Tuesday, July 7, 2015
A pretty solid holiday weekend, all things considered. We had good weather; it did not rain for two days, which has been unusual over the past month, nor was it blazingly hot. We had our traditional family gathering at the LVS. Not as many people as the past few years but still a decent-sized crowd. The only downer was the air conditioner deciding not to work when we were crowding 14 people into a small area to eat dinner.
Friday, July 3, 2015
The official middle of summer - the halfway point between Memorial Day and Labor Day - isn’t for another two weeks. But, for all intents and purposes,[1] this is the middle of summer since so many kids will be back in school four or five weeks from today. Thus, we should have a good idea of what the Song of the Summer will be. Or at least several strong, early contenders.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
For the second-straight year I was stuck on a swimming pool deck watching dozens of 5–14 year olds swim during last week’s NBA draft. I was far less interested in this year’s draft than any recent one, primarily because KU didn’t have any expected top 10 picks and my interest in the NBA has waned even further. Although I never got around to doing a break down of last year’s draft, I might as well adhere to site tradition and share some thoughts on the 2015 draft.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
I think we’ve officially reached the point where I can say that this is a weird ass summer. At least weather-wise and so far. We are in week three of consistent storms, cloudy skies, and crazy temperature swings. First, we had a cool week. Then a very warm week where we had thick, nasty, Kansas City/St. Louis/Cincinnati humidity. And now it’s back to being relatively cool and overcast. Last week was one huge thunderstorm after another.
Friday, June 26, 2015
History is undefeated. Someone said that once, right? And history won again today when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gay men and women can legally marry across the country. As much as scared old people and misguided middle aged and young people tried to dig in their heels, it was going to happen. A majority of the country supports gay marriage, something that seem unfathomable just a few years ago.
Friday, June 26, 2015
youtu.be/MTrKkqE9p… “Coming Home” - Leon Bridges If you haven’t heard Leon Bridges yet, you’re just in time. His singles have been thrilling the music world the last couple months and his debut album just dropped on Tuesday. I’m fascinated by how artists make choices in what aesthetics they will adopt. I assume Bridges grew up listening to old Sam Cooke and Otis Redding albums. Any kind of pre-Beatles, pre-Motown soul music for that matter.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
For years I’ve been a Back Up Nazi. I let people know how important it is not just to back up the data that is valuable to you - photos, videos, music, important text documents - but to have more than one backup copy. One copy around the house. Then an extra hard drive at a neighbor’s home or bank safe deposit box and collect it every few months to update it.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Some sporting notes. US Open I rarely watch golf anymore. Mostly because I haven’t swung a club in over eight years.1 And when Tiger flamed out I suddenly had no real rooting interest. The wave of new, young players all seemed like only slightly different versions of the same guy. Which, to be fair, is always kind of the case in golf. But I did watch healthy doses of Sunday’s final round of the U.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Happy Fathers Day to all the other dads out there! Chuck Klosterman’s Billboard cover story on Eddie Van Halen made some waves this week. Especially when Sammy Hagar put a pointed rebuttal/response on YouTube. I think we can all agree that Michael Anthony is the only guy of the first five to be in Van Halen that doesn’t seem like a total jerk. Eddie Speaks With the release of Inside Out Friday, ranking all the Pixar movies was a popular activity.
Friday, June 19, 2015
youtu.be/D-xcbL-Ca… “Gates Of Dawn” - Heartless Bastards HB has been kicking around for a lot of years now. Each time they put out an album, I think, “That’s pretty good.” But they’ve never made my Top 10 album or songs lists to end a year. That might change this year, though.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Long-time readers of this site will recall, likely with great pleasure, my periodic updates on the wildlife around our home from years past. We’re in a bit of a boon in that area, so lets revisit that genre of post. One night last week I was walking through the living room right at dusk and noticed movement between our deck and trashcans. Like so many times over the past 12 years,1 there was a big, fat raccoon slinking into our woods for an evening patrol.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
The Stanley Cup playoffs ended Monday night and the NBA Finals wrapped up last night.1 Winter sports are finally over! Our family’s sports are in transition, too. Softball finally came to an end last week, albeit an earlier-than-expected one. C.’s team dropped their opening game of the tournament by four runs. They were down by 10 runs early, cut it to one in the 5th, but had the wrong part of the lineup up in the 6th and couldn’t get over the hump.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Wide awake I rearrange the way I listen in the dark Dreaming of starting up again Perhaps because I go to so few concerts, I approach them with a sense of trepidation. Will the singer be in good vocal form tonight? Will a mercurial band member be in a bad place and bring the whole group’s energy down? Will the sound be bad? Will the crowd suck, and the band not push forward because of the lack of energy and love coming toward them?
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Only three articles worth sharing this weekend. It’s kind of a tradition that there be a Joe Posnanski story included. So here’s his take on the LeBron vs. Jordan comparison. Such Great Heights As much as I hate to admit it, I’m beginning to be swayed that this is both a legit question and there are reasonable arguments for LBJ. The biggest thing that makes it difficult is how much the game has changed since Jordan retired.
