California Historical Landmark #356

Castro Home
California State Historical Landmark #356
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This landmark is located at 9800 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, California. There are 14 other California State Historical Landmarks in Contra Costa County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 53.881 W 122° 18.079.

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

 

Don Victor Ramon Castro, one of thirteen children of Don Francisco Castro, chose the very edge of his father's 17.938 acre Rancho San Pablo for his adobe hacienda in 1839. It was also known as the El Cerrito adobe because it was built near the north bank of El Cerrito Creek. The adobe extended into a U-shape Spanish style home with two wings and a patio. A frame second story was added in the 1850s with an upper and lower veranda on the front and west side. In places the outer walls were 44 inches thick and partition walls 36 inches thick. The adobe was considered one of the most beautiful in California. The adobe was destroyed by fire in 1956.

 

 

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Dido - Quiet Times

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

Dinner with Pat and Bernard

With Pat and Bernard making a sales swing through Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose and Fresno, we met them for dinner at Ella's Dining Room and Bar on Monday night.

2009 Kings versus Nuggets

On Sunday night, Jack and I went to the Sacramento King versus Denver Nuggets NBA Basketball game. Drew and Marlana were also at the game. The Kings beat the Nuggets by a score of 114 to 106. The Kings never trailed. It is first time I have seen the Kings win in person since November 8.

I spent most of the game watching Carmelo Anthony, rather than watching the ball. He led all scorers with 32 points. Carmelo was 13 for 29 from the field and 5 for 6 from the free throw line. He has a smooth outside shoot and never seemed to be working hard. When Garcia was not on the court, Andres Nocioni and Carmelo were covering each other.

For the Kings, Martin was the high scorer with 26 point. He was 6 for 15 from the field, but 5 for 7 from three point range. Nocioni added 23 points and Hawes contributed 20 points.

At half-time, Jack and I met Drew and Marlana in the concourse.

2009 Gunners versus Star City

Up early, Jack and I headed to Natomas. The Gunners played Star City. Between now and the end of June, Jack will be playing rec ball and tournament baseball with the Gunners.

Jack played three uneventful innings of a five inning game in left field. He got to bat twice in the fifth inning. Jack walked on five pitches and came around to score. With two outs and Gunners having already scored 9 runs in the inning, the umpire told that Jack everything was going to be a strike. Jack chipped a low outside pitch to the left side and was called out at first; it looked like he was safe.

The Gunners won the game by the score of 22 to 7 in five innings.

To Tom's for dinner

After Sharon spent the day cross-country skiing wtih Janie and Jack had his first baseball practice of the spring rec season, we went to Tom's for dinner. Several games of James Bond and Seinfeld Scene It later, we had a late dinner. With Kevin home from Gonzaga, the group included both of Sharon's brothers' families.

Natalija Gros

Natalija Gros on Vimeo

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve

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

5th Leadership Development Institute (LDI)

5th Leadership Development Institute, originally uploaded by heringermr.

California Historical Landmark #1032

Richmond Shipyard District
California State Historical Landmark #1032
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This landmark is located at 1040 Canal Boulevard, Richmond, California. There are 14 other California State Historical Landmarks in Contra Costa County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 55.076 W 122° 22.350.

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

 

The Richmond Shipyards District was once a mammoth facility covering 880 acres in this North Bay community. The yards were constructed for and by the Henry J. Kaiser Company during 1941 and 1942. The San Francisco Bay area became a tremendously important shipbuilding center of the nation during World War II. In 1944 the yards at Richmond were the largest in the world. New methods of ship construction used there, including prefabrication and intense labor specialization, allowed the production of new vessels at a record pace. The techniques used at Richmond became a model for ship yards throughout the nation. During the period 1941-1945 the yards built a total of 747 ships, including 519 Liberty Ships (almost a quarter of the total U.S. production). The social and cultural landscapes of the Bay Area were reshaped by the influx of new workers drawn by good wages for unskilled labor. Between 1941 and 1943 the yards hired 90,000 new workers, many of them women, African Americans from the rural South, and members of other minority groups.

