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Prolific Authors – 3 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  Since I’ve far surpassed my “normal” reading output the last three yeas, I thought it would be nice to once again take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through the start of October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the 20 authors I’ve read thrice, an increase of eight over the past two years.

Kevin J. Anderson

Last read in the 20th century, he’s responsible for three of the X-Files books on my shelf.

A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman

This Swedish author has become a recent favorite, showing up once a year over the past three years, with more to come, I’m sure.

Adam Carolla

The former comedian and current right-wing nutjob managed to get me to read three of his podcast regurgitations.

Bill Carter

The former media reporter for the New York Times delivered three behind the scenes looks at the television industry, including the transition from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno and from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien and back again.

Executive Order – Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins

Author of all entries of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Suzanne Collins

The woman behind a little trilogy about a young woman named Katniss who upends her entire world.

Keith R.A. DeCandido

Two Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels and a Spider-Man novel make up his works.

Alex Finlay

A DC lawyer writing under a penname, Finlay has placed three books in my hands over the past two years.

The Guest List – Lucy Foley

Lucy Foley

Another recent fave, Foley, a New York Times best seller, has shown up annually since 2021.

Megan Goldin

The former Reuters correspondent first appeared on my radar in 2021 with her debut, The Escape Room.

Paula Hawkins

Continue reading →

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Games Per Stadium By Year

With the 2023 season officially in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look at the number of games I’ve attended each year at one of the now-29 different stadiums I’ve visited over the years.

Games Per Stadium Per Year

GameYear StadiumName TotalGames
2008 US Cellular Field 46
2003 Wrigley Field 46
Surprise playoff runs for the White Sox in 2008 and the Cubs in 2003 led to what remains my highest single season totals ever, boosted by post-season play.
2021 Guaranteed Rate Field 44
My highest-post-pandemic total, helped in part by a division champion and the desire to get back to the ballpark following the lockdown of 2020.
2007 Wrigley Field 43
2004 Wrigley Field 41
My highest non-playoff total saw me attending over half of the home games for the Cubs in 2004.
2011 US Cellular Field 40
2009 US Cellular Field 40
2010 US Cellular Field 36
2005 Wrigley Field 34
2008 Wrigley Field 34
2017 Guaranteed Rate Field 33
2016 US Cellular Field 32
2006 US Cellular Field 32
2023 Guaranteed Rate Field 32
2015 US Cellular Field 31
2012 US Cellular Field 31
2007 US Cellular Field 29
2014 US Cellular Field 28 Continue reading →
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Fitbit IX – Week 37

A week without football brings my streak of 30,000+ step weeks to an end at four.  The week got off to a decent start, needing an additional 8 steps to get to 4900 thanks to the final trip to Guaranteed Rate Field for the season.  Monday saw a big drop, going down to 3800 steps.  A slightly larger push got me over 4600 steps on Tuesday.  Wednesday dropped back down again, coming in at 3900 steps.  Thursday saw a small improvement, jumping up to 4200 steps. Friday saw the teeter-totter go back in the other direction, falling to 3500 steps.  Saturday was the low point of the week, just barely surpassing the 3000 step plateau.

Total steps: 28,035

Daily average: 4005

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Let’s Try This Again

This past June, the Big Ten introduced their “Flex Protect Plus” model, integrating USC and UCLA into the football schedule and having each school play nine conference games each season, facing every other conference opponent at least twice, home and away, in a four-year period.  That lasted about two months before it was announced that Washington and Oregon would also be joining the conference, sending planners back to the drawing board.

Last week, the conference announced their updated “Flex Protect XVIII” model, which, again, features protected rivalry opponents that will be played on an annual basis while ensuring schools will play every other conference school at least twice, home and away, but no more than three times in a five-year period.  The Big Ten Championship game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings, with tie breakers still to be determined.

So, once again, what does this mean for Purdue?  First off, they will continue to have two protected rivalries to be played every season: Illinois and, of course, Indiana.  The revised schedule now has them hosting Oregon in 2024, facing USC at home and Washington on the road in 2025, hosting Washington and travelling to UCLA in 2026, their first appearance in Pasadena since the 2001 Rose Bowl, facing UCLA at home and Oregon on the road in 2027, and, finally, travelling to Los Angeles to face USC in 2028.

Will we actually get through all five seasons before the next round of conference musical chairs takes place?  It seems unlikely, but this is the plan in place for now.  With Danny poised to graduate this spring, this will give me some motivation to continue going to the occasional game to see new opponents.

