Running Log - 6 Miles in Bahia

Tonight, I did a shorter loop along the marsh in Bahia with my dog Lucky, the Jack Russell Terrier. He was so happy that he looked a lot like the little guy in the picture here. Lucky has more of a broken coat and has black on his head, but I thought the smile and the tongue were pretty close.

When I wasn't laughing at Lucky, I was enjoying the sunset and fading light as I ran out from the base of Bahia, where Topaz starts at the end of Bahia Drive, and back. In all, it was a 6 mile loop of pure dust and dirt, and easy going the whole way. A lot of gentle up and down, but no daunting hill at the end made for a smooth and easy run. A great way to end the day and the month of August.

Distance: 6 miles

Time: 60 minutes - evening

Weather: Sunset, cool and windy

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

Novato Stingers vs Central Marin Chargers - Aug. 30

Robbie Cassee catches a pass from Tommy Sanz to open the game!

I spent yesterday afternoon taking photos at the Novato vs. Central Marin youth football games. While I had a great time on the sidelines, I ended up getting a lot more sun than I needed. I think my forehead is going to peel later this week.

The photos from the Novato Stingers game are now available on the 2009 Novato Stingers Shutterfly site. I also took pictures during the Novato Yellow Jackets game and those photos are posted on the Novato Yellow Jackets Football Shutterfly site.

Game Summary

The Novato Stingers opened their 2009 season with a hard-fought 14-0 win over the Central Marin Chargers at Terra Linda High School. After a promising opening play for a 25-yard completion over the middle from quarterback Tommy Sanz to tight-end Robbie Cassée, the game devolved into a tight, defensive struggle and the game was tied 0-0 at half-time.

The Stingers opened it up in the third-quarter with a strong drive capped by a rushing touchdown by half-back Ben Putman and a Sanz-to-Putman-to-Daniel “Hoppy” Hopkins rushing point-after-touchdown (PAT). On the following drive, Novato scored after another drive on a long pass from Sanz to Cassée in the end-zone. Putman rushed around the left side untouched for the second PAT pushing the score to 14-0.

Novato nearly scored again on an interception by cornerback Alec Ball, but a blocking in the back penalty brought the ball back to the point of the turnover.

“This is a great way to start our season,” said head-coach John Jones. Jones also pointed out that “our kids played a complete game against a really tough opponent today.”

Game standouts included the entire Novato defense, which held the Chargers to only one first-down all day and the Stingers offensive-line which effectively protected the quarterback and opened up many holes for a swarm of Novato runners. The Stingers starting offensive-line is Sam Mina (C), Daniel Hopkins (G), Ryan Johnson (T), Johnny Viezcas (T) and John “J.P.” Hernandez (G). The equally effective second-string is Brandon Camal (C), Anthony Balestrieri (T), Leondardo Madrigal (G), Joseph Navarro (G) and Drew Larkin (T).

Final Score: Novato Stingers 14, Central Marin Chargers 0

Here are some additional photo highlights from the game.

Coach Jones gets his players fired up before the game

The Stringers swarm Central Marin, holding them to one first-down all day!

Ben Putman going in to score the first points of the day

Robbie Cassee makes the catch for a touchdown

Alec Ball after making the interception

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 31st

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 31st

“He who has not forgiven an enemy has not yet tasted one of the most sublime enjoyments of life” Johann Kaspar Lavater (pictured)

“Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.” Felix Frankfurter

“Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor” William Cowper

“He who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius or a hero” Johann Kaspar Lavater

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 30th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 30th

“We are tomorrow's past.” Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't.” Ernest Rutherford

“One of these days the people of Louisiana are going to get good government - and they aren't going to like it.” Huey Long

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” John Gunther

“I've found that you don't need to wear a necktie if you can hit.” Ted Williams

“It is a good thing to follow the First Law of Holes: if you are in one, stop digging.” Denis Healey (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 29th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 29th

