Sunday, January 31, 2010

2010 Northstar Day 2

After a late night, Tomasin and I were moving a little slow on Sunday morning. By the time, we had something to eat, got lift tickets and boarded the gondola, it was almost 10 a.m. One of the benefits of Hunter's condo is that you can take the elevator to the ground floor, pick up your skis from a rack or a locker and walk straight to the front of the gondola line; this is a very nice perk.

The weather was perfect and the snow was great. Unfortunately, the lift lines were long. We headed towards the Backside and skied a number of runs. Several times, we probably waited in the lift line almost 20 minutes. Hunter and Debbie finally caught up with us about noon. The four of us skied the Backside until about 1:00 p.m.

From there, we headed to Shaffer's Camp. This is a private restaurant, bar and lounge located at the top of the Zephyr Chair. Last year, Hunter, Larkin and I were planning to have lunch there before Hunter's crash. I finally got a chance to get inside this year and we had a very nice lunch.

After lunch, the four of us skied Lookout Mountain. The lift lines were generally a lot shorter.

We ended back to the condo about 4:00 p.m. went straight to the jacuzzi.

Debbie had made a reservation for dinner at Wolfdale's Cuisine Unique. Hunter's condo has a car service that took the four of us into Tahoe City to the restaurant. It was a very nice dinner; the meal was nice enough that I will probably take Sharon there next time we are in the area.

From the restaurant, we walked to Pete and Peter's. The bartender was the niece of someone who worked for Tomasin. We had a couple of beers and hung out until the car returned to take us back to the condo.

I crashed in the condo watching SportsCenter only slightly earlier than on Saturday night.

The Backside at Northstar


The Backside at Northstar, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

2010 Northstar Day 1

Tomasin picked me up about 2:00 p.m. and we took off for Northstar. Hunter has a very nice condo at Northstar. Ever since last year's short and bizarre trip, I have wanted to get back to Northstar and ski with Hunter.

After a short stop in Truckee, Tomasin and I rolled into the Village at Northstar about 4:30 p.m. We had a chance to visit briefly with Danny and his friends before they rolled back to Sacramento.

After some hors d'oeuvres at the condo, Hunter, Debbie, Tomasin and I headed to the Rubicon Pizza Company for dinner. Afterwards, we had a drink at Baxter's Bistro and Lounge. Hunter dragged us into the The Chocolate Bar to finish the night.

2010 PAL JV COMP SEAS versus St. Roberts

The St. ELizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played their fourth league game against the St. Roberts Rebels. St. Roberts has a large team of 15 fifth and six graders with one big player and a skilled backcourt player. The backcourt player has the tendency to put his head down and drive to the basket.

On the strength of 4 points each by Jack and Joe, the Eagles ran out to a 14 to 6 first quarter lead and never looked back. Jack went 2 for 2 in the first quarter, while Joe went 2 for 3.

The final score was SEAS 36, St. Roberts 25. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Jack had 7 points on 3 for 7 from the field and 1 for 2 from the free throw line. He added 3 rebounds. Aidan started at center for only the second game this season and had 13 rebounds.

Jack and I were listening to a Bill Simmon's podcast on the way to the game that talked about how Shaq had a mental block about free throws. Jack said that this was playing in his head when he got to the line. Nevertheless, he made the second free throw; his first made free throw of the year.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAS versus St. Roberts Box Score

SEAs versus St. Roberts - January 30, 2010
4th League Game
Game Log


.                                    __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles        14     9     6     7    36
St. Roberts Rebels                     6     2     4    13    25

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       12   4-10  0-0   0-2    0     1     1     0     1     0     1     2     8
Jack      12   3-7   0-0   1-2    0     3     3     0     0     0     0     1     7
Malcom    12   1-5   0-0   0-0    0     3     3     0     0     0     2     1     2
Jake      12   0-2   0-0   1-2    3     2     5     0     0     0     1     1     1
Aidan     12   3-6   0-0   0-0    5     8    13     0     0     0     0     1     6
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     12   1-4   0-1   0-2    0     2     2     0     3     0     3     3     2
Chad      12   2-4   0-0   0-2    0     0     0     1     1     0     4     1     4
Connor    -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
David     12   1-6   0-0   0-0    2     5     7     0     2     0     0     1     2
Anthony   12   0-0   0-0   0-0    1     2     3     0     0     0     2     1     0
Andy      12   2-6   0-0   0-0    2     3     5     0     0     0     1     1     4

         120  17-50  0-1   2-10  13    29    42     1     7     0    14    13    36
              34.0%  0.0% 20.0%

Friday, January 29, 2010

Eifelheim

I finished reading Eifelheim. Sharon's brother Tom mentioned the book at Erin and Eileen's graduation party last June. I was intrigued because Tom does not read much science fiction. When I realized that it was one of the finalists for the Hugo award, I was hooked and brought the book to add to my pile.

