California Historical Landmark #864

Gable Mansion
California State Historical Landmark #668
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at 659 1st Street, Woodland, California in Yolo County. There are 2 other California State Historical Landmarks in Yolo County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 40.345 W 121° 46.387.

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

The Gable Mansion, an outstanding example of 19th-century Victorian Italianate architecture, is one of the last of its style, size, and proportion in California. This structure was built in 1885 for Amos and Harvey Gable, pioneer Yolo County ranchers.

Yolo County Landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks
in Yolo County
NO. 851 Woodland Opera House - [map] - {38.67791,-121.771936}
NO. 864 Gable Mansion - [map] - {38.67242,-121.77312}
NO. 1040 First Pacific Coast Salmon Cannery Site - [map] - {38.5825,-121.509}

List of California Counties

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Whitley - A Shot to The Stars

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

View from the patio at the Duckhorn Winery

geotagged

View from the patio at the Duckhorn Winery, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Napa Day 2

Up early, Sharon and I had breakfast at the hotel. We had brought our road bikes with us and planned a long bike ride for the morning. From the hotel, we headed across Pope Road to the Silverado Trail. We went south on the Silverado Trail about 7 miles and then went east on the Oakville Cross Road. Once we reached Highway 29, we turned around and retraced our path. Although we hit a little headwind on the way back, the weather was great.

Once we got back to Pope Road, we continued north along the Silverado Trail looking for a winery. Eventually, we ended up at the Duckhorn Winery. We sat on the deck overlooking the vineyard, enjoyed the views and tasted some wine.

Back on our bikes, we headed to the hotel. In total, we covered 26 miles in about 2 hours. This running time included some short stops for water and to enjoy the scenery. Sharon and I have had an opportunity to wander across Italy and France. The scenery in the Napa Valley rivals anything that we have seen in our travels.

Checking out of the hotel about 12:30 p.m., we had a long leisure lunch at Tra Vigne. Starting out of the valley, we stopped at St. Supery Vineyards for one more wine tasting and to buy some wine for the upcoming fall dinner party. We were back in Elk Grove about 4:30 p.m.

On the Oakville Cross Road

geotagged

On the Oakville Cross Road, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Napa Day 1

Sharon and I have made it a tradition to get away for a night or two for our anniversary. Leaving Jack overnight with Drew, we took off for Napa.

After a quick lunch at a deli, we spent the afternoon wine tasting along the Silverado Trail. We made stops at the Black Stallion Winery, Darioush, Robert Sinskey Vineyards and Z D Wines. Sharon is currently a wine club member at Robert Sinskey. Both Sharon and I really enjoyed the Viognier at Darioush and ended up buying a couple of bottles.

We checked in the hotel in St. Helena. We are spending one night at the The Inn at Southbridge. The room was nice (large with very high ceilings), but nothing spectacular.

After getting settled in the room, we wandered down main street. I had forgotten my bike helmet so I ended up finding a cycle shop and getting a cheaper one for tomorrow's ride.

We had late dinner at Redd in Yountville. As she often does, Sharon had lamb, while I had a pork osso boco. We had a bottle of Mary Edwards Pinot Noir with dinner.

At Darioush

geotagged

At Darioush Winery, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #4 Day 2

With Sharon and I heading out of town to celebrate our anniversary, Drew took Jack to day 2 of the weekend's baseball tournament at Kloss Field in the Elk Grove Regioal Park.

In the first game, Jack was 1 for 2 at the plate. In his first at-bat, he hit a double into left field to drive in a run. Jack came around to score. He grounded out to first in his second plate appearance.

In the field, Jack played three innings at third base. He made a couple of good plays, including catching a high pop fly in the sun and fielding a drive that went off of the the diving pitcher and throwing the runner out at third.

The Gunners won by a score of 9 to 0 in four innings.

In the second game, Jack struck out in his first at-bat. He said the pitcher was throwing hard and he hit one very hard but foul. In his second plate appearance, Jack walked, stole second and came home to score on a punt. Jack hit a double off the third baseman's glove in his final at-bat driving in one run. He eventually came around to score.

Jack played third base again. He made a couple of nice plays, including tagging out a runner on a throw from the shortstop Cooper and fielding a grounder and tagging third for the force out.

The Gunners won 11 to 2 in six innings and won the tournament championship.

For the weekend, Jack was 2 for 6 with three strike outs and a walk. He got two RBIs and scored three runs. For the four tournaments that he has played with the Gunners, Jack is 5 for 17 with four walks and six strike outs.

Jack played 15 of the 18 innings in three games this weekend; he missed the first three inning game due to football. Jack has played 50 of the 70 innings in the four tournaments this fall in left field, right field, third base and as DH.

Jack was very happy to have played all three games this weekend at third base. He got a chance last weekend in the consolation game to show that he could play in the infield. The coaches were very complimentary of Jack's play at third base in their comments after the championship game. I have always thought that he could help the team with his glove.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #4 Day 1

After the football game, Jack and I headed to Kloss Field at Elk Grove Regional Park to catch up with the Gunners Team. We got there in the bottom of the second. The Gunners were playing the Yuba Sutter River Bandits. The Gunners won the game by a score of 15 to 0 in 3 innings.

In the second game, the Gunners played the Tiburon Pirates. Jack started at third base. After going weeks and not really handling the ball much in games, he had two balls hit at him in the top of the first. Jack cleanly fielded the first and threw a one hopper to first. The first baseman was unable to dig out the ball and the runner was safe. The next batter hit a hard liner literally over the bag. Jack was able to knock the ball down; if the ball had gotten by him at least one run would have scored. The Gunners ended up getting out of the inning with runners on second and third.

In three of the next four innings, the Pirates got runners to third base, but the Gunners were able to get out of the inning.