The National Gypsum Company is now located at 1040 Canal Boulevard. A deactivated shipyard guardhouse stands near the edge of the property.

 

Tomasin

One of the families that came to the living room set last weekend was the Tomasin's: John, Julie, Chris and Mikey. For a wide ranges of reasons, John is high on a list of people whose company I have always enjoyed.

I ran across these pictures recently in Facebook. The first picture shows John and his oldest son David playing rugby against each other in Jackson; they are playing scrum half against each other. I met John playing rugby more than 30 years ago. The second picture shows Mikey playing scrum half for his high school "B" side.

Big Tree Big Tour

Morgan's band is going tour in March!

Facebook | BIG TREE BIG TOUR

Big Tree is so excited to say we are going on our first tour together. We will be getting in our huge van (we named her TWAMPUMUS MAXIMUS) and singing songs from New York to Maine. We're still working on solidifying dates, but boy, will this be grand.

Pete's Candy Store
March 13th, 2009
709 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
9:00 pm w/guests TBA

Bard College, SMOG
March 18th, 2009
Annondale-on-Hudson, Red Hook/Tivoli, New York

Skidmore College, Fallstaff's
March 19th, 2009
815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
FREE w/guests TBA

Union Pool
March 20th, 2009
484 Union Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Cost: $10
Playing with The Extraordinaires from Philly and Tavo Carbone from Brooklyn.


Boulder Coffee
March 22nd, 2009
100 Alexander St., Rochester, NY
8:00 pm w/TBA

Middle East Upstairs
March 23th, 2009
472 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
8:00 pm w/TBA

Langdon St. Cafe
March 25th, 2009
4 Langdon St., Monpelier, Vermont 05602

The Monkey House
March 26th, 2009
30 Main St., Winooksi, Vermont 05404
Cost: $5

Slainte Wine Bar and Lounge
24 Preble Street, Portland, Maine
9:00pm

2009 LYB Minor Twins Parent Meeting

I went to a parent meeting for the Jack's rec baseball team. He is on the Laguna Youth Baseball Minor Division Twins. The league developed a new division this year called Minors between AAA and Majors. Jack is 10; the team includes three 10 year olds, seven 11 year olds and two 12 years olds. If the weather permits, practices will start on Wednesday.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Week 18

Kings Blog and Q&A: Opening tip: Are the Kings the worst West team of the millenium?

It will take 24-58 (an 11-11 finish) to avoid tying the worst record of the Sacramento era and 20-62 to surpass the fewest wins in franchise history, the 19-53 by the Cincinnati Royals in 1958-59 in a 72-game schedule and the 19-56 by the Royals in 1959-60 in a 75-game slate. This group playing .217 ball needs .318 -- 7-15 -- the rest of the way to get to 20.

The Kings dropped two spots to last in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Indiana, Cleveland and Philadelphia at home. Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte and New York on the road. Those are the last seven chances for the 0-23 Kings to win a game against an Eastern Conference team.

2009 PAL JV Rec Basketball Game #7

Jack played in his seventh and final JV Rec Basketball game of the 2009 PAL season. They played against St. John Evangelist School.

Jack played the first and third quarters as the shooting guard for the first line. He was 2 for 8 from the field for 4 points. Jack continues to struggle with his shot from the wing. They run a number of plays where he ends up open along the baseline and he can not consistently knock down that shot.

Jack had 4 rebounds, 2 assists and one blocked shot. He blocked a shot on the perimeter, collected the ball, started a fast break up the court and made a nice bounce pass to Joe for a lay-up.

The Eagles won by a score of 25 to 5. The guards scored most of the points. Chad, the second line point guard, had 6 points, while Zack, the second line shooting guard, had 4 points. Combined with 6 points from Joe and 4 points from Jack, the guards scored 20 of the 25 points in the game. Part of the issue as that the other team was running a zone and filling up the key.

After the game, everyone got together at Lamppost Pizza in Elk Grove for a season-end party.

Drew Gooden's deal bought out by Sacramento Kings

Sources: Drew Gooden's deal bought out by Sacramento Kings - ESPN

The Sacramento Kings have reached a buyout agreement with Drew Gooden in time for the forward to be eligible for the playoffs with another team, according to NBA front-office sources.

