College Football

I know some of you know this, but having been a "clarinet weenie" in the Cal Band, I'm totally crazy about Cal football and basketball. (Yes, there was a point where I would get depressed when Cal lost... which used to be quite often in the 90s.)

Ever since Coach Tedford though Falls have been lot easier to take. Of course, we have even gotten used to talking about the Mythical National Championship (which wasn't even close to being in the same conversation 10 years ago). I can remember when Garden State Bowl was such a cool deal!

I really look upon disbelief at the "newbie" fans who are questioning or unsatisfied with the team's play against Maryland last week. Light years from where Cal was.

Anyway, sorry for rambling...

Go, Bears! Beat the Eagles! (Cal is playing Eastern Washington this Saturday).

Did you know that SJ's Japantown is one of 3?

That's all that's left in the US now...

This is really sad since when I was growing up Fresno, Seattle, Portland and Sacramento had Japantowns. Fresno's was even seeing a bit of renewal in the 70s and 80s. But alas, they're all victims of urban changes.

Anyway, on September 29, the San Jose Japantown is putting on their Spirit of Japantown Festival. It should be a big deal with over 6 blocks of food, shopping and games. There's even
a whole block of suped up Japanese cars.

Unlike Obon, I'm only signed up to help out at a booth.

For more info on the Festival
For more info on CA Japantowns

Boy Scouts!

Some of you already know, but I'm the Assistant Cubmaster for my son's Cub Scout Pack this year. It's actually not THAT much work. As another Cub Scout/Boy Scout leader told me "Remember, it's only a hour a week!"

Anyway, despite what you might think about uniforms, etc. it really is a lot of fun and they reinforce "good" behavior through good role models and fun activities for boys.

More info at www.scouting.org

Starting...

Visited a couple of friends who are starting a business... very, very interesting. They're very bright guys so I would give them better than even odds to make good. They seem to get along pretty well as well which always bode well. Of course, they need to grow and that will takes skill and luck. IMHO, they've timed it right.

We'll see how it flies. It'll really be interesting to keep an eye out for them in the future.
They're still in stealth mode so no mention of who or what they're doing. (I promise to write more then they're in "We're Selling" mode!)

The Big Island with Kids

*Phew*!!

I'm finally re-adjusted back to our timezone. (Actually, I'm still quite not...but good enough).

For some reason, I'm really good gaining time (going west), but really bad coming back (going east).
But I'm doing all the things that's supposed to help like: getting a lot of sun, eating regularly, staying hydrated.

Couple of neat things on the Big Island. (Hawai'i).

• Kilauea is erupting. Well, lots of lava coming out and seimographs are pointing to even more eruptions. http://www.nps.gov/havo
• 3 more National Historical Areas/Parks. They are Puukohola Heiau, Kaloko-Honokohau Historical Parks and the Ala Kahakai Trail. They have a neat Junior Ranger program that covers all of them. The one mistake we made was that Volcanoes National Park has a separate program which we did. Anyway, the best plan is to do the combined one since that's easier to do then the one specifically for Volcanoes (and your child gets 6 badges!)
• Marriott Waikaloa was very nice. Not too much on the architectural standpoint, but the service and layout worked for us.
• Instead of the usual Costco run, we went to Target. :-)
• For all the falls, use lots of insect repellent.
• Akaka Falls is spectacular; Rainbow Falls is easy to get to; To really see the falls near the Boiling Pots, you need to hike down.
  
• Uma uma Falls is really pretty, but its a bit rough getting to.

That's about it for now! Gads, my kids are already starting school next week!

Oops...

URL for San Jose Obon is http://www.sjbetsuin.com

Here's the wikipedia article on Obon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obon

Gads, that didn't feel like the Fourth of July!

First, a caveat... we had a lot of fun camping during the Fourth of July at the Big Basin State Park .
But the major problem is that when one does that you don't get the Fourth of July experience.... yup, even if you bbq... not the same w/o the fireworks (which is a big no-no w/ the fire danger).

*sigh*...

Now, it's Obon season.... What's Obon? Well, it's a Japanese Buddhist holiday memorializing all the people that have passed... it's similar in concept to the Mexican El Dias de los Muertos.

San Jose has one of the biggest in North America with over 1200 dancers. It's a full two day event with Japanese (and American) food and cultural displays. Yes. there's Teriyaki Chicken. Of course, this means that the members of the community are SUPER busy this week. Last night, we just got done prepping the chicken. Over 80 people! Anyway, it's this weekend (July 11-12) and hope to see you all there! (I'll be in the main chapel for most of the time... playing docent... :-)