Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Hugal's Ravine

I came across this historical marker while we were hiking to the Sag Pond Trail on Saturday at Sea Ranch.

Hugal's Ravine
Marker 40-19

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

This site is located near Sea Ranch Trail Marker #252. The Sea Ranch Archives Committee has identified twenty-six historic sites scattered about The Sea Ranch. They have constructed trail markers with information explaining the significance of each place. They were placed as part of The Sea Ranch 50th anniversary being celebrated from Memorial Day 2014 to Memorial Day 2015. The GPS coordinates for this location are 38° 43' 05.0" N 123° 27' 10.5" W.

Hugal's Ravine

Looking back into the woods one sees Hugal's Ravine, which forms a semi circle around this marker, lying uphill behind the location of the original cabins and downhill toward the highway. On the Downhill side a first mill was built about 1847 by Frederick Hugal and partner Henry Hegeler. The meadow downhill was the site of an orchard, where a lone fruit tree is still visible.

Hugal's Ravine

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My second book for January is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. A film adaptation of the book directed by Steven Spielberg is slated to premiere in March.

Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel by American author Ernest Cline. It is his debut novel. The story is set in a dystopian future (2044) wrecked by an energy crisis. It follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a virtual reality game whose the discovery will lead him to inherit a fortune.

Several years ago, I read a USAToday article predicting three technical trends for the future: big data; self driving cars and virtual reality. This story takes virtual reality to an extreme. The world is so bleak that many people live in a virtual reality known as OASIS.

The book is full of the 1980s pop culture references, mainly from classic video games and movies. While I played a few video arcade games and dabbled with Adventure and Zork in the 1980's, I was never really a video gamer. It has never been a passion.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it. It is a solid "B," maybe even a "B+."

Monday, January 29, 2018

2018 Oscars Nominations

My predictions are shown in red.

BEST PICTURE
   Call Me by Your Name
   Darkest Hour
   Dunkirk
   Get Out
   Lady Bird
   Phantom Thread
   The Post
   The Shape of Water - actual winner!
   Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
   Timothée Chalamet - Call Me by Your Name
   Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
   Daniel Kaluuqya - Get Out
   Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour
   Denzel Washington - Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
   Sally Hawking - The Shape of Water
   Frances McDormand - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
   Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
   Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird
   Meryl Streep - The Post

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
   Willem DaFoe - The Florida Project
   Woody Harrison - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
   Richard Jerkins - The Shape of Water
   Christopher Plummer - All the Money in the World
   Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
   Mary J. Blige - Mudbound
   Allison Janney - I, Tonya
   Lesley Manville - Phantom Thread
   Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
   Octavia Spencer - The Shape of Water

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
   The Big Sick
   Get Out - winner
   Lady Bird
   The Shape of Water
   Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
More Oscar Nominations

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Call Me by Your Name

Late Sunday afternoon, Sharon and I went to see Call Me by Your Name at the Century 16 Greenback. The film is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Chalamet), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song ("Mystery of Love") at this year's Oscars.

Call Me by Your Name is a 2017 romantic coming-of-age drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by James Ivory. It is based on the 2007 novel of the same name by André Aciman. Set in Northern Italy in 1983, Call Me by Your Name chronicles the romantic relationship between Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a 17-year-old living in Italy, and his father's American assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer). The film also stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, and Victoria Du Bois.

Sharon liked it more than I did. She said that it might be her second favorite of the seven Oscar nominated films that we have seen so far. While I appreciate what they were working to accomplish with the pacing of the film (e.g. the normal progression of a relationship), I found it painfully slow. It seemed longer than its two hours and twelve minutes. It won't win best picture or best actor...

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Celebrating Sharon's birthday

Janie took Sharon to dinner at Canon East Sacramento to celebrate her birthday. They split HEARTS OF ROMAINE [fufu persimmons, kohlrabi, black garlic ranch, puffed grains], ROASTED MUSHROOMS [brussel sprouts, cured egg, miso-chestnut dressing, sesame tuile], TOTS [mole madre, pickled onion, cotija] and WHOLE BEER CAN CHICKEN [lemon, honey, herbs]. Sharon said that two of the dishes were good, but two were only so so (the salad and the chicken). She is not sure that she is interested in going back...

