Tag / Mom

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Travelling The 50 States – Michigan

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 26th state to be added to the Union: Michigan

State: Michigan
Joined the Union: 1837
Visits: 5

Despite its proximity, The Mitten has been an infrequent place for me to visit.  Nearly all of my visits can be attributed to one of two things: baseball and ice skating.  The one outlier came during the COVID lockdown, when travel options were limited.

My first trip to Michigan came in 1999 in an effort to see a game during the final season of Tiger Stadium.  Along with my mom and my sister, we took the quick flight and then took a bus into Windsor for a pre-game meal, the first time any of us had left the country.  After some slight difficulties getting back across the border, we headed to the game, where rookie Kip Wells made his major league debut for the White Sox and picked up the victory against the Tigers.  We flew back home the following day.

Nearly a decade later, I returned to Detroit in 2010 for a Labor Day weekend clash between the White Sox and the Tigers.  This time, I booked a hotel in Windsor, so I drove from Chicago to Canada, checking in to the hotel before catching a bus back across the border and to Comerica Park.  The next afternoon, I drove back and took in the afternoon tilt before driving home with two Tiger victories under my belt.

Six years later, the synchronized skating championships were held in Kalamazoo.  The family travelled north to see Angelina and her team compete.

In 2019, the family traveled to Ann Arbor, where BU was competing in a synchronized skating competition.

My most recent visit to Michigan came over Labor Day week in 2020.  With everything locked down thanks to the corona virus, I was looking for a chance to get away and found a nice Airbnb in Holland close to Lake Michigan.  Other than a couple of trips to the lakes (both Macatawa and Michigan) and a day spent in Saugatuck, I didn’t see much of the sites, as the rona was still very much a concern.

Will I return?  I imagine so.  Neither of the boys have been to Comerica yet, so a future visit is not out of the question.

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Travelling The 50 States – Massachusetts

Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 6th state to be added to the Union: Massachusetts

State: Massachusetts
Joined the Union: 1788
Visits: 6

The Bay State has been a more recent travel destination, with all six visits coming within the past five years.  In what I’m sure is completely unrelated news, Angelina has been attending Boston University since 2018.  This visit total would have been at least one trip larger, as I had plans to bring Michael in April of 2020, but the whole pandemic thing kind of put the kibosh on that.

My first visit to Massachusetts came in August of 2017, when I took a weekend trip to Boston to see the White Sox take on the Red Sox with Danny and Michael.  We arrived in Boston on Saturday morning, heading straight from the airport to the Museum of Science, where we spent most of the morning.  After a quick breakfast, we headed to our hotel, which was located in the medical district.  We checked in and relaxed for a bit, before deciding on going for ice cream prior to heading to Fenway Park.

The game went about as you would expect.  With James Shields on the mound, the White Sox did not put up much of a fight.  We were sitting down the left field line, with a good view of the Green Monster.  The seats, which may or may not date back to the stadium’s opening in 1912, were not really designed for people well over 6 feet tall, so there was a lot of uncomfortable shifting as our knees were smooshed into the seats in front of us.

The next morning, we went out in search of breakfast once again before gathering up our belongings and checking out of the hotel.  Our first stop was just down the street, at Harvard Medical School, where we posed for pictures.  From there, we headed to Skywalk Boston, their version of the observation deck at Sears Tower.  It was only on the 50th floor, so the effect was a little different, but we did get to see the majority of the area.  From there, over to the harbor to see the Boston Tea Party museum.  The two-hour experience took us through the town meeting where the “attack” was planned, on to the boat to throw the tea in to the harbor, and then through a movie and other artifacts from one of the most famous events in American history.  From there, it was off to the airport for the flight back home.

My next trip came the following year, when I returned to Boston in late October to celebrate birthdays with Angelina.  I arrived on the Tuesday before our birthday, enjoying a brief tour of BU and a nice dinner at Fogo de Chao with Angelina before heading over to the House of Blues to see Garbage.  The next day I took a tour of Fenway Park prior to Game Two of the World Series, before heading out to Cambridge to look around Harvard before heading home.

Just over a month later, I returned to Boston with my mom to see Angelina’s first synchro competition on Cape Cod and an ice show by the BU Figure Skating Club, seeing many of the same BU sites as my last visit.

In October of 2019, I once again travelled to Boston to see Angelina for our birthday dinner.  Unbeknownst to me, she had suffered a concussion the day before, so she was busy for most of the day.  After chilling in the hotel for a bit, I headed over to campus for a late lunch before waiting for her at a protest I happened across, trying to stop hate monger Ben Shapiro from coming to campus for a speech.  After dinner, she headed back to her dorm to rest, and I left early the next morning to return home.

After a two-year hiatus thanks to COVID, my next trip to Boston came this past May for Angelina’s graduation.  Danny, Michael, and I flew out on Friday and spent Saturday sightseeing around Boston with the family.  Graduation was Sunday morning, which we topped off with a dinner out on Sunday night before heading home on Monday.

