FB10: Week 41

Another good week, as I managed to stay above the 30,000-step plateau for the second week in a row.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday, my 50th birthday, as I finished the day with 4800 steps.  A day off on Monday and a trip into the city for lunch left me with 6800 steps.  Going back to work on Tuesday with a day full of meetings led to a steep decline that put me 10 steps away from 3400.  Wednesday saw a healthy improvement, coming 24 steps short of 4200.  A slight decline on Thursday dropped me back down to 3800 steps.  A nice increase on Friday pushed me back up again to 5200 steps.  A night out with friends to celebrate birthdays made Saturday the highpoint of the week, needing just 6 additional steps to get to 7100.

Total steps: 35.374

Daily average: 5053.4

Book 49 (of 52) – Mr. Monk Goes To Hawaii

Mr. Monk Goes To Hawaii – Lee Goldberg

When Nataile heads to Hawaii for her best friend’s wedding, Monk, afraid of being left alone, tags along.  After stopping the wedding, Monk gets involved with a local murder, helping the police solve multiple other crimes along the way.  While Natalie tries to enjoy her time away, Monk focuses on the murder and on proving a famous television psychic is a phony.

Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii, the second of 18 novels based on the USA Network dramedy that ran from 2002 to 2009 from series writer Lee Goldberg.  Once again told from the perspective of Natalie, the book tried to stay close to feel of the show, but still felt just a little off.  With the remaining 16 books waiting for me, hopefully things start to gel more as the series goes forward.

The Will Venable Era Has Begun

The White Sox have hired Will Venable to be the 44th manager in franchise history, and the sixth since 2020.  Venable, who was the associate manager under Bruce Bochy for the Rangers these past two seasons, had previously been part of the coaching staffs for the Red Sox and Cubs and was a special assistant to Theo Epstein with the Cubs.  Prior to that, Venable spent nine years as an outfielder, mostly with the Padres.  When former manager Pedro Grifol was fired back in August, general manager Chris Getz said, “I think it’s important to bring in a new voice, a fresh voice, perhaps that’s been exposed to areas of this game that we don’t currently have in our organization.”  Venable does seem to check those boxes.

Venable takes over a team that set the modern major league record this season with 121 losses and is not expected to spend much money to improve the on-the-field product in 2025.  Given that the White Sox appear to be in a slow-moving, long term rebuild of the entire organization, Venable looks to be the manager for today and also for the future, when the team should be competitive once more.

Fifty Years Of Music – 2014

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2014, the year I turned 40.  At 82 songs, we have broken past 80% of the Hot 100 that remain familiar to me today for the first time, with 62 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#83: Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines
iTunes stats: N/A

Featuring a video that included a very topless Emily Ratajkowski, the song spent twelve weeks atop the Hot 100 in the summer of 2013.

#48: Katy Perry – Roar
iTunes stats: 2 plays

The lead single from the singer’s fourth studio album, it spent two weeks at #1 in the fall of 2013

#44: Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
iTunes stats: N/A

The first chart topping single of Cyrus’ career, it holds the record for the longest gap between stints at #1 with nine weeks for its three non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.

#21: Idina Menzel – Let It Go
iTunes stats: N/A

The ubiquitous theme song from Frozen, it peaked at #5.

#20: Lorde – Royals
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending nine weeks at #1, the New Zealand singer’s debut single won two Grammys in 2014.

#15: DJ Snake and Lil Jon – Turn Down for What
iTunes stats: 20 plays

Peaking at #4, it became the first top ten hit for DJ Snake and the ninth for Lil Jon

#13: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
iTunes stats: 54 plays

The lead single from her fifth studio album, it spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1.

#8: Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
iTunes stats: 30 plays

The debut single from the singer-songwriter, it spent eight weeks atop the Hot 100 and was the best-selling single of the decade for a female artist.

#1: Pharrell Williams – Happy
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending ten weeks at #1 in the spring, it was nominated for an Oscar and won a Grammy.

College Basketball Tipoff

Fresh off of an appearance in the championship game of last year’s NCAA tournament, the Purdue men’s basketball team kicks off the 2024-2025 regular season tomorrow night.  With Danny out of school and an expanded Big Ten limiting how often each team visits the other schools in the conference, it may be a while before I attend another regular season game.  So, with the 128th season in school history about to get underway, let’s take a look at the results of the now 24 men’s college basketball games I have attended in my lifetime. You’d think it would be more, since I was a big fan and we had a great team while I was in school, but for some reason I only made it to two games while enrolled in college. The other 22 have been post-graduation, having added four games last year, two at Mackey and two in Detroit for the NCAA tournament.  Anyway, without further ado, here are the standings for those 24 games.

