Sunnyside Bike Ride Map

Using data from the garmin, I made a map of our bike ride from the Squaw Creek resort to Sunnyside and back.

click on the map for a larger copy!

Shirley Lake Hike Map

Using data downloaded from the garmin, I put together a topo map of Saturday's Shirley Lake hike. If you look at the larger copy of the map, you can see the Squaw Valley Tram across the bottom and the Shirley Lake chairlift dropping down to the lake on the left side.

About 0.50 miles from the lake, the hike gains about 600 feet in less than a quarter of a mile. We were scrambling up some granite sheets during this section of the hike.

click on the map for a larger copy!

Squaw Creek Day 3

We had a bagel in the deli, packed up and checked out of the room. We rented mountain bikes at the hotel and rode to Sunnyside for brunch.

There is a bike trail the whole way from the hotel to Sunnyside. It was about 8.5 miles one way and almost 5 miles was along the banks of the Truckee River. In total, we covered 17.12 miles in in 1 hours and 51 minutes at an average speed of 9.3 miles per hour.



We were back to the car by about 1:30 p.m. and back in Sacramento by 3:30 p.m. Jack was staying with Sharon's brother. We showed up at their house just as they were kicking off an Octoberfest party. We spent the rest of the afternoon there and wandered home about 8:00 p.m.

Moblog Octoberfest

Moblog Sunnyside

Squaw Creek Day 2

After the Shirley Lake Hike, we wandered through the Squaw Valley Village to check on bike rentals and then headed back to the hotel. Sharon had a massage at the spa. Afterwards, we sat in the lobby of the hotel and watched the sunset.

We finished the day having dinner at Graham's. Sharon had a filet of beef, while I had lamb chops.

Shirley Lake Hike

Map of the Shirley Lake Hike

We had breakfast in the Six Peaks Grille at the hotel, got some deli sandwiches and drove to the trailhead for the Shirley Lake Hike. The trailhead is just west of the Squaw Valley Tram.

We hiked almost exactly 2 1/2 miles with a climb of 1,300 feet in 1 hour and 45 minutes to Shirley Lake. The hike is a mix of terrain, including some easy forested trail, some bouldering and a section of scrambling over a sheet of granite. There were some nice sections along the creek in the first mile. Even this time of year, there were some small waterfalls and quiet pools.

The lake is at the bottom of the Squaw Valley Shirley Lake ski run. We sat in the sun on a rock that sticks out into the lake and had lunch. It took us almost 1 hour and 40 minutes to hike back down. We were both surprised that we did not make better time on the way back.

If you look at the bigger version of the first picture shown below, you can see the hotel that we were staying at in the distance! This picture was taken at about the two mile mark. You are looking back down the canyon that we had hiked up.

 
 
 

Moblog Shirley Lake Hike

Squaw Creek Day 1

Leaving Jack with his cousins, Sharon and I took off for Squaw Creek Resort to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

After checking into the hotel, we enjoyed a bottle of champagne that we had bought while champagne tasting outside Reims, France this summer. We ended up with several bottles of champagne and wine over the course of the trip that I carried around in my backpack and dragged back home.

We had a late anniversary dinner at the Plumpjack Cafe near the tram in Squaw Valley. Sharon had a duck breast entree that she loved, while I had lamb shank.

Moblog Squaw Creek

10th Wedding Anniversary

Sharon and I were married ten years ago today.

Unfold on iTunes

From: Andrew Heringer

Just a quick note to say:

that the new album "UNFOLD" is now up at the itunes store for you fans of the digital downloads... all 11 songs for $9.99.

you can follow this link or just search "andrew heringer" on itunes.

there are some reviews of the album going up at CDBaby by people who already have UNFOLD. take a minute and check out the great reviews at the bottom of the page...or if you already have the album write one yourself as well.

we got some shows coming up in san luis obispo in early november and hopefully some sac area shows will be lined up in december.

thanks for letting me rank
-da ringer

www.andrewheringer.com
www.myspace.com/andrewheringer

CA Historical Landmark #468

Michigan Bar
California State Historical Landmark #468
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This landmark is located 0.1 mile east of State Highway 16 (P.M. 22.4) on Michigan Bar Road. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 29.176 W 121° 03.175.

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


Gold was discovered on the Cosumnes River in 1848 by two men from Michigan in the vicinity of the historic Nisenan settlement of Palamul. In the 1850s the town of Michigan Bar was the largest in Cosumnes Township, with as many as 1500 people. By 1880 the town had declined but retained its post office, Wells Fargo Office, and important pottery works. Little remained by the 20th century and much of the town was destoryed by hydraulic mining and dredging. The Michigan Bar School was in use until the 1940s.