My most recent visit came earlier this month, as birthday celebrations were finally allowed to restart.  I arrived late on Friday night, and then spent Saturday with Angelina and Emily, including a trip to the Museum of Science and a return visit to Fogo de Chao.  Sunday morning. they picked me up from the hotel and drove me to the airport, bringing my latest visit to an end.

Will I return?  I have to say yes.

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Book 30 (of 52) – The Woods Are Always Watching

The Woods Are Always Watching – Stephanie Perkins

Two high school best friends go on a camping trip as a last fling before they go their separate ways for college.  An argument the first night puts them on edge, but the events of the second day draw them back together, thanks to a sinkhole, a broken ankle, dead bodies, a missing hand, and a duo of murderous men who hunt them individually and, eventually, together.  In order to escape, they will need some help from mother nature.

The Woods Are Always Watching, a young adult thriller from Stephanie Perkins, entered my household as a birthday gift for my nearly 70-year-old mother.  Now, you may be asking yourself “who would buy a young adult thriller for an old lady?”  A valid question, dear reader.  When all you know about your co-worker is that they like to read, and you head to the local bookstore with your pre-teen child and have them pick out the book, this is the result.  So why did I read it?  It was there.  Perkins tells a tale.  An unlikely tale, but a tale none the less.  Nothing really happens for the first half of the book, other than the big argument that nearly drive the girls apart but pick up considerably in the second half.  The ending is so ludicrous that you won’t even bother questioning it.

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#SoxMath

For the uninitiated, Sox Math is a segment during every White Sox game broadcast on NBC Sports Chicago, where two or more trivia questions are linked together via a simple math equation to form a final numerical answer. Fans watching at home tweet in their answers and the first one in with the right answer is dubbed the winner.  Sunday, that winner was me.
Back in the before times, there was a prize shelf filled with random objects that announces Jason Benetti and Steve Stone had come across along with extra stadium giveaways.  Starting in 2020, thanks to the pandemic, they switched it up to letting the winner create a video that would introduce the segment on the next game.  Yes, that means I got to create the intro video for last night’s game.

My initial thought was to utilize my bobblehead, surrounded by White Sox bobbleheads, with me talking offscreen, but I thought that might end up being too static.  So instead, I started moving all (well, most) of the mess off of my desk and replacing it with different White Sox paraphernalia, including bobbleheads, pennants, a towel, a Chris Sale K placard, and some Robin Ventura print sent to season ticket holders.  After a few practice shots to get the camera set up correctly, I hit record and, after three takes, felt I had gotten what I needed to get.  Some quick trimming to get just the last take down to the correct length, and off it went.

As we approached the top of the 4th inning, when the segment usually airs, I started to get nervous.  I mean, there was a non-zero chance that I was about to make a fool out of myself on regional cable television.  But, it aired without incident, aside from my mother sleeping through it.  I managed a gain a few new Twitter followers, the video seemed to be a big hit on Facebook, and a co-worker happened to see it and passed a video around to some folks in the virtual office.

As for the original question itself, an educated guess led me to victory.  I assumed there was nothing noteworthy about Julio Franco and Robin Ventura going back-to-back once and, had they done it three times, that would be rare enough that I would know about it, so two seemed like the safe choice.  The second question was much easier, as Ventura wore #23 and Franco #14.

Now, I just need to win again.  I’ve got some more video ideas.

 

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CBS Upfront

Everything old is new this season at CBS, which brings 3 new entries from its collection of established procedural franchises along with 1 new comedy to the air this fall.  The week starts a comedy block of The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola, followed by 2 entries in the NCIS franchise: the OG, moving from its Tuesday timeslot for the first time in 18 years, and NCIS: Hawaii, where Vanessa Lachey stars as the first female Special Agent in Charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor.  Tuesday, CBS follows NBC’s playbook by turning the entire night over to Dick Wolf for his FBI franchise, with the OG leading off the night, followed by FBI: International, the new iteration that follows the elite operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s International Fly Team, and FBI: Most Wanted.

Wednesday night leads off with Survivor, followed by Tough As Nails and the new CSI: Vegas, the “sequel” to the original which brings back William Petersen, Jorja Fox, and Wallace Langham.  Thursday has another comedy block, starting with with Young Sheldon and United States of Al, followed by Ghosts, starring Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar as a duo who decide to convert a huge rundown country estate into a bed & breakfast, only to find it’s inhabited by the many spirits of deceased residents who now call it home, and B Positive. Bull finishes off the night.  Friday starts with S.W.A.T. for a month, before giving way to TBD unscripted programming, followed by Magnum P.I. and Blue Bloods.  Sunday kicks off with 60 Minutes, followed by The Equalizer, NCIS: Los Angeles, and, for a month, SEAL Team before giving way to S.W.A.T.

