2009 Gunners versus Sierra Valley Storm

The Gunners played a double header against the Sierra Valley Storm. As well as Jack played on Saturday, he struggled today.

In the first game, Jack played three innings at third base. He struggled in the field. At the plate, Jack got to bat once in the fifth inning. He fell behind in the count, ran the count to 3 and 2 and then struck out on seven pitches. The Gunners lost the first game by a score of 7 to 5.

Jack played three uneventful innings in right field in the second game. He got to the plate once in the fifth inning. Jack hit the first pitch for a high pop-up down the first base line that was caught by the first baseman. The Gunners won the second game by a score of 14 to 1.

Through his hard work last fall, Jack was able to work himself into being the 8 or 9 player on the Gunners. Unfortunately, I think that he has fallen back towards the end of the bench over the last two months.

2009 LYB Minor Twins Preseason Game #1

Jack played in a preseason game for the 2009 Laguna Youth Baseball Minor League season. The Twins played against the Yankees.

Jack had a very good game. In plate appearances, he was 2 for 2 with a walk. In his first at-bat, Jack drove a 1-0 pitch into left center all the way to the fence for a triple and a RBI. He walked on four pitches in his second plate appearance. In his third at-bat, Jack hit a 2-0 pitch into right center for a single.

In the field, Jack played two innings at third base and pitched one inning. He actually pitched pretty well. Jack threw 21 pitches, faced 6 batters and gave up one run.

This is the first time he has pitched in almost two years. In total, Jack only pitched 12 innings in AA two years ago and no innings last year in AAA or with the Gunners.

The Twins lost the game by a score of 13 to 10 in four innings.

2009 Kings versus LeBrons

A little more than five years ago, Larkin and I saw LeBron James' first regular season NBA game.

Tonight, Jack and I went to LeBron's 455 career game. The Sacramento Kings played the Cleveland Cavaliers. Leading 98 to 84 at the end of the third quarter, Kings lost 126 to 123 in overtime. The Kings fall to 0-25 versus the Eastern Conference this season. In spite of the Kings' loss, it was a very entertaining game.

LeBron ended up with 51 points on 16 for 30 from the field, 4 for 11 from three point range and 15 of 17 from the free throw line. Watching LeBron go to the basket is amazing; he looks like a man amongst boys. This was LeBron's eighth career 50-point game and third this season. Only Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson have more 50-point games since the NBA merger in 1976-77.

I had intended to focus on watching LeBron most of the game, but I got sidetracked. The Kings kept the game competitive. As a result, I ended up following the ball more than I have the last couple of games.

LeBron did not get much help from the rest of the team and it almost cost them the game. In particular, Mo Williams was 3 for 14 from the field and 0 for 4 from three point range.

The Kings were lead by Kevin Martin. Martin scored 34 points on 9 for 21 from the field, 3 for 8 from three point range and 13 for 14 from the free throw line.

Two Mules for Sister Sara

Running the on treadmill over the last two weekends, I watched Two Mules for Sister Sara. Released in 1970, the movie stars Clint Eastwood and Shirley McLaine. The movie is set in Mexico after the Civil War during the French intervention.

Filmed partly on location in Cuaútla and Jantetelco in the province of Morelos in Mexico, I enjoyed the scenery.

California Historical Landmark #356

Castro Home
California State Historical Landmark #356
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
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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
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps

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.