Sunday, February 28, 2010

Updated Reading List

I posted an updated version of my reading list. My goal is to read at least one book a month; I have reached this target every month since I started the list almost 18 years ago.

Since Augusts 2008, I have been posting a short weblog entry for every book with some comments and observations.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus OLA

The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played the Our Lady of Assumption Cougars in the second round of the JV Championship Tournament. The boys got to play on the basketball court at the Jesuit gym. The Eagles had beaten the Cougars in December in the semi-finals of the St. Ignatius Tournament.

With the Eagles starting center, Andy, scoring 6 points (3 for 3), the Eagles trailed by the score of 8 to 7 at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, Andy got in foul trouble with three fouls in the first quarter and ended up playing only 4 minutes of the first quarter.

The Cougars widened their lead to 17 to 11 at half-time. Jack and Jacob scored the only points for the Eagles in the second quarter.

The Eagles starters put enormous defense pressure on the Cougars in the third quarter and held them to only 2 points. With Jack getting two baskets, Joe adding a foul shot and Jacob hitting a three late in the quarter, the Eagles tied the game at 19 to 19 at the end of the third.

Unfortunately, the Eagles offense ground to halt in the fourth quarter. The Cougars packed the key with a zone defense. The Eagles would swing the ball around the perimeter and drop the ball into the power forward and center, but they kept kicking the ball back out rather than going up for a shot. The situation was not helped by the fact that the starting center hurt his hand and did not play in the fourth quarter.

Jack eventually tried to create his own shot off the dribble; something he rarely does. As his parent, I was sure that he was fouled every time. The Eagles took only four shots in the fourth quarter; Jack took two and Jacob took two (including one three).

In the last minute, they finally called a foul as Jack was driving and he got to the free throw line. He drained both free throws, literally nothing but net. These were the only points that the Eagles scored in the quarter.

The Eagles ended up losing the game by the score of 23 to 21. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

I was very proud of Jack. When most of the rest of the team tightened up and would not shoot the ball, he continued to attack. Jack ended up as the high scorer with 8 points on 3 for 11 from the field and 2 for 2 from the free throw line. He added a team leading 3 steals.

At the end of the day, OLA's best player was better than the Eagles' best player and the Eagles did not get contributions from players who had been the Eagles high scorers over the course of the season.  Jack was the high scorer in both of the tournament games; he is only the fourth highest scorer on the team for the season!

I am not someone who remembers my dreams, but on Friday night I dreamed that the Eagles lost to OLA by the score of 20 to 18. I told Sharon, but did not mention it to Jack...

With this loss, the basketball season is over. I had hoped that the team would get to at least the semi-final game of the championship tournament. Nevertheless, it was a very successful season. Their record for the season was 16 wins and 4 losses.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus OLA Box Score

SEAs versus OLA - February 27, 2010
2nd round of the PAL JV Comp Championship Tournament
Game Log


.                       __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
OLA                       8     9     2     4    23
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton   7     4     8     2    21

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       20   0-2   0-0   1-2    0     1     1     0     1     0     3     2     1
Jack      20   3-11  0-0   2-2    0     0     0     0     3     0     1     4     8
Malcom    16   0-2   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     1     1     0     0     0     0
Jake      21   0-2   0-0   0-0    0     6     6     1     2     0     0     0     0
Andy      9    3-3   0-0   0-0    1     4     5     0     0     0     2     3     6
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     6    2-4   1-2   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     1     1     5
Chad      4    0-0   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     0     1     0     0     0     0
Connor    4    0-1   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
David     4    0-1   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     0     1     1     0     2     0
Anthony   2    0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     1     0     0
Aidan     14   0-2   0-0   1-3    3     3     6     0     0     0     2     2     1

         120   8-28  1-2   4-7    4     17    21    2     9     1     10    14    21
              28.6% 50.0% 57.1%

Friday, February 26, 2010

March Violets

I finished reading March Violets by Philip Kerr. I bought the book after hearing the author on the NPR Books podcast.

March Violets is essentially a detective novel, but with an unusual twist; it is set in Nazi Germany in 1936. It provides a fictional look into day to day life in pre-war Berlin and Nazi Germany at a key point in history. Plot elements include Goering, the Gestapo, the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens, the treatment of the Jews and the German death camps.

My major complaint about the book is the almost unbelievable amount of things that happen to the main character, Bernie Gunther (an ex-policeman turned private detective), in the last 40 pages of the book. The closing of book is definitely Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. While the plot twists do not seem as outlandish as The Lost Symbol, they came at you in a dizzying rush.

In spite of this criticism, I enjoyed it enough that I bought the second book of the trilogy after I finished the first book. I would give the book a solid B grade and recommend it as a nice interlude between more serious books.

California Historical Landmark #437

First Landing Place of the Sailing Launch Comet
California State Historical Landmark #437

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at the entrance to Mossdale Crossing Park, California. There are 25 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 47.242 W 121° 18.305.

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

The plaque is missing.