After dinner, they headed to the Sawyer Hotel for a drink. They ran into Robbie Hunter in the bar. I drove Sharon to dinner and returned to pick her up. Fortunately, I got downtown just as the Professional Bull Riders Sacramento Invitational was letting out from Golden 1 Arena. People were everywhere and the traffic was a mess!

Friday, January 26, 2018

Mudbound

With the 2018 Oscar nominations announced on Tuesday, we have kicked our drive to watch the nominated films into overdrive. Friday night, we watched Mudbound. The film received four nominations: Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for Mary J. Blige; Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography [the first woman ever nominated in the category].

Mudbound is a 2017 American period drama film directed by Dee Rees and written by Rees and Virgil Williams.  It is based on the novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan. It stars Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige. The film depicts two World War II veterans – one white, one black – who return to rural Mississippi each to address racism and PTSD in his own way.

Mudbound is a solid movie. It exceeded my expectations. I am frankly surprised that Mary Blige was nominated for supporting actress. Her screen is fairly limited and the performance is nothing special. I was more impressed with Holly Hunter's performance in The Big Sick.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

GolfTec

For my birthday, Sharon booked a package of golf lessons for the two of us at GolfTec. We went on Thursday evening for a swing evaluation. Watching my swing in super slow motion was very eye opening. From there, the instructor compared my swing to the pros. Although there are actually a few good things in my swing, he started the process of rebuilding the swing from scratch.

I have always considered myself more of a brute force athlete. As an offensive linemen in football and a prop in rugby, I have always relied more on determination than finesse. It is going to be interesting to see if I can actually incorporate the coaching into building a new golf swing. We will be scheduling some follow-up lessons.

Back from Portland

After meetings at OHSU and the Portland hospital, I took an Uber to the airport. I caught a 2:20 pm Alaskan flight from Portland back to Sacramento. With two seats on either side on aisle, it was a prop plane! I was in the last row on the aisle. This worked out really well because they loaded and unloaded from the front and the back. I was back in Sacramento before 4:00 pm. I fought my through the commute traffic to meet Sharon in Rocklin.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

To Tillamook

Up at 4:20 am, I caught a 7:05 am Southwest flight to Portland. Boarding with A36, I was still able to get one of the nice exit rows aisle seats in the new planes. It was one of the few Southwest flights that I have been on lately that wasn't packed; it was only about 1/3 full. Traveling with a group from work (Matt, Jennifer and Brian), we picked up a four wheel drive Yukon at Hertz and headed to Tillamook.

I drove from Portland to Tillamook. We spent the day in meetings at the hospital. I then drove back to Portland. It was an interesting drive in the pouring rain.

I am spending one night at the Portland Residence Inn in the Pearl District. The group finished the night with dinner at the Paragon. I had tomato soup and Chinook Salmon [braised endive, pickled beets, wild mushrooms, celery root puree]. I had a couple of nice glasses of Pinot Noir with dinner [Adelsheim, Willamette '15 and Lemelson, Six Vineyards, Willamette '14]. Sharon and I need to plan a wine tasting trip to Oregon this year!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Celebrating Sharon's Birthday

Celebrating Sharon's BirthdaySharon took a day off and headed to Napa with her brother Tom. They had a morning tasting at Donum Estate. Sharon is excited that they are constructing a new building just to house a piece of art by the same artist that created the spider at the Guggenheim Bibao. The spider is mentioned in Dan Brown's latest book.

After the tasting, they headed to Oxbow in Napa for lunch. They had oyster po boys at Hog Island Oyster Company.

Sharon and I had burgers and salad from Whole Foods for dinner. We finished the day with an eclair and presents. I got her a red leather Apple Watch Band and a Nokia Go activity tracker.

Monday, January 22, 2018

The Big Sick

Sunday night at Sea Ranch, Sharon and Marlene spent some time looking through the newest movies available on the AppleTV for something to watch. They ended up choosing The Big Sick. The film was chosen by American Film Institute as one of the top 10 films of 2017.

The Big Sick is a 2017 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Loosely based on the real-life romance between Nanjiani and Gordon, it follows an interracial couple who must deal with cultural differences after Emily (played by Kazan in the film) becomes ill.

