Memorial Day Recap

While the rest of the family was gathered in Arkansas we celebrated the long week-end in California with a limited agenda consisting of a few barbeques with friends and work around the house.

Here's a video of Jack at a friend's house...



We managed to sneak away for breakfast a few times. On the way back Jack wanted to stop at a fancy park they are building close to our house to sit on some of the bulldozers.

On the way to the bulldozers.



At the big Case!


On the smaller 'dozer. You can see the big one in the background.


The week-end also featured the first family trip to SBarkles to wash Kodak!

What's That In The Rearview Mirror

One of Jack's favorite things to do after breakfast on Saturday is to go through the car wash. This is him as we wait our turn to drive in.



Saturday morning breakfasts out with Dad have always been one of my favorite things and Jack likes them too. He'll often declare several times during the week (and at any time of the day), "I want to go to breakfast."

We'll do it again in just a few minutes - once he wakes up!

Rolling Stones: Exile On Main St. (Rarities Edition) Review

The Stones have a new "old album" out continuing a growing trend in the music business. In this case, they've also included a bonus CD of 10 "new" songs not included on the original double album. There are multiple buying options for this re-release. If you only want the 10 new songs there are two places to go. If you want the actual CD, which I opted for, you must go to Target and shell out $10... OR you can opt to buy the deluxe version which is available much more broadly and includes the 10 new songs plus the original album for $22. For those trying to shed themselves of their CDs all the usual digital options are available from what I can tell.



Now I'm far from a Stones but after a listen or two I'd give it good marks. Definitely has an older feel to it. Dancing in The Light is one track that stands out. Plundered My Soul is the single from the album that is doing pretty well. The song title might be a little better than the song itself though.

The album stormed at No. 1 in the UK charts, almost 38 years to the week after it first occupied that position. The Rolling Stones are the first act to ever see a classic work return to Number One decades after it was first released.

The Pella Sliding Door

We finally got our new Pella sliding glass door installed. This thing is pretty much the Rolls-Royce of sliding glass doors. We're talking triple pane, super heavy (means super good), sliding shades inside the glass, multiple foot locks, and a hide-away roll screen that disappears when not in use. This thing wasn't cheap, but I'm impressed by the quality of the door and the install job.

This first picture shows the door with the interior shades completely up. The handle you see in the center of the door is what you pull to produce the hidden roll screen.

Here, the shades are completely down.

Here, Riley and Emma are enjoying the fresh air through the screen.

Finally, here's the door from the exterior.

New Portable Camera

We've continued Canon trend from a point and shoot perspective with the acquisition of a Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. It gets good reviews and is slightly smaller than previous models making it highly portable. I've been experimenting with it and like its ability to quickly change manual modes. Here are some of the best new snaps I took this past week-end.



Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, CA


Transamerica Tower in San Francisco (from North Beach neighborhood)

Union Square Ads of Our Time - San Francisco

Voters Approve Haymarket Arena

It's official, Lincoln's Haymarket is in for big change with this new arena coming. Let's hope the thing is profitable!

THIS is the Official 2010 World Cup Theme!

I like that Shakira number, but I like the official World Cup by K'naan better. Has to potential to be 2010's "Song of the Summer".

World Cup is Approaching

What's your take on the 2010 World Cup Theme song - sung by Shakira???

Folsom Lake Nearing Capacity

Folsom Lake, with the April rains coupled with snow melt from the Sierras, is starting to fill up. Here it is about 830,000 acre feet vs. the 977K capacity.



If you click on the picture to expand it you can see the Folsom Dam in the top-left portion of the picture. It was pretty windy as you can tell from the water.

Here's a graph showing the rapid, yet fairly normal, rise in the lake since January.

Pretzel M&M's

Every year we've been to the Berkshire Hathaway meeting, they've been promoting the newest candies from M&M's Mars, often times before the product hits the mainstream market. This year, the new candy I'd never seen before was Pretzel M&M's. They're kind of like almond bark covered pretzels, except they're better because they're made with real chocolate instead of a palm oil derivative like most almond bark. Pretzel M&M's are pretty good, but I found them to be a little light and airy. Also, there didn't seem to be very many in the bag. They're nice for a change, but these won't take the place of classic plain M&M's in my book.

The Boy in The Bubbles

Jack was in a playful mood during his bath the other night and started laying down in the bubbles. We got this snap...



Hey then started running around pushing his popper toy while clad in his blue dog towel. Here his is, stopping just long enough to feign a smile for the camera.

The Screwdriver Collection

We organized our garage this weekend, including all the tools. Here is a picture of all the screwdrivers we possess. There are about 44 screwdrivers in all. Yuki is show for scale.