2009 Andrew Heringer Band Living Room Set

Sharon and I hosted a living room set for the Andrew Heringer Band. We ended up with just about 40 people. The music was great. It was a very nice evening.

Andrew Heringer Band Living Room Set Moblog

Andrew Heringer Band Living Room Set, originally uploaded by heringermr.

More Drew @ Grant & Green

Smallest King's Crowd in 21 Seasons

Kings will tap loan pool from NBA - Sacramento Bee

The announced attendance of 10,439 [for Wednesday's game between the Kings and Bobcats] at Arco Arena was the smallest ever in their 21 seasons in the building.

California Historical Landmark #1002-1

Site of Giant Powder Company
California State Historical Landmark #1002-1
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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This landmark is located on the Northwest corner of San Pablo Boulevard and Church Lane, San Pablo, California. There are 14 other California State Historical Landmarks in Contra Costa County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 59.517 W 122° 21.376.

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

 

Point Pinole is the last site of the Giant Powder Company, the first company in America to produce dynamite. Following devastating explosions at their san Francisco and Berkeley sites, the business moved to this isolated location in 1892. Incorporating the established Croatian community of Sobrente, the company town of Giant quickly grew into one of the North Bay's industrial centers. Explosives were produced here until 1960 and were essential to mining, dam and other construction projects throughout the Western Hemisphere.

 

2009 Kings versus Bobcats

With Sharon traveling for work, Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Charlotte Bobcats NBA Basketball game. The Bobcats beat the Kings by a score of 98 to 91. The game was never really as close as the final score would suggest. The Bobcats won for the first time in franchise history at Arco after losing their previous four games.

Gerlad Wallace had 27 points for the Bobcats on 10 for 17 from the field and 6 for 6 from the free throw line. I have always enjoyed watching Wallace play. For much of the game, I followed him rather than the ball. Wallace had an impressive one-handed, alley-oop dunk where he went airborne along the baseline to grab a pass from Raymond Felton.

Kevin Martin also had 27 points; he was 7 for 14 from the field and 10 for 12 from the charity stripe.

Coming out of trade deadline last week, the Kings have 7 new players! Natt played 11 different players tonight.

Today With Spring Here Finally

For the conference project for her sufi class ("reaching out to god: the history of sufi thought and practice"), Morgan is writing songs based on some poetry.

This one is a Coleman Barks "version" (called versions rather than translations because his versions are often not very close to the original) of a poem by Rumi (who lived in the 13th century). The Barks version is called "the whole place goes up," but Morgan calls it "today with spring here finally."

Kaila is singing the upper harmony part on the recording.


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!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Brett Dennen - San Francisco

Talking to Drew on Monday night, he noted that he had seen Brett Dennen at Bumbershoot and was very impressed with his live performance.

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


Brett Dennen - San Francisco

Lexus RX400h Day 240

I took the Lexus RX400h in for the 15,000 mile service this morning. I am on a pace to drive 23,000 miles in the first year. I am averaging 24.8 mpg since I brought the car, down slightly from 25.1 after 3 months and 24.9 at 6 months. The EPA rating is 24 on the highway and 26 in the city.

It is an all wheel drive vehicle. When we tubing with the boy scouts, I was impressed with how sure footed it was in the icy parking lot.

One other note. After 15,000 miles, the brakes are worn only about 10%. Above 10 miles per hour, the RX400h uses the electric motors to brake.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Week 17

As of today, according to John Hollinger, the Kings currently have a 19.6% chance of getting the first pick in the draft lottery.

Chad Ford's 2009 Mock Draft generator is here! Can you say Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio?

The Kings jumped two spots from last to 28th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams, ahead of the Grizzlies and Clippers.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

See? Told you that the Kings make you pay attention even when they're an 11- or 12-win outfit. And there's still lots to monitor here post-deadline, starting with Drew Gooden and whether they keep him or buy him out.

