Halloween 2006

Jack and I went out about 6:20 p.m. to trick or treat in our neighborhood, while Sharon manned the door. We immediately met up with a group that included one of Jack's classmates. We spent about 40 minutes with the group hitting the houses on our block. Afterwards, Jack had a great time answering the door and giving out candy to other kids.

 

Halloween 2005

Halloween 2004

Halloween 2003

Halloween 2002

Halloween 2001

Jack O' Lantern

 

A Bit of France in the Fall

Here is Sharon's menu from Saturday night's dinner party. The only thing that she was less than satisfied with were the two red wines that we served with the foie gras and the duck. We decanted both of them, but Sharon felt that they had an industrial taste to them.


Hors d'Oeuvres
~~~
Piper-Heidsieck Champagne Brut
Taittinger, Champagne


Pan Seared Foie Gras
With Figs & Essence of Figs Puree
~~~
Domaine Des Tours
Coté de Rhône


Cantaloupe, Procsciutto
& Mint Shooter


Crisp Roast Duck
With Confit of Sour Cherries
~~~
Baron De La Charriere
Red Burgurdy


Variety of French Cheeses
~~~
Grand Reserve Sancerre


Cherries Jubilee
~~~
Heerings Cherry Liqueur

2006 Fall Dinner Party

Going back a number of years [2005, 2004, 2003, 2002], we have had an ambitious fall dinner party. We had a great group this year, including the Cunninghams, Gainsleys, and Sanborns. While we were getting ready for the party, both Sharon and I lamented the absence of the Bells and the Larkins.

Sharon made a great dinner with a French theme. We served French Champagne and wine and some French dishes that we had while we were traveling in France this past summer. I am going to post the menu separately.

The weather was so nice that the group ended up outside in the backyard after dinner. We had a great time with party breaking up a little after 11:30 p.m.

 
 
 

Champagne Flutes

Champagne Flutes

2006 Soccer Season Game 8

Jack played in his sixth soccer game of the season. The game was at Rancho Murietta. He played fullback in the first quarter, forward in the second period, and goalie in the fourth quarter.

With the score tied at 0 in the second quarter, Jack scored the first goal of the game. One of his teammates made a shot which bounced off a defender and Jack pushed it into the goal. He had one other good shot opportunity, but sailed it wide. Jack also had an assist on the second goal that his team scored.

In the second half, the other team was unable to move the ball across midfield. As a result, Jack and his teammate who played goalie in the third quarter never touched the ball. Jack spent the whole fourth quarter digging a hole in the ground with shoe. He was not happy that he did not get to touch the ball.

The team's record is now 8 wins and no losses.

Wrigley Field

In June of 1989, Tomasin, Wallen, Nooter, Moore, Swedberg and I spent a long weekend in Chicago.

The trip included two Chicago Cubs games at Wrigley Field, a Saturday night listening to blues downtown and a Sunday morning wandering along Lake Michigan.

Wrigley field is very cool. Even for the causal baseball fan, it is an experience not to be missed. I also enjoyed the wandering the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood around the ballpark.

Saturday night includes one of my favorite vignettes. We were sitting in the back of one of the clubs listening to blues. At the break, the band and its entourage ended up squeezing into the same space. The drummer set his drumsticks down next to Nooter; he picked them up. The old black drummer quietly reached over and took the drumsticks from Nooter and handed him a different pair to play with...

October 2006 Pack Meeting

Jack and I went to the October meeting of his cub scout pack. All of the kids wore their Halloween costumes. There was a short awards presentation and then the kids did a number of activities, including making slime, decorating cookies like eyeballs, building a spider out of pipe cleaners and a relay race to put together a skeleton.

California Historical Landmark #48

Anza Expedition Camp
California State Historical Landmark #48
The state web site shows this historical landmark at the corner of El Camino Real and Ralston in Burlingame, while the de Anza trail guide for San Mateo County points two blocks west to Heritage Park.

See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps 

