• How Myths Get Busted

    We are dedicated online shoppers. Have been for years. During the last 6–8 weeks of the calendar year, it’s a truly fantastic tool for doing your Christmas shopping. No fighting crowds in parking lots and malls. No picking through damaged boxes looking for that last one that hasn’t been touched by a hundred grubby hands. Fill up your virtual cart,…

  • ⦿ Friday Links

    (Standard disclaimer that I’m terribly behind in sharing links, I’ll do better starting next week, yada yada yada…) Let’s kick things off with a couple baseball links that are left over from October. First, a rather fine oral history of the 1985 World Series. Which, you may recall, was the last time the Kansas City Royals won the title before…

  • Friday Vid(s)

    For some reason this week I was thinking not backward, to Christmases past, but ahead ten years or so to Christmases future. When M. and C. are in college and home for their breaks and L. is wrapping up her high school years. I wondered if I would still have my love of the various pop culture elements of the…

  • The Debut

    There have been a few eagerly anticipated freshman debuts at KU over the years. As recruiting hype has grown over the past decade, the attention on those opening games keeps getting bigger. When you throw in an NCAA-mandated delay, it’s like Christmas morning getting delayed. I remember being unreasonably wound up to watch Josh Selby play his first game after…

  • November Books

    A lighter month, as I tackled another beast of a book and then punted most of Thanksgiving week. With a strong finish – and December always includes a few traditional and quick reads – I’ll get to 52 books for the year. The Cartel – Don Winslow What is the official threshold that you need to cross for your book…

  • Thanksgiving Wrap Up

    The first Monday after Thanksgiving, aka The First Day of the Longest Month of the Year. If you’re a kid, that is. M. has already said several times she wishes we could skip straight to Christmas and get this nonsense in-between holidays out of the way. I’m perfectly fine with four long weeks filled with Christmas shows, music, and beers.…

  • The Most Wonderful Link Of The Year

    I should have shared this earlier, as it kicks off on November 1 each year and includes Thanksgiving shows. But my annual link to this page listing all the holiday shows. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on tonight! Christmas TV Schedule Check daily and set your DVRs accordingly.

  • More Of The Old This ‘n’ That

    The holiday season is officially here! Which you know gets my juices going. It was weird to be sitting in Arizona last weekend, switching around TV channels while S. was in her conference session, and coming across a Christmas cookie show while it was pushing 80 outside. I spent one year in northern California – we moved west the week…

  • Friday Vid(s)

    “Tunnel Of Love” and “Brilliant Disguise” – Bruce Springsteen A prominent music writer noted during the flood of articles about Born To Run’s 40th anniversary earlier this year that he couldn’t wait for Springsteen’s 1987 album Tunnel of Love to get the same treatment. He was kind of kidding, but also kind of serious. To most people, Tunnel Of Love…

  • Back To The Court

    I don’t know if I’m ready for college basketball to begin. People who have known me for many, many years should re-read that statement. Because, once upon a time, my sports life was a big countdown to the next KU game, to the next recruiting deadline, to the day when practice could begin in the fall, and so on. Other…