The Big Sick is a watchable, entertaining film. Although Holly Hunter's performance was on a lot of lists for a possible Best Support Actress nomination, she didn't receive one. It didn't seem like she was on the screen enough to receive a nomination. The film did receive an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Dunkirk

Sunday night, Sharon and I watched Dunkirk as a HD rental on the AppleTV. I googled a number of sites in the last few weeks trying to find out which films the critics thought would be nominated for an Oscar for best picture. Dunkirk was nominated for a Golden Globe for best drama and seems to be on almost every list as one of the best films from last year.

Dunkirk is a 2017 war film written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II. The film portrays the evacuation from three perspectives: land, sea, and air. It has little dialogue. The director sought instead to create suspense from cinematography and music.

Its ensemble cast includes Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy.

We saw the trailer for Dunkirk repeatedly while we were working our way through the Oscar nominated films last year. The trailer was so in my consciousness that I thought of it when we were in New York City last Easter...

I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. It is a really good bookend to the Darkest Hour. [Note to self], I need to find a short book about the actual evacuation. Nevertheless, Dunkirk is not going to win best picture.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

The Shape of Water

Late Saturday afternoon, Sharon and I saw The Shape of Water at the Palladio 16 in Folsom. Until the Oscar nominations are announced on January 23, we are guessing which films will be nominated. The Shape of Water is on most lists that I have seen as a possible best picture nominee.

The Shape of Water is a 2017 American fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in Baltimore in 1962, the plot follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who befriends a captured humanoid-amphibian creature.

The American Film Institute selected it as one of the top 10 films of the year. The film won for Best Director and Best Original Score at the 75th Golden Globe Awards, while also receiving nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actress – Drama (Hawkins), Best Supporting Actress (Spencer), Best Supporting Actor (Jenkins), and Best Screenplay.

Leaving the film, I asked Sharon what she thought. She said that she enjoyed and that it exceeded her expectations. While Sharon enjoyed it more than I did, I found it much more watchable than several of last year's Oscar nominees, such as Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. I don't believe that it will win best picture over Lady bird or Three Billboards.

Friday, January 19, 2018

Passengers

Saturday night at Sea Ranch, we watched Passengers on the AppleTV. Over the last couple of years, I have brought one of the Oscar nominated films to watch at Sea Ranch. With the Oscars nominations not announced until January 24 and no interest in watching Dunkirk, we ended up watching Passengers.

Passengers is a 2016 American science fiction film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Jon Spaihts. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne. The story depicts two people who are awakened some 90 years too soon from an induced hibernation on a spaceship bound for a new planet.

The film was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Production Design at the 89th Academy Awards.

I enjoyed the movie, but only give it a lukewarm thumbs up... It is solid science fiction film.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Logger Cabins Site

I came across this historical marker while we were hiking to the Sag Pond Trail on Saturday at Sea Ranch.

Logger Cabins Site
1904-1910
Marker 29A-17

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

This site is located near Sea Ranch Trail Marker #260. The Sea Ranch Archives Committee has identified twenty-six historic sites scattered about The Sea Ranch. They have constructed trail markers with information explaining the significance of each place. They were placed as part of The Sea Ranch 50th anniversary being celebrated from Memorial Day 2014 to Memorial Day 2015. The GPS coordinates for this location are 38° 43' 03.9" N 123° 27' 21.1" W.

Logger Cabins Site

Hugal's Ravine was named for the first permanent European settler, who built a house on the ridge above and a grist mill with partner Henry Heeler in this vernal area. The Del Mar logging train terminated at the foot of this ravine on the west side of the highway. Cabins for workers were built on the flat area around this marker.

Logger Cabins Site

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

2018 Kings versus Jazz

2018 Kings versus Jazz

I went by myself to the Sacramento Kings versus Utah Jazz NBA basketball game at Golden One Center. I am trying to see at least one game a month this season. I bought a very nice single ticket on the aisle: Section 119, Row A, Seat 7.

The game was close for most of the first half. With 1:49 left in the second quarter, the Kings trailed by 5. The Jazz went on a run and opened the lead to 10 at half time. After the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter, the Jazz had opened the lead to 20 points. Although the Kings made a couple of small runs, they never really got back in the game and lost by the score of 120 to 105.

I spent most of the game focusing on De'Aaron Fox. When he was out, I switched to watching Bogdanovic. It was very fun to watch Fox because he was matched against Rickey Rubio most of the game. After scoring six points in the first quarter, Fox was scoreless for the rest of the game. He fouled out with about two minutes remaining in the game.

