Eric Frame for State Senator

Dinner with Liz

Sharon met Liz for dinner at Mikuni on Fair Oaks.

A Star is Born

Late Sunday afternoon, Sharon and I went to see A Star is Born at the Century Arden 14. We are kicking off our annual pilgrimage to see all of the Oscar nominated films. All of the early lists of potential Best Picture nominees that I have seen so far have included this film.

Directed by Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut, it is remake of the 1937 film of the same name. It stars Cooper, Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, and Sam Elliott. The story follows a hard-drinking musician (Cooper) who discovers and falls in love with a young singer (Gaga).

It marks the fourth remake of the original 1937 film including a 1954 musical, the 1976 rock musical and a 2013 Bollywood romance film. I have never seen he 1976 version with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

Sharon loved the movie and gave it a "10." She is a big Bradley Cooper fan. I also enjoyed the film, although not as much as Sharon... I was surprised by the quality of the music and realism of the concert scenes. The performances by Cooper and Lady Gaga are very good. I will be shocked if the movie is not nominated for Best Picture.

CarMax

One of the sales people that we worked with at Niello last weekend mentioned that he sold his truck to CarMax. On Monday, Sharon drove the Lexus RX400h and took it to CarMax at lunch. I met her there. They gave us a quote to buy the car. At that point, we realized that there was still a lien on the car with the DMV. After scrambling over the course of the week to get some updated paperwork from the lender, Sharon found the pink slip that they sent us in 2013.

I took the car back to CarMax early Saturday morning. In a very quick transaction, CarMax gave us a check for three times what the dealer had offered to give us in trade.

I had some mixed emotions. I drove that car for 10 1/2 years and 230,000 miles. As I have said before, it has been the most reliable vehicle I ever owned...

Celebrating Janie's Birthday

Sharon took Janie to dinner for her birthday. They met at Allora.

They split a salad and raviolo [LOBSTER, PANCETTA, WILD MUSHROOM, PUMPKIN, BLOOMSDALE SPINACH]. For entrees, Sharon had black cod [OXTAIL-ONION MARMALADE, POTATO GNOCCHI, PARSNIP, CIPOLLINI, OXTAIL BRODO], while Janie had Niman Ranch pork cheeks [RYE SPATULA, PERSIMMON CHUTNEY, LACINATO KALE].

Throwback Thursday - Virginia Beach - March 1988

Sunday after the Georgetown Family Weekend, Sharon and I had dinner with Barb and Rob Nooter and spent the night. Barb pulled out one of their wedding albums. Hunter, Tomasin and I were groomsmen in their wedding more than thirty years ago.

Halloween 2018

#SAD!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump

Taking a break from the 1,000 page third volume of the biography of Lyndon Johnson, I read #SAD!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump by Gary Trudeau in October. As I have said before, when I was working for the farm credit banks in Sacramento in the 1980s, I used to stop every morning and buy a San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle had Doonesbury, while the Sacramento Bee refused to publish it. One of my highlights every morning was reading the comic strip.

Trudeau started using Donald Trump as a character in his comic strip on September 14, 1987. #SAD! is a "sequel" to Yuge!: 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump that was published before the 2016 presidential election.

#SAD! tracks Trump's victory, the transition and POTUS’s First 500 Days. It is organized into four sections: The Gathering Shitstorm; American Carnage; Team of Deplorables, and; Stormy Weather.

While I enjoyed it, this book is not as good as Yuge! Given that Trudeau is only drawing a Sunday comic at this point, there isn't as much content to draw from in the last two years as there was for the first book. As a result, this edition feels thin.

Volvo XC60 T8

Since the Lexus turned 10 years old in June, I have been starting to think more seriously about getting a new car. My requirements included an all-wheel-drive SUV that supported CarPlay. I wanted another hybrid and, if possible, a plug-in hybrid. The list of vehicles that checks all of these boxes is small. I have been focusing over the last two months on the 2019 Volvo XC60 T8.

Saturday morning, Sharon and I went to Niello Volvo and test drove a black Momentum XC60 T8. This is the base model. We were both pretty impressed.

