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GlobalFit III: Week 23

Y3Week23

Ah, we return to early December, which runs us into a bit of a problem.  For reasons I don’t entirely understand, the totals for parts of Thursday and all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were lost.  For the earlier part of the week, my last before going on vacation for the remainder of the year, the highlight was Wednesday, which included a trip to the Glen and Von Maur to but gifts for co-workers.  Thursday was the holiday party at GameWorks, followed by a trip to the movie theater.  Friday would have included a nice trip to the mall, while the weekend would have included snowblowing and a trip to Michael’s swim meet.

Total steps: 26,424

Weekly average: 3774.9

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And The Enshrinees Are

greg-maddux 52174766

The BBWAA ballots have been counted and Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, and Tom Glavine have been elected as to the Hall of Fame. Maddux lead the pack with 97.2% of the vote, followed by his former Braves teammate Glavine with 91.9%. Thomas finished third with 83.7% of the vote. Narrowly missing induction, with 74.8% of the vote (the Hall of Fame does not round up) was Craig Biggio.

Maddux, of course, got his start with the Cubs, whom he helped lead to the 1989 NL East title.  He won the first of his 4 consecutive NL Cy Young awards with the North Siders in 1992 before being allowed to leave as a free agent by GM Larry Himes.  Maddux signed with the Braves, where he continued to dominate and helped lead Atlanta to the 1995 World Series championship.  After 11 seasons, he returned to the Cubs in 2004.  He defeated the Giants in August of that year to win his 300th game and, in July of 2005, he struck out his 3000th batter.  In 2006, with the Cubs far out of contention, he was traded to the Dodgers for their stretch run.  For 2007, Maddux signed with the Padres, where he spent the next year and a half before being traded back to the Dodgers for another stretch run.  After the Dodgers were bounced from the playoffs, Maddux announced his retirement.

Frank Thomas was the first round draft pick of the White Sox in the 1989 draft, and made his debut for the White Sox the following year.  Thomas won the AL MVP award in 1993 while leading the White Sox to their final AL West title.  Thomas repeated as MVP in 1994, putting up a .353 average with 38 homers and 101 RBIs in the strike-shortened season.  In 1997, Thomas won the AL batting title and finished third in the MVP race.  After two substandard seasons, at least for him, Thomas rebounded in 2000, leading the White Sox to the AL Central title and narrowly losing the MVP award to a juiced-up Jason Giambi.  Thomas struggled with injuries after that, appearing in only 20 games in 2001, 74 games in 2004, and 34 games in 2005.  He spent the entire post-season on the disabled list as the White Sox won their first World Series in 88 years.  Following that year, the White Sox cut ties with Thomas and he headed out west to play for the A’s.  In his first game back in Chicago as a visiting player, Thomas homered twice.  Thomas spent 2007 and the start of 2008 with the Blue Jays, before finishing the season, and his career, back with the A’s.

I have been witness to milestones for all 3 enshrined players.  I was at Wrigley Field when Greg Maddux made his first attempt at winning his 300th game against the Phillies, the start before he won it on the road against the GIants.  I was there the next season for the rain delayed night game where he would strike out his 3000th batter, again against the Giants.  I was in Shea Stadium for Tom Glavine’s first appearance as a New York Met, which did not turn out well for him.  4 years later, I was at Wrigley Field for a Sunday night matchup where things worked out better for him as he defeated the Cubs for his 300th victory.

Thomas is now the Hall of Famer I have seen in action more than any other.  I was at his first return appearance as a member of the A’s, where, before the first of his 2 home runs, he was treated to a standing ovation.  An ovation which panned the crowd and found me amongst the masses, which I happened to notice that night on Baseball Tonight and now lives on as part of the White Sox Memories DVD.  I first saw Thomas play in his rookie year of 1990 and caught 66 of his games over the years.  I was there when he threw out the first pitch before the 2005 ALDS Game 1 against the Red Sox and in 2010 when his number 35 was retired.

Maddux, Thomas, and Glavine’s numbers in games I attended were:

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Book 1 (of 52) – The Big Nowhere

The Big Nowhere - James Ellroy

The Big Nowhere – James Ellroy

The Big Nowhere is the second book in James Ellroy’s LA Quartet, and the fourth that I’ve read.  Judging by the makeshift bookmark that was 4 pages in, I first tried reading this back in April of 2007, but it was nearly 7 years later before I returned to it and was able to get through it.  It’s been a little more than 2 years since my last foray into the post-war shenanigans of the LAPD as they investigate a murder while trying to keep their own illegal deeds off the record.

In The Big Nowhere, the local prosecutor has two officers investigating a union causing trouble for the movie studios for the influence of communism.  Meanwhile, a Sheriffs Deputy investigates multiple murders that tie to the seedy homosexual underground.  Eventually, the two cases cross over, even if all of the participants don’t live long enough to see them to fruition.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed The Big Nowhere, but for some reason I found it hard to get through.  While normally I can get though 100 pages or so in a single sitting, I usually ended up putting this one down after 25-30 pages.  Which is why this is the first book of 2014 and not the last of 2013.  With the LA Quartet behind me, there are other Ellroy works to look into.  I did manage to pick up an earlier novel on the Kindle for cheap, so I may not be done with Ellroy yet.