The Michigan Bar Mining District
The Michigan Bar Mining District covered a vast area roughly between the towns of Michigan Bar and Sloughhouse. The district's placer gold deposits were mined extensively between 1849 and 1900, primarily by hydraulic and ground sluicing techniques. Dredging was another successful technique and extended the district's mining life in the 1950s. Total gold production is this district has been estimated at over 1,500,00 ounces.

Placer mining followed the typical sequence of starting with easily reached river deposits. Once those deposits were exhausted, miners turned to nearby gulches but had to haul their dirt to the rivers for processing. The construction of ditches made it possible to work deposits far from the water sources and the first in the Michigan Bar area was completed in 1851. The Prairie Ditch, still visible near here, was completed in 1858, and signaled the beginning of the hydraulic mining in the area.

Miners and their families were a diverse group from the United States and Canada, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands. Native Americans continued to live in the vicinity for some years after the discovery of gold led to the loss of their homelands. Some no doubt worked for miners and ranchers in the Michigan Bar District. Several African American mining families also lived in Michigan Bar for many years.

This 1860s photograph of hydraulic mining in the Michigan Bar Mining District is presented courtesy of the California Department of Mines and Geology. If you look up from the photograph you'll see a remnant hydraulic scarp not unlike the one depicted. The power of the pressurized water against the hillsides, combined with additional water arriving from miles away through ditch systems, made it much easier to break down soils and process them for the gold they contained. But the technique also created tons of debris, much of which made its way into the river system, depositing silt and flooding croplands. Only after a major lawsuit filed by Sacramento and San Joaquin valley farmers was California hydraulic mining curtailed in 1884.

2006 Kings Depth Chart

The Kings have 18 players in training camp. While there are nine returning players from last year's training camp roster, there are only three players left--Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and Kevin Martin--who were on the team in February of 2005.

	PG	SG	C	SF	PF
1	Mike Bibby	Kevin Martin	Brad Miller	Ron Artest	Kenny Thomas
2	Jason Hart	John Salmons	Vitaly Potapenko	Francisco Garcia	Shareef Abdur-Rahim
3	Ronnie Price	Quincy Douby	Loren Woods	Corliss Williamson	Maurice Taylor
4	Eugene Jeter		Justin Williams		Louis Amundson

Serrano County Club

For the second year in a row, I played golf in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Charity Golf Tournament at Serrano County Club. The foursome included two of my peers and the CFO from one of our hospitals in the bay area.

We were 5 over for the day. We had six bogeys and one birdie.

This is probably the worst golf I have played in several years. Physically, I did not feel good and could never get myself on track.

2006 Kings Ticket Draw

We held the conference call on Friday to split up this year's Kings season tickets. I used freeconferencecall.com to hold the call and it worked extremely well.

I have talked in the past about the odd composition of the group. I think that this is the tenth year I have participated.

With Sharon's ex-husband's death in January, the composition of the group has changed again. We added a parent of one of Jack's classmates who also works for the same set of companies as I do.

Jack drew some names out of a hat on Friday morning to set the order for the ticket draw: Mike, Sharon/Tim, me and Jeana.

At Davis Ranch

Fall Decorations

After soccer, we went out to Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse to get decorations for the fall dinner parties. We finished the day watching The Wild.

2006 Soccer Season Game 5

Jack played in his fourth soccer game of the season. After missing last week's game recovering from an injury, Jack played midfielder in the first period and forward in the third quarter. The Cunningham's son was on the other team.

This was the best youth soccer game I have seen in the last three years. The other team scored first and it was a see-saw battle from there. At the end of the third quarter, it was tied at 4 to 4. Both teams passed the ball and maintained their spacing extremely well.

With their strongest player at forward in the fourth quarter, Jack's team broke the game open. They scored three goals to win by a score of 7 to 4. The team has a record of 5 wins and 0 losses.

CA Historical Landmark #365

Lockeford (Locke's Ford)
California State Historical Landmark #365
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It was on this hill that Dr. Dean Jewett Locke and his brother Elmer H. Locke built the first cabin of this section in 1851. Disturbed by grizzly bears, they spent their first nights in the oak trees. Dr. Locke, physician for the Boston and Newton Joint Stock Company, left Boston April 16, 1849, crossing the Plains. Arriving at Sacramento, Sept. 16, 1849 he built and maintained a ford across the Mokelumne River and because of this fact his wife, Delia Hammond Locke in 1859 named the town he layed out on his ranch Lockeford.

