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Book 20 (of 52) – What Have We Done

What Have We Done – Alex Finlay

Twenty-five years after their shared childhood at Savior House, a stay-at-home mom with a particular set of skills, a washed-up rock star, and a reality TV producer with a gambling problem find themselves targeted.  When they survive the initial attack on their lives, they each independently find their way back to Savior House, where the ghosts of their past show their true intentions.

The latest from Alex Finlay, What Have We Done, leaves behind FBI Agent Keller and the slow burning mysteries of his first two works and instead delivers a fast-paced thriller.  While the ending felt a little rushed, it was a fun ride.  I’m looking forward to what comes next.

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A Roster Shakeup

After a disappointing (to put it mildly) April, the White Sox looked to shake things up in May, making eleven roster moves prior to yesterday’s game.  To put this into perspective, reassigning eleven players at one time during spring training would be highly irregular.  Making eleven roster moves on one day during the regular season is unheard of.  Twenty percent of the active roster changed!  In one day!

To start things off, Tim Anderson and Hanser Alberto were activated from the injured list.  Joining them from Triple A are pitchers Alexander (nee Alex) Colome and Sammy Peralta and outfielder Billy Hamilton.  To make room for these five, Joe Kelly was placed on the paternity list, Romy Gonzalez was placed on the injured list, Oscar Colas and Lenyn Sosa were demoted to Triple A, and Jake Diekman was designated for assignment.  In addition, Frank German was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Diekman was the big (and lone) acquisition the White Sox made at the trade deadline last year.  To say he has been a bust would be quite the understatement.  Since being acquired from the Red Sox, Diekman has posted a 7.04 ERA in 39 games.  In thirteen games in April, that ERA ballooned to 7.94.

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Fitbit IX – Week 14

Another bad week with more cold weather.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I finished with 2400 steps.  A slight rise on Monday put me over 3400 steps.  Tuesday saw a big fall, dropping down to 2200 steps.  Wednesday saw a small improvement, going up to 3200 steps.  Another big fall on Thursday gave me my lowest total of the week, with just 1700 steps.  A night at the old ballpark to see the White Sox lose their ninth straight led to my best day of the week on Friday, coming 29 steps away from 6100.  Saturday fell off once again, with just 2300 steps.

Total steps: 21,548

Daily average: 3078.3

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Book 19 (of 52) – A Hard Rain

A Hard Rain – Dean Wesley Smith

When the Enterprise finds itself stuck in the pull of a quadruple singularity, the have one shot to save themselves.  Unfortunately, the material they need has gotten lost in the Holodeck and only Dixon Hill can find it.  With a small team, Captain Picard, as Dixon Hill, works the case, trying to find his missing prize in time to save the people of the city by the bay, not to mention his ship.

With the final season of Star Trek: Picard on my mind, and Dean Wesley Smith’s A Hard Rain on sale in the Kindle store for $0.99, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the 24th century for the first time in nearly two years.  Unfortunately, there was nothing waiting for me but disappointment.  Smith spends his entire time in the Holodeck, with only log entries from Picard to provide updates on what’s actually happening on the Enterprise.  I see what he was going for, but it didn’t work for me.  I may need to take another long break, at least until I find another deal.

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Book 18 (of 52) – The Silent Wife

The Silent Wife – Karin Slaughter

The Silent Wife, the tenth entry in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series, is really a combination of this series and her previous Grant County series.  When a disabled inmate offers to trade information on the smuggling of cell phones into the prison in exchange for as investigation into rapes and murders, of which he was suspected, that have continued since he’s been in prison.  While Will and Faith look into the newer cases, Sara is forced to look to the past, when she worked the earlier crimes with her now-deceased husband.  Will they be able to find the truth before the ghosts from the past get in the way of Will and Sara’s relationship in the present?

It took me a little over four years to read through this series, although there is a new entry on tap for later this year.  While this was a good read and I enjoyed the story, Slaughter once again leans on the crutch of having the villain have some sort of personal connection to the primary players in the investigation.  At some point, you’d think they’d take a hard look in the mirror and ask some hard questions, like why is everyone we know a serial killer?

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Take Care Of Yourself And Each Other

Jerry Springer, the long-time host of the eponymous daytime talk show, died today at 79.  Prior to hosting the show that some claim contributed to a decline in American social values, Springer had served as the mayor of Cincinnati and a television news anchor.  Debuting in 1991 The Jerry Springer Show was based out of NBC Tower in Chicago from 1992-2009 and produced new episodes until 2018.