2009 LYB Minor Twins

For the 2009 Spring rec baseball season, Jack has been drafted by the Twins in the Minor Division of the Laguna Youth Baseball League. In one of those odd twists of fate, the Cunningham's and Sanborn's boys are also on the team. I figure that the odds of this happening randomly are about 1.6%. The coach does not appear to be anyone that any of us know. There are no players from Gunners on the team and only one player from last year's AAA Padres team [Denis].

Drew

Drew, originally uploaded by heringermr.

2009 SEAs Dinner and Auction

We stopped at the Clancys for a quick drink and some hors d'oeuvres. From there, we went to the Sanborns. While Jack stayed Tim and Tanguy, their foreign exchange student, the four of us went to the SEAs dinner and silent and live auctions at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall. This year's theme was the 10th anniversary of the school. They had large group pictures of all the kids at the school covering the walls.

This is one of the main fund raisers for Jack's school. It is the tenth year that they have had the auction and the seventh year that we have attended [2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008].

5th Grade: Art Lesson F

This month's art lesson for Jack's class focused on understanding how the brain works. This appreciation can assist students in allowing their mind to do its best work whether the goal is creativity or accuracy in detail. The lesson examined three paintings, including: L’Infante Marguerite by Diego Velasquez; Pinkie By Thomas Lawrence, and; Blue Boy By Thomas Gainsborough.




As part of the lesson, students first made a drawing based on a verbal description (left brain) followed by a second drawing using techniques designed to access the right side of their brain.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Greg Laswell - How the Day Sounds

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

Hang 'Em High

Running on the treadmill on Sunday and Monday, I watched Hang 'Em High as a HD rental on the AppleTV. Unlike the earlier Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, it was filmed in hollywood and includes a cast of recognizable stars, including Dennis Hopper, Alan Hale, Jr. and Ed Begley.

Clint Eastwood Movies

Running on the treadmill, I have been working my way through Clint Eastwood Movies.

1992 - Unforgiven - 07/13/2008
1985 - Pale Rider - 01/24/2009
1976 - The Outlaw Josey Wales - 03/15/2009
1973 - High Plains Drifter - 02/08/2009
1971 - Dirty Harry - 01/11/2010
1970 - Two Mules for Sister Sara - 03/09/2009
1968 - High 'Em High - 02/16/2009
1966 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 09/07/2008
1965 - For A Few Dollars More - 06/28/2008
1964 - A Fistful of Dollars - 05/24/2008

Kings do another small deal before deadline and waive Mikki Moore

Kings Blog and Q&A: Kings do two small deals before deadline; waive Mikki Moore

In a three-team trade, the Kings receive Will Solomon and cash considerations from Toronto, with the Raptors acquiring Patrick O'Bryant from the Celtics and Boston getting a conditional future second round pick from the Kings.

They also waived forward Mikki Moore. The veteran had only $2 million guaranteed of his $6.2 million salary for next season if he was cut by June 20.

Kings do small trade with Minnesota

Kings Blog and Q&A: Kings do small trade with Minnesota

The Kings have agreed on a trade to send forward Shelden Williams and point guard Bobby Brown to Minnesota in exchange for fourth-year guard Rashad McCants and veteran big man Calvin Booth, according to two league sources.

California Historical Landmark #512

Alvarado Adobe
California State Historical Landmark #512
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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This landmark is located on the Northwest corner of San Pablo Boulevard and Church Lane, San Pablo, California. There are 14 other California State Historical Landmarks in Contra Costa County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 57.526 W 122° 20.430.

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

Site of adobe house, grape arbor, and gardens built in 1842 by Jesús María Castro for his mother, Dona Gabriéla Berryessa de Castro, widow of Francisco María Castro who had been granted Rancho (Cuchiyunes) San Pablo in 1823. When Dona Gabriéla died in 1851, the adobe became the property of her daughter, Martina Castro de Alvarado, wife of Juan Bautista Alvarado, who was Governor of California from 1836 to 1842.

A deal is done

Kings Blog and Q&A: A deal is done

According to numerous league sources, a trade sending Kings players Brad Miller and John Salmons to Chicago in exchange for Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Michael Ruffin and Cedric Simmons has been agreed upon and is pending league approval.