On the other hand, Bogdan had 25 points. Playing 39 minutes, he was 9 for 11 from the field, 6 for 6 from three and 1 for 1 from the free throw line.

Wille Cauley-Stein was the Kings high scorer. He had 26 points on 11 for 18 from the field, 0 for 1 from three and 4 for 6 from the free throw line. Cauley-Stein added 10 rebounds.

The Jazz high scorer was rookie Donovan Mitchell. He had 35 points on 14 for 19 from the field, 1 for 4 from three and 5 for 7 from the free throw line. Mitchell had a spectacular a one-handed dunk in the third quarter.

Although I didn't connect with them, the Sanborns were in their seats; Marlene and I exchanged text messages. At half-time, I met up with Snipes. He was at the game with Keith.

The Kings now have 4 wins and 1 loss in games that I have see in person during the 2017-2018 season.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Jack's 2018 Spring Semester Classes

MGMT 201 - Management & Org Behavior
This course is a comprehensive overview of the management process and organizational behavior from a behavioral and social science perspective. Topics include: management across cultures; managing with ethics and social responsibility; fundamentals of organizing; organizational culture and design; leadership; motivation; 1 communication; interpersonal skills; teamwork and group dynamics; goal-setting; alternative work arrangements; power and politics; conflict and negotiation; managing change; and management development. Emphasis is on the analysis and understanding of human behavior in organizations.

FINC 211 - Business Financial Management
This basic course in finance covers the functions of financial managers, financial markets, and financial analysis tools, and corporate financial decision making. It provides an introduction to cost of capital, investment analysis, capital budgeting and the valuation of securities.

MARK 220 - Principles of Marketing
A first course on tools and approaches for making marketing decisions. Marketing is viewed as a broad technology for influencing behavior, beyond functions like selling and advertising. Topics covered include consumer behavior, marketing research, and marketing planning, with emphasis on marketing mix decisions: product strategy, communications, pricing, and distribution. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing.

OPIM 220 - Management Science
Management Science is the application of quantitative modeling techniques to the managerial decision making process. The course will be taught by example and adopts a practical spreadsheet-based approach to the modeling of a wide variety of business problems from finance, marketing, and operations. The approach taken in this course concentrates on problem solving in an interdisciplinary context that also develops spreadsheet skills.

THEO-102 - Pilgrimage, Travel, and Tourism
“Only thoughts reached while walking have value,” wrote Nietzsche. Religions seem to have a similar view. Pilgrimage has been a wide-spread aspect of most religions, through most historical periods. This course will examine the relation of travel (in its many guises) to religion from pilgrimage to common tourism. Classic and contemporary theories of pilgrimage will provide the backdrop. The majority of the course, however, will focus on the present day and on contexts that are not explicitly religious by reading travel accounts by Henry Miller, Alphonso Lingis, and Jack Gilbert. The point of the course, then, is to examine why travel is so important religiously and how all travel, even tourism, is religiously significant.

Fall 2016 Semester
Spring 2017 Semester
Fall 2017 Semester
Spring 2018 Semester
Fall 2018 Semester
Spring 2019 Semester
Fall 2019 Semester
Spring 2020 Semester

Monday, January 15, 2018

2018 Sea Ranch Day 4

2018 Sea Ranch Day 4
Sharon and I took a walk/run north along the bluffs. At the two mile mark, Sharon turned back and I continued my run. At the Walk On Beach, I decided run across the beach to ladder on the other side. There was a high tide and a surf warning. As I approached the middle of the beach, there was a wide stream. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention. I ended up getting hit by the surf up to my knees!

Back at the house, we started packing up. We left the Kyuka House a little before 10:30 am. We dropped the key in Gualala and then made a quick stop at the Sea Ranch Lodge to pick up some pictures that Sharon had bought for her office the day before. We pulled away from the lodge about 11:05 am.

The traffic was fairly light. We got to the Schug Winery about 1:20 pm. We had tried to stop there last year on the way back from Sea Ranch, but they were closed. After the tasting, we grabbed some sandwiches at the Carneros Deli.

Back on the road, we got to Carmichael a little after 4:30 pm. It was a great trip. Although I am not sure where we will find time in the next few months, Sharon and I talked during the weekend about renting a small place for just the two of us for a weekend.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

2018 Sea Ranch Day 3

2018 Sea Ranch Day 3

Sharon made eggs, bacon and scones for breakfast. The plan for the day was to play golf at The Sea Ranch Golf Links.