I made two visits to the audience of The Jerry Springer Show over the years, both while in college.  The first visit was early in the shows run, where it had already started to turn into the show it would eventually become, but there was still the occasional “serious” episode.  We managed to show up on the day of a serious episode.  No strippers, no cheating boyfriends, just parents looking for their missing children, either kidnapped or runaways.  To say it was a disappointment would be something of an understatement.  The second visit came a few years later and, while I don’t remember the exact topic, it was more along the lines of what you would expect.  My friend Mike even managed to ask a question, which probably got our mugs on TV.

After college, I didn’t see much of the show.  Part of that was having a job, but another was having outgrown the format.  Jerry himself always seemed to be above the fray, or at least liked to think he was.  He certainly left a mark on the history of American television.  Or is it a stain.

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Fitbit IX – Week 13

A return to cold weather helped kill my streak of 30,000 step weeks at one.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I finished a single step away from 3400.  Monday saw a precipitous decline, dropping down to 2500 steps.  Tuesday was just about even, finishing just nine steps worse.  An afternoon at the ballpark on Wednesday led to the best day of the week, just 13 steps shy of 5700.  Another big fall on Thursday put me at 3800 steps. Friday was just slightly worse, needing an additional 12 steps to reach 3800.  Saturday fell off once again, coming 2 steps shy of 3000.

Total steps: 24,767

Daily average: 3538.1

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Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 15

33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

Volume 15 takes us into through the summer of 1994 and into the fall and my junior year of college. The song selection is, again, mostly alternative with some west coast gangsta rap.

Side A

Frente! – Labour Of Love
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 1/31/2022

Originally recorded via Chicago’s new rock alternative, Q101, the hit from Marvin! The Album picked up seven additional listens.

Mazzy Star – Fade Into You
iTunes stats: 37 plays, most recently on 5/13/2022

Ranked at #19 by Pitchfork Media on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s, the mesmerizing tune from Hope Sandoval and company increased its play total by eight over the last four years.

Nirvana – Verse Chorus Verse
iTunes stats: 23 plays, most recently on 11/1/2019

Released as a hidden track on the AIDS-benefit compilation album No Alternative, the posthumous B-side from the trio from Seattle added five new listens despite going unheard since the COVID pandemic.

Warren G – This D.J.
iTunes stats: 14 plays, most recently on 10/29/2021

Peaking at #9 on the Billboard charts, the second single from the rapper’s debut album added four new listens over the last four years.

Cracker – Eurotrash Girl
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 9/2/2022

Six new listens for the hidden track, originally recorded off the radio via Q101.

Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song
iTunes stats: 33 plays, most recently on 10/26/2022

Named the 58th best hard rock song of all time by VH1, the latest hit from STP added eleven new listens over the past four years.

Gin Blossoms – Allison Road
iTunes stats: 22 plays, most recently on 7/6/2022

Peaking at #20 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the Gin Blossoms hit added just three new listens over these last four years.

Weezer – Undone (The Sweater Song)
iTunes stats: 33 plays, most recently on 11/11/2022

Nine new listens for the debut single from Weezer, which hit #6 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Side B

Continue reading →

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Book 17 – Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow

Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin

Sam Masur and Sadie Green have been best friends their entire lives, even when they have hated each other.  The one constant in their relationship is video games: playing them, creating them, and producing them.  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow covers thirty years of their lives, from childhood in California, to reconnecting in Boston and forming their gaming company, and, finally, moving the company back to California, where tragedy puts a giant wedge between them.

Gabrielle Zevin’s novel, which won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fiction and the Book of the Month Book of the Year Award, was already on my radar when I received a copy as a gift from Val.  Because of the way my brain works, I kept finding messages in the text that I assumed had something to do with our friendship.  I could certainly see some similarities between the Sam character and myself, especially the way we internalized everything and questioned whether our friends were truly our friends.  For my own well being, I’m going to assume there was no ulterior motives here and that this was just a book that she enjoyed and genuinely felt that I would as well.

As for Zevin, this was my first encounter with her work.  I’ll certainly have to look deeper into her back catalogue and see if there is anything else that tickles my fancy.  Based on this work, I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.