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Fitbit XI – Week 20

Another good week, as I managed to extend my streak of 30,000-step weeks to four.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday, garnering 5300 steps while cleaning up from the previous week’s garage sale.  Still more cleanup on Monday left me 35 steps shy of 5500.  Tuesday saw a small drop-off, finishing with 4500 steps.  Another big drop on Wednesday left me with just 3200 steps.  A trip to Naperville for a work lunch on Thursday propelled me back up to just 5 steps short of 4300.  A post-work trip to Rate Field led to my best day of the week, with 6700 steps.  A lazy Saturday wrapped up the week on a low note, falling a single step shy of 2900.

Total steps: 32,496

Daily average: 4642.3

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iTunes Top 200: #10

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 songs in my iTunes library, featuring he songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which older songs still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2025.

Today, we enter the top ten, where we will go more in depth into each song.  The tenth most listened to song in my library, with 137 plays since my stats began in late 2007, was featured on many of my White Sox playlists, celebrating their World Series Championship in 2005.

#10: Queen – We Are The Champions
iTunes stats: 137 plays, most recently on 9/15/2024
Previous ranking: #9

We Are the Champions was released in 1977, coming from the group’s sixth studio album News of the World.  Written with audience participation in mind and usually played back-to-back with its B-side, We Will Rock You, it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late 70s.  In 2005, it was voted as the world’s favorite song in a poll by Sony Ericsson.

Also in 2005, It made its way back into my world thanks to the White Sox winning their first World Series championship in 88 years.  For the next decade, the song was included in my victory playlist, bringing up the end following a collection of highlights from that championship season.  I hope to include it once again someday, but the fellows on the South Side do not seem to be as keen on making that happen.

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Post Mortem – The Sex Lives Of College Girls

Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, The Sex Lives of College Girls premiered on HBO Max in 2021.  Following the lives of four 18-year-old freshmen roommates at the fictional Essex College, the series starred Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Alyah Chanelle Scott, and Reneé Rapp.  Rapp, whose star rose higher than the others, left early in season three.  Following the release of the third season last November, the show was cancelled in March.

While Rapp seems to be focusing on music for the time being, the other three leads should find themselves finding new work relatively easily.  I look forward to seeing what comes next.

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Moving On… Slowly

The White Sox announced on Thursday that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and minority shareholder Justin Ishbia have reached a “long-term investment agreement that establishes a framework” for Ishbia to obtain a controlling interest in the franchise within the next ten years.  As part of the agreement, Ishbia will make “capital infusions” into the White Sox in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations.  Following that, Reinsdorf will have the option to sell controlling interest to Ishbia between 2029 and 2033 and, following the 2034 season, Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest.

Reinsdorf, who has had controlling interest in the White Sox since purchasing the team for $19 million from Bill Veeck in 1981, will be 93 at the start of the initial transition period in 2029.  He has long claimed that he has no interest in selling while he remains in good health but would be 97 by the time Ishiba controls the option to buy.  Ishiba, a billionaire private equity investor, increased his stake in the Whtie Sox this spring to a reported 35%.  In a statement, Ishbia said, “I love Chicago, have always loved baseball, and am thrilled to marry two of my passions.”

Overall, this should be a good thing for the White Sox and their fans.  While Reinsdorf has had one of, if not the winningest ownership tenure in franchise history, he has also managed to successfully alienate most of the fan base, starting with his threats to move the team to Florida in the 1980s, followed by his appearance as one of the largest contributors to the work stoppages that wiped out the end of the 1994 season and the start of the 1995 season and, most recently, overseeing the team’s fall to setting the MLB record for most losses last year.  It is time to turn the page, and waiting for 2029, 2034, and/or Reinsdorf’s death is the price we have to pay for being White Sox fans.

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Chicago White Sox Baseball Is On The Air

Over a year ago, the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks announced that they were partnering with Standard Media Group to create the new television broadcast home for all three teams, which eventually became Chicago Sports Network (CHSN for short).  Starting in October, the network went live missing one small little thing: a carriage agreement with Comcast, the largest cable provider in Chicago.

Ratings for the Blackhawks this past season, their first on the new network, were down 78% from the previous year on NBC Sports Chicago.  The Bulls were looking at a 63% decrease as of February.  The White Sox, coming off a season where they set the MLB record for losses in a year, were not exactly worth the $29.99 the network was charging for streaming.

Well, that all changes today.  Word broke yesterday that the fledgling network had finally reached agreement with Comcast to be added to their channel line-up.  They are expected to be placed on the Ultimate tier plan, which will add $20 to your cable bill if you are not already subscribed.  The Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network is expected to be moved to the same tier following this season.  With live sports seemingly one of the few reasons to keep cable, it seems that providers are looking to soak their customers for as much as they can before everything moves to streaming.

