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
See this location on Google Maps

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.