We had a 10:20 am tee time. After hitting a few balls on the range, we teed off about 10:10 am. Compared to last year, the weather and the course were fantastic. I ended up shooting a liberally scored winter rules 100. When I say liberally, I mean it. I took a number of mulligans and moved my ball on lots of occasions. Last February, I shot a 117!

I fell apart on the 11 hole, but overall, I was very happy with the way I played. My putting was very solid. I only three putted one hole. Over the course of the day, Sharon talked about wanting to play in Hawaii when we are there for Becky's wedding in February.


After golf, we headed into town to the store. We got some steaks and potatoes to barbecue for dinner.

Back at the house, the four of us spent some time soaking in the hot tub. Somewhat unusually, this was the only time that Sharon and I got into the hot tub all weekend.

After some debate about what to watch, we finished the night watching The Big Sick on the AppleTV.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

2018 Sea Ranch Day 2

This was probably one of the most active days that I have ever had at Sea Ranch!

2018 Sea Ranch Day 2With Sharon sleeping until almost 8:20 am, I went out for a long run in the morning. I ran 6.5 miles north along the bluffs. The bluffs at Sea Ranch are one of my favorite places in the world to run.

Marlene made a nice breakfast casserole using a recipe that Donna had given her. After breakfast, we decided to hike across Highway 1 into the forest. We hiked up the Hugal Ravine trail to the Sag Pond Trail. We looped back along the Ridge Trail and down the Cluster and White Fir Trails to the road. In total, we covered almost five miles. We have never hiked east of Highway 1 before. There are some additional trails on the that side of the road that we need to explore on future trips.

2018 Sea Ranch Day 2We passed a couple of sag ponds. They are created by earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault. The fault zone is 1 to 2 miles wide at Sea Ranch, with parallel strands or breaks.

Over the course of the hike, I passed three more Sea Ranch historic markers. These included: Logger Cabins Site; Hugal's Ravine, and; Cattle Ranch Era Beginning 1845.

After a couple of sandwiches for lunch, we decided to take the bikes up to the Sea Ranch Lodge. We sat at the bar and had a couple of adult beverages. I got a chance to watch a little of the Atlanta Falcons versus Minnesota Vikings NFL playoff game. It was a nice eight mile round trip on the bikes. Sharon was very excited to pass the sheep along the way.

2108 Sea Ranch Day 2

Getting cleaned up, the plan for the evening was an early [6:15 pm] dinner at St. Orres. I had rack of boar, Sharon had rack of lamb and the Sanborns both had filets.

Rather than bringing a DVD like I have done in the past, I brought the AppleTV this year. Hooking it up, we ended up finishing the night watching Passengers.

Friday, January 12, 2018

2018 Sea Ranch Day 1

For the fourth time in five years ['17, '16 and '14], we are spending a weekend in January or February at Sea Ranch with the Sanborns. This also marks the fifth time in seven years [2013 and 2011] that we have spent a long weekend at Sea Ranch in the winter.

The Sanborns rolled up to our house in Carmichael a little before 9:00 am. We loaded up Phil's truck and were on the road just before 9:30 am.

When Jack, Sharon and I were in San Francisco last summer, we had a bottle of MacPhail Pinot Noir for dinner. We liked it and I researched where they were located. It turned out that they had a tasting room in Sebastopol. I made a reservation for noon. Their tasting lounge is in an area called the Barlow. We got there about 11:30 am; the traffic was very light. We wandered around the area a little before heading to the tasting room.

We had the tasting room to ourselves. After the tasting, we had some sandwiches for lunch in MacPhail Tasting Lounge Soil Room.

After a quick stop in Bodega Bay for some crab and smoked salmon, we headed north to Sea Ranch. The traffic continued to be very light. We rolled in Gualala just after 3:00 pm. We are staying the next three nights at the Kyuka House. This is one of the two houses that we rented in September of 2016 for the anniversary trip.

Sharon and I went for a two mile walk along the bluffs before dinner. I have always loved sunsets on the ocean at Sea Ranch.

2018 Sea Ranch Day 1


Sharon made chicken cordon bleu and green beans for dinner. After dinner, the Sanborns hit the hot tub. Beat from a long week of traveling with a couple of early mornings, I fell asleep on the couch in the media room and was done for the night...