Jack got up twice and struck out both times. The Pirates starting pitcher was strong; he struck out 6 of the first 10 Gunners batters. The first time at bat, Jack ran the count to 3 balls and 2 strikes before going down swinging. The second at bat with the bases loaded and one out, Jack went down swinging on three pitches.

The Gunners ended up winning the game by a score of 6 to 2. They will be seeded #1 tomorrow for the single elimination championship round.

2008 Flag Football Game #6

Jack played in his fifth flag football game of the 2008 season. We missed the game last week while we were at the baseball tournament in Manteca with the Gunners.

It was an odd game. There was a strong north wind blowing. The kids had trouble throwing the ball accurately and there were lots of dropped passes.

Jack played offense and defense in the first half. On offense, he started out playing running back. Jack made a circus catch on a ball throw behind him. He also completed two short passes off a half back option. The offense struggled. Towards the end of the half, they shifted Jack to quarterback; he was 0 for 3. Jack was frustrated that he did not get a chance to run with the ball.

He only played defense in the second half. Jack intercepted one pass in the first half and another in the second half. He also had his hands on one other interception, but uncharacteristically dropped it. Jack has intercepted at least one pass in every game he played this year and has seven interceptions in five games.

The Gators ended up losing by the score of 20 to 0. They won the game last week by a score of 25 to 12. Their record for the season is 5 wins and 1 loss.

5th Grade: Art Lesson B

Sharon spent part of Friday afternoon as the art docent for Jack's class. The lesson covered surrealism and the styles of painters Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. The class looked at three paintings: Persistence of Memory by Dali and Voice of Space and The Return by Magritte.





For their art project, the kids created a surreal picture using a pumpkin.

Paris Hilton get Presidential with Martin Sheen

2008 Kings Tickets Draw

We held the conference call to split up this year's Kings season tickets. We have the same group for the third year in a row. Jack drew some names out of a hat this morning to set the order for the ticket draw: me; Mike; Dan/Jeana; and Sharon/Tim.

With the outlook for this year bleak, it will be interesting to see if I can keep a group together for the 2009-2010 season. This marks the 12th year that I have participated with this group. Tim and Sharon are already making noises that they are going to be out next year.

California Historical Landmark #801

Jack and I stopped here on the way back from a baseball tournament at Big League Dreams in Manteca.

Reuel Colt Gridley Monument
California State Historical Landmark #810
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located near the Memory Chapel in the Stockton Rural Cemetery at the corner of Cemetery Lane and East Pine Street, Stockton, 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 37° 58.648 W 121° 17.185.

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

 

 

The monument reads:
The Soldiers Friend

Ruel C. Gridley
Born Jan. 23, 1829
Died Nov. 24, 1870

Erected by
Rawlin's Post No. 23.
Grand Army of the Republic
and the Citizens of Stockton
September 19, 1887 in gratitude
for services rendered Union
Soldiers during the War of
the Rebellion in collecting
275000 dollars for the
Sanitary Commission by
selling and reselling a
sack of flour.

Ruel C. Gridley in April, 1864, was engaged in the grocery business in Austin, Nevada. As the city election came on he bet a sack of flour with Dr. Herrick that the Douglas-Democrat would be elected mayor. Gridley lost the bet. Its conditions were that the loser was to carry the flour from Austin to Clifton, a distance of a mile and a quarter. At the appointed time Mr. Gridley appeared carrying the flour on his shoulder, neatly trimmed with ribbons and flags. A procession was then formed of citizens of both parties and preceded by a band of music they marched to Clifton. On arrival the saloon keeper invited the crowd in to take a drink. While in the saloon there was much joking regarding this fifty-pound sack of flour. At last Mr. Gridley said, "This crowd of people have had their fun at my expense: let us see now who will do most for the sick and wounded soldiers. We will put this sack of flour up at auction to be sold for cash, with the understanding that the buyer is to return it, to be sold again for the benefit of the sanitary commission." Ready for any kind of excitement, the proposition was quickly accepted. The chairman of the local commission acted as auctioneer. It was sold and resold for $4,400. then taken to Gold Hill, it was sold for $5,225. Taken to other places the sales were lifeless without the inspiration of Mr. Gridley. This patriot then, leaving his business and paying his own expenses, traveled throughout the Pacific coast and a few of the eastern states, selling the famous sack of flour. Mr. Gridley died in Stanislaus county November 24, 1874, of consumption, the result of overwork and exposure during his travels. He was later buried in the Soldiers' Grand Army plot at Stockton. Rawlins Post erected over his grave a magnificent marble monument and life-size statue.

Celebrating Janie's Birthday

Sharon and Janie took a limo to Sonoma to celebrate Janie's birthday. Their first stop was a private tasting at the Etude Winery. They were the only ones at the tasting and enjoyed it immensely; the wine was good and the staff friendly and well informed.

Afterwards, they stopped at Schug. Sharon was disappointed with this stop. They were working on the small tasting room [e.g. drilling in the wall!]. Additionally, the staff did not know anything about the wines.

They had lunch at the girl & the fig in Sonoma. We had tried to get into there for dinner a couple of years ago. Sharon enjoyed the food, but was not impressed with the service either from the hostess or the waiter.

After spending some time shopping in Sonoma, they made one more stop at Chateau St. Jean north of Sonoma before winding their way home.

Second McCain Obama Debate

After getting home from taking Jack to the Gunner's baseball practice, I watched the second presidential debate that I had TIVO'ed. I made the comment after the first debate that I was surprised at the faces each candidate made while the other was talking. Both of them did a much better job this time keeping a neutral look on their face while the other was talking.

I found this debate boring. Attempts by the town hall participants and Brokaw to draw the two candidates away from their talking points failed. For much of the hour and a half, I felt like I was watching a rerun of the first debate.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Noah and the Whale - Shape of My Heart

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Different Paths

Twenty eight years ago today, I started working for Farm Credit. I had already been out of college for almost 16 months and working at job that I did not like and frankly was not very good at; more on that subject in a coming video postcard. Although I was a slow learner at that point, my first job did start to teach me a number of interesting life lessons.