Luther Locke, his father, was postmaster of the first postoffice established in 1861. Dr. Locke was born in Langdon N.H. April 16 1823 and died at Lockeford May 4 1887.

Liquidate Tower Records

Group plans to liquidate Tower Records

After a lengthy auction stretching over two days, a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of California-based Tower Records to Great American Group, which plans to liquidate the music retailer.

October District Roundtable

Last spring as I was finishing up the RCIA process, I told the leader of Jack's cub scout pack that I would be willing to help out next year. When I repeated the offer this fall, they assigned me the job of going to the monthly District Round Table Meeting. I attended this meeting for the first time tonight.

The round table is a meeting of representatives of all the boy scout and cub scout packs in the district. Jack's pack is in the Soaring Eagle District of the Golden Empire Council. The meeting started with a general session that focused on the rechartering process, leadership training and Webelos transition. The meeting then broke up into different groups; I attended the cub scout roundtable. The session focused on the theme for November, Cubs in Shining Armor.

Key bidder drops out

Key bidder drops out of Tower auction

One of the key bidders dropped out of the Tower Records bankruptcy auction Thursday. Radius Equity Partners, a Chicago investment firm that intended to revive Tower, said it couldn't obtain financing in time. The auction began early Thursday at Tower's law firm in Wilmington, Delaware.

Tower auction today

Tower Records hits auction block today

Tower Records should learn today whether it survives or goes out of business.

My Father

My father, Richard (Dick) Heringer, was born in 1933. He was the youngest of eight sons of Stephen and Mable Heringer. He graduated from the University of California at Davis. After spending six months in the Army in Georgia, he returned to farm with his five surviving brothers [Frederick, Wilfred, Lester, James and Robert] and his five first cousins [Donald, John Jr., George, Ned and Jenette Heringer].

The 6 brothers and 5 cousins expanded the operation purchasing more land in the Delta and in Butte County. The main crops farmed in this generation where tomatoes, alfalfa, pears, peaches, prunes, corn, wheat, safflower, asparagus, and sugar beats. I was raised in Butte County on an 1,800 acre farm of peaches, pears and pears.

The family helped revolutionize tomato harvesting with the innovation and development of the mechanical Blackwelder tomato harvester. The ranch also developed a feed mill pelletizing alfalfa for sale to dairies in Petaluma and for export to Japan.

Richard sold out of the family business in 1976. He spent the next ten years pursuing his passions of duck hunting and fishing, particularly fly fishing. He died in June of 1986.

Stephen Heringer (My Grandfather)
Joseph Heringer (My Great Grandfather)
John Heringa (My Great, Great Grandfather)

Raingutter Regatta Video

Here is a short video of Jack racing his catamaran at the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta on Sunday!

Cowtown Half Marathon Maps

Using the Garmin GPS, I generated topo and satellite maps from the Sacramento Cowtown Half Marathon run on Sunday. During the race, I was surprised how far we ran along the river on the levee.

click on the maps for a larger copy!

2006 Raingutter Regatta

After I got home from running the half marathon, we took off for the cub scout picnic and raingutter regatta. The kids had a potato sack race, threw wet sponges at each other and played football before lunch.

After lunch, the pack held the raingutter regatta. As you can see from the picture of all the boats, Jack had the only catamaran. Originally, I was going to see if they would let Jack race both his traditional and catamaran boats. Due to the seeding, they made him pick one boat to race. He choose the catamaran.

Jack raced four times and won all four races. He got better and better with the boat as the day went on. In his second race, he blew into the sail and the boat went almost half way down the course; there was an audible grasp from the group. Jack won first place in his bear den.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the pack decides to institute rules that outlaw catamarans next year. One of the parents from our den kidded that there would be a "Heringer Rule" next year.

After the boats race, the kids had an ice cream sundae eating contest in which they were not allowed to use their hands!

 
 

2006 Cowtown Half Marathon

As part of training for some goals that I have for next year, I ran the Sacramento Cowtown Half Marathon. My garmin GPS showed that I ran 13.30 miles in 1:55:07 for an average pace of 8:39. The official results have me covering the half marathon distance of 13.11 miles in 1:55:09 for an average pace of 8:47.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with my time. I have been struggling with my speed in training and had some trepidation about what kind of pace I would be able to carry in a race.

2006 Raingutter Regatta Day 5

Raingutter Regatta Day 5

Open Season

Saturday afternoon, Sharon, Jack and I went to see Open Season. Jack gave it a 9.5 on a scale of 10.

