D's Notebook

Month: August 2014 (Page 2 of 3)

⦿ (Belated) Friday Links

August 16, 2014 /

Belated links this week. Friday was a beast.

First up, a story that I imagine will strike different readers in a variety of ways. I find it funny and charming. Others may find it a little creepy. Or even inappropriate. Regardless, here is the story of the letters Texas Tech football coach Kliff Kingsbury and a woman in Arkansas exchanged recently.

Arkansas fan ‘breaks up’ with Kliff Kingsbury, coach responds with letter of his own

I’m not the first to say this, but that dude has a rough life.

For some time I’ve had an idea in my mind to make a running list of the Best Band In Rock over time. It would be based mostly on record sales, radio play, and media buzz. Whether I wrote about it or not was another thing, but I thought it would be cool to look back and see how it changed over time.

Well, Steven Hyden decided to go all-in with that idea. He went back further than I did, and cast a broader net than I would have. And his determining factors were different from what I would have chosen. Thus, his list includes some bands I never would have thought of. But it’s a tremendous read, even if you disagree with most of his choices.

The American Band Championship Belt

While we’re talking about music, one man in Brazil is trying to buy up all the vinyl ever made.

The Brazilian Bus Magnate Who’s Buying Up All the World’s Vinyl Records

Awhile back we got a huge stack of catalogs from Restoration Hardware. It was a ridiculous mailing, especially since we hadn’t bought anything from there in years.1 Of course, we get at least two copies of every mailing from Pottery Barn for some reason, and I’m sure they total way more than the stack from RH. Still, I couldn’t help but be shocked at the marketing effort.

The New Yorker dove in to the backlash against the catalogs and some of RH’s hollow statements defending them.

Restoration Hardware’s Mail-Order Extravagance

Where can you buy the best beer in a MLB ballpark? The Washington Post tackled this important question that faces our nation. Surprising to see Cincinnati so highly rated. Disappointing to see Kansas City so low.

The best beer in baseball

Finally, after watching that amazing Richard Pryor Show video a couple weeks back, I read this staggering New Yorker feature on him from 1999. At his peak, there’s never been another comic like Pryor. But he was such a complex man, full of contradictions, demons, self-destructive and self-loathing tendencies, an astute eye for the ironies of life, and a healthy dose of pure, old fashioned, even corny love for everyone around him.

With Robin Williams’ death this week, this is another reminder that sometimes the people who make us laugh the hardest are filled with more sadness and struggle than you would imagine.

A Pryor Love

  1. It might undermine my complaint a bit that since we received the catalogs, we did make a big purchase from them. The chairs are perfect, but we didn’t feel good about buying them, I assure you! ↩

Friday Vid

August 15, 2014 /

“Gimme Something Good” – Ryan Adams
Had a video been available for this song three weeks ago, when I highlighted two of my favorite songs of the summer, it would have been included as well. In fact, I’ve probably listened to no song more over the past two months.

In a summer in which Tom Petty has got a lot of attention for his new release, and a year in which his sound has influenced current groups like the War On Drugs, Ryan Adams may well have out-Pettied Petty. Every ounce of what was great about the early 80s classic rock that was a mainstay at the pools of my youth is present on this tune. It was made for summers at pools and lakes.

End Of An Era

August 14, 2014 /

St. P’s kicked off the school year today. The alarm went off at 6:30, the girls were roused,1 uniforms were donned, bags were packed, and off we went. Drop off was easy.

M., as is her custom, quickly dismissed me so she could start digging through the box of supplies sitting on her desk and chat with her friends. C. quickly found her seat and did the same.2

And then we were went to the end of the hall and L.’s room.

We missed her ice cream social so this was her first meeting with her teacher, who is new to St. P’s this year. I think she was pleased that she got a teacher neither of her sisters had before her.3 We found her desk, settled her in, said hello to her friend from preschool who is in her class, and then I left her to do her thing. I could see a little nervousness in her eyes, but she’s never had a problem on the first day. She’s been so excited for school to begin, I think the reality of it was hitting her a little hard.

And since everyone has been asking me if I thought I would be emotional dropping her off for the first time, I decided to high tail it before that became the case. Surprisingly, perhaps, it was a less emotional day than a year ago, when L. burst into tears when she realized she was coming home with me rather than staying with her sisters. I hustled her out of the coffee and donuts welcome breakfast trying to keep from crying myself that morning.

This year I left dry-eyed, came home and immediately went for my first outside run since late June.