I remember very clearly making the decision to take the Farm Credit job [I was on a road trip to Park City, Utah with Tomasin, Wallen, Nooter and Connor to play rugby]. The decisions in the following year had a profound impact on where my life has lead me.

It dawned on me that Drew is at the same point in his life. He graduated from college about 16 months ago. I am very proud of Drew's music and what he has accomplished over the last few years. It is just that thinking about all of this made me realize how different the path that he is traveling is from the path that I traveled. When Drew was in college, the path did not seem to different; now it does.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #3 Day 2

With two losses on Saturday, the Gunners ended up getting seated sixth and playing in the consolation game on Sunday. It was another early morning drive to Big League Dreams Park in Manteca for an 8:00 a.m. first pitch.

With nothing at stake, the coaches mixed the line-up and pitched several of the boys that are on the end of the bench. Jack came up in the third inning. Falling behind no balls and 2 strikes in the count, he lifted one in right center for a single. Jack stole second, went to third on a passed ball and then scored on a single by Jeremy to left.

While walks had hurt them on Saturday, the team misplayed a number of balls in the infield in this game. The end result was that the Gunners were trailing by the score of 7 to 4 in the bottom of the fifth.

Jack lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. After falling behind in the count 1 ball and 2 strikes, he crushed one into left center. The fields are big and the ball rolled all the way to the warning track. The third base coach waved Jack to third. With the ball coming back into the infield, he made an awkward head first slide into third. The infields on these fields are artificial turf. Jack was safe, but he ended up scraping up his chest and banging up his right knee pretty good. He was able to walk it off and stay in the game. The next batter walked and stole second. An infield out scored two runs to make the score 7 to 6. The game ended with that score after five innings. The Gunners lost to the Petaluma Rebels.

Jack played two innings in right field and three innings in left field. He did not get any opportunities to play the ball.

After getting a single and triple and scoring two runs, the change in Jack's body language was amazing. After he scored following the triple, I was halfway expecting him to grab his crotch like Sam Cassell after a big shot and dance towards the dugout. Although the weekend was a bust for the team, Jack's defensive play on Saturday and hits on Sunday were very good for his confidence.

For the weekend, Jack was 2 for 3 with one strike out and two runs scored. For the three tournaments that he has played Jack is 3 for 11 with three walks and three strike outs.

Jack played 12 of the 15 innings this weekend and has played 35 of the 52 innings in the three tournaments this fall in left field, right field, third base and as DH.

Saturday Night Live: Vice Presidential Debate

Texas Roadhouse, Elk Grove

After a long day of baseball and then getting some plants for the yard, we finished the day with a late dinner at the Texas Roundhouse in Elk Grove. Although a number of people have recommended it, this is the first time that we have been there. It was very busy. We ended up waiting 45 minutes in the bar, but the steaks were good and worth the wait.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #3 Day 1

Not a very successful day... The Gunners drew the first two games of the day: an 8:00 a.m. game and a 10:15 a.m. game. I got Jack up about 5:45 a.m. and we left the house about 6:15 a.m. It was raining lightly when we got to the Big League Dreams Park in Manteca. The Gunners scored two runs in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, with one of the Gunners best pitchers on the mound, it started to rain pretty hard. Our pitcher who throws hard had a difficult time with his grip in the rain. The Gunners ended up walking 6 batters in the inning and giving up 10 runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Jack got up once in the top of the second. He struck out swinging on a 2 ball, 2 strike count. Overall, six of ten the Gunners struck out in the game. The Gunners had only one hit in the game.

Jack played four innings in left field. He had one ball hit through the infield to him. In the light rain, Jack barehanded the ball and threw it back to second. My heart skipped a beat when I watched him barehand the wet ball. He said afterwords that the ball had some funny spin on it.

The Gunners ended up losing the first game to Hard 90 Pastime by a score of 11 to 2 in four innings.

The rain had stopped and the sun came out by the time the Gunners started the second game at 10:15. In the top of the first, the Gunners pitcher hit two of the first four batters and the team ended up giving up three runs before the pitcher settled down and struck out the last two batters in the inning. The Gunners put together one run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to tie the score at the top of the sixth. In the top of the six, one of the Gunners walked four batters and the team gave up four runs to fall behind by a score of 7 to 3.

Jack played three innings at third base (1st, 2nd and 6th). In the top of the sixth with runners on second and third and no outs, Jack was holding the runner at third. A ball was hit sharply to the left side. Jack fielded the ball cleanly and looked towards first. As he looked at first, the runner on third took a couple of steps towards home. Jack started back to third. He chased the runner towards home plate and made a solid throw to the catcher who tagged out the runner. At the time, the defensive play kept the game tied at 3. Unfortunately, a couple more walks and a single blew the game open.

Oddly, due to the substitution pattern, Jack never got to bat. The Gunners ended up losing the second game to the Sonoma County Rebels by a score of 7 to 3.

Jack warming up for the second game

geotagged

Warming up for the second game, originally uploaded by heringermr.

John Hollinger's Team Forecast: Sacramento Kings

John Hollinger is forecasting that the Sacramento Kings will win only 23 games this season. Let's put this in perspective. Since the Kings have been in Sacramento, they have won fewer than 24 games only once. In 1989-1990, the Kings had 23 wins and 59 losses; Larkin and I split season tickets that year. Essentially, he is suggesting that this would be one of the two worst seasons in the history of the Sacramento Kings. I will offer my prediction after I see a couple of pre-season games.

ESPN - Hollinger's Team Forecast: Sacramento Kings - NBA

The Kings are going to be substantially worse than they were a season ago, and I'm not sure they're prepared for how hard a fall this is going to be. Looking up and down their roster, they have only one above-average player (Martin) and several positions that shape up as major question marks.