Drew @ Grant & Green

Sacramento Kings get Sam Cassell

Sacramento Kings get Sam Cassell from Boston Celtics for conditional pick - ESPN

The Sacramento Kings have acquired veteran guard Sam Cassell from the Boston Celtics for a conditional second-round draft pick in 2015.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Week 16

The Kings are last in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Will they make at least one trade before Thursday's deadline? Will they ultimately leave town? Will they ever beat someone from the East after an 0-21 start? The Kings generate lots of suspense for an 11-win team.

The Death of Tivo (at least in my house)

I have been big Tivo fan over the last six years. At one point eighteen months ago, we had three Tivo units in the house. Sharon and I got to the point where almost everything that we watched was time shifted. I was very excited by Tivo's ability to connect to each other, the internet and a PC. Unfortunately, Tivo's failure to continue their relationship with Directv and the availability of more Directv HD programming created some practical problems.

In late 2007, I replaced the Directv Tivo receiver in the master bedroom with an Directv HD Plus DVR. We have been very happy with the Directv DVR and have not really missed the Tivo. I love the ability to record HD programming on two channels at the same time.

More than five years ago, I installed our first HD receiver in the entertainment center in the bonus room. With the changes in the Directv satellites, the older HD receiver did not support all of the new HD channels. I swapped it out this weekend for a second Directv HD Plus DVR and pulled out a second Tivo.

I have seen press releases indicating that there will be a new Tivo Directv device in the second half of 2009. I think that it is probably too late. I am uninstalling Tivo Desktop from the PC in my den.

2009 PAL JV Rec Basketball Game #6

Jack played in his sixth JV Rec Basketball game of the 2009 PAL season. They played against St. Ignatius School.

Jack played one of his best games of the year. With the other shooting guard (Chad) missing, he played most of the game; Jack played shooting guard with the first line and point guard with the second line.

Jack had 6 points on 3 for 8 from the field. He added 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 blocked shot. Jack continues to make some nice passes. Several of his assists were bounce passes to one of the bigs down low. He also made an interesting shovel pass to the center as the other center tried to trap him in the corner. On a fast break, Jack attempted a 1/2 court pass to one of the forwards, but it sailed high and long.

The Eagles won by a score of 31 to 21. With the point guard for the first line (Joe) scoring 12 points, the two first line guards had a hand in 26 of the 31 points.

2009 Amgen Tour of California Prologue

Sharon, Jack and I went to the Amgen Tour of California Prologue in Sacramento. After wandering around the team RVs, we staked out a spot near the corner of Capitol Mall and 9th Street. This spot allowed this to hear each of the riders announced, see them leaving the starting gate, watch them coming towards us up Capitol Mall and go into the corner on Ninth Street.

We spent the afternoon there watching the riders take some warm-ups laps and then seeing all 138 riders take the course. They sent the riders out at one minute intervals. Sharon was particularly excited to see Lance Armstrong race in person.

This is the third year that we have seen parts of the Tour of California. In 2007, I watched the race finish in Sacramento. Last year, the three of us went to the start of Stage 3 in Modesto.

The Sports Guy: Bill Simmons NBA Trade Value rankings for 2009

The Sports Guy: Bill Simmons NBA Trade Value rankings for 2009 - ESPN Page 2

30. Kevin Martin

Seems a little high until you remember he's averaging 27 a game with 46 percent shooting on 3s since New Year's. Wouldn't you try to pry him from the Maloofs right now? If I'm Houston's Daryl Morey during the All-Star break, I'm buying Patron shots for the Maloofs until 3 a.m. Sunday, then offering them T-Mac and a 2009 No. 1 for Martin and Kenny Thomas' deal that expires in 2010. Then again, Daryl went to MIT -- he probably couldn't do three shots without passing out or giving away Luis Scola straight up for Channing Frye. Bad plan.

