with Adam, Carol and Jenny.

Jason Williams

From Bill Simmon's column, third weirdest moment of the night [that the Heat won the NBA championship], seeing Jason Williams celebrate on the championship podium. It was like seeing Rob Schneider on stage at the Oscars. I can't wait to buy his ring on eBay in eight years.

California Historical Landmark #342

Site of Santa Cruz Mission
California State Historical Landmark #342
See this location on Google Maps
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
This landmark is located in Plaza Park at the northeast corner of Emmet and Mission Streets, Santa Cruz County, California. There are 7 other California State Historical Landmarks in Santa Cruz County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 36° 58.677 W 122° 01.789.

A list of California missions is here. The missions that I have visited are highlighted in red.

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

Mision la Exaltación de la Santa Cruz, the 12th Franciscan Mission, was consecrated by Father Fermín Lasuén in August 1791. In 1793 the adobe church was built where the Holy Cross Catholic Church is now located. The mission was damaged by several earthquakes and finally collapsed in 1857. Plaza Park is located at the center of the mission complex which contained 32 buildings at the time of its secularization in 1834, the last building remains on School Street.

Santa Cruz County

California Historical Landmarks in Santa Cruz County
{GPS Coordinates of Site Location}
*NO. 342 Site of Mission Santa Cruz - [map] - {36.978,-122.02989}
NO. 449 GLENWOOD
NO. 469 SITE OF CENTER OF VILLA DE BRANCIFORTE
NO. 583 FELTON COVERED BRIDGE
NO. 827 BIG BASIN REDWOODS STATE PARK
NO. 860 SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE
*NO. 983 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - [map] - {36.96365,-122.016667}
NO. 998 RANCHO SAN ANDRES CASTRO ADOBE

List of California Counties

Elk Grove

Although there is some debate about the data, Elk Grove, California, had the nation’s fastest growth rate among large cities (100,000 or more population) between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, according to new U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. It was joined on the list of the 10 fastest-growing cities by three others in California: Moreno Valley (ranking sixth), Rancho Cucamonga (seventh) and Irvine (10th). These three cities are each located in southern California.

To Georgetown

After work, I headed up to Georgetown. Drew is spending this week in a cabin just outside Georgetown working on a new album. Larkin and I met Drew and his friends Dan, Kellen and Eric at the Georgetown Hotel. After hanging out there for a while, I took them to dinner at Parra's Mexican Restaurant.

After dinner, I went back to the cabin and listened to a couple of the new songs. I enjoyed having a chance to spend some more time with Drew.

Drew, Dan, Kellen and Eric

2006 Best Places to work in IT

For the 4th Year in a row, Sutter Health System Support (SHSS) Information Technology has been rated as one of the top 100 places to work for IT professionals.

Out of the top 100, Sutter Health ranked 42th!

The honor is part of the weekly newspaper Computerworld's 13th annual Best Places to Work in IT survey, which ranks the top 100 work environments for technology professionals using the categories of benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention.

Swimming Lessons 2006

Jack started two weeks of swimming lessons. He did very well in his first lesson. As I have said repeatedly in the past, [2005, 2004 and 2003], I believe that being comfortable in the water and a strong swimmer are extremely important.

P.S. to Saturday's Run

Physically, I felt strong after the 19 mile run on the American River Parkway on Saturday. I ran lightly on the treadmill on Sunday, while Jack and I watched a TIVOed version of the USA versus Italy soccer game. At lunch today, I went out for my normal run. I covered the first five miles with splits of 9:39, 9:25, 9:34, 9:26 and 9:30. I picked up the pace and was able to carry an 8:32 pace for both of the last two miles.

Father's Day 2006

Drew ending up spending the night with us after the baseball game. We had a nice Father's day breakfast with Drew and Jack.

 

Data from yesterday's run

A couple of maps and graphs from yesterday's 19 mile run are shown below. Looking at the speed chart, I actually carried pretty good pace through the 17 mile, but walked as much as I ran over the last two miles. Part of my goal for yesterday was to try and figure out what pace I am capable of carrying over longer distances.

click on the map or chart for a larger copy!

2006 Rivercats versus Rainiers

I got a big block of tickets for the Rivercats game through work. We invited a couple of families from Jack's class, the Cunningham's and Drew. Drew brought his friend Eric with him. We ended up with 16 people.

