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Fitbit 12 – Week 20

Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to seventeen despite a lingering cold.  The week got off to a great start on Sunday, coming just 10 steps shy of 6600 thanks to a morning walk.  A busy day of work left me just 6 steps shy of 4500 on Monday.  A small improvement on Tuesday pushed me up to 5200 steps.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a Cubs game at night which finished 17 steps shy of 8100 and well over my daily goal.  Another busy day of work on Thursday dropped me back to 4400 steps.  Friday was spent at the hospital, waiting for my mom to get out of surgery, but managed to finish with 4500 steps.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday, as running around to take care of my mom led to 5300 steps.

Total steps: 38,679

Daily average: 5525.6

 

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Book 30 (of 52) – Mr. Monk Is Miserable

Mr. Monk Is Miserable – Lee Goldberg

On their way home from Germany, Natalie coerces Mr. Monk to stop in Paris for a real vacation.  When he finds a recently murdered skull in the famous catacombs, however, their vacation once again turns into a work trip.  When the skull is identified and tied back a crime in San Francisco, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lt. Disher join them in the city of lights, looking for the mysterious killer.

Mr. Monk Is Miserable is the seventh of 18 novels based on the USA Network dramedy that ran from 2002 to 2009 from series writer Lee Goldberg. This outing once again over exaggerates Monk’s reactions everyday occurrences way beyond what would be seen in the show and again adds in a pair of local Parisian detectives who are thinly veined copies of Stottlemeyer and Disher, but also eventually brings in the real deal, which helped this outing feel like a closer fir with the television series. I’ve got eleven more of these books waiting for me, so hopefully this upward trend continues.

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #8

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

We continue today with twin sisters who bonded in high school over a love of music following the discovery of their stepdad’s guitar.  My eighth most listened to artist: Sara Quin and Tegan Quin, known professionally as the band Tegan & Sara.

#8: Tegan and Sara
iTunes stats: 847 plays
Previous ranking: #7

Tegan and Sara entered my consciousness in the early 2000s, when I Hear Noises started to get some airplay on WXRT and someone gave me an MP3 knowing I would be into it.  Since then, I’ve seen them in concert, read their book. and listened to their music, with 84 songs, 61 of which I’ve listened to, from ten different albums in my collection.  They’ve dropped down one spot on the charts, despite a nearly 29% increase in listens over the past five years.  

I saw them in concert in October of 2005, at the end of what was a very busy week.  Prior to the show, I settled in at Rock Bottom in River North to watch the end of Game 3 of the ALDS as the White Sox finished off their sweep of the Red Sox.  After the game, a group of us hopped on the Red Line and headed north to Wrigleyville to check out Tegan and Sara at the Metro.  To be honest, I don’t remember much about the show at all.  The album they were touring in support of, So Jealous, is one of my favorites and I’m sure I enjoyed the performance.  But, my favorite baseball team was headed for the ALCS, I’d just been to two playoff games, and the Weezer and Foo Fighters show was earlier that week.  It’s all sort of jumbled together at this point.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – Starting Pitchers Part 1

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the first eight selections for starting pitcher.

Pete Alexander spent parts of nine seasons with the Cubs, from 1918-1926.  He missed the majority of 1918 after being drafted into the Army and being deployed to France.  In 1920, he won the pitching triple crown, leading the NL in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.  That turned out to be his last dominant season, thanks to injuries sustained in World War I, though he continued to be an effective pitcher for the remainder of his Cubs career.  In 1938, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame with 80.9% of the vote.

Jake Arrieta was acquired by the Cubs in July of 2013, making seven starts for Iowa before being recalled to the rebuilding big league club.  He turned into an ace for the team in 2015, winning the NL Cy Young Award, and was a key contributor to their World Series championship in 2016.  He threw two no-hitters, one in 2015 against the Dodgers and the second in 2016 against the Reds.  After leaving as a free agent following the 2017 season, he re-signed with the Cubs in 2021, with disastrous results.  He set the team record for highest ERA for a pitcher in a season with at least 20 starts.  He followed up his final appearance before his mid-August release, where he gave up 8 hits and 7 runs in the first inning, with a post-game tirade where he berated a reporter for wearing a mask, which he was required to do by city regulation, during a Zoom press conference.