Prediction: 23-59, 5th in Pacific Division, 14th in Western Conference

Under the Black Flag

I finished reading Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly. I heard about this book on the NPR Books Podcast.

Written by a British naval historian who is considered one of the leading authorities on pirates, the book takes a factual look at the life of pirates. The book focuses largely on the pirates active in the Caribbean and the Atlantic Coast in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The book looks a lot at the differences between how pirates have been portrayed in books, movies and plays over the last three hundred years and real life. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is used as an example throughout the book. I am going to add this book to my list of things to read which now includes biographies of JFK, J. Edgar Hoover and Castro and Treasure Island.

The book was an interesting read, but not a book that I strongly recommend.

Vice Presidential Debate

Sharon and I watched all of the Vice Presidential Debate of Biden between Palin.

California Historical Landmark #668

Jack and I stopped here on the way back from a baseball tournament at Big League Dreams in Manteca.

French Camp
California State Historical Landmark #668
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located On Elm Street at French Camp School, French Camp, 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 37° 53.166 W 121° 16.198.

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

 

 

Here was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used from about 1832 to 1845 by the French-Canadian trappers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. Every year Michel La Framboise, among others, met fur hunters camped with their families here. In 1844 Charles M. Weber and William Gulnac promoted the first white settlers' colony on Rancho del Campo de los Franceses, which included French Camp and the site of Stockton.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Training Camp

Marc Stein's NBA Power Rankings for this week's opening of training camps has the Sacramento Kings ranked 23rd out of 30 teams. The Kings finished the 2007-2008 season ranked 16th.

ESPN - NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association

Bobby Brown's arrival means that we'll be more into them than we've been since Henry Turner and Leon Wood were Kings. For the rest of you, it's a full-on youth movement starring Kevin Martin and little else you'll recognize.

Influence at Work

I spent all day last Thursday in a seminar put on by Influence at Work entitled Leading Healthcare using the Science of Influence. The instructor was Dr. Gregory Neidert. The class focused on six principles: reciprocity; liking; consensus; authority; consistency and scarcity. Emphasizing that every influence situation has at least one of these principles waiting to be used, the class was designed to help identify which ones are available and how they might be used. One way to think about it is as a toolkit designed to provide selection of tools for specific circumstances.

We were also provided with a text book titled Influence: Science and Practice that I may eventually read.

It was a long 9 hour day, but interesting and I think I will be able to put some of the information into practice.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Thievery Corporation - Hare Krisna

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Thievery Corporation - Hare Krisna, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Sacramento Kings Media Day

Lexus RX400h Day 93

I took the Lexus RX400h in for the 5,000 mile warranty service today. In the first three months, I have driven 5,500 miles. I am on a pace to drive 21,500 miles in the first year. I continue to average 25.1 miles per gallon compared to an EPA rating of 24 on the highway and 26 in the city. My calculations show that I have saved roughly $480 in gas over driving the Explorer.

I am very pleased with the hybrid, except for three things. First, I find the lack of range indicator odd; I found the gauge showing how many miles to empty in the Explorer convenient. Second, the Lexus has two gauges that give you the current miles per gallon for the tank. I realized three or four tanks ago that the indicator was reading consistently high. For example, on the last tank the indicator said that I was getting 26.8 mpg, but when I filled it up it worked out to 25.5 mpg. I can understand if indicator was high one time and low the next, but it is consistently 1.0 to 1.5 higher than the actual miles per gallon. This is a minor annoyance. Third, I would really prefer to sit a higher! I like to see over traffic in the commute.

Saturday Night Live: Couric and Palin Opening

Davis Ranch

We made our annual trek to Davis Ranch so Sharon could load up on material for fall decorations. Jack enjoyed their corn maze. This is a moderately difficult maze; it probably took us 15 to 20 minutes to find our way through. We came home with a car full of pumpkins and stalks of okra and sorghum; no corn stalks this year.

Pumpkins at Davis Ranch

geotagged

Pumpkins at Davis Ranch, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Steak and Oyster Feed

Sharon and I went with the Sanborn's to the Elk Grove Rotary's 3nd Annual Rockin' Beef & Reef Bash. The event included a silent auction, dinner, a live auction and a live band.

At Lent Ranch

geotagged

At Lent Ranch, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2008 Flag Football Game #4

Jack played in his fourth flag football game of the 2008 season. The Gators played against the Rebels. As the teams were lining up before the game, it was clear that the other team had two of the biggest players that I have seen so far this season. I thought that this might create some problems; my fears were short lived.

After playing quarterback on offense the last two weeks, Jack played running back. On the first play of the game, he took a hand off from quarterback and started for the sideline. Jack faked outside and then cut inside the outside defender. He went the length of the field out running the two bigger players to score the first touchdown. I had not even set down my coffee and my book...

On the first play of third offensive series, the quarterback threw Jack a pass in the left flat. He started up the field. Several times, Jack came to almost a couple stop and changed direction causing the defenders to run into each other. He went the length of the field to score a touchdown.

He also completed one halfback option pass and caught one other pass in the first half. At the end of the first half, the score was 24 to 0.

On defense, Jack intercepted one pass and made a number of great "tackles." He has intercepted five passes in four games and at least one in every game.

The Gators won the game by a score of 24 to 0. Their record for the 2008 flag football season is 4 wins and no losses.

First McCain Obama Presidential Debate

After getting home from the Gunners batting practice, we watched the first McCain Obama Presidential Debate. I am not sure that I am qualified to judge who won or lost, but I am fascinated by the way the candidates performed when their opponent was speaking. McCain was making such a odd assortment of grimances and other facial expressions. Obama was also guilty of this, but to a lessor degree. Given the extensive use of split screens, it seems to me that the candidates would be better coached in this aspect of the debate. It would be interesting to go back and look at footage of Reagan to see how he "behaved" when he was not speaking during his presidential debates.

Interestingly, I made the same comments about Bush four years ago.