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Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

polarvortexWinter has been particularly harsh in the Chicago area so far, already exceeding the average snowfall for the entire season and we are barely in to January.  The last two days have added the additional treat of arctic sub-zero temperatures, with wind chills down in the -40s, thanks to a polar vortex.  Which means that most of the area has been shut down, with very little opportunity to leave the house.  There’s got to be IT jobs available in Hawaii, right?

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Concert Flashback: Pearl Jam

95pearljamWhen Pearl Jam announced that they would try to put on a tour without using Ticketmaster, they had a lottery for tickets, and, thanks to my sister, I found myself with 2 tickets to the show.  With my friend Joe along for the ride, we headed out towards Soldier Field, taking the Orange Line from Midway to avoid the traffic.

If my memory holds, the opening acts for the show were The Frogs and Bad Religion.  I don’t really remember anything about The Frogs other than Jim DeRogatis tearing them apart on an episode of Sound Opinions.  Bad Religion put on a full-on set, performing 17 songs, 2 of which I’ve even heard of.  I’m not sure if I did at the time, though.

Pearl Jam came out and performed an astounding 29 song set, including 2 encores.  My favorite memory of the night was during the performance of Better Man, when my friend Joe, not understanding the meaning of the song, said that all of the girls sang it about him, that they couldn’t find a better man.

After the show, we had missed the last Orange Line train back to Midway, so we had to take the Archer bus down to Cicero and then walk back to the parking lot by the train station.

The local alternative radio station, Q101, recorded the show and put it out on CD as a station giveaway, which put the concert out in the world to live forever.  I had a copy on cassette back when that was a thing and now have an MP3 version of the show.  Ironically, this was my last visit to old Soldier Field, which would be “renovated” in 2001 and 2002.

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2013: The Year In Movies Part 2

112 different people starred in the movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide), and only 7 of them were in more than 1. Those seven are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Name Films
James Franco 3
Joseph Gordon-Levitt 3
Jennifer Lawrence 3
Jennifer Aniston 2
Jessica Chastain 2
Alexandra Daddario 2
Robert Downey Jr. 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2013, following up on Friday’s post.

The Purge (2013)
An intriguing premise that kind of fell apart as the film went on.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)
A better movie than the first, and a good follow up to the Avengers.

This Is The End (2013)
Quite possibly the funniest movie of the year.

Evil Dead (2013)
The remake of the classic horror film that I also saw for the first time this year.

Skyfall (2012)
I had this disc from Netflix for over 6 months before I finally got around to watching it.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
I left my work’s holiday party early to catch this in IMAX on its last day before it was replaced by the new Hobbit movie.

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#257 – Charlie O’Brien

my428JQlgGFFAylwxZFqdxAName: Charlie O’Brien

Rank: 257

Position: C

Year With White Sox: 1998

Charlie O’Brien and his prodigous mullet joined the White Sox as a free agent on December 10, 1997.  He and Chad Kreuter were brought in to the be the top 2 catchers for the White Sox and, ironically enough, both ended the season with the Angels.

O’Brien played 57 games for the White Sox before being traded to the Angels at the trade deadline for 2 prospects who never panned out.

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

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2013: The Year In Movies

2013 was again an off year in movie watching for me.  I managed to watch only 61 movies last year, one less than 2012 and my second consecutive year under 100.  Again, many things contributed to this, chiefly the insane amount of TV I’ve been watching and the awful amount of time I spend either at work or getting to and from work.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I did manage to watch last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

The Wedding Planner (2001)
A Jennifer Lopez throwback to start off the year.

Red Riding Hood (2011)
This was not a good movie.

Safe House (2012)
This also was not a good movie. I’m not getting the year started right.

Les Misérables (2012)
A work outing is the only reason I saw this film.

American Reunion (2012)
Sometimes you can go home again. And sometimes you shouldn’t.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011)
Robert Downey Jr. returns as the great British detective.

Young Adult (2011)
Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt team up for this strong tale.

Compliance (2012)
I streamed this disturbing picture on the iPad.

For A Good Time, Call… (2012)
A surprisingly good comedy.

Apollo 18 (2011)
Not good at all.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2014 Edition

bookshelfA new year is upon us, and it is time to start year five of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.  In year one, I only made it to 8 books.  Year two doubled that total.  Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24.  Last year was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal.

I’m going to give it another go this year.  I’ve got a few new books loaded in the Kindle app on my iPad, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

  • You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2014 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2014
  • Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
  • Poetry collections do indeed count.
  • Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
  • Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year will likely be The Big Nowhere, the last of the L.A. Quartet from James Ellroy which I am about 100 pages into.  There is also the rest of the Star Trek trilogy that I started last year and a new Greg Rucka novel coming out in June that I have already pre-ordered.

 

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Ringing In The New Year

01

2014 is upon us and it is time to kick off the new year with the first photo from this year’s calendar that I made for my mom, dad, and sister for Christmas.  The picture isn’t exactly date appropriate, since young Mr. Michael is outside and wearing a light fleece, but beggars can’t be choosers.  This photo is from one of Danny’s Little League games in May of last year.