Winter Sports, Vol 1
An early winter sports update, starting with L’s second year of basketball. She is playing in the pre-CYO league run at her future high school by the girls coach there. I’m coaching her team again this year. This time around I have eight girls – four second graders, four first graders – all from St. P’s. In fact, of the…
Playoff Sunday
A nice, long weekend was exactly what we needed just four days after the girls went back to school. That was an intense four days! I kid. I’m fully supportive of the MLK Day holiday. It just feels oddly timed after our late holiday break. And our girls are going to miss a few days of school next week[1] so…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/2ZuR71KaEhqc33ZOayubgp “Emotions and Math” – Margaret Glaspy. I really enjoyed Glaspy’s album this song serves as the title track for. But I lost it in the haze of the end of last year. I was reminded of this track, and then the album, when my brother in music Erick$ included this song in a playlist of his favorite songs of…
Reader’s Notebook
First two books of the new year. The Association of Small Bombs – Karan Mahajan This is a complicated, if very good, novel. Beginning with a fictional terrorist bomb that explodes in a Delhi market in 1996, it follows the explosion’s effects on those it touched. That includes the men responsible for the attack, the parents of young brothers who…
Late But Great
The girls did just fine. There was some grumpiness, but nothing unusual. The kitchen did seem quiet, as I was pouring bowls of cereal and warming toaster waffles for the first time without Christmas music since November. I need to find some good morning music. I think the quiet kitchen puts everyone on edge. The morning was a little tougher…
NFL Playoff Picks
I wouldn’t be half-assing it correctly if I failed to offer up some half-assed NFL playoff predictions. But, first, a few words about the Colts. WTF?!?! How on earth do you bring back the GM and head coach who have produced an uninspired, incomplete team that misses the playoffs in the weakest division in football and is somehow ruining what…
Friday Playlist
My collection of new music dwindled over the past six weeks, as I both devoted most of my time to either holiday tunes or reviewing my favorite songs of 2016, and as the music industry dialed the spigot back a bit on new releases. I’m looking forward to the flow increasing again soon. For our first playlist of the new…
Big 12 Hoops
“Lord, honey, it’s gonna be excitin’!” Our family is pretty addicted to the various Food Network baking and cooking competition shows. We are especially fond of the Holiday Baking Championship. The quote above came from this year’s winner, Jason Smith, a folksy, down-home baker from Kentucky who was full of oddball yet hilarious comments. That one was used, over-and-over, in…
The End and Beginning
The holiday portion of our Christmas vacation is over and the new year is off to a decent start. Things ramped up another notch last week. Our family from Denver flew in late Wednesday night for a brief visit. We picked them up at the airport after 11:00 pm. By the time the luggage was collected, we got home, and…
Stats
Time for my monthly/annual recounting of what I’ve been listening to. The December numbers are always an aberration, as I go all-in with the holiday music. I think the 2016 totals are rather interesting, though. I don’t believe I’ve ever had my #1 artist so far out in front of my #2 artist. Remember, these only reflect what I’ve listened…