May, but, sadly, not full time spring, is finally upon us. This month’s picture is young Mr. Danny playing the field for his little league team last year.
Author / admin
GlobalFit III: Week 42
Starting the week, I am a mere 61,237 steps away from 5,000,000, which averages out to a little less than 8750 steps per day. Will I make it? Let’s take a look.
So that is a resounding no. The only day that came close to that average was Tuesday, which clocked in at 7400 steps. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday were the only other days to break the 5000 step plateau. The return of baseball means that the weekends were much improved over the last 6 months or so. Unless I happen to break a leg or something, I’m assured of breaking past the 5 million step plateau next week. Better late than never.
Total steps: 37,328
Weekly average: 5332.6
Concert Flashback: Star Wars In Concert
In 2009, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra went on tour performing the music from John Williams’ Star Wars scores, featuring edited footage from all 6 films and narration from Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO. Given the early December date of the Chicago performance, I planned on getting Danny tickets for his birthday. In a twist of fate, there were plans afoot to get me tickets for my birthday as well. So, we got a set of 4 and split them up, 2 for me and 2 for Danny.
As the date of the approached, an interesting conundrum popped up. I was offered a trip to Belfast for work, but would need to leave the day before the show, on December 5th. Initially, I turned down the trip, but was eventually able to finagle my way into a Sunday afternoon flight, which meant heading straight to O’Hare from the United Center and arriving in Belfast Monday morning, heading straight to the office.
The concert itself was a faithful recreation of the score from the favorite films of my childhood (plus the later 3 abortions). The mixture of the film clips worked well given they were the original source of the music, and Anthony Daniels led the proceedings with the familiar voice we had all come to know and love. This was my first, and so far only, concert at the UC. It doesn’t seem to be the best venue for it, but it got the job done.
It turns out that George Lucas himself was at this show, only the second time he had seen it in person and the first time in this country.
Ballpark Tour: Dodger Stadium
Stadium Name: Dodger Stadium
Location: Los Angeles
Home Team: Dodgers
Years in Service: 1962 – Present
Visits: 1
Following the 1957 season, the Dodgers fled Brooklyn and headed west to California, landing in Los Angeles. The team played in the LA Coliseum while they built a new stadium at Chavez Ravine. In 1962, 3 years after breaking ground, Dodger Stadium opened as the Reds topped the Dodgers in the season opener.
The following year, the Dodgers won their first World Series in their new home. Between 1962 and 1965, Sandy Koufax threw three no hitters at the stadium, including a perfect game against the Cubs. Four home runs have been hit out of Dodger Stadium, two of which were hit by Pirate great Willie Stargell.
Dodger Stadium is currently the third oldest park still in use, behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Two weeks ago, I made my first visit to the stadium to see the second home game of the 2014 slate, with the Dodgers taking on their long time rival Giants. Thanks to traffic, I didn’t get to my seat until the 4th inning, by which point the Giants had secured a substantial lead. I sprung for decent seats, which put me down on the lower level. One odd thing about those lower sections were the aisles, which are so narrow that people could only go in one direction at a time. I did also manage to score a fabled Dodger Dog, or at least the all beef version of it. I hope to make it back some day for a repeat performance.
#233 – Scott Eyre
Name: Scott Eyre
Rank: 233
Position: P
Years With White Sox: 1997-2000
Scott Eyre joined the White Sox organization in a 1994 trade that sent Esteban Beltre to the Rangers. He made his way to the major leagues on August 1, 1997, lasting 4 1/3 innings in a losing start against the Angels. He would start 10 more games over the final two months of the season, finishing with a 4-4 record but with a 5.04 ERA.
Eyre split the 1998 season between the rotation and the bullpen. His record dropped to 3-8 and his ERA rose to 5.38. His struggles continued in 1999, where he started for Triple A Charlotte but worked exclusively in relief for the big league club. His ERA ballooned up to 7.56, giving up 21 runs in his 21 games.
In 2000, he stuck to the bullpen, both in Triple A and, for the most part, for the White Sox. He did manage to lower his ERA down to 6.63, but it wasn’t enough to make the playoff roster for the Central Division champions.
Following the season, Eyre was traded to the Blue Jays for fellow pitcher Gary Glover.
Eyre’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →
Vacation Recap: Los Angeles
We left off yesterday with me in a rental car leaving San Diego behind and heading towards the city of Angels. The plan was to stop at Dodger Stadium on the way to my hotel and take in an afternoon matchup between the Dodgers and the Giants. I’d given myself 3 hours to make the 2 hour drive so I would have time to get to the stadium and acclimate myself before the game started. Trip Issue #3! Things were smooth sailing until I got closer to LA, when traffic started to swell. All told, the 2 hour drive ended up taking closer to 4, and I arrived in my seat during the 4th inning, by which time the Dodgers had fallen far behind. One Dodger Dog later and many Giant home runs later, the game was over and I found my way to Glendale and the local Hilton, which would be my home for the next 4 days.
