We enter the tail end of summer, and the beginning of meteorological fall, with a look back to last summer, when Danny and I travelled to Seattle to visit the Space Needle and see the White Sox take on the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
2024 College Football Kickoff
The Purdue Boilermakers, kick off their 2024 gridiron campaign today, starting a new era of Big Ten football with new member Oregon coming to town in October, for just their third visit to Ross-Ade Stadium. Now that Danny has graduated, my game attendance is likely to trickle back down to the once every couple of years pace I was on before he matriculated after attending an all-time high five games last fall. That said, it’s time to take a look at the results of the now 32 college football games I have attended since the 1993 season, covering six different stadiums in a whopping three states, including one bowl game.
All-Time Team Records
| University | Won | Loss | Winning Pctg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse Orange | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Penn State Nittany Lions | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Louisiana State Tigers | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 4 | 1 | 0.800 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | 19 | 11 | 0.633 |
| Northern Illinois Huskies | 1 | 1 | 0.500 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini Continue reading → |
Book 37 (of 52) – Nineteen Steps
Nineteen Steps – Millie Bobby Brown
A young woman coming of age in war-torn London during World War II deals with both love and loss. She loses an aunt and uncle in a bombing raid by the Germans before losing her father and baby sister in a tragic accident. Eventually, she is reunited with her beloved, an American airman, and heads off for a life in America.
Nineteen Steps is attributed to Millie Bobby Brown but was ghostwritten by Kathleen McGurl. The story is based on Brown’s family history and includes many true events, including the stampede that killed over a thousand people at the tube station used as a shelter during the air raids. I ordinarily wouldn’t have read this type of novel, but a book signing with Brown at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.
FB10: Week 31
A nice improvement this week thanks in part to multiple baseball games. The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, coming only 8 steps shy of 4400. Things fell off a bit on Monday, as I needed 21 more steps to reach 3800. Tuesday bounced back up, surpassing 4300 steps. A trip to Wrigley Field on Wednesday night left me a mere 7 steps away from 6400. Another dip on Thursday dropped me back down to 2400 steps. There was a big improvement on Friday thanks to Elvis night at Guaranteed Rate Field, which left me 17 steps short of 6500. A slow day of recovery after on Saturday saw me needing 27 additional steps to get to 3300.
Total steps: 31,074
Daily average: 4439.1
Fifty Years Of Music – 2005
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 2005, the year Michael was born, I went to Europe for the first time, I celebrated my 31st birthday, and the White Sox won the World Series. 22 of these songs remain familiar to me today, with just nine of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#77: Ludacris – Get Back
iTunes stats: 36 plays
Featured as the ending theme to Tropic Thunder, the song peaked at #13 in January.
#68: Foo Fighters – Best of You
iTunes stats: 31 plays
Topping the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks, it was their highest charting single on the Hot 100, reaching #18.
#46: Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends
iTunes stats: 31 plays
Written about the death of frontman Billy Joe Armstrong’s father when he was 10, it went to #6 and remains their final top ten hit.
#43: Nickelback – Photograph
iTunes stats: N/A
The lead single from their fifth studio album, it became the band’s third top ten hit, going to #2.
#39: Green Day – Holiday
iTunes stats: 26 plays
Topping both the Hot Modern Rock Tracks and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, it peaked at #19 on the Hot 100.
#35: DHT featuring Edmee – Listen to Your Heart
iTunes stats: 21 plays
This cover of the Roxette hit reached #8.
#32: Black Eyed Peas – My Humps
iTunes stats: 26 plays
The 2007 Grammy winner for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, it topped out at #3.
#31: Gwen Stefani featuring Eve – Rich Girl
iTunes stats: 11 plays
Produced by Dr. Dre, it spent more than six months on the Hot 100, going as high as #7.
#23: Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell – Drop It Like It’s Hot
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Featuring on the year-end chart for the second time, it spent three weeks at #1.
#20: Weezer – Beverly Hills
iTunes stats: 18 plays
The band’s most successful single on the Hot 100, it peaked at #10 and was their first charting track since 1994.
#16: The Killers – Mr. Brightside
iTunes stats: 35 plays
First released in 2003, it was re-released in 2004, where it went to #10.
#13: Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Phunk with My Heart
iTunes stats: 26 plays
The 2007 Grammy winner for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, it topped out at #3.
#9: The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes – Don’t Cha
iTunes stats: 26 plays
The track spent three weeks at #2 and remains the group’s highest-charting song.
#7: Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams
iTunes stats: 20 plays
Peaking at #2, it is still the highest-charting sone of the band’s career.
#6: Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx – Gold Digger
iTunes stats: 26 plays
The Grammy winner for Best Rap Solo Performance, it spent ten weeks at #1 in the fall of 2005.
#4: Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
iTunes stats: 35 plays
The lead single from the American Idol winner’s sophomore effort, it topped out at #2 while spending 20 weeks in the top ten.
#2: Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
iTunes stats: 24 plays
Nominated for the two Grammys, the song spent four weeks atop the Hot 100 in the spring.
Keeping It 100
With a week left to go in August, the White Sox dropped their 100th game this afternoon, losing to the Tigers 9-4. They are now just the fourth team, and the third in modern history, to lose their 100th game prior to September 1st. They are also just 20 losses away from tying the modern single season record with 31 games to play. 2004 is just the sixth 100-loss season in franchise history, but the third in the last seven years.