Most of the story is set in Germany in 1348 in a small village in the Black Forest. The story revolves around a Catholic priest, the feudal and manorial systems, the black plague and aliens from another planet that apparently resemble large grasshoppers. There is a smaller contemporary story line involving a historian researching why the village disappeared from the map and a scientist working on a model of the universe.

I struggled getting through the book more than a little in the last month, but in hindsight that is more a reflection of how much was going with the holidays, January birthdays and work than a comment on the book. When I turned to the book in earnest in the last week, I was drawn along by the story. Overall, I would recommend the book; it is an interesting mix of historical fiction and science fiction.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

California Historical Landmark #1016

Stockton Developmental Center
California State Historical Landmark #1016

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

This landmark is located at 510 East Magnolia Street, Stockton, California. There are 24 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Joaquin County. The GPS coordinates for this location are N 37° 57.862 W 121° 17.213.

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

California Historical Landmark #1016

The Stockton Developmental Center began in 1853 as the Insane Asylum of California at Stockton. It was founded on 100 acres with ready access to the goldfields on land donated by Captain Charles Weber, founder of Stockton. California's Legislature was convinced that the turbulence of the Gold Rush had caused many to suffer from mental problems, and that the existing hospitals were inadequate to cope with large numbers of people with mental and emotional conditions. Consequently it authorized the establishment of the Stockton Hospital, the first public hospital in California to serve the mentally ill. California's mental hospital is one of the oldest in the west, and early on was recognized for its progressive forms of treatment.

California Historical Landmark #1016

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

2010 Kings versus Warriors

Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Golden State Warriors Basketball game. After leading by 21 points in the second quarter, the Kings held on to win by the score of 99 to 96.

This is the first game that Kevin Martin has played at home and the seventh game overall since he returned from his injury. He looked awful. Martin was 1 for 7 from the field, 0 for 2 from three and 3 for 3 from the free throw line in 26 minutes. Not only did he look bad, but the Kings offense looked worse with him on the floor than it did when Martin was on the bench. It will be interesting to see how Westphal handles the line-up if Martin continues to struggle.

Tyreke Evans had 23 points on 8 for 21 from the field, 0 for 2 from three and 7 for 9 from the free throw line. He added 6 rebounds and 4 assists. With the Warriors keying on him in the fourth quarter, Beno Udrih exploded for 24 points on 8 for 15 from the field, 0 for 1 from three and 8 for 8 from the free throw line. Udrih went 5 for 5 from the free throw line in the last 20 seconds to seal the win.

The Warriors played without leading scorer Monta Ellis. I do not think that the Kings would have won the game if Ellis had been playing. Corey Maggette tried to take up the slack for the Warriors, but he went 3 for 22 from the field.

It was a very slow foul filled game. There were 51 total fouls and the game lasted over 2 1/2 hours.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Spoon - Mystery Zone

The complete list of Starbucks iTunes picks of the week is here!
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Spoon - Mystery Zone #fb

Code Expiration: April 23, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010

JibJab 2009 Year in Review

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!


This is JibJab's 5th annual year in review. Here are 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.

NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 13

The Kings have 1 win and 11 losses in January.

The Kings dropped from 24th to 27th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of the 30 NBA teams. It is hard to believe that they were ranked as high as 15th just four weeks ago.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings
The 13-14 start was hard to fathom, but the subsequent 2-14 nosedive is almost as hard to process. And don't even get me started on what the losing and struggles to reintegrate Kevin Martin have done to our beloved Casspi.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Celebrating Sharon's Birthday!

We celebrated Sharon's birthday over the weekend. Friday night after Jack's basketball game, we went to Scott's. Sharon and Jack made a yellow cake with pineapple and fluffy white frosting. Saturday night, I made dinner, including barbecuing a couple of steaks. Gifts included some pinot noir wine glasses, a book and some Nancy Brown jewelry.

After dinner, we watched the Hangover. After seeing it win best film comedy at the Golden Globes, Sharon wanted to watch it. I was pleasantly surprised by the film; I enjoyed it a great deal.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp Basketball Tournament #3 Day #3

SEAS Eagles - Champions of the St. Philomene's Tournament


After finishing their league game against Holy Spirit, the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles rushed across town to play Sacred Heart in the finals of the St. Philomene's basketball tournament.

