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Book 7 (of 52) – The House Of Secrets

The House of Secrets – Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg

Brad Meltzer is back, along with new co-writer Tod Goldberg, for this mystery about the children on a television host who was secretly working for the government.  When he dies in a car accident, his daughter tries to piece together her, and his, past.

Meltzer, along with Goldberg, takes a break from his Culper Ring series with this work, though star Beecher White makes a brief appearance.  Together, they spin a tale of intrigue that feels like Meltzer’s work.  I look forward to further collaborations between these two, should they choose to work together again.

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Fitbit III: Week 4

A tremendous week, as continued unseasonably warm weather, including new record highs for Chicago in the month of February, led to my highest weekly total since last June.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday, where grocery shopping and a walk around the neighborhood combined to put me over 10,000 steps for just the fourth time in the month of February.  Monday surpassed 8700 steps, thanks to an afternoon meeting in Willow that the weather allowed me to walk over for.  Despite some morning rain, Tuesday again surpassed the 10,000 step plateau, thanks to an after work neighborhood walk.  Wednesday finished above 8000 steps, and was the last day of good weather.  Thursday benefited from an after-work dinner outing to come close to 7000 steps.  Friday was spent in Rockford, watching Angelina compete at Nationals.  Multiple trips around the BMO Harris Bank Center enabled me to just pass my daily step goal.  Saturday I managed to surpass 6500 steps for the 28th straight day, despite not leaving the house at all.

Total steps: 58,336

Daily average: 8333.7

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Book 6 (of 52) – Silent Weapons

Silent Weapons – David Mack

Silent Weapons, the middle installment of the Cold Equations trilogy, returns us to the 24th century where Data, continuing his search for Emil Vaslovik, finds himself accused of crimes on Orion, where the president of the Federation is holding secret negotiations with the Gorn.  After reaching out to his friends on the Enterprise for help, Data joins his former shipmates in trying to get to the bottom of the attacks against the Federation delegation on Orion while discovering the true motives behind the Gorn’s attempts at peace.

Picking up a few months after The Persistence of Memory, Mack takes some of the dangling threads from the earlier work to form the threat in this work.  At the end, Data is once again separated from the Enterprise, on his own trying to track down a mystery important to his father.  Which, I assume, is the main thrust of the final part of the trilogy.  I hope that one pulls me in a little easier than this one did.

 

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #129-139

3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 artists in my iTunes library.  Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact.  So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 artists, based on number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2017.

We continue today with a wide variety of musical styles, including a couple of returning artists and a few sports-related entries.

#139: Chance the Rapper
iTunes stats: 33 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The Chicago native makes is with 2 “tracks” that are outtakes from his intro video for the 2016 White Sox.

#139: Billy Idol
iTunes stats: 33 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

3 tracks from Billy Idol combine to make up this total.

#129: Warren G
iTunes stats: 34 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The stepbrother of Dr. Dre combines the total from 3 tracks off his debut album to make this spot on the chart.

#129: UB40
iTunes stats: 34 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The British reggae band make the list based on their total listens from 4 different tracks.

#129: Tommy James & The Shondells
iTunes stats: 34 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

4 tracks, 3 of which were just purchased last year, make up the total for the 60s stalwart.

#129: The Breeders
iTunes stats: 34 plays
Previous ranking: #84

Our second returning artist, the group added a miniscule 6 new listens over the past 3 years, causing them to drop 35 spots in the rankings.

#129: Republica
Continue reading →

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Team Stats: Doubles

With 2 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the offensive side of the ball with doubles.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and the Anaheim version of the Angels are the only teams with 2 doubles or more per game.  The Miami iteration of the Marlins are at the bottom, with 1 double every other game, followed by the California incarnation of the Angels, who went double-less.