2006 Soccer Season Game 4

Jack and I went to his soccer team's fourth game of the season. He is out for a couple of weeks recovering from an injury. Without both Jack and the biggest kid on the team and with no goals from kid with the strongest leg, the team won by a score of 10 to 0. After the first two goals, the coach moved the strongest players back into defense, but the younger players continued to score goals. The team has 4 wins and 0 losses on the season.

2006 Raingutter Regatta Day 4

Jack and I spent part of the evening working on his Raingutter Regatta boats. Jack sanded and painted the traditional boat and we started work on the catamaran.

I got a booklet on-line with a catamaran design. The process was simple. We cut hull of the boat kit in half and used each half as a pontoon. The mast is cut into pieces to make the spanners to connect the pontoons.

Raingutter Regatta Day 4

Cub Scout Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the October meeting of his cub scout pack.

At the beginning of the pack meeting, they made puppets of various zoo animals. Later, they all got up and made the noise of their animal. Jack is in the middle of the video with the blue bear scarf; he and David are attacking each other with their animals.

Success Won't Be Repeated

Apple's iPod Success Won't Be Repeated With iTV

2006 Raingutter Regatta Day 2

2006 Raingutter Regatta Day 2

California Historical Landmark #358

Town of Woodbridge
California State Historical Landmark #358
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This landmark is located on County Highway J10, Woodbridge, California in San Joaquin County. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 09.245 W 121° 18.049.

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


In 1852 Jeremiah H. Woods and Alexander McQueen established a ferry across the Mokelumne River at this point. As a result, a new road from Stockton to Sacramento by way of Wood's Ferry was established. In 1858 Woods built a bridge at the site of the ferry from which the town, laid out in April 1859, took its name.

CA Historical Landmark #163

Site of Wood's Ferry and Wood's Bridge
California State Historical Landmark #163
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In 1852, immediately after his arrival and completion of his cabin, Wood proceeded to build a ferryboat and establish the crossing known as Wood's Ferry. In 1858, he built a toll bridge at the old ferry crossing, charging $1 for a pair of animals and wagon, and .50 extra for every additional pair of animals with the wagon.

California Historical Landmark #520

San Joaquin Valley College
California State Historical Landmark #520
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This landmark is located at 18500 North Lilac Street, Woodbridge , California in San Joaquin County. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 09.007 W 121° 18.273.

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

 
 
Built through subscription by the residents of Woodbridge and dedicated as Woodbridge Seminary in 1879 by the United Brethren Church, this was the site of San Joaquin Valley College from 1882 to 1897. It was then used as Woods Grammar School until 1922, when the building was dismantled.

2006 Raingutter Regatta Day 1

Jack and I started working on his raingutter regatta boat for cub scouts. Last year, he won first place in his den.

We are actually considering building two boats this year. We found plans on the web for turning the kit into a catamaran. A catamaran design is supposed to be faster and more stable.

Raingutter Regatta Day 1

My Grandfather

Stephen F. Heringer (My Grandfather) was born 1889 and was the second of two sons born to Joseph and Martha. Following graduation from Clarksburg Grammar School, he farmed in the Lisbon district of the Delta with his father and brother John.

Stephen married Mabel in 1912. In 1916, he settled his family into Clarksburg. Following the building of the Delta levees in 1913, he helped reclaim the Holland Reclamation District 999 from the tullies.

This track of highly fertile soils formed the perfect base for the farming partnership of Heringer Brothers between he and his brother John. This farm grew steadily throughout the 1920's to 1,250 acres and then grew dramatically in the 1930's with the purchase of 2,250 acres in the adjacent Pierson district across the Sacramento River below Courtland. The main crops were alfalfa, beans, corn, wheat, barley, sugar beats, tomatoes and pears.

When I was very young, my parents would take our family to my grandparent's house Christmas morning. I have some strong memories of eating breakfast in a long room on the south side of the house with all of the kids. I have two pictures in my mind: huge plates of bacon and my grandfather standing on one side of the room.

Stephen died in 1962 when I was five years old.

Joseph Heringer (My Great Grandfather)
John Heringa (My Great, Great Grandfather)

Sutter, Rite Aid to open clinics

Sutter, Rite Aid to open 6 clinics

Sutter Health is teaming up with Rite Aid to open medical clinics with certified nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants in six local Rite Aid stores, both companies announced Thursday.

Working on Wolf Requirements

While Sharon took groceries to her mom, Jack and I spent part of the afternoon working on finishing up his Wolf requirements. We worked on requirements 9b [check your home for hazards and know how to make your home safe] and 9c [check your home for danger from fire].

