• Tops of Eighty Four

    It only took six weeks for Tom Breihan to roll through the 20 number one songs of 1984. 1985 has some bangers, for sure, but we’re approaching the point where I’ll be more interested in his words than in the songs themselves. In the comments, people ranked the Number Ones of 1984 in their preferred order. Believe it or not…

  • End of Two Seasons and A Career

    The fall 2020 kickball season has come to an end for our family. L’s team capped their season Wednesday with a run-rule win against the nearest parish. L had a grand slam, a three-run triple, and a single to close out the season. She didn’t kick quite as well this year as in the past. I’m not sure if that’s…

  • Football!

    Football is back! After three weeks of high school action, the college and pro ranks joined in this weekend to give us another nudge towards a sense of normalcy. Let’s run through the weekend’s happenings. High School CHS played arch rival BCHS on Friday. CHS was ranked #1 in 5A, BCHS #1 in 3A. Despite the difference in size (CHS…

  • Friday Playlist

    https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GsxVh1NWy0CQ9dV0SQ7Lw?si=WQHcozPTSX6IpxDjNf1HqA “Child’s Romance” – Nap Eyes This song sounds soooooo Australian. Yet this band is from Nova Scotia. Even if they aren’t from my favorite musical continent, I still really dig this song. All kinds of good bits in it. “Mustang” – Strange Not sure there’s anyone in music right now like Bartees Strange. He combines a variety of disparate…

  • 2020 NFL Predictions

    Over the weekend I dug into the blog archives a little bit. I would pull up a random month from the past and scroll through the entries, skimming any that jumped out at me. I had thought a good quarantine project would be to re-read through the entire history of the site, but I never got around to that. Maybe…

  • Post Holiday Notes

    A late return after the long holiday weekend. My in-laws have been in town since last Wednesday, which has adjusted my daily routine a little. Our Labor Day weekend was pretty low-key. Friday night was so cool that we kicked on the outdoor fireplace for the first time this season. A couple of the girls hung out with friends on…

  • Friday Playlist

    Let’s see what I can whip up for you this week. Some old stuff, some new stuff. All good stuff. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4nxSIt6ruOKjE7x7N3Aby3?si=JYLq6p1dSb-u9r8BQpn7Iw “You Got The Love” – Rufus & Chaka Khan This week I read a long interview with Ray Parker, Jr. He seems like a pretty cool dude and has had an amazing career. He wrote this song with Chaka…

  • August Media

    Funny what happens when sports come back. My media consumption was waaaay down in August. Or at least compared to the previous five months. Here is what I did knock out. Jayhawkers I remember when this movie was made. Justin Wesley, a recent KU basketball player and brother of former KU great Keith Langford, was cast in the main role…

  • Reader’s Notebook, 9/1/20

    Three highly lauded books have kept me busy the past couple weeks. Disappearing Earth – Julia Phillips The last part of a book is so important to how readers feel about the entire story. This is an example of a book that was elevated by a nearly perfect ending. It begins with the disappearance of two young sisters from Petropavlosk,…

  • Of Classes and Sports

    Two full weeks into the school year and we’ve had our first major change. Beginning today, and for the foreseeable future, M will be home on Mondays. In Thursday’s normal parent newsletter, the CHS principal announced that the entire student population would be virtual and on a fixed schedule on Mondays. Several reasons were offered, but the one that seems…