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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #139-150

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 having completed 1/4 of the top 200, with our first returning artist who has suffered a large fall down the list.

#150: P.M. Dawn
iTunes stats: 31 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The trip-hop duo makes the list thanks to contributions from 3 of their hit singles.

#145: The Presidents of the United States of America
iTunes stats: 32 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The debut album from the band contributes their 3 songs that make up their total.

#145: LL Cool J
iTunes stats: 32 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

3 tracks from the New York rapper cum Hollywood icon make up his total.

#145: Led Zeppelin
iTunes stats: 32 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The quintessential rock band of the 1970s make the chart based on the total from 3 songs.

#145: Ice Cube
iTunes stats: 32 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The gangsta rap maestro uses 2 solo tracks to make up this total.

#145: Cher
iTunes stats: 32 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

Only 2 tracks, including a duet (triet?)with Beavis and Butt-head, place Cher on the chart.

#139: The White Stripes
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Team Stats: Bases On Balls

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 defensive side of the ball with bases on balls surrendered.

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, 4 teams are averaging 4 or more walks per game, with the California incarnation of the Angels leading the pack with 5.  The Cubs find themselves, unfortunately, in the top 10 at 3.42 walks per game, while the White Sox are in the bottom half (or top half, depending on your point of view) with 3.19 walks per game.  The Anaheim version of the Angels and the Miami version of the Marlins bring up the rear as the only teams with less than 2 walks per game, at 1.5 a piece.

Walks
Team Name Walks
Chicago White Sox 1610
Chicago Cubs 1308
Cleveland Indians 156
Kansas City Royals 151
Cincinnati Reds 133
Pittsburgh Pirates 128
Milwaukee Brewers 125
Seattle Mariners 120
Detroit Tigers 116
Minnesota Twins Continue reading →
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#40 – Scott Radinsky

Name: Scott Radinsky

Rank: 40

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1990-1995

Scott Radinsky was selected by the White Sox in 3rd round of the 1986 draft.  He made his major league debut on April 9, 1990, retiring the only batter he faced in a 2-1 victory over the Brewers at Comiskey Park.  He earned his first major league victory the following day.  With the surprising White Sox competing for a divisional title, Radinsky was a key component of the bullpen, going 6-1 with 4 saves in 62 appearances.  His performance enabled him to finish 9th in Rookie of the Year voting.

Radinsky improved in 1991, lowering his ERA by nearly 3 runs, to 2.02.  He finished the year 5-5 with 8 saves in 67 appearances.  1992 was more of the same, with a 2.73 ERA in 68 games.  He went 3-7 with 15 saves.

1993 saw Radinsky fall off somewhat, with his ERA jumping up to 4.28 despite earning an 8-2 record.  Despite the higher ERA, he set a career high to date for appearances and contributed to the White Sox earning their first division title in a decade.  He appeared in 4 of the 6 games in the ALCS against the Blue Jays, giving up 4 runs, 2 earned, in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Radinsky missed the entire 1994 season while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Disease.  “Oh, it sucks to have a doctor tell you that you have cancer, but in the same breath, he told me that with aggressive treatment they can treat this particular disease,” he said.  He returned in 1995, appearing in only 46 games and with a ballooning ERA of 5.45.  Following the season, he became a free agent.

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

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Predicting Those Non-Acting Oscars

side_oscarThe 89th Academy Awards are going down next Sunday night, so here’s my uneducated predictions for the non-acting awards. I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth rather than personal experience.

Best Original Screenplay

Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, The Lobster
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea
Mike Mills, 20th Century Women

I haven’t seen any of these films yet, but I do know that there is nothing Hollywood likes more than a love letter to Hollywood, which is pretty much what I’ve been led to believe La La Land is.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Heisserer, Arrival
August Wilson, Fences
Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures
Luke Davies, Lion
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight

Another category where I have not seen any of the nominated work. I’m guessing, based on very little, that Moonlight will win this one.

Best Animated Feature

Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life As A Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

I’ve only heard of two of these, neither of which I can see taking home an Oscar.  So, I’m going out on a ledge here and going with The Red Turtle.

Best Cinematography

Bradford Young, Arrival
Linus Sandgren, La La Land
Greig Fraser, Lion
James Laxton, Moonlight
Rodrigo Prieto, Silence

Well, again I’ve seen none of these, so I will once again go with La La Land, though Arrival may be a strong contender.

Best Costume Design

Joanna Johnston, Allied
Colleen Atwood, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Consolata Boyle, Florence Foster Jenkins
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
Mary Zophres, La La Land

Another category where I’m at a loss, so I’ll stick with my theme so far and go with Mary Zophres for her work on La La Land.