First known sail launch to ascend San Joaquin River from San Francisco landed here autumn, 1846. It carried 20 Mormon pioneers who founded New Hope Agricultural Project on Stanislaus. A yoke of oxen and span of mules were driven from Marsh's Landing (Antioch) by two men who followed a crude map drawn by Merritt the trapper. Two years later Doak and Bonsell operated here the first ferry on San Joaquin River.

California Historical Landmark #780-7

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Trinity

The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played the Holy Trinity Titans in the first round of the JV Comp Championship Tournament.

The boys came out really tight. They were 1 for 12 in the first quarter; an 8.3% shooting percentage. Joe was 0 for 3, Jack was 0 for 4, Jake was 0 for 1, Andy was 1 for 3 and Jacob was 0 for 1 (a missed three pointer). The Eagles defense kept the game close. The Titans led the Eagles by the score of 3 to 2 at the end of the first quarter.

With a number of substitutions, the Eagles started to push the ball in the second quarter. The Eagles outscored the Titans 10 to 3 in the second quarter and led by the score of 12 to 6 at halftime.

Over the last three quarters of the game, the Eagles shooting percentage increased markedly. They shot 11 for 27 (40.7%). After starting 0 for 4, Jack went 3 for 5 over the rest of the game.

The final score was SEAS 29, Holy Trinity 18. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Playing 15 minutes of the 24 minute game, Jack had 6 points on 3 for 9 from the field. He added 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Jack (the starting shooting guard) and Joe (the starting point guard) led the team in scoring with 6 points each.

The Eagles advance to the second round of the JV Championship Tournament on Saturday morning at Jesuit High School. I am pretty sure that they are going to play OLA. The Eagles beat OLA by a score of 20 to 16 in the St. Ignatius Tournament in December. They are going to need to shoot much better to win on Saturday!

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Trinity Box Score

SEAs versus Holy Trinity - February 24, 2010
1st round of the PAL JV Comp Championship Tournament
Game Log


.                      __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
Holy Trinity             3     3     5     7    18
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton  2    10    11     6    29

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       17   1-5   0-0   4-5    0     1     1     0     0     0     4     1     6
Jack      15   3-9   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     1     0     1     0     6
Connor     8   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     0     0     0     1     0     0
Jake      15   2-5   0-0   1-1    1     1     2     0     0     0     1     0     5
Andy      16   2-7   0-0   0-0    6     3     9     2     1     0     1     2     4
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     10   1-5   0-3   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     0     1     2
Chad       6   0-1   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     1     2     0
Malcom    12   1-3   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     1     0     0     0     1     2
David      7   1-2   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     0     0     0     0     2
Anthony    6   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     1     0     0
Aidan      8   1-2   0-0   0-1    1     3     4     0     0     0     1     1     2

         120  12-39  0-3   5-7    8    14    22     3     2     0    11     8    29
              30.8%  0.0% 71.4%

Monday, February 22, 2010

NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 17

With only 26 games left in the season (15 home and 11 away), it is going to be interesting to see if Westphal can shape the group into something resembling a consistent and competitive team.

The Kings dropped from 24th to 28th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of the 30 NBA teams, ahead of only the Timberwolves and the Nets.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings
The immediate impact of the Carl Landry trade? Sacramento just shook up the Sixth Man Award race by dealing for Landry to anchor its frontcourt, eliminating Jamal Crawford's foremost threat in the sixth-man race.

Hank and Pigeon - In the Ridge

Sunday, February 21, 2010

St. Mary's Crab Feed

Saturday night, Sharon, Jack and I went to the St. Mary's Crab feed with Tim, Kathy, Eileen, Tom, Becky and Eric. Sharon and her two brothers (Tom and Tim) as well as Tim's two girls all went to grammar school at St. Mary's.


Saturday, February 20, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus St. Philomene's

The St. ELizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played their seventh and final league game against St. Philomene's.

For the third straight game, Jack came out and had a great first period. He had 4 points on 2 for 2 from the field with two steals and two assists. Andy has also been playing very well over the last three games; he added 8 points on 4 for 4 from the field. The Eagles shot 8 for 12 (75%) in the first quarter and ran out to a 16 to 0 first quarter lead. The bench ended up playing the loin's share of the rest of the game.

The final score was SEAS 37, St. Philomene's 8. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Playing only 9 minutes of the 24 minutes game, Jack had 4 points on 2 for 2 from the field. He added 3 assists and 2 steals.

The JV Comp Basketball Tournament starts this week. I expect that the Eagles will be seeded 3rd or 4th out of the 16 teams in the tournament. They will be playing their first game either Tuesday or Wednesday night at Holy Family.

If they win their first game, the tournament moves to Jesuit for the weekend. I think that playing on a full size floor in a big gym at Jesuit is going to be a big shock to the boys...

