Oakland Raiders Training Camp

I have been working out of Napa since late January of 2015. As a result, a number of annual events have repeated. The Marriott hotel where I am staying is again full of Raiders and Raiders fans.

County Football Insider: Napa training camp nearing for Raiders | Sports | napavalleyregister.com

Training camp for the Oakland Raiders begins on July 28 when veteran players report to the Napa Valley Marriott. The first practice is on July 29, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the adjacent 2 1/2-field Redwood Middle School facility, which has a fieldhouse. Rookies are scheduled to report to camp on July 24. This marks the Raiders’ 21st summer in Napa.

Spending the Day in Napa

Sharon and Janie spent the day in Napa. They picked up wine shipments at Kuleto Estates. They had lunch at Hog Island Oyster Company in the Oxbow Market. After some shopping, they finished the day picking up wine shipments at Bouchine Vineyards before heading home.

Spy

Sharon and I watched Spy as a HD rental on the AppleTV. This 2015 comedy stars Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Allison Janney, and Jude Law. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for McCarthy.

The film follows the transformation of desk-bound CIA analyst Susan Cooper (McCarthy) into a field agent who attempts to foil the black market sale of a suitcase nuke. The opening sequence, opening credits and music invoke the feeling of a James Bond film.

The movie was filmed in Budapest, Hungary; I was very impressed with the scenery. When we were originally planning our European trip, we were trying to figure out how to get as far as Vienna and Budapest, but it was just too much ground to cover. Budapest is definitely on my list for a future trip. Sharon had visited Vienna and Budapest in 1985.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It was very watchable...

Drew

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant

Sharon came over and spent the night with me in Napa. With the Napa Valley Marriott full of Oakland Raiders, I am spending one night at the Harvest Inn.

After checking out the bar at the Harvest Table, we headed to the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for dinner. I had gotten a gift certificate to the Culinary Institute of America restaurants from work.

Given the prices, we were both disappointed with the ambience and the food. We had tomato toast and a watermelon salad as a starter. Sharon had salmon as an entree, while I had pork. Talking about dinner afterwards, Sharon said "disappointing is an understatement."

Jesuit High School National Signing Day 2016

I was fascinated by this year's scholarship and signing day process in April at Jesuit High School. With Jack's class as seniors, this is really the first time that I have known boys that have gone through the signing day process.

Talking to parents and others shortly after the National Signing Day event, I got very confused. I didn't realize that signing day has grown to include full scholarships as well as kids going to college to try and play. Signing Day includes walk ons?!?.

Looking at the NCCA site, by signing an National Letter of Intent, a college-bound student-athlete must attend the participating college or university for at least one academic year, and that college or university must provide athletic financial aid for that same year.

Jesuit High School said that a number of boys signed Letter of Intent Commitments. I am not sure what this means or if it really exists... I have searched the NCAA sites, but haven't found any references to Letter of Intent Commitments. Several people have told me that some of the signing day participants were just signing a blank piece of paper?!?

I am interested in following a number of these boys as they continue to play in college.

Letter of Intent – Scholarship Athletes
Baseball
Alex Isola – University of Utah - First Team All-Metro
Jack Wolger – University of California, Berkeley - First Team All-Metro

Football
Beau Bisharat - University of Colorado

Golf
David Laskin – University of Arizona

Soccer
Gabriel McEwen – Westmont

Track & Field
Stephan Reynolds – Lewis University

Letter of Intent - Commitment
Baseball
Jack Cosca – University of California, Berkeley
Nick Sogard – Loyola Marymount University - Second Team All-Metro
Sam Stiltner – University of Pacific

Crew
Bryce Knight – Santa Clara

Lacrosse
Chase Browning – University of Nevada, Reno
Dominic Quiggle – Otterbein University

Rugby
Bailey Abercrombie – US Military Academy at West Point
Christian Dyer – University of California, Berkeley

Soccer
Matt Glass – Harvard University

Swimming
Terry Johnson – Georgetown University

ESPN 30 for 30 Shorts: The Guerrilla Fighter

ESPN Films has released the fifty-fifth film in their 30 for 30 documentary short series.

30 for 30 Shorts: The Guerrilla Fighter

Alexis Arguello is considered by many to be the greatest junior lightweight of the 20th century. He is also considered the greatest hero in Nicaraguan history for what he did for his people when his gloves were off.

You can find The Guerrilla Fighter on the ESPN web site at http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=17132049.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Caterzillar

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Code Expiration: October 18, 2016

David Laskin

Jack and David have been friends and classmates since kindergarten. David will be heading to the University of Arizona on a golf scholarship. It is going to be fun to follow David's career.

Brunch with Drew

Stopping on his way back from two weeks working at the Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp, Sharon, Jack, Kiki and I had brunch with Drew at the Rey Azteca Breakfast and Juice Bar.

2016 River Cats versus Chihuahuas

Sactown slugfest ends in River Cats rout
The best offense in the Pacific Coast League took the field Saturday night and then looked on as the Sacramento River Cats (45-56) ran up the score early en route to a 12-0 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas (57-42). Sacramento struck for nine runs in the first two innings and coasted to the win behind an excellent combination effort from the bullpen.

Sharon, Jack, Kiki and I went to the Sacramento River Cats versus El Paso Chihuahuas Pacific Coast League baseball game. As a social event for her work, Sharon's company took more than 100 people to the game. We had dinner in the Smokehouse BBQ area before wandering to the seats.

