The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Gun (2017

This is a report on Jim Jones and Jonestown massacre.  He's an interesting character.  He started as a reverend preaching the social gospel in Indianapolis and acquired a devoted following.  He took them to San Francisco, and set up in other towns where there is injustice.  He eventually dropped the gospel and kept the social part and took a good pat of his following to Guyana.  He was in negotiations with Soviet Russia to accept his group.  That didn't work, so he killed just about everyone there.  This is where the expression about "drinking the cool-aid" comes from.

It's a sad story but he's an interesting character and you learn something important about the times.

Cross country and fishing and planting

It was a great Sunday.

The first event was a cross-country meet.  This was our third and final race at the Cornfields in Chinatown.  James finished second in a field of eight and got another personal best in the quarter mile at 1:37min. 

Then we went to Huckleberry fishing pond in Anaheim with the Scouts.  James, Taoster and I caught a catfish.  We didn't want to clean and eat it, so we dug a hole by the mango tree in the backyard and put it in.  We had heard that planting a fish near the roots will improve the quality of an avocado tree, so why not try with the mango?

We then covered with dirt and mulch and put a compost bucket over it and dumped water in it.  Now we wait for that awesome fish to melt into the tree.

First Organized Football Game

James' heart is not in baseball this fall. He's really into football.  Coach Alex is coaching Christian in a football league.  We asked to join the team, and they said yes.  He's on the Chargers.

The head coach is a coach from EALL.  He has two teammates from CALL, Christian and Domenic, Coach Dart's son.

So he had his first game today, which was at Eliot school on Lake. He made one reception, grabbed one flag, and got a bloody lip from running into a teammate.  Overall, it was a good experience.

By the way, he loves his mouthpiece.

Sunday ride

James and I went for a ride today.  We did a loop starting at the bottom of Hastings Ranch near my childhood home.  We zigzagged through Lower Hastings and went down Sierra Madre.

First stop was Target. The beyblade he wanted was just out of his financial reach so we got nothing.  We then went to Goodwill on Altadena. The purpose was to get a belt. I don't want to goodwill pants to fall down going through the metal detector. Unfortunately, there were no belts but I did see a nice pair of seemingly Rockport dress shoes. I bagged them for $20.00.

Back to the car, he had logged 11 miles on the bike for the trip.

Then we drove back to the Target. I lent James enough to get the Wivron beyblade. I checked out the belts but the cheapest that fit was $15.

We then drove on to the Old Town Pasadena Goodwill.  I got a $4.00 belt that fits, 34-85 Glove Tanned Cowhide, 1345017 Uruguay, Manhattan.  It's certainly used but has no obvious blemishes.

Overall, I'd say it was a productive day.  I got some high quality cheap used clothes and we put some miles on the bike.

Cicla Via today

James and I did the cicla via today. we also toured a bit of Pasadena from the car to the train...

Pasadena City Hall, where I worked as a temp in the summer of 1994 processing traffic tickets...

Where my dad worked from 1973-2008 (approx

The Civic Center, where I took the bar exam in about 1999

And the gym, Bally's gym, where Taoster and I worked out in 2005-2006....

Here's us at Echo Park Lake...

Shining City by Tom Rosenstiel (2017

This is a murder mystery of sorts set in middle of a US Supreme Court confirmation hearing.  Two investigators hired by the president get to the bottom of seemingly unrelated murders in California and DC.  It's a fictional but educational look at the confirmation process.  It's a world wise book written by a world wise author, if you're up for that sort of thing.

LA Cornfields cross-country Meet today

James participated with 4 other St. Elizabethans in a cross-country meet at the Confields park in Chinatown today.

There were 12 in his group, which was boys K-2.  The race was a quarter mile.  Five were St. E, and there were kids from St. Phillips, St. Thomas More and St. Rita's.  There were 12 in his race.

St. Elizabeth took 4 of the top 6 spots.  James came in third with a personal best of 1:38.6.

Here are the finish times:

 He was fourth through much of the race, and really came on at the end to overtake the runner ahead of him.

Below are pictures from the award ceremony at Assembly 3 days later.