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing.” Jean Baptiste Colbert

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” John Locke

“Every calling is great when greatly pursued.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

“How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words.” Maurice Maeterlinck

“Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.” Charles F. Kettering

“A pretty girl is better than a plain one. A leg is better than an arm. A bedroom is better than a living room. An arrival is better that a departure. A birth is better than a death. A chase is better than a chat. A dog is better than a landscape. A kitten is better than a dog. A baby is better than a kitten. A kiss is better than a baby. A pratfall is better than anything.” Preston Sturges

“Perfectionists are their own devils.” Jack Kirby (pictured)

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.” Ingrid Bergman

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 28th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 28th

“If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that” Joahnn Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.” Arthur Calwell

“I just want to go in and get the drink instead of having to pay an extra dollar for a wristband.” Richard Tucker

“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.” Robertson Davies

“In dream consciousness… we make things happen by wishing them, because we are not only the observer of what we experience but also the creator.” Vilayat Khan

“Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories, the streets, the cathedrals of the imagination.” Janet Frame (pictured)

“(The theater)'s so wonderful... if your whole day is rotten, once they start the music, it seems to melt away.” Donald O'Connor

“I think (our pitchers) all have good stuff, ... and stuff wins up here.” Lou Piniella

“Here's a riddle for Our Age: when the sky's the limit, how can you tell you've gone too far?” Rita Dove

“As men get older, the toys get more expensive.” Marvin Davis

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7 Miles in Novato

Today it was slow and steady on another go round on the shorter loop from my house. I returned on Atherton yet again so I could make it back up the final hill. I didn't feel terrible, but I just didn't feel really strong either. All-in-all another slow-motion run again today.

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 70 minutes - early-afternoon

Weather: Sunny, hot

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 27th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 27th

“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

“In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance.” Theodore Dreiser

“If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost.” Lloyd C. Douglas

“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

“I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.” Man Ray

“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” Kenji Miyazawa

“I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a pea.” C. S. Forester

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” Frank Leahy

“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read 'President Can't Swim'.” Lyndon B. Johnson (pictured)

“A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad.” Samuel Goldwyn

Cheers! - Jason

Novato Stingers Football - Scrimmage - Aug. 22

My son Robbie is playing football again this year so we're thrilled to be back. This year, he's a Stinger, and last weekend the team played a scrimmage in El Sobrante against Central Marin, Rancho Cotati, Tri-Cities and Southern Marin. The team looked pretty good after only a few weeks of practice so we are all excited to see how they do with the regular season starting this weekend.

As I started doing 5 years ago, I get to work the sidelines with my camera and try to capture the action. Sometimes I get lucky and get some great shots. Even if I don't, I take a lot of photos and look forward to creating a slideshow at the end of the year which is shown at the team banquet.

Since we have a whole season to go, we'll be posting the photos on Shutterfly after each game. You can check out the latest action at the Novato Stingers Shutterfly Site.

Here are a few more shots from the scrimmage:

Ben Putman running around Tri-Cities

Marc Alvarez runs to daylight against Rancho Cotati

Robbie Cassee catches a pass against Rancho Cotati

Alec Ball on the way to 6 against Rancho Cotati

Ben Putman on a long run for 6 against Central Marin

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 26th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 26th

“By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” Christopher Columbus

“I never said it was possible. I only said it was true.” Charles Richet

“You have debased my child. You have made him a laughingstock of intelligence, a stench in the nostrils of the gods of the ionosphere.” Lee De Forest

“I don't know a better preparation for life than a love of poetry and a good digestion.” Zona Gale

“Civilization is a conspiracy. Modern life is the silent compact of comfortable folk to keep up pretences.” John Buchan

“The world is an enormous injustice.” Jules Romains

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.” Christopher Isherwood

“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” Mother Teresa

“Come to the edge, he said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them and they flew.” Guillaume Apollinaire (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7 Miles in Indian Valley

Enjoyed another leisurely 7 miles in Indian Valley after dropping Robbie at football practice. Today was a little cooler so I felt good even though it was a second straight running day.

