Hoop Dreams

2006 has already proven to be a busy year for us. Lots going on and little time for much else. Karsyn’s basketball league started last week and her team the Tigers has already played two games. They tied their first game 10-10, then recorded their first win this past Saturday with a 16-10 triumph. Karsyn had never touched a basketball before this season, so it’s definitely been a learning experience for her.

Her coach has been working on positional play with the girls (mind you this is 6-8 year olds) and has started focusing on the transition game (switching from offense to defense and vice versa). It’s been a little challenge for Karsyn, but her soccer experience is coming into play. She understands the concept of offense vs. defense and what scoring is all about, but her game motor skills need a bit of honing.

In any case, it’s pretty amusing to see how aggressive these little girls are on the court. They scowl at each other and there’s even some trash talking already. Publicly that stuff is not condoned, but the trash talker in me finds it rather amusing.

The Wedding Banquet


Sonya and I recently attended the wedding of Jay T., a friend and former employee of mine. Jay and his new bride Ying are both Chinese, so they hosted a traditional Chinese banquet following their wedding ceremony. The ceremony was on Treasure Island, but they held the banquet at Koi Palace (supposedly one of the best restaurants for authentic Chinese food in the Bay Area).

The reception was essentially a 10 course meal that lasted about four hours. Nobody will ever be able to say that they left Jay & Ying’s wedding hungry. This was ten courses of extravagant Chinese cuisine, from Abalone to “Succulent Roast Pig” to Sharks fin Soup to this fantastic lobster. My favorite dish was a scallop the size of a tennis ball, wrapped in what I think was crab meat. This was then steamed or pan fried in some delectable sauce.

So much for the diet. It was quite the feast. Oh yeah, the wedding was nice too. I got to see a number of folks that I worked with at BigVine back during the gold rush of ’99.

Lars Update

Got an email from Monica yesterday indicating that Lars had just completed his 6th round (of 8) of chemo. She says a CT scan revealed that his tumor has been reduced by 90% since it was originally identified. His spirits are up, but his journey has a ways to go before he can say that’s he whipped his disease.