Thus ends an era in my life. I don’t know how to exactly define when I became a stay-at-home parent; was it the day M. was born, the day I turned in my resignation for my old job, or the day S. went back to work? Regardless, for the first time in just over ten years I don’t have a baby, a toddler, or a preschooler in the house with me. Today is an early dismissal day, but beginning tomorrow, I’ll have seven hours when my kid-related activities will all be laundry, grocery, and cleaning centered rather than directly keeping them busy or supervising them.

As I’ve told many of you, I’d like to find something to do with this time. Preferably something that allows me to use a keyboard to put words into documents or onto paper and helps pay the bills. But I’m still the parent responsible for picking up, dropping off, getting to and from practices and games, and dealing with inevitable sick days. In other words, I’m not looking for a 40-50 hour desk job. I’m sure I’ll start small, and hopefully sooner rather than later. But for the time being, I’ve got some time to make sure our house isn’t a complete disaster and knock out some more books each week.

Oh, and I got suckered into being the head coach for C.’s soccer team this year. Rather than run on the field with them and give them general direction, as I’ve done helping with the girls’ U8 and U6 teams, for U10 soccer I’m going to actually run practices and figure out how to coach from the sideline against other coaches who know what the hell they’re doing. So I guess I’ll be spending time ramping up my soccer knowledge and figuring out how to get kids to do the right thing without making them cry.

The district we live in started school yesterday. The girls and I made a trip to the library to do one final book exchange for the summer. It was eerie being the only parent with kids bigger than toddlers. The library is right between an elementary school and the high school, and I think a few adults gave us second looks as we walked around the deserted kids section. “No,” I wanted to say, “I’m not home schooling them. They just start tomorrow.”

So that’s that. If you have any idea what I should do next, please let me know.

  1. I heard L., I think, open her door and peek out just after 6:00. It was like Christmas morning for her. ↩
  2. I wish I had written down what C. wrote on the note she typed up for her teacher after getting her class assignment last week. It was something along the lines of she was excited for second grade, her big sister told her she would learn how to write in cursive and play Scrabble, and she couldn’t wait for First Communion. Then she signed it with her name and about 25 exclamation marks. ↩
  3. Oddly enough, thanks to regular turnover in the kindergarten, each girl has had a different teacher to begin their St. P’s career. ↩

Robin

August 12, 2014 /

Robin Williams was a force of nature. That’s a cliché, often used in moments like this, but it was certainly appropriate for him. When he was on, and rolling, there was no getting in his way. Nothing was safe or sacred. Anything could, and likely would, serve as inspiration. He wasn’t the best comic of his generation, but he probably induced more stomach-splitting laughter than his contemporaries. After you watched Robin, your abdomen hurt.

Of course, there was more to him than just jokes. He made one of the most successful jumps to dramatic acting that anyone has ever made from comedy. His best work was deep and emotional. There were always the comedic moments, but the impact came from him plumbing something deep within and sharing it with his character.

I knew that Williams had cocaine issues in his younger days. No one could have all that energy and mania naturally.

I did not know depression was a life-long struggle for him. But it makes sense. Just as that frenetic pace needed a chemical boost, so too, it seems, did that sense of melancholy he tapped into. There was pain just below the surface and it was fuel for his stand up, stage, television, and cinematic performances.

Williams’ career was long and broad enough that I bet many of us had very different first recollections of his work after hearing of his death. Some likely thought of the Good Morning Vietnam radio segments. Others of his role as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. Or perhaps his Oscar-winning performance as Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. Perhaps a few of you, my age or older, went all the way back to Mork & Mindy.

Me? I thought of the night that everything came together in one, ridiculous performance. The night in 2001 when he graced the stage on Inside the Actors Studio.

Here is the opening five minutes. If you want to watch the entire thing, apparently this Asian site will let you do just that.

R’s: Magical

August 11, 2014 /

Wow. It was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote about a weekend series in Kansas City between the Royals and Red Sox, wondering if we would look back on it as the high point of the season. The Royals drifted, then climbed back to the periphery of the Wild Card race, staying in it until the final week of the season.

After this past weekend’s sweep of the Giants, I’m tempted to write a similar post. Will we look back on the crowds of last weekend, the play of the team, the good vibes surrounding the organization and say, “Man, that was great. But it was never that fun again,”?

I’m thinking no, that will not be the high point this year. Even if the Royals come back to earth this week, which seems likely given how hot they’ve been for the past two weeks, the math is much more in their favor this year than last. After the A’s four-gamer, they have, arguably, the easiest remaining schedule of any contender. Detroit, Toronto, and Cleveland are all suffering from injury woes. No team in the American League can seem to put together a hot 20-30 days and run away from the field.1

For an organization that has desperately sought the breaks to go its way for a quarter century, the dominoes might finally be lining up in their favor.

