Welcome Summer

Summer is finally here. Today is the summer solstice. The longest day of the year, or at least one of the two longest days of the year.
Although more days of this year have been colder than warmer, this past week has been hot in Foster City. I hope it will be warm and nice, not hot nor cold, the rest of the summer.

Looking forward to July 4

Foster City has the best July 4th fireworks display in the entire world (as far as I have seen.)

We gather as a family on Hillsdale Blvd and pick a spot between Ryan Park and Safeway - right on the road. When the fireworks start, I lay down on my back and look straight up. What a wonderful sight, right under the fireworks!

Parking full at Sea Cloud Park

FULL: Saturday was a very busy day for Sea Cloud Park - even though there was no one to sign up for the AYSO - which is when the parking lot is usually full. Almost all the spaces were taken. I had to drive around twice before I could find a space to park. It is a good thing in a way. I like it when we are all exercising.

CLEAR AND SUNNY: The weather was excellent. It was a cloudless day. The sky was blue and it was a perfect 77 degrees. Everyone wanted to be out and about.

SOCCER:
Almost all the fields were in use.

The astro turf has three soccer games going on. (The astro turf is a new addition to Sea Cloud Park. We are able to use it even when it rains and the rest of the park is closed.) Children preparing for the next game were playing on the grass nearby.


BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL: AAA, AA and Minor B baseball was going on. There was also T-ball and softball for the little ones. Even the play structure was fully occupied.

My daughter's coach gave us coupons for free snow cones. So when we got to the snack shack there as a queue there - which is not usual for the snack shack.

It was great to see all these games going on at the park. Each individual game was fun to watch. Here are some pictures I took to remember the day by.

Cricket fever

India won the Cricket world cup last weekend. My friends and I played a match to celebrate. It has been a long time since I've played cricket. We played at Boothbay part. We had a visiting team from Sunnyvale.

It was a lot of fun and very good exercise. I'm going to play some more and post pictures next time.

It's been a very wet week. But Soccer was not affected

It rained almost everyday last week. Seacloud park had stagnant water. So all base ball practice and games were cancelled. 

Thanks to the artificial turf, spring soccer games went on as scheduled.

Re: Monster bug on my car's window

This afternoon when I went to lunch, it was raining. The rain must have driven out this poor creature. It was dry and sunny by the time I came back. What a shock I had seeing this "monster bug" on my window!

I froze and my heart jumped. Then I gingerly opened the door and got in, shut the door, and started the car. But the insect did not fly away. So I got out again and carefully took two pictures.

I was not frightened anymore. The poor creature has probably adapted this frightening "skull and bones" kind of personality for self preservation. Good luck my monster. 

Rains linger, budgets cut, but spring is here

Last week in Foster City, the rain has been constant. All the grounds are wet. Baseball practice has been cancelled frequently. On Saturday even the game was cancelled. Not sure if the grounds will be closed today for practice. Looks like the rain might clear on Thursday. That will give us a chance to have the game on Saturday this week.

Report cards came home on Friday. Kids are doing well in FC. We are blessed to have very good teachers. But I heard my son tell me last week that 30 teachers were let go the week before from the San Mateo - FC school district. That was indeed a very sad happening. All teachers wore red on a day last week to express their feelings. These budget cuts are hitting California very badly.

Talking about budget cuts, we usually only watch PBS. In fact 90% of the time our TV is tuned to PBS. The rest of the time it plays DVDs. It was saddening to hear last week or two weeks ago that the govt is cutting their funding to PBS and NPR which is approximately $350 million and $100 million respectively annually. I hope they are able to raise more funds from viewers.

Speaking of TV, last night for no reason I decided to channel surf. Some times I check out what's on channel 27 - FCTV. Instead of programming, there was this notice: Due to budget cuts Foster City TV cannot show programming all the time (or some thing to that effect). Or it cannot show all programs that it used to show or show or something. I wonder if there is a difference in cost between broadcasting a still image of that message versus broadcasting a show. I can understand that there is production cost for new programs, and a little bit of cost for the operator to configure the schedule etc.  I wonder.

A new Spring is here. Spring is always a good time. It is the harbinger of summer. Good times.

After the Census

Wow. It's been a year since I blogged here. As I predicted in my previous article, the wikipedia entry for Foster City has changed after the census. The population has now gone up by over 1500 people. Here is what is says now.

Foster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California, 94404. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 30,567. Forbes ranked Foster City #10 on their 2009 list of America's Top 25 Towns to Live Well. Money has also recognized Foster City multiple times as one of the Best Places to Live. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its proximity to Silicon Valley cities.

Foster City was founded in the 1960s on engineered landfill in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay, on the east edge of San Mateo. The city was named after T. Jack Foster, a real estate magnate who owned much of the land comprising the city and who was instrumental in its initial design. His successor firm, Foster Enterprises, run by his descendants, is still active in real estate affairs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.