Afterwards, we walked around the lot and looked at a number of other models. In addition to the Onyx Black Momentum, they had one other Ice White Momentum. They had five R-Design models: Bursting Blue; two Crystal White Pearls; Fusion Red, and; Onyx Black. There was a pretty wide variety of different options on the five cars. The R-Design is a step up in trim from the Momentum. They didn't have any Inscriptions in stock; these are the top of the line models.

During my run on Saturday afternoon, I decided to go back and figure out the cost. We headed to the dealer after lunch on Sunday and drove one of the white R-Designs. We spent about an hour running different lease and purchase scenarios. I finally settled on buying the vehicle.

Lexus RX400h Day 3,772

On Friday, the Lexus turned over 230,000 miles. Without a doubt, it has been the most reliable vehicle that I ever owned. Nevertheless, after more than ten and a half years, it is getting worn. Although it still looks pretty good from a distance, it is looking rough around the edges up close.

On Monday, just before we left for the Georgetown Family Weekend, the Lexus wouldn't start. I struggled getting it into the dealer. Although the problem was fairly minor, I have a sense that it is a harbinger of things to come...

Farm Credit Dinner

Saturday night, Sharon and I went to Holly and Van's for a Farm Credit Dinner. In addition to Holly and Van, the group included Larry and Jeana Hultquist, Sue and Mike Olsen, Margaret Heiser and her husband Dave, Susie Connelly, Sharon and I. Sharon worked with all of the women plus Larry in the legal department at the Farm Credit Banks.

Sharon worked for the Farm Credit Banks from 1988 to 2002. I worked for the Farm Credit Banks from 1980 to 1998.

I finished the evening with Mike watching game four of the World Series. Trailing 4 to 0 in the top of the seven, the Boston Red Sox scored 9 runs to win the game by the score of 9 to 6.

2018 Kings versus Wizards

Sharon and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Washington Wizards NBA Basketball game at Golden 1 Center. We met the Sanborns for dinner at Foundation Restaurant and Bar before the game. Larkin and I had dinner at this restaurant before a game at the end of the Kings first season downtown. Sharon had a steak salad, while I had a chopped Italian salad.

The Wizards, who led by six going into the fourth quarter, committed three turnovers in the final 24 seconds. The Kings won the game by the score of 116 to 112.

The high scorer for the Kings was Nemanja Bjelica. He had 26 points on 9 for 16 from the field, 6 for 10 from three and 2 for 3 from the free throw line. Bjelica also had 12 rebounds. I am not clear where they got Bjelica... The Kings got nice contributions from Fox, Hield and Cauley-Stein.

The Wizards' high scorer was John Wall. He had 26 points on 9 for 20 from the field, 1 for 6 from three and 7 for 8 from the free throw line. Wall added 8 assists. I was shocked how much bigger Wall looked than Fox. Although Wall is only list as an inch taller, he is 35 pounds heavier.

At the half-time, the Kings invited us downstairs to a VIP lounge in an attempt to sell season tickets. I ended up talking to an Accenture consultant and a Kings salesperson. I am somewhat interested in trying to get a loft for one of the games this year.

I always have a hard time focusing on the game when I am with Sharon. It is more of a date night.

The attendance was listed as 14,101 in an arena that holds 17,500. It seemed like a lot less.

The Kings have one win and no losses in games that I have seen in the 2018-2019 season. Like last year, my goal is to see one game a month.

On the Grammy First Round Ballot!

Two Years

Today marks two years in the job as the Chief Technology Officer for Adventist Health!

Five Years Old

Tiber the Corgi ia five years old today!

View this post on Instagram

#tiber_the_corgi is five years old today!

A post shared by Mark Heringer (@heringermr) on Oct 23, 2018 at 7:48pm PDT

2018 Georgetown Family Weekend - Day 6

Spending the night at the Nooters, we slept fairly late again. I got up just before they left for work and spent an hour plus cleaning up timecards and sending out my weekly status report.

