Professional Football Prognostication
Oh boy. Football season is here. “Do I detect a certain ‘Meh’ in that statement?” many of you might ask. I will confirm, there is plenty of ‘Meh’ in that statement. For a variety of reasons, I get a little more disengaged from the NFL every year. Likely the biggest factor is how L plays soccer on Sundays,[1] something she’s…
Summer’s End
The last real weekend of the summer is in the books. And, if you judge only by how tired I was last night, it was a good one. Fortunately by nearly every other measure it was indeed a fine way to wrap up the summer. It’s become a tradition that our KC friends the Belfords come into town this weekend.…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/2C7eOMtEDxiI2dLQRKUsuK “September” – Earth, Wind & Fire. This is a god damn great song. How this peaked at only #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 is another indictment of the 1970s. “September Gurls” – Big Star. One of the greatest power-pop songs of all time. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” – Green Day. Since we’re sticking with a theme…
Reader’s Notebook, 8/31/17
A Divided Spy – Charles Cumming. I hate it when I realize, a decent stretch into a book that is part of a series, that I missed the previous entry in the set. I had read book one of Cumming’s Thomas Kell series and then picked this one up. Problem is this is book three. And as the books all…
Out of the Fish Business
We’re out of the fish business. Our last betta, Harry Potter, died an unfortunate death today. He was on his last legs already – L was sure he was dead last weekend – but then I accidentally wacked the side of his bowl with a lid to some Corningware while I made my lunch. Water and gravel went everywhere. By…
R’s: Crap
Well, shit. August wasn’t supposed to be like this. After a scorching hot June and (most of) July, the Royals were supposed to roar into August and battle Cleveland for the AL Central lead, all while solidifying the lead they had built up in the Wild Card race. Worst case, they were going to play New York or Boston in…
Sports, Sports, Sports
We are officially in the busiest stretch of the year for us. Right in the middle of kickball season. First cross country meet was last Saturday. Soccer practice begins this Wednesday. For the next two weeks we’ll have five teams cranked up and rolling through practices and games/meets. C had a solid sports weekend. Friday night she had a kickball…
Friday Playlist
The music day I’ve been waiting on since way back in the spring is finally here: The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding is officially out. Sadly, perhaps because they are now on a major rather than indie label, folks like me who had pre-ordered the album did not get a link to download it a week early as with…
Links: On ESPN and UVa
Wow, a two-post day! I know, right?!?! Actually, I’m trying to get back in the habit of sharing links on a more regular basis, with or without some commentary from me. In this case, I’d like to address the stupidity that was ESPN removing broadcast Robert Lee from next week’s University of Virginia home football game. If you haven’t read…
On the Eclipse
It’s weird how Monday’s eclipse caught me by surprise. I knew it was coming, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure I heard about it for the first time pretty early in the year. I think, though, when I saw that it would occur during the school day, and thus there wasn’t anything special I could do with the girls for…