• Farewell 2010

    Well, this is it. The final post of 2010. Everything will be different the next time I post. Or nothing, really, other than the date stamp. It’s been a solid break here at the B. house. The girls have driven us a little crazy, but we’ve survived. An experiment to finally get all the girls sleeping normally – putting them all…

  • Post Holiday Gift Ideas

    I imagine some of you have gift cards for the iTunes Music Store, Amazon, or other entertainment/book stores burning holes in your pockets. Since I’ve burned through a lot of music and books over the past year, here are some recommendations for some ways to spend that virtual cash one some real gifts to yourself. Albums Really you can just…

  • Christmas 2010

    The always entertaining, much anticipated B. family Christmas review. So the girls were wound up last week. Actually, they were about ten steps beyond wound up. A long week of no school with sub-freezing temperatures meant they had been cramped up in the house. Threats about Santa skipping the home of girls who didn’t listen to their parents didn’t work…

  • Eyes All Aglow

    I don’t remember when I figured the whole Santa thing out. I’m guessing it was in the first-second grade range, which seems about right for most kids who are either only children or the oldest kid in their family. I do know that outwardly I was sure to keep believing for at least a year or two after the shades…

  • Goodbye, Zack

    Finally, it happened. And again I went to bed about 20 minutes too early and missed the immediate buzz. The Royals sent Zack Greinke (and Yuniesky Betancourt) to Milwaukee for a package of four young players. When I worked through my Twitter feed Sunday morning, I was flooded with news of the trade. First were the rumors, which began just…

  • Best Music Of 2010, Part 3

    As the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger! Here we are. The end of another year. I’ve listened to a lot of music over the past 11 1/2 months. iTunes tells me I’ve added over 700 songs over that period. I would guess that I’ve sampled well over twice that number, often giving songs a listen or two and…

  • Best Music Of 2010, Part 2

    And now for part two of my year-end list of favorite songs. 20 – “Twice If You’re Lucky” – Crowded House. Anytime Neil Finn releases an album, he gets a spot in my year-end countdown. This track claims his spot for 2010, another in his long line of perfect pop pieces. I think he can roll out of bed and…

  • Best Music Of 2010, Part 1

    ’Tis the season for year end lists. I’ve been blogging for seven years now, and each December I’ve posted a list of my favorite songs of the previous year. Why mess with a good thing? Here are my 20 favorite songs of 2010 . Not necessarily the best or the most played in my iTunes library,1 but the ones from…

  • Winter Meetings

    For some reason, I get crazy about baseball in the off-season. Perhaps it is because in baseball, an active off-season can transform a franchise. There is always that hope that perhaps the Royals might make an interesting, intelligent signing or trade that could put the post-season within reach. Or maybe it’s the drama of how the rich teams will divide…

  • Reporter’s Notebook – Another First

    High school basketball is in full swing in Indiana now. The girls have been playing for almost a month and all the boys teams across the state now have games under their belts. Friday night I covered my first boys game of the year. It was a lot of fun and was another first in my career. The game started…