St. Mary's Crab Feed Pic


St. Mary's Crab Feed, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus St. Philomene's Box Score

SEAs versus St. Philomene's - February 20, 2010
7th League Game
Game Log


.                        __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton   16     6    11     4    37
St. Philomene's            0     6     0     2     8
Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe        9   1-3   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     2     0     0     0     2
Jack       9   2-2   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     3     2     0     0     0     4
Connor     5   0-1   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0     0
Jake       6   1-1   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     1     0     1     0     2
Andy       9   6-7   0-0   0-0    5     1     6     1     0     0     1     1    12
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     15   0-0   2-5   0-0    0     2     2     1     1     0     0     0     6
Chad      15   1-6   0-0   0-0    1     0     1     0     1     0     1     0     2
Malcom    10   0-3   0-0   1-2    3     1     4     0     0     1     1     0     1
David     13   1-3   0-0   0-2    1     1     2     0     1     0     0     1     2
Anthony   14   1-2   0-0   0-0    1     2     3     0     0     1     0     0     2
Aidan     15   2-5   0-0   0-0    2     6     8     0     0     0     1     1     4

         120  15-33  2-5   1-4   13    17    30     5     8     2     5     3    37
              45.5% 40.0% 25.0%

Friday, February 19, 2010

Report card time: Grading the NBA trades

While I agree that it was time to trade Kevin Martin, it seems to me that the Kings should have been able to get a little more for him than Carl Landry...

Report card time: Grading the trades - John Hollinger hands out trade-by-trade, team-by-team marks

New York trades Larry Hughes to Sacramento, and Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, a top-5 protected 2012 first-round pick and the right to swap first-rounders in 2011 to Houston (top-1 protected);

Houston sends Tracy McGrady to New York, and Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey to Sacramento; Sacramento sends Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong to Houston, and Sergio Rodriguez to New York.

View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine
KINGS:

We had been hearing for a while that the Kings weren't looking to trade Martin, but that belied the on-court reality that he and Tyreke Evans go together like peanut butter and onions. And once they pulled the trigger, the Kings got exactly what they were looking for: cap relief and a young, productive, inexpensive power forward in Landry.

More importantly, the deal positions Sacramento (stop me if you've heard this before) to be a major player in the free-agent market. As a result of deals in the past 48 hours, the Kings, Clippers, Wizards and Bulls all have positioned themselves to offer a maximum free-agent contract, while the Knicks now can offer two maximum deals. In the Kings' case, they probably will take a more piecemeal approach -- LeBron ain't coming to Sacto, folks. But if they can add a young point guard to build around with Evans, Omri Casspi, Landry, Thompson and Hawes, they should be in good position to turn things around.


Grade: B+

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

California Historical Landmark #780-7

First Transcontinental Railroad
Site of the Completion of Pacific Railroad

California State Historical Landmark #780-7

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at the entrance to Mossdale Crossing Park, California. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 47.242 W 121° 18.305.

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

The plaque is missing.


The construction of the San Joaquin River bridge completed the last link of the transcontinental railroad. Building has proceeded simultaneously from the bay area and Sacramento to meet at the San Joaquin River. The first train crossed the bridge on September 8, 1869.

California Historical Landmark #780-7

Outlaws 11U versus Dawgs 11U Box Score

February 14, 2010 - Dawgs versus Outlaws

.                       1     2    3    4    5    6    R    H    E
     Dawgs              1     1    0    0    4    0    6    5    2
     Outlaws            1     5    0    0    0    0    6    3    3

  #  Hitter            POS   AB    R    H   RBI  BB   SO   #P
  5  Cooper           6/4/7   2    1    0    1    0    1   14
  4  AD                4/6    2    0    0    1    0    0   12
  7  Patrick            5     3    0    0    0    0    1   14
  3  Congress          3/1    3    0    0    0    0    1   12
 55  Jeremy             2     3    1    1    0    0    1   14
 10  Jordan            EH/5   1    1    0    0    1    0   16
 00     Greysen         5     0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 33  Jack               8     1    1    1    0    2    0   11
 22  Trevor             9     2    1    0    1    1    0   17
  2  Matthew          7/EH/4  2    1    1    1    0    0   11
  1  James            1/7/EH  0    0    0    1    1    0    5

                             19    6    3    5    5    4  126

Cooper and Jeremy reached base on errors by the pitcher and third baseman, respectively.

Cooper had a sacrifice bunt in the second inning.

Jordan, James and AD were each hit by a pitch to reach first.

James was charged with two errors: one when he was pitching and the other while
he was played left field.  Cooper was charged with an error when he was playing
second base.

     Pitcher            IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HBP ST-PC
  1  James              4     2    2    2    4    2    2  30-65
  3  Josh               2     3    4    2    0    3    0  21-34

                        6     5    6    4    4    5    2  51-99

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

2010 Kings versus Celtics

Larkin and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Boston Celtics NBA Basketball game. With the Kings missing six free throws in the last 1:30, the Kings lost by the score of 95 to 92.

I continue to be dissappointed in Kevin Martin's play.  He had 11 points on 3 for 10 from the field and 0 for 3 from three point range.  Martin did not play in the fourth quarter until the last 15 seconds!