Gunner Batting Practice

Gunner Batting Practice, originally uploaded by heringermr.

September 2008 Cub Scout Pack Meeting

After football practice, Jack and I went to the September meeting of his Cub Scout Pack. Jack is now a second year Webelo. He got belt loops in archery, BB gun shooting, geology and swimming and a patch for attending the resident camp at Boulder Creek in July.

Thai Cuisine plus Economic Musing

With Sharon back from working a couple of days in the city and me on the road part of the day, neither of us were mood to cook so we ended up going to Chantara Thai Cuisine for dinner. Located in a strip mall close to the house, it has been almost a year since we first went there. The food was good.

The odd thing was that the place was completely empty; it was a little spooky. We got there a little before 6:00 p.m. After a few minutes, I bet Sharon and Jack that no one would show up while we were there. Someone picked up some take-out food after about half an hour and then finally a couple came in and sat down just was we were ready to get our check. Even if it is a Wednesday night, it is hard for me to understand how you can keep a restaurant open with this little traffic. I wonder what impact the economic uncertainty and the drop in home values has on this type of business. Are fewer people eating out, particularly on weekend nights?

California Historical Landmark #607

Adams and Company Building
California State Historical Landmark #607
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at 1014 2nd Street, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.961 W 121° 30.264.

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

 

Erected in the fall of 1853, this building was occupied during 1853-1855 by Adams and Co.'s express and banking house. The Alta Telegraph Co., California State Telegraph Co., Pacific Express Co., California Stage Co., Sacramento City Bank, and Wells Fargo & Co. also had offices here in the 1850s. During May-October 1861, Wells Fargo & Co. were agents here of the western portion of the Central Overland Pony Express until it was discontinued on October 26, 1861 on completion of the transcontinental telegraph.

The Adams and Company Building was proclaimed to be the first granite facade building in Sacramento. The building facade stands substantially unaltered to this day with the interior remodeled for modern use.

With the collapse of the banking house, the building become the office of James Birch's California Combination Stage Company, which operated north to Oregon, south to Los Angeles, and east to New Orleans.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Raphael Saadiq - 100 Yard Dash

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Raphael Saadiq - 100 Yard Dash, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #2 Day 2

Up early, Jack and I headed back to the Manteca Big League Dreams Sports Park. The Gunners played the Lamorinda Baseball Diablos in the first game. Both the Gunners and the Diablos were undefeated on Saturday.

Falling behind 1 to 2 after the bottom of the first inning, the Gunners rallied to win by a score of 11 to 5 in five innings. Jack played one inning in left field, but did not bat.

As a result of this win, the Gunners were seated first in the championship game and the Diablos were seated second. We had to play them again in the afternoon.

Talking to one of the parents on the other team, I realized that this is the first game this traveling team has lost since they started playing together in August. Additionally, they have been playing up a division; they have been playing in the U11 division rather than in the U10 division.

In the tournament championship game, the Diablos started a big left hander. Except for two bloob singles over the head of the second baseman, the Gunners never hit anything out of the infield. They lost 12 to 2 in four innings.

Jack started in left field and played three innings in the outfield and one inning as the DH. He got up once. Jack hit a grounder down the third base line and was thrown out at first. He was on deck when the last out was made.

For the weekend, Jack was 0 for 2 with one walk and one strike out. For the two tournaments that he has played, Jack is 1 for 8 with three walks and two strike outs. He played 11 of the 19 innings this weekend and has played 23 of the 37 innings to date in left field, right field and as DH. Unless he can get his bat going, Jack is going to be stuck at the end of the bench. He is not overmatched at the plate. I think that he just needs a few more at bats and a couple of bounces of the ball.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #2 Day 1

Jack in right field of Yankee Stadium

After the football game, Sharon, Jack and I took off for Big League Dreams Sport Park in Manteca to play in a tournament with the Gunners Baseball Team. This is a very unusual sports park. It includes a number of scaled-down replica stadiums, including Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Tiger Stadium, the Polo Grounds, Anaheim Stadium and Wrigley Field. The park is laid out with three stadiums built around a stadium club with a restaurant, bar and big screen televisions. You can see the fields from inside the Stadium Club.

The Gunners played the Visalia Lightning in Yankee Stadium in the first game. Falling behind by a score of 2 to 3 at the bottom of the first inning, the Gunners went on to win by a score of 10 to 4 in five innings.

Jack was 0 for 1 with one walk and one strike out swinging. He stole second and then got picked off second when he tried to stretch his lead. He played five innings in right field and did not handle a ball.

The Gunners played the SB Diamondbacks in Yankee Stadium in the nightcap. The kids played under the lights. The Gunners rolled to a 9 to 0 win in five innings. Jack played one inning in right field, but did not get to bat.

By time we packed up and drove home, it was a long day with one football game and two baseball games!

2008 Flag Football Game #3

 

 

Jack played in his third flag football game of the 2008 season. Matthew, the son of the head coach for the Gunners Baseball Tournament team, was on the other team.

This is probably the best flag football game that Jack has played in the last two years. Jack played quarterback on offense during the first half. He completed 8 of 11 of his passes for one touchdown and one two point conversion. Jack also caught a pass for a two point conversion. Playing quarterback, he pitched the ball back to the running back and then ran a short pattern towards the sideline. The running back passed it back to him and Jack ran down the sideline for the conversion. He drove the team on three long drives. Towards the end of the first half, Jack scambled away from the rusher and tried to force one pass into traffic that was intercepted.

On defense in the second half, Jack had two interceptions. He has had at least one interception in each of the first three games. The first interception set up a touchdown by the offense team early in the second half.

Jack's team ended up winning by a score of 36 to 12. Their record for the season is now 3 wins and 0 losses.

Warming up for flag football

Warming up for flag football, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Peru!

The Larkins are back from almost two weeks in Peru, including Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.