 

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Book 28 (of 52) – The Identicals

The Identicals – Elin Hilderbrand

Although they are identical twins, Harper and Tabitha Frost live completely separate, though parallel, lives.  Harper, never married, lives on Marth’s Vineyard with her father, while Tabitha, also never married but a mother of a teenage daughter, lives on Nantucket with her mother.  When their father dies and their mother breaks her hip returning home from the service, they find themselves on the other’s island: Harper on Nantucket taking care of her niece and running the family business and Tabitha on the Vineyard, rehabbing their father’s house to sell.  Can they get past fourteen years of heartache, bad feelings and resentments to become family once again?

The Identicals, a 2017 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for fiction by Elin Hilderbrand, returns us to the luxurious vacation islands off the coast of Massachusetts for another intriguing beach read.  The split between the sisters is a little far-fetched, but it is still an interesting tale.  The Parent Trap-esque switch between the two islands allows each sister to slough off what everyone expects of them and rediscover who they actually are, or want to be.  The reconciliation at the end came on kind of quick, but, other than that, I can’t complain.  I look forward to continuing my dive into Hilderbrand’s caralog.

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Post Mortem – After Midnight

@fter Midnight, the revamped version of the old Comedy Central show @midnight which has spent two seasons following Stephen Colbert on CBS, will be wrapping up its run after host Taylor Tomlinson announced she would be leaving the program.  CBS had previously renewed the show for a third season but decided to pull the plug rather than try and start over with a new host.  There will be no replacement program, and CBS will return this timeslot to its affiliates.

Tomlinson, who has been touring with her latest stand-up show while hosting the show during this second season, will be returning to stand-up full time, saying in an Instagram post, “Though it was an extremely tough decision, I knew I had to return to my first passion and return to stand-up touring full-time.”

I was unaware of Tomlinson prior to the show, but, having been a fan of the previous incarnation, I was excited to see the show come back.  Over the past two years, I’ve become a fan and saw her standup live at the Chicago Theatre this past February.  I look forward to more good comedy in the years to come.

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Fitbit XI – Week 19

A great week, as I posted my highest total since my trip to Amsterdam last summer and my highest total in the US in over a year, since Angelina’s graduation last May.   The week got off to a good start on Sunday, garnering 5600 steps while preparing for a garage sale the following weekend.  A trip to Wrigley Field, where I got to hold the big giant flag on the field for Memorial Day, helped Monday finish well over my daily goal, coming 27 steps shy of 8400.  Tuesday saw a big drop-off, finishing with 3900 steps.  More garage sale prep on Wednesday left me a single step away from 5400.  Thursday was the first day of the garage sale, which I visited while working, racking up 4700 steps.  Things were slower on Friday, which dropped my back down to 3900 steps.  The final day of the garage sale, plus a trip to the Museum of Science & Industry to see a new Spider-Man exhibit, wrapped up the week on a high note, falling just 23 steps shy of 7300.

Total steps: 39,229

Daily average: 5604.1

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iTunes Top 200: #11 – 19

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 songs in my iTunes library, featuring he songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which older songs still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2025.

With the top of the charts in sight, we continue this week with songs ranking from 19th place with 65 plays, breaking past the century mark, and finishing with the one track with 114 plays, good enough for 11th place since my stats began in late 2007.

#19: Metallica – Harvester of Sorrow
iTunes stats: 65 plays, most recently on 11/5/2024
Previous ranking: #19

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 and thus featured on most of my victory playlists leading up to his retirement.

#19: The Lonely Island – Natalie’s Rap (ft. Natalie Portman & Chris Parnell)
iTunes stats: 65 plays, most recently on 11/1/2022
Previous ranking: #17

A slight drop for the second digital short from The Lonely Island, which featured Natalie Portman playing against type as a lewd gangsta.

#18: Foo Fighters – My Hero
iTunes stats: 67 plays, most recently on 9/30/2024
Previous ranking: #19

The highest-ranking tune from the Foo Fighters, up one spot from five years ago, is this live version from their previously mentioned concert in London’s Hyde Park.

#16: P.O.D. – Boom
iTunes stats: 94 plays, most recently on 9/25/2022
Previous ranking: #12

The entrance song for former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, it made a number of appearances on my early victory playlists.

#16: Blues Brothers – Sweet Home Chicago
iTunes stats: 94 plays, most recently on 9/15/2024
Previous ranking: #170

Getting added to my White Sox victory playlist helped make this classic jump up the chart. Continue reading →