Omri Casspi led the Kings with 19 points on 7 for 13 from the field and 3 for 5 from three point range.  Unfortunately, Casspi was only 2 for 6 from the free throw line.  Tyre Evans added 17 points on 5 for 13 from the field, 1 for 2 from three point range and 6 for 10 from the free throw line.  Evans added 7 assists and a career high 11 rebounds.

Overall, the Kings were 19 for 30 (63%) from the free throw line.  The Kings poor free throw shooting cost them the game.

Rasheed Wallace and Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 17 points each.  The Celtics only shot 37.5% from the field.  Their poor shooting almost cost them the game!

Outlaws 11U versus Bulldogs 11U Box Score

February 15, 2010 - Outlaws versus Bulldogs

.                       1     2    3    4    5    6    R    H    E
     Outlaws            0     0    0    0    X    X    0    2    3
     Bulldogs           4     3    5    X    X    X   12   12    3


  #  Hitter            POS   AB    R    H   RBI  BB   SO   #P
  5  Cooper            8/4    2    0    1    0    0    0    5
  4  AD                6/1    2    0    0    0    0    0   11
  3  Josh               2     2    0    0    0    0    1    4
 55  Jeremy           1/5/8   2    0    1    0    0    1    7
  7  Patrick            3     2    0    0    0    0    1   12
 10  Jordan           5/7/5   1    0    0    0    0    0    3
 33  Jack             7/8/EH  1    0    0    0    0    0    3
 22  Trevor             9     1    0    0    0    0    0    3
  2  Matthew          4/1/6   1    0    0    0    0    0    2
  1  James              EH    1    0    0    0    1    0    7
 00     Greysen         7     0    0    0    0    0    0    0

                             15    0    2    0    1    3   57

AD, Jordan and Jack reached base on errors by the shortstop, 
third baseman and second baseman respectively.

AD committed two errors, one at shortstop and one 
at pitcher. Trevor had one error in right field.

     Pitcher            IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HBP ST-PC
 55  Jeremy            1/3    3    4    3    2    0    0  10-27
  2  Matthew          1 2/3   6    6    6    1    1    0  26-42
  4  AD                 1     3    2    1    0    0    0   8-11

                        3    12   12   10    3    1    0  44-80

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Miles Davis Quintet - Four

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Miles Davis Quintet - Four #fb

Code Expiration: May 14, 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010

2010 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #2 Day #3

Seeded fourth after the first two days of the tournament, the Outlaws played the Vacaville Bulldogs.  The Outlaws beat the Bulldogs 10 to 6 in Woodland in September.  As Scott noted before the game, the Bulldogs have been playing in tournaments consistently over the last five months, while the Outlaws took a couple of months off.

At the plate, Jack was 0 for 1.  In his only plate appearance, Jack hit a 0 and 2 pitch hard to the right side of the infield.  With Jordan moving on contact and Jack charging up the line, the ball went right through the second baseman into right center.  I scored it as an error on the second baseman.  Jordan went to third.  When Jack stole second, Jordan got picked off third.  Jack went to third on Trevor's infield out. Jack ended the inning at third.

Jack played 1/3 of an inning in left, 1 2/3 innings in center and 1 inning as the Extra Hitter.  While he was in the outfield, he fielded three or four hits through the infield routinely and got the ball back in quickly.  In the second inning when he was playing center, a ball was hit over shortstop in short left center.  Jack got a nice jump on the ball and made the catch look easy.

In the top of the first, the Outlaws had the bases loaded with one out, but they did not score.  In each of the first three innings, the Outlaws had a player thrown out at a base.  Cooper was thrown out at home in the first, Jordan was picked off third in the second and James was doubled off first in the third.  Outlaws ended up getting flattened.  They lost by a score of 12 to 0 in four innings.

In spite of the fact that Jack has not picked up a bat in six weeks, I was very pleased how he played.  He ended up getting on base five of the six times he came to the plate.  The Outlaws have a scheduled tournament the last weekend of February.  It is unlikely that Jack will play.  The JV Basketball Championship Tournament is the same weekend.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

2010 Outlaws Baseball Tournament #2 Day #2

With Jack playing a lot of basketball in January, we made a decision to shutdown baseball for a while. The Outlaws have continued to practice in the indoor facility and played a tournament two weeks ago.

The Eagles have fewer basketball games in February. So after some discussions with the Outlaws coaches, I decided to take Jack out for part of the tournament they are playing this weekend.

In the first day of the tournament, the Outlaws Baseball beat Bret's Muckdogs by the score of 8 to 6 and they beat the Danville Diablos by the score of 4 to 1.

Given that Jack has not picked up a bat in six weeks, I expected him to be rusty, but I was surprised at how well he did. Jack got on base in four of his five plate appearances.

The Outlaws played the Bandits in the first game. At the plate, Jack was 0 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored. In his first at-bat, he drove an 0 and 1 pitch hard right at the feet of the shortstop. Josh scored from third and Jack was safe at first. I scored it as an error on the shortstop. Jack ended up coming around and scoring on a passed ball. He struck out on three pitches in his second plate appearance. The umpire was calling low outside strikes all day. I rarely complain about pitches, but the called third strike on Jack was in the dirt.