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Book 5 (of 52) – The Phoenix Project

The Phoenix Project – Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, & George Spafford

When Bill Palmer is unexpectedly promoted to vice president of IT Operations at Parts Unlimited, he inherits an organization that is underperforming and in danger of being outsourced.  With the help of an enigmatic potential board member, Bill starts to see a new way to run his organization, using agile and DevOps to save the day.

2011 was the last time I read a “business” book, but my senior manager kept harping on this one and, during an agile training session, I broke down and ordered the book.  Written as a novel, the book details how implementing these strategies improve performance and help make IT an integral part of any enterprise.  It paints a rosy picture, while ignoring any difficulties that may be experienced while switching to these new paradigms.

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Fitbit III: Week 2

Another week where every day managed to surpass my daily step goal, hitting my longest streak since July, when I managed 36 days in a row.  Things got off to a decent start on Sunday, when I took an ill-advised walk around the neighborhood despite the cold temperatures.  The work week ranged from just barely surpassing my goal on Thursday to nearly hitting 8000 steps on Tuesday.  The best day of the week was Saturday, where the weather was better for another outdoors walk, followed by a long night to deploy the project I’ve been working on for over a year.

Total steps: 50,749

Daily average: 7249.9

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All Time Pitching Leaders – Through 2016

baseballs3White Sox pitchers and catchers hold their first spring workout today, so it is time for our annual look at the pitching leaders in the now 833 games I’ve attended, and identified, between 1984 and 2016. Not a whole lot of difference from last year, but a few categories have seen new faces join the leader board.  So, without further ado, let’s get things started with our first category, the always popular:

Wins

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 31
Gavin Floyd 24
Carlos Zambrano 21
Chris Sale 20
John Danks 19

Losses

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 17
John Danks 16
Carlos Zambrano 15
Gavin Floyd 15
Jon Garland 14

ERA (>= 35 IP)

Name Total
Nate Jones 2.08
DJ Carrasco 2.20
Matt Thornton Continue reading →
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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #150-159

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.

Today, we continue our journey with the last group of artists that make up the bottom 50 on our list.

#159: Divinyls
iTunes stats: 29 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The Australian band touched themselves all the way up to tie for this spot on the chart.

#159: Bree Sharp
iTunes stats: 29 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

2 tracks from the singer’s debut album combine to place her on the chart.

#152: Violent Femmes
iTunes stats: 30 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The debut album from the Wisconsin band contributes 4 songs that make up their total.

#152: Robin Sparkles
iTunes stats: 30 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The alter ego of Cobie Smulders character from How I Met Your Mother combines her 2 Canadian pop hits to make up this total.

#152: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
iTunes stats: 30 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The punk rock supergroup, who only do covers, use 4 tracks to combine for their total.

#152: Lenny Kravitz
iTunes stats: 30 plays
Previous ranking: N/A

The son of TV’s Roxie Roker makes the list thanks to 4 tracks.

#152: Kanye West
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Team Stats: Triples

With 3 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 triples.

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 Brewers lead the way with a little more than 1 triple per every 4 games.  The Anaheim and California iterations of the Angels, the Miami version of the Marlins, and the Expos bring up the rear without a triple between them.

Triples
Team Name Triples
Chicago White Sox 69
Chicago Cubs 67
Cleveland Indians 11
Milwaukee Brewers 10
Detroit Tigers 9
Minnesota Twins 8
Baltimore Orioles 7
Houston Astros 7
Pittsburgh Pirates 6
Seattle Mariners Continue reading →
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#41 – Craig Grebeck

Name: Craig Grebeck

Rank: 41

Position: SS/2B

Years With White Sox: 1990-1995

Craig Grebeck joined the White Sox as an undrafted amateur free agent On August 13, 1986.  He made his major league debut on April 13, 1990, pinch hitting for Scott Fletcher in the White Sox 6-2 loss to the Indians at Comiskey Park.  Splitting time between Triple A and the big leagues, Grebeck appeared in 59 games for the White Sox, hitting an anemic .168 in 119 at bats while playing as the smallest man in the American League.  He hit his first major league home run off Nolan Ryan on August 10.

Grebeck improved in 1991, as the White Sox moved across the street to their new digs.  Appearing in a career high 107 games, he hit .281 with a career high 6 home runs.

A severe knee injury that ended Ozzie Guillen’s season in late April saw Grebeck get significant time in the starting lineup in 1992.  While his total appearances dropped to 88 games, he started 85 of them, garnering more at bats and hitting .268 with the increased playing time.

With Guillen back and Joey Cora entrenching himself at second base, Grebeck was moved back to the bench in 1993.  His average dropped to .226 while making appearances in 72 games.  He had one at bat in the ALCS against the Blue Jays, singling in the Game 2 loss as a pinch hitter.

Grebeck bounced back in 1994, hitting .309 in only 35 games before the strike ended the season on August 12.  When baseball returned in 1995, Grebeck appeared in 53 games for the White Sox, hitting .260.  Following the season, he became a free agent.

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

Continue reading →