The plan for the day was hiking in the Great Falls Historical Park. We ended up hiking about two miles. We stopped at the three overlooks and then continued up River Trail to Mather Gorge. We hiked back to the Visitor Center on the Patowmack Canal Trail. We could have spent all day there. Interestingly, this park was recommended by the Uber driver on our way into the city on Wednesday.

We had a late leisurely lunch at Founding Farmers in Tysons Corner. Sharon had Spicy Fried Chicken, while I had a Turkey and Aged Provolone Sandwich.

From there, we headed to Dulles airport and dropped the rental car. Winding our way to the terminal, we checked our bags at United and used CLEAR to get through TSA Pre. In a fit of frustration, I signed us up for ClEAR when we were traveling to Vancouver in August.

Boarding at 4:45 pm, we caught a 5:20 pm United flight nonstop to Sacramento. It left early. I read volume three of the Lyndon Johnson for the whole flight. We were on the ground in Sacramento by 7:45 pm and home in Carmichael by 8:45 pm.

It was a great mini-vacation.  This has been a year of a series of smaller trips.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with Jack.

2018 Georgetown Family Weekend - Day 5

Sharon was moving a little earlier than me. I eventually walked down and got some food from Starbucks.

We walked to campus and met Jack for the 9:30 am Mass in Gaston Hall in Healy Hall. While last year seemed empty, there were more people at Mass this year. After Mass, the three of us walked to the reception in the Healy Family Center for donuts and coffee. Saying goodbye, we walked back to the hotel.

Packing up and checking out, we dropped our bags with the bellman. Catching an Uber, we headed to Bobby's Burger Palace for lunch. Sharon had lunch there in July and raved about the burgers. After lunch, Sharon took an Uber back to Georgetown to do some shopping, while I walked to get a rental car at Union Station. I went out of my way to walk by the White House and up the Mall. It took longer than it should have to get the rental car.

I picked up Sharon and the luggage at the Georgetown Inn about 3:00 pm. We headed out to the Nooters. We spent the late afternoon visiting with them and catching up. Rob made a nice dinner, including mussels for hors d'oeuvres and ahi tuna for the entree. With the Nooters both working on Monday, we crashed fairly early in the bedroom on the bottom floor. I really enjoyed having a chance to spend some time with Rob and Barb.

As a footnote, Wes was back on the east coast.

2018 Georgetown Family Weekend - Day 4

An odd day. I struggled with a range of different emotions and second guessed myself seven ways to Sunday.

Sleeping fairly late, Sharon suggested that I go out for a run, while she wandered up the street to a juice place to get some breakfast. I ended up running just over five miles from the hotel, along the Potomac River and then up the Mall to the Washington Monument and back. Burning off some of my emotions, I carried a much faster pace than I normally do...

After getting cleaned up, we wandered on to the campus and picked up our registration package for the family weekend. In the last two years, we haven't taken much advantage of the program. From there, Sharon wanted to walk down to the Potomac River waterfront. We wandered across the C&O Canal and down to the Potomac Boat Club. We discovered one end of the Capital Crescent Trail. We need to rent bikes and explore this trail on a future trip.

Heading back to the campus, we wandered through the bookstore and then met Jack for lunch at the tailgate. They moved the food service into the business school this year. It has always been a pretty good lunch.

Jack took us to Uncommon Grounds after lunch. He is the General Manager and Director of Operations. We ended up sitting there for a couple of hours while he alternatively helped behind the counter and visited with us. I enjoyed having the opportunity to watch him interact with the other employees and the customers.

With Jack taking off to study, Sharon and I wandered all the way to the Watergate Hotel. We had a drink on the rooftop bar. Walking back to the hotel, Sharon did a little shopping along M Street.

We had dinner at Leopold's Kafe. Jack had schnitzel [veal schnitzel; arugula; potato salad served with mustard], Sharon had Brathenedl [roasted chicken; warm escarole, mustard chicken jus] and I had Bratwurst [skillet cooked bratwurst; celery sauerkraut; roasted potatoes & mustard].