Jack played two innings as the EH (extra hitter) and two uneventful innings in left field.

The Bandits beat the Outlaws by the score of 6 to 4 in four innings.

The Outlaws played the Tri Valley Dawgs in the second game.

At the plate, Jack was 1 for 1 with two walks and a run scored. In his first at-bat with runners on first and second, Jack laid down a punt. Jeremy had a great jump off of second. The pitcher fielded the ball and threw it to third and everyone was safe. Jack eventually scored on a walk to James. Jack walked on four pitches in second plate appearance, but got picked off first when he got caught leaning the wrong way. In his third at-bat, Jack walked on five pitches. He was still on first when the inning ended.

Jack played sixth uneventful innings in center field.

With the Outlaws giving up four runs on two errors in the fifth inning, the game ended in a tie with score Outlaws 6, Dawgs 6.

The Outlaws finished the first two days of the tournament seeded fourth. They will play the first seeded Bulldogs on Monday.

Outlaws 11U versus Bandits 11U Box Score

February 14, 2010 - Bandits versus Outlaws

.                        1     2    3    4    5    6    R    H    E
     Bandits             3     1    2    0    X    X    6    5    3
     Outlaws             0     3    0    1    X    X    4    1    3

  #  Hitter            POS   AB    R    H   RBI  BB   SO    #P
  5  Cooper            6/8    3    0    0    0    0    1    14
  4  AD                8/6    3    0    0    0    0    0    11
  7  Patrick          3/1/3   3    0    0    0    0    3    15
  3  Congress           2     1    1    1    0    0    0     7
 55  Jeremy           5/3/5   1    0    0    0    1    0     7
 33  Jack              EH/7   2    1    0    1    0    1     5
 10  Jordan            1/5    1    0    0    0    0    0     5
 00    Greysen          5     0    1    0    0    0    0     0
 22  Trevor             9     0    1    0    0    1    0     9
  2  Matthew            4     2    0    0    0    0    0     7
  1  James             7/1    1    0    0    0    1    1     8

                             17    4    1    1    3    6    88

Matthew, AD and Jack reached base on errors by the first baseman,
third baseman and shortstop respectively.

Trevor, Jordan and Josh were each hit by a pitch to reach first.

Cooper had two errors at shortstop and Patrick had one error at pitcher.

     Pitcher           IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO  HBP  ST-PC
 10  Jordan             0    3    3    3    1    0   1    6-14
  7  Patrick            3    2    3    1    4    1   0   34-77
  1  James              1    0    0    0    0    1   0    8-10

                        4    5    6    4    5    2   1   48-101

Celebrating Valentine's Day in Napa


Leaving Jack with Eric and taking off after the basketball game, Sharon and I headed to Napa for an early Valentine's Day celebration.  We spent the afternoon wine tasting in southen part of the Napa Valley known as the Los Carneros.  This appellation is known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; we focused on Pinot Noir wineries.  We made stops at Etude, Bouchaine and Domaine Carneros.  It was a gorgeous afternoon with temperatures in the mid-60's.

We finished the day with an early dinner at Tra Vigne.  We have eaten here several times before and Sharon made the comment as we were walking in that she had never had a bad meal.  We split lobster risotto and short ribs for dinner.  Frankly, the short ribs were not very good.

After dinner, we headed home and were back in Elk Grove a little after 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Rosary

The St. ELizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played their sixth league game against Holy Rosary.

For the second straight game, Jack had a great first period. He had 6 points on 3 for 6 from the field. Jake added 6 points in the quarter on 3 for 3 from the field. With Joe getting four assists, the Eagles ran out to a 18 to 7 first quarter lead and never looked back. The bench played all of the second and fourth quarters.

The final score was SEAS 52, Holy Rosary 9. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Jack had 8 points on 4 for 11 from the field. He added 1 rebound, 2 assists and 8 steals! Jack and Joe were putting enormous pressure on the Holy Rosary guards. Several of Jack's missed shots in the third period were layups off of steals where he got hammered, but no foul was called. With the game a blow-out, the referees were letting the kids play.

Coming off the bench, Andy had a second straight monster game at center. He had 11 points on 5 for 9 from the field with 11 rebounds.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Rosary Box Score

SEAs versus Holy Rosary - February 13, 2010
6th League Game
Game Log


.                          __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton     18    13    10    11    52
Holy Rosary                  7     2     0     0     9

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       12   2-7   0-0   0-0    1     1     2     5     1     0     1     0     4
Jack      12   4-11  0-0   0-0    1     1     2     2     8     0     0     1     8
Connor    11   1-1   0-0   0-2    1     2     3     0     0     0     1     0     2
Jake      12   5-6   0-0   0-0    1     1     2     1     3     1     0     1    10
Aidan     15   4-7   0-0   0-2    3     3     6     1     1     1     0     0     8
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     12   1-3   1-1   0-0    1     0     1     3     1     0     2     1     3
Chad      12   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     4     1     0     0     0     0
Malcom    12   3-6   0-0   0-2    1     2     3     0     0     0     3     0     6
Anthony   10   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     3     3     0     0     0     1     0     0
Andy      12   5-9   0-0   1-5    4     7    11     1     0     0     0     1    11