Mordecai Brown spent two tours with the Cubs in the early 20th century, from 1904-1912 and again in 1916.  Nicknamed “Three Finger” due to a farming accident in his youth which mangled his right hand, the disfigurement gave him an unusual grip on the baseball, which gave his pitches extra topspin.  During his Cubs career, he topped the 20-win plateau six times and helped the franchise to their first two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908.  His 2.06 career ERA is the third best amongst Hall of Famers and the best amongst pitchers with at least 200 wins.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1949.

Continue reading →

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Lie To Me

A little over two months since the death of Nicholas Brendon, another cast member of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has shuffled off this mortal coil.  Anthony Stewart Head died yesterday at the age of 72 due to complications from pneumonia, according to a statement released by his daughters.  His longtime partner, Sarah Fisher, passed away in December.

Head found international fame as Rupert Giles in the hit supernatural show in the late 1990s.  More recently, he had starred as Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character on Ted Lasso.  He first found fame in the UK in the 1980s as the face of a series of Nescafe commercials and was also known for his roles in Doctor Who, Merlin, and Little Britain.

Head is now the third main member of the Buffy cast to pass away, following Brendon in March and Michelle Trachtenberg last February.  He is survived by his two daughters.

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Book 29 (of 52) – Girl, Forgotten

Girl, Forgotten – Karin Slaughter

Andrea Oliver, fresh out of training to be a US Marshall, finds herself with an unusual assignment: protecting a federal judge while secretly investigating the 40-year-old death of the judge’s daughter, with her imprisoned father as the chief suspect.  With her new partner kept in the dark, Andrea tries to straddle the two tasks, but everyone and everything seems to conspire to bring the two together. Once she learns the truth about who is threatening the judge, the pieces of the other case fall into place.

In her follow-up to 2018’s Pieces of Her, Karin Slaughter picks back up the story of Andrea Oliver, now a newly minted US Marshall, in Girl, Forgotten.  It was interesting to revisit this character as she tries to find her place in the world following the events of the first book.  I’m not sure if there is more coming or if this was the end of the line, but Slaughter never disappoints and she’s sure to be back on my Kindle sooner rather than later.

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Historic Games Part Four

Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part four, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a pennant.

October 19, 2017 – Dodgers 11, Cubs 1

With a decisive Game 5 victory over the Cubs in the NLCS, the Dodgers win the NL Pennant, avenging their loss from the year prior.  Kiké Hernández became just the fourth Dodger to hit a post-season grand slam and Chris Taylor and Justin Turner were named co-MVPs for the NLCS.  It was the third straight year the NL champion was crowned at Wrigley Field.

June 18, 2019 – White Sox 3, Cubs 1

With a 1-2 pitch that caught Ivan Nova looking in the top of the third inning at Wrigley Field, Cole Hamels became just the tenth left-hander to notch 2500 career strikeouts and the 38th overall.  He finished the day with eight strikeouts over seven innings, getting a no-decision as the crosstown rivals proved victorious.

May 25, 2021 – White Sox 8, Cardinals 3

With a socially distanced crowd in attendance, Joe West worked the 5,376th regular-season game of his umpiring career, eclipsing Bill Klem’s record that stood for 80 years.  Working behind the plate, West’s feat became official after the top of the fifth inning with the White Sox out to an early lead and, following the fifth inning, he was greeted by the San Diego Chicken, who presented West with a bouquet of multi-colored roses.  West retired at the end of the year, ending his 43-year career with 5,460 games umpired.