Cub Scouts is starting up again in earnst with a Pack Meeting and the Raingutter Regetta coming up in the next week.

Buckhorn Steak & Roadhouse

We went to dinner at the Buckhorn Steak & Roadhouse in Winters. In spite of living in Davis for a number of years, I had never been to dinner there. Sharon had prime rib and I had elk. We went to check out the menu and the banquet facilities for an event we are planning for early next year...

2006 Soccer Season Game 3

Jack played in his third game of the 2006 soccer season. He played fullback in the first quarter, goalie in the third quarter and midfielder in the fourth quarter.

After letting the other team score the first goal, Jack's team went on to score 7 unanswered goals and win 7 to 1. Five different kids scored. When he played goalie in the third quarter, Jack never touched the ball or had it get near him.

Jack had one shot in the fourth quarter that he shanked. He had two assists and a third pass to the smallest kid on the team right in the front of the goal who pushed the shot just wide. Jack played well, but was upset that he did not score.

One of the other parents noted towards the end of the game that Jack's team has great team speed. The team has eight kids who have good speed. At times, it seems everyone of these eight kids is quicker than the fastest kid on the other team. It makes it very difficult for the other teams to get anything going offensively.

2006 Soccer Game 3 pic 1

Unfold on cdbaby.com

Drew sent out the following e-mail:

I have the great pleasure to announce that the new cd, UNFOLD, is for sale online now at cdbaby.com.

for the link to unfold go to cdbaby.com/cd/heringer2.

there are samples of UNFOLD on the cdbaby site as well as at myspace.com/andrewheringer.

cdbaby has been going in and out of stock of the cds - which provides a little bit of an inconvience - but there is a form on the page to leave your name and email, and cdbaby will send a message your way when it comes back in stock. so my thought is - if i can get as many people to sign up on this waiting list for UNFOLD - they will see the importance of getting more cds. so what are you waiting for?! go put your name down... :)

cdbaby has many different payment options and a very, very realible company (wont sell your info to companies and dont keep records of your credit card number). they are an independent distribution company that works to help independent artists sell their music online. they will also be sending the cd to digital download companies - such as itunes, napster, rhapsody and musicnet. the songs will be available for digital download soon.

the new cd has 11 tracks which feature:

Andrew Heringer : Vocals, Guitar, Violin, Rhodes Electric Piano, Mandolin, Dobro

Eric Frank : Percussion, Vocals, Guitar

Kellen Garcia : Electric and Upright Bass

Matt Lemaire : Drums

Jason Galbraith: Tenor Sax, Flute

Max Haymer : Piano, Organ

Daniel Byers : Trumpet, Flugel Horn

thanks again for your patience with getting this album out into your hands - as well as your continued support. it means more than i could tell ya.

CA Historical Landmark #153

Old State Capitol
California State Historical Landmark #153
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This landmark is located on the northwest corner of 1st and G Streets, Benicia, California. There are 13 other California State Historical Landmarks in Solano County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 03.010 W 122° 09.539.

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

 

Erected in 1852, this historic building was ostensibly intended for Benicia City Hall. Offered as the state capitol and promptly accepted, it had that honor from February 4, 1853 to February 25, 1854. Deeded to the state in 1951, it was one of the four locations of the "capitol on wheels".

USBCELL.COM

This looks interesting: usbcell.com. It is a AA battery with a built-in charger that plugs into a USB port.

2006 Management Symposium

I spent the last two days at the annual Management Symposium at the Sacramento Convention Center. The key note speaker was Mike Abrashoff, a former naval officer who spoke about leadership. He was captain of the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Benfold which went from being the worst ship in the Pacific fleet to the best under his leadership. He was an excellent speaker who provided a number of practical tips. I was impressed enough that I ordered his book, It's Your Ship, from Amazon.

Even more on iTV

When I first started reading about the iTV, it seemed to me to make sense to put some kind of a hard disk in the device. Information is starting to leak out that suggests that it will have a hard disk:

Disney's Iger: iTV Has a Small Hard Drive - - CEO Bob Iger revealed that he has seen Apple's upcoming iTV device in action and that it has a hard drive, a feature that many assumed would be missing.

Here are the links to two BusinessWeek articles on iTV.

• Apple's iTV: Bridging the Big Divide


• iTV: Here's Our 2¢

I regularly listen to BusinessWeek's Steve Wildstorm's Technology & You podcast. I think Steve generally has some good insights. His podcasts is one that I have continued to listen to, while trying and abandoning others.

