New Year's Day 2025

Sharon and I hiked with the Larkins and the Holbrooks in the Auburn State Recreation Area. It was a state park ranger led group hike starting from the Oregon Hill Parking Lot. The hike included two out and backs: Access Road to Damsite out and-back; and Cardiac Trail to Oregon Bar and Oregon Bar Road Loop.

It was a leisurely pace. We covered four miles in three hours and thirty-five minutes.

New Year's Day 2024

After a pretty hectic three weeks (Army/Navy Game, Adventures with Lee, Surgery, Neighborhood Progressive Dinner Party, Habibis, Adventures with Clem, San Francisco, Kings verus Timberwolves, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, American River Hike and New Year's Eve), we had a quiet New Year's Day. It is only in last few years that I have even added a New Year's Day tag to the blog...

Heading to Home Depot, we got a couple of new storage boxes. We spent the afternoon taking the ornaments off the Christmas Tree. The Christmas ornaments are always an interesting walk down memory lane.

New Year's Day 2023

After a busy couple of days and a late night on New Year's Eve, we had a quiet New Year's Day. Although we talked about hiking at Bannister Park like we did last year, we decided to do an extended loop around Ancil Hoffman Park. Sharon, Tiber and I covered 3.7 miles in an hour and forty minutes.

In the middle of the day, we watched the 49ers versus Raiders NFL football game. The 49ers won in overtime by the score of 37 to 34.

We finished the day watching the movie Glass Onion on Netflix. It is a sequel to the 2020 film Knives Out.

New Year's Day 2022

After a lackluster New Year's Eve, we had a very nice New Year's Day. Drew and Carmen rolled up about 11 am. The five of us (Drew, Carmen, Jack, Sharon and I) plus Tiber headed to Bannister Park. We hiked from Bannister Park across the American River and into Old Fair Oaks for lunch. With the Fair Oaks Brew Pub closed, we had lunch at the Fair Oaks Coffee Shop & Deli.

We did the same hike last year on New Year's Eve. In total, we covered 4.3 miles in an hour and fifty minutes. A map and Relive of this year's hike is here. I was pleasantly surprised how well Tiber kept up with the group.

With Drew and Carmen spending the night, we invited Lee, Morgan and Daniel to join us for dinner. Sharon and I made cornflake chicken, scalloped potatoes and green beans for dinner. Morgan made a chocolate cake with ice cream.

It was very nice to see everyone. I love spending time with Lee.

Jack, Carmen and Drew finished the night playing Love Letters.

New Year's Day 2021

Jack and Drew took off in the morning to head up to the house that Drew and Shannon are renting. They stopped to see Morgan and Lee on their way.

Sharon and I headed up to Placerville in the early afternoon. We caught up with Jack, Drew and Shannon at the VRBO. Shannon and Drew are renting a VRBO off of Green Valley Road with a Placerville address for the month of January.

After a walk in the neighborhood, we settled in for a game of Unstable Unicorns. Morgan had gotten everyone Unstable Uniforms games or expansion packs for Christmas. We played the Unicorns of Legend Expansion Pack that Morgan gave Drew. Jack won.

Using the prime rib from New Year's Eve, we had french dip sanwiches and a salad for dinner. It was a great use of the leftover prime rib.

After dinner, we played two long games with Not Safe for Work Unstable Unicorns deck that Morgan gave Sharon for Christmas. It was interesting!?! Jack won the first game, while Drew won the second game.

It was a very nice evening. We love Drew and Shannon.

Ordinary People

Sharon and Jack finished the day watching Ordinary People on Amazon Prime Video. Sharon ranks the movie in her personal top ten.

Released in September of 1980, Ordinary People marked the directorial debut of actor Robert Redford. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent was based upon the 1976 novel Ordinary People by Judith Guest.

The film received six Academy Awards nominations. It won four Oscars, including: the Academy Award for Best Picture; Best Director for Redford; Adapted Screenplay for Sargent; and Supporting Actor for Hutton. In addition, it won five Golden Globe Awards, including: Best Motion Picture – Drama; Best Director (Redford); Best Actress in a Drama (Tyler Moore); Best Supporting Actor (Hutton); and Best Screenplay (Sargent).

The story concerns the disintegration of an upper-middle class family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other.

Sharon, Morgan and I watched the movie together fifteen years ago...

2019 Kings versus Trailblazers

Sharon, Jack, Jason and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Portland Trailblazers NBA game. Sharon gave Jack the tickets for this game for Christmas [section 104, row Q, seats 16, 17 and 18].

I had a ticket for my work's balcony seats; I sat in these seats once last year. The seats include a hosted bar and food service. The food service included a series of small plates each quarter. The group from work included Bill and Ed from my teams and Heather and David from Sean's teams.

Trailing by ten points for most of the game, the Kings pulled ahead in the fourth quarter. The Kings then went cold; they were 1 for 17 in the end of the fourth quarter and the overtime. The Kings lost the game in overtime by the score of 113 to 108. It was a very disappointing loss...

Buddy Held was the leading scorer for the Kings with 27 points. Held was 11 for 23 from the field, 5 for 8 from three and had no free throws! The Kings only got to the free throw line 12 times compared to 30 times for the Trailblazers.

Damian Lillard was the leading scorer for the Trailblazers with 25 points. Lillard was 8 for 21 from the field, 1 for 9 from three and 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Jusuf Nurkic had a career night for Portland with 24 points, 23 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 steals.

The Kings now have 3 wins and 2 losses in games that I have seen in person during the 2018-2019 season.

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.

New Year's Day 2017

For the first time ever, we hosted a New Year's Day dinner. The group included Sharon's brother Tim, Kathy, Erin, Sharon's nephew Eric, Jack, Sharon and I. Sharon's brother Tom proposed the idea, but ended up being sick. Sharon made a nice dinner of prime rib, potatoes and green beans.

We finished the day watching Green Bay beat Detroit for the NFC North Championship.

New Year's Day 2016

Sharon and I went to Mass at St. Ignatius [The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord & the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God].

Afterwards, we wandered over to Tom's and watched Notre Dame play Ohio State in the BatttleFrog Bowl. I am still trying to figure out what BattleFrog is... The group included Tom, Jim, Eric, Kevin, Leah and Lydia.

Falling behind 14 to 0 in the first quarter, Notre Dame got blown out by the score of 44 to 28. Ezekiel Elliott ran for 149 yards and matched a Fiesta Bowl record with four touchdowns.

The Imitation Game

Trying to get a head start on knocking out some of the films that might be nominated for best picture, Sharon, Jack and I went to see The Imitation Game on New Year's Day. The film is historical thriller film about British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing. Turing was a key figure in cracking Nazi Germany's Enigma code which helped the Allies win the Second World War. After the war, he was criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.

The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing. It is based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

Both Sharon and I liked the movie. Jack was interested in seeing the film because we have been watching Cumberbatch in the British television series Sherlock. My biggest criticism was the use of War World II newsreel footage in used throughout the film to show the war. I don't think that the use of the old footage added to the movie... Nevertheless, I recommend the movie.

We are trying to guess what other films might be nominated for an academy award in late January.

Mission: Impossible III

Sharon, Jack and I finished New Year's Day watching Mission: Impossible III as a HD rental on the AppleTv.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes shot in the Vatican and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

There's nothing like summing up the last year of your life to make you re-examine your priorities, or refocus on what has affected you.

The mayfly project is a web site that asked people to sum up the last year of their lives in twenty four words or less. Click on the button to the right!