Speaking of Kenny, did anyone see the irony of the Kings' retiring C-Webb's number last weekend even though his lavish extension genuinely murdered their franchise for the last six years of this decade? Continuing the girlfriend analogies, the poor Kings were like a buddy who had the greatest, most life-altering girlfriend for five years ... right until she gained 30 pounds, gave him VD (in this case, Kenny's unwieldy contract) and left him relatively destitute until 2010. But seriously, thanks for the memories, C-Webb! This is your night!

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Travis - Last Words

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

Job Losses In Recent Recessions

California Historical Landmark #967

My exfather-in-law served on the board and for a time as the chairman of the California Almond Growers Exchange.

California Almond Growers Exchange Processing Facility
California State Historical Landmark #967
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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This landmark is at 1809 C Street, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 35.100 W 121° 28.720.

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

 

The California Almond Growers Exchange, founded in 1910, was the first successful grower-owned cooperative for marketing California almonds. It pioneered in many fields, including almond production, mechanization, and marketing. The first structure on this property was built in 1915 and was designed to mechanize almond processing. This shelling plant was one of the earliest structures of its type, and contained the world's first mechanical cracker.

 

The Associate by John Grisham

I finished reading the The Associate by John Grisham. Since June of 1993, I have read 22 books by Grisham; As I have said before, I am not sure that this is something that I should be proud of.

Part of the storyline includes an interesting look at what it might be like to work for one of the largest law firms in the world. In particular, it details how the main character is treated and used as a first year associate straight out of law school.

Some of the reviews of the book have criticized the ending. Although I initially furrowed my brow as I finished the book, the ending seems consistent with the story as I have thought about the book over the last couple of days.

I enjoyed the book more than some of Grisham's other fiction of the last few years. I recommend it as a fast read for light entertainment.

High Plains Drifter

Running on the treadmill on Sunday afternoon, I watched the last half of High Plains Drifter as a rental on the AppleTV. Directed by Clint Eastwood, he had an entire town built on the shores of Mono Lake for the project.

I really enjoyed the scenery. Sharon and I hiked through the tufa towers along the shores of Lake Mono on our anniversary trip to Mammoth Lakes in 2001. Additionally, I took this picture of the lake on a ski trip with Larkin.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Week 15

The Kings dropped three spots from 27th to last in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Love seeing two of our old faves -- Webber on Friday, Divac in March -- have their jerseys retired. Sad to see that it pretty much takes a jersey-hanging ceremony to fill up what used to be the NBA's loudest building.

2009 PAL JV Rec Basketball Game #5

 

After spending a couple of hours in the morning working on his hitting with the Gunners, Jack played in his fifth JV Rec Basketball game of the 2009 PAL season. They played against Sacred Heart.

With a couple of players missing, Jack played parts of all four quarters. He played 2 in the first and third quarters and 1 in the second and fourth quarters. Jack actually played more minutes at point guard this week with the second unit than at shooting guard.

Jack had four points on 2 for 7 shooting from the floor. He had 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 nice steals. On one of the steals, he went 2/3's of the length of the floor and finished with a layup. On the other, he made a half court pass in traffic to Jake who was out front for an assist.

When Jack is playing shooting guard, the team runs a couple of plays that leave him free along the baseline. He continues to struggle with his shot from the wings. It seems like almost everyone on the team has been struggling with their shot the last couple of weeks. I will bet that they did not shoot 20% from the field as a team this week.

The Eagles won the game by a score of 27 to 2.

Dinner at the Cunningham's

Jack, Sharon and I went to dinner at the Cunninghams. The group included the Sanborns. Although we probably talked too much politics, I had a wonderful time.

2009 Kings versus Jazz plus Retiring Chris Weber's Jersey

Sharon, Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Utah Jazz NBA Basketball Game. Sharon is a big Chris Weber fan and wanted to see his jersey retirement. I bought some seats in section 113, row F. The team did a very nice job with a long half-time ceremony. A number of Kings from the 1998 to 2005 era attended and spoke including Scott Pollard, Doug Christie and Vlade Divac. Both Sharon and I felt like the half-time program was worth the price of admission. For the first time this season, it was a sell-out crowd!

Unfortunately, the final results for the game were not as satisfying. Leading 105-102 with 55 seconds left, the Kings lost by a score of 107 to 111. Both Kevin Martin and Jason Thompson were called for odd offensive fouls in the last two minutes.