Moblog Management Symposium

Soccer Practice

While Jack went to soccer practice, I ran laps around the park for 7.10 miles. I am planning to run a 1/2 marathon on October 1.

I took a short video for the beginning of practice using the camcorder on my cell phone. At the beginning of the practice, Jack, the coach and I talked about positioning on corner kicks. Jack had a fantastic opportunity to score on a corner kick late in the game on Saturday, but was out of position. The coach surprised me; he had the team spend the last 30 minutes of practice working on the offense and defense alignments for corner kicks.

My Great Grandfather

Joseph Heringer, (My Great Grandfather) was the 2nd of five children born to John and Geertje in Holland. He was born in 1861. Joseph was 7 years old when he sailed for America with his parents.

He helped his dad on the Merritt Island dairy as a young boy and then as a teen on their new ranch in East Sacramento.

Joseph married Martha, who had just emigrated from Holland in 1882, and farmed in East Sacramento until returning to Clarksburg in 1901. He rented farm ground on Merritt Island until 1906 when he bought a farm in the Lisbon district just north of Clarksburg. There he farmed hay, grain, and some row crops until his death in 1912.

The name was Americanized from Heringa to Heringer in the late 1800's.

John Heringa (My Great, Great Grandfather)

Copies of Unfold

Drew and Kaylen stopped by on Friday night on their way to work at a fundraiser for the Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp. Drew dropped off copies of his new Album, Unfold. As soon as I can get organized, I am going to send off copies of the Larkins, Bells, Nooters and Wallens.

Bend It Like Beckham

We finished the day watching Bend It Like Beckham.

2006 Soccer Season Game 2

Jack's team played its second soccer game of the season. Missing two of its best players and facing a team with two huge kids, I wasn't sure how the day was going to go for his team.

Jack started at forward and had five shots in the first quarter, one off of each upright and two just wide, but no goals. After playing the whole first quarter in their end of the field, one of the huge kids got behind our fullbacks, rumbled down the field and scored.

Jack played midfielder in the second quarter. He scored one goal on two more shots. One of his youngest teammates scored putting his team ahead 2 to 1 at half-time.

Jack was goalie in the third quarter. The ball rarely came across midfield and he had one stop.

With the team shorthanded this week, he played forward again in the fourth quarter. He scored with his right foot early in the quarter putting his team up 4 to 1.

His team won by a final score of 5 to 2. Their record for the season is now 2 wins and 0 losses. Jack had two goals on 9 or 10 shots.

Radio Station Video

While Drew, Dan and Kellen were on the way to Bumbershoot, they stopped in Eugene and played at a couple of places, including a radio station. A 30 minute video of them playing at the radio station is on-line on Google Videos.

La Provence Again!

Sharon was so pleased with the La Provence last Saturday night that she decided to go back again! She and Janie drove out to Roseville and went to dinner there. Sharon had the rack of lamb again...

Cub Scout Recruiting Event

Jack and I went to a recruiting event for his cub scout pack. As I was finishing up the RCIA program last spring, I indicated to the pack leader that I would be willing to help out at the pack level this year.

Moblog Cub Scouts

Tower names 'lead bidder'

Business - Tower names 'lead bidder' - sacbee.com:

Tower Records designated a liquidating firm Wednesday as the 'lead bidder' in its court-supervised bankruptcy sale, a move that could bring the legendary music retailer a step closer to a shutdown.

More on Apple's iTV

From Cnet.com, Apple's iTV: promise and peril

As I told someone who works on iTunes at Apple last October, what I have really wanted to be able to do is move videos from iTunes to Tivo so that I can watch the content on the big screen. The iTV sounds like reasonable alternative. From an engineering standpoint, it would seem like a good idea to put a hard disk in the iTV to give it some of the functionality of a DVR.

The hard disk could be used to buffer the video stream to offset some of the potential wireless network issues. The iTV could initially display a message saying that it will be 20 seconds before the show is available for viewing, while it preloads enough of the program to ensure a high quality experience. You could pause and rewind the program like a Tivo.

California Historical Landmark #743

Jack London
State Historical Park
California State Historical Landmark #743
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This landmark is located in Glen Ellen, California. There are 26 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sonoma County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 21.387 W 122° 32.506

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

This is the 'House of Happy Walls,' built in 1919 by Charmian K. London in memory of her husband, renowned author Jack London. Here are housed many of his works and the collection gathered in their travels throughout the world. In 1960 Charmian's house, the ruins of Jack's 'Wolf House,' and his grave were presented to the State by his nephew, Irving Shepard.