         120  25-50  1-1   1-11  13    21    34    17    15     2     8     4    52
              50.0% 100.0% 9.1%

Outlaws 11U versus Diablos 11U Box Score

February 13, 2010 - Diablos versus Outlaws

.                       1     2    3    4    5    6    R    H     E
     Diablos            0     0    0    0    1    0    1    0     3
     Outlaws            0     1    0    1    2    x    4    2     1

  #  Hitter            POS   AB    R    H   RBI  BB   SO    #P
  5  Cooper                   0    0    0    0    3    0    17
  4  AD                       3    0    0    0    0    2    15
  3  Congress                 3    1    0    0    0    0    8
 55  Jeremy                   1    1    0    1    2    0    12
 10  Jordan                   3    0    0    0    0    1    7
 22  Trevor                   3    2    0    0    0    0    6
  2  Matthew                  2    0    0    0    0    1    13
  1  James                    2    0    1    0    0    0    6
  0  Greysen                  1    0    1    0    1    0    7

                             18    4    2    1    6    4    91

Trevor reached base on errors by the pitcher and shortstop, while Josh reached base on an error by the shortstop.

The Outlaws first baseman committed an error in the fifth inning.

     Pitcher            IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HBP ST-PC
 55  Jeremy             4     0    0    0    2    2    1  28-53
  3  Josh               2     0    1    0    4    5    0  25-49

                        6     0    1    0    6    7    1  53-102

Outlaws 11U versus Bret's Muckdogs 11U Box Score

February 13, 2010 - Bret's Muckdogs versus Outlaws

.                       1     2    3    4    5    6    R    H     E
     Brett's Muckdogs   1     0    0    1    4    X    6    7     0
     Outlaws            0     4    0    1    3    X    8    7     0

  #  Hitter            POS   AB    R    H   RBI  BB   SO    #P
  5  Cooper             6     3    1    1    1    0    1     6
  4  AD                 1     1    0    0    1    2    1    19
  3  Congress           3     2    0    0    0    1    0    10
 55  Jeremy             2     3    1    1    0    0    0    12
 10  Jordan             5     2    1    1    0    1    0     9
 22  Trevor             8     2    2    1    0    1    0    12
  2  Matthew            4     2    2    2    0    1    0    10
  1  James              7     3    1    1    2    0    0     8
  0  Greysen            9     1    0    0    0    1    0    10

                             19    8    7    4    7    2    96


     Pitcher            IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HBP ST-PC
  4  AD                 3     3    1    1    2    4    1  25-42
  2  Matthew          1 1/3   4    5    5    4    1    0  24-52
  3  Josh               2/3   0    0    0    1    2    0   8-15

                        5     7    6    6    6    5    1  57-109

Thursday, February 11, 2010

2010 Laguna Youth Baseball Tryouts

While I was skiing with Tomasin, Sharon took Jack to the 2010 Laguna Youth Baseball (LYB) Tryouts. This is the fourth year (2007, 2008 and 2009) that Jack has gone to the tryouts. This spring will be Jack's eighth year of organized baseball.

Jack has played an enormous amount of organized baseball in the last two years. Starting in March of 2008, he played spring baseball (Padres) followed by summer ball (Yankees), fall tournament ball (Gunners), spring baseball (Twins), the Cooperstown tournament (Gunners), the Northern California Cal Ripken tournament (LYB 10U All Stars) and finally another season of fall tournament ball (Outlaws).

Given that Jack was an all-star for the league last season, he has to play Majors this year.  Majors will be composed mostly of 11 and 12 year olds.

Talking to Alan, Gary, Greg and Scott, I made an attempt to get Jack as a protected player on a team.  I failed.  As a result, Jack will be going into the draft.  It looks like there are going to 10 Major teams in the league this year.

There are a couple of odd twists this year.  First, the 11 year old all-stars from last year are not returning to play as 12 year olds.  Almost all of them are going to play together on a tournament team, rather than play rec ball.  Joe, the starting point guard on Jack's basketball team, is one of these players.  Second, the local Pony league folded dumping a large number of 12 year olds in the Cal Ripken league.

As part of the tryout, Sharon and Jack said that Jack's throws from shortstop to first were not very good and that he hit one of the three pitches from the pitching machine.  Talking to a couple of the people who were at the first tryout, the talent was pretty thin.  It will be interesting to see where Jack goes in the draft and on which team he lands.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

California Historical Landmark #178

Site of the First Building in Stockton
California State Historical Landmark #178

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at City Hall, on Civic Street between Miner and El Dorado Streets, Stockton, California. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 57.433 W 121° 17.498.