Thursday, January 11, 2018

2018 Microsoft Executive Briefing Day 2

I spent a second day in Redmond at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center. Our Adventist Health group included Victor, Vince, Dwight, Tim, Kevin (Feather River), Tim (Simi Valley), Heather, Wendell and I. The agenda for the day included: Windows 10 Security Overview; Office 365 Security & Compliance; Microsoft Cloud App Security; Azure Information Protection; IT at Microsoft, and; Enterprise Collaboration at Microsoft.

Whenever I attend briefings, I try to find some nuggets to take away. Over the two days, I had three thoughts. First, there was a hint that Microsoft might be open to a pricing structure that would allow us to build a strategy to move some of our security tools to best of vendor. Second, I was very impressed with the Surface Hub. Although we are planning three in the new building, I have never really looked at the technology before. Finally, Microsoft talked about moving away from password in Windows 10.

I took a group back to the airport in an Uber. I caught a 5:20 pm Southwest flight from Seattle to Sacramento. Boarding with A41, I was still able to get an exit row. The flight was on the ground in Sacramento a little early and I was home just after 7:30 pm.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

2018 Microsoft Executive Briefing Day 1

I spent the day with a group from Adventist Health at the Microsoft Executive Briefing center. I visited the Microsoft Briefing Center in 2004 [Day 1, Day 2] and 2008 [Day 1, Day 2]. The agenda included: Empowering Health - Microsoft in Health Overview; Transform the Care Continuum with the Intelligent Cloud; Optimize Your Clinical and Operational Effectiveness; Azure Security & Compliance; Microsoft 365; Demo: Executive Office; and, Enterprise Mobility + Security.

We finished the night with dinner at the Purple Café in Bellevue. I had a very good pan seared steelhead with spanish chorizo, preserved tomatoes, fregola, chermula and fennel-saffron puree.

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

To Seattle

After taking Jack to the airport early in the morning, I was back again in the afternoon. I caught a 4:20 pm Southwest flight from Sacramento to Seattle. Boarding with A20, I got a very nice aisle seat.

On the ground, I took a Uber SUV with three other people from work to Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. I am spending two nights there.  We will attending a Microsoft Executive Briefing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jack back to school

Finishing Jack's three week Christmas break, I got up at 3:30 am. I got Jack and Sharon up about 3:50 am. In the pouring rain, Jack and I left the house at about 4:20 am. Although he argued that his bag wasn't more than 50 pounds, it weighed 62.5 pounds!?! Jack caught a 6:10 am United Flight from Sacramento to San Francisco and then a 9:35 am flight from San Francisco to Baltimore.

Catching an Uber, he was back on the Georgetown University campus to start the second half of his sophomore year a little after 7:30 pm eastern time. It took an hour and thirteen minutes from BWI to the Georgetown campus. Jack starts classes tomorrow.

Monday, January 08, 2018

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

My book for January is What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The book spends a lot of time exploring the evidence of the Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton organizes the information that has been bouncing around into a formable case.

She also spends a lot of time talking about FBI Director Comey and the use of her email server. Although Clinton admits that in hindsight it was a mistake, I understand why she used the private email server at the time. No one wants to carry multiple mobile devices... I just have a hard time judging how much this impacted how people voted. From my perspective, it is a red herring.

I haven't read a biography of Hillary or Bill. As a result, I found the information about Clinton's life interesting. The information looking inside the campaign was also engaging. Unfortunately, these are both very small parts of the book.

I have two other observations. First, I had forgotten how small Trump's electoral college victory was. It came down to 80,000 votes in three states: Michigan; Pennsylvania, and; Wisconsin. Trump won those states by 0.2, 0.7 and 0.8 percentage points and by 10,704, 46,765 and 22,177 votes. Second, it is amazing to read how much time Clinton's team put into briefing books and policy papers.

The book felt very stream of consciousness. I think that it could have been tighter and better organized. While I enjoyed the Kathy Tur book, this book was a forced march for me. This is not what I needed after Rooster Bar. I give it a "C+" at best. I don't recommend it.

Sunday, January 07, 2018

Taking down the Christmas decorations

Sharon and I spent the loin's share of Saturday and Sunday taking down and packing up the Christmas decorations. It took us parts of three days in late November to take down the fall decorations and put up the Christmas decorations.