I’ve said before that sometimes Twitter is the worst thing that can happen to a sports fan. For all the sources of quick information you can tap into, it can also turn into a stream of unending cynicism, bitterness, and anger when things go bad. That’s often been the case in the Royals’ corner of the Twittersphere this time of year.

But this weekend was something else. Normally negative voices were expressing their disbelief at what was happening. Again, for the first time in forever, there are good vibes around this team. We were having a lake weekend with many guests, so I could only check in to watch the scores and read Tweets occasionally. Each time I turned on the phone, though, I was delighted to see the Royals were ahead and then read a series of Tweets relaying the magic of what was happening at The K.

I’m as cynical as anyone about this franchise. I’m as distrusting and outright hostile to the ownership and front office as anyone. But, as Rany wrote last night, it sure feels like a moment to set all that aside, to not fear the historically inevitable turn when it all goes wrong, and just watch and enjoy.

Baseball, more than any other sport, taps into the memories of your childhood. This year is beginning to feel a little like that glorious late summer and early fall of 1985, when a team with not much hitting but a stacked pitching staff clawed back from well behind the division lead to catch, and then pass, California in the final week of the season. Which, of course, was just the beginning.

Hey, we can dream big for a minute, can’t we?

  1. Unless the Royals are in the midst of doing exactly that! ↩

⦿ Friday Links

August 8, 2014 /

Running a little late on everything today.

A fine profile by a fine writer. Pat Jordan on the eternal kid, Johnny Damon.

An Idiot In Exile

These are crazy times for music. Tom Petty just nabbed the first #1 album of his career. Which seems kind of crazy. More crazy is who preceded him: “Weird Al” Yankovic.

As my girls would say, I know, right?

Anyway, in case you wondered how “Weird Al” manages to make parody versions, legally, of so many popular songs, this article should clear it up.

How Do Royalties Work for “Weird Al” Songs?

I’ve been trying to write down more notes on paper lately. Part of it is just that I’ve never been a “write things down” kind of guy, but as I get older, and have to track my kids’ stuff in addition to mine, I’ve had to be more careful about putting things on a list. And while my iPhone is always with me, I have never found the perfect note taking / To Do list app. So paper and pen it has been.

As Nick Bilton writes, though, the era of the pen may well be ending soon.

Fare Thee Well, My Pen

It seems like you can’t swing a cat1 without hitting a new brewery or gourmet beer restaurant these days. Joshua Bernstein writes for Bon Appétit that we may have too much of a good thing when it comes to options for good beer.

He may be onto something. Or not. I’ve never heard complaints about there being too many choices for wine.

America Now Has Over 3,000 Craft Breweries—and That’s Not Necessarily Great for Beer Drinkers

What activity have you done regularly, for the longest time? No way can you match Richard Hendrickson. He’s been sending in reports to the National Weather Service, twice a day, for 84 years.

And I’m pleased with myself for running a blog for 11 years.

Long Island Weather Observer Sets U.S. Record With 84-Year Streak

Finally, at Grantland Andrew Sharp argues that going to Minnesota might be the best thing to happen to Andrew Wiggins’ NBA career. I’m not sure I agree, but I hope he’s right.

What About Wiggins and the Wolves?

  1. I’d never swing a cat. Nor should you. It’s just fun to say because I have no idea what it means. Did people really used to pass the time by swinging cats by their tails? And cats aren’t that big; it’s not like you’re taking out the village when you swing one around. It makes no sense. ↩

Friday Vid

August 8, 2014 /

“Summer Nights” – Van Halen
School starts next Thursday, so it’s the last, real Friday and weekend of the summer for us. One last time to go down to the ol’ fishin’ hole. Wait… I don’t think Sammy was really singing about fishing, was he?

Oh well, a great summer song and Van Hagar at the finest.

Hoops Thoughts

August 7, 2014 /

A couple hoops thoughts for Thursday.

Wiggins headed to Minnesota

Damn. It’s been pretty obvious, aside from the brief period when Cleveland kidded themselves that they could trade for Kevin Love without giving up Andrew Wiggins, that the #1 pick would be headed to Minneapolis some time before the season began. Still, it sucks for it to, apparently, be going down officially.