The Anza Expedition of 1776, on its way up the peninsula to locate sites for the Presidio and Mission of San Francisco, camped here on March 26 at a dry watercourse a short league beyond Arroyo de San Mateo.

San Mateo County Landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks in San Mateo County
{GPS Coordinates of Site Location}
NO. 2 Portolá Journey's End - [map] - {37.447817,-122.170883}
NO. 19 Brokerick-Terry Dueling Place - [map] - {37.708166,-122.484166}
NO. 21 Portolá Expedition Camp - [map] - {37.4727,-122.44653}
NO. 22 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 23 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 24 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 25 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 26 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 27 Portolá Expedition Camp - [map] - {37.589,-122.413166}
NO. 47 Anza Expedition Camp - [map] - {37.5621,-122.328883}
NO. 48 Anza Expedition Camp - [map] - {37.575955,-122.347839}
NO. 92 Portolá Expedition Camp - [map] - {37.4835,-122.3165}
NO. 93 WOODSIDE STORE
NO. 94 PORTOLÁ EXPEDITION CAMP
NO. 343 OLD STORE AT LA HONDA
NO. 375 TUNITAS BEACH, INDIAN VILLAGE SITE ON PORTOLÁ ROUTE
NO. 391 SÁNCHEZ ADOBE
NO. 393 The Hospice (Outpost of Mission Dolores) - [map] - {37.56500,-122.32795}
NO. 394 SITE OF THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY
NO. 474 SITE OF THE FORMER VILLAGE OF SEARSVILLE
NO. 478 SITE OF SAN MATEO COUNTY'S FIRST SAWMILL
NO. 816 UNION CEMETERY
NO. 825 CASA DE TABLETA
NO. 846 Burlingame Railroad Station - [map]
NO. 856 RALSTON HALL
NO. 886 Carolands - [map] - {37.55508,-122.37085}
NO. 906 STEELE BROTHERS DAIRY RANCHES
NO. 907 Filoli - [map] - {37.4705,-122.309834}
NO. 909 OUR LADY OF THE WAYSIDE
NO. 930 PIGEON POINT LIGHTHOUSE {37° 10.914′ N, 122° 23.58′ W}
NO. 934 Tanforan Assembly Center - [map] - {37.63555,-122.4193}
NO. 939 CAPIDRO
NO. 949 FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF PESCADERO {37° 15.273′ N, 122° 23′ W}
NO. 955 MENLO PARK RAILROAD STATION

List of California Counties

2006 Kings versus Hornets

Kurt Snipes and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets preseason game. After trailing most of the game, the Hornets won 84 to 81.

Stojakovic gave the Hornets an 82-81 lead on a fall-away shot from near the free throw line with 25.4 seconds left. It was Peja's first game back in Sacramento since being traded for Ron Artest last January. It was also fun to see Bobby Jackson playing for the Hornets; he played 20 minutes and scored 13 points.

Both coaches played the game like it was a regular season game. Artest and Martin played more than 40 minutes. Without Bibby or Miller in the line-up, Musselman started Salmons at point guard and Abdur-Rahim at center. I was not impressed with Salmons play at point guard. It is going to interesting to see what the Kings do over the next couple of weeks while Bibby is out.

Different Realities

With a number of different things going on at work, I sat and talked to one of my managers about the struggles of supervising people. Winding my way through a number of personal and professional life experiences, I have come to accept that people have different realities. No matter how hard you try or how long you talk, it is sometimes not possible to reconcile those different realities. After making a good faith effort, you have to stop agonizing over the differences and move on.

"The idea that one person's mind is accessible to another's is just a conversational illusion, just a figure of speech, an assumption that makes some kind of exchange between basically alien creatures seems plausible, and that really the relationship of one person to another is ultimately unknowable."

Pirsig, Robert. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

Bibby to miss first two weeks

Kings' Bibby (thumb) likely to miss first two weeks:

Sacramento Kings guard Mike Bibby is expected to miss the first two weeks of the regular season after injuring his right thumb in an exhibition game Sunday night.

Sac Kings 2006 Forecast

ESPN -Hollinger's 2006 Training Camp Sacramento Kings Forecast

Sacramento can make a playoff run if nobody gets hurt in the frontcourt and Artest and Bibby perform near the top of their range, but everybody in the West can make an argument along those lines. The most likely scenario is that they limp home a couple games short of .500, and a couple games short of a playoff spot.