Started at the field at San Jose Middle School, ran past the Indian Valley College parking lots, through the softball fields and then hit the dirt. Did a kind of figure eight path from there, going to the lake, then up and over the switchbacks, out to the trailhead, back up and the Ad Schwint trail, pack to the main path and then a reversal over the switchbacks to the pond and then all the way back to the field.

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 70 minutes - mid-afternoon

Weather: Sunny, warm

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 25th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 25th

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Walt Kelly creator of Pogo

“Say oh wise man how you have come to such knowledge? Because I was never ashamed to confess my ignorance and ask others.” Johann Gottfried Von Herder

“The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.” Bret Harte

“Play reaches the habits most needed for intellectual growth.” Bruno Bettelheim

“If any demonstrator ever lays down in front of my car, it'll be the last car he'll ever lay down in front of.” George Wallace

“Actually, I'm an overnight success, but it took twenty years.” Monty Hall

“I don't make resolutions. If it's something I need to do, I do it. I don't wait until the new year.” Alice White

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein

“We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.” Walt Kelly

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7 Miles in Novato

Yup, today it felt like I was running in boots on the shorter loop from my house. I returned on Atherton again so I had "gas" left in my tank for the final hill. Didn't feel bad, just seemed to be moving in slow-motion again today.

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 70 minutes - mid-afternoon

Weather: Sunny, warm

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 24th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 24th

“Writing is nothing more than a guided dream.” Jorge Luis Borges (pictured*)

“Nobody ever died of laughter.” Max Beerbohm

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.” Jean Rhys

“They tell you that you'll lose your mind when you grow older. What they don't tell you is that you won't miss it very much.” Malcolm Cowley

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” Jorge Luis Borges (pictured*)

“Being a soldier, fighting for this country, is neither Republican nor Democrat.” Max Cleland

“Whoever stands by a just cause cannot possibly be called a terrorist.” Yasser Arafat

“I have to do something with my mind, or I'll get in trouble.” Vince McMahon

“Dream no small dream; it lacks magic. Dream large. Then make the dream real.” Donald Douglas

* Character of Jorege Luis Borges done by Gabriel Caprev.

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 22nd

Today's quote is from James Boswell.

Boswell was a Scottish lawyer and author, best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson. Interestingly, his name is the genesis for the term Boswellian which refers to a constant companion and observer. Appropriate, given the nature of today's quote.

"We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is a last drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over."

The portrait of Mr. Boswell was painted by George Willison in 1765.

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 21st

Interesting quotes from people born on August 21st

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.” St. Francis de Sales

“Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.” Thomas Jefferson (pictured)

“Woman is a miracle of divine contradictions.” Jules Michelet

“No language is rude that can boast polite writers.” Aubrey Beardsley

“If you have ability in a certain area, why not capitalize on it and improve it and use it?” Wilt Chamberlain

“Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!” Count Basie

“I make a film like I cook for friends. I hope they like it, but if they don't, I'm prepared to enjoy it all by myself.” Mario Van Peebles

“I have always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life.” Princess Margaret

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” Thomas Jefferson

“The past is behind, learn from it.
The future is ahead, prepare for it.
The present is here, live it.” Thomas S. Monson

Cheers! - Jason

Check it Out - Foam Coffee Cup Drawings

I know they sound a little strange, but the Foam Coffee Cup Drawings by Boey are really cool. Be sure to check them out!

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 20th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 20th

“I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.” Benjamin Harrison (pictured)

“Don't count on luck. If it doesn't come - it won't disappoint you. If it comes - it may suprise you.” Boleslaw Prus

“Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” Eliel Saarinen

“Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal, but which the reader recognizes as his own” Salvatore Quasimodo

“He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.” Paul Tillach

“The happy think a lifetime short, but to the unhappy one night can be an eternity.” Luciano de Crescenzo

“The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” H. P. Lovecraft

“Great lives never go out; they go on.” Benjamin Harrison

"There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.” Edgar A. Guest

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7.9 Miles in Novato

Okay, so the picture doesn't really mean anything but it sure does grab your attention doesn't it!?