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


California Historical Landmark #178

In August 1844, the first settlers arrived at Rancho del Campo de los Franceses. One of the company, Thomas Lindsay, built the first dwelling, a tule hut, on this site. He was later murdered by Indians and buried here by travelers. The Point was formed by the junction of McLeod's Lake and Miner's Channel.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

RunKeeper

I am playing with a new iPhone app called RunKeeper. It uses the GPS technology found in the iPhone 3G/3GS to track fitness activity. Runkeeper tracks how far you went, how long it took, what your pace/speed was, how many calories you burned and the path you traveled on a map. When you are finished with the workout, it automatically unloads the information to a web site. It is not as accurate as the Garmin 305 that I carry, but I love how easy it is to create maps!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Angelique Kidjo - Cold Sweat

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Angelique Kidjo - Cold Sweat #fb

Code Expiration: May 7, 2010

Monday, February 08, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs Eagles Season To Date Statistics

Since January 1, 2010

.                                      Rebounds           Miscellaneous
  Name      GP    GS   MIN   PTS   OFF    DEF   TOT   AST    SLT   BLK    TO   A/TO    PF
Joe         12    11   155    79     3     13    16    12     32     0    17   0.71    21
Jacob       12     1   130    50     6     13    19     9     12     0    17   0.53     7
Jack        12    11   161    51     5     11    16    11     21     2    13   0.85    11
Chad        12     1   104    12     2      6     8     7     12     0    10   0.70     9
Malcolm     11     1   127    37     7     25    32     7     17     0    13   0.54     6
David       12     2   103    23    18     20    38     0     12     2     9   0.00     5
Anthony     10     1    78    18    13     14    27     0      2     0     4   0.00     6
Connor      11     9    91     7     3     21    24     0      5     0    12   0.00     7
Jake        12    11   157    62    15     23    38     2     15     1    12   0.17    12
Aidan       12     3   120    47    28     44    72     2     13     0     3   0.67    10
Andy        12     9   145    55    25     29    54     1      6     5     9   0.11    10

                      1371   441   125    219   344    51    147    10   119   0.43   104


         Fields Goals      3-Points           Free Throws        2-Points
  Name     FGM   FGA   FG%   3PM   3PA    3P%   FTM   FTA    FT%   2PM   2PA    2P%   PPS
Joe         33    81  40.7%    1     7   14.3%    6    17   35.3%   32    74   43.2%  0.98
Jacob       19    60  31.7%    8    22   36.4%    3     7   42.9%   11    38   28.9%  0.83
Jack        24    83  28.9%    0     1    0.0%    1     6   16.7%   24    82   29.3%  0.61
Chad         6    37  16.2%    0     5    0.0%    0     2    0.0%    6    32   18.8%  0.32
Malcolm     18    45  40.0%    0     0 #DIV/0!    1     3   33.3%   18    45   40.0%  0.82
David       11    49  22.4%    1     3   33.3%    0     0 #DIV/0!   10    46   21.7%  0.47
Anthony      9    28  32.1%    0     0 #DIV/0!    0     0 #DIV/0!    9    28   32.1%  0.64
Connor       3    12  25.0%    1     1  100.0%    0     0 #DIV/0!    2    11   18.2%  0.58
Jake        29    52  55.8%    0     1    0.0%    2     6   33.3%   29    51   56.9%  1.19
Aidan       24    45  53.3%    0     0 #DIV/0!    2     4   50.0%   24    45   53.3%  1.04
Andy        25    56  44.6%    0     2    0.0%    3     4   75.0%   25    54   46.3%  0.98

           201   548  36.7%   11    42   26.2%   18    49   36.7%  190   506   37.5%  0.00

NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 15

The Kings have 1 wins and 12 losses since Kevin Martin returned to the line-up in January.

The Kings dropped from 26th to 28th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of the 30 NBA teams, ahead of only the Warriors and the Nets.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings
Everyone loves the Kings' draft, but GM Geoff Petrie's best move might have been securing his contract extension when he did. The Kings had just beaten Denver at home to improve to 14-16. They're 2-18 since.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

15 years ago

Sharon and I had our first date fifteen years ago today.

Part of an e-mail that I wrote Nooter afterwards is here.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus St. Patrick's

The St. ELizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played their fifth league game against the St. Patrick's Tigers. The Eagles played Tigers in the first round of the St. Charles Tournament in January. One of the players on the other team, Cooper, has played baseball with Jack over the last year and a half on the Gunners, LYB All-Stars and Outlaws. Additionally, Cooper's dad, Rod, is one of the assistant coaches for St. Patrick's.

Jack came out firing. He was 4 for 5 in the first quarter. I think that he was partly motivated by Cooper being on the other team. With Joe, Aidan and Andy all going 2 for 3 in the first quarter, the Eagles shot 63% and ran out to a 20 to 4 first quarter lead.

I felt bad for Cooper. He was trying to carry the Tigers, but the Eagles size and depth (six different Eagles players scored 4 or more points) were just too much for his team. Jack actually blocked two of Cooper's shots in the first quarter.