My Great Great Grandfather

John Heringa (My Great Great Grandfather) was born in 1819 in the province of Groningen, Holland. His grandmother and an uncle raised him after both of his parents died by the time he was 9 years old. He was bound to farm work at 12 years and then moved to live with an uncle who ran a dry goods store and manufactured woolen goods.

At 21 years he joined the army and served 9 years after which he joined the police force in the town of Oppenhuezen. He met and married Geertje, a town native, in 1857.

At the age of 49 with 4 children under 9 years old, having saved $1100, John and family started for America. They sailed from Liverpool and landed in Boston thence on to NYC arriving after a voyage of 14 days. Following a three-day lay-over, the family boarded a steamer to Panama, crossed the isthmus on land, then sailed for San Francisco, arriving 7 weeks after departing England. They immediately boarded a paddlewheeler for Sacramento arriving the next day to the welcome of a countryman and friend who sold them a 30-acre ranch for six hundred dollars.

This ranch was located on Merritt Island, just below Clarksburg. They soon invested another three hundred dollars in cows and started a dairy farm. The family lived on Merritt Island for three years and sold the farm due to annual flooding of the Sacramento River. John moved his family to East Sacramento purchasing 160 acres and devoting their efforts to general farming on a ranch located near what is now Mather Air Base.

John Heringa died in 1902 having been predeceased by his wife Geertje 4 years earlier in 1898.

I want my iTV

I want my iTV...

From Engadget, Apple to release iTV video streaming box in 2007 - Engadget:

In an unusual turn of events, Apple has pre-announced a wireless video streaming set-top box to be released in Q1 2007 with the tag line 'you can take content to your computer or iPod, but now... TV.' It features a built-in power supply, USB 2.0, Ethernet, 802.11 'wireless component video', optical audio and HDMI ports, plus regular ol' RCA stereo audio ports.

8th Birthday Photo Album

I posted a photo album from Jack's 8th birthday party on Sunday at:

http://www.heringer.org/jack8/index.html
Photos from previous birthdays at be found at:

7th Birthday Party

6th Birthday Party

5th Birthday Party

4th Birthday Party

1st Birthday Party

Cracked the TV-PC barrier?

Has Apple cracked the TV-PC barrier?

I want an Airport Express that supports streaming video from my PC to the AV receiver in the bonus room...

Jack's 8th Birthday Party

We took Jack and six of his classmates to the Scandia Family Fun Center to celebrate his birthday. The boys played in the arcade, had pizza, climbed a giant slide, ate cake, opened presents, played a round of miniature golf and finished the day soaking each other on the bumper boats. The boys had a great time and at the end of the day Jack said that it was one of his best birthday parties ever.

Moblog At the Party Birthday

Dinner with the Larkin's

Sharon spent the afternoon serving as a wedding coordinator for the church.

We met the Larkin's for dinner at La Provence in Roseville. We ate outside on the terrace; the weather was great. We spent most of the night talking about our trip to France. Sharon brought her laptop and showed them a slideshow of pictures from the trip.

Sharon was very pleased with the meal. She rated the dinner "at least an 8." Sharon had the lamb, while I had salmon.

Moblog Drew and Jack

2006 Soccer Season Game 1

Jack's Soccer team, the Cobra's, played its first soccer game of the season. They won the game by a a score of 7 to 1. Five different kids scored goals. Jack played forward in the first period and scored one goal on one shot. Although he does not have a particularly strong foot, he does an extremely good job with his spacing; he avoids getting bunched up. Jack also does a good job of advancing the ball down the field.

He played goalie in the third quarter and never had the ball get anywhere near him. Essentially, the ball never came across midfield. In the fourth quarter, he played full back.

Drew at Bumbershoot

Dan, Drew, Eric and Kellen playing at Bumbershoot

California Historical Landmark #327-1

Site of the Original Mission Dolores
Chapel and Dolores Lagoon
California State Historical Landmark #327-1
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
 
 

On June 29, 1776, Father Fancisco Palou, a member of the Anza Expedition, had a brushwood shelter built here on the edge of a now vanished lake, Lago de los Dolores (Lake of the Sorrows), and offered the first mass. The first mission was a log and thatch structure dedicated on October 9, 1776 when the necessary church documents arrived. The present Mission Dolores was dedicated in 1791.

Photos from Jack London Hike

I put together a photo set on Flickr of about 20 pictures from the hike on Sunday in the Jack London State Park.


All of the pictures are geotagged with longitude and latitude. Using Flickr's new mapping features, a map of where the pictures were taken can be created. You can use the controls on the map to zoom in and out and look at a satellite view. Clicking on the red dots on the maps will bring up the thumbnails of pictures taken at that location.