Gunner Batting Practice

Gunner Batting Practice, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Tree

While we were at Almanor this summer, Drew and Morgan wrote a song together one of the afternoons. Here is Drew's arrangement of the song. According to Drew, Morgan's arrangement is "strange and jazzy." I am looking forward to hearing her version!


Depending on which browser you are running and which plugins you have, the embedded control may not show up. In that case, you can find the song here!

2008 Best Places to work in IT

For the 6th Year in a row, Sutter Health Information Systems has been rated as one of the top 100 places to work for IT professionals.

Out of the top 100, Sutter Health ranked 19th!

This is down one spot from 18th in 2007.

This is up from 42th in 2006.

This is down from 12th in 2005.

This is up from 34th in 2004.

This is up from 64th in 2003.

The honor is part of the weekly newspaper Computerworld's 15th annual Best Places to Work in IT survey, which ranks the top 100 work environments for technology professionals using the categories of benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention.

California Historical Landmark #608

Site of the Orleans Hotel
California State Historical Landmark #608
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at 1018 2nd Street, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.952 W 121° 30.264.

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

 

This hotel, erected in 1852, served as a depot for stage companies and others.

Beginning almost as soon as the Gold Rush itself, stagecoach owners began to offer passenger services for people to travel among California towns. James Birch started the first stagecoach line from Sacramento in 1849. It carried passengers to stops along the American River, including Sutter’s Mill. The fare was $32, payable in cash or gold dust. Other lines began to offer stage services from Sacramento to such growing towns as Placerville, Marysville, and Shasta City. In 1853, Birch and several other stage owners joined together to form the California Stage Company, which had its headquarters at the Orleans Hotel.

Since May 2007, developer Lloyd Harvego has been building a $12 million building on the site that will be a re-creation of the former Orleans Hotel. The building is almost done. About half the cost of the reconstruction of the Orleans is being subsidized by the city. The building will have ground-floor retail and three stories of apartments.

The city since the 1960s has been maintaining and developing the Old Sacramento historic district. In 2003, the city of Sacramento went looking for replacement buildings to fill four vacant lots. Any projects have to be historically accurate to what was built on the site, and construction has to be handled delicately because many of the neighboring buildings are more than 150 years old.

2008 Management Symposium

I spent the day at our Management Symposium. The two day annual event includes about 1,000 managers each day from across the system.

The keynote speaker this year was Quint Studer. Some parts of organization, including IS, have been doing some work with the Studer Group over the last two years. Studer's presentation emphasized a number of concepts that we have been training on including rounding, written thank you notes, peer interviewing, follow-up phone calls, keywords at key times and accountability for goals.

I went to one of the break-outs entitled "How Mills Peninsula Hospital System embraced the EHR and the Hospital of the Future." After lunch I worked for a couple of hours as greeter for our booth showcasing the electronic medical record.

The meeting closed with movitation speaker Alan Hobson. He is a Mt. Everest Climber and Cancer Survivor. Hobson is a very engaging speaker, but I do not think that I will buy any of his books.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #1 Day 2

This was a long, satisfying, but more than a little frustrating day. The Gunners played in the second day of a baseball tournament at Wackford Park. After the first day of play, all of the teams were seeded into a single elimination tournament. The Gunners started the day as the #2 seed.

The first game was against the Solano Blast, one of the teams that the Gunners had beat yesterday. Leading 6 to 3, the Gunners scored 13 runs in the bottom of the third. Jack did not start, but came in as a substitute. With the bases loaded, he drove the first pitch into right center. By the time the ball stopped bouncing around the infield, the bases were empty. Jack came up a second time in the same inning and was intentionally walked. The other coach was loading the bases in order to get a force play for the third out. The Gunners won the game by a score of 19 to 3 after three innings.

The second game was against the Central Coast Whitecaps. This was probably one of the best little league baseball games I have seen; it was a very close game. Jack played designated hitter in this game. In his first at-bat, he came to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third in the second inning. Jack popped a 2 ball 1 strike pitch very high on the left side of the infield and it was caught by the shortstop. Coming to bat again in the four inning with two outs and runners on second and third, he hit a ball hard, but right at the shortstop who caught it. Leading off the sixth inning, Jack fell behind 0 and 2, took one ball and then fouled off a pitch that the catcher caught for an out.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and the score tied 5 to 5, the Gunners had runners on first and third. The runner at first broke for second. When the other team tried to get him, the runner at third came home. The Gunners won the game by a score of 6 to 5.

The Gunners played the CenCal 10's in the championship game of the tournament. This game quickly turned into a rout. Jack came in as a substitute in the fourth inning. He hit a 1 ball 2 strike pitch very hard, but right at the shortstop. Sitting behind home plate, I was sure it was a hit, but the shortstop stretched and speared it. Jack stayed in the game and played right field in the bottom of the fourth.

The Gunners beat the CenCal 10's by a score of 18 to 1 to win the tournament championship. Each boy got a hat, a game ball and a pin.

For the second day, Jack was 1 for 5 with two RBI's and one run scored. I am not counting the intentional walk in the first game. For both days, Jack was 1 for 6 with two walks, two RBI's and three runs scored. Two of Jack's out were hard hit balls right at someone, while two more were pop-ups.

Although he appeared in 8 of the 13 innings that the team played on Sunday, due to the fact that he was the DH in the second game, Jack only played 1 inning in the field. He was more than a little frustrated about his lack of time in the field on Sunday. I think that Jack could help the team with his glove in the infield, but he is going to have to be more effective at the plate to get this chance.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #1 Day 2 Pic 1

2008 Fall Baseball end of Season Party

Jack and I finished a long day (football and baseball tournament play) going to the end of season party for the undefeated Yankees fall baseball team. The coach had the party at his house and barbecued some burgers. The boys had a great time playing in the pool. I had a nice time visiting with the Cunninghams; I have enjoyed having them on the fall ball team.