All-Time Team Records – Men

Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
North Texas Mean Green 1 0 1.000
Indiana Hoosiers 1 0 1.000
Virginia Commonwealth Rams 1 0 1.000
Butler Bulldogs 1 0 1.000
Purdue Boilermakers 16 7 0.696
Northwestern Wildcats 2 3 0.400
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 4 0.333
Gonzaga Bulldogs 0 1 0.000
Houston Cougars 0 1 0.000
Iowa State Cyclones 0 1 0.000
Jacksonville Dolphins 0 1 0.000
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 0 1 0.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 0 1 0.000
Penn State Nittany Lions 0 1 0.000
Tennessee Volunteers 0 1 0.000
Vermont Catamounts 0 1 0.000
Long Beach State 49ers 0 1 0.000

Ballpark Tour: Orioles

With the 2024 season officially wrapped up and the offseason now underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we head east for a look at the Baltimore Orioles and their stadium that kicked off the retro craze.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Stadium Name: Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Years in Service: 1992 – Present

Visits: 1

After 38 seasons at Memorial Stadium following their move from St. Louis, the Orioles opened Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992.  It was the first of a wave of “retro” parks that would sprout up over the following 2 decades, changing the architecture of baseball.  The Orioles took the initial contest at the park, defeating the Indians 2-0 behind a Rick Sutcliffe shutout.

The stadium hosted its first All-Star Game in 1993.  On September 6, 1995, the park witnessed Cal Ripken surpass Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played and, on the same day in 1996, saw Eddie Murray smash his 500th career home run.  On April 29, 2015, the park hosted the first game in MLB history to be closed to fans, due to riots in Baltimore.

I made my first visit to the stadium in the summer of 2019, with the Orioles taking on their longtime rival San Francisco Giants.  We had to leave early, as the train we were planning to take to Washington after the game didn’t run on weekends, so alternate plans were needed.  The game was kind of non-descript, as both teams were on a downward spiral, but I hope to make it back some day for a repeat performance.

Book 48 (of 52) – If Something Happens To Me

If Something Happens To Me – Alex Finlay

The discovery of a car in a Kansas lake re-opens the old wounds of an unsolved missing persons case.  Meanwhile, in Italy, a law student whose high school girlfriend was the abducted girl, finds himself face-to-face with the kidnapper he thought he imagined all those years ago.  When he tracks the man back to England and finds him murdered, the trail leads back to Kansas by ways of France.  Can he keep himself, and those around him, alive long enough to find out what truly happened all those years ago?

The latest from Alex Finlay, If Something Happens to Me, takes place over multiple years and numerous locations.  He starts with a mystery that quickly turns into a revenge tale.  Finlay has become a reliable read over the past few years and I look forward to what he comes up with next.

FB10: Week 40

After eight weeks, I managed to get myself back over the 30,000-step plateau.  The week got off to a good start, from a step perspective, as Aunt Anna’s wake on Sunday pushed me up over 5300 steps.  Monday was almost as good, as the funeral left me 12 steps shy of 5300.  Going back to work on Tuesday saw a decline that put me 7 steps away from 4200.  Wednesday was more of the same, coming 36 steps short of 4200.  Thursday saw a bigger decline, falling to 3500 steps.  An increase on Friday pushed me back up again, coming 6 steps away from 4600.  Saturday, the last day of my 40s, ended needing 18 steps to get to 4400.

Total steps: 31.464

Daily average: 4494.9

Book 47 (of 52) – The Late Show

The Late Show – Mchael Connelly

Detective Renée Ballard, who has burned a bridge or two in her day, is assigned to the night shift in Hollywood, where she takes calls with her partner but then turns them over to the dayshift to investigate.  When a trans prostitute is beaten nearly to death, she decides that she will keep this one close to vest. giving it the attention that other cops might not.  While at the hospital looking to interview her victim, she picks up part of a bigger case, a multiple murder at a nightclub.  Both cases end up putting Ballard in danger, either personal or professional.  Can she close the cases while keeping her job and her life?

The Late Show, released in 2017, is the first entry in a new series from Michael Connelly.  This was my first time reading anything from Connelly, who was a frequent guest star as himself in Castle.  I look forward to seeing where the story goes from here.