August 16, 2021 – White Sox 5, A’s 2

In the top of the 8th inning with a full count, Craig Kimbrel enticed Matt Chapman to chase a slider that ended up three feet outside of the zone to record his 1,000th career strikeout.  He finished the night with 1,001 strikeouts, all coming in relief.

September 3, 2023 – Tigers 3, White Sox 2

In his 875th game, Tim Anderson led off against Tarik Skubal and the Tigers, lacing the first pitch into the gap in left center field for his 1000th career hit.  He became just the 1343rd player in MLB history to reach that milestone and was the fifth quickest in White Sox history, trailing Bibb Falk, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Jose Abreu.

June 3, 2026 – A’s 5, Cubs 4

In the fourth inning of last night’s game against the homeless Athletics, Ian Happ doubled for his 1000th career hit.  He is just the 37th player to have 1000 hits as a Cub and the 1415th player in MLB history to reach the plateau.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 19

Nearly two years ago, Google did away with the web interface for Fitbit, leaving the mobile app as the only way to access one’s data.  Last week, they revamped the app once again, doing away with the Fitbit name and rebranding it as Google Health, losing even more functionality along the way.  The new graphical representation of the weekly step totals looks a little ridiculous and, with the battery on my current device slowly failing, it may once again be time to revisit my step-counting solution going forward.

Another great week as I pushed my 30,000-step week streak to sixteen despite a lingering cold.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, as a visit to my sister’s house to celebrate Danny’s upcoming move left me with 4500 steps.  A Memorial Day trip to the ballpark on Monday pushed me up to 4900 steps.  A small decrease on Tuesday, ended just 17 steps away from 4900.  Wednesday was the best day of the week, thanks to a walk to Walgreens to pick up some cough medicine which left me 34 steps shy of 5900.  A busy day of work on Thursday dropped me back to 4400 steps.  Friday needed only 7 additional steps to reach 5000.  The week wrapped up on a high note on Saturday thanks to another visit to Rate Field, falling just 17 steps short of my daily goal of 7500.

Total steps: 37,061

Daily average: 5294.4

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Post Mortem – Poker Face

Peacock decided against a third season of Poker Face, the Columbo-like procedural from Rian Johnson.  Natasha Lyonne starred as Charlie, an accidental sleuth who has the uncanny ability to tell when anyone is lying to her.  An attempt to keep the show going at another streamer, with Peter Dinklage taking over the lead role, but, more than six months later, that thankfully does not seem to be happening.

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #9

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

Formed in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, this band released their first album in 1975 and have been rocking the world ever since, selling more than 200 million records worldwide.  At #9, we have the powerhouse group known as AC/DC.

#9: AC/DC
iTunes stats: 748 plays
Previous ranking: #10

The Australian hard rockers move up one slot from their previous ranking thanks to 20 songs, from seven different albums, which increased by 34%.  The most popular song, Thunderstruck, has a tremendous amount of plays due to the White Sox use of it when running out on to the field and its inclusion on my various victory playlists.  Another entry, Back In Black, has also made an appearance or two over the years, most recently thanks to former catcher James McCann’s use as his walkup song.

In 2015, I saw the band in concert in Toronto, at Downsview Park.  I’d be lying if I said that seeing AC/DC was at the top of my to-do list musically speaking.  In fact, they were playing Wrigley Field the following week, and I had passed on the chance to get tickets.  But, as a wise man once said, you only live once, and, seeing as this is potentially their last go-around, I guess you can say that I’m glad to have seen them.  After missing the opening act thanks to traffic, we got to the show just as AC/DC were starting.  The show itself was both good and bad.  The songs are what you expect, but there was no real flow, probably due to the band’s conditioning, or lack thereof.  After each song, the lights went down and there was a brief break before the next song would begin.  The net result of this was a disjointed experience, where each song stood on its own without there being any coherence in the set.  This ended up being their last tour with Brian Johnson before the unfortunate Axl Rose experiment, so I guess I’m glad I saw them when I did.