2008 Gunners Baseball Tournament #1 Day 1

After Jack's football game, we headed back to the baseball fields to join up with the Gunners team.

The Gunners won the first game against the Solano Blast by a score of 14 to 0 in 3 innings. There are a number of rules for tournament play outlining that if one team gets ahead by a certain number of runs than the game is called at the bottom of the inning.

The Gunners played their second game against Team Miken. Jack played in his first tournament game. At the plate, he lifted the first pitch of his first at-bat high into short right where the second baseman caught it for an out. In his second plate appearance, Jack walked on five pitches, swinging at the third pitch. He came around to score. Jack walked on four pitches in his third at-bat. With men on first and third and one out, the coach told him to deliberately get into a run-down so that runner at third could go home. Drawing the throw, the other team did not execute and Jack was safe at second and the runner scored. The next batter struck out on a wild pitch. Scrambling for the ball, the catcher threw to first to try and force the runner and Jack scored all the way from second.

In field, Jack played three innings in left field and did not handle the ball.

The Gunners won second game by a score of 19 to 5. The game was called with two outs in the bottom of the third innings due to the score.

2008 Flag Football Game #2

Both the flag football team and the Gunner Baseball Tournament team were playing at the same park in Elk Grove. After warming up with his baseball team and watching 1 1/2 innings from the bench, Jack changed into his football jersey and headed over to the football fields. Jack played in his second flag football game of the 2008 season.

In the first half, Jack played on defense. He had an interception which set up his team's first and only score. Jack had a number of nice "tackles."

Jack played quarterback in the second half. Quarterback is not Jack's best position. He is better suited to wide receiver; Jack does an excellent job adjusting his route to the ball once it is thrown and rarely drops anything that he gets his hands on. At quarterback, he tends to throw the ball into traffic and get frustrated when the other kids don't catch the ball.

At quarterback today, Jack was 4 for 10. The team had one nice drive almost the length of the field in the second half, but could not get the ball into the end zone.

The Gators won the game by a score of 6 to 2. Their record for the 2008 season is now 2 wins and 0 losses.

2008 Flag Football Game #2 Video 1

2008 Flag Football Game #2 Pic 1

 

At Gunner's baseball practice

Geotagged with an Apple 3G iPhone!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Orchestra Baobab - Pape Ndiaye

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Orchestra Baobab - Pape Ndiaye, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Off to Sea Ranch

Sharon, Janie, Mary Maloney and Pippen are off for a long weekend at Sea Ranch.

Exclusive Interview with Gov. Sarah Palin

Charles Gibson talks with the Alaskan governor about foreign policy.

2008 Back to School Night

Dropping Jack at football practice, I headed to the 10th annual Back to School Night at his school. The general session included a welcome by the priest and the principal, short speeches by the chairs of the school board and the parent association, a quick overview of the new math books and the revised extended day program and an introduction of all the staff and teachers.

Afterwards, I headed to his classroom to meet his teacher for this year. She talked about the behavior and homework policies and the field trips planned for the year.

2008 Employee BBQ and Baggo Tournament

Our division held an employee appreciation barbecue in the parking lot at lunch. The festivities included a Baggo tournament. 80 teams entered the tournament! The divisional CFO and I lost in the fourth round. Trailing by a score of 16 to 13, one of players on the other team tossed 4 straight bags in the hole.

California Historical Landmark #558

Folsom Terminal
California's First Passenger Railroad
California State Historical Landmark #558
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located in Leidesdorff Plaza on the northwest corner of intersection of Reading and Sutter Streets, Folsom, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 40.549 W 121° 10.812.

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

Completion of the 22-mile Sacramento Valley Railroad line from Sacramento to Folsom was celebrated here February 22, 1856 by enthusiastic residents of both cities. The new line, commenced February 12,1855, was built by noted pioneer engineer Theodore Dehone Judah.

Havana Nocturne

I finished reading Havana Nocturne. Sharon and I saw the author on the Jon Stewart show several months ago. Although Stewart's author interviews are often a train wreck, I was impressed enough with the discussion of this book that I ordered it.

The book focuses on mob's development from 1946 to 1959 of Havana, Cuba into a mecca of hotels, casinos and nightclubs. Cuban political, economic and social events during this period provide an important backdrop for the story. Although Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy and Ernst Hemingway make cameo appearances in the book, the central characters are the leading Mafia figures of the day. The lives of almost two dozen gangsters including Meyer Lansky, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Santo Trafficante are covered in varying levels of detail.

From my perspective, the most compelling individual story was Fidel Castro. His story was much more interesting to me than the life stories of the Mafia bosses. Castro played a key role in overthrowing the Batista government and running the Mafia out of Cuba. I am going to add Castro to the list of people I would like to read more about; the list currently includes JFK and J. Edgar Hoover.

The book is a good, but not great read. I was just not that interested in the back stories of all the mobsters...

2008 Fall Baseball Season Statistics

For the 2008 Fall Baseball season, Jack was 13 for 25 at the plate for a batting average of .520. He drew 8 walks and was hit by a pitch just once. Jack's on-base percentage was .647 (22 for 34).

He struck out 8 times, but not once in the last four games. Interestingly, two of his best plate appearances when he was behind in the count came in the last two games. Walking to the Gunner's practice on Sunday, he turned to me and said "that was a pretty good at-bat yesterday." He fell behind 1 and 2, fouled off a half dozen pitches and eventually drew a walk.

Jack has been practicing with the Gunner's tournament team over the last month and will probably play in three or four tournaments over the rest of the year. I expect that he is going to get a rude awakening when he has to face more competitive pitching.

In 12 games, Jack played 21 1/3 innings in center, 11 innings at third, 10 2/3 innings at shortstop, 10 1/3 innings at first and 1 1/3 inning in left field. This is in stark contrast to the spring season when he played 77 innings at shortstop.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Johnny Flynn - The Box

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Johnny Flynn - The Box, originally uploaded by heringermr.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Running on the treadmill this weekend, I watched The Good, The Bad and the Ugly as a rental on the AppleTv. Released in 1966, this is the third of Italian spaghetti western films directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The 2002 DVD release includes 18 minutes of footage that was cut from the original North American Release. Including these scenes, the running time is just short of three hours.