I was just thankful that it was pouring rain like last year! While I love the house at Christmas, it feels right to take everything down, turn the page on the holiday season and start into the new year.

Saturday, January 06, 2018

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Continuing to gear up on our annual march to see all of the Oscar nominated films, Sharon and I went to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at the Century Arden 14 and XD theater. Until January 23, we will be guessing at which films are going to get nominations in the major categories. Three Billboards is on almost every list I have seen as a nominee for best picture.

The film stars Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, John Hawkes, and Peter Dinklage. It follows a mother who purchases three billboards to call public attention to her daughter's unsolved murder.

The film was named as one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute. It received six 2017 Golden Globes nominations: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama (McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

As the film was ending, I kept thinking about last year's Manchester by the Sea. The core of both films is a tragic event. Three Billboards goes to some even darker places. I have seen the film described as a dark comedy, but I didn't see much comedy... As Sharon said afterwards, it is not very uplifting or life affirming. If nominated, it is not going to win best picture. It can see it having a chance in the best supporting actor category.

Friday, January 05, 2018

Adventist Health and Cerner Expand Strategic Partnership

ADVENTIST HEALTH AND CERNER EXPAND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
TO REVOLUTIONIZE CARE FOR PATIENTS, COMMUNITIES

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (Jan. 4, 2018)— Adventist Health announced today an expansion of its partnership with Cerner, a global leader in health care technology. Adventist Health and Cerner have a longstanding strategic alignment and shared goal to further improve the quality of care and the patient experience using technology and more coordinated services.

Through this expansion, Cerner will assume day-to-day management of Adventist Health’s revenue cycle and clinical applications IT staff. The companies will continue innovating together and evolving how care is delivered.

We continue to make changes in our organization in the relentless pursuit of improvement for our patients and communities,” said Scott Reiner, Adventist Health’s chief executive officer. “This expanded partnership helps to create a seamless experience in a patient’s entire health journey, and positions us to innovate quickly and at scale so that our mission can continue to grow and benefit our communities.”

“We are committed to working together to help Adventist Health advance its care transformation journey,” said Jeff Townsend, executive vice president and chief of staff for Cerner. “This expanded relationship creates a more aligned and embedded partnership where we can accelerate the response to the challenges of today, while innovating to address the opportunities of tomorrow. We also have an opportunity to create an even more dynamic workforce where associates feel empowered to generate new ideas and innovate new ways of doing things.”
For more information about Cerner, visit: www.cerner.com.

For more information about Adventist Health, visit: www.adventisthealth.org.

ABOUT ADVENTIST HEALTH: Adventist Health is a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii. It’s compassionate and talented team of 33,300 includes more than 24,600 employees; 5,000 medical staff physicians; and 3,700 volunteers working together in pursuit of one mission: living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in 19 hospitals, more than 280 clinics (hospital-based, rural health and physician clinics), 13 home care agencies, seven hospice agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers. Through a separate public benefit corporation, Adventist Health seeks to reach more communities and accommodate their specific needs from an affiliated health system. For more information, visit www.adventisthealth.org.

About Cerner: Cerner’s health information technologies connect people, information and systems at more than 25,000 facilities worldwide. Recognized for innovation, Cerner® solutions assist clinicians in making care decisions and enable organizations to manage the health of populations. The company also offers an integrated clinical and financial system to help health care organizations manage revenue, as well as a wide range of services to support clients’ clinical, financial and operational needs. Cerner’s mission is to contribute to the systemic improvement of health care delivery and the health of communities. Nasdaq: CERN. For more information about Cerner, visit cerner.com.

Wednesday, January 03, 2018

William Gibson Quote

"The future is already here.
It's just not very evenly distributed."


William Gibson

The Economist, December 4, 2003

Monday, January 01, 2018

New Year's Day 2018

Up until almost 2:00 am and spending the night in the Sanborn's casita, Sharon and I slept fairly late. After a cup of coffee with the Sanborns, Sharon and I headed to her brother's Tom's house. Tom hosted a breakfast potluck [chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, sausage and bagels] for an early 10 am Norte Dame versus LSU game.

Miles Boykin scored on a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:28 remaining and No. 14 Notre Dame got its first win in a New Year's Day bowl since 1994 with a 21-17 win over No. 16 LSU in the Citrus Bowl.