Doubles
Team Name Doubles
Chicago White Sox 770
Chicago Cubs 671
Kansas City Royals 81
Houston Astros 78
Minnesota Twins 76
Detroit Tigers 75
Cleveland Indians 69
Milwaukee Brewers 67
Pittsburgh Pirates 64
Texas Rangers Continue reading →
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#39 – James Baldwin

Name: James Baldwin

Rank: 39

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1995-2001

James Baldwin was selected by the White Sox in the 4th round of the 1990 draft.  He made his major league debut on April 30, 1995, getting the start and lasting only 3 2/3 innings in the White Sox 17-11 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.  Sadly, the rest of his year went about as well.  He appeared in only 6 games for the White Sox, starting 4, and finished with an 0-1 record and a 12.89 ERA.  His time in Triple A didn’t go much better, as he posted a 5.85 ERA in 18 starts.

1996 was a drastic improvement for Baldwin, as he took his place in the White Sox rotation.  He started 28 games, going 11-6 with a 4.42 ERA.  He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, behind Derek Jeter.

Baldwin struggled in 1997, starting 32 games and leading the American League in losses and wild pitches.  Despite the struggles, he set career highs with 200 innings pitched and 140 strike outs.  He ended the year with a 12-15 record and a 5.27 ERA.

1998 was arguably worse for Baldwin.  Despite finishing the year with a winning record, at 13-6, his ERA went up to 5.32 and he threw 41 fewer innings.  Because of the ongoing struggles, he lost his spot in the rotation and made 13 appearances out of the bullpen.

Baldwin was slightly better in 1999.  He lowered his ERA slightly to 5.10 and increased his innings pitched by 40 1/3.  He finished the year with a 12-13 record.

Baldwin seemed to turn a corner in 2000.  He earned his first All Star nod thanks to a 10-1 record with a 3.11 ERA while leading the White Sox to the top of the AL Central.  He struggled in the second half, finishing the year with a career high 14 wins, against only 7 losses, while he lowered his ERA to 4.65.  He started game 3 of the ALDS against the Mariners, giving up only 1 run in 6 innings before giving way to the bullpen as the White Sox were swept out of the playoffs.

In 2001, Baldwin continued at the same pace.  He was sitting at 7-5 with a 4.61 ERA as the trade deadline approached, when, on July 26, he was shipped off to the Dodgers for Jeff Barry, Gary Majewski, and Onan Masaoka.

Baldwin’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

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And The Academy Award Goes To…

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for Sunday’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions, which are based on not having seen any of the nominated films, with a look at the acting categories and the big one:

Best Picture

Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By The Sea
Moonlight

Not having seen any of these films, my guess is that the love letter to Hollywood that is La La Land will lead it to glory.

Best Actor

Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

While La La Land figures to be the night’s big winner, I’m guessing Denzel Washington pulls out the upset here.

Best Actress

Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

With nothing really to base it on, I’m going back to the La La Land well to give the statue to Emma Stone.

Continue reading →

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Fitbit III: Week 3

Another good week, as my streak of days above goal hits 21 days and I put up my highest weekly total since the middle of November.  The week got off to a surprisingly decent start, with Sunday’s total surpassing my daily step goal by 45 steps, despite pulling an all-nighter due to the release of the Email Redesign project and my crashing around 4 PM.  The work week started with alternating successes, with Monday and Wednesday hovering just above 6500 steps and Tuesday and Thursday just under 8500.  Spring-like temperatures arrived on Friday, leading to over 7000 steps followed by nearly 8000 steps on Saturday.

Total steps: 51,466

Daily average: 7352.3

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All Time Batting Leaders – Through 2016

baseballs2Last week, we took our annual look at the all time leaders in pitching stats for the 833 games I’ve attended (and identified) between 1984 and 2016. With the full White Sox roster reporting to camp on Saturday, it’s time to move over to the other side of the ball and take a look at the offensive stat leaders for those games, starting with our first category:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 93
Sammy Sosa 42
Aramis Ramirez 41
Derrek Lee 40
Jermaine Dye 40

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 366
Alexei Ramirez 300
Derrek Lee 255
AJ Pierzynski 239
Aramis Ramirez 234

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 200
Derrek Lee 140
Alexei Ramirez 134
Aramis Ramirez 120
A.J. Pierzynski 106

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 235
Aramis Ramirez 158
Alexei Ramirez 140
Derrek Lee 134
Jermaine Dye 108

Doubles Continue reading →