I did my favorite loop from my house: up the hill, out School to Atherton, then much of the way down Olive, crossing back over Chase/Cherry/Armstrong to Atherton, then out Binford and along the marsh and through the cemetary, up Bugeia/Bahia and then all the way up the hill home. Pretty strong all the way through, even up the final hills. All-in-all a good day on the dirt and pavement.

Distance: 7.9 miles

Time: 80 minutes - evening

Weather: Sunny, windy

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 19th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 19th

“Words are but pictures of our thoughts.” John Dryden

“A cynic is just a man who found out when he was about ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's still upset.” James Gould Cozzens

“Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” Bernard M. Baruch (pictured)

“For the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse.” Samuel Richardson

“The public interest is best served by the free exchange of ideas.” John Kane

“The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall.” Orville Wright

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” Coco Chanel

“People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.” Ogden Nash

“Two things are bad for the heart - running up stairs and running down people.” Bernard M. Baruch

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 18th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 18th

“The American experiment is the most tremendous and far reaching engine of social change which has ever either blessed or cursed mankind.” Charles Francis Adams

“Right or wrong, the customer is always right.” Marshall Field

“I think we could have done a little better.” Caspar Weinberger

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” Roasalynn Carter

“War is not one disaster of milions of people. War is milions of disasters of one person.” Hans van Mierlo

“Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.” Roman Polanski

“I was so cold the other day, I almost got married.” Shelley Winters

“Science fiction is no more written for scientists that ghost stories are written for ghosts.” Brian Aldiss

“Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” Roberto Clemente (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7 Miles in Indian Valley

Enjoyed another leisurely 7 miles in Indian Valley after dropping Robbie at football practice. I just can't get enough of the dirt and hills out there!

Started at the field at San Jose Middle School, ran past the Indian Valley College parking lots, through the softball fields and then hit the dirt. Did a kind of figure eight path from there, going to the lake, then up and over the switchbacks, out to the trailhead, back up and the Ad Schwint trail, pack to the main path and then a reversal over the switchbacks to the pond and then all the way back to the field.

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 70 minutes - mid-afternoon

Weather: Sunny, warm

On the iPod: Drood by Dan Simmons (finished!)

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (started)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 17th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 17

“Let your tongue speak what your heart thinks.” Davy Crockett (pictured)

“The politician is an acrobat; he keeps his balance by doing the opposite of what he says.” Maurice Barres

“No one in the whole world knows all a man's bignesses and all his littlenesses as his wife does.” Gene Stratton-Porter

“Men who are in earnest are not afraid of consequences.” Marcus Garvey

“All good qualities in a child are the result of environment, while all the bad ones are the result of poor heredity on the side of the other parent” Elinor Smith

“Fiction is an act of revenge.” John Hawkes

“There's nothing more ironic or contradictory than life itself.” Robert de Niro

“Ignorant people in preppy clothes are more dangerous to America than oil embargoes.” V. S. Naipaul

“What happens in the heart simply happens.” Ted Hughes

“It's not what I do, but the way I do it. It's not what I say, but the way I say it.” Mae West

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - August 16th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on August 16th

“It is a sad thing when men have neither the wit to speak well nor the judgment to hold their tongues.” Jean de la Bruyere

“Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them.” Charles Bukowski (pictured)

“You grow up the day you have your first real laugh -- at yourself.” Ethel Barrymore

“Many people love in themselves what they hate in others.” E. F. Schumacher

“I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars.” T.E. Lawrence

“When you play music you discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed.” Bill Evans

“Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live.” Charles Bukowski

“Anybody who has any doubt about the ingenuity or the resourcefulness of a plumber never got a bill from one.” George Meany

Cheers! - Jason