Sacred Heart has a couple of fairly skilled backcourt players, but no size. The Eagles ran out to a 9 to 4 first quarter lead on the strength of 7 points from Joe and never looked back. The bench got a chance to play a lot of minutes.

The Eagles won the game by the score of 40 to 26 and the championship of the tournament. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

This is the first game this year that Jack has failed to score. He was 0 for 2 from the field. Jack added 2 steals and 2 rebounds. He also turned the ball over twice. After playing three games in about 20 hours, Jack was a little banged up (sore heel) and wore down. Typical of when he has an off performance, Jack was very unhappy...

In the last fifteen days, the Eagles have played 10 games. Over the next four weeks, they only have 4 league games scheduled until the JV Championship Tournament starts on February 22.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Sacred Heart Box Score

SEAs versus Sacred Heart - January 23, 2010
Finals of St. Philomene's Tournament
Game Log


.                        __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton    9     6    17     8    40
Sacred Heart               4     3     7    12    26

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       17   5-6   0-0   2-2    0     1     1     0     3     0     0     0    13
Jack      14   0-2   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     2     0     2     1     0
Connor    14   0-3   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     3     1     0
Jake      17   2-4   0-0   0-0    2     3     5     0     0     1     1     1     4
Andy      14   2-4   0-0   0-0    2     2     4     0     0     0     1     3     4
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     15   3-8   0-2   0-0    0     1     1     2     2     0     1     1     6
Chad      10   0-1   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     2     1     0     0     1     0
Malcom    14   1-5   0-0   1-1    0     0     0     0     3     0     2     2     3
David     11   2-4   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0     0     0     0     0     4
Anthony   -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
Aidan     14   3-4   0-0   0-0    3     3     6     0     0     0     0     0     6

         140  18-41  0-2   3-3    7    15    22     4    11     1    10    10    40
              43.9%  0.0% 100.0%

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Spirit

In the third league game of the season, the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles played Holy Spirit. The Eagles lost to Holy Spirit last weekend in the semi-finals of the St. Charles tournament.

In the rematch, Holy Spirit was missing several players, including their best player. With only two players on the bench, Holy Spirit played a very tight zone. They packed the key and dared the Eagles to take outside shots.

Initially, the strategy worked. Taking a number of long jumpers, the Eagles shot 2 for 12 in the first quarter and trailed by the score of 7 to 4 at the end of the quarter.

The Eagles settled down in the second quarter and went on to lead by the score of 15 to 13 at the half. Turning the ball over seven times in the third quarter, the Eagles clung to a 21 to 19 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Eagles settled down again in the fourth quarter and took better care of the ball. Jack hit two jumpers and the Eagles made 3 of their 4 free throws.

The final score was SEAS 30, Holy Spirit 23. The score box is here and the season game log is here.

Jack had 6 points on 3 for 9 from the field. He added 2 steals and 1 rebound. Unfortunately, he had 4 turnovers. Several of these made me more than a little crazy. For example, Jack was called for traveling on a made lay-up; I did not agree with the call.

It will be interesting to see if this game impacts the seeding for the year-end tournament. I would assume that teams will be seeded based on their record in league play. As a result, this could be an advantage for the Eagles in the post season tournament.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus Holy Spirit Box Score

SEAs versus Holy Spirit - January 23, 2010
3rd League Game
Game Log


.                        __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton    4    11     6     9    30
Holy Spirit                7     6     6     4    23

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Joe       18   2-7   0-0   1-2    0     0     0     1     1     0     3     3     5
Jack      15   3-9   0-0   0-0    1     0     1     0     2     0     4     0     6
Connor     7   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0     0     0     2     0     0
Jake      20   3-6   0-0   0-1    3     2     5     0     1     0     0     3     6
Andy      14   0-2   0-0   2-2    2     1     3     1     1     1     1     3     2
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST   STL   BLK    TO    PF   PTS
Jacob     11   2-8   1-4   0-0    1     1     2     0     0     0     2     0     5
Chad       4   1-2   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     0     1     0     1     1     2
Malcom    15   1-5   0-0   0-0    2     1     3     1     4     0     1     2     2
David      6   1-2   0-0   0-0    2     1     3     0     1     0     0     1     2
Anthony   -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -
Aidan     10   0-3   0-0   0-0    5     3     8     0     0     0     0     0     0

         120  13-44  1-4   3-5   16    10    26     3    11     1    14    13    30
              29.5% 25.0% 60.0%

Friday, January 22, 2010

WILD ENDING!