Friday, June 12, 2015
youtu.be/SmFVauPAv… “Eyes To The Wind” - The War on Drugs “I’m just a bit run down here at the moment…” Falling in the second half of their lovely Lost In The Dream album, perhaps no line sums up the disk better than this one. A weary proclamation of a man beaten up by the wallowing and self-flagellation that comes with romantic loss, it sets up all the glorious “moving on” tracks the dot the rest of the album.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
I’ve been thinking about my next Royals post for a couple weeks. In the interim, they had a slow and steady descent into their first extended cold spell of the season. It began with concerns about pitching, as each member of the starting rotation had at least one terrible start and both Jason Vargas and Danny Duffy landed on the Disabled List. Soon, though, the Same Old Royals appeared at the plate.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Like many parents, we bought a camcorder around the time our first child was born.[1] Like many parents, we recorded dozens of moments during our early years of parenting, sometimes letting the tape run long past the point when it should have been shut off because we were so utterly delighted with everything our child did. Like many parents the camcorder slowly got used less-and-less as we added more offspring to the family.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
The first full weekend of summer is in the books. Let’s go back a couple days to our first two days of summer vacation, last Thursday and Friday. Nothing too exciting on the agenda either day. Some bike rides, softball hitting practice in the street, hanging out with a visiting aunt, a trip to the library. And the girls first two full swim practices of the summer. Recall that we switched to a different swim team this year.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Links Figured I should start the summer off right by getting the links out on the normal day. Tomorrow is the Champions League final. After a lengthy absence from the elite, Juventus is back in the title game after a surprise run through the knock-out stages. They were my first favorite European team; I adopted them after the 1994 World Cup because so many of Italy’s best players were on the Bionconeri.
Friday, June 5, 2015
youtu.be/IoBJ0CfdS… “Inside Out” - Spoon I have one rule when making general music lists: each artist/band gets only one entry. So whether it is a year-end list or a favorites-of-all-time list, I have to decide which song best represents a particular act. For my favorite songs of 2014 list, Spoon’s “Rent I Pay” checked in at #11. But it took me much mental back-and-forth to decide which Spoon song to include.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Day one of summer! It’s right at 8:00 as I start this. Two of the girls beat me out of bed, despite letting them stay up late and being told to sleep in, but one is still zonked out. Of course, we could still hear noise from that one’s room after 10:00 last night. I, happily, slept in until the time we would normally be walking out the door for the trip to St.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
At first glance, it was a light month. Two books?!?! What the hell? Ahhh, but the truth is more complex. One book took nearly three weeks to read. And in spare moments I was also reading books about photography. So, fear not. I knocked out my obligatory five books in May. I just won’t bore you with the details of the photography guides. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen Man, what a book.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Jeez. Another month that just flew by. Games, practices, birthdays, the first couple lake weekends of the year. And the winding down of the school year. Cram it all into a 31-day stretch and we’re turning the calendar seemingly moments after we last did so. L. wrapped up soccer yesterday. She enjoyed this season, but also developed some bad habits that were inevitable when she was, at times, playing against four-year-olds.
Friday, May 29, 2015
youtu.be/WgUAvzP-q… “She’s Not Me” - Jenny Lewis How many of you remember the 1989 movie Troop Beverly Hills? I’m 99% sure I never saw it, although I do remember the name. It was a Shelly Long vehicle, which right there should be enough to let you know it was terrible. It also was the feature film debut of the wonderful Carla Gugino. And it was the second big-screen appearance by a youngster named Jenny Lewis, who had done TV for several years, and would continue to act into the 1990s before forming the band Rilo Kiley with her then-boyfriend Blake Sennett.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
It’s a tent-pole requirement of parenting to always be comparing the lives of your kids to your own childhood. We point out the ways our children are more fortunate than us: “I didn’t get to go to Florida until I was 31. You’ve been there three times before you turned 9. Stop complaining!” We observe the changes in how parents monitor their children today. For example, it seems like most of my generation had free reign to play wherever they wanted for as long as they wanted.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Good grief. Busy-ness (as opposed to business), laziness, a holiday weekend, and a general late-school year malaise have me well behind in sharing links. This period of inattention just happened to coincide with a flood of great things to share. So brace yourself, grab a beverage, shut your office door (or send the kids to bed if the hour is appropriate), and take a deep breath before diving into these.
Friday, May 22, 2015
youtu.be/daUyogS1w… “Constructive Summer” - The Hold Steady A GREAT fan-made video that takes the words of a song and uses them in an unexpected way. Charming, funny, and inventive. Oh, and the perfect song for the unofficial start of summer. Let’s build something this summer!
Thursday, May 21, 2015
As you know, I dig series finales. I love it when a show that has been on for years, and has built a loyal audience and deep back-story, closes everything out with one last episode and goodbye. But when it’s a person who is leaving air rather than a show, and 33 years of history rather than just a solid 5–7 year sit-com/drama run, it’s a little different. It’s tougher to draw a straight line and connect all the dots between the first episode and last when you’re dealing with over three decades and two different networks.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Some assorted Kid Notes that have been jotted down in recent weeks. This is totally unofficial, and I base it without knowing anything about the rest of the school, but I’m declaring my girls the Reading Champions of St. P’s. Second graders are given reading wheels during second semester they are required to complete. They contain 12 categories, with the entries each, that the kids have to read a book for.
Monday, May 18, 2015
What birthday summed you up the best? I’m not saying your best birthday, or the most memorable one. I’m saying, which of your birthdays contained all the elements that, combined, explained the person you were/are? I ask that question because I believe yesterday was the most C. birthday of C.’s life. She was happy, crazy, giggly, and excited. She also had three meltdowns, got in trouble and sent to her room, and had some of her favorite toys taken away because she was fighting over them with one of her sisters.