Book 36 (of 52) – Natural Selection
Natural Selection – Elin Hilderbrand
Stuck on a trip to the Galápagos Islands by herself after her boyfriend suddenly left at the airport, a real estate agent from New York tries to rationalize her relationship while learning to let go and enjoy the solo trip. When she learns the truth about her boyfriend, she leans into the theories of Charles Darwin, that the species most likely to survive is that which adapts to the world around it.
Natural Selection is a short story from Elin Hilderbrand, one which takes place far away from her usual locale of Nantucket. Given the short length of the work, there isn’t a whole lot of world building or deep characterizations, but it does tell a complete story, one which maybe could have been blown out to a full-length novel.
Book 35 (of 52) – Open Book
Open Book – Jessica Simpson
Open Book, Jessica Simpson’s memoir of her life as a teenage pop star, reality television goof, and fashion industry titan, is truly an open book. She talks of her molestation at the hands of a family friend as a child, her failed attempts to break out with the Mickey Mouse Club, the pressures of being a teenager and trying to become a pop star, and, of course, her intention to remain a virgin until marriage. Her fame exploded thanks to Newlyweds on MTV, but the show that truly made her a household name also contributed to the end of her marriage. After years of drinking and John Mayer, she finally found her way, starting a family with a new husband and hoping to restart her music career.
I certainly did not know much about Jessica Simpson prior to reading this book. I don’t know any of her music and haven’t seen any of her shows. The only things I actually do know her from are her role as Daisy Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard movie and tabloid accounts of either her being shown as stupid on her show or gaffes from her social life. She seems to finally have her personal life figured out, so I hope she can continue to be happy going forward.
FB10: Week 30
A slight drop-off this week, as I failed once again to cross the 30,000-step plateau. The week got off to a slowish start on Sunday, finishing with 3700 steps. Things fell off a bit more on Monday, as I needed 21 more steps to reach 3400. Tuesday was even worse, barely surpassing 3100 steps. Things started to improve on Wednesday, where 12 additional steps would have gotten me to 4000. Another dip on Thursday dropped me back down to 19 steps shy of 3400. A big improvement on Friday pushed me all the way up to 4700 steps. A night out with friends put me up at 4900 steps on Saturday, ending the week on an upswing.
Total steps: 27,242
Daily average: 3891.7
Fifty Years Of Music – 2004
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 2004, the year I celebrated my 30th birthday. 22 of these songs remain familiar to me today, with just nine of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#92: Avril Lavigne – Don’t Tell Me
iTunes stats: 17 plays
The lead single from her sophomore effort, it peaked at #22 on the Hot 100.
#88: The Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started
iTunes stats: 45 plays
The fourth and final single from the group’s third studio album, it reached #21.
#87: Chingy featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg – Holidae In
iTunes stats: 11 plays
Making the year-end chart for the second straight year, the track went to #3.
#76: Jet – Are You Gonna Be My Girl
iTunes stats: 24 plays
The Australian group’s debut single, it topped out at #29.
#71: Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell – Drop It Like It’s Hot
iTunes stats: 27 plays
Spending the final three weeks of the year at #1, it was the first chart topping hit for both artists.
#70: Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins – Get Low
iTunes stats: N/A
Ranked as the 99th greatest song of hip-hop by VH1, it peaked at #2.
#54: Avril Lavigne – My Happy Ending
iTunes stats: 23 plays
Spending four weeks at #9, it became her fourth top ten hit.
#48: Britney Spears – Toxic
iTunes stats: 44 plays
Giving Spears the lone Grammy of her career, the song reached #9, her first top ten hit since 2000.
#45: Ludacris featuring Shawnna – Stand Up
iTunes stats: 17 plays
Topping the Hot 100 for a week in December of 2003, it makes the year-end chart for the second straight year.
#41: Kelis – Milkshake
iTunes stats: N/A
Her highest-charting single to this day, it topped out at #3 in December of 2003.
#39: Ashlee Simpson – Pieces of Me
iTunes stats: 24 plays
The debut single from Jessica Simpson’s sister, it went to #5, becoming her lone top ten hit.
#38: No Doubt – It’s My Life
iTunes stats: N/A
Recorded for their greatest hits package, this cover of the Talk Talk hit from 1984 spent 28 weeks on the chart, peaking at #10.
#28: Sheryl Crow – The First Cut Is the Deepest
iTunes stats: N/A
Recorded for her greatest hits package, it reached #14 and remains her final hit to breach the top 20.
#10: Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe and Remy Ma – Lean Back
iTunes stats: 36 plays
It spent seven weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and three weeks on top of the Hot 100.
#8: Outkast – Hey Ya!
iTunes stats: 26 plays
First written in 2000 by Andre 3000, it spent nine weeks at #1 between 2003 and 2004.
#6: Hoobastank – The Reason
iTunes stats: N/A
The title track of the group’s sophomore effort, it reached #2 while spending 38 weeks on the chart.
#1: Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris – Yeah!
iTunes stats: 34 plays
The longest running #1 hit of 2004, it spent twelve weeks atop the Hot 100.