Scoring in every inning they batted except the first, the Rivercats won the game by a score of 11 to 1. Every River Cats starter had at least one hit and one run.

We stayed until the end and enjoyed the fireworks after the game.

2006 Moblog Rivercats vs Rainiers

18.97 miles

I ended up running 18.97 miles in 3:16:23 for an average pace of 10:21. It was warm; it was 78 degrees when I started out and 92 degrees when I met Sharon and Jack at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. I walked parts of the last three miles. I was worried about killing myself in the heat.

Mile 14.98

Mile 9.47

Out for a 3 hour run

Nathan Wallen

Nathan Wallen graduates from high school today. He will be going to Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in the fall. Although it is a Division III school without scholarships, the school recruited Nathan to play baseball.

Picasa Web Albums

Over the last several months, Google has been on a tear adding new web based applications, including a spreadsheet, a calendar and a word processor.

For more than two years, I have used another product that Google acquired--Picasa--to manage all of my digital photos. Yesterday, Google announced a complementary on-line service called Picasa Web Albums. This new service allows you to quickly build on-line photo albums.

I used to site to build a photo album of some of the pictures that I took wandering around New York City in May. You can find the photo album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/heringermr/NewYorkCityMay62006

CA Historical Landmark #162

Site of Mokelumne City
California State Historical Landmark #162
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located 200 feet north of intersection of Cameron Road and Thornton Road, 3 miles north of Thornton, California in San Joaquin County. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 15.149 W 121° 26.312.

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


Established in 1850, its prospects were bright. The second largest town in the county, it had deep water communication with San Francisco all year round, an advantage not possessed by any other town in the county except Stockton. The floods of 1862 destroyed the town.

Finishing Junior Year plus!

Drew finished up finals and a paper today to put a wrap on his junior year in college.

In addition to working on a new album, serving as a counselor at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp again and going to Almanor, he has a number of concert dates scheduled for the summer. There is a list of all Drew's [Andrew Heringer's] upcoming shows on his myspace web site. He is appearing tomorrow night at the Nixon Theater on the UCI Campus along with Helen Chance as the opener.

There are two new songs on his myspace web site: A Thousand Years and Stormy Weather. You can find the Stormy Weather song by scrolling to the bottom of the player.

Google Earth Beta 4.0

Google Earth Beta 4.0

Official Google Blog: Happy Birthday, Google Earth

Camp Invention

When I picked Jack up this afternoon, he was very excited about a new program called Camp Invention that they are doing this week at summer school. Camp Invention is a weeklong summer day program for children entering first through sixth grades. Each Camp Invention Create program contains five modules of curricula, including:

Problem Solving on Planet ZAK®

Science fiction has predicted many of today’s science facts. Problem Solving on Planet ZAK takes children into this wondrous world of science fiction. It gives them experiences that will enhance their creative and critical thinking skills in a sci-fi setting. Children use a variety of creativity tools, including attribute listing, forced relationships, and brainstorming through hands-on construction problems. The module is structured around a six-stage, creative, problem-solving model.

On the first day, children “reassemble” their crashed spacecraft from a variety of common objects. On the second day, they determine relevant weather data and design shelter or clothing for their stay on Planet ZAK. Day three features the use of problem solving to obtain an unusual, hard-to-reach food source. On the last two days, children design ways to launch their spacecraft in time for the “blast-off” countdown. Children add to the fun by making a science fiction movie where they write scripts to describe and evaluate each day’s work. Scripts, constructions, and solutions are presented at the Inventors Showcase program at the end of the week.

Spills and Chills™

Two leading manufacturers have solicited a group of talented designers and engineers (children) to design better safety features for their products.

As designers and engineers, children face numerous challenges during the week. On Day One, they improve a skateboard by making it safer. They test their new skateboard designs with crash-test dummies created from recycled materials. Over the next two days, children work in teams to build and crash test cars, while discovering the physics involved.

They continue their project by testing the structural components of their cars and designing a three-point safety belt for an egg. Then, the children customize their cars by adding new safety inventions that protect drivers and passengers. On the last day, the spills and chills roll on as they send their cars down the ramp and into the wall with the crash dummies in place!