2010 PAL JV Comp Basketball Tournament #3 Day #2

Playing in the second day of the St. Philomene's tournament, the St. Elizabeth Seton Eagles played St. John Evangelist. With some confusion over the start time for the game, the Eagles showed up for a 4 p.m. game, while SJE thought that the game was not until 5 p.m.

SJE has the biggest player we have seen in the league. While the Eagles have a pair of centers that are 5' 7", the SJE center is at least 5' 9"; he towers over the sixth graders. The SJE center is also a solid basketball player with good fundamentals.

It was a very closely played game in the first half. At the end of the first half, the score was SJE 11, SEAs 10. On the strength of 2 baskets by Andy and 2 baskets by Jake, SEAs led 20 to 16 at the end of the third quarter.

Unfortunately, SEAs could not hold the lead. SJE's center made a couple of baskets and SJE led 28 to 25 with a minute to go.

At this point, the game became a mad scramble. Coach Dean replaced Malcolm at small forward with Jacob, the back-up point guard. Jacob is the team's best three point shooter.

Jack and Joe put enormous pressure on the ball and SJE made several turnovers. After the second turnover, Jack ended up being double teamed on the block. The Eagles swung the ball around to Jacob standing wide open at the three point line and he calmly drained a 3, literally nothing but net. The score was tied 28 all.

The Eagles then forced another turn-over. Joe drove to the basket and was hammered by three SJE players. He missed both the first and second free throw, but the Eagles center Andy outfought the SJE center and everyone else for the rebound.

Kicking the ball out, the ball swung back around to Jacob. He was standing uncovered in almost the same spot as before and he calmly drained another 3 pointer, again literally nothing but net.

The Eagles won the game by the score of 31 to 28.

Jack played 26 of the 28 minute game. He had 2 points on 1 for 6 from the field. Jack added 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 rebound.

The score box is here and the season game log is here.

SEAs will play in the championship game of the St. Philomene's tournament on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. after they play their league game in the morning.

2010 PAL JV Comp SEAs versus St. John Evangelist Box Score

SEAs versus St. John Evangelist - January 22, 2010
2nd round of the St. Philomene's Tournament

Game Log

.                        __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __T__
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton    4     6    10    11    31
St. John Evangelist        5     6     5    12    28

Starters MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST  STL  BLK   TO  PF  PTS
Joe       20   3-3   0-0   1-4    0     0     0     2    2    0    3   3    7
Jack      26   1-6   0-0   0-0    0     1     1     3    3    0    3   0    2
Connor     9   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0    2    0    1   1    0
Jake      26   5-6   0-0   0-0    0     2     2     0    0    0    1   0   10
Andy      18   2-3   0-0   0-0    4     0     4     0    1    0    0   0    4
Bench    MIN  FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  OREB  DREB  REB   AST  STL  BLK   TO  PF  PTS
Jacob     10   2-3   2-3   2-2    0     1     1     0    1    0    1   0    8
Chad       2   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0    0    0    1   1    0
Malcom    13   0-1   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0    0    0    1   0    0
David      3   0-3   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0    0    0    0   0    0
Anthony    3   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     0     0     0    0    0    0   0    0
Aidan     10   0-0   0-0   0-0    0     3     3     0    1    0    0   0    0

         140  13-25  2-3   3-5    4     7    11     5   10    0   11   5   31
              52.0% 66.7% 60.0%

Thursday, January 21, 2010

2010 PAL JV Comp Basketball Tournament #3 Day #1

The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Eagles are playing in an eight team tournament at St. Philomene's over the next three days. The Eagles played Our Lady of Grace in the first round.

Although active and fairly athletic, OLG lacked a dominant player and size. The Eagles put a lot of defensive pressure on OLG and ran out to a 28 to 2 half time lead.

With the second team playing the majority of the minutes, SEAs beat OLG by the score of 45 to 10. Jack played 14 of 28 minutes and scored 2 points on 1 for 6 shooting.

The score box is here and the season game log is here.

The next two games are going to be much more difficult. In the second round of the tournament on Friday night, SEAs will be playing St. John Evangelist. Although the Eagles have not faced them, we have seen SJE playing in the winner's bracket in the other tournaments; they feature one of the tallest players in the league. On Saturday morning, SEAs will play Holy Spirit in a league game. Holy Spirit beat the Eagles 24 to 20 last weekend in the St. Charles tournament.