Mariners' season is over

Frank Fujimoto
Hobbies

Yesterday marked the end of the Seattle Mariners' 2009 season, and even though they finished third in the AL West, this year was an unqualified success. New management made quite a few changes over last winter (and even more during the year) with the end result a team going from 61 wins in 2008 to 85 in 2009. All indications point to the clubhouse environment improving a lot and everyone (players, fans, media) enjoyed the season as it unfolded.

Hot in CA

Frank Fujimoto
Vacation, What's Up

Kellen, Josie, and I made it safely to CA on Sunday and even though it's been only a few days, we've been pretty busy. So far the weather has been in the 80's/90's, and has been pretty humid, not unlike what we left in Seattle. Last week it was cooler in Southern CA, but this week it's a few degrees cooler at home. Figures.

Working around interruptions

Frank Fujimoto
Musings

I wasn't sure whether to write this entry in my work blog or my personal one, and in the end decided it fits here. I saw a link on John Gruber's Daring Fireball to Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule by Paul Graham, a programmer and programming language designer. He's part of Y Combinator, an investment group which specializes in the early stages of startup companies doing software and web services. His theory is people operate on two kinds of schedules: manager's schedules are broken into hour-long segments, while maker's (programmer's) schedules need half- or full-day chunks.

Hot weather

Frank Fujimoto
What's Up

Melody and I expected hot weather in Spokane and Newport a couple weekends ago, knowing that even though Seattle was hot, it would be worse on the other side of the Cascades. While we had a respite when we got back (and even a little rain), the temperature is back up.

Neil's small step

Frank Fujimoto
What's Up

Another day, another notable anniversary. Today marks 40 years since Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon (seen in partial eclipse in the picture to the left, from 2/2008). One could say that was the culmination of the engineering and sweat that was launched when JFK issued his challenge of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" in his special message to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961. However, it was also the start of what some still consider the glory days of space exploration.

Traveling and flat tires

Frank Fujimoto
Oral History, Vacation

Melody and I are heading east to Spokane this morning to see not only her relatives and friends there, but to meet up with the Knopefls from IL, who are there this week too. We've been fortunate enough to have seen them all within the past couple years (Brian and Frances last year, Kevin, Joanna, Jenny, and Hans the year before) but don't want to miss an opportunity to see them again.

Safeco Field turns 10

Frank Fujimoto
Hobbies, In the News

This must be the month for notable anniversaries. Ten years ago today the first pitch was thrown at Safeco Field, the new home for the Seattle Mariners. I had only attended one Mariners game in the Kingdome, but it definitely didn't fell like a ballpark. Most years I've been to at least one game at Safeco, and it feels right, with the open air and great views all around. Even when high against the upper railing behind home plate (nose bleed territory) we could still see everything that was going on.

Time to fill up the car?

Frank Fujimoto
Oral History

Even though we fill up the car perhaps once a month, we need to do more planning than you would think at first. For example, this past weekend we were thinking that the car was pretty low on gas and we should fill it up, but we're planning on going to Spokane next weekend. We decided it was low enough that we should fill it, and it'd still be close to full by the time we leave. But that's not where it ends.

iTunes Weekly Rewind

Frank Fujimoto
Listening, Music

If you like expanding your musical horizons beyond what's on the radio or want to learn new connections between various songs and artists, the iTunes Weekly Rewind is a great podcast. Every week they take a look at some of the songs which have been playing on the radio, on TV, in movies, even in ad spots. But more than just giving a name and artist to a song you heard just fleetingly, they also use songs, artists, or events as springboards to not only go into depth, but to point out both what influenced an artist and whom that artist influenced. There are a lot of music geeks out there, and these guys rate right up there. As they should, since they're on the team which compiles the iTunes Essentials collections.

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