Cleveland with LeBron was the perfect spot for Wiggs. He could ease into the game, only having to become Scottie Pippen1 rather than live up to his Maple Jordan nickname. He could develop his offensive game slowly as his body matured and he learned the tricks of how to score in the NBA. He could focus on being a defensive stopper to relieve pressure on LBJ. And he would likely play deep into the playoffs from the first year of his career.

Now he’s off to a team that has done little right in over a decade, where he’ll be expected to carry a heavier offensive load from opening night. There are other young athletes on the roster, but no established stars who can serve as steadying influences. I hope the expectations/pressures and lack of room to grow slowly doesn’t set Wiggins’ career back.

The trade has been debated all over the place for the last month. You can make an argument that Cleveland would be better served keeping Wiggins. But championship clocks run out faster than anyone expects them to. It makes sense to roll the dice on winning titles now with the LBJ-Love-Irving trio now rather than waiting for Wiggins and Bennett to blossom and potentially win a bunch down the road. There are no guarantees any of those players remain healthy, develop as expected, or even maintain their current levels of play.

Either way, it still probably isn’t enough to make Cleveland a clear favorite for the NBA title next year. One of the favorites, yes. But Chicago, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City will still have a lot to say about it.

Greg Oden arrested

Double damn. Oden always seemed like a decent guy. He was blessed with a tiny window when he was an effective player, winning three Indiana state titles and leading Ohio State to the national title game before his body gave out. He’s become a punchline, along with Sam Bowie, for the reasons to never draft a big man with leg issues.2 Which I’ve always thought was unfair. Oden didn’t ask for his injuries to happen. His body simply disintegrated on him, unable to deal with the rigors of playing every-other-night for six months. He never whined or indulged in public self-pity.

It seems like he immediately took responsibility for his actions earlier today. Which does not excuse them, nor absolve him of the consequences that come with them. It’s just a shame this is another negative that people are going to remember about a guy that is already a symbol for professional underachievers.

  1. Still no easy task, of course. ↩
  2. Joel Embiid says hello! ↩

Something Old Is New Again

August 6, 2014 /

You may have noticed there was a comment on the site yesterday.

No joke. After many years of not having comments I have turned them back on. I’ve even added the little Latest Comments widget over on the right sidebar so you can quickly see if anyone has offered up their opinions.

It’s appropriate that my pal Stace was the first person to comment in this new era. We had a really ugly scene last week while eating lunch together in Kansas City. She cornered me while I was attempting to devour my half Planet Sub (sans dijon) and rather cruelly jabbed me with her finger, demanding that I turn commenting back on. When I hemmed and hawed, she snatched my sandwich from my hands and threatened to toss it into the trash.

Hey, I’m all about making my readers happy. Especially the ones whom I’ve known since middle school.

I’ve installed the newest, latest spam-blocker that’s supposed to make it super easy to filter the real comments from the trash. Hopefully it works as expected/promised.

Have fun, and be nice.

The Struggle

August 5, 2014 /

My life, like pretty much everyone’s, has been full of ups and downs. Triumphs and tragedies. Successes and sadness. The last week or so has been one of the toughest in my life.

Yes, I’m off caffeine.

Good lord is it difficult.

Until yesterday I had been plagued by headaches when my body realized, mid-morning, that no caffeine would be flooding my system.

I am at a loss at what to do in the mornings, as brewing and enjoying coffee has been part of my routine since I left the corporate world a decade ago.

And then there are the afternoon yawns. Even with caffeine I struggled in the late afternoons when my energy lags. The last week has been even worse. I took two of the girls to the pool yesterday and kept nodding off while trying to read. At least I didn’t wake up with drool running down my chin and kids pointing at me and laughing.

I would love to have avoided this. But coffee, and caffeinated beverages in general, have been causing me some health issues for several months. I’ve experimented with tea instead of coffee most days since the spring. But even with that change the issues were only scaled back slightly. So I figured I’d give the caffeine-free thing a shot and see if anything changed. The early results are slightly better, but not as much as I would have liked. Which could be a blessing. If the caffeinated beverages only increase the symptoms rather than cause them, I can go back to chugging tons of coffee each morning, right?

I guess I shouldn’t give myself that kind of hope. The headaches are becoming weaker. I’ve yet to pop any Advil today, so perhaps my body is detoxed. Then again, I drank some Milk Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast this morning, which I’m assuming as a little caffeine in it. But no other issues. So perhaps that will be my new morning routine. It’s not quite as fun as brewing a pot of French Press and drinking it for half an hour.

This is right up there with parenting a two-year-old when it comes to difficult things I’ve had to get through. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

© 2024 D's Notebook

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