We finished the night in the bar at the hotel watching the first couple of innings of game seven of the Dodgers versus Brewers NLCS game. The Dodgers ended up winning by the score of 5 to 1. As we started back to the room, someone at the bar commented on my World Cup Rugby Sevens shirt. Sharon and I ended up talking to the couple for over an hour. They were from Connecticut and their youngest was a freshman at Georgetown.

2018 Georgetown Family Weekend - Day 3

We have had several lazy mornings on this trip. By the time we wandered over for breakfast in the inn, it was after 9:00 am. We had the breakfast that came with the room and spilt a pear and goat cheese omelet.

Packing up the room, we were rolling before 11 am. We headed towards the Shenandoah National Park. The plan for the day was to hike the Mary's Rock Trail on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked part of the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire and Connecticut last fall.

We got to the trail head about 11:30 am. Sharon hadn't brought her hiking poles or heavy shoes. We ended up hiking about 2 1/4 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. A map of the hike is here. We didn't make it to Mary's Rock... Leaving the park, we made a stop at the Pinnacles Overlook.

Heading back to Washington DC, we made a stop at the Grey Ghost Vineyards. We tasted a few wines, bought two glasses and wandered upstairs to have some crackers and cheese. We were much more impressed with the wines than we were in '11... We also bought a bottle of wine to take to the Nooters.

We rolled back into Georgetown about 4 pm. I dropped Sharon at the Georgetown Inn. We are spending two nights there. In the past, we have always stayed at the Georgetown Marriott, but Sharon convinced me to stay here this time because it is so much closer.

I looped back in Rosslyn, fueled up the rental car and then dropped it back at the Key Bridge Marriott. This included more than a little bit of drama with several people waiting for rental cars at the tiny Hertz office. I walked back to the Georgetown Inn to catch up with Sharon.

We eventually wandered to Cafe Milano for a drink and to meet Jack. Sharon and Jack had dinner there in July. From there, we headed to il Canale. Jack and I had lunch there when we were doing the college tours in 2015. Sharon and I spilt spaghetti and meatballs, while Jack had gnocchi. Although the night started with everyone more than a little stressed, everyone was relaxed by the end of dinner.

We finished the night watching the end of the Raptors virus Celtics game and the beginning of the Dodgers versus Brewers NLCS Game 6 in the bar at the hotel. Behind strong performances by Leonard and Ibaka, the Raptors won the game by the score of 113 to 101. The Brewers scored four runs in the bottom of the first and won the game by the score of 6 to 2 forcing a game seven...

2018 Georgetown Family Weekend - Day 2

Sleeping late, the plan for the morning was to work out. I grabbed a couple of oatmeals for breakfast from the bistro in the hotel. Sharon had made a 9:45 am reservation for a SoulCycle class in Georgetown. While she did the class, I ran 6.6 miles on the treadmill.

Getting cleaned up, we packed up the room. I walked to the Key Bridge Marriott to pick up a Hertz rental car. We got Jeep Grand Cherokee using award points. From there, I drove back to the Courtyard to pick up Sharon and the luggage.

Heading into Georgetown, we met Jack for lunch at sweetgreens. Although he is stressed about midterms, it was nice to see him. I will never understand why they schedule parent weekend right in the middle of midterms.

After some running amok around the parking lot ticket, we headed to Washington, Virginia. We are spending one night at The Inn at Little Washington. It was about an hour and a half drive west of Washington DC. We ended up getting there just after 3:30 pm.

We checked in and got settled in the room. We stayed in The Parsonage House. Afterwards, we took a walking tour of the property with a guide that lasted almost 45 minutes. Like our tour of the Mount Washington Resort last fall, it was a small group; just us and one other couple.

After the walking tour, we had tea. After the tea, we headed back to the room and got cleaned up for dinner.

We headed to dinner about 7:00 am and had a cocktail. We got seated for dinner about 7:30 pm. It was fabulous. Sharon had the "Four Decades of Our Enduring Classics" menu with the wine pairing, while I had "The Astronaut's Menu" with the wine pairing. The menus are here. It was one of the best meals that we ever had.

We wandered back to our room in the Psrsonage House and crashed after 11 pm...