With only five days to research, build, and test their new designs, will the team of designers and engineers be up to the challenge?

Imagination Point: Ride Physics™

Children are introduced to the basic principles of motion through hands-on activities related to rides one might encounter at an amusement park. Working as design interns for the world’s newest and largest amusement park, Imagination Point, they use their discoveries and imaginations to create prototypes of roller coasters and other rides. Before construction begins, they must first explore the science behind amusement park rides.

During the week, children explore Newton’s three laws. On the first day, they explore the first law of motion by conducting an experiment based on a magician’s tablecloth trick and participating in a relay race to understand inertia. Using this knowledge, they design the biggest attraction in the amusement park – the roller coaster! Newton’s second law of motion is demonstrated on the second day. Using balls of different weights, children discover that mass matters when two objects collide. Centripetal force is demonstrated by experimenting with spinning cups, adding the thrill factor to their roller coasters. Newton’s third law of motion is demonstrated on the third day. Children create bumper car paintings to illustrate that, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

They integrate Newton’s laws of motion with their unique ideas to design other rides for the amusement park. Next, children construct models of their rides, while on the last day, they share their rides with other designers.

AMAZing Games™

Activity and exercise meet creativity and invention in this energetic recreational unit. In AMAZing Games, children use their inventive minds to create exciting, new games.

Like any invention, games improve through modification, making them more competitive, challenging, and responsive to space and equipment limitations. In this unit, children play a variety of games in which they have a chance to change the four main aspects of a game: players, equipment, area, and rules.

I Can Invent™

Imaginations run wild in I Can Invent, as children create an “invention” either individually or in small groups. During the first two days, children participate in the Take Apart™ activity - the single most popular activity in the program. Boys and girls take apart broken or discarded household appliances such as clocks, radios, and telephones. However, before taking items apart, they learn how to use common tools and follow safety precautions. Using parts of these household items, children create a new problem-solving invention or improve an existing product.

Some inventions may work, but most are functional only in the imaginative minds of children. Important lessons in this module include how to keep an Inventor’s Log and how to obtain a patent. Children also market their fantasy inventions, creating advertisements and brainstorming marketing techniques. The culminating activity is a masterful display and oral presentation of these inventions to parents and other participants during the Inventors Showcase program at the end of the week.

Goalies Hate the New Ball

Why Goalies Hate the New World Cup Soccer Ball

Best Buildings of the Year

The 11 projects recognized with this year's AIA Honor Awards for Architecture include several museums and an equal number of libraries and government buildings.

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Jack Frame Photo Album

I put together an album of all of the photos of Jack that I have posted over the last two weeks.

Morgan's Boston Apartment

The view out of Morgan's Boston Apartment

Cars

After dinner at Bandera, we went to see Cars. Although visually absolutely amazing, I found the movie slow in spots.

Stone Lake Hike pic 1

Stone Lake Hike pic 2

Stones Lakes Hike

In the morning, Sharon, Jack and I took a 3 plus mile hike in the Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to the maps shown below, I built a Google Earth KMZ file of the hike.

click on the maps for a larger copy!

Moblog Stone Lakes Hike

2006 SHSS IT Golf Tournament

Sharon and I and Donna and Kevin Gainsley played in the Sutter Health Support Services IT Golf Tournament at the Forest Lake Golf course in Acampo. We shot a 73; +2 over on the front nine and +5 on the back nine. I probably hit the ball off the tee with my driver as well as I ever have.

The weather and the company were great. This is the fifth time in the last six years (2005, 2004, 2003) that the four of us have played together in this tournament.

Last Day of Second Grade

Today was Jack's last day of second grade.

Ratatouille

A new movie from Pixar, Ratatouille, is coming Summer 2007. This movie is being directed by Brad Bird, the guy who brought you The Incredibles and The Iron Giant.

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CA Historical Landmark #346

Last August on our way back from Lake Almanor, Jack, Morgan, Drew and I stopped at this historical landmark. At the time, we found the structure, but were not able to find the stone marker with the plaque. On a recent business trip to Yuba City, I found the stone marker right along Highway 99.