The final score was SEAS 49, St. Patrick's 16. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Jack had 10 points on 5 for 10 from the field. He added 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Coming off the bench, Andy had a monster game at center. He had 12 points on 6 for 9 from the field with 10 rebounds.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus St. Patrick's Box Score

SEAs versus St. Patrick's - February 6, 2010
5th League Game
Game Log


.                           __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton      20     7    12    10    49
St. Patrick's                 4     5     4     3    16

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe        9   3-8   0-0   0-2    0     1     1     1     3     0     0     0     6
Jack      12   5-10  0-0   0-0    2     0     2     0     2     2     0     1    10
David     10   0-6   0-0   0-0    2     3     5     0     0     0     0     0     0
Jake       9   2-3   0-0   0-0    2     2     4     1     3     0     0     0     4
Aidan      9   4-8   0-0   0-0    3     5     8     0     0     0     1     0     8
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     12   1-4   1-1   0-0    0     4     4     2     0     0     2     0     3
Chad      15   0-4   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     2     1     0     1     2     0
Connor     8   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     0     0     0     1     0     0
Malcom     8   1-1   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     1     0     0     1     0     2
Anthony   13   2-4   0-0   0-0    1     3     4     0     0     0     1     2     4
Andy      15   6-9   0-0   0-2    4     6    10     0     0     0     2     2    12

         120  24-57  1-1   0-4   14    28    42     7     9     2     9     7    49
              42.1% 100.0% 0.0%

Friday, February 05, 2010

2010 Kings versus Suns


Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Phoenix Suns NBA Basketball game. Leading by 20 to 30 points for most of the game, the Phoenix Suns won by the score of 114 to 102.

Jack was happy; he is a Steve Nash and Phoenix Suns fan. From my perspective as a Sacramento Kings fan, the game was a mess. The Kings offense looked nonexistent, including no much passing, lots of long shots and players driving 1 on 3 to the basket. The team that I enjoyed watching in the first part of the season is nowhere to be seen.

Frankly, I am starting to blame Kevin Martin. He had 5 points on 2 for 9 from the field and 0 for 3 from three point range. In the Warrior game we saw last week, Martin was 1 for 7 from the field and 0 for 2 from three point range. In the second quarter, the Kings played Udrih, Evans, Casspi, Greene and Hawes and they looked much better than they did when Martin was on the floor.

Donte Green led the Kings with 31 points on 11 for 20 from the field, 1 for 3 from three and 8 for 10 from the line. Unfortunately, none of those points were in the flow of any kind of offense; they were mostly long jumpers or drives to the basket.

Nash was a force of nature. He is amazing to watch. Nash had 23 points in 32 minutes on 7 for 12 from the field, 4 for 7 from three and 5 for 5 from the free throw line. He added 10 assists and 8 rebounds. He did not even play in the 4th quarter!

I thought the Warrior game was slow and full of fouls, but this game was worse. While Warrior game "featured" 51 fouls, there were 58 fouls tonight. Jack took to calling it a foul-a-rama. The game lasted almost 2 1/2 hours.

The Kings have 3 wins and 4 losses in games that I have seen in person this season.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Playing in the Terrain Park at Northstar

California Historical Landmark #513

Burial Place of John Brown (Juan Flaco)
California State Historical Landmark #513

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

This landmark is located at 1100 East Weber Street at North Union Street, Stockton, California. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 57.352 W 121° 16.610.

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

California Historical Landmark #513

In 1846, during American conquest of California, John Brown -nicknamed Juan Flaco - rode from Los Angeles to San Francisco in four days to warn Commodore Stockton of the siege of Los Angeles, and troops were sent to secure the city. This 'Paul Revere of California,' who lived in Stockton from 1851 to 1859, is buried in the former Citizen's Cemetery near this site.

California Historical Landmark #513

Monday, February 01, 2010

2010 Northstar Day 3

Compared to Sunday morning, Tomasin and I got a much earlier start to the day on Monday. After I wandered the village looking for eggs, we had a quick breakfast and jumped on the gondola.

We were skiing by 9:15 a.m. With essentially no lift lines, we skied under the Comstock chair for about an hour. Just as we were about to switch over to the Backside chair, Hunter and Debbie showed up. I was pleasantly surprised; I had not expected them to catch up with us until much, much later.

The four of us skied the Backside chair for about an hour and a half. We skied hard and explored six or seven different runs. Although more overcast than Sunday, the weather and the snow was good.

Breaking for lunch, we headed back again to Shaffer's Camp, the private restaurant at the top of the Zephyr chair.

We finished up the day skiing under the Comstock chair and then headed over to the terrain parks for the last couple runs of the day. We skied back to the condo about 3:15 p.m.

Tomasin and I packed up and were on the road by 3:45 p.m. I was back home in Elk Grove before 6:00 p.m.

It was a very nice couple of days. I don't get enough opportunties to see Tomasin. I enjoyed everyone's company a great deal.

NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 14

The Kings climbed 27th to 26th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of the 30 NBA teams. Their record in January was 2 wins and 13 losses.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings
The way things have unraveled -- 3-16 since a 13-14 start -- it looks like it'll be a l-o-n-g string for the Kings to play out after the highlight of the season: Tyreke and our man Casspi teaming up in the Rookie Game.

View from the condo at Northstar