I have always been fond of soundtrack to this movie. I included the title song in the soundtrack of my life. Watching all three of the Sergio Leone westerns starring Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in the last couple months, I realized that my memories are strongest for A Fistful of Dollars. The version of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly that I saw must have been cut down to show in a two hour block on network television.

2008 Fall Baseball Game 12

 

After we finished up the first football game, we headed over to Rau Park for Jack's last baseball game of the 2008 fall baseball season. We got there in the second inning. The Yankee's played the Crushers.

Jack walked twice. He walked and came around to score in his first plate appearance. In his second at-bat, Jack fell behind 1 and 2 in the count. He fouled off four pitches and eventually walked.

In the field, Jack played third, second, left and center. With the temperature over 100 degrees, you could see Jack wilting in the outfield in the last two innings. Between the football pictures, practice and game, it had already been a long day.

The Yankees won the game by a score of 13 to 6. Their record for the 2008 fall baseball season was 14 wins and 0 losses. The coach told the kids afterwards that he had played baseball at a number of levels for a long time, but had never had an undefeated season.

After the last fall baseball game

After the last fall baseball game, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2008 Flag Football Game #1

Jack jumping for an interception
The morning started early. Jack and I left the house before 8 am to get to the flag football picture day. After the pictures, the coaches had a 45 minute practice organizing the kids into two offense teams and running them through the plays.

By the time the pictures and the practice was over, we had about 30 minutes before we were scheduled to be back to warm-up for their first game.

Jack played in his first flag football game of the 2008 season. Their team is named the gators. They have ten kids on the team and can put 5 kids on the field at a time. The offensive set includes two wide recievers, a center, a running back and the quarterback. Only nine of the kids showed up for today's game. The game goes very, very fast. They play four 10 minutes quarters with a running clock.

Jack played wide receiver in one of the two offensive groups and played a variety of positions on defensive. On offensive, he caught three passes; two of the passes were for conversions after a touchdown. Jack caught all of the passes thrown to him. On defensive, he had one interception and made a number of "tackles."

Unlike last year, the team has several kids who can catch the ball. The coaches did a great job of spreading the ball around. All four of the nonquarterback players in Jack's offensive squad caught the ball and either scored a touchdown or a conversion. Jack's offensive group scored all of the team's points. I think that two of the three receivers in the other offensive group caught passes.


The Gators beat the Green Monkeys by a score of 28 to 0. Their record for the season is 1 win and 0 losses.

Jack catching a pass for a conversion

2008 flag football picture day

2008 flag football picture day, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Fock Junk [Folk-Rock-Jazz-Funk]

What style of music does Drew play?

Lexus RX400h Day 68

I use the web site www.mymilemarker.com to track all of my fuel purchases. This site allows me to use twitter to log my mileage, gallons purchased and cost per gallon with a SMS message every time I fill up.

The 2008 Lexus RX400h hybrid is rated at 24 mpg on the highway and 26 mpg in the city. Over the last two months plus I have driven 4,016 miles and averaged 25.1 miles per gallon. The mileage per tank has generally ranged from a low of 24.5 to a high of 26.8 miles per gallon. I had one tank below 24.5 mpg (20.3 mpg); this was on the way up to Chester with the bikes on roof rack. In two months, I calculate that I have saved more than $360 in fuel costs than if I was driving the Explorer.

I continue to be very pleased with the vehicle. In particular, the bluetooth and iPod integration work extremely well. Although the feel of the electric motors to brake the car takes some getting use to (Sharon complained about it the one day she drove it), I am happy with the way it drives. The one omission that I find odd is the lack of a range indicator; I am used to have an indicator that tells you how much farther you can go on the current tank of gas.

California Historical Landmark #551

I stopped at this waymark when I took Larkin out for dinner to celebrate his birthday.

California's First Grange Hall
California State Historical Landmark #521
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located 0.2 miles north of Pilot Hill on State Highway 49 in El Dorado County. There are 29 other California State Historical Landmarks in El Dorado County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 50.599 W 121° 00.891.

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

Pilot Hill Grange No. 1, with 29 charter members-Master, F. D. Brown - Secretary A. J. Bayley-was organized August 10, 1870. The Grange hall, dedicated at this site on November 23, 1889, was built by Alcandor A. Bayley.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Jessie Baylin - Was I On Your Mind

The list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Jessie Baylin - Was I On Your Mind, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Larkins on Duval Street

When the Larkins were traveling recently, Joe sent out a link before the trip to a web cam in front of Sloppy Joe's on Duval Street in Key West, Florida. He said that they would be standing in front of the web cam at specific date and time. This is a streaming web cam so that you can see people moving around and hear people talking.

Sure enough, I was able to watch them moving around on the street and hear Larkin yelling Heringer. I got a couple of screen captures.

click on the picture for a larger copy!

Western Movies

I have started to watch old western movies while I run on the treadmill. To date, I have seen:

08/31/2008 - Once Upon a Time in the West
07/14/2008 - Unforgiven
07/03/2008 - The Magnificent Seven
06/28/2008 - For A Few Dollars More
05/24/2008 - A Fistful of Dollars

Once Upon a Time in the West

Running on the treadmill over the last two days, I watched Once Upon a Time in the West. I had mentioned to Phil that I was watching the old Clint Eastwood westerns A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More and he lent me this movie to watch.

Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. The film stars Henry Fonda unusually cast as the villain Frank, Charles Bronson as his nemesis "Harmonica", Jason Robards as the generally benign bandit Cheyenne and Claudia Cardinale as a newly-widowed homesteader with a past as a prostitute, Jill.