Martin had 37 points on 10 for 20 from the floor, 4 for 9 from the three point line and 13 for 18 from the free throw line. Bobby Jackson was the second highest King's scorer with 15 points.

While Deron Williams scored 34 points, the difference in the game was Mehmet Okur. He added 28 points and 11 rebounds for Utah, including a 3 pointer with 48 seconds remaining in the game.

I have been feeling under the weather the last few days and had a hard time following the game from this angle. While it is fun to sit closer and be able to see their faces, I still feel like I can follow the flow of the game better from our season tickets in the front of the upper deck.

Retiring Chris Weber's Jersey

Living Room Set

We are going to host a living room set for the Andrew Heringer Band at our house at the end of the month. Details coming to your inbox soon!

At Eagles Basketball Practice

After last week's loss, the boys spent almost all practice working on their free throws and practicing breaking a press.

California Historical Landmark #609

D. O. Mills Bank Building
California State Historical Landmark #609
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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This landmark is located 100 ft from the southeast corner of the intersection of 2nd and J Streets, Sacramento, California. There are 57 other California State Historical Landmarks in Sacramento County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 38° 34.978 W 121° 30.226.

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

 

Erected in 1852, this building housed one of the oldest and largest banks of early-day California.

The bank was founded by Darius Ogden Mills (1825-1910). Born in North Salem, Westchester County, New York, Mills was one of the earliest victims of the gold fever, sailing for California in December, 1848.

This is one of four California Historical Landmarks that were destroyed when Interstate 5 was built in Sacramento. The location is now on the edge of parking lot under the freeway.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Lisa Hannigan - I Don't Know

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

Octopussy

Continuing my quest to watch all of the Bond films in order, Sharon, Jack and I watched Octopussy on Saturday night. Released in 1983, this is the thirteenth spy film in the James Bond series and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from an Ian Fleming 1966 collection of short stories titled Octopussy and The Living Daylights. However, the film's story is original.

The murder of Agent 009 and a forgery of a Fabergé egg leads Bond to Kamal Khan, a wealthy Afghan prince, and Octopussy, the leader of an all-female octopus cult. Khan ends up betraying Octopussy and teaming up with a rogue Russian general. Octopussy owes Bond a favor for having helped her father long ago. They ally to stop a plot to force disarmament in Europe with the use of a nuclear weapon.

In addition to Roger Moore as James Bond, the cast includes Maud Adams as Octopussy, Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan and Robert Brown as M. Octopussy is the first movie to have Robert Brown as Bond's boss M due to the death of Bernard Lee in 1981. This is second appearance for Maud Adams as a Bond Girl; her previous character was killed in The Man with the Golden Gun.

Jack loved the opening sequence where Bond ends up piloting a 12 foot jet airplane through an open hangar. Overall, this may be one of my least favorite James Bond films. I found the plot slow and plodding.

American Lion - Andrew Jackson in the White House

Over the last several months, we have seen the author of American Lion on the Jon Steward Show and the Colbert Report. I was impressed with the author (he is an editor for Newsweek) and bought the book. About halfway through, I was ready to dump the book and give it a negative recommendation. Although I am sure that it is not true, it seems like the majority of the first half of the book deals with Jackson's War Secretary John Eaton and his wife Margaret and their struggles to be accepted by Washington society. It seemed like this subject when on and on.

About the time I was really discouraged, the book shifted gears and started to focus on a number of key events, including the South Carolina nullification efforts, Jackson's crusade against the Bank of the United States, tensions with France over a treaty, moving the Indians west of the Mississippi and the conflict between Texas and Mexico. I have not read much about American history from 1800 to 1840. I was fascinated by the how you could see lines being drawn for the Civil War more than 30 year before it took place. I enjoyed the second half of the book.

Overall, I give the book a luke warm recommendation. I am definitely going to have to go back later and find a complete biography on Andrew Jackson.