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Book 44 (of 52) – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid

When Monique Grant, a junior magazine reporter is requested to interview the reclusive former movie star Evelyn Hugo, sha has no idea what she is getting into.  Rather than a feature about her recent charitable donations, Hugo wants to give her life story, a story of rising from a motherless young girl in Hell’s Kitchen to the darling of Hollywood.  They story behind her seven husbands and the true love of her life.  Even a shocking secret that will rock Monique to her core.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is now the fourth novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid that I’ve read in a little less than a year and a half.  Hugo, based in part on Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth, is a complicated character, one forged by the lengths she had to go to in order to make it in Hollywood, was forced to hide her true self in order to become and stay famous, and one who used her privilege to her advantage with little regard as to who else it impacted.

This tale was also the start of the Reid’s interconnected universe, as husband number three. Mick Riva, would appear again in Daisy Jones and the Six and Malibu Rising, which itself introduced the star of Carrie Soto Is Back.  I’m not sure what is coming next, but I look forward to reading it.

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You Ought To Be In (26) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the two actors that have starred in exactly 26 movies that I have seen, up one from 3 years ago.

Raymond Burr

Raymond Burr is a bit of an anomaly as every single one of his appearances have been TV movies where he has played the same character.  In 1985, NBC brought back Perry Mason, Raymond Burr’s starring vehicle from the 50s and 60s, for a TV movie.   The ratings were high enough to justify a recurring series of films, 26 in fact, over the next several years, ending in 1994 following Burr’s death the previous year.

Tom Cruise

Top Gun was likely my first introduction to Tom Cruise’s starring roles.  2000 was the biggest year for his films, as I saw four of them, the only time I had seen more than one in a year until the second half of the last decade.  Since then, I saw two films in 2015 and 2019 and three in 2018.  I took a five-year break from his films after seeing War Of The Worlds in 2007 but have since made up for lost time.  The most recent film of his that I’ve seen is 2022’s long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

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Fitbit IX – Week 36

Another successful week as we wrapped up the 2023 baseball campaign.  The week got off to a slow start, needing an additional 26 steps to to get to 3900.  Monday saw a slight improvement, pushing just over 3900 steps.  A slightly larger push got me over 4200 steps on Tuesday.  An afternoon in the Scout Seats at Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday left me 23 steps away from 6200.  Thursday was another afternoon spent at the ballpark, but this time I needed 34 more steps to get to 5000.  A night game on Friday pushed me back up again, finishing 35 steps shy of 6200.  Another Purdue home game on Saturday led to my highest total of the week, garnering 8000 steps despite the four hours spent driving there and back.

Total steps: 37,406

Daily average: 5343.7

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Prolific Authors – 2 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we start things off with the now 41 authors I’ve read twice, an increase of six over two years ago.

Max Barry

An Australian author, I’ve enjoyed the two novels of his I’ve read, Jennifer Government and Company.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 2020.

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Fate Of The Union – Max Allan Collins with Matthew V. Clemens

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Ernest Cline

The man responsible for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.

Bill Clinton

The former president has co-written two novels with James Patterson.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Diane Duane

Living in Ireland, she is responsible for a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and a Spider-Man novel, of all things.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

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2023 Final Pitching Leaders

Yesterday, we looked at the leaders in the 43 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball.  With the newly expanded Wild Card round wrapped up, it’s time to finish up our look back at the 2023 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Drew Smyly 3
Kyle Hendricks 2
Aaron Bummer 2
Javier Assad 2
Marcus Stroman  2
Taijuan Walker 2

Losses

Name Total
Dylan Cease 3
Aaron Bummer 2
Kendall Graveman 2
Jimmy Lambert 2
Michael Kopech 2

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Jose Berrios 0.00
Mark Leiter Jr. 0.93
Luis Castillo 1.29
Michael Lorenzen 1.29
Mike Clevinger 1.73

Strikeouts

Name Total
Dylan Cease 36
Lance Lynn 29
Michael Kopech 29
Continue reading →
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2023 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans with their worst record since 1970 while the Cubs teased their fanbase with expectations of the postseason before their September swoon.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 43 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 10
Jake Burger 6
Andrew Vaughn 6
Christopher Morel 4
Dansby Sawnson 4

Hits

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 39
Eloy Jimenez 29
Luis Robert 28
Andrew Vaughn 28
Elvis Andrus 27

Runs

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 21
Luis Robert 19
Continue reading →