On tap for midseason is Good Sam, starring Sophia Bush and Jason Isaacs as doctors fighting for the same position, and Smallwood, based on the life of professional bowler Tom Smallwood.

Gone and never to be seen again are All Rise, MacGuyver, NCIS: New Orleans, Mom, and The Unicorn.  Evil and SEAL Team will be moving to Paramount+.

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Fitbit V: Week 1

We kick off the 5th year of Fitbit use with a slow week, thanks to the return of the polar vortex, which brought record low temperatures. The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, where I combined snow blowing with a trip out to celebrate mom’s birthday to finish just over 4900 steps.  An overnight snowstorm kept me home from work on Monday, where another round of snow blowing put me up over 5500 steps.  Tuesday was back to work, where I was able to put together over 8500 steps, a full 1000 over my new daily goal of 7500.  The polar vortex returned on Wednesday, keeping me home with a high temperature of -14, resulting in a poor total of just over 2800 steps. Thursday was another day trapped indoors, so again I was just over 2800 steps. Friday was a good bounce back day, both weather-wise and step-wise. Reaching into the low 20s, I was able to go to work and finish just shy of 9900 steps. Most of Saturday was spent in an airplane; but between the airport and an early evening stroll down Waikiki Beach, I managed to just pass my daily goal with over 7600 steps.

Total steps: 42,166

Daily average: 6023,7

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CBS Upfronts

Everything old is new this season at CBS, which will have 5 reboots on the air this fall.  The week starts with 3 new shows on Monday night: The Neighborhood, about a white family from Michigan that moves to LA and ends up with Cedric the Entertainer as their neighbor, Happy Together, starring Damon Wayans Jr. and Amber Stevens West as a happily married couple who begin to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves, and Magnum P.I., a modern take on the classic show with Jay Hernandez taking on Tom Selleck’s role.  Bull moves from Tuesday to close out the night.

FBI, starring Missy Peregrym and Jeremy Sisto, is sandwiched between two editions of NCIS on Tuesdays.  Wednesday night stays exactly the same.  Thursday, freed from the NFL, stays mostly the same, with The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and Mom, followed by a rebooted Murphy Brown and season two of S.W.A.T.  Friday stays exactly the same.  Sunday adds God Friended Me, about an atheist that gets a friend request from God on social media.

On tap for midseason, along side returning favorites Elementary, Instinct, Man With A Plan, and Life, are The Code, which taps the underrepresented area of legal law, The Red Line, about 3 Chicago families dealing with loss, and Fam, a comedy about a woman whose perfect life is thrown asunder when her sister moves in.

Gone and never to be seen again are 9JKL, Kevin Can Wait, Living Biblically, Me, Myself, & I, Scorpion, Superior Donuts, Wisdom Of The Crowd, and Zoo.

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2017 Emmy Awards – Comedy

Emmy_statueWith the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Atlanta

Black-ish

Master of None

Modern Family

Silicon Valley

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Veep has won for the past two years and would seem to be a good choice to three-peat, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Pamela Adlon, Better Things

Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie

Allison Janney, Mom

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past four years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Aziz Ansari, Master of None

Zach Galifianakis, Baskets

Donald Glover, Atlanta

William H. Macy, Shameless

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jeffrey Tambor brought home the award the past two years for his gender-bending role on Amazon’s hit series, but I’m going to go out on a limb and go with Donald Glover.

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2016 Emmy Awards – Comedy

Emmy_statueWith the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Black-ish

Master of None

Modern Family

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Veep won last year and would seem to be a good choice to repeat, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Laurie Metcalf, Getting On

Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past three years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Aziz Ansari, Master of None

Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth

William H. Macy, Shameless

Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jeffrey Tambor brought home the award last year for his gender-bending role on Amazon’s hit series.  My guess is that Aziz Ansari rides the same wave of good feelings to take home the trophy for his Netflix series.

Continue reading →

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Book 21 (of 52) – Last Words

Last Words - George Carlin with Tony Hendra

Last Words – George Carlin with Tony Hendra

Begun in 1993, when George Carlin teamed up with Tony Hendra for the first time to chronicle his life story, Last Words was released in 2009, nearly a year and a half after Carlin’s 2008 death.  The autobiography covers nearly Carlin’s entire life, from the story of his conception to his plans for a Broadway show, plans which never happened due to his passing.

My first exposure to Carlin was as an actor, appearing as Rufus in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  I can only imagine that is what drew me to his HBO comedy special, Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics, 2 years later.  From that point on, I was a fan.

I had gotten this book as a gift a few years back, and it literally sat in a closet until a few weeks back, when I decided it was time to finally dig into it.  It covered a lot of familiar territory, but also gave new insight into some of it, explaining why my mom would have been concerned about me listening, in 1990, to the same comic my dad listened to in the early 1970s.  When Carlin passed, he was recognized as one of the finest comic voices of his, or any other, generation.  This book reminds you that this was not always the case.