Sutter's Hock Farm
California State Historical Landmark #346
See this location on Google Maps
Fly to this location (Requires Google Earth)

 


First white settlement in Sutter County, on banks of the Feather River. Established 1844. General John A. Sutter retired to this farm in 1850. Partially destroyed by debris from mines in flood.

See this location on Google Maps
Fly to this location (Requires Google Earth)
 


This memorial is constructed of the original iron from the fort of Hock Farm, the first non-Indian settlement in Sutter County. Established in 1841 by John Augustus Sutter, the fort and farm buildings were located on the banks of the Feather River opposite this point.

New Album Summer 06

Drew [Andrew Heringer] is going back into the studio in Placerville from June 18th to the 23rd to record another album. One of the songs on the new album will be A Thousand Years. Drew sent me a version of this song last fall and a different arrangement of the song is heard in the following embedded YouTube video.

Morgan's Summer Schedule

Morgan's summer class schedule at the Berklee College of Music includes:

• ear training 1 (Mon-Wed-Fri)
• jazz/blues styles lab (Mon)
• intro to music tech (Mon)
• private instruction (Tue)
• writing skills (Tue-Thu)
• beg improv for voice (Tue)
• rhythm section grooves (Tue)
• harmony 2 (Wed-Fri)

Google Spreadsheets

I signed up for this morning for the limited test of Google Spreadsheets. I got an invitation this afternoon and then used Google Spreadsheets to put together a small GNATT chart for our disaster recovery strategy. Overall, I am very impressed with the product.

Jack's Funeral

We attended Jack's funeral mass. Sharon, Tim and Tom all got up at the end of the mass and spoke. Tom thanked everyone and painted his father with a broad brush. Tim spoke the longest and told his dad's life story. I am going to try and get a copy from Tim; I think that it would be nice to have this story for our Jack to read someday. Sharon got up at the end and read a Marianne Williamson prayer that she had edited. All three of them did a wonderful job.

Along with Brun, Jim, Eric, Kevin and Erin, I was one of the pallbearers. I have never been a pallbearer. As aside, by tradition, sons are not supposed to serve as pallbearers. We carried the coffin from the outside of the chapel to the hearse.

We then moved to the gravesite about a quarter mile from the chapel. We carried the coffin from the hearse to the grave. Due to the fact that Jack was a veteran, there was an honor guard and a 21 gun salute. Each of the pallbearers set the rose that they were wearing pinned to their lapel on the top of the casket. A bugler finished the gravesite service by playing taps.

After the interment, everyone was invited back to Rosemary's house. A fairly large group from the funeral came back to the house for lunch. The family plus Brun and Jim lingered into the late afternoon.

John (Jack) Herbert Frame

John (Jack) Herbert Frame

 

Rosary for Jack Frame

We attended the Rosary for Sharon's dad, Jack. Afterwards, the family walked across the street to The Waterboy for dinner.

John (Jack) H. Frame

John (Jack) H. Frame

Musselman Press Conference

Running on the treadmill yesterday afternoon, I watched the Sacramento Kings press conference to introduce Eric Musselman as the new head coach. Geoff Petrie spoke first and looked like dead man walking; his heart did not seem to be in it. It made me wonder about any hard feelings Petrie might still have about Adelman being let go and the negative impact that these feelings might have on the franchise in the future.

2006 Baseball Party

After Jack's baseball game was over, the team held its end of the season party and awards ceremony. The Cunningham's hosted the party at their house. Their son and Jack have played on the same baseball team together for the last four years.

The kids spent the afternoon swimming in the pool and eating pizza. They also got their trophies. The coach had some nice things to say about Jack. He noted that both in the field and at bat Jack carries himself like a baseball player. Unlike a lot of kids his age, he is very focused on what is going on around him on the field.

   

2006 Baseball Game #14

Jack played his fourteenth and last game of the 2006 baseball season. The season is 16 games, but one game was rained out and not rescheduled and we missed one game due to his first eucharist.

Jack had a great at bat in the first inning. He swung wildly at the first two pitches. He then settled down and fouled off five pitches before driving one into left center.

  

Jack in the CCC

Jack in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)  

Moblog Baseball Game #14

Eric's Graduation

We went to Sharon's nephew Eric's eighth grade graduation from St. Ignatius. Afterwards, we went to her brother's Tom house for a toast and then to Chinois City Wok for a late bite to eat.