I Miss My Mom

We are approaching the ninth anniversary of Mom passing away. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. I miss her dearly. There are a great many things that remind me of her. They come from all over the place and at the most random times. Recently, her name popped up in a strange place: my Google Analytics. Starting on May 15, 2009, there have been a small number of visitors that have come to my site after searching for “”faith beckwith” stockton” in Google. Not a lot of hits, but a small number nearly every day since mid-May.

I have no idea who is searching the web for things about Mom but it made my day to see that someone did. If you knew her, I’m sure you miss her, too. We all do.

Family is forever.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

Even though the city of Stockton cancelled our annual fireworks show due to the current budget crisis, there was still reason to be down at the waterfront on Independence Day. The second annual Taste of San Joaquin was held along with the first annual Way Out West BBQ Championship was held at the Weber Points Event Center on a perfect July day.

As soon as we paid our $1 dollar admissions we could hear an 80s rock band playing on the main stage. We made our way back and hung out and watched Aquanett perform songs from Ratt, Metallica, Poison, AC/DC and other rock bands. These guys really rocked. The guitar player was incredible. He had all the licks down and easily went from Kirk Hammett to C.C. DeVille without missing a beat (and thankfully didn’t dance like C.C.).

After listening to Aquanett for a while we ventured out to try some of the BBQ prepared by the 20 or so competitors. By the time we got there most of them had sold out of their BBQ but there were still a few remaining with plenty of chicken, ribs and brisket left. From what I tasted, Smokin’ Yankees had the best brisket and East Side BBQ had the absolute best pork ribs. After a few samples of BBQ we tried some specialties from local restaurants: egg rolls from On Lock Sam and nachos from Bradley’s were the best.

Loki Rhythm entertained on another stage, bringing world music and jazz to the waterfront with their African drums and beats.

After a full day of music and food we headed out to Lodi to watch the fireworks.

Check out the rest of the pics here.

Fathers Day

I had a great Fathers Day today. Dawn and the girls let me sleep in and then made me a great full breakfast, the kind that easily makes you forget about lunch hours later. After just relaxing around the house most of the day we headed down to Merced to take Dad and Missy to dinner.

We went to Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ for dinner. Well, we thought we were just going to eat dinner. Dad and Missy told us that they had a mechanical bull there but we thought it was just for show. Well, Makenzy and I each ponied up the $4 for a chance to ride the bull.

Check out the videos here:

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there!

And check out the pics here.

Stockton Stingrays Golf Tournament

Today, Mike, Manuel, Shawn and I played in the 2nd Annual Stockton Stingrays Golf Tournament, benefiting our local Beep Baseball team. Since it was a scramble tournament, I was feeling pretty good, knowing that my teammates would help carry me. I had a few good shots but the rest of the team shot pretty well.

How’d we finish? Well, if there was a trophy given for the most honest score, we would’ve certainly won it. We can in dead last with 65. It was a great day of golf helping a great group of athletes. Can’t wait ‘til next year.

Check out the pics here.

Beverly's Graduation Party

I’m really starting to think I’m getting old. I’m not feeling old. It’s just that all these kids around me keep getting older. Today we drove down to Modesto to Beverly’s graduation party. I have known Bev since she was a lil’ tike and can’t believe she’s now 18.

Becky & Tom threw an awesome party. It was wonderful seeing them and their family again. It was also great seeing Tina, Ken and (most of) their kids again. I couldn’t help but comment all night on how much all of these kids had grown.

Congratulations Beverly on graduating from high school... we love you and are proud of you. See you all again real soon!

I only took 185 pictures, mostly because I had a lot of willing subjects. I have pared them down to 82 of my favorites... check out the pics here.

Find Your Way Video

I finally got a chance to try out the video on the new T1i.

Check it out here.

New Camera

I finally got my new toy a couple of weeks ago, a Canon Rebel T1i. After months of shopping around I finally settled on the Canon XSi. Having never shot with a digital SLR before that model seemed to be a great starting point. So, I did what any prudent person would do: I announced my decision on Twitter. Within just a few minutes I had several replies. One of them was from Rich, a friend of mine from Colorado, saying that I should look at the new T1i which would be coming out in just a few weeks. Given that the T1i, with 15.1 mega pixels, also takes HD video with resolutions up to 1920 x 1080, I decided to delay gratification and order Canon’s newest model. Then, I waited. And waited. And waited. With Canon only saying that its release would be “sometime in May” I was pleasantly surprised when came early in the month.

Along with the kit lens (18-55mm IS) I also picked up a 70-300mm zoom lens and a 60mm macro lens. I would love to give a full review of the camera but there is still so much I don’t know about it. Having only shot with point-and-shoot cameras before I fully recognize the fact that there is a steep learning curve here. What I do know is that I love shooting with it. I love the speed of the camera. Compared to my old S5, I love the ability to shoot when I want to as opposed to waiting for the power cycle, zoom, focus and shutter.

I haven’t had a lot of time to get out and shoot with it yet but have taken some shots, posted to Flickr of course. Stay tuned for more!

Asparagus Festival 2009

Nothing says April in Stockton quite like the Asparagus Festival. We headed out Saturday late morning, just after they opened and made our way to the main stage to watch the Deep Fried Asparagus Eating competition. This is always a crowd favorite and once again, was a sanctioned International Federation of Competitive Eating event.

We also ate a lot of asparagus and had a great time visiting all of the booths. I even tried the hole-in-one challenge. Of course, I didn’t qualify. Overall, it was another awesome year at the Asparagus Festival.

Check out the rest of the pics here.

Earth Day at Victory Park

The best thing about the Earth Day festivities at Victory Park this afternoon was seeing Snap Jackson & The Knock On Wood Players perform. They weren’t on stage, just playing their tunes for anyone that would stop by. These guys have an awesome sound and put on a great show, even for just playing in the park. They have some shows coming up soon in the area so I will definitely have to check them out again! Check them out on MySpace and go see them live (schedule is on their site).

Makenzy's Track Meet

Today was Makenzy’s first track meet, held at my old high school. She competed in the standing long jump, 100 and 400 meter races. She did very well, especially since it was her first event.

Check out the pics here.