Terrafugia's flying car

Flying-car firm releases simulator, takes deposits

Movie of Terrafugia's flying car

Katie Couric's first night

I had originally intended to tivo Katie Couric's first night on the CBS Evening News, but I forgot. Instead, I watched the show on the web. One of the benefits of switching from DSL to Comcast Cable is that it is actually possible to do something like this. With DSL, the results would have been unwatchable; the video would be constantly stopping and starting. With cable, the video streamed without a hiccup.

Although Katie did fine, I was not impressed overall. It was a fairly standard 30 minute network news show. I prefer to get my news quickly from a number of different web sites, including short videos, rather than being fed a handful of stories that I may or may not be interested in.

I did set-up a tivo season pass for the show. I am interested in seeing her interview with George Bush tomorrow night and the segment by Rush Limbaugh on Thursday.

Finally, it was interesting to note how Katie was made up. The make-up she was wearing was much different than what she wore on the Today show. The eyes and the cheeks were much harsher.

Jack London Hike Maps

Topographical and satellite maps for our hike in Jack London State Park are shown below. The trail to the lake was heavily wooded and garmin would not hold a signal. As a result, a twisting and winding path is shown as a straight line. On the way back from the lake, we took the lower trail along the vineyards. In total, the GPS said that we covered 5.46 miles.

click on the map for a larger copy!

Jack London State Park plus...

Up early, we headed to Jack London State Park near Glen Ellen. We hiked the lower part of the park, exploring the museum at the House of Happy Walls, London's gravesite and the Wolf House. We then headed up to the lake and had lunch in the picnic area near the Bathhouse and the dam. Heading back to the truck, we wandered through the silos, the smokehouse, the pig palace, the winery ruins, the distillery building, the cottage, the stallion barn, the manure pit and the sherry barn. We covered about 5 miles. It was an interesting hike that included sections in the forest and along some vineyards and some views of the Valley of the Moon. I will organize and post some pictures and maps over the next couple of days.

Back at the car, we headed to the Kunde Estate Winery for a little wine tasting. Sharon and I tried to stop at this winery once before. From there, we went to Imagery Estate Winery and art gallery.

The next stop was unusual. We went to the Cornerstone Gardens. The Cornerstone Festival of Gardens is an ever-changing series of walk-through gardens, showcasing new and innovative designs from the world’s finest landscape architects and designers. Jack had a great time exploring the exhibits.

We ended the day having dinner at the Deuce Restaurant in Sonoma. Sharon had quail, while I had lamb shank. The food was fine, but not great. Sharon remarked on the ride home that she is raising her standards; she gave the food a 5 on a scale of 10.

Teotihuacán

We finished the day watching a Digging for the Truth episode about Teotihuacán. Called the City of the Gods, it is home to the world's third largest pyramid. This mysterious city was once a metropolis of 150,000 to 200,000 covering 11 1/2 square miles. It was many times larger and more populous than the biggest Mayan and Aztecan cities ever built.

While Sharon, Jack, Drew and I went to Chichen Itza and Tulum, I had never even heard of Teotihuacán. East of Mexico City, I have added it to my list of places that I would like to see some day!

Working in the backyard

When we purchased the current house, we looked at a lot of different model homes. In the backyard of one of the models, there was a concrete patio design that we both liked. When we had the landscape plan done, we tried to incorporate the idea. Basically, the design was some square sections with groundcover growing in the gaps between the sections.

The idea never worked. The groundcover would not grow, but the weeds would. At one of the fall dinner parties, Matt asked if we ran out of money and did not finish the project.

The landscape plan originally called for irish moss. I replanted the irish moss at least once. During a different dinner party, the Newlin's suggested isotoma. I replant the area between the 10 three foot square sections at least three times in the last couple of years with isotoma. While the isotoma did better than the irish moss, it would not survive the hottest part of the summer. Additionally, some area did not drain well and were too wet, while other areas were too dry.

We have given up on the idea of coverground. I spent the day digging out the gaps, putting down 30 year landscape fabric and filling in the gaps with polished pebbles.

Back in Bronxville again

After spending the summer in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, Morgan is back at Sarah Lawrence College to start her sophomore year. Her classes include:

• a physics lecture called "super fast, super small, super cold";
• a poetry workshop called "the making of a complete lover"; and,
• a lot of music components, including jazz piano lessons, jazz theory, jazz history, ear training, blues ensemble, vocal jazz, music lectures, and maybe classical piano lessons.