NBA Power Rankings 2008-2009 Week 14

The Kings jumped three spots from last to 27th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams, ahead of the Wizards, Grizzlies and Clippers.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

They're mentioned in lots of trade scenarios. They're also somehow 0-21 against the East, with only nine more chances to do something about that O-fer. Who says the Kings are giving us nothing to talk about?

Super Bowl XLIII Party

After Jack's basketball game, we went to the Sharon's brother Tim's house for a Super Bowl Party. I am not a Steeler's fan; I was rooting for Arizona. [Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 24]

2009 PAL JV Rec Basketball Game #4

 

Jack played in his fourth JV Rec Basketball game of the 2009 PAL season. They played against St. John Vianney. The Eagles played this team in the championship game of the pre-season tournament and won in double overtime. As I noted at the time, St. John Vianney has an enormous player who has solid skills.

It was a very hard fought game. The Eagles lead by a score of 4 to 0 after the first 6 minute quarter. Jack had the assists on both of the first quarter baskets with nice entry passes to Jake and Andy. Jack does a very good job of keeping his eyes up while he is dribbling the ball up the court. A lot of the kids have their heads down looking at the ball.

Jack struggled with his shot. He was 0 for 5 from the field. Except for a fast break lay-up attempt in traffic, all of his shots looked good, but just could not find the bottom of the basket. He and I had gone to the park for about 40 minutes in the morning to shoot baskets to try and get him on track, but to no avail.

Jack continues to play the 2 in the first line. He played the first and third periods plus the last minute and a half of the fourth quarter.

With the Eagles trailing by 2 points and 2 second left in the game, they had the ball out of bounds underneath their own basket. Jack made a pretty good inbound pass to one of the forwards under the basket, but he could not find the handle. The Eagles lost by a score of 22 to 20.

Jack was very upset after the game; he was blaming himself for the loss, particularly on the last inbounds play. The difference in the game was free throw shooting down the stretch. With the Eagles leading 20 to 19 in the last minute, the other team made three out of four of their free throw attempts, while the Eagles missed the front-end of two 1 and 1's.

2009 Laguna Youth Baseball Tryouts

Jack and I spent the middle part of the day at the Laguna Youth baseball tryouts for 10 year olds. This will be Jack's seventh year of organized baseball. Additionally, he played a season of summer ball and fall tournament baseball last year. It is the third year that he has gone to the tryouts.

There were more than 40 kids. They had each boy catch two fly balls in the outfield and throw to second, field two grounders at shortstop and throw to first and then take two throws at first. After the fielding, they lined up all of the kids, gave them three pitches against a pitching machine and then had them run the bases after the third pitch.

Jack looked very smooth taking balls in the outfield and the infield. The two grounders ate him up a little, but they stayed with both and made strong throws. At the plate, he swung at the first pitch, drove the second pitch in left center and fouled off the third pitch.

I was surprised how uncomfortable most of the kids looked. While Jack looks and moves like a baseball player, most of the kids acted like they had never seen a glove, ball or bat before.

I spend some time talking with one of the assistant coaches from the Gunners tournament team. He is planning on coaching majors this year and noted that most of the 11 year olds looked just as awkward. He also made the point that we have spent the last six months watching tournament baseball against the toughest teams in Northern California. As a result, our reference point for judging players has changed. I spent most of the rest of the tryout talking to Cunningham; his son was also participating.

This year, the league is starting a new division called Minor. It is between Majors and AAA. The Minor division is supposed to include 8 teams stocked with 11 year olds and some 10 year olds. I am pretty sure that this is where Jack will end up.

Camino de Cruces

As I have mentioned before, on the mornings that I drop Jack at school, he and I will often listen to PRI's The World Geo Quiz Podcast.

This morning's Geo Quiz titled the Gold Road talked about the Camino de Cruces. This is the shortest land route across Panama to get from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Built by the Spanish over 500 hundred years ago, Spanish conquistadors hauled off South American gold and other loot along this route to their awaiting treasure fleets. Pirates used it to flee to the Caribbean. It was even traveled by gold prospectors heading for the California Gold Rush.

It is also on the path that my Great, Great Grandfather took to get from Holland to Sacramento in 1868. I told Jack that someday we are going to hike on this trail.