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Oops, I DFA’d It Again

For the second time in as many days, and the third time this season, the White Sox said goodbye to an underachieving veteran, designating Jimmy Rollins for assignment.  The move allowed the team to recall Tim Anderson, the crown jewel of their farm system and expected to be the shortstop of the future.  Rollins, the 37 year old former National League MVP, hit just .221 with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs in 41 games this year.  Anderson, meanwhile, was hitting .304 in Triple A, with 4 home runs and 20 RBIs.

The move follows yesterday’s release of Mat Latos and the dumping of John Danks in early May.

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See You Latos

latosFor the second time this season, the White Sox, in the midst of losing 20 out of their past 26 games, have cut ties with a pitcher that was part of their opening day starting rotation, designating Mat Latos for assignment yesterday.  Latos won his first 4 starts of the season with a sterling 0.74 ERA, but, like the rest of the White Sox, quickly fell apart.  In his last 7 starts, his ERA was 7.25, the same as John Danks when he was set loose earlier this year.

In another move, the White Sox signed former Twins star Justin Morneau, who is recovering from off-season elbow surgery.  Morneau is expected to be ready to play in July.

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Book 14 (of 52) – Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire - J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire – J.K. Rowling

The fourth installment of the Harry Potter series sees our heroes return to Hogwarts for their fourth year of schooling, with the wizarding world aflutter with the return of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, held for the first time in hundreds of years.  When Harry finds himself chosen as school champion, despite not having entered, he must figure out who is trying to kill him, while surviving the three challenges of the tournament.

The stakes kick up a bit in this entry, as the villain of the series, Lord Voldemort, makes his first real appearance.  I did manage to read most of this book either on the way to or at Universal Studios, home of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.  That certainly boosted my enjoyment somewhat.  Now that I’m more than half way through this reading experiment, I’m glad the end is in sight.

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FB2: Week 18

FB2_Week18A tremendous week, finishing with my second highest total in the Fitbit era, behind only my week in Toronto last fall.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I failed to crack 4000 steps.  It picked up a bit on Monday, which was a day off work thanks to Memorial Day.  Tuesday was my sole work day of the week, which was decent enough.  Things kicked into high gear on Wednesday, when I headed back down to Florida for Danny’s graduation trip to Universal Studios.  The remainder of the week all finished above 10,000 steps, with Friday being the low day with “only” 12,213 steps.

Total steps: 83,912

Daily average: 11,987.4

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Post Mortem – Togetherness

togethernessHBO announced in March that Togetherness, the comedy created by Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass and Steve Zissis, would conclude with the then-airing second season.  Starring alongside Mark Duplass and Zissis were Melanie Lynskey and Amanda Peet as the show dealt with the loves and losses of a group of 40-somethings trying to find their place in the world.

While the show was a critical hit, it apparently did not hit the numbers HBO required to keep it going.  The final episode aired in April and put the two couples back together.  I can’t say that I’ll particularly miss the show, though I did mostly enjoy it.

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iTunes Top 200: #11 – 20

itunes_image3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs 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 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.

We near the end today, as we breach the top 20, which is nearly identical to when we first looked at the top 100 3 years ago.  9 of the 10 songs are the same, with the only difference being one that dropped out of the top 10.  My White Sox victory playlists and school pride make up the majority of this entry.

#20: The Lonely Island – Lazy Sunday (ft. Chris Parnell)
iTunes stats: 42 plays, most recently on 6/18/2014
Previous ranking: #17

The original SNL digital short put the Lonely Island on the pop culture map and defined the phrase “viral video”.

#19: The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer – The Mustard
iTunes stats: 45 plays, most recently on 6/7/2015
Previous ranking: #19

A short ditty from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer about the joys of dry cleaning.

#17: Purdue “All-American” Marching Band – Hail Purdue
iTunes stats: 49 plays, most recently on 12/18/2015
Previous ranking: #20

A more recent version of the Purdue fight song, including the now standard refrain of “Boiler Up!”

#17: Purdue “All-American” Marching Band – Hail, Purdue!
iTunes stats: 49 plays, most recently on 11/7/2015
Previous ranking: #18

An older version of the Purdue fight song, used during my time at the school.

#15: Metallica – Harvester Of Sorrow
iTunes stats: 53 plays, most recently on 7/4/2015
Previous ranking: #15

Released as the first single from the band’s fourth studio album, it was used as the at-bat music for former White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko for the majority of his career.

#15: The Lonely Island – Natalie’s Rap (ft. Natalie Portman & Chris Parnell)
iTunes stats: 53 plays, most recently on 1/22/2015
Previous ranking: #14

The second digital short from The Lonely Island featured Natalie Portman playing against type as a lewd gangsta.

#14: Nancy Faust – Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Continue reading →

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Post Mortem – Falling Skies

FALLING SKIESFalling Skies, TNT’s science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth meant as an allegory for the Revolutionary War, concluded last summer after 5 seasons.  Starring Noah Wylie as a history professor who becomes second-in-command for the 2nd Massachusetts militia, the show followed his family as they fought back against the aliens that attacked the Earth, eventually becoming allies with a second group of aliens to fight back against the first.

The show ended with the humans eventually winning out over their new alien overlords, but had turned into a mess of plots and characters that made it nearly impossible to follow.  Wylie has been a favorite dating back to his ER days and was part of what initially drew me in, but he deserved better than this.

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#87 – Carl Everett

everett-wsName: Carl Everett

Rank: 87

Position: DH/CF

Years With White Sox: 2003, 2004-2005

Carl Everett was acquired by the White Sox on July 1, 2003 from the Rangers for Frank Francisco, Josh Rupe, and Anthony Webster.  Two weeks later, he appeared in the All Star Game at his new home stadium, going 0-1 as one of 3 White Sox representatives.  Everett continued his all star ways in the second half, hitting .301 with 10 home runs after the trade, but the White Sox faded down the stretch and finished the year in second place.

After signing with the Expos as a free agent for the 2004 season, Everett was reacquired by the White Sox on July 18, two weeks after Frank Thomas went down with a broken left foot, for Gary Majewski and Jon Rauch.  In more limited playing time, Everett hit .266 with only 5 home runs and the White Sox again finished in second place.

With Thomas still recovering from his foot injury, Everett went into 2005 as the primary designated hitter.  He appeared in 135 games, hitting .251 with 23 home runs and 87 RBI.  Everett added 12 hits during the post-season as the White Sox won their first World Series title since 1917.  Following the season, Everett again left as a free agent.

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

Continue reading →

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Post Mortem – Under The Dome

Under_the_Dome_TVAfter 3 seasons, CBS pulled the plug on Under The Dome, their summer series based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.  Initially planned as a limited series, the ratings for the show were good enough to leave the first season open ended and to bring the show back for a longer run.  Unfortunately, the plots became more ridiculous as the show needed to find ways to keep everyone inside the dome while adding new characters who seemingly could get inside with little to no effort.  Ratings dropped for each subsequent season and, prior to the 3rd season wrapping up, it was announced that the show would not be returning for a 4th.