Saturday night, in search of a nice dinner, I headed out for a drive and decided to just wing it. Somehow I ended up driving through Griffith Park and seeing some of the sights, but I didn’t find anything interesting as far as food went. Eventually I ended up back at the hotel, where I caught the end of the Wisconsin loss in the NCAA tournament along with a tasty hamburger at the hotel bar.
Sunday was the only day I didn’t have anything specific planned, so, after a morning walk to the local Starbucks for a nice breakfast, I headed down to Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame and to get a good look at the famous Hollywood sign. To be honest, the Walk of Fame was mostly creepy, other than the block or so around Hollywood and Highland, where Jimmy Kimmel’s theater is located. I tracked down all of the Muppet-related stars and a few others of interest, including Ricardo Montalban, Mister Rogers, and George Takei. Continue reading →
Vacation Recap: San Diego
The long-awaited trip to San Diego got off to a rocky start when illness struck 2 days before I was supposed to leave. So, I was a bit shaky when the car arrived to take me to the airport at 3:30 on a Wednesday morning. For some reason, a 6 AM flight didn’t seem like a ridiculous idea back in January when I booked it. So, feeling a little queasy, I boarded the plane heading to Denver. Which also seemed like a good idea back on the cold January day.
After landing in Denver, the connecting flight to San Diego was close enough that I got off one plane and got right on the other. Another quick 2 1/2 hour jaunt and we landed in beautiful San Diego around 10 AM. A quick bus ride later and we arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. While we checked in to the hotel and got all of our conference information, our luggage was supposed to be delivered to our rooms. So imagine my surprise when later that morning, I got a call from someone in the other tower of the hotel saying my luggage had made it to her room. Not a huge deal, but issue #1 of the trip.
After getting the luggage situation worked out, I ventured out to reacquaint myself with the city. It had been almost 10 years since my last visit, so I tried to retrace some of the steps from my previous visits. First was a walk past the convention center, where I had attended a comic con or 3. Next stop was PETCO Park, which is just up the street from the convention center. When I first found out the dates of this trip, the first thing I checked was the Padres schedule. Unfortunately, a game wasn’t in the cards this time, but I did get a look in to the stadium thanks to their open center field concourse. From there, I headed off to Horton Plaza, looking to try and grab something for lunch. This is where I ran into a little trouble because, for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. I eventually had to resort to looking it up on my phone to see how to get there. I guess 10 years really is a long time.
Wednesday night was the big gala event on the USS Midway. Due to the chilly (for southern California) weather, we were moved from the flight deck down below, but still had access to roam the retired aircraft carrier. Both before and after dinner, groups of the winners were called up to shake hands and get their picture taken with Suren and their AVP. It was a nice way to wind down the first day in San Diego.
GlobalFit III: Week 41
A disappointing week as we got back in the swing of things post vacation and post sickness. Only 2 days managed to break the 5000 step barrier, and those did not surpass it by much. The weekend was its normal horrible self, which was even worse since the weather was nice for once. Sunday does get a reprieve as it was the Easter holiday, which kept me inside the house all day.
Total steps: 28,180
Weekly average: 4025.7
Book 8 (of 52) – Angels & Demons
Angels & Demons – Dan Brown
Way back in 2006, I succombed to the pop culture phenomenon that was The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s blockbuster hit from three years earlier which had just been made into a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks. I remember tearing through the book quickly, but never bothered to pick up any of Brown’s other work. Earlier this year, his first novel featuring symbologist Robert Langdon, was on sale in the Kindle book store, and I got through it quickly during my recent travels.
Unlike the movie version, where Angels & Demons was set as a sequel to Da Vinci, the book takes place first and is our first introduction to the character of Langdon. He is called to CERN to consult on the murder of a scientest, and the mystery eventually brings him to Rome, the Vatican, and the inner workings of the Catholic church. Much like my previous experience with Brown’s work, I found the book to be a quick and easy read. I saw the movie version back in 2009, and some of the plot must have stuck in my memory because I found myself remembering things as I read the book, to the point where I thought I may have even read the book previously.
Over the years, Dan Brown has put out two more entries in the Robert Langdon series. I’m sure that, assuming I can pick them up at a reasonable price, I will enjoy reading them as well.
Concert Flashback: Fiona Apple
In 2002, Fiona Apple began working on her third album. After many false starts and scrapped recordings, Extraordinary Machine was finally released towards the end of 2005 and, in the summer of 2006, Apple went on a tour to support it. She came to Chicago in July, with Damien Rice as a supporting act, and played at the former Meigs Field airport, now going by the name Charter One Pavilion.
Rice opened the show and, truth be told, I can’t tell you anything about it. I can’t even tell you a Damien Rice song, let alone what he may have played that night. Following that, Apple came out and, displaying her typical stage fright, performed admirably, if not timidly. Once again, I don’t remember much about this portion of the night either, but I must have enjoyed it enough to sign up for a repeat performance a few years later.