On TV for the Trees

I will be on TV next week related to work. Here are the link to the video:

http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/548

The urban forest is going digital. Thanks to volunteers with laptops and handheld devices, San Francisco is creating an online map of every street tree in the city, getting a leg up on keeping the urban landscape healthy and growing. Watch Urban Forest 2.0 Tuesday, September 4th at 7:30pm on KQED 9 & KQED HD on Comcast 709 or online at http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/548.

The QUEST team would like you to know that QUEST’s TV story, Urban Forest 2.0, is set to premiere on KQED next Tuesday, September 4th, as one of the segments in the episode. Thanks so much for sharing your time and being part of this story!

OB Surf Rat Groms

Great evening at the beach with Joel and company and my friend Birgit from New Zealand (thanks for the pictures). Jasper and I paddled out to the outside break, where the big waves are. I was scared for him a bit but he was all smiles even when he got knocked off his board. I held him back on one wave I thought was too big and he got mad at me for not pushing him into it. Silas also went boogie boarding. He has been shy about this, so we took small inside waves and he kept saying "do it again" and "this is sooooo fun". One insider knocked him off for a two wave hold down. He came up wanting to cry, but realized he was okay. He said, "I just held my breath." Then he went back for more!

SILAS says: I was boogie boarding and I wanted to do it again and again. Because it was fun. I got knocked of by one wave and then I got a breath and I got hit by another wave. My wipe out, I was like under for 2 minutes. After my wipeout I took one more little wave.

JASPER says: I took two big waves out where Dada takes them. They were about eight or ten feet tall. One of them was so fast I could hear the fins in the water. It broke at least five times but it did not break on me.

First Day of Kindergarten

First day of school. Silas is so psyched to be at the big school, no reservations or separation anxiety. Wonderful to drop both Jasper and Silas at the same school. Jasper has several of his school friends in his class and was excited for the day to start. I am so proud of these boys.

And here is the same shot from 2004 when Jasper went to kindergarten and Silas started at Sunset School. Time flies when we are having fun.

Psycho Sugar Bash

Celebrated Jasper's eighth birthday with a boys sleep over. 6 eight year olds, Silas and I, so 8 children total. Lego, Pokemon, and sugar, must be boys. Yummy cake that Jasper, Silas, and I made last night and this morning along with plenty of pizza and orange soda. This is what we call an organic health food birthday party. After the sugar dose we did more Lego and then a psycho dance party to all the heavy funky tunes that have grown into the CrockerBoys playlists. Took a song or two and then we were rocking heavy. Thanks to all the boys for joining in the celebration: Elijah, Isaac, Canyon, Eugene, Ben, Silas, Jasper, DaDa. Rock on and looking forward to a great year.


Definitely boys.


Check out these dance moves.


I love my cake.

Jasper Turns 8 Years Old

Legos and dragons, it must be boys. Yesterday was Japser's eighth birthday. I picked He and Silas up at 7:30 in the evening on my way home from the airport. We were so excited to see each other, we did dances, hugs and ran around in circles. Then we came back to the boys club to a doorway filled with presents from the family. Check out the pile of loot from Gramma Ila and NeNe and from the Del Mar Crockers (Andy, Beth, Mia, and Shaq), along with some Lego and chocolate I brought back from Switzerland and Germany. These boys are loved and a bit spoiled. But Silas said it best: "I love my Lego, but i love my Dada better." More birthday celebrations for Jasper this week with his friends. It is SO good to be home. The boys are back in town, the boys are back in town!

Some lucky boys happy to be home, felt like Christmas.

Thanks for the dragon Gramma Ila and NeNe.

Of course Silas wanted to do the most complicated Lego set.

How Now Jungfrau

A truly beautiful day in Grindelwald, still fighting the jetlag, but woke to blue sky and billowy cumulus clouds and my first clear view of the Eiger. Decided to take the Jungfrau Bahn to the highest train station in the world and marketed as the "Top of Europe". It was weird being with so many tourists in such a "romote" and beautiful place normally reserved for alpine climbers or mountaineers. But, considering the amount of time I had available, I was glad for the ease of getting deep within the heart of the Alps.

Restaurant and facilities at elevation over 11,000 ft.

Ice palace carved inside a glacier at the top.

Alpine views with the masses.

Eiger Wall of Death

This was a saying my climbing friends and I used to use when a climb turned epic or we were planning a climb that we knew would push our limits. So today I write this entry from a small hotel in Grindelwald, Switzerland beneath the imposing Eiger. Spent last night in Bern sleeping off some jet lag. Wandered through the old city center to the bahnhaus (train station) and took a very scenic train ride to Interlaken and switched trains to get to Grindelwald. Wonderful steep limestone peaks looking down on serene rolling green hills dotted with chalets and cows. Arrived in Grindelwald around 6pm, checked in and then hiked to the upper glacier. Amazing hiking/biking trail infrastructure and buses and trams to get you anywhere. And, good news, at the top of almost every trail is a beer garden.

Old town Bern, the River Aare at flood stage.

The lower Grindelwald glacier from the hotel.

Forest path on the way to the upper Grindelwald glacier.

Weisse bier in Munchen

I arrived at my hotel in southern Munich about 8pm and then took the Underground to the Marienplatz (Altstadt) the old downtown. Had a very traditional German meal at Hundskugel a restaurant that opened in 1440. Then a stroll back through the pedestrian streets of the Altstadt to the Hofbrauhaus. Hofbrauhaus is one of 6 brew-pubs in Munich, if you can call it a pub. As I got nearer I could hear the funky back beat of a tuba and then at the entrance I was met with a warm stream of smokey beer-soaked air and the sound of hundreds of inebriated voices singing German beer songs along with the oompa band. I took one last breath of fresh air and found my self a spot at one of the hundreds of tables and ordered a half liter of Weisse bier. Chatted with some Italian tourists and then the Underground back to my Hotel. Short sleep and swim and off to the Munich office.

Silas the Ham

Silas has been loving camp. It sometimes gets hard for him because he is running with the older boys, he has been in our Gryffindor group of 8-10 year old boys because he does not want to be far from Dada. This need for Dada is offset by the fact that he will get up in front of any group and perform. Here is Silas singing Karaoke; he wanted Pinball Wizard but settled for Mary had a Little Lamb.

Then at the morning worship yesterday he joined the outgoing Gryffindors to a skit about our hike to the stream. He totally hammed it up.

Then tonight I decided he wanted to perform in the Talent Show and sang "By the Rivers of Babylon". Where does he get this desire to perform in front of people.