2006 Soccer Season Game 7

Jack played in his fifth soccer game of the season. He missed last week's game while we were gone on our anniversary trip. Jack played forward in the second quarter, fullback in the third quarter and midfielder in the fourth quarter.

His team fell behind quickly with the other team scoring in the first 30 seconds of the game. The other team scored a second goal in first quarter and they were down by a score of 0 to 2. Jack's team scored two goals in the second quarter to tie the score at 2 to 2 at halftime. Falling behind 3 to 2 in the third quarter, his team scored 3 unanswered goals to win 5 to 3. While not as cleanly played as two weeks ago, it was an exciting game to watch.

Jack had two good shots in the second quarter, but did not get his foot on ball solidly enough to score. In the third quarter, he had an odd assist. Jack was playing fullback. While his team was attacking, the ball was kicked out to midfield. He got his left foot on the ball and centered it back into the other end of the field where his teammate with the strongest foot drove it into the goal.

The team is still undefeated. Their record for the season is 7 wins and no losses.

DUI charges for Musselman

New Kings coach Musselman arrested on DUI charges

Most Expensive Combo Meal

The Maloofs starring in The World's Most Expensive Combo Meal from Carl's Jr.

New Sutter Health CIO

It has been an interesting year at work. The Sutter Health CIO, my boss, quit in early January to work for Perot. In the ensuing nine months, three of my peers have left the company. In late September, a permanent replacement for the CIO was finally hired.

Sutter Health hires chief information officer

[The following story appeared on page D2 of the Business Section of the Sacramento Bee on October 12.]

Sutter names new CIO

Sutter Health announced Wednesday the appointment of Jonathan Manis as its new chief information officer.

Manis, who has over 20 years of experience in health care related information technology, spent the past five years at Illinois-based Provena Health, where he was system vice president of administrative services and also the CIO. Before that, he was vice president of information services at Advocate Health Center, another Illinois health system.

Manis will be in charge of Sutter Health's existing "administrative, operational and clinical support systems," according to a Sutter press release. In addition, he will oversee Sutter's future investments in patient safety technologies.

3rd Grade: Art Lesson A

Sharon spent the afternoon as an art docent in Jack's class. The lesson introduced a more in depth look at portraiture. The kids examined a variety of portraits and distinguished them from other art forms. They also discussed why artists make portraits. The class examined and analyzed what visual clues reveal about the people in a variety of portraits.

When we were at the Louvre, Sharon and Jack bought a poster of the Mona Lisa; they planned to use it in one of the art docent lessons. She used it today as part of the lesson on portraits. Jack surprised Sharon by sharing with the class a long description of seeing the Mona Lisa.

The lesson looked at four other portraits: American Gothic by Frank Wood; Don Manuel by Francisco de Goya; and George Washington [shown below] and The Skater by Gilbert Stuart.


For their art projects, the kids created a personalized portrait.

California Historical Landmark #724

Pioneer Ski Area of America
California State Historical Landmark #724
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located adjacent to the lobby entrance of cable car building at base of mountain in Squaw Valley in Placer County. There are 20 other California State Historical Landmarks in Placer County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 39° 11.801 W 120° 14.150.

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



One thousand competitors from 34 nations came to Squaw Valley to compete in the VIII Olympic Winter Games of 1960. The games, brought here by Alexander C. Cushing, commemorated a century of sport skiing in America. By 1860 mining towns in the Sierra Nevada, particularly Whiskey Diggings, Poker Flat, Port Wine, Onion Valley, La Porte, and Johnsville, saw the first organized ski clubs and competition in the Western hemisphere.