I was excited to see Hunter Pence in right field. The two-time World Champ and two-time All-Star was working his way back from hamstring surgery. Pence went 1-for-4 with a double in six innings.

Andrew Susac caught the game. He was 2 for 4 with a home run, two runs scored, two RBIs, one base on balls and a strike-out. After the game, Jack was talking mostly about was Susac's three passed balls...

Kelby Tomlinson played third. He was 3-for-5 with two runs scored.

We stayed for the fireworks after the game. Unlike the experience in Lille, it was fairly easy to get out of the parking lot after the game!

2016 Europe Vacation Musings

This year's summer trip had three basic goals. First, I really wanted to visit the Netherlands and Amsterdam. I self identify as Dutch. I really enjoyed Amsterdam. Except for the fact that it rained on us off and on for the entire first week, the highpoint of the trip for me was the first week in the Low Countries.

Second, Jack really wanted to see one of the Euro 2016 soccer games. One of the quarter final games fit almost perfectly into our schedule. It was in Lille, France and was only about 46 miles from where we were staying in Ghent, Belgium. We saw a great game between Wales and Belgium. In spite of the amount of beer that the Welsh fans dumped on Sharon, it was a very neat experience!

Once we were on the trip, Jack added a goal of wanting to get to as many countries as possible. He was not happy that we cut out a leg that would have taken us into Switzerland and Liechtenstein. As it was, we hit six countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Austria.

Third, Sharon wanted to get to Salzburg, Austria. In 1985, between her second and third year in law school, Sharon spent six weeks taking classes at the University of Salzburg. She hadn't been back since. The itinerary for the first part of the second week of the trip was designed to get us close to Salzburg. Even though I was starting to come down with a cold, we had a great couple of days in Salzburg. We got a chance to revisit some of Sharon haunts from 31 years ago!

Over the course of the second week, I drove over 900 miles in two different rental cars. Both cars were manual transmissions. I have spent my whole life driving manual transmission vehicles of all shapes and sizes, but frankly I had kind of forgotten how much more you have to stay connected to the vehicle with a manual transmission. You have to pay attention and drive! I also got a chance to drive on the German Autobahn without any speed limit!

[Note to self], the one thing that I probably done differently on the trip was schedule one or two guided tours. We did self guided tours in most of the cities. While I enjoyed all of these, there were a couple of places where I think that a guided tour would have helped make more effective use of the time. For example, Sunday morning in Luxembourg City would have been a great spot to do a guided tour. We had guided tours in Rome and Charleston that I really enjoyed.

Bruges Windmill

one of the windmills along our run in Bruges

Along our run in Bruges

Bruges Run with Jack

Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt

On the flight to Amsterdam, I finished reading Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt by Edward P. Kohn. The book fits loosely into my long term project to read books about all of the presidents. I actually bought the book in 2010 when I heard the author on the old Jon Stewart Daily Show. It has been sitting on my bookcase for almost six years!?!

Theodore Roosevelt was a New City Police commissioner during the the heat wave. While the book looks at Roosevelt and the role he played in and around the heat wave, William Jennings Bryan is really a lot more of a focus of the book.

Bryan was the Democratic nominee for President; he was running against McKinley. In the middle of the August heat wave, Bryan came to New York City's Madison Square Garden to kick off his presidential campaign with a speech. For a number of reasons, including the heat wave, the speech was a failure. Many people blame the failure of the speech for essentially killing Bryan's presidential campaign. The book also gives you a little taste of the McKinley presidential campaign.

Although I read the Woodrow Wilson book, I had forgotten that Bryan later served as Wilson's Secretary of State. Bryan played a major role in keeping the United States out of the first half of World War I.

While it has some interesting pieces, it is not a very good book. I felt that the book was very repetitive talking about the impact of the heat wave. It seemed like it repeated the same kind of examples over and over. I don't recommend the book.

Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week - Terminology 3

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Code Expiration: October 11, 2016

Bruges Run with Jack

Much to my surprise, Jack wanted to go for a run a couple of times while we were on the trip. On the last day that we were in Bruges, he and I ran 2.95 miles in a loop through the city. There was a nice series of windmills along the River. A picture from our run is here.

Dinner at the Hohensalzburg Fortress

dinner in Salzburg at the Hohensalzburg Fortress

Amadeus

On Friday and Saturday night, Sharon and I watched the director's cut of Amadeus. As I said during our vacation, Salzburg is crazy for Mozart. The last morning that we were in Salzburg, we toured Mozart's residence. Sharon talked about wanting to watch the movie before we went on the vacation. My interest was peaked enough by our trip to Salzburg that I suggested that we watch it...

The story, set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, is a fictionalized biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. F. Murray Abraham stars as Antonio Salieri, while Tom Hulce is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Released in 1984, the film received 11 Oscar nominations and won 8 awards including: Best Actor in a Leading Role (F. Murray Abraham); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Costume Design; Best Picture; Best Director; Best Makeup; and, Best Sound Mixing. Amadeus is the most recent film to receive two lead actor nominations.

The Director's cut adds more than 30 minutes to the theater version of the film. As a result, the movie we watched was just over three hours long. I felt like the second half of the movie really dragged with a number of long production numbers. I don't recommend the movie unless you have some particular interest in the subject...

I think that the film's plot strays pretty far from some of the real details of Mozart's life. [Note to self], I need to find a short biography of Mozart.

2016 Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp

Starting Sunday, July 10, Drew is spending two weeks working at the Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp as a counselor. Since 2003, he has worked thirteen out of fourteen years at the camp; he missed only 2015. Drew also spent five years as camper.